What Happens At a Spiritualist Church
Most spiritualist churches resemble something more than a church hall, but something less than a normal Christian church. There is a platform or stage decorated with flowers, and a few religious symbols. Facing the platform are rows of chairs with an order of service and prayer book in the back of each chair.
The congregation sings a number of hymns, which are not ones most Christians would recognise. There is usually a homily or lesson on something to do with spiritualism or events in the world. Then the serious business of contacting the spirits from the platform starts. Very often the platform worker is a guest. Each platform worker has their own style and idiosyncrasies, which is something to be applauded.
After the platform work, there are some notices concerning next meetings and the circle lessons for students. Then there is usually tea and biscuits.
There is nothing to be scared of at a spiritualist meeting. Many people in the audience are middle-aged or older, and women predominate. The church is well-lit, and comfortable. If there are say fifty people in the congregation, then roughly ten people are likely to get a message. There is usually a limited amount of time for platform work.
Spiritual Healing
Healing is available in a side room, or to the side of the church, and it is usually free. The healer holds his or her hands 6” or a foot away from the body of the ‘patient’, working down from the top of the head to the feet, staying longer or shorter at various parts of the body depending on the energy ‘blocks’ experienced. I did not avail myself of this service.
Platform work
Platform work means standing in front of a congregation or an audience and giving messages from the dead to individual people in the audience. There are very good spiritualists who bring hope and comfort, and unfortunately there are also some very bad platform workers. The only way to find out which spiritualist churches are good in your area is to visit them for a service and see what happens. I went to my local church on a number of occasions, but I never got a message. This is not surprising, since I am expected to do this kind of thing myself. Informal chats with visitors and members of the church usually allows you to hear the gossip about which churches have a good reputation, and which of the platform workers are better than others. Now, of course it is quite possible that you get good results from a poor platform worker, and bad results from a good platform worker. That is the way life is.
I went to my local church every week for about a month, and I noticed an interesting phenomenon several minutes before I got to the church. I would often see a Tree of Life in my awareness. There were several versions – one was in black and white – and I found I could accurately predict who the guest platform speaker would be. Now, the Tree of Life is most definitely not part of the Spiritualist church, but it would appear that individuals within the church do use this system.