Paperback
-
SHIP THIS ITEMTemporarily Out of Stock Online
-
PICK UP IN STORE
Your local store may have stock of this item.
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781785353345 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | 6th Books |
| Publication date: | 07/29/2016 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Mediumship Within
By Chris Ratter
John Hunt Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2015 Chris RatterAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78535-335-2
CHAPTER 1
A Dawning Awareness of Spirit
Childhood Experiences
My earliest memory of spirit people, or shadow people as some like to call them, was when I was a very young child. My parents, two sisters and I lived in a council flat in an area of Edinburgh called Wardieburn. I remember waking up one night and seeing people walking down the hall beyond the open bedroom door, heading in the direction of the bathroom. This happened on several occasions as I lay awake and watched. To be honest, I was terrified. Eventually I mustered the courage to wake one of my sisters and together we went to have a look in the bathroom. There was no one there. I would see these shadow people walk down the hall almost every night.
The next experience that I can recall from memory was when I was staying at my grandparents' house. I would stay with them almost every weekend and I would sleep in their bedroom on bunk beds at the side of their double bed. I remember waking my granny up most of the nights that I stayed there because there were people (shadow people) in the room. This always resulted in her comforting me. 'They won't hurt you,' she would say. 'In you come to my bed.' I always found this to be very reassuring. I have really enjoyable memories of the visits to my grandparents.
I spent quite a lot of time by myself wandering around the grounds of the castle that my grandfather looked after and never really felt alone. Often I would be aware of speaking to myself in my own mind. I was constantly asking questions, and sometimes I would hear an answer. To keep myself amused when I was wandering around on my own I used to play a game in my mind. Now I can understand what it was that I was doing but at the time it was a just a game to me to see how far I could shift my consciousness to the side. Sometimes I was able to shift my consciousness (which felt like I had entered into another world or dimension) to such a degree that I would feel as if I was going to faint.
'A strange game for a child to play,' I can hear you say. Nevertheless, it was a game that I liked to play when I was on my own. I did not know that even back then my spirit friends were conducting experiments with me involving the altered states of trance. It was not until later on in my life, when I had some experience of trance mediumship, that I was able to begin to understand what had been happening all those years before.
Another game that I used to play involved heat through my hands. I would ask one of my sisters to lay her arms on the floor and I would put my hand over her arm or hand. I would then request that the part of their body under my hand to heat up. 'Heat up, heat up, heat up,' I would say, and then, 'go cold, go cold.' Afterwards, I would return to, 'Heat up, heat up.' My sisters were always up for this, but after a while it would start to 'freak them out' and the game would stop. I now know that this was the Spirit World getting me to experiment with the use of using spiritual healing energy.
Children are innocent when it comes to all things spiritual. When a child has an imaginary friend it may be imaginary to us, but it will seem very real to them. Children do not dismiss the Spirit World as easily as we do; they are openly receptive to whatever they see, feel and become aware of. Their minds have not been conditioned like those of adults. Children's minds and thoughts are pure and uncorrupted. They are willing to accept anything and everything, seen and unseen, in our physical world. It is not uncommon for a child to tell their parents that they have spoken to loved ones (grandparents) who have visited them during the night or through the day. Often these loved ones have passed into the Spirit World before the child was born. Nonetheless the child is able to pick them out from a photograph.
Adults and parents should encourage their children to have an open mind concerning the Spirit World. They should recognize that it is acceptable for children to have imaginary friends. I have never heard of an imaginary friend causing a problem for a child. The problem usually arises due to the parent or guardian failing to understand, or to accept, what is happening. The people from the Spirit World are never going to harm anyone. They are love, nothing less, and they only want to bring that love to those of us on the material plane, together with the understanding that we are all connected through the love of Divine Spirit.
Like many people who were visited by the spirit people at an early age, these weird but wonderful experiences started to leave me as grew older. Eventually they ceased altogether. This is a common occurrence for people who are aware of Spirit when they are very young. I suppose that one of the reasons for this happening is that not all children are aware of the Spirit World, and when we go to school children are all too willing to ridicule any child who is a little different. The Spirit World is all about protecting and supporting. It is not about hurting.
I was lucky to have grandparents who were supportive and who had an understanding of the unseen world of Spirit. The next time a parent scolds a child for speaking to an 'imaginary friend', I ask that they consider that perhaps the imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all. I was very privileged to be able to spend lots of time with my grandparents when I was young. My grandfather came to live with us when my granny passed over to the Spirit World. He was responsible for introducing me to Spiritualist churches at a young age. These churches always seemed familiar to me and I felt very comfortable in the surroundings. I loved to watch the medium from the platform speaking to the shadow people and talking about people's loved ones who were no longer of this world. I have no doubt that my granddad was well aware that there was something different about me, and that this is why he encouraged me to attend these spiritualist organizations (in order that I would know where to turn to when the time was right).
Reintroduction to the World of Spirit
I was thirty-eight years of age when the Spirit World decided that it was time for them to reintroduce themselves into my life. One evening, when I was lying in my bed watching television, I started to see shadow people out of the corner of my eye. This began as movement that would catch my attention, but I was never able to lock onto what I was seeing or feeling.
Another evening, when I was going to sleep, as I closed my eyes a bright light seemed to come on in the room. I remember opening my eyes, expecting to see one of my children standing by the door, but to my surprise the only thing I saw was a pitch black room. 'Strange,' I thought to myself, and closed my eyes again. A few minutes later the bright white light returned. Again I opened my eyes to find the room in total darkness. This time I remember exclaiming, 'What the hell is going on?' as I put my head back onto the pillow to tried to get back to sleep. Once again the light was there. This time I just tried to ignore it and eventually managed to get to sleep. When I woke in the morning I remember thinking to myself, 'What was all that all about?'
That evening I went back to work, driving my hackney cab on the nightshift. I got home about five o'clock in the morning. As I entered my home I could smell pipe smoke. This smell reminded me of my grandfather, who had been a pipe smoker all the time that I had known him. When I then turned to switch off the house alarm system I saw a young boy standing at the top of the staircase. At first I thought it was my son who was about the same size and build as the child who was standing at the top of the stairs. However, this was not the case. The apparition disappeared. I attributed what I had witnessed to feeling tired after my nightshift, proceeded to the kitchen and made myself a cup of tea. Roughly an hour later I retired to my bedroom to get some sleep.
A Fright in the Night
The bedroom was in total darkness. My wife, Gail, was asleep. Not wishing to disturb her I did not put the light on. I climbed into bed, closed my eyes and snuggled into the pillow. A few minutes later the bright, white light appeared once again. Eyes open, light gone. Eyes closed, light on. I could not understand what was happening to me. I was starting to think that perhaps I was going mad. Due to the light show, I was getting very little sleep.
A few weeks passed with these strange bright lights appearing in my eyes every night. Hoping that these events would cease as suddenly as they had started, and that things would return to normal, I told no one about them. Instead they got worse. The bedroom felt as though a freezer door was open at my side of the bed. I knew that there was something nearby that was the cause of the light show, and of the cold air that was blowing onto me, but I was trying to ignore it. The lights would start to shine whenever I closed my eyes. I was exhausted. Then one evening I heard voices in the room. My first thought was that it was Gail talking in her sleep, but she was sound asleep.
With all these things happening around me I was trying to keep a grip on reality, but with the lack of sleep this was becoming difficult. I think I managed to get a few hours of sleep that night, but not enough to function properly. I was becoming really concerned about everything that was happening and was considering going to see my doctor concerning the problem.
'I'm speaking to you!'
That evening, when I went to bed everything was just the same. Lights appeared in my eyes and an ice-cold breeze blew at the side of my bed. I tried to ignore everything and go to sleep, but a few hours later I heard voices once again in the room. 'Wake up! Wake up! I'm speaking to you,' I heard loudly. This startled me. I sat up, looked around the room and saw people standing at the bottom of my bed, not shadow people like before, but real spirit people standing watching Gail and me lying in bed. I sat as if frozen in time, looking at these people in my bedroom standing at the bottom of my bed. Then one of the figures came forward towards me at the side of the bed, turned to their left and proceeded to walk through the bedroom door.
That was enough for me. Now I was petrified and proceeded to scramble to Gail's side of the bed for protection. Gail woke up and angrily asked what was going on. I thought to myself, 'I'm just going to tell her everything that's been going on, and if I'm nuts then I'm nuts.' Gail listened as I told her about everything that had been happening during the last few months. She cuddled into me and said that everything would be all right. 'Easy for you to say that, when nothing is happening to you,' I thought.
The following evening we spoke at length about my experiences before retiring to bed. I felt better after discussing my problem with Gail. If she thought I was going mad then, bless her, she kept it to herself. That night was just the same. I tried to stay awake as long as possible to avoid a recurrence of the phenomena, but by now I was exhausted. Eventually I fell asleep. Once again, I heard a voice shouting loudly, 'I'm speaking to you! I'm speaking to you!' This startled me. I opened my eyes, but this time it felt as if I was being strangled. I panicked and flung myself in the general direction of Gail, startling her out of her sleep. 'What the hell is going on?' she demanded. After explaining to her what had happened, we settled back into bed and fell asleep. Once again the voice was back, together with the feeling of being strangled.
To be truthful, with all the events that had been happening over the last few months, I was really scared. A member of my family had been diagnosed with schizophrenia a few months before all this had started happening to me, and I was concerned that the condition may be hereditary. The following day, when Gail arrived home from her work, I told her that I wanted to go to a spiritualist church. This was something that we had never talked about in all the years we had been together. We checked the web and found a church that had a service that evening. At the time I had no idea that I was embarking upon a journey that would change the rest of my life.
Help is at Hand
We went to the church service, not knowing what to expect. We sat in the audience and I received messages from the medium on the platform about not missing the bus, confirmation that my grandparents were around, and nonsense about healing hands. To be honest it all sounded a bit sketchy to me. After the service we went for a coffee and a biscuit in the cafe inside the church premises. I managed to speak to a lady who explained to us that although she was not a medium, she was a committee member of the church. She listened intently to what I had to say regarding these strange events that had been going on in my life over the last few months, and tried her best to give me an explanation for what was happening around about me. However, we came away with many unanswered questions.
The following evening Gail and I went to a service at another spiritualist church to seek a better explanation concerning the things that had been happening around me. This service was held inside a town hall, not a church. We paid an entrance fee and sat on two seats at the back of the congregation. The female medium started the service with a prayer, and we watched as she paced up and down in front of the seating arrangements giving out messages of existence of life after death from their loved ones in the Spirit World to members of the audience who seemed to be very happy with the information they were receiving from her.
When the lady had finished passing messages to the audience, and she had brought the proceedings of the evening to a close, I went to speak to her. She kindly took the time to listen to what I had to say. 'You're not mad,' she told me, 'you do know that. There're too many spirit people around you for them just to be family members.' She went on to say that the mad ones are the people who come and tell her that they are hearing voices behind the curtains, couches, in the walls and under the floor boards.
'What is happening to you is that you have become aware of Spirit, and they have become aware of you,' she explained. 'Although you do not realize it, you are emitting a beacon of white light. It is invisible to the human eye, but to those in the Spirit World it's a beacon that lets them know you can communicate with them, and this is what's happening to you. They are drawn to the light, and you're becoming aware of them as they draw close to you.'
'What do I do to stop it?' I asked. 'Tell them to F**k off!' was her reply. I was dumbfounded at this answer from her. I had just watched this lady talking about the Divine Spirit and the love that comes from the Spirit World with an audience of about forty people listening, and hanging on to every word she had been saying to them. However, it was a firm answer. I needed firm answers concerning everything that I had been experiencing, and this firm approach made sense to me.
'I will show you how to protect yourself through a white light exercise,' she said. 'It may take up to a week for you to get things under control, but eventually it will stop them from coming forward and disturbing your sleep pattern.' I thanked the lady for her honesty. This conversation with her had settled my mind. What a relief to hear someone tell me I was not mad, and give me an explanation for the strange events that had started in my life!
That evening I started the exercise involving light protection, as instructed. As she had predicted, just over a week later everything was under control. Although the strange events of the previous few months had scared me at first, now that I had a very limited understanding of what had taken place I decided to investigate further. Everything that had taken place with me had stirred my interest. A couple of weeks later I had joined the lady's mental mediumship development circle.
CHAPTER 2The Gift of Mediumship
A Calling to Serve
Mediumship, in all its many forms, is a calling to serve Divine Spirit, the Universal Energy or whatever you wish to call it, and must not be taken lightly. The gift of mediumship can only manifest itself when the time is right, both for you and for Spirit. Spirit people will only come into your life when the time is right for your gift to unfold, and for your spiritual journey to begin. We have the right to accept them into our lives or to shut them out. Everyone has this freedom of choice, even those people from the spirit side of life.
When you first start to look into the beautiful gift of mediumship it is advisable to keep an open mind concerning all things, seen and unseen. Try not to be judgmental concerning whatever you may experience, sense or feel. I have no doubt in saying to you that many weird and wonderful things will be shown to you from the World of Spirit. At first you will not understand them, but as your awareness and curiosity start to expand, you will begin to look more deeply into these strange, but wonderful, inexplicable experiences that are happening around you.
I have no hesitation in telling you that the Spirit World does exist. It is far closer to our world than we can possibly comprehend. Those who dwell in the Spirit World no longer have, or require, the use of a physical body. However, at one time they did have a physical body when they were living their lives here in the material world, before they returned home to the World of Spirit that we all come from. Yes, we all return home to the Spirit World after we have had our period of existence on this, the material world. Those who have gone through the transition of death, as we know it, have not ceased to exist. They have merely returned home to the Spirit World in the form of energy-based life forms.
The spirit or soul of each one of us, is contained within our physical body and is the true essence of who we really are. The physical body is only a vessel, a shell that allows us to experience a spiritual journey of awakening in this physical world in which we live. The purpose of our existence on this material world is to undergo life experiences in order to gain knowledge so that we can progress our spiritual growth.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Mediumship Within by Chris Ratter. Copyright © 2015 Chris Ratter. Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements x
Preface 1
A Dawning Awareness of Spirit 2
Childhood Experiences
Reintroduction to the World of Spirit 5
A Fright in the Night 6
'I'm speaking to you!'
Help is at Hand 8
The Gift of Mediumship 11
A Calling to Serve
Communication with Our Spirit Friends 12
Spirit Guides 14
The Need for a Balanced Approach 16
Establish Clear Boundaries
Remain Grounded 18
An encounter with Spirit that made me aware of the need for me to establish boundaries 19
The Importance of Attitude 21
Jealousy, Insecurity and Feelings of Inadequacy
Some Observations on the Subject of Advice from Others 22
Ego 23
Humility, Truth and Trust 24
A Duty of Care 25
Mediumistic Development 26
Awareness Groups
Development Circles
Help from Spirit 27
Emotional Turmoil 28
Ailments and Mediumship
My Introduction to Spiritual Healing
My Journey Continues: My Early Experiences of Development Circles 31
My Introduction to the Altered State of Trance 33
A Choice To Be Made
Making the Connection 35
Attunement
The Five Clairs 36
Breathing
Exercise - Connecting with Spirit Through the Control of Breathing 37
Trance Mediumship 39
Early Experiences Involving Trance 41
Sitting in the Power 46
Exercise - Sitting in the Power 47
Spirit Energy Blending 48
Trance Blending 50
Trance Communication and Trance Mediumship 51
Curiouser and Curiouser 52
It is All About Percentages 54
Physical Trance Mediumship 55
Healing Through Mediumship 57
Spiritual Healing
Training to Become a Spiritual Healer 58
A healer cannot cure disease but has an essential part to play in the healing process 60
The Three-way Connection Principle 61
The Importance of Attunement 62
Spirit Healers Need Training Too 63
My Introduction to Spiritual Healing 64
Distant Healing 67
Healing Thoughts, Healing Lists and the Involvement of Spirit Workers
How does distant healing work, and what if the recipient is unaware that their name has been put forward? 69
If distant healing is so successful, why do people need to visit a healer for treatment? 70
Travelling with Spirit to Heal 71
Awareness of the presence of the healer by the person receiving the healing or their close relatives during distant healing 73
Trance Healing 76
Trance Healing Procedure 78
Remember the Importance of Forming the Three-way Connection 79
Don't Rely upon Receiving a Calling Card 80
Trance and Trance Healing from the Perspective of Spirit 84
Some comments on the subject of insight that we may be given by spirit workers into the physical state of clients 88
My Trance Healing Journey 90
I First Become Aware of a Very Special Person
Missing the Connection 94
Wales, the Turning Point for Me! 97
Confirmation from Spirit of the Identity of My Main Trance Control 101
The Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary 103
Following the Path of Spirit 104
Learning to Work with Trance Healing 105
A Change in Practice - Initial Assessment 107
A Hard Lesson to Learn - Never Attempt to Interfere
My Introduction to Psychic Surgery 110
Some Healing Results 113
A Young Child with Crohn's Disease.
A Lady with Esophageal Stricture 116
A Case of a Lady with Renal Failure
A Young Lady with a Brain Tumor 120
A Lady with No Sensations of Taste or Smell 122
Some Unusual Aspects of Mediumship 125
Strength in Mediumship
Astral Travel 126
House Clearing 128
My first experience of assisting an earth-bound spirit to move into the light
Ghost in the House 130
A Scary Encounter 132
Elementals 135
My First Encounter with an Elemental
A Tree Spirit Appears During Our Trance Development Group 136
A Blending of Energies 137
Some Funny Stories 140
A Strange Gift from a Client
An Elongated Story 141
Pillow Talk
Reflections 142