Beginner Steps in Mediumship
I thought it best to provide a “1000 foot” view of what our month of posts on mediumship will focus on, particularly in regards to praxis. While everyone loves to read about case-studies, research, and meta theory (don’t they?), the most exciting part of practicing mediumship is, indeed, practicing. But the steps for creating a suitable practice can feel overwhelming and daunting. In the words of Carl Sagan, “to create an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” And so it is, especially for the beginner.
Esoteric work can require vast amounts of information, confusing arrays of symbols, practices that seem incomprehensible or wedded to a particular belief system that you may not share or understand, and above all, the time to eventually practice once you have figured out everything else. The good news is, that we can approach mediumship in a far less overwhelming way, and while some systems or concepts may resonate more than others, mediumship does not require a specific belief or practice to “work.” Mediumship is more flexible than many mediums would like to admit.
Kat and I have always found our work to be “non-denominational” in public practice, and we rarely share our own spiritual beliefs as the way things must be. Rather, if a tool that resonates for you “works” than use that tool with gratitude, it just might be your secret power for spirit communication. However, while a particular dagger, crystal, or oracle may not be required for your practice to succeed, we have found that a highly adaptable and gentle framework exists for increasing our odds of success.
What follows, is a useful framework which we encourage you to plug your own beliefs and traditions into! Allow your spiritual beliefs and training to act as the power source for your exploration into mediumship, and adapt them to act as a support. If, for example, you are a Christian, use that religious framework to power your experiments by invoking certain saints with connections to the underworld, or Jesus as a redemptive figure who (like Osiris thousands of years before) descends into the underworld to gain “the keys of the underworld.” You can re-wild and re-mystify the most rote of religious practice with but a little imagination and a little research. If, like me, you engage in ceremonial work, don’t hesitate to ensconce your practice with robes, incense, invocations, and circles. The amount of times I have stepped out of a summoning circle and hung up my ritual robe before joining a zoom-based reading might be surprising!
Kat and I always return to the magickal axiom that this work is both a science and an art, and we encourage anyone trying mediumship to increase the rigor in application of the artistic and scientific. Keeping a dedicated mediumship journal, as well as letting the art of magick work through you will result in profound reward. If you love to dance, make dance a part of the way you allow mediumship to occur. If your art is painting, or gardening, or even a martial art, use it to inform and allow messages to flow through you. You are not doing mediumship wrong because you don’t look like Ethel Mertz while you do it. We will explore this in more depth later this month, but I want to open with these ideas now.
Lucy, Ethel, and Ricky host a seance for Mister Merriweather. Hijinks ensue.
Try running through this outline with your current practice, simply as a test, and record what you feel worked well, and if there are any changes you would like to make (some should immediately present themselves while engaging with the following). This outline should be the core of any mediumistic work attempted throughout the month.
Meditation and Grounding:
Start each practice session with grounding and centering techniques to establish a calm and focused mindset. I like to use the Fourfold Breath, or a LBRP/Kabbalistic Cross before moving forward. This simply reduces the influence of elemental energies and allows my body to relax. Use the centering and energy clearing techniques that resonate with you.
Practice meditation regularly to quiet the mind, enhance intuition, and attune yourself to spiritual energies. Failure to regularly meditate is the number one reason why many practitioners fail to see results. The meditation does not need to look like a particular type of eastern meditation; prayer, discursive meditation, or chanting/mindfulness can achieve the same results (Kat and I actually explored the link between prayer and meditation in a study we conducted in our time at college - the results indicated similar results no matter what “meditation/prayer method” was utilized).
Connect with Your Intuition:
Cultivate awareness of your intuitive senses, such as clairvoyance (vision), clairaudience (hearing), clairsentience (feeling), and claircognizance (knowing). What method of receiving messages feels most strong to you? What feels weakest?
Practice exercises to strengthen your intuitive abilities, such as visualization, sensory awareness, or intuition-building games. Treat these experiences as games, focusing on the joy of engaging with the process, rather than the need for a result. Divination of any kind, and mediumship can be a type of divination, should always be enjoyable rather than taxing, a ritual act of creation that allows us to become involved in the process of communication. Even if a particular spirit or message does not emerge from a session, the act of engagement should feel rewarding and positive.
Establish Communication Protocols:
Set clear intentions for your mediumship practice, such as connecting with specific spirits, seeking guidance, or offering messages of healing and comfort.
Establish boundaries and ethical guidelines for your practice, including consent from both the living and the deceased before attempting communication.
Create a Sacred Space:
Set up a dedicated space for your mediumship practice, free from distractions and conducive to spiritual connection.
Use rituals or ceremonies to consecrate the space and invite positive energies or spiritual guides to assist you. I like to burn a solitary white candle, and fumigate the room with sandalwood incense (this corresponds to the Kabbalistic sphere of Kether), though incense associated with a particular guide or after-life deity would also be highly appropriate.
Develop Communication Skills:
Practice techniques for opening and closing communication channels with the spirit world, such as prayer, invocation, or visualization.
Experiment with different methods of communication, such as automatic writing, trance mediumship, or direct communication through thoughts and feelings.
Hone Your Observation Skills:
Learn to discern between your own thoughts, emotions, and impressions and those originating from spirits. In the beginning, simply observe your thoughts and impressions, with a spirit of nonjudgment, and allow yourself to consider the differences in these feelings. What feels like “yours”? What feels like it’s coming from somewhere else?
Practice active listening and observation, paying attention to subtle cues, symbols, and synchronicities that may convey messages from spirits. It may be useful to carry a small notebook with you to record these events as they happen. We often believe we will remember any paranormal or supernatural experience, but often, these experiences vanish in our memory like a half-remembered dream. As you record these experiences, you will find that recalling them becomes easier and easier; which brings us to our next step.
Record and Reflect:
Keep a journal to document your mediumship experiences, including any messages received, sensations felt, or symbols encountered.
Reflect on your practice sessions to identify patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement, and adjust your approach accordingly.
Seek Feedback and Support:
Share your experiences with trusted friends, mentors, or fellow practitioners to gain insights, validation, and constructive feedback.
Join mediumship circles, online forums, or local groups to connect with like-minded individuals and exchange knowledge and experiences.