Free The Eagle and the Rose by Rosemary Altea

where my dancing Scotsman usually stood, but he was not there. I sat bolt upright and searched around the bedroom. He was nowhere in sight!
    At first I panicked, wondering frantically if I had done or said anything that might have offended him. I couldn't think of anything, but I found it hard to dismiss the thought. Then common sense took over, and I realized how selfish I was being to expect him to be with me all the time.
    He'll turn up when he's ready, I thought. Perhaps he's busy. I'm sure I'll see him later on.
    Well, I waited. All that day I expected that he'd turn up, then the next day, and the next. But he didn't.
    He had disappeared without any warning or explanation of any kind. My dancing Scotsman had deserted me. I felt lost, alone, and so let down. I thought this must be the end, the end of my work as a medium.
    What I had yet to learn was that often, before new growth can take place, the gardener must till the land. And a good gardener always makes sure before he begins his work that the land is fertile. He would not plant a forest of young trees without first inspecting the ground to make sure that his trees would gain nourishment to enable them to grow tall and strong.
    Two weeks passed, and it now seemed that my dancing Scotsman had gone forever. But the space in my life that he had occupied was slowly being filled. My mystery figure, the unknown spirit entity, was making his presence felt more and more. At first his “presence” had been spasmodic; now I “felt” him constantly, always there, drawing closer.
    I began on Wednesday evenings to do more and more trance work.
    While in trance, the medium chooses to vacate her physical body, for just a short time, leaving an empty shell or vessel, which a spirit entity may then use. Able to use the vocal cords, the spirit entity can then communicate “through” the medium to the other members of the group or circle, often telling of their own earthly life experiences and expounding their philosophical views and ideas about life, both on the earth plane and in the spirit world.
    Basically there are three stages of trance: light, medium, and deep. The first state, light trance, is possibly the most interesting from the medium's point of view, as she (or he) is aware of everything that is happening, even though unable to interfere or stop it in any way.
    In the first stage of trance, I was able to watch and listen with fascination as some unseen force seemed to manipulate “my” body as a puppeteer might operate his doll.
    In the second stage of trance it is possible to be aware of some of the proceedings but not all. And in deep trance, the third stage, the medium is totally unaware of any action that takes place. This is why we always made sure we had on a tape recorder at all times during the evening. I have always hated to miss out on anything and found it infuriating to have to listen as, at the end of an evening of trance work, the rest of the group discussed with interest the events that had taken place. Only after listening to the tape could I join in and feel part of it all.
    I was never very keen to go into trance. Not, as some of you might think, because I was scared, although on reflection I am surprised that I wasn't. But I was always concerned that my trance state was real, not my imagination working overtime. I certainly didn't want to fool anyone else. But more important, I didn't want to start fooling myself. I gained so much knowledge and insight through trance work, but at that stage in my development, going into trance seemed to me to be such an unnecessary thing to do.
    So I always fought against it. Mick would sit with me and gently, patiently, talk me through my doubts until, once I was sufficiently relaxed, a trance state would take place.
    During the short time that my dancing Scotsman had been with me, he had always been a gentle spirit guide, a quiet and sensitive teacher, always leading me by the hand in a calming and reassuring