Seances, Ectoplasm & Brompton Cemetery at Dusk

I took this photo at Brompton Cemetery yesterday evening after a search for ectoplasm in its newly restored chapel.

To be a bit more accurate, I didn't take part in a practical experiment in material manifestations of spirit - although that would have been very exciting. Shannon Taggart, who has spent the past 17 years doing exactly that kind of thing, gave a fascinating talk called Seance: Spiritualist Ritual and the Search for Ectoplasm.

She illustrated her presentation with slides showing historic photographs of mediums producing ectoplasm and modern images taken by herself. She explained that although most mediums these days communicate with spirits in a way that doesn't involve them turning up physically, there are still some practitioners who do claim to manifest material such as ectoplasm. She had even managed to photograph some of them demonstrating their skills.

The talk was at Brompton Cemetery Chapel in Kensington, and was the first event in the London Esoteric weekend of talks, workshops and entertainment involving the strange and unexplained. It is organised by Antique Beat and you can find the full programme here: https://antiquebeat.co.uk/events/london-esoteric

Review: Mediumship - An Introductory Guide

The skill of mediumship - generally defined as mediating communications between spirits of the dead and living - is something I've long wanted to learn. So, I was delighted to be given a copy of a new book called Mediumship: An Introductory Guide to Developing Spiritual Awareness and Intuition.

It is in the Hay House Basics series, which means it is a straightforward guide aimed at beginners, The author is Gordon Smith, who is a respected medium. As I hoped, it offers an great overview of exactly what mediumship is and how to go about learning to do it.

The book also explains that mediumship is not something that can be learnt quickly. Having a natural talent is good, but just because you are psychic, can see ghosts or have clairvoyant abilities, doesn't mean you are a medium yet (to paraphrase Yoda).

Gordon explains that it is vital to spend a lot of time practising to tell the difference between spirit communication, things picked up empathically, stuff from your own subconscious, guesswork and pure fantasy. It is also important not to get too emotionally affected by other people's grief, which can happen if you are meeting people who want contact with loved ones who have passed.

He recommends spending a lot of time using meditation techniques and also learning how to achieve a balanced mental state. He also recommends finding a good training circle with an experienced teacher rather than purely trying to learn as a solitary - although reading this introductory book and doing the exercises in it are good first steps.

Publisher Hay House says about the book: "The function of a medium is to be a conduit between this life and the afterlife or spirit world. Every medium is intuitive or psychic, but not every psychic is a medium. This book explores how to still the mind to enable spirits to communicate with you, sitting in the power and opening up to authentic messages, working with the aura and reading the signs and symbols that surround people and connecting to your spirit guide and learning their signature or calling card and much more!"

Wicca and Mediumship
My own specific interest in learning about mediumship grew when I discovered that Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, had insisted that his early priestesses had mediumistic abilities. He felt that this was useful - if not essential - for channelling the words of the Goddess. Later, his High Priestess Doreen Valiente wrote (or at least largely rewrote) The Charge of the Goddess to be spoken by Wiccan priestesses if they felt that, despite the Goddess being invoked, they were not receiving messages to relate.

Nowadays, high levels of mediumship skill have less of a focus in many Wiccan rites - at least in my experience. I think it would be good to perhaps return to basics on that front. I would like to see more covens also having mediumship training circles, where priests and priestesses could learn to be better at hearing the words of the Gods and Goddesses of the Craft, as well as the words of the spirits of our ancestors.

Mediumship: An Introductory Guide to Developing Spiritual Awareness and Intuition (Hay House Basics) can be ordered via Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.hayhouse.co.uk/
http://gordonsmithmedium.com/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/03/review-hay-house-basics-mindfulness.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/07/review-hay-house-basics-energy-healing.html

Review: The Barefoot Medium: Letting Spirit In

When I was training as a witch I was told the most important lesson was to “know thyself”. In Ancient Greece, those two words were inscribed above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Without self-knowledge, one could not hope to gain divine knowledge.

A new book, The Barefoot Medium, also teaches that self knowledge is vital if one wants to learn to communicate with spirits - and offers lessons, examples and exercises in how we can learn to know ourselves.

Author Emma Smallbone starts by explaining that we need to listen to our intuition – what she calls a sense of “Deja Vu”. She says:

The next time you have the feeling of Deja Vu, stop. Take note of what is around you... Is there a person there that you need to have a conversation with? Is there a book you need to read right in front of you? Is there a poster for a class you need to take? Pay attention in that exact moment and take in everything around you.

Emma describes herself as a medium and an empath. She says: “As a medium, I can see, hear and feel dead people, or as I like to call them, Spirit.” Obviously not everyone has the same natural talent Emma has, but she says:

I believe everyone is born with varying degrees of ‘gifts’. Whether it be Clairaudient (the power to hear voices of Spirit or people who have passed on), Clairsentient (a form of psychic intuition) and Clairvoyant (the power to see beyond the physical) or even precognition, meaning foreknowledge of an event... I believe we are all capable of many wonderful things. I believe that we are, however, asleep to our true potential. I believe you have it within you to feel what I feel even if you may never see it physically, hear or sense it the way I do. Your own true potential lies in the beautiful synchronicity of life; the chance meeting, the whispers in the wind (or your gut) and the tingly goosebumps that are your own messages, your own level of communication with Spirit.

The book offers ten lessons:

1. Magic is real so start looking for it
2. Your shit helmet is holding you back
3. Our feelings and emotions are like a compass. Follow them.
4. Your gut knows your true path
5. Finding your purpose is a journey
6. Timing is everything
7. STOP looking for a big sign, its not coming.
8. Choose happiness
9. Communication is everything, especially with yourself.
10. What if death isn’t the end?

The way to start looking for magic and find your own gift, according to Emma, is to pay attention to what you are drawn to.

The things we instinctively like, our interests and what energizes us are signs pointing to our path and our purpose. We are all drawn to certain things in life. We all have passions, things we love to do, places we love to go and ideas or visions for our future- what we want. Pay attention to them, all of them. These are signs guiding you to your pure potential, your place of simply being.

Emma adds: “How you feel is everything. It’s your internal guidance system to light the way. More commonly known as your ‘gut’, your intuition is the special gift you have to tap into the world’s energy and listen to the guidance it provides.”

I would agree. There have been many times when I have felt I needed to go somewhere or do something that was perhaps a bit out of my routine – only to find it was exactly where I needed to be or what I needed to do. Once, I felt I had to stop off at a coffee shop on my way back to work from lunch even though it would mean I was late. There I discovered an old friend who I had lost touch with, who had recently learnt he had a terminal illness. I was able to hold his hand and be a listening ear when he badly needed those things – and I was also glad to meet up with him again before he passed on.

What often holds us back from following our instincts is what Emma calls our “shit helmet”. I don’t find it a very attractive phrase, I must admit, but what I do see what it represents – our habits, preconceptions, fears and negative self-talk, along with societal pressure to be “normal”. The exercise to overcome this is to visualise taking off a helmet made up of these things, and to see clearly without its blinkers.

As well as removing our preconceptions of what we are, we need to recognise our gifts. Emma says the way to start is to list three things we are good at. We also need to look for signs about the way forward. Emma points out that these signs are often small things, possibly easily overlooked. One of the chapters is entitled: Stop Waiting for the Big Sign,it’s Not Coming. In it, Emma says:

Often in readings I am compelled to remind people that the lessons we are to learn are in the smallest things. Which is why we often miss them. So many of us are going day by day, week by week, year by year waiting for a big sign saying ‘right this way please!’. You’ll probably be waiting a while. It may happen, you may experience a significant emotional event that in retrospect created a turning point in your life, however you can learn much more efficiently by finding the small signs in your day to day life.

The tenth lesson is more of a question: what if death isn’t the end?

Emma certainly believes death isn’t final, that there is a spirit world where our ancestors reside and that they can communicate with us and us with them. After all, she is a medium. What she is really saying in this lesson is that many people gain comfort from feeling the continuing presence of loved ones who have died – and that by practising the exercises in The Barefoot Medium, you can learn to pick up the presence of spirits in your own life.

But why is the book called The Barefoot Medium? Well, it is because Emma finds her mediumistic gift is strongest when she has taken off her shoes and can feel the ground beneath her feet. Accepting that this was how her gift worked, and sticking to it despite criticism from others, was part of her own lesson of learning to know herself.

You can order The Barefoot Medium: Letting Spirit in......one step at a timevia Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
The Barefoot Medium: Letting Spirit in......one step at a time
http://www.barefootmedium.com/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/10/review-what-dwells-within-haunted-dolls.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/10/review-light-between-us-stories-of.html

Magic School: Courses on Scrying and Mediumship

Yesterday I got a message from Gary Wright, who teaches at the College of Psychic Studies, about some courses starting soon at the famous London school. He said:

Thanks so much again for your blogging. There are two courses at the College of Psychic Studies starting next week on scrying. They are run by a good friend of mine so I can recommend them.
I also teach there I run Weaving Celtic Wisdom which is a psychic mediumship course starting on 31st January. I am not sure if it's to late for your blog, but wanted to point them out for you.
Much joy.
Gary.

Not too late at all and thanks for mentioning them Gary.

I often list lectures at the College of Psychic Studies on my events page, but haven't mentioned many of the courses there recently, so the reminder was a good one. I looked on the college's website and found theses details:

An Introduction to Scrying, with Michelle Hawcroft
Gently relax into a short course on Scrying. Using crystal balls, mirrors, water, candle flame and other everyday items, learn how to see the past, present and future.
This is a traditional exercise for the third eye chakra to open it up more fully. This course will teach you how to focus, still your mind and trust what your guides are showing you.
Cost: £160 (Full price)
Dates: 20 Jan - 10 Mar, Tuesdays, 5:15pm, 8 weeks

Mirror Mirror - Intermediate Scrying, with Michelle Hawcroft
Mirror, Mirror in my hand, reveal to me what I need to see and understand... This course is for those who already have some knowledge of scrying.
It will help to identify the most powerful scrying tools for you to use, as the uniqueness of each individual means that a tool that works for another person may not be the best for you.
Cost: £160 (Full price)
Dates: 21 Jan - 11 Mar, Wednesdays, 7:00pm, 8 weeks

Weaving Celtic Wisdom with Psychic Skills and Mediumship, with Gary Wright
Come and weave Celtic wisdom with spirituality into your life by connecting to the power and energy of the natural world.
We will look at the Celtic festivals as our oldest surviving link to the ancient wisdom of our ancestors who were in tune with the cycles of nature. Using meditation, imagery and working intuitively with these seasonal celebrations we can enhance our psychic and mediumistic skills helping us to remember who we are.
Cost: £160 (£190 non members)
Dates: 31/01/2015 - 21/03/2015

Pagan Eye: Old Photo of Medium & Ghostly Form

The picture above shows a vintage photograph dating from the 1920s that shows a medium with a ghost-like figure floating above them.

It comes from Helen in Staffordshire, who said: "This is my g.grandmother's sister with her 'control' as they may have said in 1922 or so! This photo was in my gran's things and I have another. Interesting isn't it?"

It certainly is interesting. How wonderful to have had a relative who was a medium and to have photographic records of what she did.

I'm always delighted to be sent photos to post on my blog. On each Pagan Eye post, I show a photo that I find interesting, with a few words about it. The pictures can be a seasonal image, a pagan site, an event, or something of historic interest like this photo of a medium from the 1920s.

If you want to send me a photo for a Pagan Eye post, please email it to badwitch1234@gmail.com Let me know what the photo shows and whether you want your name mentioned or not. For copyright reasons, the photo must be one you have taken yourself and you must confirm that you are submitting it for A Bad Witch's Blog.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/03/ghostly-image.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/07/bad-witch-goes-ghost-hunting.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/05/spooks-and-spectres-at-michelham-priory.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/08/pagan-eye-druid-oak.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/12/pagan-eye-where-witches-walked.html

Worldwide Ouija experiment this Halloween

Facebook users are being invited to take part in the world's largest Ouija experiment this Halloween.

Although this is being done partly as a PR stunt by a computer adventure game company, it is intended as a genuine experiment.

Called The Ouija Experiment, it aims to attract 100,000 people worldwide to take part in the world's first large-scale attempt to contact the deceased through the medium of the internet.

Facebook participants will be connected to a live seance streamed in real-time on the 31 October at 10pm Eastern Time - which I calculate should be 3am GMT - from a secret venue in New York and the developer's offices in London and Toronto. You can find out more and join in here: http://www.ouijaexperiment.com/

You can read a press release about The Ouija Experiment here: http://www.easier.com/96062-quija-board-experiment-halloween.html

Hellish Nell by Malcolm Gaskill

I was so impressed by Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction, the latest book by witchcraft expert Malcolm Gaskill, that it prompted me to read one of his earlier books Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches.

Hellish Nell had been one of those books that had been sitting on my to-read pile for a long time - ever since I bought a copy after watching Tony Robinson's TV documentary on The Blitz Witch back in 2008.

Both the book and the documentary looked at Helen Duncan, a medium who in England during the 1940s was arrested, tried and jailed under witchcraft laws dating back to 1735 because she had made predictions about ships sinking during the Second World War and was considered a threat to national security.

Whereas Tony Robinson's TV programme primarily used the case as a background to an investigation into how fraudulent mediums faked seance phenomena, Malcom Gaskill's book is far more an in-depth look at Helen Duncan - whose childhood nickname was "Hellish Nell" - and the history of the era in which she lived.

The book is also more sympathetic to Helen - a woman who managed to gain fame, fortune and success against all the odds.

And the odds really were stacked against her. As a young woman she was cast out by her family because she became an unmarried mother. She struggled to earn a living working in the mills in Scotland, married a ex-soldier who had been invalided out of fighting in the First World War and who was frequently too ill to work. She raised several children in poverty and, despite her own poor health, held her family together through hard work and determination.

Helen also made the most she could of the one talent that made her unusual. She seemed to have psychic powers.

Becoming a successful and famous medium, Helen toured England giving seances to which people flocked in the hope of watching her materialise the spirits of their dead loved ones, giving words of hope and comfort to the bereaved.

Yet Helen also gained enemies, particularly sceptical men such as paranormal researcher Harry Price, who claimed that her materialisations were little more than Helen herself dressed up in a sheet pretending to be ghosts.

In 1944, during the Second World War, Helen was arrested and tried at the Old Bailey under the Witchcraft Act for pretending to materialise spirits. Normally, mediums were tried under the Vagrancy Act, and the fact that this case was taken so seriously is thought to be because Helen had shown knowledge of the sinking of the HMS Barham, which had not been publicly announced.

There was considerable evidence that Helen had - at least sometimes - faked materialisations. Whether all of her work as a medium was bogus is still a matter of speculation and debate, but many of her fans were convinced she was a genuine psychic.

Helen was found guilty and served a sentence at Holloway Prison. She was released in 1945, but arrested again after a seance in 1956. She died shortly afterwards. She was not a well woman and had a weak heart. Some say her death was at least partly a result of the trauma of her arrest.

However, Helen's trial almost certainly contributed to the repeal of the Witchcraft Act - something modern-day witches in England should be grateful for.

Malcom Gaskill's book on Hellish Nell is well written and thought provoking. It doesn't answer all the questions about Helen Duncan, but it probably reveals as many of the facts about her as can now be found.

Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches is available through Amazon. It was published in 2001.

Links
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/04/malcolm-gaskill-on-witch-hunts-in.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/03/review-witchcraft-very-short.html
Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/12/tv-tony-robinson-blitz-witch.html

Medium skeptics

Yesterday evening I went to hear Steve Parsons and Ciaran O'Keeffe, from Living TV's Most Haunted, do a talk called How NOT to Investigate the Paranormal.

The event was hosted by The Skeptics in the Pub, a group that meets in the Penderel's Oak pub in High Holborn, London, to analyse topical subjects with a critical eye.

Let's face it, Most Haunted is hardly difficult to debunk. Even those of us who believe in ghosts - and I count myself in that number - can hardly accept that all the spooky stuff portrayed on the TV show is for real.

I didn't need the two parapsychologists to confirm that most of the so-called psychic impressions given by medium Derek Acorah were based on prior knowledge. I also didn't need to be told the noises, lights and gusts of wind that have Yvette Fielding screaming that there's a ghost in the room are really just normal phenomena. I knew that already.

Nevertheless, the behind-the-scenes anecdotes were fascinating, such as explanations of verbal techniques used by the show's psychics to pump people for information before filming starts and practical jokes played on team members to set them up with fake information.

Steve and Ciaran also talked about scientific equipment used for ghost hunting, debunking much of it. EMF meters, night vision goggles and laser thermometers might look great on TV, but apparently rarely find ghosts.

They also had a few cautionary tales. Since programmes such as Most Haunted have become popular, the number of people believing their homes are haunted has soared. Some get ripped off for vast sums of money by unscrupulous people who claim they can exorcise the property.

Ciaran said: "If you ever think you have a ghost, you don't want an exorcist, you want a skeptic. Nothing ever happens when a skeptic is around."

Links:
http://www.skeptic.org.uk/pub
http://www.livingtv.co.uk/shows/mosthaunted/
http://www.theparapsychologist.com/