Unsung Heroes – John Hardaker

by Suzanne Carter

John Hardaker’s Amazing Transcripts You Won’t Find Anywhere Else

John Hardaker’s website www.jhardaker.plus.com is a place where you could spend months reading transcripts of tapes from closed home circles which very few people know anything about. John, from Oxfordshire UK, was the one who took on the task of recording and publishing hundreds of these very high quality sessions and making them available to the public.  As his website grew, John added an e-library where you can download or request books, articles, pamphlets, and a list of recommended reading with insightful comments. There are wonderful stories, history, music, and excerpts from articles and books that will keep you exploring! John is a musician and, along with his devotion to Spirit, his deep love of music has seen him through many of life’s trials. He likens his mind, deeply focused, hands poised over the keyboard of a particularly magnificent organ, to a “doorway to heaven.”

The love and dedication you have put into this website is absolutely breathtaking! Can you tell us something about your background and how you became a spiritual seeker?

My first organ post, at the age of sixteen, was in the small Oxfordshire village of Holton. Since then I have been playing pipe and electronic organs for both worship and entertainment. As well as playing the organ I take part in Development Circles and Discussion Groups. On occasions I find myself on the Platform but make no claims of mediumship. I have a keen interest in Spiritual Philosophy, hence this site, and give talks on the subject. Occasionally a helper will link in to say a few words. My past profession as an Electrical/Electronic Technician has been in the field of High Energy Physics. I worked at the Culham, Harwell and Rutherford Laboratories in the UK also CERN in Switzerland. A few years were spent at the Joint European Torus (JET) Nuclear Fusion project situated on the Culham Lab site in the UK. It is partly my scientific background that inspires my interest in Spiritualism and my approach to the subject is mostly from an investigative point of view.

The transcripts on your website are special because they come from closed home circles. Can you tell us how these differ from open circles and why recordings are so rare?

An ‘open’ circle is one that anybody can attend, often attached to a church, while a ‘closed’ home circle – held in somebody’s home – is by invitation only and, usually, but not always, more advanced than an open group.

Not many people who sit in these groups are technical and would bother to record these communications. I consider it a privilege to have done so. For example, in the books of Silver Birch, little mention is made of the two ladies who learnt to take shorthand in the dark. After a session they would type up what they had got then swap it with the other person to make sure they had the same thing. Without these two ladies, none of that wonderful teaching would have been put in print. Incidentally, the titles of the talks are not mine; the title came to me as I was typing it out. Once I tried to change a title that I had been ‘given’ but found I could not and had to put it back to what it was.

What inspired you to create your website?

www.jhardaker.plus.com was created to distribute the communications that came through Lucy Hale during the last years of her working life as a Medium. There are communications that came through other gifted people who were members of the Circle that was held in a country house near Didcot in Oxfordshire. Later on Ken Hanson of New Zealand sent me some scripts that he had recorded, and written out, in their home circle. These ‘talks’ are unique, as nobody seems to record and publish such things. The book Pheaneas Speaks by AC Doyle and Seth Speaks (Jane Roberts) are similar. I have noticed that people seem more concerned about how something is said rather than what is said.

We found it amusing (and helpful) that you have a “Quick Conclusions” page subtitled “Quick Quotes for the Reluctant Reader.” What were the most important messages?

In essence the two keys are love and service. Love to everything and service to all. The messages are not religious or about a religion although elements of the teachings can be found in all the religions of the world. Archeologists … would not refer to their work as a religion neither would NASA say their research into the surrounding planets was a religious pursuit. Both of these endeavours are to increase our knowledge, widen our horizons and change our preconceived ideas, often centuries old, sometimes based on religious dogma or superstition.  We are told that the earth plane is where spirit beings, i.e. everybody in the physical, choose to come in order to achieve a higher spiritual state; it is a place of learning. The reasons why people are here are as many and diverse as there are people on the planet; we are all here for our own purpose. We are told that we are looked after and that nobody walks this Earth alone; we have a spirit companion who never leaves us from the day we are born until the time we abandon the physical body. Death is not a punishment; merely the completion of a task. The physical body is likened to an overcoat which we wear in order to be able to interact with the physical world. It also acts as a limiter as to who we really are and our purpose here. There have always been a few people who can link with other dimensions in various ways.

We really enjoyed your comments at the end of transcripts, for example your account of the circle group’s reaction to Betty Engels’ “We Learn From You.”

We had been told on many occasions that we were helping those who wandered about in the “grey places” not knowing where they were or what had happened to them. They were often invited to come and join us as part of the opening prayer but this was the first time that this had happened. One of Lucy’s Guides would come and talk about Spiritual Philosophy – we expected that – but this person was thanking us for what we had done for her. She had been coming to our meetings to learn from us!

Your “Incidental Items – Dreams, Thoughts, Talks, Ideas” page reminds us of a Facebook page (without the confusing formatting.)  It’s fun for the reader to navigate the ideas, articles, quotes, etc. that have impressed you over the years. 

These pages contain various items that do not fit into the classification of the other pages. There are some Addresses recorded in Spiritualist venues. A dream I had one night. An extract from a book written by a country vicar which became a classic. A thought provoking poem by a gentleman of Marcham, Oxfordshire, when guns were banned in the UK. Some thoughts that came to me about executions after seeing a condemned 30-year-old American woman on the TV who appeared calm and a transcript of a circle talk just after a car accident in Paris. All these things are to provide something to think about. One of the pleasures I find in going to spiritualist meetings, especially where there is an opportunity to listen to Spirit directly, is that you come away with something to think about. What you make of it is up to the individual; there is no demand to believe anything. All you can do is to listen with an open mind and think about what is being said.

On your Download Books page, we notice that some must be requested via an email to you. 

Not all the books are on the site – some you need to ask me for. This is due to their size. I have also removed all the MP3 files so you have to ask for those. Twice I have been shut down by ‘self righteous’ people downloading something many times and exceeding my daily data allowance.

On a trip to Leeds Castle in Kent England, you described an experience when viewing a framed photo of Lady Baillie, the last private owner of the castle, who opened it to the public. Upon leaving the room, you heard a disappointed voice say, “You didn’t take my picture.” After you had obligingly taken the photo and prepared to leave the room, you heard the voice again, say more cheerfully, “You could put it on your web site.” You wondered why the unseen lady wanted this photo on the Internet and received an internal message, “Wait and see.”

At iDigitalMedium, we like to experiment with technology in a way that encourages intuition and the development of mediumship. So, just for fun, we are posting the Leeds Castle photo of Lady Baillie. Lady Baillie and the castle were involved with some important historical events. Perhaps someone will pick up on her message.

For me there is nothing strange in hearing a discarnate voice. While it does not occur too often I wouldn’t class it as unusual. Was it Lady Baillie? I don’t know as whoever it was never said “Oh, I am Lady Baillie and you are looking at my picture, etc.” I just assumed it was her as I was sending out thoughts looking at her picture, thinking she was good looking and 1931 was before I was born. I am told if you think of a person who has ‘gone on’ they know about it, also it was her home, so natural that she should be there and interested in what is going on now; it was she that opened it to the public. Reading about her life I find she used to invite lots of important people to stay at the Castle: Politicians, Film Stars, Writers, etc. I am beginning to think a link with her may lead to links with other interesting people that she knew. Occasionally I give the address in a church and somebody from the ‘other side’ may link in (‘overshadow’ is the technical term) and give the address, which I listen to as does everybody else. It may be, for example, Churchill will one day come and speak; now that would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Lady Baillie photo – Leeds Castle

Our Thanks

On behalf of the community, The iDigitalMedium team would like to thank Mr. Hardaker for the decades of passion and persistence he has applied for the benefit of man and spirit.  Thank you, John.

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