For a number of weeks, there has been public dispute within the SNU, the Spiritualist National Union, which represents the religion and movement for spiritualists. The issue came to public attention when a group of Arthur Findlay College tutors walked out over concerns about working conditions.
I’ve attended the college a number of times in the past, the last time being in 2015. I let my membership of the SNU lapse and am no longer a paying member. This was due to my financial situation and nothing to do with the quality of the learning experience gained from such visits.
Although I am no longer technically a spiritualist, at heart I will always be one. I believe in the work and value of being a medium, able to bring comfort and love to others who grieve over the loss of a loved one.
The thing is, I don’t know enough detail about the current disputes to be able to air an opinion that is balanced and based on fact rather than personal feelings or relationships with those in dispute. But there are a few obvious points I can gather from the almost daily comments on social media.
Many people appear all too keen to support one side or the other without knowing all the facts. A few of these are people I know. These few are happy to post their support for one side or the other without knowing all the facts or being involved themselves. It often reads like they are trying to side up with someone to gain some credibility for themselves. Although their intentions may appear to be adding support to one side or the other, all their comments are doing is adding fuel to an already damaging fire within the spiritualist movement.
I have always been aware of many over-inflated egos amongst the medium community. Some of the well-known mediums have built up a following of people that like them. It might be because of their teaching style, their personable attitudes, and students showing loyalty because it seems the right thing to do.
A group of 20 qualified tutors raised concerns, that I and most people don’t know anything about, regarding teaching terms at the Arthur Findlay College. Perhaps they have good reason, perhaps not. I, nor many others outside of that group, can fully understand their disputes without knowing all the facts. Why would I therefore be able to support one side or the other?
Obviously, as a medium that shares a lot of content related to working with the spirit world, online and to a growing audience, I have a voice. I’m not well-known, nor a poster name that matters. I am just another medium excited by the work I do, and happy to share that excitement with other like-minded folks.
I can’t dispute that I teach others through the process of my work. But if I do, it is as a student of this work and not as a tutor. I strongly believe that lending my voice to others is a choice I make and, above all else, a privilege.
The SNU tutors have invested thousands of hours and pounds into earning the qualifications needed to teach others at the most renowned college of its type in the world. But regarding teaching, as a result of those qualifications, it should remain a privilege and not a right. I don’t know, but perhaps their driving force is money-based. Many of them have chosen to make teaching mediumship their main source of income. Again, teaching others is a privilege, not a right.
I have much respect for my friends who have earned qualifications and certificates. The work they’ve had to put in to achieve those rewards is humbling. But I have also come to realise that a medium with letters after their name does not automatically make them the best in their class. A few years ago, I took a course in computing and gained a certificate for it. But sometimes I still don’t know one end of the computer from the other!
The skills those tutors have learned to gain qualifications are priceless. Their ethics and presentational skills should not be questioned, and thousands of others can learn so much from them. However, I find myself wondering if their reasons are open to question. Should letters after their name, or popularity be the most important reason? Should others consider each of them as the best at mediumship? You’d think so! But my experience has revealed to me that these qualified mediums are often no better at communicating with the spirit world than many other lesser known or unqualified mediums. Surely, that is what is at the heart of being a medium?
As in most walks of life, people tend to place others on pedestals. These elevated pseudo levels become higher and far-reaching over time. But again, I question their individual abilities at actual baseline mediumship. I have sat with a few and their relayed messages to me were often vague and lacking any real gold-nugget evidence of a continuing life. Yet they are qualified, the best in their class, apparently!
I’ve shared a story in the past about when I went to watch one of the most respected and loved mediums in the UK do a demonstration of mediumship at a church. She didn’t know me, so I was able to sit in that audience and judge her mediumship as a student would. Her reputation was huge and she was obviously loved by the congregation. Yes, I thought she was a lovely lady, and someone that I could learn a lot from. But her mediumship on that night was poor. There were no demonstrations of real proof from the spirit connections, no details and nothing more than the average decent medium could expect from themself. Yet she was cheered and applauded at the end of her demonstration. Why? Was it because of her mediumship? Or was it because of who she was and the reputation she had?
What I am saying is that we should not confuse popularity with mediumship. We should not believe that just because someone is qualified or works at an establishment teaching others their skills, they are automatically the best medium.
People across the world save their money and often travel thousands of miles to be taught at the Arthur Findlay College. They book their courses according to the tutors they admire. Imagine how they feel when they learn that their chosen tutor has walked away from the college and will no longer be available. Perhaps some will be unconcerned and happy to be taught by someone else that’s equally qualified. Others, however, will cancel their courses.
When I attended the college over the years past, I had witnessed occasions where egos were displayed, not just from over-enthusiastic students, but from tutors as well. For the most part, the tutors were excellent and I benefitted from their experience. That said, there were several occasions where tutors would show off or act like demigods. Often they had the habit of selecting the best students for example work, leaving struggling students, like me, to sit and watch! But those occasions were, thankfully rare.
If often comes across to me that today’s spirit workers are all too quick at wanting to teach others, rather than continuing their own education. As I said above, teaching is a privilege that should only be undertaken by those doing so for the correct reasons. Recently on social media I have read of well-known mediums holding Zoom courses for hundreds of pounds per student. One such example was of a medium selling places for a Zoom course at many hundreds of pounds and somehow justifying the high cost by claiming to limit the space to twenty. I calculated that if that medium did sell all the places on that course, they would receive £30,000 from the course. Surely that cannot be right?
So when I constantly read of tutors in dispute over fees or terms, and taking actions that only damage the spiritualist movement, it is hardly surprising that I experience shame and disappointment. I’m not a part of it, and thankfully my moral compass will not ever bring me into that environment. Spiritualism is a beautiful path for life on earth. It offers so much to everyone, inside and out. Mediumship does need to be taught correctly. I wish more mediums were prepared to confess they remain students for life rather than relying on certificates and qualifications as road markers and badges of honour in their personal careers.