Why Uncle Gilbert...G K Chesterton's thought provoking but also humorous quotes... The Ghost Club 1862... A Poem from Joan Green... Quote of the week...

Sunday 30^th October saw me making my way to ASK Dunfermline, a great role model for Spiritualism, not only in the Kingdom of Fife but the country as a whole.

Here is a comment from ASK’s website; -

“Hello folks as many of you will know Jean Bruce & Debbie Young and others have moved on and have formed their own Sanctuary it is The Leading Light at Glengraig and we wish them well and good on them. This allows a lot of movement within Dunfermline Ask and allows members of our groups to move forwards especially in the healing group. This in turn allows people to move from the awareness class to the development group run by Kerry McLeod. This also allows for any-one to attend the awareness class, there is no need to be a member to do so and it is run by Jock McArthur. This is the way things should work to help centers, our movement and our inspirers to progress”. 

Jock McArthur. (President)

 4^th November it was a short distance to the New Dawn Spiritualist Church in Kilmarnock.  This is a well run church that could do with more people attending.  So come on those of you in the Shortlees area of Kilmarnock – if you have a free Friday evening please give this church a try.

The 6^th another short journey to the Friendship of Love and Light Spiritualist Church, Spey Avenue, Paisley.   This church was founded by the well respected Spiritualist medium Eddie Docherty and Eddie’s high standards are still up held by Doreen Polson and her hard working committee.

The 7^th saw me again in Kilmarnock,  This time at the  Kilmarnock Spiritualist Church (SNU), 30 Old Mill Road,  KA1 3AW,  for a well attended evening of Clairvoyance.  There is always a lovely atmosphere in this church but step into their Healing Room and the warm, comforting feeling gets even better.  Keep checking out this Church’s website for workshops and special events

On the 8^th it was my furthest journey so far this month to ASK Cumbernauld and to almost a full house.  I asked Joan Green if she would like to write a few words about the church....

“The church was founded in 2006 by Isobel Brannan and Joan Green, both also members of the Glasgow Association of Spiritualists.  From the onset, ASK Cumbernauld has been an extremely well attended Church.

Our aim is to support as many local charities as we can, and also support other nominated worthy causes. We do this by holding within each year, two special evenings which are demonstrations of clairvoyance, and from the funds raised we give to different nominated causes AS far as possible we try to have as many different mediums taking our services all are welcome to attend.

We are an Independent Church but follow a strict code of conduct within both our Divine and Healing services

ASK Cumbernauld is situated in the Greenfaulds are of Cumbernauld, near Glasgow.  We meet every Tuesday evening in the Greenfaulds Community Rooms in Lochinvar Road.  The Divine Service starts at 7.15pm and usually is finished by 8.45pm. After the service we have a tearoom which is usually open and the charge is only 50p.

On a fortnightly basis healing is available for anyone who may require it and there is no charge for healing

In Jan/Feb we will be restarting the Advanced Circle for those interested in developing medium ship.  At the same time we will be starting the Awareness/meditation Group which is for those interested in finding out more about Spiritualism and its philopsy, meditation, and other aspects through spirituality through taking part in very small workshops.

For further information please telephone this number between 6-8pm; - 07952805043

One of Joan’s poems is now on the Poetry page and more of her poetry will appear in the coming months

 Then staying in Ayrshire on the 9^th to serve the Temple of Light Spiritualist Church in Kilwinning.  There was as a usual a good turn out.

It was a workshop on the 10^th.  Two private circles joining to have an evening on “Back to Basics”....

11^th....A rare night with nothing to do but relax and  catch up with answering emails...

12^th... Taking part in the Glasgow Association’s Fun Day.  And it was just that-  a “Fun Day”.  I was taking part in sittings the whole day and those coming for sittings at the end of the day were still as up-beat and enthusiastic as they were when the events started at 10am.  Again – check out this Churches’ website for affordable workshops and special events.

13^th... My furthest journey of the month and this time I travelled by train to the Perth Spiritualist Church (SNU), Methven Buildings, 40 New Row, Perth, PH1 5QA.  There is always a great welcome from the President Ivy and her committee. 

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I was surprised at the number of comments on what impressed Moira on her first visit to a Spiritualist Church, the upbeat hymns and music.   In fact several mentioned that singing or music certainly lifts the atmosphere in the church and as a medium I have to agree.  There were also a few comments that some of you moved  from our churches which had no music of any kind, to a church that did have some form of music.Yet on the other side of the coin I know of others who prefer a service with no music.  That, I feel is the beauty of our religion, a different medium on the platform each week and different formats to our services.

Back to Moira and her second visit to a Spiritualist Church.  Remember, Moria has spent sixty years closely involved with one of the orthodox religions and still is.

The second time Moria visited one of our churches she got a message and she took four days thinking over this message before contacting me.  She at first found it strange that it was her Uncle Gilbert that the medium brought through.  She never had much to do with this uncle and always thought him as a bit of a strange character.  She said that there was good evidence to prove it was Gilbert, so there was no dispute in her mind about this.  But why Uncle Gilbert?  Why not her mother, father, sister or brother?  As a family they were all close.  We have all wondered this from time to time and I did not need to give Moira the explanation that I thought was just an excuse when I came into Spiritualism – “The right person comes forward at the right time”.  But Moira figured this out for herself.  Here is part of her email; -

“I thought about everything I knew about Uncle Gilbert and the only time he shone so to speak, was in a particular family crisis.  This uncle could never be found when there was work to be done or there was a family crisis.  Then one day a real family problem cropped up which had everyone in sheer panic, and up stepped Uncle Gilbert to sort it all out.

Well, believe it or not, a roughly similar family crisis is rearing its ugly head at the moment and no one in the family wants the responsibility of making an extremely important decision.  Maybe Uncle Gilbert is suggesting I take control of this or I should at least look at how he dealt with this similar crisis in the past?”

Moira worked this out herself and I am sure that is roughly the explanation that many mediums would have given her if she had asked their advice.

This brings us on to another train of thought... Why after all these years of Morira’s church being a second home to her did she venture out to a spiritualist church?  Could there have been spirit involvement?  Could spirit have put that little seed in her mind, not to force her but to suggest that she visit one of our churches in the first place?

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Jerry sent in this comment he found in an old newspaper;-

“No conceivable number of false mediums affects the probability of the existence of real mediums one way or another.  This is surely obvious enough.  No conceivable number of forged bank-notes can disprove the existence of the Bank of England.

G K Chesterton, Scepticism and Spiritualism, Illustrated London news 1906

The name G K Chesterton rang a bell in my mind and it suddenly dawned on me a friend told me recently that after an operation he could hardly move and the only book within his reach was quotes by G K Chesterton.  It was not his kind of book us as there was nothing else within reach he thumbed though it and nearly burst his stitches laughing.  The quotes were thought provoking but John could also see the funny side to them.

 “Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”

“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”

“I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.”

“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”

“There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing".

“Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones is dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.”

“In prosperity, our friends know us. In adversity, we know our friends”

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 I have been asked to give a talk to The Ghost Club 1862,  Scottish Branch at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow  in June next year.   I gave a talk to The Ghost Club 1862 in London  in 2009.  This club is the oldest organization in the world associated with psychical research. It was founded in 1862 but has its roots in Cambridge University where, in 1855, fellows at Trinity College began to discuss ghosts and psychic phenomena.

Past members include Charles Dickens, Siegfried Sassoon, Harry Price, Donald Campbell, Peter Cushing, Peter Underwood, Maurice Grosse, Sir Shane Leslie and Eric Maple.

Today the Ghost Club is a non-profit, social club run by an elected Council of volunteers and its purpose remains true to its roots; the Ghost Club offers open-minded, curious individuals the opportunity to debate, explore and investigate unexplained phenomena with like-minded people and record the results for posterity.

You may like to visit their web site  www.ghostclub.org.uk

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First Impression of a Spiritual Service...A Psychic Investigation... Spirit of PN...

The 23^rd of October saw me heading north to the Stirling Spiritualist Church SNU.  This is a busy church with their own premises and right in the centre of town.

The 24^th saw me going in the opposite direction to the Cumnock Spiritualist Spiritual Centre.   A very special little lad was in the congregation.  Jack is only a few months old and is son of President/ Spiritual Medium Jackie Cree and her husband Iain.  I know I have said this before but it is good to see Spiritualism has spread down into the southern parts of Ayrshire in the past few years, with the opening of Cumnock and Catrine.  North and central Ayrshire has had a long tradition as far as Spiritualism is concerned but for some reason it took much longer for us to have bases in the southern parts of the county...

25^th...I was away on research work, more about that later

26^th... It was once again a pleasure to be asked to take Development Circle at the Love and Friendship Spiritualist Church in Glasgow.  There is a lot of talent in this circle which is being given time to mature slowly. 

27^th.... The Pyramid Spiritualist Church in Pollock was the venue.  Jean, Sarah and Isobel are always around to make everyone feel welcome.  This church has had to change its evening for the service three times this year.  It started off on a Friday then moved to a Sunday but the service from now on will take place on a Thursday evening.  If you have friends in the area you could let them know of the change.

29^th... I took part in the Ayrshire Cancer Support’s Open Day in Kilmarnock.  There was a good turnout even though there was heavy rain for most of the day.

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I am always interested in what those from other religions think of our Spiritual services.  Within the past month I have had two interesting comments from a lady who has been heavily involved with one of the mainstream religions for almost sixty years.

I was surprised when she asked for the address of a Spiritualist Church for her to attend.  I suggested that she try two churches, one with its own premises and the other in a small local community centre. 

Her comments after the first service was; -

“I was really impressed by the two hymns that were sung and the other song.  The two hymns were very uplifting made me feel happy. Our hymns are usually rather dull.  Actually I did not pay much attention to the sermon nor the clairvoyance as I was looking through the hymn book.

That other song was in the Top-10 a hit a few years back and it would never  been sung in our church, but the words are so spiritual. I have listened to so often but never paid too much attention to the words until the service”

So to this lady on her first visit to one of our churches, the clairvoyance, the medium nor our philosophy was what drew her attention, it was the cheery uplifting hymns and on occasions we are willing to go outside the hymn book for a modern song with a spiritual meaning. 

My next blog will tell of what her topic of conversation was after a second visit to one of our churches...

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Last week I was asked if I would like to attend a house where I thought Spirit had been detected, but this was not the case.  In fact all the information concerning this visit turned out to be inaccurate, but not intentionally.

A family had wanted a psychic researcher to be present when a room in the basement of their large house was opened for the first time in 60/70 years.  The information the family had was that an elderly relative had passed over in this room and immediately after the body  had been removed, the door was locked and had never had been opened since. 

After reading one of those wild and woolly supernatural magazines one of the younger members of the family got it into her head that their relative may be roaming around the locked room for all those years.  In fact not “may”, be roaming round the room, but “was”, because of strange noises coming from the room.  It turned out that these strange noises were only heard after the young girl read her magazine. I tried my best not to judge but it was hard not to think that the strange noises were just in the head of an impressionable young lady.

We thought the mission was going to have to be aborted before it had even begun.  The lock on the door had seized up and it took many squirts of WD40 and some twenty minutes before we managed to open the door.    

What a surprise we all got when the door was opened.  The family believed that the room had been left the way it was when the old soul passed away, but it was completely empty, apart from a small pink stone that had probably come off a piece of paste jewellery.  I stayed in the room for around thirty minutes and I was not aware in any way of Spirit presence, much to the disappointment of the family.  But I was aware of the dust which started off my asthma.

I tried to explain to the family that there was no reason for the old lady’s spirit to remain in the room.  She would have moved over to the Spirit World to be with her family and friends.  The media has seemed to convince so many that Spirit is roaming around in an unhappy state, especially in old buildings.

Memories can be mistaken for Spirit but I did not detect anything like that either.  But there may still be something comes out of the visit.  I took the small stone found in the room.  and will use it in a psychometry test. .  It will be interesting to see if that reveals anything.

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Those who miss the Psychic News will be delighted to hear that there is no death as far as the psychic newspaper is concerned and that we will be able to get national and world news on Spiritualism through the “Spirit of PN”.  I am having a bit of a problem with the email address but if you put “Spirit of PN” into a search engine you will get the information of this new venture in full.

I was shocked that the demise of the Psychic News was handled not only in such an unprofessional way, in a way that does no credit to Spiritualism.

Do many Spiritualists actually stop for a moment and consider the Spirit World’s thoughts on many matters concerning our religion?  We are becoming more and more like other religions by forgetting the true meaning of what we are all about.