As part of my ongoing investigation of Spiritualism, I attempted to hold an old-fashioned seance at my home this past Halloween. Easier said than done, it turns out. It seems that modern day Spiritualist Mediums tend to shy away from the very type of activity they pioneered in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the Spiritualist churches I contacted never even bothered to return my call and the other one, which I have been attending, informed me their mediums aren't allowed to partake in such activities off their premises. Interesting.
I also contacted the offices of another Medium/Pet Psychic/Healer that a friend told me about. Another no go for an off-site seance. However, while checking her out, I stumbled across the fact that until recently she was best known for being a porn star.
My guests and I settled for an impromptu Ouija board session. I hadn't used a Ouija Board since I was kid. While some were nervous (thanks to Hollywood) to muck about with Parker Brothers' cardboard and plastic contraption, it proved to be as ineffectual as ever - unless, you happen to speak a language with very little use for vowels. Other than YES or NO questions, the board did not have much of consequence to communicate.
Last week, a friend emailed me a flyer on a psychic who was doing a small group session of spirit contact at a nearby New Age Wellness Center. I was intrigued since she claimed to have trained with the Spiritualist Church, plus, the price was right. In total, four of us showed up to this gathering. Perfect! The psychic informed us that she wanted as little information as possible on the dearly departed we desired to contact. Though she needed their names and our relationship to them. Then she went about sharing messages from them while in a very, casual non-trance state. Messages tended to be of a very generic nature and seemed to be designed to comfort and reassure the seeker that their loved ones had moved on to a better plane of existence and were now pain free and watching over them, when they weren't busily engaged in some important work on the other side.
I was first up. The spirit I wished to contact was my biological father, a man I never knew and who died a violent death when I was ten years old. In my estimate, a spirit like this might have a lot to say to me. Nope. No mention of anything pertinent. The psychic kept asking me for questions or if I wished to receive any sort of advice and guidance from the deceased. Since my father never knew me, had a failed football career due to a knee injury, and was shot to death at the age of thirty - I decided to skip getting any advice. Perhaps asking the question, "Do you have any regrets?" would be a good opening gambit. The reply she received was, "Money." Then the woman who wanted as little information as possible about the deceased, peppered me with questions concerning my father and money. Was my father worried about money at the end of his life? Did he have financial troubles? Though I didn't know my father personally, I know about him through friends and family members. To the best of my knowledge he wasn't experiencing any unusual money difficulties at the time of his death. Considering the other circumstances in his life, I find it hard to believe this would be his foremost regret. Especially when you take into consideration that he is now supposedly viewing these past events from a higher plane.
The second person I requested contact with was a good friend who died from beast cancer in 2007. Once again, not much of consequence was coming through and I was asked for questions. I decided to take another tack this time and asked if she had a message for her daughters. She did. Mostly generic messages about love and how she was watching over them. This proved to be particularly noteworthy, since my friend had no children.
By the time of my third pass I was pretty much ready to pack it in and go home, but decided to give it one more try. I opted to contact a great aunt, a woman who had more than a passing interest in the arcane and esoteric. Once again, the medium was not receiving any material of merit and I was asked to posit a question to my great aunt. I asked if she was sorry about taking her life. This seemed to unblock the channel between the worlds. Not only did she regret taking her life, she particularly regretted the mess she left behind for others to clean. Only problem with this message is the fact she passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 94.
Here is some rare footage of the late, great mentalist, Joseph Dunninger. Like his friend, Houdini, Dunninger took it upon himself to expose fraudulent mediums.
I also contacted the offices of another Medium/Pet Psychic/Healer that a friend told me about. Another no go for an off-site seance. However, while checking her out, I stumbled across the fact that until recently she was best known for being a porn star.
My guests and I settled for an impromptu Ouija board session. I hadn't used a Ouija Board since I was kid. While some were nervous (thanks to Hollywood) to muck about with Parker Brothers' cardboard and plastic contraption, it proved to be as ineffectual as ever - unless, you happen to speak a language with very little use for vowels. Other than YES or NO questions, the board did not have much of consequence to communicate.
Last week, a friend emailed me a flyer on a psychic who was doing a small group session of spirit contact at a nearby New Age Wellness Center. I was intrigued since she claimed to have trained with the Spiritualist Church, plus, the price was right. In total, four of us showed up to this gathering. Perfect! The psychic informed us that she wanted as little information as possible on the dearly departed we desired to contact. Though she needed their names and our relationship to them. Then she went about sharing messages from them while in a very, casual non-trance state. Messages tended to be of a very generic nature and seemed to be designed to comfort and reassure the seeker that their loved ones had moved on to a better plane of existence and were now pain free and watching over them, when they weren't busily engaged in some important work on the other side.
I was first up. The spirit I wished to contact was my biological father, a man I never knew and who died a violent death when I was ten years old. In my estimate, a spirit like this might have a lot to say to me. Nope. No mention of anything pertinent. The psychic kept asking me for questions or if I wished to receive any sort of advice and guidance from the deceased. Since my father never knew me, had a failed football career due to a knee injury, and was shot to death at the age of thirty - I decided to skip getting any advice. Perhaps asking the question, "Do you have any regrets?" would be a good opening gambit. The reply she received was, "Money." Then the woman who wanted as little information as possible about the deceased, peppered me with questions concerning my father and money. Was my father worried about money at the end of his life? Did he have financial troubles? Though I didn't know my father personally, I know about him through friends and family members. To the best of my knowledge he wasn't experiencing any unusual money difficulties at the time of his death. Considering the other circumstances in his life, I find it hard to believe this would be his foremost regret. Especially when you take into consideration that he is now supposedly viewing these past events from a higher plane.
The second person I requested contact with was a good friend who died from beast cancer in 2007. Once again, not much of consequence was coming through and I was asked for questions. I decided to take another tack this time and asked if she had a message for her daughters. She did. Mostly generic messages about love and how she was watching over them. This proved to be particularly noteworthy, since my friend had no children.
By the time of my third pass I was pretty much ready to pack it in and go home, but decided to give it one more try. I opted to contact a great aunt, a woman who had more than a passing interest in the arcane and esoteric. Once again, the medium was not receiving any material of merit and I was asked to posit a question to my great aunt. I asked if she was sorry about taking her life. This seemed to unblock the channel between the worlds. Not only did she regret taking her life, she particularly regretted the mess she left behind for others to clean. Only problem with this message is the fact she passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 94.
Here is some rare footage of the late, great mentalist, Joseph Dunninger. Like his friend, Houdini, Dunninger took it upon himself to expose fraudulent mediums.