Psychic News online

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Psychic News - the independent voice of Spiritualism.

As a subscribing member of this site you can download the latest issue of the new Psychic News magazine, download previous issues, and read recent stories, articles and debates from the magazine. You can also share your thoughts, opinions and experiences via our interactive comments facility.

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From the pages of PN:

First ever state-sanctioned professional qualification for spiritualistic services

For the first time in the history of Spiritualism, national education regulators have approved a professional qualification for those providing spiritualistic services on a paid basis, writes Sue Farrow.

The brand new BTEC level 3 Advanced Award in Business Management of Spiritualistic Services is the brainchild of Simon Curwood, Operations Manager of the Spiritual Workers Association.

Simon told Psychic News that he and SWA office manager Miranda Curwood had been delighted to receive confirmation of the new BTEC course three weeks ago.

“It has taken two years for us to reach this point, and our first thought was – do we really have this? This was because we came very close to it a while ago, but 
it was withdrawn at the last minute. Now, we have it in writing from Edexcel [the UK’s largest educational awarding body] and we are extremely happy. It’s the first benchmark for the spiritualistic industry and as such is a massive 
responsibility, which scares me ever so slightly.” ...More
  

Andrew Hadley’s meteoric rise ends with shock departure

Andrew Hadley, controversial chairman of the Arthur Findlay College, has resigned. Or has he? writes Sue Farrow. A statement posted on the SNU website on Friday 13th April 2012 reads:

NEC Announcement - Mr Andrew Hadley OSNU With effect from Friday April 13th 2012 the NEC accepted the resignation of Mr Andrew Hadley OSNU as a Director of the Spiritualists’ National Union and as Chairman of the Arthur Findlay College Committee.  SNU President, David Bruton OSNU has been appointed as the Chairman of the Arthur Findlay College Committee. National Executive Committee, Spiritualists’ National Union.

Hadley, a successful businessman and director of numerous companies, has been a Spiritualist for less than a decade. Despite that, he has found his way to the inner circle of the SNU with what many have seen as astonishing speed, taking a seat on the Finance Committee at the invitation of the then financial director, now president, David Bruton. He was also appointed a trustee of the SNU Trust, a position which, according to a well-placed source, he has now relinquished... More

 
  

Widow reveals war hero’s spirit messages

The story of Staff Sergeant Olaf (Oz) Schmid was remarkable enough. An improvised explosive device brought the life of this top bomb disposal expert to an abrupt end, at the age of 30, on the last day of a five-and-a-half-month deployment to Afghanistan, in October 2009. He was awarded a posthumous George Medal for his heroism, which The Queen presented to his widow, Christina, at Buckingham Palace in 2010.

Now Christina (pictured above) has written a book about their life together which reveals a new dimension to the story: spirit messages from Oz have convinced her that he is still very much with her...More

 

Plenty to celebrate on anniversary of Hydesville

A cake decorated with an image of the Fox Sisters was enjoyed by the congregation of Woolston Spiritualist Church, Southampton, Hampshire, on Spiritualism’s anniversary (31st March). They certainly had plenty to celebrate.

It’s hard to believe, looking at the line-up of smiling faces, that a month earlier the SNU closed the church in response to a request from its committee. Declining attendance at the church, which has been in existence for over two decades, was said to be the main reason... More

The Hydesville Debate -
Has the Spiritualist movement failed?

by Leslie Price

Modern Spiritualism officially began in March 1848. The Fox family in Hydesville, New York State, were troubled by unexplained raps. It was learned by means of a code that they came from a murdered peddler.

Recently the Australian Spiritualist scholar Lis Warwood found a near-contemporary newspaper which named the peddler. She graciously permitted a reprint in the monthly journal Psypioneer in January 2012, whose editor Paul Gaunt had found an early book which gave a different name. Both names differ from the one used by the SNU, which derived from Emma Hardinge Britten. A fourth name appeared in a later American newspaper... More

Abortion: David Hopkins considers some of the complex issues involved...

There are many issues to consider when dealing with abortion, and this article will touch on some of them. When you have finished reading, you might want to consider this emotive and sensitive matter in a slightly different light. Certainly there will be no attempt to reach a definitive standpoint on the morality or ethics of abortion. As in all things, we have personal responsibility for the view we take; I have no right to say that the ideas I express have any more validity than anyone else’s. I simply ask you to take time to assess your own views.

Abortion is the process of ending a pregnancy before normal birth, thereby ‘killing’ the foetus, the unborn child. It must be an extremely difficult and painful process for any woman who faces the dilemma of whether or not to have a termination carried out, both at the time and subsequently... More

 

Respected SNU minister resigns

In a move which is unlikely to bring much comfort to the upper echelons of the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU), one of its ordained ministers has resigned, writes Susan Farrow.

Margaret Preece has been closely associated with the popular and successful Paignton Spiritualist Church and Centre for some twenty-five years. She has served the SNU in various capacities at both local and national levels and was ordained a minister in 2008.

She has also fostered strong links with other local faith groups via the Torbay Inter-Faith Forum, one of the oldest such groups in England.

Margaret’s resignation has come as a shock to many who know and respect her, but when asked to reconsider, she decided that she must stand by her decision... More.

  

  

Latest issue (5th May 2012) contents sample below:

     

Medium David Nason passes to spirit

The medium, healer and teacher David Nason has passed to spirit.

David (pictured), who was 68, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour in February and underwent a course of radiotherapy to try to shrink it. He was nursed at home by Shelly, his wife of more than 45 years, and made his transition in the early hours of 25th April. Shelly and the couple’s two children, Paul and Melanie, were at his bedside...

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Council needs more information before allowing mediumship meetings to be held

A former mayor of Glynneath, South Wales, announced at a recent town council meeting that she knew someone who committed suicide as a result of mediumship.

The topic under discussion, as reported in the South Wales Evening Post, was whether or not a Spiritualist group should be allowed to hold meetings in the newly converted former Bethania Chapel, now the Council Chamber and 
community centre...

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Father still speaks to tragic Amy

The father of singer Amy Winehouse (pictured) has revealed that he speaks to 
her through a medium.

Mitch Winehouse, devastated when his 27-year-old daughter died of alcohol poisoning in July last year, says he is still in contact with her, and she is delighted with her family’s efforts to help others through the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which they set up in her memory...

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World’s largest shared acupuncture experience is held in New York

You probably think going to an acupuncturist is like going to the dentist – in a private room, with one-to-one treatment from the practitioner.

A recent experiment in New York has changed all that, as Meryl Davids Landau explained in The Huffington Post. She received an invitation to “the world’s largest shared acupuncture experience.” It was to be held in a Miami hotel ballroom, and was sponsored by a top medical school.

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Trance mediumship demonstration available for all on DVD

Thanks to modern technology it is now possible to capture our healers and mediums in action on film, retaining unique recordings of them for all time.

Michael Courtney-Hunt, of Peterborough, has been promoting this facility for some years, graduating from basic recording equipment to the very latest.

“I originally started off in 1998,” he told Psychic News. “Together with close friend Neil Stroud I formed ‘Spiritsinc’. I was then using two video recorders from which I produced video tapes. I then moved on to computers to edit later productions which are now on DVD.”

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Co-founder of German spiritual college passes

Tina Olford (pictured), co-founder of the Lotus Spiritual College, in Germany, has passed to spirit.

Tina, the German wife of British medium John Olford, made her transition on 10th March following a long battle with cancer...

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Community spirit at Southport Unitarian/Spiritualist Church

Spiritualists in Southport, Lancashire, can rejoice in their newly refurbished home at the Unitarian church (pictured).

Formerly known as Pathways Spiritual Centre, the group is now named Portland Street Spiritualist Church. It has been an independent Spiritualist church since 2011.

Officers of the church have expressed the warmest thanks to their “wonderful congregation” who helped to decorate and furnish the building...

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PN and horses to the fore as medium packs Spiritualist church

Peter Keeffe reports on some “stunning mediumship” at Leicester Progressive Spiritualist Church and Training Centre.

Psychic News was to the fore at Leicester progressive Spiritualist Church and training Centre recently when medium Nicky Alan demonstrated stunning mediumship and brought moving evidence to a packed church. Our favourite Spiritualist paper was featured on the ticket desk and on a stand in the body of the hall attracting first time buyers and one or two returning readers. We asked a selection of folk who bought the paper what their first impressions were and everyone who bought a copy commented favourably on the colourful layout and attractive content of the new look PN...

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At one with Matisse

Liliana Alexandre has been a volunteer and researcher with the International Academy ofConsciousness in London since 1996. Here, she tells the extraordinary story of the ‘automatic’ painting of a Matisse figure through the combined hands of herself and her young brother.

Reading a recent issue of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research (SSPR) magazine I came upon Roy Stemman’s article ‘A Vincent van Gogh Now Adorns My Wall’ which reminded me of an experience I had when I was fifteen or sixteen.

Roy’s article reports how the Brazilian medium, Florencio Anton, has been producing works by deceased painters such as...

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Devon Spiritualist School

Former SNU minister Margaret Preece 
(pictured) now describes herself as a “liberated independent Spiritualist”.

Here, she shares her huge enthusiasm for the lively and innovative spring seminars run by the Devon Spiritualist School.

Sun-kissed or windswept, the mood cannot be dampened at the Devon Spiritualist School. High on the cliff edge at Babbacombe, in Torquay, with panoramic views as far as the Jurassic Coast, Lyme Regis and Portland, stands an elegant hotel reminiscent of the days of Victorian ladies descending upon Torbay to take the waters...

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Metaphysical You ~ The Aura

by Billy roberts
The word ‘aura’ is frequently used with little or no knowledge of its true meaning, when, for instance, we say that someone has “an aura of calmness” about them, or that a house has “an aura of warmth”.

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Where do I stand on Christianity?

by David Hopkins

As a Spiritualist, I am often asked where I stand on a range of issues. Living in what is historically a Christian country, my views on Jesus and Christianity are sometimes sought. As with all matters, I give those views without claiming that they represent all who call themselves Spiritualists.

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A personal experience of spiritual healing

Psychic Surgery and Distant Healing

by PN reader Richard Marshall

I would like to share with Psychic Newsreaders my experiences of psychic surgery and distant healing.

In 1990 I had an accident at work that culminated in a back injury as well as sciatica, both extremely painful conditions. My wife and I went along to the Mind Body and Soul Exhibition in London.

There was an array of different therapies on offer. The National Federation of Spiritual Healers had a stand, and I was in so much pain that I was willing to try anything at that point...

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21st April 2012:

 

Silver Birch’s real name revealed in new booklet

There can be few names in Spiritualism, or indeed in world-wide spiritual literature, as 
famous as that of ‘Silver Birch’, writes Sue Farrow.

But what do we actually 
know about the legendary guide, who communicated such profound and beautiful philosophical teachings through the trance mediumship of Psychic News founding editor Maurice Barbanell?

One thing we do know is that Barbanell was a decidedly reluctant trance medium.

“I was not keen on the 
trance condition,” he wrote, “probably through my vanity 
in wanting to know what was 
said and done through my 
bodily mechanism.”

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Ask a medium

Colin Fry answers your questions on 
aspects of mediumship

 Dear Colin,

 My wife is a working medium and sat in a development circle for many years before starting to work on platforms. She has always seen spirit, but a few months ago she started to hear things clairaudiently. This is great, but she says the communications are very faint and usually just a few words. Could you advise her about the best way to develop this gift that has come in? 

Best wishes, Derek

How many of us calling ourselves Spiritualists, and criticising the quality of many of today’s mediums, really think about the true meaning of Spiritualism and being a Spiritualist? Have we stopped to ask ourselves why, after over 150 years, relatively few people take us seriously or have any respect for the movement? Is it perhaps that so many calling themselves Spiritualists have their attention focused on the theatrical aspect of Spiritualism?

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Former mining town is a magnet for mysticism

Coal production has gone from the former mining town of Stanley, County Durham, and the community is reinventing itself as a New Age centre.

Stanley, as the local Evening Chronicle describes it – “built on grit, sweat and the blackened brows of men down the pit” – is becoming a magnet for mysticism.

As well as a Spiritualist church there are dream workshops, astrology and tarot card readings, dream interpretations, and psychic workshops.

One shop, Cauldron of Destiny, provides all this plus astrology advice, and the Chinese art of I Ching. There is also a mystic reference library. Cauldron of Destiny shares its premises with the local hardware shop...

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Still going strong after two major earthquakes and 8,000 aftershocks

Christchurch Spiritualist Church in New Zealand has suffered the effects of two major earthquakes and more than 8,000 aftershocks during the last two years.

A recent message from Minister Phyllis Fleming conveys the good news that despite all adversities the church is very much alive and well.

She writes: “We have been lucky to have one of the few remaining churches still standing. Although we have damaged walls and floor, we are still able to conduct our services each Sunday...

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Conan Doyle and Houdini correspondence goes on show

A fascinating correspondence between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the magician and escapologist Harry Houdini (pictured left) will be on view at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum throughout April.

The museum, in Charleston, USA, is housed in an old Methodist church. It is home to a series of manuscripts from the private collection of real-estate magnates David and Marsh Karpeles. Admission is free.

The glass cases, edged around the pews and pulpit, contain exhibits ranging from pages from Roget’s original Thesaurus to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s sketched map of the Antarctic...

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Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary travels north to Southport

Not everyone is able to attend the renowned Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary. Now the Burrows Lea team of healers has extended its services to different parts of the country.

Toni Jode (left), Healing Services Manager at Burrows Lea, reports the success of a Regional Healing Day at Southport Spiritualist Church.

“This church has been dedicated to Spiritualism for over a century, and proved to be the ideal venue,” she said.

“The aim of our Regional Healing Days is to provide an opportunity for those who write to us for distant healing, and cannot visit the Sanctuary for healing from Harry Edwards Registered Healers...

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Tutor offers a culinary job with spiritual prospects

A tutor at the Arthur Findlay College has overcome many obstacles  in her life in order to convey Spiritualist teachings to others.

Sheila French was a Sunday School teacher until she was 21. She first heard of Spiritualism when her mother-in-law sought healing while suffering from Motor Neurone disease, a terminal illness. She had a Spiritualist funeral, after which Sheila decided to join a circle.

This was followed by the beginning of her development at the College, immediately after the passing of Gordon Higginson...

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British medium to take a spiritual look at historical places

A new TV series now in preparation will provide a rare treat for those interested in the spiritual aspects of historical events and legendary geographical sites.

The Aegis Film Group seeks answers to a series of questions asked for generations, such as Where is the Ark of the Covenant buried? Where is the true final resting place of Mary? Where is the final resting place of her son Jesus? What was it like in the final hours of Pompeii? What did Nostradamus really want to know?

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Is There Anybody There?

A book review by Graham Jennings

Is There Anybody There?

By Bryan Gibson ~ Paperback
183 pages ~ £8.50
Saturday Night Press Publications

It is not only humans who are met at the time of physical death by friends and loved ones.

Medium Bryan Gibson (pictured) recalls how he once came to a lady in his local church to tell her that her father in spirit had a cat with him. “Yes,” she said. “It only died one hour ago, just before we came to church. It was run over.”

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Dowsing and 
your 
intuitive potential

Experienced dowser 
Jim Warwood is the leader of a Spiritualist mission in Adelaide, Australia. Here, he takes a look at the mysterious world of dowsing and explains why he believes it’s a psychic skill.

One psychic skill that has gained a level of acceptance is dowsing. In addition to its use by many farmers to find water, especially in Australia, dowsers around the world have received substantial payments for successfully finding valuable ore and oil deposits...

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What a difference a day makes...

by David Hopkins

What a difference a day makes…says the song. To remain topical I thought it interesting to take news stories on one day and look at them in the light of Spiritualist philosophy. I have chosen Tuesday 17th April 2012, for no reason other than it was the day I began this article.

It was the second day of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik. What an appalling series of events we saw unfolding last July. A bomb exploding, killing eight in Oslo, seemed bad enough, but then we had thrust into our vision pictures of those sixty-nine people being massacred unmercifully by a cold-blooded killer – like the horror films or violent computer games so popular with many young men...

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The meaning of a Spiritualist life

by Frederick Kenward

How many of us calling ourselves Spiritualists, and criticising the quality of many of today’s mediums, really think about the true meaning of Spiritualism and being a Spiritualist? Have we stopped to ask ourselves why, after over 150 years, relatively few people take us seriously or have any respect for the movement? Is it perhaps that so many calling themselves Spiritualists have their attention focused on the theatrical aspect of Spiritualism?

Mediums, physical or mental, are not Spiritualism and are not necessarily Spiritualists. For Spiritualism to take a step forward in this world of fast-failing religions, we must take the subject more seriously. We must not just accept our Seven Principles and recite them by rote as we do the Lord’s Prayer, more to confirm that we remember than to heed them...

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7th April 2012

Spiritualism is a ‘cutting edge’ religion, says professor

 Spiritualism does view issues from a more progressive point of view, and usually does precede everyday society in the general acceptance of current issues and controversies.

“Just as Spiritualism was on the cutting edge working towards the abolition of slavery in the 1850s, and embraced women and women’s rights at a time when society was fighting issues of equality with a vengeance, so does Spiritualism today embrace those searching honestly and purely for their own spiritual truth and place in society – regardless of their sexual orientation...

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Remembering one of Titanic’s most famous victims

The sinking of RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York, one hundred years ago this month, robbed Spiritualism of one of its most impressive pioneers – William Thomas Stead.

Stead was one of the 1,514 passengers and crew who perished after the giant “unsinkable” liner hit an iceberg. His death made headlines around the world.

As well as being an eminent Spiritualist, he was also an editor and pioneer of investigative journalism. Memorials to Stead were erected on London’s Victoria Embankment and in New York’s Central Park...

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Magazine pays tribute to Lodge’s ‘Spiritual Grandmother’

Ylana Hayward began life as the daughter of one of Britain’s most famous trance mediums – Grace Cooke, who for 70 years was the channel for White Eagle, a spiritual teacher who was the spokesman for the White Brotherhood.

By the time she completed her earthly life, on 7th September, 2011, having held many positions of responsibility within the White Eagle Lodge – including being its first general secretary – she had become its “Spiritual Grandmother”. Her passing was referred to in our feature, “The Way of the White Eagle Lodge” (Psychic News, 31st December 2011, Issue 4068)...

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Dalai Lama wins top award

The Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual and temporal leader of six million Tibetan Buddhists, has been awarded this year’s Templeton Prize, an honour worth $1.7 million. It is said to be the most prestigious award in religion.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, who describes himself as “nothing more than a simple Buddhist monk”, is the second Templeton Prize laureate to have also won the Nobel Peace Prize. The other recipient of both awards was Mother Teresa...

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Oscar-winning actress is out on a limb at Downton Abbey

We have just found out that Oscar-winning American actress Shirley MacLaine (pictured left) has recently returned to the US after spending some time in the UK filming her new role as Martha Levinson, the mother of Lady Grantham – played by  Elizabeth McGovern – in ITV’s popular period drama Downton Abbey, writes Paul Brett.

On her return, Shirley gave a telephone interview to Mark McLemore of Arizona Public Media while she was looking for a parking space in Los Angeles. She spoke about her live shows where she spills the beans by sharing her back-scene stories with film accompaniment...

 

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Rise in demand 
for psychic advice

How far should we allow psychics to control our lives? People often desperately need advice, and many look to mediums, psychics and seers to provide it, but the current trend in America is perhaps reaching unhealthy levels.

Elizabeth Fotinopoulos, a 64-year-old New York “seer”, boasts of her powers. “I run people’s lives,” she told the New York Post.  “I run their marriages, help them make money. People have changed careers, left relationships or adopted children because I told them to do so.”

Some even move home or change careers. George de la Pena, an actor, was told by Elizabeth to change direction and he accepted a post running a department at the University of Iowa in 2005...

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Protecting spiritual standards

SIMON CURWOOD (left) understands why the UK government introduced its Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs) in 2008 but, as operations manager of the Spiritual Workers Association, he is now leading a campaign for new legislation that recognises genuine mediumship and protects spiritual workers. He explains why to PN editor Sue Farrow...

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Through the tunnel… and back

Martin Brofman, developer of the Body Mirror System of Healing, recalls the NDE that changed his life

I was at the Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia. I had just been told that I had a “blockage” in my spinal cord, from the fourth to the seventh cervical vertebrae at the level of the neck, that had been responsible for the symptoms I had been experiencing. My right arm was paralysed, my legs were spastic and there were sensations like electric shocks running through my body when I moved my head.

I was told that I had to have an operation immediately, and that if I lived through the operation I might come out of it a quadriplegic. When I asked if I had time for a second opinion, I was told that if I coughed or sneezed at that time, I might die. Naturally, I agreed to have the operation in a few hours...

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When is a medium not a medium?

Billy Roberts asks why preacher is allowed to give ‘messages’ on TV

Flicking through the television channels on Thursday, my only night off, I came across an obscure channel titled Ben Live TV, and was surprised to see a religious programme, Prophetic Resurrection Ministries, presented by a Nigerian preacher, whose name now escapes me, but whose quick-fire, indistinct dialogue was interspersed with “Praise Jesus”, as well as other repetitive religious phrases that I could not understand.

The programme was obviously a psychological ploy designed to entice people to become devotees of the Billy Graham-style preacher and his London-based church...

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Six reasons why meditation appears so difficult

By Meditation and Yoga Nidra adepts Ed and Deb Shapiro

We were teaching a meditation programme in North Wales, UK, in a quiet backwater near the hills. It was a peaceful day, everyone was happily seated and we had just rung the gong to begin the morning session when a motorbike started revving right outside the window.

It was a loud and annoying noise that continued – stopping and starting – while the owner did repair work. It reminded us how English church bells can ring all day and during meditation retreats we would often be confronted with the question: How do you stop the bell? Answer: Become the bell!

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Comments and views

by David Hopkins

As an individual, I believe I have a right to have views and express comment on any matter which interests me or about which I have concerns.

I have never lived in South Africa and certainly did not while Nelson Mandela was in prison. Does that mean I cannot have views on apartheid? I have never murdered anyone or had links with anyone who has murdered or been murdered or links with any families involved, as far as I know. Does that mean I cannot discuss capital punishment?

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Less Incomplete

A book review by Graham Jennings 

Less Incomplete
by Sandie Gustus ~ Paperback
321 pages ~ O Books ~ £15.99

Was ever a book’s title so apparently uninspiring, yet so perfect in its description of the subject matter – a more evolved human?

Everyone inhabits a physical body, an energy body, an astral body and a mental body. All are manifestations of individual consciousness, not just the physical. 

Yet most people still think the physical is all there is, which is why they are incomplete as consciousness human beings. The few, however, who learn how to utilise the extra-physical bodies become progressively, well Less Incomplete. 

Moreover, only by learning how to utilise these bodies can we begin to explore the multi-dimensional universe in which we live. To do this it is necessary to leave the physical body for a while...

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24th March 2012

 

Arthur Findlay College is paid
a visit by The Sunday Times

Two-and-a-half million readers of The Sunday Times have been given an unprecedented insight into the workings of The Arthur Findlay College – and much of it is far from flattering.

The feature by Katie Glass, headlined “Play mystic for me” (18 March, 2012), paints a picture of rather strange individuals seeking to develop mediumship, possibly attracted by the fact that “psychics are building business empires from speaking to the dead”.

The journalist explains that she was at the Stansted college “training to become a professional medium”, having enrolled on “the Professional Mediumship Course, £440 for a week”...

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Former AFC chairman
no longer a Class B member

Duncan Gascoyne (pictured),  Andrew Hadley’s predecessor as chairman of the Arthur Findlay College and also the Spiritualists’ National Union president for nine years, has not renewed his Class B membership of the Union.

The fact that Gascoyne has ended his direct involvement with the Spiritualist organisation he ran for so long has led to much speculation among his former colleagues...

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Survivors appear to be suffering
from paranormal after-effect
of Japanese tsunami

Two weeks after the devastating killer wave had come and gone, there were the first reports of people being haunted by ghosts of those who had perished in the dual onslaught of earthquake and tsunami.

One of those who experienced a haunting was a 36-year-old building contractor. Under the assumed name of Takeshi Ono he gave The Times reporter Richard Lloyd Parry an account of his experiences...

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Sound Healing Journeys

Is this your last chance to catch
popular overtone singer in the UK?

If you fancy your spiritual refreshment to be a little bit different over the coming weeks, you’d be well advised to visit one of Rami Shaafi’s concerts and workshops before he leaves the UK for other shores to share his passion for divine service through sound, writes Paul Brett.

Multi-instrumentalist Rami, 36, (pictured) has been aware of the spirit world since he was a small boy. Later in life he learned to work with it through healing, meditation, mediumship, clairvoyance, sensitivity and trance...

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Winifred Wilson
- Some Reminiscences

Winifred Wilson (pictured left) was the wife of prominent Spiritualist Percy Wilson. She was a woman with a first-class  brain and a vast knowledge of Spiritualism. Here, we publish her recently discovered memoir for the first time.

During my pre-school days in Nottingham, my parents became interested in Spiritualism. A close friend, Mr McCaig, who had introduced the subject to them, passed on. One day I surprised my mother by walking into my parents’ lock-up shop, about a mile from the house we shared with my Christadelphian grandmother...

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Colin fights back at
the Spiritualist critics

Colin Fry (left) is known to millions around the world through his televised demonstrations of mediumship. A Spiritualist from the age of fifteen, he has nevertheless sometimes been criticised by fellow Spiritualists for his TV work.

Currently on a nationwide tour, he speaks frankly to PN editor Sue Farrow about his commitment to Spiritualism, his imminent ordination as a minister and his passion for revitalising today’s Spiritualist movement...

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Spring has sprung
and what’s not 
to like?

Reader Peter Keeffe (pictured) takes a cheerful look at the coming of spring – not just in our gardens but in our churches and centres too.

We’re Spiritualists, part of the world’s most optimistic religion, science and philosophy. The daffodils are all out apart from those that Alice our cocker spaniel puppy sat on in the back garden. You can see how sorry she was from the photo below!  And, if you’re lucky, the sun may well be shining while you read this. If it isn’t, it soon will be...

 

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To See Ourselves...

by David Hopkins

Most of us have an idea of the English ‘translation’ of Burns’ famous lines: the wish that God had given us the facility to “see ourselves as others see us”. I wonder what we would really make of some of their views.

I was prompted to raise this issue when I heard about a vociferous attack on a British-born medium, living in Sweden, who has built a good reputation in that country over some years. The medium had booked a local hall, leading to an article criticising the authorities for allowing a public demonstration to take place...

 

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10th March 2012

 

Portland Spiritualist Church celebrates first anniversary

Birthday greetings to Portland Spiritualist Church in Dorset, which celebrated its first anniversary on 6th March.

The birth of a new Spiritualist church is always exciting, and founder president Valerie McGowan (known as Val) told Psychic News how the church had its beginnings.

“In 2001 I was travelling in my friend’s car en route to a local Spiritualist church,” said Val. “All of a sudden I announced, ‘I’m going to start a church.’ No one was more surprised than myself.

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New online catalogue from The Swedenborg Society

  The Swedenborg Society, one of London’s oldest unorthodox centres,  has taken a giant leap into the 21st century by putting its library catalogue and archives online for public access, writes Leslie Price.

The society was founded in 1810 to publish the works of Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772, shown left), the Swedish scientist who reported his perceptions of the spirit world in his 1758 book Heaven and Hell, written in Latin.

Swedenborg’s writings greatly influenced Andrew Jackson Davis and other pioneers of Spiritualism in the 1840s.

Since 1925, the society 
has been located at 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London, and on 23rd February this year the first section of its catalogue’s 2,600 items went online.

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A positive move for Erdington Christian Spiritualist Church

After twenty-one years in its original home, Erdington Christian Spiritualist Church has successfully settled into new premises.

Linda Wilson, co-founder trustee and president of the church, states on the church website that they have received “nothing but positive and loving feedback” from visiting mediums and congregation.

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The passing of Ron Pratt

by Sue Farrow

We regret to report the passing of Ron Pratt, a member of Stourbridge Spiritualist Church for 60 years, and its honorary vice-president since 2004. Ron, who was 80, passed suddenly at his home on Friday 2nd March.

Over the six decades of his association, Ron served the church in many capacities – 
as speakers’ secretary, vice-president, and, together with his long-time partner Ted, a member of the social committee.

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Worksop prepares for Diamond Jubilee

Worksop Spiritualist Church, Notting-hamshire, is 60 years old this year, and will hold its Diamond Jubilee celebrations in September. 

Spiritualism in Worksop has been active since the 1930s, and like so many pioneering groups, it had no permanent home and had to meet in various hired rooms around the town. Perhaps Worksop is unique in the fact that one of its venues was above a tripe shop!

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The Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary

The UK’s healing jewel in the crown

by Sue Farrow

 Anyone who has visited Burrows Lea, the world-renowned Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary, will know that from the moment you turn into its long driveway you are met with a view so beautiful that it takes your breath away. Parking my car about twenty metres in, I stared out across the Surrey Hills from my high vantage point and stood for a moment absorbing the 
absolute stillness.

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 Ask a medium

Stewart Alexander answers your questions on all aspects of physical mediumship

Dear Stewart,

Our circle has been sitting every week for four years. Two months ago our trumpet moved for the first time. It did not go far (just a few inches off the ground) but we could all see it because of the luminous strip on it and we were so excited. Since then it has not moved at all and we are a bit puzzled. The sitters and the room and the music are all exactly the same as when it did move. Did this happen to you when you were developing? Can you explain why it could move once in our circle but not any more? Tim

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 Planetary Consciousness and Earth Energies

by Billy Roberts

Although the suggestion was made by amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins in 1921 that ley lines geographically align places of historical significance such as megaliths and other ancient monuments, natural ridge-tops and water fords, much of what the majority now knows of these alleged sacred channels is based on supposition and conjecture.

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Mediumship and spiritual surgery

A Personal Experience by Louisa Sullivan

On 2nd March 2012 Ray Brown and Warren Day joined together for the first time to demonstrate their amazing gifts to 75 members of the public at the atmospheric White Horse Hotel, four hundred years old, in Hertingfordbury.

The event had been planned since October 2011, so interest had built up locally and nationally. Advance ticket sales exceeded all expectations, and guest flew in from Iceland and India for the demonstration.

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Free-thinking Spiritualism

by Andy Byng

 

The term ‘free-thinker’ in Spiritualism has become synonymous with the idea that we can believe in whatever we like, but this is a far cry from what the term actually means. The word free-thinker emerged in England during the seventeenth-century, and signified a person who stood in opposition to the Church, and a literal belief in the Bible.

In fact, free-thinkers generally held the view that we could understand the world by examining nature, hence we should formulate arguments on the basis of science, logic and reason, and not authority, tradition and dogma. It is correct, however, to state that Spiritualism is a free-thinking religion, as it is grounded in reason, logic and science, and does not allow dogma and authority to influence it.

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Spirit Gems

A book review by Graham Jennings

Spirit Gems

by Glyn Edwards & Santoshan
Paperback ~ 126 pages
S. Wollaston ~ £10.99

“The true Self,” writes Santoshan, “is all-loving, compassionate and understanding, and dwells in the hearts of all.”

Throughout the ages, all the truly spiritual teachings have proclaimed this simple truth. When it is time to leave the physical body, it is the true self that continues to exist in what we call the spirit realms.

Sooner or later we shall all experience the great change, when we pass into the next dimension, where existence is purely spiritual. However, those same teachings also show us how to realise our true spiritual nature while still in the physical body, and live a spiritual life here and now.

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25th February 2012

Golden Jubilee for Telford First

This year marks a Golden Jubilee for Telford First Spiritualists’ National Union Church, which is celebrating its 50 years of affiliation to the SNU...

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Medium’s book is now a valuable collector’s item

Medium Ronald Hearn’s (left) first book, The Little Dutch Boy, published by the Book Guild in 1993, has become a collector’s item. 

The highly sought-after volume is being used as an authoritative text book by students in various countries who are interested in studying mediumship and spirit communication.

Second-hand copies are being sold at inflated rates and an autographed first edition is now being advertised for sale on the internet at £62...

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A spirited break beside the sea

Derek Robinson (left), long-time president (now honorary vice-president) of Wimbledon Spiritualist Church, has declared himself delighted with the church’s recent festival at the Sand Bay Holiday Village, Weston-super-Mare.

“This certainly is the festival everyone wants to be at!” he told Psychic News proudly. “It’s just what I hoped for when Keith Charles (below)and I conceived the idea twelve years ago – Spiritualists of all ages and stages of progression attending a weekend with a packed programme of workshops and letures by top mediums.”

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The development of trance mediumship

Robert Goodwin is widely regarded as the finest philosophical trance medium in the Spiritualist movement. In this exclusive interview with editor Sue Farrow he discusses many issues relating to trance mediumship and talks about the extraordinarily trusting relationship he enjoys with his guide White Feather...

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The Mediumship & Psychic Art of Sandy Ingham

 A review

by Graham Jennings

 For once in his busy, loquacious life well-known medium Stephen Holbrook was speechless – a rare event! While sharing a platform with Sandy Ingham, she had drawn a portrait of Terry Sutton, his friend and mentor from earlier days. It was so lifelike he couldn’t wait to show Terry’s widow Eileen. She compared it with the photo of Terry in her handbag. They were exactly alike!

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White light, ectoplasm, an apport and other phenomena

Ann Harrison 
shares her impressions 
of the third festival of 
physical mediumship at the Acacia Centre in the Murcia region of Spain, which included séances 
with medium 
Kai Muegge.

On Tuesday morning, 7th February, fifteen of the eighteen delegates assembled at the Acacia Centre of Robert and Barbara McLernon. As well as a number of the regulars at the centre, visitors had flown in from the USA, Australia and the UK. Very few of us were known to Kai and his fiancée Julia before this meeting, but we were quickly to become friends...

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Christianity and Spiritualism

Long-time PN reader Frederick Kenward shares his views on reconciling Christianity and Spiritualism.

Throughout the years, difficulties have been experienced in reconciling Christianity and Spiritualism. Both have sincere followers, each seeking security and peace of mind, and both bodies having thinking in common. Most problems arise from differences in understanding dictat and guidance, and with the will to do so, these can be reconciled..

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Spiritual Writing

Ever had a secret ambition to write a spiritual book? US spiritual author and life coach Cheryl Richardson (left) could well be the one to make your dream come true...

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Preston Manor Brighton – 
the true life inspiration for 
The Haunting of Tabitha Grey

Popular children’s author Vanessa Curtis is known for her perceptive and sometimes humorous novels about the joys and sorrows of adolescence. Her latest book, The Haunting of Tabitha Grey, is on an entirely different theme. In this abridged article, she describes the real-life events that led her to write on the paranormal for the first time.

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11th February 2012

 

Sally Morgan press batterings are likened to a witch hunt

Sally Morgan (left), publicised as “Britain’s best loved psychic,” has demanded £150,000 from Associated Newspapers over a Daily Mail story which cast doubts on her mediumship...

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Paedophile self-styled psychic found hanged in prison cell

A convicted paedophile, self-styled medium and former TV psychic was found hanged in his Manchester prison cell on the evening of 23rd January...

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Psychic services available at indoor market

Stevenage Indoor Market, which advertises some 50 businesses under its roof, now includes psychic services among its many facilities...

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Hearing Dogs for Deaf People charity receives profit from circle’s work

Over a period of eleven years, Katie Halliwell (left) has painstakingly chronicled the work of Stewart Alexander’s circle, writes Sue Farrow.

The writing of her three books – known collectively as The Alexander Project Trilogy – has been a labour of love for which she has taken no payment at all. As a mark of appreciation, Stewart and his circle have now decided to donate all profits from the books and their accompanying CDs to a charity which has special meaning for Katie...

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Stewart Alexander joins PN

We’re delighted to announce that physical medium Stewart Alexander will be joining Psychic News as a columnist...

 

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Mediumistic doctor is not afraid to speak out

North London GP Dr Ian Rubenstein (pictured) came to public attention in 2009 when he took part in a Channel 4 documentary about Walthamstow Spiritualist Church. In the first part of his PN interview he described the extraordinary events that heralded the awakening of his mediumship. Here, he talks to Sue Farrow about his development, a wholly unexpected first meeting with his spirit guide, and some of the ethical questions surrounding mediumship in a doctor’s surgery. 
Sue began by asking Ian if he was still sitting in a development circle...

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Why I believe in an afterlife

Marc Berman’s psychic quest led him to TV mediums John Edward and Jeffrey Wands, among others. He now believes in spirit communication and life after death...

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Council refuses to hire room to homeless church

Middleton Independent Spiritualist Church has been forced to hold its services in a room in a public house due to the local council’s refusal to allow its community centres to be used for religious events...

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Life Before Life

by Lis Warwood

The words ‘Life before life’ are not a reference to any reincarnation theory, but to the notion that every spirit has some form of existence in the spirit realms before entering into physical incarnation...

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Colin Fry joins PN

We’re delighted to announce that medium Colin Fry will be joining Psychic News as a columnist...

 

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Ev or Rev?

by David Hopkins

As 2011 came to a close there were the usual reminiscences. For me, it is often the looking back at the lives of people and what they did (and why), that proves of real interest. One such review was a two-parter about a man I think played an enormously important role in the latter part of the century, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...

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When Emma came 
to Lancashire

by Leslie Price

“As my sister, Mrs Wilkinson, after being with us some time, at length felt obliged to return to England to rejoin her husband, who was unable to leave his engagement there, and our dear and now aged mother required the quiet and seclusion of home, we finally broke up our Boston practice, and took our beloved mother to England, there to rest and live peacefully with my sister and her husband.” Autobiography, Mrs Britten, p.225...

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Impressions of a physical séance...

PN reader Freddie Giddings shares his personal impressions of a recent sitting with physical medium Bill Meadows (pictured left)...

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28th January 2012

 

Do animals have souls?

Your chance to read opposing views
on a spiritual subject and then join in
the debate via our comments facility

Against

by Andy Byng

The notion that animals are immortal may appear to be a truism. However, when we critically examine the issue at hand it becomes rather more clouded. The relationships we experience with our pets, and the appreciation most of us have for the animal kingdom, foster sentimentalism...

For

by Sue Farrow

What is a soul? That’s an article in itself. For Wikipedia it’s the “incorporeal essence” – the non-physical part of ourselves. From the book Philosophy of Spiritualism it’s “the immortal spiritual component of a living being.”

I love animals, as Andy says he does. I have a dog who brought my soul (the essence of me) back to life after the death of my partner...

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Spiritualists tell of their ordeal on sinking cruise ship Costa Concordia

There can be few of us who did not stare in horrified amazement on Friday 13th January at the real-time television coverage of the sinking Italian cruise-liner, the Costa Concordia. The sight of such a massive ship listing ever closer to the water, its funnel almost parallel to the sea, was an awesome spectacle.

But if viewing the television pictures in the safety and comfort of our own homes was horrifying, it’s almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like to experience the events as a passenger on the stricken vessel...

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A Hankering after Ghosts: Charles Dickens and the supernatural

by Angela Redditch

This is the title of a 
small, intriguing (and free!) exhibition showing in London at the moment. Why intriguing? Well, for any exhibition to feature the supernatural is, to say the least, unusual: and this one is in a major national venue – the British Library, no less...

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Happy Release to Release the Unhappy?

by David Hopkins

Recently a Commission on Assisted Dying suggested that MPs should consider changing the law relating to assisted suicide in order to allow terminally ill people to end their lives at home with the help of a doctor, as long as strict safeguards are observed. These would include having two independent doctors being satisfied with the diagnosis, the individual concerned being made aware of all the help available and making the decision voluntarily without any pressure...

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Found – the house that Emma built

Researcher Marc Demarest unearths Massachusetts home of Spiritualist pioneer Emma Hardinge Britten (left) and discovers it largely in its original form.

A new link has been discovered in the much-travelled life of the great pioneer Spiritualist, Emma Hardinge Britten...

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Mediumistic doctor keeps an open mind

Dr Ian Rubenstein is a north London GP with a difference – he’s a medium and makes no secret of it with his colleagues and patients. He studied medicine at Nottingham University, qualifying in 1978, and is also a medical acupuncturist and bereavement counsellor.

Since 1984 he has practised medicine at the Eagle House Surgery in Enfield. 
Sue Farrow put it to him that it might be an unusually open-minded surgery...

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Part 2 of White Feather on reincarnation through the trance mediumship of Robert Goodwin

In the previous issue of PN we published the first part of a philosophical trance address given at Stourbridge church by White Feather through the medium Robert Goodwin (pictured). Part 2 of White Feather’s address is reproduced here, with Robert’s kind permission...

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Lily Dale UK – a residential community for Spiritualists?

At Lily Dale, America’s longest established (and the world’s oldest) residential community for Spiritualists, they still remember what a New York Timesreporter said to interviewee Hilda Wilkinson.

According to the story, he told Hilda, then still a working medium who had first 
arrived in Lily Dale over 
seventy-five years earlier, and after she’d fed him a nice lunch, that he didn’t believe 
a thing he’d heard. He added that he didn’t know how 
anyone could believe such nonsense...

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14th January 2012

 

Pioneer’s gravestone has been discovered

UK Spiritualists are well aware of the tremendous effort led by Norwich Spiritualist Church president Linda Smith to restore the dilapidated grave of pioneer Emma Hardinge Britten.

New Zealand Spiritualists are showing a similar respect for one of their most remarkable pioneers, Jane Elizabeth Harris-Roberts (pictured) who passed in 1942...

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Psychic News’ return was the ‘best ever Christmas present’

News of Psychic News’ resurrection has been received with great delight in New Zealand.

The Spiritualist Alliance’s Communicator leads its December issue with the headline: ‘Spiritualism’s Best Ever Christmas Present!’

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Last minute reprieve for famous occult shop

A 113-YEAR-OLD esoteric bookshop, temporarily closed in February 2010, was rescued at the last minute by an American entrepreneur.

When reporting the story at that time we were not to know how closely it would resemble the future closure and rebirth of Psychic News itself...

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David Thompson’s former circle leader on physical mediumship

Paul Barker (pictured) is an experienced and respected leader of physical circles, including David Thompson’s. He is known for his uncompromising determination that all things in a séance room, whether occurring in light or pitch dark, should be carried out with absolute integrity. He set out on his spiritual journey with a distinctly sceptical mindset, initially pursuing his search for answers as the result of a bet.

Here, he talks to Susan Farrow about the frequently misunderstood world of physical medium- ship (PM). Sue began by asking him how he first became interested in PM...

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Spiritualist or Survivalist: which are you?

by David Hopkins

I choose to describe myself as a Spiritualist and in so doing align myself with the religious philosophy of Spiritualism.

The long-running discussion of ‘religion’ or ‘way of life’ was tackled in The Religion of Spiritualism...

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Spotlight on the churches: Wimbledon Spiritualist Church - a family affair

 by Paul Brett

A spirit message by way of a ouija board was all that Richard Arthur Bush needed to set up a regular meeting place for Spiritualists in and around south west London’s Wimbledon...

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So you want to run an open development circle

by Jim Warwood

You want to help your Spiritualist church or centre develop, so you offer to run an open circle. You hope that people will find out more about their own potential whilst being exposed to the philosophy of Spiritualism. You have a good knowledge of Spiritualism, an understanding of psychic development and maybe some mediumistic abilities...

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White Feather on reincarnation through the trance mediumship of Robert Goodwin

We’ve all heard (or made) the complaint that today’s mediumship is not up to the standard of the past, and nowhere is that trend more apparent than in the area of philosophical trance communication.

The teaching that came from guides such as Silver Birch, Red Cloud and White Eagle is loved and revered by Spiritualists around the world, but which guide today can speak with a similar combination of gentle authority and great knowledge?

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What can jigsaw puzzles teach us about spirituality?

by Lynda Flower

It’s hard to imagine that a jigsaw puzzle has anything in common with spirituality. But as anyone trying to investigate the spiritual side of life will tell you, it is often like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Looking at the picture on the box, it seems straightforward and simple enough. But once you open the box, take out the pieces and start putting them together, it can be much more difficult than you first imagined.

So just what is the connection between a jigsaw puzzle and spirituality…

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31st December 2011

 

Sacked Spiritualist takes case to European Court of Human Rights

Spiritualist Alan Power, sacked from his job with Greater Manchester Police (GMP), for what he believes are his religious and psychic interests, has applied for his case for unfair dismissal to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Mr Power, 64, of Birkenhead, Merseyside, lost his job in October 2008 after it was learned that he had tried to involve officers in his psychical research. Police cited “his interests in the psychic field” which were “not compatible” with his employment. Alan Power has always maintained that the case is one of religious discrimination…

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Was red-top right to be uncomplimentary about ‘Our Ken’s’ 2012 views?

Actor William Roache, famous as Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow, has been described in the Daily Mirror as having given “a bizarre TV interview”.

Columnist Simon Boyle wrote that 79-year-old Roache “has gone Lancashire hot potty” in an appearance on Sky TV’s The Moore Show. Roache told host Kevin Moore that all humans will soon communicate by telepathy…

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Spirit of Youth: how Andy Byng views future Spiritualism

A glance around many of our Spiritualist churches and centres (and many orthodox churches, too) will quickly reveal that young people are heavily outnumbered by those from older generations.

It might be something we’d rather not talk about, but can we afford to ignore it? Without a steady influx of younger members a religion will inevitably wither and die…

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Aboriginal Spirituality: respecting spirit presence

For the Aboriginal people of Australia, spirituality and an ongoing connection with their spirit ancestors have been a fundamental part of life for tens of thousands of years.

In an interview with Australian journalist Lynda Flower, Aboriginal senior man and academic Michael Williams gives a fascinating insight into the rich spiritual heritage which links past and present with unbroken continuity...

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Have researchers found a skeleton in Emma’s cupboard?

Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899) is best known as the medium for the Seven Principles of Spiritualism.

She was the leading early Spiritualist historian, whose works are still indispensable today.

But she was also involved in a literary controversy, which has just been revived by a new book…

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The way of the White Eagle Lodge

White Eagle Lodge is a worldwide spiritual organisation with centres in the UK, mainland Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The organisation, now a registered charity, was founded in 1936 by the medium Grace Cooke, through whom White Eagle communicated his gentle philosophy of spiritual living, attracting large numbers to his legendary trance addresses.

Colum Hayward is a grandson of Grace Cooke and is deeply involved in the day-to-day work of what is still in many respects a family-run organisation…

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The Principles in a new light

by David Hopkins

 It would be not unreasonable to assume that someone brought up as a Spiritualist and who has spent over fifty years as a member of the SNU would consider the Seven Principles sacrosanct and virtually untouchable, as they are so bound up with that body, its beliefs and its presentation.

How many times have I heard it said that the philosophy of Spiritualism is based on those Seven Principles? Well, what if we turned that on its head and said that the Principles are based on the philosophy of Spiritualism?...

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17th December 2011

 

If you wish to read the 17th December 2011 issue of Psychic News, please click here to download it for free in pdf format. Preston Manor Brighton – 
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