Mediumship has been practiced over the ages. There were and still are many references to persons with amazingly gifted psychic ability in the Bible. However, many of these references were suppressed by the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century. Consequently, many mediums were persecuted and at times put to death. The power of the Orthodox Church grew in tandem with the ever increasing persecution of so called “witches”.

In 1848 modern mediumship can be said to have begun with the revelation of the “Hydesville Rappings” – the Fox sisters began to document rappings heard which were consequently shown to be from a deceased peddler who had been murdered. The rappings were shown to be intelligent i.e. a code from which the communication could be understood. The ramifications for this were enormous since it showed the existence of another dimension beyond the physical world in which we live.

This event heralded an immense interest in mediumship which at first was physical mediumship. “Séances” also known as “circles” began to spring up on both sides of the Atlantic where it was found that so many people had mediumistic potential.

The Pioneers

Many eminent people began to investigate the phenomena with excellent results indication an unknown intelligence at work. One of these eminent people was Sir William Crookes who was a fellow of the Royal Society and a holder of the distinguished Order of Merit. He was an outstanding physicist and chemist – the most respected of his day. His work included much ground breaking research in science and he was responsible for many discoveries such as the element Thallium and the Cathode Ray Tube (Crooke’s Tubes). In 1870 he embarked upon an investigation into physical mediumship principally with the mediums Kate Fox, D.D. Home and Florence Cook. His work was magnificent because of the diligence he showed in conducting the experiments. Every conceivable experiment was used in testing the mediums of the day. In particular the results showed that D.D. Home was arguably the most powerful physical medium there has ever been on historical record. Other notable investigators and researchers from this period include F W Myers and Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge FRS.

Sir William Crookes FRS	Kate Fox (centre)

Mediumship - The Detail

Today the most common type of mediumship practiced is “Mental Mediumship” also known as “Perception Mediumship” where the communication comes from utilising the medium’s mind. Physical mediumship is still practiced but is less widespread than in the past. Mental Mediumship includes:

Clairvoyance – where the medium will see the spirit person either subjectively or objectively. Subjective is where the communicator is seen within the medium’s mind and objective is where the communicator is seen only by the medium in physical space but not necessarily in complete solid form. Clairvoyance is not restricted to the person but can include visual information, such as, memories, where the communicator lived or worked and specific events in their lives – to name just few of the endless examples of clairvoyance at work.

Clairaudience – where the medium hears the voice of discarnate spirit again either subjectively or objectively i.e. within the mind of the medium or as if coming from directly from outside of the medium i.e. from physical space. Objective clairaudience is rare. Subjective clairaudience often takes the feeling of loud thought.

Clairsentience – where the medium feels certain things about the communicator. This covers a large range of possibilities and can often be considered the “engine room” of the medium. For example, traits of the personality may be felt, illness and physical discomforts and appearance to name just a few of many.

Clairgustance – where the medium will experience certain tastes, for example the favourite sweets that the communicator used to eat.

Clairalience – where the medium will smell certain odours , for example tobacco smoke or a certain perfume.

Clairknowing – where the medium just knows certain things about the spirit communicator – this is a powerful aspect of mediumship and is the result of any number of the above senses combining in an instant.

Other forms of mental mediumship include healing where the Medium is used as a channel by Spirit to administer healing energy passed on by the Spirit World. Psychic Artists are mediums with the ability to receive thoughts from Spirit and translate it into a drawing – for example, of the communicator. Spirit writing is a form of trance where words are communicated directly as in Automatic Writing or thoughts are expressed in writing by the medium as in Inspirational Writing. Trance control varies by degree ranging from light to almost complete control. The latter is very rare but provides overwhelming evidence when Spirit speaks directly to us.

Mediumship and Religion

Mediumship by itself is not a religion. The acceptance of life after death is an integral part of all religions in one form or another. Spiritualism takes this one step further and considers this on a more practical level and the practice of mediumship is an integral part of their religion. Spiritualism is a religion, a science and a philosophy. Mediumship is an important part of a spiritualist service held in the many spiritualist churches throughout the United Kingdom.

In the UK the largest spiritualist body is the Spiritualists' National Union and there are approximately four hundred SNU churches in the United Kingdom. SNU spiritualism has as its foundation the Seven Principles which were given by the pioneering medium Emma Hardinge Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the world’s leading mediums have been and still are associated with the SNU largely due to the excellent work of the Arthur Findlay College, a world renowned centre for the study of mediumship and associated subjects.