What is Mediumship? A Brief Overview
Oftentimes, in paranormal research, there are seemingly catch-all phrases that we use to describe things that may be overlooked or have disagreed upon definitions. In tonight’s blog, I am going to walk you through what a Medium is, something we’ve discussed in several episodes, and bring you a brief overview of mediumship at large. Let’s dig in!
In its most succinct definitions: a medium is a person who claims to be able to channel or communicate with a spiritual entity.
In some cases, this entity may have once been a person. It is very common that mediums claim they can communicate with those who have moved on and can share messages from beyond the grave (or tell the spirit your messages). It is vital to be incredibly wary of these claims as often this gift may be perverted and used to steal money or other things from people desperate for a chance at reconnection.
The idea of mediums has likely been around for some time, with many ancient societies, like the Greeks or, less ancient, the Vikings, employing people that claimed to be able to communicate with the gods or spirits of ancestors. However, the term didn’t come into use until the mid-19th century and is usually connected with the rise of Spiritualism in the west.
During the height of spiritualism, dozens of notable people are recorded as having attended seances and/or visited mediums including Andrew Jackson David and Arthur Conan Doyle. Not to mention, during this time seances were held in royal palaces across Europe and even The White House. There has been resurgence of Mediumship in the 21st century with New Age movements, explorations of extrasensory abilities, and plain curiosity
It is also believed there are two types of mediums:
Mental Mediums: These mediums use the five senses of a person’s consciousness to communicate, usually either clairvoyance/sight, clairaudience/auditory, and clairsentience/tactile.
Physical Mediums: These mediums can have an audience who can visually see how the medium is affected (for example, ectoplasm coming out of the medium, levitation, etc) and/or hear directly from the spirit via raps/taps or automatic writing.
Astonishing Legends has covered one of the most prolific mediums, Edgar Cayce, in a series. Cayce was said to give over 22,000 readings throughout his lifetime and often performed reading whilst he was in a trance state, having no memory or knowledge of what occurred while in the trance. He also made various predictions throughout his life and explored ideas like Atlantis.
Of course, many believe that Mediumship is simply astute individuals looking to make a buck, or, even worse talented con artists ready to take the money of people during some of their most vulnerable times. It is beyond dispute that Mediumship has a long history of fraud and mistrust.
That being said, there are researchers and scientists to this day trying to prove that these extra-sensory abilities are very real. In fact, for decades, mediums were often used or pulled in on various detective cases and are credited with aiding investigations.
Of course, while not focused on mediums, the government also had a vested interest in proving mediumship or ESP abilities were real and using them for spy fare and more.
One of those research centers is the Windbridge Research Center, and they work to certify and study mediums, and have published their findings in a few studies. You can explore some of their findings here.
Their Director of Research, Julie Beischel, Ph.D (Pharmacology & Toxicology with a minior in Microbiology & Immunology the University of Arizona) was interviewed by Goop and states…
“At the Windbridge Research Center we are ultimately interested in helping people alleviate suffering using research and education. Specifically, we hope to normalize phenomena like mediumship and spontaneous after-death communication experiences in regular people (for example, sensing the presence of the deceased, dreams about them, smells, or music) so people who have those experiences—which are very common—can stop feeling like they are crazy or delusional. The body of research on spontaneous experiences of a deceased loved one has found that they occur in roughly 30 percent of people at some point in their lives and that about 80 percent of people will have at least one experience in the first year following the death of someone close to them. Those are numbers people should have.”
I will say that while efforts to certify mediumship are interesting, the Windbridge Research Center focuses on death and easing death, and I, personally, find that a bit of a yellow flag.
When it comes to understanding the complicated world of Mediumship, this is merely a primer. As always, before contacting anyone or spending money or time, please thoroughly research. Or, just research for interest’s sake.
The image depicts Hours with the ghosts, or, Nineteenth century witchcraft - illustrated investigations into the phenomena of spiritualism and theosophy (1897) and is in the public domain.
Thanks to Instagram follower letmeeatcake_ for this blogstonishing suggestion!