John Cotton was a Lay Reader in the Church of England. He was a lecturer, taking study groups at Summer Schools on Spiritual Healing. A member of a number of Societies concerned with healing and psychical phenomena, he had himself, he would have said, been used in some remarkable cases where help had been given in his sanctuary in Cheshire.
 
John Cotton combined that ministry with the eye of one able to see in another dimension places and people not commonly seen. His account of the indescribable beauty of the scene at his son's wedding is one which will long stay in the reader's mind. Combined with all this is his extraordinary 'control' by the fifteenth century artist, Perugino, while in trance and the resultant paintings have gone to many parts of the world. Small wonder that he finds himself compelled by the desire of many to write of his experiences.