The Borderland

I have often read of victorian spiritualists and mediums referring to the borderland, perhaps someone might shed some light on what the borderland exactly is. Is it the spirit plane closest to the earth? It is never mentioned nowadays.

By George I do believe I got it.....

Spiritualists in the nineteenth century spoke of the "Borderland," a shadowy threshold where the living communed with the dead, and where those in the material realm could receive comfort or advice from another world.

--- Amy Lehman's, Victorian Women and the Theatre of Trance:
Mediums, Spiritualists and Mesmerists in Performance

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Borderland-Volume-Quarterly-Review-Index/dp/1231217707

Bit pricey for a repro!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VcBs8enYCCcC&pg=PA497&lpg=PA497&dq='The+Medium+and+daybreak+Spiritualist+Newspaper+and+the+Borderland'&source=bl&ots=XLDYSXSi0k&sig=ID17-mKdi8_IRK-RfJSIGgu820U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bz3WT4aFMtTd8QP8j5GvAw&ved=0CGIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q='The%20Medium%20and%20daybreak%20Spiritualist%20Newspaper%20and%20the%20Borderland'&f=false

This one is free.
Janet Oppenheim who wrote it passed to spirit tragically early. I often wondered if she was related to Minnie Oppenheim the medium who was the sectioned sister of E Phillips Oppenheim the Ian Fleming of his day.
They were a Leicester family. Minnie was incarcerated in Northamptron Asylum with Mabel Barltrop.

Now I was reading about the Borderland recently. Cannot remember where I saw it.
Rather interesting article,saying something about the first level we encounter after physical death.
Where spirit and physical mingle.
Joan

Hey Pete and Joan thanks for the responses will have a look at that link you posted Pete cheers. Joan, that sounds interesting if you recall perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing where you read the info on the Borderland. Fair play appreciate it.

Interestting idea. Maybe also where earthbounds who haven't made full transition reside.
Mark' s Lehman quote is useful but partial because some Spiritualists never used that term or concept plus Lehman covers far wider territory. Female roles in performance and early feminisms for two.. The Borderland publication linked to above had that title as a sort of catch all term for its contents. Bit like Medium and Daybreak the publication saw itself as the medium for the new dawn or daybreak of Spiritualism apart from covering and advertising working mediums. Names can be less than descriptive, for example Psychic News seldom covers what we call 'psychic' these days.

... what, these days; we'd call psychic.

Well teh mention of Borderland Magazine led me onto W T Stead its editor, who as people will remember was a casualty of the Titanic

Blue Island is one of the classic books where Stead is claimed to communicate from the other side On Line read here
http://archive.org/stream/blueislandexperi00stea#page/n9/mode/2up

I wonder if the Borderland is the place the NDE'rs speak of: that they go somewhere in spirit, but sense or are told that if they cross a boundary (variously described as a fence, wall, line, hedge, stream, etc. ), they cannot return to their earthly bodies.

Mark74 wrote:Hey Pete and Joan thanks for the responses will have a look at that link you posted Pete cheers. Joan, that sounds interesting if you recall perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing where you read the info on the Borderland. Fair play appreciate it.

It's not long ago,Mark. Will see what I can dig up from the borders of my memory.
Joan

Left Behind wrote:I wonder if the Borderland is the place the NDE'rs speak of: that they go somewhere in spirit, but sense or are told that if they cross a boundary (variously described as a fence, wall, line, hedge, stream, etc. ), they cannot return to their earthly bodies.

Left Behind, that crossed my mind as well. Victorian medium once said, (can't recall the medium's name) ''The medium's proper home is not this world nor the next, but that vague and debatable land that lies between them. We are not allowed to enter the the spirit realms, but can be taken to the borderland to glimpse the wonders of the realms.''

Admin wrote:Well teh mention of Borderland Magazine led me onto W T Stead its editor, who as people will remember was a casualty of the Titanic Blue Island is one of the classic books where Stead is claimed to communicate from the other side On Line read here http://archive.org/stream/blueislandexperi00stea#page/n9/mode/2up

Thanks Admin, read about Stead in a few publications. Fascinating gent, was given a small text book some years back, ''Communication with the Next World, the right and wrong menthods, Given by W.T. Stead through Madame Hyver.'' Find myself going back to it from time to time. Nice little book, captures the era he came from.

petal34 wrote:

Mark74 wrote:Hey Pete and Joan thanks for the responses will have a look at that link you posted Pete cheers. Joan, that sounds interesting if you recall perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing where you read the info on the Borderland. Fair play appreciate it.

It's not long ago,Mark. Will see what I can dig up from the borders of my memory.
Joan

Good girl

Sorry,having problems with the net today,hence why I haven't been on site.
Apparently in the plane surrounding our world which verges onto the spirit world is called the Borderland. Neither earth nor spirit.
Where we meet anf spirit meet.
Often wondered why we get brief glimpses of spirit and they mingle with us.
That's all I could find,Mark.
Hope it is correct.
Joan
ps, Print on site has been drasically reduced so nearl typing typing blind.

petal34 wrote:Sorry,having problems with the net today,hence why I haven't been on site. Apparently in the plane surrounding our world which verges onto the spirit world is called the Borderland. Neither earth nor spirit. Where we meet anf spirit meet. Often wondered why we get brief glimpses of spirit and they mingle with us. That's all I could find,Mark. Hope it is correct. Joan ps, Print on site has been drasically reduced so nearl typing typing blind.

Super Joan confirms my thoughts on it. Happy days