True protection starts with the core of your own belief.

When we mention Protection, a spiritual person will immediately assume some kind of 'ritual' to put protection in place prior to working with spirit. This is correct but only to a certain extent. This assumption can result in an incorrect conclusion.

In other words, it is 'OK' not to spiritually protect ourselves when we are not working with spirit?

Many spiritual workers, be it teachers, practitioners etc. go through great lengths to 'protect' themselves spiritually but the majority don't even have a single thought to protect themselves and their customers physically.

What is protection? Why is it so important? Why physically as well as spiritually? And if we go through a routine which has been taught to us, does it actually work?

There are so many methods and theories taught that at times it is difficult to see the wood for the trees. Let's not forget the strife and battles of opinion that are often associated by the different groups and societies. For some mainstream religions, protection will be the same as prayer. Some spiritualist groups will tell you to 'channel' light, other followings will call the same energy Chi or Ki which is also know as universal energy. And the general direction where all this goodness is coming from is from above.

For now, I've only discussed energy, but lets not forget the angels, guides,masters and numerous helpers of such a variety that it is too many to mention that are also in the offering for protection. Then there are some cultures and followings that work with Earth energy as well as the higher energies as described before.

Are you confused yet?

Some people that join a spiritual development group certainly have been confused and if they weren't, still might get confused. Especially if they already have been taught a certain method. Once you are used to rely on a particular method, anything else will cause confusion which turns into worry and doubt. "Is this teacher right about this? I have been taught differently".

When it comes to doubt in a spiritual development group, this will allow for protection to fail. Why? If you don't believe in for example the Goddess Isis and the teacher tells you to ask for protection from this entity, your heart, soul and being will already rebel against it. It could well be that over a period of time you'll get used to Isis and start to believe in her but until such time, depending on the teacher you have put yourself at risk of possibly not working with protection at all.

We get too concerned about pondering if a particular entity exists and to put our trust in something new is for many, very scary. At a moment like this we enter the domain of 'the war of theologies'! The 'my faith is better than yours' scenario and in some cases the 'my interpretation of my faith is better then yours'. (sigh) Just look at how Christianity has developed. It has split into different factions. From protestant to catholic and... not just catholic, you have old catholic, roman catholic etc. etc. etc.

And yes, the same is with Islam, there are at least three different Islamic religions, or look at Buddhism, also there you can find different interpretations.

Now if we look at the interpretations of the Paranormal, it is even more overwhelming. There are thousands of interpretations. Where to start?

As a child I thought I had the right solution. Mind you, I was a very scared little girl. Besides my concern for having to see spirit at unexpected moments, a bit like the 'Jack in the box effect', I was also always worrying about the welfare of my family and that even included our pets. I wasn't brought up with any kind of religion, I only new a little through school and TV. My solution to this was, ask for protection and guidance of all of them!(Well at least the ones that I knew of at that time).

It made quite a list, and I certainly tried not to discriminate amongst them all. I prayed to God, Allah, Jehovah, all Goddesses and other Gods, Guides and Helpers and anything that I might have forgotten that has good intent. Yes, I was a very scared little girl indeed. But it helped me at the time and I certainly learned from it. As a child, I actually believed in all of them. And that caused another problem, I didn't want to discriminate amongst them all. After all, some of the religious scriptures teach you that to displease a deity is not a good thing to do and the God out of the Old Testament was certainly one that was to be feared. Scary stuff for a child.

Therefore, my way of asking for help and protection changed, from an extensive list, I started to put them all under one umbrella. It changed from starting my prayers with "to all of you with Good intent" (followed by an apology for not calling them by their appropriate names) and over time with many changes and adaptations it changed to what it is now "To the Source of all Creation". My philosophy?

So many deities, they must have been created by something as well and that something is best described as the Source of all creation. And this way, I have put everything under one umbrella. A bit like: If you can't get anything done by your director or directors, you approach the chief executive. And it worked, for me.

Does this mean that this is something I suggest everybody else to do?

The answer is: "No". What works for me, might not work for someone else.

When it comes to Spiritual Protection, you need to stick to where your belief lies and if that belief is in mythological gods or goddesses or in main stream deities, then that is what you need to stick to until such time that you might find something that could be more suitable for you. If you are happy where you are, stay there until such time that you cannot find peace anymore with that belief system. That will be the time for you to explore a little further.

And with that foundation, I think it best to have an open mind to anybody else's belief, as the sheer amount of different deities known will highlight a very human, earthly problem. That some of these deities 'teachings' will, like human beings contradict each other. After all, all scriptures have been written down by men. Could well be that they weren't wrong but the interpretation of us human beings was and still is.

The priority is to ensure that you feel secure, loved and protected and to be 'good' and to accomplish that, let's stop arguing which religion of spiritual following is correct.

Yvonne Welch, The Source Spiritual Society

The Source, a bit controversial, a bit like me....

Tsssk, I have been staring at this Blog screen now for quite some time... Where to start? Initially I thought it would be a great idea to start writing some of my thoughts down that are related to my work.

Well, work... probably better described as charitable work. I hope by running this Blog to try to explain to the members of the Source and anyone interested what the drive was and still is for running such a "down to earth" Spiritual Society. So, to understand what the Source Society is about, and what I am about.

Where to start? Hmmmm, I have been working as a Spiritual "worker".

"Worker"... Don't like that term. Still don't know what I would like to call myself. "Worker" sounds well, a bit boring, plain or odd. "Psychic or Medium", sounds good though.

Although I can work with both abilities, it is the understanding of the general public that makes me feel uncomfortable to name myself as one.

The general understanding of the public is that a Psychic is more like a fortuneteller. So that leaves the label Medium. I'm not a full time Medium either and having seen some of my "Colleague's" work, I'd rather walk around with a paper bag over my head then wanting to be associated with the majority of this league of "con-artists". It sounds cruel but unfortunately this is my experience and judging by the popularity of "Sceptic" sites and forums this experience is shared by too many others.

What frustrates me is that so far I haven't seen or heard any "spiritual worker" truly been able to talk sense when asked questions by the likes of James Randi or being able to explain themselves clearly to how their "gift" works. Having said this, I have opened up the question, why don't you take on the Randi challenge? Well, the answer is simple but in order to understand this, it will cause a hoard of other questions.

In a nutshell, James Randi has set up the challenge in such a way, knowing that none of his applicants would have studied their own phenomena or even at least understands the randomness of their gifts. I think he has had genuine candidates. Although they claim to adjust the tests to suit the applicants paranormal claim, how can you tailor make anything that is not even studied or understood by its owner?

So, that question is also something that I would like to solve, how can we learn to understand what truly is a psychic ability or is paranormal phenomena?

This is something I have been working on for years! Not that I wanted to, but my own logical mind needed an explanation for the things I was and still am experiencing. I have put myself to the test over and over again and with some success. But from there, it comes to finding out if, that what works for me, also works for other "gifted" people. Over the years I have exchanged some information and indeed the ones that were open minded enough have put it to the test successfully and are still working as far as I know with this method. I have tried to approach some "professional" and SNU mediums to experiment with this information. But alas, pride gets in the way and many don't even give it a moments thought to learn more. After all who am I?

Well, fair enough, I am just another human being, who is just as special as everybody else in this wonderful world. Nothing more, nothing less. However it is unfortunate that to a degree society still works very much with a difference in class. To be able to be heard, you either have had some sort of related education or a need to having been a member of a large group, governing body or simply be famous! And I am none of those. I never attended any of the courses in Stansted Hall or any other psychic, paranormal organisation. I have no degree in psychology and am not famous either. I was a member of the SNU but that became very restrictive.

But what I do have is a 100% belief in the afterlife and a 100% belief in my own experiences. Fate has put me in a situation that in order to be able to pay for my upkeep, I started to give readings at the art and craft markets in London. I have consulted thousands and thousands of customers and never had the need to ask "leading" questions. My success for returning customers was my proof to the accuracy of the guidance I gave them.

This success gave me the courage to set up my own development groups. First I ran the open circle in Edmonton spiritualist church ( before it became SNU). The group started to grow too large and soon I ran an open and an intermediate circle. Running these circles at that time gave me the chance to put some of my findings to the test and since I have never looked back and developed them further.

Now, I live and work in Essex. In 2006, I opened the Source Spiritual Society with a development circle. As far as I know, we are the first to work with a complete non denominational foundation. We work with science as well as religion and new age philosophy. We have created a structure which includes a variety of teachings and exercises in such a way that people can pick and choose to what they feel comfortable working with.

Of course there is more about the Society but for now, this is the introduction to my Blog or the Source's Blog. With the aid of other valuable members, I hope to be able to publish some subjects that have helped to created the theories and work practises of the Source Society. And as with science, if we find that some method works better then the one we are using presently, we will change it and hopefully become more accurate in the workings of any aspect of a spiritual live and understanding.

Yvonne Welch, The Source Spiritual Society