Another person who influenced my path was a lady named Mary Mason. She was President of the local Spiritualist Church. I had been interested in psychic matter for years as I had always “known” that there is more to this life than the physical realm that we see. I had been talking to a friend about my interest in astrology in the mid 1980s and he introduced me to a lady who was into the tarot and I became friendly with her. I learned the tarot myself and we used to give each other readings. She was a close friend of the international medium (who you might have heard of and who loves publicity so he will not mind a mention here – Tom Flynn. He became my friend too) and she also had a strong interest in spiritualism so she asked if i would go along with her to the local church. That was how I met Mary.

Mary was a strong no nonsense character, an Aries lady and I got to like her although it took a while for me to know whether she liked me or not.  My journey of learning to understand mediumship/clairvoyance is a long one and had actually begun years ago. I will not go into the details now as I have written an article for my friend’s e-magazine that I contribute to- http://www.gaiantimes.com/

(I will post the article here after Gaian Times readers have seen it. There are a lot of interesting articles in the magazine and it is free. Have a look. It will be available in a couple of weeks )

Mary eventually retired from the Spiritualist Church but she gave me her address and asked me to visit her in her home. I liked talking to her so I did. I kind of knew that there was a lot more to Mary than met the eye. You just do know that with some people don’t you. She had bookshelves full of  interesting reads including a lot of pagan books. I did not call myself a pagan but as I had grown up in the Kent countryside I had always felt a strong connection to animals, trees and the land. I was happy to walk through fields and down country lanes for hours. I told Mary that I was quite surprised that she had pagan leanings as she had given no hint of it. She just laughed and pointed to a book on one of the shelves. It was called “The Sea Priestess” by Dion Fortune. The book tells the story of a fictional character, Vivien Le Fay Morgan who is a  a practicing initiate of the Hermetic Path. She can transform herself into magical images, whereby she becomes Morgan Le Fay, sea priestess of Atlantis and foster daughter to the famous Merlin. Wilfred Maxwell fulls deeply in love with Vivien and works with her at an isolated seaside retreat. They look into the occult mysteries. They are drawn  to an ancient cult through which they learn the esoteric significance of the magnetic ebb and flow of the moontides.

Mary handed it to me and asked me to read it and to return it to her when I had finished it and then she would find me another book that I should read. I did take it home and read it and I loved it. I had always loved the sea and the Moon although I had not discussed any of this with her. When Mary asked you to do something, you just ended up doing it. That is what she was like. There were no office politics which you usually get on a committee when Mary was President of the Spiritualist Church. As I said she was a no nonsense character who just got things done when they needed doing. I also discovered that she had connections with Freemasonry. This interested me greatly as my father had worked at Freemason’s Hall and I used to go there to meet him for lunch often.

On one occasion Mary asked me if anyone had ever looked into my past lives. I responded that they had not. She offered to investigate them for me if I bought her a peace rose plant next time I came to visit. So I did. When I handed it to her she  just nodded and asked me to sit down. She started reading from a piece of paper that was already on the table. She mentioned a few past lives of mine, not in great details but I was interested in some of them because of past events or  feelings that I had in the past. I will outline some to illustrate what I mean.

Mary said that I had two past lives in Ancient Egypt. She said that one was male. I have always had an interest in Ancient Egypt and still do, particularly in the Amarna period and Akhenaten. ( I have written about him in my piece “Never a Dull Moment hen Akhenaten is Around”)

Also she mentioned a life in Sweden. The strangest thing about this was that when I was about 15 I had an urge to learn Swedish so I borrowed a “Teach Yourself Swedish ” book from the library and made an effort to learn the language. I must confess that I cannot remember a word now.

On her list was a life as a Native American Indian who had been killed whilst he was a young warrior  I know from talking to others that a few people had the same experience but when I watched westerns I was always on the side of the Indians. I am fascinated by the look of them. I bought myself a jacket, again when I was about 15. It was pale blue denim with a sequined Native American Indian Chief on the back and the words Sante Fe.

A Cchinese life was mentioned and Mary said that it was a bit negative, that I was unhappy. All I can say about that is that I have never felt drawn to anything Chinese. They have always scared me a little.

Mary also said that I had had a life long ago and that I was a Sea Priest who was very cruel. She added that I used to tie people to the rocks and offer them to the sea to persuade it not to eat the land. I went on holiday to Birchington with a schoolfriend as we were staying at her grandparents’ house. We went to some cliffs. They were not very high but it was a windy day. I started to parade about shouting at the sea and as Jenny my friend put it, chanting strange words with theatrical  gestures. She grabbed hold of my coat and yanked me backwards as she was afraid that I was going to fall into the water, so close was I to the edge. Mary also warned me that I would meet a few of the people that I had sacrificed in this life, this present time and that although they would not recall that and I probably would not remember either, I might have difficult times with them or that they might encroach on my time as a kind of retribution. I might have to do something to help these past victims to atone. Hmm there have been a few people who have crossed my path who might fit the bill but I haven’t tried to hypnotise them to find out.

Mary explained that my most recent life had been in Victorian England, Apparently this was not a happy life. I had been forced to marry someone and my husband was quite cruel and had adversely affected my self esteem and that the effects of that life were impinging upon this present one. She described a house with a picture of a man. The only thing that has happened which might possibly relate to that is that my ex boyfriend said that he kept having a feeling that we were somewhere else, in a different room and that there was a portrait of him and he was looking down from the portrait at me. I had not discussed any of Mary’s proposed past lives of mine with him.

She asked me if I had any questions and I did. I asked if there was any mention of a past life in France. She responded that France had not occurred to her at all connected to me. I was quite disappointed with this as I would have thought that France would be a strong contender as I had found the French language so natural and easy to learn that my teacher had banned me from answering questions in lessons because I knew the answers. Also I used to have a lot of dreams about France. But Mary just shook her head and was adamant that France was not significant.

She told me that I should look into the Dagon. I did not have a clue what they were but when I looked it up, there was a Canaanite god of the Philistines, a son of Anu, and the father of Baal called Dagon. He was  is depicted as being half man and half fish. He was mentioned in the Bible. I was not sure that I could relate to him at all apart from the fact that he was connected to the sea.

More interestingly, a few years ago,  I came accross a book called “The Sea Gods After Atlantis. The Biography Of a Race Of Man” by Valerie Bonwick and Jonathan Bigras. The words “Sea God” attracted me and when I flicked through the pages, there was mention of the Dagon. Naturally, being very curious and open to unexpected detours, I bought the book. I quote a little:

“Dagon was the founder and originator of many schools of learning at that period in time when the people of the Atlantean emerged intellectually from the comfort of their paradise and first expressed curiosity and interest in acquiring knowledge of the world around them”

I left the book on my bookshelf for years and only flicked through it again recently when it occurred to me that there was something in there about dolphins. If you have read my earlier blogs, you will know that I have an interest in stopping the cruel way that the dolphins and whales are hunted in Taiji Cove. There are a group of people I have met who believe that it is possible to communicate with the pods of these hunted animals and urge them to stay clear of Taiji, using animal communication, visualisation and Reiki protection, which can be sent to any person or animal at a distance. The book maintains that the Dagon people had a very close association with the sea and dolphins. “Legend” tells us that the Atlanteans were an advanced civililization, far more technologically and spiritually advanced than us. In the book it is claimed that the Mer were created by crossbreeding humans and dolphins. Something happened to destroy Atlantis and their creations but the book claims that dolphins are aware of their past relationship as a species to humans and that this is why they are our allies in the water. I must admit that I have not read or studied the book in its entirety which is why my outline here is sketchy. If I do read it and find anything significant, I will revisit this page and add some more thoughts.

I do find it quite interesting that Mary mentioned the Sea Priests and directed me to seek out the Dagon and now I am becoming involved with dolphin welfare. I do not know quite where this is leading yet or what is signified as this is a very recent arrival into my life. I will see how it unfolds and keep you informed.

By the way, I found a copy of “The Sea Priestess” a couple of years ago and read it again and then I had a strong inkling to give it to a friend of mine. I did exactly what Mary had done to me all those years ago. I told my friend that I felt that she should read this book. She did and it resonated deeply with  her. I know that it has brought something extra and interesting to her life. If any of you feel that the sea draws you like an old friend, then I would recommend this book to you too.

Rose Dixon