Mediums, those who communicate with the Spirits of the deceased, are enjoying an unprecedented amount of popularity these days, with many earning notoriety with their TV shows, books, interviews, and packing large venues for their personal appearances.
While Mediums in the past were considered to lie on the fringe of “normal” society praying on the grieving, today they are respected for aiding in the necessary closure part of the grieving process.
A contributing factor in validating mediumship is attributed to psychologist and professor, Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. in his landmark book, The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death.
Furthermore, mediumship readings are now considered to be a mainstream commodity. This is evidenced by the long lists of clients waiting for pricey readings from the most well-known Mediums. It’s rumored that the wildly popular Medium, Tyler Henry has a waiting list of over 300,000!
But What is Mediumship?
Have you wondered what this phenomenon of mediumship is exactly? The text book definition is that Mediumship is a form of divination performed by a living person (the Medium) who is making contact and communicating with a deceased person’s Spirit (the Spirit Communicator) in order to relay a message to their living loved one who has requested the reading {the Sitter).
Two Main Types of Mediumship:
Mental Mediumship – Mediums communicate with Spirit Communicators through various methods of divination, referred to as the “Clairs.”
Clairvoyance – clear seeing – seeing in your mind’s eye
Clairaudience – clear hearing – hearing a word or phrase in your mind
Clairsentience – clear feeling – an emotion or feeling in your “gut”
Claircognizance – clear knowing – knowing without having access to the knowledge
Clairalience – clear smelling – a scent of something not present
Clairgustance – clear tasting – a taste of something not present
Physical Mediumship – A Spirit Operator (the Spirit who is running the show!) is causing some phenomena to manifest physically on the Earth Plane such as telekinesis (moving objects), levitation (floating objects), noises (knocking), materializations, apparitions, table tipping, automatic writing, spelling out words on a Ouija Board, etc.
These phenomena have been experienced throughout history in organized séances held by groups of people intending to bring forth a Spirit for the purpose of spiritual growth, or sheer entertainment. These events have long been fodder for theatrics and the cinema, and are not the focus of this blog post. Here we will focus on the more serious, and certainly more helpful, Mental Mediumship.
How Mediums Differ from Psychics
Psychics also receive information for Sitters using the same above mentioned ”Clair” methods of divination. The difference is the Psychic’s information is coming from knowledge held within the Universal Field (Akashic Records), the Higher Self, or a Spirit Guide, and by contrast, the Medium’s information is coming from communication with a deceased Spirit Communicator.
They say that not all Psychics are Mediums, but all Mediums are psychic. I will add that all Psychics, who are not yet Mediums, could easily become Mediums with training and practice.
What is the Purpose of a Mediumship Reading?
The purpose of a mediumship reading depends on if you are the Sitter, the Spirit, or the Medium:
The Sitter’s Purpose – the purpose of the reading for the Sitter, is for the Medium to validate that their deceased loved one’s Soul has survived death of its physical body. Validation that a Soul lives on, rather than having ceased to exist entirely, is huge for alleviating grief, as well as the innate existential fear of death among the living.
The Spirit’s Purpose – the purpose of the reading for the Spirit, is to connect with their still living loved one in order to convey their undying love (pun intended), regret, apologies, etc. Spirits also wish to give relevant messages to their living loved one of upcoming important events, and to let them know they are with them, guiding and supporting them from the Spirit Realm.
The Medium’s Purpose – the purpose of the reading for the Medium, is basically they are compelled to give readings by both Spirits imploring them to pass on messages, and Sitters requesting a connection to their deceased loved ones. Then there’s the Medium’s own sense of responsibility to share messages from the deceased, as a condition of being granted the gift of Mediumship.
Additionally, there is a great deal of satisfaction for the Medium in having contributed substantially to the healing of their Sitters’ grief over the loss of their loved ones. Also, mediumship gives them a sense of fulfillment of their Life’s Purpose, for they don’t doubt this is what they are meant to do in this lifetime.
What is Required to Become a Medium?
If you desire to become a professional Medium, you will need to acquire certain important skills:
- You’ll need the ability to consistently connect to Spirits of deceased loved ones associated with the Sitter you are reading for.
- You’ll need the ability to receive and describe accurate identifying characteristics (evidence) of a Spirit, such as their gender, occupation, hobbies, relationship to the Sitter, and circumstances of death, so your Sitter knows who the heck you are communicating with.
- Then you’ll need to accurately interpret messages the Spirits are trying to convey without inserting any personal bias or conclusions.
There are many mediumship courses, workshops, books, podcasts, and blog posts to peruse. However, the most important form of training is one that avails you the opportunity to actuallly practice in-person mediumship readings, preferably with Sitters you don’t know.
Practice with consenting strangers is the gold standard of mediumship training. There may be local opportunities to practice mediumship at in-person workshops, private parties, New Age, coffee, or book shops, and psychic fairs.
During your study of mediumship, it’s advised to receive readings from many different Mediums, and ask what techniques they used to connect to your deceased loved ones’ Spirits. Additionally, watch professional Mediums on TV and on You Tube Videos to observe their process when giving a reading.
Methods Mediums Use in Their Readings
The basics of mediumship is universal, such as creating a sacred space, stating a prayer of protection, inviting Spirits to come forward to convey messages, etc.
However, beyond the basics, individual Mediums develop their own methods of working. Some work with Tarot cards, pendulums for Yes/No questions, doodling on paper, or psychometry (holding an object that belonged to the Spirit) during their readings.
There are also practices by Mediums of fixing their gaze to a specific direction, i.e., above the Sitter’s head, or over their left, or right shoulder. And many Mediums will utter an occasional auditory “thank you” when a message has been relayed to them by a Spirit. This is a little unnerving for the Sitter, when no one is visible, but there seems to be a general code of showing gratitude to Spirits for their participation in the process.
Then there are Mediums’ methods not visible to the Sitter. While some Mediums work with guides and helpers residing in the Spirit Realm, others have a disdain for “mediators” preferring to deal directly with Spirits. This was conveyed in a recent workshop, by a local and skillful Medium, and it struck me as logical; to go straight to the source.
However, other Mediums have stated that a Spirit guide or helper can be quite helpful, in bringing forward a shy or inexperienced Spirit, who has a message to share. Moreover, the “Hollywood Medium,” Tyler Henry professes, during readings, his Spirit Guides are communicating with the Spirit and then relay the Spirit’s messages to him.
Working with any of the above methods may be a matter of personal preference, or perhaps Spirit dictates the particular method a specific Medium will use…
Unique Ways in Which Mediums Receive Information from Spirits
Mediums report that they receive their information either wholly by one of the “Clair” senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, knowing, smelling, tasting), or some combination of them.
At a workshop given by renowned Medium, Lisa Williams, she demonstrated how she receives information from the Spirit, by playing a video with images flashing and words, and other sounds intermittently blasting all at the same time. None of the audience could decipher anything until she replayed the video several times slowing it down each time, until it became decipherable by us mere mortals, lol.
Popular Medium, Suzanne Giesemann, sees in her mind’s eye her own hands making charade like movements that she has compiled into a personal vocabulary used by Spirits in communicating with her.
Renowned Medium, John Edward has stated that in a reading, he often sees an image in his mind’s eye of a member of his very large Irish and Italian family; this lets him know the characteristics of the Spirit who’s come forward. Additionally, Edward states he may also receive information about a Spirit in the form of hearing a movie title, which he relates to his time working in a video store as a young man.
Other Mediums and Psychics as well, report specific ways of receiving information regarding a Spirit that relates to their own unique life experience. Thus, it would appear that Spirits are apt to use what lies in the mind and experience of the specific Medium giving the reading to convey their message, and the information can come in the form of humorous or quirky symbology.
It’s Not Easy Being a Medium
Although, I’ve had a several decades’ long love affair with Mediums, receiving heir readings, reading their books, attending their live workshops, and studying and practicing their techniques, I’ve to date, not pursued giving professional Mediumship readings. Even though I believe mediumship to be a fascinating and personally fulfilling profession, I’ve observed how difficult a life as a professional Medium can be.
As soon as you let Spirits know you are open for business, there will be a deluge of messages coming to you to share, and not only as you sit for a reading, but also throughout your normal life activities.
Additionally, Spirits, and acquaintances everywhere you go, will implore you to give impromptu readings. Then skeptics and naysayers crawl out of the woodwork to challenge you.
There is also an inherent need within many Mediums to constantly attempt to prove their mediumship is real, by citing the circumstances of specific readings that have proven to be accurate.
It’s a lot of pressure that I’ve been reluctant to take on. I already have similar pressures due to my many years of being a Practitioner, and Teacher of Reiki, Acupressure, Crystal and Chakra Therapy, Psychic Development, and the Tarot.
However, even though I don’t give professional Mediumship readings, my study and training have come in handy over the years. While giving the required Attunements during Reiki classes, I call in each student’s deceased loved ones, Spirit Guides, and Angels to join in their Attunements, and the room then fills with beautiful Spirits.
Additionally, during Reiki and Acupressure sessions a client may bring a deceased loved one, Spirit Guide, or Angel into the session with them. My training has enabled me to frequently be aware of and to decipher which type of Spirit is present.
Summing Up
I do recommend anyone, who has lost a loved one to seek out a reputable, experienced professional Medium to receive a reading. In addition to the famous and therefore expensive Mediums, there exists a plethora of affordable Mediums offering in-person, skype and telephone mediumship readings.
And training in mediumship is super fun, whether or not one desires to practice professionally.
An eventful mediumship reading will ease one’s grief by validating their loved one’s Soul has survived its physical death and will one day be reunited with them in the Spirit Realm, and perhaps in future lives.
This validation also goes far in easing one’s inherent fear of death by knowing the Soul does not cease to exist at the time of death, but lives on for eternity.
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