The College Of Psychic Studies - London
What an experience! We had a chance to explore the whole building of the College of Psychic Studies in London. A place dedicated to the exploration of consciousness since late 19thcentury, continuously - the oldest of its kind in the whole world!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (known for his iconic Sherlock Holmes stories) himself was the most prominent president here, for several years.
For the two of the Summer months, the members and the public could visit and explore this majestic place, looking at the rich exhibition, entitled Strange Things Among Us.
But first - as we visited first time here - the amount of the bookish volume at the reception room - was even to us - jaw-dropping. The topics - all occult, paranormal, spiritual.
We could had spend hours in that great library!
Before us, however, were more rooms, 13 or 14 of them, and nooks and crannies - to discover.
One of the first: the Presidents Office where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself worked - as a president of the spiritual society.
For a people like us - that are interested in the English crime genre - of which Sir Arthur was the first - and at the same time giving a thought to the unseen reality - as Sir Arthur did - was such a significant moment.
In one of the rooms we found the original Ouija board, dated 1915. The spiritualists of the late 19th, early 20th century were very engaged in the direct contact with the Otherworld. And they invented this tool.
A room with unique, historical and rare books about Magic and Spirits - how about that? This was next.
A special room - where you could quiet down the galloping mind, to meditate - was in the basement.
The paintings by Isabelle de Steiger Castles in the Air formerly known as Lady of Delusion (below, left). She was one of the earliest English Theosophists - an occultist, painter, and a writer; also a member of the the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Anthroposophical Society. All the great three in one person. Imagine.
There were some darks secrets to discover next to it - in one of the glass cases, we could see the magic black mirror (below, top right), used to materialize ghosts and spirits. A very potent tool in the hands of the master; a tool of demise in the hands of unprepared.
One of the rooms blown our minds away, literally. Paintings by an English medium Ethel Le Rossignol.
Having experienced the tragedies of the WWI, Ethel turned to Spiritualism and became a medium. In 1920 she started channelling a spirit known as J.P.F. She produced 44 paintings for which she claimed no credit. Really Divine experience. For her and for us.
Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions, The Magus - Celestial Intelligencer, Essay on Witchcraft and Magic by Eliphas Levi, The Equinox by Alister Crawley - to name a few.
A delight to the sight of the occult seeker. Creme de la creme.
But this walk through the old posh London townhouse brought us to the edge of our ability to comprehend this and the other reality.
Next room, next topic - Photographing The Invisible.
The spirit photography started in 19th Century. Photographers were experimenting with new effects, such double exposure. Some unscrupulous photographers realised that these techniques could be made for profit - to 'capture' the departed ones.
The effects were stunning - full of pretty visible ghosts.
In every era in every place - there are people devoted to the unconventional terms of spirituality who had a considerable influence on a contemporary spiritualism. We had a chance to go through the most recent Western tradition. Madame Blavatsky (lower left) being probably the most prominent, co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875.
Next to her - less known to a wider public - Annie Besant (lower right) but so significant. She was women's rights activist, a forerunner in the human freedom, a supporter of Irish and Indian independence, a prolific writer (over three hundred books and pamphlets), an orator, educationist, philanthropist and a president of the Theosophical Society in Britain. A noble spiritual daughter of Madame Blavatsky.
A separate part of the exhibition was devoted to intuitive drawings and paintings.
Examples of the pictures, some of them original in the dating to the early 20th century were gathered in one room of the London townhouse. The most acknowledged and know worldwide are those of Austin Osman Spare.
The bottom left embroidering (we do not remember the author) was done without planning, under invisible guidance, during a different state of consciousness.
Moving on - an exhibition room devoted to Tarot.
Famous Tarot de Marseille & Guide - first printed circa 1930 by B.P Grimaud (top left), Tarot of The Bohemians deck (top right), the most famous one - Rider Colman Waite deck (bottom left). The Book Of Ceremonial Magic by Austin Osman Spare completed the circle.
In the next gallery there were more artworks by artists with occult connections - either displaying mandalas, sacred talismans, or simply instinctive landscapes - from without or within as was the case of above mentioned Austin Osman Spare, an occultist and above all artist - influenced by symbolism and the art nouveau of his time.
Next stage - we could explore what was left from The National Laboratory Of Psychical Research opened in 1926, that occupied the entire top floor of the building.
All of this was connected to The Ghost Club - a paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862 - the oldest organization of such kind in the world. What you see in the paranormal TV nowadays is in some way going directly from them. They were the pioneers.
For example - there was a section commemorated to a famous Ghost Hunter - Harry Price (1881 – 1948) - author and a psychic researcher who gained a publicity for his investigations into psychical phenomena as well as exposing fraudulent spiritualist practices.
A tiny little room was trying to unfold the UFO phenomena.
A certain percentage of the occurrences defy all rational explanation. Many studies examined a number of cases that have been well documented, yet remain unexplained.
We could see some of the drawings of the witnesses of such phenomena, and to our surprise - there were much better, colourful and detailed than those publicized in the film documentaries. Perhaps for some they may look childish. Well, not everybody is an artist.
Are we alone? We want to believe! As did Agent Mulder from the X-Files. However we don't need to just believe, anymore.
It has been officially confirmed in the series of exposures of disclosure between 2018-2021 by the US Navy and other military sources that UAP (which is the modern term to UFO) do exist. We'll have more about it on our blog. It is fascinating.
There were many more attractions at the exhibition, all beautifully prepared, with great care. We are grateful that there are people who care about the continuation of the alternative sense of reality. We have learned a lot from this exhibition, on many levels. An unearthly, awakening and spiritual experience, no doubt.
A special room - where you could quiet down the galloping mind, to meditate - was in the basement.
We visited it first. But here and now, on this blog entry - we want to finish here - in a wish that you may want to calm down a bit - and perhaps wonder and ponder over the many mysteries of our life, our world, and how many we still have to discover.
The College of Psychic Studies, a non-profit organisation, based in South Kensington, London, was funded in 1884 and is now the longest such facility in the world providing education and research in consciousness, psychic mediumship, intuitive arts and all things esoteric.
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Sources:
https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/