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In spiritualism, mediumship denotes the ability of a person (the medium) to produce psychic phenomena of a mental or physical nature. Mediumship usually involves communication between a human instrument and one or more discarnate, spirit personalities. It may also involve physical phenomena such as materilizations.

Skeptics say, mediumship is the result of self-delusion, unconscious influence, or of magician's techniques such as cold reading and hot reading.

History of mediumship

Modern spiritualism in the United States dates from the activities of the Fox sisters in 1848. Some mediums acknowledged by the Spiritualist Church today include Andrew Jackson Davis, Daniel Douglas Home, and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has carried on investigations of some phenomena, mainly in connection with telepathy and apparitions.

Types of mediumship

There are several distinct types of mediumship. Mental mediumship is defined as communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy having recieved the communication, the medium then passes on the information. Trance mediumship is defined as a spirit taking over the body of the medium, sometimes to such a degree that the medium is unconscious. Physical mediumship is defined as manipulation of energies and energy systems by spirits, using the energy or ectoplasm released by a medium .

A spirit who communicates with a medium, either verbally or visually, is known as a spirit communicator. A spirit who uses a medium to manipulate energy or energy systems is called a spirit operator.

Mental mediumship

Mental mediumship involves communication via telepathy between spirits and the medium. The medium hears, sees, and feels messages from spirits, which he then relays to the recipient of the message, known as the sitter.

Mental Mediumship has several different aspects, such as Clairvoyance, Clairaudience and Clairsentience, along with prescribed training methods for developing these abilities. However, some of these terms are defined differently in spiritualism than in other paranormal fields. "Clairvoyance", for instance, is often used by spiritualists to include seeing spirits and visions instilled by spirits, whereas the Parapsychological Association defines clairvoyance as information derived directly from an external physical source.

Clairvoyance or "Clear Seeing", is the ability to see anything which is not physically present, such as objects, animals or people. This sight occurs "in the mind’s eye," and some mediums say that this is their normal vision state. Others say that they must train their minds with such practices as meditation in order to achieve this ability, and that assistance from spiritual helpers is often necessary.

Some clairvoyant mediums can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. They see the bodily form as if it were physically present. Other mediums see the spirit in their mind's eye, or it appears as a movie or a television programme or a still picture like a photograph in their mind.

Clairaudience or "Clear Hearing", is the ability to hear Spirit voices from the Spirit World, which are not audible to other people who are even next to the Medium who is hearing the Spirit World. Some Mediums hear as though they are listening to a person talking to them on the outside of their head, it is as though the Spirit is next to or near to the Medium, and other Mediums hear the voices within their head/mind as a thought verbalisation of a thought.

Clairsentience or "Clear Sensing", is ability of extra feeling, or having an impression of what is being communicated by a spirit.

Clairsentinence or "Clear Feeling"', this is an ability where the Medium takes on the ailments of the person who is now in the World of Spirit, feeling the same problem of that person they had whilst they were here on the earth plane. If they had pains in their joints when they were on this side of the veil the Medium will feel it. If the Spirit suffered with heart problems, cancer, stomach problems, loss of a limb, tumour on the brain, similar symptoms arise in the Medium. These feelings cease when the Medium acknowledges the Spirit being there.

Clairalience or "Clear Smelling" is the phenomenon where sensitive people can smell the odour of the person who is not on the earth plane. They can sometimes smell their pipe tobacco, cigarette tobacco, food smells, different spices as though they are coming from a kitchen. Some Mediums profess to smell the places where the deceased person worked like a chemical factory, the docks, the places to be reminded of for the recipient of a message off the platform in the church or meeting place or in a development Circle.

Clairgustance or "Clear Tasting", this is where the Medium can taste the foods, liquid and anything that goes into the mouth of the deceased person. This is given by those in Spirit to confirm it is the correct person being contacted. Taste within the mouth can at times be strong as though the medium/sensitive has taken it in their mouth. This is “objective” clear tasting. “Subjectively” is when it is put as a thought in the mind.

Claircognizant or "Clear Knowing", is the ability of knowing a message is correct or something about a person or situation is correct without getting a clairvoyant, clairaudient, or clairsentient message from Spirit, it is when you just know. It is more than a clairsentient feeling.

Trance mediumship

Trance mediumship is often seen as a form of mental mediumship.

Some mediums remain conscious during this communication period, while others go into a trance, wherein a spirit uses the medium's body to communicate. Part trance mediums are aware during the period of communication, while full trnace mediums pass into an unconscious state in which their physical and mental processes are completely controlled by the spirit communicator.

In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums were among the most popular of lecturer-entertainers, many delivering passionate speeches on abolitionism and women's rights.

Physical mediumship

Physical mediumship involves the manipulation and transformation of physical systems and energies. Manifistations often include loud noises, voices, materilized objects, apports, and materialized bodies or body parts such as hands.

Ectoplasm is the substance which produces spirit materializations, telekenisis and other forces from the “other world”. Closely related to the concept of ectoplasm is the aura, a subtle field of luminous multicolored radiation surrounding a person or object as a cocoon or halo, which can sometimes be perceived by the medium.

Research and supporting arguments

According to an article in The Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, in some cases mediums have produced personal information which has been well above guessing rates .

VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, run by Gary Schwartz, was created primarily to test the hypothesis that the consciousness (or identity) of a person survives physical death. Studies are conducted by VERITAS have been approved by the University of Arizona Human Subjects Protection Program and an academic advisory board.

Skeptical perspective

Skeptics dispute the existence of genuine mediums, arguing that individuals who claim to possess this ability are either self-deluded or charlatans who engage in cold or hot reading. See also Fraud in parapsychology.

Harry Houdini was a famous magician who became a debunker of mediums later in life and, indeed, even in death, because he left a ten-word passphrase with his wife that a medium should say in order to prove they were channelling him. Although many people did claim to channel Houdini, no-one was able to reproduce the passphrase.

Critics contend that Director of the VERITAS Research Program Dr. Gary Schwartz past studies such as The Afterlife Experiments have not provided competent scientific evidence for survival of consciousness or that mediums can actually communicate with the dead. They charge that the research he presented is crucially flawed and deviated from accepted norms of scientific methodology.

Well-known mediums

Some well-known mediums are, Voxx Voltair, Derek Acorah, Sylvia Browne, Kuda Bux, Edgar Cayce, Jeane Dixon, Allison DuBois, John Edward, Daniel Dunglas Home, Esther Hicks, Colin Fry, JZ Knight, Joseph Kony, Daniel Lee, Jane Roberts, Sathya Sai Baba, David Wells, Lisa Williams, James Van Praagh, Rosemary Altea, Divaldo Pereira Franco,Felix Lerma, and Chico Xavier

Fictional mediums

Television and movies

Medium is an American television series about a woman (played by Patricia Arquette) who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office. The series is based on the life of Allison DuBois, who claims to use her psychic ability allowing her to contact the dead to help the local law enforcement agency.
Ghost Whisperer is an American television drama-fantasy-thriller starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a young woman who can communicate with the spirits of the dead.
A green chihuahua named Shirley is a medium from the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Video Games

In the 2004 video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the player meets The Sorrow, a mysterious dead medium who battles and also assists the player.
In the Ace Attorney series, Maya, Pearl, and Mia Fey are spirit mediums who have the ability to allow spirits to take over their bodies temporarily and at the same time alter their appearance, although Mia Fey never does so in the games.

Books

"The Signalman" from Charles Dickens' short story, The Signalman isn't a medium per se, but he sees the ghost of a man who warns him of danger before it happens.

Yoshino Somei in Spriggan uses her necromancy skills to act as a medium, allowing the dead to speak to any living human.

References

http://parapsych.org/historical_terms.html Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
^ http://skepdic.com/medium.html Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll, on Mediums Retrieved March 23, 2007 "In spiritualism, a medium is one with whom spirits communicate directly."
"Medium - Definition". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
"Medium - Definition". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, "Spiritism"
Somerlott, Robert, Here, Mr. Splitfoot. Viking, 1971.>
Spiritlincs, “Mediumship”
http://parapsych.org/glossary_a_d.html#c Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 29, 2007
Braude, Anne, Radical Spirits, Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
"Ectoplasm" def. Merriam Webster dictionary, Retrieved 1-18-2007
http://parapsych.org/glossary_a_d.html Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research January, 2001 - Vol. 65.1, Num. 862
The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona
http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990608-vanpraagh/
http://www.apl.org/history/houdini/biography.html
http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-01/medium.html

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