What is a Medium?
In the beginning God, or the Great Spirit, created the universe through the natural process of what we call evolution and in the course of time man evolved, endowed as a Spirit. That is to say man is a spirit now on this earth. That being so, every child is born with varying degrees of psychic gifts. We make a joke of women's intuition, but that is an elementary form of psychic development.
There are those with exceptional gifts who are known as mediums or instruments through which those on the other side of life communicate with the people they have left behind. Some people manifest their psychic gift at an early age while some need quite a long period of development, and others never show any sign of such gifts at all. It is a sad thought that through ignorance of this subject many potentially valuable mediums and healers are lost to the world.
Mediums, although possessing this gift, are fundamentally no different from the rest of us. There is nothing supernatural about them - one cannot be above nature, but they are supernormal.
Mediumship takes two forms, mental (perception) and physical. The former is more common. In this, Spirit works through the medium's mind and he or she is able to see, hear or sense clearly Spirit forms or sounds. This is called clairvoyance, clairaudience or clairsentience. Again, a medium may only sense these things, but all mediums possess one, or a combination of these three forms.
One thing must be stressed here - there is no question of fortune telling being practiced. It is true that many fortune-tellers, including those who would ask you to "cross their hand with silver", possess the gift of clairvoyance, but in the vast majority of cases there is nothing very spiritual about them. They work mostly on a purely psychic level.
How do mediums work? In the days before automation, three persons were necessary in the making of a telephone call - the caller, the person at the exchange and the person being called. No connection could be made without the operator. So it is with Spirit communication. In this case the medium is the operator making contact with someone in the Spirit world who wishes to communicate with a person on earth. There is, however, a big difference between a telephone call and Spirit communication. In the former, a two-way conversation can be effected; while in the latter only Spirit can contact us. One of the charges leveled at us is that we call up the dead. This we cannot do because those who contact us are living Spirits. They contact us only when they are able and wish to do so.
In Spirit communication there is a fourth link - the Spirit guide or helper who controls the medium and brings the Spirit entity in contact with the person on earth. Between the medium and her helper a close harmonious partnership exists, thus providing the line of communication between the two worlds. The helper is able to enter the medium's mind and facilitates the thoughts so that thoughts are being submitted from the Spirit world which are in turn translated by the medium into description of places or people and the words of a message, through clairvoyance, clairaudience or trance.
Where do mediums work? In a church service or public meeting, in the smaller limits of a group or circle, or in the even more intimate contact between the medium and the person seeking communications or help in a private sitting. Mediums also hold circles for the development of potential clairvoyants or speakers and the larger open circle for initial development in which those present can take part.
Another form of mediumship is psychometry in which a medium, while holding an object, can obtain impressions of the person to whom it belongs - his character, habits and incidents connected with his life. There have been many instances where psychometry has been used to aid the police in finding missing persons or bringing criminals to justice. There is a problem with psychometry and that is if the object being held once belonged to another person, then their impressions are still present.
Physical mediumship demands a very high degree of psychic power which many mediums do not possess. These include direct voice communication in which the Spirit speaks through the medium in his own recognizable voice using a 'Spirit' larynx which Spirit has duplicated. Materialization: when those in Spirit present themselves solidly and visibly to those they wish to contact using the medium's gift. Often, the Spirit presence can be touched, as long as the person touching has been given permission beforehand by the materialized Spirit entity. The Spirit entity feels warm to the touch as any living person does. In these forms of mediumship, the medium goes into trance, that is, becomes oblivious of immediate surroundings while generally still retaining partial consciousness.
Trance is also used in the home circle which is a very intimate form of contact with Spirit. In this, a small group of sincere sitters gather around and the medium's guide talks through the medium to those present and they in turn can ask questions and receive replies.
There is no end to the ways in which the Spirit world endeavours to communicate with us through mediumship in order to prove that they still live on and can give us help and guidance. It is very desirable that a medium be a highly spiritual and dedicated person who recognizes their great responsibilities, not only to oneself, but to the guide and the recipients of messages from the other side. It is through the medium that these communications are made possible.
You may be told that you could be a medium. It is quite possible that you could with proper development. You cannot learn to be a medium - you either are one or you are not - but you can be helped if the latent gift, which is in all of us, can be brought to the surface usually with the help and guidance of a good teacher.
Some would-be mediums ask if it is possible to sit alone for development. It is possible, but very dangerous, and not advised, as one lays oneself open to undesirable influences. Join a good circle led by a good and experienced medium and composed of sincere sitters, for mutual help and protection. Besides the will to sit, .two things are essential, regular attendance and punctuality. Remember you are making an appointment with Spirit and they are never late!
There is nothing like personal experience. Visit a Spiritualist Church and you will be drawn to come again and again. Attend and experience an "open circle" for the public. If you wish to discover more, join a development circle.