Instructions For Seance

Q and A: Contempt of court in the internet age

Max Hill QC, a leading criminal barrister and vice-chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, spoke to Channel 4 News about the implications of the "Facebook juror".

Joanne Fraill, 40, a jury member in a Manchester drugs trial, faces up to two years in prison after being convicted of contempt of court for contacting a defendant on Facebook while the trial was in progress.

The defendant Jamie Sewart, 34, was cleared of wrongdoing in the drugs trial but also found guilty of contempt of court. Ms Sewart has been told she will not go to jail but will face a suspended sentence.

Is it unusual for someone to be jailed when they haven't been found guilty by a jury?

It is, but what the law provides is a mechanism where the Attorney General brings proceedings in the High Court because of the particular type of conduct, and it's an opportunity for the court and the Lord Chief Justice to set guidelines or say things for general consumption.

Are jurors specifically warned about the dangers of the internet?

It has been the case for several years that judges give specific warnings to every juror about using the internet when they are serving on a jury. The standard directions provided to all Crown Court judges have been ramped up to include specific warnings mentioning MySpace and Facebook by name.

Nobody wants to see ordinary members of the public, who are doing their duty by giving up their normal life for weeks or months, get on the wrong side of the law.

So quite apart from common sense, every juror knows that there are things they must not do.

How common are cases like this?

Clearly, there are far more examples of defendants who seek to break the rules and make inappropriate approaches to jurors.

It's a very rare case when it is the juror who of their own volition breaks the rules.

It can be very expensive when they do. Criminal lawyers are already working harder for less money, and we are working very hard to reduce the overall expenses of the system through increased efficiency, so incidents like this are not helpful.

It's in everyone's interests to play by the rules.

Why not just lock juries away in a hotel for the duration of the trial without access to the internet or media, like they do in other countries?

It is very, very expensive and very, very difficult in practice. There was a famous case about 20 years ago when a jury sequestered in a hotel used a ouija board to contact a murder victim and ask him who killed him.

Instructions for a seance | Divine Answers

A seance is easy to execute. Seances should not be considered as a party game for entertainment purposes. Seances are the serious attempt to contact a departed soul to offer solace and hope to the fractured soul still residing in the physical plane.

Initially, the host of the seance should prepare themselves with purification of thought; release of ego and a surrender of will to assure their spirit is focused for the strongest seance possible.

Secondly, you must prepare the room. Remove clutter and distractions that would interfere with the calm atmosphere a seance requires such as radio, television, computer, photographs, and mirrors. If possible have as much of the color white in the room. Place three white candles through out the room to form a triangle with the seance table centered between them.

The table should be round with a plain black cloth covering. A black covering is used instead of white because the color black is spiritually grounding. Assemble the exact amount of chairs as the number of participants. In the center of the table place a sacred object such as a rosary, crucifix, medicine bag, statue, or totem. The sacred object must be one that is spiritually involved with the beliefs of the participants.

Thirdly, assemble the participants. Do not seat family members next to one another for the seance. Family ties offer distractions. A mother might tense up if child were sitting next to her; their focus would be on their mother and no longer on the seance.

Next, have each member at the table, place their hands palm side down, their bodies should not be touching the table; the only body part touching the table should be the palm of the hands. Splay the fingers then slide the palm of the hand toward the palm of their neighbor’s until the tips of the pinky fingers lightly touch.

Part five in a seance is the invocation. The host should instruct the participants to keep their minds open and disregard negative approaches from spirits. If a negative spirit enters the seance the participant need only will it away. Each participant should listen closely to the words of the host and let their thoughts mirror those of the host. For example, the host repeats the name of the husband who has crossed over; the participant would repeat that name in their thoughts.

The sixth instruction for a seance is to communicate with the spirit. The host does this by asking questions and listening. Sometimes the spirit communicates directly with the host and sometimes the spirit speaks through one of the participants.

Anatomy of a seance, a history of spirit communication in central Canada

British and foreign state papers

Studies in the history of religions

A tenth of a second, a history

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