About Author Richard F Holmes

I was born in London in 1955 and have lived a very topsy turvey life. I left school at 15 with no qualifications, and had I not left voluntarily, I would have been asked to leave. I always felt that I didn't fit in anywhere, and as a result, by the time I reached the age of 17 I'd had 24 jobs. I joined the army in 1976 hoping that it would give me a purpose in life but instead I became even more disillusioned and turned to alcohol. I hated the army because I found it to be such a hypocritical organisation and as soon as I was eligible to do so, I bought myself out. Whilst in the military however, I did enjoy my experiences in Germany and in 1980 went back there to work, staying for six years. My heavy drinking continued during my time in Germany and by the time I returned to the UK in 1986 I was heading down into a deep depression. I managed to haul myself out of it in the mid-to-late 1990's but my life hit an all time low in 2000. In early 2001 I found my spiritual pathway and started to turn my life around. I now live in Gloucestershire in the UK and I'm a successful medium and healer. I'm also the author of ten spiritual publications and have produced five meditation and three chanting CDs. I'm a workshop facilitator in various spiritual topics and I also give profound interpretations of dreams. There are plans in 2014 for another book, provisionally entitled "An Idiots Guide To Spiritual Law" and a series of audio books in CD form. Connect with me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorrichardfholmes

It’s Nearly That Time Of Year Again!

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

It most certainly is nearly that time of year again; when the Christian Church dusts the cobwebs off its story and peddles it once again to the unsuspecting masses. I must say that I do find the whole “epic” just a tad ironic. First of all, let me just mention that I have no doubt in my mind at all that Jesus Christ actually existed; and I have no doubts at all that he was a truly incredible soul. However, the story that organised religion wants us to believe just does not stack up.

We have to understand that Christ was not a Christian; Christianity is the man-made religion founded by unscrupulous religious leaders in an effort to control the naive and the gullible through fear. Christ was strictly non-religious, however, if you really had to pigeon-hole him, you would have to say that he was a Buddhist. He studied the teachings of Buddha in the monasteries of the Himalayas and he also hung out with the Essenes and the Nazarenes, who were religious sects that practised a form of Buddhism. Christ was attracted to these people because their religion was non-violent. It was common practise in those times for live animals to be sacrificed in the temples, and Jesus was against this (and made his feelings known in no uncertain terms). Christ was the original hippie activist and was considered to be a subversive by the religious leaders of the time.

It’s worth noting that it is because of his association with the Nazarenes that Christ is often incorrectly referred to as, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Historically, Nazareth was nothing more than a tiny hamlet that Jesus may or may not have passed through at some time or other. So, why do I find the whole Christmas story a tad ironic? It’s because the church peddles their messiah as being, “the one and only begotten Son of God”. According to Christians, God is an all-powerful entity that is separate from us mere mortals, and Jesus is his son. This theory completely contradicts the Buddhist teachings, amongst other belief systems, that Christ followed. Buddhists do not believe in a deity as such, rather in a Creative Force, or infinite consciousness that permeates the whole creation. Christ’s message was simple. He said that we are all the same as him, we are all Gods and that we will find the Kingdom of Heaven within ourselves; it is not a place we can go to.

So the Christian messiah is marketed by the church as something that he would never have considered himself to be. I also can’t help thinking (cynically perhaps) that the reason the church marketed their messiah as a meat eating wine drinker, which he wasn’t, was simply so that they could justify their own gluttonous desires.

Merry Christmas!

Highland Fling 2

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It appears I can now post videos again, so…. Following on from my previous post, here is a selection from my recent trip. Hope you enjoy them!

Highland Fling

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I’m recently back from a whirlwind visit to the breathtakingly beautiful Scottish Highlands. In a few days time I’m off to Cyprus and I’ll be gone for nearly two weeks, so I wanted to get a couple of blog posts in before I go. For your enjoyment, below is a selection of the pics I took during my stay. For some reason WordPress will no longer allow me to upload videos. Hope you like them!

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The Red Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye.

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The Black Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye.

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A Rainbow in the Cairngorms.

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The Cairngorms

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Beautiful Findochty (pronounced Fin-ech-tie) harbour.

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Beautiful Loch Morlich in the Cairngorms.

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Another picture of Findochty harbour.

The Silent Garden Of The Soul

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

You cannot force peace on yourself. Once we start making an effort to be peaceful we are facing an uphill battle. “Battle”, being the appropriate word; because effort creates strain (a battle). The best result we can hope for will be agitation disguised as peace. In other words it will be temporary. Trying to force the mind to be still in meditation is a non-starter. Peace can only be experienced through understanding. By devoting more time to sitting in the silence and simply allowing ourselves to be, we become more attuned with our authentic Self. Thoughts are bound to arise when we sit in the silence, but don’t try to force them to go away; just allow them to flow by.

With a bit of practice we can all find that silent garden of the soul. This helps to increase our understanding of who we are; our true nature. Once we find that “peace that passes all understanding”, we realise that there was no need to go looking for it; it was there all the time. It was just a case of not being able to see it because we have been conditioned to be the “agitated self”, and not who we really are.

Red Snappa And The Mothers Of Reinvention

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you! It’s a spoof title; and why not? My first spoof title since the heady days of Aliens Ate My Grandmother etc. at the time of the so-called “shift”. I thought it was about time I spoofed things up a bit and gave you an update in the process.

You may remember that some months ago I said I was in the process of reinventing myself. I also announced that I’d unpublished all my books and took my CDs out of circulation. I still don’t know exactly what form the new me is going to take, but it seems that the wheels have started to turn slowly, so here I am. I have felt for a long time that I urgently need to broaden my horizons; and the best way to do this is to travel to different places. Up to now the stumbling block has always been the cost involved; travel being so much more expensive than it used to be, but now the means has materialised to enable me to see a bit more of the world. I’m starting fairly close to home, with a trip up to Northern Scotland. After that, there are so many options. I have he following itinerary in my head: Iceland, Cyprus, as many countries in mainland Europe that I can cram in, India (two trips) and Nepal.

In the meantime I have republished three of my books, (two as eBooks and paperback and one as a paperback only), and I’m in the process of reissuing two of my CDs. I’m also still doing my work as a medium, but this is something that I will be doing very little of in the future. The truth is that for many years now I have seen mediumship for what it is, and it has become nothing short of a chore. I simply cannot get excited about churning out the same old mundane messages anymore. I’m finding it more and more difficult to motivate myself as each demonstration rears its head in my diary. You see friends, the process of mediumship takes place at a very low level of spiritual understanding, and it simply does not resonate with me anymore; it no longer serves my soul.

Friends say to me, “ah yes, but it gives them comfort”, or, “it gives them hope”. That is true, but people have to realise that comfort and hope are “of the world”, and subject to relativity. You can’t go through life clutching at straws and expect it to get you somewhere; and when I’m the one offering the straws it gets downright boring. I feel that my creativity is being stunted. The comfort you get today will surely turn to discomfort before you can blink, because you are looking in the wrong place for what you seek. The only thing a medium can promise you is that all the fear, grief and pain that was torturing you when you awoke this morning, will still be torturing you tomorrow morning regardless of whether a medium gives you a message or not.

Spiritualism as a religion is sill puffing and wheezing its way towards the 21st Century and is not able to bring people out of the spiritual wilderness they find themselves in. Spiritualism relies on the existence of something that does not exist for its own existence; namely the separate self. If there were no messages the Spiritualist churches would be empty, and I don’t feel that I can continue to “feed” a lie. I intend to honour the bookings I already have for the rest of this year and next, but I will also have to cancel a few to accommodate my travel plans. I imagine that I will continue to serve a small handful of venues as long as I remain in the area. However, they will be the venues that have always been very supportive of me and where I have maintained excellent relationships.

It is also true to say that these days mediums are ten-a-penny, and there are plenty of them around to give people the kind of stuff that is craved by the “false self”. Whether we like it or not, the day must surely come when we have to accept that we are God and that there is only One of us!

As for me? Who knows? The doors of my life adventure are open, it’s just a matter of me having the vision to see this so I can enjoy the ride. Watch this space!

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Thank you for your response. ✨

The Mysterious Mystery

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

Hello! My name is Richard!

Life is a magical mystery; we cannot know the unknowable; we cannot comprehend that which is beyond comprehension. Religion offers an imaginary God (as a separate being) and a list of do’s and don’ts (moral code) for the masses to follow blindly. However, practitioners of religions more often than not end up using their moral code as a yardstick for passing judgement on others. The Divine cannot be known, it can only be experienced and no amount of scriptures and commandments will ever change that. Enlightenment, is coming to the understanding that everything we are looking for is contained within us; that we ourselves are Divine; that we ourselves are contained within every leaf of nature…

Ban The Burka!

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Now that I’ve got your attention, please watch the video…

Life On Mars

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

People often ponder the question of whether there is such a thing as the existence of aliens. Some people take this idea to the extreme, some people are simply open-minded on the subject and some people dismiss the idea out of hand. Whilst I personally believe it would be naive to think that our poor excuse for a species is all there is, I would nonetheless like to put a different angle on this concept.

If there is only One soul; if separateness is nothing more than an illusion; how can anyone be considered an alien? This, to me, seems to be at the core of all the troubles on the planet. As a species, we have lost all understanding of a sense of Oneness. We measure success by who has accumulated the most material wealth and power. We find entertainment in other people’s pain. Children are encouraged to sit in front of screens showing extreme violence and we then wonder why they take to the streets with knives and guns and form themselves into separate gangs.

So, do aliens exist? Absolutely not; but I do believe that other life-forms do, somewhere out there in the vastness of the universe. I also believe that most, if not all of them, don’t behave in the same way humans do.

Promises

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

The sort of promises I’m referring to here are more what you would call vows; the type you make when you get married for example. Have you ever wondered why many people find these vows so difficult to adhere to, and why (if we continue with marriage as the example here) so many marriages end in divorce these days. The answer, quite simply, is because the human race as a collective, still does not really know what love is and therefore puts conditions on it. We ask of those we claim to love what love itself would never ask of another.

Our very nature as a species is that of evolution. The individual soul experiences life in the world so it may know itself in its own experience. Or, so it may know experientially what it otherwise only knows as concept. It is these experiences of life that instigate the growth and evolution of the individual soul. As the soul evolves its perceptions and outlooks change. This means that our very nature is that of change; we do not stand still. Love would never ask another to restrict and impose limitations on itself by not changing when the very nature of life is change. A vow made today may be relevant to the person you are today. But six months, a year, five years or ten years down the line, you are not the same person; you have evolved, therefore your vow may no longer serve who you are and who you are choosing to be. In this world of relativity there is no right and wrong there is only that which serves you and that which doesn’t; right and wrong are simply relative and a matter of individual opinion.

Instead of expecting someone to “love, honour and obey”, what about “I honour your right to explore and express your individuality and I also honour your right to continually recreate yourself in the grandest version of the greatest vision you ever held about yourself”. This would be love in action, not superficial love with conditions. If this principle was applied more often to relationships of all kinds the world would be a much better place.

I’m Still Here

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Author Richard F Holmes

I know… It’s around a month since my last blog post. I really have got another post brewing; honest! In the meantime I would love to share this wonderful quote with you. Hope you like it.