Mediumship and Spirituality
We are spiritual beings occupying physical bodies, living in a material world. Predictably, regardless of our willingness to acknowledge this truth, we innately have a sense of the Divine and Spirit. Therefore, no matter the time period, place or circumstance, spiritual beliefs have been the most persistent, universal and unifying of all beliefs across all continents, peoples and times. Even in a modern secular era that may on the surface reject such notions in favour of the banal, spirituality and Mediumship remains embedded in the hearts and minds of people. It does not matter that the malevolent, foolish or confused will dismiss it as superstition, or as a simple need to give meaning to one’s life or other such nonsense. No matter how uncomfortable, or the pressure from others, stand tall in your beliefs. Do not be deceived, allow doubt to take hold or become hollowed out by denying your essential reality, community and connection with spirit. Do not lose your way to becoming docile and obedient. Your spirituality is your core and must be an irresistible irrefutable truth that cannot be denied, uprooted, eradicated or replaced with the foolishness of the material world.
As a medium yourself or someone interested in the subject, it should come as no surprise that we as spiritual beings have either realised or latent abilities regarding connection with spirit and therefore unremarkably, cultures and history are filled with examples of such people and practices. As a spiritualistic Medium, one should feel intimately connected to the fellowship that spans time and encompasses all mankind. A universal tradition of peoples who commune with spirit to provide solace and guidance to others. As such you should feel in harmony with the world.
Mediumship – Purpose
Generally, Mediumship has always had three main purposes:
- To confirm our essential nature. Through the provision of evidence of survival after death the understanding that we are eternal beings that carry the spark of the Divine can be affirmed.
- Through the confirmation of our essential nature, a spiritual awakening may occur that will give meaning and direction to the lives of people. That people will ostensibly reject the banality of materialism in favour of connection with and service to the Divine and Spirit.
- To provide comfort and sometimes guidance to those that remain from those that have passed on.
Mediumship is not about fortune-telling or predicting the future.
Types of Mediumship
Mediumship can be roughly divided into two groups; Physical mediumship and Mental mediumship.
Physical Mediumship
Physical mediumship is somewhat rarer than Mental mediumship. Its practitioner’s mediumship produces physical phenomena that can be experienced by those present.
Trance – Trance is a type of mediumship that utilises an altered state of consciousness in which the medium enters a ‘trance’ that allows a spirit communicator to occupy or to some degree control the medium and thereby communicate through the medium. There are inevitably different levels of Trance, light medium and deep, that give different results. Trance is a willing and trusting partnership with Spirit built on training and practice. For example, Trance Speaking allows a communicator to speak through a medium, whereas ‘Automatic writing’ utilises a medium form of trance to allow a communicator to communicate through written text. Inspired speaking involves light trance in which the medium opens themselves to inspiration from the spirit world and delivers a speech. The subject and content are not predetermined or rehearsed by the medium but rather the words and thoughts enter the medium’s mind for the medium to convey. Such inspired addresses are a common part of a platform medium’s work within spiritualist churches. It is deep Trance that facilitates most Physical Mediumship phenomena which is generally only experienced within a ‘physical circle’ of mediums.
Mental / Spiritual Mediumship
Mental mediumship can itself can be subdivided into four groups:
- Clairsentience
- Clairaudience
- Clairvoyance
- Claircogniscence
Clairsentience – Clear sensing, feeling, consciousness or awareness. This is the most commonly practised form of mediumship and the most broad in its scope and definition. If a medium through spirit communication feels an emotion or physical sensation or becomes aware of something or intuits something, these are all forms of clairsentience. As such it is subject to interpretation and many may feel it is the least objective form of mediumship and the most inaccurate and can be misleading. For example, it is difficult without knowing the circumstance to differentiate between excitement and worry. But this is not the case. Clairsentience requires more patience for the message to be formed in its entirety and context and a high level of awareness so that interpretation is more accurate. Given a skilled medium, through clairsentience, a spirit communicator can paint the most vivid of messages. Clairsentience is the backbone of mediumship because it can lend context, fullness and sensation to the other two forms. Hearing the words, ‘I am happy’ is dry when compared to hearing those same words surrounded with a feeling of warmth, connection and joy.
Clairaudience – Clear hearing is the most ‘precise’ form of mediumship. During the spirit connection, the medium hears an actual voice. Thus the spirit communicator’s message needs little to no interpretation.
Clairvoyance – Clear seeing is where the medium sees an image either with their physical eyes, (objective), or their mind’s eye, (subjective). While an image may be accurately described by the medium, and thereby need no interpretation. At other times an image may be metaphorical or representative and if taken at face value, mean nothing to the recipient. For example, an image of a tree in a garden may just be a tree in a garden or it may represent strength, roots, family, an interest, or many things.
Claircogniscence – Clarity of knowing. A form of mediumship in which the spirit communicator passes on information in the form of knowledge or understanding.
Suffice to say that Mediumship is not a cut-and-dry form of communication and will take an amount of effort and cooperation on the parts of both the medium and recipient and the medium must do their best to be cognisant of any interference or confusion created by their own minds either consciously or unconsciously.
Becoming a Medium
While essentially one can consider Mediumship an expression of an innate ability which comes out of our essential nature. Realising that ability and developing it into something ‘useful’, is no easy task. Much in the same way that a human being ordinarily has the innate physical ability to speak, learning to utilise that ability, to speak, requires time and effort and then becoming a skilled speaker requires even more effort. Thus it is with Mediumship.
Becoming an effective and ‘consistent’ medium requires time, effort, skill and experience.
Training – Training is an important part of becoming an effective medium because without it one may develop bad habits or become misguided. Training from an established medium will help you become a great medium.
Practice – There is nothing that can replace the experience of actual mediumship. It will take time to gain the skills and experience in order to master your abilities. Be patient.
Belief – Belief both in the phenomenon and yourself are equally important. Undermining either will stymie your development.
Meditation – Develop a regular meditation practice as it will help you develop a clear mind free from distractions.
Personal Development – Engage in a process of personal development to help you overcome psychological and relational issues that may impede your development or distract from your mediumship. It is important that a medium be both resilient, to overcome the riggers of being a medium and confident in their ability and Spirit.
Peace – Develop a peaceful mind and peaceful existence free from resentment and animosity towards others. A vexatious attitude will only serve to create barriers between your Spirit and others. Learn to let go of past issues and trauma. Sit in judgement of no one but be discerning of the company you keep as negativity and drama loves company and are infectious.
Being a Medium
One might reasonably ask, what is the difference between becoming a medium and being a medium? Well as outlined above, becomming is merely a matter of ability, skill, practice, opportunity and experience… That is to say, if one can say all that and say ‘merely’.
Being a Medium is a completely different thing. Whether in part or in whole, it is a life in service to Divinity, Spirit and others. Your life will move focus from you to the other and it is not easy to let that happen. Furthermore, it is no easy task to take a risk, place your reputation in the hands of a spirit communicator and trust in their ability to convey a message to you and then trust your ability to properly interpret that message and convey it confidentially to the recipient. While rewarding, it is a risky thing. Your link may not be as good as it might otherwise be. Your interpretation may be off. You may get in the way without realising. You may not use quite the right expression to convey it.
And then there is the recipient… Well, a whole bunch of things may be going on there. From a lack of awareness or knowledge concerning the spirit communicator or what they are trying to communicate, all the way to reticence concerning the spirit communicator. It is not unusual for people to feel annoyance or even anger towards a spirit communicator or what they are conveying. Recipients may carry unresolved feelings that are expressed during the link or even reject the link outright, requesting another spirit communicator instead. Furthermore, it is not unusual for a sitter to expect a particular communicator and reject any link that is not with that communicator…. Satisfaction is not guaranteed.
Ultimately, mediums are courageous people. Or at least, eventually, they become that way.
Although often joyful and fulfilling, being a Medium is difficult. It combines both success and failure, not in equal measure, but the failure, can weigh heavily and spark disappointment, doubt, fear and damage confidence. This is why it is important to have appropriate training and immerse oneself in a supportive community that understands the nature of the work.
Difficulties
As with all things, mediumship has it own set of problems and pitfalls. After all, mediums are merely human like the rest of us.
Resistance – is a commonly accepted idea within psychotherapy. The client who has come for help and apparently wants that help, wants to change themselves or their lives and is cooperating within a session, will resist change. They may sabotage, After all, there is comfort in the know, even if the known is horrid and fear in the unknown, even if the unknown has the promise of a wonderful new life. The same can be said for mediumship. A medium may believe in mediumship, be trained and practice as a medium, however, there may be a part of their mind that resists the notion of mediumship. Commonly, socially, we are taught that psychic phenomena are ridiculous and nonsensical or delusions and thus a medium may unconsciously undermine their own ability.
Fear – Fear is a constant companion for many people. Insecurity, anxiety, a lack of confidence… All cloud the mind and plant seeds of doubt in both a medium’s ability and practice. Conveying messages for spirit communicators requires a degree of trust or faith, and is risky. Fear may cause the medium to equivocate and thus can turn a strong message into a weak one via a lack of commitment.
Rationality – People and by extension, mediums, have a tendency to above all things lend significance to their rational minds thus when receiving information from a spirit connection that falls outside their understanding or experience or is at odds with their rational minds or ‘rational’ understanding they will trust their rational mind over their mediumship and ignore that information. Spirit connections with experiences that fall outside the realm of modern sensibilities and behavioural norms will have their communication edited because, to the medium, it does not make sense.
Editing – Mediums may edit information to make a narrative that they can understand rather than present the information as it was received.
And these are but a few of the most common issues that mediums face.
However, as mediums, it is important to recognise our own humanity, or frailty and limitations, and treat ourselves gently. Being hypercritical of ourselves serves no one and could deprive the world of a wonderful medium. Take joy in the path of service that you have chosen. Accept that your life is no longer centred on you but rather on service to The Divine, Spirit and others, therefore trust in Spirit and the process.