London Spiritist Group

I was invited to attend a Brazilian Spiritist group and I arrived at the venue at 7pm when coffee and refreshments were being served. It was explained to me that this 'course in spirituality' is very popular in Brazil and has been brought to the UK along with books that are used as their source material. These are five books, codified by Allan Kardec. At 7.30pm, we entered a very pleasant room and gathered to enjoy some calm background music. Each member in turn read from a book of spiritual wisdom and was able to make comments and ask questions on the text. These books, written in question and answer format, provide spiritual knowledge. After this, there was a lecture by a Brazilian speaker on a matter relating to spiritual life. The lecture was delivered in Portuguese and there was a translator standing by. This section of the meeting offers a different subject each week though all are based ethical living and how to live a moral life by contributing to our communities by paying attention to relationships, communal considerations, green issues, etc. Then we were invited to receive spiritual healing by way of a prayer and small glass of water.

What is Spiritism?

In Poughkeepsie, New York State, in 1847 an uneducated faith healer and medical seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, wrote an autobiography entitled ‘The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations’. In this book, he described his very remarkable channelling mediumship abilities which he had discovered whilst experimenting with the techniques of Franz Mesmer whose early work, entitled ‘animal magnetism’ was being modified, resulting in the discovery of ‘intentional somnambulism’ an early word used for ‘trance’. He was in touch with intellectuals in the spirit world, such as Swedenborg and Galen and he went on to write fifty books on education, health, politics, psychology and philosophy. Within a short time, in Hydesville, a local town in New York State, two young sisters, Margaret and Kate Fox reported strange knockings and rappings. These developed into a code that revealed - it is said - that a peddler had been murdered and buried in the cellar of their home! An excavation revealed some bones and the previous owner of the property, Mr Bell, was accused of murder on account of this. 

Medicine & Spirituality Congress Review

I had the pleasure to attend the 2nd British Congress on Medicine and Spirituality and would like my readers to know about the conference.

Tim Wheater is a New Age musician and he delighted us with an enchanting opening to the conference.  The speakers came from many disciplines; psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, researchers, medical doctors and scientists. There were six from Brazil and three from the UK. The auditorium was filled with people from many nations, including Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden. Many Spiritists attended because the Brazilian speakers are all practicing Spiritists, a faith aligned to Spiritualism. Spiritism is highly popular in Brazil where there are many automatic writing mediums and inspirational speakers. They have entire hospitals that are based on Spiritism, a religion that accepts life after death and that spirits want to contact us. It is based on channelled answers to questions which were posed and codified by Allan Kardec, a French educator of the mid eighteen hundreds. These teachings explain where we come from, what the purpose is of our existence, and where we go after physical death. Also explained are other factors, such as spirit possession and how to protect the self against psychic attack.

Spiritualism Part One

During Spiritualism’s heyday, philanthropists, political activists, (including vegetarians and animal welfare activists), and all kinds of intellectuals and Establishment figures believed that spirits in the Afterlife could be contacted to aid learning and help those in the physical world live a better life. Queen Victoria and the royal family are said to be ardent believers. Spiritualism’s ‘Pope’, the flamboyant socialist Hannen Swaffer (who opposed capital punishment and always wore a hat) was an ardent campaigner for Spiritualism. 

Spiritism and Conference Review

Spiritism	Spiritualism
Movement began in France and spread to Brazil	Movement began in US and UK
Mediums communicate with named spirits in the spirit world for moral guidance and spiritual instruction often received by ‘automatic writing’	Mediums communicates with family and friends in spirit world for ‘proof of survival’ often delivered by platform mediums to a church congregation
Uses non-contact healing	Uses contact healing
Believes in reincarnation	Does not believe in reincarnation
Mediumship training, healing and spirit release is offered to suitable applicants without cost	Frequently raises money for charities through psychic suppers and other fundraising activities

Beginnings of spirit contact: Contact with spirits, angels and demons are mentioned many times in the Old and New Testament. Most religious movements have started with a medium receiving a message from a deity, angel or spirit of some kind.

Spiritism and Spiritualism

In Poughkeepsie, New York State, in 1847 an uneducated faith healer and medical seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, wrote an autobiography entitled ‘The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations’. In this book, he described his very remarkable channelling mediumship abilities which he had discovered whilst experimenting with the techniques of Franz Mesmer whose early work, entitled ‘animal magnetism’ was being modified, resulting in the discovery of ‘intentional somnambulism’ an early word used for ‘trance’. He was in touch with intellectuals in the spirit world, such as Swedenborg and Galen and he went on to write fifty books on education, health, politics, psychology and philosophy. Within a short time, in Hydesville, a local town in New York State, two young sisters, Margaret and Kate Fox reported strange knockings and rappings. These developed into a code that revealed that a peddler had been murdered and buried in the cellar of their home. An excavation revealed some bones and the previous owner of the property, Mr Bell, was accused of murder.

John the Baptist’s Story

“Repent for the Kingdom of God is at Hand!” John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus, proclaiming  “Make straight his Paths,” “There is one who will come after me, whose sandals I am not fit to lace.”

We do not know very much about the teachings of the Baptist, but it would have included a vow of extreme poverty and humility. The character of the Baptist is thought to be modelled on Elijah who gave his cloak- a symbol for his responsibility - to Elisha upon his death. As Elisha succeeded Elijah so Jesus succeeded the Baptist who was of the Levite caste, of the line of Aaron. They served as Rabbis/High Priests. The rabbis took turns to attend the Jerusalem Temple, burning incense, sacrificing animals, tending the lamps, renewing shewbread, all pertaining to the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. John could have continued the privileged work of the high priest, but he chose to baptise pilgrims in the name of forgiveness in the Jordan. This was another type of priestly work, unrelated to the purchase and burning of animals, so he was called a prophet, not a priest.

Just as Abraham and Sarah bore a son in their elderly years, and the hero Samson was born also of elderly parents, the Baptist was born of an angelic miracle. His elderly mother Elizabeth, a descendant of the high priest, Aaron, was too old to have the child she had always prayed for. Her husband, Zachariah was the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple, of the eighth class, that of Abia. 

Q : Were Templars Heretics?

Last words of Jacques de Molay: “I confess that I am indeed guilty of the greatest infamy. But the infamy is that I lied. I lied by admitting to disgusting charges laid against my Order. I declare that the Order is innocent. Its purity and saintliness have never been defiled. In truth, I have testified otherwise, but I did so from fear of horrible tortures.”

Adam of Murimouth and Christian Spinoza vouched for the Templars’ innocence and we have verbatim accounts of the court cases. 

Baptised and confirmed Catholics, the Templars took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and accepted further rules of restriction of aceticism that was not required of other monks. They honoured the Cistercian monastic rule from their founder St Bernard (which can be read online). They were monks and very few were priests, so therefore they had no initiation beyond the ordinary baptism, communion and confirmation rites. When they joined the Order, they gave up their ancestral lands, often placing female relatives in convents. Templars, like all monks, attended daily mass - a public event - and there they recited The Apostles Creed (which can be read online), so we know what these men of integrity believed without doubt. They heard the old and New Testament readings and exegesis, they gave public confessions where they would be humiliated for the least personal sins, and they received holy communion, wine and unleavened bread, celebrated in remembrance of the last supper before Jesus was betrayed, judged, tortured and crucified. They kept the canonical hours with prayer 8 times throughout day and night. 

The Story of Jesus

From the earliest written gospels, we have the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven, give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us, our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. 

The name Jesus is a corruption of Yeshuah; in the Old Testament name, it is Joshua. 

Jesus spoke the language of the people, Aramaic, he also read in the synagogue, so he knew Hebrew, and when interrogated by Pilate, the Roman governor, he may have spoken to him in the Latin language. 

Herod Antipas thought that Jesus was John the Baptist. The Baptist had been imprisoned on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea in the Machaerus fortress. His martyrdom was by beheading. Jesus was, like John, a revolutionary spiritual teacher whom Herod also feared. It is likely that John and Jesus were of the true royal line, unlike the King (tetrach) Herod. We know a little about John, an ascetic who proclaimed the end of the world and who baptised all people without exception in the Jordan river in the name of forgiveness of sins. He also, like Jesus, had a miraculous birth and was a messiah in his own right. During his imprisonment, he asked if Jesus would step up to take his place, and Jesus accepted the role. We know far more about the life of Jesus, his birth, miracles, teaching, his disciples, his torture and death and resurrection. We know also that he fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures where the life of the messiah was foretold of a glorious king, a conqueror who would give sovereignty to the nation,  a suffering messiah, humble victim, whose destiny was sacrifice. 

Oracle Reading for April

For April, I have chosen the colour Amber as it reflects the gold of the sun which we anticipate is arriving in greater strength as the springtime progresses. This card is from Liquid Crystal Oracle by Justin Moikeha Asar and it carries the angel, Merbayel, and the anchor of laughter. Amber is fossilised pine tree resin and it often contains plant or insect material buried within its luminosity. If you feel trapped in life, the sunlight reflected within the amber will lift your spirits and will show you new paths, and give you the strength of endurance to remove yourself from any sticky situation. Amber is a link to the Egyptian God, Bes and also the Lord Buddha, both in their roles as laughing deities. Use the affirmation: I laugh; it is the voice of my true spirit!  

Next is from Ancient Feminine Wisdom of Goddesses and Heroines by Kay Steventon and is titled Hygieia, a nature goddess who honours the union between the natural and the supernatural worlds. This card is for Health and she is adorned in green cloth and her symbol is the snake, symbol of regeneration and divination. The ancients believed that a snake like energy inhabited the body and provided vitality, illumination and wellbeing. She is balanced and her body and soul, heart and mind are aligned for maximum health. She requests that we attend to the soul's deeper meaning and that this heralds greater wellbeing. When our soul is without nourishment, illness will follow. 

Lastly, I have chosen from Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Christiane Northrup, a card of Fertility and Creativity which is subtitled, Hierarchy-v-Partnership. We are asked to look at the relationships we attract and whether we can share power with others in an equal way or is one person making the bulk of important decisions. A true partnership has equal value and equal power. Is there one person who always leads or who always follows? Working effectively together with others involves knowing when to give way, and when to be proactive. The person who assumes most responsibility also takes the most risks and makes the rules. Do we have power without responsibility, or responsibility without power? Mutuality is the best way forward.  Offer and seek out true equality. 

Readings by Wendy Stokes www.wendystokes.co.uk