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An Extract from Spheres of an Unseen World
Developing
my Skills
Throughout our lives people come and go. We
have the friends that last a life time, then we have the friends who are of
equal importance to us who come into our lives, sometimes for very short
periods of time, but the effect they have on us is catalytic. They help us to
move forward, to face and overcome change.
We may not believe this, but if we look back to different periods in our
lives look at the point when a new friend has entered your life and it is
usually associated with some pattern of change in our lives.
This has happened to
me time and time again. After Stella and
I completed our psychic development course I heard by chance of a workshop in
Kidderminster. The
workshop was arranged by Olwyn Griffiths (see Foot note), who used to work quite closely with
Eamonn Downey, who is a brilliant Teacher. I attended two of these workshops,
both provided me with invaluable insight.
During the second workshop I got talking to Sebra, Cheryl and Mary, who
clearly knew each other quite well. From
following their discussion it would appear they were all studying another
course through the spiritualist movement, the SNU (Spiritualists National
Union). As I listened to them discussing
the pro’s and con’s of the course, I began to enquire about it. All three enthusiastically talked about the
course and what it involved, and as I listened, I was sold. Within four months I was enrolled on the
course.
Part of the
requirements of the course was you had to sit in a closed circle at your own
church which at the time, before I moved house, was Stourbridge. After a while of patiently sitting in the
open circle which was lead by Heather Hatton, a woman who dedicated her whole
life to spiritualism, she arranged for me to join the closed circle. As I moved from one circle to another in a
way I was sad to lose the teaching skills of Heather who had a wealth of
knowledge and experience which she gladly shared with the group. Between Heather and her husband Eric, I am
sure they must have been responsible for the development of hundreds of
platform Mediums, who in turn would continue to serve spiritualist churches,
ensuring the continual existence of the spiritualist movement.
The closed circle was run by Val
Smith. Val was a very down to earth
character - a brilliant Medium, who had been on the circuit for nearly twenty
years. To this day I still place her as
one of the best Mediums I have ever seen; watching her work giving name after
name, while ‘holding up to five links (where the Medium is talking to five
people from spirit at the same time), held me in awe. I always found it hard to understand why Val
had not found national or international fame.
Why? She didn’t want it. Arthur
(her husband) would never have agreed to it, she used to tell me, “he likes his
tea on the table and he doesn’t like me out at tea time”. She once casually told me how she was offered
the opportunity to work in
Germany
for a week, but refused, stating Arthur wouldn’t like it. She had battled with him to be allowed to go
out and take services and had seen this as a triumph. I often wondered if Arthur would have objected. Val was very much a home-bird and as long as
she had her home family and could serve her churches, was as happy as Larry.
Val had a heart of
gold and a wonderful kind nature. During
her long battle with cancer I, would sometimes call in to see her. On one such day I was in the garden with her
as she fed the fish in the pond. “Mabel
come on”, she called as a very ugly Koi Carp gently rose out of the water to
take food from Val’s hand. Her gentleness and love of animals was apparent and
I was fascinated as she called this fish, as if it was a dog or a cat, and it
responded to her. She was a vegetarian
before it was trendy to be one and was much loved around the Churches and
renowned for her lovely character
To me that all changed
when I sat in circle with her; she was merciless! And for that I thank her from the bottom of
my heart. “Questions Sandrea, do not ask
questions”, she would intervene every time I attempted to ask a question from
the recipient of my message. “Questions
Sandrea, questions, you are asking questions.
Just give the evidence as they give it to you”. “But” I would protest “I need to just know
if they have a father in spirit”. She
would merely look at me and shake her head.
“Give off the evidence, don’t question it, say it as they are giving it too
you”. “I can’t”, I would protest
meekly. She was merciless and heartless
when it came to asking questions. When
it came to teaching me how to deliver a message she was uncompromising,
ruthless and relentless. On several occasions we had ‘mock’ congregations at
Stourbridge
Spiritualist
Church,
as one of these people my Son has a very different view of Val as he watched
her interrupt me and shake a pointed finger at me for daring to ask a
question.
I always knew Val was
doing it for my own good and she always did it with love and a smile. On reflection I fully understand it was this
solid grounding which had made me the Medium I am today. She taught me that by asking questions I
interrupted the flow of the energy, which in turn interrupted the flow of the
information. Instead of merely relaying
what was being given, by asking questions I got in the way and this in turn
would break my concentration. As a Medium
it is far more difficult to flow the information, without asking questions,
especially when the information is slightly confusing, but thanks to Val it is
the only way I know how to work.
Halfway through the
18 month period where I sat in circle with her, she began to take me to
Churches with her. I don’t feel I was
any different from the other members of the group - in fact I was very proud to
have sat in circle with them all. Connie
and Cheryl in particular became very good friends. But Val had a particular role in life with
me, which was to get me on the platform.
That I feel sure of. From this
don’t make the mistake of thinking she made me feel special. She didn’t, I always felt she was harder on
me than the others. She was very quick to
put me back where I belonged if she thought I was getting too big for my boots,
which thankfully wasn’t too often.
My first experience
as a working Medium with Val was at a Supper with Mediums at
Bromsgrove
Church. This is probably one of the hardest events a
Medium can do, as you are expected to give message after message in a short
period of time, then move onto the next table.
When Val told me I was booked to do this, I was a little unsure “I’m not
sure I can do it Val”, I faltered. She
was having none of it. “You’ll be fine”,
she added changing the subject. I shook
for two hours beforehand and changed my outfit three times. I walked to the bottom of the road, where
they were picking me up, like a lamb to slaughter. I cannot remember ever feeling so afraid, and
only half listened to the banter in the car as we made the 30 minute journey to
the Church. As we walked up to the door
Val turned to me and said “Come on, don’t be nervous, you can do it”. She promptly changed the subject. Her unmoving faith in my ability helped me
endlessly that night. I felt if Val
thinks I can do it and she is a Medium, she must know I can, so I must be able
to do it -as simple as that. It proved
to be the best approach because when it mattered I kept my composure throughout
the night. As I sat down, very nervously,
at the first table I desperately tried to blot out Val on the next table
rattling message after message, before the event had even started. Prayers ended and I began describing a
gentleman, the woman with the kind gentle face could accept everything I said,
including names and dates.
After this first
message I was away and for the remainder of the evening the information flowed,
fast and furiously. I could do it, yes I could.
Afterwards as we sat in the back she insisted I charge ten pounds and
buy myself something with the money.
What did Val charge? Nothing! Not
only didn’t she charge she purchased raffle tickets and helped with washing up.
While I sat there thinking what must they think of me? I later found out Val had rung this church
and several others telling them she had a cracking little Medium and could they
please give her some bookings! Bless her.
This was the first of
many events Val took me too. It is
sometimes quite hard to get onto the ‘circuit’.
By far the easiest is personal recommendation. As Val had such an excellent reputation and
as her recommendations were few and far between the Churches accepted Val’s
word and the bookings began to trickle in.
There were several psychic suppers and days of sittings, but none
bothered me as much as that first one.
As time went on they got easier and easier. Val and I only worked the platform together a
few times, one of those was
Walsall. “Are you ready to work?” she asked. “Yes” I replied. “Do you want to go first or last?” she enquired. “I have to go first” I said, “Why?” came the
reply. “Do you really think I am going
to get up after you Val?” “Don’t be daft”
she answered “I am not daft, I’m a realist” came my reply. Her Mediumship was second to none. While at the time I wasn’t a bad Medium,
against her it would have been professional suicide to get up after her. No I would be the warm-up act and she could
follow me. I don’t think, regardless of
how I progressed, that my views on this subject would have changed - Val first,
me second.
Unfortunately my time
with Val was very short-lived, although she had crammed an awful lot of
learning into a very short period of time for me, she wasn’t to be around much
longer. Val fought a tough battle
against cancer and if someone could have survived through healing power, she
would have done. She was in every
healing book going, in all the Churches she served. She had hands-on healing, absent healing and
when she was too ill to attend, healing at home.
When she passed I
always hoped I would be able to fully communicate with her how grateful I was
and how much she meant to me. My life
was certainly a better, richer place, thanks to her assistance. I left her funeral directly after the service
not wishing to intrude on the family or close friends. As I drove back to work I asked her how I
could be more like her, because if anyone lived their life in spirituality she
did. As I silently talked to her, I
immediately heard the words in my head, ‘take the best that’s in you, give the
rest away’. I pulled the car over and
sobbed for 20 minutes, knowing that part of my life was over and knowing how
much I would miss this wonderful woman.
As I cried I said out loud, “You’re supposed to make me feel better, not
worse!” I could feel her smiling and
that message has stayed with me ever since.
If I try to model myself on anyone it has to be this very special lady.
I was hugely mistaken
that her influence was to leave me. I only have to struggle slightly on the
platform or feel nervous and even today I can still feel her with me, I
pronounce my words in an exaggerated fashion as she would, I move my arms in
the way she did and move across the platform as she would. Sometimes before I start I can feel her
standing there waiting to help me, should I need any assistance. In fact to this day people still come up to
me and say
‘you know I have only
ever seen one other Medium work the way you do and you probably wouldn’t know
her”. “Val Smith?” I reply. God bless you Val Smith.
I continued with the
Exponents Course right through to the end of the three years. Complaining, kicking and screaming, but it
gave me some wonderful experiences and excellent opportunities, which I could
never have achieved without this course.
Eight
years on from the very first supper, I found myself still doing some of the
suppers at Bromsgrove. On one particular
evening I settled down on my second table and began to give one of the people a
message when suddenly I realised that I had sat at exactly the same table and
given a message to Mel as my first link, all those years ago. I hadn’t seen Mel at a table at a supper, for
years, but here we both were. I knew a
circle had completed in my life and I had returned from the point I began.
Footnote: Olwyn was a brilliant teacher and inspirer and many people like myself owe an awful lot to people like Olywn, for all the courses she ran and organised. She was a very special person. Unfortunately, Olwyn is no longer with us, she passed quiet suddenly to spirit. Myself and I an sure many other people really miss this wonderfully inspiring Medium and Teacher.
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