Do Spiritualists Mediums Really Talk to Spirits?
I have been asked this question or others very similar to it a great many times. And the answer is, “Yes and no.” Now that may seem like not much of an answer so let me explain it. The majority of those in the US who call themselves “mediums” are phonies, charlatans.
This is not the case in the UK where spiritualists mediums are controlled. But in the US, anyone can put up a sign proclaiming themselves to be a medium, accept clients and charge them big bucks. And often the “training” that a phony medium goes through will be almost as extensive as that which a real medium goes through, even though it will be of a different nature. Unfortunately for the public, the phony medium usually has no more mediumship abilities than the average bedpost, and bedposts are rare these days.
Fortunately, if you know what to look for, it is fairly easy to tell the difference between the fakes and the genuine mediums. Lets look at some of the ways that we can tell. A medium advertises “Madam Fonybaloney guarantees that she will contact your deceased loved ones.” That should raise a red flag immediately. No genuine medium can or will guarantee to contact any specific individual. That spirit may not be available or ready to make contact. So if you see a guarantee like that, don’t walk away, run.
The above example should stop you from visiting that charlatan. But what if you did not see any red flags and did visit? Well, a typical visit to a phony medium might go something like the following. I am only going to print the medium’s comments:
“Hello dear, I am Madam Fonybaloney, how are you today?”
“Very good, and how is the family?”
“Oh, and what kind of work does your husband (or wife) do?”
“Who would you like to contact today?”
“Your uncle Silas? Were you and your uncle Silas close?”
Etc. She will get you to talking, seemingly just being friendly. But actually, she is fishing for information. When she feels that she has gathered enough information from you, then she may “go into a trance” or may just start to call Uncle Silas and talk to him. She will passon his “comments” to you, comments that she has just made up based on what you have told her. We will come back to this in a moment.
Lets compare the above visit with a visit to a real spiritualists medium. Again, I am only going to print the medium’s comments:
“Hello, I am MaryJane. How are you today?”
“Very good, and how can I help you?”
“Well, I cannot guarantee that any specific spirit will come through, but I will do what I can.”
“There is a woman here, with an “M” name. She says that she was Your uncle Silas’ wife. She says that he is in isolation right now and cannot attend, but that he is doing well.”
On the other hand, Uncle Silas may come through. The difference is that she has made no guarantees, and has not pumped you for information about Uncle Silas and your relationship to him.
Lets go back to Madam Fonybaloney again. We already know that she is unethical and dishonest. But often these charlatans will realize that they have a goldmine on their hands and decide to milk it. So the “reading” might go something like the following:
“Oh dear, Uncle Silas is here, but I am afraid that I have some very bad news for you. It seems that he is laboring under a curse and is being blocked from moving on to his reward. He says that it is very unpleasant and uncomfortable where he is right now. (There may even be demons tormenting him.) But don’t despair, I can remove the curse if you want me to.” “You do want me to remove it? Very good, but I will have to buy some materials to do my spell work with. They will cost $300.”
So you give her the $300 and she tells you to come back in two weeks and she will give you a report then. Notice that she is not charging you for the spell work, only for the materials that she must buy. When you go back, it seems that things were much worse than she had thought, that there were underlying forces at work. But she can handle them, just that she has to buy more materials to do this more intensive spell work, but she can get them at a discount for $700. This will continue until she has bled you dry, then may insist that you sell your jewelry, your car, your home, everything to get the money to help poor Uncle Silas. She may even curse you if you refuse. And the pathetic thing is that she has never been in contact with Uncle Silas at all.
Lets say that you went to see a “medium” and she did pump you for information, but then gave you a fairly positive “reading,” so you are not sure if it was genuine or not. Is there a way to tell? Yes, there is, but it will cost you the price of another reading. Have a friend that has never visited that medium before go to see her. Do not go with your friend. This friend should either never have been married, or else their spouse should be alive and well.
Have the friend tell the medium that he/she wants to contact his/her deceased spouse. They can even tell the medium the spouse’s name. If the medium does make that contact, then the medium is obviously a phony. A real medium will not be able to make the contact.
Do’s and Don’t’s – Spiritualist Mediums:
Don’t visit any medium that guarantees to contact a specific spirit. It does not work that
way.
Don’t give the medium a lot of information. One man I know once said to a “medium,”
“You tell me, you are the psychic.” The “medium” told him that if he was not going to cooperate, she could not help him.
Do go in with an open mind.
Do tell the medium that you wish to contact a spirit. If the medium asks who, you may tell them, but no more. Some legitimate mediums will ask you not to tell them who you wish to contact.
Authors Details: This article was written by Charles, president of Spirit Circle http://spiritcircle.org/ and webmaster and author of the Spirit Guides site http://spiritrus.com/spiritguides/. © 2004 Charles H. Grooms