About Spiritualism

It is said that most people come to Spiritualism through 'losing' a loved one, especially someone who is young or who died suddenly or 'before their time', as we say. The pain and desperation of loss causes many to seek a deeper truth, particularly if they do not find the help that they need in their own or the main, traditional religions. And especially if there are unanswered questions regarding the death of the loved one. For those of us who have found even some of the answers, we know we have found a greater truth here than elsewhere.

Speaking personally, after several years' experience, I now hesitate to call myself a Spiritualist as such, simply because my beliefs are somewhat more broad than those of traditional Spiritualism. But the idea of receiving messages through mediums and developing ones own mediumistic talents really comes under the banner of Spiritualism, hence the reason for this page.

Unlike most religions, spiritualism has no set dogma, rituals or requirements of belief that you have to follow. There are the Seven Principles set out by the Spiritualists' National Union, and the beliefs of the Greater World Christian Spiritualists which outline the general understandings, but nothing is laid down rigidly because this side of the 'veil' we cannot know for certain. Most spiritualists use these principles as a starting point to develop what 'rings true' for them according to their personal experiences. Someone once said that there are as many versions of the truth as there are human beings in the world! I myself find the wording of the 7 Principles too old-fashioned, especially in the description of God as a father and mankind as brothers. (See my page about God.) But I agree with the general meaning behind most of them.
However, re. the Greater World Christian Spiritual beliefs, I certainly don't believe the following, since I don't believe there is such a thing as sin any more, neither the necessity to believe in Jesus as a saviour:
"Sins committed can only be rectified by the sinner through the redemptive power of Jesus the Christ, by repentence and service to others."

Coming from an Anglican Church background, with all its splendid music and buildings, I find the Spiritualist services rather poor and uninspiring. But to me, the Sunday services are not really important - what matters is the communication with the spirit world, both with departed loved ones and with 'higher' beings with messages for mankind. Although the Sunday service usually contains some clairvoyance, there is usually a weekday evening with a longer session. An invited medium will convey messages to as many people as posible within the timeframe. Good mediums will pace the evening and the messages so that most if not all the congregation/people/sitters - call then what you will - have a personal message. It has to be said that many times you won't get a message, and sadly some of the mediums spend so long giving evidence (trying to prove who the spirit communicator is) that there is little time for the message, and only a few people are served. My personal observation is that those running Spiritualist churches consider the most important thing is to prove that there is life after death, but for those who already believe this, it's the messages that we want, not the proof! Of course, we need to know that the medium is not faking it, but beyond this, "just give them the bloody message!!" as one of my loved ones actually told a medium - who kindly relayed what he'd just been told!!