Burst into Flames

The following is an excerpt from TRUST —

“Think about that statement for a moment, ‘most Mediums do not know what is going to happen when they get up to read’.
It’s hard enough when you have a speech written out, but imagine never knowing what is going to happen as you get to your feet!
Again, ignorance was bliss because half of the audience was made up of VERY experienced Mediums.
Having discarded my usual T-shirt for a nicely ironed shirt and crisp trousers, I was unrecognisable but ready for action.
Eventually, Madam Chair introduced us and I shot a look at Scotty and she gave me a stare that said, “You go first, and if you burst into flame, I can run for the door!”

Excerpt From: Terry R Barca. “Trust: What it Feels Like to be a Medium.” iBooks.

To Each Is Given

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/553819

Teamwork : a dog’s tale

It is amazing what can be achieved when people work together.

This story begins last Wednesday night. Our Mediumship Circle meets in an old shopfront in Upwey. The building is one of the oldest buildings (probably the oldest) in our district so there is always plenty of ‘activity’. Spirit knows that we meet there every Wednesday night and have done so for many years. We take a break for a cup of tea at around 9:30 pm and that is when we catch up socially, so it is rare for me to go outside at this time. On this night there had been some emotional upheavals among some of the Circle members, and I was picking up the energy. I walked over to the glass front door and gazed out into the night. The street was very quiet even though there are a few restaurants nearby. The cool evening had kept the diners away. Across the road from our shop, I could see flashing lights reflected in a shop window. I stepped out into the cold expecting to see a police car, but when I looked in both directions, there was nothing to see. I looked again, and the flashing lights were still shining back at me as a reflection in the window. When I looked at the downhill side of our street I saw one of our Circle members walking toward me (smokers are the only ones outside on a cold night). Playfully, I asked her if I was going nuts and could she see the flashing, reflected lights. I had forgotten that Wednesday night is ‘practise night’ for the local CFA team, and they were in the car park at the back of the shops (on a hill), and the lights were shining through the laneway at the side of our shop. As we talked and gazed out across the street, we heard the owner of the pizza shop call out, “Is this the dog from Magpie House?” I looked in his direction and told him it wasn’t Polly. At that moment, my friend and I looked at each other with the same thought — if we don’t do something this little dog will wander off and end up being run over. We called her, and the little dog ran up the footpath and greeted us warmly. No collar and no ID. I suggested that we bring her into the Circle and I would get a lead (we always have a spare lead or two) out of my car.

With her new lead on, the little dog made herself at home and charmed ever person in the room. Her presence raised the energy, and she spread herself around, trying not to play favourites. Trevor had dog treats in his bag ( I know what you are thinking, who keeps dog treats in their bag?) so the new member of Circle was very happy.

I went looking for anyone who might be looking for her, without success. I asked the police officer at the nearby railway station to keep an eye out for anyone looking for a dog. There was activity at the cafe a few doors down so I spoke to Sue, the owner, and told her about the little dog. At first, she was concerned that it might be her dog, but this turned out to be a false alarm. Sue asked me to take some photos and send them to her, and she would put them on her cafe’s FaceBook page. We both came to the conclusion that the dog must have come from close by.

By the end of Circle, no one had knocked on our door so Trevor took the little dog home with him (I was concerned about my little dog’s reaction to a newcomer).

The next day I got a message to say that the owner had been located (she did live nearby) and a reunion had been arranged. The dog’s owner was very happy to see her 12-year-old friend and offered a reward. Having these two reunited was reward enough, but the Scotch (we split it two ways with chocolates going to the lady who helped us catch the dog) went down well.

Who doesn’t like a happy ending?

All of this was achieved because a bunch of people worked together to help out a fellow creature (and her owner).

Interestingly, my friend, who was outside the shop when all this happened, said that she had been expecting a small white dog all evening. She is very new to Mediumship, and I hope this gives her confidence in her ability. Someone (her guides? her relatives?) was telling her to expect to see a little dog — and she did!

In the few days since this all unfolded, there have been many ‘ripples in the pond’.

As I write this, a little dog is back home where she belongs, and we are left to ponder.

 

TRUST: 2 Copies to Giveaway

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/195167-trust

How People See Us

Recently, we’ve had the pleasure of attending a couple of evenings where a prominent author was interviewed. The surroundings were spectacular — a one hundred and seventy two year old Baptist church in the heart of Melbourne.

The sound system was not great and the seats were hard, but it was a chance to listen to someone who does what I do, only more successfully. The two evenings were an interesting contrast. The first night we attended with friends and the interviewer and the author were very entertaining (William Boyd).

The second evening we attended alone and the interviewer was terrible and the author was just short of annoying. They both spoke very fast and the majority of the audience had little chance of understanding what they were talking about. The eye opener came when the floor was opened to questions. The audience’s questions were excellent and the author responded, and for a brief moment, she became moderately interesting. We paid our money and took our chances — one very good, and one was close to a waste of time.

Both nights involved a long train ride and a bit of time in the city — both good things.

In recent times, my role in ‘platform’ work has been to be the speaker. Most Mediums dislike this job and to be honest, most are not good at it. I would always prefer to be doing ‘readings’, but I guess it is my lot to be the speaker.

I must say that most of the time I enjoy speaking, but the challenge is always, ‘what to say’. I’m not an expert on Spiritualism I just happen to be a good Medium who isn’t frightened to get up and speak in front of an audience (and I wrote a book on what it feels like to be a Medium).

I’m not like the majority of Mediums I see about the place and I’m aware that this puts me in a position of being ‘judged’ in some way, and up until now I’ve been okay with that, but just lately I’ve been hearing people’s opinion of me (if I don’t hear it out loud I tend to ignore it) and it has been wearing down my confidence.

Isn’t it interesting that we are influenced so greatly by what other people think of us.

I’ve had a few people say that they go out of their way to come along when we are on platform, but I major on the bloke who fell asleep during my talk and the people who stay away when they know I will be speaking.

I remember watching this bloke fall asleep in the back row. He slowly slid to his right and eventually disappeared from sight. Unlike the bloke in this photo, my bloke was on the end of the row, so I waited for the bang as he hit the floor. I worked out that if my talk went on for 4 more minutes he would have hit the ground, but the polite applause at the end of my talk woke him up. It is amazing what goes through your mind when you are giving a talk!

 

 

The Present

My soldier came back.

You might remember that I wrote about an encounter with a young soldier during a meditation session at Phoenix Spiritualist Centre.

On that occasion I was able to send him on his way — head him towards home. It was a profound experience for me and I have not been the same person since that day. It was a very emotional experience. I felt privileged and I went on a quest to understand what it all meant — which may sound a bit strange coming from a bloke who wrote a book called TRUST.

It is part of my nature to try and understand what is happening to me.

This incident happened just before ANZAC day and it was obvious to me that the two things were connected.

The following week we were ‘on platform’ at this venue. I told the story and it sparked a lot of interest from the audience. Several people had similar stories of helping Spirits on their way. It was touching to hear these stories and made me feel that I was part of something much bigger than myself.

The following week we were not working so we visited Phoenix again to hear a particularly good speaker. When the healing meditation started up, I was wondering if something might happen again but it passed without anything other than a peaceful meditation devoted to friends and family who need healing.

Fast forward to this last Sunday and there was another interesting speaker at Phoenix so we went along. The lady speaker was talking about sensitivity to other people when you are a psychic. This is a subject that is very close to my heart so I listened intently.

When the healing meditation kicked off, I settled in to listen and follow — it was a guided meditation. The lady giving the meditation is excellent and it had been a while since I had heard here mellifluous voice.

She got to the part of the meditation where she described a green sloping hill. In my mind, I could see a male figure standing on top of the hill. As I went further up, the figure walked towards me. It was the young soldier from a few weeks before, only this time he did not speak and he seemed very relaxed — very happy. I had the strong feeling that I have known this man in a previous life. As the woman giving the meditation talked about a huge bird flying overhead, the young soldier took off his slouch hat and lay on the grass watching the bird soaring in the sky. I too watched the bird and glanced at him from time to time. I could feel the emotion rush over me and tears formed in my eyes. I was so pleased to see him happy again.

As the meditation was winding down, the presenter talked about a gift. I didn’t see a gift, but I did notice that my soldier sat up and unbuttoned the top left pocket of his jacket. He reached in and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He reached out and handed it to me. I unfolded it and even though I could not see the words clearly I knew that this sheet of paper contained a list of all the books I have written and am likely to write. There were a lot of them and they filled one column completely and half of the next column.

The young soldier put his hat back on, buttoned his top pocket and smiled at me. He stood up and walked to the top of the hill and out of sight as the meditation came to and end. He never looked back.

I have a feeling that I will not see him again in this lifetime and that is okay. I feel that he came back to say thank you and to give me something to encourage me on my journey. There are tears in my eyes as I write this — as I relive these moments.

I am very grateful for this experience. Each day seems to be more amazing than the next and long may it be so.

 

Guardian

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/553819

https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/trust-what-it-feels-like-to/id1017246574?mt=11

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011KBNV6C?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

 

Paperback       http://au.blurb.com/b/6729743-trust

Just Making This Shit Up

Yes, I could!

Something amazing happened during Friday’s Circle…. I know, I say that all the time, and it is always true.
M was our ‘facilitator’ in Trevor’s absence [I looked that word up just for you M] and he had us doing an interesting exercise; four minute reading with our back to the audience. The reader would turn around when the number of hands dropped to one. It was a lot of fun, but that is not why I’m telling you this. After a few of us ‘confident types’ volunteered, N shot out of her chair….. “I’ll give it a go,” she said….. loud applause…. she rattles off a heap of details, the hands rapidly whittle down to one, she gives a message, the crowd goes wild, all inside the required time. It was awesome! Through the thunderous applause, Norma said something and looked at me….. I could not quite make it out over all the clapping….. I was clapping as well. At the end of the day, I congratulated her again and she smiled at me and said, “I just made it all up!” I must say that I ‘laughed out loud’ as the young people say. If you have read my book you will know why I laughed…… my early readings were all done this way…. N is politer than I was, “I’m just making this shit up!”
It is amazing what happens when we just let go and go with the flow. Well done N, and well done to everyone who was there and helped to make it an excellent day.

A short clip from that chapter.

TRUST and the road trip.

This post got lost somewhere and never got posted — must have been a reason? Anyway, here it is. It was a fun day. The original post was written late in 2015.

My trusty book [no pun intended] and I went on a bit of a road trip today. We travelled down the coast to Geelong in the morning and then back home and a half hour drive to Lilydale in the evening. Both occasions were to give a talk at a Spiritualist Centre and hopefully sell some books.

GEELONG.

It’s a two-hour drive to Geelong and we need to be there by 10 am……… on a Sunday morning!

I’m a writer…….. we don’t do mornings!

I had accidently rubbed something into my eyes on Saturday night and they were not happy. I had visions of me standing up in front of the audience wearing dark glasses and doing a poor imitation of Stevie Wonder. As it worked out, my eyes were sore the next day but I could see, so I loaded up on coffee and off we went [My wife was doing the Mediumship readings and I was doing the talk].

Geelong is only a small group but we have gotten to know them well over the past couple of years. The group knew I was writing a book because I had tried out my ‘what it feels like to be a Medium’ talk on them earlier this year. A couple of the members of this group travel up to Melbourne every couple of months and join our Friday Circle.

Sunday was Father’s Day so the turn up was slightly smaller than usual, but we didn’t care. I was very relaxed and as a joke [a delicious one] they had made scones and jam and cream for me because they know I love them! Wasn’t that kind of them?

My talk was well received and my wife did an excellent job with the readings [they love her energy].

I sold a few books and ate a lot of scones. The conversations flowed freely and we hung around way after most people had gone home. The drive back was uneventful and we did see eagles along the way [this is a feature of the drive to and from Geelong from Melbourne, and we always take it as a good omen if we see eagles flying.]

We climbed into bed as soon as we got home and had a pleasant couple of hours of sleep before needing to get ready for our evening talk at Lilydale. We got a little bit lost but eventually arrived with plenty of time to spare. The person doing the readings had dropped out at the last moment so I introduced myself to their replacement and waited for the service to begin. A few of the members of our Circle came along to give me support and it was fun to see them in the audience.

The talk went well and people laughed in all the right places and I sold a couple of books including one to the Medium I was sharing the platform with, which was cool.

The afterparty at this venue is legendary for its collection of cream cakes and I did my best to sample as many as I could. Again, there was plenty of conversation before we walked out into a downpour on our way back to the car.

Real Book, In My Hands.

There is nothing like opening the box from the printers and holding the book you have worked so hard to create.

I love eBooks and everyone who buys them, but there is something about a real book. Maybe it is the smell or the feel or the fact that I get asked to sign them!

When I was a kid at school I used to practise my signature because something told me that one day I would be asked for my autograph. Lots of kids probably do this, but I really thought that some day I would be famous. Naturally, that hasn’t happened, but I have been asked to sign my books, so all that practise did not go to waste. TRUST is the fifth of a collection of six books so far. Trust me when I tell you that being asked to sign one of your books never gets old!

If you would like a paper copy you can message me [particularly if you are in Australia] and I can post you a copy. In North America it will be cheaper for you to visit blurb.com

EBook versions are available from Smashwords [all formats]

or Apple

or Amazon

If you have read your copy please go to GOODREADS and leave a review. Or leave the review where you purchased the book. Reviews and rating help to sell books.

Not long after these photos were taken, I began wrapping up the books that had been pre-ordered. A very pleasant task indeed.