Oh there's SO much I'd love discuss following this really wonderful interview. In the 70s my Nana went to mediums all the time. I had to wait outside, too little to go in. So I'd drink orange squash in the basement of what was then the Marylebone Spiritualists' Institute and wait to hear who'd turned up. Nan was very matter of fact about it. My Dad died at home, from cancer, when I was 25. He believed saw his Mum at the end of the bed in the hours of his dying. The interview made me laugh too, as Dad also wasn't keen on his father turning up. I did go to a medium after he died and thought she was extraordinary. Though went again years later, to the same woman and it was utter rubbish. Have you ever been?
Oh wow! And did your nan find the church helpful? I’ve been thinking I’d really like to go to a spiritualist church, particularly as they’re not for profit but a place where people can grieve together which I think is a really helpful thing. I did visit a medium! I found it both very comforting and conflicting. I wrote about it here: https://catrionainnes.substack.com/p/did-i-really-just-speak-to-my-dead xxx
Yes she did. She was a child of the First World War when such collective grief gave spiritualism such a peak. She went to sittings and circles at the old Belgrave Square HQ but not sure she went to the churches so much, though am hazy about how it all works. I enjoyed reading about your visit. Like you, the sceptic in me tries to analyse how it's done. There's so much anyone vaguely sensitive and empathetic could say that someone grieving and seeking proof of spirits existing beyond life would latch on to and start constructing a rationale/narrative. I think there's a disconnect as if we're open to these people being empaths it's hard to square that with exploiting sorrow for cash. We don't think of bereavement counsellors in that way, as evil people taking advantage. But that suspicion definitely hovers around anyone who claims to hear the dead. I felt it myself for sure. Very wary. But there were things said that just couldn't be lucky guesses - or not in my view. And this was pre-internet in a session booked over the phone by a neighbour with a different surname. Sadly, of course, I have no recording. But made notes afterwards. Not sure I was comforted, exactly. Totally intrigued though, definitely.
Oh there's SO much I'd love discuss following this really wonderful interview. In the 70s my Nana went to mediums all the time. I had to wait outside, too little to go in. So I'd drink orange squash in the basement of what was then the Marylebone Spiritualists' Institute and wait to hear who'd turned up. Nan was very matter of fact about it. My Dad died at home, from cancer, when I was 25. He believed saw his Mum at the end of the bed in the hours of his dying. The interview made me laugh too, as Dad also wasn't keen on his father turning up. I did go to a medium after he died and thought she was extraordinary. Though went again years later, to the same woman and it was utter rubbish. Have you ever been?
Oh wow! And did your nan find the church helpful? I’ve been thinking I’d really like to go to a spiritualist church, particularly as they’re not for profit but a place where people can grieve together which I think is a really helpful thing. I did visit a medium! I found it both very comforting and conflicting. I wrote about it here: https://catrionainnes.substack.com/p/did-i-really-just-speak-to-my-dead xxx
Yes she did. She was a child of the First World War when such collective grief gave spiritualism such a peak. She went to sittings and circles at the old Belgrave Square HQ but not sure she went to the churches so much, though am hazy about how it all works. I enjoyed reading about your visit. Like you, the sceptic in me tries to analyse how it's done. There's so much anyone vaguely sensitive and empathetic could say that someone grieving and seeking proof of spirits existing beyond life would latch on to and start constructing a rationale/narrative. I think there's a disconnect as if we're open to these people being empaths it's hard to square that with exploiting sorrow for cash. We don't think of bereavement counsellors in that way, as evil people taking advantage. But that suspicion definitely hovers around anyone who claims to hear the dead. I felt it myself for sure. Very wary. But there were things said that just couldn't be lucky guesses - or not in my view. And this was pre-internet in a session booked over the phone by a neighbour with a different surname. Sadly, of course, I have no recording. But made notes afterwards. Not sure I was comforted, exactly. Totally intrigued though, definitely.
Thank you Ruth. Lots of love x