The skill of mediumship - generally defined as mediating communications between spirits of the dead and living - is something I've long wanted to learn. So, I was delighted to be given a copy of a new book called Mediumship: An Introductory Guide to Developing Spiritual Awareness and Intuition.It is in the Hay House Basics series, which means it is a straightforward guide aimed at beginners, The author is Gordon Smith, who is a respected medium. As I hoped, it offers an great overview of exactly what mediumship is and how to go about learning to do it.
The book also explains that mediumship is not something that can be learnt quickly. Having a natural talent is good, but just because you are psychic, can see ghosts or have clairvoyant abilities, doesn't mean you are a medium yet (to paraphrase Yoda).
Gordon explains that it is vital to spend a lot of time practising to tell the difference between spirit communication, things picked up empathically, stuff from your own subconscious, guesswork and pure fantasy. It is also important not to get too emotionally affected by other people's grief, which can happen if you are meeting people who want contact with loved ones who have passed.
He recommends spending a lot of time using meditation techniques and also learning how to achieve a balanced mental state. He also recommends finding a good training circle with an experienced teacher rather than purely trying to learn as a solitary - although reading this introductory book and doing the exercises in it are good first steps.
Publisher Hay House says about the book: "The function of a medium is to be a conduit between this life and the afterlife or spirit world. Every medium is intuitive or psychic, but not every psychic is a medium. This book explores how to still the mind to enable spirits to communicate with you, sitting in the power and opening up to authentic messages, working with the aura and reading the signs and symbols that surround people and connecting to your spirit guide and learning their signature or calling card and much more!"
Wicca and Mediumship
My own specific interest in learning about mediumship grew when I discovered that Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, had insisted that his early priestesses had mediumistic abilities. He felt that this was useful - if not essential - for channelling the words of the Goddess. Later, his High Priestess Doreen Valiente wrote (or at least largely rewrote) The Charge of the Goddess to be spoken by Wiccan priestesses if they felt that, despite the Goddess being invoked, they were not receiving messages to relate.
Nowadays, high levels of mediumship skill have less of a focus in many Wiccan rites - at least in my experience. I think it would be good to perhaps return to basics on that front. I would like to see more covens also having mediumship training circles, where priests and priestesses could learn to be better at hearing the words of the Gods and Goddesses of the Craft, as well as the words of the spirits of our ancestors.
Mediumship: An Introductory Guide to Developing Spiritual Awareness and Intuition (Hay House Basics) can be ordered via Amazon.
Links and previous related posts
http://www.hayhouse.co.uk/
http://gordonsmithmedium.com/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/03/review-hay-house-basics-mindfulness.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/07/review-hay-house-basics-energy-healing.html
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