Medium Well

A medium is a person who stands between the dead and the living, serving as a conduit between them. I'm not sure how they do it, but it has something to do with vibrations or frequencies. Mediums are apparently born with the gift, a talent, an ability to raise their vibration level and tune into wherever it is that the dead are able to meet them and communicate to or through them.

There are three kinds of talents mediums may have:

CLAIRVOYANCE, the ability to see spirits
CLAIRAUDIENCE, the ability to hear spirits
CLAIRSENTIENCE, the ability to sense the presence and thoughts of spirits

If you're like me, your only experience with psychics and mediums comes mainly from watching them on TV. There seem to be many different medium styles. Some use rituals, chanting and ritual objects, crystal and incense, or waving things around in the air, such as holy water or burning sage, while others seem content just to walk around a place and open themselves up to whoever or whatever is present. Some mediums set themselves up as teachers with followers and offer lessons and lists of how-tos, chants, rituals, specific stones and herbs to use for various purposes. It's hard for an outside observer to determine what is necessary and what is merely being done to impress the client. I find myself skeptical and untrusting of mediums who look like gypsy fortune-tellers or earth-mother types, with flashy rings, bangles, and voluminous skirts. It's hard to determine what is natural and what is hype.

Clients may consult a medium for various reasons, including a desire to communicate with a loved one, but many consult them for guidance about their own lives, and mediums may receive information from spirit guides from those who have passed on, and from deceased loved ones who may stop in to offer help to those left behind.

I had a gypsy offer to read my palm in London once; she was right out of a story book. I said no thanks, I'll let the future reveal itself in due course, and bought a small spray of lavender she was selling, just in case. I didn't want to chance a curse tossed my way if she really had mystical powers. I could have let her do it as a lark, but I'm not the kind to gamble or throw away money on questionable goods.

I became acquainted with a medium on a forum a little over a year ago that I eventually trusted to do some readings for me. She didn't make promises or ask for money or say a lot of mumbo jumbo meant impress. She wasn't trying to drum up business. She seemed to operate from a place of kindness and compassion for the world and talked freely about her experiences. She had an openness of spirit, and I believed then and now I was dealing with a genuine medium. 

Keep in mind, the best person to consult about your future is probably you. If you consult a medium, you are just going to end up comparing their message, which is bound to be somewhat cryptic, to what you know in your heart to be true. And since you already know it, you can bypass the need for a medium altogether if you just stop kidding yourself and ask yourself what you really believe, what you really need to do, how you really feel. In the end it's all up to you. On the other hand, if you find a medium that you feel is genuine, go for it, but only once. If you find yourself going back for more advice, you're becoming dependent; or if the medium needs more money, or more sessions to get your  information and puts on a dramatic show, you're probably being had.

Buyers be wary, and mediums, be well.

Cartoon by Gaspirtz .