Psychic News Magazine 6 - 25th February 2012

psychic news Issue No 4072

Magazine Six 2012

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the development of trance mediUmship Exclusive interview

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The Psychic Art of Sandy Ingham

Popular children’s author discusses the inspiration behind The Haunting of Tabitha Grey

From the editor 25th February – 9th March

(Photo by Danny Lee)

W

hat a difference a fortnight makes! Last time I wrote to you, the UK was ankle-deep in snow. Now, as I look out of my open office window, the sun is shining, the daffodils are out and the scent of spring is in the air.

With spring comes new growth and optimism, and Sandy Ingham’s psychic art

has certainly brought some extra cheer to the Psychic News office. It’s a long while since we’ve seen psychic portraits as convincing as those on pages 13 and 14. Let us know what you think of them.

A philosophical communication from White Feather, through the trance mediumship of Robert Goodwin, was featured in PN last month, and many of you wrote or emailed us about it. In this issue’s exclusive interview, Robert talks to me about the proper development of trance, why common sense is so important, and the central role of trance mediumship in the Spiritualist movement.

Off to Spain, and the Acacia Centre in Murcia has hosted a festival of physical mediumship which included séances with German physical medium Kai Muegge. Ann Harrison attended them, and shares her personal impressions of a memorable week.

The subject of abortion is among the most controversial of our time. It raises a whole range of issues, many of them very sensitive. On page 8 David Hopkins considers some of those issues and invites you to do the same via our website and letters pages.

On a lighter note, there’s a saying that we’ve all got a book in us, and if you’ve ever had a yearning to write on a spiritual

theme you’ll find the perfect feature on page 18. Spiritual author Cheryl Richardson talks to journalist Linda Flower about her workshops for aspiring writers.

Our final feature this issue is the fascinating behind-thescenes story of the paranormal events that led to The Haunting of Tabitha Grey – a soon-tobe published novel by popular children’s author Vanessa Curtis. Judging by Vanessa’s experiences at Brighton’s stately Preston Manor, it’s a place well worth a visit!

Many of you phone to ask if you can buy books from us, but alas, we no longer have the Psychic News bookshop.

However, we now have the next best thing – the PN Amazon Store – and we’ve filled it with goodies you’ll enjoy. Whether you’re looking for one of the classic books on Spiritualism or spirituality, or any of the new releases we’ve highlighted in the magazine, you’ll find them all in our online shop. Not only will you get fast delivery of that book you’re longing to read, you’ll also help PN by buying through our store. You can find it at: astore.amazon.co.uk/ psychicnews-21 Don’t forget to visit our website at www.psychicnews. org.uk. You can join in our ongoing debate about whether animals have souls – an issue on which almost everyone has very strong views!

And finally, you’ll see from the advert at the bottom of the page that we’ve teamed up with National Talking Newspapers and Magazines to make PN available to people with a visual impairment. We are absolutely committed to making PN accessible to all. So, if you know of someone who has special needs of any kind and would like help accessing the magazine in an appropriate format, please let us know and we’ll do our very best to make it happen.

Sue Farrow, Editor

Page 2 Psychic News

Psychic News Editor Susan Farrow Assistant Editor, Advertising, Design and Layout Paul Brett 01279 874337 pnadverts@gmail.com Editorial Kay Hunter Subscriptions Alita McGuinness 01279 874341 subscription@psychicnews.org.uk Secretary and Accounts Tracey Wise Technical Assistant Magnus Smith Contact details: Psychic Press Ltd, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7WE

Tel: 01279 874339 Editorial Email

pneditorials@gmail.com

Website & Online Subscriptions

www.psychicnews.org.uk

ISSN 0033-2801

Contents...

Page 4

Fifty years of Spiritualism

Page 5

Collector’s item

Page 8

David Hopkins on abortion

An upcoming jubilee in Telford

Medium’s book sells for a record sum

Considering some of the complex ethical issues

Page 10 The development and importance of trance mediumship PN’s exclusive interview with Robert Goodwin

Page 13 The mediumship and psychic art of Sandy Ingham Graham Jennings looks at the new biography of a gifted psychic artist

Page 15 White light and ectoplasm

Ann Harrison’s impressions of séances with German physical medium Kai Muegge

Page 17 Christianity and Spiritualism

Reader Frederick Kenward on reconciling two religions

Page 18 Spiritual writing – you can do it!

Psychic News. Published by Psychic Press Limited. Pre-press and printing by Warners (Midland), Lincolnshire. We regret that we are unable to recommend particular mediums and healers. Whilst we endeavour to ensure those given editorial coverage on our pages and those who advertise their services are bona fide exponents, the abilities of exponents are often subjective. Advertisements appearing in Psychic News do not necessarily reflect editorial policy and no responsibility can be accepted for dissatisfaction with any service or product. Readers are asked to exercise due care when responding to advertisments. Whilst we welcome them, PN cannot take responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, articles, photographs etc. © Psychic Press Ltd

Lynda Flower interviews spiritual author and coach Cheryl Richardson

Page 20 Letters

Your news, views and experiences

Page 22 The Haunting of Tabitha Grey

Children’s author Vanessa Curtis reveals the real-life events behind her first paranormal novel

Page 25 Sudoku competition

Win a DVD of Tony Stockwell Live

Page 26 What’s On & Classifieds Church, centre and private advertising

Psychic News Page 3

NEWS

Golden Jubilee for Telford First This year marks a Golden Jubilee for Telford First Spiritualists’ National Union Church, which is celebrating its 50 years of affiliation to the SNU. The story of the church itself began in 1958, through the foresight of its founder, A. William Hollis, who had been a member of Wellington Spiritualist Group for many years.

“He realised that with the expansion of what was then Dawley New Town an extra Spiritualist meeting would be needed for the newcomers,” Christine Hollis, daughter of A. William Hollis, told Psychic News. Christine is herself a founder member of the church, and has been its pianist and organist for 54 years.

“There were already many Spiritualist churches in the Birmingham area, which is where the new people would be coming from.”

The new church had many moves in its early days, and started with an introductory public demonstration in the then new Rest Room in Dawley, conducted by Gordon Higginson.

“This aroused so much interest with the local people,” said Christine, “that AWH assembled some of his friends and Dawley and District Spiritualist Movement was formed.”

The first regular meeting place was next to Horsehay

igginson

Gordon H

Page 4 Psychic News

Station, at the Coal Board building which was hired every Thursday evening for a Divine Service.

“The mediums for the services generally had to travel from the West Midlands,” said Christine. “They had to be picked up from Wellington Station and returned there to catch the train back to Birmingham, often not arriving back home until the early hours of the morning.

Such was their devotion to Spiritualism.

“Thanks must be given to Eric Hatton who helped to find visiting mediums, and to Stourbridge and Longton Churches who helped in many ways. Mediums such as Sally Ferguson, Dorothy Charge, Albert Taylor, Dorothy Hudson and many others gave gladly of their services.”

For those who did not attend the Spiritualist services, several special introductory services were held in Dawley Town Hall, with demonstrations by Gordon Higginson, chaired by Frank Tams, and with guest soloist Eric Hatton.

These were well supported by coaches of Spiritualists from Longton and Stourbridge.

“As attendances grew, the committee decided to buy some land and build a church in the Dawley area,” said Christine. “A wooden building was bought, but there was nowhere to site it.”

It was time to make a major move, into Dawley High Street, where a Spiritualist from Birmingham had opened a café. The upstairs room was hired for Thursday services, complete with piano and a wall with a most beautiful mural.

With another move in view, the pioneers wanted to purchase a redundant Methodist church at

Dawley Bank.

“Unfortunately the Methodists would not sell to another denomination,” explained Christine. “A businessman, Harold Shuker, bought it. He was a founder of Dawley and District Movement. The committee then bought it from him by joining the SNU and borrowing the money to pay him.”

Adjoining the disused church was a schoolroom and a house with an outdoor washhouse and toilet down a very neglected garden. A lot of time and money was spent on repairs and upkeep.

“Having our own building we were able to expand and have Sunday services in addition to Thursdays,” said Christine.

“We also held circles, and children had another room for activities during the services.”

Founder A.W. Hollis died in 1964, but he had put in place an active committee.

During the week of his passing a phone call was received by his daughter from medium June Heywood. She had recently moved into the area from Birmingham and was told to get in touch with Mr Hollis.

June eventually became president of the church. With her guidance and that of the SNU, the property at Dawley Bank was sold. It was time for another move, and a ‘musical chairs’ of property ownership took place.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses bought the Dawley Bank church, having sold their church through the SNU to Wellington Spiritualist Church. Thus in 1979 the Telford Spiritualists were able to buy St James Hall, belonging to the redundant St James Anglican Church.

The church was renamed Telford First SNU Church as the new town was designated Telford New Town.

“It has since prospered and no longer has debts to the SNU Trust, but has investment instead,” said Christine.

“A warm welcome is given to all. Over the years we have welcomed many of the great Spiritualists who have dedicated their lives to the furtherance of our great spiritual belief that there is no death; life is eternal.”

• For further details visit: www.stirchleyspiritualist.org.uk

NEWS

Cornish Island Lodge The idyllic island hideaway referred to in our 11th February issue as having been owned by Spiritualist pioneer Sir Oliver Lodge, was not!

The Daily Mail published an article on 6th February in which it quoted Sarah Lillicrap of estate agents Lillicrap Chilcott, as saying, “The house has had various colourful owners since it was built, including Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, the gentleman who invented the spark plug.”

In fact, the property was owned by Sir Oliver’s son, Alexander, though it is thought that his famous father visited the house on a number of occasions.

Psychic News has informed Lillicrap Chilcott of this error and has also written to the Daily Mail. Regular readers will know that the Mail was recently forced by the Press Complaints Commission to publish a correction concerning its publication of inaccurate information about the law relating to mediumship in the UK. We hope they will now see fit to correct this latest inaccuracy, relating to a great Spiritualist pioneer.

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

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

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

The author counts his writing and teaching abilities as gifts inherited from his maternal grandfather, Henry Yeo. Henry was a school teacher in

Medium Ronald Hearn

Demonstration of Clairvoyance and Spiritual Surgery with the world famous Trance Healer

Ray Brown and International Clairvoyant Warren Day

Devon who moved to Stockport and worked as a journalist, and was manager of the Stockport Advertiser and various provincial and metropolitan newspapers before founding a satirical paper, The Spy. “The Spy was probably a forerunner of Private Eye,” Peter Ingold told PN. “Henry used it to highlight ill-treatment of the underprivileged, dishonesty and corruption in the late 1800’s.

“These exposés upset the corrupt authorities and he was jailed for his troubles.

He emerged a broken man in health and spirit but his work lives on and his courageous campaign is now the subject of lectures and study, and he is currently hailed as a hero.

“Ronald Hearn is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, firstly as a teacher and medium and secondly as an author whose works are considered required reading for the serious student of mediumship.

“As thick covers are more durable, second-hand hardback editions of his second book, The Little Boy Who Listened, a biography of the Maltese medium Arthur Molinary published by the Book Guild in 2008, are also climbing in price since the paperback edi-

tion was published.”

This year, Ronald Hearn celebrates his diamond jubilee as a medium. It is 60 years since he discovered his gift and started working on the platform, having first sat in Nora Blackwood’s development circle. She was widely acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s finest mediums.

Coincidentally, he shares his jubilee year with Her Majesty The Queen. A direct descendent of William the Conqueror, he is very distantly related to the Queen through a common ancestor, King Cerdic of Wessex.

• Titles available from www. amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com

These two well-known mediums will be demonstrating their amazing gifts in the White Horse Hotel, Hertingfordbury Road, Hertingfordbury, Herts, SG14 2LB

Friday 2 March 2012 ~ 7.00pm for 7.30pm Have you suffered for years with arthritis, rheumatism, back, neck and shoulder pain, slipped discs, hiatus hernia, stomach pain? Then come and watch Paul (through the trance mediumship of Ray Brown) or have healing with him in his demonstration.

Tickets £15.00 Telephone Louisa: 01992 535876 Mobile: 07793 771778 or email: bookings@warrenday.co.uk

Psychic News Page 5

NEWS

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

“This certainly is the festival everyone wants to be at!” he told Psychic News proudly.

“It’s just what I hoped for when Keith Charles (below) and I conceived the idea twelve years ago – Spiritualists of all ages and stages of progression attending a weekend with a packed programme of workshops and le-

tures by top mediums.”

The event, attended by more than 500 people, took place from 3rd to 6th February, and Derek’s daughter-inlaw Jackie told PN that not even cold winds and the threat of snow deterred people from keeping their long-awaited appointment with the festival.

“People travelled from all parts of the UK and Ireland,” said Jackie. “After dinner on the Friday night, Ray Robinson and Keith Charles gave everyone a warm welcome and then we were treated to a medley of new mediums – Simon Leicester is a name to watch for. This was followed by medium Philip Solomon.

“Phil was direct and accurate, particularly with a man who communicated to his Romany friends, giving names of people and places so precisely that it was as if Phil had him on the end of a telephone.”

Saturday daytime was packed with workshops and events given by psychic surgeon

Gifted medium passes suddenly

We regret to report the passing of the Southamptonbased medium Jackie Brian.

Jackie, who was 54, passed suddenly from a heart attack in February. Originally from London, she moved to Southampton eight years ago, to be near her family.

A mother of three, she became a member of Southampton Spiritualist Church, running its development circle and serving regularly on the platform. In 2011 she joined the committee.

Jackie’s unexpected passing has caused great sadness to the Spiritualist community

Page 6 Psychic News

in Southampton. Church president Mike Barnes told Psychic News: “Jackie was my friend, as well as a medium. In all my years in Spiritualism I have never learned so much from just one person as I did from sitting in circle with her.

“She was so accurate with her mediumship and would never take a penny for running the circle. She was really something.”

Ninety people attended Jackie’s funeral at Southampton Spiritualist Church.

It was conducted by Stephen Smith, with whom she had worked on many occasions.

Quintin Smith, Malcolm Robinson, and Sheila and Phil Scott.

“An outstanding workshop was given by transfiguration medium Jay Love,” said Jackie.

“In an emotional and uplifting moment a lady was clearly seen transfiguring Jay’s face as she poured out her love to her husband Robin. Later, Robin said it had been the most extraordinary and fabulous thing he had ever experienced.”

Saturday evening saw a demonstration of mediumship by ‘3SPIRIT’ – consisting of Ivan Lee, Mike Kingscote and Keith Charles.

“The vibes were high and the crowd expectant as these three mediums took to the stage,” said Jackie. “Ivan was soon into his stride reuniting a father and daughter. He thanked her for staying strong as she nursed him whilst he faded into the spirit world. He also found time to tease her about her new decorations, correctly describing her new bedroom colour-scheme.

“Mike then linked a mother to her family. They had been searching for such a link for several years, and the personal details given by Mike reinforced their special love.

“Keith then took to the stage and in his own inimitable punchy, no-nonsense style soon connected Don with his dad.

Laughter flowed as his father reminded Don of how much alike they were, before teasing him about his dress code, even down to his underpants!

“The mood changed swiftly when a young boy of thirteen communicated with his aunt, telling her that his earthly learning difficulties in no way hampered his spiritual communication. He gave names, dates, and details of his passing that were readily accepted.”

On Sunday there were further workshops and lectures with speakers including Bernie

Scott, Rosemary Griffiths and spirit artist Raye Edwina Brown, to name just a few.

The Power of Love echoed through the packed ballroom at the conclusion of a demonstration by Sharon Neill (above), who had flown over from Belfast for the event.

“A spirit father had inspired Sharon to sing this song to his daughter,” explained Jackie.

“It capped a terrific evening of spiritual communication that had been started by international medium Jay Love.

“The audience stood in admiration to applaud Sharon, the sound of their appreciation echoing through the centre as the ‘Parade of Mediums’ took place.”

In keeping with the tradition of Wimbledon church, whose motto is ‘What we can give, not what we can get’, Derek and Keith organised a collection for CHASE, a charity for children not expected to live beyond their teens. It raised £533, causing the charity’s representative Kevin Hopwood to say that he was “completely overwhelmed by this gesture and collection”.

A further £1,000 was raised during the weekend by festival attendee Sue, for her Costa Rican Charity.

“It was a marvellous weekend,” said president Derek Robinson. “Thank you, everybody.”

• For further events, visit: w w w. w i m b l e d o n s p i r i t u a l istchurch.co.uk

Doctors to give Hydesville lecture This year’s Hydesville lecture has a medical basis. It will be given by two doctors and is devoted to the subject of ‘Research into Spiritual Healing’.

The annual Hydesville Lecture aims to promote Spiritualist topics and explore future developments with a wider audience.

The 2012 lecture will take place at Brighton and Hove Central Spiritualist Church (9-10 Boundary Passage, Nr. Norfolk Square, Brighton BN1 3BJ) at 2pm on 31st March. Dr Fiona Barlow and Dr Felicity Bishop, both of Southampton School of

Medicine, will focus on work with cancer patients and the development of a healing questionnaire.

“Research such as this bodes well for the future of spiritual healing and it is important to spread the word,” said Deborah Knowles, President of ‘Boundary Passage’.

For further details please contact Deborah on 01273 731329, or email: deborah knowles@ntlworld.

A popular family holiday chain in the UK is offering guests a chance to experience spirit communication.

Pontins, famous for its Bluecoat entertainment shows, is featuring a weekend with TV mediums Colin Fry and T.J. Higgs at its holiday park in Brean Sands, Somerset.

The ‘British Mediums’ event, from 16th to 18th March 2012, will include a psychic fair, a two-hour afternoon workshop with T.J. Higgs and

an evening of mediumship.

Colin will also sign copies of his books.

For further details visit: www.pontins.com/themedbreaks/other-breaks/britishmediums-weekend

• For details of services and other events at the church, please visit: www.brighton andhovespiritualistchurch. org

The spirit of Pontins

The Institute of Spiritualist Mediums Head Office: 132 Reading Road South, Church Crookham, Fleet, Hants GU52 6AL

Autumn Residential Weekend Workshop

“Voyage of Discovery” For beginners & intermediate students

27th & 28th October 2012 at: The Beachcroft Hotel Clyde Road, Felpham, Bognor Regis, W.Sussex £135.00 members £145.00 non-members

2 people sharing full board accommodation - all rooms ensuite

For further details see www.ism.org.uk or Tel: 01252 680516

LIMITED AVAILABILITY – BOOK EARLY

NEWS

Millions flock to see paranormal films

It appears that a fascination with the paranormal is attracting millions of American and Canadian cinema-goers to their local multiplex.

Chronicle, a film about three teenagers who suddenly find themselves with psychic powers, exceeded all boxoffice expectations in its opening weekend and became the week’s top movie.

According to BoxOffice. com, the film was expected to take $15 million, but the actual figure reported in Bloomberg Business Week was $22 million Following closely behind with $21 million takings was

MORNING LIGHT HEALING RETREAT IN THE BEAUTIFUL SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

important notice

Following the death of his beloved wife Peggy just before Christmas, Clive wishes to tell friends old and new that he will continue the work at this ‘Light Centre’ in 2012, and beyond.

Same love and care for visitors staying on retreat. Same reasonable accommodation tariff. Same focus on personal emotional healing. Same FREE healing therapy for past-life regression, inner-child therapy, relationship issues, attunement with God life, being really happy within yourself.

B & B plus evening meal from £125.00 per person per week (Caravan) to £200.00 per week (en-suite family room). 10 miles west of Inverness.

Beautiful woodland surroundings. Wonderful walks from house.

Own wheels desirable.

P.S. Opportunity in 2012 for female helper, counsellor and healer to join team for entire season. Long-term house share also considered with ideal lady.

Contact Clive for further details.

Morning Light Healing Trust, Cabrich, Kirkhill, Inverness IV5 7PH Tel: 01463 782389

the ghost story Woman in Black (pictured), with ‘Harry Potter’ star Daniel Radcliffe.

Hopefully, the continually rising interest in paranormal movies will lead viewers to explore the more spiritual aspects of the subject with an open mind.

Mediumship Development Residential Weekend with Mediums

ALEX WHITING & LEN COX 23rd - 25th March 2012 Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Cost: £160 Details from:

www.alexwhiting.co.uk or call 07850 840 258 or 07779 555 210 Why not send us the history of your church or centre so we can share it with readers? Don’t forget to tell us what’s going on now, and please do send photographs.

Email:

pnadverts@gmail.com or write to: Psychic News, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7WE

Psychic News Page 7

philosophy

abortion David Hopkins considers some of the complex issues involved...

T

ethically, what is the situation with these potential individuals?

In abortion, are we causing pain and distress to the foetus? Can we justify that, whatever the circumstances? Research suggests that from eighteen weeks the foetus can feel pain; other studies indicate a much earlier point in development. Are we removing an element of respect for life by allowing abortion to take place?

What ‘rights’ are involved in abortion? Those of the unborn child and those of the mother, clearly. What about those of the father? And does society have a right to a voice? The woman bearing the foetus has a right of ownership of her own body and has the right to decide her own future – or don’t you agree? She has personal responsibility, so should the law, society, religion or anything else seek to interfere? Does it have the right to interfere? What if it seems that the life or health of the mother is at risk by continuing the pregnancy to full term? Who decides – mother, physician, church, culture, God? Is a woman who has an abortion committing a ‘sin’ in so doing? Even for those who are opposed in principle to abortion, are there circumstances in which it might be justified?

Rape is an obvious situation that could fall into this category. There is a possibility that such a child will be born unwanted and unloved. Is that seen as preferable to prevention? Do we knowingly and willingly place the child in such an environment? Which is the greater ‘sin’? Are there other situations where abortion is the lesser of two or more evils?

And what of the father? Can we lay down hard-andfast rules or do we need to look at each case on its individual merits?

Conception following rape, or in

1 Year 6 Months a loving and caring background, and all the points between – there United Kingdom £48 £25 are clear differences. Does the Overseas £68 £35 role of the father vary depending on where on that scale the couple Online version £26 £14 are? At the ‘positive’ end, it would Send your details to the office address on page 3, be nice to think that there was an Email: subscription@psychicnews.org.uk, or call: 01279 874341 involvement of both parents, but For online subscriptions visit: www.psychicnews.org.uk should we legislate for that? Where

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

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

I assume we all agree that killing is wrong, and particularly that killing an innocent human being is wrong. We reach the question: “Is the foetus an innocent human being?” Innocent – clearly; human being – a complication. When can the foetus be classed as such? There are lots of views on this: conception; implantation into the womb; the ‘quickening’; tissue separation; brain activity; viability. Anyone care to make a pronouncement on that? Not me, that’s certain.

Every cell is alive, so from the very first moment of conception there is life. Once created, that life must, according to Spiritualist principles, continue. But when do we reach the point of individual existence? From the moment of conception there is the potential for individual existence but it also has to be remembered that a large percentage of foetuses miscarry; the body rejects them without medical intervention. Morally and

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Page 8 Psychic News

philosophy would we draw our lines of distinction, and in the case of dispute who would arbitrate? Does the father have any element of right to veto an abortion, remembering that he has had a part in the creation of the foetus, and if the decision to conceive was mutually agreed, is it reasonable that a change of mind on the part of one partner has greater weight?

Potential mum, potential dad... now, potential child.

What are the moral and ethical rights of the child?

Does the child have a right to be carried in the mother’s womb, regardless of her views? We cannot take an opinion from the child so it is left to the individual, or to society, to establish those rights. What Job-like figure is going to step forward and provide a list? There will no doubt be volunteers from various religious backgrounds, from those with strong ethical and philosophical views, from those referred to as ‘pro-life’ and from champions of women’s rights and many others. Who decides which of these views will take precedence?

What of the views of other women? Alice Paul (who drafted the original version of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution) referred to abortion as “the ultimate exploitation of women”. In the past other women have held similar views. It seems reasonable to suggest that today many women would see the right of choice by the woman as being of paramount importance.

The woman is an individual and not just a foetus-carrier.

Historically, it was the male view that overrode anything else. We accept that the female view has equal validity and must be given equal (or greater) weight.

Moving to a more Spiritualist viewpoint, where do we find ourselves as a group in this debate? I suggest it is probably as a group of individuals with a range of views. We have no authoritarian figure or book to make a decision for us. At the end of the day we cannot claim papal infallibility whatever view we hold.

A child has a spirit that at some point (don’t try to tie me down on that one!) enters the ‘body within the body’ – the foetus. Differences of opinion will exist on whether that spirit has chosen to enter that foetus with the aim of being born to those particular parents at that precise period in all their lives. Many of those spirits will inhabit bodies that do not survive to full term, being ‘lost’ somewhere along the nine-month journey. Is what happens to those spirits likely to be any different to what happens to an aborted child? If it is the spirit itself

that wants to come to those parents, will it try again?

What if that cannot happen, say because the mother is not able to carry any child to full term? Does that spirit give up, try another route – and if so is this ‘second best’ for them?

Will the spirit of an aborted child understand what has happened and more importantly why its route was blocked? What emotional trauma (if any) will that inflict on the spirit?

Will that spirit and its guiding helpers simply say, “Well, if at first...” and keep going?

My name and the beard in my picture will show that I have never been pregnant, so I have never had to make this decision. I cannot say that I understand, because no man could ever understand – unless it had happened to him at a previous time in a previous (and female) physical body! And that idea would open up more lines of discussion and debate!

In summary I would say that abortion is not a sin, is not against the ‘will of God’ and has to be permissible.

However, it should not be seen as the ‘three-month after’ pill and certainly not as a ‘remedy’ for what has been perceived as the ‘wrong’ gender. It should not be encouraged and generally speaking is not a good choice for any of the parties involved.

But there will always be exceptions where abortion is the least damaging of the options that face the woman concerned.

In the end I cannot give you the (or even a) Spiritualist view on abortion. All I can do is make some points for you to consider. As always, Spiritualists realise that every case has to be judged on its own merits and individual circumstances. A cop-out of an answer? Sorry if you think that. I am no arbiter of human responsibility and no decision-maker for others.

No one has that right. The old chestnut about letting conscience be your guide might be applicable to this issue.

I really look forward to your responses on this subject. Perhaps together we can take forward our knowledge, understanding and wisdom to assist others.

© David Hopkins • David Hopkins is an SNU minister, author and broadcaster.

Psychic News Page 9

TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP

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

How did you first become aware of your own trance potential, and what was your initial reaction to being entranced?

Did you develop further within a circle, or by other means?

My development continued for several years within the same circle.

Even though other sitters came and went, the initial core of people remained constant and this gave me the confidence to continue my spiritual progress in a safe and comfortable environment.

The circle leader was an ‘old school’ disciplinarian of course and kept my feet planted firmly on the ground. Perhaps this is why I have always stressed the importance of humility, both in life and particularly when it involves mediumship.

After several months of attending a Spiritualist church and being informed on a weekly basis through different visiting mediums that I should join a development circle because I had work to do, I was asked to sit in a group run by Arthur Phelps, a well-known and respected local medium. I did so, believing that I might be able to develop as a spiritual healer, something that interested me at the Robert Goodwin: time.

“I willingly surrendered to After a few months of sitting in the the spirit influence.” circle, however, it became apparent When and how did White Feather that other abilities were beginning to emerge. make himself known to you?

Each time I sat I encountered feelings of being overshadowed, as if a warm blanket had been placed I had been speaking in trance for around two years or around me. This was coupled with other physical more, within the confines of the circle, before White phenomena such as my throat becoming constricted, an Feather announced his identity to me. I was actually increased heart rate, my arms being immobile and my sitting quietly in meditation at home one evening, when head expanding. he appeared to me clairvoyantly and gave me his name.

Coupled with these intense feelings was the desire I also saw his features clearly for the first time. Those to speak aloud, although no subject matter was in pieces of information have since been verified by other evidence. Eventually, this desire became overwhelming, mediums on numerous occasions across the years, as if as did the level of control by the guide as I willingly I ever needed any confirmation. surrendered to the spirit influence.

It is worth making the point here, though, that it I had no idea who exactly was attempting to speak is not necessary in the early days for a developing through me, just that they imparted an overwhelming medium to know the identity of their spirit guides and warmth and love. I had absolutely no fear or concern in helpers. Often, knowing a guide’s identity can prove to allowing them to work with me because I knew beyond be an obstacle to further development because human any doubt that their intentions were of the highest nature being what it is, there is the likelihood that an order. individual will focus more upon the perceived identity of When eventually a voice spoke through me, it the guide to the exclusion of other information that is was with the utmost relief on my part, as if a great being imparted from the spirit world. It is for this very breakthrough had been made. Although only a few reason that spirit guides often withhold their name and stuttering words were delivered, I realised afterwards form until the medium is ready, which is what happened that something special had taken place and resolved in my case. to do everything I could to become the best possible channel for the work that I knew lay ahead.

It’s human nature to doubt at times, and It was never my intention to become a trance most great trance mediums of the past have medium, or to work publicly, but I now know that those wondered whether their own mind is in some in the spirit world had other ideas. way responsible for what is being communicated

Page 10 Psychic News

TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP

“How many times do you want us to prove life after death?”

White Feather Robert and Amanda Goodwin through them. Have you had similar doubts?

If so, how have you dealt with them?

To what extent are you aware of what White Feather is saying through you?

We all doubt ourselves from time to time, but without wishing to sound arrogant in any way, I have always been able to discern what comes from White Feather, such is the power of his influence.

Anyone who knows me will observe a distinct difference in the delivery of speech, intonation, choice of words and grammar when the guide takes control and speaks through me, and I always know without any doubt when he is drawing close.

I remember, though, the very first time I sat in a development group and the spirit of a young girl named Maisie controlled a gentleman sitting next to me.

The voice that spoke through him was very highpitched and totally different from the medium’s own.

The spirit addressed the group for what seemed ages, answering questions put to her by the circle leader. Yet, speaking to the gentleman afterwards and on subsequent occasions I realised that he himself doubted his ability as a trance medium, despite the fact that he was as honest, genuine and humble as anyone you could wish to meet.

I promised myself there and then, even at that early stage in my own development, that I would always be true to the spirit world and myself and never, ever attempt to deceive anyone at any time. Furthermore I resolved to test my own links with the guides and we have an agreement that anything they impart to me has to be true, otherwise I will reject it.

I’m not saying that there is never any colouration from my own subconscious mind, but to the best of my ability, it is always kept to a minimum – I wouldn’t have it any other way and neither would White Feather!

There is an awareness of everything that he says whilst speaking through me because he employs my ears to enable responses from the audience to be addressed.

However, afterwards I can recall very little, if anything, of what he has said. During the time he is operating through me I have no control over anything he says, such is the speed and intensity of the communication and I also have no awareness of certain bodily parts or their functions, most notably my legs and feet.

In fact, to prove his control over me on one occasion, he asked a member of the circle to stick a pin into the top of my hand. When they reluctantly did this (against their better judgement), he asked them to push it in even further before eventually removing it. Apparently there was no blood drawn and I felt no pain at all.

Although I also heard all that he said to the group, there was never any sense of trepidation as ‘I’ was not present.

Where my consciousness goes when White Feather takes over control I do not know. It is as if ‘I’ am set gently aside and White Feather steps forward. My wife often says that he approaches me from my right hand side and I have no reason to doubt this although I am not aware of it. The mechanism to deliver speech, hear responses and even provide some minimal animation of limbs (White Feather often uses hand gestures when emphasising a point) is also still present, but the mind operating them is definitely his and not mine.

Do you ever find yourself disagreeing with continued on page 12

Psychic News Page 11

TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP continued... a philosophical teaching that White Feather has imparted through your mediumship? For instance, it’s well known that Maurice Barbanell disagreed with what Silver Birch had to say about reincarnation.

Generally, I seem to be in agreement with what he teaches, although I do recall disagreeing with something he once said about animal euthanasia. I held the view that it is acceptable to put an animal out of its misery when the pain is too great and the suffering too much to bear. Although White Feather stated that our ‘motive’ is what matters and that he understood this perspective, he also taught that it is wrong to knowingly take a life because it is against natural law.

I have since questioned him myself on this topic and I do understand his views, but I have found it difficult to come to terms with them. I think there are deeper issues to be debated around this point and no doubt he would be the first to encourage further discussion.

and pressure, has resulted in individuals being thrust into the limelight before they are ready. Also, the emergence of the ‘celebrity medium’ and numerous individuals who operate on a purely psychic level for either monetary gain or short-lived fame has been detrimental to the movement.

It’s my firm belief that we should encourage a return to higher values and discipline from grass-root levels and move away from the trend towards entertainment that is currently endemic and towards the deeper philosophy-based mediumship that once existed.

Spiritualism is nothing without good teachers and mediums setting the example to others.

Philosophical trance mediumship has been a bedrock of Spiritualism from the beginning. How would you sum up its importance?

That’s very true, Sue. Pioneers of modern Spiritualism recognised that at its best the movement provides a bridge between the esoteric and the scientific, providing proof of survival in combination with a broad, evolving My own view is that much that passes for trance philosophy that is both exciting and challenging. in today’s movement is nothing of the sort. Do When I first encountered Spiritualism back in the you agree, and if so, do you have a view on what 1970s I recognised that here was the cutting edge of has caused this situation? true spirituality. To hear and witness spiritual teachings that came from realms far beyond our earth, spoken by I most certainly do agree. Whenever we undertake spirit guides that demonstrated wisdom greater than demonstrations of trance, anything I had ever we always go to great known, enthralled lengths to emphasise the me – it still does. differences between what Even now when I I call ‘pseudo-trance’ and read the philosophy true trance mediumship. imparted by White The difficulty is that Feather, Silver Birch, many people, both Red Cloud and others within and outside the I feel as though I am Spiritualist movement beholding something simply don’t know what very precious. they are witnessing.

True trance Some of the horror mediumship stories I hear of so-called is essential to mediums speaking in Spiritualism. If pidgin-English, posturing, proof of survival is pulling faces, talking the life-blood of the Maurice Barbanell (left) did not always hold the gibberish and so on, I movement, then same views as his guide Silver Birch (right). find appalling. trance should be True trance mediumship should demonstrate a spirit regarded as its heart and soul. control that is always spontaneous, flows without a As White Feather recently said to a large gathering, moment’s hesitation and reveals a depth of knowledge “How many times do you want us to prove life after that is delivered eloquently, whilst appealing to the death?” He meant, of course, that once we have intelligence of everyone present. Anything that does received evidence that our loved ones have survived not match up to these criteria has to be regarded with ‘death’, a greater knowledge and wisdom awaits us. suspicion.

Knowing that there is an afterlife is not enough.

I could speculate on why certain individuals or The human soul has an inbuilt desire to search and groups fall short of the standards expected and would find ever-greater knowledge, and it is essential that suggest that perhaps it is attributable to a combination true trance – which should be also recognised as one of of ignorance and egotism. It is my belief that whilst the highest forms of mediumship – is central to embracing new ideas and attracting young people is that quest. paramount, Spiritualism needs to return to the core values that it once held dear, and which produced such • For further information about Robert Goodwin fine mediums over the years. and his work, including a range of books It is unfortunate that nowadays people demand containing White Feather’s teachings, visit: instant results and this, coupled with media interest www.whitefeather.org.uk

Page 12 Psychic News

BOOKS

a good read with Graham Jennings

The Mediumship & Psychic Art of Sandy Ingham

F

by James Christie ~ Paperback ~ 204 pages ~ Mage Publishing ~ £14.99

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

There are many examples in this book of Sandy’s incredibly detailed drawings – the sort that would take a conventional artist half a day to produce, but which were dashed off in ten minutes. They compare

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remarkably with the photos shown to her afterwards.

How did she develop so prodigious a talent? Surely she had some artistic ability? Well, no. She wanted to draw, but couldn’t, and her only tutor, a pavement artist, gave up trying to teach her. It is ‘Leo’, a sixteenth-century Italian, who does the drawing.

Sandy has been a psychic artist for just a few years, but her spiritual development goes back a long way.

She was born in 1947 in Derbyshire during a terrible blizzard. At that time the world did not hold much opportunity for a girl like Sandy, with only basic schooling and no qualifications. She married at eighteen and had two children. The marriage was not happy but she put up with it for ten years before leaving her husband.

Once, she became so depressed that she attempted suicide with an overdose washed down with wine, and was only saved when an uncle, who had driven ten miles past her house, suddenly felt compelled to return and pay a rare visit.

Alone with her children, and in charge of her life for the first time, she worked as a community nurse.

When she met Michael Ingham, an engineer in the merchant navy, she was not seeking another relationship, but agreed to go on “just one date.”

They married in

Continued on page 14

(Psychic artist Sandy Ingham)

Psychic News Page 13

BOOKS Continued...

1976 and Sandy gave birth to a daughter the following year.

Sandy was developing as a mental medium, but with no experience of other mediums, or a Spiritualist church. Even so, she would be approached by strangers and drawn into conversation, then “be touched by a spiritual presence, invariably someone connected to the person she was with, who would tell Sandy things to pass on.”

Her family life was now loving and meaningful, but

mother called at their cottage, and said: “I know it sounds stupid, but I’ve got no idea what I’m doing here.”

“I know exactly who you are,” Sandy replied, “and I’ve been expecting you...“ Sandy proceeded to give evidence of Dean’s survival, although his father would not accept it. Later, however, Sandy was able to tell her that the family had been swimming and Dean had been there too, joining in the fun.

This was hard to accept, even when Sandy told her to go home and look in the chest of drawers in Dean’s old room. She did, and found his swimming trunks and a towel, still damp and smelling of chlorine!

Sandy’s meeting with Stephen Holbrook happened when he arrived for a demonstration at Scarborough. Told by her guide to take her sketchbook, she arrived early, announcing herself simply as a psychic artist.

Stephen was diplomatic, but noncommittal. “I have had experiences with psychic artists,” he writes, “none of them very good experiences I must admit – the portraits I had seen were poor classroom attempts of faces, they really could have been anybody, they were so vague.”

Then two women arrived early and sat at the bar next to Sandy. She happened to have in front of her a One of Sandy’s psychic drawings (left) and comparison picture she had drawn earlier. The photograph of soldier Harold Hancock. women were astonished to see it was of their mother. One of them produced a photo from her handbag. there was another trial to undergo. She was diagnosed “When I compared the two pictures,” writes Stephen, with multiple sclerosis at forty-one, and then came “it wasn’t just the lady who was in shock, it was the onset of osteoporosis. She read everything she absolutely amazing!” could find on the subject, devising a healthy eating and Since then he and Sandy have demonstrated exercise regime. She took delivery of a wheelchair, but together many times. I think we shall hear a lot was determined not to use it. more of Sandy Ingham!

The family moved to the village of Little Sokum.

Their first visitor was thirteen-year-old Dean who welcomed them and gave some useful advice. They hoped to see more of him, but were soon horrified to learn he had been fatally wounded in a shooting accident.

By this time Sandy was a seasoned medium. After Dean’s passing, his

Have you had an evidential drawing from a psychic artist?

Please let us know, and please do send comparison photographs.

Psychic News, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts, CM22 7WE. or by email to pneditorials@gmail.com Page 14 Psychic News

Another of the amazing psychic drawings (left) and comparison photograph of Andy. To find out the full story behind these portraits get a copy of Sandy’s book from www.sandyingham.co.uk

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

White light, ectoplasm, an apport and other phenomena

O

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

The morning was taken up with a time of getting to know each other, and after lunch we were treated to a talk by Robin Foy, one of the organisers, on the direct voice medium Leslie Flint, with whom he had sat a number of times.

At 5pm we gathered for an introductory talk on what we might expect in the séance which was to follow. Afterwards, Kai left us and we were frisked before entering the séance room. When we were ready, Robin stripsearched Kai before bringing him to the special séance room in the garden of the centre.

The number of sitters for each séance was restricted to eighteen at the request of Kai’s spirit team.

One of the early happenings of that night was the materialisation within the horseshoe of sitters of a man described

by Hans Bender, the control of the medium, as “tall, ninety-two when he went, and part of the British Spiritualist movement.” Who else could it be but Tom Harrison, my husband, back again in his ‘home’ centre?

We heard his familiar shuffling footsteps as he moved across the room.

Professor Bender then went on to say

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

the man wished to touch someone in the circle. Because I was almost three metres from the cabinet I encouraged him to try to touch Barbara, who was nearer. But no, I soon felt a firm tap on my knees – a warm, soft but firm fist. A few minutes later, after we had sung, Bender came back to say that the man, ‘Thomas’, wanted to tell that lady something (and that something was very pertinent to me). Bender also said he believed Thomas used to be in a circle (so true).

That evening, instruments were tap-ped, shaken and moved. We saw fingers against a luminous plaque over two metres away from the cabinet, and coming from different directions – not from the direction of the cabinet. We also felt touches. I felt as though an owl’s wing had moved across my knees. Barbara felt she had an animal on her knee. We had been warned that these ideoplastic formations can occur – so very different from what we, in UK circles, normally experience.

In the latter part of the two-hour séance we watched as ectoplasm was pulled from the medium’s mouth in good red light. We had been told that it would be a sticky substance, and it certainly appeared to adhere to the medium’s fingers. But he continued to pull it from his mouth and to pull it apart with his fingers to show us the fibrous, gossamerlike structure of spiders’ web threads in the mass of an unstructured web, like those I have seen in my garden in Spain.

Towards the end of this demonstration the fingers of Kai’s right hand appeared to rub/work the ectoplasm to reveal a tiny Buddha form – an apport which was

Ann H arrison a gift to the Acacia Centre, and which, Julia told us, was dry, hot and clean, even though it had come from this sticky mass.

On the second day, Kai told us about the wealth of historical evidence of physical mediumship, using many photographs. Later he introduced us to the development of the FEG and the latest photographs that he had taken of ectoplasm being extruded across his tongue after a meditation.

On the Thursday morning Robert McClernon instructed us in the different approaches he uses in holistic healing.

That afternoon, in the séance room, Robert felt a very large spider crawling up his leg towards his chest before disappearing – another ideoplastic form.

We told him it was because he had teased Barbara about a snake coming! Two continued on page 16

Psychic News Page 15

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Continued... people were touched from behind, and being mediums, knew that their mothers had been responsible. Bender said he would try to get confirmation, but he didn’t, as the séance was interrupted when someone was taken ill and had to leave the room.

Fortunately we were able to restart and rebuild the matrix of energy in which the circle works. After the trumpet had moved around the room, conducting the singing, it rested on Robert’s arm and he was told to take hold of it. It played ‘hard to get’ for a few seconds before letting him hold it and they then had a tug of war. Robert told us that the pull was extremely strong and the sitter next to him could feel Robert’s chair moving with the force of his grip. We also watched luminous pingpong balls being moved on a tray and tossed onto the floor.

We then watched ectoplasm being extracted from the medium in good red light. Once it had been disconnected from the medium (yes, they do that) a hand and arm pushed upwards in it from a pile on the floor. Hans Bender told us it was his arm. Then, after re-forming, we watched a column of ectoplasm, about six feet wide, grow to head height within the front of the cabinet, with the red light on it all the time – just as Tom must have seen when his Aunt Ag built for the first time in his mother Minnie Harrison’s circle.

Friday was a day off for our visiting medium and we had a fun day exploring the basics of dowsing followed in the afternoon by table-tilting, a method used by our pioneers to communicate with the spirit world.

Five tables were available for the session and we soon had most of them whizzing around the room – invading the kitchen and chasing each other as we sang nursery rhymes and other joyful

songs. The control was amazing.

Tom had told me the previous Sunday, through Robert’s mediumship, that he would move the table, and had given me the trigger song to do that. Towards the end of the afternoon we sat with our own table, trying to get it to levitate, and as the energy was fading I started to sing Half a pound of tu’penny rice.

Immediately the table became energised

Kai Muegge and his fiancée Julia

and spun wildly around, pirouetting on one leg for some minutes. Both Barbara and I could sense Tom’s presence, as could another sitter who had known Tom years before but did not know of his promise for this week. It was a wonderful experience.

On Saturday afternoon, a handkerchief with luminous spots on the corners was taken from the outstretched fingers of two different sitters and we watched it float around the room like a jellyfish, even going beyond the circle over my head (this time I was sitting nearer the cabinet). As before, we also felt touches, saw hands against a plaque, and had instruments shaken and tapped to music.

A personal Seminar at Stirling University, Scotland contact was given 23rd - 30th JUNE 2012 to a sitter from the USA, when £195.00 includes all workshops and a patient of his self-catering accommodation returned to thank Workshops: Mediumship, Tarot, Divination, Cosmic him. A Sioux Indian Ordering, Runes, Angel, Crystal, Scrying, Dowsing, etc medicine man who Programme available ~ For further is a guide of their information, contact Kate on 01355 276410 circle, also came to speak to him and e-mail: holistichealers.ssc@tiscali.co.uk gave the Dakota website: www.scot-spirit-coll.co.uk word for ‘medicine

SCOTTISH SPIRITUAL COLLEGE

Page 16 Psychic News

man’ as well as other information. The sitter later assured us that he had not mentioned what he did for a living, and no one knew the Dakota word and its relevance to him.

A lady sitter was given a contact from a guide who comes to her when she is writing music, which gave her a great boost in confidence.

Towards the end of the séance the red light (full 40-watt exposure) again showed us the ectoplasm streaming from Kai’s mouth, with him pulling it out as before. This time it looked like cotton wool – not sticky – across his knee and onto the floor. Again he pulled it open with his hands to show us the internal gossamer-thread structure. Julia was instructed to turn off the light and within seconds to put it back on. She did, and it was all gone! We were told it had been reabsorbed into the etheric body.

Bender then asked Julia if she trusted them. Very tentatively she replied that she did.

“You do not sound sure,” he said.

“I thought you might be asking me a question,” she replied.

“Well, do you trust us?”

This time, more firmly, she answered, “Yes, I do.”

He then asked her to get the torch with the white light and shine it onto the floor by her feet. She was then to move the light slowly onto the cabinet and up the curtain. As she did so we could see Kai’s face poking through the opening of the cabinet curtain. From his nose hung ‘ropes’ of ectoplasm which then looped round into a mass of looser ectoplasm seemingly attached to the cabinet curtain to the medium’s right, several inches away from his face.

Bender asked if we could see a face in the ectoplasm – it was his own face.

From my position in the circle I could not see it as it was turned slightly away, but most of the others could. It held for quite some seconds before Julia was asked to turn the light out.

This may be the first time for very many years that white light has been shone on ectoplasm. The light was quite bright, too, and only about two feet from the ectoplasm. The lamp was the sort used as a bicycle front light.

These were amazing séances, with so much light and openness. We had a wonderful five days of variety and contact. Thank you Robert and Barbara for your hospitality, and thank you Kai and Julia for your devotion to doing what you do.

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

T

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

The simplest advice alleged to have been given by Christ was ‘Love one another’. Much of that with which generations of people have been indoctrinated was added years, indeed centuries, after the crucifixion. His basic message showed that he recognised our lives as being indestructible energy, given temporary accommodation in a material body with which to explore and learn from a multiplicity of experiences through communication with the brotherhood and sisterhood of humankind.

The interaction with those lives around us makes possible, if we are prepared to use it, a great deal more understanding and knowledge than a spirit in isolation could realise. Adopting the guidance of ‘Love one another’, meaning that we care for and support each other, our lives become increasingly blessed with light and joy. Heaven is a possible destiny but not the ultimate destination.

I accept that my familiarity with the Bible and Christian scripture is now a feature of the distant past, and that my memory is not as good as it was, but I don’t recall that Christ ever claimed to be ‘The’ son of God. His description of his fellow man as brethren surely demonstrates his recognition of our fraternal, equal status. Far too much attention has been given to transcription and interpretation of simple language with the result that the Christian church is so divided that it is falling apart. The same fate will befall modern Spiritualism unless we stop the march to orthodoxy.

Spiritualism, in its simplest form, is living with the knowledge that life is eternal, and with the recognition

that the way we conduct our lives is our responsibility and determines whether that life is heaven or hell.

Much has been made of the conflict between personal responsibility (Spiritualists), and divine forgiveness (Christians).

Personal responsibility is indisputable. We are what we are because of how we have used our lives thus far.

Mistakes have been made and wilful misdeeds done.

Nothing can or will change those things. Forgiveness is in the eye of the forgiver. It reduces their sense of guilt, resentment and anger directed at the offender. It is a misguided act of self pardon for the ill will felt. The death of Christ resulted from the sin of man, it was not engineered to secure the freedom of man from responsibility for his misdeeds throughout time. He earned respect, not for his forgiving, but for his not criticising and condemning those who offended. Recognition of these matters will set aside much of what has divided followers of both organisations.

Difficulty in accepting Christianity and Spiritualism together can be overcome if focus is directed to imitation of the life of Christ, setting aside all the interpretations of what he is alleged to have said. His example shows no conflict with the Seven Principles of Spiritualism.

Christianity, as presented today, is as much about Christ as revenge is about justice. In each case the two parties are related, but the activity is distorted so that the relationship is difficult to see. Nothing in the life of Christ justified the bloodshed of the Holy Wars.

‘Love one another’ is Christianity’s basic principle, and that is in no way incompatible with Spiritualist principles.

Both recognise that life is eternal. Entry to the Kingdom of Heaven only via Christ was surely him offering his lifestyle to uneducated people as an example of how to achieve the concept of heaven.

Dump dogma in the dustbin and love one another.

You will then be both Spiritualist and Christian.

Psychic News Page 17

FEATURE

Spiritual Writing Ever had a secret ambition to write a spiritual book?

US spiritual author and life coach Cheryl Richardson could well be the one to make your dream come true.

C

by Lynda Flower

opened up a part of me that would heryl learned the spiritual go on to explore other sacred areas lesson of caring for at church, in nature, through deep herself the hard way. conversations with people and so on.

After many years of giving willingly to others, putting other Who has had the most influence people’s needs before her own on you and your spiritual journey? and sacrificing her health and relationships for work, Cheryl The people who have had the most found her own dreams had slipped influence on me and my spiritual through the cracks of her endlessly journey have shifted and changed busy life. over time. My introduction to the Her tough experiences taught life of Jesus as a young Catholic her what it takes to put an end to girl gave me the experience of a the madness and Cheryl has spent personal relationship with God. My the past two decades teaching best friend, Max, introduced me to people about the importance of Emmet Fox, a minister who wrote self care. Her life is now dedicated a book called Sermon on the Mount to sharing the practical tools and and it changed my life. It shifted my resources she has used to improve Spiritual author and life coach perspective on my earlier religious her own life in the hope they will Cheryl Richardson. upbringing by introducing me to the also help improve the lives of metaphysical teachings of Jesus. Later, in my early 30s, others.

I was introduced to the East and the teachings of other Today Cheryl is an internationally recognised life Holy Masters. I read the translation of the Baghavad coach and number one New York Times bestselling Gita and The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa author. Her latest book, You Can Create an Exceptional Yogananda and it opened my eyes to another new Life, was co-authored with world renowned author and world. My spiritual life and interests run far, wide and spiritual book publisher Louise Hay. Cheryl’s work is deep. also widely covered in the US media and she was team leader for the Lifestyle Makeover Series on the Oprah Winfrey Show and accompanied Oprah on the ‘Live Your What do you see as your main spiritual mission in life?

Best Life’ nationwide tour.

Cheryl was in Australia recently, hosting one of To live fully in the present moment, to consistently raise two workshops aboard a sell-out Hay House Australia my level of consciousness, to stay connected to my thirteen-day cruise from Sydney to Vanuatu, Fiji Divine nature, and to help others do the same. and Samoa. She talked to me during her visit about spirituality and her planned trip to London in March.

Why do you think so many people today are seeking a more spiritual pathway?

When did you first become drawn to a more spiritual way of life?

I actually think that humanity has always been seeking a more spiritual pathway. It’s a fundamental part of our My first encounter with something sacred was when nature. The journey is different for each one of us.

I visited a convent as a young girl. We had cloistered nuns near our home who lived in silence in a beautiful Your ‘Art of Extreme Self Care’ CDs have topped old building. They baked for the community and I went best-seller lists in Australia for the past few to visit them with my family to purchase some bread. months. What prompted you to produce the set?

It was a magical place and visiting this holy place

Page 18 Psychic News

What prompted me to produce The Art of Extreme Self Care audio program was a need for better self care in my own life. My husband Michael became quite ill and I was running our household, travelling and teaching, supporting his healthcare needs and running on fumes. I needed to stop, re-evaluate my life, and take my self care to a whole new level. Then I wrote about my experience and what I learned. My writing and my teaching have always been born from my own life experience.

You’ve just returned from running a workshop on an Australian cruise, what was that like?

It was a magical experience to share time at sea with Hay House CEO Reid Tracy (pictured above), Wayne Dyer, other Hay House staff members, and the extraordinary audience who joined us. The South Pacific is beautiful and yet pales by comparison to the beauty and kindness of the people.

Can you tell us a little about your planned weekend workshop in London in March?

Yes, Reid Tracey and I will be teaching ‘The Writer’s Workshop’ for those people who want to learn the details about writing and publishing a spiritual book.

Surveys show that 90% of people have a dream to write a book and we do a great job of sharing all of the vital information people need to do it well from the actual writing experience to developing a book proposal, building an audience of readers, and getting the book out into the world either through self-publishing or by producing a book with an actual publisher.

‘The Writer’s Workshop’ London 2012 with Cheryl Richardson and Reid Tracey is taking place on 10th and 11th March. Full details on the Hay House website: www.hayhouse.co.uk Hay House CEO Reid Tracy and I taught ‘The Writer’s Workshop’ during the cruise for those who want to learn the details about writing and publishing a book.

Surveys show that 90% of people have a dream to write a book and we did a great job of sharing all of the vital information people need to do it well from the actual writing experience to developing a book proposal, building an audience of readers, and getting the book out into the world either through self-publishing or by producing a book with an actual publisher. We also had lots of fun!

• Cheryl Richardson will be visiting Australia in August to take part in a two-day ‘I Can Do It’ conference in Sydney and Melbourne with Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer and other distinguished Hay House authors.

Psychic News wants to put readers in touch with development groups and circles in their area.

Are you looking for sitters to join your development circle – or starting a new one?

Are you looking for a circle in your area?

We will advertise your details free of charge for four issues, as long as there is no charge to join or attend your group.

Email your wording (up to 35 words) to:

pnadverts@gmail.com or post details to:

Psychic News Circle, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7WE Please ensure your name and contact details are included on all correspondence.

Psychic News reserves the right to refuse or remove these notices at any time.

circle Wanted

Bournemouth I am an elderly Spiritualist and would like to be a sitter in a local circle. The greatest experience in my life was when I died and came back!

Tel: 01202 316032

Sitters Wanted

BATH-AVON/SOMERSET Developing physical medium with one sitter requires dedicated sitters to join us weekly.

We already have voices. Black out conditions, music and singing. Séance experience good but not necessary. Tel: 07989 059 880 Physical Circle looking for sitters We are three mediums sitting on Fridays in Llantwit Fardre (10 miles from Cardiff).

7.30 and 9.00pm. Extra sitters or an aspiring physical medium most welcome. No charges.

Contact Paul Challenger: 01443 218634 Psychic News Page 19

YOUR LETTERS

’s sue r s i e is Th 0 lett 1 £ inner w

‘Philosophical knowledge does not go hand in hand with mediumship’

Whilst going through my files today, I came across this PN article (16th December 1967) reporting on young Spiritualists’ attempts to organise psychic youth groups.

As I had only just read Andy Byng’s interview (31st December 2011) the unexpected juxtaposition of the two caused me to ask where Spiritualism has gone wrong. Is it a generational thing?

The Spiritualist Alliance, here in Auckland, strove to establish a youth group in the early 1970s but this, too, gradually lost impetus after about eighteen months.

If we’d had young practising mediums it might have been different, but I remem-

ber a certain degree of impatience at the prospect of spending an indeterminate amount of time in development circles to unfold some degree of quality mediumship.

It is also quite clear to me that these days Spiritualist philosophical knowledge does not go hand in hand with mediumship and that quality has diminished in both areas. This problem can be laid at the doors of our churches and/ or centres, where there are struggles to provide sufficient speakers and mediums for the platform.

However, it is evident from David Hopkins’ articles, and from first-hand knowledge of Ken’s work here in NZ, that both are still pursuing the goal

of excellence in their Spiritualist work.

I hope I may be excused what could appear to be a lack of impartiality (Ken and I married in 2002) but I do know that Ken enjoys most of all teaching and talking to young people, and I have to say that their numbers appear to be increasing in our church audiences as a result of his private development groups (currently his youngest student is 17). We also have young people participating in platform roles such as chairing, speaking and mediumship.

My other supposition rests on the fact that life today is so much more complicated.

Couple that with the constant bombardment of information

and activity, and it becomes so difficult for the younger generation to find sufficient time for quiet, meditative-like pursuits, even if they have the energy to do so.

It is a hobby-horse of mine that there’s no substitute for holding a book in one’s hands and connecting with the thoughts received from some of the recognised spirit teachers whose work has stood the test of time.

Lastly, I would like to say how impressed I am with the continuing quality of Psychic News. Congratulations to you all.

Elizabeth Pretty, President, The Spiritualist Alliance (Auckland) Inc., New Zealand

‘Everything that exists is part of the divine spirit of love and light we call God (Good)’ I write with reference to the debate – ‘Do animals have souls?’ (28th January).

That there is any debate in the Spiritualist movement on this subject puzzles me.

Everything that exists, whether human, animal, fish, the earth, the stars, the whole of the cosmos, is part of the divine spirit of love and light we call God (Good).

Everything that exists emanates from the Godhead and is a light, because God is love and light. This light (soul) travels down through denser and denser vibrations until it reaches the earth plane. As the earth is so dense, the light dims into a glowing ember.

Page 20 Psychic News

When that soul has finished its incarnation it advances back to the Godhead, in most cases having brighter light than when it started its journey.

The earth plane, because of its greater density, is a much more testing environment than the spirit world. That is why most souls start and continue with this environment. Each ember of light begins as the lowest form of life, perhaps as an amoeba (a single-cell organism).

The initial life may last a few seconds, or it may last longer. During this time it experiences and learns. Each experience taken back to spirit adds to the learning process

of the soul and increases understanding of the higher self.

We may have countless incarnations, but only a small number in human form. We then evolve through various species, ever increasing our understanding, until we reach the human form (a gorilla is known to have 98 per cent of the human genes).

Each species has a measure of love according to its understanding. When we reach human form we begin to understand that there is a force, a being superior to ourselves. Then, as our understanding grows, we begin to worship the sun, moon, idols,

until religions are formed.

Many believe in a God with a white beard, seated upon a throne, judging us and deciding who goes to heaven or hell. Then, as understanding grows, we realise that the only heaven and hell is of our own making, because of our free will.

The lessons learned by each soul are absorbed by the higher self – the increased understanding leading it ever closer to the Godhead, the soul being the emanation of light coming from the divine source. All life has a soul, as each life is an emanation of light coming from God. Graham Esnouf, Bath

Common courtesy and good manners!

Minister Dennis Jones made some very good points in his letter concerning churches reminding mediums about impending services (14th February). I feel this is just a matter of common courtesy, manners and the right way to behave – Spiritualist or not.

My main problem is not what Mr Jones said, but the way he validated/supported his opinion by referencing the SNU rule book.

Excuse my own lack of decorum in this instance, but when someone says you need to look in “Schedule 1 of Byelaws G” my only reply is “Get a life!”

Treat others as you would expect to be treated yourself and we’ll all get along just fine!

Melanie Reid, Kent

Has the world gone mad?

I share the views of Jose O’Ware and Dennis Jones concerning those mediums who either cancel service bookings at the last minute, or fail to show up at all. But, please – ‘Schedule 1 Byelaws G’? I assume from what Mr Jones says that this/these relate to mediums behaving properly.

Have we really reached a point where people have to sign up to a byelaw to ensure they behave as normal, decent members of society? If so, not only has the world gone mad, but so has the SNU. Some of the worst offenders in the “I can’t be bothered to turn up tonight” club are their very own!

Robert Bartrum, Totnes, Devon

YOUR LETTERS

Spiritualist for over 40 years never considered himself to be religious I recall being invited to become a member of our local Spiritualist church following the death, in 1987, of our son.

I was asked to complete an application form requiring confirmation of my acceptance of the Seven Principles. I had thought of myself as being a Spiritualist for over 40 years at that time, but had never considered myself to be religious.

I returned the form to the president, saying that I felt unable to accept the Seven Principles. He didn’t ask why, but said that they were open to interpretation, so I decided to give them a little more thought and I offer here my recollection of those thoughts, which I still feel are acceptable.

A Godhead has never been acceptable to me. Like creation – the making of something from nothing – it is unrealistic. If one feels inclined to accept creation I would suggest it is not unreasonable to ask “What created the creator?” If I feel the need for a father element as a guiding, supportive entity I refer to my family history interest.

I hope we can agree that we are spirit beings composed of life energy which, being impossible to create or destroy, must be eternal. This being so, in just ten generations we have over 1,000 living parental ancestors. If most of them are like the ones I knew, I feel confident that I am in safe hands.

Acceptance of our being fragments of that vast eternal life energy, I would like to suggest, makes fraternity almost inevitable. Considering The editor reserves the right to edit or shorten letters Opinions expressed are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial team

only our present period of consciousness, our interactivity with friends, colleagues and strangers has influenced, consciously or otherwise, our own spirit beings. We have become part of each other, providing an extension to that fraternal relationship.

The communion of spirits is, for me, just an alternative form of words expressing relationship with fellow living beings both incarnate and discarnate. Angels, by definition, are messengers, so, as at all levels of existence, we converse in thought, word and/or deed with each other, we can claim to be angelic. I have certainly received some very spiritual advice at intervals from associates at different levels of existence.

Continuous existence of the human soul is surely inevitable if we accept that the soul is indestructible life-energy.

Personal responsibility is the principle probably least readily respected. It is so easy to find someone else at least partly to blame when things go wrong. I would like to suggest that individual responsi-

bility is inescapable. We know what we do and don’t do, and cannot avoid responsibility for it. Outside circumstances will often influence decisions but those decisions and behaviour are our liability.

Compensation and retribution are reflected in consequences. Nothing happens without effect. ‘Like attracts like’ is a widely experienced understanding and experience shows us time and again that activity of any sort is usually returned in like kind. It is, I think, a natural example of the law of cause and effect.

Eternal progress seems obviously to be open to us all, with our eternal existence. It is only for us to decide the pace at which it will proceed.

I feel that words and principles are open to interpretation dependent on thought. Changing words doesn’t matter. What is far more important is to encourage people to think.

The press-button age has a lot to answer for. It has cultivated a creed of acceptance, a fatal mistake in spiritual development.

Frederick Kenward, Herts

Longing for visible materialisation Here are a few thoughts on Paul Barker’s very interesting interview on David Thompson’s mediumship (14th January).

I long for visible materialisation as much as anyone. I told Magnus [Colin Fry’s trance British Academy of control] and he promised that Crystal Healing they were working on it! offer FHT accredited Yes, Alec Harris achieved Diploma courses CPD days, this, but I rather think that the Individual Units and full Therapy Diploma in Preston, constitution of the ectoplasm Glastonbury and Athens. (plus other factors) varies Visit: from individual to individual www.britishacademyof instead of being progressive. crystalhealing.co.uk Tel: 07834 072273 Eileen McAlpine, Sutton

In each issue we will give £10 to the author of the letter we find most interesting Send your letters to: Psychic News, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7WE

or email them to: pnadverts@gmail.com Psychic News Page 21

FEATURE

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

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

W

hen I first visited Preston Manor (pictured) in Brighton during 2009, I had no intention of writing a paranormal novel for teenagers. Although I love the ghost genre and was brought up in a house where ghost stories were read and enjoyed, my novels for children up until that point had been mainly based on the trials and tribulations of teenage girls who were battling issues like obsessive compulsive disorder and anger management.

So when my closest friend asked if I

Page 22 Psychic News

would like to visit the Manor, books were very far from my mind and I was looking forward to an enjoyable day out in this house which she told me had the reputation of being the most haunted building in Brighton.

Because I have some sensitivity towards the paranormal I asked her not to tell me anything specific about the rooms in the Manor, preferring to pick up on things myself with no prior knowledge.

Preston Manor is owned by Brighton Council, having been left to them by the last owners, Sir Charles and Lady Ellen ThomasStanford. Their family had been in residence for generations and Ellen in particular was passionate about the manor, refusing to die until she was assured that the house and contents would be preserved virtually as she had left them.

By 1933 both Thomas-Stanfords were dead and many of the estate outbuildings (gardener’s and chauffeur’s cottages, stable buildings and garages) were knocked down in an effort to widen the Preston Drove main road outside and to announce to the world that Preston Manor was now open to the paying public.

Our first visit took place on a day when there were few visitors.

Stepping inside the plush entrance hall is truly a step backwards in time. The visitor is greeted by dark panelling, grand oil portraits of the Thomas-Stanford family, the reassuring tick of a grandfather clock from the upstairs landing and the smells of beeswax and furniture polish. A dark staircase dating from the 1700s is a central feature, lined with portraits of Ellen’s favourite dogs (their graves are still outside in the walled garden).

Elegant rooms open off the front hallway – a morning-room where Ellen would have retired after breakfast each day, a grand drawing-room dominated by a large chandelier and elegant double doors opening onto the back lawn, a diningroom added on in the ‘new’ extension of 1905, with long polished table, plush red carpet and shelves containing Ellen’s collection of Chinese Buddhist lions. Upstairs the bedrooms are small, but elegantly furnished with brass bedsteads and tiered shavingtables, and dressing-tables still laid out with the silver brushes and

FEATURE combs which make it look as if their owners had just stepped out of the room.

We began our visit by walking through the dark-panelled Macquoid Room. Although it felt claustrophobic, this was probably attributable to the darkness of the walls and furnishings. We passed through into Ellen’s morning-room and paused to look at her desk, still laid out as if she were about to summon the cook and order the day’s menu. This room is small and oppressive in atmosphere. We didn’t linger long.

Crossing the hallway we entered the Cleves Room. I immediately got what felt like a column of ice shooting up through my body and my arms went very clammy. “I’m freezing,” I said. “Funny you should say that,” replied my friend (this was to become something of a catchphrase throughout the day).

She told me that the bones of a nun had been dug up by the Victorian family, after an epidemic of sore throats was traced to a blocked drain.

The nun had not been given a proper burial and hence haunted the house. Believed to be the Manor’s famous ‘Sister Agnes’, she was later buried in the adjoining churchyard.

We had no sightings of Sister Agnes, but something almost as strange was to come. After visiting the rest of the elegant rooms downstairs, we headed towards the dark staircase in the centre of the house. Something made us pause at the foot of the stairs, without speaking.

Part of the staircase twists off overhead, and these stairs were out of sight. But as we stood there, we heard distinct, heavy footsteps start to come down, one at a time.

We stood, frozen to the spot. The footsteps stopped at the point where we would have been able to see whoever was making them.

Then a shadow passed over the oak panelling on the half-landing in front of us and disappeared.

Somehow we found our voices and ran back into the entrance hall, where we informed a security guard what we’d just witnessed. She grabbed a torch and ran upstairs.

When she returned she said, “You ladies are the only visitors in the house.” Chilled, we decided to go

outside into the grounds and take stock of what had happened. We later learned that footsteps have often been heard around the house when nobody is there.

That incident marked our first strange experience at the Manor.

Many others were to follow. During a later visit, we were filling in a visitor survey form in the entrance hall when my friend jumped and looked down behind her. “A small black dog brushed against my leg and ran off,” she said. Not so strange, perhaps – until you realise no dogs are allowed inside the Manor. And that Ellen was passionate about her dogs – some of which were small and black.

During yet another visit, we were again the only visitors in the house. On entering Ellen’s morning-room there was a powerful smell of unfamiliar perfume. We tried to source it – it wasn’t coming from the bowl of pot-pourri, or the furniture polish, or from any of the Manor staff in the entrance hall. We followed the scent round the room until it came to rest, hovering over the chair at Ellen’s desk. Then it disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Last year we came on a ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour at Preston Manor, and finally got to see inside the substantial wing of the house added in the 1905 improvements. This would have contained basement kitchens and servants’ bedrooms, as well as accommodation for guests of the Thomas-Stanford family.

We were led round the building by two very informative ladies and were standing in the narrow hallway by the stairs when I distinctly saw a female figure rush across the landing ahead of me. I got the impression it was somebody who was late for something. A glance at my watch showed that it was lunchtime. As there was nobody else in the building except for our small group, could this have been the shadow of an Edwardian maid, late for service?

Shortly afterwards, standing back in the main part of the house in the grand dining-room, I saw a similar figure rush past the servant’s entrance next to me, just as my friend gave a violent shiver and said, “I feel as if somebody just ran straight through me.”

We have had many other strange experiences at the Manor, but by far the strangest phenomenon was captured entirely by accident and unknown until I got home. I was again in the company of my friend and we were upstairs in the South West bedroom. This now houses a book collection, but was a guest bedroom during Victorian times.

Legend has it that guests had been terrified by the appearance of a severed hand moving up and down the bedpost of their four-poster. And members of the family had been horrified to find some of their beautiful dresses cut into strange diamond shapes in the wardrobe that used to stand in the corner.

On this particular day, the room was very quiet. There were no other visitors upstairs. We wandered about, looking at the books, and then something made me hold my small digital voice recorder up into the corner of the room for a minute Continued on page 24

Psychic News Page 23

FEATURE Continued... or two. We stood in complete silence whilst I did this. Later on, at home, I trawled through my audio data, halflistening and half doing something else.

What I heard made me freeze. I rewound the recorder and played it again. There, most distinctly, were the sharp snip-snip noises of scissors in action.

I played it again, and again. My friend and I agreed there had been no noise whatsoever in the room, and nobody else around. Then I recorded myself cutting paper into diamond shapes and listened back. The two sounds were almost identical.

What was so chilling were the random patterns of the snipping sounds. A regular noise could perhaps have been explained away by the tick of a hidden meter or a clock somewhere. But these sounded almost crazed, as if somebody was feverishly snipping holes in a garment. It is the strangest piece of audio evidence

I’ve ever captured, and I still get a chill when I listen to it today.

When I came to consider my next book project, I felt very strongly that I wanted to write a classic ghost story with a twist, to tell the

Author Vanessa Curtis tale of a disturbed teenage girl who had moved into the Manor.

‘Tabitha’ is a fictional heroine, but the hauntings are closely based not only on my own experiences but on those of many Manor staff who still work in the building today.

I realised too that I’d seen this house many years ago and stored

that memory away, forgotten until now.

Driving away after a recent visit with my friend, I looked back over my shoulder and had a sudden flashback from childhood. I remembered that when I was about fourteen, my parents had driven us past the Manor on the way to a holiday in Brighton, and that I had gazed out at the faded white and ivy-clad walls of the old building and thought it looked rather sad and oldfashioned, like it was stuck in an Edwardian time-warp. Strange that some thirty years later it should not only have become one of my favourite places to visit, but also the inspiration for a forthcoming book.

The Haunting of Tabitha Grey will be published by Egmont in April 2012.

• To learn more about Vanessa and her books, visit: www.vanessacurtis.com

“Hafan Y Coed” (Haven of Trees)

Universal Spiritual and Psychic Development Centre/Retreat Situated in the picturesque Brecon Beacons National Park, where all the natural energies provide a perfect place for spiritual growth, relaxation, revitalisation & contemplation • Psychic & Spiritual Courses and One Day Workshops all year round • Mediumistic Development (all levels) • Private Readings/Open & Physical Circles • Healing, Aromatherapy, Clinical Hypnosis, Indian Head Massage

• Rainbow Spiritual Sanctuary Thursdays at 19:30 • Healing, Reiki and Tai Chi • Gift & Book Shop • Hire for Fetes or Functions and Courses • Bed & Breakfast or Full Board available

Please contact us, or see our website for 2011/12 courses

www.hafanycoed.com Tel: 01639 730 985 Email: hyc@btconnect.com Heol Tawe, Abercrave, Swansea SA9 1TJ

Page Page 24 24 Psychic Psychic News News

COMPETITION

Win a copy of Tony Stockwell’s live demonstration DVD BlondE sheep is offering Psychic News readers the chance to win one of five copies of the Tony Stockwell Live DVD. Filmed as part of Tony’s recent UK tour this live DVD offers the theatre experience live in your own home.

Tony’s perspective on death provides comfort to many, and in his live performances and TV shows he demonstrates that grief, healing and hope are eternally intertwined and universal.

With a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, this live DVD includes his live demonstration as well as back stage interviews with Tony about his work and his thoughts on life after death.

This is a multi-region 0 DVD in English, with stereo sound.

For your chance to win one of the five copies, complete the sudoku puzzle below and send the numbers which appear in the shaded centre row, from left to right, to: Tony Stockwell Live DVD, Psychic News, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM22 7WE. You can also enter via email to: pnadverts@gmail. com. The closing date for entries is Friday 16th March.

For further details on books and CDs by Tony Stockwell, visit: www.tonystockwell.com

7 5

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8 4 2 6

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8 1 5 2 4 6 8

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9

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3 1

congratulations!

The five winners of Tony’s Angel Experience CD from the competition featured in 31st December and 14th January issues are:

Mrs Barbara Benton, Hampshire Margaret Christie-Brown, London Lynne Eeles, Sandhurst Mrs H. M. Reynolds, Birmingham Penelope Scott, Dorset If you would like the solution to the 31st December and 14th January sudoku competition please email or write using the contact details above.

How to solve sudoku: Place a number from 1-9 in each empty cell so that each row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the numbers from 1-9.

Psychic News Page 25

SPIRITUALIST CHURCHES AND CENTRES ENGLAND

CAMBRIDGE CAMBRIDGE SPIRITUALIST CHURCH Myers Hall, 662 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8RS Enquiries: 07980 580121 Sunday Service 6.30pm Followed by Healing Monday 7.30pm Awareness Circle Wednesday Healing 2pm - 9pm Last Thursday of the month 7.30pm Evening of Clairvoyance Saturday Workshops as arranged

CHESHIRE

STOCKPORT CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH 46 Old Road, Stockport SK4 1TD President: Mr A PARKER Tel: 0161 427 6279 www.stockportchristian spiritualistchurch.com Sunday 3.00pm Divine Service Monday 7.00pm Healing Tuesday 7.30pm Clairvoyance Wednesday 7.30pm Music & Meditation Friday 11am - 3pm Private Readings Saturday 11am - 3pm Private Readings Saturday 7.00pm Clairvoyance & Open Circle

CUMBRIA SOLWAY CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH St Michael’s Resource Centre, Station Road, Workington, Cumbria Tel: 01228 547599 Sunday Services 6.30pm - 9.00pm Healing after Service

DORSET

BOURNEMOUTH SPIRITUALIST SNU CHURCH 16 Bath Road, Bournemouth BH1 2PE Tel: 01202 551751 www.bsnuc.co.uk Wed 29th 7.30pm Open Platform Thurs 1st 3pm JACKIE BRIAN Friday 2nd 7.30pm Dine with Spirit Sun 4th 10.45am SUSIE MATHEWS 6.30pm SUSIE MATHEWS Mon 5th 7.30pm SUSIE MATHEWS Wed 7th 7.30pm Seekers’ Group Thurs 8th 3pm ROY & BARBARA BREEZE Sun 11th 10.45am ANDREW MANSHIP 6.30pm ANDREW MANSHIP Mon 12th 7.30pm AL & GEOFF POTTS Wed 14th 7.30pm Seekers’ Group Thurs 15th 3pm PAM KRIEK Spiritual Healing: Monday 2.00pm - 4.00pm Tuesday 2.00pm - 4.00pm Wednesday 10.30am - 12.30pm Thursday 7.00pm - 8.00pm

Page 26 Psychic News

ESSEX Candle of Light Spiritualist Church Fanshawe Community Centre, Barnmead Road, Heathway, Dagenham, Essex RM9 5DX Enquiries: 020 8593 6417 Wednesdays Service: 7pm to 9pm Healing: 9pm to 10.15pm epping Spiritualist Church Thornwood Village Hall, Weald Hall Lane, Thornwood, Epping, Essex CM16 6ND Enquiries: Ruth 01992 576677 or Teresa 01992 812650 (Registered Charity 284561) Tuesdays Healing: 1pm to 2.20pm Service: 2.45pm Last Friday of every month at 8pm Evening of Clairvoyance £5

KENT WEST WICKHAM SPIRITUALIST CHURCH Surrey Road, West Wickham, Kent BR4 0JU Mediums’ Secretary: 020 8655 3109 Enquiries: 020 8778 9422 www.westwickhamspiritualist church.co.uk Sunday 4th March 6.30pm lorraine gilbert csnu Wednesday 7th March 8.00pm Psychic Artist DEBBIE DEAN Sunday 11th March 6.30pm MARTIN JONES Sunday 18th 8.00pm DAVID NASON Tuesday Classes at 8.00pm: 2nd Tuesday Open Platform 3rd Tuesday Development Class with Karen Wood 4th Tuesday Discussion Group

LONDON

ACTON SPIRITUAL CENTRE Woodhurst Road, Acton W3 6SL Enquiries: 020 8896 0184 First Sunday of the month Service 6.30pm Tuesday 7.30pm £3 Open Circle Wednesday 7.30pm Clairvoyance Thursday 7.30pm Healing NORTH LONDON SPIRITUALIST CHURCH 425 Hornsey Road N19 4DX (Buses 91 & 210 to Hanley Rd) Tel: 020 7272 0438 Services: 1st Sunday of Month 11.00am Wednesday 7.30pm Saturday 7.30pm Healing: Tuesday 6.00pm - 8.00pm Friday 6.00pm - 8.00pm

A TEMPLE OF THE TRINITY LODGE FOR SPIRITUAL HEALING NATIONAL CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH 95 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13 4TD (Corner of Melbourne Avenue/Green Lanes) Buses 29, 121, 329, 232 pass door SNU Affiliated - Founded in 1938 President:- Mr Michael Bull CSNU Sunday Services: 11am Address only 6.30pm Address & Clairvoyance Spiritual Healing: Monday 1.00pm - 4.30pm Study Group Wednesday (Members only) DAVID NASON CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALISM AND HEALING Venner Road Community Centre, 1 Venner Road, Sydenham SE26 Enquiries: 020 8857 8328 Website: www.davidnason.org.uk Healing every week from 7.30pm Admission £4 Wednesday 29th February 8.00pm IAN TAYLOR Wednesday 7th March 8.00pm Service Wednesday 14th March 8.00pm Service See our website for other events FULHAM NS CHURCH Kelvedon Road SW6 (near Parsons Green Und. Stn) Enquiries: 020 7736 7248 Sunday 6.30pm Service Thursday 7.30pm Demonstration LITTLE ILFORD SPIRITUALIST CHURCH Third Avenue, Manor Park, London E12 6DS Tel:- 01277 356787 Sunday 6.30pm Service Wednesday 7.30pm Service Healing after Services THE LONDON SPIRITUAL MISSION Spiritualist Church, 13 Pembridge Place W2 President: Jean Alexander Tel: 020 7229 2024 www.spiritualmission.co.uk th Wed 29 Feb 7.30pm SONIA OSCAR Sunday 4th March 11.00am Devotional Service with MARJORIE OSBORN 6.30pm TULA JAKOLA Wed 7th 7.30pm BELINDA OLIN Sunday 11th 11.00am DENNIS JONES 6.30pm BILL RICH Wed 14th 7.30pm AVRIL PRICE th Sun 18 11.00am HENRY CUMMING 6.30pm MAUREEN BRIGHT Spiritual Healing: Monday 11.00am - 1.00pm, 2pm - 3pm & 5.15pm - 7.30pm Thursday 5.00pm - 7.30pm All welcome INDUCTION LOOP provided for the benefit of hearing aid users

WALTHAMSTOW N.S. CHURCH Vestry Road E17 9NH Tel: 020 8503 6942 Visit our website: www.vestryrdspiritualist church.org Wednesday 29th 7.30pm JACKIE THARBY Thurs 1st March 7.30pm (8pm start) Awareness Circle Sun 4th 6.30pm RICHARD BALDWIN Monday 5th 7 - 9pm Healing Tuesday 6th 2.00pm MIKE MATTHEWS Wed 7th 7.30pm MARIA GILES Thurs 8th 7.30pm (8pm start) Awareness Circle Sunday 11th 6.30pm STEWART FRASER Monday 12th 7 - 9pm Healing Tues 13th 2.00pm SUE PEARSON Wed 15th 7.30pm CHRSTINE BENNET Thurs 15th 7.30pm (8pm start) Awareness Circle WOODFORD SPIRITUALIST CHURCH 9 Grove Crescent, South Woodford, London E18 2JR Enquiries: 020 8989 6149 www.woodfordchurch.com Sunday 4th March 6.30pm Service with CAROL WOOD Monday 5th 2.00pm Service with SANDY WILKINSON Sunday 11th 6.30pm Service with KEITH HUDSON Monday 12th 2.00pm Service with MICHAEL REDWIN Sunday 18th 6.30pm Service with ROBBIE BICKERSTAFF Monday 19th 2.00pm Service with LIZ LEAKE Tuesdays 7.30 - 9pm £3 Open Circle Weds 2 - 4pm & 7.30-9pm Healing Fridays 7.30 - 9pm £3 Open Circle First Friday of the month at 7.30pm Open Circle for Platform Mediums WOOD GREEN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH (Corner of Maryland Road) High Road, Wood Green, London N22 5AR Minister in Spirit: Mrs Ida Stenning Enquiries: 020 8888 1992 Services: Sunday 6.30pm Wednesday 7.30pm Healing: Tuesday 7.00pm - 8.30pm Thursday 2.00pm - 4.30pm

MIDDLESEX KENTON SPIRITUALIST CHURCH AND HEALING CENTRE 35 Churchill Avenue, Kenton, Nr. Harrow, Middlesex HA3 0AX Enquiries: 020 8621 3103 Sunday 6.30pm Service Wednesday 7.30pm - 9pm Healing Thursday 7.45pm Service

THE SANCTUARY OF THE SILVER CROSS The Friends Meeting House, York Road, (opp. Sainsburys) Uxbridge, Middlesex Founder: FRANK MECHELE Medium’s Secretary: LINDA CHANT Telephone: 0779 2900 194 SUNDAY DIVINE SERVICE at 6.30pm

SUSSEX

EASTBOURNE CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALIST CHURCH 1A Cavendish Avenue Tel: 01323 761653 Services: Sunday 3.00pm Wednesday 3.00pm Healing: Monday 2.00pm Friday 2.00pm

SCOTLAND

ABERDEEN SPIRITUALIST CENTRE Stephen House, 71 Dee Street, Aberdeen Telephone: 01224 574 916 www.deestreet.com Sunday Services 11.15am & 6.15pm Tuesday Awareness Classes Thursday Church Circles 7.30pm Saturday & Monday: Evenings of Mediumship as advertised Healing: Sunday 7.45pm Tues 10-11am ~ Appointments only Wednesday 2-3pm & 6.30-7.30pm Private Sittings Available

WALES

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CLASSIFIEDS ABSENT HEALING FOR PEOPLE AND ANIMALS NO FEES Telephone Tony on: 020 7476 3766 E-mail: tony.lu101@gmail.com VANESSA PSYCHIC TAROT £10 for 20 min Telephone Reading TEL: 020 8292 0144 TEL: 0793 138 8537 PETER KEEFFE CCHA Medium, Healer Spiritual Director Churches Served and Private Sittings - East Midlands 07952 111121 peter.keeffe@gmail.com EMILY ROSE Spiritual Consultant (Emily) Psychic Today TV Sky Ch. 886 TEL: 07895 899 105 emily.rose7@ntlworld.com kate sensier Clairvoyant Medium Tel: 01377 249686 www.katesensier.com CONFIDENTIAL CLAIRVOYANT postal readings Please send your name, D.O.B., three questions and £20 to: LOUISE ROBERTS PN Box RL1 c/o Psychic Press Ltd, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford, Herts. CM22 7WE JOANNE Psychic Telephone Readings by appointment, £15 Tel: 01753 670031

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WIMBLEDON SPIRITUALIST CHURCH

Accepting the leadership of Jesus Christ 136 Hartfield Road, London SW19 3TJ President: Rev Ray Robinson Enquiries: 020 8542 2394 www.wimbledonspiritualistchurch.co.uk Wed 29th 7.00pm Healing 7.30pm ASHLEY MILLS Thursday 1st March 10.00am - 12noon Spiritual Healing Sunday 4th 11.00am Holy Communion and Flower Service with jackie robinson Tuesday 6th 7.00pm Healing 7.30pm MARION DAMPIER-JEANS Wednesday 7th 7.00pm Healing 7.30pm jackie robinson and ROSE ANDERSON Thursday 8th 10.00am - 12noon Spiritual Healing Sunday 11th 11.00am SHIRLEY MONACO Tuesday 13th 7.00pm Healing 7.30pm RICHARD NEVILLE Wed 14th 7.00pm Healing 7.30pm LILY DEE

ELT H A M S P I R I T U A L I S T CHURCH 64 Well Hall Road, London SE9 6SH President: 020 8854 7800 www.elthamspiritualistchurch.org.uk Wednesday 29th February at 2.30pm JOAN DEMPSEY Sunday 4th March at 6.30pm RICHARD HARRINGTON Monday 5th 8.00pm Meditation Tuesday 6th Healing 12noon - 2.00pm & 7.30pm Wednesday 7th 2.30pm FRANCIS STADDEN Sunday 11th 6.30pm JACK COURTNEY Monday 12th 8.00pm Meditation Tuesday 13th Healing 12noon - 2.00pm & 7.30pm Wednesday 14th 2.30pm JANET SALTER Sunday 18th 6.30pm JANET GLASGOW

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