People's Spiritualist Church

People's Spiritualist Church
1011 Ninth Ave. St. Petersburg, FL.

Contact: Pastor Beverly Zaleski

Religion: Spiritualism

Book Recommendation: George Anderson's Lessons from the Light: Extraordinary Messages of Comfort and Hope from the Other Side

You can listen to the interview with Pastor Beverly Zaleski here.

Three of my lovely wife's TV shows are "Supernatural", "The Ghost Whisperer," and "Medium." I'll admit to being a light fan of "Supernatural" - the characters are interesting, the humor pulls me in, and while often I'll have an eye rolling response to some of the "creature of the week" story lines, it still keeps my interest. "The Ghost Whisperer" has a certain appeal for me. Less for the cookie cutter plot than for Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Hey, I'm someone investigating religions - I never claimed to be a saint myself.)

It's interesting, because my wife doesn't believe that the story lines are real, any more than as I child I believed that "She-Ra" was a documentary (which I think I enjoyed watching as a pre-teen for the same reasons as "The Ghost Whisperer" - but enough on that).

If I was going to condense People's Spiritualist Church into one TV show, I'd say much Ghost Whisperer than anything. Not because Pastor Zaleski is an attractive woman filled with abundance of positive energy (though she is), but also because of the faith's basic message:

Those who have died aren't gone. They still love you, they still care about you, and they want to help you.

People's Spiritualist Church is an older, homey kind of church, where the seats are individual padded chairs with wooden backs. When I arrived, a few people off to the side were engaged on a healing ritual - a kind of "laying on of hands", where some members put their hands on the heads or over the afflicted areas of those they were trying to heal. From listening, it sounded like the idea was by projecting positive energy into the sick, they would encourage the cells to heal. It's an idea similar to what the Christian Scientists or Religious Science may practice - the idea that spiritual or mental energy can actually cause healing.

Before the service started, there was a Healing Meditation service, where a woman sang songs that were designed to increase the "positive vibrations" in the room. The idea, as the lady explained, "...is that cells absorb energy, and can be change through a kind of peaceable diplomacy - practiced by their faith for generations."

There were two songs, the first accompanied by a recording of strings and drums while a man undulated. In her song, as she called out to a "Great Spirit" for healing, she sang long ringing notes that filled the chapel. For her second song, she sang of Muses, this time less words but more of a long note chant.

While she sang, for other members, including Pastor Zaleski, stood at the corners of the room with their hands outstretched, as if they were trying to redirect the "positive vibrations" back to the congregation.

The service itself started with call to "Mother Father God" (which again reminded me of my time at the Christian and Religious Science faiths), then a singing of the Lord's Prayer found in the New Testament of the Bible. What was different, is that instead of just a recitation as I've seen at other churches, here they sang it. And I could hear the difference as the congregation's voices swelled at the part of "for Thine is the Power, and the Kingdom, and the Glory".

Another song, this time "How Great Thou Art", then the actual service. And this was my first surprise.

I missed her name, but Pastor Zaleski introduced another lady as a medium, who was going to give a speech from one Dr. Hanley. It wasn't that the medium was reading the speech - but according to her, she was actually delivering the lesson as it was being delivered from Dr. Hanley, at that moment, from the Spirit World.

A sermon from beyond the grave.

The sermon was similar to what I had heard before in other faiths - that envy, anger, and other negative emotions impede our ability to love each other. And it is love that will allow the Universe to deliver all of our needs. With that done, there was a collection of offerings, another hymn - this time "This Little Light of Mine" lead by an elderly black lady who's old body just gushed with delight and joy in singing this song that has been a staple of Christian churches for decades now.

When the medium spoke again, this was the next unique experience, as she addressed each member of the congregation in turn, and offered messages from those who had passed from life. Sometimes it was from family members offering love and support, other times symbols the medium received from other spirits who had "transitioned" (never "died" - they "transitioned" from the living state to the dead state) and wanted to pass wisdom and support to those sitting in the seats.

When she was done, Pastor Zaleski rose up, and went through a similar exercise - calling upon each member in turn, sometimes new members, others established ones. Telling them that perhaps a feeling one woman hand when she woke up was her husband stroking her cheek to comfort her from the spirit world. At one point, she identified me, informing me that she was receiving a message from one "Alan" who was very excited over my podcast.

I can not confess to recalling an "Alan" in my life who had passed on, but according to Pastor Zaleski, evidently they knew me.

I'm not sure what to say to this. For those that know me, I can't take such claims as being true without evidence. It's perhaps nice, or comforting, or even pleasant to believe that others from my life are still concerned with my happiness and welfare even in their present state. And that was certainly the message here - every statement from the spirit world was one of love and support, of encouragement to conquer trials or that better times were coming.

When the service was over and I had a chance to speak with Pastor Zaleski, a young man in a goatee approached me. "I drew this symbol from my Kabbalah symbols, and for some reason I felt it was for you."

On the tiny folded square was the what looked like to be something written in Hebrew, and underneath it, the words in English, "World Peace" - and when he learned of what my project was about, he was certain that's why he had been prompted to choose that symbol for me.

I'm not sure if this podcast or project or quest or whatever people have called it will help lead to "World Peace", but I accepted the offering in the spirit it was given - of kindness, and support.