Ivy Northage
was known for her teaching abilities; and in
Britain she set up a school for mediums, and
several of her students went on to take public
services.
Ivy's
teaching was tempered with discipline: she told
one of the ladies who was attending her
mediumship instruction course, 'I would suggest
that you go to night-school and learn to speak
the English Language properly. As your speech is
now, you are of little use to the Spiritualist
Movement because you are not projecting the kind
of image that is required.'
Her spirit
guide, known as Chan (pictured above), delivered
inspirational and trance-controlled lectures
through her mediumship.
For nearly
40 years, from 1956 onwards, Ivy served at the
SAGB (Spiritualist Association of Great Britain,
London), and Stella Blair, its President at the
time of Ivy's passing at the age of 92, said of
her in Psychic News, 'Ivy touched so
many lives with her teachings and lectures that
we will remember her with the love and respect
she so rightfully earned over the years. I feel
very privileged to have known such a great and
wonderful person, for not only was she our
"First Lady", she was also our friend.'
Ivy
Northage has also left us her life-story, called While I Remember, which features some fascinating
accounts of the mediumship she witnessed.
Here's a
short extract from her autobiography, written
with Brenda Marshall, recording Ivy’s
sitting with the Welsh materialisation medium, Alec
Harris. It was a
July night in Cardiff and Ivy had already
witnessed the materialisation of a Native
American Indian spirit guide known as Running
Water, who had lifted up a vase in the séance
room and had then poured out its contents on the
floor, which was a clever way to confirm his
identity. Ivy goes on to write:
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Then, again with the same
suddenness, the guide was no longer there. In his
place was a rather hunched old lady. (All this
time, Alec [the medium] continued to be visible
in his cubicle; we could see that he had not
moved.) She had a wrinkled face with deep lines
down from the mouth, suggesting a bad temper. In
a very querulous voice with a strong Welsh
accent, she said, "My daughter is
here." As a voice answered her, this old
lady trod in the water which Running Water had
poured onto the floor. "I think it’s
disgusting," she remarked, looking down at
this. "People are so slovenly. Why
don’t they wipe up these messes?" As the embarrassed daughter tried
to explain what had happened, her mother
interrupted, "I don’t care who it was,
they shouldn’t have left it like this!"
The daughter tried
again. "I’m so pleased to see you,
mother."
"Are you?"
demanded the old lady crossly, then she went on
to criticise her daughter for all the things she
was doing wrongly at home. It became very clear
to us all that just being in the spirit world and
not in a physical body did not, in itself,
improve the character.
Everyone was staggered
by the wonder of it all; and we all felt that we
were indeed loved.
________________________
Books
by Ivy Northage:
While I
Remember
Mediumship
Made Simple
Spiritual Realisation
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