Posted on 30 January 2023, 9:29

People often ask why the communication coming from the spirit world during the first 30 or so years of the so-called spiritualism epidemic, from 1850 until around 1880, was so different, seemingly so much better, more dynamic, and offering more “teachings” than what we now have . They see this decline in quality and quantity as suggesting that the early mediumship was just a lot of bunk.  A progressive mindset expects improvement, not regression.  If, however, we can accept messages coming through a credible medium, William Stainton Moses, (below) the reason for the decline is that the spirit world pulled back because of frequent intrusions by devious, low-level spirits which they did not anticipate and which were confusing people and disparaging many good mediums. Moreover, indications are that they had provided all they had intended to impart in the way of “teachings,” all that humans could understand relative to their world.

By 1880, the same teachings were being repeated over and over again through different mediums. The primary teachings were that, yes, consciousness continues after death in a larger life, something very much in question at the time due to the impeachment of religion by science, especially after Darwinism took hold during the 1860s, and that the larger life is much more complex, dynamic, and progressive than the humdrum heaven (and horrific hell) taught by religions. Another important teaching was that souls do not become all-knowing or omnipotent upon reaching “heaven.”  They know little, if anything, more than what they departed the material world with, and they continue to learn and advance from their initial state in the afterlife. Unfortunately, many don’t learn much in the physical world and are “earthbound,” continuing in what might be likened to a bad dream, not even aware they are dead. 

When, in 1852, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, former United States Senator from New York and former Governor of Wisconsin, asked the communicating spirit claiming to be his old friend, John C. Calhoun, former vice-president of the United States, about the purpose of the communication, which began in 1848, the reply came, “My friend, the question is often put to you, ‘What good can come from these manifestations?’ I will answer it.  It is to draw mankind together in harmony, and convince skeptics of the immortality of the soul.”

Not long after, during the early 1850s, Robert Hare, professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, put much the same question to his deceased father through a medium. He was informed that it was all “a deliberate effort on the part of the inhabitants of the higher spheres to break through the partition which has interfered with the attainment, by mortals, of a correct idea of their destiny after death.”  To carry out this intention, Hare was further told, a delegation of advanced spirits had been appointed.  It was further explained that lower spirits were allowed to take part in the undertaking because they were better able to make mechanical movements and loud rappings than those on the higher realms as they were closer in vibration to the physical plane.  It was usually necessary for the lower spirits to relay messages from more advanced spirits through the human mediums to those on the physical plane. 

The early communication, including the works of Judge John Edmonds, French educator Allan Kardec, Professor Hare, and others, all during the 1850s, seems to have been aimed at providing a better understanding of the larger life, not simply providing evidence of it. But except for the fact that it usually went well beyond the beliefs and knowledge of the medium, it wasn’t evidential to many.  The physical mediumship was, the spirits explained, an attempt to get our attention and open us up to the mental mediumship and the teachings. These teachings came through numerous mediums When the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was formed in 1882, it focused on evidential communication, not the teachings or more profound subject matter.     

The mediumship of Stainton Moses, an Anglican priest with a master’s degree from Oxford who served as English Master at University College London from 1868 until 1889, seems to have been the last-ditch effort by the spirit world to explain this life and the larger life.  Until 1872, Moses considered all mediumship as nothing more than “twaddle,” but his investigation suggested otherwise and he soon began to realize that he had mediumistic gifts. Spirits began communicating through both his voice and his hand while he sat with a small group of educated friends, including Dr. Stanhope Speer, his wife, Maria Speer, their musician son Charlton Speer, and other professional people.

Charlton Speer, Moses’s biographer, referred to the spirit messages as “inspirational addresses given by various spirits” while Moses was in an entranced condition.  “Touching the manner of these addresses (one or more of which we had at almost every séance) I can only say that they were delivered in a dignified, temperate, clear, and convincing tone, and that though the voice proceeded from the medium, it was always immediately apparent that the personality addressing us was not that of the medium,” Charlton Speer wrote. “The voice was different, and the ideas were often not in accordance with those held at the time by [Moses].  An important fact, too, was that although many spirits exercised this power of control, the voice which spoke was always different; and in the case of those spirits which controlled regularly we came to know perfectly well which intelligence was communicating by the tone of the voice and the method of enunciation.”

The teachings, as set forth in Spirit Teachings and More Spirit Teachings (available from White Crow Books), included numerous subjects—God, Jesus, spirit guides, eternal life, reincarnation, prayer, atheism, obsessing spirits, earthbound spirits, missionary spirits, and judgment, to name only a few.  They came from a band of 49 spirits, what might now be called a “group soul,” under the direction of one called Imperator.  It was explained that Imperator was at too high a vibration to effectively communicate and that others in the group, at a lower vibration, would relay his messages through the medium.  Among the most frequent communicators were Rector, Prudens, Doctor, and Magnus.  “These names are but convenient symbols for influences brought to bear upon you,” was the explanation given for the odd names. “In some cases, the influence is not centralized; it is impersonal, as you would say. In many cases the messages given you are not the product any one mind, but are the collective influence of a number. Many who have been concerned with you are but the vehicles to you of a yet higher influence which is obliged to reach you in that way. We deliberate, we consult, and in many instances you receive the impression of our united thought.”  Near the end, it was revealed that Imperator was the name given to Malachias, a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament.

The primary purpose of the group of 49 was explained by Prudens: “The busy world is ever averse from the things of spirit, life. Men become so absorbed in the material, that which they see and grasp, and hoard up, and they forget that there is a future and spirit life. They become so earthly that they are impervious to our influence; so material that we cannot come near them; so full of earthly interests that there is no room for that which shall endure when they have passed away. More than this, the constant preoccupation leaves no time for contemplation, and the spirit is wasted for lack of sustenance.”

Rector explained that in earlier times spirits communicated with humans in ways less material and that no such means of telegraphy, as raps, was known. “It was not necessary to act through matter, save in rare cases,” he continued. “Spirit spoke to spirit. But, as men grew more corporeal, this could less be done, and to few only. So that a material system of telegraphy was invented.”  That invention, it was said, was by the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, who had joined the spirit world in 1790.  It was at the urging of Emanuel Swedenborg, the renowned Swedish scientist and philosopher, who had transitioned in 1772. 
The messages coming through Moses’s voice were recorded by Mrs. Speer, who said it was impossible for her to capture the beauty and refinement of the manifestations or the power and dignity of Imperator’s influence.  When it was asked how those present could know that what they were hearing was truth and not from some devil in sheep’s clothing, the reply came:  “Man must judge according to the light of reason that is in him.” Imperator further explained that the progressive soul will receive what the ignorant or prejudiced will reject and that God’s truth is forced on none.

When the messages later came through Moses by means of automatic writing, Moses said he had no command or control of the writing. He felt an impulse to write and the words flowed, sometimes in conflict with what he believed and at other times on subjects with which he had not given serious consideration. On May 9, 1874, Cambridge scholars Frederic W. H. Myers and Edmund Gurney visited Moses and observed his mediumship. “That evening was epoch-making in Gurney’s life and mine,” Myers wrote, some eight years before he and Gurney helped organize the SPR.  “With the even tenor of this straightforward and reputable life was inwoven a chain of mysteries which, in whatever way they may be explained, make that life one of the most extraordinary which our century has seen,” Myers wrote, adding that he was certain that the messages coming through Moses were not fabricated by him. (As might be expected, Wikipedia makes Moses out to be a complete fraud.)

 
Imperator explained that most spirits who have the ability to communicate with the earth realm are from the lower three spheres and that it becomes increasingly difficult to communicate as one goes to higher vibrations.  However, those from the higher spheres are able to communicate if they can find the right medium, and Moses was such a medium.  Imperator warned that there were many antagonistic spirits who interfere. 

“It is true that Benjamin Franklin did discover communication by raps, and that he was greatly aided by Swedenborg in awakening interest among spirits in the subject,” Rector stated. “At the time of the discovery it was believed that all denizens of both worlds would be brought into ready communion. But, both on account of the obstinate ignorance of man, and of the extent to which the privilege was abused by spirits who assumed well-known names and personated them and so deceived men, that privilege has been greatly narrowed.”

Moses asked for clarification, and Imperator responded: “These are spirits who have chosen the evil, have put aside promptings and influences of good, and have banded themselves under the leadership of intelligence still more evil, to malign us and to hamper our work.  Such are powerful for mischief, and their activity shows itself in evil passion, in imitating our work, and so gaining influence over the deluded, and most of all, in presenting to inquiring souls that which is mean and base, where we would tenderly lead to the noble and refined.  They are the foes of God and man; enemies of goodness; ministers of evil.  Against them we wage perpetual war.”

As I interpret all that and piece it together, this is what I see: 1) In the wake of scientism, the world was becoming too materialistic, so the Spirit World decided it had to do something to reverse the trend; 2) Advanced spirits figured out how to communicate with the material plane by means of raps; 3) Further experiments by the Spirit World resulted in them figuring out how to levitate people and objects, strum guitars, etc., in order to attract attention; 4) Lower-level spirits, not necessarily evil spirits, were more capable of effecting the various phenomena because they were closer to the earth vibration than more advanced spirits; 5) Advanced spirits used lower-level spirits (well-meaning ones) to assist them in carrying out the phenomena; (6) Advanced spirits provided “teachings” to help people better understand the larger life, but there was much resistance by mainstream science and orthodox religion; 7) Devious earthbound spirits (lower than the low), even closer to the material world in vibration than the decent low-level spirits, began interfering and obstructing the efforts of the advanced spirits, thereby causing even more mayhem and animosity.  8) Sometime around 1880, the Spirit World, began to withdraw, although not completely; 9) With the formation of the SPR and ASPR in 1882, the focus changed to evidential mediumship, but the influence of earthbound spirits continued. 10) There was a resurgence during WWI as many people grieved the loss of loved ones, but as radio, movies, phones, television, computers, etc. developed, they deterred and distracted people from the “quiet contemplation” and passive state required for trance mediumship and so those who might have had mediumistic abilities never recognized them. Psychical research then gave way to parapsychology during the 1930s, the search for spirits and consciousness surviving at death pretty much ending.

Meanwhile, the earthbound spirits continue to prevail on the inner planes while influencing and promoting materialism and hedonism in the physical world.  The advanced spirits have been limited to providing a little aid here and there.
Michael Tymn is the author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife, and Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I.
His latest book, No One Really Dies: 25 Reasons to Believe in an Afterlife is published by White Crow books.

I agree Spirit Communication Has Waned !
We have studied nearly 500 past and present psychics from around the world.
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Regardless if you believe in God or not, this is a “must-read” message!!
Throughout time, we can see how we have been strategically conditioned coming to this point where we are on the verge of a cashless society. Did you know that the Bible foretold of this event almost 2,000 years ago?
In the book of Revelation 13:16-18, we will read,
“He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles—Revelation 19:20) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
Referring to the last generation, this could only be speaking of a cashless society. Why’s that? Revelation 13:17 says that we cannot buy or sell unless we receive the mark of the beast. If physical money was still in use, we could buy or sell with one another without receiving the mark. This would contradict scripture that states we need the mark to buy or sell!
These verses could not be referring to something purely spiritual as scripture references two physical locations (our right hand or forehead) stating the mark will be on one “OR” the other. If this mark was purely spiritual, it would indicate both places, or one—not one OR the other!
This is where it comes together. It is amazing how accurate the Bible is concerning the implantable RFID microchip. This is information from someone named Carl Sanders who worked with a team of engineers to help develop this RFID chip:
“Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the C.I.A. to discuss plans on how to bring about this one-world system. The government commissioned Carl Sanders to design a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the worlda microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle (a quick, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).
Carl Sanders, with a team of engineers behind him, with U.S. grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature changes in our skin. Without the knowledge of the Bible (Brother Sanders was not a Christian at the time), these engineers spent one-and-a-half-million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip inserted.
Guess what? These researchers found that the forehead and the back of the hand (the two places the Bible says the mark will go) are not just the most convenient places, but are also the only viable places for rapid, consistent temperature changes in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of storing pages upon pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, criminal record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this chip.
Brother Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped design, is the mark spoken about in Revelation 13:1618. The original Greek word for mark is charagma, which means a scratch or etching. It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is actually a word in the original Greek. The word is chi xi stigma, with the last part, stigma, also meaning to stick or prick. Carl believes this is referring to a hypodermic needle when they poke into the skin to inject the microchip.”
Mr. Sanders asked a doctor what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor replied by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:
“And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2).
You can read more about it here—and to also understand the mystery behind the number 666: 2RUTH.ORG
The third angel’s warning in Revelation 14:9-11 states,
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’”
Great hope is in our midst, and is coming in a mighty way—the greatest revival for Jesus in the history of the world where we will see the most souls come to Him of all tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples (Rev. 7:9-10); for we have this promise in God’s Word in the midst of these dark times:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (not literal—rather a spiritual label for time spent in eternity); and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (when the Antichrist and false prophet will rise up and God will test the world).” (Revelation 20:1-3)
“The coming of the lawless one (the Antichrist) is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)”
Who is Barack Obama, and why is he still around?
So what’s in the name? The meaning of someone’s name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface.
Jesus says in Luke 10:18, “...I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
The Hebrew Strongs word (H1299) for “lightning”: “baraq” (baw-rawk)
In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 14, we read about Lucifer (Satan) saying in his heart:
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
In the verses in Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it mentions him falling from the heights or the heavens. The Hebrew word for the heights or heavens used here is Hebrew Strongs 1116: “bamah”—Pronounced (bam-maw’)
In Hebrew, the letter “Waw” or “Vav” is often transliterated as a “U” or “O,” and it is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning (Baraq) and a high place like heaven or the heights of heaven (Bam-Maw), the letter “U” or “O” would be used. So, Baraq “O” Bam-Maw or Baraq “U” Bam-Maw in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah, would translate literally to “Lightning from the heights.” The word “Satan” in Hebrew is a direct translation, therefore “Satan.”
So when Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 10:18 that He beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven, if this were to be declared by a Jewish Rabbi today influenced by the poetry in the book of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew—the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18 as, and I saw Satan as Baraq O Bam-Maw.
Malie and Natasha are the names of Obama’s daughters. If we were to write those names backward (the devil does things backwards) we would get “ailam ahsatan”. Now if we remove the letters that spell “Alah” (the false god of Islam being Allah), we would get “I am Satan”. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
Obama’s campaign logo when he ran as President of the US in the year 2008 was a sun over the horizon in the west, with the landscape as the flag of the United States. In Islam, they have their own messiah that they are waiting for called the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi (the Antichrist of the Bible), and one prophecy concerning this man’s appearance is the sun rising in the west.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earthto every nation, tribe, tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.’” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Why have the words of Jesus in His Gospel accounts regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, been translated into over 3,000 languages, and nothing comes close (the Quran about 110 languages)? Because the same Spirit of God (YHVH) who created all people likewise transcends all people; therefore the power of His Word is not limited by people; while all other religions are man-made, therefore they tend to primarily stay within their own culture. The same God who speaks to all people through His creation of the heavens and earth that draws all people around the world likewise has sent His Word to the ends of the earth so that we may come to personally know Him to be saved in spirit and in truth through His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus stands alone among the other religions that say to rightly weigh the scales of good and evil and to make sure you have done more good than bad in this life. Is this how we conduct ourselves justly in a court of law? Bearing the image of God, is this how we project this image into reality?
Our good works cannot save us. If we step before a judge, being guilty of a crime, the judge will not judge us by the good we have done, but rather by the crimes we have committed. If we as fallen humanity, created in God’s image, pose this type of justice, how much more a perfect, righteous, and Holy God?
God has brought down His moral laws through the 10 commandments given to Moses at Mt. Siani. These laws were not given so we may be justified, but rather that we may see the need for a savior. They are the mirror of God’s character of what He has written in our hearts, with our conscious bearing witness that we know that it is wrong to steal, lie, dishonor our parents, murder, and so forth.
We can try and follow the moral laws of the 10 commandments, but we will never catch up to them to be justified before a Holy God. That same word of the law given to Moses became flesh about 2,000 years ago in the body of Jesus Christ. He came to be our justification by fulfilling the law, living a sinless perfect life that only God could fulfill.
The gap between us and the law can never be reconciled by our own merit, but the arm of Jesus is stretched out by the grace and mercy of God. And if we are to grab on, through faith in Him, He will pull us up being the one to justify us. As in the court of law, if someone steps in and pays our fine, even though we are guilty, the judge can do what is legal and just and let us go free. That is what Jesus did almost 2,000 years ago on the cross. It was a legal transaction being fulfilled in the spiritual realm by the shedding of His blood with His last word’s on the cross crying out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
For God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). This is why in Isaiah chapter 53, where it speaks of the coming Messiah and His soul being a sacrifice for our sins, why it says it pleased God to crush His only begotten Son.
This is because the wrath that we deserve was justified by being poured out upon His Son. If that wrath was poured out on us, we would all perish to hell forever. God created a way of escape by pouring it out on His Son whose soul could not be left in Hades but was raised and seated at the right hand of God in power.
So now when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), where God no longer sees the person who deserves His wrath, but rather the glorious image of His perfect Son dwelling in us, justifying us as if we received the wrath we deserve, making a way of escape from the curse of death; now being conformed into the image of the heavenly man walking in a new nature, and no longer in the image of the fallen man Adam.
Now what we must do is repent and put our trust and faith in the savior, confessing and forsaking our sins, and to receive His Holy Spirit that we may be born again (for Jesus says we must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God in John chapter 3). This is not just head knowledge of believing in Jesus, but rather receiving His words, taking them to heart, so that we may truly be transformed into the image of God. Where we no longer live to practice sin, but rather turn from our sins and practice righteousness through faith in Him in obedience to His Word by reading the Bible.
Our works cannot save us, but they can condemn us; it is not that we earn our way into everlasting life, but that we obey our Lord Jesus Christ:
Jesus says,
Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:21-23)
“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’
Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’
And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’” (Revelation 21:1-8)

Thanks Chris. - AOD

This is a beautiful NDE experience:
https://youtu.be/n5jvRtBeY6E

Hello Alyson…

Yes, I’d be happy to share a bit with you. No need to post your own e/m here—as mine has already shown up here several times, I’ll just put it up .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) you can send me yours in return…

Don Porteous,

Heartfelt thanks for your caring and kind reply. I think I may have actually surpassed that ‘critical mass’ level in my research some time ago. I guess there might always be this little doubting voice in my head that without some type of validating personal experience will keep me from that ‘knowing-in-your-bones’ feeling I mentioned before, and seems to be so powerful and transforming for those who are lucky enough to have it. I would take this experience in any way I could, be it as an NDE, ADC, or an OOBE that was convincing enough to prove I wasn’t just dreaming (gotta love all these acronyms, lol).

I’m in Washington state, so not in your area but I’d love to hear about your experiences if you wouldn’t mind sharing them over email. Let me know what you think, and if so I’ll send my email address on to you.

Alyson,
Don’t let it be written on your tombstone, “She was afraid to live because she was afraid to die.”  Live your life to the fullest!  Follow your bliss. Within that bliss you will find your purpose in life.  A purpose that you agreed to before you chose to be born.  Don’t let anyone talk you out of it. Obsession with the afterlife is just stoking the fires of fear. You are here to add a thread to the great tapestry of life, to play a part in the greatest theatrical production there ever was.  Direct your attention to other things.  Fulfill your purpose.  Have fun! All will be well.
 

Death is a part of life that completes a circle or a cycle of experience and growth.  It allows for a season of rest before returning for another life.  To quote Patience Worth she says that “Death is the key to there.”  Meaning that death is the way to a greater life; with “full fields to be harvested” and ‘fresh business of living” and “work yet to be done.”  She also said that it matters not if death be the end.  “Hast not our lives been full?  And we are weary with the work of living.  Sinking into oblivion would be rest.”  But, she continues, “Sure as sun shall rise my dust shall be unloosed, and blown into new fields of new days.”

Every night you place your body aside while your consciousness is free to roam other realities, although tethered to the physical world.  In dreams your consciousness lives and acts in other realities.  When that bond to the physical world is broken, your dreams will become reality in the loving light of the Source from which you came.

Helen Keller, blind from early childhood is reported to have said that for her, “Death is like walking from one room into another.  The only difference is that in that new room I shall be able to see.”  It’s that simple! We all shall be able to see with greater clarity as we review our past life, rest and prepare for another life.  - AOD

Dear Alyson…

I so wish I could sit down and talk face-to-face with you, as your candid and obviously heartfelt plaint comes from precisely the type of person I’ve been writing for.

You’re absolutely right about the power of “personal experience.” However, even when they don’t happen to us personally, sometimes we can become aware of events that by their very nature, or by a quantity of them that reaches a “critical mass”, may have the power to move us those last few steps toward a genuine relief of our fears.

There are many such events that I could share with you—some (just a small few) have occurred in my own life, some in the lives of others. Collectively, in my own mind, they can’t be ignored. If you’re anywhere near central Pennsylvania or Maryland, if you’d like, I’d be happy to sit down with you…

Sam,

I am ‘obsessed’{for lack of a better word}
with anything to do with the afterlife, and have done a huge amount of research into it, seemingly to neutralize the over-
powering fear of death that never leaves me. I am more afraid of ceasing to exist than of what may happen in any potential afterlife, but I’m somewhat disappointed that these fears continue to persist after my immersion into these subjects.

At this point, I’ve reached the conclusion that the only thing that will put my fears to rest is having some type of direct experience that’s of a spiritual and/or paranormal nature, because as much as it helps to read about the experiences of others, nothing will give you that ‘know it in your bones’ feeling like a similar experience of your own.

As I’m not someone with psychic abilities or anything close to it, I may not realize such an experience in this lifetime, but my efforts will continue. In the meantime, I wish you success and clarity in overcoming your own death-related fears.

Amos,
Thanks I know only too well about symbols being hard to interpret. I had a symbol come in of the Robin Williams movie poster of Mrs Doubtfire. I have not seen the movie but I have seen the poster. The friend of the lady had passed and I suspected that it was her sense of humour as Robin had also passed. There were other ways of seeing this symbol as well.

The book I mentioned has the background of the spirit phone that Edison was searching for to outpace Tesla - a killer app. Edison had a close worker Bert Reese who was a medium.

I stay with voices from spirit. Easier to communicate. Your photo was different from what I imagined.
Bruce

I agree with the comments saying that we have received much in the way of possible Truth since Stainton Moses.  There has been much elaboration and “icing on the cake.”  All I am saying is that there is very little, if anything, that has been added to the basic foundation that Ballou, Edmonds, Hare, Kardec,and Moses provided.  Personally, I favor the Silver Birch messages, which came through from around 1930 to 1980, over all of them.

I can no longer stop Patience Worth from commenting here.  - AOD

“A day shall dawn when I shall be not, and when the busy world wags on; not a pebble cast by me, nor yet work may I claim. The morning sun shall warm the world to life and rain fall on the rotting grass where I am laid. But on a day whose dawn breaks gray, shall I not play a part? E’en like the sunrise, prisoned as a painter’s stroke within a mussel’s shell, the beauty-store of its full life, this past of mine shall gleam through mist, to glorify another day.

In some tomorrow no longer mine, methinks I see beloved stretches of greenwood where thrushes dip and grain parts heavily that the sun may swing to the West’s deep—-and faint stars, the same familiar stars on which I swore or swung my hope, come and the same moon which seems so confidently my companion keeping new trysts; the same familiar chirrup in the grass and the lovering leaves embracing. All of this I see in a new tomorrow which hath no part with me.

Oh, you who trod therein, know this; how in confusion I did party with thy day, thy selfsame day, in my benighted seeking. Listlessly moved I upon that same urge which now directs thy progress. The moon to me seemed an icy bubble, floating and I beneath her gazed me upward wondering, wondering. And my heart froze in contemplation of that awesome stretch, impenetrable! And the stars, oh brother, the age-old stars streaming the lore of paster ages earthward enriching me with that subtle substance which enshrouds them, phantoms that they are of myriad hopes and fears and troths. And those familiar sounds which grate, marked me with comfort, gave me a twig to crush within my hand, a closer contact with the things that be.

Know this, oh brother, ‘tis I who speak, a shadow from that other day.

Be comforted.-  Patience Worth

“As I recall, Seth said that the crucifixion of Jesus never took place.  Yet, Patience Worth provided details of the crucifixion in “The Sorry Tale.””

Michael:

In _Seth Speaks_ Seth briefly describes a conspiracy in which another man—not “Jesus”—was crucified in his place.

There are no eyewitness accounts of the crucifixion.  The tales in the “gospels” weren’t written down until decades after the events they describe (and aren’t entirely consistent with each other).  The few accounts by others, such as Josephus, were also written much later, and not by eye witnesses.

A credible historian, Paula Fredriksen, assumes the crucifixion took place, but points out how some of the events surrounding it as described in the Gospels aren’t likely to have happened or couldn’t have, in one of her books (probably _Paul: The Pagan’s Apostle_); that in itself suggests flaws in the descriptions of the crucifixion itself.

I have long used the Seth material (referring to the entire body of channeling—thousands of sessions between 1963 and 1984) as inspiration, not as some kind of “sacred scripture.”

As such, whatever took place at the events that fed into the developing Christian myth doesn’t particularly concern me. As far as I know, no version of me was present and I know of no one who was there in, say, a “previous incarnation” who can tell me “what really happened.”

If in fact there was a conspiracy amongst those close to “Jesus,” would Patience Worth have been privy to it?  At the very least, no “spirit” is necessarily omniscient, whether Patience or Seth, while no form of mediumship or trance communication is perfect; a degree of distortion is inevitable.

Myth or not, no one would argue that Christianity hasn’t been very important in history and the perpetual development and changing of mass beliefs.

I view “the immaculate conception” and the alleged return from the dead of Jesus as definitely mythical, while it took several centuries for the myth to achieve its final form, with any and all alternative “takes” dismissed (with attempts made to destroy them), some carefully hidden versions only discovered many centuries later, as in the Nag Hammadi texts.

For me, “Jesus” is a literary character distinct from the real person that character is based on, in the same way that the literary character featured in _The Adventures of Wyatt Earp_ is distinct from the historical Earp. Unlike Earp, however, we have no additional supporting information pertaining to the historical brother of James—no photographs, documents, contemporary statements, etc.

Seth spoke of “the Second Coming” as a return not of Jesus (Yeshu or Yeshua), but of Saul of Tarsus, claiming that Tarsus, Yeshu, and John the Baptizer were all part of a larger entity he referred to as the “Christ Entity.”

“His message will be that of the individual in relation to All That Is. He will clearly state methods by which each individual can attain a state of intimate contact with his own entity; the entity to some extent being man’s mediator with All That Is.”  (From Session 586. in _Seth Speaks_.)

You continue:  “Patience seems to have had as many followers in “her” days as Seth did in “his” days.  I wonder which “one” was right, or perhaps they were both right or both wrong. What a mystery!!!”

Seth’s take on the crucifixion is but a very tiny part of the thousands of sessions in which spoke, but I don’t believe it’s possible to know whether either Seth or Patience Worth was right or wrong, particularly in light of Seth’s exposition of probable realities.

Again, anyone who successfully does Seth’s Practice Element 1. will know, directly, about probable realities and selves.  I seriously doubt that either Patience Worth or Imperator had anything whatsoever to say on _that_ particular topic.

I wouldn’t expect anyone here to purchase a copy of _The “Unknown” Reality_ Volume One, but anyone interested in trying the exercise can find it as 2. on this page:  https://realitytest.com/doors.htm

Needless to say, mass beliefs in the time of Rev. Moses, Patience Worth, or even Andrew Jackson Davis were quite different by the time Jane Roberts first gave voice to Seth, in 1963.

In “occult” areas (and related beliefs) one detail alone is telling—all that resulted from the writings and activities of Helena Blavatsky in terms of bringing Eastern traditions to a Western audience, quite aside from changes in mass beliefs related to the emergence of an industrialized society and the increasing influence of modern science.

In other words, the “audience” of Moses, Worth, Davis, etc., held different beliefs from those who, say, purchased and read Seth’s books at a later time.  What author pays no attention to what his or her readers believe?

This applies to all that Seth conveyed through Jane, too, as that ceased upon Jane’s death in 1984.

What people believe in 2023 is often quite different from what people believed in 1984, while the world of 2023 is also quite changed from that of 1984, in many ways.

Communication with “the dead” or other non-physical entities has never stopped, although in some times and places it becomes relegated to “the fringe.”

What new Seth, Imperator, or Patience Worth is even now communicating through a medium, a channeler, or an autotyper somewhere, conveying information suitable for those living in the present moment in human history?

Bruce,
George Anderson was indeed a good medium in his time.  He got his information primarily from symbols presented to him in his mind’s eye and often they were in the form of religious symbols or movies that he had seen. Interpreting symbols is a difficult way of communicating with spirits.

I think Anderson has been surpassed by today’s mediums including Matt Fraser, John Edward and Canadian medium Christopher Stillar who seem to actually hear spirits talking to them in addition to seeing symbols, smelling odors, or feeling discomforts of the communicator when embodied.
- AOD

One more thing.
If anyone clicks on the link provided by Michael of his interview with me almost 10 years ago, please know that the picture of me is when I was about 70 years old.  Unfortunately, I don’t look like that now.  And rather than take up space here continuing to talk about Patience worth, if anyone is interested, they might link to an old web site of mine about Patience Worth.  That site is about 20 years old now and it was my first effort to develop a web site.  Things were different then so the site is very amateurish and I have lost the program and where-with-all to update it. My second site, much better than the first one, about Patience Worth, was destroyed by the “Guerilla Sceptics” or the “Religious Right” I suppose,  or by the hosting company “Blue Host”.  The hosting company did not protect their customers from hacking but they did offer to correct the problem for a fee. Jeffrey Mislove’s (winner of the top Bigelow award) site “Thinking Allowed” or “New Thinking Allowed” was also attacked by the same hackers.  Apparently Mishlove paid the fee and got his site back on line.  I can understand that in that he had a lot more to lose by letting his site be destroyed.

Here is a link to my old site about Patience Worth’s poems hosted by DotYou.com with no problem at all for almost 20 years.  I made some personal comments and so did Patience Worth. The picture of me is when I was about 50 years old. – AOD

http://patienceworth.org/patienceworthpoems_099.htm

I would like to say a few more words about Patience Worth since the crucifixion of Jesus was mentioned.  It may be that there is no other depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus more graphic than the one provided by Patience Worth.  The Jesus of Patience Worth is not provided with a modesty panel to shield his genitals.  He is stripped naked on the way to Golgotha during which the crowd of people threw offal and feces at him, some of it striking his mother as she followed him to the cross.  Women turned away from the scene as the naked man was dragged through the streets.  I have yet to see a crucifix with a naked Jesus.  They all provide him with a modesty panel.
 

One of the most graphic scenes in the crucifixion of Jesus as written by Patience Worth was of the thief crucified next to him whose hands tore lose from the nails of the cross (which according to Patience was constructed of a bundle of small trees and not large timbers of milled lumber.)  His body lurched forward breaking the bones in his legs before he could be re-nailed to the ‘cross’.  The crucifixion of Jesus as portrayed by Patience Worth is unforgettable. - AOD

Michael,
Thanks for mentioning Patience Worth.  I never thought of her in the same category as Seth and Imperator but perhaps that is a good comparison.  It’s just that Patience Worth was manifested in a different way, appropriate for those who listen to her just as Seth and Imperator speak in a certain manner to an audience who can identify with them.
 

Pearl Curran and Geraldine Cummins had a similar way of communicating with “spirits” that was different from Jane Roberts or Stainton Moses.  Pearl and Geraldine saw panoramas in their mind’s eye of a story, or in the case of Curran—-a poem,  presented to them and heard their communicator speaking to them in their mind.  Neither Curran or Cummins went into aa trance nor did spirits speak through their voice box and technically they did not do ‘automatic writing’ where a spirit controlled their hand. They just acted as an amanuensis and wrote down what they saw and heard.  Curran in “The Sorry Tale” and Cummins in “Scripts of Cleophas”, wrote stories which were tales of the early days of Christianity, one seeming to follow the other; Curran of the time of Jesus and Cummins of the time of the Apostles after the crucifixion of Jesus .

I understand those who value the writings of Roberts/Seth or Moses/Imperator.  Those communications speak to them as Curran/Patience writing speaks to me. The Patience Worth case provides more evidence for me, than Imperator or Seth, that the communication was coming from some disembodied entity and not the subconscious mind of Pearl Curran.  (The caveat of course, is that the communication from Patience Worth was coming from a past life personality(ies) of Pearl Curran)- AOD

Michael…

An apt comment to Bill about the Crucifixion.If I recall correctly, Patience presented “The Sorry Tale” as “fiction”—but it would seem apparent where her beliefs were.In any event, the Crucifixion-denial by Seth is the key reason why I give him (Seth) so little mention in my first book.

I am sorting out an estate in another city so my computer access is limited.  I catch up on the discussions from time to time. I look to see what Amos has introduced with high expectation. I am very glad to see the return of Bill.

I did like Michael’s point of the golden period of spirit teachings but I feel that our golden years have continued beyond his cut-off period. I will return to this thread a little later.

The closure of any life is filled with tiresome paperwork but I have learned something from sorting out this particular estate. My mother-in-law received various messages from the Great Beyond (from me). She wrote them all down over the years. When we were tidying up her papers we found messages and more importantly her thoughts about these messages. I came through with a message that used the word allegorical (I was told she would understand this word). I told her also she would understand that word. No response. Her note after my message was that in her BA degree class (she was a woman who had returned to study having left school at 14 to support her family) had a discussion. The class was where she studied either History or Philosophy two days before. There was a long discussion on the meaning of allegorical. She thought it strange how they knew she knew this word. She had not mentioned that coincidence to me.
My reading of that situation was that this was a means of showing that they were aware of her recent discussions in one of her educational classes. This forms part of proof.

There are many great mediums since the golden period. I look at them for the better expression of these previously given messages. These messages might be the same but the delivery systems change with technological advances. The delivery techniques have evolved over the years but the reactions of people remain the same.

They difficult to convince say that there must be a trick or that the mediums are using visual clues. Also from my teaching days people disregard previous investigations if it was some time ago as they feel that people were more gullible in the past. My cybersecurity students asked if research over 10 years is any good as the environment changes so quickly. I would say that results were appropriate to the times. Children also believe that they are much smarter than their parents. So we believe that the investigations in the past did not reveal the medium’s tricks.

I am currently reading Edison versus Tesla by Joel Martin and William Birnes. (2017). They mention George Anderson in the 1980s (from my reading an excellent medium) who they tested for these tricks in different ways by removing visual clues and video analysis. In one case a psychologist dressed down as a homeless drunk. George saw Sigmund Freud as a symbol behind this man. He was extensively tested including thermography (I had some training in this field for non destructive testing) and they also used EEG techniques. The EEG showed that when receiving the medium drops from Gamma (greater than 30Hz =fully awake) to Theta (4-8 Hz relaxed). They also found that the temperature of the right temporal lobe increases (p196) and this operates when we pray making this area termed by scientists as the God spot.

My point is that the techniques are becoming more scientific but the message remains the same. In the books that I have read there are two messages, the first is that there is Life After Death and the second that seeking better spiritual thinking is important. I enjoy the discussions from those in the group who have read the works from the Stanton Moses and others, the insights from the men and women of the SPR (Michael thanks for the mention of EG) as these discussions improve our thinking.

I like the theory of multiple intelligences (IQ has other dimensions) where spiritual SQ is added to musical MQ etc. and many people seek to improve their SQ by seeking the answers to spiritual thinking.

To conclude the golden period still continues with different techniques to convey the two messages to a different audience.
Bruce

Bill,

As I recall, Seth said that the crucifixion of Jesus never took place.  Yet, Patience Worth provided details of the crucifixion in “The Sorry Tale.”  Amos Doyle, who frequently comments here is probably the world’s foremost authority on Patience Worth.  See my interview with him my blog of June 17, 2013 or by clicking on
http://whitecrowbooks.com/michaeltymn/entry/remembering_patience_worth_100_years_later_—_an_interview_with_her_foremos/

Patience seems to have had as many followers in “her” days as Seth did in “his” days.  I wonder which “one” was right, or perhaps they were both right or both wrong. What a mystery!!!

Sam,

I think we all question whether an eternal life might not become very drab and dreary at some point, especially one without the adversity that provides challenges. While undergoing dental surgery with nitrous oxide influencing my consciousness, I have enjoyed the pleasantness and sereneness of it all, but, at the same time, I wonder if I could continue enjoying it endlessly. It does concern me, but I accept what Imperator and others have told us—that so much of it is beyond human comprehension.  I consider God, reincarnation, timelessness, and eternal life all beyond my comprehension and am content in the conviction that consciousness can survive death in a meaningful and positive way.  Thank you for commenting.

Hello Sam…

Your comments seem to indicate that you have a general sense of “stasis” or unchanging circumstances about the afterlife. If that were correct—yes, things might indeed become a bit boring. However, from all we’ve heard—and with almost total unanimity among the spirit communicators—the single most primary characteristic of the afterlife is one of DEVELOPMENT and GROWTH. I think you can safely put your fears on that count to rest—beyond that I’ll just suggest that you dig into the voluminous resources, as we’ve all done, and see where it takes you. Nothing will happen without effort…

“People often ask why the communication coming from the spirit world during the first 30 or so years of the so-called spiritualism epidemic, from 1850 until around 1880, was so different, seemingly so much better, more dynamic, and offering more “teachings” than what we now have.”

Someone might say that one of the white crows in relation to this statement is Seth, channeled by Jane Roberts from 1963 to 1984.

“It is true that Benjamin Franklin did discover communication by raps, and that he was greatly aided by Swedenborg in awakening interest among spirits in the subject,” Rector stated.

“Communication by raps” is surely a very primitive form of communication. I would expect better from the shade of Ben Franklin, “at the urging of Emanuel Swedenborg.”

I’m not familiar with Mose’s output (and look forward to reading Michael’s next blog post) but see from this one that he utilized “automatic writing,” a much more effective technique. (Before Jane Roberts and her husband Rob Butts began to experiment with a ouija board—which soon led to Jane giving voice to Seth; she began to “hear” answers to questions before the planchette moved—she had a spontaneous OOBE during which she also engaged in automatic writing; upon her return, she discovered she’d written an essay entitled “The Physical Universe as Idea Construction.”  https://www.scribd.com/doc/103765388/Physical-Universe-as-Idea-Construction#

In my experience, any form of trance communication or mediumship involves, to one degree or another, a “coloring” or “filtering” as the communication passes through the medium’s, channeler’s, or autowriter’s (or autotyper’s) mind as it is translated from “energy.”  Some are “clearer” than others, but there will always be a degree of distortion.

Electronic communication has its own challenges and may not always be distortion free. 

“The primary purpose of the group of 49 was explained by Prudens: “The busy world is ever averse from the things of spirit, life. Men become so absorbed in the material, that which they see and grasp, and hoard up, and they forget that there is a future and spirit life. They become so earthly that they are impervious to our influence; so material that we cannot come near them; so full of earthly interests that there is no room for that which shall endure when they have passed away. More than this, the constant preoccupation leaves no time for contemplation, and the spirit is wasted for lack of sustenance.”

Related, from Seth (in _Seth Speaks_):

“Most of my readers are familiar with the term, ‘muscle bound.’ As a species you have grown ‘ego bound’ instead, held in a spiritual rigidity, with the intuitive portions of the self either denied or distorted beyond any recognition.”

(“Ego” has no single definition but note that the outward personality and how humans think of it has changed considerably over time; per Thomas Cahill in _How the Irish Saved Civilization_, the first instance of a writer using “I” in a text was Augustine—some might say “ego” has evolved since then.)

Amos:  “...since teachings, such as those from Stainton Moses’ ‘Imperator’ or Jane Robert’s ‘Seth’ are always questionable at to the real source of the information as there is no way of validating any of it.”

Aside from the extensive testing Jane Roberts underwent, Seth included exercises to validate some of his material.

An excellent example, concerning probable selves (and probable realities) is “Practice Element 1.” found in _The “Unknown” Reality_ Volume One. 

(When first reading Seth’s books, I thought the material was interesting, a bit sci-fi-like, but I skipped the exercises until finally stopping to do this one. The experience was consciousness altering and extended into my dreams. That was when I first realized how powerful Seth’s teachings were.)

I suspect that Eric would find such an experience very interesting; a direct experience of a probable self beginning from recalling a moment when a version of you was faced with a choice, that probable self a version of you that made the choice _you_ did not, is of a completely different nature than an abstract understanding of “many worlds.”

Sam,
You ask the age-old questions that have been asked for millennia.  If I may suggest, and I know it would be a big undertaking, but look for answers by reading all of the posts Michael has provided over the past 13 years. They are all available by clicking on them in the list on the left side of your screen. - AOD

Dear all,

I am fairly new to this blog and find it to be quite interesting. I have never had any paranormal experiences and wonder whether our personalities/consciousness simply ceases to exist after we die.

I wonder if anyone on this blog, who has studied spiritualism, NDEs, etc., is afraid of death. I feel angst at times thinking about my own death (the ego obviously fights this inevitability) and more so about the death of others, also wondering whether there is any meaning to life if we simply die and stop exiting.

I also wonder what it means for consciousness to survive death? Would our personalities/consciousness simply exist (“float around”) somewhere outside of space and time for eternity (I guess eternity would have no meaning if consciousness exists outside of time once we die)? If so, would that not get boring at some point? I read afterlife books claiming how after we die we can experience whatever we want just by thinking about it, but for how long would one do all they can imagine doing before it all gets old?

Would people on this blog even want their personality/consciousness to survive death for eternity, if this is indeed what happens?

Thank you for reading my post and offering any insights you may have based on what you have learned by studying research related to consciousness survival.

I want to post something about a recent NDE (medical) study but will do so in another post.

Thank you for your time and thoughts.
Sam

As for the higher, spiraling teachings of spiritualism, a quote from “Letters from Julia.”

“Now I do not think that you will find that what we have to tell you differs from what the more intelligent and spiritual believers have arrived at or have received by inspiration. The fundamental principles are the same. We have nothing to tell you that was not declared by Jesus…. You may think it strange that the verification of another life should increase the importance of this. But such is the fact, and you can never understand the importance of your life until you see it from this side. You are never, for one moment, idle from influencing eternity. You may think this a figure of speech. But it is not. You are, far more really than you imagine, making this world of ours in that world of yours…. You are, in the loom of time, weaving the fabric of this world. You make your next life…. You do it day by day, you do it hour by hour. You make your next life.”

And as for the future of this blog, which I pray will continue, a suggestion for Michael.

Instead of feeling the pressure to come up with something new every couple of weeks, after having already said so much for so long, why not re-mine the gold you’ve already brought forth and simply repeat one of those great posts from the past, perhaps adding an initial comment to indicate any change or refinement in your thinking? The territory to explore here, that which you’ve already staked out, seems almost endless.

I believe there is much wisdom in this quote:

“We need have no hope that any one will utter on this earth the word that shall put an end to our uncertainties.  It is very probable, on the contrary, that no one in this world, nor perhaps in the next, will discover the great secret of the universe.  And, if we reflect upon this for even a moment, it is most fortunate that it should be so.  We have not only to resign ourselves to living in the incomprehensible, but to rejoice that we cannot get out of it.  If there were no more insoluble questions nor impenetrable riddles, infinity would not be infinite; and then we should have for ever to curse the fate that placed us in a universe proportionate to our intelligence.  All that exists would be but a gateless prison, an irreparable evil and mistake.  The unknown and the unknowable are necessary and will perhaps always be necessary to our happiness. In any case, I would not wish my worst enemy, were his understanding a thousandfold loftier and thousandfold mightier than mine, to be condemned eternally to inhabit a world of which had surprised an essential secret and of which, as a man, he had begun to grasp the least tittle.”
             
– Maurice Maeterlinck (1911 Nobel Prize Winner)

Pete,

I agree, but I wonder how we would learn anything and progress without the pain and suffering.  I prefer to categorize it as “adversity.”

Evelyn,

Thanks you for your comment.  You may very well be right, but your comment about mediumship being banal and giving no real content suggests to me that you are not really familiar with the works of Ballou, Edmonds, Kardec, Hare, and Moses. You are likely referring to modern clairvoyance that comes under the umbrella of mediumship. I’ve tried to think of what we have received over the past 100+ years that they didn’t cover.  No doubt there are some things, and I am not fully aware of all that has come through ITC, but off the top of my head I can’t think of anything of importance that we’ve received in recent years that was not covered in their works. Surely, there has been some elaboration on what they recorded, and some things have been presented differently.  Some argue that Seth says it all, and “he” does put it in different language, but it would be interesting to make a list of lessons learned from the spirit side over the past 50 or so years and see if there is anything there that wasn’t covered by Ballou, Edmonds, Kardec, Hare and Moses.  I’m not prepared to go back and search for such material in their works, as it would take much time, but it would be an interesting Undertaking for someone.

Thanks to all others for their comments.

Dear Evelyn,

If I read you correctly, you refer to other galaxies than our own as being in other universes, other systems of dimensions than the set of four dimensions (3 of space and 1 of time) that we sense as our our universe, when you write “There are currently a few clairaudients, one namely Cyrus Kirkpatrick using full on hearing from the higher dimensions and multiverse. E.g Galaxies beyond this world.”

The physicist regards “other galaxies”, or “other galaxies beyond this world” such as you identify as being within our own four-dimensional universe, ie as sensible by us using our scientific instruments. Other universes such as those to which physicists refer would be systems of dimensions (universes) out of physical communication with our own, that is invisible and otherwise not able to be sensed by beings living in, or instruments in our own universe. Such universes can be (to speak rather clumsily) within ‘half an atom’s size’ of our own, totally overlapping and intermingling, as if touching but totally out of communication with ours. The perfectly rational concept of such CONTIGUOUS universes that CANNOT normally COMMUNICATE with ours, and with which ours cannot normally communicate (though mediums might achieve that) is very simple indeed, mathematically, and can be comprehensibly illustrated by just one simple Cartesian graph and one perspective line drawing, but needs careful thought to picture in the mind. Such a universe might have more or fewer dimensions than our own. Sir William Barrett seems to have spoken to his widow from such a universe having more dimensions than our own, and actually refers to it in his widow’s book ‘Personality Survives Death’, of 1937, and the Scole Experiment also appears to illustrate the same cross-dimensional phenomenon. I believe the physicist Jim Beichler is one of those who understand this, but I have read very little of what he says on the topic. Sadly, very few non-physicists seem able to grasp this important concept, but I believe myself that it is very helpful to the human mind.

In haste - busy day!!

I would be interested to read what Cyrus Kirkpatrick has to say.

Eric Franklin

My interview with Anabela Cardoso is in the archives for December 4, 2017, or click on
http://whitecrowbooks.com/michaeltymn/entry/an_interview_with_evp_researcher_dr._anabela_cardoso/

Stafford…

All very true (re: ITC). In fact, I’ve had several communications with Anabela Cardoso over the years, the books by both herself and David Fontana (along with reprints of several of their papers) are in my library, and my own book gets into their work up to Anabela’s paper on the controlled laboratory work on EVP which appeared in the journal NeuroQuantology in 2012. Your own work may cover some more recent events than that(?)

I would most particularly like to know whether “Technician” (as a communicator from a level as high as—or possibly even higher than—Imperator, continued through any other mediumistic source after the Harsch-Fishbach’s in the ‘80’s-‘90’s…

Personally I believe we have moved considerably forward from the 1800s into the late 1990s via the ITC communicators. Mark Macy has provided an indepth database of the communicators from spirit side to earth side. Transcripts of telephone conversations, photos transmitted through TV of those on spirit side.  Bodies Solid as you and I! Confirmation of wives and husbands successful transitions to spirit side. The 7 ethereal beings holding the ITC Bridge together until jealousy and greed by humans got in the way along with negative beings getting in the way.
Mediumship never gives real content to the sitter. Its all so banal.
There are currently a few clairaudients, one namely Cyrus Kirkpatrick using full on hearing from the higher dimensions and multiverse. E.g Galaxies beyond this world.  Using full on telepathic communication to spirit side describing their life now and how it will be once we return. These communicators confirm we are not floating blobs of consciousness but full Solid state beings. We need to move on from mindsets of collective consciousness “go into the light"into individual choice of dimensions and planets.

Hi Michael
I have been reading about these themes since the 1970’s after reading Colin Wilson born in my hometown. It was interesting to watch the development of his theories.From being reluctant to acknowledge the existence of discarnate spirits for many years he ended up concluding that survival was the only answer that made sense, like many others before him.
I think it is a theme that won’t leave you alone ! It is the eternal search for some people. No one I know on a personal level has no real interest in survival. I am told we will find out soon enough, life is for living, there is nothing afterwards etc
I have just returned from the funeral of a 49 year old who went into his garden on Boxing Day and hung himself from a tree. He leaves children and grandchildren behind. Totally unexpected, why did he do it ?
For me Michael you provide a forum for discussion, support and enlightenment. We tell stories to each other and each generation keeps the next one going. I have no idea why I’m here or what I’m doing but I need a constant reminder of how strong the survival evidence is as a counter weight to some of the pointless acts of horror perpetrated in our world.
I have to agree with AOD though and a lot of his thoughts. My idea of paradise is this world without the pain and suffering. Then I think to myself not what a wonderful world but what a ridiculous statement I’ve just made. The Zen Bhuddists would say this is it, accept it and deal with it, yep I get that !
Best wishes
Pete

Michael,
The truth has many versions. The more versions you tell ,the closer you come. The versions evolve with the knowledge (scientific or even what you can call parascientific today) of mankind.
So, keep on with the blog.
About nowadays messages from spirit. My ebooks came by dream, but can I prove that? No, I experience that almost daily and I believe it but I got no names, there is no trance or voices, only dreamimages and in those dreams I never see any spirits or angels in them until now.
But I cannot deny the messages they show.
On the other hand,  who can deny Elaine Thorpe as a trancemedium? I wonder what explanation the non believers have on her channeling. The messages of her spiritguide Jonathan Hunter are very similar with the messages of earlier centuries.

Jon and Amos,

Thanks for your encouragement. I’ll attempt to continue on a fortnightly basis, although I am not sure that what I have to say will be of interest to many others. I know that many of those who comment here will find nothing new in it, but I gather that there are still some people who know little of the subject matter and might find it of interest even though they don’t comment.  I guess I am a streak freak.  I kept a sports column going in a national publication for 35 years without missing an issue, even though I was ready to give it up after 25 years. This blog has been going for 13 years in April, and I don’t think I’ve missed an every-other-Monday, although I think one was late due to a trip. It must be in the genes, because my mother was celebrated for not missing a day of school or being absent through eight years years of elementary school and three years of high school (three years was standard then for “secretarial” students).  I have not heard of that record being broken, but I doubt that schools keep such records these days.  Onward!

I like every other Monday, Michael, for as long as you have something to say.

Michael,
If I may suggest, why not reduce your posts to just one per month.  That would help us who are addicted to your site to taper off slowly, like getting off an addiction to Xanax.  But I understand.  You have completed one of your purposes in this life, perhaps, and becoming a novelist now seems like a good idea for the next 15 years.  I always thought you were good for 100.

Your friend- AOD

When considering the afterlife, one needs to follow, in a logical way, certain tenets of whatever one believes.  For example, if one believes in reincarnation of consciousness, then one usually believes that one has lived more than one life, lived as both male and female and that the consciousness is ageless.
 

The physical form lives as an infant, adolescent, adult and ‘senior citizen’.  Since the form in which consciousness manifests in the afterlife is a construct of consciousness, few consciousnesses would choose to show themselves as an infant unless to provide reassurance for the incarnate person who lost an infant to death on earth.  Spirits, when called upon to manifest in a form, usually choose to present themselves in their best appearance while on earth.  Near-death experiencers when meeting deceased relatives report that the relative was recognized to be in radiant good health and at an age when they were most, attractive, vital and competent. Old people appear young again.

No consciousness would need to go to a “special school” or “orphanage” to be taken care of by “specially appointed” spirits;  it would have lived many other lives as an adult and there would be no need to receive special treatment following an initial period of adjustment after transition to the spirit world.  In the spirit realm, we are what we believe we are until we are something else.  - AOD

Don,

Great progress has made in ITC research, especially by Anabela Cardoso. See her book Electronic Voices: Contact with Another Dimension. I summarize this research in my 2016 book When did you ever become less by dying? There is much discussion of transmitting stations suggestive of an otherworldly technology, of group souls intent on communicating with us in this new novel way, and of the similarities between what they tell us and what communicators working through mediums tell us about their world.

The British parapsychologist David Fontana summarized Cardoso’s findings in these words:

...she has consistently requested from her invisible friends information about the nature of their world.
The recorded replies [mostly on tape] to this request insist that survival is a natural law for all beings, including plants; that fundamentally all beings are equal; that this world and the next are very similar; that beings in the next world have “bodies”; that suffering in this world is very important for spiritual development; that people in this world should always think of the next world because “Whoever thinks of [the next] world reduces the distances”; that reincarnation is a sporadic event and happens “only when there is no other way”; that Group Souls (groups to which like-minded souls belong) are a reality; that mediumship in the investigator is not necessary in order to receive EVP or DRV communications; and that entities in the next world are “outside time” and live “on an edge of space” (whatever that means).

Thanks to all for the comments.  I tend to agree with Amos, i.e., that most of the things mentioned by Stafford are not covered well and are from non-credible mediums and spirits, amounting to “wishful thinking.”  I think I have reached the point where I have recycled ideas over and over again relative to the evidence, including Elsa Barker a few times, so I will have to give more thought as to whether to continue this blog. There is only so much one can say about dancing tables and Summerland.  It might be time to return to baseball or give novels a try.  I will ponder on it after the next two blogs—both of which are already written.

I agree that there are a lot of people who write about the afterlife these days.  It apparently is a very lucrative business.  But, a lot of what those writers write is not evidence of a spirit world or alternate reality.  Much of it is either their opinion or opinions they have copied from other people. So, what is it that we really have as evidence of alternate realities or an afterlife?
 

I think there are at least two very good pieces of evidence and perhaps several other not-so-good or questionable evidence to consider.

First, the good evidence.  I think that there is pretty good evidence that consciousness can exist without being incorporated in a physical body.  Many near death experiences reported subsequent to surgery, health emergencies or accidents strongly suggest this to be the case,  as do reports of out-of-body experiences during lucid dreaming,  meditation or otherwise.  Many of those experiences of disembodied consciousnesses can be verified by a detailed description and report of activities observed by the unfettered consciousness.  People undergoing surgeries report leaving their body, rising to the ceiling of the operating suite and observing many details of the operation which they could not possibly know since they were sedated and, in some cases, had no brain activity.

Some report that they left the operating suite and roamed the halls of the hospital observing relatives in the waiting room or other places.  Some report rising up through the ceiling of the hospital through additional floors until there were outside of the hospital observing large vistas of the town, rising higher and higher into outer space of the universe until they go through a tunnel of sorts, see a far-off light and eventually merge into it where they see beautiful scenery, buildings, deceased relatives or others, meet with one or more spirit entities and are told that it is not their time, they must go back to complete their purpose in life.  These people who experience near death provide good evidence that consciousness survives, at least for a while, after the physical form it previously inhabited dies.

The second piece of good evidence is reports of past life experiences of children under 5 years old.  Many of these children from around the world spontaneously start talking about having lived at least one other life prior to their present one.  Often, they experience nightmares somehow related to their past life(s) and the way they had died.  They sometimes long for their past-life family, ask for their other mother and request that they be taken to their previous home. They recognize past life relatives, name names and exhibit skills or habits e.g., drinking alcohol or smoking which were behaviors of the past life personality. Sometimes they have birthmarks or physical deformities e.g., scars, missing fingers or ears that represent physical injuries of the past life personality.

Questionable good evidence includes reports of past life reports of adults while under hypnosis.  While many of them are very convincing and some of the details can be verified, e.g., names and places.  Since, contrary to reports from children, the adult has been exposed to many sources of information during their lifetime, it may be that their subconscious mind is regurgitating information that they have read about, heard about or seen in the movies, on television or information they have researched on the internet.

Other questionable good evidence includes information from direct voice mediums, of which there are many, some of which have been recorded e.g., Leslie Flint.  And, electronic voice phenomena many turn out to provide good evidence.  I think the jury is still out on that one.

Fanciful tales of activities, e.g. whether or not spirit entities have sex, eat food or drink in the afterlife, whether or not there is a sun or shadows, rain , sleep etc., regardless of who the purported communicator is, are not good evidence of survival of consciousness. And in my opinion are just wishful thinking by the medium or writer of books—people who can not imagine a non-physical existence.

Personally, I would not want to exist in a reality where I was awake for eternity with no fragrant Summer nights or rainy Autumn days .  I suppose that is one of the reasons I would choose to reincarnate back to earth, a most beautiful place for my consciousness to exist. - AOD

We have IANDS, we have hundreds of books by people who has NDE’s, we have authors like Wayne Dyer, Roberta Grimes, Anita Moorjani, Neale Donald Walsch, Glenda Green, Philip Burley, Eckhart Tolle, Suzanne Giesemann, Yael Hana Powell, and spiritually minded writers like Deepak Chopra, Joe Vitale, Marci Shimoff, Lynn McTaggart, Bruce Lipton, just to name a few.

And many guru-type teachers who help us achieve higher levels of consciousness, loving awareness, inner peace, less materialism, etc. Many seminars, webinars and retreats are being offered world-wide.

The emphasis is growing away from mere evidence, although still crucially important, but way more on love, forgiveness, expanding one’s consciousness, creating unity, oneness, peace, and universal brother/sisterhood. And more and more emphasis on God as the Source of Love, and that love is the most important.

So, I observe not a leveling off, but an evolution, a shift towards higher levels, towards a deeper change of heart among people, etc.

I visit the Astral frequently in dream sequences, and I have seen the unpleasantness of the Shadowlands as well as certain communities in Summerland.  Also, I have had two visits from spirits, convincing me of the reality of eternal life.  Several audio messages have come through as well.  Fun.
  As I read spirit literature more & more, I am convinced that there are “many mansions.”  I highly recommend Betty’s work, as well as Letters From the Afterlife by Elsa Barker. 
  Keep reading and asking for guidance. 
      Andrew

And about contemporary mediums, it seems that Albert J. Fike is little known. But he is worth reading.

Stafford Betty, sorry but I disagree with you on the following :

(quote) Even so, there are many questions that remain unanswered. For example: does a sun shine in the sky, do day and night alternate, are there shadows, is clock time needed for spirits to know when and where to gather for notable events like concerts or lectures, is there television or other technologies to keep spirits informed, do astral bodies have sex organs, do spirits consume anything comparable to food into their bodies, do spirits who die as young children all go on to reincarnate, and so on? I’ve always been disappointed by how little information we have about basic conditions over there. (/quote)

After having read all I could find on the meium literature about the afterlife, I learned this :

1) No sun in the sky, and no night and day. It is always the same condition of light (or darkness in hell). Light pours out from everything. There are no shadows, but world doesn’t appear visually flat. Remember : spirits don’t have physical eyes but spiritual sight, which is different.

2) Spirits aren’t informed about events to come, and time is not linear as on Earth. But in the spheres of light, they have plenty of ways to ask others about things they are interested in. Ask and you will be granted.

3) Technology is developped into the lower spheres of light. I think that the closer one moves toward God, upward in the spheres, technology becomes useless as it is replaced by power of spirit.

4) Spirits don’t need to eat or drink, and no need for sleep. That said, they sometimes get to eat and drink marvellous fruits, that has extraordinary properties. But not on a regular basis. Occasionally.

5) No more sex in the afterlife of light. There is a hell for those with sexual obsessions, but never get satisfaction from it. People recently deceased who lacked a sexual life during their lives on Earth, will have the opportunity to experience it in the afterlife. But later, physical sex disappears. However, there is something of intimacy to replace it, that is far superior. There, real love is far better than former sex.

6) Children who died very young, go to special “schools-orphanages”. They are taken care of by specially appointed spirits.

I got much such information from Charlotte E. Dresser, and from Reverend George Vale Owens. I don’t remember if Robert J. Lee spoke about it.

Dear Mike,

Don’s and Dave’s comments are valuable, I believe. But you write, and I think equally correctly “[People today] see this decline in quality and quantity as suggesting that the early mediumship was just a lot of bunk.  A progressive mindset expects improvement, not regression.” Those who say this thinking it demonstrates the correctness of their scepticism are making a very ignorant logical blunder. Approximately the opposite is true. If ever a single utterance by a medium is COGENT and MEANINGFUL (let alone a whole bookful of cogent communication, such as ‘Spirit Teachings’) we are overwhelmingly likely to be witnessing GENUINE communication by a consciously-living mind. People must consider what minute chance there is of any sentence, even a very simple one, allegedly uttered by a nonhuman spirit, being correct in spelling and syntax, and rational in meaning, let alone confirmable as a statement of fact, and meaningful. If an allegedly spiritual source told us that the cat sat on the mat it would indicate conscious mind. Just one meaningful utterance should therefore be enough to convince a human mind that something reliable and genuine is going on, even if the simple statement arrives amidst ‘bosh’.

Eric Franklin

Don and Dave,

I recall reading somewhere that the efforts come in waves, but it is difficult to identify the peaks and valleys of those waves. I still maintain that the current stuff is “icing on the cake,” or “reinventing the wheel.”  I don’t see much having been added to the works of Edmonds, Kardec, and Moses relative to the “teachings.”

I agree with Dave,
I think a lot of very good evidence of a spirit world and an afterlife is being communicated today.  It is of a slightly different sort from that of the 1800s but in some ways, it is more validating and more appropriately in tune with the audience of today.
 

I think that there is a distinction between ‘teachings’ from the afterlife and ‘evidence’ of an afterlife.  Personally, I am not so much interested in the teachings as I am in the evidence, since teachings, such as those from Stainton Moses’ ‘Imperator’ or Jane Robert’s ‘Seth’ are always questionable at to the real source of the information as there is no way of validating any of it.

I think that those of us who are familiar with the copious amount of evidence of an afterlife need to start voicing our knowledge of the evidence and in comments we make on or off of the internet start making it know that we support a belief in an afterlife.  There are many thousands of people in the U.S.A. who believe in near death experiences and reincarnation who remain silent because they are afraid that they will be thought to be crazy if they speak about it.  It is time for us who know the history of spiritualism and Spiritism to speak up.  - AOD

No one knows better than Michael how many good accounts of afterlife conditions beyond 1882 there are in the literature. While Spirit Teachings is, in my view, unsurpassable in its depth and richness, let us not forget Judge David Hatch’s communications through Elsa Barker in Letters from the Afterlife, or Fred Myers’ classic communication through Geraldine Cummins in The Road to Immortality, or Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s uniquely precise account of afterlife conditions in Anthony Borgia’s Life in the World Unseen, or Frances Banks’ description in Helen Greaves’ much loved Testimony of Light, or A. D. Mattson’s communication in 1975 through Margaret Flavell in Witness from Beyond. These are five I included in my book The Afterlife Unveiled, but I might have chosen five others in their place, all communicated in the 20th century, and all largely congruent with Spirit Teachings.

Even so, there are many questions that remain unanswered. For example: does a sun shine in the sky, do day and night alternate, are there shadows, is clock time needed for spirits to know when and where to gather for notable events like concerts or lectures, is there television or other technologies to keep spirits informed, do astral bodies have sex organs, do spirits consume anything comparable to food into their bodies, do spirits who die as young children all go on to reincarnate, and so on? I’ve always been disappointed by how little information we have about basic conditions over there.

I’d love to see Michael address these questions in a future blog.

Nice summary, Mike.  Coincidentally, I just finished rereading SM’s Spirit Teachings recently and enjoyed it even more than the first time.

Although what you’ve pointed out is correct. I would suggest the spirit world continues to be very active today but perhaps in a more modern way. 

There are many books being published today from a variety of mediums, including those having had personal experiences that are quite remarkable.  Dr. Mary Neal, Paul Selig, Dr. Eben Alexander, come to mind. There are many others also who post blogs, videos, and have large audiences while touring as mediums, i.e., The Long Island Medium, for example.  All communicate with the spirit world and are messaging accordingly.

In the 60s and 70s, there was Jane Roberts channeling Seth, and Esther Hicks channeling Abraham.  And how about Dolores Cannon?
Most impressive to me more recently has been the near pervasive frequency in which themes of a life after appear in Hollywood films and general TV dramas.  Maybe the “message” has been mainstreamed more than we realize?  Where is that influence coming from?
 
No doubt there’s still a lot of skepticism remaining in the general public, but I believe that will always be there.  Nevertheless, my anecdotal experiences tell me there’s a lot happening between the physical and spiritual realms today.  The battle continues.

Michael…

While the winding down of the late-1800’s effort is apparent—it’s also apparent that, at least briefly (I haven’t kept up with whatever more recent developments might be out there) a serious new effort hit the radar with ITC almost a century later. I don’t recall (do you?...) whether “Technician” or some other spokes-entity might have made specific reference to a new (or “renewed”) attempt to succeed where the earlier effort might have been regarded as at least somewhat of a failure…