16th September 2010
Hanau, Germany
By Donna James
(Donna James is a Researcher from UK.
Among many other activities she is publishing her research efforts on her blog
http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/blog/)
On arrival we were all welcomed warmly by Elke and after introductions and light refreshments Jochan spoke to us about the evening’s proceedings and various do’s and don’t regarding séance protocol which was especially pertinent as among the 6 of us that were guest sitters, 3 were first timers at a physical séance. Kai then joined us and spoke a little about phenomena at previous sittings before we were all led downstairs to the small basement room where the séances are held.
After the room had been inspected by 2 volunteer sitters, with everyone seated, the séance room door closed, the medium settled in the cabinet and all lights extinguished, an opening prayer was offered up. Jochan had control of the CD player and gentle meditation music was played while we were all invited to relax and enjoy a period of stillness.
Kai started his holotropic breathing routine which he has developed in order to help him enter the trance state. After a few minutes we heard the delicate sound of the wind chime which was suspended from the ceiling and which is often the first indicator that Spirit are present within the FEG circle. The rapid breath sounds coming from Kai settled into more rhythmic breathing with voice like murmurings. Words were starting to form from an older male voice quite dissimilar to Kai’s own, which were difficult to make out initially, but slowly the words became clearer and clearer until specific German speech could be heard and the circle members welcomed Hans Bender, the spokesman for the team on the Spirit side. Hans then addressed us all in English, welcoming us to the circle for the evening and announced that the Spirit team had lined up a full schedule for us.
Lively music was played which we were encouraged to sing along to and almost immediately rapping and knocking on the ceiling and wooden panelling in the room was clearly heard. Sitters started reporting being touched on the leg at the same time the knocking was heard from another part of the room. Then it was my turn to have my left knee touched, very gently but also firmly so that I was sure it had taken place. It was definite and precise. Other sitters continued to report being touched on their legs and one on his head and forehead while we also heard knocking and drumming as well as feeling vibrations from the floor through our feet. While the sitter to my right was having his left shin touched, I could also feel my right leg being touched at the same time. Cold breezes were reported by sitters and said to be coming from the opposite direction to where Elke was sitting and where she had control of an air conditioning unit to help with the extremely high temperature in the séance room. On Hans’ instruction several times during the evening, the cabinet curtains were opened and the cold air was aimed at the cabinet in an attempt to help cool the medium down.
Jochan was the first person to see a small light floating in mid-air and then we were encouraged to keep the energies going by singing and calling to it. It flew around the circle, stopping and hovering in front of various sitters as if having a good look at them before moving on! It then disappeared for a few seconds before re-appearing even more energised than before, moving rapidly around the circle, dipping low and then shooting up high again whilst everyone was calling to it as if attempting to get its attention so it would hover in front of them! Hans called out for the cabinet curtain to be opened and we could see the light float in and out of the cabinet through the opening several times before Hans asked for the curtains to be closed again and the light delighted sitters with some more visits and flights around the room before disappearing.
Hans could often be heard speaking from the cabinet whilst phenomena was taking place, and when he was called to by either Jochan or Hermann during the séance he replied instantly from within the cabinet. Hans announced that they would attempt the handkerchief experiment next. Jochan had previously explained this to us upstairs in the pre-séance briefing and had shown us the handkerchief that was to be used. It was a white cotton handkerchief with four small luminous tabs, one fixed to each corner so that its movements were clearly visible to sitters in the dark. Hans asked that the handkerchief be given to the sitter immediately opposite Jochan who was to hold it by one corner and reach out so it was being held in the force field in the centre of the circle. Hermann explained that when the sitter felt tugging on the handkerchief he was to let go of it. Hans instructed everyone to join hands and then we built up the energy by encouraging the handkerchief to ‘fly, fly, fly’! Small upward movements were seen in the bottom corner of the handkerchief but when it was let go, it fell to the floor. Hans suggested that I held it but only after a minute or so he interrupted and asked that it be passed back to the first sitter who took it again and after more vocal encouragement from everyone we saw the handkerchief floating in mid-air and the sitter announced he had let it go. It flapped and floated in the air, sometimes limply and sometimes fully expanded like a sail with wind behind it. After a short time it dropped to the floor.
The experiment was repeated with the handkerchief being held by the sitter to the left of Jochan, who gave us all a bit of a false start when it was discovered he was out of his chair in an effort to hold the handkerchief over the force field in the centre of the circle, and us sitters opposite thought the movements we were witnessing was the hankie in full flight! Once it was established the sitter was back in his seat, the experiment was re-started and we again witnessed the handkerchief in flight, completely independent of any human hand.
Hans then asked for the handkerchief to be put away as next they wanted to show us the structures on the illuminated plaque. Jochan slowly introduced the glowing plaque into the dark room and placed it on top of the small bongo drum that was on the floor in the force field area. Hans asked for Jochan to check that the position of the drum was central in the force field and told us that Rudi Schneider was conducting this part of the experiment with the Spirit team. After a short burst of singing by sitters a dark finger like structure was clearly visible on the illuminated plaque, swiftly followed by a display of 4 small fingers which looked as if they belonged to a child’s hand. If you imagine the plaque to be like the face of a clock with the cabinet some distance away at 6 o’clock, the structures were appearing on the plaque from the 3 o’clock angle which was the same side that I was sitting on. There were several displays of the structures on the plaque, sometimes singly, sometimes several finger like shapes at a time, creeping across the plaque from the side for all to see.
The next phenomenon sitters enjoyed was the trumpet display. After briefly charging up the luminous band on the trumpet under the red light to make it a little brighter, Jochan placed the trumpet in front of the cabinet, instructed sitters to hold hands and music was played for sitters to sing along to. Hermann who was sitting to my left put both of his hands on my left arm so that I would know he wasn’t playing any part in the trumpet’s movements. After a short time the trumpet was seen to be twitching, it started to lift off the floor but then fell over. Jochan stood it back up again and singing re-commenced. After only a few seconds the trumpet started to move again and then lifted up off the floor into mid-air and flew around the room, from side to side, up and down, much to sitters delight. Whilst watching the trumpet display I was touched on my knee again and other sitters also reported being touched. Hans could be heard speaking from the cabinet while all this was taking place so in effect there were 3 types of phenomena being demonstrated simultaneously.
The final event of the evening was to be able to see ectoplasm being extruded from the medium in red light. Hans explained the procedure in German then Jochan repeated it in English; the medium would stamp with one of his feet 3 times which was a signal for the red light to be turned on, the cabinet curtains were to be opened and sitters would be able to view the ectoplasm for 5 seconds before the light was to be turned off and the cabinet curtains closed. Hans then asked for the red light to be turned on so that sitters could see that the medium was in the cabinet in the trance state, and we all agreed that we could.
The ectoplasm demonstration procedure was carried out four times in total. When the cabinet was opened the first time in red light, ectoplasm could be clearly seen emanating from Kai’s mouth and flowing downwards. Each time the cabinet was opened it could be seen flowing further down his body until on the third opening it was in such copious quantity that it was covering his entire body, his arms could be seen underneath it, and it was spilling down over his feet and onto the floor. It was bright white in colour, shimmering and vibrant as if it had a life of its own. On the fourth time the curtains were opened which was only 10 seconds after the previous display, every trace of ectoplasm had completely disappeared. With that fantastic demonstration, the séance came to a close and everyone thanked Hans and bade him farewell.
I am very grateful to Kai, Hans Bender and the FEG team both here and Spirit side for the opportunity to sit with them and witness the events that took place during the evening which is the product of their hard work and dedication. I’d also like to thank them for their hospitality, for all the efforts made on our behalf during the evening and for their continued commitment to the future development of the physical mediumship of the FEG circle.