Visiting A spiritualist Centre

Why do people come to a Spiritualist Centre

Why do people come to a Spiritualist Centre, it is a thought I often wonder about. I am quite open about my involvement with Spiritualism, even those I work with are aware that I am the leader of a Spiritualist Centre and am involved as a speaker, medium, healer and facilitator/teacher. They all know that I research and write about Spiritualism, having a deep interest in its history, philosophy, and progression.
When I talk about what I do I realise how little people know about our movement, what it does and what it represents.

In April 2019, I went on ABC Adelaide 891 for a 20-minute interview about Spiritualism with David Bevan. one of a series he produced, about little known religions. Sadly, his opening remarks could best be considered as an attack on dodgy psychic readers, whereas I had listened to some sessions on the other religions, these were allowed an initial space to present their credentials and Philosophy. I had to try and present our case against this sceptical and rather negative background.

It made me wonder what other people, who attend our meetings expect to see, additionally it caused me to understand why we do not get as many enquirers attending our centres as we may wish to. The type of view, that David Bevan holds is, quite probably, more widely held than we might expect, indeed for those Ministers I have met at least one third have backed away as if I was the Devil, one even crossing himself.

However, we do get others who choose to attend our meetings. Those who want to attend do not need to be Spiritualist’s, we welcome anyone to our meetings and would just ask people to have an open mind. We do not ask anyone to give up either the religion of their upbringing, their own personal convictions, or to commit to our belief. Spiritualism is an unusual religion because it does not seek to convert people.

There is nothing spooky, odd, or weird about our meetings, certainly nothing that should present any problem for a casual visitor. We expressly say that what happens is not magic, some things we can do have not yet been proven scientifically, but they follow the natural laws of the universe which science has, so far, failed to unlock. The mediumship, which is the most unusual element, is always presented in a calm, down to earth manner and could be regarded as less mystic than elements of a high church mass. Attendees cover a wide range of ages and interests; they are normal people (as are mediums).

From years of both attending and running meetings we know people come to our meetings for a variety of reasons, even though they may have little idea of what we do, or the values we represent.

• They may just come along to find out what we do, with no expectations just as a curiosity.
• They may come to seek messages from their loved ones in Spirit That may be just to remember them, it may be to help with bereavement, or it could be to seek the closure of issues that were left unresolved.
• They may come along hoping that a message will be received which will give them guidance with their problems.
• They may come along just to get healing or for the meditation.
• They may come for the phenomena, sometimes expecting more than is presented or the energy they sense in the room.
• They may come to listen to the talk to find something of value for their life.
• Some may come for all these things; people say to me if they are all good it’s a real win but usually one of the elements gives me something.
• There may be those that attend because they are a Spiritualist, and the religion provides a basis for their life.

Whatever the reason we hope people find what they seek, at least in some measure. Sometimes people will walk away having seen nothing to draw them back, although we hope this is not the case.

Often the energy that is created in our meetings and the openness of other participants is enough to ensure people do return


Others, having found something will just move on to another phase of their life. Some of these people will return, if only at times, because of the impact that their experience had upon them.


Other people will stay a while, learning more about Spiritualism and their own abilities before they decide to move on to something new.

If you do any of these without choosing to remain long term then that is Ok for us. We are here for you if ever you find your way back to us.

Some of those who come along will stay, finding out more about our movement and become members of our centre.

In many ways our lack of proselytizing limits the growth of the Spiritualist movement, we are not actively promoting that your soul can only be saved by our movement that you really need to embrace our belief, to become a Spiritualist; it is a personal choice for you.

I have touched on the other issue, there is the factor of those ill-informed sceptics, or religions which vehemently oppose Spiritualism and try to ensure people never come near our centres.

Additionally, if you search about Spiritualism, it is hard to find accurate information to explain or tell you about the movement or its philosophy. There is no definite, detailed, written creed, or theology, with hundreds of years of interplay with the World. To be honest I was 34 years old before I knew Spiritualism existed, and then only because I met Lis, a medium of, by then, 17 years involvement with Spiritualism.

I have been involved, by November this year, for some 39 years, over 20 years as a platform medium. On a personal basis I have seen enough evidence, given enough messages containing information I could not know and seen enough things to convince me of the Truth behind the Spiritualist Movement. The philosophy also fits perfectly with my view of a way to live our life, while being of service to others. In healing I have given enough to be convinced of the beneficial effects we can provide even if miracle cures are not part of the core business of healing.

Is it a religion? It has a belief in God, we cannot conclusively prove the existence of God, so it is a belief, not a truth, therefore it becomes a religion. However, this is a universal God one for the entire Cosmos, not a God of one religion, or even one planet. It is neither male or female, our principle may say the Fatherhood of God, but I doubt that this “Father” has much in common with our physical form or energy.

We also accept the fact that at the core of our being is our Spiritual essence, this binds all of Humanity together even more than the DNA, shared throughout the population of the World. We are all one “Brotherhood”, or to modernise it, one family, regardless of race, religion, tribe, colour, age wealth, & sex. Because of this we should respect each other and learn to live in harmony.

We accept that Spirits can communicate with us, that by this communication they remind us that their essence remains, with its memories and individual character. This has happened so often through mediumship, providing unique information, we feel fully justified to say this is a truth not a belief. The communication from Spirit reminds us once again, that everyone, whose physical body dies, enters the Spirit realms, reinforcing our understanding of a family in Spirit. Into this family goes everyone who passes, good, bad and indifferent.

Spiritualism asks us to remember our personal responsibility when we live our life, we have been granted free will to live our life as we wish, either within the requirements of the social norms and rules of our culture, or even if we live outside these rules. However, the respect and harmony does require that we seek to live a life where we try to avoid causing harm by our actions or our inactions by our words or our failure to speak. In addition to these physical things, remembering our body and the universe are made of energy, our thoughts, because the energy of these can create damage.

Although we do not accept heaven or hell, and do not consider vicarious atonement, allowing another to atone for our misdeeds, we say that all return to Spirit. There we will, with the help of other Spirits, complete a review of our life, including the impacts that this has had on others.

No hell, but one person, who came through in a private reading, had lived a life which had been particularly hurtful to others, he indicated that it would have been hard to differentiate his experience, in that review, from being in what he had imagined hell to be. He indicated that this period was over, and now he was wanting to communicate to apologise for the way he had hurt people.

So, no heaven or hell just a future existence in Spirit where reward and retribution are handled through the period of this review. Afterwards there is the chance for that Spirit to Progress in its development if it chooses to do so. There is no need for a reincarnation to deal with the “Karma” generated by this life, the slate is clean and there are a variety of ways for that Spirit to move on without facing another physical life.

It is a simple framework to live by, there is no need to live in any specific way, no need for an ascetic cloistered life, no special diets, no special one’s just people trying to live a life, enjoy it but also remember to try to be the best they can to others. Remember, we are human beings’ perfection is not expected.

So, if you come to a Spiritualist Centre, hopefully, we will not tell you how we can save you, we will not tell your fortune, how you can become special, nor should we add extra rules or demands on your life. You are free to walk in and experience what we offer and to decide for yourself what you take from it.


I developed thsi piece from the notes I made for a talk earlier in 2022 at Th eUnley Spiritualist Association

Jim

Although I've not been a regular church or centre attender in over 30 years I regularly refer seekers of survival evidence to them here in the UK.  I always take care, though, to avoid promising them anything I'm not confident they'll receive, Jim. What anyone finds if they do visit as a consequence of my encouragement I rarely get to learn.  

The little I have to offer I provide online.  Interestingly only this Tuesday morning I was writing about a subject that seems to engage folk much more readily than Spiritualism does, that of NDEs - so called near death experiences.  It appears there's an abundance of these stories on the web and many are fascinated by them. The bad part is that NDEs are often misunderstood, experiences misreported as someone having died but then being brought back to life. The good part is that most seem genuinely and positively changed by their near-death experiences.

 If the subject is raised on sites where I contribute I do my best to explain what can reasonably be taken from such accounts.  I usually add that Spiritualist philosophy, perhaps along with evidential mediumship (whether Spiritualist or not) can help carry them forward from such an initial interest.