Metaphysicality - Part 4; Mediumship

Synopsis;
In the 4th posting in the series, I discuss the new popularity of psychic mediums; a history and definition of Psychic Mediumship; what to look for, be aware of and be concerned about, when using a medium to connect you with passed loved ones and give some insight as to what my partners and I do during a psychic circle.

Mediumship

There are TV shows like “Ghost Whisperer”, “Medium” and more Psychic shows, from psychic detectives to pet psychics than ever before. The subject of Psychic/Mediumship is once again, very popular.
I say “once again” because contrary to current thought it is by no means “New Age”;
Mediumship is and always has been Age-less.

The ability that Mediums like John Edward, John Holland Lisa Williams, and others demonstrate are as inherent to human beings as their other five senses. People are beginning to believe that in fact, we are all psychic.

In fact, it was watching John Edward on TV that first aroused my curiosity about how Mediumship works. Through various synchronicities (which I attributed, at the time, to coincidence) I went from being a cynic to a skeptic to a believer and after many classes and effort to becoming a psychic/medium.

A Definition and a Brief History of “Mediumship”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship

The term "Mediumship" denotes the ability of a person (the “medium”) to apparently experience contact with spirits of the dead, spirits of immaterial entities i.e. angels, spirit guides, ghosts etc.

The medium generally attempts to facilitate communication between non-mediumistic people (the “sitters”) and spirits who may have messages to share.

A medium may appear to listen to and relate conversations with spirit voices; go into a trance and speak without knowledge of what is being said; allow a spirit to enter their body and speak through it; relay messages from the spirits those who wish to contact them with the help of a physical tool, such as a writing instrument.

Mediumship is also part of the belief system of some “New Age” groups. In this context, and under the name channeling, it refers to a medium who receive messages from a "teaching-spirit".

There is a long documented history of Mediumship. Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to early human history.
One of the most well-known is the story of the Witch of Endor, who was said to have raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew King Saul to question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the Old Testaments’ First Book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh.

Mediumship became quite popular in the United States after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date to the mediumistic activities of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid 1800s. Mediumship was also described by Allan Kardec, who coined the term Spiritism, around 1860.

After the exposure of the fraudulent use of stage magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers, Mediumship fell into disrepute, although it never ceased being used by people who believed that the dead can be contacted.

From the 1930s through the 1990s, as psychic Mediumship became less practiced in Spiritualist churches, the technique of channeling gained in popularity, and books by channelers who related the wisdom of non-corporeal and non-terrestrial teacher-spirits became best-sellers amongst believers.

For some mediums, a spirit guide is a highly evolved spirit with the sole purpose of helping the medium develop and use their skills. They assist mediums in following their spiritual path. For other mediums, a spirit guide is one who brings other spirits to a medium's attention or carries communications between a medium and the spirits of the dead. Many mediums claim to have specific guides who regularly work with them and "bring in" spirits of the dead. Some mediums believe that spirits of the dead will communicate with them directly without the use of a spirit guide.

In Spiritualism, a portion of the services, generally toward the end, is given over to the pastor, or another medium, who receives messages from the spirit world for the congregants. This may be referred to as a "demonstration of Mediumship." A typical example of this older way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the 1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the Spiritualist Camp at Chesterfield, Indiana: "Services are held each afternoon, consisting of hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and demonstrations of Mediumship."

Today "demonstration of Mediumship" is part of the church service at all churches affiliated with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches 'NSAC'.
These types of services are held each Sunday at The Institute for Spiritual Development in Sparta NJ. Their website is http://www.isd-sparta.org/

Mental Mediumship is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium mentally "hears," "sees," and/or feels messages from spirits, then, directly or with the help of a spirit guide, passes the information on to the message's recipient(s). Trance Mediumship is often seen as a form of Mental Mediumship.

Some mediums remain conscious during this communication period, while others go into a trance, wherein a spirit uses the medium's body to communicate. Trance Mediumship is defined as a spirit taking over the body of the medium, sometimes to such a degree that the medium is unconscious.
“Part trance mediums” are aware during the period of communication,
while “full trance mediums” pass into an unconscious state in which their physical and mental processes are completely controlled by the spirit communicator.
Because the typical trance medium has no clear memory of the messages conveyed while in a trance, a medium of this type generally works with an assistant who writes down or otherwise records his or her words.

A good example of this kind of relationship can be found in the early 1970’s in “The Seth books”. Full Trance Medium Jane Roberts channeled “Seth” an advanced spirit guide, while her husband Robert Butts transcribed the sessions. Her website is http://www.sethlearningcenter.org/
Edgar Cayce, known as “The sleeping Prophet” is another example of Trance Mediumship. Mr. Cayce has an extensive library in Virginia Beach, Virginia of thousands of recorded full trance medium readings covering all aspects of human life. For more information on Edgar Cayce goes to http://www.edgarcayce.org/.

In Spiritualism, psychic senses used by mental mediums are sometimes defined differently than in other paranormal fields. The term clairvoyance, for instance, may be used by Spiritualists to include seeing spirits and visions instilled by spirits, whereas the Parapsychological Association defines "clairvoyance" as information derived directly from an external physical source.
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In my opinion, it is extremely important for anyone, seeking the use of a Medium to contact deceased loved ones, to understand how the process works and to always keep their healthy skepticism.

Some important things to keep in mind;
- As in all professions, we all have varying degrees of proficiency. Mediums are no different, you will find some that are amazing and some are less; Most are 100% ethical and unfortunately some are… less.

- The best way to judge any professional is through word of mouth and referrals.
Listen to friends and family that have been to a Psychic/Medium (P/M). You would be amazed by how many people, who you would not expect to go to a P/M, that do. You would be equally amazed about how many people, some that you know who are Mediums or have great hidden mediumistic abilities.

- Most P/M’s are scrupulous but unfortunately there are those that are frauds.

People who so desperately want to hear from loved ones that they let their guard and common sense down are most vulnerable to fraud. They are unaware of or choose to ignore that there are those supposed “Mediums” who are fraudulent and are doing this to steal from the most vulnerable of us.

When seeking a Medium be aware of and avoid any who,
- seems to be fishing for information, or coming up with many very general impressions. If they are more focused on your reaction, if they are reacting to what you are saying, rather than what they perceive from spirit, they are probably doing what is known as a “Cold Reading” and is either not an experienced psychic or perhaps a fraudulent one.
A Medium should always be more concerned with what spirit is telling them than what you are.

- Asks you to return with more money. If the P/M suggests that you should come back for more readings, because your loved ones are requesting you to do so, along with asking you for more money, they are frauds and you should leave as soon as possible! Messages that you receive from a loved one is as important for the loved one in spirit to get to you as it is important for you to receive it.
All those in spirit want to get their message to you immediately, completely and always from a place of love. They will never say “I will have a message for you on your next session”, if a medium says that they want you to return for additional readings, you should know that it was not your loved one’s message, that message is coming from a fraudulent medium. That is just not how spirit communicates. Please keep a healthy sense of skepticism.

Many people want to hear from loved ones so badly that they can be easily scammed.

There is nothing wrong with going back for additional readings as long as it is you who wants to return and it is your request. Most P/M will suggest that you wait a while before scheduling an additional session.

If you plan to come for any P/M work either with me or with our Circle, PLEASE tell us nothing!

It is not that I (we) don’t want to know who you want to contact.

The information, validations and messages MUST come from them, your loved ones in spirit. As soon as we think about who you want to come through, we are using a different part of the brain. When a P/M begins to think with the logical part of the mind a situation arises that I call “From me/To me”.

I can get mixed messages if I am confused by a message coming “From me” which is based on assumptions, guesses and are usually wrong.

This is also connected with “Cold Readings”.

What we do want is information “Coming TO me”. Information coming from spirit will not make sense to us, but the validations, information and messages are not for us, they are for you.

After a session is over, I/ We will ask for you to validate the information that we did bring through.

I hope that this posting was informative.
Please feel free to post a comment or question and I look forward to replying.
The next posting will be on 1/18/2009 and will be titled,

Metaphysicality – Part 5; ESP and Psychic Abilities.