Mediumship and Beyond

Saturday night I went to see Lincolnshire medium, Carl Parker, demonstrate his clairvoyant ability in front of a packed Sheffield Spiritualist church.  He has served Sheffield churches  over at least 25 years to my knowledge and is extremely popular.

Since I first became aware of Carl he has become popular world wide as well as countrywide.  The event at Whitham Road church was typical of an evening with Carl.  It was full of life after death evidence and also full of Carl’s trademark humour.

I lost count of the number of messages he gave during the 90minutes or so that he served the spirit and the church.  I was just one of the lucky recipients of a message from spirit.  I also talked afterwards to others who had also been lucky.

What stood out for all of us was the warmth and humour which makes Carl popular.  The way he stays true to himself by staying humble and giving it straight, as it should be given.  He repeats what spirit tell him and adds nothing to flower up the message.  What you see is what you get with Carl.  Honesty  prevails above all else, as spirit work should be.

We all emerged happy and uplifted by the event and you just knew you had been touched by spirit.  There should be many more mediums like Carl.  Sadly, there are too many egos out there and egos get in the way of spirit work.

A good medium should be a humble medium.  You can take pride in your work without becoming big headed and egotistical, as so many do. Once the humility goes there is little left.

Physical mediumship involves the use of ectoplasm taken from the medium’s body via any orifice.

Physical mediums spend years of dedicated ‘sitting’ for spirit.  In other words they sit within a circle, usually a private one, at least one day per week evry week for years, in order to build up their relationship with the spirit guides.  Whilst building up this relationship they also develop the ectoplasm.  This is not the medium’s choice but the choice of the spirit world.  The medium though has to show their dedication by being a faithful sitter and proving themselves worthy.

There are not as many physical mediums around now as there used to be in say the Victorian era.  People nowadays are far too busy with their material life to dedicate themselves as much as is needed.  It is a sad fact that working for spirit is not financially rewarding and therefore most people cannot afford the necessary time.

There are several gifts a physical medium can develop.  One is Trance. This is where the medium goes into a deep trance and with the help of their spirit guide they allow others to communicate through them.  This is often used for philosophy in church and private circles but can also be used to bring forth evidence of survival.

Transfiguration is another physical gift.  This is different from trance. The medium goes into a deep trance as above, but this time it appears as though their face and sometimes hands etc begin to change. The medium appears to have someone else’s features and is often recognised by a sitter.  A red light is usually shone onto the mediums face so that the features show up.  The rest of the room is usually kept in darkness.

Direct voice is, I think, the most coveted of all physical mediumship gifts.  It is the one, given the choice, that I would choose to have.  This is because the medium’s voice box is used by the spirit, so that their (the spirit’s) voice is the one that is heard and recognised by the sitters.

What greater proof of life after death than to hear directly the voice of a dead loved one!

The medium has to use a ‘cabinet’ in which to sit and harness the ectoplasm so that the spirits can use it to form the visions or voices.  And, in the case of the table phenomena, the endoplasmic rods for moving the table and tapping out messages.

We will discuss some of these topics and gifts in later posts.

Table tilting, table tapping or table phenomena, are the expressions used for the use of a table during a seance or mediums meeting.

The idea is to receive incoming messages from the ‘dead’ via the table.  This can happen in different ways, but usually consists of the leader of the group of sitters asking the table the famous question,  ’Is there anyone there?’

Messages are usually tapped out by the use of the table legs lifting and banging down a number of times.  Each set of taps constituting a letter of the alphabet. One tap=a, two taps=b and so forth. This is a very  laborious practice. 

Someone has to keep note of all the letters being tapped out and decipher the words.  It is very easy sometimes to pre-empt the words, for example; when j and o, are spelled out, someone could guess it might be the word job, but in fact it may be John.  Therefore, it can be tricky and it is best to wait until the spelling of words is over, without the guess work.

Lets step back a bit as I hear you saying’ but how does it actually work’.

There needs to be a Physical Medium present for there to be physical phenomena.  If there is one present, then the energy from the medium is utilised by the spirits to make the table move. This can take the form of tilting the table for yes and no and again, the tapping out of the alphabet. For this to happen the spirits make rods from the medium’s ectoplasm and use them to move the table.

This method can bring forth really good messages from the spirit world and evidential proof of life after death. As the medium’s guide is involved in this procedure, the medium will be looked after and only the highest spirit form will be allowed through.

The other, less trustful method, is for the sitters’ psychic energy to be harnessed to enable the table to be tapped. The only problem with this is that working psychically is never foolproof and often the sitter’s hopes and wishes or even thoughts are tapped out by the table.

As I have said in many of my blogs, psychic energy comes from people, not from the spirit world.  Therfore, the only truth comes from the spirits not from peoples auras.

I have been very lucky to witness some fabulous table phenomena when in the presence of great physical mediums. But, I have also witnessed table tappings where I have seen the sitters pushing and manipulating the table. This proves nothing to anyone.  I even recall the table once tapping out a name I was urging it to do,  just to prove to myself that the sitters were pushing it. As I said, using psychic energy it can be done but not when it is physical mediumship. 

I was once priveledged to witness a rather large, heavy oak table rise to the light fittings.  It then did a sort of movement which could be likened to a dance move, before tapping out a message from a spirit loved one for my friend. The evidence was outstanding. The mediums couldn’t possibly have known anything about my friend at the time. 

Several sitters looked underneath the table to see ‘how it was worked’ but found nothing unusual.  Others tried to pull down the table but were unsuccessful.  We always go with the adage of ‘Prove All Things’!

If you get the opportunity to try table tapping or just to witness it then please do so with an open mind.  Be watchful though and use your own intelligence when coming to any conclusions.

I cannot remember the number of people who have told me that their spirit guide is someone famous.  There are lots of them and I feel this may be a general occurence throughout the spiritualist movement.

There are endless people who say their guide is ‘White Feather’ (I do not know how he gets around them all), ‘Geronimo’, ‘Cleopatra’, ‘Queen Victoria’ and  ‘Red Cloud’ (another too popular native American Indian)!

There are others who swear they are helped by famous show business celebrities from the higher side of life.  These are too numerous to name but I am sure if you took a quick guess, you would be right.  I have even been told more than once that ‘Merlin’  the wizard, from the King Arthur legends, is their guide.  How a mythical wizard can help guide anyone is frankly beyond my comprehension.

I feel a lot of this is down to mere delusion.  Maybe they have a guide with similar qualities or looks and they assume it must be the famous one.  Sometimes I know it is because some hapless speaker at a Spiritualist church has given a message to a person and said that they have this famous guide with them.

Armed with the medium’s message and the name of the famous one, they go home and find out as much as they can about their new guide (I know this from experience of sitters).  It doesn’t take them long after that to assume that the person who they know so much about, is working with them from the spirit side of life.

The power of suggestion is a  very strong force and psychics often become stage struck if they think a celebrity is helping them.  But I ask you this, why should the famous people from this earth plane be able to help a medium any more than a gardener or artist, speaker or teacher, nurse or doctor?

I much prefer a guide who is spiritual and knowledgeable.  As a medium I know this would be more help to me.  I am not one of the mediums who are so arrogant as to think that Princess Diana or Elvis Presley have nothing else to do in the afterlife than hang around with me.

The late medium, Doris Stokes, was renowned for name dropping.  She was always giving the impression to her audience that she could conjur up any famous celebrity she wanted.  We mediums cannot call up anyone from the spirit world. We have to wait for them to contact us.

There will be more about famous spiritualists to follow on this blog.

In response to the questions submitted by Kirsty (see Ribbon Readings), here is a little more information about ribbon readings.

Kirsty asked how many ribbons are needed to give a reading.  The answer to this is as many as you like;  I personally have about 22 ribbons because I like to read colours of varying shades.  To me a bright red means something different to a very pale red; a dark pink has a different meaning to a pale pink and so on.

If you are just starting out it is enough to have one ribbon for each colour of the rainbow or one for each chakra colour (remember, chakras are the psychic centres).  You can always add more as you become more expert or even as you see a colour which you are inspired to add.

I have seen people with dozens of ribbons and I do not feel they need them all, but it is a personal choice.  My only stipulation is that it is a waste of time having patterned ribbons, as the patterns can get in the way of the sitter’s choice of colour.  Some have so much pattern on them that it can be a distraction for the reader.

I usually ask my sitter to choose four ribbons but it can be two or three, again the choice is a personal one.  I personally ask for four because this gives me plenty of time to begin my communication with my guide and therefore with the spirit world.

Kirsty also asked if other things could be used for reading, such as flowers.  Again, the answer is yes they can.  Flowers are often used as part of a spiritualist church service.  In fact they sometimes call it a ‘Flower Service’.

Flowers can be read in at least two different ways.  One way is to use a flower for psychometry.  The sitter brings along a flower and hands it to the medium, who proceeds to read the vibrations left on it by the sitter.  This is a popular way but it is very important in this instance to make sure the flower has not been handled by anyone else, or there can be very mixed vibes on the flower.

The alternative way to read a flower is to study the flower and and foliage on it.  Some mediums look at the stem and say what they feel the stem show, before moving on to the flower head and counting the number of petals and looking at their condition.  A story can be told by piecing it all together.  For instance, the stem can be straight, but covered in thorns.  This can have it’s own meaning to the medium and the number of leaves can mean the number of children or the number of loved ones who have gone to spirit.

Any object can be used for psychometry, as all the psychic needs to do is read the vibrations left on the item.  These psychometry readings, though, cannot in themselves prove life after death. For this proof you need a medium to link with the spirit world.

Thank you to Kirsty for posting the question.

This is a question I have been asked. The answer is simply that most mediums who are not used to working with colours will use the ribbons as a form of psychometry.  They can pick up on the vibrations which the sitter has left on the ribbons when they handled them. There is nothing wrong with that.

I personally do not use the ribbons for psychometry.  It is the colours I read, not the vibrations. So what is the difference?

Psychometry can only be used in a psychic way. That is, the vibrations left on the item being used are picked up and given by a psychic, but these are only present day vibrations. Therefore, you only get information about the here and now.

This can sometimes be the sitter’s hopes and wishes rather than the facts. This can be the psychic’s downfall. You do not get information about ‘dead’ relatives with psychometry.  This means that there can be no proof of survival of the soul or spirit in this type of a reading.

When I give a colour reading, using the ribbons, I give the meaning of the colours the sitter has chosen, and whilst I am doing this, spirit can get through to me to give me information to relay to my sitter. Therefore it is simple to give after death survival evidence.

The spirit entities, the sitter’s loved ones, will bring information from the past and the present, and even sometimes from the future, although readings cannot ever be used to predict:  that is not what spirit communication is about. It is about survival evidence and giving comfort and reassurance to the loved ones on this earth plane.

Have you heard of a medium giving readings by using ribbons?  Well, it is something I personally do quite often.  They are my favourite thing and not because of the ribbons, but because of the colours.

I have lots of coloured ribbons, which have been in my possession a very long time now. They are all the colours of the rainbow and I love working with them.

I have devised my own meanings and methods for using the ribbons over the years and I get very good results from using them. The ribbons help me to relax because I am looking at the colours and feeling the ribbons, and because I am relaxed the sitter relaxes too. The ribbons are actually a focul point for my concentration and whilst I am concentrating on the ribbons spirit can get through unhindered.

I usually begin the readings by asking the sitter to choose a certain number of the ribbons, but paying particular attention to the colours when doing so. I then start my reading by giving my meanings for their choice of colours and combinations of them too.

My colour readings always develop into a mediumistic reading, during which I communicate directly with the spirits of my sitter’s loved ones. My own Guardian Angel will come through to assist in the process and we all have a great time.  It is so easy to allow the spirit’s voice to get through to me in this way.

As with all my spiritual work, this type of colour reading is very spiritually rewarding. The sitter benefits greatly from the partnership of medium and guide and from the colour reading.  The colours giving me information on the earthly and material side of my sitter’s life.

When I use the ribbons in my workshops my students always enjoy themselves, and we get great results even from the very new students. They are very excited and greatly encouraged by the positive outcomes.  The use of ribbons helps the novices to keep their mind focused; keeping focused being the hardest part of giving readings.

If you would like more information or advice on this subject, or just to make a comment, please email me directly from this page or post a comment.

It is not difficult to find a way to develop your sixth sense. There are numerous avenues open to you. You could go it alone and use a written course and CDs or you could join a group and sit with others of the same interest.

You do not have to become a Spiritualist in order to develop your psychic gifts.  Religious people and Spiritualists are not the only ones granted these extra senses.  The sixth sense is a natural phenomena, not paranormal at all, although it is seen as such.  I believe it is latent in us all.

At home, either by yourself or with a small group of like minded people, is a good place to begin.  I have devised my own method of development and if you would like to find out more about it, email me through my web site or add a comment on this page and I will get back to you, giving you details.

Meditation is a good place to begin your development. Learning to relax helps both the physical body and also to quieten the mind. You need a quiet mind in order to communicate with the ‘dead’.  My own method uses meditation, but you do not have to use meditation in order to learn how to attune yourself.

Learning about the chakras will help you develop, as chakras are the psychic centres which open up when using your sixth sense, and working with the spirit world. Each chakra correspomds to a particular colour and each colour has it’s own meaning. These colours are used when giving ribbon readings.

I will be posting a chakra chart with colours and instructions for your information.

Yes. Anyone can, with dedication, perseverance and care.  I firmly believe that all of us have the ability to develop our sixth sense and use our psychic ability. It takes time and effort, but is very rewarding when you have mastered a technique that suits you.

We are all aware of the five physical senses but most are surprised to find there are others.  It is a natural gift which seems to have become stifled in most of us as we have ‘evolved’.  Learning to awaken this sixth sense is a natural thing to do.

Nowadays, there are Spiritualist churches all over the world and so there are lots of opportunities to learn how to become psychically aware. These are also good places to practise your new found gift when you are ready for the public domain. But you do not have to go to church or take on a new religion in order to become  aware. You can go to development groups and classes almost anywhere now. There are lots of private groups.  There are also lots of good books on the subject  can help you in your quest psychic awareness. 

If you want to try a course of awareness at home, then stay tuned to this site, as I will be posting some  useful information for you in the coming weeks.

If you are not ready yet to try it for yourself, then you might like to try a psychic event at a hall or church nearby. Watching others demonstrate their gifts can be a great encouragement. There are always plenty of demonstrations on offer, although some can be quite pricey, so choose well. You could also host your very own psychic evening.  Again, more information on this in the coming weeks.

If you enter into the spirit of things and remain dedicated and above all, honest, with yourself and others, then you can soon become a working psychic . Becoming a medium involves much more work and dedication. It also has to be said that there are far more pitfalls involved in becoming a medium as mediums are not just working with people’s auras, but spirits and the spirit world. Respect plays a most important role when working with the ‘dead’.

More on this subject in the weeks to come.