Tuesday 30th Sep

Last night I was sitting as per usual in our home séance in Bristol. Although I’ve not been recording my own experiences over the past few months, each and every week I found something new happening every time I go into the trance state.

This week though I went through something much more unusual and I thought it worthwhile recording – if only for my own sanity and reference in the future perhaps.


The evening started normally enough. And come 8pm the 4 of us trooped out to the Lodge, settled in and the music was soon started.
Drifting off with the music I made myself comfy and then I remember that I ‘knew’ that it was important that I sit up properly, which I did and oddly felt much more comfortable as well.

I was drifting in and out so to speak when I heard the sitters start to whisper to each other about what they were seeing. I was listening quite clearly and then I recall ‘asking’ that I could stop hearing them (I didn’t want them to stop, I just wanted to stop listening)
Anyway, time ticked on and I was still hearing them chatting –which was quite nice and comforting in an odd sort of way, when I noticed that I wasn’t in the room anymore but was looking down on a really thin and emaciated girl. She was standing in a dark place, like a stairwell or a corridor. Concrete perhaps, anyway I asked her name and ‘heard’ …that’s odd, but I have no idea know what it was…. Anyway, she looked up (I felt like I was above her by about 10 feet) and she seemed scared and confused. I called to her, telling her not to be scared, but she didn’t seem to want to know. So I tried a different tack and started to ask her look at the warm glow of light behind her (and to one side), then the light grew stronger (or possibly just came closer) and I told her to take the hand that “he” was holding out. Which after a moment’s hesitation she did and then they weren’t there any more.

I heard the sitters chatting again but then decided that I had to go back again.
Then I realised her boyfriend was still there as well, I ‘knew’ his name but he was less interested and seemed much less willing to look around –and to be honest I couldn’t see any warm glow to direct him to. So I started asking him if he would like to feel warm again – he seemed really cold (now the odd thing now that I recall it, is that I never actually ‘saw’ him at all, not physically if you know what I mean. I tried to ‘imagine what he looked like but couldn’t create a picture that seemed to fit him, but, again oddly, that didn’t seem so important at the time).
So, anyway, that fact he was so cold seemed to be the key and I kept going on about being warm again. But he still didn’t want to leave.

I realised then they were both addicts and he was scared to leave, but also that fact that his girlfriend had gone scared him as well, but, not as much as leaving the security of their squat –which I could now see was a filthy room/corridor, damp walls and some scruffy red and grey material (old curtains or blankets perhaps).

Anyway, I digress,,, ;-)
Being warm seemed to be the key so I told him if he came with me I could show him a place he could go to where he could sit in the sun again and get warm, proper warm where the sun would get right down to his bones.
-I have this place I go in meditation or when I do clairvoyance which is a small part of a rose garden. There’s a gravel pathway and a bench there and I can sit there in the sun and chill out. It’s where I meet people who want me to give someone a message. Usually they can then come with me or I can link with them again later etc.

Anyway, I said he could come with me there and warm up a bit. So he came (reluctantly) but I told him it was all ok ‘cos he could go back whenever he wanted to & that he was more than welcome to come back again any time that he just wanted to warm up again. So I left him there and said goodbye. Then just as I looked back I saw someone else sit down next to him and start chatting and I knew it was one of the ‘good guys’ and he was going to be fine.

I then said bye to the girl and saw that it was her Dad that had come to fetch her. She and her boyfriend perhaps had OD’d and got stuck there? Maybe they thought that’s where they deserved to be, who knows.
Anyway, not long after that I heard the music changing and had to come back so that the others could talk to the sitters (by this I mean that the usual spirit team wanted to communicate with the rest of the circle through trance).

Was it all real? I dunno at all. I suspect it may just have been a mental distraction, a bit like a dream, used to break my focus on listening to the sitters in the circle but I’ve had this experience before once in a meditation and it was very, very similar (not in circumstance but in feeling). Maybe I really did help a couple that had got themselves ‘stuck’ in some way, maybe I imagined it, perhaps it was just a daydream. Either way, it felt very real and it felt satisfying in an abstract way –worthwhile if you know what I mean, Like it’s something I’d want to do again.


So that was it, while everyone else was sitting there in the dark, I was having a nice little daydream :-) Now what is really odd is that while all this was going on I could still hear them all but it no longer seemed important to hear what they were saying. I could hear their voices and even the words, but I wasn’t ‘listening’ and had no sense of ‘time’ passing.
Most peculiar and most interesting as well. I wonder if it’ll happen again? - they’ll have to keep up the chat so I’ve got a reason to bugger off again ;-) Hahaha

A home seance with Warren Caylor

Saturday 25th September ‘08


A group of five of us had driven up from Bristol as guests to a home séance at Castle Vale in Birmingham, where Warren Caylor had agreed to sit for us and to provide a demonstration of Physical Mediumship.

All of the 15 sitters (plus of course Frank and Myra) had sat before with Warren with the exception for 2 who had never sat in a physical circle before. And I think it’s safe to say that this was an experience that neither will ever forget for the rest of their lives.
We got their a little early and despite getting lost no more than 100 yards from the front door, we were met by Warren and made to feel completely at ease as we were warmly welcomed into the venue.

Soon the room was filling up as people started to arrive and about ten minutes before things got underway, Oz came in to give everyone a brief reminder of the ‘rules’ and to make sure that the newcomers were at ease and feeling comfortable. Then we were called in as usual, checked for concealed weapons of mass destruction and shown to our seats.

It was only a small room, no more than 10’ by 8’ and it was a bit of a squeeze to get us all in. The centre of the room had the usual array of drumsticks with luminous ends, tom-tom drums, mouth organ, cardboard trumpet, whistle and a white envelope addressed to “Young Tom”. –apparently a little while ago at the last séance held down in the south-east Tom’s slide whistle had been left behind and had been posted back to for him care of Warren.
This was opened and the contents displayed to everyone and the envelope was shown and checked to make sure nothing was concealed anywhere.

Then, with the formalities over, Warren sat in the chair & was secured with chains & tie-wraps at the wrists, tied at the ankles, waist and chest with a red climbing rope. Everyone was just about to settle down when it was realised that somewhere along the line the gag for Warren’s mouth had been left behind. The doors had to be unsealed again and Frank had to make an unseemly dash for the Kitchen, grab a clean tea-towel and return.
Now I don’t know about you, but a tea-towel twisted lengthways makes a very thick and uncomfortable looking gag. Oz fitted it into Warrens mouth and tied it firmly behind his head.
Being such a small room we could all see this clearly and I have to say, it looked mighty uncomfortable to boot.



With the lights then out, the music started & in within seconds the ceiling shook as Spirit announced their presence by banging loudly on it and letting us know they were here and we all knew we were in for an exciting evening.

A few minutes later and we all heard the sound of Tom calling out his greeting in his familiar childlike voice and everyone was soon at ease as Tom teased and greeted people by name one by one.
He even asked to be introduced to my wife who was seated next to me. This was the first time she had been to a physical séance, so this was quite an honour to be singled out so quickly. I’ve been to quite a few séances now and this was the first time that I’d been greeted personally by name either, so for her to be picked out was quite a surprise for everyone.

Rachel followed and soon everyone was grinning like idiots in the dark as she had as all laughing with her ribald sense of humour. Yellow Feather joined the circle then and explained that due to some recent developments they were going to suspend the materialisations in white light for the time being.
My immediate thought was that we would be using the dim red light instead but I was gobsmacked when Y.F then said “I suppose we had better make out own Spirit Light instead”
I’ve seen the odd vague misty glow or occasional flash in our own home circle but the prospect of Warren’s team creating their own light for materialisation had me really excited.

Then, leaving this prospect hanging in the air, he left and Tom came back.. He explored the toys and the floor and was clearly delighted to find the envelope and read out the address (it was still total blackout at this time) opened it and guided Frank to the appropriate track on the CD before giving as a fantastic demo of his musical ‘skills’ of his favourite songs.

One thing that I didn’t mention earlier was that a large lump clay, fashioned into a ball about 3 or 4 inches in diameter had been placed on a small plate on the floor with a glass jar upturned over it to protect it.
Tom soon found this and asked what it was for. It was explained to him that if possible, maybe he could try putting his fingers in and on it and leave marks for us to see afterwards? He seemed to think this was fine and played with it before asking to put it under Myra’s chair for safekeeping.

We were witness to yet more amazing demonstrations of their ability to manipulate ectoplasm with levitation of the trumpet and the toys and the playing of drums.
Oz’s sock was removed and landed on my lap (Fortunately as Warrens’ circle leader he was familiar with this kind of play and was well prepared with clean fresh socks ;-)

Another sitters shoe was removed and balanced carefully on the top of the ceiling fan, water was flicked playfully around –just in case anyone was getting too hot, but no-one was soaked this time!

After another visit from Rachael, Yellow Feather returned and shared some sage advice. And spoke to one of the sitters with words of much needed & great comfort as he prepared to face some personal challenges lying ahead.

He then came to one of the other sitters, who had never before been to a physical circle. Standing only feet in front of her, told her that he could see within her an ability for Physical Mediumship. That if she wished to, she should start to sit and begin her development. It would take some time, he told her but the ability was very real. Both she and her husband were given advice on sitting together and supporting this development.
Everyone in the room was very surprised as this is virtually unheard of. To be approached directly by spirit through direct voice, to be picked out and informed of an ability as a Physical Medium in the middle of séance has only happened in a very rare handful of cases.
Watch this space and perhaps in future we’ll be reading of yet more physical Mediumship in private and public circles.


Yet still the best was yet to come.

Tom returned and asked us if we’d like to see a little Spirit Light –assuming we weren’t too bored! Then behind the curtain started what I can only describe as the most incredible display I’ve ever seen.
A small point of brilliant white light flashed briefly illuminating the whole cabinet, behind the thick black drapes that were hung across in front of the chair where warren sat, still secured by ropes chains and gagged.
The light than came back, flashing on and off more and more quickly and it was moved around and around. The intensity was astounding! The light flashed and waved up and down, up and around the cabinet for several minutes before finally going off.

Yellow Feather came back briefly to talk about the demonstration, then we were treated to another display, but this time the light was the most incredible blue colour. Faster and faster it flicked on and off, moving all the time fro the top to the bottom of the cabinet.

Tom took another break and Luther came into the room. His presence completely overwhelming and filling the small space.
Anyone who has ever had the privilege of witnessing Luther will know what I am saying. His voice carries a sheer volume and power that no physical human could create, let alone appearing to emanate from a point approximately 6 inches below the ceiling!

The first time I ever sat with Warren for a PM demonstration, I questioned much of what I witnessed. I doubted what my eyes were seeing and simply couldn’t accept the reality of what appeared to be happening. However, even on that first occasion, when Luther came forward and addressed the circle, I can still recall the feeling of power that projected in to the room. No amount of description can ever really get across the feeling of ‘awe’ that he generates. As one of the sitters said to me later “Luther makes Men quake in their boots whilst Women go weak at the knees!”

After this, Tom cam back again for a 3rd demonstration of his control of Spirit light. This time everyone’s jaw was well and truly dropped!
The flying lights became more and more complex in their patterns until they stopped and the trumpet was lifted from the floor and levitated into the cabinet.
Suddenly we realised that the light was being created inside the 2’ long cardboard tube an a point approx 2” in diameter.
Now, even if somehow Warren had escaped from his chains, cable ties ropes and gag and had somehow been able to create this colour changing light. Even if he’d been able to do this whilst also jumping in and out of the cabinet (complete with the ability to create the sounds of the ectoplasm, voice box etc, plus being able to see in the dark, balance shoes on the top of the light fittings, talk in multiple voices, project this voice from the floor and from the ceiling etc)
How on earth could he make a point of brilliant blue white light appear in the centre of a cardboard tube at a point where it could be no more than 2 inches in diameter! A light so intense that it could be seen clearly right through the thick cardboard of the trumpet.

Then, just in case we weren’t already completely flabbergasted, the trumpet was pushed out of the cabinet, through the curtains and the light projected on to the ceiling and then proceeded to dance around the room in time to the music.

But even now they weren’t finished!
After another brief break, the show started again with the trumpet before it was ejected out onto the floor of the room. Then the lights came back again within the cabinet and the light, rather than being a single point, opened up into a wide oval shape about 6 or 8 inches across.
We could all see this held for a second or two. Tom repeated this a few times before asking if we could see anything. This happened a few times and then he asked again if we could see his face. This time he pushed forward out of the cabinet, his small upturned face between the curtains, illuminated by the diffuse blue light as if from within.
Three or four times more he did this until everyone had clearly seen this amazing demonstration.

Yellow Feather came back again to describe the ‘mechanics’ of how they were creating this light. Saying that the ‘static’ energy created by us in the room (boosted at two points by having all the sitters sub their hands together for a few moments) was being used with the ectoplasm to ‘crack’ the ectoplasm, the release of this energy then created the light.
We later learned that this was only the second time they had tried this experiment and already they had moved forward and progressed vastly in their control and the length of time they could hold the light on.

However, this we were told, used an enormous amount of Warren’s energy reserves and he was just about used up and the séance was now ready to draw to a close.
Yet despite this, we were treated to a final display and once again were able top see little Tom’s face lit up by spirit light looking out through the curtains of the cabinet.

All too soon though it was all over and the light was brought back up.
Initially Warren seemed to be in some discomfort and Oz and Frank quickly jumped to his aid to remove the tea towel, still firmly tied round his head, his arms still in the cable ties and chains, his ropes tied tightly across his chest.

However, once he was released and led from the room, it was apparent to everyone that his jeans and tee shirt had been at some point removed and replaced completely inside out!

Then we saw the ball of clay which had been carefully placed underneath Myra’s chair.
There in the clay were a number of finger marks, of small fingernail marks and one long narrow indent where Tom had pushed his finger right into the clay.
This is going to be saved and a plaster cast made of Tom’s Sprit finger.

Soon we were all crowded into the small kitchen ravenously decimating the sandwiches and buffet that Myra and Frank had generously provided, going over and over everything we’d seen and experienced.
One individual in particular was trying to get her head round the fact the Yellow Feather had given her some more than interesting news about her own development and potential as a Physical medium. But even then, the positive support and advice she received was amazing and speaks volumes for the people that had gathered there that night and the true love for spirit and humanity they and Warren have.

I’ve not included everything that happened that night as the whole séance lasted for nearly 3 hours (it felt like less than one) and we were joined by several other spirits who spoke to us through Direct Voice. Trumpets were levitated, stuck to the ceiling, drums were played. Conversations took place, evidence of survival was shared and comfort given.

This was, we discovered to be Warren’s last demo here in the UK for sometime as the next day was planned to be the first of a long trip to America and possibly even further afield. I wish Warren all the very best of luck and send him off with my thoughts and prayers as he sets off to share his gift with new circles and new friends across the globe.

I look forward to catching up with him and hearing the stories next year when he finally makes it back home again.
Good luck mate and thank you. What a send off!

New beginings

This blog has been active now for just about 18 months and a lot has happened and changed since it first began.

Initially, I wanted to simply make a record of the development of our small home circle, recording my own subjective experiences as a sitter within the physical seances. The progress made has been astounding in such a short period of time and we've been privileged to witness spirit's ability to interact with our physical world week in and week out. Each week bringing something new, something even more amazing than the week before.

Looking back now, many friends have joined the circles and a few have left to explore different areas as well.
I think as well, almost without exception, everyone that has joined the circle has found that they have made new discoveries about themselves and their potential abilities.

Often sitting in the Lodge for an hour or so once a week seems simply fun and natural and it's only when you look back that you begin to appreciate just how incredible some of those evenings have been.

In fact, now that the Lodge has become so well established and with several mediums working regularly and with the main web site (www.spirit-lodge-diary.blogspot.com) this record is really only duplicating what is largely already there.
In addition, with my own role within the lodge having changed over the last few months, I've begun to appreciate that making a useful record of goings on when sitting in the cabinet as well, is fairly mundane.
...There's only so many ways to write that I "felt a bit funny and light headed before sitting, drifted off into a kind of meditative state/trance & then half woke up to hear myself talking to the rest of the room for half an hour before it was all over" - which is about all I can add to the proceedings when it's my week in the cabinet :-)

So this blog will go now into a period of suspended animation for a while. I'll make the odd addition from time to time when I've got something interesting to add, but for the most part I think the main site will be able to keep a more consistent record of everything that's going on.

Also, as the spirit teams seem to want to do a lot more communication through trance for a while, we'll be making much more use of the recordings rather than trying to keep written summaries up to date.
And with 3 circles running plus a growing number of development/1:1 sittings, we don't really have the time to make a decent entry of each event. The audio recordings should be much better suited to tracking the information shared by Spirit as well.

...mind you, if history is anything to go by, merely taking the decision to suspend the blog will most likely coincide with an immediate need to get it started again, so do drop by from time to time to see if there has been any changes.

Until then, thanks for being a part of our grand experiment and why not do what we did.
Just go ahead and start your own circle and see what happens. You don't need anything other than a room with some good heavy curtains to get started.
I can guarantee you won't get bored!

Tuesday 1st July

This evening started in high spirits as we all arrived well before 8pm and had plenty of time to relax and joke around before heading out to the lodge for the circle.

Unusually, with Brian in the cabinet, I was asked to sit in the North Corner –a spot that often produces a focus of energy almost as strong as the cabinet. For some reason that wasn’t explained to us, FC had indicated to Chris that I didn’t need to have the usual glow-tab pinned on. In retrospect of the evening’s events, this was probably more symbolic than practically required. It’s usual for only the medium in the cabinet not to wear a tab (Brian's team were/may/are considering using ectoplasm. This substance is highly light sensitive and a glo tab produces light. It is therefore safer to leave Brian in total blackout).
The practice of wearing glow-tabs came in to being so that those sitting in the circle could be confident that no-one was moving around the room and any visitors to the lodge would be able to monitor everyone’s position.

Anyway, I was feeling fine and wide awake and as this was to be a physical séance with Brian in the cabinet, I had no thoughts of doing anything other than sitting in the circle as normal. After the first couple of tracks, Chris checked to see everyone was OK and seemed surprised to find that I was still awake!

In order to assist Brian’s development into a deeper trance state, the music had been selected to support this, so rather than the usual sing along tracks, we had a selection of soft ‘trance’ type music and we sat in relative silence. It seemed not unreasonable under the circumstances to go along with the general mood so I let my eyes shut and drifted off myself.

After a while I heard Blaze speaking through Brian and brought myself awake, sat up and started paying attention. Shortly after, Cheung-Ly came through and at this point I found that my usual ‘slouch’ in the chair didn’t feel right and felt a strong desire to sit upright with a straight back. I was surprised when I heard Chung-Ly suggest that someone else was joining us in the room. I listened expectantly for something new to occur -perhaps a second voice- when suddenly the temperature in the room rocketed (I’d previously been a bit cold) and everything in the room started to sort of get a bit hazy.
I felt my right hand begin to tremble and vibrate and then someone came very close to me, wanting to speak. Both Chris and Cheung-Ly invited the energy to come forward and I felt myself going off into a light trance type state.

I vaguely recall some of the conversation that followed (something to do with the power of prayer) but interestingly for me this time, the stronger ‘memory’ is not of the ‘words’ so much as the imagery that came into my mind as the words were spoken. It wasn’t just the pictures either, as the complete set of feelings and concepts that came at the same time which carried everything, as if the spoken words were almost surplus to requirements.
If I could had been able to give everyone the image/ideas that were coming into my mind, then they’d have been able to grasp the answers much more clearly than the words that seemed to be stumbling out.
I can still recall those images and ideas even now, yet I can’t remember more than a couple of the actual words that were used.

The next thing I clearly remember is the feeling as if someone had flicked a switch and turned the power off. Rather than ‘coming back’ slowly like I’ve done I the past, one minute I wasn’t really there at all, and then next I was back in full awareness and felt completely wide awake.

As we listened to the Chief as he rounded off the evening, I was very much aware that ‘Charlie’ had only stepped back and had not gone completely and when the final coming out tracks were played, I realised I was still feeling a bit ‘out of it’ and wasn’t half as awake as I’d thought I was.
On the drive home (about and hour away) I could feel still him there but as a very positive energy, full of fizz and excitement as opposed to the often drowsy feeling I often get on the way to a circle.

All in all another great evening. The one thing you can always say for sure is that we rarely get two séances the same. They always seem to have something new up their sleeves.

Tuesday 24th June

Well, this is going to be a slightly different update on the evenings events as for the most part, I wasn’t really all there (no change there then some might say) to see what happened.
This report will be a description of how the evening progressed from the viewpoint of the “medium” rather than the usual description from the sitters point of view.

Although I’ve sat for trance communication a few times in the past, over the past few weeks I’ve been sitting separately with the intention of developing more evidential communication. This has taken a different to expected turn with the Spirit team experimenting with different techniques and having some success in ‘creating’ the images of different faces overlaid on my own. So as Brian was away this week, it was decided that I would sit in the main circle to get allow the team to work with the different energies found in a full circle as well as to demonstrate progress to different people.

Although I’ve sat with Chris and 3 other independent sitters to witness what has been happening, this was the first time I’d sat with a full house. Plus with the recent sitting reports having been posted on the main site, I knew that the others would be keen to see for themselves what has been developing.

And while I’ve used mental medium-ship to give readings and messages to individuals and groups in the past (with various levels of success), working in a light(ish) trance is quite different. For the most part I have a reasonable awareness of what is being said at the time but very little memory of it all afterwards. Also with the reported transfiguration, you don’t really know what is going on or if anything is happening at all until the evening is over.

I arrived feeling a little as if I was to ‘perform’ for the audience and after last weeks reports of disappearing body parts during the séance, I was hoping that the evening wouldn’t be a flop and that expectations weren’t too high.

From about 4pm onwards, I’d felt a steady increase of energy around me and by 7.30 this had become a feeling of intense pressure around my head and upper body. I was feeling kind of spaced out and although I’d felt no distraction whilst driving, when I arrived I felt incredibly drowsy. Yet despite this I was still worried that nothing was going to happen once the evening got under way.

However, once we were in the lodge, I could feel the energies growing more firm and in the cabinet the feelings intensified even further as I felt the start of familiar tremors in my arms and neck.

As the first few tracks played through, the tremors extended down through my neck to my upper body and I could feel my face starting to go a little numb –a bit like you might feel after a few glasses of wine on an empty stomach.

All the time though I was quite aware of the deathly silence in the room and that the music had gone so quiet as to hardly be there at all. So whilst I was ‘waiting’ to drift off, my conscious mind was going ten to the dozen thinking about when I was going to drift off!

Gradually though I must have started to relax as I became aware of the stirring feelings in my stomach as different energies started to come and go. Around this time I was starting to experience different visuals as images started to come and go before settling into a theme that I was able to follow.
All too soon though, I started to be aware of a change again in my physical body and the need to allow one of the communicators to come through.

Initially I can’t tell who it’s going to be and it’s only the compulsion to allow my body to move into certain positions that gives anything away at all –and even then I seem to get it wrong half the time!
I was aware that Billy was talking and that he seemed taking the mick out the sitters and answering questions. When this is actually happening I feel completely aware of everything but more as a passive observer, whilst simultaneously taking part in the conversation, but very little remains as a memory afterwards. An odd dual sensation but the more you relax into it the easier it becomes.
…of course this could be the (not so) early signs of schizophrenia! Or even different aspects of myself being personalised by my own sub-consciousness?
All these thoughts run through your head before and afterwards, but at the time the conscious mind remains pretty much a blank.

After Billy and Sanja had finished I could feel Charlie approaching and although I was conscious of a build up of heat & tiredness, it was nice to feel his calmness when he came through.

When the music came back on and the séance came to a close, the feeling of complete and utter relaxation was wonderful. This is pretty short lived though as all too soon the lights come back on and the world floods back in, leaving a feeling of disorientation and confusion which fortunately soon subsides again.
A good strong cup of coffee and a biscuit or two and the drive home again feels great. The only side effect at all seems to be that although tired, sleep that night is often broken and disturbed. Dreams are more vivid than usual but everything is back to normal again the next day.

Overall though, I can only say the whole thing feels great and each time the feeling of calmness and peace grows and I find myself looking forward to the next sitting even more. The only bit I miss is not being able to see the appearance of the spirit faces and bodies which does sound interesting.

Next week we are back to a blackout circle and you can follow all the developments and the objective reports on the main site as usual.

Tuesday 18th June

Unfortunately I had to miss last weeks sitting due to a few minor problems with hot water pipes and a badly aimed hammer & nail! All leaks have now been repaired and new carpets refitted, so back on track to sit again this week.
Current plan is for me to nod off inthe chair this week, so a more lucid account of the proceedings will probably be found on the main site (Spirit Lodge Diary) - Link on the side bar.

Thanks for taking the time to keep track of our progress
Jon

Tuesday June 10th

Tonight was Brain’s first night back but as the weather had been so hot and as we also had a new sitter with us tonight, we decided that we would hold a trance evening rather than the usual blackout. This allowed us to keep the fans on and the air vents open so we were at least less likely to suffer from heat exhaustion.
And whilst we are more than happy for any spirit person to come forward to chat, the last this we want is for any one to ‘cross-over’ during the séance. …not that we have anything against anyone crossing when ever their time is right, but can you imagine the paper work, let alone explaining it to the local constabulary!

The new sitter Kaz settled in well and with a full house, the opening prayers given and the lights turned down, Brian was soon taken back into a deep trance state. (Michelle, sitting next to me wasn’t’ too far behind either. I don’t think she really heard anything at all through out the whole evening!)

Brian was then brought back up to a level of trance where he could enable communication with the spirit team. Blaze came forward first, much quiet and ‘humble’ than previous visits. He proved to have a good sensed of humour, slight London accent and was able to explain to us the process he used to ‘layer’ the energies in order to maintain an even temperature within and around the medium.
We’d been told by the Chief many times that his role was to work with heat energies, but it was only when he explained things himself that I understood that what he was actually doing was managing the existing energies and those created within the Lodge during a séance to keep everything at a low enough temperature to keep it all stable.

Following Blaze, Cheung Ly stepped forward and spoke about how Spirits who come forward will communicate with the common language (in our case everyday English) despite the fact that in his physical life he would have had absolutely no knowledge of modern English at all. He talked about a number of different things, al of which gave us each different things to think about and to take away.

Finally the chief, as ever came forward to joke and talk about the evenings progressions. All the others in the team often joke about his gruff demeanour, but although you can hear his authority and leadership in his words and tome, you can’t help but like him. ..mind you, I know I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side!

It was a fascinating evening and getting a chance to spend the whole séance talking one to one with the team made for an interesting change in routine. And although it’ll be good to get back to the ‘physical’ development next week, I’m looking forward to the next trance evening we have as well.

Tuesday 3rd June

This week was a slight departure from the normal routine as Brian (our resident Physical Medium) has been away from the chair for a few weeks. So it was decided that I would sit in the cabinet this week for trance.
Over the past month or so, I’ve been sitting privately each week for development and we have a couple of regular communicators now coming through and, as the trance level has deepened a little each week, 3 independent witness’ have each claimed to have seen a spirit persons face ‘overlay’ my own during the séance.

You can read up on this if you choose on the main site (link top left) as I don’t intend to duplicate what was captured there. However, what I can do is relate my version of the experience and how it feels to be in this situation.

On arriving at Chris’s home I could start to feel the build up of energy. The feeling is a little like a static electricity charge building up. For anyone that’s ever been caught on open ground as an electrical storm is building up, this is a pretty close description of what I was feeling. A kind of heavy presence of energy, a potential difference between normal day to day energies and what is about to come.
I feel this right through my whole body but most intensely around the top of my skull, as if there is an invisible skull cap (like the Australian lifeguards wear!) being charged up with electricity.

As the social preamble carried on, I could feel myself becoming slightly more ‘distant’ from it all. I could hear everything and join in as normal, but at the same time my mind wasn’t really focussed on what was going on around me.

Once it was time to go into the Lodge, I quickly sat down and realise that my ears seemed to be less sensitive – as if someone had turned down the volume in the room. And within a few minutes, the prayer had been given and the lights were down low.
As the music started I closed my eyes and relaxed. Within what felt like only a few seconds the first track ended and the second one started. Of course this then set me thinking about the apparent time lapse and I came quickly back to normal consciousness!

I deliberately started relaxing myself and soon was drifting peacefully gain. Images started to flash I and out and as they did, I would find myself ‘thinking’ about them and immediately called myself back into thinking mode.
Each time this happened (4 or 5 times) this would be accompanied by a vertigo feeling and a wave of nausea. At the same time I felt as if someone was ‘stirring’ my stomach with a big wooden spoon.

What I’ve also not mentioned is that as the energy grows stronger, my physical upper body –particularly my neck and arms- seem to vibrate or tremor. Obviously I’ve not seen this myself so can only go on what the others have told me but I can feel it.
It’s an odd sensation as I feel like I have complete control and I know (because I’ve consciously tried it) that I can take control and stop the tremors at will, but it’s as if this takes a concentrated effort and it just seems so much easier to let it go and let my self shake. …must look very peculiar.

As the different visiting spirit controls came and went (there seem to be 2 or 3 that appear to be in charge of matters) they shared thoughts and answered questions from the sitters.
And then towards the end and much stronger energy feeling overtook me and I could feel the vibrations getting stronger and stronger. Apparently during this stage both Chris and Margaret could both see a clearly defined oriental face. Again, I can’t see this at all and can only describe the feelings but after this part finished I felt completely drained and was pleased to hear the séance being ended.
Afterwards I felt exhausted for about 5 minutes and my eyes were streaming and sore. As if I’d just finished a 24 hour shift in a desert.
This passed quite quickly though and I was soon back to normal, feeling overall quite energised.

As these experiments continue in what ever direction the spirit team choose to go, I’ll try and keep my own record of my experience up to date.

Tonight is another trance night (not me this week) so I’ll post an update on this evenings events over the next few days.

Update

My apologies to any regular readers for the inconsistent posting over the last few months, but what with one thing and another it's been hard to find the time to keep things up to date.
However, it looks as though things should be settling down a bit in the near future.

I've not posted much over the past few weeks although I've been sitting again on a weekly basis for most of May. The main site (http://www.spirit-lodge.blogspot.com/) has been keeping detailed records of each seance so nothing major has been missed.
There have been some other interesting changes over the recent weeks as well which will be posted publicly once we know more about where they are going, but in the meantime...
earlier in April I was lucky enough to be included in a home seance with Warren Caylor.
I wrote up my account and it's been sitting here now for weeks waiting to be posted.



A private Home Seance with Warren Caylor. 26th April 2008

Our own home circle had been invited en-masse to Warren’s home and to sit with Warren, Julie and Lisa in their front room to experience a physical séance away from all the usual clutter and people that go along with a public demonstration.

I’ve sat with Warren on half a dozen different occasions now, many of them in different locations and rooms ranging from the slick set up at Jenny’s Sanctuary through to village halls and empty rooms above a shop. And I’ll be the first to admit that the first few times I experienced a physical séance, I was less than convinced. Not that the evidence was too flaky, it was more a case of my rational mind having been trained for years as an engineer simply couldn’t accept the reality of what I was seeing. The only ‘rational’ alternative then had to be some kind of fraud.

I’d read of trumpets levitating and voices speaking out of the darkness, but to sit for 3 hours and see all this and much, much more first hand was more than my sceptical mind could manage. I couldn’t deny these things had happened but nor could I find a ‘rational’ justification for them. If I’m honest, what drove me more than anything else to go back and experience a séance a second time, was the desire to work out how it was being done.

I did go back a 2nd time and more. And what I soon came to realise was that what I was witnessing was really happening. Very shortly, I was sitting in a home circle myself and any last doubts of any deception evaporated as we began to experience similar sorts of phenomena within our own garden shed.

……………

We all arrived –having relied on GPS Sat Nav’s to find our way across the Birmingham suburbs with varying degree’s of success, and sat in the lounge chatting and unwinding from the long drive. When it was nearly 7pm and Warren called the evening to order. After making sure that all our pockets were empty, rings, mobiles and jewellery were all tucked away, we made our way into the ex-dining room that is now the spirit teams dedicated séance room and went through all the usual safety procedures.

This evening though was to prove a really fun and down to earth séance. Within seconds of the first track being played, knocks could be heard coming from different sides of the room and before the second track had finished, Rachel welcomed everyone with her usual laughter and jokes, taking particular delight in teasing the one newcomer who had not sat with Warren before.
Tom joined us and gave yet another very impressive display of control over the ectoplasm as he displayed levitation, played with the drumsticks, whistles and trumpets.

Soon Yellow Feather announced his presence and both he and Albert spent some time not only exchanging jokes with the sitters but also giving some serious advice and philosophy. Much of which centred around the message that those on a ‘spiritual path’ must also keep a view on what is right in front of them. Help, support and opportunities are here in the physical world and often found with close friends and family. You do not always need to look to the spirit world for such support.
This was a theme that was repeated several times by various different communicators.

Yellow Feather then returned and gave a demonstration of full physical materialisation in white light. Initially he stepped out of the cabinet but was only visible from his feet to his waist. His legs appeared to be self luminescent and then when he reappeared moments later he could be seen from head to toe quite clearly in the shaded white light. He joked around with all of us and with the room being no more than 10 by 12 feet, we could all see and hear clearly everything that was happening. He allowed one lady to touch his materialised hand then, placed his hand over hers on the plaque. “So if my hand is on the plaque, and my other hand is on top of yours, …then who the bloody hell is holding the plaque up??!!” -Anyone who has met Yellow Feather will recognise his sense of humour. Even after all this time, he still manages to make you laugh with his often less than ‘politically correct’ wife/mother in law jokes.
It’s nice to know that not everyone turns into saints and philosophers as soon as they cross into Spirit!

More familiar people joined us and shared jokes, phenomena and guidance as well as a few I’d not met before. Proving without a shadow of doubt that regardless of what many might think of their personalities or messages, they are still very much alive and are more than prepared to commit themselves to demonstrate the basic reality of continuing life.

Then towards the end of the séance several new voices were heard as they were helped by the Team to come through with personal messages. You can have all the physical evidence in the world, but somehow there is nothing quite like hearing again from a friend or family member in their own voice, letting you know that they are ok and sharing personal memories together.

For over 2 hours we sat together in a small front room, guests in Warren’s own home and were privileged to be witness to a personal experience that is unlike any public demo. I’ve only touched briefly on some of the main highlights, there were many others that were personal to the sitters & which they can choose to share or not.

And when all is said and done, that is all that Spirit are offering. A personal experience of absolute physical proof that life continues beyond the threshold of what we too often call death.
Once you have that proof within your own experience, it’s then your responsibility as to how owning this knowledge will affect the way you choose to live the rest of your own life.

Tuesday 13th May

This evening was a departure from the usual blackout séance as last week, the Chief had specifically requested the Tracey be invited to the Lodge and that she would enable her guide ‘Red Hawk’ to come through. We were given the impression that the Chief and Red Hawk had something to discuss and that bringing the two mediums physically together would in some way help this.

I suspect in reality however, that neither spirit guides really required the support of a séance to communicate with each other but it did provide a change in routine for us, in addition to giving both guides an opportunity to raise new topics for discussion and learning.
...This though is purely my own opinion.

Also the presence of a newcomer and potential new sitter was quite possibly not coincidental either. As is often the case –if not always in fact- whenever the Chief or FC makes changes to the usual routine, there are many different aspects that always seem to slot into place and work out to the best outcome for everyone concerned. So much so now, that such changes are never even questioned any more as our trust in their management has grown and grown.

On one of the warmest nights of the year so far, all 8 of us gathered in the Lodge with Brian and Tracey in the South and North corners respectively. Chris swapped placed with me allowing her to keep a close eye on both Mediums and to keep her attention on any changes that might be required, whilst I took over the mechanics of opening, closing and the CD player.

After the ‘going off’ tracks were played, we could see Brian being moved or swayed from side to side. This was interesting in itself as we always hear the movement but this was the first time we had been able to witness it under pink light conditions. More so, because Brian’s feet only just reach the floor (at the Chiefs request we have switched back to the more comfortable garden lounger to enable a deeper level of relaxation to be reached more quickly) and to see his upper body swaying whilst his toes remained static and his arms resting at his sides looked quite peculiar.

It was quite apparent that Tracey was going into a deep trance state and within 5 minutes or so her guide Red Hawk began to speak to us. We were able to ask several questions about Healing, individual guides and their relationships to ourselves.
Both Red Hawk, Cheung-Li and the Chief made comments about how to ‘listen’ to input from our guides -trusting the “first thought” and gut feelings as these were most likely to be our ‘guidance’, which comes before our own minds can take over and start to rationalise things out for ourselves.
I think this is also the first time that we have had a themed message from more than one communicator and I suspect that there was at least one -if not more than one- within the circle that needed to hear that message specifically. I know it certainly resonated with me and chimed with my own personal experiences –particularly over recent months.

After about 20 minutes or so, Red Hawk bid us goodnight and withdrew and Cheung-Li stepped forward through Brian. He spoke of how working in trance under the pink light conditions allowed him to demonstrate the basics of transfiguration. We could all see at this point that Brian’s face had changed into a much more rounded shape, his cheeks seemed to be ‘pulled’ out to the sides giving an overall impression of an oriental shape face which was quite distinctly different to his own but at the same time was still very much Brian.

Cheung-Li answered more questions from the sitters about Guides and guidance until he too also withdrew and the Chief came forward to talk with us further. All too soon though it was time to play the coming out tunes and as both Tracey and Brian came back to the room we could feel the full force of the evenings heat.

Thanks once again to the spirit team for enabling such an interesting evening and to Brian and Tracey for helping to make it possible.


When time allows I’ll post some audio clips up which can then be downloaded or listened to online.

Tuesday 23 April 2008

This tuesday was my first time back in the circle for over 6 weeks now and it amazing to see how things have progressed in that time.
There are now 2 regular communicators each week – Cheung-Li as well as the Chief. Chung-Li is now clearly audible as he’s been able to greatly increase the volume of his speech over the past few months. I have a full recording of the discussions that took place and will post some clips up in the next few days.

The séance started quietly with some sounds that were indicative of further development of the independent voice channel. But these soon stopped and we were left in silence as the first few tracks were played through.
For me, I had one of the most significant personal experiences of the past 12 months. Towards the end of the last ‘quiet’ track I both heard and felt a solid ‘tap’ on the bottom of my chair. I was sitting against the side wall with vacant chairs to either side of me. On my right was the cabinet and to the left, Paul was sitting some 4 feet away. So it was physically impossible for anyone else in the room to reach or even touch my chair.
I’d placed my trainers underneath the chair as normal at the beginning of the evening and the sound and tap ‘felt’ as if someone had hit the underneath of the chair with the edge of one of the shoes.

I was just getting my head around the fact that Spirit has managed to manipulate a fairly solid trainer outside of the cabinet when the energy that had tapped the chair, then got a hold of the cross bar on the bottom of the chair and –just in case I was in any doubt as to what they were capable of- gave it a good shake for good measure.
There were a few more slight judders and then it stopped as quickly as it had begun.

OK, I realise that it may not sound like a big deal to anyone else, but I’ve found that although I have witnessed a lot of events that not only defy the accepted laws of physics, but have proved to me that such ‘laws’ are at best flexible -if not downright broken- everything else has been either ‘after the event’ (i.e. When the lights have come back on, there has been visible evidence such as the twisted metal rings, the snapped cable ties or Brian sitting in the middle of the room and the waist tie still fixed the chair etc), have happened to other people or have been so subtle (such as a light brush of something against an arm or leg) as to easily be questioned later in the cold light of day.
This was none of the above and I found that on the recording, I was even able to identify the tap on the chair.
And having someone shake your chair from beneath is a very real personal experience of spirit’s ability to create physical phenomena.

All in all, a super evening again and some very interesting advice and views were given during the Q&A sessions with both Cheung-Li and the Chief. Many thanks to the spirit team for their work and of course to Brian for continually volunteering to be tied up in a corner of a blacked out shed and sent to sleep for a n hour or two every week.
The audio clips will go up when I get time to sort them out later in the week.

Tuesday 8th April

An update on the seance this week can be found as usual at the Spirit Lodge Diaries.
I've posted 3 new audio clips from this weeks circle (see side bar).

I expect to be returning to the circle again in the next few weeks and will be updating the blog regularly from then.

As I'll be missing the next few seances you can continue to keep up to date a the main site - Spirit Lodge Diary.

I anticipate everything getting back to normal in a few more weeks time

Cheers
Jon

Tuesday 18th March

I wasn't able to make it to the circle this week but you can find as usual, full details of the most recent activities at the Spirit Lodge Diary

Cheers
Jon

Tuesday 4th March

This evenings circle was as usual held in complete blackout conditions and with a full house of sitters. As the first track was played there were sounds of movement within the cabinet but unusually within the first minute, these had subsided and there was silence from then onwards right up until the end of the fourth track.
(You may recall that the first 4 songs are now are held in silence by the sitters to allow Spirit to take the medium deeper into the trance condition).

Once the ‘going off’ tracks were complete and everyone had confirmed they were fully present and with it, I turned up the volume a bit and we all joined in with the singing and you could feel the energy rise exponentially.

Very soon we heard the sounds of direct voice being attempted and the voice of our communicator began to project out of the cabinet.
All previous attempts had only lasted for literally a couple of minutes, but this time we were able to hold conversation for at least 10 minutes or more.

You can hear or download clips from this “here” or via the link on the side bar.
There was little deep philosophical truth discussed as this is still at a very early stage of development. Our understanding of the process being used to create this phenomena is that a number of spirit beings are working together to create the voice channel.
Whilst the voice box is being created externally to the medium, it is being controlled by a blend of different beings or personalities who are controlling the medium (as the Chief does during the lighter trance communications) as well as the intelligence that is controlling the external voice channel.
The end result is that at this early stage, we can still hear the ‘influence’ of Brian on the construction of the words and sentences being used.
You can visualise this as if the medium is being used for normal trance communication, but the physical sounds are actually being created remotely. This is my current understanding of the process as explained by the chief and FC but I dare say this will change as development continues and the team find new ways of describing what is actually happening.

Following the extended period of independent voice development, there was a brief period of quiet before we heard each of the 4 cable ties being broken free. Then just as we were anticipating the Chiefs familiar entrance we all jumped as a resounding crash was heard outside the cabinet. My assumption was that the chair had been literally thrown into the room but this was not the case!

The Chief then came through and answered questions from Alan about last weeks experience of witnessing the cable tie being manipulated, stretched and then snapped under red light conditions. I also got to ask some questions which were again answered fluently.

After a good 15 or 20 minutes of open discussion, the chief made his departure and I brought the séance to a close.
As the lights were brought back up we discovered that the crash had not been caused by the chair being brought out of the cabinet -that was still where we’d left it behind the curtains, complete with the double knotted waist tie just as Margaret had tied it.

However, Brian was found lying stretched out on the Lodge floor, head to the cabinet, and feet towards the North corner. We can only guess that the loud noise heard earlier was in fact Brian being literally carried out of the cabinet, and ‘dropped’ flat on the floor.

He was still pretty groggy which was indicative of the depth of trance that he’d been taken into. This also ties in with the extended period of quiet during the first half an hour of the séance that the team had said was going to be used to create a deeper level of relaxation and trust in the medium.

The full house and high ‘spirit’s of the sitters and the dedication of the Spirit team, together with Brian’s own commitment, once again created the perfect conditions for more physical evidence. Thanks to all involved both within and outside the circle.

I’ll be away from the circle for the next couple of weeks due to personal commitments but normal service will be resumed shortly.
...audio clips to be updated shortly

Tuesday 26th February.

Tonight was one of the most interesting evenings for quite a while.
FC had given some guidance as to where each sitter was to be placed and Brian was in the cabinet, myself directly opposite in the north corner with Alan and Michelle on one side, Lynne and Chris on the other.

Almost immediately as soon as the lights were out, there was activity in the cabinet as the independent voice box was formed and exercised. The chair was being moved and the bells could be heard as well as assorted creaking and rocking sounds from within.

The sounds being projected were very wide ranging from deep ‘throaty’ growls to high pitched whistling and just about everything in between. These soon developed into more recognisable vocal sounds and words.
As soon as the voice had gained some control of itself, Chris asked who it belonged to and if he had a name, “Everyone is called something, my dear” was the amused response.
A short conversation started but the control was obviously focused on the work in hand rather than a friendly chat. We clearly heard comment that the process was still difficult -but compared to the first few words we heard just a couple of weeks ago, it has progressed immensely.

Because I was sitting in the opposite corner to the cabinet, my personal experience of this was a little distorted. The sounds seemed to be coming from several different places at one as well as reverberating around the room. However, the others weren’t aware of this so this may well have been an acoustic effect of sitting in the corner. In addition, we know that the energy is much more intense in this spot than the others and that may have also distorted my own perception of what was happening.

Once the voice had gone there was a short period of calm before we heard a few more sounds from the cabinet that sounded a little like the chair being rocked quite hard. Then there was few more seconds quiet before the most enormous crash was heard in the corner of the room in front of the cabinet.
Even the seasoned sitters, well used to all sorts of sudden and strange noises in the dark, jumped a good few inches of their chairs!

The voice of the Chief soon greeted us, speaking through Brian whose trance state had been lightened enough to allow control of his voice.
After a little chit chat, he asked if we would like to participate in a new experiment and would we like to see a demonstration of how the plastic wrist straps were being freed?
Chris was asked to turn on the red light at a very, very low setting. We could all clearly see Brian seated in his chair -In front of the cabinet!-, still securely tied at the waist and with both wrists and ankles strapped firmly to the chair (I had fixed these myself this evening and can guarantee they were a ‘snug’ fit. Michelle, new to the group, also had personally checked them to make sure they were correctly fastened).

The light was then reduced a little further and we could see Brian’s wrist start to rotate, then incredibly the plastic tie wraps seemed to become elasticated and stretched until his wrist was a good 4 or 5 inches away from the chair.
All the time, the chief continued to joke with us as we watched fascinated.
Then, his wrist stopped moving and he simply lifted his arm up. The ties seemed to stretch a little more and then suddenly the fastener/ratchet gave way with the now familiar creaking pop and his hand was free.

This was astounding to watch first hand. We have all become used to this happening regularly each week under the cover of complete blackout. And it’s fair to say we’ve become almost blasé about it to a large extent.
However, to be given a demonstration in red light conditions and to actually see the assumed laws of physics being dispensed with was something else.

Shortly after the end of the demonstration the Chief withdrew and we closed down the séance. Although I had perceived a lot of other visual phenomena during the evening, these were still purely subjective and personal -although I believe Alan also saw some odd visual events.

However, the primary purpose of our home circle is to enable Spirit to demonstrate though physical, objective evidence that can be witnessed simultaneously by sitters, the truth of the existence of Spirit and the fallacy of ‘death’ as most people believe it to be.
In that respect, this séance was one of the most successful yet to date.

Thank you to Brian, the Chief and all the team, as well as the circle members who made this evening possible.

Tuesday19th February

This week’s sitting was a significant departure from our normal routine as Brian was away. So we set up an experimental evening with 3 sitters, plus me and Sandy in the North and South corners of the room.
Chris, Margaret & Lynne sat around a small central table waiting to see if any spirit visitors to the lodge would recreate some of the more traditional historical séance activities; such as Ouija board and table tilting. Mean while, Sandy and I were left to our own devices whilst the music began.

There was no clear plan and the only guidance we had been given prior to the evening was to approach it with an open mind and see what might happen.

For the first half of the evening I was pretty much drifting in and out of it. Subjectively I was experiencing my own stuff going on which may or may not have been ‘real’. Sandy and I compared notes afterwards and both agreed that we had been aware of similar changes in the energy within the room and the shift from ‘straight line’ energy to a rotating ‘whirlpool’ effect.

Unsurprisingly the table remained firmly on the floor and the upturned glass failed to move an inch. I was aware of Sandy’s spirit team working with her and some very odd noises coming from her corner of the room. This carried on for a while and then as it was going quiet again, my own awareness shifted and I could feel my body tensing up.

A communicator who called himself Robert came through and spoke to the sitters about what had taken place that evening and answered some questions about his personal history. He had last lived on the physical plane some 300 years earlier and come from the South Coast area of England (at least I assume it was England he was talking about –this was not confirmed).
He had been in an army and had been privileged to carry a firearm – unusual, he claimed for someone from his background that would not normally be entrusted with his own weapon. These would have usually been reserved for those born of higher class.

He was asked about what happened to ‘suicide bombers’ and how they experienced their arrival into the spirit world. A long talk followed about compassion and life decisions, the impact of culture and circumstances on an individual and how different they were to what might be experienced in comfort of western society.

I can only recall fragments from the discussion and perhaps when we have sorted out audio uploads, we can post the file here in the future (…I’d quite like to listen to it myself!).
There was much more to the talk and if I get a chance to listen to the recording I will post some updates in the future.

Following Robert’s departure, Bernard joined us through Sandy and talked for while about his experiences in the war and interestingly he also referenced some prior discussions that had been held between him and Robert before the séance took place.

A fascinating evening, all the more so since some of the personal information that was given is now being confirmed through research.

Thanks to all those in spirit who joined us last night to make such an interesting séance. Next week Brian will be back in the cabinet and the report will be posted here sometime on Wednesday.

Tuesday 12th Feb

I was away for this seance. Please see the Spirit Lodge Diaries for a record of events.

Thanks
Jon

Tuesday 5th February

If you've had a chance to read the main diary blog for the circle this week, you've pretty much got the gist of everything that happened on Tuesday evening.
The independent voice control is coming on in leaps and bounds and considering it's barely 3 weeks since we first heard clear(ish) language at all, we were this evening able to hold a clear conversation -albeit a brief one.

Hopefully soon we'll be able to get hold of an old second hand PC or laptop that we can use to record the seance on to (if anyone has a spare one gathering dust, we'd be happy to put it to good use!). Then we will find out how to make the audio files available each week and they'll be downloadable for all to listen to -mind you, we may have to edit out some of the singing!

I'll be away from the circle next week so no posts here then but will be back as usual the week after.



Jon

Tuesday 29th January

This week was the 52nd week of sitting, exactly one year since we first got together in Chris’ newly built Spirit Lodge.
We’d recently received some guidance from FC that suggested that we needed to have a second person familiar with the detailed ‘running’ of the séance so that we could continue uninterrupted, should for any reason Chris be unable to run the evening.

FC -whom regular readers will know is the representative personality of a group of spirit people and is the driving force behind the setting up of the circle on their sde, has offered this position of 'back up' facilitator to me. So this week was to be the first one in which I was responsible for making sure the Tape Recorder and CD player functioned correctly and ensuring everything.

Of course, having been a major contributor to generally taking the mick out of Chris and her uncanny ability to press the wrong buttons on anything electrical, she was in very high spirits and waiting eagerly for me to make my first mistake. ..I guess I had it coming!

The evening started off well after a few minor hiccups with the lights etc, Brian was strapped down into the chair, the curtains closed and the cabinet. The cable ties around his one good ankle (a fall from his m/bike that day had injured his right leg so we left that one unsecured) and wrists were if anything a little too tight and I asked him if he’s like them replaced. His reply was along the lines of ‘there’s no need. I’ll be asleep in a few minutes anyway.’ :-)

As the music started we heard the sounds of the chair rocking backwards and forwards and then a period of peace took over for about 10 minutes or so.
Soon though we could hear the sounds of Direct Voice being attempted. Chris joked that there was progress being made and after last weeks Donald Duck impression, the voice box now sounded more like Punch and Judy.
The voice immediately responded with “That’s the way to do it” and a squeaky chuckle. We asked how they were getting on and the voice replied that it was getting easier each week.

Many more strange and peculiar sounds could be heard for a while as the spirit team continued to exercise and experiment with the voice channel before things quietened down for a while.
Around this time we heard 2 of the cable ties being snapped but didn’t register this of particular significance at the time. .....We’ve become accustomed to this now and accept it as part of the routine of the séance – yet only a few months or so ago, we were being shocked and amazed when this was happening. How quickly we’ve become blasé!!

After another short period of quiet we heard a quiet voice welcoming us with a soft “Good Evening”
The voice then introduced himself as Joseph (Link here to see the Spirit Team as we know them to date).
Joseph has been described by the Chief (with great respect) as a “senior” member of the team whose role it is to ‘manage information’ and bring wisdom as required.

His voice was –Like Cheung-Li’s last week- very quiet and even being so close to the cabinet it was tricky to hear everything. However he gave us a clear concept of his role within the team and in the spirit ‘world’. He described his role as something akin to a librarian, managing and responsible for records. He said that he was able to assist in communication between the ‘higher realms’ and the Spirit Team and that he could ensure that the Chief and the team would have the right information and knowledge to enable the Circle to progress.

I asked if, as a ‘keeper of records’ he would be able to access information for future visitors and guests to the circle, to provide them with personal evidence of the reality of spirit. He replied that this would be something possible in the future but that at this time, not all of Brian’s potential abilities were being developed. That the energies brought by a spirit might still carry the condition which caused his ‘death’ and that these might be overwhelming for the medium when in the cabinet.

I asked if this were not the same as a clairvoyant might experience. It was similar he replied but much more intense and Brian would need to develop the ability to manage this energy first.
For the time being at least, the focus of the team is to develop the independent voice channel that will allow a full range of physical voice to be created and used by spirit people to communicate.

Joseph stayed with us for a while, answering questions from all of us before taking his leave.
Almost straight away, the Chief’s voice could be heard. He was asked many questions from the circle and was very light-hearted and jovial in his responses.
He gave me further guidance in using healing energies to help those who feel in need of support, as well as re-enforcing and encouraging some ideas to promote an individuals sensitivity to matters of the spirit when not within a circle.

All too soon the séance came to a close and we turned the lights back on.

The Chief had mentioned that although the séance may have seemed quiet and they no longer needed to snap the cable ties within the first few minutes of the evening, they were still working on creating new things for us and had done ‘something special’ tonight.
When the curtains were pulled back, Brian was still seated in the chair which was tilted back on two legs against the corner of the cabinet. His waist tie was still secure and one wrist and one ankle tie had been snapped clean in half.

BUT…. His right hand was completely free of the cable tie. However, the cable tie was still completely intact!
In order to prevent the cable ties’ being slid along the arm rests, a small plastic guide has been screwed to the underside of the armrest. This cable guide has two apertures through which the cable tie has to be threaded before being fastened around the wrist.

The cable tie, still intact was now hanging from the cable guide, through only ONE of the apertures.
Not only had Brian’s arm been released (and there might always be the suspicion from a visitor or Diary reader that he had somehow managed to slip his hand through the loop) but the cable tie had been freed from one half of the cable guide.

See the photo to the right :
The camera angle is from below the arm rest looking up at the cable tie hanging from one half of the cable guide.

Jon

Tuesday 22nd January

Last week during the Q&A session with the Chief, I had asked if the ‘routine’ could be varied a little with regard to the cable ties being removed at the start of each séance.
When this phenomenon had first started we were all blown away by such incontrovertible evidence and physical proof of Spirits’ presence, and it’s become regular practice now for them to be snapped off the chair within the first few minutes of the music starting.
But when I was discussing this with a friend, their comment had been “Why? With his arms free, how do you know it’s spirit moving the bells and rings around the room and not Brian under trance control?” & I could see how any new visitor or anyone reading or hearing about the séance might also come to the same conclusion.

This week, once the music started it wasn’t accompanied by the familiar sound of the straps breaking. Instead we heard the chair moving around and the bells being shaken. Soon followed by the coughing and choking sounds as the Spirit team manipulated Brian breathing.

After probably no more than 10 minutes or so we heard the coughing change into a wheezing whistle and then into the sound of a croaky, harsh voice –not entirely dissimilar to Donald Duck!
Within a few minutes this had become a recognisable voice projecting in to the room. Totally unique and different from the sound of Brian when in trance –and complete with a sense of humour.
The short conversation went along the lines of:

Spirit: “Hello”
Us: “Hello”
Spirit: “It’s hard”
Us: “You’re doing brilliantly, it sounds like very hard work”
Spirit: “you should try it from here!”

We teased him/her/them about having brought Donald Duck to communicate and they responded with more ‘quacking’ sounds and an array of other very strange noises.
Later we had a chance to ask about the independent (or direct) voice and the Chief gave us a detailed description of how they were working and the progress that was being made (see the section on the chiefs conversation at the end of this report).

Not long after the Direct Voice had been exercised we heard to soft and quiet sound of Cheung-Li greeting us. This was only the second time that Cheung-Li has spoken to us in any great length –although he has made a couple of brief appearances’ on trance nights.
We had set out this evening with the intent of asking the team to tell us a bit more about themselves so that we could give them their own space on the blog.
Cheung-Li last week had told us that he had lived in the south of China and described himself as a Philosopher rather than a Prophet (at the time this had seemed a little odd and a strange comparison to make) but this week he expanded on this significantly.

We have some research to do to verify much of what was given to us, but the essential details were that whilst he had lived within the physical world some 4 or 500 years ago, this was in a Dynasty of ‘Mings’. However we would find it spelt now as “Qing” – I’ve not looked into it properly yet but a quick search on the internet does indeed show that after the Ming Dynasty came the Manchu or sometimes called the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).

More interestingly he described himself again as a Visionary but was known as a Prophet within his times. However, he himself believed these visions to be more akin to what we might now call Clairvoyance, which brought wisdom and philosophy.
We asked him to explain in more detail and he described himself as belonging to an “underground society”. This society (one of a number of such groups) was forced to act in secret as ‘unauthorised’ prophets were not accepted by the authorities of the time. If they managed to identify and catch a ‘prophet’ the punishment meted out would be to have their eyes blinded –on the basis that if they had no eyes, they could no longer ‘see’ visions!

Hence these groups would become ‘secret’ but such were the rewards for turning in one of these Prophets that he could trust no-one and could easily be betrayed at any time.

When I asked if his ‘underground society’ had a name, he told us that the closest translation would be “society of lost souls”.

At this time, I’ve not researched into Chinese history to corroborate any of this information, but the level of detail is fascinating. If there is anyone who does know anything about these secret societies, please do leave a comment and let us know.

After Cheung-Li had left, the Chief came forward and it was a relief to be able to hear is voice coming through loud and clear. Cheung-Li’s voice is so quiet as to be almost barely above a whisper.

He commented on the progress being made and explained that the way the ‘independent voice’ was being created was not as a replica of Brian’s voice box –which would obviously only create a duplicate of Brian’s vocal range, but was a ‘blended energy’ voice channel. We’ve been told before that this is something of an experiment and requires a “blending” of different forms of energy together with ectoplasm from Brian.
He told us that progress was being made carefully to ensure that everything was safe for the medium and sitters. That much preparation and work was being done between sessions and that each week was a demonstration of the progress.
The Voice Channel was being created so that in due course, each communicator would be able to create their ‘own’ voice, with their own distinct vocal range. He also explained that the ‘Donald Duck’ voice had not belonged to any one spirit, but was more a part of the experimental development.

We were then able to ask him about the Spirit Team that were working together with Brian as the medium.
Here’s a brief rundown:
Saskia – A native American woman whose role was “water bearer” but who had natural healing abilities. She has a deep capability for compassion. She passed at a relatively young age – approximately 25 yrs old.

Blaze – a young spirit. Who brings a lot of energy but can be a little uncontrolled at times. However, he is becoming a lot more dependable now and will in time be present to speak for himself.

Joseph – A source of wisdom within the ‘hierarchy’ of the team. The Chief seemed to speak of him with a deep respect.

Granddad Phil – Brian’s grandfather who will become an active member of the team.

Cheung-Li – A philosopher/visionary from China. He lived approximately 500 years ago at the end of the Ming / early Qing Dynasty, persecuted by the Authorities of the time for his ‘second sight’.

Running Bull (also known to us as the Chief).
A brave of the Sioux tribe from an area of North America now known as Dakota. He left the physical world at approximately the age of 25 around 900 years ago. Chief appears to be Brian’s primary ‘guide’ and has been with him for many years.

He also mentioned that there were ‘others’ waiting in the wings who would come forward in due course when the time was appropriate.


As the séance drew to a close, I was able to ask a final question of the Chief.
A friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that has statistically only a 10% survival rate. Although she is about to start Chemotherapy, she is unlikely to be with us for much longer.
I wanted to know how best to support her with distant healing or hands on. Whether or not doing this would even be appropriate or whether such action would be ‘interfering’ with her own life’s programme.
The Chief took the time to go into some detail and spoke with compassion and understanding. I’ve paraphrased a good 5 or 10 minutes conversation which in summary said:

Distant Healing energy and thoughts would be the most effective. Compassion and the willingness to be present and supportive as she approaches and goes through the challenge ahead of her would be more beneficial than I might realise.
Understanding and a few words of encouragement and support, perhaps sharing my understanding of the true reality of life beyond the purely physical would help her as she went through the transition to Spirit.

As a “Healer” myself, I have come to believe that healing someone, or facilitating ‘healing’ does not necessarily mean repairing mechanical faults in the human body. Our Medical science has done a remarkable job in being able to do that. And whilst I fully believe that such “miracles” are completely real and available, if I fell down a hole and broke my leg, I’d be the first person to ring for a Doctor.
But once the mechanical work had been done, I would rely then on Spirit and Healing energy to do the rest.

Sometimes, a disease or illness can provide huge opportunities for learning and change for the individual. Not only for themselves but also for those close to them and distant.
I believe that ‘healing’ in the spiritual terminology, provides support for that greater purpose. Many times that might be for the changes in individual’s thoughts about Spirituality after experiencing a physical healing.
Often it will relieve symptoms of pain and discomfort, other times it may work on the root cause of the symptoms, be they emotional, physical or spiritual.

But these are just my thoughts and not a report of the physical séance. As ever, to read the objective and factual review of events, visit the Spirit Lodge Diary

Jon

Tuesday Jan 22

An excellent evening witha huge amount of information. It'll take a while to sort out and type up but I'll try and get most of it done today.
Please come back later for the complete record.

Tuesday 15th January -update

Following the indication from the Chief at last weeks seance; that it's not significant for the development of the physical circle if the sitters have recently eaten or not, we have been given some clarification on this advice.

It's been pointed out by the Spirit Team that although the Medium and the physical phenomena are not reliant on the sitters having an empty stomach, Everyone in the circle is continually developing themselves (both spirit and human).

Comment from FC: "that whilst he does not disagree with The Chief's accuracy of fact regarding eating before a séance, he would like to remind sitters that development is taking place within the Circle, on both sides of life. Sitters may experience development in many and various ways and a stomach that is filled may as readily become emptied. Unfortunately it is not always possible to predict the developmental stage on any sitter. He therefore advises caution."

Probably good advice for anyone considering placing themselves in any situation such as a circle or seance

Jon

Tuesday 15th January

Come 8pm, Brian settled himself into the cabinet and I fastened the plastic self locking cable ties around his wrists and ankles, securing him firmly to the chair. The waist belt was secured and with him tucked up safely we drew the curtains.

Christine gave the opening prayer and got the tape recorder and music fired up (both working ‘almost’ straight away!).

The mood was high with a lot of laughter and banter up to that point but once Brian’s ‘going off’ music started we all settled down quietly to give him the maximum opportunity to relax into the trance state as deeply as possible.

Within the first minute we heard the familiar sounds of the cable ties being snapped –a kind of short creaking noise followed by a dull pop. A recent change we noticed has been that where before the ties were always ‘pulled through’ effectively turning the fastening assembly inside out, they are now being simply snapped in the middle.
Also the ankle ties tend to go first, followed by the wrist ties a few moments later.

A few minutes later the chair was banging and shaking within the cabinet, the bells (secured to the back legs and the cross-strut) were being loudly shaken.
Chris asked for the bells to be removed and passed to one of the circle members. The bells were taken off and gently ejected from the cabinet. Although they didn’t get to the requested individual, I did notice later that they had come out of the cabinet at an acute angle and not thrown out in a straight line as they have been in the past.

As usual there was much coughing and spluttering and the projection of these sounds is definitely becoming much stronger.

Half way through the evening, Paul (sitting next to the cabinet) felt something brushing against his legs and body, which turned out to be the cabinet curtains being pulled aside. We heard the sound of a cushion being dropped on the floor and later when Brian’s spirit team started to come through to talk to us, we realised that their voices seemed to be coming from the floor in front of us.

The first of two visitors for the evening was a very clear and distinct voice of an individual who gave his name as Cheung-Ly (obviously he didn’t spell this out for us so this is only my best guess at how it might be spelt)
He claimed to have been in spirit form for approx 500 years, and when he was in a physical form, he lived in the south of what is now China and said that in his time he was a philosopher rather than a prophet.

He didn’t seem to have any great awareness of the Chinese Naval fleets and the great explorations of the 1400’s, -which would be consistent with the Ming Dynasties historical closure of their borders (or alternatively consistent with the academic communities rejection of the claims of Zheng-He Naval accomplishments) –but not totally conclusive.
Perhaps this is something he will be able to shed some light on in the future?

Once he had left, the Chief came forward to chat and gave us all some encouragement and support as well as clarifying a few points for us as well.
One for instance that had been niggling me for as while, was why is it that the sitters within the circle should not eat for at least 4 hours before the séance?
I could appreciate the need for the medium to not go into deep trance on a full stomach, especially if there is any likely hood of physical phenomena being produced.

So I asked the Chief for a clarification and was pleased to hear that it did not actually make a great deal of difference whether the witness’s were hungry or not. But it was their attitude and mood that contributes or subtracts from a successful evening.
-An interesting insight to one of the ‘myths’ about sitting in Circle’s for the development of physical phenomena.

Both the Chief and Cheung-Ly were remarkably clear and communicative. Both their personalities showing through distinctly and we got many clear and insightful answers to the barrage of questions thrown at them.

When the lights finally came back on again, we found Brian lying on the floor with his head on a cushion and his feet raised and resting on the chair. Unfortunately though when rearranging him, the spooks had forgotten to move his hands and after lying on them for over half and hour, it took several minutes for circulation to be restored again.

Thanks to Everyone on Brian’s Team (Granddad, The Chief, Cheung-Ly, Joseph and the ‘Medicine Woman’) and of course especially to Brian for consistently turning up each week to go through it all again.

Jon

Tuesday 8th January 2008

A happy new year to all and welcome back to the Sanctuary blog.


It’s been almost a whole 12 months now since we first sat together in a newly built and freezing cold garden shed (sorry, Spirit Lodge) with no windows and plastic garden chairs. Six or seven of us then, sitting in the dark, taking turns each week to sit in the cabinet, determined that somewhere between us we would find the ability to enable Spirit to reach into the physical world and prove their existence beyond doubt through physical phenomena.
We had no idea or preconceptions as to how or what these phenomena might be or even who within the circle was most likely to facilitate them through some form of mediumship.

Since then a few people have moved on to other things and left the circle, a few have joined. We’ve been privileged to allow a few visitors to the circle and so far, every single one has gone away convinced that Spirit truly are working with us and that the phenomena we are witnessing is 100% valid.
Overall it’s been an amazing year and the progress has been phenomenal. Both Sandy and Brian’s personal development as Trance and Physical mediums has been amazing.
Other sitters have also shown that not only does the medium develop within the circle but also the sitters as well –both Paul and Chris have developed previously unsuspected abilities that 12 months ago they would have scoffed at.

Anyway, back to last night.
At 8pm on the dot, we braved the weather and crossed the garden into the Lodge. Which is now comfortable, warm and cosy. The green plastic chairs have been replaced with natural wood and the walls are lined with drawings, photo’s and samples of spirits work over the last 12 months.

The small thin cable ties we have used in the past have now been replaced with thick heavy duty versions and I was looking forward to see if this would slow down Spirit’s ability to release Brian from the restraints.

With the curtains closed and the music started, the red light was turned off. Immediately Chris notice the red LED on the tape recorder was not covered and reached forward to place the carefully designed light shield over it (this involves getting a piece of Blu-Tack to stay stuck down and cover the LED).

While Chris was still trying to get the Blu-Tack to stay stuck in the right place we could hear the first two cable ties being snapped. A minute later we heard the other two go, followed by the familiar sound of the chair rocking and tapping in time to the music.

At the Chief’s request at the last séance, the first 4 tracks played were soft & trancy and I could feel the difference in the room as the energy levels increased.
This change is in order for the spirit team to try and get Brian to relax more deeply so that they can take him more deeply into a trance.
This is interesting as it shows that there is much more to the management of the process from their side than you might assume. Also they have made comment on how the level of trust the medium has in spirit makes a huge impact on how far back they are able to take him/her.

Despite the conscious willingness to develop and desire to work as a physical medium, the sub consciousness seems to be a lot more wary of the process and needs to be led slowly and carefully before the necessary trust is built up though personal experience.
This explains also why some mediums are ‘naturals’ and why some take a long time to let go & to start to develop more fully.

As the evening progressed we could hear more development of the Direct Voice with assorted gurgles, humming and wheezing sounds.
Within half an hour, the Chief turned up, and at the time I assumed he had brought Brian back up to the ‘normal’ trance level to allow him to use Brian’s voice box and vocal system to talk through. However, on reflection I recall that the initial ‘chuckles’ that always indicate his presence came whilst we were still hearing the direct voice sounds and had a very different sound quality.

There was then a short break of a few more minutes before the chuckles returned and the familiar personality of the chief could be heard. – Unfortunately due to a small technical problem with the operation of the tape recorder, the tape ran out just before we got to the Q&A session and it went unrecorded. So we’ll be unable to double check this for certain.

The Chief told us that although not much had happened physically within the lodge to our eyes, he was very pleased with the work that had progressed behind the scenes.
Many people had been witnessing the proceedings from ‘spirit side’ and the was a certain level of admonishment when I asked questions as to whether or not there had been other spirit visitors in the room.

My reason for asking was that I had felt a very strong awareness of various people standing next to me in the dark. Plus the ‘cold’ I had experienced from my thighs down to my feet had become almost too uncomfortable and this seems to be connected to how close I am sitting to the North Corner.
However, I hadn’t mentioned anything to the others as I could see nothing specific or objective. I think the Chief did well to not get too irritated and explained patiently that we all needed to trust our intuition whilst not getting too carried away and start imagining things that are not there.

One of the phenomena I’ve always wanted to witness but as yet have never seen within in a séance setting, is ‘spirit lights’- either as orbs or as a general illuminating glow. I’ve always felt this was a particularly strong evidence of spirit activity, maybe because I’m a particularly ‘visual’ person and with my scientific background and training in physics, I have a strong tendency to believe my eyes.
(Maybe this is why I’ve never felt completely at ease with my own mediumistic abilities? I always wanted to ‘see’ the spirits objectively rather than mentally before I would trust myself to share my visions with others).

I asked the Chief if these spirit lights were perhaps more difficult to manifest than other phenomena. The answer was actually that they are not more difficult but that it is more a case of the correct ‘alignment’ between the spirit world and our own. That the work being done here was based on ‘incremental’ development and that the energy was being focused on developing one step at a time. Other phenomena would come in due course.

Overall a fascinating evening again. Quiet in comparison to other evenings if you measure only the physical phenomena. However, there were other non tangible things going on that were just as interesting -if not more so in some ways.

Next Sunday, I’ll be sitting in a circle with Warren Caylor and I’ll post a report on that experience after the event and then it’s back to Tuesday night again next week.

Please do drop by again next week for another update and you can read the Spirit Lodge Diary for more objective and factual séance reports as well as links to the Friday Healing Circle blog.

Jon