History Bettina Therkildsen, Board Manager of Lysets Hus (The House of Light), in front of Lysets Hus - (Photo: Poul Blak) This interview with the board manager of Lysets Hus, Bettina Therkildsen, was printed on December 2nd, 2002, in the Aarhus section of the morning paper Jyllands-Posten. We bring this article here, with the journalist and photographer’s permission, as it describes the history of Lysets Hus. THE SQUEEZED IN CHURCH By Poul Blak Most people from Aarhus know the little church, which is strangely squeezed in along the narrow passage Posthussmøgen, between Strøget and Fredens Square. Or do we really know it? We recognise the appearance of the building, and perhaps we even know that it is a spiritual church – we shiver or snicker "something about people talking to ghosts", while we rush on past on our way home to watch the next episode in the television series "The Power of the Spirits", after which we can either laugh heartily at all that rubbish or to the contrary, acknowledge that "there’s more between heaven and earth than meets the eye!". But for some people, it’s not a matter of anything mysterious or supernatural; spiritism happens to be part of their ordinary daily lives. This is how it is for the medium in the church, who at the same time is the board manager of the church. Her name is Bettina Therkildsen, and we will revert to her in a moment. First we would like to get some things straight regarding the strange, and perhaps for some, also a little bit mysterious building with the special tower. New church in 1894 The building itself dates back to 1894; the tower was added later. It housed a religious awakening movement who called themselves Methodists, newly arrived from England, and who had just declared themselves as a new church. They had nowhere to carry out their church ceremonies, so they built their church on the present site: Posthussmøgen 11C. As they wanted to have some additional income for their church work, it was from the beginning agreed to install a smithy in the basement, which at the back of the building is at street level towards Fisker Road. The smithy specialised in churchyard fences and wrought iron gates. Christianity was then put into methodical contexts by the living on the upper floors of the building. When the Methodists in 1912 looked for other premises for their church, they rented the building for different purposes, one of them being a group of spiritists. The community founded in 1913 Chresten Thomsen founded the Spiritual Community in Aarhus on May 19th, 1913. This group became permanent tenants of the church building as of 1916, and as of 1919 they became the owners of it; the tower was added to the building this same year. Chresten Thomsen was board manager until his death in 1942. Later, in 1975, Chresten Thomsen’s nephew, Birger Thomsen, became the board manager, and in 1996, his daughter, Bettina Therkildsen, took over the management. Even though neither Chresten nor Birger Thomsen had any special abilities within the spiritual context, the abilities were definitely present for Bettina.Therkildsen. Turbulent youth Before developing her spiritual abilities, the 39-year-old Bettina Therkildsen first went through a very turbulent youth. She explains: "As a young girl, I was very wild and angry and in opposition to everything. On the one hand I had a very nice and close relationship to nature, which I later found out was not ordinary. I had several very strong experiences of being in harmony with nature, but in my ordinary life I continued crashing into the wall. It was at such times that I would visit the church, mostly to find comfort. Mom and Dad were members of the community; my mother joined after she became engaged to my father, with the single intention that she would once and for all confirm that it was all just fraud and deception. However, when she had to give in, she simply kept hanging around. One evening, during one of the meetings, I was contacted by the medium working in the community at that time, Mrs. Ragna Pedersen, who told me I had a task as a medium awaiting me, if I so wished. More than ten years went by before I began developing the gift I had, to become the medium that I am today. Spiritism ends up on the dungheap Bettina Therkildsen reminds us that the ability of communicating with the spirits has been well known through most old cultures, from Indians to Eskimos, Africans and Polynesians. However, as the white master race advanced in the world, explaining to them that all of it was wrong, the concept of spiritism in Europe ended up on the dungheap. Except for the term Holy Spirit. "Even so, the spirits of the dead exists whether you believe in them or not, whatever beliefs diverse religious modalities recommend", says Bettina Therkildsen. Renaming the church When she took over the management in 1996, she chose to rename the spiritst church to Lysets Hus (The House of Light) and let it be managed by a member of the board. "I simply cannot understand, why spiritism cannot be acknowledged by the State in a country such as Denmark, which otherwise flaunts its religious freedom, and where political parties practically compete among each other to breast themselves with having the greatest openness towards almost any religion" "I took the consequence and the community is now called Lyset (Light), even though the common name in town is still another". Denmark has two spiritist churches; the other one is in Copenhagen. As you will notice from our half-yearly program, many other activities apart from spiritism take place at Lyset in Aarhus; our activities take place mainly on Wednesdays. Positive life attitude Our program also includes what you could call a declaration of intent, which among other things states: Lyset is a spiritual society, which purpose is to help people develop and acquire insight. Through lectures, development groups, inspired channellings and clairvoyance, etc. we wish to give people a positive life attitude, through which they can live and die. But what does Bettina Therkildsen actually do, when she isn’t a medium or board manager? "I have quite an ordinary job as an office and warehouse worker, and I would very much like to continue having a job. As a spiritual medium it is important to continue living an ordinary life and have a daily contact with ordinary people in the world; otherwise, other people might in the end not be able to understand you". A spiritual connection What do you do as a medium? "I channel messages from the spiritual world" Channel messages from whom? "It could be from relatives who have passed over, or from spiritual guides. One doesn’t always know who is coming through until you are in the midst of it. To be a medium is not like being connected to the spiritual world through a cell-phone in your hand; I prefer not to be compared to those who claim to be able to do this". Why did you invite the English medium Marion Dampier-Jeans to Aarhus? "To give people in Aarhus a chance to meet her, and to learn more myself. Compared to her, we all still have a lot to learn". Back