As of October 2007 I started hosting a weekly radio show called Spiritualism and the New Age on www.radio.com that airs Thursday evenings at 8 pm! The experience has been very interesting and a heck of a lot of fun!
For me hosting the show has allowed me to meet a variety of spiritual seekers from a variety of spiritual paths. It has also given me the opportunity to talk in detail with trusted friends who I see as like minded seekers.
The following article was published in The Toronto Star. Fun things to do in Toronto before 8am.
DAYBREAK DIARY
The city that's still asleep
Aug 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Words to live by at 6:20 in the morning: "Just don't go out wearing no underwear."
A man who calls himself Smiley, lithe with a natty braid stretching down his back, delivered this advice to no one in particular as he feigned a stumble through the front door of Vesta Lunch. It's a 24-hour truck stop at
"How are ya? I'm drunk," he says. "I'm kidding. Gimme a coffee." He plunks himself down at a stool near mine and snarls in my direction.
There it is: my initiation into the world of early-morning
I blink in his direction, but glance past him through Vesta's floor-to-ceiling windows. The scene outside resembles a ghost town: Cars streak across the empty road. Traffic lights chirp for no one. It's quiet – even a bit eerie when the pulse of the city isn't thumping.
This is the first day of my hunt to find out what's on in this city between 6 and 9 a.m. as the subway squeals into motion and most locals hit the snooze button. The challenge is to pinpoint activities that don't include wandering aimlessly, praying or exercising.
Many activities are unpredictable. After-hours clubs promise to be packed past dawn, but doors often shut early, with no warning. A handwritten note tacked to the entrance of a 24-hour bowling alley greeted me at 7 a.m. one morning, explaining the place was closed because of an "emergency."
On the upside, the sidewalks outside
My first stop, after wrenching myself from slumber at 5:45 a.m. this morning, was Caffé Brasiliano on
Plumber Jonathan Fernandez and other labourers, all calloused hands, work boots and lunch pails, sip from miniature espresso cups, outside. It's a daily ritual.
"It's always the same people in here," Fernandez, 21, says. "We're like robots."
So are early morning exercisers. An aerobics class at Extreme Fitness at Bay and Bloor Sts. is packed.
"Knees up," yells the instructor. "Keep moving."
Everyone's bouncing like a bunny on crack, but there's a camaraderie as they shed their fatigue. It's as if they share a secret, an ownership of this more efficient, quiet world.
The light strikes me when I leave the gym. And I'm shocked, almost angered, to join a sidewalk teeming with fast-walking pedestrians.
Late risers. Who do they think they are?
A handful of early-morning sites we visited on our week-long quest:
Comfort Zone,
No klub kidz waving light sticks. No one barfing on the sidewalk. I'm disappointed. It's 6 a.m. and The Comfort Zone is closed. Manager Jose swore the after-hours club, open past 6 a.m. Friday to Monday, would be jumping, but I arrived to find the doors padlocked shut. Reliability before 9 a.m.? I think not.
Metro Golf Dome,
Feel like swinging a metal object before your morning coffee? It takes 15 minutes to get from downtown
CAFfÉ BRASILIANO,
A few patrons flop limply in booths at the back of the restaurant, and jolt upright when the espresso machine comes to life. The dimly lit space gets busier by the second. Owner Ken Connors is chipper, but not in an annoying way. "You're not gonna find anything around here that's open at 6 a.m.," he says of downtown
Bowlarama West,
Narrow windows surrounding the front door reveal a lights-off but lively bowling alley with all the charm the sport has to offer– moulded plastic benches, flashing lights, win-a-prize kiosks, shoe rental, snack bar. That's why it's extra disappointing to find the doors of this 24-hour joint, inside a strip mall, shut at 7 a.m. A handwritten note taped to the door explains the alley is closed due to "emergency."
Vesta Lunch,
This 24-hour truck stop at
Jet Fuel,
The stainless steel bar is swarmed with patrons, bleary-eyed and in desperate need of this high-octane coffee. The barista can hardly keep up with demand. I smack a handful of change down on the counter, plunge a few spoons of sugar into my tall to-go cup and exchange friendly words with a few random patrons. In and out in under seven minutes. A few sips of the appropriately named brew and I feel like I can fly.
Moksha Yoga,
It's 6:30 a.m. and about 95C in this room. I'm not sure if it's possible to stay awake when it feels like I'm lying in a pool of heated molasses. There are about 10 people in this early morning hot, silent yoga class – and I'm in for 90 minutes of posing without any spoken instruction. The class is calming and surprisingly energizing. And at this time of day any worries about seeming uncoordinated melt away.
Commisso Brothers & Racco,
I'd wager this is as close as
Psychic,
Spirits don't sleep in even if people do, says Catherine MacDonald, 37, who operates from a closet-sized room in her basement apartment. This psychic doesn't often do early-morning readings, but is available almost anytime by appointment. She's cheerful and ready by 8 a.m. when I arrive to have my fortune told, and says channelling the deceased comes naturally at any time of day. "To me, it's like second nature," she says.
Extreme Fitness, Bay and Bloor
Sweat is in the air at 7 a.m. The instructor's voice is booming and exercisers are too tired to resist her instruction. But as the music picks up so does our adrenaline. There's nothing like an early-morning fitness high to put life into perspective.
Ruby Chinese Restaurant,
Managers open the doors at 7:45, even though food carts don't start rolling through the banquet-like restaurant until 8:45. Tables fill quickly with diners, newspapers in hand, waiting for freshly steamed dumplings, sticky rice, pork buns and congee. English is a language spoken sparely by staff, so dim sum serves me well. I just point.
Four Seasons Hotel, Avenue Rd. and
At 8 a.m. breakfast-seekers are dressed to the nines – full faces of makeup, not a coiffed hair out of place and Windsor-knotted ties. The well-to-do can dine on tofu-cheese, turkey sausage and egg-white omelettes, which is what I choose to eat, at tables spread with white linens. Morning paper's free and chatter is all business. Breakfast, with orange juice and tea, comes in at just under $30.
Michele Henry
| spiritalk 4/19/2007 10:31 AM | 2 out of 9 |  | |
| | Go with plan B. Unfortunately government programs do not come with any wiggle room for aiding the recipient to get on their own feet. There design is to stifle any growth. God bless, J" | ||
| | spiritalk 5/18/2007 10:24 AM | 8 out of 9 | |
| | I councel no one to do anything that is against their very nature. It is funny that cat can talk when she takes from the public coffers and then pays her bills from other sources of income. Pot calling the kettle black? Well.... The fact is that government plans have no wriggle room for the sincere worker. When that worker has come to terms with their own direction and found their feet, they tend to make excellent contributors to all of society. It just seems that the red tape can get in the way of sincere effort. The reason for saying go with plan B was simply to get yourself settled, then pay into the future with your own prosperity. I have seen it work time and again. And it was even reported as a newspaper story in our local paper. Wake up and smell the coffee...to be spiritual does not mean being a doormat for those who are so judgemental as the posters here. God bless, J" | ||
On March 29, 2007 I was fortunate to participate in a fabulous fund-raising event hosted by Women's Post Magazine. This event celebrated influential women in business and raised money for breast cancer research through a silent auction. The “Pink Lunch Box” Event was a wonderful experience!
One might see how Cosmic Triggers are a crutch for those who do not want to take responsibility for what negativity they have drawn to themselves. I guess some Spiritualists can pontificate about personal responsibility but when it comes to themselves, they look to Cosmic Triggers to explain why their lives are circling the rim of the crapper spiritually, financially and on all other levels. If life were good these folks would not keep posting about Cosmic Triggers as a way to avoid taking personal responsibility for the condition their lives are in.
“Of all isms I think dogmatism the worst.”
-- English freethinker George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906).
Another inconsistency seems to be that certain people rail against “psychic parlor tricks” and “low level spiritual work”. They say that psychics are only reading from the physical energy/ aura around people. And yet these people are offering aura readings as a good example of mediumship? If the aura is only a reflection of the sitter’s mental, spiritual and physical state then offering aura reading is little more than a lazy way to read and is no better than the psychics that are supposedly lacking. It seems that the cheap psychic parlor tricks are ok if they draw in the cash though.
And more on burnout… some have the warped notion that to be truly spiritual you have to give till it hurts and that if you don’t then you are not truly a giver. Where is the balance of body, mind and spirit in that kind of thinking and expectation of others? Why then do such demanding leaders/ministers only have one or two workers that they drain to the point of burnout in the first place? Could it be that the more experienced workers see these leaders for the energy suckers they really are and have moved on long a go? Seems very likely and so if you enter a church and it is obviously a one woman/man show then you know that there is something wrong and to take a good look at what is really going on in the organization before you choose to get involved.
Good teachers learn and grow with the questions their students bring to them but too many are too wrapped up in their way being the right way to really consider the view of others who are just as qualified as they are! So the opinions of the “newbies” that have come to them as students will never be heard if truth be known. These so-called “teachers” pontificate about growth and evolution but when truly challenged to do so they balk at the idea and rant about why they must cling to the status quo. They even go so far as to become paranoid about others “taking over” the organization when all that is really offered are ideas to help move the organization in the direction the leader professes that he or she wants it to go. How is being so paranoid about one’s position and status a sign of positive connection to spirit?
Good teachers also are able to learn from other teachers and do not try to one up them in front of the students because they feel jealous and insecure. Good teachers make sure to check the content of guest teachers’ teaching materials BEFORE the class and make sure that everyone is on the same page! The sign of a truly inept teacher is one who does not do the prep work and then has so little respect for the other volunteers working for him or her that he or she insists on cornering them publicly in front of the class. Shoddy presentation if that is the way he or she runs the show! Yep natural law works well and negativity might be gauged by student responses to the course material’s lack of substance and negative attitude of the said teacher to the guest teachers who were working for free while the cash flowed into the said teacher’s pocket. Again I ask whose church is dying while other churches are building nicely and teachers have more students that space permits. Seems the said teacher who was belittled in front of a class of less then 5 has 17 of his own students and other home circles need more room to accommodate interested seekers! Where people are NOT going is a sure sign of where negativity exists in full force!
On reflecting on my last blog entry I realized that I forgot to add a few other details about how a truly healthy and thriving Spiritualist Church promotes itself if it wants continue to attract the increasingly spiritually and internet savvy public.
As well as posting who the regular church workers are on their web site it is customary that the church calendar (if posted online) show which workers are working on what dates few months a head of time so that seekers can check out different workers and plan their busy lives accordingly.
Again, I cannot stress how important the detailed biographies of the Spiritualist Educators selling courses are to prospective students. Given that the bios are often how discerning people judge when choosing their teachers, one cannot blame seekers for wanting to know WHO the instructors are and WHAT qualifies them to teach the courses they are expecting students to shell out serious cash for.
While it is true that there is less dogma and creed in Spiritualism it is NOT dogma free as much as some would like to delude themselves it is. As soon as one sets themselves up as a teacher selling courses in Spiritualism they are saying that "THIS is what Spiritualism IS!" And yet they do not see how they are telling others what spirit is or is not? Where does the personal journey of learning or individual understanding of Spirit (that is to come from within) fit in this case?
It is definitely a matter of personal interpretation and if that is the case why do you need to spend cash and time meeting the standards of one particular Spiritualist Minister or another when all you need to do is move on when you have had your fill? But wait isn't this kind of free thinking and fluid movement that is touted as part of the no creed no dogma kind of Spiritualism actually the same kind of attitude that the New Age is often faulted for by Spiritualist Leaders? Hmmm now I am confused... No dogma so move on when you have had enough but we need standards in education??? Who sets those standards if Spiritualism is supposed to be for free thinkers?
So the rub is this Spiritualism is for free thinkers and is apparently without dogma and creed but if you want to participate in the churches you then are saddled with what their ministers’ vision of what Spiritualism is or should be.
The even sadder truth is that some Spiritualist ministers are so disparate for a congregation and church workers that they will put new students up on the platform well before they are truly ready. For may of these "newbies" the experience of working in the churches starts out as gratifying and after a time will come to be a whole lot of work as they are asked to do more and more without consideration for their need for family/life balance. New church worker burnout is all too common and usually happens in a very short time.
More experienced mediums know to pace themselves and they know how not to get in over their heads. They have learned how to say "No sorry cant do that...." and they also look for Spiritualist Churches and Learning Centres where there is a group of people dividing the church duties so they do not become over whelmed. If you are a new church worker do not let the minister suck you into being at the church more than you are comfortable attending. Go to additional events if you are interested but do not let anyone make you feel obligated.
Organizational problems and politics aside, the history and methods of Spiritualism do need to be taught if Spiritualism is going to truly thrive, but how do leaders accomplish this in a way that allows for reasonable continuity between the churches if none of them is willing to truly work together? It is obvious that the principle of The Brotherhood of Man is pontificated about more than it is exercised in some cases!
Add to the infighting in and among the different organizations the fact that there are different styles/kinds of Spiritualist Churches and you have a combination where there is little hope to reasonably standardize the education offered. This being the case then begs the question, how is the public supposed to judge what is good or bad mediumship let alone what is good education and what is rubbish? Further if this lack of consistency and varying standards of education are the norm how can Spiritualists actually claim that mediums are better than psychics? I don't know but the argument is often made regardless.
The only way to find out what is good and what is not in Spiritualism is to check out the various
Anyone who has been in Spiritualism any length of time knows that the sign of a healthy, truly thriving
Now I fully understand the value of voluntarism but some so-called ministers choose to take complete advantage of others for years and then have the nerve to say that such folks are "deadwood" and "negative" when if it were not for the free labour of these people the so-called Spiritualist Church/Learning Centre would not have had the quality mediums, healers and lecturers it once did nor the advertising and web savvy that it currently does.
A truly blossoming
If the Spiritualist Church/ Learning Centre is really doing as well as its promotional documents and websites profess then the courses offered should have a wide selection of teachers offering instruction and these folks should have the proper background of knowledge and actual ability to demonstrate (in a practical way) the material covered. Each teacher’s/instructor's bio/resume should be available to prospective students and online if the
If you do not see a variety of workers listed on the events calendar or a clear list of who the teachers are (with detailed, current bios) that are supposed to teach the courses in Spiritualism then you have to ask yourself how viable the organization truly is. Glossy materials and bluster in blogs/websites/and documentation stating viability and a thriving status of the organization does not make it so. Bluster is just that and should be backed up by real substance but usually is not when it comes down to it.
When considering attending a Spiritualist Church/Learning Centre thoroughly check out the blogs of the minister and or the church website also ask for as much documentation on the organization, its leadership and instructors as you can get your hands on. If the documentation is not forthcoming or if you feel like it is a “one dog show” after reading the information they DO provide then likely your impression is right on the mark.
If you do decide to get involved with courses from a said Learning Centre teaching Spiritualism PLEASE take the time to attend other events they offer before you dig deep in your pockets! Take your time getting involved and be careful how much money you put into it. The longer you are around the more likely you will see the true level of viability (or lack there of) as the case may be of the specific organization. If it really is thriving you will know it very shortly.
If there is a lack of attendance or the minister makes negative comments about people who have left even if it is just a subtle derogatory reference to “deadwood” or supposed “negative people” either to you in person or in public writings you need to ask yourself what is really going on with that spiritual leader. Ask yourself why that person is still so focused on the negative people or situations they say are no longer a problem for the said organization? Keep reading what this person writes and keep listening to what he or she says over time. Eventually they will show you where the real problem rests.
Quite simply control freaks in the leadership of Spiritualist Churches and Learning Centres have the habit of driving good mediums/healers and teachers away BECAUSE are unwilling or unable to work with others as part of a team. If you are around these types long enough you will come to recognize them for who they really are as the pattern does repeat itself will become obvious over time!
Whatever Spiritualist Church/Learning Centre you decide to get involved with please take the time to fully examine what is offered and ask Spirit to help you focus your sense of discernment!
Ever wonder why Spiritualists and Psychics believe as strongly as they do in the connection to the afterlife and why they know that Spirit contact is real?
While many folks might want to challenge the understanding these folks have of the Spirit World there are just some experiences that cannot be explained away. In my work as a Spiritualist Medium/Psychic Advisor I hear all kinds of different personal stories where people have been touched in a very real way by their loved ones who are now in spirit.
A few weeks ago I received a wonderful email from one of the sitters in my development circle explaining how her grandmother came through with beautiful proof that she had come to visit this woman earlier in the evening during the development class. I am pleased to share here on this blog with the writer’s permission the section of email as it was written to me a few weeks ago. I hope in doing so I can help others understand how wonderful spirit contact can be.
“On our way home from your house last night we [Anne and her husband Denis] were talking about our meditation and we both felt that we'd had a really wonderful experience. When we got home there was this wonderful smell in the house like someone had been baking. The house was warm and the aroma was all around the house even up the stairs and in the bedroom. At first I thought I had left something in the over and checked but nothing; we went all around the house sniffing trying to find out where the smell was coming from but we couldn't find anything. All I could think of was that Sarah mentioned that she saw someone around me that could have been my grandmother and she was an awesome cook and baked all time. I could feel her presence, as I do sometimes, and could see her smiling at us. I still find it amazing when these incidents happen, no wonder we love Tuesdays!”
When I consider such events I have to think they happen to remind us that our loved ones in spirit love us very much and do come to visit us and remind us of good times and joyful memories. In asking for proof that it was her grandmother that was near during the development circle Anne and her husband both experienced a welcoming home that only her grandmother would/could offer to them. It is these loving experiences shared with spirit that strengthens our belief that everything and everyone is connected and that there is much more to this life than the here and now.
With that understanding in mind Spiritualist Mediums and Psychics find peace and healing and personal balance in their lives and feel compelled to share these experiences with others so that they too might enjoy such occurrences in their lives. As a Spiritualist Medium/ Psychic Advisor my primary goal is to help others discover who is near them from the Spirit world and what blessings these folks in spirit wish to share with them.
Please feel free to add your positive experience with spirit contact to the discussion area of this blog.
Additional comments to my last blog I have been in Spiritualism a long time since I was 24 and I am 37 now but that does not mean I felt good about it for that entire time. While I never regretted opening to spirit and where my life has come to, I resent the fact that I was used and abused by some who call themselves ministers. I can say only that I am relieved that that part of my life is closed and I have moved beyond the control of these kinds of people.
That said it seems one person insists on copying my comments on discussion threads in TRYING to make some kind of point in the comment areas of my blogs. Damned if I know what it is but, I do not endorse plagiarism. Therefore, I have deleted the posts only to have her repost them and will say that folks who do such things are definitely mentally unbalanced or maybe just stupid, two dimensional and lazy. Who knows what her problem is? But there comes a time when one needs to respond and I have done that here and in the comment section of the blog where she posted my content. Annoying but at least I know she is reading them! I guess that is something eh? On that note though, it would be nice if that said minister could come up with an original way to interact with people on blogs and in discussion threads.
I had the most interesting conversation with the President of
After a very thought provoking, several hour discussion with Martin, I must say that I think I have found a new Church home! I like the fact I could share in a vast variety of topics with this man who I spoke with for most of the afternoon. Happily, I found myself affirming many things I have felt for many years about Spirit, Mediumship, and Spiritualism through shared ideas with Martian that I had not heard anywhere else.
Spirit does direct and guide and I must say that I am truly enjoying this new part of my life adventure.
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