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| Photo by Dan Farrell on Unsplash |
When I shut down The Mystic Review in early 2018, I didn't think I'd ever come back to it. But, for some reason, I hung onto the domain. And I kept the original blogging platform, too.
Instead of deleting my old posts, I simply unpublished them. This came in handy when I decided to write my testimony. To my mind, however, those old posts told the story of the person I used to be. Not the person I had become.
But that wasn't entirely accurate.
Starting and Restarting
I started The Mystic Review in 2010 when I was struggling to make sense of a very unusual dream. The blog was a place where I could share my search for answers and I loved doing that.
Then when I returned to Christianity and eventually Catholicism there was no real need to do that. The answers were already spelled out.
But as I struggled to write my testimony I realized I still had questions. Questions not addressed, or at least not resolved by the resources of my Faith. So it made sense to come back to The Mystic Review and try again.
As of this writing the blog includes a mix of old and new(er) posts, many of which need to be updated. So I hope you'll bear with me on that.
The newer posts were posts I added to the platform after I returned to the Faith. I don't necessarily agree with everything said in these posts. I've unpublished some of these but will probably not unpublish them all.
The older posts need to be sorted. A lot will remain unpublished. Others will be updated. A few will be re-published, as is.
I hope to add new posts once or twice a month. Topics will include dreams, psychic phenomena, paranormal investigation, faith, NDEs, spirits and more. Spiritual posts will reflect a Catholic perspective. But not all posts will be spiritual in nature.
I hope you will check back!
When I finished my upcoming book, The Spirit Dream, and turned it over to beta readers, I got some great feedback. The comments on NDE and psychic phenomena, in particular, convinced me to include an alternate viewpoint on those topics.
A few days later, Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin mentioned parapsychology and the Rhine Institute on his Mysterious World podcast. As it turns out, he actually taught a class on parapsychology at the Rhine. I like Jimmy Akin, so that got my attention. By the end of the day, I'd ordered a new book on parapsychology.
After reading that book, Parapsychology: The Controversial Science (affiliate link), I couldn't deny that there is statistically significant research on psychic phenomena, precognitive dreams and NDE. I realized that I had been too black and white in my thinking, both in my media and the The Spirit Dream. After some thought, I made the difficult decision to rewrite parts of the book and make some significant changes both here in the blog and in my media.
This isn’t a 180-degree turn. I still think demonic influence is real, and that discernment is important. I still want The Spirit Dream to be cautionary in the regard. But I also think that my time as an evangelical might have influenced me more than I initially thought.
In Parapsychology: The Controversial Science, the author talks Benedict XIV and his work as promotor fidei. He ends that section by saying that Catholics were the first parapsychologists because we didn’t just accept miracles at face value and say, this supports our position. We investigated them with rigor. And to me, that is one of the things that sets Catholicism apart. We value truth.
Now I have a new book called The Philosopher King: The Humanist Pope Benedict XIV (affiliate link), which came all the way from England and from the library of journalist, novelist and parapsychologist, Andrew Carr Mackenzie. And I can't wait to read it.
Lastly, if the scholarship stars align, I may be taking a course at the Rhine Institute about dreams and consciousness and possibly other parapsychology classes after that. My first major in school was experimental psychology, and I'm still interested in the science.
As always, I'll keep you updated!
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This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you buy something through on of my links, I'll get a small part of the sale, at no cost to you!
A few weeks ago I dreamt about a country church.
The Country Church Dream
At first I was inside the church, waiting for a friend in a sort of reception area and then I walked out into the parking lot. The landscape was open and flat, mostly fields with a bit of forest to my right. In the distance there was a pay phone. The phone rang, than stopped. A pickup truck emerged from the wooded area and a man hopped out to get his mail. It was peaceful and quiet.
Wandering back into the small wooden church, I saw that a small group of people were decorating the reception area as if for a holiday. There was a sort of stage and some kind of tapestry but I don't remember anything else about the decorations. The group included the pastor of the church and a few women, one of whom was a new convert with a background in the New Age.
Somehow I understood that the Church was Methodist and I asked the new convert what kind of Methodist. She told me it was Free Methodist and I told her about my grandmother and her love for the Free Methodist Church.
When the group was done working, the waiting area was spotless. There was a single hard backed chair facing the stage and wide old wood floors. Aside from the stage the room was sparsely furnished and plain. I could tell it was 1800s construction.
On the other side of the reception area was a big room where a dinner was being served. There were a long serving tables against the walls and trestle tables where people sat eating. Women were dishing up food to the crowd. People were talking and laughing. Everything was old-fashioned and inviting. I joined the group. And that is where the dream, or my memory of the dream, ended.
I thought about the Free Methodist Church later that day. I had never gone there with my grandmother that I remember and her funeral, which I attended at the age of 12, is a blur. Once in High School, I attend Free Methodist services with a friend. I had a good experience there but did not go back.
The Discovery
I did vaguely remember someone in my family saying that "everyone" on my grandfather's side of the family were Free Methodist ministers so last night I decided to do a little research. As it turns out, "everyone" means five out of seven sons in my great-grandfather's family, as pictured above. My great-grandfather, is the tall guy 5th from the left. In the second photo (below) he is the tall guy again, holding his Bible high and tight.
While I have pursued a variety of religions and beliefs over the course of my life, Christianity has surfaced repeatedly over wide cycles of time. Growing up in completely secular family, I loved the Bible my grandmother gave me as a little girl (more on that here) and turned to it again and again over the course of my life. No one else in my family had that interest, that I knew of, except for my grandmother.
I liked all of the churches I had visited and it occurred to me I could visit them all off and on until I decided which one was the best fit for me.
And then my oldest son told me about a church that two of his friends attended. It was called Parker Hill. Checking out the website, I realized that it was a Bible based (read evangelical) operation.
The website was great and the vimeo videos were engaging and well-produced. There was even an app. I downloaded it that afternoon.While I was used to thinking of Bible based churches as conservative, Parker Hill had very progressive vibe.
The space was modern but pleasant. There were comfortable chairs and multiple screens and a live band that played contemporary (and very good) Christian rock.
I had never thought of John 3:16 as a parallel to human giving. Now for the first time, I did.
No decision made. No committment was offered. It was, I knew, just a beginning. But I couldn't help thinking that it was a good one.
This church is older than my last two stops with an almost colonial feel. This week, the sun was finally appropriately shining and all of the stained glass windows were brimming with color.
In summary, the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Pittston boasts a beautiful space and a warm and welcoming congregation. To me, this kind of welcome embodies the true spirit of Christianity which is at its heart a religion open and accessible to everyone.
I think that the 2nd Presbyterian Church would be a good choice for anyone looking for a heart centered Christian community. Members meet regularly for breakfasts and dinners and the church is active in outreach and ministry.
About the Presbyterian Church: Presbyterians trace their history to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Presbyterian heritage, and much of its theology, began with the Swiss/French theologian and lawyer John Calvin (1509–64), whose writings solidified much of the Reformed thinking that came before him. The Presbyterian church I attended has a website which is currently in progress so I can't give a lot of background on this particular congregation.
I tried to conjure up my old feelings about the mass. I tried to reconnect with the magic and the spiritual power that was once as real to me as the paintings and the statues and the glass. I remembered how it felt but I just couldn't recapture it.
It was a little like seeing someone you used to be in love with and feeling the closeness and the distance in a single breath. Sometimes that distance can be closed - depending, I think, on just how bad the breakup was.
My breakup with Catholcism was a tough one. And sitting there in church I remembered it. I remembered leaving St. Mary's of Czestochowa after midnight mass some 15 years ago knowing I would never go back. I remember how alone I felt and how let down.Things are different how but just how different remains to be seen. I do believe that I'll go back to St. John's and, when I do, I promise I'll keep an open mind. The church does after all, have a lot to recommend it.
In addition to the beautiful space and seemingly approachable pastor, St. John's has an active ministry which offers a free health clinic, food pantry, kid's clothing closet, toy and book corner and pediatric clinic.
Like St. Stephen's St. John's operates under the true spirit of Christian charity. I admire this very much.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James 2:18About St. John's the Evangelist: St John's roots can be traced to the 1840s when Catholic priests began to visit homes in the Wyoming Valley to establish a community of the faithful. The parish of Saint John the Evangelist came into being through the hard work of Father John P. O’Shaughnessy. As the first priest of Saint John the Evangelist parish, he purchased a plot of land on William Street and began the process of fundraising for and ordering the construction of the parish’s first church in 1854. That same year during the construction of a physical center of worship, Bishop John Neuman of Philadelphia formally established Saint John the Evangelist Parish, providing the Catholic Church’s blessing that the church would be an official spiritual home for Catholics in Pittston.
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| St. John overlooking the Church parking lot |
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