What is Physical Mediumship?
A local medium writes:
"In physical mediumship the communication from spirit is experienced in a physical way. If there is to be a voice then the voice will be heard through the physical ears of all present, if there are to be things to see then all will see with their physical eyes.
This is usually done through the withdrawal from the mediums body of a substance known as ectoplasm. With this material a voicebox can be created to make sound and it can be used to coat the etheric body of the spirit visitor to make it visible to the physical eyes of those on the earth.
Physical mediumship is a rare gift. Some of the most well documented cases include the mediumship of Minnie Harrison as told by her son, Tom Harrison, in his book: "Visits by Our Friends from the Other Side" - Paperback (April 1989); and Alec Harris in the book "Alec Harris - The Full Story of his Remarkable Physical Mediumship - Told by his wife Louie Harris."
Besides materialisations and partial materialisations of spirit people, other phenomena associated with physical mediumship are apports, raps, bangs, moving lights, heavenly music, bell sounds, direct voice phenomena, levitations, and dematerialisation and rematerialisation.
York Spiritualist Centre is committed to maintaining its long tradition of demonstrating over time all forms of mediumship. We were pleased to have a presentation on physical mediumship given by the physical and trance medium Scott Milligan on Sunday 21st November 2010, as part of our special Scott Milligan weekend, and he has given his kind permission for a report on this, which appears on this page below.
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Why is it rare today?
Physical mediumship takes a long time to develop. Sitting for 7 to 15 years before anything happens is quite common, although things can develop more quickly. It does seem to be rarer today than it was in the 19th Century and in the first half of the 20th Century. Various reasons have been advanced for this:
1) Life is lived at a faster pace today than it was back then. People travel more and more frequently. Work is often more challenging and stressful with imposed targets. There is increased tiredness and stress. Communities were more settled, whereas today people move frequently and communities change quickly. These factors work against the development of a settled home circle.
2) There are many more distractions in the home with instant gratification - computers, the internet, emails, texts, DVDs, home entertainment systems, music systems. Mediumship development, especially the development of physical mediumship, requires great patience and a huge time commitment over many years. Modern life with its instant pleasures and instant answers works against the development of patience.
3) In the past leisure and social life were centred on the home. People would entertain themselves and their friends in the home, and one pastime was to develop mediumship in its various forms in home circles with like-minded friends. There are now many more opportunites for entertainment both inside and outside the home, which seem more exciting, and this works against willingness to regularly attend home circles.
4) It has been suggested that a huge barrage of EMF radiation from electrical equipment in the home, mobile phones and phone masts, satellite broadcasting and satellite positioning technology, a level of non-ionising radiation which is escalating year on year, works against the development of physical mediumship particularly, other mediumship being affected by it to a lesser extent.
Nevertheless, there are still enough good physical mediums in Britain and in the world today to give serious, open-minded scientific investigators the chance to study the nature of physical mediumship and all the phenomena associated with it, and these investigators have been able to rule out fraud in the majority of cases. below.
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The Scott Milligan Demonstration - 21st November 2010
With his kind permission, we are able to report on the demonstration of physical mediumship Scott Milligan gave at the end of his two-day workshop on this subject at YSC. Scott is a young and very promising physical medium, who is still developing his gifts. He does not yet feel ready to give public demonstrations. However people who have regularly attended his annual workshop at YSC have noticed a steady year on year development in the demonstrations he has given. Scott was rather pushed for time before this demonstration began, because the Sunday service was to follow, and we had to clear up before that. Scott said that there were several things the Spirit World wanted to show us.
The small healing room was used for the seance, it had previously been carefully light-proofed. Before going into trance Scott began with a warning not to reach out to touch any moving objects or phenomena, because any phenomena would be connected to his nervous system and there would be an instantaneous reaction, which would cause him pain and could cause him harm. He asked two people to search him to ascertain that he had nothing hidden under his clothing. He was then strapped into a chair that had arms, which was not his. John had borrowed it from the home of a friend living nearby. The chair was nevertheless checked to show that it was solid, that the arms and legs did not come apart. It was found to be a genuine, robust, solid, plastic garden chair. The thickest cable ties available were used to tightly fasten his wrists to the arms of the chair and his ankles to the legs of the chair. The ties were checked to ensure that his arms and legs could not break out of the ties. A silent voice recorder was placed at the back of the cabinet, its red light taped over to exclude all stray light. The cabinet curtains were drawn, and Scott was allowed to drift into trance. About a metre in front of the cabinet was a heavy round table with several luminous discs placed upon it. The lights were switched off. It was pitch black in the room, although the luminous disks cast a little light across the table surface.
Darren the seance leader asked us to sing to raise the energy levels, a common practice at physical seances. After a couple of songs the spirit of Eric Johnson addressed us speaking through Scott in trance. He apologised for the shortness of time and asked the two people nearest the cabinet to place both their hands on the arm of the person sitting next to them to confirm that there was no fraudulent activity. He asked us to continue our singing. The authoritative voice of Eric Johnson spoke again. Dean and Richard, siting two places from the cabinet, were asked to reach out their left and right hands respectively, and place them upon the top surface of the table. They were asked to confirm that they had done that. They had. They were then asked to confirm that Bev's and Darren's hands were still resting on their arm. They were. During another song, the table lifted and turned, first one way a little, then the other way a little. The table was then put down gently and tilted to about 45 degrees to its tipping point. This was repeated. Richard reported that he felt that the table was going to tip over but it did not. Both Darren and Richard reported that they were satisfied that the spirit team had control of the table. and that no-one in the room had moved to lift it and turn it, or tilt it.
The authoritative spirit voice of Eric Johnson, spoke again through Scott in trance, explaining that if there were enough energy present, the spirit team would like to demonstrate the substance known as ectoplasm. He said that as time was short he would like some loud and energetic music to be played. After a lengthy musical intermission he explained:
"We have a number of workers working with this young man. Morning Star is the master of ceremonies and keeps him safe when he works in this way. I myself am one of the scientists and physicists who produces the substance known as ectoplasm in the direct voice capacity."
He went on to list the other members of the spirit team and briefly explain their role. He then commented:
"You have to understand that this young man's mediumship in development is like a diamond that has many facets. If there is a facet missing the diamond will be flawed. That is why we have 'experts' I suppose that understand each field of development, especially the materialisation aspect. We wish today to demonstrate the power of ectoplasm, to show it to you. Now we have in the past been able to show it in red light. We will first of all see how successful the plaque is, and then if the power is stable, we will attempt it in red light, but we also wish to demonstrate something with matter."
More music was requested. Above the discordant sound of our singing to an unrelated musical accompaniment, Dr Johnson asked for the plaque to be made ready. It was A4 in size and cast a faint glow, just enough to see an object by if held close to it. Darren was asked to bring the plaque close to Scott's chin behind the now open curtains of the cabinet.
"We are going to bring the young man forward. In a moment we will ask you to repeat the process, to do this a number of times so that all here present can see the ectoplasm. It is not so much producing the ectoplasm which is difficult; it is moving the young man. It is very much like moving a sack of spuds. (Speaking to Darren): Young man could you extinguish that racket! (The CD was still playing). Very good. Modern music is painful to the ears. ... We are moving him now. Can you bring up the plaque."
Darren: "Can anyone see anything?"
A stream of whitish ectoplasm was moving slowly downward unbending, as stiff as starched linen, yet much more fluid and malleable.
Onlooker: "I can see a hand."
Dr Johnson: "We will lean him forward with your permission."
The chair was now tilted forwards and the stream of white ectoplasm could be seen by more people in the dim fluorescent light of the plaque. There was a repeated low whooshing sound as the ectoplasm, which was coming from the medium's nostrils, was being exuded.
Onlooker: "I can see a stream of something. It is rolling down and then knotting.
Dr Johnson: "One moment my friends."
Onlooker: "Yes it is like a river of white.
Everyone present could see this phenomenon. There were repeated cries of "Yes, yes. ... and other terms of acknowledgement.
Dr Johnson: "One moment, my friends. With your permission can we stand him?
This was agreed, and silently Scott was either lifted up in his chair or stood with the chair still strapped to him, so that the stream of white ectoplasm was now falling vertically from a higher vantage point. It was viscous and rolled downwards like a slow lava flow, yet nothing broke away from it. The plaque was held to the front of the flow, allowing a clear view for those at the side of the room, but obscuring the sight from those at the back.
Onlooker: "Wow, it's about the length of an arm. You can see it."
Darren: "Can everyone see?"
At the back of there were some cries of "No."
Dr Johnson: "Bring the plaque so it faces the back, (i.e. behind the flow of ectoplasm). We will lean him forward. Please be careful that you do not burn him.
There were excited cries and exclamations, and many brief descriptions as everyone now saw this strange but conclusive demonstration of the production of ectoplasm.
Onlooker: "It's solid, like a solid waterfall."
Onlooker: "You can see that it is thicker and thinner in parts like gossamer, like folds of gossamer, dense and thick in parts."
Onlooker: "Is there a little bit of a smell attached to it?"
Dr Johnson emphatically: "Yes! .... Can I ask that all present witnessed the power that is known as ectoplasm?"
There was a unanimous: "Yes!"
Dr Johnson: "Did anyone here not see the power that is known as ectoplasm?
Silence. Then someone mischievously said: "If I say no does that mean you'll do it again?
Dr Johnson: "In some capacity yes, my friend."
The same person bantered: "I didn't see a thing." Laughter.
Dr Johnson: "Then we'll demonstrate it again for you. One moment. What we will do, we will lay it across the table. With your permission, can we move the young man again?" This was agreed. "Sing a little for us my friends."
Only a short spell of singing was necessary this time to raise the energy levels, when Dr Johnson called us to attention. Darren was asked to lift the plaque vertically face down to a certain height, and then move the plaque at that level across towards the flow of ectoplasm, which soon everyone could see was moving steadily horizontally across the table, slightly above it, neither drooping nor breaking off into lumps.
"It's like an elephant's trunk." ... "There's quite a lot of it." ... "It's moving."
Dr Johnson: "Young man, bring the plaque closer to his face."
Onlooker: "It's like an arm, and there seems to be a hand forming at the end of it."
Onlooker: "It's coming from his nostrils."
Dr Johnson: "Yes! It is the easiest place to extract the ectoplasm. We will lean him up slightly. We want you to reverse the plaque so that it is face up. Do it now. Now put it underneath his chin." This was done. "Can all here see?" Excited cries of "Yes!" "Very good. Now we will bring him back."
The ectoplasm started to retreat with a whooshing sound, being retracted into the nostrils of the medium quite quickly, in marked contrast to its slow outpouring. We were asked for a lively song as we were coming to the end of the demonstration. The CD track played against our discordant singing, but no other sound was heard.
Dr Johnson: "In a moment we will leave you, but we want for you to leave, I suppose, questioning was that possible? In a moment we will move the young man. You will hear a noise, but do not be alarmed."
There was a twisting sound as if something had been wrenched apart and then put back together quickly.
Dr Johnson: "It is done. ... ... My friends. It has been an absolute joy and privilege to have shared these few hours with you, of seeing you strive, of seeing you have those breakthroughs in your own pathway of unfoldment. But understand that what has taken place this day with this young man is what we have worked for for over thirteen years with him. But we worked before he touched the earth plane, my friends. There was a circle before the young man's circle - the Wish Circle, went (back) to the Swish Circle, you know ... and beyond that ... and beyond that. And in some time there will be a new link in an evergoing chain which will take up the post of this young man when it is his time to migrate to my world. Good day to you my friends."
Onlookers: There were many cries of "Thank you" "Good-bye" "It's been an absolute pleasure."
Dr Johnson: "You are most welcome."
There followed some comical words and light relief from 'Danny' the Cockney spirit who had done most of the lifting and moving. He had a stick with him and rhythymically tapped the legs of Scott's chair os he spoke, "to raise the vibrations", he said. He repeated Dr Johnson's words that they wanted to do something that would make us question. "I hope it does!" he added. Then Morning Star addressed us.
Morning Star: "Good, yes. Makes old man very happy. ... I come and speak to my brothers and sisters when we can celebrate at this joyous time that we live on beyond your world. So take comfort my friends as I have always spoke that your dear ones walk amongst you when we come. As I said, I walk to the beat of my father's drum. You must walk to the beat of your heart."
That is the best that any of us can do. "Where our heart is, there will our treasure be also." Dr Johnson returned, briefly, to ask that the medium be brought round in the usual way. We remained quiet to allow Scott to return to us naturally. It took a couple of minutes, and he was groggy at first. For an older medium it would probably have taken longer. The red light was turned on, and his bindings were checked and found to be secure. Both Scott's wrists were still securely bound to the arms of the chair, and his legs to the chair-legs. No one noticed, until Darren drew our attention to it, that his right leg, though still securely fastened to the leg of the chair, had been pushed through the enclosed space between the front leg, the arm rest, the seat and the back of the chair. How could that have happened? It defies belief to suppose that Scott had surreptitiously forced his leg off the end of the chair leg, stretched far out to his left without tipping the chair over, angled his free leg with difficulty up to and into the limited space and then reconnected it to the chair-leg in the dark while his wrists were bound to the chair arms, without fumbling and without sound. The sound recorder had been placed in the cabinet, and it would have picked up the noise of any but the most gentle movement, and there had been none. The chair was not a prop, as the medium had not brought a suitable chair with him. It had been hastily borrowed at the last minute from the a friend of the Centre. After the demonstration it was checked again and found to be perfectly solid and robust. What other explanation could there be? Dematerialisation then rematerialisation of the chair leg? Matter through matter? This indeed made us all wonder.
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Ectoplasm
In this demonstration, Dr Johnson was at great pains to ensure that we all witnessed the production of ectoplasm. Those of us who had not seen it before, agreed that it was like nothing else in our experience. Disparaging sceptics who cannot be troubled to investigate the matter properly, are fond of saying that it is nothing more than starched cheese cloth, which is swallowed and then regurgitated? What? Through his nostrils? This substance was not at all like cheese cloth, which even if starched would have flopped and drooped into a heap. This substance was viscous and flowing, yet cohesive; gossamer-like, yet strong; structurally firm yet light; rigid, yet workable and malleable. No other substance we had ever seen before resembled it.
If Scott's development as a physical medium goes to plan, we expect that in a few years the spirit team working with him will be able to use the ectoplasm that they can readily extract from him to materialise spirit beings in the way that David Thompson does today in Australia; in the way that Helen Duncan, Minnie Harrison, Hunter Selkirk, Jack Webber, Alex Harris, John Campbell Sloan and others did in Britain in the past. How this is achieved is a mystery. What is certain is that Scott will not be demonstrating his gift publicly until it has been perfected and he feels ready to brave the barracking that his gift will attract from some quarters.
So what is ectoplasm? The word 'ectoplasm was invented by a French scientist named Charles Richet in 1894, to explain a third arm that was claimed to appear from a medium named Eusapia Palladino. The word came from the Greek words "ekto" and "plasma", meaning "exteriorized substance". Before that there had been reports of "vapours" appearing around the physical medium Daniel Dunglas Home and others. It is said that it can be painful to the physical medium for anyone else to touch the ectoplasm, and it will shoot back into the medium's body, possibly causing burns. On occasion, investigators have been allowed by the spirit team to touch the ectoplasm, and it was felt to be a thick, clotted and mucus-like substance that feels rubbery, sticky and dough-like. However its form and tactile qualities are variable, and it can appear dry and hard. This variablity in its qualities makes it seem an almost life-like substance, capable of adapting to meet the needs required. We do not know how this is achieved, but we feel sure that its adaptation is effected by the spirit scientists who work with the physical medium. Unlike some sceptics, we do not have the temerity to assert that what we do not understand cannot possibly exist.
In his book: "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife", Chapter 10, Victor Zammit states:
Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing, a Munich physician, showed that ectoplasm is composed of leucocytes—white or colorless blood cells—and epithelial cells—those from the various protective tissues of the body. During materialization it is taken from the bodies of the medium and the sitters.
Baron Schrenck Notzing in Phenomena of Materialization sums up hundreds of experiments conducted for a period of five years with Eva C.:
We have very often been able to establish that by an unknown process there comes from the body of the medium a material, at first semi-fluid, which possesses some of the properties of a living substance, notably that of the power of change, of movement and of the assumption of definite forms."
Also very variable is the sensitivity of ectoplasm to light. It seems very much to depend on the quality of the ectoplasm extracted from the medium. Some physical mediums have to work in complete darkness or the ectoplasm is rapidly destroyed. Some allow a limited exposure of the ectoplasm to red light, allowing it to be seen by all present and photographed. Others, like Hunter Selkirk who worked in the Newcastle area, have been able to produce ectoplasm and the resultant materialisation in subdued white light conditions, in which everything was clearly visible to the sitters.
Spiritualists do feel it is a pity that such a light sensitive substance should be needed still after over 160 years of experimentation. It obviously lays us open to the charge that blackout conditions allow the possibility of fradulent activity. It is regrettably true that some persons claiming to be physical mediums have been fraudulent, while others capable of producing genuine phenomena have resorted to fraud when the gift has waned. We do our utmost to eliminate the possibility of fraud, and do take the problem seriously. Seance rooms are independently checked by at least two persons before anyone is allowed to enter. People are frisk-searched before entry and told to leave shoes, coins, watches, cameras, and any metallic or electrical gadgets outside the seance room. The medium is searched and someone stays with him or her until all the sitters are seated and accounted for. The outside doors are then locked and someone accompanies him or her to their seat in the cabinet, where they are bound and tied to their chair, and sometimes gagged. The restraints are independently checked to ensure that they are secure. It is already happening that modern infra-red cameras and heat-sensitive cameras are being used by a trusted independent operator to take photographs of the proceedings - hence the many photos of ectoplasm, some of very high quality. It is to be hoped that this practice will soon become universal, and that spirit teams will work hard to ensure that is always possible, even mandatory.
There are reports that a new substance called "photoplasm" is being used in some physical circles, and that this permits the medium to work in subdued daylight, so that everything is above board and visible. Scott was asked about this when questions were allowed after his talk to us on physical mediumship on Friday 19th November 2010. He said that Morning Star and Dr Eric Johnson had been asked this question, and it was their opinion that "old ways still work the best." It is to be hoped that there will be such developments in the production and handling of photoplasm as to permit its widespread use, which will allow photo and film evidence to be freely available for a still doubting public.
It is said that the living physical medium, Bill Meadows, creates neither ectoplasm nor photoplasm during his seances. It is said that the spirits are able to make use of his psychic or spiritual energy to create their physical phenomena. In this Bill Meadows may be unique. In a recent article in Psychic News, Freddie Giddings reported on a Bill Meadows physical seance that took place at Jenny's Sanctuary last year. About the energy that Bill is using he wrote:
"So what energy is Bill using? I believe physical energy is physical energy, so perhaps it is a refined energy with the ‘nasties’ taken out. Perhaps Bill’s physical make-up is such that they are able to use this energy with him and with people of a similar make up. It is conceivable that the spirit world has progressed. Those who developed using ectoplasm seem unable to switch to this safer energy. I am sure any sitter wanting to cause mischief could give Bill’s nervous system a nasty jolt."
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The Evidential Value of Physical Mediumship
Once fraud has been ruled out by sympathetic, open-minded, but rigorous, highly qualified scientists and paranormal investigators, the evidence that physical mediumship gives for the survival of consciousness and an "etheric spiritual body" after physical death is irrefutable. Professional debunkers and closed-minded sceptics will probably never be convinced, and by and large they have ignored these phenomena, or at best shown a reluctance to want to investigate them with the rigour and dedication that the investigators did in "The Scole Experiment" and elsewhere. These phenomena are not incompatible with the new understandings of physics and its investigations into the fundamental nature of matter. Theoretical physicists realise that they are very far from a full understanding of the nature of matter. What is clear is that matter is not the solid dense stuff that our consciousness takes it for, but rather comparitively dense forms of energy. The further the physicists delve, the more mysterious matter appears to be.
Among scientists investigating consciousness, there are many now who "think beyond the brain" for an understanding of what consciousness is and how it is caused. They have been aware of and open to the many different types of phenomena described and referenced in these "About" pages. Physicists and researchers into the paranormal are beginning to realise that consciousness affects matter and that the material world we take for granted is a construct of consciousness. Known problems and effects such as "The Measurement Problem" and "The Experimenter Effect" are pointing to this. Slowly, but surely, more scientists are coming to appreciate the spiritual and eternal nature of consciousness. Spiritualists are proud to be in the vanguard of this movement, pointing the way, which all informed science must eventually follow. Despite its rarity, physical mediumship has still an inestimably important role to play in proving the eternal nature of consciousness. As Spiritualists, we support it and greatly value it.
For the people observing a physical seance, the experience can be very profound and may take a while to assimilate. It is certainly an experience that people will recall and think about long after the event. In this video there are audience reactions after one of David Thompson's physical seances.
Here are more more testimonies after a David Thompson seance held in October 2010 in Perth, Western Australia.
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Great Physical Mediums of the Past
The Bangs Sisters
George Chapman physical medium
Arnold Clare physical medium
Florence Cook physical medium
Margery Crandon physical medium
Stella Cranshaw physical medium
Frank Decker physical medium
Daniel Dunglas Home physical medium
Helen Duncan physical medium
The Eddy Brothers
William Eglington physical medium
Mme d'Esperance physical medium
Leslie Flint direct-voice medium.
* See also below.
Alec Harris physical medium
Minnie Harrison physical medium
Gordon Higginson as a physical medium - photo
Cecil Husk physical medium
Indridi Indridason physical medium
Franek Kluski physical medium
Bessy Manning - return of
Spirit forms Materialising during Alex Harris seance
Carlos Mirabelli physical medium
Stainton Moses physical medium
John Myers physical medium
Eusapia Palladino physical medium
Mollie Perriman physical medium
Estelle Roberts physical medium
Rudi Schneider physical medium
Willy Schneider physical medium
Hunter Selkirk physical medium
Maria Silbert physical medium
George Spriggs physical medium
George Valiantine physical medium
Mona van der Watt
Jack Webber physical medium
Etta Wreidt physical medium
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Direct Voice Mediumship
Independent Direct Voice mediumship is the process activated by Spirit scientists, in conditions of favourable and sufficient energy, in which they are then able to build an ectoplasmic voice box in mid air. Spirit communicators can then use this voice box, and their voices are heard by all present. The voices can be almost identical to the spirit's voice when they were in the physical world. The voices can move around the room and can be heard far away from the bodily presence of the physical medium, who should be strapped to his chair. This is quite different from a spirit person speaking through the larynx of a medium in trance. Direct voice mediumship is common at physical seances, in the presence of fully developed physical mediums.
Arguably, the greatest Direct Voice Medium of all time was Leslie Flint (1911-1994). Please visit the website set up in his honour, where you will be able to listen freely to hours of recordings of spirit voices with their wonderfully uplifting messages of hope and comfort, and descriptions of life in the world beyond this.
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