I have personally seen a woman appear as a bearded man during an evening of Transfiguration as my own home… this change, and particularly the beard, was seen by a group of at least 10 people who were the most part expecting something, but nothing quite so dramatic!

The subject, in this case someone who was looking for a connection with a loved one who had passed over, was asked to sit a little way away from everyone else, with the lights turned low but not off.  (In the above instance candles were used to supplement the natural light it being dusk) and the subject was asked to close her eyes and think about the person that she wished to connect with.

Now of course this is not going to happen every time, but on that particular occasion the person being searched for was in fact a bearded gentleman, well beloved by the subject, who had passed over comparatively recently… I think within two years.

All this of course was being closely monitored and assisted by a spirit medium (myself), and although the subject could feel and connect with her loved one, the rest of us were able to actually see the image of his face superimposed over her own!

The effect lasted for a full five minutes, and then gradually faded back into the subject's own features. During this time the subject felt a really close connection with her loved one, and felt as if he was surrounding her with love.

The audience, and myself were quite overawed by what had just happened and what we had seen, and it is quite difficult to explain the atmosphere afterwards.

Whatever had happened and in whatever way, the subject felt a great sense of joy, peace and connection during that evening, it being the first connection she had felt with her loved one since his untimely passing…. and although I had in fact witnessed this phenomenon and even had facilitated it myself in the past, this was the strongest and most dynamic connection that I myself had seen.

As a development group at that time, we tried this many times, with larger or smaller groups, in different circumstances, but always using the same criteria… a slightly darkened room and a diffused light source… it invariably worked!

Sometimes we tried in quite light-hearted mood… one of the group would volunteer to go and sit in the chair, and we would all then in a light meditative state, ask for whatever spirit was in the vicinity and felt a connection with the subject, to visit us and to allow us to see them… we had many visitors and many encounters, many of whom were spirit guides to the subject in the chair.

So how can we rationalise this?  We could say perhaps that in an atmosphere of expectation, and by adding to the drama by using candles or similar as a light source, we are setting up a scenario where our minds will provide the rest… but how do you rationalise 10 people seeing the same thing?  And not just 10 people picked at random, but 10 intelligent enquiring and rational people who were willing to test this, but not to be led by any one.

We could say perhaps that it was simply a trick of the light?  Using low lights or a single light source does cast shadows, but casting a shadow of a beard on someone's features is not that easy… all I can say is that you would have had to be there to see it to know how real it was!

I am sure that some people would say there must be a way of testing this?  But they have been saying that for generations about any sort of psychic or spirit work, and my firm belief is that it may possibly be simply something that cannot be tested!

I also believe that there is ‘real magic’ in our world, and many layers and realms that we simply have no idea about. At some point I believe we have to give up looking for proof as such, and recognize that we are single dimension beings, and that our glimpses into other worlds, be they the Spirit realms of those who have passed over, and the angels. The nature realms of fairy, or simply other realities and dimensions… may have to be taken on trust at the moment, until we know better.

In controlled conditions, done in a respectful way and ensuring the safety of the subject and of course the observers, Transfiguration appears to be an amazing way of ‘connecting with spirit’ and I wonder if there are many other groups, spirit mediums who are today utilising this method?

 It is something that perhaps I will pursue further in the future, at the moment I would be really interested to hear of anyone else's experiences of Transfiguration or similar.