Something very special happened earlier this week – I confirmed a date in next year’s calendar for Belfast Spiritualist Church.

It will be the first time in 13 years I’ve taken a service at the church where my journey with Spirit began more than 20 years ago. I’m excited and emotional just thinking about it, and I still have almost a full to wait yet.

I remember attending my first Sunday service there and speaking with then-President Marie Pead about my experiences afterwards. Sheila Murtagh invited me along to an awareness class the following evening, where she asked me to join one of the church’s Tuesday night circles.

For years, I returned to that same circle in the same room every Tuesday, sitting with more or less the same ten people. They became my spiritual family.

I’ve never forgotten something my first circle leader, Dorothy Byrne, told me early on:

“On the nights you don’t feel like you want to go – they’re usually the nights you need to go the most!”

She was right, too. I’ve applied those wise words to many situations in my life over the years.

I remember all the tears, the laughter, and the frustrations we all shared at one time or another.

I remember Lorraine Brill taking me into trance for the very first time in that room, and the realisation that came with it: “This isn’t all in my head after all!”

I remember the workshops attended, my first time stepping onto the platform as a fledgling to give a link or two during a Sunday service (petrified), and the many messages I received from loved ones through local and visiting mediums on that same platform.

It was there that I began learning about myself and Spirit, and forging friendships with other Spiritualists – some of which remain strong to this day.

I even remember a rather spicy AGM one year… 🤣

Through all the years since, I’ve never forgotten Belfast Spiritualist Church or what it means to me, both as a person and as a Spiritualist.

It is a pleasure and an honour to return after so many years. I hope to see a few familiar smiling faces when I do.

It really does feel like coming home.