Here And There
By
P. Phillips
Contents:
Book Cover (Front) (Back)
Scan / Edit Notes
1 - Life in the Spirit World as described by Bill's Father in Spirit
2 - A Medium Develops
3 - Wise Owl - a Powerful Spirit Guide
4 - Psychic Visions by Inspiration
5 - Contact with the Spirit World
6 - Early Spiritual Philosophy
7 - Death is not the End
8 - Early Knowledge of Survival
9 - Murder - Its Influence on the Soul
10 - More Astral Visions by Bill
11 - The Belief in a Life after Death
12 - Advancement in the Spirit World
13 - More Psychic Experiences by Bill
14 - Lobengula and Rhodesia by Bill
15 - Khami Ruins - Astral Visions Through Bill's Clairvoyance
16 - Khami Prison
17 - U.D.I, at Khami Prison by Bill
18 - Ancient Tomb Protected by Spirits by Bill
19 - Zimbabwe and its Origination
20 - World's Future lies in the Hands of Youth
21 - Spiritual Healing
22 - Development of the Soul
23 - The Planes of Spirit
24 - Spirit Guides
25 - Do Unborn Babies have Guides?
26 - Meditation and Knowing your Guides
27 - Divining - and Oil in Rhodesia by Bill
28 - Spiritual Philosophy
29 - Realization of the Cosmos
30 - The Meaning of Vibrations
31 - Visions of Ancient Scotland by Bill
32 - A Talk by Brother Francis A Prayer for the Animals
33 - Capital Punishment - Its Influence on the Soul
34 - Early Reincarnation Teachings
35 - Reincarnation
36 - Chenon, by Bill
37 - Inspirational Address by Abdullah Through Bill
38 - How to conduct a Developing Circle for the seeking of Knowledge
39 - Direct Voice and Materialization
40 - African Witchcraft - by Bill
41 - Euthanasia Trance Address by Rahman
42 - Stansted Hall - A School for Mediums
43 - Spirit Message from One of the Highest Spirit Teachers
This book was written in collaboration with W.L. Macleod who is said to be a Trance Medium and Psychic Healer.
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Copyright: 1975
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-Salmun
I present this book to our readers, but any praise that may accrue is not due to us but rather to the wonderful spiritual guidance and help from Wise Owl, Chenon, Abdullah, Rahman, Paul, Francis and other faithful spirit guides.
I have been inspired and impelled to write this book by love and a genuine wish for the development of material man by the spirit guides on the other side of life, who toil unceasingly for the welfare of mankind.
At this interesting moment in history, we are balanced on a very narrow precipice. Consider the daily news of wars, calamities, catastrophes, diseases, racial hatred and persecution. Very little attention is paid to the possibility of enlightenment at this time, but in the hearts of many men and women, the urge to acquire spiritual knowledge is gaining ground rapidly. Our Heavenly Father and his disciples are at work striving to help and teach mankind to uplift himself out of his material rut, and to ascend the heights of spiritual glory.
A knowledge of the life confronting us all when death takes place, has been closed to many people for centuries, but the people with this spiritual knowledge are now moving forward, and teachings are being proliferated at a steady rate. Well known spiritual healers have saved many people from painful diseases by healing, and trance mediums and clairvoyants are helping to bring us close to the spirit people who are always ready to bring us comfort, happiness, and knowledge of our lives in the spirit world which is waiting for us all. Let us then pay homage to these quiet, unassuming people who work all the time to help their fellow-men, unheralded and unsung.
1 - Life In The Spirit World As Described By Bill's Father In Spirit
Before introducing this book to our readers I feel it would help if I submitted details of how Bill's father passed over from here, in the material world, to there, in that wonderful spirit world which we are led to believe awaits all of us when our time comes to leave the physical body.
At quite an early age his father suffered his first stroke, followed by several more, and the lost power of his limbs kept him in bed for quite a few years until the time came for him to leave us.
One can imagine Bill's joy when, after a few years, his father, from the spirit world, spoke to him through one of his spirit guides, describing his transition and the wonderful feeling of being able to use his limbs again and as he said 'to be as free as a bird'.
I will follow now with an actual record of these talks, given by Wise Owl.
'Bill, this is your father, Donald.
My dearest son.
I who have been your father in your life, am allowed, by the grace of God, to come through to you to prove the truth of existence after the transition you call death. My boy, as you well know, I was very humble in my life, with little knowledge of the doctrines as taught by the churches. On my passing over, I was pleasantly surprised at the peace, quiet and serenity of the spirit world. Though I am far below the masters, who are guiding you, I, who have been over only a decade, have been selected to describe the act of transition from the material world to the spiritual world. I am terribly grateful and terribly humble at having been given this opportunity to play my part. My beloved wife, who was your mother, is with me now, and she will also communicate with you later in this way.
As you will remember, my son, we were both connected with the medical profession, and our investigations on this plane of spirit will be forwarded to you for transcription. For the last few years I have been one of a band who have been working on the cause and treatment of cancer, and in the fullness of time we will give our reports and findings to mankind. It will interest you to know that Pasteur, Dr. Schweitzer, Madame Curie, David Livingstone and some of the people who are working on this project are here. Others are working on heart disease, leukaemia and other chronic illnesses. It is not these diseases that I have to write about, though, and I must come to the point and describe the feeling of my transition and reception in the land of spirit.
As you know, I was ill for a long time before my terminal illness, and during this time I started to draw closer to the God head. As I lost power of my limbs, I had to develop my mental faculties to compensate. Following my sixth stroke, I lost the use of my tongue and was shut off from communication with the material world. I then started to get "clairaudience and visions from the other side, but could not communicate these to my family. Then came the day of joyful release from my troubles, when my spirit body could once again fly loose and free as a bird. As I felt the pain of the stroke, I remembered the knowledge permeating my conscious mind; "At last I am going to die." I did not, as many people on your plane of existence believe, feel any sensation of terror. I felt at peace with the world, relaxed and mildly curious as to the outcome of it all. I felt as if I was drifting on a cloud of cotton wool, a, beautiful languid feeling: released from all pain and sorrow.
Gradually the process of dissociation of mind and body was complete, and I found myself drifting in space a few feet above my body. The feeling of gracious release, the knowledge that at last I was free of my body, is too beautiful a sensation to describe, and mere words cannot adequately record these feelings; the sensation of utter bliss and the utterly delightful vibrations and colours on this plane of life.
I looked at my family who were grieving for me, for as you know, we were a very close knit family indeed. I thought, "Do not cry for me; only for yourselves, as all my earthly trials and tribulations are over and done with." It was then that I realized with crystal clarity that, although I still retained my memories, my personality and traits of character, I was dead to the material world, but alive to the spiritual world, in fact, more alive than I had ever been before. The mist rolled away and I experienced what I now know to be "cosmic realization", that is. understanding of the fact that I am as one with God, that I am more alive than ever, enjoying a fuller more joyous existence and, moreover, that all my physical disabilities are left behind me in the grave. Silently I gave thanks to the Lord of all, who has blessed me so richly for my traumatic experiences, upon the plane of the spirit.
I will now close and give you a rest. When next I come I will tell you of my reception on the plane of spirit and the spiritual views of burial, cremation and other matters. My dearly loved son, you did so much for me and your mother when we lived together, that we, from our side of the barrier, will guide you, encourage you and pray for your material and spiritual upliftment. We, your parents, love you always.'
Message from Donald was continued at another sitting.
'As I have told you, my mission is to put across to mankind the realization that there must be no fear in awaiting death. In truth, there is no death. It is stated by many authorities of the orthodox churches that there should be no communion with spirit. That is totally wrong, my son, as we, who have gone over to our side of the veil, realize very quickly that this is the real world, and the earth plane is the world of illusion. We acknowledge the fact that there is no death, that man's soul is immortal and goes on for ever. Truly, no man ever dies. We find forgiveness, trust and love on our side of the veil. Understanding that there is no heaven as preached by the authorities, and that there is no hell, as I will explain later. Here, everything is on a vibration of love and goodness, and we experience the wonder and mercy of the God power in its entirety.
There are nine planes of spirit, dominated by the high spiritual powers. There is no hell. The hell that you experience is of your own making, for, on our planes, you are conscious of the memories, of. what you did upon the earth plane. Your own conscience is your judge: you judge yourself, and far more harshly than any tribunal of judges could. If you do not acknowledge the fact that you did wrong in your life, you are left in the lower planes of spirit, for you are unevolved and undeveloped. With the realization of what you are, what you did in previous experiences and incarnations, comes remorse and repentance. Then you come into contact with the full flood of forgiveness from the higher powers and know what mercy, pity, and love are. Heaven is the realization of how much good you have done to others, and how much happiness you have brought them.
But I am digressing from the subject under discussion, and I will beg your indulgence and continue. You may think that I have suddenly become very fluent and erudite since my transition. That is true, for we in the planes of spirit start to learn immediately, that is, as soon as we wish to do so. Teaching facilities of every faculty known and unknown to mankind are available here, and one can study whatever subjects one wishes to master. It is rather laughable now to remember what we were told as children: that we would sit upon a cloud and strum a harp and wait for eternity. There is too much work to be done for mankind to waste time like that. Impelled by the Divine Love, we soon commence work for our brothers. That is another lesson which you will learn when you join me, my son, that true brotherhood of man exists only on the planes of spirit. You are very idealistic and look for good in all mankind and find it in very few. You have gathered a small select band of workers around you to sit in a circle with you, and it is our wish that you honour them. We know that you will obey us in this respect as you obey us in all. However, I must proceed.
When my astral sight was opened, on leaving my body, I was rather perplexed and very reluctant to leave all my dear ones. As I looked up, I saw the smiling faces of my dear father and mother who were waiting for me, and with a shock I realized that I could think with greater clarity than ever before. Behind them I saw the happy faces of my friends and relatives who had gone over long before, and they assured me that my travails and troubles were over. I was approached by three entities, dressed in gleaming white, and who had endured my troubles long and bravely, fought the good fight and had been true until the end. They assured me that the family would be cared for, guided and protected, and that later on I would be trained for a specific job with one of my family, meaning you.
I was told that I would be admitted to a spiritual hospital for a short time so as to adjust to spiritual conditions and vibrations, and also to spare me the sight of my relatives' grief. Let me tell you at this juncture, my son, that while it is good to feel sorrow over the death of a loved one, undue grief and mourning can prevent the freeing of a soul, as by your vibrations of grief you unwittingly call us to your sides to try and comfort you. Therefore, mourn for a short period for your loved ones, then rejoice that they are free of the cruelties of life.
At this point may I also point out that one of the things that spiritualists are accused of is "the calling up of the dead". This is not possible, as material men cannot call us to their sides. This is definitely not possible. We come to you, inspired by Divine Love: and even then we have to obtain the help and permission of higher, holy entities to obtain communion with you. What we can do though, is to try to guide and inspire mankind by our thought vibrations. We can do this, provided we do it for the benefit of mankind. We cannot abuse physical powers any more than material man can. That cannot be, by command of the Great One.
I wished to proceed at once to the hospital to obtain treatment and explore this wonderful realm of spirit. However, I was told that I was not yet ready.
With the realization that death has occurred, from this point on the liberated soul is free to go on his way to the allotted plane of spirit. It is as Jesus has said: "In my father's house are many mansions." The mansions are built up by thought forms. They are built by spirit guides to establish familiar surroundings for the newly arrived spirit. I will elaborate more upon this later, as you must be very tired. Here lies a great measure of truth. Truth is never found free, my son, it is like the gold in the rocks which must be crushed, refined and subjected to other processes. Compare it to a refined human soul which has passed through the furnaces, mills and crucibles of human suffering and experiences and is then pure gold, beautiful to behold.
Message from Donald, continued at still another sitting.
'I wish to comment here upon the disposal of the human vehicle. Obviously, the newly-transformed spirit is in a state of mental turmoil and shock, and is surrounded by a welter of conflicting emotions; ranging from great joy at the merciful release from pain and suffering which has been granted by an ever-living God in his wisdom, to pangs of sorrow at the often misplaced grief of his bereaved relatives. In this shocked state the guides try and contact the soul and explain the greater reality.
Pain is purely a physical agency and is not known in the planes of soul. Therefore every sensation here is of a thought form. The guides do their utmost to get the soul to accept the idea of death as quickly as possible, and as soon as this idea has been accepted and the realization has been accepted, the soul is .indifferent to the disposal of the remains and in fact is quite happy that at last the material bonds have been severed and he can look forward to a new, freer and better life than he has experienced so far.
Drifting through the astral planes is a unique experience. The planes of astral are comparable to a giant vacuum between different dimensions where there is no sound or colour and no conception of depth, breadth or length. This is true limbo, where people of all levels meet and lonely lost souls seek the blessing of the Great One.
I will not tell you now about the spiritual missionaries, except to say that they work ceaselessly on the planes of astral, guiding, coaxing, encouraging lost souls who are to enter into the halls of the Father.
Beyond the planes of astral lie the mists. These are of different vibrations, all of different colours and vibrating at different speeds. It is upon approaching these that the glory of God strikes the returning soul, and the knowledge percolates through, that at last he is out of the void, and that the angel faces are smiling. I was conducted into the purple mist and drifted through beautiful seas of colour. I realized with a shock that I knew nothing of time or space or even of movement as I just drifted through. I was aware of the praise and that all were rejoicing at the return of the wanderer. Suddenly I burst through the purple mists and came into the most brilliant sunlight that I had ever experienced.
I was not allowed to see much of my surroundings, as I was immediately assailed by a weariness when I experienced the full glory and warmth of the spirit vibrations without the protection of earthly conditions, so I was taken in the sleep State to the spirit hospital. Time rolled by, and from a great depth I slowly emerged from the trance state. I am now aware that I was there for just over seven of your earthly weeks. Through the waves of sleep there came slowly the haunting, beautiful music which I now know to be the psychic music of the silence. I opened my eyes and saw myself as I was at the height of my power - young, virile and glad to be alive. Most of us choose the great years of our lives, between thirty and forty-five, to show ourselves.
Looking at my surroundings, I became aware that I was in a large building of multi-coloured stones, each vibrating a tune like a great orchestra, and as they vibrated they gave off the most enchanting music. I have said "multi-coloured stones" but the expression is a misnomer, as mortal man can never imagine, or in imagination remotely approach the colour, beauty or freshness of the walls of this mansion. I reached out a hand to touch those stones to feel if they were real. They were real. They were, however, not hewn from any quarry, because then damage and destruction would be involved. The perfection of the spirit world is not allowed to be marred or impaired in any way whatsoever, as we are all on vibrations, of harmony and compatibility, and no discords are allowed here. Later on I found out that specially trained souls are trained in the use of thought forms to allow the soul to settle down in suitable and familiar surroundings. Whatever you wish is supplied to you, whether it is a farm, factory, halls of music, science laboratory, college of arts, it is all available, and you can settle down for as long as you wish. I will proceed further with this later, though.
As I lay entranced, soaking in the reflected glory of the heavenly fields, I was approached by a number of souls. They greeted me kindly and told me that they were members of my group. I had been subjected to a series of "treatments by a machine, which works on the principle of micro-waves, which had built up my vibrations to the correct pitch and had calmed down the mind after the psychic trauma of my life. With a great surge of emotion I knew then that there was no sorrow, no more tears, and no more suffering, and that I was in God's kingdom at last. In passing, I will comment that many machines and medical treatments are perfected in our spirit hospitals and will shortly be . given to mankind, thereby alleviating much of its suffering and distress. There are several spirit hospitals on each plane of spirit.
I walked out into the golden sunlight and saw how much quicker my perception and vision were. There was the pleasant heat of the sun, but there was no power in the heavenly rays of the sun: no power to destroy even the tiniest blade of grass. I queried whether there is a different sun for each plane of spirit, and I was told that there is. Each sun is the replica of the master sun, and working on a different colour vibration. You must understand that we have to ask the masters about the other planes of spirit, as we have no conception of the planes of spirit above us, although we have remembrances of the planes of spirit below us.
Some of these memories are dim, as often our progress from plane to plane is slow, especially as we move into the higher planes. This explains to you why a medium often cannot tell you what you desire. Like all else, we tend to live in our own communities. We do travel in the planes of astral and talk to souls from other planes, exchanging experiences and wishes. By these means we often get the inspiration to try and evolve to a higher plane. Of course, the basic tenet here is the Brotherhood of Man, and we all try and evolve as a soul group when one of us decides to reincarnate.
Realizing that all here was sublimely beautiful, that the gorgeous colours of the flowers cannot be adequately described by any words in any known vocabulary, that the sky was filled with beautiful birds and butterflies of exquisite colours, and the air was filled with beautiful scents and colours, I wandered in this wonderworld and eventually found myself on a farm where I settled down to stay. Here I dreamed away the sunlit days until eventually I realized that that was not the real world, and at last I emerged into the planes of astral where I was contacted by very high guides who asked me to convey these messages to you. This task I have now completed.
The work is now finished. My boy, the love of a father and mother surrounds you and will never leave you. Rest assured that we live as surely as you live. Be not afraid of life, because everything is of a temporary nature, and the only thing of a permanence is the world of spirit. We are always near you and are thrilled at your prospects for the future. Good-bye and God bless you.'
Bill was able to see the spiritual bodies at a very early age. The Highlands of Scotland, where he was born, are full of spiritual phenomena and he has described elsewhere several haunted places. It is worth pointing out that a haunting is not a random or haphazard happening. When a spirit is in a certain area constantly, it shows that there is somebody that is attracting him, or that the spirit is guarding, guiding or protecting something.
He was staying in an old house in Inverness-shire in Scotland, near Culloden Moor. He was seven years of age at the time and, lying on his bed one evening, he saw what he thought was his first spirit. He saw that spirit developing and expanding as he watched until it attained the shape, size, and consistency of a human form. The figure appeared to be dang-ling with a rope round its neck from the ceiling. As he watched it, the rope separated and the figure drifted down to the floor, smiled at him, and disappeared through one of the walls.
It transpired later, that a man had committed suicide in that house a number of years earlier, and obviously he was re-enacting the incident, a phenomena which he learned took place quite frequently.
He did not feel afraid, and took so little notice of it that it was many years before he mentioned it to his parents. Since then he has frequently thought of this poor unfortunate spirit, who had been driven to destroy himself by his inability to cope with life on the earth plane.
Some years later he found that from time to time he could see figures that were different from the solid people here, and could hear voices, but the figures he could see and the voices that he could hear were very vague.
He discussed these conditions with some of his friends who advised him to read books on psychic matters, when he would learn that the figures he had been seeing he had viewed by clairvoyance and the voices he heard were known as clairaudience, also that spirit guides were trying to make contact with him with the intention of developing him as a medium that is, if he was willing to co-operate.
This development continued to strengthen until, when he reached his early twenties, he felt as if his abilities in inspiration, clairvoyance, clairaudience, trance and healing were reaching a very high standard, which was confirmed by one of his guides, 'Wise Owl'.
One day, he sat with a trance medium, who, after a few minutes, looked to him as if she was in a deep sleep, then a very strong voice seemed to come through the medium's lips. He was told that a spirit guide called 'Wise Owl' was speaking to him through the medium who was actually in a deep trance. Wise Owl told him that he and several other guides were waiting to work with him, and his mediumship was going to be of a very high standard, particularly the trance addresses which they would be able to give him, along with inspiration, and, in fact, all other forms of mediumship, not forgetting spirit healing.
He studied spiritual philosophy for several years, hoping that with the mediumship he had been promised and the guides' teachings, he should be able to pass on, to people of our world, much knowledge of life in the spirit world.
3 - Wise Owl - A Powerful Spirit Guide
Wise Owl was first identified at a spiritualistic church, by Keith Pinchen, who does a lot of platform work. The message was given to Bill that there was a well-built Red Indian guide standing behind him, and he would find out more about him later. That was all the information that he was given at the. time.
Later, Bill had a private sitting with another professional medium, and she described both Wise Owl and Abdullah. She said that when he later commenced circle work, both of these guides would come through and give most enlightening talks. Many mediums and clairvoyants over the years have seen and described both guides, and the description always tallies, which confirms his first sitting with the trance medium. Bill thought that the best description of Wise Owl was given by a lady who sat with him in a circle as a guest of Miss Helen Parry, a lady with wonderful mediumistic gifts. This lady had never heard of him before; but after the address, she gave the following description:
'Wise Owl is here, and appears to be about 7 feet 6 inches tall, broad and muscular with a very deep chest Large, deep penetrating eyes, large hooked nose, and a very sombre expression - that lifts like lightning when he smiles, a deep powerful voice and a forceful and dominating personality. He shows himself with alternate stripes of white and black paint across his face, and with black and white eagle feathers extending down his back.
He was a member of the Cherokee tribe of North America in his life on earth, and was a tribal doctor. He conducted circles, spoke to the ancestral spirits on behalf of his people, and doctored the tribe. He died from smallpox before the first white man penetrated into his area, around the year 1632. In his life, Wise Owl was a great teacher of the young, and was intensely interested in healing the sick. He has not lost any of his interests and ideals, and he has helped and encouraged many.'
4 - Psychic Visions By Inspiration
As Bill sat recording his psychic experiences, he was looking out of the window and musing on life and its implications. My aim is to record an interesting factual account of his life and experiences with a considerable amount of spiritual knowledge thrown in. I do not seek to convince anyone unduly; all I ask is that if you follow me that you will think of these things and along these lines. My chief interest in life is the knowledge of survival, or life after death, and to learn as much as possible of conditions in the world of spirit. I wish to spread the knowledge of this very interesting and complex subject which is the way of life preached by many of the advanced spirit guides.
Bill has studied spiritual philosophy for some years and hopes to pass on to you many of the teachings brought to him. Come with me into the dream world of his astral vision, which is man's communion and life-line with almighty God, which is being shown, and let us dream for a short space of time, of the African country as it was centuries ago.
Let me describe the mental pictures of this country, as they come flooding in, and which I am impressed to record. First we see the tawny bush veld stretching endlessly to the horizon. There are no roads or modern conveniences, and as far as the eye can see, there are immense herds of game, of all varieties known to modern man, and many that today alas, are lost to us forever.
On the mountain are two tiny men crouching down, and watching the game. There is no joy in the beauties of nature, but their lust for meat activates their emotions and thoughts. These are the bushmen, whose forefathers had no knowledge of writing or keeping records, who had travelled these regions for countless centuries and who had fought sporadic wars with the Hottentots during those safe centuries. These are the oldest inhabitants of this region and the original owners of it. They turn over and go to sleep in the golden sunshine. Their stomachs are full of good meat, and there are countless millions of animals in front of them, ready for hunting. Let them sleep the centuries away in peace, and let us return to the ancients as they plough through the high seas, heading from far Phoenicia to the lands of Othir and Punt.
Officered by the dauntless Phoenicians and directed by the wise men of Solomon, they head for the mouth of the Zambesi river looking for valuable metals, and proceed on their colonization of these regions. They are big muscular men, with flaming red beards and clad in armour. Their weapons are made of bronze and they quickly subjugate the bushmen and Hottentots. Soon the giant forts are raised with slave labour, and the winning of gold, silver, tin, copper and precious stones goes on apace. Successive waves of colonists from Sabue, Persia, and Phoenica, arrive at intervals and build more edifices. They come up the Limpopo, the Zambesi, and over to Chimanimani mountains in all their pride and arrogance. More and more forts and trading stations are built, and tons of gold are mined yearly. Every few years the fleets of Hiram and Solomon arrive at the mouth of the Limpopo river and small ships penetrate the Sabi river, where a fraction of the gold mined in Africa is sent to the ships, along with ivory and other valuables. The rest of the gold is sealed up in underground caverns and left here. Much of it still remains today, and, in those days King Lobengula of the Matabele, was in possession of much of this gold.
The ancients settled down in their cities and lost a lot of their martial vigour, and alcohol and racial integration were doomed to destroy these people. Many of the warriors took black women as their wives and, as was done in many other civilizations, destroyed the fierce pride of a nation which is essential for its survival. Meanwhile, the drums of war are sounding in their homelands, and appeals are sent out for fighting men. Many of the warriors are recalled and never return.
Meantime, the Bantu lords, who were living in the Congo basin, are now streaming south into the country of the Phoenicians. It is decided to abandon the territory, and all of interest and value is buried, along with the honoured dead. The other fighting men of lower rank are cremated. These people were great workers in stone, and their valuables were buried underground in caves carved out of solid rock. These places are marked with signs, but only the initiated amongst the spirit guides know how and where to find them. There must be great quantities of gold still buried in those places.
5 - Contact With The Spirit World
We who are dedicated to the propagation of spiritual knowledge and truth, are expected to live our lives on earth, and in the spirit world, in conformity with certain codes of conduct and behaviour. Many people today are deeply interested in a life after death, but find that the way to obtain knowledge is not easy. Our purpose is to convey to you our teachings and beliefs.
We believe that it is important to live our lives every minute of the day as we are taught. We teach that no one must be condemned for his or her way of life, as this is his own choice and every individual must live his life as he sees fit. The proviso remains that everyone must answer for his conduct during this life and after the transition to the soul world.
The nearest approach to an orthodox religion is found in the Buddhist teaching of the middle way of life. They say 'we believe that everything must be in moderation and that excess in anything is wrong. By our lives and our examples, we must inspire our fellow citizens to follow our examples.'
We do not believe in criticizing any religion. or way of life. Do we not all worship the same God? It is much better to live and let live. It seems a queer anomaly, however, that the miracles in the Bible which were examples of spiritual healing are accepted, but that present-day healing, some of which is just as effective as in centuries gone by, is not accepted. There are many spiritual healers in many lands who are working quietly and unassumingly away for the improvement in their fellow men, helped by the Divine Love pouring through to whoever will accept it.
Many people are interested in spiritual philosophy for what material benefit can be procured from it. This must not be, as spirit works only for the benefit and upliftment of the whole human race. It is one of the oldest of the cosmic laws that man cannot benefit himself materially by the exploration of spiritual knowledge. There are various methods adopted for contact with the world of spirit, ranging from the trained medium giving clairvoyance, spirit guides, talks through a trance medium, inspirational addresses and several other ways.
Communion with the spirit world is a holy business, as through the spirit guides we are in contact with our Heavenly Father and any communion must be in a calm, meditative frame of mind. The protection of the higher powers must be invoked by a prayer to God for guidance and protection, and this will always be freely granted.
Beyond the earth planes lie the immense infinite planes of astral, stretching out until they merge with the planes of spirit. The planes of astral also furnish a meeting place for human souls to meet their spirit guides.
At the time of the transition of souls, they do not step over the border immediately into the Heavenly spheres. They have to travel over the wide planes of astral before they reach their destination, which, however, only takes a mini-mum of time.
The other souls who inhabit the lower planes of astral are the lost souls who have not been able to accept the fact that they are no longer part of the material world, and have refused to believe that they are now spirit.
Many people know that the soul returns to the spirit world when the physical body has served its purpose, but they often wonder how the transition takes place.
The soul with the spirit (a spark of the Divine Spirit which is within all of us) enters the physical body before actual birth and stays with us until what is commonly known as . death, takes place.
The soul and the body are joined together by a silver cord during the whole of our lifetime and as long as the silver cord is not severed, the physical body continues to function.
The soul knows in advance when the time has arrived for the transition to take place, and after the silver cord has been severed it leaves the useless material body. The soul and the spirit return to their group in the spirit or soul world, whilst the discarded earthly body is buried or cremated, as it is of no further use.
The belief is inherent in most men that they have a soul and are immortal. This mechanism is built into us, and most men intuitively reject the idea that death is the end of the road. We shrink back in horror at the idea that we are put into a dark cold grave, or are cremated, and that that is the end of us. The very idea is repugnant to the mind. It appalls us, and we instinctively reject the idea of total oblivion and look for proof of survival.
We, as philosophers, feel convinced that life carries on beyond the grave to other planes of life, and that those who have passed beyond the veil still take an interest in this world, and guide and help us. As a hospital worker, Bill has seen death in all shapes and forms and has been present at the passing over of many souls. Nobody fears death at the moment of transition, and all pass over with dignity and peace. This is the greatest argument of all for survival, and nobody who has gazed upon a corpse, which a short time ago was vibrant with life, can deny that some subtle Undefinable something has gone, gone forever. For centuries pathologists have dissected the human body, trying to find the secrets, but always they have failed to reach an answer.
6 - Early Spiritual Philosophy
We are trying, in our simple way, to demonstrate how a man can overcome all adversities and troubles, and in the process find a deep, everlasting faith. In all men's lives there has to be something to hold on to, a belief in something. We found faith in the belief that our earthly lives continue in a wonderful world after this one, also our belief is the belief in love, pity and compassion of the Divine God. Our interest is the interest in the welfare and development of the country in which we reside. Our comfort is the knowledge that our dear ones on the planes of soul are near to us at all times. When ever depression folds its black mantle over us. and material folk desert us or hurt us by idle or harmful chatter, we feel the comforting presence of the unseen number of souls that constantly surround us, inspiring us to go on.
Always in life there are compensations, and we must all realize that this earth is a plane of illusions, that the real life is beyond the veil and that everything on this plane of life is only of a transient and temporary nature, that only God and the Spirit World are permanent. We are born to this life, and then go out like a candle in the wind. Can it be possible that the accumulated knowledge we have acquired in this life is then lost for ever? The mind refuses to accept this as a fact, and the teachings about reincarnation are getting more and more credible and widely believed as the years go by.
As spiritual philosophers, we have a great interest in the teachings given out by the masters. Man fashions his own destiny to a great extent, and as you think and wish, so your life is fashioned for you. The spirit guides inspire you and applaud you, but basically you have to lead and live your own life. The guidance from the other side is given to you directly on your mental plane, and only by thinking in silence what to do, does the answer that you seek, come to you. Prayer is merely a wish expressed in thought patterns into the ether, a wish, a cry for help and guidance. With deep prayer comes mental effort, followed by profound relaxation and a great sense of peace. With this relaxation and sense of peace come the vibrations of silence, giving impressions of what could and should be done.
My belief in survival extends into my past and has been nurtured and encouraged by the many setbacks and tribulations that I have experienced. As man lives his life he encounters great sorrow, trouble and grief, and at times has great difficulty in understanding why this is so, and why he, of all people, should be made to suffer so much, not understanding, or rather not wanting to understand, that we are all wandering in the same darkness, all with manifold troubles and all looking for a hand to guide us, to steady us on our pilgrimage.
Again he is trying to understand why he has so many problems, yet the man next door seems to have so few. It is to questions such as these that spiritual philosophy is applied, where we search for these answers, knowing that a human mind can understand and comprehend these answers to the level of his own knowledge, understanding and comprehension, also his willingness only to believe what he wants to believe, for 'there are none so blind as those who will not see'. Again, man is a developing creature, on the upward scale of evolution and the general trend is always upwards, so what you can accept and understand at the impressionable age of twenty, changes its character and basis in more mature years.
As you grow older and more mature, you will understand more about life and its continuance upon our side of life for the thinking, the knowing mind, rejects completely the conception of an utter end to life. You cannot believe that you are thrown into a hole in the ground, or cremated, and that is the end to it all, or that the accumulated knowledge of a life-time upon this earth is buried and finally done away with - that all our wisdom, beauty and strength are disintegrated and turned to dust
All through the ages, presumably from the days of the cavemen, mankind has believed in an after life, and philosophy accepts this belief; indeed, it is the cornerstone of all our teachings and beliefs. With all our experience we must admit that life after death seems to be the perfect faith. It has much to commend it, especially its tolerance and lack of bigotry which is so marked in many of the established religions. It is remarkable how many people of various religions are practising this belief, and see no incongruity in the fact. In many of the circles I have conducted there have been people of many religions and faiths brought together by the love of God the Father, worshipping Him in the communion of a spiritual circle, blessed by the prayers and invocations to Him.
I have sat in many spiritual circles and have been convinced long ago of the reality and truth. The belief was taught to me a long time ago that to find God, you have to find your own inner knowledge, then the peace that passes all understanding will be manifested to you. It is not necessary to sit in a church or in a circle to find this peace, but many people do so. True philosophy says that there are marry ways to God, and no matter which you take either by prayer, meditation, study or good living, you, as a divine soul on the Ascending path of evolution, must ultimately reach there.
The big stumbling block to the development and evolution of mankind as a whole is bigotry, with fixed ideas which are unyielding. Once your ideas are in a set groove it is difficult to emerge, from this slough, and you can see only things from your own fixed and narrow viewpoint, refusing to believe that other people have got similar views but from a different angle. Even if you think that they are wrong they are entitled to their viewpoints.
There is no such thing in this whole cosmos as one fixed idea, thought or problem. All have different facets and angles, and depending on which angle you perceive your ideas are then formed. The true philosopher realizes this and tries to see all things in this life from all angles, but mankind in his selfish, arrogant, bigoted way can only, as a rule, see what he wishes to see. I am not anti-mankind. I have helped many people, but I try to see mankind as he is, with his faults and imperfections, but also with the divine qualities inculcated within his gross material body.
Within us all is the spark of the Divine. No man is entirely good, and no man is entirely bad. We are all a curious mixture of the two in different proportions, but no matter how wicked, callous or cruel that man is, he has been created by God, our Heavenly Father, and must not be condemned. Inside him is the inborn realization which is part of his being, of what is right and wrong, and many people, through doing wrong then realize what is right. Many mystics say that the knowledge of good and evil within us is the symbolical tree of the knowledge of good and evil, However that may be, it is sufficient to say that man is of a dual nature, constantly at war with himself, and only by comparing good with evil can we understand what is right and wrong, or more correctly accept and comprehend the difference. Could we appreciate peace if we had not known war? Could we be glad of plenty if we have no conception of hunger?
People have said to me, 'Why are there poor or substandard mediums or clairvoyants?' I have always replied to the effect that they are there for the purpose of comparison with good mediums and clairvoyants, and they must be judged not on what they do, but on their motives for doing so. If anybody's motives for doing any act upon this earth is suspect, he is judged by this, and this alone. If you try and do certain things from bad or improper motives you must reap the whirlwind. If, on the other hand, you are activated solely by the desire to serve God and help man, you will not go unrewarded, and those who try to deride and belittle you must suffer the consequences.
You must see by now what a complex and deep subject Spiritual Philosophy is. I will try and explain many of the beliefs and knowledge that I have, at this point in space and time and at my age and mental outlook, knowing that like all other men I will mature and learn more all the time as I grow older. May you have success in the path that you have chosen to reach the God Head, for you will. Every soul incarnated on this earth, must some day reach perfection, even if it takes many lives, or only a few. I myself believe implicitly in the doctrine of reincarnation, but again, many spiritual people do not. It is a matter for your own beliefs, comprehension and understanding and in the long run, only you can decide in what you choose to believe.
These are our own personal beliefs and ideas, culled from meditation, reading and studying of many different philosophies, sitting in spiritual circles, listening to the teachings of the guides of all grades and levels, and most of all by inspirational teachings given by guides and the God-given knowledge within us, both in this life and beyond. Neither we nor anyone else on this earth plane have the right to say 'this is so' and try to force their ideas upon anyone else.
Organized religious sects have caused numerous wars and suffering upon this planet and at the moment there are over four thousand different religious sects, all of whom believe sincerely that their beliefs are the right ones. God is for all men, of all sects, colour races and creeds. We are all put upon this world to live our lives to the best of our abilities and we have the divine example of Jesus and his disciples to base our lives upon, but very few of us do this.
8 - Early Knowledge Of Survival
What is man? Man is the image of God the Father, we are told. The soul of a man is the image of God, as all spirit forms come from, are created in, and return to the planes of spirit. The physical body of man is entirely unsuited to the realms of spirit. It is composed entirely of a different substance.
The material vehicle or body is composed of an earthly composition, manufactured on earth and produced from the material bodies of a man and a woman. This substance is known as endoplasm and it is produced from physical sources. This material body is very coarse in comparison to a spirit body, it is of low vibration, and is composed of hundreds of millions of cells organized and arranged in certain patterns and arrangements. The molecules of each cell give off an electrical vibration which fuse together and amalgamate to produce the vibrations of the organs that they form part of. These vibrations all join together to give off an electrical force field, which in turn gives off a greyish-blue colour, and which becomes the etheric field. In different parts of the body we have psychic centres, or chakras, which give off and receive psychic impulses, impressions and vibrations. These must be understood to gain an idea of the mechanics of healing, mediumship and clairvoyance.
The etheric double or etheric body is composed of the vibrations of the material body. It is really a force field of energy extending from half an inch to three inches from the material body. This depends on the degree of health of the individual. People in good health have a wide, flaring etheric, while those in poor health have a very small, narrow etheric.
This world in which we live is very old. The dust of countless centuries shrouds the history of much of this world. From recorded history we know that mankind, even in his primitive state, has always believed in the existence of a Divine Being and of a life after death. In fact, the belief in the supernatural and an after-life was much more powerful in the simple minds of the primitive peoples, because their minds were uncluttered and untrammeled by material matters.
Young children in their tender formative years often see spirit and astral bodies and in their innocence accept these visitations as they are, with no false ideas. Alas, the sweetness and innocence of youth soon dissipate and disappear like snow in summer, and the hard material shell which surrounds most people then encrusts their consciousness, blotting out the impressions from beyond the veil. Occasionally in some people, cosmic consciousness does penetrate through at infrequent intervals to give guidance to the person concerned. This is only guidance, not control as every person has his own life to lead as best he can to the limit of his abilities. By our own thoughts, actions and deeds do we live and are judged accordingly.
We cannot accept the fact that any person upon this world has all the answers. We think we know, but the sum of man's knowledge is very slim indeed.
Some of our views may be wrong, but knowing in our hearts that these are the beliefs we have lived by all our lives, we will try and elucidate some of the reasons why we believe in this doctrine which may enlighten those in search of truth.
Bill, with his vast psychic experience says;
'I was born and brought up in the North of Scotland, which was reeking and redolent of spiritual and psychic views, where spiritual phenomena is accepted without question. As a child, I was very clairvoyant, without understanding psychic phenomena, but accepting, with the heart of a little child. Brought up in a strict churchgoing protestant area, I soon refused to accept implicitly the teachings of the orthodox church, knowing that the Bible is only a collection of legends, translated and mistranslated many times. My search for knowledge took many forms until I started to study spiritual philosophy at length where I found a few of the answers. Since that day I have been a great believer in the possibility of a life after death and believe implicitly in the great goodness of God and the spirit world.
With my usual insatiable curiosity I have studied much further, including the Koran, the Vedas, much of Theosophy, and the teachings of Buddha. All of them have the same ultimate end, which is a belief, a crying belief and a need to believe in a great power. I have the strong conviction that man will never die, but will live forever, immortal, and will rise again in another body to reincarnate his soul body in another material vehicle; to walk this earth again, and absorb more lessons until eventually the soul attains perfection and is allowed to leave to break away from the chain of endless reincarnations.
Can mortal man have any conception of the Divine Mind or who He is? I say that is impossible because man is a material creation with a material mind and he thinks with this material mind. The Godhead is of Holy Spirit, far beyond our knowledge or ken, and I would say that without doubt the Godhead knows the future of the cosmos. We all have our conception of God, but my personal conception of God is an amalgamation of all spiritual beings who have walked this world, who unite with God to become Holy Spirit. But I hasten to add that this is my own personal belief, helped by my spirit guides, as a soul living upon this earth cannot hope to have much knowledge of such mysteries.
Where then is such knowledge to be gained? I came to the conclusion that by sitting in the silence, communing with the realms of spirit, by meditation and by conscious or unconscious astral travel one can receive the teachings and knowledge that befits our level of revolution and progress.
Many people will say "What is this knowledge?" "What do you believe in?" "What does it entail." Let me start off by saying that, in my opinion, the belief and knowledge of survival is the revealing knowledge to be accepted by most people. More and more of the world's population are drifting away from orthodox religion, because they find that it does not meet their spiritual needs. The younger generation, especially, are looking for truth. Where do they find it? The older generation who believed in a life after this one were often the subject of scorn and derision. I hope, in my humble way, to try and correct some of these impressions though I am the first to admit that the knowledge of the spirit has attracted more than its share of cranks. However, there are many fine and wonderful people who today believe implicitly in this faith, and these are greatly in the majority.
People often wonder to which church they should go to learn the way of salvation. This is immaterial, as the church of God is in the heart and soul of every man and only there will you find God. I myself do not belong to any spiritualist church, as God lives within me and guides me. We believe that man is immortal, that he lives on forever, that he reincarnates over and over again, and that as you live so shall you reap. This is the law of Karma or the law of cause and effect. We abide by the teachings of the great and advanced masters. We believe that healing can be given by divine powers to heal the sick. All in all, knowledge of the spirit life in front of us all is a wonderful faith and belief, and would amply repay the seeker of truth to study this way of life. This is important, as it is a way of life rather than a religion. It is important to live your life doing good and thinking good.'
9 - Murder - Its Influence On The Soul
What Is The Spirit World's View Of Murder?
Wise Owl here. This is a very important question, and if potential murderers only knew, many would avoid this most devastating act. The taking of human life is no idle matter and must not be condoned. We try and prevent these things, but have only very limited success as usually the vibrations of these people are too low for us to make contact with. They are usually punished by men and they pass over to our side of the veil. There they are shown what they have done and left to meditate on their actions. We do not accuse or condemn them. This is done by themselves, and as the heavenly vibrations are of love, we do not punish them in any way. This they must do themselves, and they do so more severely than we could ever possibly do it. Even when wrongdoers are told that they are pardoned for their crimes and are assured by the spirit of the person whom they killed that they are forgiven, they often do not accept this. When they do accept it, then they are informed that they have regressed a lot in their bid for perfection and must return to earth at an early date to expiate their karma.
Is There Sex In The Land Of Spirit?
This is Chenon. The answer to that question is no. Sex is a thing of the earthly body, necessary for the procreation of the race. When you pass over, all material things are left behind, and only the finer, higher emotions are carried over into the world of spirit. There are two basic types of sexual emotions. The material which is lust for the body of a woman, and the deeper spiritual love which very often exists between two people. This has got to be clearly understood, my son. After the attractions of the flesh have palled there must be a spiritual love left, or there is nothing at all.
Material love does not pass into the planes of spirit, but can be transmitted into the astral planes and the low planes of spirit. This can be produced after a fashion, by thought forms, which is a higher adaptation of imagination, but the reality soon seeps through. Spiritual love, on the other hand, is a great vibration of harmony and is carried to the high planes of soul where it is adapted for the use of helping mankind. Two people in deep spiritual love can spend all eternity together, and always meet again in our side through many planes of spirit. Often they incarnate at the same time and marry in a material state again, so that they can experience the same travail of the spirit and progress at the same rate, and thus will never be separated.
The sexual act, if performed by two people genuinely in love, gives off vibrations of great harmony and beauty, as compared with the act performed between two people for lust. As for bestiality, homosexuality and lesbianism, these are pure perversions, acted out of lust of the material body and cannot be condoned. These people do untold harm to their spiritual bodies by this folly, and although they have free will to do as they wish, no spiritual person must have any part in these perversions. This ranks second only to drunkenness as a ruiner of the astral vehicle, and as with a drunkard, is often caused by undue influence by entities of the lowest orders.
Is There Any Transmigration Of Souls?
I will continue by answering this question. No, this is not so. Man alone has the vital spark of God within him. He was, as you can read in the Bible, made in the image of God, his material body was moulded to fit the spirit encased within it, as with the soul is the spark of the Divine God. There are nature spirits whose task it is to look after things of nature, but these are not concerned with the affairs of man and thus they cannot interfere. They maintain the balances of nature and restore the damage that mankind does so wantonly. It is possible for souls to take the etheric forms of beloved pets with them to the lower planes of spirit, but generally the higher evolved entities are interested in the affairs of God and in assisting Him ever upwards.
Animals do not have a soul, as does mankind, but have an etheric double which can linger for a while after the death of the animal. This can be taken into the planes of astral where it disintegrates after a period of time. The architects on our planes can study the etheric double of these animals and produce thought forms which correspond with these animals. These are then placed around the person who still has an attachment to the earth and his animals, and he lives in a world of illusion. Then the wish which is inherent in all human souls, to advance and progress is stimulated once more and he steps out into the reality of the spirit world. Divine inspiration then inspires him to reincarnate once again and learn his lessons in a more advanced form. No, my son, transmigration of souls from men to animals is not possible, as man is the vehicle for the divine purpose of God.
Race Relations
Finally, How Do You In The World Of Spirit, View This Thorny Question Which Is Obsessing The Minds Of The World?
This is still Chenon, and I will endeavour to answer this very difficult question.
Remember the first rule, that God created the universe and in the universe He created the world. The planet earth was created as a training school for souls, so that they should all reach purity and perfection after different incarnations. The Divine mind created different races of people, so that souls could have different choices and levels of development in which to reincarnate. It would not have suited our purpose to have all mankind level. In the many aeons since mankind first appeared on this earth, some races have developed more than others. Environment played a large part in this, as the people who chose to stay in colder climates were forced to use their material capacities to invent and construct necessities for their uses and comforts.
Other people, such as in the East, had the benefit of sunshine and a fine climate, so did not have the same incentive to create constructive things. Most of them, however, developed their mental powers and faculties to reach a communion with the higher powers and achieved spiritual development before the other races. On the continent of Africa, generally speaking, the dark races did not evolve or develop at all until the coming of the white man. My son, let it be known that you cannot overtake thousands of years of progress in a short century, and, as a wise father will not let his child walk before he can crawl or run before he can walk, so the progress of nations and of races is governed by us. Many mistakes have been made in the continent of Africa, and on the whole premature independence has been given to a lot of African countries who, flushed by undue exuberance at being given their independence with large sums of foreign money, have made many elementary mistakes and errors of judgment. I see by your vibrations that you are doubtful about this.
It is our express wish and command that this be printed, as the truth must be known. The world has gone crazy on appeasement too soon, and it is not our desire that the destiny of mankind shall be controlled by immature politicians obsessed by race.
The constant cry in the world today is of racial discrimination, but remember my son, that racial discrimination is practised in many ways and is constantly practised in the countries to the north of you. As you know, all men are created in the image of God, the Father, with the Divine spark within him. We on the planes of soul, do not care whether a man is black, brown, yellow or white as, guided by the Divine vibrations, we seek to guide men onward and ever upward. All men must find their own level, every man must work out his own salvation by his own wish to succeed and progress. It is wrong to legislate to segregate people, but it is equally wrong to force them to integrate. Man has the right to live where he likes, and the herd instinct of mankind, guided by the cosmos law that like attracts like, causes the same types of people to live together.
Do not forget that racial antipathies in mankind are very ancient and go back to the dawn of history. This cannot be dispersed or dissipated in a short period. This is a long process and will take many years to complete. Before this happy state of affairs will be reached, mankind will pass through many crises and will teeter on the brink of self-destruction because he is of varying colours. Treat each other with courtesy and respect and remember, courtesy, civility and respect, evoke an answering chord in most men. It is wrong to say or do unkind things to any human person, for by your own conduct and personality you are judged. If you cannot obtain respect from a person of another race, then look at yourself, my son. Is it a defect in your own character?
It is your duty, finally, to help your brother at all times but remember the best help comes from oneself. It has been a common mistake in this country in which you reside, to spoon-feed the indigenous population unduly, and not allow them to help themselves. We are working on the minds of the leading figures in your country today, and are guiding them. In time, we hope to create a showpiece of good race relations and show to the world how all men can live in peace, honour and dignity.'
10 - More Astral Visions By Bill
Colenbrander In Rhodesia
'In this vision in the astral I see the restless, thrustful tide of white dominance slowly pushing north. In the south I see the rugged, uncompromising figure of President Kruger who lives by his Bible and word of God. Facing him is the dreamer, the man who saw visions, Cecil John Rhodes, the sick man who was driven by other forces, and instrument of the highest calibre, controlled by the divine mind, destined to stand like a colossus of the country which today bears his name. On my mental picture step other figures: brusque, forceful Frank Johnson, the hunter Selous, quiet and reserved, with a dreamer's fine eyes and ever-ready pen; Doctor Jameson, ebullient, bounding with life and vitality; the colourful Johan Colenbrander, veteran of many native wars, and expert Zulu linguist, deep friend of Lobengula; Mother Patrick with her sweet, gentle face, and her faith in God and the goodness of men. These all step on to the stage; others joined them.
There were many dedicated men in the Mercenaries, contrary to public opinion, and many fine men die there fighting for their beliefs. A handful of white men, never more than 250 in number, dominated a nation of 20 million people, and saved the Congo from going communist. The Congolese army was totally incapable of controlling that rebellion, and if it had not been for the white mercenaries, there would have been a communist state right on Zambia's doorstep and in all probability, Zambia would have been conquered later by the Chinese. In his secret heart President Mobutu of the Congo was fully aware of this and knows of the debt of gratitude he owes to the white men. He has often accused the mercenaries of cruelty and savagery, but at least they never executed men in public, which he has done on many occasions.
The hand of God is on all men through his servants who are the discarnate souls of people who have walked this world before us. Consider the history of this country. Who can doubt that a higher intelligence controls and guides us? Look at our earthly bodies: "so alive and vibrant in health, but just a piece of dead tissue when the soul has left. Once you are dead, there is no revival. Consider what would be the point of living our allotted span upon this earth, dying, being buried or cremated and then waiting for eternity. There would be no point to it, and as Jesus said, "Thou must be born again," and He knew.
As I was employed in working with Africans I came in contact with many, and one day an African woman who was employed in the vicinity approached me. Her face and bearing was completely distinct from that of most of her fellow Africans, and I was to learn later that she was of the royal blood of the Matabele nation. I will not identify her any more, except to mention that, like so many Africans, she was intensely interested in spiritual matters and gave clairvoyance to many of her own people and certain Europeans. Many years later, when I knew more about the subject and was seeking good clairvoyance, I arranged a sitting with this woman and got far better results than most of the European clairvoyants had given me. Evidential proof of a high order was given, but that is another story.
This woman approached me and said "Why are you so sad and lonely?" I replied in the vernacular - of which by then I had a good command - and she replied, "You were brought to this country for a great purpose, and will eventually rise to a very important position. There are great problems ahead of you first, all of these you will overcome." I was very intrigued, and rather amused, and I asked her how she knew this. She replied that her spirits had told her to tell me this, and seeing my face, she said, "Who is the old man who is guiding you and watching you?" I said that I thought I knew of such a person and she replied that he was Wise Owl, one of my spirit guides.
At this time, I was experiencing considerable psychic disturbances around the house where I was residing at the time. Taps and lights were switched on and off, and every night, about nine o'clock, I heard a spirit walking about the house with heavy footsteps. I often saw him with head bowed in thought, and he seemed to be pondering, then, by chance, two days later I met an African who had worked with me some time previously. The meeting place was in town.
This man asked me where I was working and when I told him he exclaimed at once "ah, there are many spirits there". I was interested of course and he replied that "Mr. Colenbrander had his mine in that area," and that was how I met my personal guide, Johannes Colenbrander. When I met the African woman again, she exclaimed in wonder, "Johannie, Johannie. He will be one of your spirit guides and he will never be forgotten by the Matabele." On my pressing her, she told me of a few exploits of this man to typify the man that he was. It is of interest here to note that she told me he had written a book of his life, and had buried the manuscript not far from Bulawayo. This was confirmed for me three years later when I read T.V. Bullin's book The White Whirlwind which is a study of Colenbrander.
Colenbrander was born of Dutch parents, who lived in Natal. He was brought up amongst the Zulus as one of themselves, and spoke their language so well that he used to fool the Matabele in the Matopo Hills, into thinking that he was one of themselves. Reared in those surroundings, he became a fearless hunter and trader, eventually becoming a white mercenary for a Zulu chief called Zibeba who had revolted against the Zulu king Cetshewayo. Fighting under that great hunter John Dunn he learned all the ins and outs of Native warfare and had many narrow escapes. In Natal, he met and married Maria (Molly) Mullins, a woman of temperament and quick Irish moods, a fitting mate for one such as he.
At a public spiritual meeting in Bulawayo I noticed, to my surprise, that the medium was my old friend Tony Collins, whom I had not seen since Royal Air Force days in Britain. He then began giving public clairvoyance. His demonstration really impressed me as he gave so many evidential messages which were accepted by so many people. The thought immediately arose that he might have known all the people to whom he gave messages, but this I soon discarded as impossible as later I learned that most of the people concerned were total strangers to him.
After the meeting I had a talk with a medium, Fay Bayzley, and was invited to sit in a circle with her. Going home that night I thought of what Tony had told me "that there was a man behind me who came from pioneer stock" and then went on to describe him. Remembering this description I did a great deal of research in Rhodesian history and eventually found a photograph of Colenbrander, the description of which tallied in every respect with what Tony had given me! From that night on, all the disturbances in my home ceased, and I was troubled no more. It was explained to me that the guides had got in touch with me at last, had given me their identities, and were satisfied. Once communication between a medium and a control is established it is easy for them to obtain communication at most times. Since that time, I have heard many mediums under control and heard many clairvoyants demonstrating, and have heard - and taken part in many discussions about this.
Pursued by the Zulus, chased by the British and Boers, who wanted to arrest him for disturbing the peace in Zulu-land, Colenbrander went to Swaziland, where he traded under the protection of the king, Umbandine. There is an amusing story about him which I will relate. There was a great drought over the land and the witch-doctors and rainmakers pranced around and cast their spells in vain. Seeking for inspiration, and no doubt feeling the presence of the king's executioners breathing down their necks, they searched for an excuse for their failures. Suddenly, one of them had an inspiration. "It is the white man's house on the hill that is making the spirits angry," they cried. Colenbrander, who had a great knowledge of the African ways, posted a native of another tribe as a spy in the kraal. This native came rushing one day to warn him that an Ipi was being summoned to tear down the white house that was troubling the spirits, brick by brick.
With his usual energy, Colenbrander set to work throwing red clay up on the white walls and roof and when the howling mob arrived, they found a curiously coloured house there instead of a white one. Having been instructed to tear down a white house, they stopped, perplexed but while they thought about the matter, the dark clouds started to gather, and without warning, the heavens opened, and down came the rain.
Honour was satisfied, but Colenbrander decided to seek pastures new, and he travelled north. Eventually, he arrived at Bulawayo, "the place of the killing", where he won the respect of Lobengula and the Matabele nation, by his command of their language and customs. There are many stories about Colenbrander and his wife. Molly died as a young woman aged thirty-six, in 1899, and Johan abandoned his farms and mining claims to fight in the Boer war.
As you pass through the Essexvale area of Matabeleland, and travel towards Diana's pool, you enter a very historic area of Rhodesia. This was the area where the white man and the black man grappled for supremacy in those great rugged hills that form the granite Matopos. From there, Rhodes, taking John Colenbrander, the only man whom the Matabele trusted, as interpreter, rode out to parley with the Matabele and made a permanent peace with the natives.
Just beyond this area lies Fort Umlugalu, with its neat, white painted fence, and the graves of the troopers who fell in the fighting with the enemy. "For Queen and Country" reads the inscription, over their gravestones. Johan Colenbrander died as bravely as he lived, drowned in a flooded river in the Transvaal. Colenbrander had also led the Pioneer Column back from the Shangani river, after Allan Wilson was massacred.
One Sunday night in my earlier days, I went to a spiritualist church to see if I could get any more proof of survival. As is usual with most of the spiritualist services, they started off with prayers and hymns, then the seven principles of Spiritualism were read out and the president of the church took the service. Mary Watt, a very devout woman, who had suffered greatly from rheumatoid arthritis showed herself to me in spirit. Mary had died very suddenly from a stomach haemorrhage, and a few people had seen her since her passing. One of her colleagues saw her for a few moments just after her passing, when Mary smiled gently at her, and then went away. I saw her standing behind the rostrum, from which she had worked in her lifetime, thereby proving that souls carry on their beliefs and interests beyond the grave. Since then, I have seen her many times. The service proceeded, and the medium went into trance and gave an address. I was intrigued, to say the least, but not quite convinced as yet.'
For some reason Johan Colenbrander's given name was changed from time to time by the different people who knew him. These changes were recorded accordingly.
11 - The Belief In A Life After Death
The belief in a life after death must be given a completely new image. All the old trappings of mysticism and secrecy must be swept away. The cool, clear winds of change must sweep through, blowing away the chaff and leaving the grains of truth.
This knowledge is a way of life and can be explained clearly and simply. Anyone who knows this subject well and has knowledge, can argue with any authority and put his case across clearly and lucidly, bearing in mind the cardinal facts that only those who are developed intelligently enough to think of what happens beyond death, care to contemplate these facts. Many will argue vehemently that when you die, you die, but very, very few people really believe this.
As people grow older, their thoughts turn more and more to the infinite. It has often been said that spiritualism is a way-out religion, but it is no more way-out than many other religions. In fact it is often criticized by people who have no conception of what spirit philosophy is or of its aims and beliefs.
A medium's time is fully occupied in contacting spirit guides for the purpose of helping sitters with clairvoyance, light and heavy trance, and spiritual healings. I would like to explain that the real professional medium is a person of character and integrity, inspired by a wish for the welfare of his fellow-men. Mediums are really blessed with a wonderful gift.
12 - Advancement In The Spirit World
Every human being is responsible for his or her conduct all through their earthly and spiritual life, and his soul is a law unto itself. It takes on many bodies and returns to the plane of spirit after the discarding of these bodies.
If an advanced soul, for instance, comes upon this world again and decides to spend his life in a mass of debauchery and riotous living, then how can this soul carry out its plans of inevitable advancement? It must suffer tremendously, suffer terrific psychic sorrow and regret. It will take this soul a long time to climb back to the heights that he had reached before.
There was another circle in which Bill was present, conducting it in fact. This is what is called an open circle in which people are free to join. As you can imagine you get all types in a circle like this, ranging from the genuine and sincere to the sensation-seekers. The chief objections to such a circle is that you work on the lowest common denominator, which is the strength of the weakest member of the circle, thus rendering communication difficult, and constant changing of the circle is inevitable.
An elderly gentleman entered the room, bowed gravely and sat down, without comment. He did not offer to shake hands but just sat down, quietly observing things. The circle started off with the usual prayers to God and invocations to the Higher Powers, and the guide, Wise Owl, gave a trance address which was well received. Then came the time for clairvoyance, and he sat waiting for something to be revealed. Right away Bill's attention was diverted to the elderly gentleman and Chenon's guide, told him, 'Tell this man his father is here in spirit' and followed with a name and a description. 'Tell him that his mother is here', followed again with a name and description. 'Tell him that his sister is here', again followed by a name and a description. The old gentleman listened to him quietly, said, 'thank you' and that was all. No acknowledgement or anything.
Bill tried to find some messages for the rest of the circle but found that all the psychic power had been taken up by that man. Bill closed the circle and the old gentleman came up to him and said very quietly. 'Thank you for your messages, they were all extremely accurate. I woke this morning with a feeling that my dear ones were near me and that I should hear from them today. Out of the blue, a mutual friend, asked me to come to your circle and here I am. I am extremely glad I did, for you have convinced me that my loved ones live on. I will not be coming back as I have all the proof I needed now.' He said good-bye and went away. Bill realized later that he still did not even know his name. That, however, is totally unimportant, as the spirits work for all mankind and not for the aggrandizement of any one man or spirit. All that is important to spirit is that we are helped along the road that we have chosen, and they use the most suitable instrument that is readily available.
I reckon that a young soul in this world is far more open to temptations of all sorts of undesirable things than an old soul would be, because character traits and inclinations would not be the same. That is correct, but you must remember that we have the human element to fight against here. Even an old soul is very apt to fall into these temptations. Many a soul returns to this earth plane - and here I will elaborate on this point. Some people say that your whole lives are preordained. I do not, and cannot accept this theory. There are in lives, points, or milestones if you prefer, which are laid down and which we must pass.
If a soul desires to spend his life taking drugs, alcohol, or in other ways of bad living, he will stop his progress, and when eventually he passes over, he will find that he has achieved only a fraction of what it was desired he should do when on earth, during a reincarnation. The anguish of mind that an old soul experiences upon the planes of soul when he realizes the chances and opportunities he has missed, are much more severe than that of a young soul.
I have said before that the planes of soul are composed completely of thought. We now have this great overself clad in ethereal robes of a spiritual being, showing the facets of previous lives - and have a full knowledge of the previous lives. We often wonder and' conject what life is like on the much higher planes of soul. The only information we can obtain is as described by discarnate entities and by our astral travels in the planes of the astral, which is perhaps more reliable.
Briefly, the planes of soul through which the evolved younger souls may go through, happens by their own thoughts, and by taking them to the surroundings that they wish. So therefore, when we are newly passed on, you may find an agnostic or an atheist who passes over expecting nothing but utter finality, and will find themselves surrounded by a wall of darkness built up by their own thoughts. Similarly, a devout churchgoer may find himself in a land peopled by monks, priests, cathedrals, etc., and a farmer may find himself in a farmland of his dreams. This carries on all through the life in space until they drift through the spirit world like babies. Ever so slightly, and in the dream state, going through a state between reality and unreality, they have some knowledge of what is going on around them.
I would now like to bring in clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is given from the other side. It is the mind of the overself of a medium moving upwards when he picks up the vibrations from the planes of soul. Shall we consider this as a very educated look beyond the veil? I do not believe that it is possible for even the best of clairvoyants to be too accurate, as we have the human element of life with which to contend.
I am frequently asked, 'After you have gone through your incarnation for the last time upon this earth and you go back to the planes of soul, what happens to you?' Basically there are seven different planes of soul, all of which are attuned to different levels of development. We have an eighth plane, which is for still further development of the soul, then we have a ninth plane of soul which corresponds with the valley of the golden light. At this stage now, the soul comes to the crossroads. He has attained the level where he is becoming very far removed from the rest of humanity and the other souls, and now he can go two ways. He can become impersonal, cold, devoted entirely to the works of the Godhead when he would then join the angelic groups, but never returns again to the earth plane. He then is a servant of the true God.
The other ones have their warm feelings for mankind left intact Their wishes for men are still there. From the planes beyond the golden light, which is the gateway to far higher realms of consciousness, come the great masters who look on the eighth plane for adepts who are suitable for training for mastership. These are sent back to the earth to perform certain special tasks which must be performed by souls which can be trusted implicitly by the spiritual groups. From the highest planes of soul they are chosen. Then a special job is selected for them on this earth.
13 - More Psychic Experiences By Bill
One of my regular circle sitters, a middle aged woman, Jean by name, used to sit with us in our circles. She was transferred to another city and there developed a growth on her cheek, which rapidly spread and ulcerated. She obtained bad advice with unfortunate results and the growth grew worse, ultimately spreading over a wide area. When next I saw her, she was almost moribund and in a dreadful state. I was horrified to see my old friend in such a state and gave her some spiritual healing hoping to relieve her pain. She instantly fell asleep and as we watched her the lines of pain and worry left her face. That night she slept well, but later she subsequently died. I had previously carried on giving her absent healing, and I believed that she had benefited by the relief of the severe pain. I was grieved to hear of my old friend's death but was thankful that at last she was at rest.
A short time after her passing I was sitting in my room when I felt that Wise Owl wished to communicate with me. I concentrated, and was told to go and telephone this lady's sister - just that and nothing more. I did as requested, and as I spoke to my friend on the telephone, Jean's spirit manifested in front of me in all her spiritual glory.
I almost dropped the telephone in surprise, as Jean showed herself at the ideal spiritual age of about 35, with face smooth and unlined as a young girl, pretty as she must have been in the prime of her womanhood. Using the mannerism that she had used in her lifetime, she gave me a lot of evidential messages for her sister, and I relayed them over the telephone. She informed me that she was no longer suffering any pain and it was like awakening from a very deep sleep.
I can feel her standing here watching me closely as I write this message. She seems to say 'the spirit conquers all pain and suffering. All in the earthly life is temporary and passes, until eventually you find the greater reality which is the life beyond the grave.' Wonderful evidence of survival, I thought, as I put the telephone down. For those who seek, the dear ones will always prove their survival and existence after death.
I was lying on my bed one night in Bulawayo and feeling very restless and ill at ease for no apparent reason. I could not sleep and could not rest. I tried to probe the etheric to find out from the guides what was troubling me, but I got no response. Although I could see the faces of my guides and a vague spirit face, I could not get any messages at all. I noted the date and shortly fell asleep.
A few weeks later, out of the blue, I received a letter from my sister, overseas, informing me that my mother had died, and that it had been on the day that I noted in my diary. Like a flash I remembered then that it must have been my mother whom I saw in my attempt to sleep, and that she had come to say good-bye to me. This was the reason I had been so restless, and could not sleep that night
One of the kitchen-maids at the hospital in Scotland, was talking about an old woman who gave clairvoyance and asked us what we thought of it. We, in our early years of life, and thinking we had great experience, gave dozens of ideas as to why it could not work, and a long discussion took place, culminating in a decision that four men should go and see this old woman and try to expose her, if possible. I blush today to think about it, but go we did, and I was first in. As soon as she saw me she said, 'Sit down. You work in a hospital, I see you dressed in white. There are four men sitting for examinations, three of you will pass, one of you will fail. After sitting for the examination you will gain early promotion, get married, and the marriage will be an utter disaster. You will travel to a strange country, full of black men, which will become your permanent home. You will travel to other countries where you will see much warfare, bloodshed and killing. You will have health problems which will cause you great troubles, but you will overcome them.
You will marry again when you are much older, when the bitterness and disappointments are gone. In time you will become a very spiritual man, writing books and giving lectures on spiritual subjects. You will be a very controversial man in your lifetime and will rise to a very high position in the country you adopt as your home. Your father and mother will both die and leave you a very lonely man for a long time, but a marriage partner will be arranged for you. That is all. Come and see me in six months.'
In my mind I still remember the text of her reading. I left very chastened and went back in six months' time, but she had gone to an old folks' home, and I never saw her again. At times, God lifts a corner veil to give one an idea of which way your life should go. All that she told me has come true and is still coming true even to this day.
One day I was having a discussion with Mr. Gerald Edwards, a well known spiritualist, when he suddenly said to me, 'Did you know an African called Louis in the Congo when you were there?'
I replied, Yes' and inquired what was the connection. He said that he had had a mental vision of an African in spirit sitting in a boat drifting down a large river that he knew instinctively was the River Congo. The boat suddenly disappeared into a dark cave and did not emerge. He felt that was the end, and knew the African had died violently.
I listened to all this and accepted the message, then told him the story. This African had been a lieutenant in the Congolese Military Intelligence and had often called at our mess. I had talked to him a few times and got on well with him. He worked undercover for the Government, working with the rebel bands in the mountains and coming down to report to the Government Forces when he had the chance.
He was a very brave man, for every man's hand was against him. I heard afterwards that he had been caught and killed by the rebels. I had not thought of him for years and certainly Gerald knew nothing about him.
Clairvoyantly I have seen Louis on two occasions when he came from the spirit world to assure me that he was well and happy.
Another night, whilst on night duty as a hospital orderly in Scotland, I was attending a patient who was very seriously ill and about to die. I could see all the vital functions slowing down and death was approaching. As I watched the physical body I saw what appeared to be a bluish white vapour emerging.
Before my eyes I saw this bluish-white mass drifting away from the body. As I looked in disbelief I saw a spirit face forming and recognized my patient. With a final sigh, the vital life forces left the body and the spirit departed.
I had a most interesting sequel to this incident about ten years later, when that same soul in his spirit robes presented himself at one of my circles and identified himself to me. I had no difficulty in recognizing him.
A girl I once knew very well called Jenny, had developed leukemia. In spite of medical treatment, spiritual healing and prayer, she declined steadily and grew worse. Eventually she died, and I was one of the pall bearers at her funeral.
As I walked down the church aisle, I was conscious of Jenny's spirit presence close to me during the service, and as I was listening to the prayers with bowed head I seemed to hear her voice saying 'Look Uncle Bill, I am alive and well. I have no pain and feel wonderful.'
I wondered how she would feel when she saw her coffin being put into the ground, but I felt no disturbance in the etheric. As I left the churchyard I felt her again by my side, and she must have read my thoughts for I heard her clairaudiently 'It doesn't matter, Uncle Bill; it is all over now.' As she was a girl of fair spiritual knowledge and had a belief in an after life. I could understand that her passing meant nothing to her, and was but a joyous release.
A lady called on me one day for a spiritual consultation. As she knocked on the door 'Wise Owl' inspired me, and said right away 'Tell her that she must not sell her property. Her husband is getting a job in an area near her home and she must not leave the country.' I told her all this before the lady had even said 'good evening'. She was taken aback, acknowledged the truth of what I had said and remarked that that was confirmation of what she wanted.
One day Mrs. Enid du Buisson - one of the regular sitters in our circle - brought with her a tape-recording machine, hoping to record some of Wise Owl's talks. When the tape was played back, not only did we hear Wise Owl's voice quite clearly, but, to our surprise, we heard many African voices trying to shout above the voice of Wise Owl. Unfortunately there were so many voices all speaking together and all in different dialects, it was impossible to hear what they were saying.
Peculiarly enough, we did not hear these voices in the actual circle, but only on the tape.
For some time I was a medical orderly with the White Missionaries in the Congo. On the far side of a clearing I had set up a table with my scanty medical equipment, and very soon hordes of Africans surrounded me. All the ills and diseases of Africa were present. A small fire for sterilizing my few instruments and syringes was burning not far away. There were surgical cases, infectious diseases, ophthalmic, orthopaedic and medical cases, most of them beyond my abilities and capabilities. Truly he who practises medicine in Africa learns the hard way. There was a stretcher brought up in front of me, borne by two stalwart Africans. On the stretcher was an emaciated old lady with a huge swelling on her throat, obviously a cancer of the thyroid. The two men, who were her sons, laid her down at my feet. She was nearly moribund, and was dying.
There was no point in mincing matters. I told her sons that it was far too late, that they must take her home to die. She was obviously a person of some importance, the wife of a chief I was told. In a weak voice she spoke to one of her sons in a native vernacular - that I could not understand, but one of them translated it into Kiswahili. 'My mother says to tell you not to change. Stay a nice young man, stay nice.' With that, they lifted up the stretcher to take her home to die. The African is not, as a rule, afraid to die, and years later I saw the same old lady coming through at a séance that was being held. I was given evidential proof of who she was, and was not a little amused to be told that though I could not heal her, she had been healed soon after she passed over and now had no bodily afflictions or physical disabilities. She often comes to see me and is progressing very rapidly in the spirit world.
I was offered the position of charge nurse at Erskine Hospital in Scotland for ex-service men, on the outskirts of Glasgow, and I jumped at the offer. The hospital itself is new and modern but the actual residents' quarters were part of an old castle, originally owned by one of the ancient Scottish families, dating back many hundreds of years and very definitely haunted! Many a time, when on night shift, I used to wander over the castle, feet sounding hollow on the flagstones. I could hear the rattle of chains in the dungeons below and ghostly lights would appear at times and for the first time in years I saw a ghost, dressed as a sixteenth-century nobleman, ruffs up to his neck, sword at his side, and staring at me! As I looked at him, he raised a hand in salutation and was gone. There were great psychic manifestations in that old castle.
Rarely does a spirit remember his previous life in the spirit world when having reincarnated to the earth world. There are exceptions of course, but I am only aware of one occasion.
A very close friend of mine had a nephew who at the early age of three was able to talk intelligently and told his parents that he would only be with them for a very short time. He told them that he would die about the age of twelve, and that his mother would pass over about the same time.
This prophecy from a mere child of three came true exactly as he had predicted thereby showing that the boy had known where he had come from, and had remembered what the spirit people had told him before he left them.
I came face to face with a spirit. I received a report that an African guard had seen a European, who was acting suspiciously. I conducted an investigation and found nothing, but the African was clearly terrified. On being questioned closely he stated that he had seen a European, clad in a garb he could not describe, with long hair down to his shoulders, staring at him. When he spoke to this apparition it promptly disappeared in front of him.
Leaving him, I went home, but I suddenly saw this same spirit myself in Victorian dress. For a fleeting moment he stood in front of me, smiling, then he disappeared, leaving me very thoughtful indeed! I was to see this wonderful spirit many times again, and soon found out his identity.
Psychometry
When I was sitting with Mrs. Rosamund Johnstone one day, she asked me to psychometrize an object which she had covered so I could not see it. I held the object in my hands for a few minutes but received no impressions and handed it back to her with apologies. However, a few minutes later I became aware of a spirit figure in the room and clairvoyantly I saw a Roman in full battle order standing behind Mrs. Johnstone. Simultaneously I heard the clump of iron-shod boots and heard shouted commands. I also heard the name Publius Agrippa being called out.
I gave Mrs. Johnstone all this information which I had seen and heard. She then took the cover from the object, which I was informed was a piece of stone from the floor of an old Roman fort in Britain. She told me that only that morning she had been trying to make contact with her spirit guide to learn that Roman's name and identity, and I had been able to answer her question.
14 - Lobengula And Rhodesia By Bill
Stepping off the airway at Bulawayo is an experience I have repeated often, but always I have the feeling that I am very welcome when I meet the cheery affable, officials there, and hear the traditional greetings of the Matabele tribesmen.
I was met by a man who was destined to become a very good friend of mine indeed. He now holds a very senior position in the Rhodesian Prison Service and we have had many good times together since. We were conveyed to the Khami prison, where I had accepted the position of medical orderly. The prison was close to the brooding ruins of the stone edifices that the ancient people of Rhodesia once built and inhabited.
Before we go on to prison life, I would like to go into a few details about Bulawayo 'the place of killing' as it is known. I am an inveterate reader and as such realized that history reflects the personal beliefs of the writers of their period. As I was in a strange country I set out to discover as much as I could about the history, culture and traditions of the indigenous population, not only from books, text books and references, but from native folklore. This is the history of the Matabele people as I understood it from my spirit guide, Wise Owl.
The Matabele are descended from two men, Zulu and Qwabi, and are a branch of the Nouni people. The name Zulu, or more correctly Amazulu, means the people of the stars. Originally coming from the Congo and pressing down to South Africa, they followed in the footsteps of the Sivazis, who were the first pure Bantu tribe in Southern Africa. According to their legends many places were already in ruins when they pressed down on their great migrations when they split up, due to a quarrel between Zulu and Qwabi the nation disintegrated, only to be reunited by the dreaded Ghaka Zulu, who it was said had been taught the rudiments of warfare by a white man who was an ex-soldier. It was not certain who this white man was, but certainly Chaka Zulu adopted the short stabbing spear and close quarter fighting, and someone had taught him military tactics. He must have been a very interesting study from a psychological point of view as he showed many psychiatric aberrations. He was the illegitimate son of a royal woman called Mnandi (sweet one) who was made pregnant by her lover, who was subsequently put to death for his sins.
Being of royal blood Mnandi was banished to a remote part of the country to bear her child alone. It is said that she named the child Chaka, because when she talked to her lover about being pregnant, he laughed at her and said, 'You have worms in your belly, not a child' (Chaka meaning worms). So Chaka grew up a moody, introverted child, devoted to his mother, and with a great lust for power. In time he was to seize power and take a terrible revenge for his real and imagined insults. He forged a great fighting machine out of the Zulu nations, and as absolute power corrupts and destroys any man or government in the long run, so it destroyed Chaka, who was eventually murdered by his own brother Dingaan.
His harsh and severe methods soon alienated many of his Indunas, the first to desert being Nwongendaba who travelled North to Rhodesia. Reaching the site of the Khami ruins he found the Mambo, the King of Barozwi and Makalanga people and in a great fight he defeated the army of the Mambo, and forced him to flee.
According to tradition, the Mambo's cattle were grazed in the vleis around the ruins. A great fire was ignited that burned for days around Mambo's Kraal and the ruins. The Mambo fled to Intabas Zi Ka Mambo, where he was captured after a battle, taken to Dhlo Dhlo ruins in the Insiza area and there put to death by being slowly skinned alive.
From there Nwongendaba headed north trying to put as much territory as possible between him and the dreaded Chaka. He arrived in what is now Malawi, and settled in the Deilza area where he eventually died. The next to break away was Mzilikazi Ka Matshobana, one of the king's favourite generals who was too successful for his own good. He was sent away on a cattle-raid, and decided to keep on travelling. He travelled as far as the Transvaal, settling down at Ntabas Bosega in the Marico district where he continued his pastime of decimating all the other tribes in the area. He enjoyed a great success on the whole although he failed to defeat Moshesh, the great Basuto chief.
Already fate was reaching out her hand to touch him. One of his Impis attacked a home belonging to a Boer family called Liebenberg, and was supposed to have captured three white children. Their capture is commemorated in the Afrikaans poem 'The Three Children' and according to the most reliable sources these children did not live long and died in the Groot Marico river. Sara Liebenberg, one of the family, survived for many years, and died of a snake bite in the Matopo Hills. Some sources say that Lobengula Khumalo was taken from his mother who was dying and was cared for by Sara Liebenberg, almost from birth. Because of this he was very partial to white people and always treated them with courtesy and respect. I had confirmation of this from surviving members of Lobengula's family quite recently.
The Boers attacked Mzilikazi and routed him, and as he was similarly threatened by Impis sent by Dingaan he decided to cross the Limpopo river, investigate the country beyond, leave his people there, and explore the country beyond the Zambezi river, with a view to making his home there with the great river between his enemies and himself. It is interesting to note that when the Europeans threatened his country, Lobengula also had the idea of travelling north and establishing his kingdom there, but time caught up with him. Many of his people crossed over to the protection of Lewanika of Barotseland and the names of Khumalo, Nxumalo and other Matabele names are still found in Barotseland. Many of the Matabele tried to put a story around that Lobengula crossed the Zambezi river and died there, to stop people looking for his body, but that story is not true. He sleeps in peace in Rhodesia, and the wealth that he amassed in his life is still buried in that country.
Like a great flood the Matabele poured into the country in three columns. Moving up through the Matopos Hills, they came upon the cave of the Mlimo, at Nylete, where the Matabele witchdoctor or Umtan Mlimo gave them clairvoyance. They joined up at Natabasinduna, which was then called Donlo-re Mambo or the Mountain of Mambo. Mzilikazi took his fighting men north to try and force a passage over the Zambezi. He was tricked by the river men or Batongas who he had forced to take him over the river in their canoes or makorras. They took him half-way across to some island and then left him and his warriors there. There was terrible mortality from disease, and he was forced to give up and report back to his people at Ntabas Induna, after a long prolonged absence.
Meantime the tribe was left in confusion, not knowing what had happened to the king, and at length it was decided to make Nkalumani king in his father's place. It is interesting to note here that he was called after Kuruman, the mission station of Robert Moffat, the Scottish missionary who had such a tremendous influence over Mzilikazi. Preparations were underway to proclaim Nkulumani as king, when up rolled Mzilikazi! In dreadful silence he listened to explanations. Then he condemned all the Indunas chiefs implicated, to be put to death, and the royal children strangled to death. Members of the royal family were not allowed to be stabbed, or have their blood spilled, so they were either hanged or strangled.
In practice, they were given the opportunity of hanging themselves, as in die case of Lobengula's sister, Ningi, who was accused of witchcraft, and condemned to death by order of the king. Unnatural births such as breech presentations, other abnormalities, twins, albinos, etc., were according to their beliefs, caused through dealing with witches. These children were taken out to the hill just below Bulawayo, called Ntabus Tagati where they were dispatched by a blow on the head.
Those who were to be executed were taken out of the kraal at night far away into the bush and executed at dawn, so that their spirits could not find their way back to the kraal. This also explains why African tracks in the bush always wind and twist, hoping to deceive the spirits who walk at night or ride on the backs of hyenas or ant-eaters. The place of execution in the Matopos was called Ekatabula-weni. The royal children having been strangled thereby opened the way for Lobengula ultimately to ascend the throne.
Being the son of a Swazi woman, he was not legally entitled to the throne and this started a civil war when he became king, resulting in a battle against the Nivongendaba on the Bembesi river in the Inyati area, which Lobengula's forces won.
Some time ago, I had the opportunity of meeting an aged Matabele woman, who turned out to be the sister of the Induna of the Nivongendaba regiment, Mbigo. She was very ancient and suspicious of Europeans, but I learned a few stories from her.
At this time, the Boers under Potgieter made a raid into Matabeleland and took some of the king's cattle. The Boers were forced to retreat and Mzilikazi retreated towards the Matopos for security and protection. Here he built his last kraal and in 1868 he passed away peacefully. 'The mountain had fallen', said the Matabele, the people of the long shields. The grizzled, scarred old warrior had gone to rest. There was to be an interregnum of almost two years, while a regent, Unnombata, ruled the country and a search was made for Nkulumani. In the year 1870 he reluctantly ascended the throne, and was crowned. His father's remains were interred at Entumbane on the Old Gwanda Road, near Bulawayo and Lobengula, king of the wind, had many problems to face, especially from the white man who had greedy eyes on the wealth of his country.
Dr. Jameson visited Lobengula at his kraal, and Rhodes stationed a representative there as an intermediary. This man was Johan Colenbrander, one of the most able and underrated of pre-pioneer days. It was said that Lobengula feared him because he could read the king's mind. The king was in the habit of consulting the Mlimo at the Matopos frequently, for advice. The cave of the Mlimo consisted of a hole in the rock, from which a voice emerged giving clairvoyance somewhat similar to the oracle of Delphi, and may have had the same origin, for the Makalange do not know from whence the custom came. In all probability it was inherited from the ancients of Africa.
It is interesting to note that all African beliefs stem from the immortality of the soul, and that all luck, good or bad, is governed by the spirits of their ancestors.
The Matabeleland and their vassals still live on in the province of Matabeleland, but are being slowly swamped by other tribes. Around Fort Victoria live the Makaranga people, an industrial people who have been the longest in Africa, of all the Bantu tribes. In the north live the Mas-honas, and in Manicaland live the Manicans who comprise most of the native police.
In the lowlands live the Shangaans and in the Zambezi valley there are the Batongas with the Bavenda tribe who live around Beit Bridge. These are the main tribes and one of the aims of the African Nationalists was to expound the theory that all Africans are brothers, and must unite against the white man. In this, they failed dismally, as tribalism is an integral part of Africa and can never be wiped out. The Nationalist parties split up roughly, corresponding to their tribes under their leaders. A wave of terror and intimidation started in the townships, the political parties were banned, their leaders arrested, or restricted and the thugs were put in jail.
15 - Khami Ruins - Astral Visions Through Bill's Clairvoyance
The Bantu Lords found the ruins of Khami empty and deserted. The ancients had long gone, with no trace of their passing. They stared open-mouthed, these primitive savage men, not understanding how these ruins could have been constructed, and, as one of their chiefs told the great Frederick Selous, 'They were built by white Gods when the rocks were soft.' These ruins were old and abandoned when the Bantu arrived, and there was no question of the Bantu having built any of them. When the Portuguese arrived, in 1509, the ruins were already overgrown with trees, and sadly decayed. However, we do know that Manomatus people did erect primitive buildings, using stones filched from these ruins, but the African had no knowledge of building edifices of importance until the coming of the European.
The Bantu poured into the land like a ravening swarm of locusts, killing off the bushmen and pushing them into the remote areas. It is interesting to note that according to the spirit people there is a lot of the blood of the ancients in the Damara people of South-West Africa.
Many of the half-cast children of the ancients fled to South-West Africa for refuge and formed that distinctive people. The Bushmen were taught the art of rock paintings by the ancients, and this craft is still preserved to this day.
If you see a Bushman's painting, study it closely. Many of the figures are definitely not of Africans, but of the ancient race. A typical example is Diana's Vow. I now see the dauntless Father Silveira, armed only with his faith and his crucifix, pushing bravely into the interior. He reaches the court of Monomatopa and preaches the faith, only to find, like many another prophet, that he was before his time. He died foully murdered, and even today his grave is unknown. I still like to think, however, that in the planes of spirit, his love for mankind still actuates and motivates him, and that he is still working for our benefit and upliftment.
The Portuguese came and arranged their mission stations, but they too were before their time. At the collapse of the Monopotapun dynasty, Changamire drove them out of Rhodesia, and their influence "was broken forever. The Mo-carangan empire was no more. It dissolved into a collection of units, constantly bickering and quarrelling among themselves. This old weary world rolled on until eventually there were uneasy rumblings down south. The great warlord Chaka has arisen and is due to change the history of the sub-continent.
During another visit to the astral I saw a continuation of this wonderful vision. Chaka was a great military genius, and, but for accidents of fate could have been known as the mightiest and greatest of all African leaders. The fact that he was born illegitimate, and his mother, for whom he had an overpowering affection, was despised and rejected by the tribe, created bitterness in him that manifested into a hatred of all mankind. He organized his Impies and travelled over the whole of South Africa. When he walked, men trembled, and usually men died. Owing to his excessive cruelty some of his Indunas rebelled against him and fled. First to go was Zwangendaba who found the Mambo at Khami ruins.
In a bloody battle the Mambo were defeated, and great parts of the ruins were knocked down and burnt] The Mambo fled to Intabas Zi Ka Mambo where, after another fight, he was captured and put to death at Dhlo Dhlo ruins. The victorious Nguri regiments swept through the Dedza in Malawi to set up a kingdom.
Khami prison is a very forbidding edifice set in the heart of the Rhodesian bush nearly twenty miles from Bulawayo. It is situated on a farm which was bought by the Rhodesian government. As you look at it, it seems a very malignant place, brooding, silent, watching. Many a van load of unfortunates has entered through those green gates to be incarcerated there for a long time. It was to this place that I was sent as a male nurse, taking a young wife and child into totally unfamiliar surroundings, which quite frankly terrified and appalled her.
The life of a prison officer is one which can quickly brutalize and degrade a man if he allows or permits it. Nowadays, the prison service is much different from other similar positions, due mainly to the efforts of the present Director of Prisons, who is a very humane and enlightened man. Male nurses, in spite of having a hard-won professional qualification are treated as prison officers (junior staff) and this caused a lot of friction in the old days.
Coming from a post where I was in charge of a large ward in a British hospital, to being in charge of a small dispensary, quickly brought a feeling of disillusionment, but the all round experience was wonderful. Here I received a great insight into human personality and the problems which men face. It is hard for the ordinary man to know how grateful an inmate of a prison can be for small favours, especially a normally self-respecting citizen, who has stepped off the rails, made a mistake, and been shut up among criminals. To the hardened criminal, prison means nothing at all, in fact he often welcomes it. To many Africans the prison diet is far superior to anything that he normally eats. The white officers treat him leniently, the work is light and he has no worries. In fact, they are supremely happy in most cases. There is definitely what the criminologist calls a tendency towards a criminal mentality, and in prison you see the same old faces, time and time again.
Another of my previous ideas was also changed here, emphasizing the dangers of fixed and preconceived ideas. I had always believed in capital punishment for murder until I realized what a demoralizing effect a man's conscience has upon him when it is a guilty one. Locked up for years to brood and think upon what he has done, most murderers repent and turn to God. Execution, on the other hand is a brutal and degrading business, launching a bitter resentful soul into the etheric, full of hate and resentment of society.
One day an old man was admitted to the prison. He wore the regalia of a tribal witch doctor, which he later admitted that he was. All his paraphernalia was confiscated, much to his disgust, and he promptly swore that a drought would descend upon the whole area, as punishment for the way in which he had been treated.
He was kept in prison for nearly two years, and during that time no rain fell in the prison area. It was truly remarkable to see rain falling on adjacent farms, and none falling on the prison farm at all. After his release from prison, we had copious rains the following season, but whether this was due to a freak of nature, a curse, or coincidence, I cannot tell.
17 - U.D.I. At Khami Prison By Bill
Sitting at the club at the prison listening to the Rhodesian election results pouring in for the general election for 1964, one had a curious sense of destiny, that events in Rhodesia were rolling in a pattern that could not be changed. All night long the results kept coming in and by midnight it was obvious that the Rhodesian front had won an overwhelming victory. Indeed, it turned out that they had captured every seat, and the Rhodesian Party of Mr. Butler was so reduced that the party shortly afterwards disbanded, leaving no effective opposition to Mr. Ian Smith.
Great diplomatic comings and goings were experienced, and eventually a state of emergency was declared, pointing out to everyone concerned that a Unilateral Declaration of Independence could be expected at any moment. Slowly the wheels of destiny were certainly moving, and Rhodesia was on a collision course which was to have profound effect upon her history, the pattern of future events, and indeed the character of her people. A blanket of official secrecy was to descend, which has never been raised. We in Rhodesia, little knew the long hard road that lay ahead, and indeed, still lies ahead of us.
The prison at this time had a great number of what were termed 'political figures' but in reality were mostly murderers, thugs and hooligans. Most of the African township of those days were hot beds of intimidation, and woe betide any African who did not possess a membership card of one of the banned African political organizations. He would be brutally assaulted, and in many cases killed. All were forced to contribute to these parties in the name of African solidarity and independence, and the poor Rhodesian African subscribed his last few shillings.
Petrol bombs were very much in evidence and terrorist forays were starting from across the border where they had security and encouragement. It is interesting at this point to note that history has always proved that any man or group of men who attain power by brutality and the abuse of power, must sooner or later be swept out of office by the same means that they used to obtain office. We in Rhodesia were shocked and shattered to see the Lumpa religious sect, who only wished to worship God in their own way, mown down by black troops in Zambia. Over one thousand of them were estimated to have been killed, most of them unarmed or armed with very primitive weapons. Many of them fled into the Congo for refuge and are still there to this day, terrified to return to an independent Zambia.
The pattern of events that had been seen in other parts of Africa were now to be seen in Rhodesia, and communist literature was found, in many cases proving Russian and Chinese implication behind the terrorism and troubles. Many of the terrorists who were captured protested that they had been lured out of Rhodesia into Zambia with the promise of educational grants and the facilities to study. The snag was that the facilities offered were outside Rhodesia and the unfortunate Rhodesian was handed a uniform and whisked away for training, often behind the Iron Curtain.
I cannot elaborate on this point, but certain types were selected for training in certain countries, and were far better trained and indoctrinated than those who were merely trained in Africa. It is also very interesting to note that an African with white leadership is a very good fighting man indeed, as our own Rhodesian Regiments in Rhodesia have proved, but officered by their own kind they go to pieces very quickly.
Treatment of prisoners was and is very fair, the authorities bend over backwards to help and rehabilitate those who are willing to help themselves.
Slowly the signs developed for action. Eventually, on November 11th, 1965, we were told to stand by for an important announcement at 1.15 p.m. We all knew what was going to happen but formalities had to be observed. Intense diplomatic activities were noticed in Salisbury and many of the foreign embassies were preparing to pack up and leave the country. At last it had happened. We were an Independent country and the Union Jack had gone for ever.
Rhodesia accepted the news quietly on the whole, very mixed feelings being experienced by all. We were all on stand-by for trouble, so there was very little celebrating as you may imagine. President Kaunda, that staunch churchman so beloved of the World Council of Churches - even though he was responsible for the murder of a thousand innocents who happened to belong to an unrecognized religious sect - wept 'crocodile tears' about the iniquity of Rhodesia's conduct.
One day I came home from work feeling very ill with a very high temperature and over the next few days I could neither walk nor stand. One night, while in this condition, I had a curious feeling and found myself drifting near to the ceiling, looking down at my own body. There was a wonderful feeling of drifting, of peace, and contentment, but suddenly I felt a wish to return to my body and a voice said, 'You still have work to do.'
Though I did not know it at the time, that was an experience of the phenomena known as astral projection, or the voluntary or involuntary freeing of the astral body from the physical body. Main requisites for this are a feeling of complete calm and relaxation, coupled with a slow cardiac and respiratory rate. Many of the Eastern mystics can do this at will, and slow their heart beats down to the minimum level for astral projection. Buddhist monks in Japan during meditation and under medical supervision have been known to slow down their vital body functions almost to a state of suspended animation. In mediums under control, there are profound physiological changes in the body, including biochemical changes. It is also interesting to note that the weight of a medium changes during trance, and in the phenomena known as 'direct voice', a medium has sometimes been known to lose 60 pounds temporarily. These are not idle statements, they have been checked scientifically.
It is also interesting to note that many eminent scientists, such as Sir Oliver Lodge, believed implicitly in spiritual philosophy. Clergymen, such as the Revd. Stainton Moses, and soldiers, such as Lord Tedder, believed in it to such an extent that they sat in rescue circles to help the fallen soldiers. Many intelligent and intellectual people have, and still do, believe implicitly in survival and they are very far from being a set of cranks. Lord Dowding is in continuous contact with his airmen who are now in the spirit world. In my experience most people who criticize do not know the first thing about the subject of survival and it is part of man's nature that he fears what he does not understand.
One day I, with eleven friends, some of whom were mediums, held a sitting in the Khami Ruins. We all sat on stones which we found lying about. The sitting took just over three hours.
After a very short time, I was taken in deep trance by my guide, Brother Paul with Francis following.
Paul told the sitters that King Kadesu was the King of the Khami area about the years 3600 B.C. and that Kadesu was with him now, but could not speak English, so he spoke through an interpreter, Johan Colenbrander.
Kadesu said that Khami was built by the same builders as the ones who built Zimbabwe, which accounted for the many similarities in construction. He was wearing the costume of the period of his early lifetime - white gown, kirtle, breast plates, metal ornaments, and a waist band with pouches to hold gold nuggets. He also wore a round shield of beaten gold about fourteen inches in diameter. In the centre of the shield was a brilliant red circle representing the sun, with bright red lines running from the sun to the perimeter of the shield to represent the rays of the sun, reminiscent of ancient Egypt of Ahknaton's time. He said that people in those days were put to death so that their spirits would be able to protect the tombs, valuables and tunnels beneath the massive constructions.
The sun discs were used for ceremonial purposes by the high priests with great knowledge of astrology and astronomy, and were known as the Discs of Aten similar to those used by the Egyptian King Ahknaton of those days.
Francis then took over and said that Zimbabwe was built before Khami as the Phoenicians landed from the sea where Mozambique now lies, then took a caravan route past many buildings where they rested from time to time. These buildings have been in ruins for many years, but some of the ruins and also fragments of the caravan road can still be identified to this day.
The Phoenicians passed through the area which is now Melsetter, to Bechuanaland now known as Boswana, after settling at Zimbabwe and Khami. They brought with them a large number of donkeys, horses, cattle, and tame zebras. They did try to tame elephants, knowing how useful they could be, but failed in the attempt.
18 - Ancient Tomb Protected By Spirits By Bill
At one time I was very friendly with an African whose intellect was quite above the average. He often used to visit me in my room for talks on politics, racialism, the progress of the Africans and other subjects.
One day, this African burst into my room without his usual knock on the door. He was trembling from head to foot, and he looked as if he had received a severe shock.
I got him to sit down, gave him a glass of water, and when he put the glass to his mouth, it sounded against his teeth like castanets. I told him to rest until his trembling had ceased, and he felt well enough to talk. I would then try and help him, suspecting that something psychic had upset him.
When he was able to talk, he told me that every Sunday he walked a few miles into the bush to see if he could find one or more formations of rock which might look as if they had been interfered with, and where it might be possible that gold or valuables, or both, could have been buried there many years ago. He said that the previous Sunday he came across a rather high rock formation only a few miles from Bulawayo that might have been used for this purpose.
When he had climbed almost to the top he saw markings that looked like hair lines in several places. He had to look very closely to be able to see even these, and suddenly he realized that the hair lines were joints in the rocks which had been cut out and replaced very carefully, obviously to hide the fact that something was hidden there. He carefully noticed the route he had walked to that particular rock formation and then returned home.
Realizing that this method was a customary one adopted by his forebears, he could hardly wait until the following Sunday, when he took with him a pick, spade and strong crowbar. He found the exact spot again after little difficulty and started to climb the rock. When he was half-way to the top he suddenly felt cold all over, in spite of the fact that the sun was very hot and he had no shade.
He looked around and to his horror, he saw coming towards him between ten and twelve warriors in full war regalia, all with spears and shields. He did not stop to count them, and as they continued to walk towards him, he dropped his tools and ran for his life. He turned his head round once, to see if they were gaining on him and was terrified to see that they were slowly disappearing. He had not realized that all those warriors were spirits until he saw this happen, and that they must have been near the tomb to prevent anyone discovering whatever was buried in the cave. He said that he did not stop running until he reached my room, as I was the first person he thought could help him.
When I realized that he was feeling more normal again, I explained to him that it was quite possible that somebody had been buried there, maybe with valuables, and that the spirits were there to watch over the cave to prevent any earth people discovering its contents even if the cave was centuries old. I added that I was not sure if they would have harmed him. They would try to prevent him from opening the cave by frightening him away, which they did very effectively.
Later, under inspiration again, my spirit guide 'Wise Owl' said to me, 'Son, do not worry about this tomb. There are no valuables there, only an embalmed body of an ancient chief from many years ago.'
I cannot reveal the African's name or the locality, but I have since stood on the site indicated by him, and have seen those spirit Matabele warriors with their shields, feathers, and spears, standing on the mountain watching for possible intruders with very hostile expressions. Waves of hostility seemed to emanate from them.
The following came to me by inspiration. When King Lobengula heard of the coming of the white man he was very worried and concerned. He went to visit the Mlimo in the Matopos, where the Kalanga god, or oracle, stayed for the giving of clairvoyance.
The Mlimo had his dwelling place in a mountain called Njelele, and made his home in a cave. This cave has curious acoustic properties, and the voice of the oracle booms out through a crack in the rock. The voice gives clairvoyance mainly about weather, crops, and tribal affairs in many dialects. It also gives off sounds such as the crowing of the cock, the bleating of a sheep, and other animal noises.
Lobengula was advised that the white men were definitely coming, and that he would be conquered. He was further advised that he should hide all his accumulated treasures in a safe place. On his return to the Royal kraal at Bulawayo he loaded up his ox wagons with all his possessions and trekked away. On arriving at a hill in Matabeleland a halt was made, and an excavation dug in the side of this hill.
The treasure was placed inside and the party settled down to sleep. During the night, Lobengula had all the porters stabbed to death so only he and four chiefs remained. One of the chiefs was buried alive at the entrance to the excavation so that his spirit could guard the king's treasure.
I had an interview with the Umtaan Mlimo or priest a couple of years ago. The sitting was not a great success because of the inadequacy of the interpreter.
His village is on the outskirts of the Matopos amongst the granite slopes of the majestic granite mountains. To reach the cave of the Mlimo, one has to climb the face of Mjelele mountain and reach the place by a circuitous path. Many, many feet have worn a path up these mountain trails. Every year in September or October people are sent from their kraals to inquire about the prospects of rain. Reaching the cave they squat and clap their hands, imploring the Mlimo for advice, which is then usually acted upon.
Later a descendant of Lobengula intended digging up the valuables. He went to the excavation and built a fire, sprinkling herbal medicine on the fire, and chanted the names of his ancestors as was the custom. When an African wishes to communicate with his ancestors, it is also the custom to offer beer, beef and snuff to propitiate their ancestors and call out their praise names, lauding their greatness. This he did.
This African must have become aware of a psychic disturbance for glancing up he saw a regiment of Matabele warriors staring at him. Looking at these spirit warriors in awe for a few moments he saw the massed regiment start to descend towards him, and he turned tail and ran.
19 - Zimbabwe And Its Origination
The thought comes unbidden to my mind as I think of a conversation I had recently with Wise Owl about the wonders of a past and dead civilization in Rhodesia. I am corrected immediately, for who are the dead? Certainly not those who have gone on, for they are more alive than ever they have been. Certainly we on this plane of life, encased in a material body, and vibrating at a much lower rate than those in spirit, could more probably be called 'the dead'!
All through man's history he has had visions, and the dreamers and seers have often changed the history of man. The Bible is full of incidents of visions but the pattern of man has never changed and never will. When the mantle of spirit falls upon me the material visions will fade, and the consciousness expand. Seeing the past from the great Akashic Record, the probability of the future unveils like a giant panorama in front of me. I sit in deep meditation.
Wise Owl's very deep, soft voice said 'Listen while I tell you some of the history of man so that mankind will know one day, of the wonders of this country of Rhodesia, and in years to come will know that you do see true visions, and I, Wise Owl, always relate accurate happenings. In years to come, men armed with certain machines will prove my words.' The vision fades, grows dark, then the shroud of time is pulled away, and with alarming clarity I see it all.
'We must go a long way back into the mists of history, and I have gathered around me spirit advisers from the past, to help me out. These spirit souls lived at the time these interesting buildings were constructed and re-built, and they know more than I do, but together we will try and answer all your questions.'
Let us first go back to the time of Atlantis. Atlantis really did exist, and was a very advanced, flourishing centre of civilization. Records of their civilization are still existent in libraries of occult societies all over the world. They reached a great degree of knowledge, far surpassing anything in the world today.
We must mention here, that at no time in the history of the world, has there been such a totally barbaric race of man, and at the same time such a totally enlightened community. The world has always been a mixture, ranging from the bestial to the very advanced forms of mankind, such as Atlanteans or the Lemurians. It goes without saying that these people were regarded as Gods from another dimension by the people with whom they came into contact. Atlantis was always ruled by the priest class, most of whom worked purely on inspiration or pure thought, and under the enlightened and just rule of the priests, the continent flourished and grew in stature and spiritual splendour.
As time passed, more and more attention was paid to orthodoxy by the priests and the priesthood became stereotyped, and later corrupt. Atomic and solar power, which had always been used for domestic and peaceful uses were diverted towards making instruments of war, and Atlantis started to split up into different warring sects. Slowly the power of the priests was broken and they were relegated to an inferior status.
Power was seized by the secular people and a race of warrior kings arose, called the Dark Lords of Atlantis. They were very powerful men, dark faced, with long black hair and very strange eyes. Most of them had a light in their eyes which today is seen among the gypsies of Europe and the bushmen of the Kalahari. These are about the only true descendants of the Atlanteans in the world today. They were very tall men, some of them being up to 8 feet tall, slender and perfectly proportioned. All of them were true experts in astronomy and astrology, and they were wonderful technologists, having knowledge of space-craft, flying machines, and machines for cutting and boring through rock. All of their apparatus was powered by solar energy, and atomic power to a lesser degree.
It is written that a great civilization can only rise to a certain point and then will start a downward trend. Atlantis was well on the way down when the Dark Lords took over and started developing weapons to destroy each other. War broke out, and the whole earth reeled. The world has been found to be 16 degrees off perpendicular, and this, it is thought, was caused by this strife. Great stretches of the world became flooded and inundated, and other parts of the globe emerged to form new worlds out of the chaos. The gods came no more to primitive man, and lived on only in their legends.
Not all of the Atlanteans perished, many escaped to new lands to live among the barbarians and raise buildings and monoliths, which remain today as great mysteries, and which have never been solved. Some fled to South America, where they built extensively, and mined minerals on a grand scale. We are not concerned here with Thursday or Easter Islands as the ruins and tablets there belong to the Lemeurian civilization rather than Atlanteans.
In the early days, the Kalahari Desert was an inland sea, but with the convulsions of the earth's surface, the fertile area, which is now the Mediterranean sea, was flooded by water pouring from the Kalahari, forming the Mediterranean sea, leaving an isthmus of land from Gibraltar to the North African Coast. Many of the Atlanteans landed in Spain and are commemorated to this day in some of the bushman paintings in this area.
They also crossed into Africa and from there proceeded to modern day Egypt. There, they found the primitive people who lived in this area in a very backward stage of evolution. Most of these people were cannibals and ritualistic killers. The Atlanteans, under their great king Osiris, set to work to build up a civilization, and construct the great tomb of Egypt, using their wonderful tools and technology. This explains how the great civilization of Egypt appeared out of nowhere, and disappeared again. The Atlanteans were also the forerunners of the Sumerians, who merged with the Semites and left so much of their teachings to that wonderful race, the Semite people. In time, the Atlanteans merged with the local people and started to die out, eventually being totally absorbed. Another group of Atlanteans travelled down the spine of Africa until they reached what is now Rhodesia. Building of their great structures started right away, and here one of the mysteries of this civilization is solved, for not one, but many races of people built Zimbabwe and its sister edifices.
Rumours of the great and wonderful civilization in the interior of Africa had reached the courts of the Phoenician and Sabaen kings. Commerce had all along been carried on with Egypt and the fierce Himzaritic warriors arrived to take this strange land. They were taken there in the ships of the Phoenician navy along with the merchants of the state of Sabea. This explains the difference in the quality of some of the buildings for some additions were made long after the Atlanteans. The chevron patterns denote the waves, and many of the markers inside the ruins are of great astrological significance.
The question on everybody's mind, is of course, 'Was this the country of the Queen of Sheba?' The answer is *Yes' and her tomb lies buried today in this country of Rhodesia. Her tomb will be found before many years have passed, and this will make international history. Her son, the fabled Prester John, also lies buried in this part of the world.
It is interesting to note that a mosaic bead given to you, Mr. Phillips, as an apport in a Direct Voice Circle in London did actually come from the tomb of the Queen of Sheba as it was told to you when it fell through the trumpet into your hand.
Chenon Takes Over
When the ships of Solomon and Hiram left Byblis and Tyre they were ordered to sail to Havilah, which is now Rhodesia. Punt was Somaliland, and Ophir was on the east coast of Africa. The ships anchored at the mouths of the great rivers, and from there boats penetrated inland where they were met and tribute taken away. Gold and silver, baboons, ostrich feathers, spices and precious stones, plus slaves were taken on board and sent to the kingdom of Solomon. The rest of the valuables were stored away in underground vaults waiting for the return of the ships, expected in about three years' time.
In the meantime, production continued, and today much of this wealth is still in Southern Africa. In fact, there are two ancient cities that have not even been located yet -they will be in time. On one of these voyages, the young and beautiful Queen of Sheba was taken on board one of the ships. Her father had recently died and she had to go and pay homage to the great king. Eighteen years old, brown-skinned, blue-black hair piled up on her head in a distinctive style she stood on the deck of the great three decked ship which threshed its way home across the great waters. She had never before been away from the brooding walls of Zimbabwe, and had never seen the sea. She remembered the long journey across the Chimanimani Mountains on the old road that runs through Melsetter in Rhodesia, and if followed up, leads to the great Matopos Hills near Bulawayo.
The court of Solomon was one of pomp and great splendour, full of gold, silver, ivory, fine clothes and flashing, precious stones. In his ivory and gold chair sat the great king, famous for his wisdom, understanding and compassion. He sat there in his characteristic attitude, with his chin on the heel of his right hand and his elbow on his knee. In appearance he was dark-skinned, dark-haired with grey showing through. His dark beard was also starting to turn grey. Great strength and force of character showed through his countenance. Master of a nation, husband of many wives and owner of many concubines, he looked at the woman before him. Sheba did not look down at the floor as so many had done before, but turned the full glory of her eyes upon him and greeted him. Solomon's heart was captured, and henceforth there was only one love in his life.
Meanwhile, war had broken out in Havilah and the war clouds gathered thick and fast. Sheba was later called back to her own country, and left Solomon, promising to return. She was fated never to see him again, for her land was not to know peace again. The rest of her reign was to be devoted to keeping the African hordes at bay, as they swept down out of the Congo basin, into the fertile lands of Central and Southern Africa. To keep her country, she married one of her nobles who would be her Consort. His name was Melchizeodor, and he ruled over the Khami region. Sheba had her child by Solomon, and although she had two other children, the son of Solomon would ascend the throne and be known as Prester John.
Eventually, Sheba grew old, and died from the bite of a poisonous snake. A kopje (rocky hill) was selected that had been hollowed out, similar to the tombs of Egypt, and in it she was laid to rest. There were four different layers to this tomb, and the outside was sealed with a carved rock cut to the exact size of the entrance. She lay on a stone bier, mummified with her necklaces and ornaments of precious stones adorning her. Her husband lay buried six miles away from her in a separate tomb, but those tombs are very cunningly concealed.
Sheba's kingdom was to limp on for a few hundred years, but war, disease and rebellion cut down the number of the fighting men. Nine hundred years after Christ the great waves of black fighting men swept down from the north, and the ancient peoples were pushed back. The smaller centres were closed down and the garrisons centred at the larger towns. Makarikari was the first of the big towns to go, then Khami, and finally the ancients went down fighting at Nzimbabwe. Many died in the great tunnels that ran under the ruins, including the last king of Nzimbabwe, Ra-Set. The horde of Africans, Mushmen and half-casts set out to remove all traces of the hated Iti from their land. All tunnels were blocked and bodies burned, so that no trace would be found of the invaders. The jungle closed in and the ruins lay sleeping through the centuries.
Then came the Arabs, looking for gold, precious stones, loot of all kinds, and most of all, slaves. They stared in awe at the silent forgotten ruins, and departed to tell the Portuguese at the coast what they had seen. Next came the Portuguese expeditions, their captains looking for honour and glory, the merchants looking for profits, and the priests looking for the glory of God.
Once more the African bush resounded to the sound of fighting men, as the sword met the assegais in deadly combat, and the priests condemned the men to be burned to death, for being heathen. But if they became Christians first, they were given the privilege of being hanged. Africa and its numerous diseases however, beat them all, and the Portuguese departed and once more silence fell over the land.
The next conquerors were the great Matabele kings. Utterly ruthless, they held sway until that great dreamer and visionary Cecil John Rhodes took the country, for Queen and Empre.
The great ruins keep their secrets, but will soon give them up. Soon the sound of picks and shovels will open up the first of the tombs of the great kings. Let us then pay silent homage to the great ones, of long ago.
That about covers the history of Zimbabwe Ruin and what I have left out, is not important.
My spirit helpers have been very painstaking, and I feel sure that you can rely upon its authenticity, as we spirit people have access to records which confirm all this knowledge. God bless, and keep you all, and good night.
20 - World's Future Lies In The Hands Of Youth
Man, the material creation fashioned by God, stands at this period in the history of the universe at a very exciting, adventurous, and perilous time. Wherever and whenever we look, there are wars, civil disobediences and perils lying ahead. We see the churches of the land half-empty, and the general impression seems to be that we are drifting completely away from religion. But is that true? Let us look at, and analyse, the position clearly and try to understand the working of the supreme powers that control the universe.
Youth today is severely criticized, and, as far as many adults are concerned, they can do little that is right. It is such a pity more people cannot realize that on the whole the youth of today are much stronger, more intelligent and have a finer grasp of the realities of life than the preceding generation had, and that it is the actions of a few, unfortunately, who spoil the whole picture. They are no longer in contact with the banalities that we were taught, and they look at the accepted social scene and recognize flaws that exist in some of these customs.
The adult generation does not seem to have the time, inclination or ability to explain the reasons for some of these customs, and refuse to accept the merits of many of the viewpoints of the younger generation. From here stems the so-called 'generation gap' and this must be bridged to prevent the collapse of the social structure of our societies.
Religion today is vastly different from the way that Jesus taught. His wonderful teachings and those of his apostles have been distorted and biased through succeeding generations. The apostles and the great teachers were men of real flesh and blood who understood their fellow men and were able to submit their thinking, simply, clearly and explicitly. It has often been the custom in these days to deride the truth and way of spiritual philosophy.
If you, who wish to know the truth, return to your Bibles and study these in great detail, you will find many spiritual truths contained therein. Here lies the knowledge for which so many of today's youth are searching. It has been proved in the past that if an ideal has been taught properly, youth will accept it gladly and propagate the ideas encased within these ideals. It is here that the salvation of man lies, and in the fullness of time it will be the accepted way of life in the world, and all other religions will recede away for always. The golden law of the cosmos is that truth, light and honesty must always shine forth.
What shall we then say to those who prophesy that the end of the world is near. I seem to have heard this cry over and over again over the years, and the world is still here!
Hypocrisy and falsehood are abominations and a blot on the record of this wonderful knowledge. Far too long it has been kept under wraps, under an aura of secrecy and mystery. Properly instructed, it all makes sense when carefully explained, and very few people can argue factually against the evidence provided by psychic research.
The chief objection of most people is that it is wrong to talk with the dead and that you must let the dead rest in peace. Every religious doctrine in the world teaches that man never dies and is immortal. Where then does the soul go to at the moment of transition? Does it lie in a grave until eternity and then arise? Consider these questions and the fact that it would be a complete exercise in futility for man to live his allotted span of three score years and ten, learn a few facts about the world, then die and lie waiting for eternity.
What a pitiably small store of knowledge he would gather in that time, and how soon forgotten. How could he develop and evolve in this short space of time and how much more effective would the evolvement of his spirit be, if he returned to this plane time after time to learn the secrets of life which take thousands of years to be absorbed to the depths.
True, there are many lessons which can and must be learned in the planes of spirit, but there are others which can only be experienced in the body of material man. This is why the circle of evolution and evolvement must go on ceaselessly, and why the powers that be, will not and cannot allow this plane to be blasted out of existence. I stress the fact that the future of the world is in the hands of the youth of today, and on the whole we could not leave it in finer hands.
A Healing medium is the instrument of the healing guides and their divine power. The healer should concentrate his energies and faculties on remaining an open channel to the patient The guides will do the rest. Remember, Jesus and His apostles did all their miraculous healing in the clear air of God's creation. If a healer knows that he is good enough, he will function under any conditions, as, indeed, will any medium.
Spiritual healing is often misunderstood, but in reality it is very simple. All healing comes from God, the Father, and is a manifestation of His love and regard for us. Healing power is a gift from God and must never be misused or treated lightly in any forms. It is true that our faith also helps us to regain our strength and vigour. By having faith, we send out very strong vibrations for spiritual help which attract the healing guides towards us, and they give healing from their side of the veil.
It must be emphasized at this point that spiritual healing is certainly not in opposition to orthodox medicine. It is, in fact, a useful help to medical treatment, and patients receiving spiritual healing should be encouraged to go to material doctors if the spirit doctors advise it. Many doctors are controlled by spiritual healers from the other side, and quite a considerable number of doctors believe in spiritual healing, although their profession does not allow them to admit this openly. This is a promising field for research.
Before commencing spiritual healing, we must be in a relaxed mood to allow the healing controls to come through. We should sit down and meditate upon spiritual subjects and pray to God for power to heal this sick patient. We ask for the healing guides to be with us to control us to the greater glory of God. We then stand comfortably in front, or behind the patient, ask the guides for healing power and place our hands about two inches above the body of the patient. If we have prepared ourselves correctly and are under healing control, we should find first of all that we feel vibrations flowing through our body, and heat building up in our hands. We feel our hands being pulled down to a certain portion of the patient's body, and then we gently place our hands close to the patient.
After a while, we feel the vibrations dying away and the heat subsiding. We then feel that the healing is over, say a prayer to God for favours rendered, and ask the patient to pray daily to the Father for healing. Our vibrations are left on the body of the patient and serve as a homing device by which the healing guides can continue for a considerable time afterwards.
We are sometimes asked to give healing to desperately ill people who are dying of an incurable disease. Healing should never be refused, as it is not our prerogative to say whether someone should live or die. Healing works on the mental plane as well, relaxes the patient, allows the guides to communicate with the person who receives healing, and eases his transition to the world of spirit considerably.
Again the guides stand behind the healer and funnel their healing micro-waves into the force field of the healer. It is then transferred to his hands, then through his hands into the force field of the patient. From there it is channeled to the psychic centre nearest to the affected organ, and the healing power is then transferred to the organ. It is important to remember that healing is accomplished by healing microwaves and comes from God. It has no connection with any material thing whatsoever, and the healer is only used as a manifestation of the will of the Father. In all things, we are only instruments of the Divine will.
We now touch on spiritual operations. Let me first explain the mechanics of the working of the spiritual operations and show you that material influences are not required, and that we are only instruments. No surgical instruments are required.
The body is composed of cells, all arranged in patterns to form organs. These all vibrate in tune with the infinite and send out their vibrations to form part of the force fields that surrounds the material vehicle. When these cells are diseased, they cease to send out vibrations and leave a gap in the force field. The material body is weakened and experiences symptoms of disease upon the mental plane, where they are transmitted to the material vehicle.
The healing guides look at this and detect from the aura what is wrong with the material body. By interfering with the transfusion of spiritual vibrations, to the affected cells, they are able to detach them individually from the mass, and dematerialize the cells in space, where the cells soon die.
The guides cannot replace the cells, and when an X-ray or other diagnostic procedure is carried out, a gap is seen where the cells were removed, so simulating a surgical operation, although no such operation has been performed.
Wise Owl Takes Over
The power of thought is of a magnitude that material man cannot understand or comprehend. These thoughts go to the guides and are studied. If they are for the benefit of mankind, they are given added stimulus from our side, and when wishes and thoughts are expressed to help mankind, they can have a tremendous impact on the future. The ancient Egyptians and Babylonians were masters of thought forms, but one of the greatest exponents of thought control was Jesus, who could control the elements by His thoughts. Miracles can be accomplished by these means, and it must be understood that miracles did not cease with the passing of Jesus and His disciples. They have happened frequently since, are happening now, and will happen in the future. We will also briefly discuss spiritual healing, as it fits into this category.
When you have ambitions to become a spiritual healer, you must be carefully prepared from this side, as the patient must have complete and utter faith in you. Personality and approach are very important as although we bring the healing power through, it must be received and absorbed by the patient. Humility and love of mankind by the medium is all important. If the patient dislikes or distrusts the medium, there is a mental barrier that prevents the healing vibrations coming through. Without the attributes of humility and love, you cannot be a successful healer. Arrogance and pride put paid to any chances of developing spiritually, and then fantasies and self-delusions take over. You must be prepared to be an open channel for God's love, power and vibrations. According to the colour of your aura and the ray you work upon, different guides bring through their healing powers. Different conditions are treated by the use of different rays.
The healing rays can be compared to the principles of ultra-sound. There are three main healing colours to work upon: gold, blue and white. The ordinary healer works upon the blue ray, the more advanced work, on the gold ray, and those who can do instant healing and spiritual operations work upon the white light. In other words, my son, we go back to the sun. The vibrations come from there, as does all life. God is life, life is God, God is Spirit, Spirit is God, Spirit is Man, Man is Spirit. All is ultimately subservient in all things upon this universe to the great God of all and it is not in the interest of material man to know more about the universe at the moment.
Go in peace, and God bless you.
Wise Owl
Absent Healing
Many healing mediums give their patients what is known as absent healing.
When these healers find that they are unable to take more patients than they can give contract healing to, or if the patients are bedridden and are unable to travel, or what is very important should the sick person not wish to know anything about spiritual healing and that there is a life after death - they arrange for the excess patients to tune into the healer at a certain time on a certain day each week.
The healer sends out his healing power to the patient and frequently the power is so strong that the healer's astral body is seen by the patient.
The healer calls on his spirit doctors to be present and numerous cures have been effected in this way.
The healer arranges for his healing band to join him in his sanctuary, when a list of patients taking absent healing is read out and each one receives absent healing from the whole group in turn.
Whilst in London recently I met Mrs. Pauline Liberman who survived a remarkable psychic experience.
A spirit doctor saved Mrs. Liberman's life when she was given only two hours left to live. She had an emergency operation for a septic kidney with a stone in it.
Whilst under the anaesthetic she felt she had left her body and saw a group of white-robed figures standing around her. One man was taller than the rest, but she could not see any of their faces and thought she saw these figures in a dream.
Mrs. Liberman, of Sherwood Road, London, N.W-4, told no one of her experience. Six months later she sat with direct-voice medium Leslie Flint. The medium knew his sitter but was unaware that she had even been in hospital.
During the séance a spirit voice addressed Mrs. Liberman saying: 'I am Dr. Marshall. You were not dreaming. I was taking over from your earthly doctors. The other figures were your dear ones standing around you.'
She then realized that she had really been out of her body and the group she had seen were actually standing around her. She had never heard of this Doctor Marshall prior to his talk through Leslie Flint.
She then realized that it was Dr. Marshall, a spirit doctor, who had saved her life and was told he had been a spiritualist before he passed over to the spirit world.
She had heard that Dr. Marshall had spoken through Leslie Flint's mediumship before, and his widow who had listened to a tape-recording when he spoke during a direct-voice séance, and asserted, 'That was definitely my husband's voice.' She also commented that many of the phrases used by her husband in spirit were typical of him.
When Mrs. Liberman left the hospital, she was told by an eminent surgeon that her case was one of his miracles. Much later an X-ray was taken to determine her present condition. The doctor commented that he had never seen a kidney in such an excellent condition, after a patient has suffered from a kidney that had been so septic.
I am grateful to Mr. Harry Edwards, the world's most famous spiritual healer, for his permission to allow me to use extracts from his books on healing and his record 'Harry Edwards Speaks'.
Mr. Edwards in his book Spirit Healing says, There are many sceptics of Spirit healing of whom you may well be one. Spirit Healing is not a "crank" treatise designed by its author to win converts to his beliefs and persuasions. Arguments and facile reasoning, can be made to prove almost anything. I am concerned only with facts, for facts speak for themselves.'
Spirit healing is not mysterious, though we may tend to make it so. The most important lesson that I have learned from my healing experiences of over a quarter of a century is that as far as the healer is concerned the healing act is one of simplicity, but its administration is an exact science.
During the past decade the recognition of spiritual healing has made tremendous progress and this has been built upon success in healing the sick. It is now accepted in principle by the church and the medical profession; the national press recognize it and do not now report healing services or healings for they are no longer 'news'. More important still, it is enthroned in the homes of people who have witnessed their dear ones restored to health, often when medical science could do no more for them. This recognition is not confined to the United Kingdom; it is spreading throughout the world, particularly in the Dominions and the U.S.A., while continental prejudices are yielding to the healing forces that are at work.
The sceptic who may think that it is only the credulous and impressionable people who testify to spirit healing will have to account for the fact that people in all walks of life have come to the author for healing. These include members of our Royal Family, and other royal families; cabinet ministers, Privy Councilors, members of the House of Lords, including the leader of one of our national political parties, members of Parliament, an army Commander in Chief, as well as generals and admirals. Almost every profession is represented, eminent surgeons, physicians, and many doctors. I received over one thousand letters from doctors last year, and many more from ministers of religion, leading to visits to my sanctuary from leaders of Christian thought. There have been Indian princes, an Archbishop, Judges and others belonging to the legal profession; conductors of national orchestras, musicians, Olympic athletes, B.B.C, commentators and many names that are household words in the film and theatrical world, and indeed from every phase of life, from the highest ranks down to the most humble. Yet all are equal in healing.
It is not possible to reveal the names of these eminent people, for the great majority are living and all healing is given in confidence. But I can give, as illustrations, the names of two members of our Royal Family who have now passed to spirit life - the Earl of Athlone and H.R.H. Princess Marie Louise. The Princess came a score of times to the Sanctuary, first for the healing of arthritis in her knees and shoulders, which soon yielded, and then for strength and healing for any other trouble that arose. The Princess would ask for absent healing to be given to those in her circle who were in need, including the ex-Queen of Spain, and on her visits she would insist on giving reports of the progress each one had made.
She came two days before the coronation of the Queen, for strength and help to assist her throughout the tiring receptions and ceremonies. As time went on, age was taking its toll and she became physically very weak. Her last visit occurred shortly before her passing.
The list of eminent people who have sought spiritual healing is not mentioned for any egotistical reason but simply to show how widely accepted the subject has become by persons of intellect in the United Kingdom. It can also be said that others, in all ranks of life, have travelled to the Sanctuary for healing from all the Dominions, the U.S.A. and other countries.
Our understanding of the healing forces is as yet limited, but there is sufficient data and proof, by experience, to enable primary conclusions to be formed to indicate the source and the means of their administration.
These healing forces are not physical. They come from the spirit realm. This fact is a direct challenge to all who are wedded to a purely materialist concept of life; it is, therefore, a means by which we can demonstrate in this scientific age the existence of the living spirit and soul of mankind.
There are no set rules or any human technique that controls spirit healing. It comes from another dimension of life, which makes it as difficult for us to comprehend its detailed operation as it is to describe a colour to a man who has been blind from birth. But recent scientific knowledge in connection with the formation and purposes of energy (as with nuclear fission) has contributed towards making our understanding of the healing forces a little clearer.
I define the term 'spirit healing' as denoting a healing that is brought about by a non-human agency. While it is a common experience with healers to witness the recovery of sick people from all manner of diseases, we are compelled to prove our case through the healing of those who are deemed to be medically incurable. Proof cannot be satisfactorily established with the healing of more minor conditions, for it may well be said, 'The patient would have got well anyway', or 'The patient's recovery is attributable to medical or home treatment'.
The records of healing testify to a very great number of so-called incurables who have been restored to normal health. Even the British Medical Association now agrees that 'through spirit healing recoveries take place that cannot be explained by medical science'. When as a direct result of spirit healing we see mastery established over 'incurable' diseases that are beyond the wit of our medical men to accomplish, we establish the prima facie evidence for the reality of spirit healing.
In these early pages it is well to define what is believed to be the source of spirit healing, and its administration. We believe that all healing is divine, and that it originates with God. It is part of His plan to show that man is a spiritual being and the way in which the evil of disease can be overcome.
Study of ancient and contemporary religions reveals stories of spirit presences and, as the Bible relates, of the appearance of angels, visions, prophets and voices. During the past century there has been considerable advancement in the development of the awareness and usage of the 'gifts of the spirit' and with this, the personalities of the spirit guides have become an accepted part of psychic science.
While we have no direct reference to spirit guides in Christ's mission on earth, this does not mean they were not present. We only have to recall the vision of Elisha, the spirit presences at the Pentecostal meeting and the voice that came to Saul.
With the development of modern spiritualism attention has been focused upon the encouragement for the spirit guides to make themselves known; this has been done and forms part of the progress of mediumship and healership, thus bringing about a closer affinity between the realm of spirit and ourselves.
The main branches of Christian religion do not acknowledge the good work that has followed the co-operation of these good spirit counselors to assist, guide and heal sickness in our way of life, but they admit their existence. The churches disparagingly describe them as 'disembodied spirits'. At the same time the Anglican Church believes in the 'Communion of Saints' and the Roman Catholic Church likewise; and the latter issues medallions representing named saints to protect its members from illness, accidents while travelling, and for other purposes too.
The order of sainthood is conferred by man; it is not a divine ordination and the fact that the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches believe that these saints can confer blessings and particular benefits on the human family brings their acceptance of the principle that the spirit guides are as real as we know them to be.
The church admits that disembodied and evil spirits can adversely influence some people; indeed it has prepared services of 'exorcism'. Therefore it naturally follows that as there are bad spirit influences there are also the good ones, who are part of the heavenly host, dedicated to the furtherance of the Divine plan in a practical way by awakening man's spiritual consciousness through the demonstrable acts of curing minds, bodies and souls of their imperfections and the taking away of disease and pain.
In recent years nearly every main branch of Christian religion in the United Kingdom, the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and the Methodists, have conducted commissions of inquiry into spirit healing. They have examined the claims for healing with great care. In every case the investigation lasted a number of years - in the case of the Church of England it was five years. The terms of reference for each commission was to verify that spirit healings are factual and to try and discover how the lost gift of healing could be revived in the pastoral work of the churches. With the second directive we are not concerned, but with the first it is noteworthy to record that in every one of the reports it was recognized that spirit healing has taken place contrary to medical expectations, through the healership of lay men and women who are not members of the respective denominations.
Our purpose is to examine and ascertain on what basis it rests, how others may develop the gift of healing, and to understand its limitations as well as its capabilities.
With all persons of good will the desire to heal the sick is a hope and a prayer, but its attainment seems out of reach, just a dream. Yet we will endeavour to show that with those who possess the inner yearning to heal it is by no means so unattainable as may at first be thought.
I became aware of my healing potential in an unexpected fashion. Prior to 1935 I was a Liberal advocate and a parliamentary candidate with a burning desire to work for peace and social security. I had never given a thought to spirit healing. I had, of course, known of Spiritualism. Apart from attending one church service in 1922, which impressed me greatly, I viewed Spiritualism with a very critical eye. In fact, I believed it to be little more than an unfounded belief in the supernatural, which did not exist. My outlook at the time was that of a rationalist, with little regard for religion.
In 1935 a friend asked if I would go to a small Spiritualist church held in a private house near to where I lived. I did so with an open mind but was very determined not to be hoodwinked and to consider everything in the light of common sense. I received a number of messages from mediums stating that I possessed the healing gift. So I attended two church developing circles, where I again received encouragement to utilize my gift of healing. It was at one of these circles that I conducted my first experiment in healing. My friend told me that a male acquaintance of hers was lying in Brompton Hospital dying from galloping consumption and pleurisy. Severe hemorrhages were taking place. He was not expected to live very long. Together we concentrated upon this man that he should receive healing and be made well. As I did this a picture was presented to my mind of a hospital ward with its rows of beds. In the second bed from the end was our patient. Later I received full confirmation that the vision given to me was a true picture of the patient and of the ward he was in.
When we next met, a week later, I inquired how our patient was, and was gratified to learn that the pleurisy had gone, his temperature had gone down to normal and the bleeding had ceased. We continued our concentrations. The outcome was that within three weeks the man was so much better that he was sent to a convalescent home. In a comparatively short time he was back in his employment.
Not long afterwards a woman came into my shop where I was conducting a printing and stationery business. She was very distracted and said she had been impelled to enter the shop without knowing the reason why. She unburdened her grief to me. Her husband had been an in-patient in a London hospital, where it was discovered he was suffering from an advanced cancer of the lung. He was in a chronic state of weakness. The doctors said they could do no more for him, so they had sent him home by ambulance. His wife was informed that he was dying and told to make him as comfortable as possible.
To assuage her grief I told her that I would seek spirit healing for him. I did so that night, feeling, however, that it was far too much to hope for a cure to take place. Two days later she called on me with a wonderful story. The first morning after I had told her I would seek healing for her husband he had got up early and made her a cup of tea. A great change was apparent in him. The children were sent for, just to see the change. They sat and looked at him in amazement. When the man again attended the hospital he was seen by a new doctor, who, after examining him, congratulated him upon the success of the medical treatment. When the doctor was informed that the man had received no treatment at all, he refused to believe that the diagnosis in the medical history applied to the patient. Soon he was back at work, and to my knowledge was alive some twenty years later. It is interesting to note that this man was an agnostic, and his wife dared not tell him about the seriousness of his illness or the means by which he was assisted to recover. Thus my first two cases were of 'absent healing' given without the patient's knowledge.
The third case was one of contact healing. The sister of a very sick girl received a message from a clairvoyant to seek me out. This she did, knocking at my door very late at night. She told me her story, how her sister was very ill with a high temperature and the doctor was apprehensive about her. As she lived in a nearby street I promised to go and see her the next day and to ask for healing to reach her that night.
When I called at the house next morning, I found that straw had been strewn in the road outside to lessen all traffic noises, the curtains were almost drawn and the room was in semi-darkness. I laid my hands upon the girl's forehead and sought for strength and healing to be given to her. This was a Thursday morning. As I treated her I knew intuitively that she would get better. I remember telling the mother, in my innocence, that I thought her daughter would be up by the weekend. I still recall the incredulous look on the mother's face. My prediction was fulfilled. The fever left the girl, who was able to sit up and drink tea on the Sunday.
The story does not end there, for I was then informed that she had tuberculosis. One lung had a cavity and had been collapsed and she was receiving fortnightly refills of air. I continued the healing for this trouble. The cavity disappeared and she could not take any further refills. When she returned for examination to the sanatorium where she had previously been given medical treatment, it was found that the cavity had completely healed. All her tests were negative. She was given a clean bill of health. Later she became a nurse in the same sanatorium where she had been a patient less than a year before. This girl never suffered again. She married, has a grown-up family and is fully well today.
These three cases proved to me that there was 'something' in healing. Coincidence was ruled out. I continued to seek the development of my healing gift. Other successful treatments followed. Before long, I opened my house as a healing sanctuary where the sick came in ever-increasing numbers.
My further experiences in development will be told in a later chapter. These early happenings are narrated for the purpose of showing readers that in the beginning I did not intentionally seek the healing gift and that it was more or less forced upon me by design and circumstance. Others, with a similar latent gift, may be encouraged to read further.
I feel it necessary first to set out the fundamental postulates upon which healing rests and to show the processes by which those who are sick can be helped by an understanding of man's physical and spirit make-up.
It suffices for now to state that it is abundantly clear that the human instrument does not possess any healing faculties himself (except in the aid that can be given through his affinity with the patient) and that there are no human techniques that can heal. One cannot develop the healing gift by study, as is done in other physical arts and sciences. The gift of healing cannot be conferred by a degree, by ordination, or by the wearing of a white coat. It functions when those who have the faculty establish attunement with God's healing ministers in Spirit who indeed are the intelligent administrators of this beneficent power.
Mr. Edwards in his book The Power of Spiritual Healing says, 'To the spiritualist healer no disease can be termed "incurable" any more than spiritual healing can be called "mysterious". That it may appear mysterious to some people is no doubt due to the limited understanding there has been in the way in which it operates.'
Mr. Edwards continues that his book is not so much a scientific appreciation of spiritual healing as an effort to present the healing story in a simple way, to enable everyone to have a measure of understanding of its powers, limitations, processes and purpose, and to show how all who are in need can benefit from it.
Its scope takes into account the healing activities with the churches and other healing movements, outlining the common denominators that link them together on the premise that spiritual healing is God's gift to all His children irrespective of race or creed.,
Illustrating his points with case histories, and drawing upon the knowledge and experience gained in over a quarter of a century of healing practice, Mr. Edwards shows that the healing purpose, apart from the healing of the sick, is also to prevent disease in the future and 'to awaken man's spiritual consciousness by demonstration of the power of the spirit and our kinship with it in this materialist and scientific age'.
At a time when man is more obsessed by fear than ever before, we see the hand of God stretched down to a boy of 7 years of age, who is lying near to death in one of London's largest hospitals. The physicians have diagnosed that the boy is suffering from myeloid leucosis, of a virulent type usually found in adults, and they can do nothing for him. The head physician prepares the anguished parents for the inevitable; he tells them that there is no known treatment to save their son's life and that he will die. As they are leaving the hospital, they meet a friend and tell him their tragic news. This friend knew of the power of the spirit and telephoned straight away to the author to invoke spiritual healing. Within twenty-four hours a marked change for the better took place that was apparent to all. The boy did not die, instead the dread disease was overcome, his blood count became normal, and in a comparatively short time he was back at school taking a full part in all the sports and playing in the rugger team. Ten years later, he became a vigorous young man.
This story, with variations, can be multiplied many times over - healings of the 'incurable' sick, for whom medical science has no known answer. These cover the whole range of afflictions from which the human race suffers, and there is no limit to the good that the force of spiritual healing can accomplish within the laws that govern us.
Apart from the healing of 'incurable' disease, many thousands of sick people are being freed from distress every day through the ministry of spiritual healing. True, it may be sought in different ways, within the churches, the healing sanctuaries, and through the gift of healing possessed by lay people, but these benefits are available to everyone to receive, and generally without any financial imposition. It is the purpose of this book to tell about it.
That the power of spirit healing is abroad in the world is beyond dispute; the mass of supporting evidence is overwhelming. Its phenomenal growth during the past two decades is eloquent of this. If there had not been these successes, the healing movement within all branches of thought would have waned and died away. Instead of this, we are witnessing a wider recognition of its power than ever before. It no longer matters whether the official policy of the medical profession is in favour of it or not, for its truth is enthroned in the hearts and homes of countless people everywhere.
During the last few years, each one of the principal Christian churches in the United Kingdom has held commissions to seek the way in which spiritual healing may play a larger part in the pastoral work of the churches. These commissions have been conducted by the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Methodists, and Unitarians. The Churches' Fellowship for Psychical Study (supported by all denominations) has conducted its own investigation to discover the common denominators in healing, and how it can be best fostered. The Christian Science movement has been built upon the testimonies of the healing of the sick. In the Spiritualist movement, healing is becoming the dominant part of its mission. In five years, the National Federation of Spiritual Healers has prospered beyond all expectations, and its membership is increasing at the approximate rate of one thousand every year. In the Roman Catholic Church, pilgrimages to Lourdes are greater than ever before. All this activity is a tribute to the divine power of the spirit to heal.
From whatever source the healing of the sick is sought, it is clear that spiritual healing is God's gift to all His People, irrespective of religious beliefs or of nationality. It is not, and can never be, the prerogative of any person, or any section of the community. It is open to all who possess the qualities of love and compassion for the sick to become instruments for divine healing. It is open to all people who are sick and afflicted to receive the blessings that this power of healing can give.
Yet it needs to be remembered that spiritual healing is not omnipotent; it can only operate within the total laws that govern us from birth (and before birth) to the time when we have to leave this phase of life for the spiritual kingdom. Healing cannot make us live for ever, it cannot restore juvenility to advanced age, it may not operate when the cause that originates the disease is sustained; but within the scope of the total laws much can be done, even when age is advanced.
These people who, for some reason or another, discount the reality of spiritual healing and say that the healings arose from self-hypnosis and suggestion, the exercise of will power, or that those so helped are all neurotics and hypochondriacs, have to face the cold logic that the healing movement could not have earned such wide acceptance unless the healings were factual; its growth could not have been dependent upon the testimony of people who were unsound in their outlooks. They are faced with a mass of evidence which shows that many who were diagnosed to be gravely ill from incurable conditions, for which medical science could do no more, have made complete recoveries without any further trace of symptoms of their diseases.
In my personal experience, healings have been privileged to deal successfully with people in all walks of life, including the Royal Family, judges, politicians, war commanders, generals, admirals, doctors, theologians, celebrities in the entertainment world and so on, right through the strata of society. Surely all these people are not fools or self-deluded neurotics?
In the beginning we are faced with this situation. Healings that cannot be medically anticipated take place through people possessing the gift of healing, but differing in their ideas as to the manner of its performance. At our Sanctuary in Shere we have witnessed the healing of people of all religions, not only of Christian denominations, but of those subscribing to other religions too - Hindus, Mohammedans and so on - and even of agnostics.
Mr. Edwards in his book A Guide to Spirit Healing says: Many people wish to know how they may develop the gift of healing the sick. The purpose of this book is to outline, as simply as possible, the manner in which this may be achieved.
Healing is perhaps the greatest gift that can be desired; it is certainly the most spiritual one. The healings recorded in the New Testament have stirred the imagination of all ages, in all countries, for the past two thousand years. If one asks an average person which aspect of the life of Jesus is best remembered, the reply will most likely tell of the 'miracles' he performed, of which the healings are the most spectacular and impressive.
So it is today, that when one comes into close contact with illness and suffering, one's inner being yearns to be able to do something to relieve the distress and restore the sick one to health.
This desire to heal is a natural talent. Generally speaking, all who 'feel' for those who suffer and have the desire to help them possess the healing potential. There are a few people who are what is termed 'natural healers', in the same way that others may be naturally inclined towards music, mathematics, etc.
At this early stage, it is well to review the general implications of what is meant by spirit healing.
That such healings do take place, in great and increasing numbers, is beyond dispute. The accumulative mass of evidence is eloquent of the great service to humanity that spirit healing has given. The Church of England is beginning to treat healing as part of its work and the General Medical Council has recently signified its willingness to co-operate with the Anglican Church for this purpose.
Spirit healing is not the prerogative of any religion or race; it is a common heritage for the whole of the human family. It is extensively practised in the llamasaries of Tibet, and every Mohammedan priest invokes the healing aid for his supplicants. The gift of healing is no more a prerequisite of Christianity than of any other religion.
Shri Krishna once said: 'Howsoever do men approach me, even so do I receive them, for the road men take from every side is mine.'
There is not one set of healing laws for the Spiritualist and another for the Methodist or Christian Science practitioner. There are general laws that govern healing, as there are laws that govern every other effect produced in the universe. What is needed is the knowledge of how they may be best invoked and brought into use.
There are two main schools of thought among those who practise spirit healing. The first belongs to those who think that a healing is the direct dispensation of a blessing from the divine source, overriding the laws of the universe, a direct and personal gift from God to take away a disease from Mr. Brown or Mrs. Smith. This theory rests on what is termed 'healing through faith'. There is abundant argument to prove that spirit healing can be far superior to the 'faith' of the patient.
Such healings usually mean that prayers for mercy are made on behalf of the sufferer. Yet there can be no such thing as 'mercy' resulting from the transmission of healing force from any source. No suggestion can be sustained that the forces which guide the universe and the health and destinies of individuals are to be deflected because a man or woman, no matter how worthy, appeals for personal aid to the deity, requesting a relaxation of the inflexible laws of nature on his or her behalf. To admit this would be to destroy the truth that law and order rule the evolutionary processes that govern matter, and all bodies and souls.
The second theory is that, accepting the common basis that all things emanate from God and, therefore, that healing is a divine act, its fulfillment follows the setting in motion of law-governed processes by wiser discarnate minds who are indeed 'agents' within the divine plan.
While many spirit healings seem to be miraculous, there is no such thing as a 'miracle', implying an effect that occurs without reasoned order. Every change that takes place within the universe (either materially or spiritually), results from the law-governed forces applied to the subject. This is true, whether it applies to the stars or their formation and movements, in the germination and decay of life, the construction of an atom and everything else. Nothing takes place by chance. As, therefore, law-governed forces control the universe and ourselves within it, so must they also apply to spirit healing. The understanding of those laws is now our concern.
Spirit healing is not new - it is age-old. Jesus knew the way to invoke the healing power, and taught his disciples the way to use it. He charged them and the church 'to preach the gospel and heal the sick'. They did so, but the church, as such, turned the teachings to its own advantage and allowed the gift of healing to fall into disuse. For centuries the art of healing was lost. Today, the church is being forced to accept the reality of spirit healing, but it still tries to make it an attribute of the church in some mystical way - or condemn it in others as "the work of the devil'.
To be able to aid the sick, demands that spirit healing must be seen in its true perspective. The healing forces emanate from spirit; this should be accepted by all except those whose outlook is rabidly materialistic. That they are of spirit origin can be abundantly proved. All things within the universe are law-governed, and as healings take place when all human skill has failed, this implies that a wiser intelligence than that of man is responsible, else whence comes the intelligent direction of those forces that have produced the healing?
In our everyday atmosphere there are unseen forces. They carry speech in all tongues, music of all kinds, and need only a wireless receiver to change them into audible sound. Such a statement would have been thought a mad travesty to a savant of a hundred years ago. Today it is reality. The forces that convey radio transmission are directed by man's intelligence. The healing forces are with us, too, and they also need intelligent direction. As man does not know the way to do this, their control can come only from discarnate sources.
It is possible for man to communicate with these discarnate minds. It is not proposed to argue this here; there exists overwhelming evidence to show that it is true. Thus we have the modus operandi of how we can invoke the aid of the spirit healing agencies through mediumship and the vital part the healer plays.
The first and perhaps the most important lesson the would-be healer must learn is that 'he does not heal'. This is, perhaps, the most common mistake healers make. There is no personal healing technique.
Some people, having discovered that by placing their hands on the body of a sufferer the physical stress has vanished, ask: 'How can I learn to heal?'
It is worth repeating that the operation of healing takes place through the application of spirit forces. The way to operate these is not yet within the scope of human knowledge; therefore, the human instrument is a channel and is not technically responsible for the healing result.
It is an understandable human weakness to desire to be the source of the healing, or to possess the technique or knowledge of how to administer it. This will be dealt with later, but it cannot be over-emphasized that the healer is not responsible for the healing - he is only the instrument through which it may take place.
There are no set rules that govern healing. What applies to one may not apply to another. Although this book will outline certain suggestions for the healer's development, it must be remembered that there is no 'one-way' method. The suggestions that follow should not be regarded as rigid or applicable to everyone. It is hoped that the bases on which they rest will be found serviceable to the majority of people.
The reader will already have observed that the author, supremely conscious of the divine source of spirit healing, treats the subject from a practical point of view, for the more we are able to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it, the greater will be the progress made. Ritual and ceremony may impress the credulous, and with such people may be a benefit in a psychological sense, but they serve no real purpose. Nor are they of the slightest value in the effort to understand the science of healing - for it is truly a science. The wearing of a white coat does not make a healer.
Before one can attempt to heal purposefully, he should know something of the spirit qualities that are contained within the total make-up of man. These are dealt with in special chapters, which may appear at first to be involved. It is suggested that they should be read more than once.
There are, of course, natural healers as there are natural psychics. It is obvious that if these fortunate people endeavoured to use their gift with a greater understanding of the processes involved, they would be able to render a far greater service to humanity.
Generally speaking, the majority of people possess the gift of healing in one form or another. The gift may be latent, but it exists. After witnessing healing demonstrations, some people have felt an urge to heal and have succeeded far beyond their expectations.
It is because we do not yet understand the processes of the healing forces, neither in their application nor operation, that we cannot foretell what a healing result may be. Therefore, it is not within the power of the human instrument to give any undertaking to a patient in advance.
Healers often see complete strangers healed of diseases, while their own relatives and friends have not recovered from seemingly similar disaffections.
Neither must we, at any time, limit in our minds the power of the healing forces. On occasions, patients have come to the healer with such distressing conditions that his first thought is, 'Surely nothing can be done here.' To his surprise and amazement, healings have taken place with seemingly impossible cases. Yet in the same healing session an apparently simple disharmony has not yielded to the healing as might be expected.
It suffices for the moment, to say that the healer must have complete confidence in the spirit operators to heal to the extent they can.
Scientific progress during the past century has disclosed hitherto undreamt-of forces. The force of healing is real, and each new advance supports the spiritual view of life.
X-rays, radio transmission, radar and television have brought us the knowledge that things can be seen, heard and sensed from afar. No longer do we question them - they are part of our everyday life.
Atomic research is bringing an understanding of metaphysical forces, especially those concerned with spirit healing, within the orbit of human appreciation. The revelation that the atom is not material but ordered energy has shown that the human body, in common with all other earthly things, is a mass of highly organized energy. Man is able, in a limited degree, to control, affect and direct these energies, to change their chemical form and potentials. Thus we are able to perceive, as yet but dimly, that wiser spirit minds can direct superior or correcting forces to bring about a chemical change within our bodies.
It is because we are becoming more scientific that we must become more spiritual. The little we know of the atom and its secrets brings the understanding of the psychic realm into rational view. The ability to restore wasted tissue, to invigorate the nerve centres, to dissipate cancers, to heal broken minds are all processes of change. They are not far removed from the operation of the known atomic laws. Therefore, so long as we approach the science of spirit healing rationally, questioning everything that we do, learning lessons by experience, and conducting ourselves accordingly, so, one day spirit healing may become as much an everyday event as is the radio of today.
The first question the reader is entitled to ask is: 'How can I know if I possess the healing gift?'
In general, most people possess latent healing powers. Broadly speaking, there are two main classifications that divide personalities. There are those who are self-centred, selfish and concerned mainly with their own comfort and possessions. The second class is of those who feel for others, who can sympathize with their distress and, above all, have the desire to render service to their fellows. It is from this second class that the healers come.
If one has the desire to help those who are afflicted, then this is an indication that the healing potential can be developed. This is far more certain when the desire becomes a deep yearning to be able to take away pain and soothe distress.
There are those who possess healing or 'soothing' hands, which can ease headaches and pain generally. This faculty is possessed by many, but only a few may be aware of it. It is equally shared by men as well as women, and it is simple to prove its existence. To possess healing hands is a sure indication that the gift is there to be developed.
There is another class who are likely to possess the healing potential, those whose presence can convey strength and vitality to the sick. How often does one hear that a patient feels 'cheered up', or that Tie seems to give me strength' when visited by certain persons who make him feel all the better for the visit.
As spirit healing becomes more widely and naturally adopted, it will become part of family life. Recourse to it will be as general as the taking of present-day simple remedies.
There is a vast field of opportunity and many can work in it. The process of training is not a complicated affair. It is simple, for healing is a natural act, once one recognizes the basis upon which it rests. Go-operation with the spirit workers can become as familiar as the relationship between members of a happy family. Therefore, the more simply the beginner learns to regard healing, the better will be the ultimate result.
While it is repeated that healing is not the prerogative of any one religion or section of humanity, this book is based on the Spiritualist point of view, for, it is reasoned, this provides the logical method of contact and development.
Within the Spiritualist movement, there are two main divisions in the method of healing, those who work under trance and those who heal while possessing their normal reasoning powers.
With those who work in trance, the spirit guide takes possession of the mind of the healer and works through him. In these cases, a period of development is necessary to bring the personal healing guide within his orbit. There are thousands of church and home developing circles in which people sit to develop their healing and psychic gifts in this way.
The author began his healing work in this traditional way, and in his early days healed under trance. He adopted all the traditional practices that are usually seen in healing circles, but has since learned to discard most of them as unnecessary.
To those who are sitting for psychic or healing development, these words should not be construed as being critical - they are not. They should continue their development, and it is hoped this book will help them to progress further.
Reasons will be given later to support the view that trance conditions are not necessary to heal the sick. But whatever way the healer chooses to work, the first objective is the obtaining of a sense of affinity with the spirit healing guides.
Let us first consider some basic generalizations upon which every act of healing must rest. We must acknowledge the truth that every change in life is the result of law-governed forces acting upon the subject. Therefore, when a spirit healing takes place this too must be the result of the application of law-governed forces, for in healing we are still, in part, dealing with the world of matter. There is, however, a vital difference between the functioning of the physical and metaphysical laws.
Physical laws take effect automatically. If this were not so, no scientific progress would have been possible and ordered life could not exist. A falling object reaches the earth because of the law of gravity - and there is no exception. Invincible, non-altering laws govern the material realm. Electricity is a force, but to obtain a certain effect it requires man's scientific direction. As man can direct a physical force, so it requires a spirit mind to direct a spirit force, for it belongs to the spirit realm and not to earth. So it is with the spirit healing forces, every act of healing demands independent, intelligent direction.
This is easily demonstrated. With an individual healer, one witnesses healings of a widely divergent character, the restoring of an unbalanced mind, the dispersal of a growth and the correction of sight or hearing. Obviously a different quality of healing force is necessary for the three examples just mentioned.
To apply the right quality of healing force in its correct strength to a given human disharmony, intelligent direction is needed. As man has never possessed this knowledge, it cannot exist within the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the repository of experience. Because it has never known the way to motivate the spirit forces, the human mind cannot be responsible for the application and discrimination of these forces.
We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the operating mind must be a spirit one; a mind that has acquired a greater wisdom than man possesses. These spirit operators we call 'the healing guides'.
The act of healing, which produces a change within the physical body, demands not only the knowledge of how to manipulate the metaphysical forces, but also how to co-ordinate them with the physical forces that govern the human anatomy.
We have already used the example that in this modern age the atmosphere is charged with invisible forces carrying music and dialects from the cities of the world, and a radio-set can receive and discriminate between them and translate the forces into audible sound. The television can likewise receive a characterized electrical force and translate it into an animated picture. It is no less possible to appreciate the presence of healing forces which can be transmitted through the human receiver (the healer), and translated into the healing of disease. Therefore, to develop the ability to act as a receiver, it becomes our primary purpose to prepare ourselves by cultivating the art of attunement with the healing guides and the healing forces.
To help the reader to acquire this affinity is our first concern. Patience will be needed, as it is needed to cultivate any of the arts. Let us remember from the foregoing that we can act only as receivers of the healing forces, which are then transmitted to the patient and that no human act can produce the healing result.
Before we can intelligently begin to prepare to act as healing mediums we must first understand our own natures and why it is that we can attune ourselves to the spirit realm.
When there is any transmission received there must be attunement between transmitter and receiver. If we are to act as instruments for the spirit forces, we must possess some spirit quality to enable us to do so. This affinity is a quality of the spirit mind.
It will be found throughout this book that statements are not made without supporting them by reason and it is always wise to prove each statement before we accept it as truth.
We can prove that man does possess a spirit mind by a simple study of the processes of physical and spirit sensing. When we see any object, we do so physically through the medium of the eye. The eye itself does not 'see'; it is the receiving organ of the light rays. From the eye the radiation travels along nerves to the brain, where it is translated as an experience of sight to our consciousness.
So it is with the act of hearing. The ear is the organ that receives the sound vibrations. Nerves carry these to the brain, where from the knowledge of what certain vibrations mean, we become conscious of the meanings of sound.
Therefore, as we are attuned to receive light and sound waves, so our brain enables our consciousness to receive the "picture' of light and sound. When we sleep, our ears still receive sound vibrations, but they are not translated into conscious experiences, for we are asleep and our consciousness is dormant. It generally takes an unusual sound-experience to awaken the consciousness, when the sound then becomes a 'picture' or experience.
When a clairvoyant has a spirit vision, it is his same consciousness that receives the 'picture' as clearly and precisely with physical vision. This is equally true of clairaudience, the medium's consciousness, with clarity, becomes aware of sound from a spirit source. The vision is not discernible physically and the sounds are inaudible to the ear.
As essential for any recording instrument is that it must be in tune with the means of transmitting - there must be harmony between them. There must also exist a medium in some form between the transmitter and the receiver to allow the flow of radiation to be conducted. With physical sight and hearing this is readily perceived. With spirit sight and hearing the vision is invisible to the normal eye and the sound inaudible to the ear, yet the same basic principles must apply; there must be harmony as well as a medium between the transmitter and the receiver.
It follows, therefore, that the picture transmitted from a discarnate source can be received only through a similar potential possessed by the human instrument, and this can only be his spirit mind linking with spirit.
The same reasoning can be applied to all forms of mental phenomena. It accounts for inspirational compositions. It provides prima fade evidence for the existence of the spirit body that functions coexist with its physical counterpart.
A medium who possesses the gift of communication is not constructed any differently from a non-mediumistic person. The only difference is that the medium possesses the ability for spirit communication. As a medium possesses a spirit body, so does every other person, though the psychic potential may be dormant.
These observations help to substantiate the view already expressed that most people can develop the gift of healing to a greater or lesser degree.
It is true to say that the majority of people have had, at some time, a psychic experience, inspiration, premonition, vision, etc. For these there have been no previous conscious thought preparation. They come when the thinking mind is dormant or 'not thinking of anything', and therefore, within the category of psychic communication.
Arising from this comes a most important conclusion that vitally affects both development and the act of healing. When a sensitive person receives clairvoyance or clairaudience, or anyone has a psychic experience, the consciousness must be unoccupied by physical thought or sensation to permit its reception of the spirit experience. The consciousness is attuned to spirit. This principle applies in exactly the same way to healing.
To summarize: Reception from the spirit world takes place when the ordinary mind is dormant. Also transmission from a medium to the spirit requires the same state of mental attunement.
This conclusion is of great value in absent healing. The healer's mind must be placid and non-active as far as ordinary everyday thought occupation is concerned. All mind stress must be avoided.
Mr. Edwards, on his record 'Harry Edwards Speaks' says:
This is Harry Edwards speaking from the Spiritual Healing Sanctuary at Shere in Surrey. All over the world many people are sorely tried with sickness and unhappiness for which they seek comfort and relief.
People write or come to us for spiritual healing when medical science can do no more for them and whilst we can never give any promise in advance, we rejoice to see healing master their afflictions.
There is no known disease irrespective of its cause, that cannot be helped through the power of spiritual healing. Spiritual healing is not faith healing; it is Divine, being God's gift to all his children irrespective of race or creed.
We believe that every healing is a planned act, intelligently carried out by God's Ministers in Spirit, whom we call our Healing Guides. It is because they have acquired greater wisdom that they are able to overcome the causes of disease and to remove the symptoms. The means by which this takes place is through those of us who possess the gift of healing.
We, ourselves, do not heal. The healing comes through us to the patient. Healers possess a faculty of spiritual attunement with the Healing Guides and so become channels through whom the healing forces are fed to the sick one. It is through this attunement that the Healer makes known to the Healing Guides the needs of the sick and by the same means is enabled to receive a diagnosis intuitively and counsel for the patient's welfare. The actual diagnosis is the responsibility of the guide and not the healer and it is the guide who directs and controls the healing forces according to the particular needs of the patient.
Before any healing can take place, the cause of the sickness must first be removed. Many illnesses have a psychosomatic origin that exists within the patient's mind. Perhaps in the form of fear, frustration, anxiety, responsibility or even something deep-seated, such as the inability to fulfill some desire or ambition. The Spiritual Guides are able to see the exact nature of the trouble and so direct their healing influence to soothe the upset, give new thought directives and thus induce a more calm and contented outlook. Indeed, at the commencement of healing treatment, particularly with absent healing, the sufferer becomes aware of a sense of inner strength and upliftment which benefits the entire health tone and so promotes the healing to overcome more easily the symptoms of stress.
This explains how spiritual healing is able to bring about recoveries from so-called incurable diseases by restoring serenity to the mind and the origin of the disease is mastered.
Healing is not a cure-all; it is not all-powerful, but must conform to the spiritual and physical laws that govern us but within the scope of those laws, much can be done. Pain can be soothed away, growths can be dispersed, spinal misalignment can be corrected and so on. Even when a full recovery may not be possible, the granting of easement and fortitude and inner peace is still an act of healing.
We never limit within our minds the powers of healing and while we cannot foresee the future, we have supreme confidence in the Spiritual Guides to render all the help possible at any particular time.
Talking of time, in many cases a period of time is necessary to induce good changes which lead to the overcoming of the sickness. Therefore, most healings are progressive and, allowing for fluctuations, are permanent. We are always optimistic and while it is not our wish to raise hopes unduly in grave illnesses, we look for healing to take place.
Spiritual Healers pay high tribute to the medical profession and seek to co-operate with it. We believe that spiritual healing and medical practice are complementary to each other and the best form of treatment is to take advantage of both.
On the other side of this record I try to show how one can co-operate with the healing intention and take full advantage of all the benefits that spiritual healing can bring.
Spiritual healing has a Divine origin. That is, it comes from God. Thus we shall be helping ourselves to receive it if we live rightly and think rightly. Inner happiness and joy of living are priceless blessings and we can cultivate these by following the laws that govern our well-being.
Nervous distress and depression, inferiority complexes and fears will yield to the good healing influences directed from spirit if one simply looks for happiness in the smallest things of life and from this the greater good will follow. Depressions are largely a matter of outlook and if one consciously looks for a happy change to come, then it will. There will come a smile for oneself with the song in the heart and this will be reflected in the countenance and general demeanour.
When retiring one should look for refreshing sleep restoring energies and lasting until the morning. On waking, look for a happier day and think of the pleasure it holds for you. There will come a sense of inner upliftment and new strength with the knowledge that you will be given help to deal with your needs of the day.
In your waking moments breathe in slowly yet fully, absorbing into yourself more oxygen, vitality, strength and healthy power. You will feel all the better for it and feel more like being on top of the world. This is the finest way of co-operating with the spiritual healing purpose to promote better health tone, to nourish the blood stream and help the heart action and thus assist the healing purpose in its task of overcoming afflictions. There must always be a state of harmony between that which is transmitted and that which is received. We are thus able to receive the healing from a spiritual source simply because we are partly spiritual beings in this, our present life. Thus we can bring ourselves closer to that spiritual source who is God, the Father of us all; to cultivate a high spiritual code of life, by not doing anything hurtful to anyone, to serve both God and our fellows by right living, to help those who are in need and respecting the animal kingdom as part of God's creation.
Because we can receive spiritual healing, it shows that we are akin to spirit and therefore with God. It proves our immortality and that a spiritual heritage lies before us and all in a new life when this earthly one has ended.
Spiritual healing is part of the Divine plan for progression of all souls and I hope that everyone who hears my voice will work for this plan by spreading knowledge of the truths that underlies spiritual healing.
Let us therefore unite in the following prayerful thoughts and so help lay the foundations of the days ahead.
May I be thankful for all the blessings I already have. Grant me relief from pain and sickness.
Protect me from all ills and grant me good health in the days to come.
Remove all causes of imperfection and bring thy healing Ministers close to me, that I may be conscious of their presence and so receive guidance and inspiration.
Grant me courage and fortitude to overcome all adversity.
Let me be conscious of thy strength in all times of need.
Grant me confidence to overcome my fears and not to anticipate harm.
Teach me how to live rightly in thy sight; to do only that which is right and true.
I pray that good guidance and correct influence will inspire all thy people to be as brothers one to the other and that peace shall endure for all time.
Amen
This is Harry Edwards saying, 'God Bless you, my friends, and may all healing blessings be with you.'
Trance Address By Paul
There are varying and changing degrees of existence, and as we contemplate these we are reminded of some of Shakespeare's words 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women on it merely players' and so on. The soul in its time plays many parts until finally it reaches the ultimate goal of purity or perfection.
In contradiction to the cosmos which has no beginning and no end, a soul has got a start and a finish. We have to examine this in great detail to understand the meaning of our lives and the experiences that we have to undergo, as spirit is created by God out of the spiritual essence of the cosmos and is imbued with the Divine spirit thereby. It is then intended that this immature spark of God is developed into a son of God, which is the spiritual name of the masters and to do so must be sent to God's school for teaching which is our plane of existence. I would point out here that learning upon the planes of soul is never ending, but our world here also presents certain experiences which are vitally necessary for the developing soul to go through.
It is intended finally that this soul shall, for instance, be of pure metal such as gold, and to get pure gold we have to put the impure amalgam through the fire many times to purify the gold, and make of it a thing of great and dazzling beauty. Later we shall touch upon spiritual forms, but at the moment we are dealing with the unfolding of the developing soul.
Many people believe that the path of spiritual evolution is a straight and upward path, but this is not so, as we often slip back on the path, but the general directions and inclination is ever upwards. As you finish one life you take all your accumulated knowledge, wisdom and experience with you to the next soul plane of existence, and then you will be vibrating at a higher frequency and have a much greater understanding of the truth.
Knowledge, character and beliefs are basically unchanged and you remain much the same person until you are ready to progress. The rate of progression is governed by your thoughts, wishes and ideas, and these form the bonds that bind you to the endless round of reincarnation.
Even the words, thoughts, wishes and ideas are not actually correct, for these are material and not spiritual attributes. Rather, think of reaching for the Divine mind, of which the spirit man is only a tiny part. Imagine the future destiny of man rather than try to play which route man will step out with his faltering steps and imperfect sight on the long path towards perfection.
Our own thoughts control our destinies and to a great extent we form our own lives and shape our own destinies. The one who would be good and great must think good and great. To be spiritual, you must think spiritual thoughts and act upon these thoughts out of the higher spiritual being which is part of your make-up. The really great spiritual masters long ago realized, that to do Divine spirit healing you must see the patient before you as near perfect in every detail, physically and spiritually, and to teach a pupil, you must see that pupil as spiritually perfect. This is using the Divine force which imagines and creates objects as being perfect, and they are then created as perfect.
'Do not criticize anyone,' as you will set up negative forces which will destroy any spiritual potential that you have ever had. Your thoughts go into the etheric and if they are good and positive thoughts, inspired by divine love, they form impressions which do both you and the object or objects of your imagining immeasurable good, and set up an endless chain reaction which relevates in the etheric for a long time.
Because of the harmony raised by the Divine love behind the thoughts and actions, they are accepted by the cosmos which is a manifestation of God's creation and are acted upon. There is a backwash of Divine love to the creator of the deeds and thoughts. Negative thoughts of hate, anger, rage, self-pity and jealousy are not harmonious and are therefore not acceptable to the cosmos. As such they will remain on the lower etheric plane and recoil upon the people who created the deeds and -thoughts, causing this person more harm than the object of his thoughts.
Truly, I say to you, and I cannot repeat this too strongly, that the nation, association, organization or person which is founded upon hatred and dislike for other people cannot possibly survive, as their own conduct will harm them. It must be clearly understood that spirit is absolutely constructive, always building up mankind with loving care, and they are forbidden to be destructive by Divine law, and cannot interfere in man's life and actions unless asked to do so by genuine prayers for guidance and help.
God is a God of love and mercy and is the Father of all mankind. No matter what mistakes we make in this life, we are still looked after and then we repent and turn to God, the helping hand is reached down to us in pity, and we are raised up. Therefore, to conclude, we must live a good life every day every week, every month, every year, for that is by what we are judged. Do no sinful action, hurt no one, do no harm to others, think no harm of others and regard all mankind as your brothers and sisters.
Try and help as many people as you can as you walk along this road of life, trust in God and the masters and see all mankind, physically and spiritually as perfect. Imagine them all as children of God, for truly, no man or woman is really good or evil, as we are all a complex of good and evil, male and female, and with our troubles, feelings, and complexes, we are all fellow travellers and are on the same lonely road.
Very often you will find a man or woman who hates or dislikes you intensely, but do not retaliate in kind. Send out great thoughts of love to counteract these vibrations and return the negative thoughts to whence they came. In spite of the hate, you are still Holy spirit which is God and you are forbidden to work against any of God's children by Divine law. The late Mahatma Gandhi understood this law perfectly and used it to great effect. This law works on all scales from tiny men to great nations and the leaders of nations today should try and understand and apply these laws to the administration of their country. The doctrine of passive resistance is very old and is taught in the teachings of the secret doctrine.
Any nation or group of people who think and act spiritually, will build up a terrific vibration of good, and thereby form a barrier that is impossible to break down. Very few people know how to pray properly. Thoughts of prayer are projected into the etheric as vibration, whereby they set up a pattern of your wishes and ideals forming part of the cosmos pattern. If they are harmonious and in keeping with God's law they are acted upon, therefore the stronger the vibration the more vivid the pattern formed. This is the reason for group prayer and meditation as laid down by the masters.
However, you do not necessarily have to pray in a group; sit down in a quiet relaxed atmosphere, try to clear your mind of all material thoughts and worries and start your prayer slowly and distinctly thinking at the same time of the perfection of the ideal that you are praying for. If you are praying for help for a sick person, see him physically perfect and whole, and imagine him as he is a manifestation of God's Divine love and wisdom. This can and should be applied to all your daily living and problems. Answers can thus be found to all your problems, 'knock and the door will be opened' and the door can be opened to all mankind.
Trance Address By Chenon
Mankind has visualized a place of residence after death for many, many aeons and, generally speaking, the conception of each place of each race, nationality and creed of the other world is very similar. These conclusions have usually been arrived at independently, which goes to prove that the Divine intelligence which stimulates ideas, thoughts, purposes and conceptions of mankind's ideas, operates at all times and in all planes of directions.
We are all more or less agreed that there is another world and that man lives on after death in a changed state. 'All right,' say the sceptics, 'show us where the other world is. Can you prove what you say? Where is the world of spirit? Obviously, it is not in the sky or under the earth so prove what you say.'
Many people who have our beliefs and faith, fall for the trap and start arguing volubly to try to prove the existence of the spirit world. The true adept of spiritual knowledge, as seen by the masters of the Eastern lands, do not enter into such discussions as everyone must, by diligent thought and effort, find his beliefs for himself or herself. The 'still small voice' within every person is the faint voice of the soul, and here - and here only - can you find the truth. Whatever you call it, be it soul, overself, unconscious mind, or whatever, the truth and knowledge is that we are children of God. The conscience within us tries to tell us what to do for the best, and the human soul is the spark of God, trying to burn brightly to enable the soul to reach perfection. Like every other flame, it is apt to be drowned by waste products of an undesirable nature which must be disposed of before a beautiful warm glow, acceptable to the master, is arrived at.
Mankind has been guided to the planes of soul and usually finds his way easily. In this instance, the mercy of the cosmos is demonstrated, as the loved ones who have gone on before, with attendant guides, are present to welcome them and escort them to their allotted places. I must repeat, there are a few misguided souls, especially criminals, drunkards, and drug addicts, who become lost in the planes of astral, because they cannot bear the light of wisdom and truth and prefer to stay in the outer darkness.
Rest assured that a chronic drinker has no pretensions to spirituality, and he seriously endangers his chances of developing spiritually. Usually he sees himself struggling to find a place in the spiritual light, and the Divine love and peace of God will surely help him.
This world of ours is a three dimensional world vibrating at a fixed vibration. Everything that lives is of an atomic molecular structure and gives off its own vibrations. These go into the etheric and influence man's moods, conditions and probably the future. When you have a whole nation bitterly hating and thinking wrong thoughts of another nation or race, you have the whole etheric tinged with the dark coloured vibrations of hate, the product of wrong thinking by men, most of whom are brain-washed into believing that they are correct because another people may not be of their colour.
Many people have asked me to explain all about their spirit guides. How to contact them and what their functions are.
After following my explanation, I feel that you will be inclined to believe that we definitely reincarnate, in spite of so many people's thinking that this is impossible and that it does not happen.
There are countless numbers of groups of spirits in the spirit world, and we are all members of one of these groups whether we are still on the earth plane or back in spirit.
Members of these groups are experts with numerous talents, and have knowledge and experience acquired by all the members of the group, covering a countless number of years during their earth and spirit lives.
The leaders of these groups, or Masters as we should call them, decide from time to time that several of the members should spend another life of the earth plane again. This is to obtain more knowledge and experience and the spirits chosen will still have their free will and are given the right to accept or refuse.
If the spirit accepts, then guides who are particularly concerned with this spirit, spend a considerable time planning conditions, environment, surroundings, in fact, everything that this spirit needs during his or her new life in a physical body.
During this earthly lifetime, the experience, the conditions met by this spirit on earth from the day it is born, are taken back to the spirit group. This goes on through many reincarnations until the group feels enlightened and advanced, and ready to progress to a higher plane.
The guides have volunteered to take great care of this particular spirit who has returned to the earth until he again returns to rejoin the group. This is when many of us begin to contact our guides who are so anxious to let us know they are with us, and will be with us all our lifetime.
They contact us through mediums in a circle, at private sittings with a medium or privately through meditation. Each guide, and some of us have up to five or more, have different knowledge which is used in the best way to assist and protect the reincarnating spirit in the way which will help most. They will give you their names, descriptions, nationalities, even the clothing apparel they wear when contacting you. If their English is not too good, they will perfect their speech in a very short time, as it must be realized that they might be talking to you in many cases for a very long lifetime.
They will endeavour to get close enough to your mentality to be able to inspire you, which will bring you closer together and be a tremendous help to you in your daily life, also help you to avoid making decisions which might be harmful to you.
If and when you come to know your guides, listen to them and be guided by them. They know what is best for you, and are with us to help, and to help only.
25 - Do Unborn Babies Have Guides?
Trance Address By Chenon?
Guides are allotted on the planes of spirit, and this is worked out about two years before the birth of a child. During the period of gestation, the guides hover very close to the mother, as they are acquainting themselves with the earth conditions and vibrations. From the fourth month of gestation, the soul is introduced into the rapidly developing foetus and will soon be ready to face the round of earth existence. The guides help the mother during her confinement and then assume the duties of guidance.
During the formative years of the child the guides are often absent, as they need instruction by the higher powers as to what purpose their charge has in life, and any alterations in the original plans are communicated to them. When the child reaches adolescence, the position is reviewed, and very often fresh guides and controls are allotted.
How Are Children Allotted To Parents?
When the decision is reached that a member of a particular soul or group wishes to reincarnate for the purpose of developing himself, or by his own wish, he decides to come down to the earth plane to perform a certain task for mankind, there is a mass meeting of his soul group. Plans are made, and many things decided upon. For instance, the task in life has to be settled upon, occupation, race, nationality, environment, situation in society, degree of evolvement desired, etc.
When all this information is collected and collated other experts are called in, and it is decided then what suitable surroundings are available for consideration. It is deemed desirable that children should have basically the same vibrations as parents, but for various reasons a child may be born to parents who are on different vibrations. I am speaking generally, for as I have pointed out, each soul is judged on its own merits and demerits, and usually one of the Masters is at hand to advise the person as to the way of achieving spiritual development.
Chenon
26 - Meditation, And Knowing Your Guides
Q. What is spiritualism? - I am often asked this question. Is it a creed? Is it a belief? Is it a religion? Is it a way of life? Can you tell me what it is?
A. I submit that a belief in life after death is something that is born in you, that was given to you when you were born.
Q. Do you call yourself a spiritualist because you attend a spiritualist church?
A. The answer is 'no'. I am a spiritual philosopher without going to a church.
Q. Am I a spiritualist then if I believe in the seven principles as proclaimed by the spiritualist church?
A. Not necessarily. Only if you belong to a group who believe in a life after death and attend church services.
Q. That sounds feasible but is that sure?
A. Yes, once you believe in this way of life you do not have to join a church in order to call yourself a spiritualist.
Q. Can one join a church without any formality?
A. In some places you have to pay a small fee to become a member of the church. In others you pay nothing.
Q. How does it come about that there are such a lot of people who officially belong to other churches, yet call themselves spiritualists and go to the spiritualist church?
A. Perhaps because they have been brought up in that church, but realize that a spiritualist church can give them extra knowledge which they have been searching for.
Q. Do you know whether the spiritualist church has got any facilities like an orthodox church for christenings, marriages, burial services, etc.?
A. Yes, but not all churches. Spiritual philosophy is basically a way of life, which is markedly different from a religion as such. Christ left the teaching behind, that the temple of God is in the heart of every man, that the body of every man, the mind of every man is the temple of God. Many advanced spiritual souls and entities have never seen the inside of a church, whether spiritual or otherwise. Man in this incarnate life is responsible to himself and to the Divine mind, for everything that he does upon this earth, for his deeds, his thoughts and his actions. There is no need for anybody to go to a church to worship his God. The basic worship of God comes from his own thoughts and stems from his own wishes . and his closeness to the Godhead.
Q. That poses another problem. If you say that, then you would be classed as one of those who say: 'You are a far better Christian when you do not belong to any church.'
A. Official encouragement is given to strive for a religion, as basically one needs religious teaching that is given in schools, which parents normally do not provide. There are a vast number of people not able to follow the basics of religions, and who feel that they need the upliftment of a church service to help them.
Spiritualism for many centuries has had a great stigma attached to it. To this day many of the old prejudices of spiritualism remain. Only proper teaching can sweep this away. The Bible itself is quoted against spiritualism. They say that it is wrong, that our teachings are wrong. Yet, all through the Bible there are instances of spiritual healing and communion with the other side.
The object of this book is solely to give you proper spiritual teachings and the answer to any questions that are left unanswered by so-called authorities on spiritual philosophy. The main thing is that people can and must develop in their own time and at their own speed. Some people believe in mass teachings, other people believe in meditation. Basically, for anyone who is interested in what is known as spiritualism, theoretical teachings comes first. With the more advanced adepts, they can find out for themselves by talking to their God in the silence of their own hearts and minds by meditation.
Q. Can you explain to me what is meant by a guide?
A. A guide is a spirit which is with you right from the time you were born, and this guide, accompanied by several others stay with you always.
Q. My greatest difficulty was when in the early days I was told that I had a guide. Where is he? How do I find out who he is? How do I find out about him? Is it possible for me to get acquainted with my guide without consulting a medium who may obtain the answers? I believe that most people new to spiritualism have the same difficulty. Whenever I had some questions in this connection, I was always blithely told 'Ask your guide'. My problem then was: I do not even know who my guide is, so how can I contact him?
A. As to my own guides, I know they are always with me, in fact, I have several. My chief guide has helped me many times when I was in difficulty. Other people may not be able to see their guides. When I am in trouble, I have asked one of them for his help.
Q. How do you ask your guide? Do you actually pray like praying to a saint, or do you just go into the silence? How do you contact your guide?
A. When I have been alone, after work for example, I sit down or perhaps just lie down and I speak to my guide as if I was speaking to you, and my reply is given to me later.
What I ask for is frequently given to me. The guide does not speak to me, although he answers my questions by endeavouring to give me what I asked for. This seems to me to be working on the same principle as people who are granted something for which they have asked in prayer. We are told that we have one guide who is with us from birth, never leaves us, and who looks after us all our life, that he is one of several but he is our main guide. We must surely have different and various helpers: otherwise there would not be other spirits coming through in trance.
Q. How do people who are not psychic, to the extent of being clairvoyant, set about finding out who their guide is? How do they achieve communion with their guide?
A. This is a very lengthy and involved question. We must, first look at the mechanics of this. We know that the world of spirit operates upon the level of thought. There is nothing physical in the world of soul. We can compare the human mind to a two-way radio, receiving and transmitting. We know that the human body has an aura all around it, which is the emanations given off by the overself. The aura is egg-shaped, and at the top, the brain impulses are giving off vibrations, which are constantly fluctuating.
The thoughts are given out as radiations or as microwaves. Your thoughts are given out into the ether. You are in conjunction or sympathy with an entity or entities who look after you and guide your life and your purpose in life. We know that in the planes of soul your future life is all mapped out for you. You are allocated certain milestones that you must pass and perform in this life. We also know that the measure of your development is measured by the way you conduct your own life.
Your easiest way to get to know your guides is to try and sit with a reliable medium. If and when one or more of your guides wish to introduce themselves to you, through the medium clairvoyantly, they will do so. After that, repeated sittings with a medium will enable you to make contact with your guides who will help you and advise you throughout your lifetime, until when your time comes to pass over to the spirit world, you will meet and know these guides as old friends.
People often ask me, 'What is mediumship and what is the experience like?' This is a difficult question as every medium has a different method of control. As you can imagine, there is so much to learn and know and people are constantly asking for information about the other side of life and where they can obtain this knowledge. Guidance lasts from the cradle to beyond the grave, and death is one of the most natural things there is on this plane of existence. When you understand this, there is no need to fear death, for indeed you live on in a different plane of existence, more alive and vital than ever before. My loved ones have often manifested themselves to me, proving false the old saying that no one has ever come back from the grave, to tell me what lies beyond.
It is necessary to point out here that the human organism is a soul encased in a material body. The soul or spirit is the real you, and the physical body or vehicle is only a temporary cover of material substance, adorned for the purpose of allowing your soul to incarnate upon this earth for a specific purpose, which is to learn, develop and evolve. The world of spirit is a world of harmony and the world of our earth plane, at the moment, is one of disharmony.
Bearing in mind that man is a dual personality, that is his spiritual body and his material body, it follows that there is duality in all things and to know one, man must experience the other until eventually all things balance out. How can you know happiness until you have experienced unhappiness, success until you have experienced failure, love until you have experienced hatred? Souls live upon the planes of spirits, where all is love, goodness and harmony, but it is necessary for them to descend to the world of mankind to experience the conditions of disharmony for a short spell and learn the opposite characteristics which exist here. We are told that spirit people live in groups of souls all in harmony, working together and it is a cause for rejoicing when one of their number returns to the world of spirit after leaving the earth plane, for his sufferings and trials are over. Likewise they are sad when a soul leaves the planes of spirit and takes on a material body, for has he not died to them? It therefore follows that life depends upon which angle that you look at it, for them the spiritual planes, past lives have a curious dreamlike quality, forgotten far off things are no longer of any importance. Some of us can also remember dimly, experiences in the spiritual planes, but this alas is usually discarded by the mind which is attuned only to material things.
If we regard this world as the University of Life, then we are coming close to the truth. Mankind is born here to learn! Most of his life is preordained, but certain things are not! We again come on to the duality of nature, for man has his own free will and is allowed considerable latitude, living his own life. An incarnating soul is born with the broad outlines in his life that he must eventually pass, but the time that he spends between these milestones is his own, and he must use these experiences to learn as much as he can, and do as much good as he can. God does not plan that a man should become an alcoholic, drug addict or commit similar sins against his physical body, for these people have taken this decision themselves and must eventually pay for these indiscretions.
This now brings us on to an important point. What can one think of heaven and hell? I can only give my personal viewpoint. There is no hell, that hell is experienced upon this earth and in your own mind when you pass over and realize how you have hurt other people by thought, word and deed. Heaven, paradise or Nirvana are the spiritual planes where all the spirits go after the transition. Following this train of thought it is obvious that there must be different planes of soul, for what could the mass murderer have in common with his victims, or the drunkard with the celibate priest?
A soul on passing over merely sheds the physical body, and retains the spiritual body. Personality and character are part of the soul body, therefore this must be carried over intact into the planes of soul. A soul therefore on making the transition is very much the same as he was on earth, neither saint nor sinner, rather a composite of the two, retaining his interests, character, and personality. His only ties with our earth plane are his interests and love for the people who live on the earth plane. People upon these planes of life are subject to the law of harmony. Therefore there are those with whom you are in harmony and those with whom you have nothing in common. You may find that you are instantly attracted to a person, feel completely at ease with them, or in some cases are completely repelled by certain people.
This is the manifestation of the cosmic law of harmony and it follows that the same law applies between mediums and their guides or controls. A control can only manifest through a medium with whom the control is in perfect harmony and who has the same outlook as the spirit, for with disharmony there must be discord. When certain guides come through there is such a feeling of wonderful peace with them. These souls are in perfect harmony with their medium and can communicate freely and easily.
When a child is born the child is born into a strange new world and can only express itself by crying. The material element blots out most of the memories of the spiritual world but some people retain the memories of past lives very vividly and clearly. I remember a story of a South African girl who had her story serialized in a popular South African magazine who vividly remembered her past lives. She described sixteen past lives in very vivid and minute detail.
The child grows to adulthood and the guardian angels guide and direct it. Great plans and ideas may be formulated for this child, but if it does not work and learn, a lot of these ideas may well fall away and he may have to have other ideas and plans substituted. At this period the child's own guardian angels are alone responsible for its life but they do obtain assistance from advisors if help is needed.
All the spirit world works in harmony and as the child takes an interest in, say medicine, doctors who have passed on are brought in to give advice on the child's career and guide him along the road of life. He grows up to young manhood when he adopts certain interests, and his character, mind and personality develop. Man is never a static organism, and is always changing. As the spiritual world is a world of thought vibration, it follows that your level of development is governed by your comprehension of spiritual matters and laws.
What you believe at twenty, changes at thirty, and again at forty, as the person matures and keeps on changing all his days. You may accept at forty what you cannot accept at twenty. Therefore man is always changing his ideas and can never generalize about anyone or anything. He keeps on learning all his life, and all his experiences, stores of knowledge and wisdom are carried over to the other side to be used in the development of the spiritual body.
One of Bill's strangest sittings that he had ever had was with an African spirit medium. As he was curious to find out what spiritual levels they worked on he arranged to see another African witchdoctor. He knew that many of them worked on very low levels and practised black magic but had heard very good reports of many. One event stood out in his mind, which he related.
An African he knew reported to one of the big hospitals with a pain in his hip. Tests were taken and the affected area was X-rayed. This turned out to be a very malignant cancer and he was advised to have his leg amputated. As the average African greatly fears having any part of his body removed, for fear it is used in witchcraft, he went home to his kraal to consult with his father. It is worth reflecting here that they go home to their tribal areas to pray to their ancestral spirits and they regard extra sensory perception as the links between themselves and their tribal spirits. If they lose this power of E.S.P. they lose all contact with their ancestors.
In their homes they beat drums to attract the attention of the spirits. He noticed immediately that the drummers hit a certain vibration right away and kept on this vibration. Most African mediums only work through the spirits of their direct ancestors, and will not accept control by a spirit from another tribe. Every African tribe has its own totem, or 'isi-bongs' and identify themselves with an animal, bird or other natural object. The African whom Bill had selected was of the Sibanda (spotted animal) totem and, when he entered the kraal she was already deep in trance whining and mewing like a lion cub. She had the skin of a lioness over her head, symbolizing the totem (lion) and that the medium was a woman. He discreetly asked no questions about the skin but all African witchdoctors have very elaborate regalia, including ivory, traditional staves of office and feathered headdresses.
In trance the medium began to speak in an old man's husky voice, definitely not the voice of the woman. Though he could follow their language fairly well, these witchdoctors always use an interpreter and will not allow a third person to speak directly to them. The presenting spirit identified himself as a chief under Mzilikazi the great Mat-abele king and said that he had died after the Europeans took Matabeleland. Bill checked all this and found it to be correct. Given by a European medium this would have been stupendous clairvoyance, but given by an African it lost a little of its value. A lot of the evidential substance was lost in interpreting but he was fairly well satisfied with the sitting. One has to listen very carefully during these sittings, as the guides seem to ramble on frequently, and then up pops some wonderful piece of evidence.
In trance this witchdoctor who knew nothing about the African with cancer confirmed everything that the hospital had told the African. She advised him through Bill to carry out the advice he had been given by the hospital, and that Bill should tell him that it was better to lose a limb than his life.
27 - Divining - And Oil In Rhodesia By Bill
This is one of the least understood of the manifestations of extra sensory perceptions (E.S.P.) and many people have pondered over die principles by which it operates. Like everything else in life, you must understand the cosmic laws to comprehend the workings of divination, whether of the future or of the problems of grinding minerals, treasures or artifacts.
The cosmic laws of harmony come into play here. Certain people are responsive to the mineral ray, and respond to the vibrations of certain minerals. There are also colour vibrations and people who are vibrating on that particular colour vibration, are responsive to a certain mineral, such as those on the gold ray are sensitive to gold and so on.
Mineral detecting rods and wands are merely extensions of the physical body, and react in harmony to the metal that they are detecting. Therefore there is a definite vibratory pull towards the larger deposit of the mineral, which is in the ground. The diviner is aware of these vibrations more than most people and many have these psychic gifts to a greater or lesser degree.
Most minerals can be detected by divining, a notable exception being mercury. When divining is done on this metal a curious phenomena emerges, as by the law of harmony, the diviner feels the symptoms of mercury poisoning and in fact becomes quite ill. Gold is another difficult metal to divine as there are several different rates of vibrations in gold.
A strange incident of interest to people in Southern Africa can be related here. I was having a discussion in Bulawayo with a couple of my friends about this subject when the name of an American diviner came up. It seems that the diviner, who was a woman, made a living out of prospecting for oil, and had located oil in many parts of the world. It was mentioned that every time she divined for oil, she felt herself saturated in oil, and had to have a bath after every divination.
My spirit guide 'Wise Owl' inspiring me, suggested that I should do some divining on a large scale map of Rhodesia for oil, using the same technique, and he would direct me to oil that is waiting to be developed on a vast scale in Rhodesia. After divining over a large area in Rhodesia with negative results we then came to a certain area where the crystal pendulum started to revolve fairly slowly, then it moved more and more rapidly until it was spinning merrily away. A few moments later one of my friends commented on a strong smell of oil in my room, so we opened the windows and the door. The smell still continued and my other friend also complained of very uneasy symptoms.
As the pendulum continued to move over the area I felt a tightness in my chest, felt that my lungs were absolutely swimming in oil, and I broke into coughing fits and eventually had to leave the room.
Expecting the wife of one of my friends to join us, we waited for her to come into the room to note her reaction, without passing any remarks regarding the smell of oil. When she came in she immediately started sniffing, and exclaimed 'What is that awful smell? Have you been using oil inside this room?' We all burst out laughing and told her what we had been doing and what had happened. After a few minutes the smell of oil disappeared completely, leaving no trace whatsoever. This was a similar psychic demonstration to the smell of perfume and the hot and cold waves demonstrated by the spirit guides in our circle from time to time.
Slowly the golden days of youth were passing and the character and personality of the man were forming. In answer to a question that one of my friends has asked me, that is, whether a person was naturally psychic or did it appear gradually, I replied, 'All men are born with certain psychic gifts and it is our privilege to choose to use them or not.' This is using the psychic teachings which claim that mankind has free will all his life. Many people believe in pre-destiny, but I cannot believe fully in this theory. Rather I do believe that certain milestones in our lives must, and will, come to pass, but as we live our lives the panorama of our future extends and reveals itself.
To a certain extent we may fashion and form our own destinies, and a great deal of the future depends upon our own actions. On the other hand, many clairvoyants, whose opinions I value, have proved to me that certain things have been foreseen and have come to pass as predicted. Rather then, consider the future as a succession of probabilities or possibilities of what shall be with many things pre-ordained. We on this material world of ours look at things from a material point of view and expect future events to work out to a logical pattern, not realizing that the spirit people work on a spiritual thought vibration and not along logical lines. Therefore, it is their practice to give us the end result - that we see - and not the way we reach that end result.
A split second in cosmic time we see with spiritual sight, hear with spiritual ears, and more important, know with spiritual knowledge.
Many psychic people are attracted to the subject of survival because they are in great trouble over problems that they are, at the moment in time and space, unable to solve. When their problems are solved, they have no further interest in the subject, or when they find that there is no easy way to solve their problems, they give it up in disgust. Others again find peace and solace in communion with the spirit world and remain attached to this philosophy all their days.
I would say that a great majority of people learn all that they can from spiritual circles, find peace, and retire to their homes or to societies to learn more about the subject and study at great length and depth. As I have said before, this philosophy is the kindergarten of spiritual truths and is enjoyed by many wonderful and devout people who practise this faith. Lonely, disappointed, and often psychotic people are attracted to spiritual circles and derive much benefit, but with newly-formed circles especially, great care must be taken in screening potential sitters.
Many people indeed, get help and solace from communion with the spirits and as I have stated before, all roads lead to God, provided that your thoughts and motives are pure and good and you wish to progress. God is in the hearts, mind and soul of every man, and sooner or later you must find Him, whether in church, mosque, temple, out in the bush, or in a spiritual circle. By the conduct of your lives upon this earth are you judged, not by the number of times you go to church each year. The prayers of a righteous person can achieve much, whatever your surroundings are in this very troubled world, and they are badly needed. Pray then, to the Great Supreme Power, for help and guidance. Liberate the great God power within thyself and 'Man, know thyself.
29 - Realization Of The Cosmos
Consider the universe as a whole, resplendent in its glory, and know that man is only a tiny atomic particle of the whole. You come to this earth to learn a few simple lessons, experience a few joys and sorrows, and pass on like an . ephemeral fly, which lives but a scantling of time and has gone out like a candle in the wind. Man is a spirit, a spark of the Divine God, temporarily enclosed in a material shell which covers his spiritual body until his soul is ready to detach itself from the material world, and return to the plane of spirit. Can mankind even have any conception of the origin of the universe in his untutored low state of evolution? It is impossible for him to understand the infinite or grasp the realization of the cosmos.
Mankind has taken a tiny step towards understanding this, when he discovered nuclear fission, for it will be through the researches which will be done in this field in the future, that he will find greater knowledge of the foundation of the universe of mankind.
Consider the sun as the hub or fulcrum, around which everything revolves ceaselessly and without which all things would wither and die. If you can conceive the idea of the sun giving off endless vibrations from a giant atomic field pile, working ceaselessly and forever, then you are getting nearer the answer. The next thing to consider is the fact that these vibrations bind the cosmos together in a certain pattern, and in a certain place, so that the planets or heavenly bodies can never collide.
If, we shall say, a savage nuclear war took place on earth, it could disrupt the balance of the cosmos, and change the face of the universe. This cannot be, as all things - as far as the universe are concerned - are arranged by the higher powers and man will not be allowed to destroy himself. It is by Divine will, that mankind lives upon the earth plane at intervals, where he assimilates and learns knowledge by the command of the higher powers.
Everything on earth is constantly changing and decaying, is created and dies. However much man scoffs at the idea of a spirit world and of a God, you .have only to sit under the stars, look at the firmament, to know that there are higher powers that control the destiny of man.
In this floating crust, there are many flaws and cracks, for you must understand that the earth is subject to great pressures. Violent explosions such as nuclear explosions, especially those detonated underneath the sea can open up these faults and produce earthquakes, tidal waves and other calamities.
It is in the records of probabilities for the future, that great parts of the known world will subside under the sea, and other areas emerge, owing to man's abuse of nuclear knowledge. This knowledge was given to man by the spirit people in all sincerity and honesty for his use, but like most things in life, he has abused it rather than used it. Those in the realms of spirit are very concerned about the possibility of unbridled nuclear and bacteriological warfare, and they are trying to prevent this possibility, but they know that inevitably there will be such a war.
This does not mean, however, the end of the world as mankind knows it today, for only a succession of catastrophes will induce man to forsake these violent, wicked ways, and really live in the brotherhood of man.
After mankind has been humbled and has realized what he has done, and how near he has come to the destruction of the world, then he will throw aside the material trappings, and will be ready for the coming of a knowledgeable master who will carry out a great crusade to spread again the doctrine laid by the higher powers.
The message to mankind is, 'Be not afraid, for we are working in your interest all the time, and we shall guide the earth through its testing times and periods. God is a God of Love, kindness and light, and this world of yours will eventually be transformed into a place where peace and harmony will prevail. When you think of the ever swelling restless sea, think of the fact that after the storm the sea is at its calmest, and its most placid. The birds sing most exquisitely after the violent storms have washed down upon them.'
Consider the fact that everything on the planes of soul, including the earth, works upon a system of vibrations. Colour is a vibration; sound is a vibration; touch is a vibration. Thought is also a vibration, and thoughts in the human mind are produced as micro-waves, which pass into the cosmos and join the general pattern of thought vibrations around the earth planes. This is why a whole nation, hating a specific target, produces a vibration around their nation, which produces war. By the same token, a whole nation emitting thoughts of love and tranquillity can bring peace to their area.
30 - The Meaning Of Vibrations
Let us now return to the sun. We have compared the sun to a giant atomic plant giving off endless vibrations. These vibrations travel for ever, but can be deflected and distorted by the vibrations around the world, given off by mortal man. Let us further examine these vibrations: we have a giant telephone switchboard working by electrical impulses. We activate these impulses by connecting one set of electrical vibrations to another, and produce a realization that we desire to communicate, by ringing a bell or flashing a light. Basically, this is what happens when we communicate by an instrument.
You come to the dark colours of the unevolved, the drunkards, and the drug addicts. Obviously, people who are working on a high vibration find it difficult to communicate with those on a lower level, and it is for this reason that so many of the above-mentioned group are so often tied to this material world of ours and find it so difficult to break out of it Every person upon this earth works upon a particular ray, and is influenced by these heavenly vibrations. Character is often shaped by these vibrations, for you can understand that the world would be a very dull place indeed, if everything was merely of a dull uniform colour.
Those who work on the green ray are automatically attracted to green fields and seas. Those on the red rays are usually people who are very active and positive in their lives. Those on the blue ray are usually very quiet and thoughtful people, who dream a lot and have a great interest in their fellow men. You have also the complement, where people are of different colours in their rays, and combine the virtues of both. Rays which are violet and blue, merge into golden colours. These rays are absorbed in the aura, and give off these colours. To the clairvoyant eye, this tells immediately what temperament and character a person has.
If you look at a young child playing naked, you can see a brilliant and beautiful flow of colours around him, but if you look at an alcoholic sitting lonely at a bar, drinking heavily, you will see immediately the loneliness, the jealousy, and in many cases the hatred, and the self-pity. These find some means of manifestation and are very often shown in spite and anger against people who stand for something that he cannot understand or comprehend. They know that they can never come up to the level of this person, and their guilt complex is so immense, by the realization that they have brought all this upon themselves, that they suffer agonies of jealousy. If they would only stop and consider themselves, and their faults, life would be much more tolerable and pleasant for them.
Let us touch briefly upon these vibrations of thought. Your brain can be compared to a two way radio, transmitting and receiving messages simultaneously. The guides around you can read your thoughts by means of the micro-waves sent out, and you receive their thoughts by the same method. This means they can influence your thought patterns and implant ideas in your mind. You are thus mentally conditioned to accept ideas of change and upliftment, and thereby it comes as no surprise to you when the job that you have wanted is placed in front of you.
The vibrations of the Egyptians who built the pyramids were left behind, and the vibrations even exist to this day to those who are psychic.
Who has stood in the shadow of the pyramids or under the brooding shadows of the Zimbabwe and Khami ruins, and not felt the influence left behind from so long ago?
Often you feel that you have known for a long time that a certain thing was going to happen, long before it happened, and therefore you are not surprised when it does happen. This applies to everything in life, even dying. Towards the end you are mentally conditioned from the other side of the veil to accept the changes before they arrive. Always they care for mankind and refuse to let any man be hurt needlessly.
31 - Visions Of Ancient Scotland By Bill
I See the Braham Seer, a powerful clairvoyant and visionary, who was born in the country of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland in the sixteenth century. His name was Kenneth Mackenzie and he was brought up as an orphan by a farmer and his wife, and trained as a shepherd. One day he was on a mountain, watching his sheep, when he felt drowsy and fell asleep. He was sixteen years of age, just past adolescence. (This bears out the theory that many psychic gifts manifest themselves in boys and girls of this age and are therefore connected with a bio-chemical disturbance in the body.)
As he lay slumbering, he felt a stone digging into his back and drowsily he pulled it out. According to legend it was a blue stone with a hole in the centre of it, and looking into it, he saw the past history of the world, and was also supposed to see the history of the world to come.
Whether this was symbolical, and he saw with his spiritual eyes, we do not know, but then he saw his mistress coming to him bearing his plate of food, and he instinctively knew that there was poison in the food. Apparently the woman had tried to have an affair with Kenneth, as her own husband was indifferent to her and he had spurned her. Surprised by what he had seen, he awaited her coming, and accepted the food. After she had gone, he fed it to his faithful dog who devoured the food and died quickly in convulsions.
Shaken and terrified, Kenneth ran away, and spent the next forty years or so travelling the Highlands, prophesying or giving clairvoyance. Most of these sayings are in Gaelic and in rhyme and are of purely local interest, but among many other things, he foresaw the coming of the railroad, Culloden Moor battlefield, motor cars and aeroplanes.
One day I was tramping across the mountain when I came across a sad, lonely little loch nestling in the hills. There was no habitation nearby and only the melancholy cry of the few water fowl disturbed the scene. There was something lonely and aloof about the place, and on returning home from this desolation my father told me the full story of the loch and Kenneth Mackenzie.
Lady Seafield had asked him to give clairvoyance to her. He had told her that she would have three deformed children, and that the family would die out and be replaced by another branch of the family. In frantic rage she had him arrested as a witch, and condemned him to be burned to death. It was at that little loch - Loch Ussie - where he was taken on being apprehended, and he had taken the blue stone out of his sporran and thrown it into the mark of a cow's hoof, prophesying that water would come out of the ground forming a loch.
In the fullness of time, another spiritual man would arise, find the stone and prophesy as he had prophesied. He was burned to death on Ardnamarchan Point, and before he died the Lady Seafield taunted him saying, 'You will go to hell now, where you belong, Wizard.' He smiled and said, 'Not so Lady. I go to Heaven. As proof of my words, after my death, three doves will come from the West, and three ravens from the East. If the doves rest on my ashes, you will know I am in Heaven. If the ravens land first, I am in hell.' The birds arrived as he had prophesied. The doves landed on his ashes, and surely his spirit must still walk about that lonely little loch? The country people give it a wide berth, but with his love of people and his interest in humanity, I am sure that he must still be guiding and inspiring his descendants and helping them to overcome their difficulties.
Culloden Moor in Scotland, was the scene of one of my earliest psychic experiences. My father was farming in that area, so one day I took a walk across the old battlefield.
The dead highlanders buried in mass graves, according to their tartans. The Englishmen were buried in their regimental groupings on the other side of the battlefield. The graves of the highlandmen have always been covered in heather, but no heather ever grew on the English graves. With my clairvoyance I saw a man dressed in the tartan of the Cameron highlanders amongst the heather, and I knew that he was badly hurt. I associated him with the chief of the Cameron clan, Lochiel.
As I stood staring at it, the spirit turned to me and smiled gently and very sadly. I knew then that his spirit had lived on and still cared for his people.
I found out the full story afterwards. The chief had been injured during the battle and had crawled to a nearby well for a drink of water, when he was bayoneted. The local people call this well the 'Clootie Well', and they go there often to pray to the spirit of the Gentle Lochiel.
Stuart Castle, in the county of Inverness, Scotland, is a grey forbidding edifice reputedly haunted by the spirit of a Scottish Earl who died there. A red light was often seen at night in the windows of this empty castle. No person dared to sleep in the castle alone. Three people had tried it, and they had been thrown out of the windows during the night, resulting in broken necks. I have been through the castle, and experienced terribly evil and malevolent forces at work there.
Moy Castle, Inverness, Scotland
The Moy castle in Scotland is the ancestral home of Mackintosh of Moy, an ancient castle situated south of Inverness. There is a great burial tomb in the castle where all the chiefs were laid to rest in bronze coffins, and it is reputed to be haunted. The last of the original Mackintoshes died in the nineteenth century, and his estates went to another family. He was laid to rest with his ancestors, and the tomb re-sealed.
When I visited the castle as a young man, I saw clairvoyantly several of the old chiefs standing there, grim and dark faced men from the spirit world, in their red tartans and plaids, with shields and battle axes, and staring straight at me.
When the first of the new chiefs was laid to rest, the tomb was opened, and the seals were found to be intact. The dust was thick on the floor of the tomb, and no footsteps broke the dust. The coffin of this new chief was put inside and the tomb resealed. Then there were many complaints of psychic disturbances near the tomb, from local residents. When the new chief's successor died suddenly soon afterwards, the tomb was opened again, and a strange event was noted. All the heavy coffins had been lifted up and stood against the wall, and the whole tomb was in a state of chaos. The coffin of the new chief had been separated from the others and flung aside.
The coffins were put back into place, and the tomb sealed up again. This happened on a few occasions until eventually only the original chiefs were left in the tomb again and it was sealed up permanently. The newer chiefs had to be placed in a separate tomb.
Since then, there have been no psychic disturbances at all, which seems to prove that emotions and feelings transcend the grave, and that powerful forces were set in motion by the thoughts of discarnate entities who resented the new arrivals.
Beyond the boundary between Northern and Southern Scotland nobody ever hurries. It seems to be an attribute to mountain countries that it produces quiet, calm, relaxed people with spiritual inclinations, for every village in the north had its own 'spey wife' who reads the cards, crystal or tea leaves, and settles most of the villager's problems, very successfully too in most cases, although the padre does not relish the competition!
I grew up in those surroundings blessed with two of the most wonderful parents that God could give to a child. My mother also had the gift of 'seeing* and could predict many things before they came about. In Scotland, we call this feeling 'fey', when you feel the guides very close, and the mantle of the guides fall upon you and you know that you are close to God.
I would like to point out here that I regard the spirit guides as my friends and elder brothers who are always at hand to advise and counsel me. To me, they are not dead but are more alive than I am. They explain this by saying that they consider you die when you are born to the material world, and you are reborn when you die in the material world. What a lovely way to consider things - and if you accept this totally, what is there to be afraid of in death?
It is a curious fact, that while clairvoyants can see for others it is very difficult to see for yourself, as your own thoughts are apt to colour what you receive, but as the guides have always said live for today'. 'Do not concern yourself unduly about tomorrow'. 'As you live your life, we will guide your footsteps and the panorama of your life will unfold piece by piece. It is not right that mankind should see all the future and you are only allowed to see glimpses of what will be, bearing also in mind the fact that at times it is not in your interest to know certain facts about your future life.' So while clairvoyance has undoubted values to those who badly need help or guidance, let us see things in their proper perspective, and realize that clairvoyance ranks second to the Spiritual Philosophy, and it is better at times not to query the future.
My father started to manifest symptoms of the art-eriosclerotic disease which affects so many of the male members of my family and one day on returning from school, I found him lying on his bed, ashen and cold but still alive. He .had been working in the fields, cutting turnips, when he had had a stroke, collapsing in the snow. It was the end of his working life at the age of forty-five years. He was to survive for another seven years, borne with great fortitude and resignation, but nine strokes, and years of suffering left a wreck of a fine man.
It was therefore wonderful news and proof when dad, many years later, manifested himself to me and then communicated with me by automatic writing from the world of . spirit. All that can be said is that I have been convinced over many years and after many circles, that I know that my father and later my mother are still surviving and existing in another plane of existence and that their love and regard for me still exists and transcends the grave.
Many people, knowing that my home is in Scotland have asked me about the Loch Ness monster. Is it fact or fiction? Does it really exist?
I have actually seen photographs of this monster and my spirit guide, Wise Owl, tells me that it does exist, but there is more than one monster.
Loch Ness is a brooding, gloomy place situated in the heart of Inverness-shire. As you stand on the mountainside of the loch it appears dark, remote and far away.
The local people say that many of them have lost sheep, and small animals close to the edge of the loch, and the monsters' spoors have been seen by quite a few people.
My spirit guides tell me that there is a subterranean river running between Loch Ness and the ocean, where they live for a part of each year inhabiting the deepest part of the ocean. For the remaining part of the year the reptiles come up from the ocean to breed in the fresh water of Loch Ness.
Once the breeding time is over they all return to the ocean by the same subterranean river. Loch Ness is more than seven miles deep and the reptiles live on the bed of the loch, and only come to the surface occasionally, which accounts for the fact that they are rarely seen.
When one of these reptiles dies it sinks to the lowest depths and is crushed by the weight of the water. This explains why no skeletons have ever been found so far.
32 - A Talk By Brother Francis A Prayer For The Animals
In my humble way I would like to contribute to your teachings, I will not go in for high powered speeches, as that is adequately catered for elsewhere. My love is for mankind and animals in your world, and my ambition is to work to the greater glory of God.
Consider the beauty of the world that the Lord, the God has given thee. Can you doubt in your heart that this world was not fashioned by a great entity whose intellect is beyond compare? Take a walk with me through this smiling land. It is indeed fair, and the only living creation who deliberately sets out to destroy life, is mankind himself. He has indeed made a mess of the world that he lives in, and we are doing our best to rectify matters. The grass is green, the sky is blue, and the colours of the birds are remarkable for the variety and beauty of their plumage.
Look at the water flowing smoothly, bringing life to a parched land. Listen to the soft wind of the heaven, sighing gently through the trees. In the silence of the open country, or on a hill, or in your bedroom at night, listen to the music of the silence. It comes through soft and clear, mellow and beautiful in tone. You might ask: 'How can you listen to the music of the silence?' You can, you know, for anything that lives, gives off its great vibrations in tune with the infinite. As you pick up the silence, the vibrations of the cosmos are transmitted to your consciousness. You feel vitally alive, charged with an inner magnetism as the heavenly vibrations is your consciousness. Now you are in rapport with the guides and are on the way to a further, more beautiful life.
Know well, my friends, that inexorable laws control the cosmos. These laws have been in existence for the duration of mankind. These laws are being revealed to mankind slowly, and always they are brought into effect by the actions of mankind himself. The first and foremost is the law of cause and effect. As you do unto others, so shall it be done unto you. If you hurt a fellow human being by a look, word, thought or deed, so must it be returned to you. If you destroy something of beauty, so shall something of beauty in your life be destroyed. Take heed, brethren: this is the first of the inexorable laws that operate mechanically. You set things in motion, and you must pay the penalty.
It is a cheering thought to go home after a pleasant walk, and sit and meditate for a while, that, no matter how beautiful this world is, it is only a ghostly shadow of the beauties of our plane of spirits. There everything is perfection, all is beautiful, nothing is bad or vile, and man can walk in peace and harmony with all spirit. Everything here is compatible. Have no fear that you will ever meet anyone you dislike upon earth, upon our side of the veil, for you must be compatible to mingle freely here. As I go, please remember a prayer for the birds, animals and living organisms upon this planet. Far better it is to wear a spiritual crown in heaven, than to wear a proud crown manufactured on earth.
33 - Capital Punishment -Its Influence On The Soul
The wonderful power and love that is God is shown and evidenced in all of us whether we are discarnate or incarnate spirits. It is one of the mistaken beliefs, that most of mankind holds that we adore the physical part of our being rather than the spiritual part of ourselves. We must realize first that this state of being in which we are now, is only of a very transient nature and that our material body is only a sheath for the spirit body. In due course this material body decays and returns to the essential matter from whence it came.
Our spiritual body, on the other hand, is immortal and goes on to a higher existence and in due course returns here for another purifying process namely reincarnation. Practising thinkers believe that some part of us does live on with much higher and finer perceptions and knowledge that we have at present. We know that we can contact those who have made the transition, and be guided to a certain extent by them, with the proviso that we have a great deal of free will to live our lives to the best of our abilities and capabilities.
Many eminent scientists have investigated physical and paranormal phenomena and much of what we believe in has how been proved scientifically. Many people ask the question, 'Is contact with the spirit people of lasting value?' It is of important use in finding the great God Spirit within you and is a wonderful bridge in learning and developing your spiritual knowledge up to a point. Beyond that we stop, and then realize that group prayer and meditation after a certain period cease to give you any further help and you must probe into your own spiritual consciousness for further knowledge, development and answers. Most of the great masters and teachers do not like organized contact and shun it, and it takes the seeker of knowledge a long time to realize what their objections are to the teaching of spiritual philosophy.
Spiritual guidance comes from two courses, that which is external and that which is internal. The external comes from entities on the astral or spiritual planes and can come from a higher or lower plane, depending on the receptivity and the level development of the medium. We therefore have no conception of what degree of evolution the controlling spirit or the medium has reached, except by our own intuition and the contents of the trance address or clairvoyant messages given by the medium. Therefore, it is said by relying on guides or controls that we fashion a prop for ourselves instead of using our divine power which is in ourselves to achieve better results than other people can obtain by using external sources.
How then do we learn to use this internal power, and how to develop it? Love God and mankind with all your heart, your mind and soul, and most of all do good to others. Progress lies in service to the masters and to all mankind who are your brothers and sisters. It is important at this point to emphasize the power of thought and of the motive. 'Do no sinful action' for before the deed, comes the motive and thought that precipitated the action, and upon your thoughts and motives you are judged when at length you come face to face with reality upon the other side of the veil. Before any action is performed, an idea forms in your mental image and is projected through the brain which stimulates muscles to carry out a certain task. This mental image is then collected in the etheric, and forms a part of your private bank of karma, where it is stored for all time so that you can be aware of what you did before, not only in this existence, but in other existences and other lives.
It is a true fact that many people think spiritual knowledge is very hard to grasp, but only mankind makes it so, and the teachings of the masters are always graded so that they can reach all levels of humanity, or more properly speaking, all levels of the brotherhood of man. Let me therefore proceed to try to instruct and teach those who are willing to learn for is it not written, 'With the hour cometh the master' and at the right time the appropriate spiritual teacher for your level will come to teach you to the capacity that you are capable of understanding. If you so desire to be taught, find a spiritual teacher that you- believe in, trust, and have faith in, and accept teachings only from such a person, and none other until you can comprehend the teachings from your own greater self.
Bill relates: 'I was invited to a circle which as usual was started with a prayer to the higher powers for protection to keep all that is evil away from the circle. The control came through the medium and gave a talk and what struck me was the change in voice of the medium. However, I was too busy listening to the context of the address and of the words being spoken. It was pointed out that as the souls who had passed over were operating on a higher plane, on a higher vibration, it was impossible for us to "call up the dead" as some people think is what happens. They return to the earth plane, where most of them had suffered so much by their own free will and their love of mankind.
I thought of the many criticisms leveled against spiritualism and the thought flowed into my mind "have any of these people ever sat in a circle, studied the philosophy, or indeed known anything about this knowledge?" Like a clear bell the voice came, utterly distinct from my thoughts, and this was one of my earlier experiences of the phenomena of clairvoyance. "Who are the dead" the voice went on: "for we are certainly not dead. We are more alive than you are". I listened intently for more, as you can imagine, but got little else. This was to prove to me that pure clairvoyance comes spontaneously and unbidden and cannot be mistaken by your own thoughts. The circle was closed with prayers and hymns and a general discussion then took place. I then found that the sitters were of many faiths. One thing that has always struck me is the tolerance of spiritual beliefs catering for all religions and shades of opinions. Most of the sitters were very devout people and in all circles in which I have sat, the emphasis has been on prayers to God and for help and protection, and much incorporate healing within their circles.
With great interest I waited for the following week to see what would happen. The medium's guide came through and gave an address on the Law of Cause and Effect. In other words, what you do unto others will be done unto you, whether by thought, deed or action. To my great delight, my own guide, Colenbrander, came through and gave an address to the sitters. Since then, I have sat in many circles and met many mediums.
About this time I went down with rheumatic fever that almost claimed my life. I came home from work one night feeling very wretched, with a sore throat and aching limbs. The next morning I was so ill that I could not move and I lay like that for days. One day I felt that I "could not care less" and felt myself drifting away. Everything was so calm, beautiful and peaceful that I felt myself completely and utterly at rest. Then I realized that I was drifting close to the ceiling and looking down at myself. With a shock I realized that I was separated from my body and thought that I must be near death at that time, but I was too ill to care. Then I realized that there was nothing to fear in death, that, in fact, it must be an enjoyable and exciting event, with nothing to be afraid of. Suddenly I found myself back in my body, on the bed. This is interesting as it proves that the spiritual world is a world of thought and you only have to think about a place to be there.
One night, as my health improved, we held another circle and straight away I had a peculiar feeling of a. presence in the room. The room felt heavy and redolent of tragedy. I thought to myself, "Should I close the circle and tell everyone to go home": but immediately my guide told me not to do so. The circle commenced and right away I saw a good-looking woman in modern-day clothes manifesting, surrounded by my guides. Towering above her was Wise Owl, resplendent in feathers and war paint. This spirit was sobbing and appeared to be greatly distressed. I looked closely at her and saw something strange about her neck, and gradually the answer came to me, for Wise Owl showed me clairvoyantly the front page of a newspaper. With a shock I realized that the heading read: "Two hanged in Pretoria Prison - Woman dies for murder". I saw the name and noted it. Her relatives will know who this spirit was and can rest assured that she is at rest and doing a very useful job in the planes of soul.
A young woman in the circle, whom I will call "J" was taken in control by this same entity right away giving the name she used as she passed to the spirit world. The feeling of sadness and utter terror that this woman brought into the circle was pitiable to behold, and everyone in the circle was affected visibly. Picking up her thoughts, I traced the events of her last moments, then the moment of final release. The medium, whom I consider one of the finest practising mediums with whom I have ever sat, was visibly shaken and after a short prayer for her soul, we closed the circle.
I then saw the spirit of a man in prison garb standing on the outside of the circle. As he saw me, he raised a hand ironically in salute and faded away. In a flash I remembered that he was the man who had been executed with her, but instantly received the message clairaudiently, "He is all right. He has accepted the fact that he has been executed and is not upset. He will find his own level." We closed the circle and went home. I was to get an unexpected sequel to this later when, after about six months, I was told by my guide that a woman in spirit wished to communicate with me. To my joy and surprise, I saw this same spirit standing in the middle of the circle in full spiritual robes, and smiling at me. Wise Owl informed me that she was being taught and trained for a specific task and in a few years' time would return to earth again to start a new life and receive another chance. With a wave of her hand she faded slowly from my view and disappeared. Once again, I felt a great humility in the knowledge of the goodness of God and the knowledge that no one is ever abandoned.'
On questioning Chenon later about this, he replied, 'The most severe punishment that man can have is to be left alone with his own conscience. When a man is executed, a very hostile, angry, anti-social spirit is launched into the etheric with little or no preparation. It takes a long time to get such a spirit adjusted and usually the spirit is totally unrepentant. By confining these people with their own thoughts and their own conscience, they sooner or later repent of what they have done, and express a wish to make amends and lead a life of value to humanity. You have been told often that God is just, and that you are rewarded or punished for everything that you do upon this earth.'
As we all went home, we thought of those unfortunate souls who passed over in ignorance. It took me days to shake off the feeling of that woman, but eventually I forgot her until I had received proof out of the blue that she had survived execution, and the grave, and had lived on.
34 - Early Reincarnation Teachings
The transition that we call death and which all men fear, is greatly misunderstood. This attitude of mind is a result of wrong thinking and lack of comprehension of the spiritual world. In the mentality of man, what is not understood, is feared, and in the wisdom of the Divine mind, there was a blocking agent inculcated in the consciousness of mankind which prevented him from knowing whence he came, or to where he will return. The correct way to look at death from the spiritual point of view is that when you are born to this world you die to the spirit world, and your knowledge of the peace and harmony of the spiritual world is frequently obliterated to prevent mankind trying to escape from the cruelties and hardships of this plane of existence, to a place of perfect peace and bliss.
When you die to this world you are reborn to the world of spirit and return to happiness and harmony. If people could accept this precept there would be little to fear of death, and all could face it with peace, dignity and tranquillity, in the knowledge that you will live on in a changed and better environment, and if you so desire to return to this earth world more or less 'when' you choose. Reincarnation is discussed briefly elsewhere in this book but sufficient to say for the moment that most of the great masters accept the theory of reincarnation and there is a strong case for believing that Jesus taught reincarnation, as witness his discussion with Nicodemus.
Here we point to our teaching and say that we believe, but cannot say that this is so definitely. Really spiritual men believe that everyone is entitled to his or her views, without fear of contradictions, but we point out with respect that man's thinking processes become bogged down by ideologists' creeds, and fixed ideas. People must remain flexible in their thinking, accepting that everyone has a right to his opinions and methods but no right to force his views upon other people or to denigrate their views.
Many people are confused by the fact that some guides who manifest in circles postulate the theory of reincarnation while others say that this is not possible. The answer lies in the fact that guides like ourselves come from all levels of involvement and can only know what they themselves have experienced.
Reincarnation and Karma are bound together, inextricably and decisions are only taken by the hierarchy of the spirit world under the Lords of karma. Lesser entities have no knowledge or understanding of the mechanism of reincarnation but only have to obey. When a child is born it is indeed appropriate that he greets his new surroundings with a cry. Psychiatrists say that a new born baby's first cry is to attract attention from his mother, but most medical men only believe in treating the physical baby. They do not realize that as Paul wrote of the three bodies of man, namely that body, soul and spirit exist side by side in the same dimension of space, so they must be interrelated and treated together. Spirits act upon matter, matter acts upon spirit and you cannot treat one successfully without treating the other.
This child is born into our environment with all the major signposts or cardinal events in his life already mapped out for him, but how he lives his life between these signposts is his own development and his own responsibility. These signposts are certainties and immutable. They must come to pass, but the periods between these signposts are full of possibilities and probabilities, governed by his or other people's free will.
This explains why even the very best clairvoyants cannot achieve one hundred per cent accuracy in their predictions as the vagaries of human nature must be taken into account. Spirit is always constructive, never destructive, also nature abhors a vacuum. As one door closes another opens and your life can be compared to a giant book. As you come to the end of a chapter of experience you write 'finish' and start another chapter until the last chapter of all is written and we see clearly the world of spirit face to face, and not darkly through a glass, but with full spiritual vision.
The brain is not a producer of thought only, but an instrument by which thought is projected. Thought is formed by the mind and mental plane and the infant brain cannot transmit memories of the spiritual plane, so by the time the brain is developed the material influences around the child clamp down the spiritual remembrances and influences. Most children are often seen to be playing and talking with spirit children but alas, very soon the material veil between man and God falls between them, and they communicate no more. The veil which is so often talked about is the thoughts of man blocking out spiritual communion with God.
Long ago in the distant past, men were much more evolved than they are now, and were able to communicate with God at will, and had all their psychic and spiritual gifts finely developed. However, history often repeats itself and the same play is repeated time after time, and the next golden age -of mankind is fast approaching. Those who will survive any war which may come in the future, will turn en masse towards God, and peace will reign upon the earth for a long time. Then, only then will the next great spiritual being come to earth to carry out his divine missions, and the sons of God will reign in glory upon this earth.
As the child grows he is watched over and cared for by his guides and his progress charted. He grows to adulthood and his own interests and thoughts attract entities who guide him in his career or profession. He passes on to old age where gradual process or release from the material world begins.
This is the reason for old age and finally death. At the moment of death the loved ones in the world of spirit cluster round the bed of he who is due to join them and they help him.
I am often asked, 'How do you specify or describe the process of incarnation, and does every person believing in life after death necessarily have to believe in reincarnation?'
On the planes of soul everything is of a thought nature as compared with the planes of earth. We in the spirit are creatures of God omnipotent, omniscient, eternal and going ever onwards. Consider your earth plane as a school, a college, a university, if you may, where the human soul, the ego, comes to learn lessons over and over again. People who accept the fact that man is a spirit fashioned of God cannot possibly doubt the fact of reincarnation, or the fact that man returns again and again to the planes of earth.
When a soul is young, it is like a child: it must be taught, it must be trained, and as a soul advances in knowledge and stature, so the tasks that are allotted to him become all the harder. It is often argued: Why do some people have to live very hard and cruel lives? The answer to this is very simple and plain. A young soul, compared again to a child, is a very immature and an easily hurt thing, and cannot stand up to massive psychic trauma. As a soul becomes older, more used to the ways of God and man, he can accept far greater amounts, and accordingly his tasks are that much harder.
In the planes of soul we have the traction from the earth plane, because all men are shackled to the planes of earth, as long as they are far from perfection. The ultimate goal of every spirit or ego is to find and grope its way towards its ultimate destiny, which is perfection, which is at one with the Godhead. There are many lessons, many experiences he can have, that he can learn on the planes of soul, others that he can only learn, only assimilate and that he can only experience on this plane of earth. That is why many people state that this world cannot last much longer. Ours is a very old earth that has lasted for many countless millions of aeons and will last for a very long time yet.
This earth plane is a very material, physical one, very demanding upon the soul, and after its allotted span upon this earth, the soul must again return to the planes of soul. We ask, 'What does happen to the soul when it leaves the human body?' To understand reincarnation, we must look at this question from the metaphysical angle, and we shall take up this point from where the human body has lived its life. The material vehicle is very tired and worn out, and is ready to leave. The soul and the divine spark of God, which is inside the body is prepared to go back to the ultimate home, to its ultimate destiny. So, therefore, the loved ones in spirit gather round.
Gradually the knowledge of impending 'dissolution penetrates the physical mind. Drowsiness slips over the material vehicle, and the auric envelope starts to separate. The astral body and etheric double also starts to separate and drift away. With the drifting away of these parts, the material brain starts to go to sleep finally, irrevocably. Its part in life is done. The souls of the loved ones gather round and they comfort the soul that has left the material vehicle that it had inhabited for so long. The thoughts intermingle, and slowly, surely the departing soul finds its way across the planes of astral into the planes of soul. Even the most advanced of souls takes a minimum of forty-eight hours to the planes of the astral. In the planes of astral, the astral body is composed of substances picked up from the planes of astral, are dissipated, and return to the parent body. The etheric double is discarded, is dissipated, and also becomes part of the etheric.
The mental plane of the soul goes with it into the planes of soul, and there is a 'sorting out' process where all that is useful in the mental plane is transmitted into the divine mind of the soul. Once this has been performed, the mental plane dissolves and dissipates into the matter of the planes of soul. The soul stands alone, completely untrammeled, stripped of all furbishings, and knows that: I AM PART OF THE IMMORTAL GOD.
All in the planes of soul is a thought nature, there is no hell, there is no judge, and there is no executioner. The mind of the soul stands stark naked, with the full realization of what it has done, what it has achieved, what it has done to help man, and what it has done to hurt man. This knowledge spurs the soul on, and - if we may go again to the Eastern teachings for a few moments - we believe that when a soul which has been liberated from the material vehicle reaches the planes of soul first, it goes into what is called the astral state, which is a dream state, a dream state half-way between waking and sleeping, in which the whole life of this material vehicle passes through and through the mind of the soul and the full knowledge of everything that he has done, said, or performed in his lifetime is vividly impressed upon the mind.
After this astral state, which can last from weeks to years, we emerge into the fully awakened state where the robing of the spirit in spirit robes takes place, and the soul emerges in its full state of spiritual knowledge, clothed in spiritual garments. We may diverge here to talk about the appearances of the spirit. It is a common misconception and fallacy to believe that souls walk about as they were in their earth life. They do not, for there are many, many facets of the soul. The soul shows all the facets of the different lives it has lived through, and looking at these facets you can see the type of life that this soul has led in the different incarnations. This is why in a spirit drawing we see the soul depicted in many ways which is not literally true, as the soul is made up of very fine etherial spiritual material, which is built into compartments, each compartment representing a life lived upon this earth. A very old soul shows as a massive series of spiritual light from each of these experiences, depending on the degree of development and spiritual advancement which this soul has reached.
Every human is responsible for his or her conduct all through his earthly and spiritual life, and the soul is a law unto itself, reincarnating when necessary, it takes on many bodies, returns to the planes of soul, returns to the planes of earth, ever upwards, ever onwards. The soul has enough to do to control one earthly body at a time, and a mass of knowledge then obtained.
Chenon only came to me when this book was started and he has always remained a rather shadowy figure, more so than the others. Wise Owl and Abdullah freely admit that they have lived many times before, and will discuss past lives but Chenon just smiles, and remarks 'It is not of great importance, for all of the earth is of a temporary nature and must pass. Only life is permanent, for life goes on all the time, and death is just a part of life. Names and identities of guides are not really important, for all that is important is the fact that the Supreme Power manifests to all.'
He always shows himself as a spare, vigorous figure in his middle years. Chenon was a Tibetan, an abbot of a monastery called Tzu-Lui in northern Tibet. He is often seen with the clairvoyant eye, poring over ancient manuscripts and studying philosophies. "Learning always goes on, my son,' he always says, in his gentle voice.
The first time that he was described to me by another medium was very interesting indeed. We were sitting in a circle when a sitter exclaimed that there was a tableau forming behind me. She said there were six Tibetans sitting in a circle, with incense lamps swinging all round them. The atmosphere of the circle grew very heavy and nearly every-body could smell incense, although none had been used in the room. A spirit arose out of the circle and put his hand on my shoulder. Like a clear bugle call I heard the voice coming through my mind, 'Chenon, Chenon'. Since then I have been told there are four Tibetans (Devas) who control me, but I know only the name of Chenon.
To the highly evolved and spiritual soul, material things mean very little and are of no account. Race, nationality, professional degrees, possessions, are of no importance as they are only lent to you. They teach only that man must live for today, living today to the full, extracting what lessons and knowledge he can from today, for it will never come again. When you come up against problems, in six months' time, we shall help you to solve them.' A rather wonderful philosophy, so typical of Chenon that I will leave you with his thoughts.
'My son and brother, in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge, the destiny of mankind, it is often said, "is written in the stars". It would be more correct to say that it is written in the book of life, the register left by the spirit guides, to all mankind. Through our heavenly vibrations, which we will explain later, we inspire and control mankind and guide him who is an instrument for heavenly vibrations, to control and direct.
There is a large band of distinguished personages known as the White Brotherhood in the spirit world, who strive to correct the state of mankind and the world. This "White Brotherhood" is a high society of discarnate entities, who have reached great spiritual heights by the richness, fullness, and humility of their thoughts. From the ranks of these men come the avatars, who regularly come to your earth plane inspired by the highest of motives. Of their own free choice they are reborn to the suffering of material man, and growing to maturity, are guided to the points where they can be used as instruments in the hands of the artists of creation in the world of men.
There are many great masters, my son. Be sure of that! Ever since the dawn of mankind, have the high ones come to earth. From this, come the legends of the ancient gods. They, generally speaking, were evolved souls, seeking to better mankind by the aid of unseen hands stretching down in love and mercy, and were able to achieve deeds that ordinary men were incapable of doing. Nearly every nation has produced great masters. Examples of these were Father Abraham, who was of the Chaldees, and was entrusted with the secret teachings and doctrines laid down by the Babylonians of old Moses, Jacob, Quetzalcoatl, Mohammed, Buddha and many others. They all came to earth in their time, achieved communion with the higher powers, reached the blessed stage of masterhood, and departed to join us in the realms of spirit. They now shine in their glories, and most of them now form part of the High Executive of Spirit that controls the destiny of the world.
My son, I repeat, the power of the spirit world is beyond comprehension by mere man. Faith, as laid down by Jesus, is the belief that mankind has in himself, the spirit world, and the certain knowledge which lies within every man born of woman, that he is immortal, that there is life hereafter, that there is another world, and that the world is destined to roll on to infinity. Forget the forebodings and the weird beliefs held by some people, that the world will end shortly. This is not true. The world was created by the great powers for the express purpose of helping mankind to move towards spiritual ability and consciousness of the greatest intellect that made the world.
It is not the wish or the intention of the spirit world that mankind shall be allowed to destroy himself, or the environment which has been created for him. To do so, would be to undo all the work of countless centuries, and God is a god of love, mercy and kindness. We move at the impulse of His will, whether He be called Jehovah, Allah or whatever mankind desires to call Him. We are the servants of God, and the angels of God are His messengers. From this Divine source we take our instructions and our power and do our best to disseminate this knowledge to mankind. It is not easy to penetrate the barrier between spirit and man, as man himself has put up the barriers.
In days long gone by, most men and women had the gifts of clairvoyance, telepathy and mediumship, and the channel of communication between us was wide and clear, and we were able to transmit messages at will. The vibrations of doubt, mistrust, hatred of their fellow men, jealousy and other base material thoughts have, over the centuries built up these barriers, and we found it increasingly difficult to penetrate, especially during the centuries between the death of Christ and the eighteenth century.
In those days, the only persons who did communicate with us regularly were the Eastern people, and they developed greatly in knowledge. The Western, or Occidental races, were more reluctant to accept our teachings, and only in the last century or so have we been able to establish a toehold. Knowledge of a spirit world is now flourishing, and more and more information is being given on the subject. We have given you enough in this address, so rest, consider, meditate, and we will be in touch with you later, to give you more material.
A closing thought before you go. It may have occurred to you that Africa has produced no great masters. The continent of Africa has indeed produced a few, including the great Prester John, as also the late Moise Tshombe, whom you have met personally. There is no record left of the African masters, but later on we will give you revelations as to the ancient ruins' of Rhodesia, Queen of Sheba, Solomon's Mines, Prester John, and so on. This must comprise an entire book, which we will also guide you to compose and write. I can perceive the vibrations of doubt in your aura, but rest assured with the knowledge that when the country in which you reside, and for which you have such an affection, starts to proceed ahead, many spectacular discoveries shall be made, and the truth of ancient Rhodesia will be revealed.
This is definitely all for now, as I see that you are desirous of obtaining more information on this strange and interesting subject. In the fullness of time all shall be revealed. In conclusion, I would say generally speaking, that the great mass of the indigenous African population are not evolved enough yet to accept the coming of a great master. There is a band of enlightened souls whose special duty is to uplift the African, and help him one day to attain the place in the sun that all mankind aspires to, and are entitled to attain.'
37 - Inspirational Address By Abdullah Through Bill
Abdullah presented himself for the first time along with Wise Owl. A truly majestic figure, he likes to communicate through inspirational writing rather than trance, though he has controlled me on occasions. I can always tell when it is Abdullah, for he has very square writing and it is rather amazing that I can be writing away, when he cuts through and carries on the flow of writing, but with his own words. He has also done this many times when I am talking to someone to whom he wishes to impart information, as he cuts into the speech pattern and carries on from there!
Abdullah was the court physician to one of the Hashemite kings of Jordan (one of Hussein's ancestors). He is about 6 feet tall, heavily built and is always shown as naked from the waist upwards, wearing pantaloons below his waist. A great philosopher in his life, he is full of love of nature and is of a very pedantic turn of mind.
You can see, therefore, that every guide has his or her own very definite personality, which is retained from experiences gained upon this plane of life.
Abdullah is primarily a healing guide, and he is intensely interested in people and in alleviating their sorrows and sufferings. Some of his inspirational teachings are found elsewhere in this book.
Abdullah says, 'Man is born as a tender young shoot which pushes its head through the soil as a questing green bud, looking for the sun and the rain. Truth is light, therefore all are connected irrevocably and cannot be separated, as all are one. Rain is goodness, grace, love and mercy, and these are the attributes of the Godhead. The bud opens out, and the opening out is the opening of the human intellect, and the growth is the knowledge and evolvement of the soul.
The gardener tends the flower carefully, as he is desirous of raising it up to a beautiful flower, which will be a tribute to him and a credit to his garden. He gives it the sweetness of lime to enrich and sweeten the soil, the bitterness of urates and nitrogen to further its development, and the gentle water of love, pity, mercy and charity. Without this watering, the human soul withers, atrophies and dies in a sterile dry desiccated area. He gives it shade from the fierce heat of the sun at mid-day, and this is the protecting power of the spirit world.
He rakes and disturbs the soil around the roots, to stimulate growth and prevent stagnation. Stagnation is the chief hurdle and block to spiritual development, as many people learn so much, then sit back and rest, reluctant to learn more and to undergo fresh experiences. Most human souls are very lazy and try to dodge their responsibilities without realizing that this is impossible, as the human soul has to undergo these experiences to fit them for a higher place in their evolvement of the human spirit.
As the gardener tended his plant, so it has grown into a splendid specimen which to him is a tribute of the highest order. By careful management he often keeps the blooms alive for a long time, but eventually the time comes when the plant decays and dies. This could be a source of regret for the gardener, but he need not worry, for he has a collection of seeds from the beautiful flower, and then, with his skilful loving and tender hands, he has ensured that this plant never dies, but that every season it will re-emerge as beautiful and lovely as ever.
Remember these words of mind, son. Think not of the arid waterless parts of the garden, for there is spiritual death there. Walk in the shady cool paths of heavenly love and comfort. The gardener often passes by, bestows a smile upon you, and nods his approval. "Another flower has been planted in the garden of the Lord" thinks he. "I must tend it, nourish it, love it and bring it up to maturity. Will it be a champion bloom, or will it be nothing but a disappointing weed? The gardener bestows his gentle smile and tender care upon it, and in the course of time, the question is answered."
In conclusion. No man is ever abandoned by the Father. You abandon yourself when you abdicate your responsibilities, or attempt to do so, because no man can avoid them. In time, all these young shoots will be a blessing and a beauty in the garden of the Lord. The perfume will be everywhere, and beauty and grace will surround it, for every moment of your existence. May the same rain fall and the sun shine. Have no fear of the gentle gardener, for he is always on hand to bless you all.
Wisdom is distilled from the elements around you. The very earth is in tune with the infinite. All that lives vibrates in sympathy with the infinite minds of the masters. You may find wisdom in the cities, in the fields, in the mountains, and you must drink of the essence of life from the proffered bowl. Like the rain that falls from heaven upon the parched plains, comes the knowledge of the gentleness, goodness and mercy of God. Man is like the desert, a restless ever moving sea of • shifting unstable sand, drifting one way one day, then drifting back on course the next. There is no preconceived idea, no direction of movement. In the desert you often come across an oasis of beauty and charm in the parched and arid land.
Compare this with an evolved soul surrounded by lower developed people. They do not care for the oasis, but prefer to drift in the desert sands, until their hour of need. Then they cry out for the cooling water, and hunger after the substance of the oasis. When they have slaked their thirst, they carry on in their usual ways, but the remembrance is left, and they will be brought back time and time again to drink of the saving waters. Eventually they accept that this is the place to stay and be raised in the belief, that in the water of life lies the salvation. The desert is mankind, my son, the oasis of the mercy of God. Absorb my story, digest it, meditate upon it, and understand that this is the true way of life.
When you think of the destiny of man, my son, would you consider contemplating a certain way of life, and man's conception of it. Some believe that the world is like a giant loom upon which weavers are at work, systematically working out the pattern of man's destiny. The pattern goes on for ever and is never finished, and never will be finished, as mankind goes on forever.
As one component becomes obsolete, it is discarded. Consider this as a thread. Another thread replaces it immediately. As there are changes in circumstances, the patterns change a lot. The colours, which are the vibrations of man and the cosmos, are replaced, depending on the spirituality of the people concerned. The loom of fate weaves on, weaving out the pattern of man's future under the hand and guiding direction of the master weaver. You all have a part to play in this pattern. Beauty is a vibration, so are words, and so are the thoughts that direct the hand that writes plays.
Mankind by his own thoughts can affect the destiny of the world. I will explain in a later episode. Remember the sand of the desert blows unceasingly, and is always inconsistent. Do not be blown away by the winds of the desert, but remain in the oasis of God, protected by the tent of spirituality, which is always leading mankind a day's journey nearer home.
God bless you, my son,
Abdullah.'
38 - How To Conduct A Developing Circle For The Seeking Of Knowledge
We now go on to the mechanics of a circle. We sit in a circle to have communications with the higher powers who are constantly around us, and who try to inspire and lead us. By sitting in a circle, we gather together the psychic force fields of all present, and form a group force field circulating around the circle.
All circles are started off by prayer or prayers to the one great God, who loves us all. Let this be clearly understood by everyone, that prayers and hymns are essential and an integral part of any genuine circle. This rather dispels the idea that is commonly given out by scoffers and deriders, that contact with the spirit people is evil. How can it be, when we sit in communion with the higher powers under the protection of God?
Idle gossip and chatter should be strictly barred from a circle. If possible, a room should be kept solely for this purpose, and the sitters gather with due humility and gravity, and sit down and meditate for at least five minutes upon the mercy of God, the Father.
No smoking should be allowed, and anyone who has partaken of alcohol should be barred. Spirits from a bottle and those from the planes of spirit, never mix, and never have done. It may sound superfluous to give this warning, but misguided people who know nothing of the ways of the spirit world, occasionally try and come to a circle with a drink of alcohol beforehand, perhaps to bolster themselves up.
It is amazing how many people are afraid of the spirit world. This in itself is a manifestation of wrong-thinking and should not be so. The denizens of the spirit world are the servants of God, as we all are, and they only come to us through His divine permission. Do you think that God, who is the Lord of all, and is a God of love and pity, would allow entities with evil intentions to come and harm people who are gathered together in His name? Logic defies this, and refuses to accept it.
Let the circle be reminded that they are in holy communion with God through the agency of the spirit world and be urged to endeavour to lay aside all material thoughts and desires. We try and think good thoughts, of love and healing for all upon this earth, regardless of race, creed or colour. We pray that the hand of God be upon this world alleviating suffering and bringing peace to this earth plane.
A circle can consist of any number of people, ranging from three to a larger number, but the ideal number is around eight. The circle should be well balanced and have certain types of sitters. These are:
(a) One or more clairvoyants, who see the spirit bodies, either directly or by mental images.
(b) Transmitters who produce psychic power, and thus fortify the psychic force field. (These are probably the most valuable members of the circle.)
(c) The clairaudient, who can hear spiritual messages, and can transmit them to the circle.
(d) Healers, who send out their healing thoughts of love and pity at the beginning or at the close of the circle, to heal the sick in mind and body.
(e) A medium, or mediums, who are controlled by the thoughts of the guides and transmit messages directly from the world of spirit.
(f) A circle leader who need not be a medium. This person must have a strong personality and be mentally able to control a group. This person usually directs the course that the circle will take, where people sit, and ensures that it is held in conditions of reverence and respect for the God head.
As the circle commences the power surges round and round, being constantly reinforced from outside the circle, also inside the circle. If there is one of the sitters inside the circle thinking negative thoughts, the power cannot progress properly around the circle. When the psychic power has reached a certain point the sensitives inside the circle react. The clairvoyant sees the spiritual figures, and receives messages, and the medium is controlled by the guides.
The guides stand behind the sitters, funneling psychic power to the circle and it can take up to twenty guides to build up enough psychic power to enable one guide to control a medium. As I have already pointed out, the guide does not enter the body of the medium, but controls the medium on the mental plane.
During the circle, it must be explained that development of the soul occurs on the mental plane and that it is very important to separate facts from fantasy. This entails rigorous mind control, which is taught by proper meditation and is very important indeed. When something is seen in a spiritual circle, this must be queried with the guides, and confirmation must be sought. This establishes a link between the sitter and the controls.
It is very important also that when sitting in circles nothing is accepted blindly. Everything must be queried and studied carefully before acceptance or rejection is reached. The mere fact that a person is a medium does not necessarily mean that what this person says is the gospel truth, because clairvoyance comes in flashes, and the human element is always present.
I repeat. Query everything in your mind; only by this means lies the development of your own powers. After the circle is over, prayer should be said to the Lord God, thanking Him for the privilege of sending his servants to talk with us and to teach us, after which we depart homewards, we hope, with much benefit and much learning from the experience.
39 - Direct Voice, And Materialization
I Have been asked many times if I would describe how a group of serious seekers could start and conduct a Direct Voice circle, with the possibility of developing materialization later. I shall take this opportunity to include this knowledge before finishing this manuscript, by describing my own experiences in this particular phase of psychic development. Up to a short time ago, we sat in a circle to study spiritual philosophy, when we all felt that it was time to change the circle to a Direct Voice and Materialization circle, particularly as phenomena were beginning to appear in different ways. A trumpet, which was placed on the floor in the centre of the circle was made to rock from side to side, and a spirit hand was seen to rest on top of the trumpet.
We had only been sitting for Direct Voice for a few weeks and all our guides from the previous circle had come over with us. This time, two pairs of hands were seen to approach the trumpet. Spirit lights had been seen from time to time, and vague spirit figures were seen close to the trumpet. During the sitting an unusual perfume permeated the room, and was noticed by all the sitters. After a minute or so, the perfume disappeared leaving no trace. Towards the end of the sitting the room was getting warmer, which was remarked upon by some of the sitters, then cool air went round the room, lowering the temperature to a comfortable level.
Such results in such a short time gave us cause to be optimistic that we might expect early results. Our circle of eight sitters comprised two trance mediums and two clairvoyants, with four sitters to give extra power.
This type of Direct Voice circle is known all over the world as a Home Circle. In different stages of development, some are partly successful and others fully developed.
Unfortunately many of these developed circles have adopted what is known as a Closed Circle, which means that the circle is conducted solely for the benefit of the original sitters. Their first attitude is that they cannot invite strangers during the developing stage as this would upset the vibrations, and set their development back maybe a year or more. This is quite correct, and should be avoided. Unfortunately in many cases members of these circles, when fully developed, forget that when they started their intentions were to invite people who are in trouble and those desperately anxious to contact and speak to their spirit people. They are informed that theirs is a Closed Circle, and no invitations are available. This is a purely selfish attitude and quite contrary to the teachings. A course in spiritual philosophy is very much needed in these cases.
We, with our strict training would certainly not adopt the Closed Circle method, as our idea of starting this wonderful type of development circle, is solely to be in the position to help those who are in need of help.
We will now go on to describe the procedure of starting and conducting a circle of this description, and with careful attention to details, it should bring success. Firstly, a trance medium must be found. One who is prepared to be unselfish enough to allow himself to go into deep trance whilst the remaining sitters see and hear what is happening in the circle. He will only know what has taken place from the descriptions given to him after the circle closes.
A further six or seven sitters should be chosen to complete the circle and eight altogether, with the medium, is the most satisfactory number. A second or third trance medium being part of the remaining sitters would help progress if they are available. When fully developed it is possible to get the direct voice without the trance medium having to actually go into trance. This will enable him to enjoy the contact with the spirit people, along with the other sisters, if and when that time arrives.
A suitable room should be chosen - one that can be completely blacked out. The trumpet can be made from celluloid or an old X-ray film, with the print washed off. Fold the film into a funnel about fifteen inches high, leaving an opening about one and half inches at one end, and six inches at the bottom. Seal the trumpet when folded, with Sellotape. Paint one-inch strips round the top and bottom with luminous paint. Hold the finished trumpet over a lighted bulb for a few minutes before the sitting starts, and stand it upright in the centre of the room.
Light music on an automatic gramophone should be arranged during the whole of the sitting, which must be the same evening each week, and last for one hour only. All sitters must arrange to attend regularly if possible. The sitting must start with a prayer asking for protection and success, and conclude with a prayer of thanks, and help for the sick and those in danger.
Sitters must not sit with their arms or legs crossed, and must realize that the development for Direct Voice is a most scientific project by the spirit scientists, and sitters must help by keeping harmony in the circle.
The guides, through the trance medium or mediums, will advise sitters at all times.
The final results can come quickly or could take several years, but you must exercise patience. This is a project that is well worth waiting for.
Once you have accomplished the Direct Voice satisfactorily, and all conditions are suitable, it is possible for materialization to follow. The guides will again advise you how to conduct this type of circle, when the right time arrives.
Automatic Writing
Of all the methods of communication with the world of spirit this is one of the most dubious and one which is open to abuse and misunderstandings. The use of the planchette, ouija boards, and the 'glass' are all, generally speaking, in a dubious category. They can mislead by physical movement purported to come from spirit. In many cases this is only in the minds of the sitters and has no psychic connection whatsoever.
Most communication from this source is from a low astral or spiritual level and a really evolved spirit can find better and surer ways of communicating messages. These controls are usually very mischievious and misleading, and you cannot always rely on guidance from them. On the other hand, reliable messages have been proved to be correct on many occasions.
When a group of people sit in a circle they must first prepare themselves by prayer, and meditation, asking for guidance and protection. The medium should not proceed with the séance unless he or she is sure that the vibrations are right. As the sitters sit in concentration they become open channels of communication between themselves and an entity who is hovering around, but he or she is always protected.
A truly experienced medium feels the presence of different guides and who they are. As such they are not deluded or misled, and automatic writing from such as these can be accepted. The practice of introducing newcomers, with little or no psychic ability or knowledge of such pursuits cannot be too strongly deprecated.
My readers will notice that in this book several of my statements have been repeated by the spirit guides in their trance addresses. These have been left on purpose to show their importance.
40 - African Witchcraft - By Bill
I Now turn to one of the most interesting subjects found in Africa. Witchcraft is as old as man and is used in many forms in many countries. It must be appreciated that there is a great difference between psychic things and spiritual things, as psychic phenomena and experience are obtained upon the material planes, while spiritual experiences as experienced by the mystic, come from spiritual sources from the great God within, of which your soul is a part of the greater whole.
You must consider all spiritual and psychic knowledge as a great well, and you tap this well at your level of evolvement, and capacity, for understanding and comprehending knowledge.
The fact that you are highly psychic, therefore, does not mean that you are necessarily a highly spiritual being, or that a spiritual being is necessarily psychic.
I have now pointed out to you that to be a medium, you do not have to be very highly evolved, and that a clairvoyant need not be very spiritual. The estimation of their spiritual qualities is found in the content of their speech or address, but you should realize that it was essential to make this point clear. Before we start, there is a great difference between psychic people, and spiritual people.
In all of life, we have the balance and counter balance for good. We have evil, unhappiness or happiness, and for spiritual knowledge and practices, we have witchcraft and black magic. The evolving soul must have experience of all for to experience is to know, and to know is to conquer. Many purveyors of African witchcraft are people of great power, either for good or evil, and they have a great collective influence on the minds of their fellow Africans. In the years to come, this will be a potent factor in the battle for Africa, which will take place eventually.
There are, roughly speaking, the following categories of witchdoctors:
1. The Nganga, who purvey - or are supposed to purvey, white magic.
2. The Muroyi, who purvey black magic, and are the opposite of the Nganga.
3. The herbalist, who heals sickness with herbs and psychic means, and can also practise clairvoyance
As can now be appreciated these people work at all levels of spirituality, ranging from highly spiritual beings to people of an extremely low vibration. Indeed, many people may appear to be entirely evil people, but no person is entirely evil, because he has the spark of God in him, and as such was created by God.
Like you, he is responsible solely for his own life and actions, and one day he must answer for them. No person living upon this plane of existence is entitled to judge another, or to comment upon his behaviour or mode of life.
The training for a witchdoctor is long and hard, and as they work mainly on the mental level, their training is largely development of the mental plane. Many of them train, for up to seven years and more, and they say that one of their tests is to sit on the bed of a river, underneath the surface of the water breathing through a hollow reed for up to forty-eight hours.
Obviously I cannot reveal many of the secrets that have been imparted to me in confidence, but these people, broadly speaking, work on a very low level and use malicious entities who are more than ready to do harm.
As an example; 'A' has a grievance against 'B' and consults the witchdoctor who throws the 'hakata' or 'bones' and makes a decision as to who is responsible. Like many forms of clairvoyance, he uses the 'bones' as a means of concentration. By shutting off his mind to all external stimuli, he receives (or believes he receives) only messages from his guides. He then tells 'A' to get hold of some article belonging to 'B' and that 'B' has used, acting on the principle that he picks up vibrations from the article.
He then makes up his charms of completely innocuous materials, and concentrates on building up a thought form around the charm, thinking thoughts of harm or evil. These are then planted in or near the house of the person chosen as the culprit, and as low entities always hover near a person who has evil or low thoughts, they are attracted towards the charm, and start to attack the victim on the astral and physical planes.
His physical body is attacked at the weakest part, which is brought about by attacking the astral body first, and as all the bodies are intermingled and inter-related, the attack is transmitted to the material vehicle, with disastrous consequences for the individual. Post-mortem results and examinations show only damaged hearts, and other organs but many people die in this way and the reason is undetected. Only a very inexperienced witchdoctor descends to poisoning, as working on the astral levels is much more effective and is safer.
I would like to add that people with correct mental and spiritual outlook are safe from this sort of attack, as the high level of your vibration prevents those entities from attacking you. To be injured by these entities it is necessary to lay yourself open to attack by wrong thinking, action or doing, or by inviting communication with spirits on those levels. Spirits are ever ready to help us and advise us at all times, by our invitation, and with the permission of God the Father.
Communication with spirit is a holy matter as you are seeking out God, is not to be taken lightly or scoffingly, and must only be done after prayers and invocations to God for Divine protection.
Many witchdoctors do very good work, and are guided by fairly high spirit guides, and as their racial group evolves and develops, their level of spirituality will increase. At the moment, however, their thinking is bogged down by orthodoxy and centuries of tradition and ritual, and as with all else this prevents the light of truth and reality shining through.
Still, they must progress spiritually, and as time goes on will produce great healers and clairvoyants. Rhodesia, in time, will become one of the most spiritual countries in the world, and the black race will move forward and progress spiritually alongside the white race.
Above all, see the good in everybody, even though they slander and malign you, for the righteous will always prevail.
So, I close this chapter on witchcraft, for you to appreciate and know the higher spiritual beings and truth. You have to know all the facets of the question, and to understand, you have to know the actions and deeds of the lowly evolved entities, incarnate and discarnate.
One of the strangest psychic demonstrations that I ever saw was on the Tanganyikan and Malawi borders. I was watching the village witchdoctor preparing his concoctions with interest, as I knew that these people are expert with vegetable poisons, most of which defy laboratory analysis.
An African approached the witchdoctor and paid the requested fee. Listening with great interest I knew that this patient made a complaint that another African was trying to bewitch him. Though I can follow several African languages I have always made it a rule never to let anyone know just how much I comprehend. The fear of witchcraft is very real and apparent to most Africans, and usually concerns malignant spirits.
To most people the practitioner of African witchcraft is ignorant, uncouth and savage, but such is not the case at all. The budding witchdoctor is selected as a child for his psychic gifts and is trained for six or seven years. I say psychic, for to be psychic you do not have to be spiritual. In fact,' the reverse is often the case. Many Europeans in Africa have seen an African dying of an unknown cause, because he has in fact been bewitched, but usually it is psychic attacks that kill him.
The witchdoctor ordered a basin of water to be brought and placed in front of him. He studied the water for a few moments, then sprinkled some powder on the water, muttering all the time. Suddenly he told the African to look into the water and see the face of his enemy. I also looked and saw the face of an African smiling. I started back in surprise and the witchdoctor calmly picked up his spear and drove it through the face in the water. Remarking to the African 'go home and find that your enemy is now dead'. He then lapsed into deep meditation and lost all interest in the matter. I heard from my African, the following morning, that the accused African had been found dead in his kraal.
I give these statements of fact with no amplifications and no explanations. These things happen, and science cannot explain them. The answer to the famous *bush telegraph' in my opinion is pure telepathy. Many Africans retain this ability, and certainly no mechanical device is involved. Bush telegraph travels over great distances of uninhabited terrain, and only the power of thought is a logical, rational answer.
I may as well point out here that no respectable clairvoyant will tell anyone of death, or a fatal disease, as this would implant an idea in the mind of the recipient. I have seen many thousands of people die naturally, but very few have been afraid of death. In fact, death comes as a friend to most people. When the soul starts to dissociate itself from the physical vehicle it separates very slowly, and slowly the person fades into unconsciousness.
The other side speak of it as drifting away to a wonderful summerland. One of the things that I remember very clearly is of an African who had been knocked down and killed. As I watched, horrified, I saw the greyish wraith separate from his crumpled up body, and stand staring at the physical vehicle lying on the road. Expressing a strong thought that this soul should come to me, I concentrated, and saw to my delight that my thought vibrations had penetrated the soul.
That night we had a circle and we prayed for this soul, giving him absent healing in the etheric. Watching the circle clairvoyantly, I saw him being brought into the centre of the circle by the guides. They talked to him very slowly and persuasively and very soon he' left, escorted by the spiritual missionaries.
Wise Owl told me later that he had been taken away and put to rest in a spiritual hospital, and I forgot about him until about three months later when I was informed that he had returned and had a full understanding of life, and knew that he had survived death. At other times, I have seen people making the transition and always it is peaceful. By strong prayer we can help them to find the way to the Spiritual planes faster, bearing in mind that all souls reach there, for God is just.
When a soul passes on, his or her loved ones are always there to greet him and welcome him. The organization in the spiritual world is quite fantastic, as you can imagine how difficult it must be to get all the relatives there to meet the returning soul. Even more so in a spiritual circle, for everything is plotted out meticulously beforehand, including the order in which the guides will speak, and who will be present, both carnate and discarnate. When men are engaged in battle that is something else again, for the guides know that many men will die. The spiritual missionaries are there in force trying their best to help suffering mankind, and reduce the psychic trauma of those souls precipitated violently into the planes of soul.
Spiritual missionaries are bands of highly evolved, very devout souls, who descend into the lower, spiritual region to look for so-called 'lost souls', and help them home to the spiritual planes. They find great difficulty at times in contacting these spirits, for these confused souls find great difficulty in accepting the fact that they are dead to the material world, and they argue volubly on this score. There are all levels of developing souls in the spiritual planes, as there are on the material planes. These range from the most pure and highly developed souls, to those from the lowest depth of the spiritual or astral worlds.
41 - Euthanasia Trance Address By Rahman
What Is The Spirit View On Euthanasia?
This is Rahman, one of your spirit guides, and I will endeavour to answer this question.
God gives life, and takes it away. You have no right to decide who shall live or die. That is categorical, and brooks no denial. The span of human life is the prerogative of the Godhead alone, and no other must intervene. Many people take a long time to make the transition, but you must first understand about life. Know this: Mankind is born to live a life to a set pattern.
It is definitely decided when he will die at the onset, indeed the length of his life is planned for him. There are certain markers or sign posts in his life at which he must arrive, and the way in which he moves between these highlights in his life, is his development and evolvement. This is where free will comes in, and we, who guide you, try to influence you by our thoughts alone.
If you choose not to hear us or obey us, we can only accept your decision and await a change of mind on your part. We are never allowed to abandon you, but must wait until the end, by Divine command. Therefore you must try to accomplish what has been planned for you, but you may take the wrong road.
We try to get you back on the right road, but if, you say, you become a drinker or set in your ways, it may be pointless for you to continue this round of existence, and then you are recalled to our side of the veil. On the other hand, we often see that by abuses of the physical body you may be incapable of living long enough to complete all your tasks, and we are not able to warn you. We must then make hurried preparations for your reception and cut short our plans. On the other hand, we may see a coming accident or a sudden heart attack and be able to think out some way of averting this, and warning the subject in time.
With our thought communications, we continuously impress upon your receptive area of the mind, the message that we desire to give, which is placed in the occipital area at the back of the skull. With a continually open channel, it is easy, but with most people we have to try and impress you.
42 - Stansted Hall - A School For Mediums
Whilst on a visit to London, shortly before this book was being completed for publication, I was invited to visit Stan-sted Hall, situated about forty miles from London.
Stansted Hall, a magnificent mansion standing in thirteen acres of ground, and valued at over £100,000, was left by Arthur Findlay, the writer of several psychic books to the Spiritualist National Union known as the S.N.U.
The S.N.U., with the object of advancing the study of Psychic Science, is administering this property as a college and a residential centre, where students can study Spiritualist Philosophy and religious practice, spiritual healing, spiritual and psychic unfoldment and other kindred subjects.
All through each year, lecturers and leading mediums are engaged to lecture on practically every phase of spiritual philosophy, and whilst there I attended a lecture given by Mr. Gordon Higginson, M.S.N.U., who is a very well-known direct voice and materializing medium. This lecture was attended by approximately sixty of London's leading mediums.
Mr. Higginson's lecture was mainly advice on how mediums should behave towards their sitters. He stressed that they should refrain' from drawing information from them and using such information in their sittings when the power was weak, and under no circumstances must they take it upon themselves to predict a death which may have been given to them by the spirit guides.
These conventions are arranged for groups of mediums periodically from almost every city in the United Kingdom and are always well attended.
Stansted Hall can sleep over seventy people and can accommodate as many as that number in their spacious dining-room.
When I arrived with two friends at the Hall we were greeted by a number of people in such a friendly manner that we were made to feel that we were amongst close friends. We were accustomed to this friendly approach when meeting people who were interested in survival and were not surprised to be greeted so warmly.
We understood that Stansted Hall is frequently visited by three spirits who have been seen frequently, and one of them was caught by the camera when one of the main halls was being photographed. I brought away with me a copy of this photograph which showed two spirit forms.
I felt that this college, and the work carried on there could improve the standard of mediumship, and year by year the subjects studied there would go a long way to spreading the knowledge of the life in the spirit world, for which we are all undoubtedly heading when our time comes to leave this physical world.
43 - Spirit Message From One Of The Highest Spirit Teachers, Unknown To The Medium
Through Bill - In Deep Trance
My son, the travail of the spirit has been sore, the way of spiritual progression has been long and arduous. We desire you to give the world the way of life, and doctrines that you have been given in the astral planes. Many famous Eastern personages have written books of their way of life but have cloaked their literary endeavours in mystery and complicated words. We are giving you our messages to simple people, my son, and desire you to write the truths of cosmic realization in a way that everyone can understand and appreciate.
Know then, that the way of truth and light is simple, and must not be over elaborated. Mankind is not to delve into the mysteries of creation. The answer is on other and higher planes of existence. You are as yet, a babe in arms in relation to holy esoteric knowledge and illumination of the soul, but as far as material man is concerned, you are already far above most of their levels.
Contact with discarnate entities from higher planes of spirit, who will uplift, enlighten and ennoble the soul and contribute towards the elimination of the baser parts of material man. This is why you have to undergo many privations, experiences, sorrows and pain. Eventually the soul is purged, and the gold separated from the dross of material thoughts and effects. Go forward with dignity and grace, my son, we shall give you guidance from the planes of spirit at all times. Be not afraid of criticism, as those who are not so well evolved will try and sabotage your efforts to disseminate the truth, knowledge and wisdom of the Spirit World.
-End-
