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When the Extraordinary Hits Home
later divorced, Michel now shares his life with Elisabeth, a Spiritual-
ist medium who is active in the Spiritual Church.
At our first meeting, Michel’s ability to capture the important ele-
ments of my past and present, while giving very precise predictions
for the future (later borne out), impressed me. Beyond what he had
to say, I was deeply affected by the experience of being with him as
he went into a trancelike state. Although unable to verbalize it, I felt
the experience itself to be just as important as the content of what was
said. We spoke in English, Michel being fully bilingual. Most of the
time, Michel had his eyes closed; he explained that he received clair-
voyance from his guides, spirits who help him. Then he thanked them,
opened his eyes and told me what he had seen, a sequence that would
be repeated many times over the course of an hour. At the end, he said,
“We have a church here, you are welcome to come see it.”
Very curious to see what kind of church could harbor such an indi-
vidual, I began to go to services at the sch, where, over the next few
months, I witnessed a series of mediums give messages to a middle-
aged-and-older, predominantly female congregation that looked to be
mostly working-class. Occasionally, one or another medium would
channel for a spirit guide. I was a bit ill at ease in the vaguely Prot-
estant, somewhat threadbare (at the time) decor of the church. I had
rarely entered a church in many years and my experience of Protes-
tant congregations was mostly limited to a few observations in Cape
Verde. Yet I sensed the sincerity of those present and felt a familiar
energy around me, one I knew from experiences of deep meditation
in an ashram where I had spent a few weekends some years earlier.
The sense of sociological distance from, and yet inner proximity to,
what was happening in this church turned my visits into fieldwork
without my thinking about it, and I soon found myself taking notes
after services.
Feeling a bit uneasy about the ethics of all this, I called Michel for
another appointment, to talk about my involvement in his church.
On this second occasion, I asked Michel if he wanted to do clairvoy-
ance before we talked, whereupon he began to see books all around
me, research activities, writing. He asked, “I see you writing a book,
is that possible?” When I explained that my interest in the Spiritual
