August in the Cabinet

[First posted July 2014]

I've finally recovered from my chaotic return to the US from Southern France, apparently at the height of an especially powerful and bothersome Mercury retrograde. International flights were made incredibly difficult by a sudden strike of the French air traffic controller's union. I will be happy if I never see an airport baguette ever again.

I attended several physical mediumship seances at Mont Cabirol, the beautiful 12 century estate near the medieval village of Mirepoix (which had its own Avenue de Victor Hugo - thank you, great-great-great, etc. grandad!) The well-known spirit photographer and lecturer, Shannon Taggarty, was my wonderful traveling companion, and was allowed to take photographs - including infra-red - during the sittings, including a private one where I sat in the cabinet. Shannon has been asked to exhibit some of the very unique photos from these sittings at a special exhibition held by Abraxas Publishers in England this autumn. It is hoped that Shannon will have the opportunity to discuss in detail and at length her amazing work. We had many long discussions about the often baffling and confusing nature of the "magic" of photography, which apparently photographers understand on much deeper levels in terms of time and light than do those of us who are merely looking at the images to see what we can see.

After sitting in complete darkness behind closed curtains for a few minutes, the curtains were opened and this photograph was taken after a very dim red light was switched on. Shannon and the other sitter reported seeing a good deal of what's technically called "transfiguration," which is where Spirit, or the Risen as I say, utilize various energies of the entranced medium to manifest their own faces and forms over that of the medium's. Although I can't see any such forms in this photo, Shannon has much to say from a photographer's viewpoint about odd things going on. The other sitter's descriptions of the forms seen clearly matched a very special friend who had transitioned over 8 years ago and had been trying to reach me in various ways.

Although you might see some strange things here, I share this photo not to illustrate transfiguration, but to provide as contrast to the next one, when infra-red was switched on. Click on it to enlarge.

Here can be seen very bright light pouring out and completely obscuring me but for my legs and feet sticking out in their sandals. My colleagues, the resident mediums, believed that this is a  doorway opening from behind/above me to a Summerland. "The Summerland" is a Victorian term for the Other Side, but in my Celtic, non-christian tradition, it's the sphere also sometimes known as "faerie" -  And this is what I believe it is, as I had intentionally gone into the cabinet deliberately with my two Guardians (not Guides) who are of the ancient pre-Celtic race known as Aes Sidhe, who are said to have retreated into the Otherworld or a parallel universe when Ireland was successfully invaded and conquered by the Milesians. The Milesians were from Iberia, and are the present-day Irish people. The Aes Sidhe, who are 8-9 feet tall and present as shining, silvery beings ("The Shining Ones") are not the tiny elementals most people think of as fairies. They are said to have left portals throughout Ireland and Scotland in the many mounds and stone circles that pre-date the Milesians.

This outpouring of light did not show up on any of the other many photos Shannon shot at several sittings. Here is the same photo seen through a different-colored filter, and interestingly, none of the spirit-figure details seen above are visible, although the white light from the Summerland portal is still apparent. Also it's clear, when looking at the valance of fabric running across the cabinet, that there is something disturbing the fabric on the left side, as if a breeze is flowing out.

When I was looking at the infra-red photo with a friend, we thought we could see faces of elemental spirits at my feet. But later, when looking again on my own I was very startled to actually see my two cats -- Bridget, who passed over, 15 years ago, and Oolong, 11 years ago, both about 17 years old. The enlarged section is placed at the upper right. Those who have read The Risen book will have read about my relationship with them. Oolong, to the left and the larger of the two, is a seal-point Siamese, her classical dark markings clearly visible on her face and paws, and Bridget is grey with a white chin, chest and paws; she was quite petite and half the size of Oolong. I showed them to my best friend who had known them both well, and he immediately recognized them. Bridget's facial expression is so clear, I can see all kinds of emotion in it.

A couple weeks later, I was again startled to see that there are two human faces appearing just between my two sandaled feet - a man to the left, and a woman with blond hair in a 60's hair-style to the right (Enlargement on upper left). I'm not yet sure exactly who they are, but strongly sense they are transitioned family members -- the man may be my maternal grandfather and the woman is his daughter --  my Aunt Carolyn, who passed at the age of 58 about 8 years ago from a brain tumor, and with whom I had a special relationship as she was close to me in age. Here is a link to a blog about her as she was transitioning, and one about after her passage, where I met her and she shared her fascinating experience about her illness and transition.

However, that being said, I can also see yet more faces transparently projected over the human ones! One is a family dog that transitioned many years ago, and other, 2 kittens that I can't identify. I don't know how to graphically show this layered dimensionality to anyone else, but perhaps more sensitive viewers may be able to see what I mean. I've often written how Spirit will try to compress as much data as possible into the smallest space - what Tim and I've called "infospheres" - and this is a good example of such information compression.

In the meantime, other faces may become more obvious as I continue to study the photo.

Readers might recall that The Scole Group's initial work culminated in the discovery and opening of an inter-dimensional portal, through which terrestrial humans, the Risen, and other beings could physically pass. It had to be shut down after it was discovered a malevolent being from our future had also discovered it and was trying to appropriate it for negative purposes. The work is now being continued under the auspices of The Norfolk Group.

One significance of the photo above is that here and elsewhere, such portals to other dimensions -- not just to where many of us think of as "The Afterlife" -- are increasingly opening up. I have been hearing quiet reports from various sitting circles that their guides are speaking of such inter-dimensional doorways more and more, and expect to hear more about it as we move forward in exploration.

I would like to add my great thanks to my dear and gracious friends at Mont Cabirol who had arranged for this monumental experience of my life. Many other powerful things happened to me while there, which I cannot share at this time, but perhaps will be able to at some point in the future.