Spirit Writing
 | I recently came across an old small notebook, and when I opened it, I discovered it contained notes from Carl’s psychic development classes that I took in 1978. Carl always told us that he did not sit down and write a lesson plan as a schoolteacher would. He had a conversation with Spirit, who decided the content of each lesson. As I read these notes, I became aware that Carl must have also allowed Spirit to teach the class because there were dates and details in these notes that I am quite confident that Carl did not remember “off the top of his head.” Most of the notes defined many of the Gifts of the Spirit. However, what puzzled me was his description of one specific gift. It had slipped my mind, and I never heard Carl refer to it by that name again. That evening, the topic was Spirit Writing, which he divided into three categories. |
| Before I list these categories, I will explain that when I read those long-forgotten notes, my understanding was considerably deepened by my training at the Arthur Findlay College. There is an aspect of mediumship called Control, which is usually applied to trance states. It describes the amount of influence the Spirit has over the medium. Control can be light as an inspirational state or almost complete, as in a “dead” (deep) trance. Reading these notes, I realized that Control could also be applied to Spirit Writing. I will share my notes from Carl’s class on February 1, 1978. The first category of Spirit Writing was Inspirational Writing. This type of writing is considered mental mediumship, in which the Spirit impresses its thoughts or words on the medium’s mind. It is almost as if the medium hears a voice in their head and writes or types the words. This would be considered light control. Much of My First and Second Encounters with an Angel was inspirational writing. My dialogues with Awan were recorded, so I transcribed and edited the tapes. However, most of the other material was inspirational writing. When I sat before my computer to write, I would listen to the voice dictating. That voice was from a Spirit person and did not come from my own mind. The second category, which most people understand, is Automatic Writing. This is physical mediumship. The medium holds a pen or pencil in their hand. Spirit places its hand over the medium’s hands and moves it to cause writing. The message from the mind of the Spirit entity doesn’t enter the medium’s consciousness. The medium’s hand is moved by psychic force. The medium can even carry on a conversation while producing automatic writing. Spirit has much more control over the medium when producing Automatic Writing than inspirational writing. According to Carl, Richard Bach’s book Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Helen Steiner Rice’s poetry were produced by Automatic Writing. I t is the third category that Carl called independent writing, which is the one I had not remembered. Independent Writing would also be considered a physical mediumship. It occurs when a materialized hand does the writing. This would require the most profound control of the medium, as ectoplasm must be extracted from the medium’s body. The Bible’s Book of Daniel is the most famous example of independent writing. Its story is “The Writing on the Wall” during Belshazzar’s feast, which is found in the 5th chapter of the book of Daniel. Independent Writing also occurred with Matthew Manning when Spirit wrote on the walls of his house, providing the information he needed for a school project. It also happened to Carl’s family before he was born, fortifying his father’s belief that the devil was after his family. The more I think about it, I never heard the term Independent Writing again, even when Carl and I wrote the script for The Golden Thread’s segment on Daniel discussing “the Writing on the Wall.” Therefore, I believe Carl was teaching this class in a trance state, or he clairaudiently heard and repeated Spirit’s words. I find it quite interesting that, over eight years after Carl’s transition into the Spirit World, Carl still teaches me about the Gifts of the Spirit. | |
