The 'Spirit' of Halloween (The Phenomena of Spiritualism)

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	The Phenomena of Spiritualism
Date:	12/10/07 (1006 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Communicating with our loved ones a truely wonderful phonomena

Disadvantages: A closed mind who looses out because they don't want to believe

~~The Phenomena of Spiritualism ~~


~~A Little History~~

Well it is that time of year Halloween and as I am about to have a very busy month working for Spirit as a Medium I thought I would write a little about a subject very dear to my heart.

It only seems right to mention where it all began with the Fox Sisters and what became known as the ‘Hydesville Rappings’. So who are the Fox Sisters and what was the Hydesville Rappings then? Let me tell you a little story, I hope you are sitting comfortably.

It was March 31st 1848 and the Fox family who had recently moved into the small town of Hydesville in the state of New York, started hearing noises, like knocking sounds. On previous days the family felt these noises were a bit of nuisance, but on this particular day the two youngest daughters Kate and Margaretta had formed a sort of code to communicate with whatever or who ever was making these strange noises.

You know something like one rap for yes and another for no and to prove this they asked how many children their mother had born, the answer came back correct including the child that had gone to spirit. They called the communicator Mr Splitfoot and this code became known as the Hydesville Rappings and went down in history as the first evidenced communication with the spirit world.

The family got all there friends and family into the house to hear these rappings and it soon became widely known, it also worked out (which was proven much later) that the communicator was a pedlar that had visited the house years previously and was actually buried in the cellar. For the sceptics out there, his name was Charles B Rosna and he was murdered by John Bell who was a previous tenant in the cottage in 1843, his body was discovered in 1904 within the cellar walls of the cottage.

Since then there have been many, many brilliant mediums, some very famous and others that may not be famous but are just as brilliant. I have been lucky enough to have met some, and know people that have been lucky enough to have met some of the earlier mediums including Helen Duncan who changed the way the law looks a mediums today.

It was due to the plight of Helen’s talents that in 1951 the passing of the Fraudulent Mediums’ Act removing genuine mediums from the provisions of the Witchcraft Act 1735 and sect 4 of The Vagrancy Act 1824. This enabled Spiritualists to legally practise their religion and be more open about it, no more hiding behind closed door.

Helen did have her own magnificent story that bought all this about, I won’t go into the story here, but if you look her up on the internet you will be able to read about her, I will say though that it was her accurate mediumship that lead to the law being changed.

I have only touched on a very small part of the history of spiritualism, I could write for pages on it, but I also want to tell you about the phenomena of spiritualism and what that means.

~~Mediumship~~

Where better place to start, after the Hydesville Rappings, mediums and people that were sensitive to the spirit world started popping up all over the world. To me it feels like people’s minds were being opened and the spirit world took up the advantage and started to communicate to us all. This time people were listening and starting to communicate.

People started to develop these raw skills during circles and séances, basically a group of like minded people getting together in private to develop a link and communication with the spirit world (our friends and loved ones that have died and passed over to the spirit world).

There are two main forms of Mediumship these are Physical and Mental, from here I would like to delve into a little on both of these to explain it a little more.

~~Physical Phenomena~~

To put it simply a physical phenomenon is something that you can see like a ghost, sorry only joking, the rappings mentioned earlier was a physical phenomenon because everyone could hear the knocks and understand the code. Also there is this thing called Ectoplasm (anyone who has watched Supernatural on TV will have heard of this), it is basically supplied by the physical medium. The simplest way I can explain it is to say it is like a gooey substance (this is what it looks like to me) left by spirit, this ectoplasm can form into shapes of a deceased form that someone in the sitting would recognise. This was very popular during the Victoria era, but not seen so often today.

~~Levitation~~

We have done this in a closed circle; it is where you all sit together and link your energies making an object physically lift off the floor and sort of just hang there for a second or two. The combination of all your energies as well as the communication with spirit makes the table (or object) move to your command.

You can also get the table to act in a certain way to answer simple yes or no answers, this once again gives you physical evidence which you see with your own eyes, honestly no tricks, I have seen this work.

As the word suggests you can levitate a person or an object if you wish.

~~Percussion~~

The Hydesville Rappings mentioned earlier would come under this section; it is simply where there is an audible noise, which can be heard by anyone thus giving physical evidence of spirit communication.

~~Telekinesis~~

This is simply the movement of objects, where an object can be moved without being touched, jump up onto the air, fly across the room and be directed by the mind to the person it is intended for, even if the person moves position it will still go to the correct person.

~~Apports~~

These are absolutely wonderful, they are gifts from the spirit world and they seem to appear from thin air. An object can be taken from your bedroom and dropped in to your circle being held in the living room. My one and only personal experience of this is when I asked for a sign from spirit that my father had arrived to the spirit world ok shortly after his death. I was standing outside having a cigarette ( I used to smoke then) and a white feather appeared to float down very slowly and totally against the wind into the palm of my hand, believe me the wind was very strong that night and there is no way this feather could have just floated down as slow as it did. I was and still am convinced that it was an apport from spirit to let me know my dad was ok now.

~~Spirit Photography~~

This is capturing the spirit forms on camera, which is getting easier with modern photography and the shutter speeds that come with modern digital cameras. I have actually seen pictures of spirit images which were taken on old camera and are magnificent.

I have pictures of orbs from some of the ghost hunts; I know, I am sad, but I did a few in my early development days at Tutbury Castle and had a fantastic time. If you are lucky enough to catch an image of spirit on your camera treasure it, you have been very lucky and they are only showing you that they are watching over you.

~~Transfiguration~~

To do this you need a diffused red light which needs to be adequate enough to illuminate the mediums face, but not too bright to prevent the formation of the ectoplasmic alterations of the mediums countenance.

I have done this a couple of times in circle, I have been very lucky to be able to trust my circle so much that I have been able to go into deep trance, whilst in deep trance my friends within the circle have seen my face change and then the spirit that has come close showing there image has spoken to the group. (I know I described ectoplasm as a gooey substance earlier, well that was the only way I could picture it, but you don’t physically feel it and it did not leave any residue on me after the transfiguration).

This phenomenon is still shown is some churches and demonstrations today. My sister went to see a lady demonstrating in Redditch the other year.

~~Direct Voice~~

Simply put this is where spirit talk to the sitter using spirits own voice through the medium, so if you can imagine me (a girl with a Black Country accent), speaking with spirits voice (a male with a strong Scottish accent) the accents could not be more different. The sitter would also recognise the voice of their loved one who was speaking.

~~Materialisation~~

Usually the medium is in a deep trance and the ectoplasm begins to flow from the body and forms the shape of the spirit communicator. The figure produced is constantly linked to the medium by a sort of umbilical cord.

The discarnate spirit can materialise its face and form, also it can just produce parts of either, and it can also change showing you different appearances of its life on earth. Think of your own life, how often have you changed with different styles, trends and don’t forget simply the changes of age as well.

~~Mental Phenomena~~

We have left the physical side and now go on to discuss the mental side of spiritualism, this is where it involves the medium and the mediums mind and the many ways it can communicate with spirit.

This again can be split into two headings - Perception and Control. In the Perception Class the medium becomes aware of the communication with spirit in their mind and then relays the information to the sitter. In the Control class the communicating spirit often steps in their aura and starts to control the medium, and spirit then speaks directly to the sitter.

Clairvoyance: is the ability to see spirit clearly

Clairaudience: the ability to hear spirit clearly

Clairsentience: the ability to sense spirit

The above three are separate phenomena; most mediums use one, two or all three when they are demonstrating communication with spirit. Personally I use Clairaudience and Clairsentience when I work with spirit, I have only occasionally been lucky enough to see, but I am hoping that will change as my experience widens.

~~Spirit Writings~~

This is where some beautiful work has been written, but not by a person living, but by spirit through the medium. There has been some wonderful poetry, philosophy and other writings done this way. These often come into the mediums mind when they are deep in trance.

You also get Automatic Writing under this category which is where the mediums arm will move on its own accord, where as Inspirational Writing is where the medium writes down the thoughts that come pouring into their mind.

~~Psychic Drawing~~

The medium sits and let’s spirit guide there hand, often drawing images of those that have passed over to the spirit world, it is a wonderful talent and you can often find that the talented medium that can do this, is not necessarily a good artist when they are not linked into spirit. You see, some may be natural artists and are simply able to translate the image that spirit give them on to paper, where as others let spirit take over the use of their arm and mind to draw an image, a bit like automatic writing.

~~Healing~~

A healing medium is well trained and has the ability to open themselves up to the healing energies which are channelled through the healer and into the patient. Like all mediums they have to work closely with spirit.

~~Trance~~

Trance comes into the Control category. Trance ranges from the deep sleep of entire unconsciousness to a feeling of simple quietude or passiveness. The state of complete trance is quite rare.

More often, the medium goes into a semi-conscious state of trance, where the medium looses the ability to use their own thoughts and let spirit do the talking for a while.

Well that’s it, a little sample of Spiritualism I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful Halloween, if you do decide to have a reading with a friendly medium, remember to keep your mind open, give them simple yes or no answers, remember that it is not always your mom, nan, dad etc that come through sometimes it can simply be a life you have touched upon, like a neighbour, a teacher, an old boss. Think laterally when you are trying to find the person, it may not come to you straight away, so don’t dismiss it straight away, when you go home it will come to you. A good medium will try to bring you evidence of life everlasting, they don’t always give you names and addresses, so don’t be too hard on them.

Most important if you want a brilliant message don’t go in their with tunnel vision, what I mean is don’t go and see a medium thinking I want my dad to come through and no one else, because you can block the medium and make it hard for them to bring your loved ones to you. If you relax and understand that they are there to comfort you and not to scare you, they won’t tell be told all your skeletons from your closets, but they will give you information that only you would know to give you evidence of a spirit link. They may even give you a little info on what direction to take, but manly they are there to bring you evidence that your loved ones are safe and happy in the spirit world and are still watching over you.

I have only briefly touched on this subject; it is a lot more in depth than I could possibly write in one review. I wanted to give you a small insight and I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed telling you about it.


Lyn x
(Arnoldhenryrufus)

Summary: Communicating with spirit is a wonderful and uplifting experience