Psychic News The independent voice of Spiritualism

There have been many accounts of people being aware of loved ones around and a large number of instances have involved neither a medium nor clairvoyance. Some people simply “know” a loved one is close, and that knowing is not just wishful thinking. When it occurs, this knowing is unmistakeable.

Others have received and reported signs that are too numerous in variety to record in detail here, but let us be clear: not every bird or butterfly that flutters past is a sign from Spirit.

When those in the spirit world give such signs, they are not the same for everyone, but they will be consistent for each recipient. Once such a sign has been seen and acknowledged, the recipient will have set up a dialogue with Spirit, indicating that when this sign is seen its significance will be understood.

In sleep, many people, particularly if exhausted or emotionally drained, have had brief but very real experiences of loved ones in Spirit. They will see, touch or hear them, very briefly but so real that, on awakening, they feel the need to tell someone of their experience.

Often this is met with a polite, “That’s nice” but with little belief expressed. Remember, the person you are telling did not have your profound experience.

I think when we sleep we let go of fears, inhibitions and prejudices and our spirit rises because of this, and we often go to a point where true mediumship operates. Famous medium Gordon Higginson once said: “If people have genuinely seen Spirit, they will never mistake it for anything else. They will know!”

Ask and you will receive. But don’t demand or expect it all to happen how you want it to.

 
Why are some mediums sensitive from an early age but others have to work hard to develop?

I think all mediums are constantly developing, or they should be! Speaking as one who was aware from an early age, it was a rather lonely, confusing time, though I accepted the happenings around me as normal.

I did not understand them and have been eternally grateful to medium Peter Close who introduced me to fellow mediums Gaye Muir and Ivy Northage. Each in turn taught me the “mechanics of mediumship”.

When I went into development classes, I could not understand why most of the other students were so old. They were at least… 40! Many had a hard time seeing auras let alone Spirit and there I was, at 16, witnessing such things for years but not understanding them.

Gaye Muir (left) and Ivy Northage taught Robert the “mechanics of mediumship”

I soon realised seeing and witnessing Spirit does not, in itself, prepare you for the responsibility of working as a medium. It dawned on me that the others in the development circle had some 20-odd years’ experiences of life and how to deal with people and their sensitivities. That was something I did not have.

I think this gives us a clue to understanding what might have gone wrong with today’s standards of mediumship. Witnessing, seeing and communicating with Spirit alone does not make you a good medium. One needs to add empathy, which comes only from experience of life.

Too many mediums are being pushed to the forefront because of their sensational presentation without any consideration of the benefits this may have to enhance our clients’ lives.

Mediumship is like a surgeon’s scalpel: in the hands of the trained it can produce near miracles; in untrained hands it can create a bloody mess.

PS: As I move on in age, I acknowledge that 40 was never old and now 70 could be seen as middle aged!

  
I have read that every life has a purpose. Do you agree? There are many people whose lives clearly do have a purpose, but the lives of others seem to involve hardship, bringing up a family and working long hours, just to survive. Do you believe every life has a purpose and, if so, how does one discover what that purpose is?

YES! Not all are meant to shine as beacons to the world and such lives are rarely easy or enviable. But each has an opportunity to illumine parts of their world. If only each would light one candle!

Is it not a constant theme of much of what we hear from Spirit: it is not “who” or “what” we are but “why” and “how” we do it?

The purpose of life is to find your gift. The meaning of life is to share it.

The poem The Dash by Linda Ellis is appropriate in offering an answer to this question. You will find it easily on the Internet, or just go to psychicnews.co.uk and click on the link you’ll find there.

 
Why is there evil in the world? I sometimes think it is necessary to help us learn lessons – but that seems to be a selfish view, since the evil causes suffering to many people.

Evil is a necessity to show us what not to do and to remind us and reinforce the knowledge of the universal law of free will. For eons, evil has been a force within this world and each brush with it has produced some who will declare “never again”.

Yet does mankind as a whole adhere to the lessons of the past? No! Therefore, situations and events are repeated time and again and will continue until we all stand as one and agree to respect all life as equal, and to eschew greed, poverty, inequality and prejudices.

Only when humankind shows that it has used the gift of free will correctly will there be no need for evil.

Interesting thought: some of our closest animal relatives, the elephant and rhino among them, are facing extinction from this world as a direct result of mankind’s free will. On a deeper note, I wonder if they are leaving out of shame at being associated with us?

I do believe that mankind has an opportunity here to save these wonderful animals for all and, in doing so, realise that what we can do for them we should also be willing to do for each other. Perhaps the animal kingdom has much more to show us about the possibilities of harmonious co-existence than our egos currently allow us to see?

 
Do all religions lead to God? And do you believe that Spiritualism has more to offer than others?

Only to those who follow that religion. In the Christian New Testament, it is stated, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions”. Could this mean that there are many pathways to the one home?

If we accept the concept that all religions are but maps for this life’s journey that can lead us home, and if we adhere to those maps we will all arrive at the same destination. All these maps (or religions) have a central route in common. It is “The Golden Rule” (the rule of the highway?).

“Do unto others as you wish others to do unto you”. However, man has taken this central route and, for reasons as diverse as culture, hygiene, superstition, prejudice, racial superiority and sometimes downright stupidity, has turned the maps into complex highways with diversions, one-way streets, dead ends, detours and stop lights that rarely have anything to do with the true spiritual pathway home.

So many religions ask the follower to believe and accept without question: “To faith add knowledge”. Spiritualism, however, suggests “To knowledge add faith”.

I believe, at its very best, Spiritualism has an opportunity to prove the continuity of life and, in doing this, it could or should have an effect on how people conduct themselves here and now.

A Monsignor I know in New York first came to see me incognito after he heard a number of his parishioners had visited me. He later told me he came to see if I was hoodwinking his flock as many had had relatives who had been caught in the atrocities of 11 September 2001. He feared their vulnerability might be taken advantage of.

Later still, after we became firm friends, he told me: “I believe the work you do is akin to what we Catholics call the Communion of Saints”.

I thought that a lovely compliment.
 

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