Who Am I? Part Thirty Three

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Author Richard F Holmes

The trouble with the whole 2012 thing, was that the good old media latched onto it and made it into something that it wasn’t. Hence, we had people talking about how the world was going to end; of course, this was never an option. Something that was quite significant for us as a species, was turned into an event that was the butt of jokes, and also gave amateur philosophers the world over the ammunition to expound all manner of theories and opinions. The truth was that the so-called “shift” started long before 21 December 2012, and was exactly that; a very subtle and gradual shift, the result of which meant that our consciousness or energies, whichever term you want to use, became more awakened. The date of 21 December 2012 simply signified the date in the ancient Mayan Calendar when a particular cycle would come to an end. I feel qualified to give this explanation because of what I actually experienced at the time.

A friend of mine once said to me that creation was like an onion. He said it consisted of many layers; and every now and then a layer would peel away and reveal a truth. With this in mind, the first few weeks of 2013 were very interesting for me. There was definitely something different going on, and indeed, the onion of life most certainly did peel away several layers and reveal several truths to me. Of course, I am speaking metaphorically, as we know there is only ONE truth. What I would like to add, however, to my friend’s pearl of wisdom is this; not only does the onion of life reveal truth to you, but as it does so, illusion and delusion, in the form of previous unreal perspectives, dissolves away. So, I had several eureka moments during the first 3-4 weeks of 2013. By the time April came along I had another quite significant experience.

I was booked to do a clairvoyant night at a pub on the outskirts of Cheltenham. I had already got to the stage where I was questioning the relevance of clairvoyant nights from a spiritual perspective. I did not feel that the churning out of mundane messages to people who were, in the main not interested in spirituality, served me any longer. I had already got into the habit of turning down bookings for clairvoyant nights, and I felt that I’d served my apprenticeship and worked my fair share of difficult venues, so I was not too keen on working in a pub. Nonetheless, I accepted the booking. It turned out to be one of those situations where out of great adversity, advantage blossomed!

It was a new initiative by the pub proprietors in an effort to bring in more punters. They had held a couple of these nights already and were going to make it a regular thing. On this particular occasion it was my turn. The event was to take place in the skittle alley upstairs, and on arrival it became apparent that the organisers were clueless. They had no understanding of this kind of thing, and apart from putting the chairs out, did absolutely nothing. There was not even any water put out for me, and I drink gallons of the stuff when I’m working. So, I got my water sorted out and it transpired that I was just left to my own devices. This is unheard of; there is ALWAYS a chairperson; the medium is never just left alone to get on with it. So, there I was; I got up to speak and immediately knew I was in for a rough night. I’d had some tough ones in my time, but this one took the biscuit! Firstly, the energies in this old building were awful (old English pubs do tend to have history), then I noticed that one of the punters had at least one negative entity attached to him. Then to top it off, there was a row of young girls in the audience that disrupted the whole session. The old me would have got angry, but the new me saw it as a challenge.

So, as well as having to work in such negative energies I also had to cope with the teenage girls giggling and nudging each other from start to finish. Everyone I went to had negative body language and did not understand the concept of working with the medium. People did not respond to me; which is absolutely essential for any demonstration of mediumship. So I was standing up in front of these people who were either giggling or just gawping at me. I found it nigh-on impossible to get spirit information, and I had to endure some incredibly long periods of silence; it’s a shame that the silence did not extend to the teenage girls in the audience. This had never happened to me before, and after what seemed like an absolute age, the event came to an end. Incredibly, some of the people came up to me and thanked me for their messages, and some even apologised for the behaviour of the young girls, even though it was nothing to do with them. Some of them complained to the management about the girls’ behaviour and I understand that they were banned from attending future events.

As I drove away from that venue I had a bit of a smile on my face. I was happy that I’d done my best not to be judgemental and just carried on with the task in hand. The experience also confirmed what I already knew, working in pubs no longer served my soul, and neither did clairvoyant demonstrations. From then on I only served two venues that laid on pure clairvoyant nights; the reason for that was because they were two venues where I had always received great support and continuing to serve them was my way of maintaining the connection.

I continued to bumble along; it was very difficult to eek out a living from my spiritual work on a self-employed basis. I also worked as a “helping hand”, for an organisation called Care and Repair. It was a charity that gave support to vulnerable adults in their homes. That was also on a self-employed basis, and even though the money wasn’t brilliant, it added a few pounds of much-needed income to the coffers. As 2013 was nearing its end, something else happened that was nothing short of miraculous.

As a helping hand, I was down to one solitary client; an elderly lady with dementia and poor mobility who lived six miles away. It was Boxing Day, December 26, and I was due to go and see her for a couple of hours. I would do a bit of cleaning and make sure she had a meal. But when I went out to the car it wouldn’t start. I reported in and someone else went out to see the elderly lady. Between Christmas and New Year my trusty mechanic, Tony, got the car going and I thought all was OK. But the day before New Year’s Eve, I set off on a journey to visit a friend who lived near Grimsby (around 170 miles away). I only got eight miles down the road and I heard a knocking sound coming from under the bonnet. I managed to pull over and have a look and found that the water reservoir container was empty. The knocking sound was because the hard plastic container had become so hot, it was banging against the inner framework of the car. It was lucky I’d only travelled eight miles.

I managed to get back home and took the car to Tony again once the New Year was out of the way. He said it would cost a fortune to repair; far more than the car was worth and that I’d be better off getting a new car. That was the worst thing he could have told me. Where would I get the money to buy a new car? I succumbed to the yarn being spun by my mind and went into severe panic mode. There was very little money coming in anyway and now I had no car. Tetbury has a very sparse and expensive bus service, so I would have no way of getting about either. It was a serious case of , “what am I going to do”? Now, I have written extensively about what happened next, so I’m not going to go into all the detail here, because I will still be writing at midnight. You can read the incredible story by clicking on the two links below entitled, Miracles Do Happen.

Miracles Do Happen

Miracles Do Happen 2

But to give you a bit of an idea, I had hardly any work, no car to get to that work, or to look for work, or even to get out and try to claim benefits for an interim period. I realised I was being my own worse enemy and took steps to change my mental attitude. Miraculously, shortly after taking these steps, someone just gave me £1000, right out of the blue. Not only that, they said I didn’t even need to pay it back. It was more miraculous because I never even asked that person for any money! Then shortly after that I got a job from an unexpected source and not long after that, another car!

The next post will be the last in the series, but there will be a summary post after that. We are now at February 2014.

Who Am I? Part Thirty

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Author Richard F Holmes

Me and Mrs H in 2008 in the nursing home

Nothing really dramatic happened in 2008, well.. I suppose that depends on what you call dramatic, but I continued to be busy with spirit work. The period between 2006 and 2009 was my busiest as a medium, and now that Mrs H was safely tucked up in the nursing home, I started making trips to West Wales again to serve the churches in the area. This would have been either 2007 or 2008, I’m not quite sure. There was a bit of an “incident” during one trip that I’ll tell you about; It was around May in 2008. The church in Cardigan that I served had to change its venue several times after I left in 2005. At this particular time they were on their second new venue, which was in a village that was fairly remote and a few miles outside Cardigan. The church was in an old school that was now used as a community centre. It was an area that was particularly hilly and some of the roads were quite steep.

This would be the first time I served at this venue, so I made sure I set off nice and early to allow for any difficulties in finding it. I found it without any trouble and pulled up directly opposite the gates, which were closed. There was obviously no one there yet so I sat in the car, which was pointing up a steep hill. Something told me that I should get out of the car and walk around the back. When I did I got the shock of my life. There was petrol, not dripping, but pouring out from the back of the car. You can write what I know about cars on the back of a postage stamp, but I did have a brain wave! I checked to see if I could open the gates, which I could, so I did! I then drove up the road, turned around and drove into the old playground, which was a flat surface, and parked up. The petrol then stopped pouring out. The life of a medium on the road eh? You could write a blog about it!

How it got resolved is a long and boring story, which I won’t bother going into here, however… My not so nice neighbour above me moved out; all good so far. A few weeks of peace ensued, but then another not so good neighbour moved in. I tried my hardest to stay calm and unstressed, but it was very difficult. Things came to a bit of a head when I started the new support worker job. I was out shadowing a colleague one day. I was following her in my car to our next client. I had so much “stuff” swimming around in my head that when we pulled away at a junction I rammed into the back of her car. The front of my car was caved in, but miraculously there was only a very minor scuff on the back on my colleague’s car. Unfortunately, she already had a back problem and the whiplash from the shunt made it worse. But, and we never seem to be short of miracles, my mechanic friend in Swindon sorted out my car to the extent it didn’t even look like it had rear-ended another car; he even managed to save the headlight housing, which in itself was nothing short of a minor miracle. My colleague was also back up and running before long, so it all worked out in the end. I was not happy with the situation however. Firstly, because I’d allowed the situation with my neighbour to get into my head, and secondly because I knew I had to do something to instigate change.

There followed a two-in-one brain wave on my part. I’d exchanged quite a lot of emails with the housing association regarding the anti-social behaviour of my two neighbours, but before the brain wave came together there was an incident, albeit a not very nice one, that worked in my favour. I went to Wales for ten days. I came back on a Sunday, and on the Monday morning, I nipped the very short distance to the village shop and post office to get a couple of things. While I was in there, the bloke behind the counter (Dave) said to me, “you live in the Baptist church don’t you”? “Yes”, I said, “why”? He said, “did you hear all the commotion over the weekend”? I explained that I’d been away, and he proceeded to tell me that on the Friday, my neighbour and two of his friends had started drinking at around mid-day. They had carried on throughout the evening and the night up in the flat. At around 06:00 am on Saturday morning they had a bit of a disagreement between themselves and proceeded to lump seven bells out of each other. The fight spilled over into the street and was eventually broken up by the lady in the post office who had gone in early to sort the newspapers out. Apparently, some children in a house just over the road from the flats had been terrified; the police had also been called.

Now I had ammunition; once the general public are affected and the police get involved, the housing association have to listen. I sent off a very detailed email, and Dave from the post office, who was a bit of a community spirited bloke, also complained to the housing association. My neighbour then received an official visit highlighting the potential consequences if things continued. But more importantly, I had a eureka moment. I had documentary evidence that I was experiencing anti-social behaviour. The police had been involved and other villagers had been affected. So, I decided to go to the offices of the umbrella organisation in Cirencester, (no, not an organisation that makes umbrellas, but the organisation that the individual housing associations come under), and ask for a move. Within a couple of weeks I was on the move to Tetbury, which was just three miles down the road. I completed my move towards the end of July. Also, I’d got fed up with the support worker job, and… it may or may not surprise you to hear that in the September I got my old support worker job back; I would stay there for just over a year.

This post is a sort of bridge to the next post. Not very exciting, but the detail is necessary to ensure continuum. Part Thirty One is going to be long; but you are just going to love it!!!

Miracles Do Happen – Part One

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Author Richard F Holmes

I’m going to share an experience with you that proved to me (as if I needed any proof) that miracles most certainly do happen. Over Christmas 2013 I found myself in a situation that seemed impossible; in fact I just didn’t know what I was going to do. There were similarities with situations from years gone by, and I really couldn’t believe that I now found myself seemingly trapped in a scenario of pain and despair, having turned my life around (or so I thought) many years ago. What I couldn’t understand was, that I was no longer the angry and resentful person I was back in the day; so why was I now faced with this situation? I’ve made no secret of the fact that the way I lived my life when I was younger has made things quite difficult for me at times during this stage of my life. I’ve also made no secret of the fact that I choose to live my life in a certain way that can at times produce hardships. But by and large, my needs have always been met so I just tend to plod along and take things as they come.

Throughout December I had not had much work; very little really, and there was not much on the horizon for the new year so I had very little money coming in. It was difficult enough already with the cost of living spiraling out of control, when all of a sudden my car died on me. The mechanic I use managed to get it going but the outcome was that it was going to cost such a lot of money to get it repaired that I would be better off scrapping it and buying a new one. The only problem was, how? I had just about enough money to buy an old runaround, but I know nothing about cars and I’m easy pickings for unscrupulous car salesmen. Also, how would I get out and about in order to buy one? The car I had was still driveable, but only over short distances; it was too dangerous to contemplate journeys of more than 6-8 miles because the engine kept overheating. My mind went into overdrive…

I had a serious case of “what am I going to do” syndrome. I told myself that I would have to register as unemployed, but that I would not be able to look for a job because I would have no way of getting anywhere. Tetbury is not exactly remote, but the bus service is very limited and very expensive. I told myself that within a few months I would be a sad case sitting in my little bungalow in the depths of despair and that my gas, electric and phone would be cut off because I had no means of paying my bills. I didn’t sleep very well for two nights; and then I came to my senses!

I knew that by constantly churning out all those negative thoughts I was only going to create more misery further on down the road; I told myself that it was about time I started to put into practice the principles that I speak about so often during the course of my spiritual work. I started by reminding myself of a few things. In no particular order I reminded myself that I am not a body; I am Divine Consciousness and the world I find myself in is only an illusion; therefore, at worst, my situation is only a part of that illusion. I reminded myself that I, and no one else, am the creator of my reality within this illusion and that it is impossible to die. I reminded myself that if I am responsible for creating my situation, albeit an illusionary one, then I also have the power within me to create circumstances in my life that are more favourable. Finally, I reminded myself that if I am Divine Consciousness at my deepest level, and if Divine Consciousness is the only reality, then if, to the best of my ability, I am able to experience myself as who I really am, then my problem would go away; after all, it was only a problem because my mind said so!

So I set about hatching a master plan!

I decided that I would meditate before going to bed. My thinking behind this was, that if I could experience myself as pure consciousness before retiring for the night, it would be like giving my mind a shower and I would be able to sleep better. Now, I always try to be thankful on a daily basis for all my blessings, but in my current situation I felt that an extra strong “attitude of gratitude” would go a long way towards helping me. In other words, instead of whining and moaning because my car is terminally sick and my whole world is doom and gloom, it would be much better to be consciously grateful for the abundance I already have. So, I made a point of thanking God for the bed that I sleep in, the roof over my head, my food, my clothes, my fresh drinking water and for things that are taken for granted, such as being able to look up into the night sky and gaze at the stars. Quite remarkably, within a few days things started to change.

Part Two coming shortly.

Thank God For Good Neighbours

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Author Richard F Holmes

This is how my face would have looked a couple of years ago.

I recently had a situation, that had it occurred even just a coupe of years ago, would have thrown me into a state of panic and despair. But it was very noticeable to me, that my reaction to this situation was so markedly different compared to how it would have been, that it has prompted me to write this post and share the experience.

I have made no secret of the fact that the current economic situation in the UK, and indeed the whole world, has made life quite difficult to say the least. However, since the dark days of my depression, acute stress, and excessive intake of alcohol, I have learned quite a lot. One of the most important things that I have learned is that nothing is as it seems, who I really am is far greater than anything I will encounter in this life, and in a nutshell, what I’m trying to say here is that it is not our circumstances in life that determine whether we are happy, sad or panic-stricken at any given time, it is how we deal with them. And so, after much rambling I will tell the story in question.

I’d had a couple of things go wrong with the car and also recently paid out for a service and MOT, so my finances had taken a bit of a hammering. Add to that a couple of other bills that needed taking care of, and you can imagine, I wasn’t exactly Mr Happy from Tetbury. So, one morning recently I decided to put the washing machine on, went through the motions, and when I hit the start button; nothing! Just the sound of the washing machine motor seeming as though it really would love to be pumping water into the drum of the machine, but no action. A couple of years back, having already incurred considerable expense, my first thought would have been, THE WASHING MACHINE IS BUST, HOW AM I GOING TO FIND THE MONEY FOR A NEW ONE WITHOUT GETTING FURTHER INTO DEBT, and a blind panic would have ensued; during which the world would surely have come to an end.

This time however, things were slightly different. I did at first think that the washing machine was bust, but in a very calm way and on closer examination, I decided that in all likelihood the problem was in the pipe taking the water to the machine; otherwise why would the motor be humming? My thoughts then were that there was a blockage in the pipe. Now, a couple of years ago my next thought would have been OH NO! THERE’S A BLOCKAGE IN THE PIPE! HOW AM I GOING TO BE ABLE TO PAY FOR A PLUMBER WITHOUT GETTING FURTHER INTO DEBT!. But, as already stated, times have changed. It occurred to me that my landlord may be responsible for fixing such problems, so maybe it won’t cost me a penny to get it sorted. But nonetheless, I had a look in a couple of directories to see what I had at my disposal as far as plumbers were concerned. Next, I decided that either way, it wasn’t the end of the world and that I would have a little meditation.

Whilst I was meditating I was reminded that my neighbour, Alan, is a retired plumber. So, I gave him a shout and in no time at all he had grabbed his trusty bag of tools, diagnosed a very simple problem and fixed it. In fact, it was such a simple problem that I could have fixed it myself. So simple, that it would not have even occurred to me to consider it. Alan refused to take any payment from me and I was able to do my washing. It just goes to show that it really does pay to stop and consider what is going on beneath the surface before getting stressed out.

Thank God for good neighbours.

Apocalypse Not Now Dear I’m Washing My Hair

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Author Richard F Holmes

Well, it’s here, the dreaded 21 December 2012, and as far as I can see the world hasn’t blown up; also, as the headline suggests, I am far too busy washing my hair to be able take part in an apocalypse; maybe next time. Of course, the world never was going to end; it was just a combination of media sensationalism and the thoughts and theories of the misguided that created the whole affair. In commemoration of this “event”, you may have noticed that I wrote a number of spoof articles over the last few months, with equally spoofed headlines. For those of you who maybe didn’t understand what was meant by these articles, it was just my way of expressing how ridiculous I felt the whole idea was. Oh, by the way, the Corgis are back at work now; they opted for a compromise, the matter has been put to kennel, and militant NUC leader, Ruf Growlington has gone back to Newcastle.

I would now like to take this opportunity to put the lid on the 2012 thing and to give my final views.

There has been a shift, but it is subtle and ongoing. Personally, I have never bothered to read up on the whole Mayan Calendar thing, but I would stake my life on it that the Mayans, at no time, said that the world would end on 21 December 2012. We know that creation is a series of cycles and 21 December 2012 simply heralds the end of the current cycle. People all over the planet have been experiencing a spiritual awakening as we enter the next phase, but we are all at different stages of evolution, therefore we will not all experience the same thing at the same time.

I consider myself very fortunate to have been on the planet at the same time as The Kali Yuga Avatar, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and even more fortunate that Baba made himself known to me and allowed me to experience him in the way that I did. Now, as the new Golden Age dawns and religions continue to compare Gods, in an effort to see whose God is best, and bickering within individual religions continues between the different factions, the underlying fundamental principle of spirituality remains the same:

There is only one religion – The religion of Love,

There is only one language, The language of the heart,

There is only one caste, The caste of humanity,

There is only One God, He is omnipresent ~ Baba

The reason for human birth remains the same; to realise the Divinity within ourselves and others. But as man-made religion has made the spiritual pathway so complicated over the years, Baba with his simple teachings gives us a very straightforward path to Self-realisation. For all of you spiritual aspirants out there who may come across this article, here is your simple formula for spiritual awakening. So, if you follow this formula and at the same time “see good, do good, be good, NOW” you won’t go far wrong.

Start your day with Love,

Fill your day with Love,

Spend your day with love,

End your day with Love,

This is the way to God ~ Baba

And finally:

Seen on a notice board in Tetbury today…

FOR SALE

Bunker (may need a bit of an airing) – Excellent condition, one previous owner. Comes with an aeon’s supply of baked beans (ring-pull cans), 750 back copies of The Beano, a torch (batteries included), a CD of Des O’Connor’s Greatest Hit and a partridge in a pear tree.

Reason for sale: The world didn’t blow up…

Queen’s Corgis In Palace Walk-Out Storm

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Author Richard F Holmes

It’s another warm welcome from The Ministry Of Sensational Headlines, and have WE got a story for YOU!

StopPress:StopPress:StopPress

Britain was left reeling today after Buckingham Palace announced that two of Her Majesty The Queen’s Corgis walked out in a dispute over pay and conditions. As the news filtered out it sent tremors through tea rooms all over the country (“I was so shocked I ordered an extra scone” – Binky Bartholomew-Smythe, East Grinstead). As Britain came to terms with this shocking news, messages of support poured in from all over the world (well, sort of)

“The thoughts of the American people are with you” – President Barack Obama

“Bring back the birch, hanging AND national service” – David Cameron

“I always knew them Corgis were trouble” – Ken Barlow

“They bite the hand that feeds them” – Bart Simpson

“Inner tubes are on 2 for 1 all over the festive season” – Bob of Bob’s Bicycles, Kidlington

When asked if it was simply barking mad for the Corgis to stage a walk-out (especially at this time of year) Ruf Growlington, militant leader of the National Union Of Corgis (NUC) said, in a Geordie accent, and I quote, “woof, woof, woof, bark, growl, woof”.

In other news, this reporter caught up with eccentric author, Richard F Holmes at his bunker in Tetbury to see how he is coping with the prospect of the world ending in less than three days time. Richard seemed in a very pensive mood as he crawled out from underneath a huge pile of empty baked bean cans, and I waited with bated breath for his words of wisdom. Then, after what seemed like an age, he looked me in the eyes, and with sage-like eloquence said “don’t be so *#*#??!#* stupid”!

Ruf Growlington, militant leader of the NUC.

“I Will Protect You Like The Eyelids Protect The Eyes”

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Author Richard F Holmes

It’s quite common when Sai Baba groups meet up for events etc. that people bring their unwanted spiritual books and Baba-related items so that others may reap the benefits from them. Normally, the books and photos etc. are placed on a table near the entrance to the hall and anyone can browse and help themselves. A few years back I availed myself of a few of someone else’s unwanted books and on opening one of them I was amazed to find a photo copy of an A4 sheet of paper with the most incredible words of wisdom from Swami; the original had been hand-written very professionally in a lovely calligraphic style. On reading the words it was apparent that they were tailor-made especially for me, but specifically, the second paragraph contained the most beautiful and striking statement; “I will protect you like the eyelids protect the eyes”. I found this to be true on Monday 6 August 2012.

I had been agonizing over recording a CD of mantra chanting. Nothing wrong with that, but considering that the finished product would be available for sale, it somehow didn’t feel right; a bit like a Christian taking stuff from the Bible and putting it out on Amazon for personal gain. But I knew that my intentions were good, for reasons not relevant to this post, and I also asked a few friends who confirmed that I should go ahead with it. So I made arrangements to use DB Studios in Stroud, Gloucestershire here in the UK. I arranged a recording session with my friend Chris, who is a partner in the studios, for mid-day on Monday 6 August.

Stroud is about ten miles from where I live in Tetbury and I set of at about 11:30 a.m. in great anticipation. I’d decided on the mantras I was going to record and during the course of the drive to the studios I went through them. The main reason for this was so that my throat would be warmed up sufficiently for the recording. I quite often chant whilst driving, but not to this extent.

In between Tetbury and Stroud is the small market town of Nailsworth and the road out of Nailsworth connects direct to Stroud; a distance of about 4 miles. For the first couple of miles there are a number of industrial units and showrooms at various intervals on the right hand side. One such showroom sells pine bedroom and garden furniture and is about two miles along the road. I had just started my second rendition of the mantra Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate when I just happened to notice a red car waiting to pull out from the pine showroom onto the main road. It all happened so quickly but at the same time it seemed like slow motion. It was as if the driver deliberately waited for me to pass that point before pulling out; but in truth I doubt that he or she even noticed me.

I didn’t even have time to hit the horn but managed to swerve the car to the left and avoid a collision. Luckily there was room for me to do that. Had the road been more narrow I may not have been able to. Of course the whole event took me by surprise, and I won’t say what words were coming out of my mouth at this point, but they were not mantras. However, I knew that once again The Avatar was at play and I very soon had a big smile on my face as I resumed chanting. It just goes to show that when you are engaged in God’s work, Divine Spirit will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the work gets done. This was also further proof for me that my intention to record a mantra CD had received the highest approval.

The recording session went well too and I hope to have the finished product available sometime in October.

For your interest, there is a you tube link below to the mantra Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate. It’s truly beautiful and I hope you enjoy it.