séance
How To Conduct Your Own Séance At Home
When I facilitate a séance, it is to give the sitters opportunity to communicate with departed spirits that have crossed over to the other side, which the spirits like to call ‘home.’
Spirits often like to call the day they left the earth plain their ‘birthday’ going back home. Death is the beginning of their life in the other side, as some people like to call it. Matter cannot be destroyed it just changes form.
A séance is group session aimed at communicating with spirits. The word séance comes from the French word for seat, session or setting (from the old French seoir, which means to sit).
There are usually three to twelve people in the séance. I prefer six to eight, and if possible a mix of female and male energy. When people come to my space for a séance I have a nice round wooden pedestal table. Lighting is a personal preference.
Some mediums like very little light, some like a red light, because they believe it is easier to see spirit in red light. I personally feel spirit can communicate in any kind of lighting.
As a professional psychic medium I communicate with spirit every day. When doing a mediumship session, I am in a light trance, or altered state of consciousness. When conducting a séance mediums are usually in a little deeper trance state.
Rescue Mediumship Helps Lost Souls Find Peace
Rescue mediumship work has always held a special place in my heart. From the beginning of my training, I was intrigued by the deeply meaningful work of guiding lost or confused souls toward the light.
I was first introduced to the process during the advanced mediumship classes at my spiritualist church. A few times each year, we gathered in meditation circles led by an incredible reverend. She created a safe and sacred space for spirit communication.
The goal of these sessions was simple yet profound: to help earthbound spirits who were unaware that they had passed on, or who were somehow struggling to transition to the afterlife. These souls, often confused and disoriented, needed a gentle nudge (or sometimes a firm push) to find lasting peace on the other side.
Our rescue circle, usually consisting of about eight people, would sit in silence and attune ourselves to the spirit realm. One by one, spirits would come through and speak through one of us. We would hear their voices in our minds, or sometimes even channel them directly, adopting their accents or mannerisms. The reverend guided the conversation by asking questions to uncover the spirit’s identity and story. Who were they? What had happened? What did they remember?
These encounters were deeply moving and often unforgettable. One of the earliest that I remember was a little boy who came through to me. He was hiding under a bed, unaware that he had died in a house fire. The image was vivid: the end of the bed had collapsed, forming a small triangle of protection. We then called his mother in from the spirit world. Together, we gently persuaded the boy to take his mother’s hand and move into the light.
The Timeless Spirit Phenomenon Of Apports
The spirits of your departed loved ones sometimes interact with our physical environment to show they’re still nearby. They might move around objects in our home, like keys, books, or small decorations, especially ones that had personal meaning when they were alive.
It’s not uncommon to have a cherished object go missing from its usual spot, only to find it later in the most unlikely of places.
This kind of spirit activity often happens when we’re thinking of them, or during emotionally significant moments, as a way of offering comfort or making their presence known. It’s never random. It’s a gentle reminder that their energy hasn’t gone far.
I was about 20 years old when I experienced an in-depth, private sitting with a wonderful spiritualist medium known to me as Nan Lightfoot. My father had heard of her through the local spiritualist church, and as it turned out, she was an elderly lady who lived just two blocks from our house.
A warm friendship soon blossomed between us. I would help her with shopping and running errands whenever I could, until I eventually left England for many years.
After bringing in her shopping and putting it away, Nan would make us a cup of coffee. During our many conversations, she would occasionally offer wise advice channeled from her spirit guides. Often, right in the middle of an ordinary discussion, she would suddenly shift from speaking English into broad Welsh. These moments of Welsh chatter signaled that Nan was now channeling a message from one of her ancestral guides.
My Surprising Journey Into Spirit Mediumship
I had my first encounter with the spirit realm in the summer of 1987, during an evening of mediumship at a spiritualist church. That night changed everything. From then on, I regularly attended Sunday services.
My keen interest was not out of a newfound religious fervor, but simply to experience more of the spirit messages, which were always part of the service.
I was utterly mesmerized by the idea of communicating with the spirit world, and I found joy in listening to messages delivered to others as much as I did to those meant for me.
One evening, I received an unexpected call from a new friend I’d met at the church. She facilitated the weekly meditation and healing sessions. She informed me that my name had appeared on the registration sheet for an upcoming mediumship class.
I was baffled. I hadn’t signed up for anything? She then laughed and admitted that she had signed me up herself! She explained that, after getting to know me through her programs, she had a gut feeling that I might enjoy the experience.
Truthfully, I had also been attending the meditation and healing sessions primarily to receive more messages from spirit. Each session concluded with a medium delivering some messages until closing time, and I relished those moments.
It never even occurred to me that ordinary people like me could learn to become a medium. I had no prior background or training. Until my first visit to that Spiritualist church, I didn’t even know such places existed!
From Skeptic To Mystic — My First Encounter With Spirit
In the summer of 1987, nearly a year after losing both my parents (just 23 days apart), I found myself at a mediumship event held in a Spiritualist church in Toronto.
Looking back, I can see how profoundly synchronistic the experience was. It was clearly guided by spirit.
I had never set foot in a Spiritualist church before. That very afternoon, I had lunch with a friend who casually mentioned the evening service. She couldn’t attend — she was heading out of town — but something within me stirred. Despite my skepticism, I felt an unshakable desire to go on my own.
The modest church was tucked away on the second floor of a shopping plaza above a retail store. As I climbed the steep staircase, I felt a mix of curiosity and apprehension.
The room was already crowded by the time I arrived, so I chose a seat close to the door, just in case anything bizarre or uncomfortable happened. Since I had never had a mediumship experience before, I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted an easy exit should things get too weird!
After the guest mediums were introduced, the first one stepped forward and gestured toward a man seated near the back. “May I come to you?” she asked gently. When he nodded, she remained at the front of the room and began channeling messages for him from the spirit realm.
The Fascinating Phenomenon Of Table Turning
Table turning, also known as “table tipping” or “table tilting,” is a fascinating form of spirit communication that occurs during séances.
It involves participants sitting around a table and placing their hands lightly on its surface to communicate with spirit. The table then moves or tilts, or in exceptional cases floats or rotates, in response to questions posed to spirit.
Table turning became popular in the mid-1800s, a time when Spiritualism was quickly gaining popularity in Europe and North America. People were intrigued by the idea of communicating with the afterlife, and séances became a common social activity.
People in those days didn’t have the resources or easy access to mediums and channelers that we have today. So, small groups of family and friends would gather and communicate with the spirit realm.
Table turning was also considered a wonderful way to entertain guests at social gatherings and was even considered a parlor game. Even President Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, is said to have attended and even hosted séances at the White House.
Other well-known spiritualists of the time, such as the Laurie family and Nettie Colburn Maynard, reportedly attended séances with the Lincolns. Mrs. Lincoln was deeply interested in spiritualism and mediumship, especially after the deaths of her sons, Edward and later Willie.
From Skeptic To Believer In One Night!
As a child, I often eavesdropped on my parents’ heated arguments. Late one Saturday night, during one of these usual “ear-to-the-door” sessions, things seemed surprisingly less intense than usual. Instead of the customary shouting, I heard what sounded more like a lighthearted debate.
I could clearly hear my mother daring my father to “go with her” that Sunday night.
It wasn’t until years later that I learned the true nature of the dare. My mother had managed to persuade my father to accompany her to a spiritualist service in a London church.
To this day I am not sure how she managed to persuade him to go, but it turned out to be a life-changing experience for my father. I imagine it was also a great relief for my mother, who finally had a partner who shared her faith and passion.
Raised a Catholic and later a devout spiritualist, my mother often endured the ridicule of my father, who made fun of her faith in God and her beliefs about heaven and the afterlife.
But her dare marked the beginning of a significant change for him. While my father had never embraced organized religion or spirituality, he was about to have a profound spiritual awakening.
So, off they went. As “luck” would have it, Joseph Benjamin, a well-known spiritualist medium at the time, was one of the guest speakers at the church that weekend. My father later admitted that as he bundled up in his winter coat and scarf, he secretly hoped that he could make a quick getaway after the service and perhaps stop for a beer or two at his favorite local pub! Continue reading