Author: Richard Stuttle

  • Healing with Art

    Healing with Art

    I have always found a therapeutic element to painting, each piece of art is a journey through creation and emotion. Beginning with a spark and enthusiasm of an idea, followed by the eagerness to paint and love of creation. The work starts in the paintings detail, a painstaking process of getting each aspect just right, despair arrives when it all goes wrong and the image in the mind is not matched by the result on the canvas. Somehow it all comes together in the finished work and on many occasions the painting is far more magical than the fixed image in your imagination.

    In every painting there are moments of freedom when the thinking mind is switched off and the paint is flowing, time is no longer important, and the journey of self-discovery is all that matters.

    Through the many hours that goes into each painting I have become aware of the moments I am aware of more, a part of me is accessible where wisdom and healing comes from, a greater source of energy that is a deeper aspect of me. This is the point where healing begins.

    It is this starting point for healing that really interested me, it felt like access to a greater part of myself. An authenticity that wasn’t interested in any of the trappings of the conscious mind, or the egotistical outcome of any work of art. It was only concerned about the energy and spontaneity of the moment. This started my journey looking into working with energy and healing, looking at accessing the energetics beyond our five senses. This took me to psychism and mediumship at the Arthur Findlay College and healing at Harry Edwards Foundation. Two world renowned places where I had the opportunity to study under a selection of incredible tutors.

    Working with art and healing

    My work evolved, offering one to one sessions or group workshops where art and creativity allows us to go deeper and realise more about ourselves and our true nature. We have access to so much more! When working with people on mediumistic and energetic levels art is a beautiful way allow the conscious mind to understand what is happening energetically. Colour has meaning and invokes feeling on another level allowing access to the deeper parts of who we really are.

    Auragraph

    I have previously written about ‘Auragraphs’ in another post, and I don’t want to cover the same ground. My version of an auragraph is a little different to what Harold Sharp initially created. It is a pictorial interpretation of what is happening and coming up energetically within a client’s field. My role within the process is to hold space and allow the energy to move in a way that is natural for the client and their self-realisation and awareness. The drawing evolves as the session progresses, each drawing is unique, just as each client is unique and on their own journey.

    Soul reading

    The ‘soul reading’ for lack of a better term brings forward more information for the conscious mind. Again, my role is holding space for the client and allowing the energy to move in a receptive way for greater access and understanding. I also work is healing alignment looking at the different aspects of self in this world. I may also become aware of other energies accessible through a mediumistic faculty.

    Workshops and group work

    I really enjoy working with groups and hosting workshops, it’s a way we can all feel connected, supporting each other within a safe working space. Although the workshops have a theme and basic outline, I find that moving with the energy and how the exercises unfold is for the highest good of everyone attending. Each workshop unfolds organically because of everyone participating in a respectful and open way. It is a real privilege.

    Working with art and healing

    These opinions and interpretations are my own, I have developed my own way of working and views on how I feel the work comes forward for me at this time. My evolution is continuing along with my views and ways of working, I know my work will also continue to evolve. As an artist this is what keeps me interested and inspired, I work with likeminded people as I know we can go further as a group than can as an individual. With everyone I have the privilege to work with I always suggest that they tap into their own creativity and though art they have an opportunity for their own personal journey of self-discovery.

    Personal growth and creativity are not a nice to haves or things to fit in if there is time, they are a necessity for life in this world however it manifests for the individual.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Spiritual Service – what’s happening?

    Spiritual Service – what’s happening?

    Prayer and worship, lectures and inspirational speaking is not a new thing. It’s been around since the beginning of civilisation. The hierarchy and structure of society, praying to God or a deity, listening to insightful philosophers or engaging storytellers. It is all around building energy to give power and self-realisation to an individual or group consciousness.

    Spiritual services come in many forms from church services for the major religions, to yoga sessions, sharing circles and book readings.

    Many churches hold a Sunday service and within the religion of Spiritualism they are called a Divine Service. They generally follow a standard format.

    • Opening Prayer
    • Healing
    • Reading
    • Philosophy
    • Demonstration (Of mediumship – continuation of life)
    • Closing prayer

    What is happening in the energy during a Divine Service?

    Think in terms of energy. We all are aware of energy on a greater degree than our conscious mind allows us to realise. Understanding the flow, push and pull of energy, we know this on a fundamental level and can recognise it within one the simple truth. We all have people in our lives that fall in to two basic categories, the ones who inspire and leave us feeling uplifted, and the others who leave us drained and seeing the glass only half full. It is about energy and how they use it.

    The Opening Prayer is to bring the congregation together within themselves and with each other. Asking people to connect with a higher power or their higher self. To bring alignment and access the universal energy which is part of all of us. From an energetic point of view, each person is bringing themselves into their own alignment by becoming present and relaxed. Opening their energy fields, feeling relaxed and comfortable with a room filled with likeminded people. The words of the prayer have resonance and respect, the prayer can be very powerful if the speaker talks spontaneously within the energy of the moment.

    The Healing part of the service is an opportunity to send healing to people, animals and mother earth as a group. The group energy has built from the prayer and directed thought comes with the alignment of the group energy. Around the UK especially Divine Services are held on Sunday evenings around the same time, the thought that all Spiritualist churches have built the energy of the congregation and are sending healing together is incredibly powerful.

    The Reading is an opportunity to bring the energy into a different frequency where the congregation move into more of a learning frequency, usually the reading is from a well-known book or pioneer who will be recognisable to many. Common themes are around unity of all and the interconnected nature of the universe, it allows people to connect slightly deeper with the greater aspects and energetics of themselves.

    The Philosophy is an opportunity for the person delivering the philosophy to choose a theme or follow the tone of the reading. In Spiritualist churches they may choose one of the Seven Principles. An experienced person will be able to feel and work with the group energy and speak within the moment delivering what is needed rather than anything preconceived thought or rehearsed. Predominately working with the mental and spiritual aspects of the energetics but also feeling the emotional connection to the congregation. They are able to give a group update within the energy for all present.

    The Demonstration of Mediumship is an opportunity for the medium to bring healing across multiple levels and step into the energy that has been built. Delivering contacts to specific members of the congregation using the group energy and the mediumistic energy from the spirit.

    The healing comes across in a few main areas, the evidential nature of the contact is bringing healing on a mental level. Proof life is eternal and comfort that loved ones are still present in energetic form. Emotional healing through the energetic body, and soul healing connecting with peoples self-healing ability.

    The Closing Prayer is the part of the service where every person present can come back into themselves in preparation to leave the venue.

    It is the role of the platform team to hold space within the group energy and ground everyone in preparation for the end of the demonstration. This is a very important part of the service as people will be returning to their lives and public spaces where the openness and safe environment of a church service may not be present.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • What is mediumship?

    What is mediumship?

    The basic definition of a mediumship is, communication between a living and dead person through a person or medium who has developed the ability to attune to the frequency of a place called the spirit world and an individual soul. Spiritualists believe the spirit world is the place a soul goes after their life on earth.

    Belief in psychic ability is nothing new and widely accepted and picking up information from another person or incarnate souls energy fields. Researchers have been exploring mediumship and communication with the dead or discarnate souls and continue work with mediums and large spiritualist organisations.

    Mediumship gained popularity during the nineteenth century with the birth of modern Spiritualism marked as 31st March 1848 with the Fox sisters in Hydesville, New York. Investigations into mediumship over the decades have exposed many fraudulent mediums although there have been many cases that couldn’t bet be disproved. The area of mediumship is still very much plagued with these accounts today.

    Within the religion of Spiritualism mediumship is delivered as part of each Divine service, which is traditionally a Sunday church service in spiritualist churches around the United Kingdom. On weekdays demonstrations of mediumship and special services take place where other variations on mediumship and communications are delivered like Spirit Art and Flower Readings. Open circles and open platforms are also held with the opportunity for attendees to practice and develop their mediumship and other disciplines like Psychic readings and Psychometry.

    What is the purpose of Mediumship?

    Within the eyes of Spiritualism; the purpose of mediumship is to prove life after death. It is the proof that we are more than just the body, five senses and our consciousness in this lifetime. The statement can be misleading for many people as they think it is communication with loved ones in the spirit world. Which on a fundamental level it is, although it is so much more.

    So, what is really happening when a medium is delivering Mediumship?

    To understand what is happening when delivering mediumship first you have to understand the training and development it takes before starting to develop a mediumistic awareness. These views are based on my observations as a medium and my own personal development.

    Firstly, before any mediumistic development can take place the practitioner must first undergo a realisation within their own personal development, becoming more deeply aware of themselves, what is happening within themselves and the energy fields surrounding them. From this point the practitioner learns to attune with different frequency ranges that surround us but are out of the range of our five senses. Over time they learn to differentiate between what’s them and what isn’t them, this evolves into the ability to move the restrictive aspects of their consciousness out of the way to allow speaking and communication within the flow of energy and in the moment. In essence this is what all inspired speaking and mediumship actually is, be it different energy streams. Of course, this is a very simplified explanation and any form of attunement to different frequencies and psychic ability takes years of practice and dedication.

    During a demonstration the medium is working to raise the vibration of the room and congregation to allow access to other frequencies. The medium’s role is to hold space and allow a certain frequency to come into their awareness. From the perspective of Spiritualism this would be the energy (soul) from a lifetime on this world relating to a member of the congregation.

    The medium brings forward information about the individual drawing both on a mediumistic level as well as a physic level from the recipient (person in the congregation). This is the confirmation that life is more than just this world, our energy lives on after this lifetime. This knowledge is considered proof of life after death. As how could a person know information about a person (deceased loved one) they have never met and describe situations they were never privy to relating to someone present in the congregation.

    Speaking in the flow of energy. Speaking spontaneously in the moment with minimal subconscious or unconscious bias. The only purpose of the conscious mind in this case is to deliver words in terminology that people understand, within Spiritualism it’s the terms of mediumship and the energy of loved ones in the spirit world.

    It’s all about healing

    The medium’s role to facilitate across multiple areas of our being. There is an opportunity within a Divine Service to build the group energy to bring forward information verbally while controlling the flow of energy for healing and self-awareness of people in the congregation.

    Mental healing – security comes with the knowledge that our loved ones are looking down on us from the next life. Comfort comes from us the knowledge that we live on past this existence. Energy can never be destroyed it just changes form.

    Emotional healing – the feeling of our loved one’s energy, forgiveness and allowing the emotional grieving process to be understood and acknowledged. Stepping more into the present moment allowing peoples energy fields to recognise and release emotional trauma.

    Physical healing – feeling the energy around us, bringing the unseen into the physical world. Releasing blockages within our energy fields can help to release physical aches and pains. This also brings to the physical self a greater understanding of the energy that we are.

    Spiritual healing – accessing the greater aspects of self and feeling the connected. The nature of us to the universe and universal consciousness. Also, our connection to mother earth and natures laws.

    Finding alignment

    Far more is happening that relates not just to mediumship but to any spiritual practice or inspired or enlightened state of awareness in any field or industry. For sports people it’s called the flow state, for artists and writers it’s called inspiration, for actors its embodiment of the character. The practitioner may also become aware of the frequency of omnipresence and alignment with their greater self, they feel the energy within their body and have the ability to step into the energy and healing of now. It is from this point where everyone has access to the greater presence of themselves and their connection to everything and everyone in and beyond our physical and conscious reality.

    Mediums and spiritual teachers have developed their knowledge and awareness to a point where they have worked to develop their abilities to hold space and become aware of the energetics around them. There work is to hold space for people/students in order for them to become aware of their greater self, remove conditioning to open to our natural abilities.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Alignment is only the starting point

    Alignment is only the starting point

    There are many groups, practices and practitioners working today, all teaching different modalities of wellness and wellbeing. Everything from Body Somatic, Energy Healing, Shamanic Healing to Qigong and many different forms of Yoga and breathwork practices which revolve around bringing different aspects of your being into alignment, activating greater parts of yourself and working on personal attunement. All practices and modalities have a truth within them, when you find a practice or teaching you resonate with the most important aspect is to feel into the authenticity in which the teacher and group operates. Find what is right for you.

    For many teachings and practices finding a state of alignment is the goal. This can sometimes be confusing to students. The goal of the practice is to find alignment, but a common misunderstanding by students is that they think the practice is to invoke a state of serenity in everything they do, approaching life with an outlook of zen and calm. Alignment to me is something different and doesn’t necessarily mean serenity or calmness. For me it is simply a state where we have access to greater aspects of who we really are and a deeper understanding of our true nature, capability and importantly capacity.

    The part of development which is not often realised

    I would suggest that alignment this is just the starting point for accessing our own authenticity and self-healing to recognise these emotional reactions within our energy field that we may have previously thought of as us. It is not what’s happening externally, it is what the external world triggers internally within us. With alignment or any self-development or spiritual advancement work we start to become aware of paradigms of thought that no longer serves us or old trauma that comes back into our consciousness. This work is difficult, challenging and can often open dark spaces where we don’t want to go. This is the work; these are the places we need to explore when finding our own purity and authenticity.

    We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Do not become confused by our human reaction to life’s challenges.

    Finding your own space

    The majority of these healing and balancing practices revolve around bringing together the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of our humanness.During the sessions a state of alignment, inner calm and serenity is entirely possible and if working with an authentic teacher and group then easily reached. Where it falls is when students return to their daily lives and struggles and feel they need to live in a state of inner calm, they then become frustrated when they are not able to maintain the awareness and alignment without the support of the teacher and group.

    A slightly different mindset is needed, the point of the teachings and sessions are not to produce a state of calm to walk through the rest of our lives. They are to produce a state of authenticity we can recognise as us. This is the reference point for living daily life, the practice and alignment allows us to feel what is us, so we are then aware what isn’t us. We are able to recognise paradigms we live in which we previously maybe thought was us.

    When we work on alignment and healing it is also important to learn how to hold space for ourselves and others, experience what comes up and hold space for the point of authenticity within us. Holding space for others and allowing them to find that point within them.

    After alignment – working with a practitioner or group

    Students returning to the world following a course, retreat or workshop will be resonating on a different frequency, they have expanded their bandwidth. I hear,“Nothing has changed but everything is different.” They have become aware of other energies that are operating in our world. They are also more aware of how people are plugging into their energy fields through certain emotions. In some cases, students have set up supportive unconscious boundaries within their energy field so people can’t plug in as they used to, this can cause frustration and may manifest in emotional behaviour from people around the students. This is why holding space is so important.

    Another point that is important to note is that certain people will now be attracted to the new frequency within their energy field, this can be both positive and negative. A lot of people who resonate on similar frequencies will come together to work together and for greater healing and development, but also people who want to take energy or plug into their energy field in an unhealthy way (Be aware that many people who you feel might be negative or have drain energy are not aware of what they are doing).

    It is important to know how to take the teachings and practices you learn from others and find how they work for you as an individual. There is an element of truth in all practices and if you feel drawn to a certain teacher or practice then there is something that connects at that specific time on your journey. The next step is to find the authenticity within the teachings for yourself and allow the rest to leave. This simple point will allow you as an individual to be able to fully understand what you are doing and how it works for you, giving you deeper understanding and greater capacity. This also removes any reliance on a teacher or specific modality that has been developed by others.

    Our greater responsibility

    Alignment with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being is just the beginning. You stand in your own space with greater awareness of yourself which allows for a deeper experience and ultimately deeper healing. We have a greater responsibility in today’s world, it is our role to take personal responsibility not just for our actions but also for our energy and every part of our being. We are conduits to process energy, hold space for ourselves and others in a way that they can raise to match our vibration. Become the lighthouse and signpost for others.

    Holding firm within your own authenticity to allow others to find a key within your energy field to gain deeper access to their own.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Automatic drawing, Surrealist Automatism and Auragraphs

    Automatic drawing, Surrealist Automatism and Auragraphs

    A painting or work of art often begins with a moment or flash inspiration, from that point creativity can flow. Many artists wait for inspiration to strike before beginning work, once the idea arrives in the mind the artist relies on their skills and talents to bring the idea to life on canvas or paper. This method can be thought of as understanding the ‘creativity within the thinking mind’.

    Automatic drawing works differently, allowing the free flowing nature of the conscious mind to happen live on the canvas. Rather than the frequency of thought flowing around the energy of our consciousness its translated into the freedom of movement through the hand of the artist.

    Automatic drawing

    Automatic drawing works by the artist putting themselves in a state of relaxation in front of their easel and allow the inspiration to happen in the moment of creation. The artist allows the hand to move freely with energy and influence of the feelings they are picking up in the moment. There is no fixed direction for destination for the work, it is just allowed to unfold naturally.

    Many artists practiced automatic drawing it became more common in the surrealist movement and the phrase ‘Surrealist automatism’ was created. It was the method of drawing which moved the conscious mind out of the way and allowed the subconscious and unconscious minds to have a greater influence in the work. It became popular in the 1920’s with artists like Andre Benton who produced wonderful drawings without the thinking mind. Hans Arp or more commonly known as Jean Arp was linked with spiritual communities and exhibitions. He produced incredible bronze sculptures and large-scale paintings without the constrictions of seen reality.

    It was also thought that artists like Miro and Picasso used a form of automatic drawing when starting some of their later works. After the initial painting was started with automatic drawing, they would bring forward their conscious mind to make decisions on structure and focus, picking out colours and shapes to support a narrative for the work.

    Austin Osman Spare was an English artist who gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom. His work took many turns during his career and other influences of the occult which he called magical techniques such as automatic drawing and automatic writing. This was around channelling energy from another source, the questions arose what energy was he channelling, from what source?

    Auragraph

    The first introduction of the Auragraph was in the 1940’s by a gentleman called Harold Sharp. He was first introduced into Spiritualism in the 1920’s after visiting the Arthur Conan Doyle’s psychic museum and bookshop in Westminster. Over the following years he developed his mediumship, he became aware of his connection with spirit guide Chan Shih.

    Chan Shih would influence Mr Sharp when creating drawings. He produced many pieces of art, many of which were within a circle shape and held an Asian style in design and colour.

    In 1943 Psychic News published the following account of his work which stated: ‘Harold Sharp has developed a new phase of his mediumship. It is automatic drawing and colouring, the latest stage being the production of graphs of the human aura executed in delicate colouring and intricate but rhythmic designs. These are produced at high speed by the medium who has never had an art lesson and cannot normally draw.’

    He used his mediumship to accompany the drawings writing information what came into his mind as well as interpreting the drawings in relation to a sitter or specific person. He produced many drawings which could be used in general for other mediums and intuitive could use the artwork to help unfold and add depth to their spiritual readings. This was another tool for mediums similar to oracle cards or the tarot, each had a specific meaning but also an intuitive meaning.

    Mr Sharp was not in trance during these sessions but merely sat quietly with the awareness of his guide and allowing the art to unfold. The starting point for the art was different each time and he allowed the drawings to unfold without having an end result in mind. 

    The process within art

    Every artist follows their own process and may have inspirers in their peers or artists of the past. Painting is unique to the individual but many shares similar thoughts on what makes a great painting or work of art – The moments or brush strokes that make a work shine arrive when the artist is in flow, working without the influence of the conscious mind. A state where inspiration can come in and the artists hand and palette can be guided without the influence of preconception or design.

    However you choose to paint or harness your creativity make moments for flow and allow yourself the freedom to feel the energy and world around you.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • What is healing and how can we heal?

    What is healing and how can we heal?

    There are many forms of healing dating back centuries, almost every culture and civilisation recognised healing in some form or another. From the medicine men and shaman in America to the witches and witchcraft of medieval England. Spiritual healing as it was termed came into prevalence in the United Kingdom around the turn of the 19th century where practitioners would be thought to channelling energy from the spiritual realms. The word spiritual refers to unseen energy which can be felt but not observed by the five senses.

    How can we describe healing?

    Healing can be described as channelling energy and holding space for a client.The healer is channelling healing energy from the world around them as well as raising awareness to the clients own self-healing ability. Healing restores and rebalances, improving physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. The practice of healing is very simple. A healing practitioner will sit with a client and focus on channelling healing energy from the natural and unseen worlds to give support in whatever form it is needed.

    A scientific thought to healing

    In the 1990’s scientists discovered that there are approximately 40,000 specialised cells that create neural networks in the heart that are similar to cells in the brain. This means that we have a thinking and cognitive part to our being as well as a feeling and emotional part. Both are incredibly powerful and when aligned can give us deeper insight into our true self. We recognise that both parts work in a similar way and offer information to help us realise our true potential and navigate this world.

    What happens with life experience and trauma is that all information is recorded within the cellular structure of the mind, body, and heart. This creates patterns and behaviours which can cause us to act in a way that is not aligned with our true nature. Through awareness and alignment, we can become aware of these different part of our being and the energetics attached.

    Healing from trauma

    The medical profession work with healing the mind, one aspect of our being. Through understanding and rationality, we can make sense of the feeling and emotions that come up within us. Medication can help in some cases, controlling the release of chemicals within the body and controlling the symptoms and emotional reactions and feelings to specific triggers. This is usually coupled with mindful practices and letting go of past events. Energy or Spiritual healing works primarily from the other direction, recognising the trauma in the body and heart. Bringing awareness to these areas and releasing the blockages and build-up of energy.

    What happens energetically?

    As we grow and develop, we have many experiences which create patterns that define the way we live our life. Simply put, this experience or activity makes me feel good and this makes me feel bad. We build up a picture of our world and create paradigms which we live within, some are positive and others negative. We attach an emotion to these which reenforces the paradigm, so when a similar situation comes in our life, we recall the time before and the emotion we felt. Over time we start to think these paradigms are something which is actually part of us, they come to define us. This builds up energetically within our mind, body and energy system, the more something compounds the more our energy is blocked, and blockages around our system are created. Over time these can manifest physically in the form of aches or pains. Stressful situations for example can often give us tense shoulders. If we have a lot on our plate and people are demanding our time this can manifest as a bad back. These are areas where we have a repeated emotional trigger to a situation and within our energy system and we feel it is part of us. Our conscious mind tries to ascertain the cause and come up with a rational explanation unaware of the paradigm it is operating in.

    What are healers doing?

    Healers are not healing! They are holding space and making the client aware of their own patterns. The first step is conscious recognition of the pattern or paradigm which the client is living in. The second step is for the client to activate their own self-healing through reconnecting to their own source energy. It’s also worth noting that everyone always connected to their source energy, and we are constantly healing and repairing, sometimes is just running very quietly in the background and we need to bring it more to the foreground within our daily lives.

    This works by the healer resonating at their own frequency and connecting with their own source energy in a strong way. This is done through alignment of the different aspects of ourselves in this life; the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. The healer will then hold space for the client and allowing the energy to flow around their energy system to start to remove the blockages.

    In spiritual healing or energy healer, this is often referred to as channelling energy from a higher source. Spiritual healers are connecting with a healing energy source that is aware that the client’s energy is blocked within the paradigms of their lives.

    What can we do?

    We all have patterns in which we live in and multiple paradigms of thought both positive and negative. Meditation or mindful practices are good to bring us back to the present, they help us to operate in the present moment and align the different aspects of us. The more in alignment we are the easier it is to recognise our patterns and connect more strongly with our own source of healing energy.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Intuitive Healing with Colour

    Intuitive Healing with Colour

    We may not consider ourselves artists or creative people, but everyone has a relationship and understanding of colour. Our everyday life is full of choices which have an underpinning influence of colour and feeling whether we are conscious of it or not. Colour is within everything; from what clothes we choose to wear each day to the colour of the foods we eat and environments we choose to work and live.

    Within healing colour plays an important role, we only need to look at the chakras or colours around the auric field. Colour is given meaning or an easily understood method of understanding feeling. We also know that certain colours have different collective meanings, in nature, yellow and black as a combination highlights caution or red to signify danger. Bright colours of flowers to attract bugs and insects for pollination. We have adopted these meaning within the consciousness of society. Red when driving signifies danger and means stop, green means go as with nature green signifies growth. As within nature we have multiple meanings for the same colour depending on the moment. A deep red rose is inviting insects to come closer, similarly when we think of the red rose we think of love. We wonderfully link colour to different emotional or energetic states, when we interpret this it goes both ways, not only to warn or attract but also to raise awareness and become more present of the moment.

    To open awareness to your relationship with colour is to unlock a tool for communicating with your intuition and deeper aspects of who we are. We digest colour in so many different ways, through our visual relationship with colour we can draw attention to our conscious mind of other important parts of us that may wish to be heard.

    Intuitive healing alignment

    We can use colour in a direct way, for this healing alignment you will need paper, pencil and box of pastels or coloured pencils.

    On a sheet of paper draw eight circles in two rows of four. The bottom row relates to your conscious mind and top row your intuitive self.

    Each circle along each row represents a different aspect of your being in simple terms.

    • Physical
    • Emotional
    • Mental
    • Spiritual

    To begin. Relax your body, take a breath and bring as much of yourself into the present moment as possible. Feel your body and become aware of your surroundings. With your eyes open and with your conscious mind choose a colour for each circle. Start with your physical self. Choose colours for your emotional, mental and spiritual selves. As you colour each circle try to feel the colour and the meaning behind why you chose that particular colour.

    Take a moment to reflect. The bottom row represents how your conscious mind perceives you and the space you are in currently. How do you feel?

    Come back to the centre of you. Gently connect with the first circle, the physical aspect of you. With your eyes closed ask your intuitive self to choose a colour. Scan your hand over your box of pastels/pencils and pick up a colour. Add to the circle in the top row above the colour you chose for your physical self.

    Take a moment to feel the colour, what comes up? The colour relates to what your intuitive self feels you need in this moment.

    Continue the exercise connecting with each aspect of you and choosing a colour without looking. With each colour feel what it may mean for you at this time.

    When you have filled all circles take a moment to reflect, are the colours from top and bottom row similar? What is the top row telling you that you may need at this time?

    Benefits

    • Deepen the connection with your intuition.
    • Listening and becoming aware of the needs of other parts of yourself.
    • Greater understanding of the role colour plays in your life.

    In conclusion

    It is interesting to consider how aware we are to our needs within conscious thought and how or if it differs to our intuitive self. Repeating exercises like this is a great way we can be more aware on a daily basis to our overall needs and greater aspects of self.

    Next time you choose a top to wear, have a thought as to what the colour means for your day ahead. Next time to feel like a certain food or get drawn to the red apples instead of green, ask yourself what is your intuitive self pointing out to you that you might need in this moment.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • How did we get here? Energetic evolution, mediumship, communication, and our natural laws.

    How did we get here? Energetic evolution, mediumship, communication, and our natural laws.

    What are our natural laws?

    To dive into this question we must first ask, what is science? The definition in the dictionary is, ‘The systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.’

    The framework in which science operates is within and born from the nature of our reality. Natures laws we have been conditioned to live by. Time, Space and Matter. 

    Time – is a construct of our reality, it holds and regulates the cycles of life and death within our experience. Our bodies age and time passes at the same rate, but time is experienced in very different ways depending on our relationship to reality. 

    Space – the area in which we inhabit. It is only within space that we can understand the three-dimensional nature of our reality. Space gives us our coordinates within the universe and helps us understand the nature of time in relation to the distance between two points in space. 

    Matter – the carbon construct, building the fabric of reality. We are all made of the basic materials. We are carbon-based lifeforms which have been manipulated in countless different ways. 

    Without all three components, time, space and matter we would never exist. The universe evolved over billions of years, stars are born and explode. Life on earth is incredibly diverse and evolved in a wonderous harmony. Every person, lifeform on the planet, experiences time and their reality differently. Trees grow over hundreds of years. A human lifetime currently spans just short of a century, our pets live for a decade or two. Time, space, and matter are all relative to our perceptive experience.

    We are born into a physical reality where the natural laws govern and have evolved over billions of years. The lineage of species has evolved over the thousands of generations before us. Our mind, body and soul follow a similar pattern to that of the universe. We would not exist without all three.

    • Mind – our consciousness, collective or individual.
    • Body – our families blood line and physical instrument
    • Soul – the infinite part of us, our connection to God

    All three work together in a perfect harmony. Human have developed to be receivers of information. Our body has the five senses for us to experience the physical world around us. Our soul triggers emotional experience, bringing love, and a host of other emotions. Our mind tries to make sense of it all, to create and define our existence.

    We understand our reach is so much greater than the material world around us. The more our mind and consciousness explores and the more sensitive our bodies become, the more information we become aware of. We become aware of spirit, mediumship, and the spirit world.

    How did we get here?

    To begin we can consider the evolution of our planet and how we found ourselves in the here and now. To highlight the natural laws in which we are all bound and how our mediumistic development inevitably follows the same logic, I would like to approach creation from the point of view of evolution through consciousness. A great example of this is from ‘The Ra Contact – Teaching the law of One’. The information came through channelled text from a group of people using trance mediumship, so it seems a fitting outlook to begin with.

    Through the many channelled sessions documented, a few specifically delve into the nature of our universe. My interpretation of this text is as follows…

    Before life and our universe existed. Imagine for a moment infinite space, which of course is impossible. But imagine the idea that within the infinity of nothingness there is a stirring. A breeze, a directional force and movement of energy. Within infinity arises an infinite awareness of movement, awareness of the movement of itself. This develops into awareness of the infinity of space in which it moves. Over time this evolves to become aware of the nature and energy of itself. Infinite awareness evolves to become a flow of energy across space, this creates the concept of time within the space it travels. Its own unique vibrational energy moving through space.

    At some point there is a realisation through the evolution of energy that there are other vibrations, other frequencies within itself. Movements occurs throughout the vastness of space, in turn forming lighter and denser frequencies of energy. These begin to attract and bounce off less each other. The infinite awareness has the realisation of differences within energy. Over time and space, a realisation occurs where the awareness purposely collides into differences of energy within itself. An understanding forms, knowledge and information can be gained through interactions with itself. Consciousness is formed. Energy condenses and starts to collide, finding out more about its true nature.

    Matter begins to form though the difference frequencies of energy and collisions occur. Over time, rock, planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, and our universe begins to take shape in more of a physical form. This becomes known as first density. Born from changing frictions of frequencies the movement of energy.

    Realisations happen on a planetary scale, collisions within atoms and molecules form relationships with each other. Consciousness moving, interacting to find out more about itself. Some repelling and other attracting, the flow and movement of energy into certain frequency ranges. This ultimately created the right conditions for life to form, leading to plant life. This becomes second density.

    Consciousness can only evolve through experiencing itself, learning and forming mutually beneficial relationship or not. On a cellular level, cells split and continue to split until life begins to form on the planets, these cells continue to split and evolve until we have cellular organisms, sea life, reptiles, manuals, and eventually human life. Human life is third density.

    All if this ultimately rises from the realisation that for evolution, we need discussion with ourselves. Consciousness is a result of the realisation that to evolve we need to divide and converse. This continued to happen across time and space which led us to the here and now.

    All life follows this process which became a series of natural laws within our density and universe. We all evolved and are part of the same energy. Humans developed conscious life, with awareness of a connection to the whole, of self and life and death.

    We can see this natural law clearly manifesting today. All we need to do is look at reproduction within humans. There is an egg within a reproductive system, the egg becomes fertilised and splits in two, this continues splitting to have a conversation and create a relationship with itself until eventually a baby is born. There is a part of the universal consciousness within the baby, its soul, its unique individual nature, its own frequency looking for connection, conversation, and experience.

    Therefore, we are all connected to one another under the realisation of the ultimate consciousness. Each one of us as energetic beings on this planet feeding back information though frequency and energy to the one ultimate creator, the universal consciousness. Also known as God.

    We began to understand the nature of frequency, the nuances between frequencies. These translate though feelings and emotions. We discover love. The ultimate frequency of acceptance and realisation, all is one. We are part of one another and the whole. Love became known as fourth density.

    The densities continue to refine and go further but to understand mediumship and connecting to the spirit world we only need to go on as far as the fourth density. Through the vibration of love, we can connect to our loved ones beyond our physical world in the spirit world. We start to understand the vibrational range and attunement required to connect with spirit.

    This way of interpreting creation puts the emphasis and understanding our world on a vibrational or energetic level. Evolution following natural laws. To understand how mediumship is possible we must understand the different between time space and space time.

    Time Space refers to our timeline, planets within space, beings with physical bodies and physical coordinates. In short, our reality experienced with our five senses.

    Space Time is frequency or in this case souls without physical bodies or physical coordinates. We can connect with these souls through attunement of frequency. This goes some way to explaining how after death of the mortal third density body we can connect with the souls of loved ones and bring forward information from many different parts of their lives. There is no longer any fixed time in space.  

    Countless people have lived in time space, souls incarnating in our reality. They pass to spirit and enter back into space time, their unique vibration of life experiences available through attunement. Mediumship works through us as incarnate souls raising vibration of the conscious mind to attune with the vibration of souls who no longer have physical form.

    Energy centres on earth

    The evolution of our energetic understanding and resonance of our physicality can be seen throughout human history. Energy centres in physical locations have been used for centuries to channel information from spirit and finer densities than ours. Many spiritual locations have been identified as energy hotspots and used to receive higher wisdom. Places like Stone Henge have been built on meridian and lay lines. People pray and sit in these energy centres connecting with spirits or spirit communicators. Many of these places still hold sway but many have been lost in time.

    Graham Hancock in Fingerprints of the Gods said, “Not for the first time I felt myself confronted by the dizzying possibility that an entire episode in the story of mankind might have been forgotten. Indeed, it seemed to me then, as I overlooked the mathematical city of the gods from the summit of the Pyramid of the Moon, that our species could have been afflicted with some terrible amnesia and that the dark period so blithely and dismissively referred to as ‘prehistory’ might turn out to conceal unimagined truths about our own past.”

    The book goes in-depth into different civilisations throughout the world which history has forgotten but traces can still be found. Atlantis and the lost city for example. Egyptian civilisation and the pyramids (not built by the Egyptians by the way). The location of the Queen’s Chamber in the great pyramid in Egypt. The chamber is set in a specific location to interact with spiralling energy centre in order to channel information from other beings, dimensions though mediums who would sit in trance like states.

    When we factor in mediumship and channelled information from spirit it goes towards explaining some of the missing links within our history. Explaining how different civilisations without physical contact developed the same techniques or working methods. We have seen the rise of civilisations, different methods of agriculture and society development which seemed to spring up from nowhere. The monoliths and different structures built by indigenous people of the time harnessed natural energy to enhance the ability of communication to access higher wisdom through knowledge and mediumship and trance.

    What is Energy? 

    Definition from Britannica ‘Energy, in physics, the capacity for doing work. It may exist in potential, kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are, moreover, heat and work—i.e., energy in the process of transfer from one body to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy, while work done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy.’

    We are all energy, made from the same stuff! Every physical motion, mental thought process and emotion generates the movement of energy in different ways, shapes, and forms. A lovely and simplistic visual action is throwing a stone into a still lake of water, the ripples from one action flow to infinity. The phrase “One flap of a butterflies wing can cause a tsunami on the other side of the world.” Shows cause and effect, the interconnected relationship of all energy. It’s an incredibly difficult concept to fully understand in every aspect of your being. 

    The first law of thermal dynamics and Einstein’s equation, E=MC2. Matter cannot cease to be, it can only be transformed. Animism people believe that everything lives, there is no life and no death, only change. All matter is energy and follows the scientific nature of the universe. As we are part of nature, it follows that we abide by the same rules and have the same structure to follow when working mediumistically. 

    The Fibonacci sequence is numbers following the science of nature. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,144,233,377,610,987, 1597 and so on. If these numbers are used to make equal length sides of a square a beautiful spiral shape emerges which can be seen throughout nature and the natural world. A law of numbers followed by nature; the rule is written xn = xn−1 + xn−2.  As one of nature’s laws discovered by science, we can apply these rules when working with mediumship and psychism.

    Developing psychism and mediumistic abilities 

    ‘The question might be asked, “Why must those in the Spirit side of life come through a medium rather than communicating directly with their loved ones on earth?

    Peggy Barnes answers the question this way:

    Could you send a telegram without the instruments? Can you pick music out of the air without your radio? The medium is the instrument through which those vibrations must come… It is just as sensible to say that there is no music or sound passing through the air because you are not able to hear it with your physical ear as it is to say that your Spirit mother cannot communicate because she is not able to do so with you directly.’

    Mediumship is governed by natural laws. We communicate by using our emotional knowledge of frequency to pass information from one soul to another whether they have a physical body or not. A fundamental truth. Science will say that energy can never die, it just changes form. We know that we are more than just our physical existence or that of our five senses, we have the compassion and creativity of our soul within us. 

    To explain this more fully I often start with a statement. “The limitation of our conscious mind is our greatest asset.” It allows a greater emotional range to evolve within the individual. Meaning, because we are unable to know the outcome of a situation along a linear timeline, we move into every new experience wholeheartedly. Meeting a new partner for example, as the relationship progresses, we can give ourselves emotionally in a fuller sense to the other person. We do not know whether we will end up heartbroken in twelve months or live long and happy lives together. This offers the deepest emotional connection and range within the experience. If we knew the relationship was going to end, we would never commit fully in the first place. This methodology goes through every experience, we live in life, ultimately expanding our emotional range. This is where our emotional range and attunement begins to open our psychic and mediumistic abilities. 

    There are many different forms of mediumship and psychic ability. I believe we don’t fully understand the extent of what we are capable of. As an overview, psychic connection is from mind to mind or person to person. Although it is not limited to just people, it can be felt within nature, the connection with mother earth, the animal kingdom as well as on mass through the energetic consciousness of society. Mediumship is divided in to two main categories, perception and controlled. Perception is information interpreted through the mind of the medium. Clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience for example. Controlled mediumship is where the mind of the medium moves aside to all for a spirit communicator to take control of the physical body. This would include trance, automatic writing, and the creation of ectoplasm. 

    Psychic connection

    Human to human connection, developing the awareness emotions and feelings not contained within the body. Called the aura and auric field, these energies can be picked up by the psychic or medium. Energy can travel infinite distances. A simple thought can travel across the world in a split second and be picked up by someone else. This is often referred to as a psychic connection telepathy. Everyone processes psychic ability, depending on their level of development as to what information they become aware of. This has been well documented through many studies. It is generally thought there are seven main energy bodies but of course there are an infinite number, and nuances within them.

    Aura and auric fields

    Leading outwards from the physical body

    Physical plane

    • Physical body
    • Etheric body
    • Emotional body
    • Mental body

    Astral plane

    • Astral body

    Spiritual plane 

    • Etheric template
    • Celestial body
    • Causal body

    These basic outlines allow us to understand a little more about where and how we are picking up the information in someone else’s field and that of our own.

    Telepathy

    ‘The word itself is derived from two Greek words. “tele” (afar) and “pathy” (feeling). The dictionary definition of Telepathy is: “Action of one mind on another at a distance, through emotional influence without communication through physical senses.”’

    The brain transmits electrical signals through nerves, these signals can be read by other people as well as electronic devices such as a Transcranial Magnetic stimulation Wand or attaching electrodes physically to the head. Experiments have been done on monkeys and rats picking up information from a hive mind. Rats are placed into a maze, connecting to other rats who have already navigated the maze, they are able to navigate the maze correctly. In people, a two-person experiment. One person is to concentrate on a particular view or item. This information is read as specific EEG brain activity and is sent to the mind of another by electromagnetic pulses which are then deciphered by the recipient’s mind. This can be done with technology and equipment or without by the recipient attuning to the mind of the other person and picking up the information.

    Mediumship

    The Spirit world exists just outside of physical reality frequency range. This doesn’t mean that both our world and the spirit world can’t interact. With training and development, we can raise our vibration, shift our awareness to become aware of the spirit world and spirit communicators within that world. (For me this is raising my vibration to embody more love and push my awareness to the fourth density range, as in the early explanation of the universe). A spirit world communicator lowers their vibration and where there is harmony information can be communicated.

    Many spiritual medium teachers talk about the mechanics of mediumship. The scientific nature of connection though attunement and vibration. Raising our vibration to meet the vibrational energy of the spirit world. Like tuning a radio. When working with a spirit communicator following a logical unfoldment of information. Identifying a communicators passion and connecting with their excitement, love, and energy. Everything they would like to bring forward for the recipient.

    Some mediums follow a step-by-step approach, building energy and evidence. Identifying key pieces of information to offer proof of life after death to the recipient. Very similar to the approach scientists take when approaching a problem to solve.

    Psychical mediumship

    Physical phenomena relating to Spiritualism. We think of ectoplasm which is not so prevalent in the modern world. The energy and material used for the creation of ectoplasm was usually taken from the medium, their waste products and dead skin cells. Traditionally the medium would sit in a cabinet, take energy from other mediums around them. Using them like batteries to support the energy required for the manifestation. The spirit world is able to create a physical form, ectoplasm would emerge from the mediums body, often from the mouth, ear, or stomach area.

    Physical phenomena would also include ectoplasmic rods, trumpets, direct voice, transfigurations, and many other forms. This type of phenomena would often occur in séances, the energy being pulled from the group and the medium. There are reports of flowers wilting and the energy of the room becoming depleted.

    Alec Harris – A Welsh born solider who in the 1930’s sat in séances with Helen Duncan, he fully believed her materialisations and began to develop as a medium. After development he was able to materialise spirit guides. In the 1940’s it was said by other mediums that he could materialise as many as 30 spirits within one séance. Mr. Harris passed to spirit in 1974.

    Gordan Higginson – A famous pioneer of Spiritualism and a world class physical medium. His development was such that he was able to give incredibly accurate messages from spirit communicators to prove the existence of life after mortal death. He was the longest serving president of the SNU, serving for 23 years. He was a tutor at the Arthur Findlay College where he gave many lectures and demonstrated physical mediumship. Passing to spirit in 1993.

    One of my favourite quotes by Mr. Higginson is ‘Before you can touch the Spirit, you must find it within yourself. For all truth, for all knowledge and all love, must be found first within oneself. And the Spirit can never touch you and bring love and peace within your being and from your being, until you have found it for yourself. And before you can build a picture of love from the Spirit, you must learn to find it in this life. For visualisation is leading you to vision itself.  For words and music are there for you to find, in moments, an answer; something that’s for you, to live our life in truth.’

    The focus here is on personal development, find it within yourself. Connect with the vibration of love within you and you can connect with the vibration of love within others. All is connected and all is one. All mediumship and certainly physical mediumship takes many years and great teachers to develop.

    Spiritual or energy healing

    Harry Edwards was one of the leading spiritual healers of his time. There are many amazing accounts of healings. My Edwards also wrote many books on spiritual healing. The Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary in Surrey carries his work forward, training healers and offering healing and distant healings. Although methods have changed over the years there are interesting points relating to the chakras and parts of the body. From a mediumship and psychism perspective, we can access information from systems in the body through chakras, their energetic frequency and resonance. This can offer information about the physical conditions of another person. We can also receive information from the spirit world through our chakras.

    When we talk about spiritual healing this in a sense, it is very physical phenomena. Clients can experience physical transformations of wellness as well as emotional or mental healing. There are two main types of physical or hands on healing. Channelling energy from the universal energy or divine source. Or magnetic healing, energy from the healer themselves.

    Development and tools of the Medium

    Tools of the medium as governed by the natural laws within our existence. Firstly, we have our mind, the hub of limitless possibility. It is what governs our reality, our outlook on life and our state of awareness.

    We have a body for picking up sensory information around us, more than just our five senses. Our body picks up information from the aura and auric field. The chakras or energy centres for accessing energetic information.

    Most important of all is love, the higher level of attunement and vibration which connects to the spirit. Mental mediumship is down to attunement, raising our vibration to become aware mentally and emotionally of a spirit communicator. Surrendering to a communicator, creating a blend mentally, emotionally, and physically.

    As part of mediumistic development, attunement it is common practice for many mediums. Aligning themselves with three different states to aid their development. 

    Sitting in the Power – This starts with the basic practice of sitting in our own energy and building our own power. It can begin with a light meditation, a focus on the energy centres within our own body, especially the root chakra and solar plexus. 

    The purpose of sitting in the power is to understand our own power and energy, finding out methods and techniques that work for us as individuals. It’s akin to recharging ourselves from our own point of divinity, tapping into the spark of God within ourselves to find and expand the truest form of our own energy. 

    Attunement – The word was first used by Lloyd Arthur Meeker. ‘Attunement was the early term adopted by practitioners of energy medicine, originally developed by Lloyd Arthur Meeker (1907 – 1954) and his colleagues. Meeker taught and practiced Attunement as a central feature of his spiritual teaching and ministry, Emissaries of Divine Light.’ The term was associated with syncing with specific frequencies that can offer a different sensation and awareness of an alternate reality. People become aware of different vibrations and can attune their vibration to match, which in turn creates a link so communication can take place.

    Meditation – A starting point for both sitting in the power and attunement. From a light state of meditation people can choose to focus on their own power or attunement to other frequencies. Meditation can also be used for self-healing, finding information, understanding more about self, and linking with the global consciousness.

    All three states of being are incredibly important for understanding ourselves, our power and the different frequencies that surround us. Each has a very specific use and takes a long time to master, it is widely known that people don’t often feel the real benefits of meditation until years down the line.

    As mediums we are only connecting with the natural abilities within ourselves. Some mediums have more ability than others. This relates the body incarnate, family linage, advanced level of the soul, and personal experiences within this life. There must also be a high level of dedication towards development. We cannot move outside of the natural laws in which we live. Our body is created of this earth, it is just not possible to be something we are not.

    Looking from a scientific point of view, we are carbon-based entities, energy created from the universe in which we are part. The natural laws of our creation will always remain. The wonderous part falls beyond the limitations of our conscious mind. Not knowing what is going to happen. Constantly finding ourselves on a journey of discovery, our emotional experience and awareness of frequency ranges has no limit. We are always learning, evolving, and developing. We feel and experience everything first, science follows and tries to make sense of it all through explanation understandable by our conscious mind. 

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • What is Spirit Art? Portraits of loved one from beyond the grave

    What is Spirit Art? Portraits of loved one from beyond the grave

    The modern-day term ‘Spirit Art’ has meaning within the religion of Spiritualism, it is linked with Mediumship. A medium is someone who through the unseen senses (Clair-senses) is able to communicate with energies/worlds around the physical realm including the spirit world (the afterlife according to Spiritualism). Mediumship is usually delivered in either a public setting (Divine Service or Spiritual Service) or within a private setting (Private Sitting or Private Reading). Spirit Art is delivered by a medium and artist (Spirit Artist) who has developed the ability to drawing portraits and bring forward verbal evidence from the spirit world of people who have passed over from this life.

    We can understand this more deeply by looking at different ways artists and creative people work with inspiration and energy.

    Inspired Art

    Many artists work with inspiration, moving their conscious mind aside to allow energy and thoughts that aren’t their own to come into their awareness and influence their paintings.

    Georgia Houghton 

    Georgiana Houghton was born in Spain in 1841 and moved to the United Kingdom then to Australia. She grew up as a Christian in Victorian England but moved to become a Spiritualist and medium who worked with her art and creativity creating amazing abstract ‘spirit drawings’. She was largely unknown until more recent years, she worked with watercolours and started with inspired art later moving into automatic drawing. She mainly took inspiration from nature and depicted the natural world but also used her mediumship to channel art from the spirit world. Over 150 of her drawings are available to view in the British Library in London.

    She is quoted in saying “What I have striven to prove is that Spiritualism does not come in place of Christianity; for where would have been the gain in casting off that great joy and happiness, only to receive something else in exchange. What I maintain is that it is bestowed as the Crown to all previous knowledge.”

    Hilma af Klint 

    Hilma af Klint was born in Sweden in 1862 and worked manly with abstract art in her later career which became her signature style. She was admitted to the Royal College of Fine Art where she studied landscape and portrait painting. After leaving the Royal College she belonged to a group called ‘The Five’ who were a circle of women who believed in Theosophy, and all held shared belief in the importance of contacting higher masters from the spiritual realms.

    After meeting Rudolf Steiner, he went to visit her in Stockholm but was unimpressed with her work. He felt that working with mediumship was akin to the occult and inappropriate for a Theosophist.

    Her later works used various inspired artistic methods taking inspiration from Mother Nature and using automatic drawing. Her artwork is on display in Stockholm where over 1200 paintings were left to be managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation.

    Automatism

    This form of art was adopted by many artists within the Surrealist movement and involves the artist removing the conscious mind as much as possible and allowing their hand or brush to move freely over a canvas or paper in a way that is not directed by the conscious mind.

    Andre Masson 

    Andre Masson was born in 1896 and was interested in Surrealism and Cubism but was a great advocate of Automatism. Making many drawings and working in the altered states of consciousness. This is where his art started to take on different meanings and a new direction. He produced a number of pen and ink drawings but in later years moved into his own style of art as he said painting in a particular style was too restrictive.

    Salvador Dali

    Salvador Dali was born in Spain in 1904, his work is world renowned, and he was a pioneer of Surrealist movement. He moved to Madrid and studied at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Dali experimented with many styles of art including Cubism and Automatism. He said that ideas for his paintings often came to him in the semiconscious dream state, it was then his job to bring them to life through artistic talent on canvas.

    Psychic Art

    Psychic art started to really develop in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20thcentury. It was thought at the time that a psychic artist would work with a medium. The artist would link in on a psychic level (Psychic or Psychism: a mind-to-mind connection between living people) to bring forward a portrait of someone who has died, and the medium would use their mediumship (Mediumship: a mind-to-mind connection between a living person and a dead person) to bring forward evidence and information from their life on earth.

    Frank Leah 

    Frank Leah was born in 1886, he moved to Ireland and made Dublin his home. He had a successful career as an illustrator and portrait artist. In the 1930’s he started to draw portraits of people he saw in this minds eye. Friends and customers who visited his studio started to recognise the drawings as their loved ones who had died. He began to realise he was working with his clairvoyance (French for Clear seeing). He worked on his art and started to develop his mediumship becoming well known for the accurate drawings of people who had past to the spirit world.

    Coral Polge 

    Coral Polge was born in 1924 and had a career as a portrait artist. She explored an interest in Spiritualism and developed her attunement with the altered states of consciousness to become a successful Psychic Artist. In the 1980’s Coral Polge was working with a gentleman called Gordon Higginson and the pair would demonstrate psychic art and mediumship in Spiritualist Churches around the United Kingdom. They were known for accurate portraits and irrefutable evidence of people’s lives who had died and were related to members of the audience or congregation.

    Precipitated Art

    This form of art was created entirely from the spirit world or from energy/matter from the unseen world. A group of mediums would sit in a séance with a blank canvas and dimmed light. An image would materialise directly onto the canvas or paper without any physical contact from the mediums. This form or art was predominantly in the United States in the 19th Century. The art would have no brush strokes, be incredibly detailed look similar to pastel portraits. Many examples of this type of art can be found in Lily Dale, New York State.

    The Bangs sisters 

    Mary and Elizabeth Bangs were born in 1827 and 1832 respectively in Kansas, their mother was a medium, so they were brought up understanding the spirit world and mediumship. In the 1870’s they were in Chicago and performing seances which included physical mediumship like slate writing and moving objects. They became famous for precipitated portraits where they would sit in séance with a number of other sitters and the spirit portraits would appear on the canvas within minutes. They paintings were incredibly detailed, and no brush stokes featured in any of the work. A curious point is that there were no eye lashes on any of the people in featured in the portraits. They lived and worked for many seasons from a house in Lily Dale, New York State.

    The Campbell brothers

    Allen B Campbell and Charles Shrouds weren’t brothers but worked together for many years in the early 19th century. They had a similar method as the Bangs sisters where the pair would sit in a darkened room with a number of other sisters and the portraits would appear on the canvas. The material which created the paintings came from the etheric world and was likened to the dust from a butterfly’s wing. The portraits were very similar in style and again no brush strokes were present in the work. One of their more famous works was a manifested a painting of Abraham Lincoln, when the painting was analysed traits were found in the portrait that related to ailments that Lincoln had which wasn’t common knowledge.

    Spirit Art in today’s world

    In today’s world artists have developed their mediumship and mediums have developed their portrait painting. Spirit Artists can work with their mediumship to deliver accurate information about someone who has died as well as a portrait that resembles the person.

    Mediumship and art is always developing and will continue to do so, for any spirit artist it is an exciting journey of discovery and development connecting with energy from the unseen and spirit worlds.

    Written by Richard Stuttle

  • Becoming a Medium and practicing mediumship is a calling

    Becoming a Medium and practicing mediumship is a calling

    To become a medium can be an incredibly emotional journey. Mediumship itself is opening up to vibrational energies in this world and within other worlds. A medium is dealing with emotion, grief, and loss with people in this world. They are also a catalyst for greater awareness of life after death within our society and existence. The medium’s main role is to provide evidence of life after death, this in itself is a monumental task should not be underestimated or taken lightly.

    We live in a society with many different belief systems. There has been a steep rise in Atheism over the last twenty years, not everyone believes in life after death. It was not too many years ago mediums were ridiculed and called out as frauds.

    Going back to the Witchcraft Act in 1735 people were put in prison or worse.Thankfully this act was repealed in a landmark ruling in 1951, passing the Fraudulent Mediums Act. One of the roles of the medium is to prove life after death, this in itself is a monumental task to a general society that has been guided over the last 50-100 years to believe in the agenda of debunking religion in the pursuit of science and what can be experienced by the five senses. Of course, in the same time period spirituality has also developed. Since what has been recorded as the birth of modern Spiritualism in 1848 in Hydesville, mediumship and mediums have worked to prove life after death. For an individual want to train as a medium and step into this world is incredibly courageous. They are opening themselves up to ridicule by many, and pressure to prove the existence of life after death in every Divine Service or evidential reading.

    The development and dedication that’s required to become a good medium should not be underestimated. It takes years of practice and personal development to raise awareness and sensitivity to work firstly with psychic abilities, developing mediumship and a connection with spirit guides, finally spirit communicators and delivering evidential mediumship.

    A medium deals with death on a daily basis, not always in the negative but death all the same. If a medium chooses to take part in Divine Services or give private readings of evidential mediumship they are dealing with real people, loss, and grief. A communication from the spirit world can be incredibly healing but also opens up a great deal of emotion within the sitter, their family, and friends. This can be emotionally draining for the medium, steps must be taken for protection.

    Along with the dedication required and emotional overload that may be encountered, there are some incredibly humbling experiences. The medium is also a healer, and many mediums also do spiritual or energy healing. This for me goes hand in hand with spirit communication and is one of the most rewarding aspects of mediumship. To have the opportunity to become a channel for communication from spirit is a great honour and privilege. To be able to bring comfort someone who is experiencing loss is incredible, to be able to offer healing to someone is one of the greatest gifts on earth.

    Becoming a platform medium is a goal for many trainee mediums but I during their journey they often find a different pathway. Mediumship can take many forms and has many different facets. Many choose the path of healing or trance. All routes usually come with some respect and adoration from people attending services, events or seances. This is pleasant for the medium’s ego, although it’s advisable to keep this in check. Also, some people can become dependent on mediums and become attached. This is common and should be handled carefully.

    The choice to become a medium is not easy and can be a very difficult path. There are many personal demons to encounter and overcome along the way. It is also one of the most rewarding journeys, to have the time and patience to find out more about who you really are is a privilege.

    A mediums job is to prove life after death, promote spiritualism as a science, philosophy, and religion but it’s also to bring comfort to people. Mediums have a great love for people and generally have a natural tendency to want to help others. Many mediums find it’s a calling rather than a career choice. They want to bring healing to others and become a catalyst for change within society and the human condition. We can never fully understand what awaits us after death but though mediumship, trance and healing we get a glimpse of our true nature and the love we can share with others.

    Written by Richard Stuttle