Last week saw me in Inverness for three days. 

On Monday I took the service at the Inverness Spiritualist Church (SNU) at the Smithton Hall.  This church is always well supported with a very active committee which has done a lot over the years to promote spiritualism in the North of Scotland. But Monday night was the end of an era for this church, as husband and wife Rupert and Niki    Baxter-Smith stepped down from the committee.  Niki as president for almost a decade Rupert, treasurer for the same length of time. The church will still be in good hands as Karen Collesso, an excellent medium and tutor, has taken over as president.    With Karen and her committee, and mixture of old and new, the church will continue going from strength to strength like it has done for more than a decade.  Rupert and Niki will not be disappearing from the church as spiritualism is a big part of their lives and they will still be attending on a regular basis as they have done for so many years.

On Tuesday it was  private-sittings for the Smithston Church in the morning, a look around Inverness in the afternoon, spending most of my time in Waterstone’s book shop and then another service at night.  This time Dalneigh Spiritualist Church which again is a long running and well supported church with dedicated committee members.

On Wednesday it was twenty miles further north to the Spiritual Haven Spiritualist Church in Alness in the Perrins Centre.  Nina Stevens and a small group has worked hard to get this church up and running.  Alness is an interesting town with some interesting shops. This is a new church which is been going for just over a year with Nina  

A friend told me this week that a comment from an individual left him speechless, “I did not think you lot (Spiritualists) believed in a God”. Just like a lady once said to me “I am surprised you say prayers at your little get-togethers, why do you do that?”  I suppose that is to be expected and I cannot laugh or shake my head in horror as there is so much I don’t know about other religions. 

Since I came into Spiritualism I have on occasions went to services of other denominations, never saying I was a Spiritualist or a medium unless I was asked and when I did say, the look and comments from those who asked the questions ranged from very interested to downright shocked and angry.  I am happy to say that the latter was only on an odd occasion>  One lady really surprised me with her first comment, and it was the same with another comment to me many years later.  The first time she said to me “I am really angry at your so-called church/religion – it gives people false hope”.  I got the wrong end of the stick so to speak, as this lady was not referring to the clairvoyance as I had thought, but to “spiritual healing”.  A good few years later I noticed that he own church was promoting “healing services” so I mentioned this to her and her reply was “We only have qualified healers”.    

Now let me quote from the SNU Healing Committee’s web-page; -

“The Healing Committee aims to promote and encourage the practice, study, and investigation into the art and science of spiritual healing and is responsible for the registration and administration of SNU Spiritualist healers. Aims to promote and encourage the practice, study, and investigation into the art and science of spiritual healing and is responsible for the registration and administration of SNU Spiritualist healers.”    

Other spiritual healing organizations have their own procedures and training.

I am not criticising the lady above as she is a very caring person who does so much to help others that are less fortunate than herself but maybe she should not be so critical till she knows the facts..

For many years I have had concerns for the treatment of racehorses, This coming week sees the Grand National Meeting at Aintree and in the past four years this meeting has claimed the deaths of 15 horses on the track, then there are the horses that are injured but mange to walk off the track which I have no figures for..

2010 – FIVE fatalities.

2009 – FIVE fatalities.

2008 – THREE fatalities

2007 – TWO fatalities.

Maybe think twice before you put on a bet or take part in an office sweepstake?

Later in the week I will be displaying some drawings of Kerry New, psychic artist on my photo’s page.