Mediumship & Psychic Awareness

 

A brief explanation by Jane Tinworth

 

 

 

“A new age is emerging. Mediumship as has existed has tended to draw from the past to point to the future. What we need now is to forge direct contact between psychically aware people and the entire universe - whole worlds – infinite.  There has been a failing on earth of only looking at itself in isolation: there now needs to be a universal concept.”   (Zed)

 

It is a fact that after thousands of years and across the range of cultures and religions, the phenomenon of mediumship is little understood, even by those who practice or witness it at first hand.  The reasons for this lack are not the subject of this article because they are fairly obvious to any objective researcher, so the aim here is to try and bring the reality of mediumship into its place in the 21^st century. Whilst this explanation is not totally comprehensive, it will hopefully offer a basic framework of understanding.

 

The word ‘mediumship’ applies to communication between dimensions of existence and a medium is the physical end of the exchange.  Unfortunately, mediumship is frequently confused with a whole range of activities such as dowsing, telepathy, prediction and tarot reading and whilst it is important to state what it is not, it is also essential to realise that mediumship is more than just one thing and mediums are on different levels of competence and awareness. 

 

To materialists rooted in the belief that there is nothing beyond the material life, the following will make no sense.  For the more open-minded, what is proposed here is that life itself is a continuous spiritual experience, even though our everyday perception of it is physical because we experience the world through our earthly mind and senses. 

 

However, a surprisingly large number of people find their perception extends beyond the normal material world to an awareness of non-physical phenomena through parallel senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The term ‘psychic’ or ‘sensitive’ is therefore applied to a person who has a developed facility of non-physical perception.  This ability is sometimes apparent from early childhood and sometimes something that develops later in life, but how it is expressed is unique to each individual. 

 

Many people (if not most) have at least one spontaneous psychic experience in their life, even if they are reluctant to speak of it.  Some may see a kaleidoscope of colours when they close their eyes, see or sense the presence of a loved one, smell an old familiar perfume, hear their name called, know the moment a friend has died or be suddenly aware of a warning of a future event; the list is long.  In simple terms, these occasional experiences may be likened to a window opening to reveal a scene for the first time even though it has always been there: the scene is a different dimension of energy and time.  Pursuing a greater understanding of such experiences requires the practice of meditation.

 

Meditation is available to everyone: it is a process, an on-going practice through which it is possible to still our thoughts, examine our personalities and to pass beyond the mind into states of tranquillity, intuitive knowledge, healing and higher perception. Every experience is different. For many people, meditation produces psychic observations of colours, people, places and so on, which simply means they are able to see beyond the physical senses and to perceive energy with psychic vision.  It must be said that this in itself does not necessarily denote great spiritual awareness but it can be a very useful tool in gaining it.  People who do not have amazing visual experiences are sometimes judged as spiritually lacking but this is far from the truth, for we all bring the precise abilities needed for this lifetime.

 

Mediums usually have excellent psychic perception but their ability goes a step further to work at their soul-level with souls in non-physical dimensions.  Here the word ‘soul’ means that non-physical element of each human being that existed before the present lifetime and which continues to exist after death. All dimensions (of which it is said there are broadly seven) are dimensions of energy vibrating at differing frequencies and every soul progresses to finer and finer levels through the process of experience and awareness. Although evolved entities are able to ‘step down’ to communicate if necessary, a medium is able to reach dimensions only up to the level of awareness that his/her own soul has gained, for they would not be able to bear frequencies above that.  For this reason it is possible to see that a person may be an excellent medium in terms of contact and yet what is conveyed through that channel may or may not be of great spiritual value. It must be said that the same principal applies to spiritual healing.

 

Mediumship is an inherent spiritual ability within certain individuals that may be developed, but not acquired.  It is frequently observed running through a particular family line so it is possible that a genetic factor is also involved. Again, the same is true for spiritual healers.

 

The purpose of spirit communication is all-important for it can bring guidance to the lost, comfort and hope to the bereaved, healing to the sick, wisdom to the seeker and revelation to humankind.  All this is possible through the spiritual energy of love.

 

Beings from higher dimensions seek contact only when appropriate and necessary, as happened here last year with the guidance for the planet healing events. In this particular case, a group of beings communicating via a ‘spokesman’ through Julie Bayliss and recorded by myself, delivered guidance over a number of months and then withdrew when all was in place.  They came, they said, because the danger was great and the timing was crucial.

 

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There are basically two types of mediumship:  semi-trance and full-trance.  

 

In the semi-trance state, the medium is able to attune their psychic energy to a non-physical source so that information can be received and channelled through to their mind.  The information may come clearly as spoken words or as symbols or impressions to be interpreted. It therefore follows that the more active and conditioned the mind is, the more likely it is to put its own unconscious interpretation on the communication.  An aware medium will adopt a dedicated training to avoid this pitfall, often taking years of regular meditative practice to quieten the mind and deal with aspects of their personality that might cause a hindrance to keeping a clear channel.  They will know that natural ability is not enough on its own and that an undisciplined mind will quickly lead them astray.

 

Many semi-trance mediums work within the Spiritualist Movement in the U.K., which aims to provide good training and practice.  Here the emphasis is on gaining evidence of the survival of the personality beyond death, which mediums provide through messages for individuals in the congregation or on a one-to-one basis, mostly from deceased family and friends.  The mediums are usually clairaudient – hearing the messages spoken and passing them on, or clairvoyant – seeing the discarnate person, or both.  It is not unusual for semi-trance mediums to also be impressed by the communicator’s energy so that they briefly experience particular feelings that are relevant in terms of ‘evidence’. 

 

The mind of an advanced semi-trance medium could be likened to a spectator who watches the action whilst remaining silent and objective and this is especially likely when the medium works in partnership with an active spirit personality, or ‘guide’.  The familiarity of such a relationship helps the medium to relax and trust the process and sometimes allows a set of teachings to be built up over a number of years.

 

The state of full-trance is far less common than semi-trance and requires greater spiritual effort.   A medium in the full-trance state has moved beyond their conscious mind and is at one with their soul.   It therefore follows that their mind is not conscious during the ensuing experience and will have no memory of it.  In other words, they are working on their highest frequency level to blend with and allow selected spirit personalities to use their physical body as a vehicle for communication.  This may manifest in a variety of ways.

 

The medium entering the full-trance state will probably appear to relax and fall asleep, although often there will also be changes in breathing and posture as the ‘communicator’ takes over.  More difficult to describe is the change in energy and ‘presence’ in the room when this occurs.  The communication may simply be through speech – the use of the medium’s vocal equipment – and the voice or voices of the personalities will usually be their own, so the novice observer may be startled to hear a male voice speaking through a female medium and so on. Communicators may occasionally speak in a language foreign to the medium, sometimes one of ancient origin that requires lengthy research to decipher, and one assumes this is to provide some veracity of the channel.  

 

It may be the chosen path of some mediums to channel several spirit personalities during one trance sitting, e.g. when bringing messages for the bereaved, and for others it may be just one or two ‘regulars’.

 

Communicators may utilise the body as well as the voice of the medium (remember, this is with prior consent on the higher level) and make their physical appearance apparent.  This kind of mediumship is called ‘transfiguration’ and, to state the obvious, has to be seen to be believed.  This usually happens with the medium’s normal appearance gradually assuming that of the incoming personality, rather like the computer technology of ‘morphing.’  So complete may this change be that in the full view of observers, a short ruddy-faced young man may become a tall and craggy elder or a grey-haired lady become a studious young monk, moving and speaking in normal human fashion. 

 

A rare manifestation of full trance that has been documented, investigated and frequently derided though not disproved, is that of physical mediumship where the medium appears to exude a kind of dense energy that independently adopts a recognisable human form.  These energy forms may be fairly insubstantial or may progress to flesh-and-blood appearance and converse with people in the room before returning to their spirit dimension. Cases of trickery at the turn of the 19th century do not account for the rigorously tested mediumship of Helen Duncan and other physical mediums, any more than the disbelief of those who have not experienced the phenomenon makes it an unreality. 

 

One message received here through mediumship stated, “Science is that part of mysticism that can be measured.”  So as mankind moves into this age of quantum physics perhaps it will allow itself to be more open to those experiences which, although as yet unmeasured, are honest, valid and potentially life changing.

 

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“Imagine an ant: its world is its nest and all it can see. You are the same on this planet: you strive to relate only to what you see and not in reality to what exists, so you seek thoughts and feelings of a spiritual nature only within the parameters of your visual experience.  Do not relate solely to the planet, for it is a tiny fraction of an immense Universe.”  (Zed )