Tag: Spiritual

  • Spiritual Service – what’s happening?

    Spiritual Service – what’s happening?

    Prayer and worship, lectures and inspirational speaking is not a new thing. It’s been around since the beginning of civilisation. The hierarchy and structure of society, praying to God or a deity, listening to insightful philosophers or engaging storytellers. It is all around building energy to give power and self-realisation to an individual or group consciousness.

    Spiritual services come in many forms from church services for the major religions, to yoga sessions, sharing circles and book readings.

    Many churches hold a Sunday service and within the religion of Spiritualism they are called a Divine Service. They generally follow a standard format.

    • Opening Prayer
    • Healing
    • Reading
    • Philosophy
    • Demonstration (Of mediumship – continuation of life)
    • Closing prayer

    What is happening in the energy during a Divine Service?

    Think in terms of energy. We all are aware of energy on a greater degree than our conscious mind allows us to realise. Understanding the flow, push and pull of energy, we know this on a fundamental level and can recognise it within one the simple truth. We all have people in our lives that fall in to two basic categories, the ones who inspire and leave us feeling uplifted, and the others who leave us drained and seeing the glass only half full. It is about energy and how they use it.

    The Opening Prayer is to bring the congregation together within themselves and with each other. Asking people to connect with a higher power or their higher self. To bring alignment and access the universal energy which is part of all of us. From an energetic point of view, each person is bringing themselves into their own alignment by becoming present and relaxed. Opening their energy fields, feeling relaxed and comfortable with a room filled with likeminded people. The words of the prayer have resonance and respect, the prayer can be very powerful if the speaker talks spontaneously within the energy of the moment.

    The Healing part of the service is an opportunity to send healing to people, animals and mother earth as a group. The group energy has built from the prayer and directed thought comes with the alignment of the group energy. Around the UK especially Divine Services are held on Sunday evenings around the same time, the thought that all Spiritualist churches have built the energy of the congregation and are sending healing together is incredibly powerful.

    The Reading is an opportunity to bring the energy into a different frequency where the congregation move into more of a learning frequency, usually the reading is from a well-known book or pioneer who will be recognisable to many. Common themes are around unity of all and the interconnected nature of the universe, it allows people to connect slightly deeper with the greater aspects and energetics of themselves.

    The Philosophy is an opportunity for the person delivering the philosophy to choose a theme or follow the tone of the reading. In Spiritualist churches they may choose one of the Seven Principles. An experienced person will be able to feel and work with the group energy and speak within the moment delivering what is needed rather than anything preconceived thought or rehearsed. Predominately working with the mental and spiritual aspects of the energetics but also feeling the emotional connection to the congregation. They are able to give a group update within the energy for all present.

    The Demonstration of Mediumship is an opportunity for the medium to bring healing across multiple levels and step into the energy that has been built. Delivering contacts to specific members of the congregation using the group energy and the mediumistic energy from the spirit.

    The healing comes across in a few main areas, the evidential nature of the contact is bringing healing on a mental level. Proof life is eternal and comfort that loved ones are still present in energetic form. Emotional healing through the energetic body, and soul healing connecting with peoples self-healing ability.

    The Closing Prayer is the part of the service where every person present can come back into themselves in preparation to leave the venue.

    It is the role of the platform team to hold space within the group energy and ground everyone in preparation for the end of the demonstration. This is a very important part of the service as people will be returning to their lives and public spaces where the openness and safe environment of a church service may not be present.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • How did we get here? Energetic evolution, mediumship, communication, and our natural laws.

    How did we get here? Energetic evolution, mediumship, communication, and our natural laws.

    What are our natural laws?

    To dive into this question we must first ask, what is science? The definition in the dictionary is, ‘The systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.’

    The framework in which science operates is within and born from the nature of our reality. Natures laws we have been conditioned to live by. Time, Space and Matter. 

    Time – is a construct of our reality, it holds and regulates the cycles of life and death within our experience. Our bodies age and time passes at the same rate, but time is experienced in very different ways depending on our relationship to reality. 

    Space – the area in which we inhabit. It is only within space that we can understand the three-dimensional nature of our reality. Space gives us our coordinates within the universe and helps us understand the nature of time in relation to the distance between two points in space. 

    Matter – the carbon construct, building the fabric of reality. We are all made of the basic materials. We are carbon-based lifeforms which have been manipulated in countless different ways. 

    Without all three components, time, space and matter we would never exist. The universe evolved over billions of years, stars are born and explode. Life on earth is incredibly diverse and evolved in a wonderous harmony. Every person, lifeform on the planet, experiences time and their reality differently. Trees grow over hundreds of years. A human lifetime currently spans just short of a century, our pets live for a decade or two. Time, space, and matter are all relative to our perceptive experience.

    We are born into a physical reality where the natural laws govern and have evolved over billions of years. The lineage of species has evolved over the thousands of generations before us. Our mind, body and soul follow a similar pattern to that of the universe. We would not exist without all three.

    • Mind – our consciousness, collective or individual.
    • Body – our families blood line and physical instrument
    • Soul – the infinite part of us, our connection to God

    All three work together in a perfect harmony. Human have developed to be receivers of information. Our body has the five senses for us to experience the physical world around us. Our soul triggers emotional experience, bringing love, and a host of other emotions. Our mind tries to make sense of it all, to create and define our existence.

    We understand our reach is so much greater than the material world around us. The more our mind and consciousness explores and the more sensitive our bodies become, the more information we become aware of. We become aware of spirit, mediumship, and the spirit world.

    How did we get here?

    To begin we can consider the evolution of our planet and how we found ourselves in the here and now. To highlight the natural laws in which we are all bound and how our mediumistic development inevitably follows the same logic, I would like to approach creation from the point of view of evolution through consciousness. A great example of this is from ‘The Ra Contact – Teaching the law of One’. The information came through channelled text from a group of people using trance mediumship, so it seems a fitting outlook to begin with.

    Through the many channelled sessions documented, a few specifically delve into the nature of our universe. My interpretation of this text is as follows…

    Before life and our universe existed. Imagine for a moment infinite space, which of course is impossible. But imagine the idea that within the infinity of nothingness there is a stirring. A breeze, a directional force and movement of energy. Within infinity arises an infinite awareness of movement, awareness of the movement of itself. This develops into awareness of the infinity of space in which it moves. Over time this evolves to become aware of the nature and energy of itself. Infinite awareness evolves to become a flow of energy across space, this creates the concept of time within the space it travels. Its own unique vibrational energy moving through space.

    At some point there is a realisation through the evolution of energy that there are other vibrations, other frequencies within itself. Movements occurs throughout the vastness of space, in turn forming lighter and denser frequencies of energy. These begin to attract and bounce off less each other. The infinite awareness has the realisation of differences within energy. Over time and space, a realisation occurs where the awareness purposely collides into differences of energy within itself. An understanding forms, knowledge and information can be gained through interactions with itself. Consciousness is formed. Energy condenses and starts to collide, finding out more about its true nature.

    Matter begins to form though the difference frequencies of energy and collisions occur. Over time, rock, planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, and our universe begins to take shape in more of a physical form. This becomes known as first density. Born from changing frictions of frequencies the movement of energy.

    Realisations happen on a planetary scale, collisions within atoms and molecules form relationships with each other. Consciousness moving, interacting to find out more about itself. Some repelling and other attracting, the flow and movement of energy into certain frequency ranges. This ultimately created the right conditions for life to form, leading to plant life. This becomes second density.

    Consciousness can only evolve through experiencing itself, learning and forming mutually beneficial relationship or not. On a cellular level, cells split and continue to split until life begins to form on the planets, these cells continue to split and evolve until we have cellular organisms, sea life, reptiles, manuals, and eventually human life. Human life is third density.

    All if this ultimately rises from the realisation that for evolution, we need discussion with ourselves. Consciousness is a result of the realisation that to evolve we need to divide and converse. This continued to happen across time and space which led us to the here and now.

    All life follows this process which became a series of natural laws within our density and universe. We all evolved and are part of the same energy. Humans developed conscious life, with awareness of a connection to the whole, of self and life and death.

    We can see this natural law clearly manifesting today. All we need to do is look at reproduction within humans. There is an egg within a reproductive system, the egg becomes fertilised and splits in two, this continues splitting to have a conversation and create a relationship with itself until eventually a baby is born. There is a part of the universal consciousness within the baby, its soul, its unique individual nature, its own frequency looking for connection, conversation, and experience.

    Therefore, we are all connected to one another under the realisation of the ultimate consciousness. Each one of us as energetic beings on this planet feeding back information though frequency and energy to the one ultimate creator, the universal consciousness. Also known as God.

    We began to understand the nature of frequency, the nuances between frequencies. These translate though feelings and emotions. We discover love. The ultimate frequency of acceptance and realisation, all is one. We are part of one another and the whole. Love became known as fourth density.

    The densities continue to refine and go further but to understand mediumship and connecting to the spirit world we only need to go on as far as the fourth density. Through the vibration of love, we can connect to our loved ones beyond our physical world in the spirit world. We start to understand the vibrational range and attunement required to connect with spirit.

    This way of interpreting creation puts the emphasis and understanding our world on a vibrational or energetic level. Evolution following natural laws. To understand how mediumship is possible we must understand the different between time space and space time.

    Time Space refers to our timeline, planets within space, beings with physical bodies and physical coordinates. In short, our reality experienced with our five senses.

    Space Time is frequency or in this case souls without physical bodies or physical coordinates. We can connect with these souls through attunement of frequency. This goes some way to explaining how after death of the mortal third density body we can connect with the souls of loved ones and bring forward information from many different parts of their lives. There is no longer any fixed time in space.  

    Countless people have lived in time space, souls incarnating in our reality. They pass to spirit and enter back into space time, their unique vibration of life experiences available through attunement. Mediumship works through us as incarnate souls raising vibration of the conscious mind to attune with the vibration of souls who no longer have physical form.

    Energy centres on earth

    The evolution of our energetic understanding and resonance of our physicality can be seen throughout human history. Energy centres in physical locations have been used for centuries to channel information from spirit and finer densities than ours. Many spiritual locations have been identified as energy hotspots and used to receive higher wisdom. Places like Stone Henge have been built on meridian and lay lines. People pray and sit in these energy centres connecting with spirits or spirit communicators. Many of these places still hold sway but many have been lost in time.

    Graham Hancock in Fingerprints of the Gods said, “Not for the first time I felt myself confronted by the dizzying possibility that an entire episode in the story of mankind might have been forgotten. Indeed, it seemed to me then, as I overlooked the mathematical city of the gods from the summit of the Pyramid of the Moon, that our species could have been afflicted with some terrible amnesia and that the dark period so blithely and dismissively referred to as ‘prehistory’ might turn out to conceal unimagined truths about our own past.”

    The book goes in-depth into different civilisations throughout the world which history has forgotten but traces can still be found. Atlantis and the lost city for example. Egyptian civilisation and the pyramids (not built by the Egyptians by the way). The location of the Queen’s Chamber in the great pyramid in Egypt. The chamber is set in a specific location to interact with spiralling energy centre in order to channel information from other beings, dimensions though mediums who would sit in trance like states.

    When we factor in mediumship and channelled information from spirit it goes towards explaining some of the missing links within our history. Explaining how different civilisations without physical contact developed the same techniques or working methods. We have seen the rise of civilisations, different methods of agriculture and society development which seemed to spring up from nowhere. The monoliths and different structures built by indigenous people of the time harnessed natural energy to enhance the ability of communication to access higher wisdom through knowledge and mediumship and trance.

    What is Energy? 

    Definition from Britannica ‘Energy, in physics, the capacity for doing work. It may exist in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are, moreover, heat and work—i.e., energy in the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy, while work done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy.’

    We are all energy, made from the same stuff! Every physical motion, mental thought process and emotion generates the movement of energy in different ways, shapes, and forms. A lovely and simplistic visual action is throwing a stone into a still lake of water, the ripples from one action flow to infinity. The phrase “One flap of a butterflies wing can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world.” Shows cause and effect, the interconnected relationship of all energy. It’s an incredibly difficult concept to fully understand in every aspect of your being. 

    The first law of thermal dynamics and Einstein’s equation, E=MC2. Matter cannot cease to be, it can only be transformed. Animism people believe that everything lives, there is no life and no death, only change. All matter is energy and follows the scientific nature of the universe. As we are part of nature, it follows that we abide by the same rules and have the same structure to follow when working mediumistically. 

    The Fibonacci sequence is numbers following the science of nature. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,144,233,377,610,987, 1597 and so on. If these numbers are used to make equal length sides of a square a beautiful spiral shape emerges which can be seen throughout nature and the natural world. A law of numbers followed by nature; the rule is written xn = xn−1 + xn−2.  As one of nature’s laws discovered by science, we can apply these rules when working with mediumship and psychism.

    Developing psychism and mediumistic abilities 

    ‘The question might be asked, “Why must those in the Spirit side of life come through a medium rather than communicating directly with their loved ones on earth?

    Peggy Barnes answers the question this way:

    Could you send a telegram without the instruments? Can you pick music out of the air without your radio? The medium is the instrument through which those vibrations must come… It is just as sensible to say that there is no music or sound passing through the air because you are not able to hear it with your physical ear as it is to say that your Spirit mother cannot communicate because she is not able to do so with you directly.’

    Mediumship is governed by natural laws. We communicate by using our emotional knowledge of frequency to pass information from one soul to another whether they have a physical body or not. A fundamental truth. Science will say that energy can never die, it just changes form. We know that we are more than just our physical existence or that of our five senses, we have the compassion and creativity of our soul within us. 

    To explain this more fully I often start with a statement. “The limitation of our conscious mind is our greatest asset.” It allows a greater emotional range to evolve within the individual. Meaning, because we are unable to know the outcome of a situation along a linear timeline, we move into every new experience wholeheartedly. Meeting a new partner for example, as the relationship progresses, we can give ourselves emotionally in a fuller sense to the other person. We do not know whether we will end up heartbroken in twelve months or live long and happy lives together. This offers the deepest emotional connection and range within the experience. If we knew the relationship was going to end, we would never commit fully in the first place. This methodology goes through every experience, we live in life, ultimately expanding our emotional range. This is where our emotional range and attunement begins to open our psychic and mediumistic abilities. 

    There are many different forms of mediumship and psychic ability. I believe we don’t fully understand the extent of what we are capable of. As an overview, psychic connection is from mind to mind or person to person. Although it is not limited to just people, it can be felt within nature, the connection with mother earth, the animal kingdom as well as on mass through the energetic consciousness of society. Mediumship is divided in to two main categories, perception and controlled. Perception is information interpreted through the mind of the medium. Clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience for example. Controlled mediumship is where the mind of the medium moves aside to all for a spirit communicator to take control of the physical body. This would include trance, automatic writing, and the creation of ectoplasm. 

    Psychic connection

    Human to human connection, developing the awareness emotions and feelings not contained within the body. Called the aura and auric field, these energies can be picked up by the psychic or medium. Energy can travel infinite distances. A simple thought can travel across the world in a split second and be picked up by someone else. This is often referred to as a psychic connection telepathy. Everyone processes psychic ability, depending on their level of development as to what information they become aware of. This has been well documented through many studies. It is generally thought there are seven main energy bodies but of course there are an infinite number, and nuances within them.

    Aura and auric fields

    Leading outwards from the physical body

    Physical plane

    • Physical body
    • Etheric body
    • Emotional body
    • Mental body

    Astral plane

    • Astral body

    Spiritual plane 

    • Etheric template
    • Celestial body
    • Causal body

    These basic outlines allow us to understand a little more about where and how we are picking up the information in someone else’s field and that of our own.

    Telepathy

    ‘The word itself is derived from two Greek words. “tele” (afar) and “pathy” (feeling). The dictionary definition of Telepathy is: “Action of one mind on another at a distance, through emotional influence without communication through physical senses.”’

    The brain transmits electrical signals through nerves, these signals can be read by other people as well as electronic devices such as a Transcranial Magnetic stimulation Wand or attaching electrodes physically to the head. Experiments have been done on monkeys and rats picking up information from a hive mind. Rats are placed into a maze, connecting to other rats who have already navigated the maze, they are able to navigate the maze correctly. In people, a two-person experiment. One person is to concentrate on a particular view or item. This information is read as specific EEG brain activity and is sent to the mind of another by electromagnetic pulses which are then deciphered by the recipient’s mind. This can be done with technology and equipment or without by the recipient attuning to the mind of the other person and picking up the information.

    Mediumship

    The Spirit world exists just outside of physical reality frequency range. This doesn’t mean that both our world and the spirit world can’t interact. With training and development, we can raise our vibration, shift our awareness to become aware of the spirit world and spirit communicators within that world. (For me this is raising my vibration to embody more love and push my awareness to the fourth density range, as in the early explanation of the universe). A spirit world communicator lowers their vibration and where there is harmony information can be communicated.

    Many spiritual medium teachers talk about the mechanics of mediumship. The scientific nature of connection though attunement and vibration. Raising our vibration to meet the vibrational energy of the spirit world. Like tuning a radio. When working with a spirit communicator following a logical unfoldment of information. Identifying a communicators passion and connecting with their excitement, love, and energy. Everything they would like to bring forward for the recipient.

    Some mediums follow a step-by-step approach, building energy and evidence. Identifying key pieces of information to offer proof of life after death to the recipient. Very similar to the approach scientists take when approaching a problem to solve.

    Psychical mediumship

    Physical phenomena relating to Spiritualism. We think of ectoplasm which is not so prevalent in the modern world. The energy and material used for the creation of ectoplasm was usually taken from the medium, their waste products and dead skin cells. Traditionally the medium would sit in a cabinet, take energy from other mediums around them. Using them like batteries to support the energy required for the manifestation. The spirit world is able to create a physical form, ectoplasm would emerge from the mediums body, often from the mouth, ear, or stomach area.

    Physical phenomena would also include ectoplasmic rods, trumpets, direct voice, transfigurations, and many other forms. This type of phenomena would often occur in séances, the energy being pulled from the group and the medium. There are reports of flowers wilting and the energy of the room becoming depleted.

    Alec Harris – A Welsh born solider who in the 1930’s sat in séances with Helen Duncan, he fully believed her materialisations and began to develop as a medium. After development he was able to materialise spirit guides. In the 1940’s it was said by other mediums that he could materialise as many as 30 spirits within one séance. Mr. Harris passed to spirit in 1974.

    Gordan Higginson – A famous pioneer of Spiritualism and a world class physical medium. His development was such that he was able to give incredibly accurate messages from spirit communicators to prove the existence of life after mortal death. He was the longest serving president of the SNU, serving for 23 years. He was a tutor at the Arthur Findlay College where he gave many lectures and demonstrated physical mediumship. Passing to spirit in 1993.

    One of my favourite quotes by Mr. Higginson is ‘Before you can touch the Spirit, you must find it within yourself. For all truth, for all knowledge and all love, must be found first within oneself. And the Spirit can never touch you and bring love and peace within your being and from your being, until you have found it for yourself. And before you can build a picture of love from the Spirit, you must learn to find it in this life. For visualisation is leading you to vision itself.  For words and music are there for you to find, in moments, an answer; something that’s for you, to live our life in truth.’

    The focus here is on personal development, find it within yourself. Connect with the vibration of love within you and you can connect with the vibration of love within others. All is connected and all is one. All mediumship and certainly physical mediumship takes many years and great teachers to develop.

    Spiritual or energy healing

    Harry Edwards was one of the leading spiritual healers of his time. There are many amazing accounts of healings. My Edwards also wrote many books on spiritual healing. The Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary in Surrey carries his work forward, training healers and offering healing and distant healings. Although methods have changed over the years there are interesting points relating to the chakras and parts of the body. From a mediumship and psychism perspective, we can access information from systems in the body through chakras, their energetic frequency and resonance. This can offer information about the physical conditions of another person. We can also receive information from the spirit world through our chakras.

    When we talk about spiritual healing this in a sense, it is very physical phenomena. Clients can experience physical transformations of wellness as well as emotional or mental healing. There are two main types of physical or hands on healing. Channelling energy from the universal energy or divine source. Or magnetic healing, energy from the healer themselves.

    Development and tools of the Medium

    Tools of the medium as governed by the natural laws within our existence. Firstly, we have our mind, the hub of limitless possibility. It is what governs our reality, our outlook on life and our state of awareness.

    We have a body for picking up sensory information around us, more than just our five senses. Our body picks up information from the aura and auric field. The chakras or energy centres for accessing energetic information.

    Most important of all is love, the higher level of attunement and vibration which connects to the spirit. Mental mediumship is down to attunement, raising our vibration to become aware mentally and emotionally of a spirit communicator. Surrendering to a communicator, creating a blend mentally, emotionally, and physically.

    As part of mediumistic development, attunement it is common practice for many mediums. Aligning themselves with three different states to aid their development. 

    Sitting in the Power – This starts with the basic practice of sitting in our own energy and building our own power. It can begin with a light meditation, a focus on the energy centres within our own body, especially the root chakra and solar plexus. 

    The purpose of sitting in the power is to understand our own power and energy, finding out methods and techniques that work for us as individuals. It’s akin to recharging ourselves from our own point of divinity, tapping into the spark of God within ourselves to find and expand the truest form of our own energy. 

    Attunement – The word was first used by Lloyd Arthur Meeker. ‘Attunement was the early term adopted by practitioners of energy medicine, originally developed by Lloyd Arthur Meeker (1907 – 1954) and his colleagues. Meeker taught and practiced Attunement as a central feature of his spiritual teaching and ministry, Emissaries of Divine Light.’ The term was associated with syncing with specific frequencies that can offer a different sensation and awareness of an alternate reality. People become aware of different vibrations and can attune their vibration to match, which in turn creates a link so communication can take place.

    Meditation – A starting point for both sitting in the power and attunement. From a light state of meditation people can choose to focus on their own power or attunement to other frequencies. Meditation can also be used for self-healing, finding information, understanding more about self, and linking with the global consciousness.

    All three states of being are incredibly important for understanding ourselves, our power and the different frequencies that surround us. Each has a very specific use and takes a long time to master, it is widely known that people don’t often feel the real benefits of meditation until years down the line.

    As mediums we are only connecting with the natural abilities within ourselves. Some mediums have more ability than others. This relates the body incarnate, family linage, advanced level of the soul, and personal experiences within this life. There must also be a high level of dedication towards development. We cannot move outside of the natural laws in which we live. Our body is created of this earth, it is just not possible to be something we are not.

    Looking from a scientific point of view, we are carbon-based entities, energy created from the universe in which we are part. The natural laws of our creation will always remain. The wonderous part falls beyond the limitations of our conscious mind. Not knowing what is going to happen. Constantly finding ourselves on a journey of discovery, our emotional experience and awareness of frequency ranges has no limit. We are always learning, evolving, and developing. We feel and experience everything first, science follows and tries to make sense of it all through explanation understandable by our conscious mind. 

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • What is Spirit Art? Portraits of loved one from beyond the grave

    What is Spirit Art? Portraits of loved one from beyond the grave

    The modern-day term ‘Spirit Art’ has meaning within the religion of Spiritualism, it is linked with Mediumship. A medium is someone who through the unseen senses (Clair-senses) is able to communicate with energies/worlds around the physical realm including the spirit world (the afterlife according to Spiritualism). Mediumship is usually delivered in either a public setting (Divine Service or Spiritual Service) or within a private setting (Private Sitting or Private Reading). Spirit Art is delivered by a medium and artist (Spirit Artist) who has developed the ability to drawing portraits and bring forward verbal evidence from the spirit world of people who have passed over from this life.

    We can understand this more deeply by looking at different ways artists and creative people work with inspiration and energy.

    Inspired Art

    Many artists work with inspiration, moving their conscious mind aside to allow energy and thoughts that aren’t their own to come into their awareness and influence their paintings.

    Georgia Houghton 

    Georgiana Houghton was born in Spain in 1841 and moved to the United Kingdom then to Australia. She grew up as a Christian in Victorian England but moved to become a Spiritualist and medium who worked with her art and creativity creating amazing abstract ‘spirit drawings’. She was largely unknown until more recent years, she worked with watercolours and started with inspired art later moving into automatic drawing. She mainly took inspiration from nature and depicted the natural world but also used her mediumship to channel art from the spirit world. Over 150 of her drawings are available to view in the British Library in London.

    She is quoted in saying “What I have striven to prove is that Spiritualism does not come in place of Christianity; for where would have been the gain in casting off that great joy and happiness, only to receive something else in exchange. What I maintain is that it is bestowed as the Crown to all previous knowledge.”

    Hilma af Klint 

    Hilma af Klint was born in Sweden in 1862 and worked manly with abstract art in her later career which became her signature style. She was admitted to the Royal College of Fine Art where she studied landscape and portrait painting. After leaving the Royal College she belonged to a group called ‘The Five’ who were a circle of women who believed in Theosophy, and all held shared belief in the importance of contacting higher masters from the spiritual realms.

    After meeting Rudolf Steiner, he went to visit her in Stockholm but was unimpressed with her work. He felt that working with mediumship was akin to the occult and inappropriate for a Theosophist.

    Her later works used various inspired artistic methods taking inspiration from Mother Nature and using automatic drawing. Her artwork is on display in Stockholm where over 1200 paintings were left to be managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation.

    Automatism

    This form of art was adopted by many artists within the Surrealist movement and involves the artist removing the conscious mind as much as possible and allowing their hand or brush to move freely over a canvas or paper in a way that is not directed by the conscious mind.

    Andre Masson 

    Andre Masson was born in 1896 and was interested in Surrealism and Cubism but was a great advocate of Automatism. Making many drawings and working in the altered states of consciousness. This is where his art started to take on different meanings and a new direction. He produced a number of pen and ink drawings but in later years moved into his own style of art as he said painting in a particular style was too restrictive.

    Salvador Dali

    Salvador Dali was born in Spain in 1904, his work is world renowned, and he was a pioneer of Surrealist movement. He moved to Madrid and studied at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Dali experimented with many styles of art including Cubism and Automatism. He said that ideas for his paintings often came to him in the semiconscious dream state, it was then his job to bring them to life through artistic talent on canvas.

    Psychic Art

    Psychic art started to really develop in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20thcentury. It was thought at the time that a psychic artist would work with a medium. The artist would link in on a psychic level (Psychic or Psychism: a mind-to-mind connection between living people) to bring forward a portrait of someone who has died, and the medium would use their mediumship (Mediumship: a mind-to-mind connection between a living person and a dead person) to bring forward evidence and information from their life on earth.

    Frank Leah 

    Frank Leah was born in 1886, he moved to Ireland and made Dublin his home. He had a successful career as an illustrator and portrait artist. In the 1930’s he started to draw portraits of people he saw in this minds eye. Friends and customers who visited his studio started to recognise the drawings as their loved ones who had died. He began to realise he was working with his clairvoyance (French for Clear seeing). He worked on his art and started to develop his mediumship becoming well known for the accurate drawings of people who had past to the spirit world.

    Coral Polge 

    Coral Polge was born in 1924 and had a career as a portrait artist. She explored an interest in Spiritualism and developed her attunement with the altered states of consciousness to become a successful Psychic Artist. In the 1980’s Coral Polge was working with a gentleman called Gordon Higginson and the pair would demonstrate psychic art and mediumship in Spiritualist Churches around the United Kingdom. They were known for accurate portraits and irrefutable evidence of people’s lives who had died and were related to members of the audience or congregation.

    Precipitated Art

    This form of art was created entirely from the spirit world or from energy/matter from the unseen world. A group of mediums would sit in a séance with a blank canvas and dimmed light. An image would materialise directly onto the canvas or paper without any physical contact from the mediums. This form or art was predominantly in the United States in the 19th Century. The art would have no brush strokes, be incredibly detailed look similar to pastel portraits. Many examples of this type of art can be found in Lily Dale, New York State.

    The Bangs sisters 

    Mary and Elizabeth Bangs were born in 1827 and 1832 respectively in Kansas, their mother was a medium, so they were brought up understanding the spirit world and mediumship. In the 1870’s they were in Chicago and performing seances which included physical mediumship like slate writing and moving objects. They became famous for precipitated portraits where they would sit in séance with a number of other sitters and the spirit portraits would appear on the canvas within minutes. They paintings were incredibly detailed, and no brush stokes featured in any of the work. A curious point is that there were no eye lashes on any of the people in featured in the portraits. They lived and worked for many seasons from a house in Lily Dale, New York State.

    The Campbell brothers

    Allen B Campbell and Charles Shrouds weren’t brothers but worked together for many years in the early 19th century. They had a similar method as the Bangs sisters where the pair would sit in a darkened room with a number of other sisters and the portraits would appear on the canvas. The material which created the paintings came from the etheric world and was likened to the dust from a butterfly’s wing. The portraits were very similar in style and again no brush strokes were present in the work. One of their more famous works was a manifested a painting of Abraham Lincoln, when the painting was analysed traits were found in the portrait that related to ailments that Lincoln had which wasn’t common knowledge.

    Spirit Art in today’s world

    In today’s world artists have developed their mediumship and mediums have developed their portrait painting. Spirit Artists can work with their mediumship to deliver accurate information about someone who has died as well as a portrait that resembles the person.

    Mediumship and art is always developing and will continue to do so, for any spirit artist it is an exciting journey of discovery and development connecting with energy from the unseen and spirit worlds.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Becoming a Medium and practicing mediumship is a calling

    Becoming a Medium and practicing mediumship is a calling

    To become a medium can be an incredibly emotional journey. Mediumship itself is opening up to vibrational energies in this world and within other worlds. A medium is dealing with emotion, grief, and loss with people in this world. They are also a catalyst for greater awareness of life after death within our society and existence. The medium’s main role is to provide evidence of life after death, this in itself is a monumental task should not be underestimated or taken lightly.

    We live in a society with many different belief systems. There has been a steep rise in Atheism over the last twenty years, not everyone believes in life after death. It was not too many years ago mediums were ridiculed and called out as frauds.

    Going back to the Witchcraft Act in 1735 people were put in prison or worse.Thankfully this act was repealed in a landmark ruling in 1951, passing the Fraudulent Mediums Act. One of the roles of the medium is to prove life after death, this in itself is a monumental task to a general society that has been guided over the last 50-100 years to believe in the agenda of debunking religion in the pursuit of science and what can be experienced by the five senses. Of course, in the same time period spirituality has also developed. Since what has been recorded as the birth of modern Spiritualism in 1848 in Hydesville, mediumship and mediums have worked to prove life after death. For an individual want to train as a medium and step into this world is incredibly courageous. They are opening themselves up to ridicule by many, and pressure to prove the existence of life after death in every Divine Service or evidential reading.

    The development and dedication that’s required to become a good medium should not be underestimated. It takes years of practice and personal development to raise awareness and sensitivity to work firstly with psychic abilities, developing mediumship and a connection with spirit guides, finally spirit communicators and delivering evidential mediumship.

    A medium deals with death on a daily basis, not always in the negative but death all the same. If a medium chooses to take part in Divine Services or give private readings of evidential mediumship they are dealing with real people, loss, and grief. A communication from the spirit world can be incredibly healing but also opens up a great deal of emotion within the sitter, their family, and friends. This can be emotionally draining for the medium, steps must be taken for protection.

    Along with the dedication required and emotional overload that may be encountered, there are some incredibly humbling experiences. The medium is also a healer, and many mediums also do spiritual or energy healing. This for me goes hand in hand with spirit communication and is one of the most rewarding aspects of mediumship. To have the opportunity to become a channel for communication from spirit is a great honour and privilege. To be able to bring comfort someone who is experiencing loss is incredible, to be able to offer healing to someone is one of the greatest gifts on earth.

    Becoming a platform medium is a goal for many trainee mediums but I during their journey they often find a different pathway. Mediumship can take many forms and has many different facets. Many choose the path of healing or trance. All routes usually come with some respect and adoration from people attending services, events or seances. This is pleasant for the medium’s ego, although it’s advisable to keep this in check. Also, some people can become dependent on mediums and become attached. This is common and should be handled carefully.

    The choice to become a medium is not easy and can be a very difficult path. There are many personal demons to encounter and overcome along the way. It is also one of the most rewarding journeys, to have the time and patience to find out more about who you really are is a privilege.

    A mediums job is to prove life after death, promote spiritualism as a science, philosophy, and religion but it’s also to bring comfort to people. Mediums have a great love for people and generally have a natural tendency to want to help others. Many mediums find it’s a calling rather than a career choice. They want to bring healing to others and become a catalyst for change within society and the human condition. We can never fully understand what awaits us after death but though mediumship, trance and healing we get a glimpse of our true nature and the love we can share with others.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Fraudulent psychics and mediums

    Fraudulent psychics and mediums

    Be careful when choosing a medium. How could a psychic or medium mislead you? There are various ways spiritually this could be done, both knowingly by a psychic/medium or unwittingly by a psychic. It is important to make a distinction between a psychic and psychic/medium. There is also a moral question to unfold, the word ‘unscrupulous’ in the question leans towards a knowing deception by the psychic/medium.

    Starting with the difference between a psychic and a medium. In the U.S the term ‘psychic medium’ is often used to describe what in the UK we generally just refer to as a ‘medium’. As many mediums will say, not all psychics are mediums, but all mediums are psychic. The distinction between the two is clear.

    A psychic or psychism is when an individual connects to the energy/aura/auric field or other energetic fields of person or sitter. Though their sensitivity they are able to read the field for information. This can relate to all aspects of the sitter’s life. From current wellbeing and people close to the sitter, both dead and alive to the sitter’s future potential. A medium, through a different vibrational frequency connects to a loved one within the spirit world. This person is generally known by the sitter, the medium is able to give information understandable to the sitter to identify the spirit person. The two different abilities can become clouded as information about a spirit person, namely facts, dates and memories can be picked up in the energy field of the sitter.

    In the introduction I mentioned, ‘unwittingly’ by the psychic. They may genuinely feel they are connecting with a sitters loved one in the spirit world as information given can be recognised. Only with further development by the psychic or the presence of a medium during the sitting can this distinction be clarified. It is also worth noting that psychism can be used to connect with any living entity on the earth plane to pick up information. Family pets, animals, or plant life. We could go a step further and psychism could be used to connect with different planes of existence within an individual or reality.

    Regarding the moral aspects of misleading a sitter. The psychic/medium may not have a link with a spirit person but knowingly communicate to the sitter that they have even when they are connecting psychically. This could be for a number of reasons, but it is down to the morality of the psychic/medium. They could be having a bad day or could be trying to push something on the sitter for emotional retribution or monetary reward.

    I believe it is not the fault of the psychic if they think they are working mediumistically, when in fact they are just picking up information psychically. Although, if working with the public who can sometimes be in an emotionally fragile state, it is the psychics responsibility as practitioners to be competent at their job and honest in who they say they are and what they can deliver.

    When a psychic or psychic/medium misleads a sitter, they are causing emotional stress for the sitter. The sitter will generally know that something doesn’t feel right even if they are not spiritually aware. They will feel something is wrong, they will not find the peace and security that a genuine message from their loved one can bring. This will cause emotional unrest with the sitter which can spread to their family and wider into their community.

    There are many fraudulent mediums working in the public domain, this is a huge problem for the Spiritualist community and Spiritualism as a religion. These people generally prey on vulnerable people and will take advantage wherever they can, usually for monetary reward or status. There are many cases of so-called mediums researching their sitters before readings. This is not even working psychically, it’s just fraud.

    There is also an issue around tutors teaching spirit communication and mediumship. Some people choose to teach before they are fully aware of the subject or understand the energetic stability needed to run a workshop or development group. Badly prepared tutors will produce poor and emotionally unstable psychics or psychic/mediums.

    I would like to praise the work of organisations such as the Spiritualists National Union (SNU) in striving to produce a high standard of mediumship. To help prevent people falling prey to fraudulent or poorly taught mediums they offer a robust teaching scheme so people with SNU qualifications are generally at a high standard of mediumship.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Would I benefit from a development circle?

    Would I benefit from a development circle?

    A development circle is a safe space and has a host of benefits for both trainee and experienced medium. To find a group of likeminded people who can work together is wonderful and should not be underestimated.

    For the trainee medium its incredibly important to find the right teacher or tutor. There’s a long history of people sitting in development circles. Many great mediums past and present started by sitting in circle, finding it an environment for development and fast-tracking abilities.

    Benefits can include

    • A safe working environment.
    • Knowledgeable and experienced teacher.
    • Likeminded people on a similar journey.
    • Access to a new community.

    For the experienced medium. They may have been active in a few different circles with a few different teachers. Once a medium has more experience, they generally have an idea of the areas they wish to develop and where their natural abilities lay. These can be developed in a circle environment.

    Some benefits can include

    • Trance development.
    • Physical phenomena.
    • Deepened mediumship, discussion, and practice.
    • Fast-tracking and pushing every member of the circle.
    • A safe space for experimentation.

    Development circles

    Hannan Swaffer published his book ‘Northcliffes Return’ in 1924. It was around this time he held a circle which included Maurice Barbanell, he brought through famous teachings from one of his spirit guides called ‘Big Jump’ who would later become known as ‘Silver Birch’.

    Emma Hardinge Britten wrote about the development circle in the Two Worlds in November 1887.  “How to investigate Spiritualism, or rules for the spirit circle. The Spirit Circle is the assembling together of a number of persons seeking communion with the spirits who have passed from earth to the world of souls. The chief advantage of such an assembly is the mutual impartation and reception of the combined magnetisms of the assemblage, which forms a force stronger than that of an isolated subject—enabling spirits to commune with greater power and developing the latent gifts of mediumship.”

    She went on to lay out a number of rules that applied to her circle, she was famous in her own right and one of the pioneers of Spiritualism, but also for channelling the energy of the Welsh reformer, Robert Owens.

    To find the right circle is important

     The energy must be right and regular meetings must take place with the cooperation of individuals and their spirit teams. Sitting in circle can be of huge benefit to even the most experienced medium. There is an opportunity for fast-tracking, it is possible to go further within a group energy than just alone.

    I have heard stories of amazing happenings in circle from many good standing mediums reporting any number of physical phenomena and direct voice communication from the spirit world.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Proving life after death with mediumship

    Proving life after death with mediumship

    Every medium is unique in the way they work and their attunement with the spirit world. One of the main reasons people visit a medium is to know their loved ones are in the spirit world. To know their life energy continues after mortal death.

    Proof of survival is the overarching responsibility of all mediums. Spiritualism is the only religion that constantly works to prove its own beliefs. One of the main reasons apart from bringing a message of love, healing and comfort to a recipient is to offer proof of life after mortal death. This is not always easy.

    Proof of survival needs to be factual verifiable evidence

     This should include names of people here and in the spirit world, their relationships to the recipient and each other. Ages, physical and character descriptions. Health issues and how the spirit communicator passed. Shared memories and any information about recent events where the spirit communicator was present. If possible, addresses can also be given.

    Albert Best was a prominent Irish medium, he saw spirit people from a young age ‘Albert became aware of his psychic gifts at the age of nine. Several times he “saw” an elderly man’s spirit form around the house.’ Before developing his trance and mediumistic abilities he worked for the post office. He was renowned for giving addresses during his platform demonstrations and spirit communications. This is another prime example how the spirit world will use the skills and knowledge of the medium to help give evidence.

    Evidence of survival is also down to the relationship between recipient and communicator. If a strong personal connection was present in our world, the communicator can use personal points or situations only known between the two. This can be something similar to a private code. A shared memory, situation or anecdote can be summed up in one word or phrase. Sometimes evidence will only make sense to the recipient, even the medium won’t understand what they are saying or its significance. Especially if the demonstration is in a public setting and the connection is of a personal nature, the recipient might not want the whole congregation to understand all of the evidence given.

    If we look at Spirit Art as it is now referred to, a portrait of a loved one in spirit is irrefutable evidence of survival. Frank Leah was a fantastic portrait artist in his own right. He produced some incredible spirit portraits, which when compared to a photograph of a spirit communicators the comparisons are an almost exact match. In the book Faces of the Living Dead by Paul Miller there are many cases studies of drawings and experiences had by Mr Leah. The book starts, ‘“If only I could see his face.” That is the heart-cry of the mourner from the moment the body is laid away until time wears down the sharp edge of grief – or until Spiritualism answers the cry and there appears in reality the voice, the touch, the message, or the face of the living dead.’ (Faces of the Living) What more proof could someone have than an exact portrait of a loved one in the spirit world.

    To offer further evidence of survival the medium should ask the spirit communicator for information relating to the recipient since the communicator passed. This will support proof of life after death and that our loved ones in the spirit world are still around us after they have left their mortal bodies. There are many cases after the passing of the spirit communicator when the recipient has been looking through photos or visiting certain places for example and the spirit communicator has been present. This also offers great comfort to recipients.

    If a medium is giving a demonstration of mediumship on a platform or in a church setting time is of the essence. It’s important the medium identifies the recipient as soon as possible and uses precise language to convey the information as quickly as possible. Some mediums are able to identify the recipient and go directly to them, if this is possible then it should be done. If not, the information about the spirit communicator should be delivered as succinctly as possible.

    What does not constitute evidence of survival and is not acceptable? Giving information about a recipient’s spirit guides, even if the recipient has awareness of their spirit guides or helpers. This misses the point entirely; proof of survival is identifying people in the spirit world who lived on the earth plain with a strong family/friend connection to a recipient. Anything other than this does not constitute evidence of survival.

    The prescribing of medication or anything that the recipient might take to feel better or otherwise is not acceptable as part of a communication or as evidence. Also, telling people to stop taking any prescribed medication. This is irresponsible on the part of any medium. The point of evidential mediumship is to prove life after death, mediums are not fortune tellers and should never try to predict the future, pending illnesses, deaths, or accidents. Other things like lottery numbers (Which would be nice) or babies that have not yet been born are also not acceptable.

    Every medium is an individual and they have their own ways of working, they use their gifts and develop skills to work in specific ways. Whichever method they adopt the evidence they pass on from a spirit communicator to recipient needs to be of the highest standard.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Is Mediumship only Telepathy?

    Is Mediumship only Telepathy?

    Telepathy is based on non-verbal or energetic communication. To start we can look at the origins of telepathy. The word itself is derived from two Greek words. “tele” (afar) and “pathy” (feeling). The dictionary definition of Telepathy is: “Action of one mind on another at a distance, through emotional influence without communication through physical senses.”

    It is well documented that telepathy is a real and practical phenomenon. It relates to non-verbal but energetic communication. Most people in everyday life have experienced telepathy on some level, “I was just thinking that!” is a common statement. Or thinking of someone and they get in touch. There have been many studies which all state that it’s possible to communicate through frequency with others.  If telepathy is to be explained by the medical community, they took thoughts as electromagnetic impulses and measure these outside of the body. They have been recorded as not travelling much further than an inch outside the body. This does not fully explain the phenomenon.

    There are cases of twins or siblings who know exactly each other are thinking at great distance. It lends itself to thinking that the connection is deeper. There is an example relating prayer given by Silver Birch and the Buddha which in summary states; Praying with only words is meaningless, praying with the depth and sentiment of love behind the words is incredibly powerful and can change the world. This means that feeling and emotion play a huge part in understanding and enhancing your telepathic ability.

    Telepathy is one method considered to dispel mediumship; it can be classed as part of cold reading. Cold reading is not the same as telepathy, it is picking up on subtle tells to decipher what people are thinking. Reading their reactions to statements. People cold read naturally and pick up on what’s happening. Mentalists have learned to read these signs and consciously recognise specific responses. There is no connection to mediumship (spirit communicator), or telepathy as both are picking up on energetic vibrations which can be done without the sitter present. Cold reading is picking up on signs as things happen or after the fact.

    Communication of mind to mind is not in question and can be done over distance by attaching emotion. We know that a psychic link is mind to mind, connecting energy field to energy field, which includes the aura and auric fields. It is no different in the sense of picking up vibrational energy and interpretating the information through the mind.

    Telepathy can be seen as precognition. Time doesn’t function the same outside out earthly existence. As thoughts leave our mind they are no longer bound by linear time as we know it. A thought with a strong emotion attached for a specific future action can be picked up by a perceptive mind in the present. People planning terrible events or natural disasters that may have been planned by a more powerful force or entity can be picked up and deemed as precognition.

    There is also a sense that we are communicating telepathically with our own body. Our mind or consciousness doesn’t function within our brain, it is happening externally. We are sending thought waves to our body in order for it to move and react to energetic stimulation. It also makes sense that this process is happening in reverse. Frequency waves are travelling in the form of feeling and emotional reaction by our body to our external consciousness telepathically.

    The question comes down to the belief in life after death

    Telepathy is being used as a scape goat on picking up spiritual energy. Telepathy itself proves the ability of an individual perceptively picking up on vibrational information but its deeper than just mental energy. It is mental and emotional energy.

    In conclusion, it is not possible to pick up information telepathically only reading electromagnetic responses from another person. There needs to be more vibrational energy which is created by emotional energy. This moves the vibration away from telepathy in the realm of psychic ability.

    There are emotional frequencies travelling all around our world and felt my many, whether individuals can distinguish these emotions from their own is another question and which comes down to training. When an individual passes to the spirit world they leave their physical body, there emotional consciousness and spirit is still active. Just as when we are alive, or consciousness is external to our body accessible though our mind. Mediumship is communication with the emotional consciousness of people who have physically left the earth plane. This frequency can be understood through the principle of telepathy but cannot account for the distance required or frequency change of a connection with spirit.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • What is the aura?

    What is the aura?

    As living beings, we all have an aura. An energy field that extends outside of our physical body. There are a few important factors to consider when discussing the auric field. Someone who is new to mediumship will already have worked with their aura and the aura of others in a different capacity and will understand it through different terminology.

    When discussing the aura with someone new to mediumship I will often try to relate the information to something within their lives that they can relate to. A good starting point is drawing their attention to times they have entered a room as felt a certain way. The energy of a room or place is a good way for people to start to become aware of energy.

    We could go on to discuss people, how people can make you feel a certain way.Uplifted or drained for example, some people are very much in control of their energy and how it affects others. If used in the right way these people are generally a pleasure to be around and can leave you feeling uplifted and inspired. Others can drain your energy and leave you feeling down or drained. It’s also worth noting that this sometimes happens subconsciously, and the individual is not aware of their auric field.

    The basics of the aura and auric field. Surrounding the physical body are many energy fields. There are many interpretations but in a basic sense working out from the physical self.

    We can go a little further in a practical sense. Feeling the energy of others on a one-to-one basis and understanding how that makes you feel. Once you have a feeling, relating that feeling back to yourself as a colour. This is a nice development technique to start understanding energy and emotion as colour or the other way around, colour as energy and emotion. We can then shift our focus to others and pick up the same feeling and emotion, relating that to colour. That colour should appear somewhere is the other persons aura. This is a very simplified approach to understanding the aura and colour but also a very involved technique which can open up development and awareness.

    Another way to understanding the aura is looking at the persons likes and interests. I love gardening, green for example could appear in their aura. I have a passion for healing, yellow could appear in their aura. It’s worth remembering that the aura is a fluid as your feelings, it is constantly changing and moving. This way of looking at the aura is a gentle way to open up the awareness of someone looking into auras for the first time.

    I would also mention about cameras which can capture auras. If a photo was taken of the person, they could start to understand their own aura, what colours are present and how they relate to themselves. An auragraph is another way to open awareness and access information.

    When taking to people who are new to energy or just looking into the aura and auric field, I feel a better approach is through feeling and experience. We can explain the mechanics and different energy fields outside the body, but I have always found the best way to learn and understand is through practical experience.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Road to recovery from Bacterial Meningitis

    Road to recovery from Bacterial Meningitis

    I shuffled around my home everything looked the same but slightly different. It felt surreal, the space was the same, but my viewpoint and understanding had shifted. It was me that was different, almost like looking at a well-known painting upside down, I knew what it was, it was familiar, but I could see new shapes. A perspective that I had not realised before.

    Posted to Facebook and Instagram on the 19th February 2022 

    “Back at home and I have been administering my own intravenous antibiotics for the last couple of weeks. A visit to the hospital and CT scan revealed that the mass on my brain is now 6mm which is down from 1.3cm. I am covid free and the infection level in my system is down to single digits. The doctor is pleased with my progress. I’ve had my midline removed and feel far more human again. 

    Physically, my strength is returning. Although I still get headaches, they are manageable and I’m starting to work on my mind, focus and memory. Keeping positive and striving for a full recovery!

    A big thank you to Ruth for looking after me every day. Thank you to everyone who has sent me love and healing over the last 6 weeks, it’s definitely made a difference. I am forever in your debt”

    The healing process, what had happened to me?

    Six weeks since I was admitted to hospital with no immune system, bacterial meningitis and a 1.3cm abscess on the right side of my brain. My body had been physically destroyed. Since then, it worked incredibly hard. Identified the inflection and abscess and unleashed its defence mechanisms targeting the foreign bodies reinforced by antibiotics, steroids and painkillers. It also started to rebuild my immune system.

    “To the NHS I offer my eternal thanks for their brilliant service and keeping me alive. If it wasn’t for the paramedics and doctor’s diagnosis and the nurses care and treatment, I am pretty sure I would no longer be here.”

    Another important role I believe was played by my friends and loved ones. Their thoughts, energy and love. Many friends and colleagues are spiritual practitioners working with healing, energy, and mediumship. They had been sending love and healing on a regular basis. I had time to think about how this had helped, the energy of positive thought and the spirit world, working alongside my medical treatment. I truly believe it helped to put me at ease, reduce the pain and made a difference.

    When I look at what could have happened, my chances of survival and the sequence of events, I surely believe that I am blessed. I am incredibly lucky to still be here and to be recovering.

    I believe there are a few considerations to my recovery

    1. Always listen to the doctors and follow their advice and course of treatment.
    2. To receive openly the love, support, compassion, and healing from others.
    3. Letting go of all stress and any bad will towards others.
    4. Understanding what’s happening with your energy, wellbeing, and emotional state.

    Continuing to heal after hospital

    The doctor was pleased, I was making good progress. The antibiotics had done their job, physically I was getting stronger. I could walk around the block without getting out of breath.

    Mentally, I was not myself. I didn’t feel as quick as before or on the ball. Still healing but my mind felt different, my body was different too. It all felt a little unreal. I had symptoms that the doctor said would disappear over time and I was expected to make a full recovery.

    • I still got headaches and sharp pains in and around my head.
    • My focus was not the same as before, my mind would wander off thinking about nothing.
    • My memory was not great, things would leave my mind right after a conversation.
    • I searched for words and struggled to find a decent vocabulary.
    • My balance was not quote right, especially with change of light or elevation.
    • I was creativity drained. I had very little enthusiasm for anything.

    I just didn’t feel myself anymore, of course it was completely understandable as I had been seriously ill. The doctors had fixed me so I would live, they had done their job. My family, friends and colleagues showed me how much they cared, for which I felt incredibly humble. Now it was my turn to heal myself the rest of the way, it was my responsibility.

    Firstly, I knew from experience that I wasn’t aiming to become the person I used to be. That person had gone. I had an opportunity to become a new and (hopefully) improved version. This whole experience had many valuable lessons to teach me but right now I had no idea what any of them were.

    I truly believed that understanding personal and other people’s energy, knowledge of chakras and the importance of meditation comes to the forefront. These were areas I had studied, and I knew I needed to use for the next stage of my recovery.

    Reflection & Insight

    I was never the best meditator, I always had too much to do, or my mind wanted to create something new. Though art and short daily practices I found my quiet space. I had not created any art in nearly two months, I found it scary to sit in front of my easel again. A blank canvas scared me, which never had before.

    I had just finished reading a book by Caroline Myss, it inspired and seem to come at the right time. I recorded my own guided daily meditation, only fourteen minutes but would start to move my mind into the right space each morning.

    I was unable to work and had to turn down jobs, I couldn’t worry about it now. For the first time in a long time, I had a clear schedule, my only focus was on healing. Maybe this focus of healing and self-care should have happened a while ago.

    With time to think, even if I’m not always thinking clearly. I still had time to consider some important questions.

    • Why has this happened to me?
    • What can I learn from this?

    Why has this happened? Possibly to remove the “should haves” A coincidence of events that points to serendipity, something significant to stand up and take note. Is there are grand plan? This is not at all relevant and some questions are for another time, but the “should haves” that I have been dealing with for a while. After passing 40 years old, my body doesn’t repair at the same rate or react as quickly. If I want it to do another 40 years, I need to make time to look after it, look after me like someone I love and respect.

    I have certainly had time to look back at what I have been doing, how I spent my time. I have the opportunity to remove the things that no longer matter and reducing the amount of “should haves”.

    Written by Richard Stuttle