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Introduction
PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
INTRODUCTION
Ethel Post-Parrish, the psychic to whom this book is dedicated, is one of the most versatile mediums in America today. She has given many years of her life to the promulgation of Spiritualism.
In 1927 she opened a church and established a school for the education of ministers and the development of mediums in Miami, Florida. In later years she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, where she now has a most successful church—The Church of the Beloved (N.S.A. Charter). In 1932, through the kindness of John and Mary Stephan, she was able to open a summer camp and school of unfoldment in Ephrata, Penna. This is called Camp Silver Belle—so named for Mrs. Parrish's little Indian guide Silver Belle. The cooperation of John and Mary Stephan, who were natives of Ephrata, gave her the opportunity to conduct a school and camp in the same spiritual and dignified manner as that of her Florida organization.
In 1935 Camp Silver Belle moved to more spacious quarters—The Mountain Springs Hotel. Here there are eight acres of well-tended lawns, gorgeous old trees and beautiful shrubbery; a large hotel of over one hundred rooms; two lodges with about thirty-two rooms each and an auditorium seating approximately five hundred people. Even with these increased accommodations it is impossible to take care of the many guests who wish to visit Camp Silver Belle and the Ephrata hotels and guest houses are also filled much of the time. 1957 is our "Silver Jubilee"—the 25th Anniversary of Camp Silver Belle.
Only the best lecturers and mediums are invited to serve at Camp Silver Belle and the atmosphere at the camp is one of peace, harmony and Spiritual upliftment. Ethel Post-Parrish is one of the finest physical mediums in our movement today. Her phases of direct voice and materialization have attracted world-wide attention. She is also a splendid clairvoyant and an outstanding platform message bearer. She has a pleasing personality, is always well-groomed and attractive and to know her is to love her. While she has submitted to many tests in order to prove the truth of her splendid manifestations of physical mediumship, her real desire is that she may be able through her wonderful gift to bring comfort and happiness to humanity. She is untiring in her service and all who come within her doors are sure of a cordial welcome regardless of their financial or social status.
Her illustrious spirit teacher—Sir Joseph Banks, was born in England in 1743 and passed to Spirit Life in 1820, after a long and useful life devoted to the service of humanity. English history tells us that he was a great naturalist and made many trips to foreign lands in the interest of botany. Among his many expeditions was a voyage of exploration in the Pacific with the famous navigator James Cook. His valuable collections may be seen in the British Museum in London. As a spirit teacher his service to humanity still continues and he has helped to solve the problems of thousands of people who have come to him for guidance. He is always patient, kind and courteous to all whom he contacts.
Silver Belle is a beautiful Indian girl, granddaughter of the famous Chief Baconrind. She is one of the happiest spirits one could hope to contact and her witty sayings and sympathetic way have endeared her to all who know her. Her tinkling laugh and musical voice have charmed thousands of people.
In addition to her spiritual work, Mrs. Parrish is a noted humanitarian. Among her many efforts along this line was the establishment of a hospital in a wing of the Mountain Springs Hotel known as The Mansion. Seeing the need of such an institution, she started on a small scale the organization known as The Stephan Memorial Hospital. In later years the equipment was sold to a group of Ephrata citizens and it became the Ephrata Community Hospital. Today a large and splendidly equipped building on the outskirts of the city is the result of the tiny seed planted in 1937 at Camp Silver Belle.
It is my opinion that there is no medium living today who has given a greater service to humanity, both spiritually and materially, than Ethel Post-Parrish and it is with love and appreciation that I dedicate this book.
Lo, I Am With You Alway. (St. Matthew 28:20) to one whom I consider to be the outstanding physical medium in America today.
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A TREATISE ON PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
LECTURE 1
MEDIUMSHIP
The Continuity of Life and the Communion of Spirit are established facts in the minds of millions of people today. They know that they continue on in the next world exactly where they left off in this, that, as one of our well known writers so aptly says.—
"Death does not mean the end of the book, it only means the close of the chapter, we turn the page and the story continues, more beautifully than before, on the other side of life." It is a proven fact, that there has been, since the beginning of time, communication through mediumship with those who live in the Spirit World. Many religions express belief that man lives after the change called death but Spiritualism is the only religion that affirms and absolutely proves that fact scientifically.
Those who are not familiar with the history of Spiritualism do not realize that it is based upon the psychic phenomena found in the Christian Bible. In both the Old and the New Testaments we find evidence of Spirit Communion. We cannot consistently state a belief in the psychic phenomena recorded in the Bible and refuse to accept the same phenomena as they occur today. Both manifestations are governed by God's Natural Law—that law is immutable, therefore the phenomena that happened during the life of Jesus can still occur today provided we have the same conditions and the human instrument (a medium) necessary for such a manifestation.
Just what is a medium? The National Spiritualist Association gives us the following definition :
"A Medium is one whose organism is sensitive to the vibrations from the Spirit World and through whose instrumentality intelligences in that world are able to convey messages and produce the phenomena of Spiritualism."
We divide mediumship into two classes—mental and physical. As this book is devoted entirely to a study of physical mediumship, we will not discuss the mental phases at this time.
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A TREATISE ON PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
LECTURE 2
ECTOPLASM
Ectoplasm is the basis of all phases of physical mediumship. Psychic Science tells us that it is an outer layer of protoplasm. Material science states that protoplasm is the physical basis of all life and defines it as a viscid, usually colored substance which will not mix with water. Its chief chemical components are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen.
In order to change protoplasm to ectoplasm, the spirit chemists add other chemicals and a form of spiritual energy of which we know but little. Thus it is etherealized and made sensitive to thought. The Spirit Operators are able through the power of thought, to mould it into any desired form that they wish to use in a manifestation. In Sir Oliver Lodge's book - "Raymond", so named after his son, Raymond, is quoted as saying that they make bricks for their homes. He goes on to say that they are not bricks as we know them but they are made of an etherealized material and moulded through the power of thought.
Ectoplasm emanates from all mucous membranes of the medium and pictures have been taken which show a stream of ectoplasm coming from the vicinity of the spleen and the solar plexus.
The word ectoplasm was coined by Prof. Chas. Richet of Paris.
To this scientist we owe many of the words used in the terminology of Spiritualism. The word ectoplasm is derived from the Greek words ektos and plasma. The words psychoplasm, ideoplasm and teleplasm have a similar meaning. The term teleplasm is used when the substance is utilized to accomplish feats of telekinesis.
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A TREATISE ON PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
LECTURE 3
TELEKINESIS AND SPIRIT WRITING
Telekinesis:
Telekinesis, properly defined means—"Movement at a distance from the motive, cause or agency, without material connection."
This is another word that is familiar only to those who are interested in psychic phenomena and refers to the levitation of persons or objects by means of psychic power. In the history of Spiritualism we find many cases of bodily levitation through mediumship. Daniel D. Home, a noted psychic who held many test séances for Sir William Crookes, was famed for this particular phenomena. He was levitated bodily many times and once he was passed through an open window into a building across the street.
This phase of mediumship has caused heavy articles of furniture to be hurled through the air and musical instruments to be played while floating above the heads of the assembled people.
In Ethel Post-Parrish's séances there are many manifestations of telekinesis, especially in class work where there is usually perfect harmony of thought. Many times I have heard a Spirit Orchestra in the seance room—a toy piano that had been given to Silver Belle was levitated and floated about the room, we could hear the music at different points in the room as Silver Belle played upon it most skillfully. The piano was accompanied by a mouth organ, played vigorously by an Indian who called himself White Cloud and a small drum was beaten in perfect time by the spirit son of one of the students in the class. This was a regular and most enjoyable feature of our Harmony Class for many weeks.
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A TREATISE ON PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
LECTURE 4
VIBRATION AND DIRECT VOICE
All phases of mediumship are governed by the Law of Vibration. Each medium has a certain vibratory wavelength and unless the spirit entities come within that wave length they are not able to manifest in a manner that is discernible to the physical eye or audible to the physical ear. All demonstrations of physical mediumship must occur through the use of matter—the matter used in these manifestations is an etherealized protoplasm called ectoplasm.
The thought vibrations of those sitting in the seance effect the manifestations. Each sitter helps to build the channel of communication between himself and the spirit entity through the power of his own thoughts. If the thoughts of the sitter are negative the phenomena cannot be at its best. The statement "Thoughts are things" is absolutely a proven fact and nowhere can one realize it more fully than in the seance room. Doubt vibrations are most destructive and they form a solid wall that the Spirit Forces must puncture before they are able to manifest. Doubt is a negative force and is destructive to all psychic manifestations. It is a good idea never to ask for tests in a demonstration of physical mediumship. Seek for your tests in clairvoyant readings and in all the mental phases of mediumship and even then you will find that he who accepts gratefully the message that comes through to him and does not demand will get more evidence than the person who is always seeking tests. I would not ask you to be gullible and accept all that comes to you but be fair-minded and allow the Spirit Loved Ones to manifest through a clear channel. Later you can analyze your message and accept that which is true and cast aside the error if there be any.
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A TREATISE ON PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP
Lena Barnes Jefts
LECTURE 5
THE LAYING ON OF HANDS (spiritual Healing)
There are two phases of Spiritual Healing, mental and physical. One does not need to be a medium in order to demonstrate the mental phase of healing as it is manifested through the power of thought. We know that marvelous cures have been accomplished through mental healing. Dr. Alexis Carrell makes the statement in his wonderful book, "Man the Unknown", that he has seen even malignant diseases cured through the power of prayer. If mental healing is accomplished through the power of thought what thoughts could be higher than those ad- dressed to Deity through Prayer. We recognize the fact that the marvelous healings that have occurred at the many Shrines throughout the world have been accomplished through the power of prayer and the faith of the one who desired to be healed.
In our church at St. Petersburg and at Camp Silver Belle, we use the term "Laying on of Hands" in referring to the physical phase of Spiritual Healing. Healing was the outstanding phase of the Nazarene's mediumship and we find many references for healing through the laying on of hands in the New Testament. In St. Matthew 8: 14-15 we read—
And when Jesus was come into Peter's home he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of fever And he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto them. The day after Jesus had healed the servant of the centurian, he and his disciples went into the city called Nain. When Jesus came near the city he saw a dead man being carried out. The man was the only son of a widow and many of the people were following after sorrowing with her for her loss. When Jesus saw her he had compassion for her and he said—"Weep not."
He went over to the bier and touched the young man saying:
Young man, I say unto thee Arise And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
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