by Suzanne Carter
SpiritWritings.com is a website that contains over 200 FREE titles covering diverse topics: Channeled Spirit Teachings, Future Life in the Spirit World, Mediumship and Mediums, Poetry and Fiction, Art, Modern Apocrypha, Spiritualist and Antispiritualist Readings, and [UFO] Contactee Literature. With some assistance from other people, Tim Ryan of California has been compiling since 1982 and making it available to the public since 2001. Given the amount of immense labor and love expended on this project, we decided to contact Tim and find out exactly what drives him, and how this all came about.
Early Beginnings
Upon learning about Tim Ryan’s early years in Southern California, one may feel a bit envious. He couldn’t have chosen a better time or place for his spiritual search, i.e., the West Coast heyday of the rebirth of New Age thought – the Rainbow Rose Festival in Pasadena, live channelings at Venice Beach, regular visits to L.A.’s old Bodhi Tree bookstore …
Tim had another advantage that he has made good use of all his life; he developed superb library skills (his mother worked at the local library’s reference desk.) He studied hundreds of titles, many going back to the spiritualist period (1850-1930). His studies inspired him to write The Whole Again Resource Guide modeled after the Whole Earth Catalog, focused on New Age subject headings. In the early eighties, it was marketed as a reference book to public libraries. Reviewer, Art Kleiner at Point Foundation, placed the book as one of the ten most important reference books (right up there with the Zip Code Directory.)
Over the next few decades, the spiritwritings.com website began to take shape and was finally launched in 2001.
The Birth of SpiritWritings.com
Here’s what Tim has to say regarding the history of his website:
“The spiritwritings.com material has been collected over a 35 year period. Amazon, WorldCat and books.Google.com have been the best sources of information that allowed me to find books. Special collections at UCSB houses the only collection I know of that is larger than my own. The most laborious aspect of the site was digitizing the free books offered in its library. About 200 titles are listed, roughly half done by myself and the other half from an assortment of fellow travelers with similar interests. It took about a year of continuous round-the-clock work. At this point the content of the site is fairly stable.”
When talking about his passion – channeled material, Tim offers a tidbit of library talk:
“A predefined codified system called Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are the best way to search for books by subject. Without this exact designation you are at a disadvantage. Channeled material is designated as ‘Spirit Writings’ and afterlife material is coded as ‘Future Life.’”
When asked who or what inspired him the most in his spiritual seeking, Tim cites A Course in Miracles and the more recent writings of Paul Selig.
“Both sources are given through channels with an academic background who sought out traditional respected publishing houses for sales and distribution.”
Recommended Reading
“Skeptics should read Victor Zammit’s A Lawyer Presents the Evidence for the Afterlife” (we agree!)
“Modern surveys by authors like Michael Tymn, Stafford Betty, and David Fontana are a good place for beginners to start if they want a quality overview. Free copies of their books can be seen on overdrive.com if your public library subscribes.*”
“If you already presume there must be an afterlife and you want to know about soul growth, try books by Michael Newton.”
“If you want scientific implication and academic sophistication there are no books anywhere to match those of Frederic Myers: The Road to Immortality and Beyond Human Personality. Myers was a dedicated researcher with an open heart and a clear mind determined to bring out the truth both in life as a member of the SPR and in the afterlife as a witness through the exceptional mediumship of Geraldine Cummins.”
“If you want a really fun book, find something about D.D. Home for the kind of jaw-dropping entertainment available a century ago.”
Besides A Course in Miracles and The Road to Immortality, some of Tim’s other “desert island” books include: The Book of Love and Creation (Selig), The Third Millennium; Living in the Posthistoric World (Carey), and The Key: A True Encounter (Streiber).
Retirement
Now that he’s retired, Tim’s current focus is the mind-body and energy medicine modalities like intuition and dreamwork, particularly dream incubation as personified by Asklepios, the ancient Greek god of healing, and the practices related to him.
Tim also performs a valuable service by contributing Amazon reader reviews (we all know how much we rely on those!) He has written over 100 Amazon metaphysical & health book reviews, yielding more than 500 “helpful” responses.
iDigitalMedium readers are encouraged to check out Tim’s amazing e-library at http://www.spiritwritings.com/library.html
If you feel guided to go there, it’s like Tim’s response when asked how he finds books:
“Life is a miracle . . . It seems like almost every day I feel guided to do something that turns up more than I ever expected.
Notes:
(1) Tim has selectively added links to SpiritWritings.com for books available from overdrive by inserting blue circular overdrive.com icons.
(2) Tim has also added a “Guide to Free On-line Reference Sites” to Spiritwritings.com which can be found HERE.
Our Thanks
On behalf of the community, The iDigitalMedium team would like to thank Mr. Ryan for the outstanding work he has done and for continuing to preserve what is best from our past and share it with our community of seekers and researchers.
Do you like what Tim does? Give a Shout Out!
Comment below, ask questions, or thank Tim and other volunteers who give so selflessly of their time and efforts.
And Remember ~ Share Responsibly!