Is Anybody There?

British spiritualists often perceive themselves as custodians to strange and terrible truths. We have, rather unsettlingly, both seen and heard the intrusions of Spirit into our churches and prayer circles. We have communicated with the Glorious Dead. At times, we have even touched the mysterious realms of Higher Consciousness, as it unfolds in our hearts with the living light of knowledge and the vital sounds of salvation. It should therefore, come as a surprise that our assemblies are usually half-empty, while our credibility as witnesses to the Marvellous seems to shrink with each passing year.

Perhaps this is why it is time to stop blaming opponents for our problems and to start examining ourselves. Certainly, in my recent visits to various congregations across London, I have been greeted with demonstrations of personal arrogance by church leaders, a complete lack of humility (let alone sensitivity) on the part of mediums, and rather uncomfortable atmospheres coloured by gossipy infighting, when the service was concluded. It goes without saying, that these are not the outward signs associated with unfolding soul gifts and also partly explains why The Atheist of Oxford doesn’t need to look far to find a “cultural” shambles in some sections of our Movement. Indeed, getting the living into our places of worship appears to be more of an issue than opening our doors to the departed.

Yet there’s the rub. What do we spiritualists revere as Sacred? Clearly, some claim to represent true Christian Tradition; a noble and thought provoking assertion. On the other hand, there are those who argue that they adhere to the universal principles behind every Great Faith. This, in itself, is a highly abstract and demanding contention, stretching back through Victorian Theosophy into the medieval profundities of Neo-Platonism. Additionally, there are those in psychical societies who actively appear to be flirting with a type of experimental activity our forebears would have called necromancy: a repugnant pursuit still retaining its unpleasantness. All of which indicates, however, our Movements manifold search to find an appropriate position within the family of ancestral spirits; a tribal genealogy extending from Great, Great, Grandparents to forest flowers, lake land hills, and the Nature Spirits themselves. Even so, the vast majority of the aforementioned ideologues don’t seem to have journeyed far enough into Self to achieve a meaningful dialogue with Transcendent Being.

Having said that, allies and guides sometimes emerge from unexpected quarters and indirect support may be encountered from the so-called New-Age-Counter-Culture in all of its manifestations. Notably, the self-confessed pagan writer, Professor Camille Paglia describes (in a strikingly lucid essay entitled “No Law In The Arena”), her view of God as a disembodied Creative Force powerfully at work within the Cosmos. She does this, moreover, in a manner that any contemporary Spiritualist would instantly recognise, since we have presented this luminous gospel to the general public for over a century. Possibly, I should further point to followers of Radical Traditionalism as our kith. Through practising the ancient rites of our Britannic kinsmen, they have made it apparent that the recovery of received ethical values, not to mention our unique participation in the modalities of Northern-European-Becoming, can only be recovered by a renewed respect for rural, albeit occasionally abstract, customs.
In which case, disciplines such as silent meditation and hearth ritual become obvious vehicles for spiritualist witness. Clearly, in the house church I am privileged to lead, we have found that these forms of worship quickly lead to a discovery of inner-light as well as the cultivation of creative states of consciousness. Observably, our methods are extremely similar to those of Shinto in Japan, because they focus on the Immanence of Spirit. Householders, for example, tend to establish a reflective peace through husbanding their native surroundings, while healers magnify their abilities by exploring vital organic processes in their own bodies. Significantly, such gentle ceremonies need few theoretical commitments on the part of a practitioner, because a mind open to their efficacy is the only stipulation. On top of that, an atmosphere of ceremonial order transforms the lives of those who strive for a genuine sense of enlightened resolve. Similarly, our aims are nationalistic and our service is, primarily, to our own people. At the end of the day, all of our churches should be full to the British brim with those truly seeking Spirit. Remembering our sense of witness is the key. But to realise this goal a few home truths need to be faced along the way, like recalling that our Movement does indeed have a universalist appeal, although on a local level it always celebrates uniqueness. We also need to take pride in our labours as bridge-builders between different states of consciousness. These are the twin reasons I am personally looking forward to our renewed prophetic status within society. After all, those who have passed over, as well as the Nature Spirits, are pleading with us to focus on pictures bigger than community leadership or personal tattle, and we alone are correctly positioned to hear their messages.