My First Encounter With Spirit

In the summer of 1987, nearly a year after my parents died just a few days apart, I attended a mediumship evening at one of the spiritualist churches in Toronto. I had never been to a spiritualist church before, however, I had met a friend for lunch earlier in the day and she told me about the upcoming event that evening. Neither of us had ever heard of such a thing before. Unfortunately, my friend was unable to attend because she was on her way out of town, but I decided to give it a try on my own.

The church was located in a shopping plaza, on the second level, above a store. As I went up the very steep steps into parts unknown above, I was not only curious, but also quite skeptical. The room was already packed when I got there, so I sat right near the door, just in case these people started performing any weird rituals, or so other strange stuff. I figured that I could be down the stairs and out the door in a flash, if need be!

Firsts are best because they are beginnings ~ Jenny Han

After all the guest mediums were introduced, the first medium scheduled to speak that evening, gestured to an audience member who was sitting near the back. “May I come to you?” she asked and the gentleman replied, “Yes.” She proceeded to give him several messages, while standing at the front of the room.

If she had come to me first, I would have panicked and probably would have screamed out, “Heck no! Stay right where you are!” I had no idea that this was just an expression used to bring Spirit to various people in the congregation, while still remaining on the platform.

She then came to me next. She referred to me as the person in the gold colored jacket. Then she explained that she had forgotten her glasses and couldn’t tell whether I was a man or a woman in the crowd. I figured that would at least help to prove that she certainly couldn’t know anything about me that could affect the veracity of her messages.

I had never experienced any kind of spiritual message before, and had no idea what to expect. So, I was ‘floored’ to learn that my parents were present. She didn’t know who they were, but she apologized on their behalf for passing so close in proximity (23 days apart). She then went on to validate a few other things only they could possibly have known. I could tell that these messages were clearly from my parents.

The beauty of any first time is that it leads to a thousand others… ~ Pico Iyer

I was stunned to hear all their messages. There was also a very funny moment, when the medium said that my father was very frustrated, because he couldn’t speak to me directly and had to go through a medium to communicate! She announced that, while living on the Earth plane, my father wouldn’t have believed in any of this ‘stuff.’

As the evening progressed, four of the five mediums gave me meaningful messages, and I was certainly hooked. Although it was wonderful to hear from my parents, I had no idea that one day I would be able to speak with Spirit myself.