Psychic Art

A Psychic Artist is someone who is able to see spirit clairvoyantly and draw or paint them. They commonly draw or paint Spirit Guides, friends or loved-ones of the people who contact them. On our "Personal Healing Journeys" page we have an account which tells how Jo was inspired to draw very quickly her Healing Guide.

On Friday 22nd October 2010, we were pleased to welcome Monty Havelock to York Spiritualist Centre. Monty is a psychic artist and medium from Durham, who delighted a well attended meeting with his mediumship and psychic drawings. At home, Monty works almost daily at his psychic drawings as the spirit directs him. Monty brought with him some of the drawings of communicating spirits or animals that were done a while ago, yet Monty was advised by his Spirit Guides to bring them to York, as they would be

recognisable to someone who would be attending the York meeting. Before revealing and then giving these drawings to the intended recipient, Monty connected with the spirit of the person or animal and gave a message from and about them, or about the spirit animal he was able to connect with. He usually knew where in the hall the intended recipient of the message was sitting. The messages given were highly accurate and pertinent to the recipient. Some of these drawings done in the past were accepted as uncanny likenesses of the person or animal described; the others were accepted as a close likeness. Monty also did two drawings very quickly during the evening while another medium, Jan, talked about the spirit she felt was communicating. This was an impromptu collaboration, and there was no knowing how the experiment would work out. There was a perfect match between Jan's first message and the accompanying drawing, and the recipient was stunned by their accuracy, and how they worked together. Jan's second message proved to be more difficult, as there seemed to be a split link - two spirits trying to communicate at the same time. Monty was able to resolve the problem, however, and eventually the intended recipient was given the required message and the finished drawing, which was said to be a close likeness. We would like to thank Monty for his performance and Jan for her plucky and impressive impromptu collaboration with him.

Another Psychic Artist in our region is John Brett. He gives public demonstrations with his friend, the medium Bryan Gibson. While Bryan connects with the spirit of the person who has come to give a message to a loved one, John draws him or her. He does not see the spirit, but gets impressions and draws him or her accordingly. Again there is often a wonderful correspondence between the spirit person Bryan is describing and giving a message from, and the drawing from John. Some drawings have proved to be uncannily accurate and detailed. Click the image.

Not all psychic artists give public demonstrations, of course. Some offer private sittings instead. Jan Dayton is a psychic artist and medium who lives in the south of England. She gives private sittings in which she will give messages from a communicating spirit, perhaps a loved one while she draws them. At other times she works quietly at home alone and produces drawings and a taped message when commissioned to do so.

The most famous psychic artist in England in recent times, and of the 20th century, was Coral Polge, who lived in Surrey and gained her promotion to the Spirit World in 2001. For 54 years she worked tirelessly around the world to bring the good news of the survival of the spirit after bodily death to all who would listen, and produced many remarkable likenesses of spirits who were once alive on earth. She was highly rated by the medium Stephen O'Brien, who knew her well. Her book "Living Images" is available from Amazon.

Click the image to be taken to a Youtube video of her. Another great video of her can be watched by clicking this link. This video is interesting as it includes some of her thoughtful Spiritualist philosophy, and philosophy of life, a philosophy which is expanded in this next beautiful video.

The psychic artists and mediums discussed so far work(ed) in a similar way to mental mediums using clairvoyance, clairsentience and so on. However not all that we call "psychic art" is produced in this way.

Some psychic artists work in deeper trance states. In these states some are able to produce drawings and paintings in the style of famous artists of the past. The medium Roy Stemman writes about such a picture in his blog - "Roy Stemman's Paranormal Review". Click on the "Van Gogh" image to the right to be taken to the article about it. The painting was produced by the Brazilian psychic artist Florencio Anton.

Others produce pictures, which might be of the sitter's spirit guide or a loved-one in spirit, that seem to be directly controlled by the artistic spirit guide of the medium. The quality of these "trance works" is only as good as the connection of the medium with his guide. A well-know exponent of "trance paintings" was the Scotsman David Duguid, (1832-1907), who was a native of Glasgow. In the trance state he would would work with messy hands, oiled rags and brushes clogged with paint, yet produce astonishing pictures very quickly.

He was also an advanced physical medium, and some of his paintings would be produced in that way. Here the paintings and drawings are produced directly by spirit hands without any physical input from the medium. Works of art were produced even when Duguid was tied up in a chair in the total darkness of the seance room and hence unable to paint himself.

Other psychic artist sensations of the past were the Bang sisters, Mary and Elizabeth Bang, of Chicago. See also first here, and then here. What was remarkable was that the work was carried out in broad daylight, in the presence of many sitters, often under test conditions while the sisters sat quietly, never once touching the paper or canvas, or moving from their seats. Some of these pictures altered when they were taken home. Clothing would change and in several cases the eyes would open and close. In one picture a pearl necklace appeared on the spirit portrait a few days later. Apparently, the lady usually wore them when she was alive, and clearly desired that the omission should be corrected.

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Automatic Writing

Automatic Writing is writing done under the influence of spirit, usually when in a light to moderate trance. Since the beginning of Modern Spiritualism automatic writing has been used and accepted as a way of receiving communications from the Spirit World. You may know that Modern Spiritualism can be dated from March 31st 1848, when the Fox sisters at Hydesville in New York State communicated with the spirit of a murdered pedlar by means of knocks and raps that spelt out messages. But this was a slow and cumbersome means of receiving messages. Soon other mediums began to use automatic writing as a much quicker and more reliable means of communication.

Automatic writing, then, is done in an altered state of consciousness. Sometimes it comes very quickly, much quicker than the medium could normally write. At such times it feels as though a spirit hand is guiding the pencil and all the medium has to do is blank their mind, keep hold of the pencil and let it happen. Such quickly written text can be quite a scrawl and the handwriting is usually markedly different from the medium's own. At these times the medium is usually not aware of what is being written. Mediums who write in a lighter state of trance may say that the messages form in their minds, but they say that it feels that the thoughts are not really their own, and they write in a style and manner which is markedly different from their own. It seems that these messages well up from the sub-conscious mind of the medium, and, they would say, from the mind of a spirit being who is influencing the medium's sub-conscious mind. Through automatic writing, mediums have claimed to produce messages from historical figures, writers in the Spirit World, as well as previously unknown spirit people.

John Worth Edmonds was a lawyer working in the Supreme Court in New York during the 1850s. After the death of his wife he attended a séance with the Fox sisters, found them convincing and gave his public support to them, even though he knew that it could damage his professional standing. He became more intrigued by spirit communication and encouraged a medium he knew, Dr George Baxter to try and contact the Spirit World through automatic writing. Baxter encouraged other Spiritualists in his circle to try this also. They began to receive messages from various historical figures, notably Francis Bacon and Emanuel Swedenborg. This spread through America and the spirits of writers began to dictate new novels, plays and poems.

One of the greatest exponents of automatic writing who ever lived was the remarkable Irish medium Geraldine Cummins, (1890-1969). Although she never studied theology or ancient history, and never visited Palestine or Egypt, her first book, "The Scripts of Cleophas" published in 1928 gave intimate detail of the early Christians and indeed gave supplements to the "Acts of the Apostles" and the "Letters of St Paul". Many more books followed. Of the 22 books she wrote 15 were ‘channelled’ or produced by automatic writing. She is famed for a series of scripts purporting to come from F.W.H. Myers, one of the founders of 'The Society for Psychical Research' in 1882 and who, after his death in 1901,

was the mind behind the "cross-correspondences" which gave such convincing evidence of the survival of consciousness after bodily death. The books that Cummins channelled from Myers give vivid descriptions of the afterlife and what is involved in the "eternal progress open to every human soul". Cummins produced two sets of material from Myers, during the 1920s and again in 1933-4, and these were published as two books - "The Road to Immortality" (1932) and "Beyond Human Personality" (1935). You can read them online here, or download them both as free E-books here.

Another famous case of spirit dictation involved Pearl Curran, who received communications from a Spirit called Patience Worth. Patience Worth said that she had lived in Dorset, England, in the 17th Century, but there seems to have been some confusion about the dates. Over many years, Patience Worth dictated entire novels, and many poems, all filled with material about a country and time, and written in a language and style, that were completely alien to Pearl Curran, an early 20th century St Louis housewife. Patience Worth came through to Pearl one afternoon in 1913, while she, her mother and a friend were idly playing with

a ouija board. After a lot of gibberish, there suddenly came a message that made sense: "Many moons ago I lived. Again I come. Patience Worth is my name. About me ye would know much. Yesterday is dead. Let thy mind rest as to the past." Eventually the women learnt that Patience claimed to emigrate to America, where, she said, she was murdered by Indians.
Click the picture of Pearl Curran for an article on the Patience Worth story by Michael Tymn.

Sometimes musical scores have been given by some of the great past composers of music. A notable example of this latter form of communication was the channeling of a number of past great composer's musical scores, through the medium Rosemary Brown in the 1960s. The composer Liszt was her main Spirit Guide for this, a connection that went back to 1924. After an accident in 1964, Rosemary convalesced at home, and passed the time playing the piano. She soon became aware of Liszt's presence with, her guiding her hands over the keys. Liszt began to introduce her to a number of

other composers who wanted to give her some of their recent music. They included Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms. Rosemary gave public performances of these works, and several critics have acknowledged that these did indeed show the earthly style of these Spirit composers. Spiritualists believe that such communication is possible, although they would usually want to suspend judgement until such communication was confirmed in other ways, by other forms of mediumship. It is possible that she was simply drawing on her subconscious knowledge of their music to imitate them. However, Spiritualists know, from their many and rich experiences, that our subconscious minds are connected with the subconscious minds of all other beings in the universe, both incarnate and discarnate. Furthermore Rosemary's own musical education and ability was limited. So, as well as such communication being possible, in this case it seems likely; certainly Rosemary Brown was a sincere medium, who was sure that it was. Click the picture of her to be taken to a YouTube video of Rosemary Brown.

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How to do Automatic Writing

Automatic writing is a valuable and worthwhile mediumistic activity, and is useful because it is something that you can do on your own. So, even if you cannot get to an open circle, or know no-one you can practise giving messages to, you can still hone your mediumship skills in this way.

Don't practise automatic writing if you are tired, anxious, depressed, or have any other mental illness. Your negative energy at these times will attract the wrong type of spirit entity, and that is not what we want to encourage. The best time to write is when you feel awake, alert, but calm and full of positive energy. There should be no nervous excitement.

Always open and close your automatic writing session with a prayer, as you would in an open circle. Ask for divine protection as you write. Ask that the highest and best spirit communication that you are capable of receiving will be given to you, and believe strongly that it will.

Spend a few moments in quiet reflection and meditation before you begin to write. Believe that you are really attuning to the higher side of life.

Trust that the higher spirits, or perhaps your loved ones in spirit, are really trying to communicate with you. While you are writing, lay aside any thoughts that it is your own mind that is conjuring up what you feel urged to write. Don't try to use your own mind, either to fill in any gaps, or to direct the course of the writing. It is coming through you and not from you.

Practise this art regularly. Like any other art it improves with practice. At all times trust and believe in what you are being given. Let the thoughts you will write down well up into your mind from a deep place and don't try to consciously influence them or control them. Rest your pen lightly on the paper and write down what you are given. If the writing comes with a rush, all well and good. Just let it flood onto the paper. If it comes slowly, do not worry. It is often the way that the deepesst wisdom is hardest to gain. It does not matter if in one hour you just get one sentence, if that sentence is very profound and thought provoking. If nothing at all comes at first, do not despair. Believe that you will in good time. Just wait quietly and patiently in a meditative state. Lay aside reason and argument for this practice. This is an intuitive exercise, not an intellectual one; a listening exercise not a thinking one. The key to success is patience, perseverance and calmness.

Don't write for too long, especially in the early stages. Set aside one hour maximum for this work, and one session a day is enough. Close your automatic writing session with a prayer if anything untoward happens, or if negative thoughts begin to intrude, and defer your writing session till another time when you feel stronger. If you feel that any negative spirit energy has been with you, firmly insist that it leaves at once. Close down your attunement to the spirit world and get on with something else.

Do not discuss this work with anyone who would be sceptical, negative or disparaging. That will not help your positive energy. But by all means discuss it with someone, perhaps another Spiritualist, who is likely to be sympathetic and understanding.

As you feel your spiritual energy beginning to wane, draw the session to a close. At the end close down your attunement to the Spirit World. You should not remain open when going about your normal day to day business. That could exhaust you. Rest for a few moments in the quiet and peace before saying the closing prayer.

Leave the writing for a while and get on with something else. Come back to the writing later. Read it through and make any necessary alterations of the spelling and grammar, unless you feel that your communicator was not a native English speaker and what you have written captures their speech. Use your intuition to tell you whether to change the odd word here and there to improve the flow. Generally you should leave the content as untouched as possible, but you may need to be a discerning editor if the writing is repetitive.

The writing you receive may be spiritual, or it may be secular. Just take it as it is given.

Don't compare your automatic writing to anyone else's automatic writing. This is about you, your spiritual journey and your spiritual progress, no-one else's. If you follow this advice sincerely and diligently, then almost certainly you will in time be amazed at the beauty, wisdom and insight that will be channelled through you. It is highly likely that you will get confirmation in other ways that what you are receiving is from the Spirit Realms, but don't be despondent if it takes a while for that confirmation to come. In all likelihood you are practising automatic writing because you already have received much confirmation of the reality of the Spirit World and the reality of our third principle - "The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels" - and want to use it to deepen your spiritual awareness and understanding.

As with all forms of mediumship, practise humility and lay aside pride. Mediumship is a gift from the Divine. You are its instrument and channel. Remember the spirit world is putting in far more effort than you are. Be pleased, happy and uplifted that you are serving them in this way. If the collaboration is successful, consider sharing your work so that others can benefit from it too.

At all times believe in what you are doing, and trust what you are given. There are many keywords here, but perhaps the five most important are TRUST, BELIEF, PATIENCE, CALMNESS and PERSEVERENCE. If you decide to try it, may you have every success with this practice.

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Spirit Inspired Writing

By spirit inspired writing is meant spiritual writing, or inspirational writing such as poetry, that is a collaboration between you and your guides and inspirers in the Spirit World. Here you are not seeking to lay aside your own conscious thought processes, your reason, intellect and analytical skills. You first receive the insights from spirit, then mould, shape and fashion the material into a polished and finished piece of writing, editing, deleting and rewriting as necessary. You acknowledge your indebtedness to the Spirit World, your guides and inspirers, but you retain overall editorial control. You are using both your intuition and your intellect. The world will see it as your piece of writing, but you know there is more to it than that; you know what, and maybe who, has inspired you.

This, then, is the difference between automatic writing and spirit inspired writing. In the first you are trying to put your own mind, thoughts, wishes and reasoning out of the picture as much as possible, in the second you are not. Both are valuable and both have their place. If what has been written here encourages you to try either, may you be successful.

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ITC or Instrumental Transcommunication

ITC or Instrumental Transcommunication is the practice of using electronic equipment, such as highly sensitive radio receivers, highly sensitive recording equipment, computers with all their peripherals, television sets, telephones, etc, to receive pictures, spoken messages and written messages from spirit beings. This work has been going on quietly in many parts of the world for over 50 years. Some astonishing results have been obtained, attracting the attentions of parapsychologists, who have been able to rule out fraud. In some cases conversations have occurred between ITC researchers and discarnate spirit beings.

EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena form the largest part of the phenomena obtained by ITC, and some researchers who specialise in this call their work EVP rather than ITC. ITC includes other phenomena such as recognisable images of deeceased people appearing on television sets and computer monitors, and emails left on people's computers.

ITC is classed as a type of physical mediumship, and like conventional physical mediumship produces results which can be directly heard, seen and experienced by anyone present. The phenomena of mental mediumship on the other hand, are only directly experienced by the medium, others witnessing the mediums transmission and interpretation of that experience.

The late Professor David Fontana, psychologist and parapsychologist, was convinced of the validity of much of this work. As he explained, if these phenomena are real, they undermine the so-called "super-ESP theory" of psychic and mediumistic phenomena, a fantastical theory, used by those seemingly desperate to discount the possibility spirit beings and the spirit world causing mediumistic phenomena. (Why, one wonders, are so many people seemingly so desperate to run from the possibility of life after life?) The phenomena of conventional physical mediumship also undermine the super-ESP theory. Both confront us with the physical presence of loved ones, recognised, to their great joy, by those who knew them intimately.

We hope to expand this section later, when it may be given a page to itself. In the meantime you are invited to explore the ITC links given in the right hand margin.

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