Richard Stuttle

Tag: Spiritual

Road to recovery from Bacterial Meningitis
I shuffled around my home everything looked the same but slightly different. It felt surreal, the space was the same, but my viewpoint and understanding had shifted. It was me that was different, almost like looking at a well-known painting upside down, I knew what it was, it was familiar, but I could see new shapes. A perspective that I had not realised before.
Posted to Facebook and Instagram on the 19^th February 2022
“Back at home and I have been administering my own intravenous antibiotics for the last couple of weeks. A visit to the hospital and CT scan revealed that the mass on my brain is now 6mm which is down from 1.3cm. I am covid free and the infection level in my system is down to single digits. The doctor is pleased with my progress. I’ve had my midline removed and feel far more human again.
Physically, my strength is returning. Although I still get headaches, they are manageable and I’m starting to work on my mind, focus and memory. Keeping positive and striving for a full recovery!
A big thank you to Ruth for looking after me every day. Thank you to everyone who has sent me love and healing over the last 6 weeks, it’s definitely made a difference. I am forever in your debt”
The healing process, what had happened to me?
Six weeks since I was admitted to hospital with no immune system, bacterial meningitis and a 1.3cm abscess on the right side of my brain. My body had been physically destroyed. Since then, it worked incredibly hard. Identified the inflection and abscess and unleashed its defence mechanisms targeting the foreign bodies reinforced by antibiotics, steroids and painkillers. It also started to rebuild my immune system.
“To the NHS I offer my eternal thanks for their brilliant service and keeping me alive. If it wasn’t for the paramedics and doctor’s diagnosis and the nurses care and treatment, I am pretty sure I would no longer be here.”
Another important role I believe was played by my friends and loved ones. Their thoughts, energy and love. Many friends and colleagues are spiritual practitioners working with healing, energy, and mediumship. They had been sending love and healing on a regular basis. I had time to think about how this had helped, the energy of positive thought and the spirit world, working alongside my medical treatment. I truly believe it helped to put me at ease, reduce the pain and made a difference.
When I look at what could have happened, my chances of survival and the sequence of events, I surely believe that I am blessed. I am incredibly lucky to still be here and to be recovering.
I believe there are a few considerations to my recovery
1. Always listen to the doctors and follow their advice and course of treatment.
2. To receive openly the love, support, compassion, and healing from others.
3. Letting go of all stress and any bad will towards others.
4. Understanding what’s happening with your energy, wellbeing, and emotional state.
Continuing to heal after hospital
The doctor was pleased, I was making good progress. The antibiotics had done their job, physically I was getting stronger. I could walk around the block without getting out of breath.
Mentally, I was not myself. I didn’t feel as quick as before or on the ball. Still healing but my mind felt different, my body was different too. It all felt a little unreal. I had symptoms that the doctor said would disappear over time and I was expected to make a full recovery.
- I still got headaches and sharp pains in and around my head.
- My focus was not the same as before, my mind would wander off thinking about nothing.
- My memory was not great, things would leave my mind right after a conversation.
- I searched for words and struggled to find a decent vocabulary.
- My balance was not quote right, especially with change of light or elevation.
- I was creativity drained. I had very little enthusiasm for anything.
I just didn’t feel myself anymore, of course it was completely understandable as I had been seriously ill. The doctors had fixed me so I would live, they had done their job. My family, friends and colleagues showed me how much they cared, for which I felt incredibly humble. Now it was my turn to heal myself the rest of the way, it was my responsibility.
Firstly, I knew from experience that I wasn’t aiming to become the person I used to be. That person had gone. I had an opportunity to become a new and (hopefully) improved version. This whole experience had many valuable lessons to teach me but right now I had no idea what any of them were.
I truly believed that understanding personal and other people’s energy, knowledge of chakras and the importance of meditation comes to the forefront. These were areas I had studied, and I knew I needed to use for the next stage of my recovery.
Reflection & Insight
I was never the best meditator, I always had too much to do, or my mind wanted to create something new. Though art and short daily practices I found my quiet space. I had not created any art in nearly two months, I found it scary to sit in front of my easel again. A blank canvas scared me, which never had before.
I had just finished reading a book by Caroline Myss, it inspired and seem to come at the right time. I recorded my own guided daily meditation, only fourteen minutes but would start to move my mind into the right space each morning.
I was unable to work and had to turn down jobs, I couldn’t worry about it now. For the first time in a long time, I had a clear schedule, my only focus was on healing. Maybe this focus of healing and self-care should have happened a while ago.
With time to think, even if I’m not always thinking clearly. I still had time to consider some important questions.
- Why has this happened to me?
- What can I learn from this?
Why has this happened? Possibly to remove the “should haves” A coincidence of events that points to serendipity, something significant to stand up and take note. Is there are grand plan? This is not at all relevant and some questions are for another time, but the “should haves” that I have been dealing with for a while. After passing 40 years old, my body doesn’t repair at the same rate or react as quickly. If I want it to do another 40 years, I need to make time to look after it, look after me like someone I love and respect.
I have certainly had time to look back at what I have been doing, how I spent my time. I have the opportunity to remove the things that no longer matter and reducing the amount of “should haves”.
Written by Richard Stuttle
January 11, 2025
The Healing Process through Creativity

I have always had a love for painting, my father, a professional artist, encouraged me to draw and paint since I was a child. I love the arts and how different artists see the world. Through art, the imagination knows no bounds.
Before the pandemic, I was introduced to Hester Ligtvoet, we had briefly met a year or so earlier at the Arthur Findlay College. She is a professional pianist, healer, and energy coach. We were interested in how art and music can be combined with spiritual and energy healing. Working together on a weekly basis, Hester played the piano while I produced charcoal or pastel drawings. We worked with energy and the spirit world to create something focused, healing and unique.
We developed a healing session which brough together a music meditation along with a piece of art. An interesting concept, with weekly development we found that we were perfectly in tune with each other. My hand moving around the paper, perfectly in time with Hester’s inspired notes. We both felt we were led by the spirit world for the good of the individual or intension of our focus. We had both done a lot of development over the years but still were completely shocked how our energy came together and it felt very natural.
I had not wanted to paint or draw since I got ill, I think it was due to the abscess developing on the righthand side of my brain which fed my creativity, and I was left-handed. I hoped I just had to wait. Nearly two months after I was first admitted to hospital I went down to the studio and picked up my paint brushes. I did it with the same intent as I had with Hester, only now the focus was my own healing. Physically, the reduction of the abscess. Mentally, to retrain my focus and my memory. Energetically, to build my energy, realign my chakras and repair my energy fields.
I found it an incredibly interesting process, there was no timeframe and I allowed myself to drift. Each colour and brush stoke was making a different. I tried not to pull anything from my imagination but to go deeper than that. At times I felt like a mechanic covered in oil repairing a huge machine, other times floating and blowing clouds to create various formations and symbols. The art as it had done for many years allowed me to look deeper into the subject matter, I had been a traditional artist in many ways, landscapes, and portraits. Each painting had a purpose, to capture the view or the person in front of me. Of course, all art reflects the artist, but this time there was no subject matter in front of me, my healing was the purpose, and I was the reflection.
For people looking to art to find out more about the healing process I can wholeheartedly say that for me I believe it’s made a difference. Art has always been my creative outlet, allowing me to process my own thoughts. It feels comfortable to draw and to paint without expectation (what I mean by this is to remove all notions of this must be good or thoughts, I am rubbish, a child could do better.) For healing, it is not the final product, but the colours and brush strokes along the way. The act of painting or wherever you choose to engage with your creativity is where the biggest differences can be made. Where the greatest self-healing can take place.
Positive Energy & the Power of Thought
I have always considered myself an optimist, even if it’s just a sprinkling on top of a lifetime of societies negative conditioning. I do try to see the learning opportunity and best possible outcome in most situations.
As I have gotten older, I have learnt more about the power of thought. There is a whole science behind it, like attracts like and the power of visualisation and will. I have experience of how this has worked for me. In my book Chasing Rainbows – The Stolen Future of Caroline Ann Stuttle, I talk about living and working in the mountains and meeting likeminded people who have all naturally gravitated together. The same when I was backpacking around Australia, I met people who had the same enthusiasm for travel and who shared the same lust for life. Where it gets interesting is, for example, out of ten people I met, there would be six who shared multiple interests and similar mindsets. Out of those six, maybe two would share a stronger connection.
At first, I didn’t know why or how this manifested, but through years of learning about energy I could feel the levels of connection, shared vibrations in body, mind and soul. These connections are real, only through experience can we understand how we are affected by people, places and situations.
I am using this understanding to help my healing, my body although healed from a medical point of view I feel incredibly sensitive on every other level. I experience everything on a far deeper level, this manifests physically as every sensation or pain has meaning.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Inspiration from Isolation

All artists paint in an altered state. As soon as they pick up a brush, they move into a different space where freedom and inspiration are intertwined. 2020 has certainly been a year that no one expected, which threw up many challenges. For many, harnessing their creativity during lockdown was a way to mentally escape from the restrictions which were placed upon us.
For me, painting has always been an outlet where I could process information, explore new directions and feel a connection not only with myself and loved ones, but also people in the spirit world. I found myself feeling things that were not always from myself.
My curiosity led me to explore further, around 20 years ago I came across Spiritualism and started to learn about the spirit world. This explained made sense of the sensations I would feel when painting.
Taking up a Challenge
I came across a competition ran by The College of Psychic Studies and thought it a wonderful opportunity to join with other artists who are consciously aware of their connected relationship with art and spirit.
A blank canvas can be somewhat daunting for many artists, but I have always seen the limitless potential of what could happen. Many pictures are already painted in the mind before the artist puts brush to canvas. The daunting part for me was always: do I have the necessary skills to do the work justice?
With a wide brief of Inspiration from Isolation I had no idea what I was going to paint, the image formed over a few days and I soon covered the canvas with a largescale landscape, many points of reference appeared in the work relating to spiritualism and the spirit world. It was something I hadn’t tried in this way before and I found it an interesting experience. I also considered the other artists who were also in their studios working on pictures inspired by the spirit world and following the brief. There was an interesting connection between us all whether we were aware of it or not.
I was very lucky to be a finalist in the competition and had the opportunity to see the incredible work done by other artists. I feel this way of working through art is a beautiful way to connect the spirit world and our world. They say a picture paints a thousand words, but it can also contain a thousand emotions and connections to bring us all closer together.
Spirit Art
When talking about spirit and art, it’s important to mention spirit art in a more traditional sense, drawing accurate and recognisable portraits of loved ones in the spirit world. Firstly, incredibly important to be able to draw, portraits are incredibly difficult, a couple of millimetres can change a face completely. Combining the skills of portrait painting with high level mediumship is a rare combination. We can look at some of the great spirit artists like Frank Leah and Coral Polge. If done to this standard, what incredible proof of the existence of life after mortal death. To be able to offer an evidential communication from a spirit communicator to a recipient, combined with an accurate portrait of the spirit communicator is incredible.
How people choose to develop their art with the spirit world is up to them and for me should always be a combination of inspiration from spirit and hard work. The better tools and skills we have as artists and mediums, the more spirit can use to share love, healing, knowledge and evidential communication.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
What is the Purpose of Prayer?

Prayer is a major part of most religions and can be seen in many ancient civilisations including Mayan, Egyptian and Greek, dating back far beyond 4000 BC. Praying has been considered a powerful force and a way to offer thanks to God and Mother Nature depending on the religion and belief system.
Prayer is a way to communicate with God and connect your soul with the divine. It enhances belief for many. Prayer is a conversation, a way for connecting with the divine and listening for a response. It is quite possible to have a conversation with God and must always be considered a huge privilege. To have the ability to talk to the creator and undergo the realisation that a spark of the creator’s energy is in oneself.
Prayer offers a moment of inner reflection. It offers time for the individual to understand more about their feelings and a moment to feel thankful for life itself and the blessings bestowed upon us. It’s a way to be completely honest with oneself and offer forgiveness to ourselves and others. Compassion can come through understanding and reflection.
To understand the power of prayer, it must be understood that it is relevant to the belief, honestly and intent in which it is done. Just like with every other action in life. Prayer must be done with love and appreciation. It must be from the heart. Empty words will do little to change anything but done with love and passion, prayer can be extremely powerful.
One example of this utter dedication and love for God has been represented in sculpture by one of the greatest artists and sculptors in history. In 1647, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned and began work on the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. This became a defining work. The story of St Teresa is well known, ‘Teresa of Ávila was a nun who lived in 16th century Spain, at the height of the Reformation. She wrote about her visions in several books, including this description of the scene Bernini depicted: Beside me, on the left, appeared an angel in bodily form…. He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels, who seem to be all on fire…. In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one’s soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it – even a considerable share.’
The utter dedication St Teresa had for the love for God was all consuming. That power has huge potential to make a difference in our world, not just with belief but also a physical different if harnessed correctly. Prayer, if done with the whole heart, can heal the sick, fix the broken and change our world.
If the power and connection is understood then the realisation and act of praying can help to build bridges, improve lives and help our soul continue on its journey of evolution. Regular prayer is beneficial for our mental state in a similar way long term meditation can benefit our lives. A moment in prayer can harmonise our energy and body, it can allow us to connect with the God within ourselves and boost our confidence. It can also offer an alternate view of ourselves, others and our world. It’s a way to be thankful for life, everything we have and hold dear.
Prayer can connect people in this world, it’s a shared belief, when people pray together, they are also connecting with each other. This can create a psychic link with people in our world, recognising and connecting through the divine spark within each of us.
Praying together as a group or congregation invites the presence of God into the room and helps to increase the faith of everyone present. People who feel touched by God’s presence have more confidence in themselves and strive to live their life’s purpose.
Some of the philosophy of Silver Birch came through the mediumship of Maurice Barbanell, in the book ‘The Teachings of Silver Birth’. When asked about enlisting help from those in the spirit world his reply was, ‘If you pray with sincerity, you make yourselves, because of the act of prayer, accessible to higher forces. The mere act of prayer opens up the soul. You must pray with your hearts, souls and minds. Mere requests are not prayers. Prayer, truly understood, is a great spiritual exercise. I can best explain it all by saying that prayer should always be regarded as a means to an end, not the end itself.’
This answer confirms that prayer done with mind, body and soul can have great power and make a big difference in the lives of the individual, as well as lives of the people that prayers are aimed at. Prayer in itself is only part of the journey and should be done regularly, with conviction, in order to make the difference in people’s lives and the evolution of one’s soul.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 11, 2025
Exploring Physical Mediumship

Physical mediumship can be best described as; the spirit world manipulating our world through a medium creating tangible physical evidence and proof of life after mortal death. Physical mediumship was more prevalent in the mid 19th and early 20th century. The first real documented evidence was that of the Fox sisters in Hydesville in 1848. They communicated with Mr Splitfoot as the girls called him, later confirmed as Charles B Rosna in what came to be known as the ‘Hydesville Rappings’.
This was marked as the birth of modern Spiritualism. The Fox sisters Catherine (Kate) and Margaretta (Maggie) made contact with a spirit communicator by ‘rapping’ on a table, Mr Rosna replied with similar sounds. The sisters developed a simple code and realised if they asked questions, they would get a reply.
Automatic Writing
Another incredible form of physical mediumship which is more widely seen today is automatic writing. I feel it is completely underrated as a spirit communication technique. For a medium to allow part of their body to be overtaken by the spirit world and be aware of their hands writing words they never thought of in a completely different pen style is incredible. From a training and development point of view its perfect for the medium to become aware of what’s happening to part of their body. From an evidential point of view, it’s an excellent practice as not only does the medium have writings and information from spirit but also a sample of the spirit communicators handwriting.
This should not be confused with inspired writing, which, for the writers among, us is more commonplace. Have you ever been lost in the flow of words, writing or typing frantically but deliberately? When reading the work back think ‘did I write this?’
The spirit world and mediums developed automatic writing was part of their communication techniques, it was quicker and more direct than rapping’s. More information could be given with less energy from both medium and spirit communicator.
Physical Materialisation
Another form of physical mediumship is physical materialisation. Arguably the most impressive and in modern day the rarest form of mediumship. The medium will usually, but not always, go deep into a trance state and allow their body to be taken over by the spirit world. This would usually happen in a box or cupboard, under controlled conditions using a dim or red light. Ectoplasm would form from the medium and excrete form their aural orifices or from their solar plexus, it would be made up from dead skin and waste products from the mediums body and could extend to form a physical manifestation of spirit communicators.
One of the finest physical mediums was Alec Harris, he worked with his spirit guide ‘White Wing’ for many years. In 1940 he had received repeated messages from White Wing saying ‘One day. Faithful, White Wing will walk, talk and mingle with you.’ He had to trust. Helen Duncan, who was a high-profile and extremely gifted medium at the time, was in town for a séance and demonstration. On trying to get a place at the demonstration (as he thought it would be the only way for White Wing to materialise), Mr Harris was told that he would be able to do materialisations in his own circle if he changed the evening it took place. He immediately moved it to Tuesday evenings. On the first Tuesday, a ball of light formed in the cabinet. A head and headdress formed, a full materialisation followed, it was White Wing and the beginning of Alec Harris’s physical mediumship.
Teaching and Philosophy
We are witness to many seemingly impossible things in life, it’s important to keep an open mind. Whether we have experienced the unexplainable or touched our own inspiration, surprising ourselves with what we can achieve. Opening to the impossible is one of the best ways to push ourselves to believe that anything possible.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 10, 2025
Exploring Mental Mediumship

We are incredibly complex and have developed our senses over centuries of evolution. Our minds are wonderfully elaborate and can be trained and honed to become aware of different vibrations and energies in both our world and the spirit world. As we develop our mediumship, we train our senses to become aware of different frequencies tuning into the spirit world and spirit communicators. This is similar to the way we have trained our ears to interpret sound waves into words and visual information through our eyes into pictures and objects.
There are two main types of mental mediumship with very distinct differences. The first type is ‘perceptive’ mediumship, information is received from the spirit world and is interpreted by the mind and knowledge of the medium. The other type is ‘spirit controlled’, the medium enters an altered state and allows the spirit world to take control of their body, the medium is still aware of what’s happening and is able retake control at any time.
Perceptive Mediumship
Mediums complete extensive training fine-tuning their abilities; clairsentience, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairolfactriance, clairgustance and claircognisance. This type of mediumship is primarily used in evidential mediumship, generally dealing with one spirit communicator and one recipient at a time, although multiple spirit communicators may attune to a medium during a single sitting. The medium picks up information from the spirit communicator and interprets the information verbally, emotionally and physically directly to the recipient.
Clairvoyance is arguably the most common of the clair’s and easiest to develop. Clairvoyance is the ability to see pictures, faces and objects in your mind’s eye from a spirit communicator. As visual beings many of us think in pictures or are able to use our imagination effectively, this plays a large part in developing clairvoyance. The spirit world is able to convey pictures and images to the medium when they are attuned. Clairvoyance can be one of the most powerful tools for spirit communication and is also one of the most energy efficient ways for the spirit world to communicate. They say a picture can paint a thousand words, if the spirit world send a picture to the medium its possible for the medium to offer multiple points of evidence from a single image.
Spirit Controlled Mediumship
Also referred to as ‘trance’ mediumship, the medium enters a deep altered trance state and is able to allow the spirit world to take over parts of their body and mind. A spirit communicator may be able to use the mediums voice box to create sound and speak. The mediums body may also be manipulated by the spirit communicator, taking on their mannerisms which can highlight aspects of their personality. The medium will always be aware of what’s happening on some level and be able to retake their body and mind from the spirit communicator at any time. This type of mediumship is generally used to gather higher knowledge or insightful wisdom to benefit many. Trance mediums often work with so called ‘spirit guides’or members of the ‘Ministry of Angels’.
To be able to attune to a trance state takes a lot of work and development. The medium must have complete trust in their abilities and in their team of spirit workers. The fundamental difference to ‘perceptive’ mediumship is that the mind of the medium is not interpreting the information. This means the information should be completely unfiltered, the spirit communicator speaks using their words and terminology ensuring the true meaning is conveyed.
The Medium Must Do the Work
With both ‘perception’ and ‘spirit controlled’ mediumship, it is down to the medium to develop their natural abilities in order for the spirit world to work through them. The responsibility is always on the medium to improve their skills and enhance their understanding. As always, the more developed the medium’s abilities, the better the result.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 10, 2025
What is the difference between Physical and Mental Mediumship?

There are many misconceptions when it comes to mediumship. One major distinction that needs to be understood is the difference between physical and mental mediumship. Firstly, it’s important to understand that both types require the power and knowledge of a medium. Through extensive training and practice, mediums are able to attune to different frequencies. This allows the spirit world to work with the medium when demonstrating either physical or mental mediumship.
It’s important to note that the primary purpose of all mediumship is to prove proof of the immortality of the human existence.
What is Physical Mediumship?
Physical mediumship can be described as; anything happening of a physical nature that can be perceived by the medium and others present. The catalyst for all physical mediumship is through the correct attunement, this state is sometimes called ‘trance’, which takes many years of study and dedication to master. Physical mediumship includes a wide spectrum of phenomena. Going back to the 1880’s and the ‘Hydesville Rappings’, which has since become known as the birth of modern Spiritualism. The Fox sisters, Leah, Catherine and Margaretta who first communicated with the spirit world. It was the two younger sisters, Catherine (Kate) and Margaretta (Maggie) who made contact by ‘rapping’ on a table, the spirit world replied with similar sounds. Over time they developed a code and realised that if they asked questions the answers would come in the form of a knocking sound. As Spiritualism developed, this phenomenon became known as percussion and included any percussive sound made by the spirit world.
As the mediums became more developed through the early 20^th century, the spirit world was able to produce ectoplasm utilising products from the mediums body, when people think of physical mediumship this is generally their first thought. Physical mediumship is classified as the spirit world manipulating the medium.Another example would be automatic writing, where the spirit world is physically manipulating the hand of the medium. There are also many documented cases of telekinesis, apports and asports, as well as white noise phenomena or EVP and ITC. Transfiguration, levitation and direct voice also fall into the category of physical mediumship.
Unfortunately, today there are very few physical mediums. This is partly due to the extensive training and development that is involved. It takes many years to develop the skills required to work with the spirit world in this way. Another reason is that the spirit world has found other, more energy efficient, ways to communicate.
What is Mental Mediumship?
Mental mediumship is classified as communication from the spirit world which is interpreted through the mind and consciousness of the medium. Most mediums working today are mental mediums. This is called ‘perception’, and is anything relating to clairsentience, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairolfactriance, clairgustance and claircognisance which is perceived by the mind of the medium.Perception also includes inspirational writing, speaking and drawing. The medium is in an altered state and inspired by the spirit world.
Another type of mental mediumship is ‘spirit controlled’ mediumship, this is where the medium enters a trance state, and the spirit communicators take over the mediums body. The face could change, voice be overtaken, and mannerisms of the spirit person could be seen through body movement. People sometimes think this is physical mediumship, but the distinction needs to be clearly made. With all mental and perceptive mediumship, the medium is aware of what was happening and can regain control at any point.
Perceptive mental mediumship is mainly used to provide evidence of survival after death to loved ones during a Divine Service, private or group sitting. This form of mediumship works well for three-way attunement, the recipient, the spirit communicator and the medium.
Spirit controlled mental mediumship is more likely to bring forward communication form the ministry of angels or spirit guides to share teachings and philosophy that could benefit a larger group.
What is Healing Mediumship?
Known by many mediums as the purest form of mediumship. Spiritual healing can take many forms, from contact to absent healing, trance healing and magnetic healing. Although people who specialise in healing won’t profess to be mediums, they are using mediumistic abilities to attune to the spirit world. They become a channel for healing. It is worth noting that during both physical and mental mediumship, healing is also delivered.
The fundamental difference between physical and mental mediumship is the way the spirit world communicates through the medium. When the spirit world manipulates our physical world for other people to experience, this is classed as physical mediumship. The spirit world manipulating the senses of the medium to be interpreted by the mind and body of the medium is classed as mental mediumship.
Written by Richard Stuttle

January 10, 2025