HARTFORD — A semicircle formed around the Rev. Steve Hermann at the Town Hall on Monday evening, at least five rows deep.
A quiet excitement filled the air as the Rev. Penny Frobese, a member of the Pinpoint of Light Spiritualist Camp, dimmed the lights to set the mood.
“You don’t know what you’ve gotten into do you?” Hermann asked and is answered by laughter from the 33 people in the audience. “Every single one of us is going to participate in this.”
Hermann, a Massachusetts native and resident of Auckland, New Zealand, finished his three-day visit in Hartford on Monday evening with a group séance. The ordained minister is also a certified medium and teacher with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, clinical hypnotherapist and massage therapist. He was there to communicate with spirits.
The medium and spirit world are only as good as the energy created in the environment, Hermann told the audience. He explained he would go into a trance state to allow the spirits to speak through him. The medium directs audience members to mentally tune in to what’s taking place with him while he is in an altered state of consciousness.
“Your mind is receptive,” Hermann said. “Your analytical mind is away.”
He noted the spirits could control the physiological movements in his body, along with his brain and speech. When the spirits come through, he represents a composite of himself and the spirit, with each spirit hosting a different personality.
“We want a loving, supportive type of environment,” Hermann said. “I’m going in a trance state and will let different spirit teachers come in and speak. Realize I am conscious when this is happening.”
Before Hermann entered his trance, he instructed everyone to turn off their cellphones and any other electronic devices. The doors were locked and the séance started with a group sing-along. Frobese led the singing, starting off with “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.”
With the lights out and the singing ended for the time being — the spirits requested more singing two different times during the session — the first spirit came through Hermann.
“Congratulations for the singing, even though it’s not very good,” he said. “We do not have wings in our world, but we fly. Do you understand?”
The audience answered that it does.
Hermann’s voice changed, becoming more high-pitched and feminine, telling everyone gathered that there are children and animal spirits there. This spirit liked to teach people about the Earth and how to respect it.
“We beat on drums around the fire and we dance, we dance around the fire,” Hermann said.
Next, he channeled a mischievous spirit, who could have been described as a “cool cat” when he was alive.
“I like to be places I’m not supposed to at times,” Hermann said, noting the spirit was here to control things and work with the audience. He talked about games and rolling the dice, which conjured up the image of a street dice game and possibly a casino. “The winners — they always lost,” he said.
The next spirit Hermann channeled wanted to do some healing and asked for “the head with the hair.” Someone in the audience asked if someone will lose their hair and another called out for Kathy to go up and sit in the chair in front of the medium.
It was hard to see in the dark what exactly Hermann was doing, but he was working on the woman’s head and shuffling around. Others came up for healing after he said to each one, “God bless you.”
Through Hermann, the spirits opened up for general, philosophical questions. Someone asked what happens to marriage after death. The spirit answered there’s a woman there who married many men during her life, who was bossy and liked to get her own way, and still is on the other side. The spirit explained that all of the spirits join together once they leave their earthly bodies, so she had many of her husbands with her.
“Who’s going to sleep with who tonight, you know?” Hermann asked, which is answered with laughter from the room. He then warned women to be nicer to their husbands.
Someone else wanted to know if those who have passed on appreciate the living honoring them.
“Your thoughts and your prayers reach us,” Hermann said. “You must light fires. When you send us your thoughts, it draws us to you. The love reaches us.”
In a dark question-and-answer session after the séance, as Hermann slowly returned to his normal self, one of the women who came up for a healing shared her experience.
“My head feels good,” she told Hermann. “You give a good head massage.”
Another woman said the spirit through Hermann went exactly where her pain points were. She normally feels a warm sensation during healing sessions, but this time, the medium’s hand felt like an ice cube.
After Hermann completely exited his trance, he told the audience about his recently published book that will help them tune into mediumship, “Mediumship Mastery: The Mechanics of Receiving Spirit Communications: The Ultimate Guide.” The book can be purchased on Amazon.
For more information on Hermann, visit www.stevehermannmedium.com.
For more information on Pinpoint of Light Spiritualist Camp in Hartford, visit www.pinpointoflight.org.
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