A rapid Rollercoaster Ride with the Rainbow Circle
by Lucius Werthmueller, Basler PSI Association
From 25th to 27th September 2009 Zerdin Phenomenal hosted an event in Banbury near Oxford. It was organized by Rosalind and Dennis Pearman, the founders and heads of Zerdin Phenomenal and editors of the same-named magazine.
Picture: A part of the present Sitters group for a photo
Some 30 guests from all over the world were present. We have been five persons from Switzerland, beside me my partner Sabin and my son Pablo, the sensitive and healer Bea Rubli and Dr. Hans Schaer, one of the best connoisseurs of Physical Mediumship. From New York Dr. Ken Saari and Roberto were present; during June to December 2009 their circle has witnessed 131 apports in 41 sessions. Further participants were Kai Muegge, founder of the Felix Circle in Hanau, Germany, and his present circle leader, physician Jochen P., as well as Victor Zammit from Australia. The admittance was restricted to members of Zerdin Phenomenal who had all already been attending physical seances.
A Welcome Present
A first surprise was awaiting me right after the arrival in the hotel where we all were staying. From my room I had a view on the outer courtyard of the hotel and saw the arrival of Jostein Strommen and his wife Lisa who I had met for the first time on the occasion of Stewart Alexander’s seances in Basel in 2008. Jostein is Norwegian and has published a book about his experiences in physical seances with Stewart Alexander and David Thompson. Immediately after the initial hellos and a short exchange of words I started to unpack my suitcase. To my big surprise I saw an unfamiliar coin lying on one of my sweaters. I was quite amazed when I looked at it and realized that it was a new norwegian five Crown coin, dating from 2008, the year when I first met Jostein. 
Picture: The mysteriously appearing norwegian coin in Lucius luggage
I have never been in Norway, have no norwegian connections and can exclude that I put the coin in the suitcase unintentionally as I never possessed Norwegian money. The suitcase had not been opened by anybody. So this was quite a promising start of the weekend. All the more I was interested when the next morning Ken and Roberto displayed their apports amongst which there were several coins.
The three seances scheduled took place in Jennys Sanctuary, a spiritualist church near Banbury, led by Ron and Jean Gilkes. Two seances were held with the Rainbow Circle, the first on Friday evening, the second on Saturday at noon, and a third seance with the Meadows Circle on Saturday night (see Kai Muegge’s account on our website www.bpv.ch).
Picture: In Jennies Sanctuary hundreds of Physical Seances were held until today
The Rainbow Circle
Twelve years ago the Rainbow Circle was founded and gathers ever since twice a week in the house of Terry and Kath Nelson in Harrogate. The Circle was never looking for publicity. This is why until a short time ago there was nothing to be found about them on the internet nor in the respective publications. Only recently in 2009 they have conducted – by invitation of Zerdin Phenomenal – for the first time an experimental seance outside their own house to find out if the contact to the Spirit World also works outside their accustomed environment. After the usual phenomena occurred they decided to arrange further public seances. The name of the circle is connected to Stanley – one of the circle members – who had been encouraged a few years ago by a spirit guide to take photos after every session with a conventional – non digital – camera. From then on after every session Stanley takes pictures – according to the instructions of the spirit guides – of each circle participant placed in front of an old mirror belonging to the family. Very often the photos show the persons surrounded by fascinating patterns of light in all prismatic colours.
Picture: Kathleen Nelson is one of the focus persons of the Rainbow Circle of Harrogate…
… while her husband Terry does the complex and high-speed communication per table raps with their communicators
Different from mediums like Stewart Alexander or David Thompson the Rainbow Circle doesn’t operate with ectoplasm. They presume that the phenomena are produced by a collective energy being drawn from all participants. The communication doesn’t take place through trance communication or direct voice but by the raps of the table. Table turning is an old means of communicating with the Spirit World and well known in Spiritualism for a long time. The alphabet is being said synchronously to the raps of the table to alphabetise messages. Questions are usually being answered by one or two raps for a “Yes“ or a “No“. The circle has about ten regular sitters of which only Kath and Terry were present in Banbury.
Preparation and Curious Expectation
After an introduction and instructions by Dennis and Rosalind Pearman the participants were guided individually into the seance room to their seat which had been determined beforehand. All participants emptied their pockets and took off all their jewellery and watches. As usual for such events everybody who entered the room was searched thoroughly including the circle leaders Kath and Terry as well as the organisers Rosalind and Dennis. The seance room itself had been searched and examined in advance by two persons who had been determined at random.
The thirty seats were placed in two concentric circles. In the center of the inner circle was the table which is used for the communication. I was lucky to sit in this circle during the first seance. The two representatives of the Rainbow Circle sat opposite each other, I was placed directly by the side of Terry. The persons sitting in the inner circle were invited to put their hands gently upon the round table and to follow its movements.
Picture: A bunch of objects and toys, all glowing in the dark by illuminating tape
Behind Kath outside the two circles there was another table on which a great number of objects was placed, amongst them a skipping rope, a plastic trumpet, the classical aluminium seance trumpets, a xylophone, a rattle, a bell, balloons, cardboard rings, a big drum and drum sticks, a tambourine and some more objects, mostly toys (see photo xxx). In the corner there was a second round table. The arrangement reminded me of a children’s birthday party. The tables as well as all objects were marked with luminous tape so that in the dark their position and their movements could be identified.
The Rapid Rollercoaster Ride
The seance was opened with a short prayer. Already during the first words the table became active and started moving. It creaked, bounced and crawled on my lap whereupon none of the legs of the table touched the floor anymore.
And then we were taken on a rapid rollercoaster ride of phenomena which lasted nearly one hour. Everything happened in such a tremendous speed that it is impossible for me to remember the exact sequence of the session even though I have received an audio tape recording of the session as a memory aid. So many things happened simultaneously that often several voices could be heard at the same reporting unusual occurrences. Therefore I confine my report on the essence of the course of the session and the description of the most important phenomena.
Terry addressed the table and asked for the name of the first communicator. In a breathtaking speed “he” went through the alphabet synchronously to the raps of the table which stopped at the letter “R”. Terry asked if it was Red Cloud which was affirmed by one rap. Red Cloud is the circle’s main Spirit Guide who apparently always comes forward first. The next alphabetised words were “welcome” and “enjoy”. According to Kath and Terry Red Cloud is the same entity who many years ago had been Estelle Roberts’ spirit guide.
Picture: The Indian Chief Red Cloud, spirit Guide of the Rainbow Circle, Harrogate
After less than five minutes I was touched for the first time by a hand, first at the back of my hand and then at the forearm. Several sitters in the inner circle reported being touched. Meanwhile we heard several beats on the tambourine. The next entity reporting was Dick, the father of Kath. The table tilted towards me, remained for a moment in this position and then soared into the air, floating there for a moment and then turned upside down so that the surface of the table pointed towards the floor about half a meter above it while the legs were pointing to the ceiling.
Next the table spelled “Skipping Rope“ whereupon Kath put that item in the middle of the table which stood on the floor again by that time. The skipping rope moved around, touched me and others, rose into the air completely, and finally flew around the inner circle.
Soon after the entity asked for the plastic trumpet. Near the luminous tapes I could see tiny fingers holding the trumpet. The table tilted again and rose into the air whilst the trumpet remained at the same place on the table as if it was glued to it. Then the trumpet started flying and greeted every single sitter in the inner row by nestling to the faces with its opening. At this time the skipping rope which had been on my lap flew away.
Next the table spelled “Lucius Picture now” what meant that I should shoot a picture into the dark. Kath and Terry realised that they unfortunately had left the camera outside the room, and so we could not perform this experiment.
Picture: Taken without the presence of the Rainbows Circle Psychic Photographer “Stanley” the photos unfortunately show no sign of the mysterious aura
Soon after the second table floated from outside the two circles into the center and placed itself upside down with its surface on the first table.
Whenever possible during the fast movements we laid our hands or at least one or some fingers on the table during the whole seance. The two tables now moved together as one into the air and tilted to the horizontal as if they were glued together. The communicator bid farewell with a “God Bless“.
The next communicator reported as „Monty»; we assumed that it was Montague Keen which was confirmed. Montague Keen had been a psi-researcher and member of the SPR for many years. “Survival Research“ had been his special area of interest and he had been involved in several research projects. Monty – as we used to call him – had been a close friend of Hans Schaer. He died in 2004 and reported in several sessions since. I had met him in the Nineties when the SPR was one of the Patrons of the Basel Psi-Days. He spelled “Glad you are all here“ and said “Bye“
With the next communicator “Luke“ the Hula Hoop flew into the center and touched me. Then it floated above our heads and stopped over the heads of my partner Sabin and Victor Zammit. A balloon floated over the table and we heard loud crackles as if two hands would rub it intensely. Inside the balloon little lights flickered like visible electric discharges caused by the friction.
At this stage of the seance the room became brighter so that we could see the ceiling although there was no light source at all apart from the luminous tapes. Next a football flew around the room as well as the big drum. We heard loud and rather arrhythmic drumming. The drum settled on my lap and remained there for quite some time. Luke asked for the cardboard rings which were also flying around in the inner circle. Next he spelled “I like Lucius“ – what obviousy flattered me – while the table again jumped on my lap – on top of the drum which was still there. Later on “Hans“ and then “Victor“ have been addressed whereupon the table moved towards the two. Luke asked “Will you be my Uncles“ and “Can I visit you“ which was being affirmed by both.
Musical Performances
The next communicator identified herself as “Pretty Lucy” and spelled “Hello Uncle Ken“ meaning Dr. Ken Saari who is leading “The Circle for Humanity“ in New York, known for many apports. Ken had participated in seances with the Rainbow Circle a few months ago. Pretty Lucy said to him “I love you“ and asked for the keyboard. The keyboard was placed on the table and began to play shortly afterwards. Neither accurate nor virtuosic but the melodies were easily recognisable. First of all “London Bridge is falling down“followed by an unidentifiable jingle, then “Jingle Bells“ and in the end “Old Mac Donald had a Farm“. During this time we could see the keyboard moving around the room. As Lucy was asking for the drum I put it back on the table. Whereupon the keyboard played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star“ along with the beating of the drum.
Further songs were played shortly with the accompanying drum. Pretty Lucy bid farewell and said “I got to go“. At last there was Red Cloud again, who told us “You have created a wonderful energy. Thank you“.
Terry asked Red Cloud if we still could ask some questions which was accepted. Each participant could ask one question. About half of the participants renounced – being overwhelmed by the events – and just thanked for the experience. The few questions of the others were answered with a short “Yes“ or “No“. My question regarding the origin of the coin was not been answered.
The Birthday Party comes to an End
The phenomena stopped after an hour as sudden as it had started. Finally we all sang “Let there be Peace on Earth“ and the seance was closed with a short word of thanks.
When the light was turned on the room looked like after a wild children’s birthday party. The objects were spread all over the room and there was quite a mess. After the second session a balloon was fixed to a leg of the table in an unusual way (see photo).
Picture: With an unknown peculiar knot the balloon was knotted onto the table.
After the session we heard from Bea and Pablo, who were sitting in the outer circle, that they experienced only little of the happenings inside the inner circle. It seems that most of the energy is concentrated in the inner circle. Both had cold feet and reported that the room outside the inner circle had been unusually cold. On the occasion of the second session with the Rainbow Circle I was being placed in the outer circle and could affirm what Bea and Pablo had stated. But as I had experienced everything very close the night before, I could follow much better what was going on in the centre.
The speed and the simultaneity doesn’t give you the time to recognise and reflect everything of what is going on. Although the communication through the table is fast and clear, it nevertheless provokes less emotions compared to the more sensual communication through a voice with its vibration. As stated in the beginning it is absolutely impossible to give an exact account because so many phenomena happen simultaneously and several sitters are reporting at the same time. While some participants are being touched by hands, the table and the football are flying through the room, the hula hoop is settling over two persons….
I have never before experienced physical phenomena in such a speed and simultaneity. The two seances were a most impressive adventure which I will never forget.
LW