WHEN A MEDIUM IS IN TRANCE

　HAVE you ever wondered about a spirit communicator's difficulties when controlling a trance medium? Silver Birch told us about them at a “question-and-answer” sitting.

　When the guide was asked if he used the medium's ears for listening to questions and his mouth for answering them, he replied: “Yes. While I am in control of this medium I am to all intents and purposes this individual. I exercise through the subconscious mind the control of all that part of the body which I require to use while I am at the helm.”

　"Does that mean that you lose your contact with your world when you entrance the medium?" the guide was asked.

　"No," replied Silver Birch, “because the art of successful controlーand that is why you have to have developmentーis how to regulate the control of the medium and at the same time maintain all your points of contact in your own world. You have to keep open the lines of communication and keep in touch with all the sources of your supply.

　"Sometimes you have heard me say that during the war I was restricted to one or two threads. That meant conditions, so far as control is concerned, were so poor that I had to let go of thread after thread in order to maintain a hold on the medium."

　"And you have sometimes said that one had snapped," the guide was reminded.

　"Yes, while I have been in control there has been inter-ference, deliberate or unconscious, and I have lost one of my lifelines, and I have had to hold on while a repair party goes to work. It is a very intricate process, far more complex than

you employ in communicating with another individual by telephone, for you at lest are both on the same plane of vibration. We have to maintain communication with two entirely different sets of vibrations.

　"That is why some sacrifice of individuality has to be made by a highly evolved guide, because that quality will not register in a grosser world of matter and so it has to be stepped down to have the adjustment whereby some part of the individuality can be expressed."

　Another questioner asked, "Do mediums experience 'any particular sensations when in the state of trance?"

　"If they are in the state of trance they experience no sensations," said the guide. "The sensations they can experience are before and after, but not during, because being in trance means being impervious to all that happens around them. But of course there are degrees of entrancement, reaching from the light and very shadowy to the complete stilling of the medium. Where you have the perfect stage, then,

obviously, there can be no sensation felt. But in some of the early stages, there are often some sensations due to the fact that the consciousness of the medium is not functioning in association with the physical body.

　"Then sensations vary. Some experience external lightness; others travel, or seem to travel, to a distance; others can hear what is being said as if they are far away and catching the voice travelling to them. It varies quite a lot."

　Explaining, on another occasion, how spirit influence is brought to bear on mediums, the guide told a group of his earthly friends: "We work in two ways. First, there is the hard part, that is, when you have to make your influence felt in your world. You do not know how difficult that isーto start off without any touch with a world of matter and then, by sheer mental exercise, concentration, projection of thought and idea focused on one person so that he or she can be influenced, unconsciously, as far as they are concerned, so that they think it is their own idea at work, to be moved into that place where the first link can be made.

　"That is the hard task, and it takes years. and years and years. It takes so long, sometimes, that in my case I had to start even before the instrument was born. Then having done that, the next part is not so difficult, because once you have an instrument, a medium, a channel, and you can express yourself, however poorly, it has at least forged the magnetic link, and that cannot be broken.

　"From that beginning the amount of influence can be increased; the funnel of the spirit can become larger and larger; and the only limitation is the capacity of the instru-ment, for that is always the restriction placed upon the amount of co-operation with us. In all these cases, wherever there be a fault, the fault does not lie with us but with the means at our command. When people say, 'Why does not the world of spirit do this or that?' surely the answer is that the instru-ments make it possible or impossible.

　"After that magnetic link has been made it is much simpler, because through our world the power of the spirit can reach you. If, of your own free will, you begin to allow your inner self to develop, you allow that part of you which is the eternal reality to begin to find expression here instead of waiting until you have passed through the gate of death.

　"Then the association becomes closer and richer and more effective as time goes by. After that, it is not so difficult to bring together the varying people whose meeting is part of a plan. It is the first step that is the hardest. I say all that be-cause all of you, without any exception, have been placed now in the condition where you are susceptible to the power of the spirit. It can reach out to you and you can help it to express itself and be the means of enabling others to be served as you have been served.

　"So I come back to where I started and say to you, do not thank me. It is because you have taken those steps which bring you within the radius of the operation of spirit power that you are able to go through life unafraid of what each morrow will bring forth.

　"Rejoice all the time at the knowledge which has come into your life with its awareness of other avenues of perception that you are not restricted to what your earthly world can offer, but that greater sources of helpfulness are at your disposal. 

　"Rejoice that love serves you, not only in your world, but from our world and that there are beings, not connected with you by any tie of blood, who love you just the same and who try to serve you to the best of their ability." 

　Again and again some of his old friends tried to thank him, but always the guide refused to accept thanks.

　"No, do not thank me," he now said. "That is what I strive to tell you, and when I say it I should like you to realise that it is not a question of just using words. You have never seen me. You do not know me except as a voice speaking to you through this body. But let me assure you that I am very real, a very real person with the ability to feel, to know and to love.

　"Because of the work I do there is given to me, as its instru-ment, the means of radiating that vast power which pours down in successive stages so that I can use it to help those who require it. This is the real world, not yours. You will not understand the reality until you have left your earthly planet.

　"You are living in illusions. It is all shadow. The light is cast from our world. That is where substance is, and until you come here will not know what life really means. But it is so intensely real that it is hard to convey it to you. Go on thinking of me as the elder brother who loves you, who is always beside you, who serves you with a full heart and with a desire to guard and guide you throughout all your days.

　"I am here far more often than you know," he said, re-ferring to his visits to his friends' home. "I regard it as one of my earthly homes where I can come and think of myself as one of a family who always radiate love towards me. And it is a source of great satisfaction and joy that when conditions prove irksomeーas they often do when working in your worldーthat I can come and warm myself in the radiance of your love.

　"We always pay for service. We say that those who serve us are served more in exchange, and when the balance is struck it will be found that our measure is more than what has been given to us. It is part of the law that those who give receive, for, by giving, they are opening their souls, their minds, their hearts, and making it possible through that open channel for love and guidance and protection to come to them. So do not thank me. I have done very, very little."

　When someone said that their faith in him had sustained them during the war, Silver Birch replied: "I am the symbol if you like, the mouthpiece, the ambassador, the emblem of those larger beings whom I serve.

　"Theirs is the power which surrounds and upholds you, theirs is the power which guides. Wherever those who have this knowledge, and who have earned the co-operation of the world of spirit, desire it, then there comes to them all the richness that a larger life can offer you.

　"There is never any need for people like yourself to be beset with fear, or anxiety, or worry, or trepidation of any kind because perfect faith, like perfect love, should cast out all fear. When people in your world begin to feel fear, then they send out a vibration which disturbs the atmosphere around them, and that disturbance makes it impossible for help to come. Spirit power, to operate in your world, must have a quiet, calm confidence, where all fear is banished, where there is a radiance attuned to the harmony of the larger life so that the soul knows that, come what may, it will emerge unscathed."

　"So that what has been achieved is due to you," said one of his friends.

　"I feel you have given me great help," said another, who has benefited greatly from spirit healing.

　To him the guide responded: "You in particular are a living example of what the power of the spirit can achieve. We do not ask that anybody should have a blind faith, a faith to which the reason cannot give assent, a faith that demands the impossible or expects the miraculous. Human beings cannot expect to have the whole of knowledge made available to them in their present stage of evolution. Some knowledge has been vouchsafed to each one of you accord-ing to your capacity and your ability and your growth.  

　"Now, with that knowledge as the foundation on which to build your philosophy, you can have faith that because of what you have already received there is evidence that the power behind you cannot fail. 

　"You must have some faith because all cannot be demon-strated in physical terms or measurement. The whole of the world of spirit cannot be reduced to your physical life, which is on another stage of being. But some of it can be demonstrated where there are instruments capable of ex-hibiting its manifestation. With that as the basis you can accept everything else which is reasonable.

　"I always say, do not believe me if what I say is unreason-able, if it outrages your common sense or insults your in-telligence. I have proved myself where it has been necessary and conditions have allowwed it; the rest you must take on trust, as far as you can take it on trust. But this much I do

say to you, that if you look back the object lesson is that more than coincidence is necessary to explain your own lives, that from the time when a union has been effected with in-telligences from our world then there has been clear, positive and unmistakable evidence that help has been given to you.

　"I am not going to attempt to give you the love of all those who are associated with you here. That would take too long, so you must accept it that all you know in spirit desire to take this opportunity of reminding you that love is deathless and that the earthly grave has no power to stop that great emotion that wells up in human beings who are thus joined to one a nother throughout all time."

　To all the group the guide said: "I am very grateful for this opportunity you have given me of assuring you of my con-stant nearness to you."

　And the oldest person present said in gratitude, "you have been a very great comfort to us."

　"You have been a great comfort to us," was the answer. "Go on with the same steadfastness that you have shown before. You have passed through all difficulties. The fires have raged, but you have been unscathed. Have no fear. That is the one message which I reiterate with unceasing emphasis. The power which upholds you cannot fail you in all that lies ahead of you. Go forward without fear or appre-hension knowing that infinite arms are round and about you, that love guides and that infinite wisdom is available for you whenever it is required.

　"We are all the servants of the Great Spirit whose desire is to fill the whole world with love and beauty, tolerance and sympathy, justice and compassion. Let us make ourselves open to that divine influence so that we can radiate it far and wide. Many know its touch, its assurance, and its warmth.

　"Let us rejoice that we have the opportunity of being ministers to the Great Spirit and showing, by our own lives, that we are in tune with Him and that His purpose is reflected in all that we do."

　Silver Birch spoke again on mediumship when, at a different sitting, we were discussing the next phase of the develop-ment of Spiritualism. "There is a great work going to be done," he told us, "greater progress is going to be made within the next few years than has ever been made before. More people will be touched by the power of the spirit and at a quicker rate than has been achieved in days gone by. Through all the changing phases of a new form of life that sweeps across the world there comes, as a natural corollary, the desire to know more and more about the truths of the spirit.

　"You have passed through the days when men had the power to check and restrain the advance of this truth. The foundations have been laid and now, more and more, you begin to see the results all over the world of matter. No longer does any real authority reside with those who have for centuries been regarded as the authorities in spiritual matters.

　"One after another they confess their bankruptcy. They admit the failure, the tide of life passes them by and they are left in little islands with few to pay any heed to them. Their day is done; their power weakens, they are no longer a voice to which large numbers will hearken. Even though more attention is paid to those who follow the bent of scientific discovery, yet your world has had an unprecedented demon-stration of what happens when such is allowed to be ex-ploited without the control of higher and nobler impulses.

　"What is called religion has failed the world. What is known as science must be guided by motives of service and altruism, that each discovery shall be used for the amelioration and betterment of humanity and not to bring it more despair, more woe and more anxiety. And this is where our know-ledge takes its supreme place, for we are able to provide that bridge between the religion that is slipping away and the science which is in the ascendant, for we provide the truth of religion on a demonstrable basis; we provide facts which can be proved time and time again.

　"On this basis of mediumship, with its positive demonstra-tion of a spiritual nature that mankind is indestructible by any of the methods of death, you build true religion. No longer is religion to be regarded as a matter of belief, of credence, of faith, of hope, of speculation, of fear or of terror; it is brought within the realm of ascertainable fact and man learns that he is an immortal, spiritual being, placed on earth to achieve part of his destiny. Thus the gifts with which he is endowed, if they are not used for service, retard those who so ill use them and the whole race suffers as a result.

　"But with this principle of spiritual truth, demonstrated as a fact, man has the guiding light of truth to help him and all that is done provides the whole of humanity with a greater hope for that which comes after him.

　"He builds better systems so that those who follow him shall enjoy the fruits of his labours, knowing that they will rejoice because of what was done before they arrived on the earthly scene. In turn, they become encouraged to labour so that others may inherit greater joy and greater knowledge.

　"I thought you would like to hear that. That is the work that is coming as more and more come into the fold. And you will findーand I have said this beforeーthat you will learn of new instruments of the spirit in ever-increasing number. They will attain the standards of demonstration just as good as the best that has been recorded, and many of them will exceed the best that has been known in your world.

　"New life, new blood, new energy, new enthusiasm, new virility, new strengthーall will help to swell the growing band so that truth may continue its penetration everywhere. The future belongs to us. There is much therefore for us to do. Let us rejoice in the knowledge that the Great Spirit will become revealed to more of His children than ever before and that the darkness of the human night of ignorance is being dispelled."

　Asked when all this would happen, Silver Birch replied: "I don't mean tomorrow. This is the next stage." the phenomena, he added, would be mostly mental, but that there would be a little physical phenomena also, and much healing, which would be part of the mental phenomena.

　"It is part of our aim," he explained, "to possess more and more unshakable witnesses to the living power of the spirit so that there can be no denial of what has been achieved. The power of the spirit is like a big reservoir that has been dammed by opposition. Now it has burst the banks and it flows wherever it can find channels. That is as I see itーplenty of healers, plenty of mediums, plenty of instruments are coming your way.

　"We do not go backward. We go forward. Progress, evolution, advancement, these are our watchwords. It is good for the children of the Great Spirit to learn and love and understand what the living touch of the spirit means. Those who have not enjoyed its beauty, its wealth, its wisdom, its reassurance, do not know the benediction that it affords; it is hard to make them understand.

　"The blind man does not know about the sunshine and the deaf man cannot hear the song of the birds, but when the film disappears from the eyes and when the ears are unstopped and the wonders of natural law are revealed, then they are over-joyed. 'Once I was blind and now I can see.' 'Once I was deaf and now I can hear.' That is what the power of the spirit does to those who receive its ministrations.

　"We want as many millions as possible to have that radiance in their lives, to know that they do not walk alone, that they are not isolated, not forgotten, that love surrounds them both individual and divine; that the warmth of spirit guardianship is theirs, with all the beauty and the light that comes from a higher life and that moreover there are individuals who have the power to uphold themーthese are all at their disposal.

　"It is hard for all of you to convey to those who do not share your experience what exactly it means to you. If you try to explain it to one of those outside, it cannot be grasped. We labour to ensure that others share it also."