A new series examining aspects of spiritual life you may not have considered before.
Part One: Spiritual Development And Mediumship Are Moving Targets
Many years ago a lady from the congregation approached me following a service I’d just taken at a spiritualist church (almost always people would form a queue after a service, wanting even more than the intense burst of spiritual energy you had just expended in the last hour and a half or so, and not realising that you only wanted two things at that point: a cup of tea and to go home). In almost all cases each of their questions would be preceded by the identical opener: ‘I know you must be tired, but I just wanted to quickly ask…’
This lady was different, however. She fixed me with a steely gaze and queried, a little aggressively: How long do you think it will take me to develop spiritually?’
‘I don’t know’, I replied. ‘I sat for seven years to get to the point where I could take a service.’
She literally snorted at this, saying: ‘I was thinking around a week or so. I’ve bought these tarot cards and I want to start charging for readings.’
My reasons for recalling the above incident are twofold: First, I was appalled at the time, and still am, by the realisation that this lady’s sole reason for wishing to develop any latent spiritual gifts she might have was so that she could make money from them (don’t get me wrong, those who work spiritually have to be able to live and to pay their bills, but that shouldn’t be their primary motivation in doing the work) and, second, it amuses me to consider that the delicate and intricate business of spiritual ‘awakening’ would in her case take ‘around a week’ and then would then be an accessible, integral, and fully formed part of her persona.
Spiritual development is a road – a highway that stretches ahead of us from the point of our first stirrings of spiritual awakening to infinity. It’s an open-ended and ever-expanding process whereby the individual at first becomes aware of an initially intermittent desire to discover who and what, exactly, they really are and their place in the scheme of things and then, as a result of a growing urge to satisfy that desire that eventually cannot be ignored, gradually experiences a reconnection with their spiritual consciousness that adds to their knowledge and completely changes their perspective on life.
Then, as their life journey continues, and via the regular accessing of the promptings of the ‘Divine-within’, of inspirations from their greater self, and, in certain cases, of the additional harmonious input of wise discarnate spirts who communicate with them in the name of the Light and enlightenment, this gently unfolding stream of guidance and illumination proves to not only be the key to their own spiritual progress but also a means of delivering transformative heart-Light energy to every soul on earth, to every life on earth and to the planet itself.
As with spiritual development, mediumistic development is also a moving target, as I have discovered (and continue to discover) over the four decades that it has been the dominant motivator in my life. Many people, and indeed a number of mediums themselves, are of the belief that the sole purpose of mediumship is to bring through ‘messages’ from departed family members and friends to those who are still on earth.
Not so.
True, the delivery of such messages, with their obvious implication that there is, in fact, life after physical death, is definitely one of the functions of mediumship, and has its place, but it represents only a small part of what can truly be achieved by the medium if they are open to the possibility of their gifts continuing to evolve with a view to them bringing instruction, enlightenment and much-needed positive change to humanity.
In higher vibrations than those which, relatively speaking, exhibit conditions similar to those on earth (and from which many of the personal ‘messages’ received originate) exist more highly evolved spirits who have accessed and regained a great deal of the spiritual knowledge we lose when we choose to incarnate here – spirits such as those who comprise the Joseph soul group, who are anxious to reconnect us with that knowledge; who are fully aware of and troubled by the present evils and insanities of our world, and who wish to share information and techniques that, if heeded and practised, can return this planet and every life on it to a state of harmony, finally banishing violence, depravity, greed, corruption and injustice from our experience here forever.
My eventual conscious connection with Joseph and his vast soul group (I had been super-consciously connected to them since before birth – a truth I became aware of once my personal spiritual development process began) came about because of a burning and ongoing desire to be of service spiritually; to answer my own questions regarding the nature of myself and of this and other realities, and a wish to then share any knowledge gained with as many souls who would be receptive to it as I possibly could. As an early ‘apprenticeship’ I worked mediumistically for many years delivering personal messages of the type mentioned above, but at the same time I tried to introduce some spiritual concepts – some seeds of greater consciousness – into each reading and, when conducting church services, preferred to take Sunday meetings that would allow me to spend a portion of my time on the platform talking to the congregation about spiritual matters rather than concentrating solely on clairvoyant communication.
And my mediumship continues to evolve for two reasons: One, I have never allowed my mind to become closed to new possibilities – there has never been a point at which I have become satisfied with – and therefore confined by – the perceived limits of my mediumship, and, Two, the disciplines of communication with higher realities are always observed, practiced and maintained to keep them in ‘tip-top condition’. Crucially, I am always aware that I do not and cannot dictate what I receive and when I receive it, but that those who guide me from Joseph’s soul group are in charge of the content and nature of each communication. I answer their call and follow their instructions, as it were – always being aware that it is they and the Divine-within who hold the greater knowledge, and that it is my role and duty to act as a conduit and to distance my little self from the communications as much as possible, thereby preventing myself from sub-consciously influencing and colouring them and, as a result, enabling them to flow through my mind in as pure a way as possible.
So – the reason for me writing this blog is to emphasise the fact that spiritual development and mediumship are ongoing, unfolding, long-term processes… constantly moving targets. All too often the spiritual seeker expects ‘instant mash’ as my spiritual teacher used to call it.
Please don’t expect everything at once.
And please don’t feel discouraged if your development doesn’t appear to be progressing according to a timescale your conscious mind has decided is ‘reasonable’ and in a direction your conscious mind has decided is the one it should proceed in.
Spiritually speaking we never stop learning. Your spirit – the real you – will respond to the disciplines you adopt, and reveal and hone any gifts you have been given at a pace that is right for you. When the pupil is ready, as the saying goes, the teacher will appear. Simply as a consequence of you wishing to develop spiritually (for the right reasons, of course) you will be led into situations and introduced to those souls on earth and beyond this reality who can advance your development when the time is right for each new step in that development to manifest itself.
Similarly, my advice to up-and-coming mediums would be: never become satisfied, comfortable and complacent with what you can do. Never ‘box in’ the unfolding of your mediumship. Always seek the next revelation, the next connection – not as a means of aggrandising yourself or what you are capable of in the eyes of others, but in order to bring to humanity the spiritual insight and teaching that is so sorely needed at this time. Dedicate your life to helping your brothers and sisters remember who they are, to making them aware of the good they are capable of, to illustrating and suggesting the ways in which they could be living their lives if they choose to do so, ways that would and will completely and positively transform their experience here…
The journey never ends – and that’s an exciting prospect.
We continue to grow and to evolve. The only limits to our spiritual development and/or our mediumistic capabilities are those we mistakenly decide to impose on ourselves.
