Consequences of Mediumship

After I put together the ‘about’ page for this blog last night, I was wondering what to pick as my first topic; however, Eric J. DUHAN has asked a question that gives me plenty to work with:

Does the shaman not stand between us and God. Is his function, when used badly, the opening/widening of the way, of the flow of evil into this world?

One difficulty with questions like this is that shamans are different things in different traditions. In traditional shamanisms in Siberia (which is where the word comes from) there are plenty of particular examples of shamans using their abilities for their own purposes; they were and are human beings, with varied motivations – some good, some less so. This runs a little bit counter to the slightly more romantic view many people have of traditional shamanisms but it does give me the opportunity to speak about motivation and its relevance to mediumship. I regard Spiritualist mediums as a particular kind of traditional shamanism, and because this is a blog about Spiritualism, I am going to respond to Eric’s question from that perspective.

So, does a medium not stand between us and God? Well, yes and no. In the Spiritualist tradition, we use mediumship primarily for three purposes: (i) the demonstration of personal survival beyond death, (ii) healing, and (iii) to bring forward spiritual and practical guidance (often called philosophy). When a medium is aware that they have with them someone in spirit (a ‘dead’ person), we usually then go on to describe what we can of that person, so as to satisfy the person listening that we do actually have that person with us. This is a hugely important activity, and it is the foundation of pretty much everything else that we do and teach in Spiritualism in terms of bringing forward teachings from Spirit. To do this, we communicate, by thought, with ‘dead’ people, so that they can give us descriptions of themselves, where they are, what they have learned since passing over from this world, and so on. When a medium is working as a healer, it is not the ‘healer’ who is doing the healing – instead, they are acting as a channel for the healing power of Spirit to come forward for the benefit of the patient. So in various ways, yes, mediums do operate as intermediaries between God (whose Spirit it is) and those who make use of us. This is fundamentally why we are called mediums – we are quite literally a medium of communication, like a telephone, newspaper, or internet blog.

But does this mean you need a medium in order to have an effective relationship with God (or whatever name you prefer to give that Source/Oversoul/One)? Absolutely not.

Most Spiritualist churches or other organisations tend to use a set of principles, which function as a reminder of the understanding of Spirit that has been built up over the years. Nearly all of the ones I have seen begin with an assertion of God as the ultimate source of Spirit – think of it as God’s active energy, if you will. Our experience of Spirit does seem to point to a common source of all Spirit, including this physical world that we all struggle to find our way in. The reason for saying this is because everyone is a child of God, with the same potential to be at one with God, and the same freedom not to bother if they so choose. Spiritualism also stresses individual, personal responsibility – and part of that responsibility is developing your own loving relationship with God, should you wish to. No medium can do that for you, any more than we can live out any other aspect of your life for you. A medium may be able to pass on advice from loved ones in Spirit, but remember this is still only their opinion – you still have to judge for yourself whether that advice is good, you still have to decide for yourself how to act. This too is part of personal responsibility.

So do mediums stand between us and God? Personally I think it is better to think of mediums as little peep-holes in the veil between this world and the next. It is the veil, the lack of a common spiritual ability to see for ourselves, that is really what gets in the way. Mediums are just specialists, who spend a bit more time than most people can (or want to) in finding out how to work with God’s energy. That lets us see a little bit further – and then we shout back to everyone else with the wee glimpses we get through the mist.

To my mind, this is a hugely important thing to be able to do. Occassionally I sit to meditate, and then find that one of my spirit guides manages to get a few words through my thick skull. So I’m going to keep the second part of Eric’s question for my next post, and finish tonight by leaving you with the following few words I was given a year or two back (on one of those days when I was wondering whether being a medium was worth all the hassle it can sometimes bring):

Hold to a sense of your own importance and strength. You are a medium, known by Spirit for all of who you truly are, and trusted by Spirit to be faithful to what you know, and can demonstrate. You are the lens through which others see more clearly that which otherwise they might never perceive at all. There is no task more important in this world, because you are the means by which others see the next.