There are so many points that can be missed or taken for granted. We may see or experience tactual things without realising the full implication or significance of the experience. It is only when we appreciate just what is entailed in producing physical phenomena that we can truly marvel at what occurs in our midst. Some Spiritualists say they are only interested in full materialisations in good light. Well that will be really wonderful to see happening again and no doubt, due to the encouragement of the NAS, will come to be. One day we may have experiences like the one that shook my Wife's Grandfather many years ago. He thought something had lightly brushed his head in the dark. On reaching up he found the grand piano to be floating above his head!
Advances are being made all the time with our physical mediums - both in the members' homes and at our demonstration seances. Some already use a low red light for part or all of the proceedings. In the meantime let us fully appreciate the significance of what is happening in our NAS seances right now. It is so easy to undervalue what has already been achieved.

On first being shown to one's seat notice the seance room layout. How are the seats are arranged? How much room is there if materialised forms try to walk amongst the sitters as sometimes happens? Often there is so little open space, only partially materialised forms can brush pass sitters. Remember this if you hear comments during the seance from sitters saying they can feel the spirit form brush against them or shake their hand. How much seance-room paraphernalia is there scattered in the centre of the circle? Usually there is little open space with items such as handbell, drumsticks, luminous plaques, tambourines, small tables, red torchlights, microphones, pencil and paper etc, all cluttering up the floor. Most materialised forms negotiate this minefield very successfully. Occassionally, others crash into various items! So be aware of what is strewn about as you hear the voices or shuffling about of our friends from the spirit world.

Also, take note of the size of the empty space that is sometimes left in the centre of the circle on the far side from the medium's chair or cabinet. You may be lucky at the end of the proceedings to find the still secured medium with chair all neatly moved by levitation or perhaps ectoplasmic rods (one assumes) to this space. Our spirit friends seem able to drop the medium and chair down into the middle of these small spaces without fracturing the legs of the close- by sitters! How on earth do spirit do this so expertly? For human beings to do this even with the lights on would be a minor miracle. It would take two strong men (or strong persons to be politically correct!) to lift the medium and heavy chair. They would have to negotiate the obstacle course over the various items scattered about and also avoid bumping into the legs of the sitters each side of the narrow pathway. Quite a feat - and our spirit friends do it all quietly in the dark. So be aware of the physical layout before the lights go out to fully appreciate just what you may be due to witness.

If the seance is held in a room with an old type suspended wooden floor, you will be aware of how much the floor shakes as people walk to their seats. Later on, if materialised forms wander around, you will may be able to ascertain some idea of the size or nature of the forms. Don't forget though that often only partially materialised figures are produced to conserve energy so that a small shudder of the floor doesn't necessarily signify a small child walking around. And if the medium is moved as in the above paragraph you may find yourself amazed at the shudder and thump as medium and chair lands on the floor - and they may be no indications as to what is happening beforehand as the medium is transported across the floor. Work that one out!

Often materialised forms will communicate from around the seance room: so to help identify where the voices are coming from, carry out a simple exercise before the seance starts and lights are extinguished. In the dark we pinpoint where voices are coming from using our stereophonic hearing (not applicable if you have seriously impaired hearing in one ear). With your head facing straight ahead close your eyes and make a mental note of where you sense voices are coming from. Then open eyes momentary to check your auditory directivity sense. Do this when somebody speaks opposite you, at either ends of circle and particularly for those sitting close to where the medium will be sitting. Although quietness is usually requested upon entering the seance room, there are invariably a few instructions given or information requested as sitters are arranged to comply with the seating plan. The leader of the circle normally sits next to the medium (or next to cabinet) so this will give you a reference point when he makes his usual announcements before the seance starts. Try to retain this sense of position to enhance your ability to know where materialised voice boxes are. They mostly start next to the medium and then sometimes wander around the room for a considerable distance from the medium.

Now unless it is a child communicating, the voices will be way above our seated head level. There is one trick we can do to enhance our ability to discern the height of the communicator. In our normal upright position our sense of direction works best in the horizontal plane, least well in the vertical. But we can obtain more information as to the height that a sound is originating from by momentarily tilting our head sideways so that one ear is higher than the other. Just try it and see! If anyone would like a technical description, let the editor know and my explanation can appear in the "Member's Write..." section. Of course, as regards tilting the head, you must not do this if there has been instructions for sitters to remain very still during part of the seance. A further point to remember is that without visual confirmation we cannot discern between sounds occurring behind us to that in front. A sound behind us can appear to originate exactly 180 degrees around and in front of us. Thus a sound behind our left shoulder can appear to be coming from in front of our right shoulder. It is very easy to confirm the position in the dark by simply rotating the head sideways a few degrees. Birds of prey do this instinctively - ever seen an owl or eagle rotate it's head slightly when hearing a sound? Again, for a technical explanation, that could go in the next "Members Write..."

We move on to look at the subject of levitating trumpets and handbells etc. You are quite likely to see one or two trumpets moving rapidly in intricate patterns up to maybe 20 feet or more from the medium (as happened at a NAS seance at Stansted Hall). The forces required to produce this type of manoeuvre are quite considerable as those of you who studied Applied Mechanics at college will realise. My own trumpet weighs just over 4oz (120g) and is very similar to the ones used at NAS seances. Compared to holding that weight at arms length, the leverage experienced by ectoplasmic rods would be equivalent to holding well over a two pound weight (1kg) at arms length. So you can see it is quite a feat to move the trumpets rapidly in intricate patterns.
Those sceptics who say it is all done by string and rods, etc., do not know what they are talking about. The amount of equipment to physically reproduce the phenomena produced at NAS seances would be enormous. It would be impossible to hide from the sitters. Another phenomena that occurs is movement of objects like handbells. One movement that I have witnessed at close range is the rapid vertical levitation in a dead straight line of a handbell weighing about 6oz (170g) to a height of about 4ft (1.2m) above the low table on which it had been placed. To see how difficult it is to do by normal physical means try lifting an object of similar weight swiftly with eyes closed whilst being observed. To simulate the seance room condition the object should be lifted from a small table 16 inches high (0.4m). The observer will no doubt report your movement to be not straight but in a wide arc and also maybe at an angle to the vertical.
Not only that, but due to the momentum produced, (back to the Applied Physics textbook!) you will have had difficulty in stopping the handbell at the end of the travel without producing a bounce effect. In other words in attempting to simulating the sudden stop in movement achieved in the seance room, you will momentarily overshoot the stopping position due to the kinetic energy in the moving handbell. So what at first may seem like a simple exercise is in fact quite a clever feat for our spirit friends to perform.
Sometimes during a seance we may be touched on the knee, hand, shoulder etc or our hand grasped and shaken. Whilst this is remarkable in itself, notice that there is normally no fumbling whatsoever to find your hand or whatever in the dark. Our spirit friends seem to see very well in the dark. Just try doing that for yourself in the dark with someone sitting quietly and see how difficult it is for us to do. Mind you don't get arrested! Or grabbed appreciatively!

Another point worth mentioning is the fact that a communicator will often ask for questions of a none personal nature during the first part of seance. It is well worthwhile thinking about what to ask beforehand. It is a pity to waste this golden opportunity with an inconsequential question thought up on the spur of the moment. Time is precious during a seance and there are sometimes silences as sitters rack their brains for a suitable question. By the way, don't ask about reincarnation - communicators tend to get tired of repeatedly being asked about that subject! Also the communicators who deal with general questions are most unlikely to know, without consorting with others in the spirit world, about your own circle or spiritual progress etc. They invariably decline to waste time searching for such information.
Remember, when witnessing physical phenomena, do so with an open mind. Do not try to analyse what is happening - you can do that later. Suspicious and negative thoughts about how it can all be done with pulleys etc is not conducive to the vibrations. Such thoughts may well reduce the quality of physical mediumship witnessed. It is well known in parapsychology how damaging negative thoughts can be (sheep & goats effect). Instead, just sit and pay attention to the marvellous phenomena you may see, hear, feel and maybe smell (lovely fragrances are sometimes produced). Do not forget that the more attention paid to detail, the easier it is to recall the memory of the event afterwards. There is one other point as regards memory. It is established that the details of an event is remembered much better if there is an emotional link to the event. So being alert to the joy and wonder of the seance will also help etch the fine details into your memory banks.
Finally, don't expect all the phenomena mentioned here to appear in one seance, it is an amalgamation of what happens at our seances. Well, you may be lucky and experience it all in one seance and much more! Each NAS seance brings new developments.

A Members Query.
A member wrote in wondering whether "being alert" might not be detrimental to conditions in the seance room. This is the authors reply:
In my article I tried to emphasise the need to be alert in order to fully appreciate the wonders that unfold at NAS seances. There is a misunderstanding amongst some Spiritualists that it is necessary to sit in a semi-trance state in order to give power to the medium. This may well be true in some circles, especially in the early development stages, but I have seen no evidence that this is a prerequisite condition for sitters at NAS seances. Occasionally, I and many others have felt energy being taken from us in the solar plexus area [see note] and have been fully alert at the time rather than in a passive detached state. However, I did stress the need to remain non-critical and save analytical evaluation to afterwards. Being fully alert does not equate to negativity but to being part of the experience rather than just an observer. Besides, some of our communicators are very quick witted and appreciate a lively response from an alert mind!
Note. The sitter has to be fully co-operative for this to happen. Have no fear that energy you can ill afford to loose will be taken or that it will be taken without your permission.