YSC - Mental Mediumship

What is mediumship?

In the world of information and communication, we are all familiar with "the media". In this context, a "medium" is merely a way of information to be broadcast: newspaper, television, radio, etc. People who are described as mediums broadcast information that is often not accessible to other people, from spirit beings in the spirit world. In order to understand how this happens we need to understand that people are both physical beings and spirit beings.

The physical aspects of ‘man’ need to be properly developed in order to live life easily and fully on this physical plane. They includes the five senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell. These senses are all used when we communicate with each other. In order to live in this world we need to be very focussed on these senses.

The spirit aspect of a person is perhaps not as well known to us and some people would deny the existence of a spirit aspect entirely. However, Spiritualists say that every human being is a spirit being encased within the physical form. It is our spirit nature that allows us to communicate in non-ordinary ways with other spirit beings. These non-ordinary ways can be psychic - mind to mind communication, called telepathy, between people in this world; and mediumistic - between incarnate minds in this world and discarnate spirit minds in the spirit world. In order to communicate with the spirit world, it is the spirit senses within ourselves that we must develop. It is because we have to give so much time and energy to our physical senses to get by in this world, that we can become blind to our spirit senses and fail to develop them. Yet their development is the birthright of every person on this earth. These spirit senses form part of what we call the intuitive faculty, a faculty that most people will experience working for them at some time in their lives. When this happens it gives them evidence of an important truth that they may have always neglected. A person is much more than his or her physical body and the workings of its individual parts.

There is an important distinction here between 'spirit' and 'spiritual' that needs to be emphasised. To develop mediumship it is the spirit senses that need to be developed. Spiritual development is a separate issue, though it is also very important for every person. Spiritual development alone won't make you a medium. Your level of spiritual development does, however, determine the level at which you will communicate with the spirit world. Remember the old axiom "like attracts like". If a person has strongly developed spirit senses, but that person is spiritually undeveloped, he or she will link into the spirit world at a low level, and that can cause unpleasant experiences. This is why it is important for mediums to pay attention to their spiritual development at the same time as trying to develop the use of their spirit senses. Spiritualists and Spiritualist churches and centres try to pay attention to both types of development. Spiritual development should never be neglected, because when we have gone through the change called death, our place in the afterlife will be secured by the level of our spiritual development, not by the level of our psychic and mediumistic ability. Psychic and mediumistic abilities can be used to assist our spiritual development, or they can be used to distract us from it.

Some people are born with their spirit senses strongly developed and would be described as ‘natural mediums’. Others have the latent ability to become mediums, but don't develop that gift until later in life. They then need to go through a process of development and training, involving various exercises, regular attunement with the spirit world and regular practice at message giving in an open or closed circle. The length of this development process varies from medium to medium. This should help to develop their spirit senses, but it won't necessarily make them very spiritual people. They could be good mediums, but remain, unpleasant, uncaring, self-centred people. I imagine this would be very off-putting to someone who receives a reading from them, and it would make it difficult for the higher level spirits to make use of them too, because their main motivation in practising mediumship would not be to serve and help you, or serve and help spirit, but to serve and help themselves, (to, for example, gain money, star status, prestige, glory or self-advancement). Spiritually developed mediums, on the other hand, will be motivated to serve others rather than themselves. They are likely to be both more sensitive to you, how you are feeling at that time, your needs and situation, and be open to receiving the higher level spiritual understanding that the spirit world may wish to communicate. Almost as important as the message is the way it is given, and mediums trained to work in Spiritualist churches and centres are made very aware of this. An insensitively given message can cause upset and deter people from consulting a medium again. There are right ways and wrong ways to give a message, and some information a medium receives should never be given. If you are in need of a private sitting, don't just pick a name at random from a directory, magazine or list. Ask around. Get recommendations. Ask your local Spiritualist church or centre whom they would recommend. Regrettably, you have to be aware that some people claiming to be mediums and psychics are fraudulent, use cold-reading techniques, underhand tricks and informants to gain their information, and are only after your money. These unconscionable people give Spiritualism and mediumship a bad name, as it is readily assumed by hardline sceptics and others, who can't be troubled to investigate the matter thoroughly, that all mediums operate in the same way. Of course they do not. The SNU and Spiritualists generally are as keen as anyone to see that fraudulent mediums are exposed and barred from practising in our churches and centres.

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What is mental mediumship?

So, how do genuine mental mediums communicate between this world and the spirit world? What is meant by mental mediumship? What are these spirit senses that were talked about earlier? In the early days of modern Spiritualism, many mediums used to go into trance, and the evidence of survival would be given by a "control" - a spirit being, perhaps a spirit guide, who spoke through the body of the medium, using their brain, their vocal chords and mouth to speak. Very often the medium would be in deep trance and be unaware of what was happening. This is quite different to mental mediumship, where the medium has to be very much awake and alert, you might say hyper-alert because so many impressions from Spirit are quickly coming through. Thus the medium is able to tell you afterwards what he or she experienced, what it felt like to communicate with the spirit person, what they saw and heard. Interestingly, by comparing the experiences of mental mediums and psychics, we are able to see that mental mediumship is not a form of psychism. The mediums are not simply reading the sitter's mind. Mediumship and psychic ability are two quite distinct experiences. Mental mediumship gives the medium the strong sense of contact with a discarnate spirit being.

Mental mediumship takes place through senses similar to the five senses of our everyday earthly life. Mental mediums hear by means of the sense of 'clairaudience'. The medium may hear the words objectively as if they are external to the ears, or they may hear them subjectively as though a conversation is taking place in their head. This may be ever so subtle, like a whisper they they have to pay careful attention to. The medium's sense of seeing is known as 'clairvoyance', and again this may be objective in which the spirit beings, scenes and symbols are seen outside the body similar to ordinary vision, or subjective, in which mental images are seen in an inner vision. The third and most common aspect of mediumship is known as 'clairsentience'. Using this the medium will sense many things including the height, build and presence of the spirit being, as well as their emotional state and personality. A medium may smell 'clairallience', or taste things 'clairgustance', that give added information within a message. Mediums sometimes speak of another level of communication that has been called 'clairknowing' or 'claircognizance', in which the medium simply becomes aware of information with great certainty without necessarily seeing, hearing or sensing. Some of the impressions mediums receive are fleeting, and as was just said, the medium needs to pay keen attention to information given otherwise they will miss it. At the end of a public demonstration the medium can feel very tired, and in need of rest and quiet and a hot cup of tea. Please be sensitive about this. and don't immediately try to detain the medium after a service in a long conversation.

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The Role of Mental Mediumship in Spiritualism

Mental-mediumship is by far the most common form of mediumship, and is the sort of mediumship you will see demonstrated by the likes of Tony Stockwell, Lisa Williams, Allison Dubois, Colin Fry, and Gordon Smith on television. It is the type of mediumship you will witness during a Divine Service at all the Spiritualist churches and centres across the country. It is mental mediumship that is developed in our Open Circles. Most of our courses and workshops are designed to help develop greater proficiency in mental mediumship. The primary objective of mental mediumship in a Spiritualist setting is to provide evidence of "the continuous existence of the human soul" (our fourth principle); evidence, that is, that the conscious life and personality of a person continue in the spirit world after bodily death. This is done by the spirit informant supplying information through the medium about their earthly life and character that the recipient should be able to confirm. Our loved-ones in spirit can demonstrate their continued awareness of us by relaying personal, (but hopefully not too-intimate), details about our lives. If they do offer something indiscreet, a good, sensitive medium will disregard it. This underlines what was said earlier about the training and level of spiritual development of the medium being so important. It is not the main objective of a Spiritualist medium to give you Spirit's advice, though some advice and suggestions relevant to you may be given. It is certainly not the objective of mediumship in Spiritualist churches and centres to predict the future, and this is strongly discouraged. I think that most people are happy that this is so, and would rather let the futute unwind as it will, without any prior knowledge.

Occasionally spirit loved-ones reveal thoughts and plans going through your mind that you have never voiced, which shows that they have the ability to tune into your thoughts when necessary. This can provide outstanding evidence, because no-one else on earth knows it. Don't be frightened by this. If they did not have this ability, mental mediumship would be impossible. They are not following your thoughts all the time, only when there is a need, or when you ask them for advice or support, or send them your love. Knowing this is not a scary prospect. It is a comforting one. It shows that your loved-ones in spirit are only a thought away. Once you are used to this idea, you can communicate with them by thought alone. You have no need to voice your thoughts. Merely thinking of them in a loving way will bring them close to you. Again, I must stress that a good, well-trained medium will be sensitive about what information they give out in a public demonstration. In all likelihood, your loved-ones in spirit will be very sensitive about this too, and will not wish to embarrass you. They might communicate with you in a coded way, which means nothing to the medium who is relaying the information, or the other people in the hall, but means a lot to you. This has been my experience in very many messages I have received, and have observed others receiving. Again it is outstanding evidence. It shows that the medium has no knowledge of you and your life, whereas the spirit loved-one they are communicating with does. Both these sorts of evidence disprove the sceptic's slander that mediums are cheating in some way.

So, our loved-ones in spirit come to tell us that they are alive and well, to give comfort if we are still mourning their loss, to pass on their love and concern, to show us that they are still aware of our hopes, plans and day to day lives, and to offer support and encouragement where needed. Sometimes they have a longer message to give us, and they may use the opportunity of a private sitting rather than a public demonstration to do this. It would certainly be the more appropriate venue. A good medium will discourage a spirit person from giving a lengthy piece of advice in a public demonstration. In a private sitting, when you have a half-hour with the medium, the situation is different. Even here a Spiritualist medium's main objective is proof of survival, but the spirit loved-one may want to impart some of their wisdom, spiritual or otherwise, or they may want to talk you through a life-situation that is giving you a lot of pain, and offer their advice. However welcome or comforting it may be to receive their opinions, you must remember that they are still their opinions. Their location in the Spirit World does not make their opinions any more binding on you now than when they were with you here. You are the one responsible for living your life, not them. Accept their advice by all means if you agree with it, but keep your own counsel if you don't.

Sometimes a spirit person comes to say sorry for wrongs committed in this world, or to pass on their regrets about something. This can have a very cathartic and healing effect on the receiver of the message. In short I hope you can see that good mediumship is really a healing ministry for which there is enormous demand in this world. There is certainly a great need for it. It can be a tremendous force for good and very uplifting. For example, see this video "Mediumship and Healing". We are lucky that in the UK mediums have the freedom to carry out this wonderful work. In many countries they do not. In some countries mediumship is still classed as witchcraft and can be a capital offence. If your life has been helped or enriched by mental mediumship, give thanks for the freedom we enjoy, and treasure it.

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The Development of Mental Mediumship

There is no need to write about the process of development here, because the topic has been covered in the "Circles and Development" section. Please click the link to find some suggestions.

Mediumship is an art, and it cannot be precisely taught. So much depends on your own unique personality and your own unique mix of talents, abilities and skills, as well as the way the spirit world decide they can best work with you. Mediumship can only be assisted and encouraged into being. Even the best teacher cannot make you a medium, he or she can only facilitate your mediumistic development. Not everyone who tries to develop their mediumship ability is going to develop sufficiently to become a platform medium, or a medium capable of giving lengthy private sittings, although invariably everyone will progress to some extent.

Some people who want to develop mediumship find that despite their best efforts, despite all the Open Circles they sit in and courses and workshops they attend, they never manage to become mediums who can consistently give convincing messages. This causes no problem if they are relaxed about it and enjoy the spiritual benefits that devlopment training can bring. They will still know the great delight of finding that they can sometimes make contact with spirit minds in this way. They are still strengthening their intuitive faculty, whose best expression may be an art or skill other than mental mediumship. A developed intuitive faculty is often a great asset to us in all walks of life. An inability to progress beyond a certain point can cause heartache if the person doggedly tries to pursue their original objective when it seems that it is never being realised. In that case they need to re-examine that objective in the light of subsequent experience. Perhaps they had said to themselves, "I want to be a medium", rather than "I wish to serve the spirit world".

If we begin by saying, "I want to be a medium", we are imposing our desires on the spirit world, and not listening to what they want and need. We are looking at a place in the future and saying I want to be there, rather than letting the future unfold in a natural way by living always in the present moment. We are forgetting that mediumship is a relationship between us and sensitive, intelligent spirit beings. The gift of mediumship does not come from us or from our teachers, it is bestowed by the spirit world. Spirit beings are the ones who know how they can best work with us on the earth plane. We cannot demand that they work with us in a particular way, any more than we can demand that a person in this world relates to us in a certain way. When we lay our wants aside and instead offer our willing service, and are sincere about it, the spirit world will soon find work for us in the way that will make the best use of the talents and skills we possess.

We can find out what the spirit world want us to do if we regularly have silent times to attune with them. It is true that both the spirit world and Spiritualism need good mental mediums, and the next generation of platform mediums must be constantly trained. They also need people who can serve in other ways. Other types of evidence are required to lay alongside the evidence gained by mental mediumship for the eternal existence of the human soul. Other workers are needed to allow Spiritualism to function. You may find that you can best serve as an organiser or administrator, as a spiritual healer, as a writer, as a teacher or communicator, as an artist or designer, as a psychic artist, as a musician, as a poet, as someone who can channel the teachings of Spirit in philosophy talks, inspired writing, automatic writing, or in developing trance or physical mediumship. Is that list exhaustive? Surely not. There are so many ways the Spirit World can inspire us, and they will be able to help us to our greatest inspirations when we freely allow them to make use of our best talents. Many mediums have given us this advice from the spirit world many times: "In everything you do for and with Spirit, relax and attune to the spirit world, ask for the highest light you are capable of receiving, and ask for the guidance and direction of Spirit in the tasks you do for them." If you are sincere, that guidance and direction will always be given. If it does not come in the silence and peace of your own attunement, then consult a reputable, experienced medium and ask for a private sitting.

Other people may be pleased with the steady progress they have made, but be upset by the slowness of it all. The truth is we cannot force the pace of development. We must trust that it happens at the pace that is right for us. We cannot say why some people are born mediums, some start later and develop quickly and others slowly. We can only trust that there is a divine intelligence at work behind these differences. This is where our level of spiritual maturity comes in. Although we may not like it that our psychic and mediumistic development is slow, if we can accept it gracefully, we will be developing the qualities of patience and perseverance. These qualities may actually be far more important to us in the long run than our psychic and mediumistic abilities.

We should also make clear that a good medium's psychic and mediumistic development never stop either, and all genuine mediums know that however good they are, they can always do better. In this is the excitement and challenge of life, to enjoy working for, and persevere in, our continual improvement. Hopefully, we will always admit, as the sublime artist Michelangelo admitted towards the end of his long life, "Ancora imparo!" - "I am still learning!"

The SNU have placed an excellent video on Youtube, in which the medium Paul Jacobs talks about these issues. Every aspiring medium is urged to watch it and think carefully and honestly about the issues it raises.

If you enjoyed that video, you might also enjoy this video of Paul Jacobs involved in "a mediumship experiment" on Dutch TV. This is an example of exercises that advanced mediums use to improve their skills. The first part of this Dutch TV programme can also be enjoyed by English speakers, although it will help if you are multi-lingual!

We wish you joy and fulfillment on your spiritual journey, and if it lies within Spiritualism, may you quickly discover the best way you can serve the wonderful World of Spirit.