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CONTENTS • UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS - Latest news from The Spiritual Awakening Spiritualist Center • WHAT'S AROUND THE CORNER - Monthly schedule, special events, and more • FRIENDS OLD AND NEW - Updates, news and announcements • MEDITATION - Monthly link to a new guided meditation • VOICES FROM THE PAST AND PRESENT - Every month there will be an article on a different person connected to Spiritualism • SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUALISTS - Every month we'll offer an insight into Spiritualism's Philosophy and Beliefs • THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT - Spiritual recommendations for your entertainment that we think you might like • WHERE IN THE WORLD …? Articles of interest, Places, Moment's in Time, Achievements, People, and More. • MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK - How our members and friends can help Spiritual Awakening Spiritual Center • BUILDING FUND - Monthly update • THE FUNNY CORNER - A little corner of the newsletter to make you smile • SIMPLY DELICIOUS - Each month, we will include an easy and simple to follow recipe. • AND FINALLY - Newsletter information
UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Dear Members and Friends, Happy May! In an attempt to keep you all up to date. These are the main topics and decisions from the recent Board of Directors meeting held on Saturday, April 23rd: New Member’s: • We are very pleased to announce that we now have 4 New Members joining our Spiritual family: Rhonda Rosa, Maureen Cullen, Beth Ballou, and Patsy McGowen. A very warm welcome to you all! Finding a Physical Location: • After some debate between the board members regarding the options put forward by Michael, it was thought best to try to find a location just for Sunday Services, and possibly Tuesday Circles. This option will allow us to grow, and hopefully still save towards our goal of buying our own building. It will be necessary to stay with Zoom meetings for the future, even after a physical location has been found. Tuesday Circles, Workshops, and Service: • In an attempt to increase revenue. It was suggested that we limit Tuesday services to only those who pay the donation of $5.00. The Zoom ID and Passcode will be sent out once payment is received. This will start in May 2022. It was noted that some of our members and friends make a monthly contribution to the Building Fund. Therefore, Tuesday Circles will be included in their donation. Alan suggested that we make it known that anyone having financial difficulty can confidentially ask for help from our scholarship fund. An email prior to the first Tuesday meeting in May will be sent out, explaining the reason why this decision has been made. The next quarterly Board meeting is planned for June 2022.
WHAT'S AROUND THE CORNER? Upcoming Events for May 2022 PLEASE CHECK THE SPIRITUAL AWAKENING CENTER WEBSITE FOR UPDATES OR CHANGES TO OUR SCHEDULE. For more information on any of these events please visit our website at: http://www.churchofspiritualawakening.com 'Practical Mediumship Workshop' TUESDAY 3rd: We are planning to add this event to our calendar for the 1st Tuesday of the month. At this Meeting we will be giving different monthly helpful suggestions to improve your mediumship. A small love donation of $5.00 would be appreciated. An 'Evening of Mediumship' TUESDAY 10th: On the 2nd Tuesday of every month we will have a different Guest Medium, with a short meditation to start. 'Developing Your Mediumship Workshop' TUESDAY 17th: On the 3rd Tuesday of every month, we will have a different surprise 'Guest Sitter' who we will work with to give messages. We will have a short meditation first to start the process. A small love donation of $5.00 would be appreciated. 'Meditation Healing & Discussion Forum' TUESDAY 24th: On the 4th Tuesday of every month, we will have a Discussion Forum with different topics. This is a great opportunity to ask questions about all things related to Spiritualism. We will have a short meditation with Healing first to start. A small love donation of $5.00 would be appreciated.
FRIENDS OLD AND NEW Over the past 2 years, live streaming via Zoom has offered us the opportunity to meet many amazing new people from all around the world. Many of them have been Mediums and Spiritual Teachers who we have had the honor and privilege to have serve our Spiritualist Center.
On Sunday, May 1st, we are pleased to have back with us Rev. Malcolm Speirs - from Quebec, Canada. Malcolm, like dozens of other guests has once again kindly offered his time to help our Spiritualist Center with an All-Message Service. During 2022, we will be seeing many of our old favorite's return, as well as lots of new faces.
MEDITATION
GUIDED MEDITATION - Anxiety Relief - YouTube Relief From Anxiety - A Guided Visualization. Here we take you on a journey to a dreamlike land, a gentle sea, and a being who will help to take your worries away.
VOICES FROM THE PAST AND PRESENT
Edgar Cayce Edgar Cayce; 18 March 1877 – 3 January 1945) was an American clairvoyant who claimed to channel his higher self while asleep in a trance-like state. His words were recorded by his friend Al Layne, his wife, Gertrude Evans, and later by his secretary, Gladys Davis Turner. During the sessions, Cayce would answer questions on a variety of subjects like healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis and future events. As a devout Christian and Sunday school teacher, Cayce's readings were often criticized as demonic by his religious colleagues. Cayce, in contrast, believed that it was his subconscious mind exploring the dream realm where he believed all minds were timelessly connected. Cayce founded a nonprofit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, to record and facilitate the study of his channeling and to also run a hospital. A biographer gave him the nickname The Sleeping Prophet. Some religious scholars and thinkers such as author Michael York consider him the true founder and a principal source of the most characteristic beliefs of the New Age movement. Please follow this link to learn more about one of Spiritualism's most well-known pioneers: Edgar Cayce - Wikipedia
SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUALISTS Spirit and the War. By-Al Potts. I wish to quote the view on War by Silver Birch, who brought this through the mediumship of Maurice Barbanell. "We do not want the spirit world to become once again a hospital for broken souls. Those of us who work amongst you know that you must be prepared to take into your world all that which we try to teach you. We cannot do it for you. We can only see the result of those things you do which are wrong and show you what happens in our world when you do wrong things in yours." Silver Birch has always urged the spreading of peace teaching. There are those in this world who seek to bring peace through negotiation, whilst others, often accepted as wise ones, seek only to destroy, The Great Spirit (or God) has given to us His Natural Laws, which are perfection, the same today, yesterday and tomorrow and yet mankind chooses to ignore them. Living in accordance with God's Natural Laws means trying to be the best that we can be, helping those less fortunate than ourselves, reaching out with love to those who are seeking guidance and sending love to those who would make life difficult. We are living in a very difficult time not only with the Covid Virus challenging the medical services, but with the war in Ukraine where the Russian President, Putin is destroying much of Ukraine through his need for power. We are all shocked at the destruction of many villages, towns and cities perpetrated by the Russian army, under the guise of lies told by Putin to the people of Russia. It is obvious that President Putin and his cohorts have no understanding of God, or His Natural Laws, which control the entire universe, and yet we accept that the spark of the Divine is within everything that lives, moves and has its being. Also, that even the worst criminal, murderer or misguided leader has that God power within them. We constantly send our thoughts of love to the President and people of Ukraine but forget to send that same love to the perpetrator of these terrible actions, Putin, who is misled by physical gains which are subject to the same laws that apply throughout the universe. Silver Birch asks, "How dare the children of earth interfere with Divine Law". Just as the fruit which is plucked from the tree before it is ripe has been taken too early, so those souls lost in battle are dropped from the body before it has a chance to ripen. It is never right to justify war, as it can only lead to destruction and interfere with the operation of Divine Law. Because of the difference in skin color, nationality, religion etc. we cannot believe that we are all God's children, and yet accept separation. We are all the family of God, and as such we are wrong to see each other as separate from the family of the Great Spirit . When mankind seeks to live outside of the Divine Laws, then the result can only be destruction and chaos. Spirit only ask us to judge them by the truths they try to teach us and to understand that war cannot be justified. As spirit encased in a physical body, our purpose here is to refine the soul through the way we live our lives here on the earth, thus preparing for the next phase of consciousness in the life eternal. Let us then help to bring God's Natural Laws into operation on the earth, and that way we can have that 'Heaven on Earth' spoken about by prophets like Jesus. Spirit are doing there best to guide and help us at this time, but unless we listen and take that knowledge forward and put it into practice in our everyday lives, then we only have ourselves to blame for the conditions we are experiencing in our day to day lives. It is against the law of the Great Spirit for anyone to try to put an end to the physical life of another spirit. When the lust to kill is fostered, reason departs. So, Silver Birch says. "Love, and love will come. Sow peace, and peace will arise. Sow seeds of service everywhere and the world will be filled with service. These are simple truths of the Great Spirit and are so simple that they confound the "wise ones" of your world." Send your Love to the people of Ukraine, and love will overcome.
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJKquAZISZI An inspirational true story of how a rural community rallied around a distraught family (Dean Cain, Lori Beth Sikes) as they looked for their missing two-year-old son (Pierce Gagnon).
WHERE IN THE WORLD? This Month (May) in History The Miracle of Dunkirk The Miracle of Dunkirk: 80 years on in what is still called 'the Miracle of Dunkirk' the story is told of how over 300,000 British troops were snatched from the beaches of France in an operation that was so fraught with dangers that success can only be attributed to a miraculous combination of circumstances. MAY 1940 was a time of grave crisis for the British Empire and for the whole civilized world. On May 10th, Hitler had launched his blitzkrieg against the Low Countries and France. By the end of the second week in May the French defenses had been broken. German panzer forces, led by Rommel and his 7th Panzer Division, burst through, and with lightning speed began a rapid advance across France and Belgium. Very soon Rommel's armored pincer movement was threatening the British army with encirclement, and our forces were being obliged to withdraw.
Back at home, Mr. Churchill feared that it would be his hard lot to announce the greatest military disaster in our long history, whilst on 27 May the German High Command went so far as to boast that 'The British army is encircled and our troops are proceeding to its annihilation.' With the entire front collapsing rapidly, the decision was reached at home to evacuate our forces from the Continent. But the only port from which to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force was Dunkirk, and that was already being seriously threatened by the Germans. Taking stock of the predicament, Churchill said in The Second World War. 'I thought—and some good judges agreed with me—that perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 men might be re-embarked. The whole root and core and brain of the British army... seemed about to perish upon the field, or to be led into ignominious and starving captivity.' All therefore seemed about to be lost. But Britain had a godly Sovereign. Seeing this situation developing, His Majesty King George VI requested that Sunday, May 26th should be observed as a National Day of Prayer. In a stirring broadcast, he called the people of Britain and of the Empire to commit their cause to God. Together with members of the Cabinet, the King attended Westminster Abbey, whilst millions of his subjects in all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire flocked to the churches to join in prayer. Britain was given inspiring leadership in those days, and her people responded immediately when this kind of initiative was taken. The whole nation was at prayer on that Sunday. The scene outside Westminster Abbey was remarkable—photographs show long queues of people who could not even get in, the Abbey was so crowded! So much so, that the following morning the Daily Sketch exclaimed, 'Nothing like it has ever happened before.' In its hour of deep distress, a heart-cry from both monarch and people alike was going up to God in prayer. And that cry did not go unanswered. For very soon, at least three miracles were seen to happen. The first miracle The first was that for some reason—which has never yet been fully explained—Hitler overruled his generals and halted the advance of his armored columns at the very point when they could have proceeded to the British army's annihilation. They were now only ten miles away! Later, Mr. Churchill asserted in his memoirs that this was because Hitler undoubtedly believed 'that his air superiority would be sufficient to prevent a large-scale evacuation by sea.' That is very significant in terms of the second miracle. The second miracle A storm of unprecedented fury broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28th, (1940) grounding the German Luftwaffe squadrons and enabling the British army formations, now eight to twelve miles from Dunkirk, to move up on foot to the coast in the darkness of the storm and the violence of the rain, with scarcely any interruption from aircraft, which were unable to operate in such turbulent conditions. The Fuehrer had obviously not taken the weather into his reckoning, nor the One who controls the weather!And the third miracle? The third miracle Despite the storm in Flanders, a great calm—such as has rarely been experienced—settled over the English Channel during the days which followed, and its waters became as still as a mill pond. It was this quite extraordinary calm which enabled a vast armada of little ships, big ships, warships, privately owned motor-cruisers from British rivers and estuaries – in fact, almost anything that would float – to ply back and forth in a desperate bid to rescue as many of our men as possible. The Little Ships There were so many ships involved in the evacuation that this is the way in which Douglas Bader, the legless Spitfire fighter ace, who sped over with his squadrons from the fighter base at Martlesham, near Ipswich, to help cover the operation, described the scene in Fight for the Sky: "The sea from Dunkirk to Dover during these days of the evacuation looked like any coastal road in England on a bank holiday. It was solid with shipping. One felt one could walk across without getting one's feet wet, or that's what it looked like from the air. There were naval escort vessels, sailing dinghies, rowing boats, paddle-steamers, indeed every floating device known in this country. They were all taking British soldiers from Dunkirk back home. You could identify Dunkirk from the Thames estuary by the huge pall of black smoke rising straight up into a windless sky from the oil tanks which were ablaze just inside the harbor."
Yet still, to a very large extent, the German air squadrons were unable to intervene. Certainly not in force, nor in the way Hitler had anticipated, for so many of these squadrons still remained grounded. So much so that General Haider, Chief of the German General Staff, three days after the High Command had so proudly boasted that the British Army was about to be annihilated, was obliged to record in his diary on May 30th that 'Bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe, and now we must stand by and watch countless thousands of the enemy getting away to England right under our noses.'
Dunkirk A strange immunity Even though some squadrons did get through, it seems that yet another miracle happened. Many of the troops on the beaches were favored with a strange immunity. When about 400 men were being machine-gunned and bombed, systematically, by about sixty enemy aircraft, one man who flung himself down with the rest reported that, after the strafing was over, he was amazed to find that there was not a single casualty. Another man, a chaplain, was likewise machine-gunned and bombed as he lay on the beach. After what seemed an eternity, he realized he had not been hit, and rose to his feet to find that the sand all around where he had been lying was pitted with bullet holes, and that his figure was outlined on the ground. Amazing events Truly, amazing things were happening. There were signs on every hand that an intervening Power was at work. Officers and men alike had seen the hand of God, powerful to save, delivering them from the hands of a mighty foe who, humanly speaking, had them at its mercy. And they were not slow to say so. Even Fleet Street has placed it on record that two miracles had made possible what had seemed impossible. A Day of National Thanksgiving So grateful was the nation for this mighty deliverance that Sunday, June 9th, 1940 was appointed as a Day of National Thanksgiving. On the eve of that day, C. B. Mortlock stated in an article in The Daily Telegraph that 'the prayers of the nation were answered', and that 'the God of hosts himself had supported the valiant men of the British Expeditionary Force.' Two great wonders stand forth', he said. On them have turned the fortune of our troops. 'I have talked to officers and men who have got safely back to England, and all of them tell of these two phenomena. The first was the great storm which broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28th. The second was the great calm which settled on the English Channel during the days following. 'Officers of high rank do not hesitate to put down the deliverance of the British Expeditionary Force to the fact of the nation being at prayer on Sunday, May 26th, two days before that great storm in Flanders and the calm that came over the Channel.' The word 'miracle' was soon being heard on all sides, and a consciousness of a miraculous deliverance pervaded the camps in which the troops were being housed back in England. Mr. Churchill, when he chose June 4th as the occasion for making a statement to the House of Commons, spoke with a voice charged with emotion when he reported that, rather than 20,000 or 30,000 men being re-embarked, '335,000 men had been carried out of the jaws of death and shame to their native land. He referred to what had happened as 'a miracle of deliverance'. Psalm124 sung in the churches When the services of national thanksgiving were held in all churches on the following Sunday, June 9th, it was with great feeling that many a choir and congregation sang the words of Psalm 124, for they were seen to apply to that situation through which the nation had just passed: 'If the Lord himself had not been on our side, now may Israel say: if the Lord himself had not been on our side, when men rose up against us; They would have swallowed us up quick: when they were so wrathfully displeased at us. Yea, the waters had drowned us: and the stream had gone over our soul. The deep waters of the proud would have gone over our soul. But praised be the Lord: Who has not given us over for a prey unto their teeth. Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken, and we are delivered. Our help standeth in the name of the Lord: who hath made heaven and earth' No other passage of Scripture could have more aptly described the nation's experience on that day. The words seem to have been especially written for the occasion. Footnote: The above article is extracted from a trilogy entitled 'The Trumpet Sounds for Britain' written by Rev. David E Gardner who went to be with the Lord in 2002 just before the trilogy was republished. Whilst serving in the Royal Navy during WW2, an emergency in a submarine caused him to recognize the miraculous deliverance of God. This personal deliverance later helped him to understand what God had done for the people of Britain as a whole, many times in their history.
The trilogy which is available from the publishers chronicles the development and growth of Christianity in Britain from the earliest times. However his 'Trumpet' writings are prophetic in nature and in many ways anticipate and speak into our present condition.
MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK It is hard to believe that May is upon us already. Where does the time go? It seems, as we get older, time moves even more rapidly. Yet, there is still so much to get accomplished. As I look around, I see almost all the Churches and Spiritual Centers have reopened and seem to be back to normal and in full swing once again. I feel it is now past time that our Center does the same. To that end, I am searching hard to find a centrally located premises so that 'in person' services and meetings can commence. We will continue with Zoom, so that our friends and members who live outside of the area can continue to be part of our gatherings. If any of you can help in the search for a centrally located premises in the Kissimmee area, please contact me for property requirement details. Thank you, Love and light, Michael Davies Spiritual Awakening Spiritualist Center President
BUILDING FUND UPDATE
We added 5.97% during April 2022 to the Building Fund which now stands at 91.37% of our goal! Thank you for your contributions and support!
THE FUNNY CORNER A priest walked into a pub, indignant to find so many of his parishioners there. He rounded them up and shepherded them into the church. Then he solemnly said, “All those who want to go to heaven, step over here to the left.”Everyone stepped over except one man, who stubbornly stood his ground. The priest looked at him fiercely and said, “Don’t you want to go to heaven?” “No,” said the man. “Do you mean to stand there and tell me you don’t want to go to heaven when you die?” “Of course, I want to go to heaven when I die. I thought you were going now!”
SIMPLY DELICIOUS Please click link below to watch video: How to Make the Most Amazing & Easiest Chocolate Cake of All Time with 2 Ingredients! Hey guys, today I'm making one of my favorite recipes ever for a Keto & Low Carb Chocolate cake.
How to Make the Most Amazing & Easiest Chocolate Cake of All Time with 2 Ingredients! - YouTube
AND FINALLY Thank you for reading the COSA Newsletter, we hope you enjoyed it and found the articles interesting. Further details of services and events listed in this newsletter, together with suggested love donation and Zoom log-in details, will be emailed directly to you prior to the event dates. Love and light from your Spiritual Family |
