trance mediumship
Spirit Channeling In The Trance State
The term ‘trance’ is sometimes misunderstood in psychic mediumship. The trance state is an altered state of consciousness that enables a medium to communicate with spirit. This shouldn’t be confused with spirit possession, as depicted in some Hollywood films and television shows. There is nothing evil or demonic about mediumship and trance channeling!
In a trance state, the psychic medium’s consciousness serves as a conduit for spirit. It is a two-way communication, and the purest and most trusting form of partnership between the physical and spiritual worlds.
There are essentially two levels or types of spirit channeling, namely mental mediumship and physical mediumship.
Mental mediumship, sometimes also called ‘telepathic mediumship,’ is what most people are familiar with namely to communicate with spirit while fully conscious. Mental mediums use various levels of trance to channel spirit messages.
One of the most famous mental mediums was as the American psychic Edgar Cayce, also known as the ‘sleeping prophet,’ who channeled his higher self while in the trance state. Cayce was a devout Christian who in in a trance state with his eyes closed would answer questions on a variety of subjects, such as healing, dreams, the afterlife, past lives and reincarnation.
While mental mediumship is communication experienced only by the medium or channeler, physical mediumship is also evident to everyone who is with the medium. Mental mediumship involves only the mind of the medium, while in physical mediumship the body of the medium is used to channel information from spirit.
Physical mediumship can involve various physical manifestations of spirit energies, such as the moving of objects, table rapping, and spirit materializations. These phenomena usually occur during séances. There are not many physical mediums these days because this form of channeling requires extensive training and is a psychic practice that can take many years to develop.
Mediums To The Rescue
When some people pass away, they are taken by surprise and in shock. These souls aren’t sure what is going on, where they are now, and how they got there, while wondering where everyone else has gone. These individuals find themselves stuck in a physical, human mindset and unable to progress in the spirit realm.
How can such a confused soul energy become unstuck and cross over into the light? Well, that’s where spirit rescue work comes in! Some of the most rewarding spiritual experiences in my own mediumship career have been during rescue sessions that I used to attend. Once every month, a group of mediums would gather in a séance circle and with the aid of a facilitator we would engage in the rescue process. In the trance state, one of us would then begin to channel the energy of someone who needed assistance to cross over and reach the Other Side.
There are several rescue sessions that particularly stand out in my memory, even after all these years. The first was the spirit of a young woman about 35 years of age. She had been sitting on her kitchen counter in Indiana for months, wondering where the rest of her family had gone? We soon discovered that they had all been killed in a car accident and only she had returned home to search for everyone. The facilitator encouraged her to look to the light, reach for their outstretched hands and join her husband and two children.
Another time, I channeled the energy of a little boy about six years old. He was hiding under one end of his bed, which was on an angle forming a tent over him. He had perished in a house fire in Nebraska and couldn’t find his parents. We encouraged him to look towards the light and reach for his waiting mother’s hand.
Another unusual case was a patriotic young WWII soldier who had been killed in combat, but refused to abandon his post. Our facilitator had to give him a direct order to look to the light and immediately report to his commanding officer!
The Origins And Journey Of The Soul
Where do souls come from? Souls are created in a place I know as the Guf, or the ‘Tree of Souls.’ In Jewish mysticism this Tree of Life is located in the Garden of Eden. When this tree blossoms, it produces new souls.
This ‘Treasury of Souls’ is said to be located in the Seventh Heaven. I have seen this place in a dream vision. I could go up to the gold and emerald gates, but could not enter. It is my understanding that all souls are created here by God.
Souls in the Guf are in different stages of evolution. There are young souls and old souls – a diversity of spirit energies waiting to incarnate, reincarnate and ascend.
I can usually distinguish the young, new souls from the wiser and more experienced, because they tend to be a bit ‘wild’ and unrestrained. Young souls are typically eager to experience as many things as possible, and sometimes rush in ‘where angels fear to tread.’ If they are exceptionally gifted, they also need to be guided properly. Many old souls reincarnate to the earth plane to help ground and guide these younger souls.
The old souls also return to provide the physical world with the many things needed for us to thrive, such as advancements in the arts, sciences and technology. Sadly, some greedy, spiritually unconscious humans abuse these gifts to the world for their personal gain. This causes much unnecessary suffering in the world.
When we decide in this life that we would like to have a child, it means our soul wants chooses to take on another soul contract. However, such a soul agreement, like any other contract, is always a two-way process. There cannot be a pregnancy unless the soul of the unborn child also chooses you as parent. In the Guf, souls can decide if they want to join a contract, or not.
The Gifts Of Psychic Communication
How does a loved one in the spirit realm communicate with a psychic medium? Actually, there are many methods of communication that spirit may use to reach us. It mostly depends on the relevant psychic or medium. Each reader or channeler has different psychic abilities.
Some of us can see, while others hear, sense or feel. These abilities are more commonly known as the ‘clair senses.’ Reputable psychics and mediums will always do their best to communicate what they perceive using the various psychic senses. It is advisable to get your psychic readings only from psychics and mediums who have one or more of these abilities.
Clairvoyance (clear seeing): the ability to ‘see.’ It is the psychic ability to see visions in the mind’s eye. It is typically experienced as mental flashes or visual imagery.
Clairaudience (clear hearing) – the psychic ability to hear messages being spoken by spirit.
Clairempathy (clear feeling) –the ability to feel the emotions of others in this world and the next.
Clairsentience (clear sensing) – more commonly known as intuition, such as a hunch or gut feeling.
Claircognizance (clear knowing) – the psychic ability of just knowing things. Along with clairsentience this is the most common psychic ability.
Clairolfaction ( clear smelling) – the psychic ability associated with smells, such as smelling a departed loved one’s favorite perfume.
Miracle Moments In Mediumship Readings
Mediums are a mouthpiece for the spirit world, or the ‘telephone’ in the middle. In a mediumship reading spirit may come through with a short, simple greeting or a full hour reading. The medium is merely the messenger and does not control the process. It is a three-way conversation between the client, spirit and the medium.
It is, of course, important for the sitter or client that spirit gives validating information or evidence that the medium could not possibly know or guess. This ‘seals the deal’ so to speak. The best way to receive these validations is to allow spirit to just take the lead and let the miracle unfold. The medium or the client trying to take charge and steer the reading is never a good idea.
Some typical examples of spontaneous evidence may include their birthname or nickname, their dates of birth and passing, how they passed, their personality and physical appearance when they were in this life, their career or business, their favorite hobby or sport, and even a beloved song, a saying they may have used a lot, or a family inside joke.
An unusual reading I will never forget was the time spirit kept showing me a yellow kayak that had rolled over in the water, to indicate his cause of death. Someone dying in a hospital bed is generic, but there is no way anyone could have guessed such an unusual fatal event. That is what I mean by authentic evidence in a reading.
I love it when a client gets that ‘ah ha’ moment, when they know without a shadow of doubt they are talking to a loved one. It is a beautiful miracle for all involved. Most of the time it is also a deeply healing experience.
I recently had a father come through with the unusual nickname he used to call his daughter. She did not ask me at the beginning of the reading what her father used to call her. He just revealed it to me unexpectedly. This is the best way to approach mediumship readings. In my experience, skeptical ‘test questions’ seldom succeed with spirit. In fact, there is usually no response to such ‘tests.’
The Psychic Power Of Psychometry
Recently, a young woman phoned me wanting to know how she could best psychically connect with her mom who had recently passed away. We had received some lovely evidence of her mom’s presence during our readings together, but she was hoping to be able to deepen the connection on her own in her daily life.
I already knew that this young woman had psychic abilities that are ‘untapped.’ I advised her to start practicing psychometry as part of her spiritual practice. Holding an item of her late mom in her hands, while she was meditating, will promote psychic communication with her beloved mother.
During this conversation, I had a strong vision of her mom repeatedly pointing to her wrist, and what looked like an armband. I asked her if she had a bracelet that her mom used to wear, in order that she could more easily sense her mom’s energy. She then confirmed that she had kept her mom’s hospital bracelet with her in her handbag.
Perfect for psychometry, I thought. That would literally be the most recent item her mom had been wearing on her person and would most strongly carry her energy imprint.
Psychometry is a wonderful psychic skill to develop. It is a powerful form of psychic reading facilitated by clairtangency, the psychic sense of touch.
A personal experience with psychometry that I will never forget occurred during a psychic development course some years ago at the Arthur Findlay College for spiritualism and psychic science. We were a group of ten students, and I was partnered with a gentleman I had not spoken to before.
A Morning Visitation From My Ancestors
Some of the best times I had growing up was visiting my great grandparents during the summer holidays. It was not only fun, but also spiritual and magical. It really helped me to connect with the higher powers that be.
My great grandma was a very magical woman. Her mother was a psychic who would dream the winning lottery numbers for people. She was known as a wise intuitive and many people were jealous of her for many reasons. Legend has it that she used to make wine for Italian mobsters and even had the infamous Al Capone visit her home a few times. She was a happy little Italian lady, who always did everything and everything she could for her kids.
My great grandfather came over from Italy and he was a very stern, powerful man who only spoke Italian. He also made wine and he was much older than my grandma. I think there was a 20-year age difference.
Often, while talking to my great grandma, the lights would begin to flicker in the house and my grandpa, who was an electrician by trade, would then tell me that spirit connects with us through electricity. I thought it was cool and would try to make contact with my ancestors when I was alone.
Grandpa also promised me that when he died, he would come back to visit me. And he did. I shared that whole experience in a previous blog.
Earlier today, during my daily spiritual practice my great grandparents, as well as my grandparents all came to visit me again. We remain interconnected to this day. It is so great to be able to have these mediumship experiences. I saw their faces, surrounded by a pure white light. I could feel the blissful warmth of their love.