DO YOU COME FROM A LAND DOWN UNDER: Five spiritualists you may not have heard of

In a Christian exorcism, we ask Jesus to perform the deliverance prayer and ask the person to repent of sin, so the evil spirits and ghosts will not have any strongholds.”

Whilst I respect everyone’s point of view and understand that we all have different opinions, which are based on our knowledge and experiences, I would like to offer a different point of view based on my spiritual experience and research. The Spirit World is very simple and is not as complicated as some would have us believe.

We use the words ‘Ghost’ and ‘Spirit’ a lot in the paranormal field. In my experience and having worked with the Spirit World for quite a few years now, Ghosts and Spirits are one and the same and they are not different. When the Soul/Spirit leaves the body, the Spirit World does not differentiate whether you died tragically or not or if you passed ‘normally’. It does not tie you to a location and there is free will. It does not judge you and determine whether you are a Ghost or a Spirit and when they pass over, they DO know that they are dead, as they spend a period of time adjusting to their new form when they transcend back to the Spirit World. For me, Residual energy does not exist, however I do remain open minded. If the evidence was available or I did experience it myself, I may well change my mind… As a Medium, Investigator and Researcher at the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre, I believe that seeking the truth in paranormal activity is at the heart of everything we do at the Centre. Understanding the Spirit World and finding the answers is what truly drives us to learn more and challenging what information is already out there will only enhance our knowledge further. So, something to think about when on your ‘Ghost’ hunts, and just remember, be careful what you wish for...

Spiritualists from the land Down Under

by Sarah Chumacero

During the 19th century, there was a movement where mediumship and spirit communication became quite popular. In fact, it became its own kind of religion. It was known as spiritualism. One of the core beliefs in the spiritualist movement was that a person survives the death of their physical body by ascending into the spirit realm. For those who had lost faith in traditional Catholic values, spiritualism offered them a new religion and they were referred to as spiritualists. When you read the paranormal history books, people will often be able to tell you about famous figures within spiritualism from England and even the US, but they don’t know much about the work that was done here in the land of Oz. It is time to change that, so let’s meet 5 famous Spiritualists from Down Under!

William Terry

William Terry was originally born in London in 1836 and ended up calling Melbourne home in 1853 when he travelled here with his father and siblings. In the late 1850s, his family became involved in spiritualism where William discovered that he had psychic abilities along with the gift of mediumship. Giving up on the family drapery business, in 1869 he decided to become a full-time medium. The following year he set up a shop on Russell Street in the city of Melbourne where he sold spiritualist faith books as well as offering his services as a trance medium, magnetic healer, and clairvoyant herbalist. His shop would later become the Melbourne headquarters for the Victorian spiritualist movement. He was responsible for sponsoring tours from famous mediums such as Henry Slade (who was later charged for fraudulent activity back in London) and in 1870 Terry launched The Harbinger of Light, Australia’s first spiritualist magazine based on the faith which he edited until he retired in 1905. He helped to establish the Victorian Association of Progressive Spiritualists andbecame an inaugural fellow and councillor of the Theosophical Society in Australia. He even toured the USA as a representative of the spiritualist movement here in Australia. Terry passed away in 1913 and is buried at the Melbourne Cemetery. While he wasn’t born in Australia, he remains one of the key figures in establishing the spiritualist movement here in Australia. Alfred Deakin

This former Prime Minister from Melbourne was a prominent figure in the spiritualist movement. Born in Collingwood in 1856, long before he became Prime Minister of our country, he was president of the Victorian Association of spiritualists in 1877. He was a teacher atProgressive Lyceum which was a spiritualist Sunday School where he would also meet his future wife. Deakin would often attend seances, arrange lectures and even organize experiments to test various paranormal phenomena. He also published A New Pilgrim’s Progress an allegory of the progress of a soul towards perfection which wassupposedly channelled throughDeakin from preacher John Bunyan who published the original The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come in 1678. Aside from spiritualism, Deakin was also a journalist, politician, and even a lawyer. He famously defended (unsuccessfully) infamousmurderer and Jack the Ripper suspect, Frederick Deeming.Later on, Alfred Deakin became Prime Minister of Australia three times: from 24 September 1903 to 27 April 1904, 5 July 1905 to 13 November 1908, and 2 June 1909 to 29 April 1910, making him the second, fifth, and seventh Prime Minister of Australia for which is he most well-known. Deakin passed away in 1919. While he is most famously a Prime Minister who ledAustralia into the federation, he was also a very important figure within the spiritualist movement.