The Sanctuary


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

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

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

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




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




Wednesday, June 25, 2008

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.

Monday, June 23, 2008

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

Friday, June 13, 2008

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, June 10, 2008

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.