Lilly Dale

The original plan was for Natalie, Steve and I to go to Ohio for a bereaved parents retreat. That didn't work out, so we decided to go Lilly Dale, New York instead. 

When they came to pick me up, Natalie told me that since the editor's position with the international newspaper, Spiritualist News International was vacated she was promoted from the American Associate Editor to Editor. Guess who the position of American Associate Editor was offered to? 

Yup, you guessed it! I happily accepted the position. 

This was my first visit to Lilly Dale, the birthplace of the Spiritualist movement. It's kind of a town within a town. Natalie was explaining to me that in order to reside there, at least one member of the household must be a member of a Spiritualist church. 

Some of the houses had signs advertising that someone in it was a Medium. In order to be able to do that, the person who hung out the shingle had to have passed a "board test." Essentially, they had to be able to do a reading that provided proof of the continuation of life. 

When we arrived in Lilly Dale we went to the famous "Inspiration Stump." The stump is a tree stump that Mediums used to stand on to give readings. Standing on it allowed them to better see people in the crowd. There is a small iron fence around the stump which wasn't there, Natalie and Steve told me, when they were married there less than a year ago. 

There was a group of people there, mostly women, with a woman in front of them who was doing readings. As they broke up to leave I asked one of the women what was going on. "It's a class," she told me,  "a two year class."

"What's it about?" I asked. 

"It's a two year class," she repeated. 

"I heard that," I told her. "What do you learn in this two year class?"

"You can learn spiritual healing, mediumship, or both. It's a two year class." 

Did I mention she told me it was a two year class? I don't know if she kept repeating it to impress me with the commitment everyone there made, or simply to impress me with the idea that it was a "two year class." Either way, I wasn't all that impressed. 

Later I met a charming woman named Sharon. Sharon is the National Secretary for the National Association of Spiritualist Churches. She also married Natalie and Steve. 

It was a good time visiting a town I had only previously read about.