The Sanctuary


In 2007 a small group of interested people decided to set up a
home circle dedicated to learning and understanding more about Physical
Mediumship.
This circle was named the Bristol Spirit Lodge - as Chris, whose home
hosted the circle and who created the idea, lived in Bristol at the time.
The BSL grew and evolved over time with many sitters and mediums coming
and going. I myself developed my own abilities as a Trance and Transfiguration
medium but the hoped for physical phenomena didn't appear to be on the agenda.
Much of the early development records as experienced by myself are
recorded in this blog up to the point where I really felt I was unable to add
anything new to the record.

In May 2013, some 5 yrs down the line, the BSL has relocated to Clevedon
and gone from strength to strength. Numerous new home circles have spun off and
have set up on their own and links to many others have been created
6 months ago, a young lady, wife and Mum contacted Chris to enquire
about physical mediumship. One thing led to another and she has now been sitting
in her own circle within the BSL for development with some amazing results. The
speed and level of her development has been stunning.

A few months ago, her spirit team who have been communicating through
direct voice whilst Emily has been in deep trance, told us that they wished to
form a small closed circle to sit weekly with a handful of dedicated sitters in
support to start what they called the “serious work”.

Last week was the inaugural sitting of the closed circle and what
follows below will be my own subjective account of my personal experiences
during this and subsequent sittings.
Chris will continue to update her own account of course on the BSL
on-line diary. My own diary in no way replaced these, this is just my own
personal record for my own interest and for anyone else who wants to follow.




To read the full diary and objective accounts of the other circles that meet in the Sanctuary, visit the main site at: http://www.spirit-lodge-diary.blogspot.com/




Thursday, May 24, 2007

Tuesday 22nd May

Hi, just a short post this week.
For the first time since the group has been sitting now, we had the first night with no physical phenomena at all.
There were the usual grey foggy effects and several people reported perceiving flashes of light, but no two people saw the same things at the same time (our minimum requirement to record and objective event). Temperatures went up and down but no bangs, flashes or moved objects.

However it wasn’t all quiet. We did get some conversation and guidance from ‘the chief’ who spoke through Brian once his trance state was brought back to a light enough state. The Chief apologised for the lack of apparent activity but explained that there was still a lot going on ‘behind the scenes’.

Both Brian and David are going into deep trance states now for most of the whole evening. And several of the other members of the group are also feeling the pull at various times during circle.
Several ‘communicators’ have now explained to us that there is new work being done and that they are experimenting with new ‘forms’ of energy that can be ‘blended’ with the more traditional forms to create new ways of demonstrating the continuance of life beyond the concept of ‘death’.

Our aim has always been and still remains to be, the proof of continuing consciousness beyond the end of physical life through the demonstration of objective physical evidence.
I believe that we are starting to move to a phase in the circle now where we will soon be able to record some serious evidence. We’re starting to depart from the traditional ‘physical séance’ and beginning to explore previously uncharted areas.

Where it will take us I have no idea. But I will certainly update the blog as and when anything happens every week.
It really is turning out to be fun and exciting. There are new developments almost weekly and everyone within the circle is starting to notice changes in themselves as our work with Spirit has started to move from a notional concept stage into a very real practical reality.

Lots of people can talk a good story about their experiences and perceptions but these are always someone else’s story. When a small group of people start to share the same experiences’ together, then your mind is forced to move into a different state of awareness.

For myself, as a healer first and foremost and a medium on occasion, I was always able to kind of ‘suspend my disbelief’ when and where spirit were concerned. However, my own journey of discovery, my understanding and awareness have been brought into phase with my perception of the physical world.
Now, solid facts are no longer solid. Fundamentals such as the physical reality of green plastic garden chairs are no longer quite so firmly fixed as they once were.

In Christine’s back garden, in a converted 10’x12’ shed in a suburban corner of Bristol, philosophical concepts and practical reality are now colliding on a weekly basis.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Friday 18th May

To enable Brian to sit for his own develoment at a minumum of once a week, he now alterantes between a Friday and Tuesday evening every other week.
I wasn't present myself for Fridays circle, so I've included posted highlights of the report below.

It was another good night with Brian being physically moved in his chair again.


May 18th 2007
90 minute séance. Blackout conditions.

Brian in the cabinet. Sitters and witnesses: Christine, Paul, Dave and David.


NOTE: Christine had placed three cat-toy balls with bells inside then, in a triangular position beneath the chair within the cabinet.
Brian was secured to the chair within the cabinet by cable ties to arms and legs and with a cord at his waist.

During the first part of the evening various creaking sounds were heard within the cabinet. For the most part the only sounds heard were our own ‘singing’.

During the latter part of the evening however activity was clearly apparent and this included some interesting communication from The Chief, through Brian, who was in deep trance state.

At the close of the séance David was brought out of trance state, as was Brian.

When the light was switched on it was witnessed that the Medium’s chair had been moved 45deg within the cabinet and, what surprised everyone, was that the balls which she had placed carefully beneath the chair were exactly as they had been put there. They had NOT moved!
The balls, you will understand are cat toys, they move easily, which is why they were being used for experimental purpose.

.....and so ended another great evening. Yet more progress.
Next Tuesday is another blackout night with Brian in the cabinet. I'll post my own account probably on Wednesday.

Jon.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Tuesday 15th May

Well, it’s been a few weeks since I made a significant post here I know. My main blog has also been quiet as well as I’ve been working my way through some experiences and answers to some questions that I’ve been holding onto for quite some time.

Last week there was no circle anyway as the ‘team’ were up at Stansted at an open day at the Arthur Findlay College .

The week before had been my first attempt to go into Trance and allow someone in spirit to communicate through me in this way. It was an odd experience to say the least.
Surprising you might say since I am quite happy to ‘receive’ messages mentally and pass them on, but when doing this there is a level of disassociation that sort of allows me to ‘suspend my disbelief’ during the event and then go back to being highly sceptical afterwards.
So merely sitting in a semi trance state should -in theory- be a doddle.

The reality is somewhat harder to get your head round when it actually happens to you.
First off, you have to understand that I am very doubtful of 99.9% of supposed trance mediums that I’ve ever come across. I suspect in most cases there is an awful lot of medium and not much spirit involved.
There is virtually never, ever, any evidence given to prove that it’s for real.

Secondly, when I was in the trance state, I was very much aware of everything going on and (at that moment in time) felt very much ‘there’ and fully conscious of everything going on in the room and within me. I felt I was making it up as I went along for the most part. –except they were not my words coming out.

On the other hand, I was very aware of this other mentality putting/blending thoughts and words into my mind almost in parallel to my own thoughts.

The biggest issue came when one of the circle members asked a direct question –even a simple ones, such as ‘what is your name’.
As soon as I heard the question, the ‘me’ part of ‘my’ mind came to the fore and desperately tried to create and answer. The result was that my voice was in conflict between me and my temporary friend. But then nothing came out and a log jam was seemingly created until I managed to relax enough to allow the visitor to continue.

This was more noticeable when an ‘absolute’ response was required. My visiting friend seemed to then try and find a way around the road block by answering questions indirectly, -which I then felt to be even more evasive. Making my distrust rise to new heights and bringing my own sceptical mind even closer to the surface.

This became even more complicated when I/he/we were asked if there was a message to be passed on to one of the sitters.
‘I’ knew that there was. ‘He’ wanted to pass it on. I, how ever was looking to step back in as the ‘medium’ and see the message as I might do normally. So the harder I looked for the ‘mental’ communication, the less it was apparent.
As the ‘tension’ increased, so did the vibrations in my physical body, I started shaking like a leaf, every muscle in my body was tensed and I could physically feel the energy.

So there was this kind of 3 way battle going on the whole time.
The sceptic doubting that any of it was real and feeling worried that I was duping myself, deluding my friends and betraying the trust I had built up with Spirit.
The me experiencing the energy and vibrations, hearing the words being spoken for the first time, experiencing the ‘knowing’ that it was for real.
And then part of me an almost dispassionate observer, watching objectively the clash of wills between the spirit person and the physical me.

All of these different thoughts, feelings and emotions going on in real time.
…It’s amazing that they managed to get anything intelligible through at all!!!

Anyway, here’s a rough transcript of the evenings events but from the little bits that I do recall, they seem close enough.
They’re not absolute, as there was a technical hitch with the tape recorder. ….someone -who shall for now remain nameless- managed to leave the Pause button down!!




Tuesday 15th May
Red light conditions. 85 minute séance.

Sitters and witnesses: Christine, David, Jon, Paul, Justin, Ollie.
Notes recorded By Chris

David was seated beside the cabinet, with Jon beside him. The intention for the evening was for Jon to experience trance for the second time, either with or without support from David (established trance medium).

Both David and Jon displayed indications of pending trance very soon into the séance.
Therefore Christine decided to simply invite spirit to draw closer for communication through either of the two mediums. The blending of energies between the two mediums was not requested nor was it necessary. Jon worked independently of support from David.

Therefore we now have two established trance mediums within our Circle : )

The first communicator through David was White Eagle. He spoke about the recent vandalism to the sanctuary and gave reassurance about this.

The second communicator came through Jon. This entity was reluctant to give his name, as he feels names to be unnecessary. He spoke of having some difficulty in making communication through the medium, who was not able to relax. Jon’s physical body shaking was mentioned by Christine and assurance given that all was well and that this would pass.

The third communicator came through David. This was Brother John. He gave a loving and supportive message to the group.

The fourth communication came through Jon. This entity was felt by Paul to be an entity known to him as Hussein. Hussein spoke directly to Paul, discussing a previous message with him and giving further confirmation about a young girl who is beside Paul, to his right side. She was described by Hussein as being a friend, rather than a guide. An older man was also mentioned as being close to Paul, said to be a relative of his who had recently passed, on his father’s side of the family.

The fifth communicator was Black Eagle who said that he felt it necessary to come forward as someone within the group felt a need for healing. It was suggested that this person should remove their garments and open themselves to the sun and the beauty and natural energies around them. Chris joked that such behaviour would not be socially acceptable within the Cribbs Causeway area. Black Eagle agreed with this but encouraged us to consider taking time to enjoy the healing benefits of fresh air, the woodland and the countryside.

The final communication was through Jon. An entity who gave his name as Charlie. *This turned out to be a joke between himself and Jon, which included us also. He spoke gently of many things. Particularly, in response to a question by Justin regarding connecting with deceased loved ones, he was very profound with his words.
QUOTE: "It is not the shape of the clouds that give meaning, but the meaning we give the shape that matters." Lovely!

E-mail from Jon:

>> Charlie…...it was a joke. That's not his name.
'We' had a chat on the way home and I was made aware that the name came from me, or more precisely a book I've read. In which God, in conversation with the author, discusses how He doesn't want people to get hung up over his name through various religions across the world. And how some religions get very angry if you mis pronounce his "true" name.


I think the quote goes something along the lines of "Do you really imagine that I care if you call me God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Krishna or even Charlie, I'm still me, and I love everyone of you just the same".
I think that our visitor must have pulled that quote from me, having a joke with you and also with me at the same time. Jon


NOTES:

Christine feels that the ‘Charlie entity’ was also the entity who came through first, and was reluctant to give his name. She also ‘saw’ several entities around Jon as his trance state was initially forming….before ‘order’ was established. None of this is provable of course. Noted purely as a guide for future reference.

The energy within the séance room was excellent. This was Ollie’s first séance experience, and clearly his energy blends with the established group energy very well.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Tuesday 1st May

Brian -the one of us who is best suited to physical mediumship- was in the cabinet tonight and within 10 minutes there were some very weird sounds coming from within.
We had (because of the previous phenomena with the shoes etc) moved on from buckle straps to using plastic tie-wraps to secure him in the seat (this was his idea, to ensure no one would accuse him of cheating -he said he felt better if there was no possibility that he could do anything physically, even when in trance)

So arms tied to the chair (a common green plastic garden chair from B&Q for £5) and ankles tied to the legs. A belt was tied round his chest to stop any upper body movements and a pillowcase over his head (I’m still not quite clear about this as to why, but it seems to be common practice in physical circles).

To cut a long story short, the séance lasted nearly 2 hours with a seriously large amount of creaking, groaning and banging going on and when the lights eventually came up and the curtains were opened, The pillowcase had been taken off, the balls (cats toys with little bells inside) which had been heard jingling several times, were at opposite ends of the cabinet and…..
This is the biggy…

Brian had been lifted, chair and all, and swung round just short of 180 degrees.
I'm not sure who was more gob smacked, him or us…!

I got in the chair myself and tried to move it without releasing my arms and legs and there is no way that he could have done it whilst restrained the way he was.
And given the way he was strapped in, it'd be even more impossible to shake the pillowcase off his head.

We have decided that for the next few weeks at least, we are going to take before and after photo's to keep as evidence and post on the websites.

Tuesday 24th April

I haven't posted this one up yet as it's taken me a while to assimilate what happened that night.
The objective record is fairly straightforward and can be found as usual on the Journal (actually it's not been posted yet, but should be there soon)

The subjective view of what took place has taken a bit of time to get used to. But I will post a detailed review of the evening from my own perspective in the next few days.

I was taken into a light trance state and communication came through me to the rest of the group and a back complaint I have been experiencing for several weeks was spontaneously healed - and has remained healed for over a week now.

But more of this later. Read instead the report of what happened last night (Tuesday 1st May).

:-) J.