CAVEATS
This is a topic that I’ve written about in the past. Since then, my views may have changed and I believe it’s time to update my thoughts through this post.
The following opinions are my only. If anything you are about to read differs from your current understanding, or is different from that of your tutors, check with them and go with what feels best for you at this time.
One of the most irritating observations I kept witnessing as a student of this work, was recognising that my tutors and mentors teaching me how to sit in the power and meditate, weren’t actually doing so themselves.
Equally annoying was when I shared a platform with other mediums who took no time out prior to the demonstration to prepare their selves. Whilst I was sat in silence with headphones on, in a small room backstage, the other mediums would be posting on social media, chatting to whoever came into the room and apparently oblivious to the importance of their forthcoming demonstrations.
This frustration stayed with me for many years. Why were some mediums, including me, taking time out to prepare for a reading or demonstration, when others appeared not to embrace this practice?
Unlike many other skills, there are no rule books or fixed methods for becoming a medium working with the spirit world. There are as many ways to learn mediumship as there are teachers teaching it. Why? Because we learn from and through the experience of others that are more advanced as mediums. Every tutor will have their own set ways and beliefs, based on their progression. But the challenge that often occurs is in what is good for one person, may not be good for another.
Whilst one tutor will strongly believe in the power of meditation as part of the process, another tutor might choose to focus on other aspects of the work. These differences often leaves students, such as me, confused. My observations have led me to discover that most tutors will encourage their students to meditate, to the point that their workshops often start with a session of meditation. I’ve often thought that this was just a way of filling an amount of time where the tutor didn’t have to do much!
So, should or shouldn’t a student of mediumship learn to sit in meditation and the power of their own energy? The short answer is yes. I’ll explain the reasons later. Is meditation essential to the process of communicating with the spirit world? No. Again, I’ll tell you why I believe that in this article. Am I therefore suggesting that a new student to this work could become a medium without taking time to meditate and sit in the power? Possibly yes, though more likely no. Oh the confusion!
To appreciate the challenges of becoming a medium and improving on one’s abilities, the learning process is often broke down into two key areas – development & unfoldment. Though these two aspects are connected, each involves a different process. It is worth bearing in mind that there is also an overlap between these two aspects of the work.
The development of a student’s mediumship primarily comes from the practical learning and understanding of the task. Tutors will share techniques through group exercises, for example. The student learns the ethics, the understanding of communications, the relaying of the messages, the recognition of spirit connections, the history and the philosophy. Through the process of learning these abilities, and many more, the student develops their mediumship abilities and the process of unfoldment begins.
Unfoldment is a personal process. Although the process of unfoldment can be taught, nobody can make a student unfold. It’s a natural process that happens over time. It happens when our established beliefs are challenged with new and exciting ways. Our senses become heightened. Our understandings, thoughts and perceptions change and we gradually, over time, reveal abilities that we didn’t even knew we had, or have been long forgotten and buried due to the normal ways of living, peers, family and friends and those we’ve associated with. These people in our life have influenced us to become who we are.
The unfoldment process peels back much of those conditions gained in our lifetime, and shifts our focus to the inner self. As we learn the art of communicating with the spirit world through the development process, we naturally unfold. So, development can be taught, unfoldment is a natural by-product of that development, through learning and practising.
Unfoldment is a personal process. Although the process of unfoldment can be taught, nobody can make a student unfold.
Of course, everyone is different. Some people, like myself, are slow learners, while others rise to the challenges involved with ease. Some students are more accepting of the changes required, whilst others rebel a little, dismiss things being taught them, and often believe they know different. I’m describing myself in the latter statement!
When you compare those two statements in that last paragraph, it’s somewhat clear to appreciate that one set of students are going to progress, develop and unfold their potential quicker than the other type. But let us appreciate that this entire craft of learning to communicate with the spirit world is a personal journey. We’re not in a race, nor are we becoming mediums to compete with others doing the same.
Now that is all on the table, let’s look at the subject of this article, meditation for spirit connection purposes. To answer the question, we must also throw a few more facts into the mix.
Many of the finest mediums around the world became aware of the spirit world around them at a very young age. They are what is commonly referred to as ‘gifted’. Though we will never really know why this happens, it is widely accepted that the Divine or universal forces specifically chose them.
This throws up another question. Aren’t we apparently all born equal? Well yes we are but circumstances rapidly play a part in our early development years. We were all born with the same skills as Mozart to play a piano. But his environment and those around him, coaxed and encouraged his early gift for music.
Our ‘gifted’ mediums are therefore already advanced in the acceptance and understanding of the spirit world. Meanwhile, the rest of us are shaped by our peers, parents and life circumstances. Any potential we might have to become a medium in later life is hidden, covered over by life, and often ends up as a subject we don’t consider, pursue or even believe in, thanks to our peers!
The next fact to appreciate is that everyone alive on earth has a force from the other side watching over them. Some people refer to these helpers as guides, inspirers and other romantic sounding names. They are always with each of us throughout our life. Perhaps they change occasionally and different guides work with us through different parts of our life, based on our circumstances. But rest assured, they are always there.
Those ‘gifted’ mediums became aware of these helpers early in their life. They naturally accepted these hidden friends as part of their life. They bonded, developed a relationship with them and most importantly, they learnt to trust them.
The majority of us live unaware of the helpers in the spirit world. We live our lives completely unaware that there are people in the spirit world ready to work with us and, to some extent, guide and manoeuvre us through our ordinary life, until one day, something sets a spark alight deep within us.
I was forty years old, in a dark place and without direction in my life. During the year 2000 several events happened together over a short period of months. These events were weird, like odd coincidences, spooky and just not normal, I thought. That was when my spark ignited. I was drawn to research mediumship, to discover whether it was all fake nonsense, or whether there was any truth in the claim that we live after we die.
This is how most mediums discover their desires to get involved in this life path. Something, sometime, somewhere, grabs their attention and ignites a spark deep within them. And that is when their new life path begins.
The problem for each of these people, such as with me, is that all that life has taught us, our religious beliefs, our motivations, our scientific beliefs, our peer opinions, our life experiences are now to be challenged and become subject to change. Every belief we hold about God, and about life after death are challenged with new information, new evidence and an ever growing new knowledge.
With every person’s circumstances being different, the amounts of unfoldment each has to do varies. If the person is like I was, ‘thick skinned’ as some would refer to it, much change is needed to become an effective medium. Sharing a secret with you, for the first four or so years of me being introduced to this new world, I had absolutely no plans to become a medium! I just wanted to understand the craft.
My first ever meditation teacher never actually sat in mediation herself. I couldn’t get my head around that. Mind you, she wasn’t a medium either, even though she brushed on the subject most weeks!
It was only a few years ago, after several decades of meditation, and sitting in the power, I began to understand why some mediums didn’t need to partake in the practice. One tutor I had, who remains a wonderful friend today, insisted that meditation and sitting in the power was essential for healthy mediumship. But whether he was doing it himself was not important. Why? Because he had been working with and aware of the spirit world since he was a very young boy. He’d had a lifetime of working with and understanding the subtleties of mediumship.
Sitting in the power of our own energy is a worthy way to assist our unfoldment. In doing so, we learn about ourself and our own spirit. It heightens our senses and awareness’s, and it produces the blank canvas we need for working as a medium.
To complete this article, here are a couple of other points worth mentioning. More often than we might be aware of, those mediums born gifted, do continue to sit in the power through meditation, even though they might appear not to have to. They do so in the knowledge that this will deepen their connection with the other side. Another point to consider is that the spirit world are very powerful and hugely intelligent. When they need to get communications across the veil, they will use whatever and whoever they can.
Being a medium is a privilege. Don’t ever think different. It’s not a right, or a given, that everyone will remain mediums forever. If the individual chooses to lead a life that is not remotely connected with a greater good, their powers of mediumship will diminish. Do I know that for sure? No, but I understand enough about the relationship we have with the spirit world to know that we have a duty of care with the work that remains important to both worlds.
SUMMARY
It is my view that every medium, whether born with an enhanced gift, or one found later in life, should regularly sit in the power of their own energy. In this article, I’ve explained why it’s not essential for the purpose of mediumship, but should be considered as important as any other techniques.
Some people might well claim to me that they are good mediums and they never meditate. Good for them. But how much better might you become through investing some time in getting to know themselves whilst developing a deeper relationship with the helpers in the spirit world.
Nowadays, I’ve found that I don’t need to sit for long periods of time in the power of my energy through meditation, to be able to connect with the spirit world. Like many other mediums, I can often connect in minutes or seconds, once I set the desire to.
I like to use the analogy of the bagpipe player. The player is always doing two important things. One action is in filling the bag with air through pumping with their arms. The other is in playing the notes through positioning of the fingers. Without the pumping action, momentarily the instrument will produce notes. But only until the bag is empty of air.
Consider that analogy when it comes to your mediumship. One works with the other, and in my view are equally important in the final outcome.
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This has been another of those topics that, given the time, I could write a book on! For the purpose of the article, I had to be honest and fair to the readers. Yes, you can become a medium that doesn’t need to meditate or sit in the power. But why take the chance?
Even if I chose to stop my mediumship tomorrow or the next day, I would continue to sit in the power of my own energy. It is through doing that as regularly as I can, I have learned so much about myself and my relationship with my own higher Self.
The problem you might raise is that you simply can’t find the time, or even the desire to. Let me tell you, you have as many hours in the day as everyone else. Make time! Get up an hour earlier. Perhaps set a goal to meditate in the power every night before you go to bed. Just make the time.
It doesn’t have to be hours upon end either. Start with a goal to sit in silence for 15 minutes every day. Work on it and make it part of your life. Put it on your ‘To Do’ list, on your calendar, in your diary, or even on the fridge door. Create the habit.
Start every meditation with the same expectations – “I expect nothing to happen”.
Forget about having a busy mind, or not being able to focus for very long. These are all things that will be overcome with practise. But there is the answer, practise, regularly and without fail.
Should you do it before a reading or demonstration? Honestly, I believe yes. It sets the tone. It calms you down, it restricts nerves, it steadies your mind, it distracts your negative thoughts, and lots of other benefits, apart from the obvious external thing that it shows you to others as taking your work seriously enough to do so.
Ignore the other mediums that don’t bother to. They are doing their own thing and that is up to them. This is about you, about your mediumship, and about you becoming better as a medium.
Should you listen to slow calming music before a demonstration or reading and whilst meditating? Not necessarily. I use whatever I want to listen to at that moment. Sometimes it is new age instrumental music, while other times it will be my favourite piece of trance house music. Whatever rows your boat at that moment. It’s about escaping from this reality for the few minutes you choose and freeing your mind of the daily noise to focus inwardly.
I made up the analogy of the bag pipe player whilst I was writing this article. But isn’t that a wonderful parallel example.
I hope, as a student of this work, that I have shared something of value for you in this article. If you’ve read this far, you’re probably already steps ahead of others on this learning curve. My last words to you this day will be these: I strongly believe that sitting in the power and meditation are essential ingredients necessary for becoming a great medium and well rounded individual.
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