Welsh Light

I was very happy to receive a message from the lovely Angela Brigenshaw, who runs Aberaeron Spiritualist Church, with her husband David. Angela asked me if I would like to serve the church, for a divine service on the Saturday, and for a demonstration of trance on the Sunday. I agreed to serve as I love serving Welsh churches, my late father was Welsh. So in my own little way serving Welsh churches, is my way of remembering and paying my respects to my dad. Myself and Angela agreed the dates for both demonstrations to be the 3rd and 4th August 2024. Angela also invited me to stay with her and David whilst I was in Wales, this was a welcome invitation as it would save me the cost of a hotel. Angela also asked if I would like to serve The Ray of Light Spiritualist Church, up the road from them in Llechryd, I said I would if they would like me to serve. During the following week the lovely Linda Mulvey contacted me from The Ray of light giving me a booking for a demonstration of mediumship 6th August 2024. Angela told me I was welcome to stay with her and David until after the demonstration at The Ray of Light. Angela told me they have trouble getting mediums to travel that far to serve them, the least they could do was put the mediums up, who are prepared to travel to them, I thought this was very kind of Angela and David to accommodate we circuit mediums who serve their church.

I arrived at Angela and David’s home at around 4.45pm 02/08/24, after a nearly 6 hour journey from my home near Winchester. I encountered traffic jams on the M4, which delayed my arrival, I was glad to not be driving, I was given a warm welcome, we had dinner and caught up as I have not seen Angela and David for several years. The next morning the sun was shining, it was a beautiful morning, enhanced by the beautiful welsh countryside and mountains. I took a picture of the landscape as I felt blessed to be there, we had breakfast and I relaxed then meditated to prepare for divine service at 2.30pm. Aberaeron Spiritualist Church is around 200 yards from the seafront, the energy of the sea provides beautiful energy, we arrived at church and Angela and David set about preparing church for divine service, apart from the church they have a separate hall adjacent to the church, which they use as a tea room with table and chairs and a kitchen area, they also use the tea room for workshops which is a great use of the space, and helps promote the family and community of spiritualism, the energy in both buildings was amazing. I felt very comfortable to be working there, to my surprise and delight the church was well attended, also present were Ray and Tina Abbot who I had been Facebook friends with for several years, it was great to meet them in person.

At 2.30pm the service began, for the inspired address I read out my poem far away. talking about grieving for the loss of a loved one, and how we as spiritualists should not hang on to the pain of grief , but to let our loved ones go with love to continue their eternal journey. but also to remember the blessing our loved ones in spirit were to us to help ease the pain of grief and the physical loss of our loved ones. A lady said to me before service, that they talk about some strange things at church but at 2.30pm they will be spiritualists. I added in the address that spirituality is a 24/7 thing not just when we are at church, and that I have the same human frailties as everyone else, but as a spiritualist I know that I am connected to something far greater than myself, that guides me in life, and that I endeavor to put the teachings of spirit into practice in my daily life, to turn my negatives into positives and the through the teachings of spirit. I had been on a journey of self discovery, which to me is true spiritual development, and that all people are in a state of spiritual development whether they are aware of it or not.

It came the time for me to demonstrate mediumship to bring messages from loved ones and life guidance from spirit. I must say I felt my link with spirit was not as strong as it usually is, and felt like I was struggling to connect, note to self do not dink a bottle of wine the night before service. but as the demonstration went on the energy of spirit got stronger and stronger, to my relief and the mediumship flowed, I still felt that I had not worked very well. David told me after service that people enjoyed the way I presented mediumship and were impressed by some of the evidence given, after a cup of coffee and a slice of gateaux, myself and David set the church up ready for my demonstration of transfiguration and trance the following evening. Angela and David very kindly took me out for dinner at a local restaurant, we had a lovely meal, then went back their home and a early night was had by all. Aberaeron is a beautiful welsh seaside town and Aberaeron Spiritualist Church has a beautiful energy within, and I must say the congregation were lovely, with the sunshine I feel truly privileged to have served there.

Transfiguration~Trance Aberaeron Spiritualist Church 04/08/24

It was a lazy morning rising around 10am we had coffee and toast , myself and Angela and David were sharing stories from the platform circuit. I enjoy talking with other mediums, about our experiences on the circuit, I could feel my spirit guides energy building around me I knew it was time to be quiet. So I went to my bedroom played my farm town game, and watched a couple of documentaries on YouTube. I always get apprehensive before a trance demonstration, as it is a step into the unknown and very experimental, it was good to be in my own little world for awhile, Angela cooked a marvelous Sunday lunch, then it was time to meditate and shower to prepare for service. We got to Aberaeron Spiritualist Church at 5.15pm, myself and David had set up the cabinet the day before, so all that needed to be done was play my Enya greatest hits CD and switch the red light on to build spirit energy for the demonstration. Angela made me a cup of coffee, I sat in the tearoom quietly and asked Angels, Spirit Guides, and Loved Ones. To draw close to me to prepare for trance, it came the time to walk across to the church, to my surprise and delight the church was full of people 48 in total, David had to put out extra chairs to accommodate everyone.

I gave the sitters a brief spiritual history of myself, and I explained how transfiguration and trance works, then I discussed health and safety rules with them. 1. please turn your phones off as loud noise, will bring me back to my consciousness with a thud, I told them noise had happened before in three previous trance sits, Each time I was ill taking me a week to recover. 2. please do not touch me as it will bring me back into my consciousness hard. 3. if you need to leave for any reason, or you feel ill please raise your hand, and David will ask my spirit guides to step back, when I am back you can leave. 4. Please use the loo now as you will not be able to use the loo during the trance. I opened in prayer and began my countdown into trance state, as I began my countdown, I heard a voice clearly within my mind saying the name John, my spirit guide Li said to me their is a lady here who needs to hear from John. I continued my countdown to trance state.

My consciousness had arrived within my sacred space, a place of unconditional love, it was time to enjoy the peace and connection of this sacred space, awaiting my spirit guides to bring me back into my physical and material consciousness. After awhile I found myself half in my physical consciousness and half in my sacred space, David had asked my spirit guides to step back and allow me into consciousness, as a lady was feeling claustrophobic and wanted to leave, once she had left and David went back to his seat. I was taken back to my sacred space, in no time at all I was back in a half in and half out state, this time a young man was spooked by the church being in darkness except for the red light upon myself and needed to leave. Once the room had settled again I was taken back into my sacred space. and then a third time I was called back because a medium needed to use the loo and several ladies joined her. This time I was not in a half in half out state, I was more or less back into my physical consciousness, I could feel the spirit of a man on the outskirts of my aura, I told the congregation that as I was going into trance I was given the name John, and spirit guide Li had told me that there is a lady here that needs to hear from John. A lady at the back of the church put her hand up saying my husband is John, I endeavored to give the lady a message from John but his energy was very weak, I invited the lady to sit in front of me. As I knew John was desperately trying to communicate with her, but I could not go back to my sacred space, as by this time through the disturbances to the trance, had greatly weakened the energies and my spirit guides with John stepped back, I apologized to the congregation for not being able to continue, explaining why I could not continue, also that I had never before been called back out of trance state before. I closed the meeting in prayer.

I really felt that I had let people down by not being able to continue the trance, but it ended due to extraordinary circumstances by people needing to leave, due to sickness, becoming frightened, or a medium having a weak bladder, the feedback given from some of the people in attendance was largely positive, they witnessed transfiguration, felt the healing energies being generated from the cabinet, saying they felt better than when they walked in. some gaining insight from the teaching given through me by spirit guide Li. All in all I am happy with what was given by spirit through me in trance state. I am very aware that I need to learn the lessons from that trance session, as demonstration of trance to the general public is fraught with danger, and I think spirit made those lessons apparent in that meeting. In future my trance demonstrations will be ticketed to a maximum of 20 people, they will also be vetted as to their physical and mental health, and they are not of a nervous disposition. Also that they are genuine seekers of spiritual truth. I thank spirit for the lessons learned.

Divine Service Ray of Light Spiritualist Church. Llechryd 06/08/24

Another lazy morning with a lovely breakfast, with spiritual discussion with Angela and David. I went to my room to play my farm town game, and to watch YouTube videos as a way of relaxing before service, I had done most of my packing as I intended to go home after service at Llechryd, as there were road works on the severn bridge causing several miles of tailback, leaving Wales at night time I would avoid the tailback at the severn bridge. Angela cooked a marvelous lunch of lemon chicken pasta and salad, it came the time to shower meditate and load the car ready for service and my journey home. It is only a shot drive to the coracle hall Llechryd, I followed Angela and David in their car, arriving there at 7.10pm, there is a petrol station opposite the hall I took the opportunity to fill up with petrol for my journey home, and parked at the coracle hall. The Lovely Linda Mulvey who runs The Ray Of Light Spiritualist Church, welcomed me to her church, which is a small room within the coracle hall, to my surprise and delight the small room was full of people, most of whom I recognised from the two demonstrations at Aberaeron Spiritualist Church.

The lovely Tina Abbot introduced herself as she was going to be the chairperson for the evening, a gentleman was handing out small scrolls of paper, my scroll read, “Live your life like a candle burning bright with love, so others can see the love in themselves. AR” I thought I must include that in my address, for the address I read out my poem Go I, talking about freewill and grace, and that we should have grace for others as we all make mistakes and do bad things. Having grace for others to me is all about true spiritual development of the soul, I read out the spiritual saying I had been given, I spoke about self love and how spirit need us to shine our inner love light to all. It came the time to give messages from loved ones guides and angels, the messages were positively received, the mediumship was called to time, after notices and closing prayer, I chatted with a few people thanking them for coming to my services, the feedback about the services I am pleased to say was positive. I gave Angela and David my heartfelt thanks for their amazing hospitality and spiritual chats. Without them the three services could not have taken place, as going home after each service would have been logistically impossible and expensive. I can honestly say it has been a real privilege, to demonstrate at Aberaeron Spiritualist Church and Ray Of Light Spiritualist Church. The hospitality I received, the warmth of the welsh people I met, and the beautiful welsh countryside, I left Wales 9.30pm and arrived home 02.10am.

THOUGHTS

It warmed my heart to see the high level of dedication that Angela and David Brigenshaw, and Linda Mulvey, have in running the Aberaeron and Ray Of Light Spiritualist Churches. It was refreshing to be in the company of dedicated spiritualists, spirit need dedication and commitment not only from we mediums and healers, but also those dedicated and selfless people who run the churches, who keep the doors of the churches open. to facilitate the spiritual seeker, through these dedicated people welsh light shines brightly for all who seek spiritual truth. It was also refreshing to see a mixture of age groups in both churches, hopefully the youngsters will carry the light of spirit into the future, when we have passed into the higher realms, whilst it was a privilege to serve both churches it was also massive a learning curve for me.

There was discussion about how ignorant people have become about spirit communication, and I agree the most haunted tv program and the ghost hunting business that sprang from it, coupled with celebrity and showbiz spiritualism, has done a lot to damage peoples perceptions of mediums and spirit communication, and spiritualist churches. People are ignorant due to a lack of knowledge being shared, about how spirit communication works, and the spiritual development that is necessary on both sides of life, to achieve accurate and meaningful spirit communication. Not only to provide evidence of survival after physical death, but also to give messages of guidance healing and comfort to those who need it, also allowing spirit guides to share the truths of eternal life, to help us develop new ways of thinking being and doing, raising consciousness to help better our lives and our eternal path.

Every time I demonstrate mediumship now, I ask people not to stare at me with a blank faced, or to start gurning at me with arms folded when receiving a message from spirit. As this is very unsettling for the medium and the spirit communicator, I usually remind them that I have done a days work, and travelled however many miles to be there, and the fact is I am getting petrol money, it is not a celebrity show where they have paid a lot of money to get in, so I tell them there is nothing in it for me I am there to bring spirit to them. All we need from them when they get a message, yes, no, or I do not understand. So I can ask spirit for clarification on what they are giving me, so that the receiver of the message can identify the spirit communicator and the information being given. Once upon a time we did not need to tell people this, but more and more mediums and chairpersons, are having to tell congregations at every service, to turn their phones off and to answer yes or no or I do not understand when receiving a message. Back in the day there were only spiritualist churches, which attracted the genuine spiritual seeker, now mediums are demonstrating in pubs and trying to get theatre gigs, this adds to the showbiz mentality of those who attend right I have paid my money now I want to be entertained, and all this belittles genuine mediums and the development put in by both sides of the veil to achieve good spirit communication.

As discussed above, the transfiguration and trance sit at Aberaeron Spiritualist Church, was a massive learning curve for myself Angela and David, inviting the general public many of whom had never been to a transfiguration and trance demonstration was a mistake. on all our parts. my spirit guides told me that the church would be full, but we did not expect 48 people, Aberaeron is a small church so with 51 people in total the church was bursting at the seams. As discussed above the transfiguration and trance was cut short, due to 3 stoppages in the demonstration, I am pleased the people who needed to leave or use the loo, followed the safety protocols put in place, by raising their hands, David asking spirit to step back, worked but in the end spirit energy was insufficient to continue, I decided the next day after discussion with Angela and David, that I would limit future transfiguration and trance sits to 20 people and make it a ticketed event, to attract the more genuine spiritual seeker to attend. With stricter controls in place, I feel strongly we need to educate people about spirit communication and how it all works, so these problems do not arise again, and to teach people that a demonstration of mediumship, is not Saturday night at the london Palladium. Whilst my time in Wales was a privilege and a total blessing, I am thankful for the lessons learned.

Stephen Rowlands 07/08/24