Why is it the spiritual leaders that accuse others of going in ever decreasing circles up their own _ _ _ s are the worst offenders of the vary thing of which they accuse others? They gripe there is no progress but they are the first to put road blocks in the way of the so called desired progress they proclaim to be working towards. Seems to me that these folks are stuck in a rut! In fact they are so much going in circles that they keep pontificating about the same philosophy and yet cannot, do, not or choose not to practice it themselves. In fact some are in such a rut that if you read their blogs long enough you will find all they are doing is copying and posting snippets from the so-called “courses” for which they expect folks to shell out their hard earned money.
I don’t know about other Spiritualists, but why in hell would anyone pay $80 bucks for a course that has done nothing but degrade in 10 years as the so-called teacher has become more and more closed minded? More important if you look the content that the so-called “Reverend”/ “teacher” is trying to sell to the public can be easily found in the monotonous discussion posts on the said church web site and on the blogs of the supposed Reverend. This pathetic display from a spiritual leader who professes to be evolving and growing and yet has only used the internet to perpetuate the same old problems that have always been the curse of Spiritualism makes me wonder why folks should waste their time, money and effort.
If you are seriously thinking of paying for courses in Spiritualism and have found a church to do that first check on the web and see what the so-called “Reverend”/ “teacher” is regurgitating in discussion forums and in blogs online. Unless the individual is truly an innovative thinker, chances are you will read every thought he or she has ever had re the subject of Spiritualism and not have to shell out the cash in the long run. That is the situation where I am from anyway, and if you want real Spiritualist education do a background check on the one who is setting themselves up as teacher first! Google them by NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS, and CHRURCH ADDRESS (if you have that information) and take a thorough look! You will be amazed how much you can find for free! After doing that, if you still are seeking credentials then here are some hard learned lessons from my 12 years experience in several different churches in various communities.
As a Spiritualist I am often asked by people: “Where do I go for training in Spiritualism?” That is not an easy question to answer. The main problem in Canada is that there is no truly reputable official organization to offer courses. The Spiritualist Church of Canada is in transition with their course material and it is very expensive for what you get. All other training comes from the individual churches and therefore is only recognized within their particular church organization.
If you are looking for a stable organization to train you in Spiritualism and as a Minister the best thing you can do is contact the NSAC (National Spiritualist Association of Churches of America). Yes they are a US organization but their name is respected in Spiritualist circles and they with the Morris Pratt Institute have been providing reputable Spiritualist education from the early days. You could also contact the SNU (Spiritualist National Union) in the UK but the cost of doing their courses via correspondence and the cost of postage may be prohibitive for some folks.
If you are in the Toronto area there are several churches that have development circles and it is up to you to find the one that works for you. My personal picks would be Britten Memorial Church and Church of Universal Love The others are either mixed up with Christian Spiritualism and not training people in the psychic aspect or they are consumed with politics and have no real power to offer credentials no matter how much they would like to make you think they do.
The adage “buyer be ware” fits here… You really have to look at where the so-called “courses” and any promised “credentials” offered by the said church are going to take you into the future.
The ongoing problem here is that none of the churches work together and each is competing for a very small number of clientele. For example the total number of folks who identify as Spiritualists in Canada according to the 2001 Census is 3,295 of that 1,060 are male and 2,235 are female. In Ontario these numbers are 1,410 total Spiritualists and of those 490 are male and 915 are female. Now looking at the Toronto figures this number gets even smaller. The total Spiritualists for Toronto are 385 and of that number 115 are male and 270 are female. With this small number, why is it there are 5 different spiritualist churches in Toronto? Never mind those outside the city and within the GTA? The simple answer is personality clashes, politics and power struggles.
So what does this mean to you as a seeker? Well to put it quite simply most of these organizations do not have a stable congregation. Most Spiritualists who have been around for a long time make the circuit and attend more than one church. Now the argument may be made that there are many others who attend that do not call themselves Spiritualists but the problem with that argument is that those who do not buy into Spiritualism as dictated by the said Reverend of a given church may find that they may not be truly welcome to learn more about it or offer their experiences to it. It seems to be that folks are expected to buy the whole “Spiritualism” bag (as understood by the particular Reverend of course) first and ask questions later. This being the general atmosphere of many of the Spiritualist churches no wonder they have difficulty drawing new people in to form a congregation let alone a stable board of directors. But let’s look at the other folks who might wish to attend a Spiritualist church.
The next large group that tends to cross over into Spiritualism is the New Age lot. Now these folks tend to have a broad range of beliefs and not many would commit to Spiritualism in a concrete way because they usually find it confining. That said let’s look at the numbers for Canada, Ontario and Toronto as we did for the self-identified Spiritualists: Again according to the Census for 2001 it is obvious that these numbers are even smaller that the Spiritualists listed above. According to the figures, the number of New Age folks in Canada total 1,525 and of that 545 are male and 985 are female. This number gets even smaller when you look at the provincial and local level but let’s do it for argument sake anyway. So in Ontario the total number of self identified New Age believers is 380 and of that 105 are male and 170 are female. Now for Toronto that number decreases again to a total of New Age folks being 210 and of that very small number 55 are male and 150 are female.
Now I could continue this for those who practice Native and Shamanistic traditions but to be frankly honest in my experience most of these folks have strong connections to their own traditions and would not find themselves or their spiritual ideas truly welcome within most of the Spiritualist Churches. While some ministers pontificate about being in touch with Native Spirit Guides many of them are absolutely ignorant as to the true strength of these age old traditions and are usually too narrow minded to even really make the effort to try to learn what these spiritual paths have to offer and how they might complement Spiritualism. My 12 years of experience showed me that most Spiritualist leaders are too busy trying to tell others that their understanding of Spiritualism is the only way it can be and they go out of their way to shut out those with new, different or other spiritual concepts because they want to be “the teacher” and “control” how others walk their walk with Spirit. Now this is not to say this is the case in all the churches but it has been what I have seen in several of them so needless to say Spiritualism does not usually draw many people from the Native or Eastern traditions and if it does they usually get the impression that they are truly not welcome and move on anyway. So what you end up with is a bunch of old white folks in the leadership who have serious hang ups and fears pontificating about how to be spiritual when they prove to be the least able or willing to practice what they preach!
Post Script: The above comments in this blog are in no way a condemnation of all of Spiritualism or Spiritualist Educators across the board but does target those so called "teachers" in Spiritualism who do not know what they are doing because they lack the proper education/skills, and who run their churches like cults where they are the chief potentate. So as the old adage goes: When seeking Spiritualist Education in
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