LONDON. A five-day free Spiritist film festival starts tomorrow in London. It features the teachings received at seances by Allan Kardec, on which Spiritism is based, as well as the remarkable abilities of some of its top automatic writing mediums – notably Candido “Chico” Xavier and Divaldo Franco – and the evidence for life after death they have provided.

The event takes place at Queen Mary, University of London, at Mile End. Some of the screenings are already sold out.

The 1^st Lusophonic Spiritist/Spiritualist Film Festival kicks off with a 2005 film, Allan Kardec, the Educator. Lusophonic – for those unfamiliar with the word – means “Portuguese-speaking”, reflecting the popularity of Spiritism in Brazil, which was once a Portuguese colony. The language is spoken by 263 million people, so it is ranked sixth in the world.

The good news is that all the films will have English subtitles. To view the programme and reserve a seat at one or more of the films, click here.  Business commitments will prevent me from attending until the final day and a screening of the biographical account of Chico’s life which was a box office hit in Brazil. I’ve also been asked to take part in a panel discussion  at the end of the film.

Regular readers of my Blog will remember that I wrote about the success of the biopic in April last year, so I welcome this opportunity to view it at last. At around the same time, I reviewed Guy Lyon Playfair’s book about the famous Brazilian, Chico Xavier: Medium of the Century for the Society for Psychical Research‘s Journal (published in Vol 75.2, No. 903, April 2011, pp125-127).

Now would seem to be a good time to share that review with readers of my Blog:

CHICO XAVIER: MEDIUM OF THE CENTURY

This is the compelling and complex story of Brazil’s most famous medium, automatist Francisco Cândido Xavier, better known to his countrymen and to Spiritists the world over as “Chico”.

Brazilians regard him as a national hero. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1981, having received two million petitions from his admirers, including a former Brazilian president. The people of Minas Gerais voted him their “mineiro” (as natives of the state are called) of the century, ahead of a former president and the legendary footballer Pelé. When he died in 2002, a queue two miles long formed as an estimated 120,000 waited to pay their last respects to him, and 30,000 joined the funeral procession.

Eight years later, he was far from forgotten. The Brazilian Post Office commemorated the centenary of his birth, on 2 April, 2010, by issuing a new stamp depicting Chico signing a book, the national mint issued a special medallion, and a movie about his life and work, called simply Chico Xavier, went on general release, breaking box office records as more than two million paid to see it in the first month.

It would be easy to dismiss such adulation if it were based on the same flimsy admiration that puts popstars on a pedestal and just as quickly discards them. But Playfair does a masterful job of demonstrating why such reverence is undoubtedly justified, suggesting in fact that “medium of the century” would be a suitable description for this simple, self-effacing man with the remarkable gift of psychography – the term Spiritists use for automatists controlled by spirits as opposed to those who practice automatic writing, which is seen as a manifestation of the subconscious.

Here, in a nutshell, is why Chico Xavier is so important, not only to Brazilians and Spiritists but to the whole field of parapsychology. The son of an illiterate lottery ticket seller, Chico left school at 13 having had a rudimentary education. Yet, within a few years, he was producing automatic writing scripts, apparently from different deceased authors and on topics about which he had never learned. Indeed, he admitted that he didn’t understand most of what was written through his hand.

Soon, these trance sessions were being held in public and there is ample testimony about the speed with which they were produced. One witness was a well-known writer of soap operas who reports: “Chico divided a pile of paper into two, went into trance, and started writing with both hands at the same time, getting simultaneous messages from André Luiz and Humberto de Campos. How could I still have any doubts when that happened right in front of me? That was too much.”

These two writers, along with Emmanuel, his chief spirit guide who is said to have been a Roman Emperor and a priest in previous incarnations, became the authors whose works, produced through Chico’s mediumship, have become best-sellers. Humberto de Campos was a well-known academician who took a great interest in Chico’s writing whilst still on Earth and made a study of Parnassus From Beyond The Tomb. This consists of 259 poems, written and signed by 56 of the greatest of Brazil’s and Portugal’s deceased poets through Chico’s industrious hand. He testified that “their authors were showing the same characteristics of inspiration and expression that identified them on this planet”. Another well-known Brazilian writer, Monteiro Lobato, declared: “If this man [Chico] produced all this on his own, then he can occupy as many chairs in the Academy as he likes!”

When Campos died, soon after studying Parnassus, he joined Chico’s band of spirits almost immediately, resulting in the five books he produced between 1937 and 1942 being praised by other writers, including one who commented that they were “full of the thousand and one technical mannerisms of Humberto”. His widow took Chico to court on the basis that, if these were produced by her dead husband, she was entitled to author’s rights. The judge decided that since Campos was dead, he no longer had rights.

The story of Chico Xavier’s mediumship would be impressive enough if it were just about great literary works being dictated from beyond. But Chico also produced scripts containing extraordinary personal evidence from dead loved ones, including names, dates and details that he could not have known by normal means. Some of this, we learn, was even used in court with dramatic results, including one case that made legal history.

It was not only Chico’s mediumship that inspired people, it was also his attitude to fame and fortune. He refused payment for his work, donating all the proceeds to Spiritist charities which helped the poor and the sick, including 50 welfare organisations that operate under the name Nosso Lar (Our Home), which happens to be the title of a monumental work, dictated by André Luiz, about life in the spirit world. Consisting of 12 books, nine of which are novels, it has been

A Blog I wrote back in July 2011 on Prof Brian Cox has upset some of his supporters once again. Author Michael Prescott recently posted a link to my piece and all of a sudden I’ve found myself on the receiving end of comments from people who, for the most part, seem to know as little about the paranormal as the particle physicist himself.

My criticism of Cox at the time was that he was totally dismissive of ghosts. For the record, I don’t know which of the many theories about ghosts or apparitions is closest to the truth, but I do know that enough people have reported their ghostly experiences for most reasonable people to accept that it is a phenomenon worthy of investigation.

I wasn’t planning to return to the subject so soon, but the pin-up boy of astronomy, who pops up on television almost daily, has done it again – this time using his highly entertaining A Night With The Stars lecture, filmed at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and broadcast on BBC2 in December, as an opportunity to dismiss all paranormal phenomena.

Here’s what he had to say in his introduction:

“The best theory we have to describe matter is quantum theory. Now, I understand why quantum theory can seem a bit odd, I mean it makes some odd statements; it says, for example, that things can be in many places at once. In fact, technically, it says that things can be in an infinite number of places at once. It says that the sub-atomic building blocks of our bodies are shifting in response to events that happened at the edge of the known universe, a billion light years somewhere over there.

“Now this is all true but that isn’t a licence to talk utter drivel. You see, quantum theory might seem weird and mysterious but it describes the world with higher precision than the laws of physics laid down by Newton and it’s one of the foundations of our modern understanding of nature. It doesn’t therefore allow mystical healing or ESP or any other manifestation of New-Age woo woo into the pantheon of the possible. Always remember quantum theory is physics and physics is usually done by people without star signs tattooed on their bottom.”

He concluded his lecture by saying: “There is nothing strange; there is nothing weird; there’s no woo woo – it’s just beautiful physics.”

What Cox is overlooking – or deliberately ignoring – is that healing, ESP, ghosts and other so-called “paranormal” phenomena have been investigated by scientists whose qualifications are as good as his and their research may one day lead to these phenomena being better understood and even accepted as normal. Physics may be beautiful, but there’s still an awful lot we don’t understand about the workings of the Universe in which we exist. What sceptics regard as “woo-woo” today may prove to have great significance in the future.

It is worth noting that having filled his TV show with demonstrations of how things work, he offered no supporting evidence for his claim that quantum theory “doesn’t allow” ESP and other so-called paranormal phenomena.  A few years ago, I’m sure, Cox would have assured us just as confidently that nothing can travel faster than light. Yet recent experiments seem to point to the fact that neutrinos are able to do precisely that.

The irony is that Cox’s TV lecture began with this quote from 19th century chemist Sir Humphry Davy: “Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose our views of science are ultimate; that there are no new mysteries in nature; that our triumphs are complete; and that there are no new worlds to conquer.”

Perhaps Cox could be persuaded to ponder Davy’s wise words and how they might apply to his own thinking before he next steps into the spotlight.

Better still, he should consider the arguments put forward by Dr Rupert Sheldrake (left) in his new book, The Science Delusion: freeing the spirit of enquiry. I will be reviewing Sheldrake’s book shortly, but it is relevant to this discussion because he examines and challenges the 10 core beliefs of the scientific creed. He then offers an alternative philosophy, built around his theory of morphic resonance.

Sheldrake is a biologist and author whose research into telepathy has attracted a great deal of criticism from sceptics of the paranormal. Not only has he answered their criticisms but he has also said that one critic, Professor Richard Wiseman, has been deliberately deceptive in his reporting of Sheldrake’s research. In an interview last year with Alex Tsakiris on the excellent Skeptiko website/podcast, Sheldrake had this to say:

“Wiseman’s research on psychic pets was entirely parasitic on my research. He portrays himself as this kind of heroic debunking figure who goes in and exposes people who fool themselves about their dogs and so forth.  But, in fact, his own tests show an even bigger effect than I’d observed. Incredibly, he then appeared on TV and made press releases, wrote a scientific paper in a scientific journal, claiming to have refuted the effect we both demonstrated. It is completely outrageous, but as you say, he’s got away with it before. He’s been exposed before, but that seems completely irrelevant to him.”

Sheldrake made those comments after publication of Wiseman’s book, Paranormality: why we see what isn’t there. You’ll find the full details at “Dr Rupert Sheldrake on the persistence of Richard Wiseman’s deception“. The biologist has also pointed out that sceptics are not non-believers; they are believers in a materialist world. Here’s one reflection on their state of mind, delivered in another interview with Alex Tsakiris (“Dr Rupert Sheldrake and the Skeptics“, June 2008):

“These are mainly people who are committed to a kind of militant/atheist worldview. As far as they are concerned, if you allow any psychic phenomena to occur you are leaving a door open a crack and … who knows, within seconds you could have God back again and, even worse, the Pope. So, I think, for them, it’s almost like a kind of religious struggle. It’s like a crusade.”

For those who would like a fuller appraisal of Brian Cox’s TV performance, I recommend atheist and sceptic James Sheils’ “Double Twit Experiment – What Brian Cox Got Wrong“.

In addition to the Comments below, readers may like to view the very lively comments that have appeared on the Blog of American author Michael Prescott after he drew attention to my contribution, as well as the Comments that followed my earlier Blog on Cox.

Now that some initial technical problems with its website have been resolved, I’m delighted to report on the very successful relaunch of Psychic News as a magazine.

The happy event took place with the support of one of London’s oldest Spiritualist churches, the London Spiritual Mission, on 15 December 2011. It was heartwarming to see how much backing the publication was given from mediums, contributors and various organisations that have an interest in psychical and spiritual matters.

There was warm applause for Hugh Davis, Margaret Davis and Eric Hatton – the three trustees of JV Trust (pictured left), the charity that is the new owner of Psychic News.

Susan Farrow, managing director of the new company set up by JV Trust to publish Psychic News as a fortnightly printed and online publication, paid tribute to the trustees’ efforts and presented them with lifetime subscriptions to the magazine.

Sue spoke briefly about the events that had led to the change of ownership and introduced JV Trust’s chairman, Eric Hatton, who spoke about the important contribution Psychic News had made to the Spiritualist movement over almost eight decades and the promise he had made many years ago to its founder, Maurice Barbanell, to keep it in print. The publication now continues as the independent voice of Spiritualism under the trust’s protection.

As chairman of the new company, I was also delighted to say a few words, expressing my admiration for the loyalty and perseverance displayed by Sue Farrow and Paul Brett, both now directors of Psychic Press Ltd, during the period of more than a year when the publication’s future was in doubt.

The new Psychic News format has already been greeted with enthusiasm by many of its old subscribers. Some have been so pleased to see it back in print that they even refused to take advantage of a special discount offer that the directors made, to help compensate them for the financial loss they suffered when the previous owners, the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU), closed the newspaper.

The first issue of the new magazine is still available online as a FREE download. The second issue was published on the last day of 2011. And the latest issue was published on the 14th. Full details of subscription rates can be found here, at the Psychic News website.

Topics already covered in the first three issues include an interview with Eric Hatton about the work of the JV Trust; ITC: spirit communication for a digital age; Spirit of Youth – the future of Spiritualism; Have researchers found a skeleton in Emma Hardinge Britten’s cupboard?; The way of the White Eagle Lodge; Spiritualism’s Principles in a new light; White Feather speaks on reincarnation; David Thompson’s former circle leader on physical mediumship; Faces of the Living Dead; Are you a Spiritualist or Survivalist?; and much more.

Those of us who have fought long and hard for the return of Psychic News are agreed that we should be focusing now very positively on the future and not dwell on past events or the behaviour of the SNU and its officers – subjects I have dealt with previously on this Blog.

That decision, however, is difficult to abide by when the SNU president, David Bruton, continues to comment on the closure with words that need to be challenged. In an interview in Two Worlds, in answer to a question about the liquidation of the company and the newspaper’s closure in 2010, Bruton says:

“I do not subscribe to a blame culture. No one person should take responsibility for what happened at Psychic News.”

But then he adds that circulation fell at an alarming rate after Sue Farrow decided to move the editorial focus “to a more serious journalistic bias, taking the paper back to its roots under founding editor Maurice Barbanell,” adding: “I have to say that as executive director, I supported this editorial policy, but clearly it did not find favour with the wider readership.”

Sue Farrow may have decided to “move the editorial focus to a more serious journalistic bias” – how can that be wrong? – but Bruton is conveniently forgetting one thing.  Sue was an employee of Psychic Press (1995) Ltd. The SNU appointed her as Editor and had the power to fire her if they were not happy with her editorship.

She may have recommended a “back to Spiritualism’s basics” policy, but she could only have implemented that with the full backing of the Psychic Press (1995) directors, which she clearly received. If that decision was the reason for falling circulation, then it was the directors who were responsible, not their employee.

Besides, where is his evidence for blaming declining sales on this editorial shift? Did the SNU conduct a readership survey? There could have been several contributory factors.

To try to shift blame onto Sue’s shoulders just as she relaunches the new Psychic News is not only hurtful but shameful.

And one wonders, if he really believes her style of editorship lost readers, why Bruton referred to Sue during the last Board meeting as “the best editor since Barbanell.”

Being two-faced is not a quality one expects from an SNU president. The reality is that the SNU, with plenty of resources, totally mismanaged the effects of declining readership – a phenomenon experienced by practically all publishing companies – and must shoulder full responsibility for the decisions it took.

It should have restructured the company in a way that allowed it to inject more funds into the business and rejuvenate it. This is what another Spiritualist charity has done, very successfully.

I’ve said before that those within the SNU who were involved in Psychic News’ closure should hang their heads in shame and this recent attempt by Bruton to place the blame elsewhere simply reinforces that view.

Fortunately, Psychic News is now in safe hands, with Sue and Paul Brett (pictured with me, above) at the helm, and under the stewardship of Spiritualists whose motives, values and acumen are more in tune with its long-established purpose. All they need now is the full support of Spiritualists around the world, and with a six-month online subscription costing only £14, that’s not asking a lot.

[Photos (c) Danny Lee]

Having provided evidence of life after death for nearly eight decades, Psychic News, the independent voice of Spiritualism, is about to demonstrate its own survival by returning more than a year after it was put to death.

Regular visitors to this website will be well aware of the sorry saga, ever since I broke the news on 10 July, 2010, that its demise was imminent. (Those unfamiliar with the story can use the search facility on this site to look up “Psychic News”.)

The exciting news is that Psychic News is returning as a fortnightly magazine, and its first issue (actually issue number 4,067) comes out on 15 December, two days ahead of its actual publication date (17 December) when it will look similar to the early sample, shown right.

I must, at this point, declare a personal interest, having become chairman of Psychic Press Ltd, the company responsible for publishing the magazine. It is owned by JV Trust, the Spiritualist charity which has made the resurrection of Psychic News possible, and one of the first visitors to the new Psychic News offices was its chairman, veteran Spiritualist Eric Hatton. He is pictured with editor Susan Farrow, sitting at the desk that was used for many years by the newspaper’s founder and first editor, Maurice Barbanell (photo credit: Paul Brett).

Many publishing companies are experiencing difficulties as they feel the impact of the internet as well as a global economic downturn. But Susan Farrow, Psychic News editor and managing director, and fellow director Paul Brett, believe they have a formula for success.  The magazine, which sports a bright new masthead, will be available as both a printed publication and an online magazine which, for those with computers, is a much cheaper option since printing and postage costs are not involved.

Single printed copies will be on sale every fortnight at Spiritualist churches and newsagents priced £1.40 – the same total cost to purchasers as they paid for two issues of the 70p weekly newspaper.

The directors are so confident that they can attract new readers, as well as the loyal supporters who bought Psychic News when it was a newspaper, that they are making the first online issue available free. All you have to do is register for the trial issue at www.psychicnews.org.uk and you will receive an email when it is ready to download.

Better still, why not support it from the very start by subscribing now? A six month annual electronic subscription costs just £14, and for a whole year it is £26.  You can place your order by going online and following the on-screen instructions.

For those who prefer to have printed copies, a six-month subscription costs £25 and for a year it is £48 (European and overseas rates on application). A call to Alita McGuinness on 01279 874341 will enable you to pay by credit or debit card over the phone, or you can send a cheque, made payable to “Psychic Press Ltd”, to:

Psychic News, Suite 6, Thremhall Park, Start Hill, Bishops Stortford CM22 7WE.

Any publication dedicated to making more people aware of the spiritual dimension that extends beyond our physical existence and the survival of consciousness beyond death deserves our support.

And if you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas, a subscription to Psychic News for family or friends may be the perfect solution.

British-born medium David Thompson, now based in Australia but travelling the world to demonstrate his physical mediumship, took exception to my report on one of his seances which I attended in the UK. He gave his own verdict on my report on his website, but refused to publish my response to the points he made or answer seven questions I put to him. But we now have the answers.

My original report resulted in 70 comments, for and against the evidential nature of Thompson’s mediumship, on www.ParanormalReview.com, and my follow-up account of Thompson’s response led to 17 more, though technical problems (now resolved) made it impossible for many people to post their views.

At the same time, SpiritofPN website, run by Susan Farrow, reported on my experiences at the Thompson séance, giving a link to this website. It also published an incredible 366 comments, showing just how much interest there is in physical mediumship and also how varied the views are about its value and the quality of the phenomena produced.

Thompson even joined in those comments, saying in response to a contribution from me which set out the seven questions I had posed but which he had refused to answer:

“Dear Mr Stemman. You are quiet correct, I have chosen not to answer your questions, why should I? I am only answerable to the spirit world, not you or any other person. I choose not to engage with you any longer to promote your website or your forthcoming ventures. Please feel free along with your few cohorts to slap each other on the back and believe that you have made a contribution to a subject you only have limited knowledge about. Along with your cohorts please hear this: I AM NOT IN THIS LIFE TO LIVE UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR TO MEET YOUR NEEDS. Best Regards – David Thompson”

I responded to that statement with these words:

“I am sorry that Thompson has decided not to enter into a dialogue about his mediumship, either on his own website or on others. I think now it is just a matter of time before the voice of reason forces him to change his mind and to be more open, and hopefully Spiritualist organisations will take an active role in putting pressure on him to do so. Needless to say, I will continue to take a keen interest in the claims that are made for his mediumship and the evidence that is produced, despite the snub.”

Well, the good news is that David Thompson has had a rethink and decided to give an exclusive interview about his mediumship, not to me but to Sue Farrow for Spirit of PN. You can read the full account here. And, though he doesn’t answer my seven questions directly, he says he has answered them all in the interview. So, at last, I can now provide you all with Thompson’s responses to my questions, extracted from his lengthy replies to other questions posed by Sue Farrow and paraphrased for brevity.

1.     Is it the goal of yourself or your spirit helpers to ultimately produce materialisations or other physical phenomena in a red light?

Red light was used occasionally in the UK and more red light has since been used to show ectoplasm and other phenomena during his seances. But, he adds, “something more profound has been developing over the past year”. He says his spirit team is experimenting with “a form of natural or spirit-induced lighted conditions”. His circle has been told this will “hopefully allow more phenomena in natural spirit-lighted conditions with the séance room.

2.  If so, when do you expect that to happen?

“Anyone with any understanding of the fragile nature of physical mediumship and the energies required to create phenomena in the séance room will understand such light could take years to properly develop.”

3.  In the meantime, is it sensible to continue to demonstrate in total darkness, leaving some participants (as evidenced from responses to my Blog) unconvinced by the results?

“I have said before and will say again, our séance protocol forms clearly state, “All séances are held in complete darkness.” If someone doesn’t understand this they should not attend.”

4.  Are your spirit helpers striving to provide more personal survival evidence in the future and less show business entertainment from the likes of Quentin Crisp and Louis Armstrong?

Thompson says many people have received personal proof in the séance room: “We have recordings and a wealth of personal testimonials from people who’ve communicated with passed loved ones speaking in their normal voice and displaying known personality traits. Many have spoken in their native tongues, including German, Swedish, Yiddish, Russian and Mandarin.”

5.  Can your main spirit helper, William, explain why the materialised Gordon Higginson was unaware that his good friend Heather Hatton had passed over to spirit a year earlier when he communicated in Australia?

Thompson does not answer this question directly but has indicated to SpiritofPN anyone who understands any form of spirit communication should not even need to ask, because “it’s a little like asking a telephone operator why someone got facts wrong in someone else’s phone call! But I didn’t expect Thompson, as the medium, to know the answer. I specifically asked that his spirit helper, William, provided the answer – on the basis that, presumably, he is in constant contact with Higginson who has manifested a number of times at Thompson’s seances.

6.  Have your spirit helpers been asked about the introduction of night vision goggles or infra-red light to view and even film the materialised entities?

Thompson explains that physical mediumship is “so sensitive that even if one person in the séance room is sceptical or has a strong expectation, the quality of communication can be seriously impaired”. He goes on to say that the effects of the introduction of “infrared and thermal cameras, probes, etc, and the expectation of the operators” have to be considered, adding: “Think for a moment the type of vibration this will create. Is it any wonder we leave the control of any testing to our sprit team?”

He adds that the spirit team has said repeatedly that the circle needs to focus on the harmonious vibrations needed to produce advanced phenomena and that, at this stage, “running formal tests and the controversy that publishing the results might create would not be helpful to that aim”.

7.  Instead of being tied up during a séance, would you agree to being tested by SPR researchers using simple weighing devices that would monitor not only your presence in a chair throughout the séance proceedings, but also the independent existence (by weight) of any spirits that materialised? Such a method would be totally unobtrusive as far as light is concerned, if total darkness continues to be a necessary condition of your mediumship.

His response to this question is the same as given for question 6.

So, there we have it. Answers, at last, but I’m not sure they have taken us forward very far. Maybe his responses to Sue Farrow’s other questions will give readers more confidence that the Circle of the Silver Cord’s spirit helpers are working on a technological breakthrough that really will shed more light on David Thompson’s physical phenomena.

In the meantime, can we expect the Comments section on SpiritofPN to break the previous record of 366 contributions?

Er, no. In her introduction to the interview, Sue explains: “David Thompson has made it a condition of this interview that our Comments facility beneath it is disabled.”

No comments?

No comment!

GUIDANCE ON LEAVING COMMENTS:I’ve been following a global debate on Blogs and the facility to leave comments on many of them. There is a growing view that some individuals abuse this service and use it to make unwarranted or malicious attacks whilst hiding behind false identities. I moderate opinions expressed to ensure they are not libellous and I also believe that it is right to expect those wishing to make comments to provide some information about themselves, even if it is only a username and an email address, neither of which actually identifies who they are, of course. So I am asking those who wish to Comment to register with Disqus, which administers Comments on this and other sites, the first time they do so. Just write your comment, click on “Post as” and then on the “Register” option and provide the information requested. It’s simple. Don’t forget to make a note of your username and password.