| Essay
6
“Away
with the Fairies”
“Anno 1670 – not far from Cirencester, was an apparition.
Being demanded whether a good spirit or a bad? returned no answer, but
disappeared with a curious perfume and most melodious twang. Mr. W. Lilly
believes it was a fairy.”
John Aubrey 1696
Following graduation as an electrical engineer in 1950, I came north from
my native Wales, to the Lake District to work at the Sellafield nuclear
plant. I spent all of my working life there, and continue to live in and
enjoy this spectacular part of the country. My chief role was as an Instrumentation
Engineer in the chemical plants, and, principally, within the Calder Hall
power station. Many and varied were the types of measurement made, and
many and varied were the devices and techniques that were used. But of
all this variety, by far the most important, and sometimes most difficult,
was the measurement of radioactivity in its diverse forms. The measurements
were necessary for the safe and efficient operation of the various processes,
and - and of prime importance - for the safety of the operatives and the
public at large.
Alpha and beta particles, neutrons and gamma rays – all were there
- all potentially dangerous and harmful – and all were invisible.
But more than that, they could only be detected by their effect upon something
else – a device that produced little flashes of light with each
particle; the change in voltage in some other contrivance – and
so on. Properly harnessed and controlled as in a reactor, these dangers
became converted into a benevolent source of electrical power
In 1979, and several years after my early retirement, I began to experience
another phenomenon – one that is entirely invisible, potentially
uncontrollable, dangerous and even ‘life-threatening’ to the
life of the mind and spirit, and yet of immense power in its benevolent
form – but only discernible through its effect upon the human person
through the mind and senses. In that year I began to hear voices and experience
the full gamut of spiritual intrusion and interaction. In that year, “a
‘presence’ that I couldn’t see, moved from the space
in front of me, into me, and immediately my mind was charged with another
‘voice’ or provoker of thoughts, thoughts over which then
I had no control, and which were not initiated by me. In my head began
conversation as between two separate people, one of whom was me. I began
to ‘hear voices’.” And - “Thus in almost 25 years
I have never been free from intrusions that enter blatantly or subliminally
into my mind and mental faculties, and forcefully or subtly into my body
and senses.” (Extracts from my book. *)
My older brother is an Anglican clergyman, and from his late teens he
has had a profound prayer life. From that time, and subsequently since
ordination, he has been aware of spiritual presence, and the movement
within himself as either he settles to prayer, or he consecrates the Eucharist.
His mental response has always been – “If you are from God
you are welcome: if not, please go.”
What each of us in his own way is really acknowledging is that there are
intelligent, freely acting ‘entities’, ‘beings’,
‘spirits’ – call them what one will – and that
they are able to move without restraint into the human person, both physically
and mentally. In detail I can only write of my own experiences –
experiences that have involved the intensely benevolent, the consummately
malevolent and others of indeterminate behaviour. I am aware of the concepts
of ‘earthbound spirits’ and of ‘lost souls’ attached
to individuals or places, although I have never been able to reconcile
myself with, or understand the proposition of ‘soul fragments’:
however, none of these are within my experience. What I do know with certainty
is that in every culture that has ever left a record anywhere on the Earth,
this truth has been acknowledged, and a religion or philosophy has emerged
that prescribes ways of living in concert with ‘spiritual good’
and avoiding contact with, or the damaging effects of ‘spiritual
evil’.
In everything that I have written or spoken about these matters since
I first became aware, I have had one purpose, and one only. My purpose
has been this: namely to try to convince anyone who would listen or read
that the presence of intrusive malevolent ‘spirits’ is the
cause of much mental disturbance. Undoubtedly it is the prime cause of
schizophrenia, and may be a major component of manic depression, multiple
personality, obsessions, compulsions and behavioural problems. My experiences
and resultant arguments are described fully in my book, and I can do no
more than indicate a few conclusions. I do not write of anything that
could be described as ‘spirit release’, because the unwanted
spirits with which one is dealing are intelligent, cunning and have free
will. Instead I have written to inform and encourage and to suggest ways
of coping and regaining control.
I have tried to be careful in that I do not suggest that every mental
aberration is the result of adverse spiritual activity. This was a danger
that became manifest during the last major ‘spirit release’
movement – at the time of the so-called ‘charismatic renewal’
of the nineteen seventies and eighties. Believing that the ‘charisms’
– the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - were for everyone,
lay and ordained alike, many groups were formed, many were speaking in
tongues, and many were trying individual or group ‘exorcisms’.
There was much uncontrolled enthusiasm, and there were acknowledged instances
of minds being damaged by, particularly, the DIY exorcisms. (And even
now, for only recently I read of an eight year old autistic boy in Milwaukee
who died wrapped in sheets in a church service to ‘exorcise evil
spirits’.)
Undoubtedly there are responsible minds at work in the current and growing
awareness, and several and varied are the books now available that record
the work and practices. However, there are also those who are regarding
‘spirit release’ as another ‘Brownie badge’ to
sew on their sleeve, alongside Reiki, hypnotism and hypnotherapy, past
life regression and Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), channelling and
‘readings’, aromatherapy, shamanism, et al.
There is already a seriously debased currency in the training and practice
offered in some of these and other ‘complementary’ activities.
In Reiki, for the expenditure of two weekends and £550, one can
become a Reiki Master, capable of ‘training and empowering’
other aspirants – two weekends in which one can “…learn
many professional (sic) techniques and possibly heal or cure …psychic
attack, auric knots, lost spirits… - as well as Rainbow Reiki, NLP…”.
There are allegedly some who will offer ‘empowerment’ over
the phone!
The Web will reveal a number of sites that offer training in hypnotism
and hypnotherapy – ‘training’ that involves no actual
contact between the trainer and aspirant, only taped sessions, with a
final certificate that guarantees access to a lucrative source of income
in activities that include past life regression and NLP – “Jump
start your career for the Millennium” said one advert. I once underwent
hypnotism that was practised by someone whom I knew to be competent and
well trained. As I was about to be ‘submerged’ I felt my person
being entered by a spiritual entity, and was still sufficiently alert
to hold myself back from the deep state of hypnosis. I was aware that
had I carried on I could have been used and spoken through, as would be
a psychic medium. This to me is one of the greatest dangers of hypnotism
and regression – how can anyone possibly know what is going on or
‘who’ is speaking through the one being ‘regressed’?
Equally damaging is the stage hypnotist – opening minds in a very
charged atmosphere – for ‘entertainment’. The human
mind with its vulnerability to spiritual intrusion should not be treated
merely as a source of income for entertainers, no matter how great the
reputation that they have acquired. “The fastest way to learn stage
hypnotism and enhance your income” said yet another Web site.
It is possible to buy DIY books on how to ‘channel’ - how
to “give oneself ‘psychic protection’; work with guides
and angels; conduct channelled readings” – and no doubt contribute
to the flood of wisdom that is poured out in constant stream from ‘Ascended
Masters’ – with names that range from Aldebran to Zed. A weekend
workshop will produce a certificate in Aromatherapy, the practice of which
can involve the use of oils that have been demonstrated as having profound
effects upon the moods and mental states of susceptible individuals. ‘Shamanism’
leaves me completely baffled, for I just cannot bridge what I see as the
vast gulf between those who identify themselves as ‘shaymans’,
and the picture that I derive from the description in Encyclopaedia Britannica
of the origins, upbringing and subsequent life, and the ‘sorcery
and magic’, of the genuine Siberian Shaman.
The human mind and spirit are not there as playgrounds for the dilettante
or dabbler. Even the professionals in the workings of the mind can make
serious mistakes, as I found to my cost when my own mind was in dire danger
of suffering serious and permanent damage as the result of a medical mis-diagnosis,
inappropriate and totally unnecessary medication, and the machinations
of a consultant psychiatrist who could admit in correspondence to ‘lacunae
in my training’. Concerning the potential dangers to my ‘spirit’,
I was the author of my own peril through the innocent and gullible use
of a pendulum in dowsing. However, if I had not done so, I would not have
been able to write as I have done, nor to be constant and insistent, as
I shall be while I live, in declaring that spiritual intrusion is a reality,
and is the source and cause of many cases of mental disturbance and illness.
Conversely, I am equally insistent in my acknowledgement of the existence
of a powerful and universal source of benevolent spirituality.
As for the fairies – well, I am sure that you can make up your own
mind about them, although, having said that, I once knew a lady, alas
now dead, who had a pencil drawing that she had made from sight of a fairy
that she had seen among the flowers in her garden. It was an excellent
drawing....
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