Wisdom of Ramadahn by Ursula Roberts

CHAPTER SIX

 Understanding Mediumship

 Can you give us some thoughts which may help in the unfoldment of mediumship?

 As a spirit, it is difficult for me to fully appreciate the many harsh noises and vibrations which fill your world today. One of the first, things an intending medium should cultivate is the ability to clear the mind of the many impressions that it gathers from day to day, so that you come to us of the spirit or into your circles of communication with a mind that is like a slate wiped clear of all previous impressions. But you do not do this. You come with all the pressing memories and problems of your daily life.

 In the ancient temples, those training for mediumship learned to relax the very cells of the physical brain by an effort of will and mind by an effort of thought. You, too, can do this by understanding how to move the muscular structure of your face and head, how to control the action of your ears and jaw. You should learn how to move the muscles of your brow and back of the head so that by concentration you may relax any tension in your brain or skull. Truly, if you practise this then you will be learning one of the lessons in mastery-how to master yourself.

 The development of a true and perfect mediumship should go hand in hand with this self-mastery. Therefore, after relaxing the body and brain bring the mental activities into stillness.

 In the old temples, the priests and priestesses who were mediums and seers taught the importance of movements which you know as dance. As the hands were raised and lowered so there was an effect upon the spine, releasing pressures. Similarly with the fluidic backward and forwards movements of the body, which were designed to free the interlocking joints of the spinal column, the related nerves, and the ethereal flow of the spiritual force through the soul body, which is so frequently inhibited by tensions of the physical body. So do not be afraid to move: move with freedom and rhythm so that no tension can arise in your spine or brain The first degrees of mediumship are in the development of perception which comes from a still mind and a receptive brain. So when you sit in relaxation, awaiting the calmness of the spirit to interpenetrate your mind, if you are free from tension you will find this easily accomplished.

 In training the temple seers, initial development was brought about during the hours of rest and sleep. Mediums were taught to lie in completely prone position upon their resting couches, their minds swept clear of all outward disturbance. Beside them would be a little pad of wax upon which, in the moment of waking, they could write words or memories they were able to bring back when the spirit was away from the physical body. Because the mind and brain were so relaxed these memories could be brought back swiftly and easily. This was not the confused dream state that so many of you experience, but the gathering of information and knowledge from the regions of the spirit which would later be proved in its correctness or error, by the teacher in charge of the development of such a soul.

 You yourselves might profit by that practice. You should occasionally lie down to sleep in a state of great peace, the body not overloaded with excess of food, having the spiritual intention of what you desire to learn, where you wish to go, to what spirit you would direct your thoughts. This would bring you further development and Understanding, so that returning to your physical body you would cease to grope in uncertain fashion, sending out confused thoughts. Instead you would go forward in sureness and peace, knowing who is guiding and guarding you, understanding who is teaching you, not because you have been told by another, but because your own soul knows this is true.

 The man or woman who is on the path of mastery becomes a "knower", and when you are a knower of truth then all you uncertainties vanish as clouds vanish before the light of the rising sun.

 When you meet in little groups, combining your influence one with the other, then you should learn to extend your spiritual aura, that may become wing-like, and your wings may enfold the others who are seated near you in a tenderness of protection and a radiance of light. As you extend your influence in this fashion you bring about an expansion of your own spiritual being, becoming more receptive to the influence of your guides and spirits who wish to blend their influence with yours. It is almost impossible for any spirit to enter the aura when it is closed with self-concern and self-desire, when you are only interested in your own development and of acquiring knowledge for yourself. But when you love and desire protection for those others who are there, then your aura unfolds, your wings are outspread, and your love encircles them. As your aura widens and becomes sensitive, we of the spirit may draw near and impart to you and through you the truths, power and healing which we wish to give to earth's children, and which you yourselves desire, that you may serve in beauty and usefulness.

 One other thought. Learn to direct your attention to the region above your brow, for it is in this region that all true spiritual mediumship is to be found and unfolded.

 Truly your world needs mediums who know how to co-operate with the spirits of light and healing-those who can raise their attention above the immediate things of the earthly plane of the spirit. So, aspire! Aspire unto that which is highest, truest and best.

 Why do you allow mediums to become caught up in the confusions of this life? So often it seems because of their sensitivity they suffer more mental and emotional anguish than other people?

 We have to allow this until you learn how to be responsible for your own mediumship. It is only from your hurts that you become wiser and follow the teaching that we seek to give you. When you learn to maintain your body upon food which is best for your mediumship, to drink pure fluids and breathe pure air; when you avoid loading your body with excesses of food which clog and soil its cellular texture. In other words, when you have learned to use your body as the tool of your mediumship, then we can go forward and perfect this sensitiveness of the soul. We can begin to blend our consciousness with yours to give to earth's children some guidance, a small part of our revelation of the truths they are so urgently needing.

 Then your responsibility ceases, for you are not responsible for what your brothers and sisters may do with the revelation given through you. Your responsibility is to be a good tool, to transmit that which is given, then to leave it with them or with the wise watchers of spirit who may till the soil that has been prepared, water the seed that is sown, or bring to fulfilment that which has been started in spirit and in truth.

 The use of a medium to us is not only in words that are spoken or visions that are shown, for the power we give through them is also needed by earth's children. Joy, simplicity, purity, these are transmitted together with a quickening magnetic life-giving force of healing.

 We can do much to repair the ravages of our mediums' mortal bodies and restore harmony and peace to strained minds, but only if they will enter into peace and lie at rest, communing with the healing forces of nature, not allowing themselves to feel the ambitions of the earthly minds and the demands of the earthly people thrusting upon them until they forget the responsibility they have for their own minds, hearts and bodies.

When we ask for guidance about which path we should take or which way we should go, and a thought comes into our minds, how can we tell the difference between our own wishful thinking and the guides telling us which way to go?

You need to simplify your request. Many of earth's people try to send their requests to us as spirits, but it does not come as a simple single question, rather as a confused picture in which many queries are involved. So, do not sent a thought saying, "Which way should I go?" but instead say, "Should I follow this pathway?" In such a fashion you will simplify your question and it will reach your guardians more clearly. As you ask, wait in quietude, and there should come to you one swift reply which will be "yes" or "no". When you receive this you may follow that pathway.

To whom should we give our faithfulness and allegiance? Is our responsibility to spirit or to earth? Should the needs of people and tasks of the daily life always take precedence?

 First, you must understand that as unfolding mediums you are Spirit, and all people amongst whom you live are spirits now, just as they will be Spirit when they come to the closure of the earthly life. Your responsibility is always to Spirit, both as it manifests through the earthly body and through your mediumship. Your responsibility as a medium is always to stand between, with one half of your aura blended with those who are of the spirit spiritual and the other blended with the spirit in the earth. Therefore as a medium you are a golden link in a great chain whose highest link is in the purest light and whose lowest link is in the heaviest state of earthly matter that you can comprehend.

 As part of that golden chain you must be a clear, pure and balanced link within yourself, for if you break it there is no inter-communication taking place. So the first responsibility is always, again and again, unto yourself, to 'maintain health and strength within your body, and harmony of emotions within your heart, that your love may stream out, not in great tumults of emotional desire and unrest, but in a steady stream of tenderness. By so doing, you are not giving way to selfishness, but maintaining an instrument in the perfection of harmony and health.

 Each medium should write within their mind this thought: "The tender heart, the sound body and the clear mind. This is the instrument of spirit." Because this is so, learn to seek the right companionships, those friendships which evoke within your heart a gentle, peaceful lovingness, who can exchange with you their own wisdom, whose auras blend with yours that your mediumship may be strengthened and enhanced.

 But how are we to serve if we seek only those who strengthen our mediumship?

 When you learn to guard your mediumship, then we are able to blend with you so perfectly you know when you have to go forth on a mission of mercy, or when we desire you to help your weaker brothers and sisters. But until you understand your responsibility you go this way and that, allowing yourselves to become involved in the confusion of other people's lives. Discrimination and understanding are the jewels you need to develop within your own soul, for then we are able to bring you impressions and visions saying, "Help this one, go here, go there," because out of the wise understanding of your mediumship you can evolve a strong and perfect link with us.

 Does the standard of spiritual evolvement attained by the medium affect the quality of the message transmitted?

 Truly, for the deeper the sense of honesty within the inner consciousness of the mediums, the clearer or higher is the revelation given through them. There are some who limit their mediumship by personal pride or ambition: some are limited by greed, the desire for gain, and have not the strength to transmute this into the higher generosity of the spirit. Others are limited by fear of failure, or of weakness of the flesh, or they fear the criticism of humankind.

 Often the consciousness may be cleared of these cruder imperfections of the earth, but that may not always carry their honesty on to the more subtle and spiritual planes. Thus the medium who is insufficiently honest to admit, "Today the spirit is not with me" or "I have not this awareness which other people think I should have." As each one goes forward, always the honesty needs to be transferred from the plane of the earth unto the inner plane. Mediums can only reveal truth to the degree in which they are truthful themselves.

 If we are truly honest with each other, surely sometimes we will say things that may hurt those near to us?

 Temper your honesty with love and your speaking with kindliness, for the wise man and woman may see the untruths and imperfections with the clear open vision of their honest understanding, but they need not go forth saying to others, "You are untruthful, you are unkind, you are soiled with the stains of sinfulness." The wise one knows when to be silent, when to speak, and how to cloak that speaking with kindly words which soften the words of truth.

 Some of you have learned to be so honest with yourselves that you hate the shams, the untruths; you say you cannot bear the dishonesties in the world about you. But I would say to you; ask yourselves, have you developed with your honesty the love which comes from the Eternal Source in a tenderness of compassion and healing? Has this love touched your heart so that round the bright, clear, golden disc of your honesty there may be seen the outer ring of softening blue, the garment of compassionate love?

 Further, when the mortal body is left behind, if the soul has balanced honesty of purpose with true compassion and kindliness then is it able to rise with wings, for the wing of love and the wing of honesty of purpose can help the soul to soar high and clear into the regions of the spirit, into the radiant lands of light.

 Those of us who have only just begun on this pathway, how can we be of use?

 You all have some degree of mediumship for you are all on the pathway of development. So as you go on your way, think consciously that you are drawing round yourself a cloak of protective spiritual power, and send out, day by day, light from the centre of your heart and light with the will of your thought. As you walk in your city streets amongst the crowds, pause and send out light, that darkness may be dispersed. As you come to the end of your time of prayers, send out light into the building wherein you dwell, that it may be filled with light and the greyness annihilated. As you leave your house dedicated to the work of spirit, send out light into the entrance to seal it, that the darkness may not enter in.

 This is a little task which you may all accomplish in your own particular degree of mediumship, so will you help to guard the world against the encroachment of shadows, pushing back some of the threat of destruction and war.

 Why are some spirits unable to communicate direct, but only by relaying a message through other spirits?

 Sometimes a spirit who does not come close to the earth has been taken through the Halls of Forgetfulness so that painful memories may be washed away from the recollection. When that has happened, the spirit will sometimes prefer to remain in the sphere to which he has become accustomed rather than coming back into the mortal life which may restart an echo of old memories. One of the compassionate works undertaken in the realms of spirit is that of taking the soul who has been persecuted, burned, tortured or ill-treated through the grey mists of forgetfulness, that the pain of the experience may be washed away and they may be able to enter into the fullness of joy.

 Is there any way of telling if the spirit guardian is with you prior to trance?

 The way to discover this is by seeking to find the especial signals which your group of spirits will establish to tell you of their presence.

 They may endeavour to show a little bright spot or disc of colour; some spirits will make their presence felt by creating a feeling as of a cool breath upon your face, or a particular warmth which may affect your face, brain or area of your body. Learn to recognise these signals.

 How can an ordinary person, one not specially gifted psychically, best co-operate with spirit helpers and guides?

 First, through the enlargement and purification of your soul body, your spiritual aura. By right loving of earth's creatures, men, women and children, so does the aura expand and grow with compassion. Out of right loving and compassionate living will be born prayer, for as you love and desire to help so you send forth thoughts and healing prayers for those whom you see in need. This prayer and compassion together, purifying and enlarging the spiritual body, automatically brings you conscious knowledge of the power of the spirit helpers. It makes you sensitive to the Great Unseen, and from this co-operation comes spiritual healing and spiritual wisdom.

 So, consideration of the needs of others, love and compassion; this is the first step upon the way.

 Many of us truly desire to be of service, but as we grow older it seems our greatest and hardest service is to stand back and let younger people take the more active role.

 Yes, this is an aspect of earth experience which is not sufficiently understood. First, for each of you there should be seasons of growth and learning in which the body is developed and you are taught to live wisely. Then a time of responsibility for parents, partners and children, or to a social group, and through service unto these you gain strength and experience which carries you far forward to that period of life when you can sit back and allow others to continue the work and responsibility. Thus the soul should become a fountain of spiritual power through which wise and loving thoughts are directed into the lives of the surrounding people.

 In years gone by this was well understood, but today it has been forgotten, and you have men and women in their latter years trying to lead lives of great activity instead of devoting this time of life to the quietness of prayer and meditation, and to the preparation for peacefully leaving the body and entering with wisdom the life of the spirit. You have the breakdown of ancient family ties which had great value, so that old people are no longer supported by those who should love them, but are languishing in lonely bitterness and fear.

 At the dawning of your latter years, stand back and learn to use the power of thought more constructively, sending out thoughts of peace, harmony, healing and cleansing into the atmosphere. Spend a little while withdrawing from all the things which held your attention in your earlier years and open your mind to the spirit forces of beauty, wisdom and peace. Thus you will confirm more completely to the spiritual law.

 When we sit for development, we are often told that a nun spirit is helping us. Why should this be so?

 These holy spirits known to you as nuns, but to us as the dedicated white-robed sisters, continue here in the spirit life the work and service they began on earth. They choose to come back to blend with your hearts and minds qualities gained in their earthly experience, and in return they receive new understanding. Through remaining close they are aware of your inward thoughts and your struggles to overcome the weakness in your own nature.

 First, they bring peace, the peace of a quietened mind, the peace of the soul. Then they bring discipline learned from an ordered life in which times were given unto prayer and meditation, and where tasks were conscientiously done every time. They bring also something of the power of the great Christ spirit. While on earth, through much prayer, thought and forward looking toward the Master Jesus they created the slender bridge of golden thought by which their hearts became attuned unto Him. On entering the spirit world these many nun souls pass swiftly through the first planes of spirit towards the one on whom their thoughts had been so firmly set-the Christ plane, which is charged with the heavenly love of the Master Jesus himself. Dwelling for a while in His presence they offer themselves unto Him and are sent forth unto the earth upon missions of mercy, love and service. Through the mediums they impart some vision of the beauty they have seen, of the light absorbed, of the love so needed in the earth. Because they have this understanding and have been enchristed within the Christly realm, they can draw around you the protective mantle of their spiritual light, imparting the simplicity, lovingness and joy inherent in their own soul self.

 How can we avoid feeling suddenly depleted of energy and exhausted by the jangling elements of daily life?

 As you breathe forth your ancient prayer saying, "Give us this day our daily bread," you think only that the bread must feed the cellular structure of the body itself so that it may be a strong tool for the use of the spirit. But as you begin to develop, so the energies of your bodies become active upon higher and higher spiritual planes, and sustenance is needed not only from the earth but from the ethers surrounding the earth-the food of thought, of the heart, and eventually food of the spirit.

 Your prayer must incorporate the asking for kindred companions that your heart may blend with the stream of love flowing from another heart, and you need the food of thought, the exchange of ideas between minds alert to the inspiration blowing from the spirit realm like a freshening breeze, otherwise the mind will become starved, stultified, and part of the unfolding spiritual being will fall sick. As this harmony of mind, heart and body unfolds there comes an awakening and expansion of the spiritual aura itself, and this needs the food of the soul-the energised rays of the sun which move through the ethers of your earth in the dawn and evening hours. You should walk in these quiet times, inbreathing through your quickening etheric body the fine subtle energy, for the sun's rays strike the earth at a different angle to that during the day. This is the food of the inner soul which will reflect back into the outward body. There comes yet another development upon a still higher plane, for the spirit itself needs the food that is gathered in the silence of meditation and spiritual communion.

 Therefore, take this key of knowledge, go forth to meet other men and women and listen to their hearts, read the messages within their eyes, and there you will see what is their true need. For some it will be the food of thought or of love, to recreate harmony, others need to inbreathe the etheric energies, while some need to learn how to receive in the inward quietude of meditation and prayer the food of the spirit.

 Why are we sometimes very aware of the power of the spirit while at other times it seems so removed and distant?

 There is no mystery in this. You need only understand that you have two differing states of consciousness, an earthly mind and a spiritual mind. In your development you are seeking to create a more complete bridge between the two, so that you may consciously use the spiritual mind and consciously and willingly quieten the earthly mind. Because this material mind is concerned with worldly things such as the pursuits of the day, the customs of the society in which you live, there is a tendency to believe that it is all-important and that the body is all that exists; so when the spiritual mind becomes active the earthly mind is confounded and confused because it cannot understand and explain that which is of the spirit, spiritual. When you meditate you are trying to use the spiritual mind to gain control over the earthly mind and bring the two into complete harmony.

 How can we become more attuned to the guardians and guiding ones?

 Lift up your thoughts and love unto them, for the awareness of things of the spirit-the spiritual consciousness-takes place above the brow line of the brain, but the earthly consciousness is in a line level with and below the area of the human brow. Surely it is not hard to think in the higher area of your brain, to lift your thought from the area of your chin to your crown, for in this practice is contained the essential understanding of unfoldment and mediumship. You need to wear your crown of spiritual unfoldment symbolised by the shining light within the upper part of the spiritual aura. The spiritual mind absorbs the atmosphere of spirituality as a sponge absorbs moisture; beauty, power and knowledge that has been absorbed in this way filters through into the more active everyday awareness and you will say you feel refreshed and enfolded in deep peace.

 Therefore, day by day, sit in quietude with the mortal mind at rest, then let attention rise slowly upward to the eyebrows, upward into the higher regions of the brain that the spiritual mind may release its store of wisdom and beauty into the material mind. In this peace those of the spirit who guide and love you may draw near to drop into the quietened spiritual mind their own thoughts, visions or words. Open yourself to spiritual influence, let that mind be active that the mortal mind may receive its blessing, then direct your thought unto the Master Creator in thanks. In this way your unfoldment will come in ever-growing expanding circles of radiant light.

  When one sits for meditation, do the guides or spirit friends take any part?

 The guides impinge their peace or tranquillity upon your first efforts, especially if you have been living in a state of emotional unrest or have not yet learned the first lesson of concentration.

 Within the spirit realm there is a large body of ministering spirits who in their mortal lives were nuns, monks, hermits or yogis, under the guidance of those who knew the pathway of meditation. So when a soul such as yourself desires to meditate and takes the first steps toward lighting the candle flame of clear meditative thought, a sound will] vibrate into the inner planes and a spirit will be attracted to you, one who understands your weaknesses, your lack of development, and who may stand near to impart to your aura the blueness of their tranquillity, or to blend with your mind their steadiness in concentration.

 If there is a psychic weakness within the mediumistic body they stand near to guard you from any invasion which may take place owing to your ignorance or misunderstanding of the laws you are seeking to apply. It is in this blending of the guide's consciousness with yours that you are slowly strengthened until at last you break through into the clear realisation of that which you are seeking. Then, their work completed, those who have been guiding you may withdraw to undertake the guidance of another upon a similar pathway.