Can you talk to the dead? Genuine psychic mediums can. Plenty of people who talk to the dead have learned how to contact a dead loved one all on their own, but plenty of others have learned skills from other people.
One organization that has acquired quite expertise in being spiritual mediums, are known as the Spiritualism movement. In this article we will learn about this organization, explore being a medium, and will cover the following topics:
- What is Spiritualism?
- What is a Medium?
- How Do You Know If You Are a Medium?
- How to Develop Mediumship
If you are someone who talks to dead loved ones, you may wonder where to find others who can too. Someone who talks to dead loved ones may operate on their own as a psychic medium and be skilled at feeling someone’s energy even if they are not alive anymore. Spiritualist organizations are places where you find people who answer the question “Can we talk to the dead” with a “Yes!” and they welcome new friends to join them.
You might not feel the need to join with another medium for feeling people’s energy beyond death, instead you might just want to know how to strengthen your own abilities as a medium psychic. Learn the truth about mediums, how to find out if you are a spiritual medium, and how to develop your abilities in this article. Read about the Spiritualist movement and what a spiritualistic medium can gain if they join them.
What is Spiritualism?
The Spiritualist movement is a fairly new one, said to originate in the 1840s and Spiritualism can refer to churches, or simply philosophy and beliefs. All Spiritualists operate under the belief that spirits communicate with human beings through the help of a specific type of psychic called a medium.
Mediums are people who speak with the dead. The spirits spoken with can be dead humans, or celestial beings, and their dogmatic beliefs are often progressive Christian ones with a loving benevolent god. Today’s Spiritualists, also called Spiritists, often belong to The National Spiritualist Association of Churches which was formed in 1893, and operate under Nine Principles which are as follows:
- We believe in Infinite Intelligence.
- We believe that the phenomena of Nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence.
- We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression, and living in accordance therewith, constitute true religion.
- We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death.
- We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.
- We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals, and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature's physical and spiritual laws.
- We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul here or hereafter.
- We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship.
Some members believe we reincarnate, and others believe in Heaven and Hell, with there being multiple levels of both where people can go after death. All the Spiritualists believe in communication with dead loved ones and other spirits through a medium psychic.
They also believe in various other abilities with a statement from 1950 saying “The Phenomena of Spiritualism consists of Prophecy, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Gift of Tongues, Laying on of Hands, Healing, Visions, Trance, Apports, Levitation, Raps, Automatic and Independent Writings and Paintings, Voice, Materialization, Photography, Psychometry and any other manifestation proving the continuity of life as demonstrated through the Physical and Spiritual senses and faculties of man.“
They also believe some human beings are able to heal by touch miraculously with no medical intervention and while there are central beliefs, each Spiritualist church is free to interpret those beliefs on their own terms.
They do have seminaries for training clergy and mediums and the Association of Independent Readers and Root workers lists Spiritualist groups in the United States and Canada, South America, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, and South Africa.
There are a lot of noteworthy individuals who contributed to the Spiritualism Movement, adding their philosophies, leadership, and some even added writings for future Spiritualists to draw from. A few of them are Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott, Franz Mesmer, and Harry Price.
Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott
Born in 1840 in New York, by age twelve, the beautiful Cora started going into trances and communicating with spirits. Her parents had an interest in mediumship and started taking her around, so she could show her abilities to the public by the time she was fifteen years old.
A year later, she married a stage performer who promoted her for entertainment, which upset and saddened many who believed in Cora’s abilities, and once their marriage ended, she devoted her time to teaching and sharing her gifts on a spiritual level. She finally settled in to become clergy at a Chicago Spiritualist church in 1875, which she would continue to do until she passed away.
1893 was an eventful year for Cora, as she spoke at the Parliament of the World’s Religions and helped found The National Spiritualist Association, becoming their first vice president. Some mark this year and the founding of this organization as the official beginning of Spiritualist churches, and others believe that it started sooner.
For the rest of her life, she was active in Spiritualism, and passed on at age 82, having served her religious community for seventy years. She was also an abolitionist, a Native American rights activist, and she served as an advisor to President Lincoln, and she also worked for Presidents Johnson and Grant.
Franz Mesmer
Mesmer was a German physician who created a type of treatment referred to as mesmerism, which he called animal magnetism. He said animal magnetism was an invisible life force that all living organisms including plants, animals, and people had, and said it could be used for a variety of purposes including healing.
He created a treatment program that was designed to remove obstacles and disease from the body through energy transfer from the doctor, or magnetizer, and the patient. This puts the patient into a trance like state during healing sessions, and some reported miraculous healing.
The concepts of energy transfer and energy healing were welcomed by Spiritualists, and while much of the movement entails communication with spirits, healing without medicine is part of it as well. Mesmer’s ideas were embraced by the Spiritualists as well as other non-mainstream groups in occult communities, and medical researchers reported the cures only worked when the patients were aware it was being used.
These were some of the first recorded observations of what would be called the placebo effect, which means there is no actual benefit from the treatment, but from the patient’s belief they are being cured makes them feel better.
Harry Price
Harry Price played a different role for the Spiritualist movement, but his contributions were very important. He was an author and psychic researcher who exposed fraudulent mediums, which is crucial for helping people to know how to find legitimate ones.
After becoming proficient in sleight of hand stage performances, he joined The Society for Psychical research, which was formed in 1882, and it has been stated that it was the"first society to conduct organized scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models." They researched psychic phenomena and investigated prominent professional psychics and mediums, exposing some as frauds, and promoting others as legitimate.
While with this organization, Price investigated Eva Carriere who claimed to have ghost ectoplasm, but Price said it was nothing more than cardboard that had been chewed on. He also investigated a Maria Silbert séance and caught her moving things around the room with her hands and feet, which she claimed the spirits were moving.
He also validated a six-year-old medium named Rosalie because he had sealed windows and doors closed, so nobody could enter or exit and sprinkled starch on the floors to reveal footsteps during the séance. He said a young girl appeared, walked to Rosalie, took her pulse, and left. Afterward, he observed there were no footprints or disturbance of the seals, so he declared the session a legitimate one.
What is a Medium?
A medium is somebody who mediates, or intercepts messages from spirits and delivers them to the living. There are various types of mediumships, or techniques used by mediums. Some are able to naturally receive messages with no effort, while others go into a trance-like state to be able to do so. Still others use a technique called automatic writing.
Natural Medium
People who naturally receive messages from the dead may suddenly get messages seemingly out of nowhere. They might also be able to ask a simple question just like they would ask somebody who is living and get their answer just as easily. These people will usually have begun developing abilities young, and by the time they are adults, they are so used to doing this, it has become second nature for them.
They often don’t have any set techniques they have learned from anybody else, but they do what their abilities naturally lead them to, instinctually. These mediums can’t necessarily teach anybody else how to speak to the dead in the ways they do, but quite often share their talents, and help anybody who they can.
Trance Mediumship
Some people have to alter their consciousness to get into the right state of mind to use their mediumship abilities. They go into a trancelike state, or a state of mind that is only partially conscious, so they can fully access their psychic abilities without being distracted by their physical environment. This allows for maximum psychic focus, and some people are able to slip in and out of this state of consciousness very easily.
Some people will alter the lighting in the room and control the room’s temperature as well. Others will cover their eyes or ears, so they are not distracted by things they could see or hear. Divorcing the consciousness from the body and focusing only on the spiritual abilities is one way some mediums ready themselves to receive messages from spirits.
Automatic Writing
Automatic writing is one method that some mediums use to get messages. Some believe that they willingly allow their bodies to be animated by spirits, and that the spirit will take control of the medium’s hand and write out messages for the living. Others believe the medium acts almost like a secretary, the spirit dictates to and writing down what is said to them ensures all the information is communicated to the living.
Some mediums don’t write legibly when they use automatic writing, and they verbally interpret what the spirits are telling them to write. Some people will keep the pages from the automatic writing session that the medium made for them as well, going back and reading the words the spirits conveyed to them often.
How Do You Know If You Are a Medium?
There is no one tried and true way to know if you are a medium, but signs will manifest. You will feel the presence of spirits, and you may even be able to see them. You will be aware of what they are thinking or feeling or saying, and you may be able to ask them questions and get answers instantly.
You may have no issues feeling the presence of those you love who have passed away, and you may pick up on passing spirits who you have never met before. Not only that, but you might be a medium if you are naturally drawn to studying about mediumship, and if anything about communication with spirits draws you in. If you feel new to mediumship, and you want to find out if that is your psychic gift, don’t ignore it. Instead, get started with trying to strengthen mediumship abilities.
How to Develop Mediumship
There is no one way to develop your abilities as a medium, but there are a few different ways some people swear by. Finding a teacher who will mentor and guide you is one way but working at your own personal practice patiently is another way. Finding validation for your experiences by circling with other mediums is another amazing way to develop your gifts.
Mentorship
Perhaps this is obvious, but the simplest way to develop any psychic ability in general is to find an expert, and study with them. Finding the perfect mentor, however, might not be so simple. Some people say when you are ready for the lesson, your teacher will miraculously appear to you, however, that’s only partially true.
The saying makes it sound as if things happen all on their own with zero effort on our part, and another saying by actress Sarah Brown is “The only thing that ever set itself to success was a hen.” To find a teacher, get online, or open the phone book, and find new age or metaphysical shops or Spiritualist churches in your area and find out who they have who is accepting students. You might get lucky and find your perfect teacher at the first place you check, but if you don’t, keep trying. You will find a great teacher.
Personal Practice
Regardless of whether you have a teacher, or if you simply read, watch videos, and then set aside time to speak with spirits after doing this, you will have to practice strengthening your abilities on your own. Set aside a time weekly, or even daily if you prefer, and begin by speaking directly to the spirits of the people you have known.
Even calling the spirit of a deceased pet is good for this. A simple way to do this is to place a photo of your deceased loved one and some item that belonged to them or that otherwise represents them together with a single candle.
Light the candle and speak aloud to them, or call to them in your heart. Your personal connection to them will reach their hearts and they may respond quickly. If you don’t get an immediate response, don’t be dismayed. Relax and allow messages to come on their own time. It may be moments, or a matter of days, and the messages might not come in easily recognizable ways.
You may catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye and when you turn to see them, they disappear. You may hear your answer coming from a living person’s lips, and you might just get a gut feeling of what they are answering. You might see them in dreams, and you might have to try to contact them multiple times before you figure out how to do it.
One thing is for certain, as you practice, practice really does make perfect and over time, you will develop your own techniques that work best for you. You might prefer to speak to spirits in your place of worship or in nature. You might set aside a place in your home for it, and you might not even need a special place for communication over time.
You might find that certain times of the day or night are times when you feel spirit presences most strongly, and you might just need to be in a quiet place and anytime of the day is a good time for you to communicate. Take your time, keep practicing, and be patient. Mediumship is a lifelong practice and does not necessarily become powerful the moment you realize you have abilities.
Join Others
Some people join groups doing mediums psychic readings to take their turns listening to messages the spirits have for attendees. One method is to stand before the group when it is your turn and ask who would like a message from spirits.
Choose who you feel you are drawn to and open yourself to messages from whatever spirit is near that person and what it is they want to say to them. If the spirit is willing to use you to deliver messages, and you are open to receiving them, it will be effortless, but sometimes it takes a while for this to develop.
When you are getting messages for a spirit who somebody knows well, the person who is receiving messages can validate that you are speaking with the voice of their spirit. A benefit of this is that you will be allowed to take a turn receiving messages through a fellow medium, and going to these groups will establish a place for you in your mediumship community. You will learn and share what you will come to know, and you and your fellow mediums will grow together.
Conclusion
Speaking with the dead is a powerful gift many people have, and thankfully, if this is your spiritual gift, you are not alone. There are many others who have the same gift, and you can find them at places like Spiritualist groups. You can learn, grow, and share your gifts with others, and maintain a wonderful relationship with the living and the dead as well.
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