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http://www2.townonline.com/canton/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=148078

 

Reconnecting with loved ones gone

By Allan Stein/ Correspondent

Friday, December 17, 2004

 

The slanting rays of the afternoon sun lit up the stained glass windows of the small chapel at Trinity Episcopal Church like prisms held up against a bright orange flame.

 

     Here, the faithful were gathered Sunday for a healing prayer service, and a chance to reconnect - literally - with loved ones who have passed away.

 

     Standing at the altar dressed in a flowing pink robe, Patricia Bertucci, pastor of the First Spiritualist Church of Canton, addressed 15 church members seated on hardwood pews with a loving gaze and words of reassurance that death is not the end of life.

 

     "They are only as far away as a thought," said Bertucci in a soft, benevolent voice. "They are not in a casket in the ground. They are alive and well."

 

     The belief in the continuity of life, even in death, lies at the heart of spiritualism, and has been a founding principal of the church since it began here more than a decade ago.

 

     For two hours every Sunday starting at 4 p.m., members gather inside the chapel on Blue Hill River Road to pray, recite spiritualist hymnals, receive invigorating energy from designated "healers," and take part in spirit communications.

 

     The mood here is lighthearted and communal - purposefully so. As the group's credo says, "Keep it Simple. You, God and your Guides." Central to the spiritualist value system is personal responsibility in making life choices.

 

     It was that healing simplicity that drew Bertucci to spiritualism during the 1960s.

 

     "I was teaching nursing arts at a private business in Boston. On our breaks we used to talk about a lot of things," Bertucci recalled.

 

     Among the topics of discussion was a bestseller book, "Youth, Yoga and Reincarnation" by Jess Stearn, a reporter who was living in East Boston at the time, Bertucci said. Later, a friend introduced Bertucci to psychic Kay O'Connell in Revere. She also attended classes in spiritualism in Salem.

 

     Having gone through a painful back surgery years ago, Bertucci later was diagnosed with a rare cancer. She credits the power of healing thought and the "great unseen healing force" with helping her to overcome both medical crises.

 

     "I know I would not be here talking to you if I had not been involved in spiritualism, because I knew that's what did it," Bertucci said.

 

     She is also firm in her belief that everyone has the gift of clairvoyance, or second sight, in varying degrees: the prophetic dream, the conscious premonition of events yet to happen. In many cases, she said, feeling the presence of a departed spirit can take the form of smell, or touch.

 

     "Most mediums have a combination. One might be stronger than the other," said Bertucci, who uses her training as a medium to connect her church members with loved ones who have died.

 

     During the spirit communication service, Bertucci called out church members by name, asking for their permission to hear messages from those "in spirit."

 

     For Kathy Downes of Brighton, the message coming through to Bertucci was from a man who had been associated with trains in life. He was telling her to let go of her stress, and not to feel as though "a train ran over you."

 

     "That was my great grandfather," Downes said after the service. "He worked on the railroad."

 

     Bertucci, addressing her audience, said "one's belief system plays a role in one's response to another person's passing." So if a loved one dies around the holidays, she said, it is only natural to feel a certain dread around the holidays, "because it reminds us of those who have passed."

 

     "For some people, the feelings get worse with each passing holiday. How very sad this can be. But they want us to go on living happily ever after because they are happy. That's what your loved one wants to see - happy, smiling faces.," Bertucci said. "Turn this distressing time into the joyous time it should be."

 

     Related story:

 

     'It just fits for me'

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http://www2.townonline.com/canton/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=148077

 

'It just fits for me'

By Allan Stein/ Correspondent

Friday, December 17, 2004

 

John Kennedy of Brockton was raised a Catholic, but there was something about spiritualism that enticed him.

 

     "It just fits for me," said Kennedy, a member of the First Spiritualist Church of Canton since 2001. "It's the religion of personal responsibility. We take responsibility for our lives. If we live a good life, we're going to be fine. It's that simple."

 

     Kennedy said he first became interested in spiritualism and healing when an acquaintance introduced him to the church group three years ago.

 

     "I guess out of curiosity I came one Sunday and felt like I had come home," he said.

 

     Over the past several years he has taken a number of courses in holistic healing, and he is one of several designated church healers during Sunday services at the chapel at Trinity Epicopal Church on Blue Hill River Road.

 

     "Let us invite our spirit guides and loved ones in spirit to join us here today. Open yourself to the nurturing and healing that will take place today," said Kennedy, addressing the church members at the service.

 

     At the front of the chapel altar Kennedy and two other healers set up folding chairs. In groups of three the church members walked up, and sat down in the chairs.

 

     Placing their hands on their shoulders or on their head, the healers asked for "perfect health" for their counterparts from the "great unseen healing force."

 

     The aches, the pains and the health concerns - all these have been there for a purpose, said pastor Patricia Bertucci.

 

     "Let them leave your body, your mind, and your spirit. But before you release them, bless them, for they have been our teachers," she said.

 

     Kennedy said the secret to becoming a healer is opening yourself up to all the possibilities of the healing force.

 

     "You develop yourself. You become more in tune with the spirit and the spirit guides," he said.

 

    

 

Soothing & healing the spirit
By Allan Stein/ Correspondent
Friday, November 19, 2004

Brad Lascombe of Brockton could feel his stress melting away as he lay flat on his back on a table draped in a psychedelic cover. A soft cloth compress had been placed across his eyes and forehead and a rainbow-colored quilt spread across his chest and torso.

     With her eyes closed Ellie Brennan of Taunton, a Reiki practitioner and color therapist, ran her hands up and down Lascombe from head to toe without touching him, letting the radiating energy field from her own body facilitate healing and relaxation.

     At least, that's the theory behind color therapy, and something Brennan believes to be a proven effective alternative remedy in the five years she's been doing it.

     "A lot of people live in a gray area. So, a little shot of color. My theory is it can't hurt," said Brennan, one of a dozen alternative healing vendors at Saturday's Holistic Health and Psychic Fair, sponsored by the First Spiritualist Church of Canton. The event took place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church at 1 Blue Hill River Road where the spiritualist group has Sunday services.

     For the past 14 years the church has been doing the annual fund-raiser to build an awareness of alternative belief systems and approaches to self-healing. Founded more than a decade ago the church's core principles are showing the way to inner peace and health by removing the fear of death, proving the continuity of life and accepting personal responsibility. The yearly medium fair developed out of those central guiding beliefs, said the Rev. Patricia A. Bertucci, pastor.

     "I thought it would be a holistic health fair and a psychic fair. I like to say this is like a friendly family-type atmosphere to go away with information about overall well-being," Bertucci said.

     Among the area vendors present Saturday was a certified hypnotherapist, a practitioner of the Japanese art of Reiki, or healing touch, makers of Native American crafts and handmade items, herbal remedy and homeopathic weight loss program specialists, a designer of ancient healing stones and crystal energy jewelry, psychic mediums and more.

     Ilse H. Garriss, a clinical homeopath and hypnotherapist in Hanson, said one of her specialties is working with professional athletes. Through the use of hypnosis she said she recently helped a powerlifter in his mid-60s to capture the world title in Amsterdam. Currently she's working with a Boston Bruin to unlock the power of his subconscious mind to improve his game. She said she preferred not to mention him by name.

     "When you're working with these people in training you have to speak their language. Otherwise, it doesn't work. So I have to be a weightlifter myself," said Garris.

     Brennan, a Reiki specialist, said that during the course of her studies she became interested in color therapy using the rainbow colors of the seven "shakras," or bioenergy centers of the body. According to Hindu medical philosophy, each shakra represents and influences the health and well-being of a specific body area. Brennan said that by placing a shakra color - purple for the head, for instance - against a corresponding body area, it can promote healing and a healthy balance within the shakra energy system.

     "All our energy vibrates to different colors of the shakras. You can meditate on those colors," Brennan said.

     Luscombe, meanwhile, was enjoying every stress-free moment of his color therapy session.

     "Yes, that was very relaxing," said Luscombe as he groggily rose to his feet. "Very pleasant. Can I rent this for the rest of the afternoon?"

 

http://www2.townonline.com/canton/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=130973&format=text

Article from the Canton Journal.