Will mediumship ever go mainstream?

I’ve been wondering what I have to do to have my ideas about mediumship acknowledged and taken seriously.

Ever since my essay for the BICS essay contest didn’t win a prize, and my relationship with the Bigelow Institute didn’t materialize the way I hoped it would, I’ve been wondering what I have to do to have my ideas about mediumship acknowledged and taken seriously. Especially by the new-wave, tight-knit group of thinkers and scientists that are working on the subjects of mediumship, consciousness and the afterlife.

There are a great many arguments about mediums, and much has been written about historical case studies and instances of mediumship that happened hundreds of years ago, but there is not enough active conversation between the mediumship community, and the scientific community at large.

Where in society does mediumship belong? It sits awkwardly between many worlds.

Early in my career, my mediumship was for entertainment. I was giving public demonstrations and private readings at hen / bachelorette parties, in pubs and bars, and at race nights, charity events, and other occasions involving alcohol and a good laugh.

While this taught me how to literally read for anyone, anywhere, under any conditions, with age I started to feel that this was the wrong context for spiritual work. That giving readings to people who were out for a laugh and would forget all that was said by morning was a bit…disrespectful to the spirit world.

Then, I went to University to study philosophy of mind to get a grasp on what was happening to me; and to understand what would have to be true about reality for mediumship to be possible. I didn’t feel that my perspective was particularly welcome among a school of materialist, analytic philosophers and 18-year-old students (I was 25 at the time). There wasn’t an opening to study my own experiences, and to get credit for applying philosophy to try to solve the problem of spirit communication.

Spiritualist churches also played a role in my past, and although they were accepting and accommodating to the idea of mediumship, there was a lack of dynamism, of critical thought, of mediums who saw their experiences as I saw mine. There was a doctrine to be followed and a set way of doing things that stifled the awe, wonder and freshness that should accompany effective mediumship. So these spaces didn’t feel like quite the right fit either.

When the BICS essay contest was announced, I was excited because I saw it as a new context for mediumship. It marked the start of a new phase in which mediums will be heard with open-minded curiosity, and mediumship will be taken more seriously by mainstream science. In particular, I foresee mediumship being recognized as a tool in the search for the properties of consciousness.

But it’s still early days. When it comes to the science of mediumship, I still get the sense that science believes it ought to tell mediums what they’re experiencing, rather than science listening and observing as mediums share their experiences, and developing hypotheses in response to what they learn.

Much of the academic writing about mediumship that isn’t based on experimentation tends to mythologize a few mediums from the past by repeatedly regurgitating them as case studies, rather than engaging with mediums who are working today.

There is a sense that only perfection in mediumship matters, and that only mediums whose work is perfectly replicable in a lab ought to be brought under the wing of science and taken seriously, with all others being discarded through an assessment and filtration process. I don’t think this is the right approach because it’s forcing mediumship into unrealistic scientific protocols, rather than seeking to understand mediumship as it actually is, in the world.

Ironically, as a medium, it’s hard to be taken seriously in the study of mediumship.

For humanity to get to the truth of how mediumship works, and what it means about the true nature of human consciousness, there has to be a change. Masses of mediums and throngs of scientists must learn to work together.

We’re not there yet. I recently invited one of the winners of a BICS essay prize, a scientist, to come and speak to us, here on The Art & Science of Mediumship, about his essay. He declined, saying that ‘this is a subject he will not talk about’. I found his response surprising, hypocritical and exploitative, since his essay contained research about mediums which was used cynically, to help him win his prize.

It is not enough to graze the surface of mediumship with a few 10/10 unicorn mediums, thereby creating the appearance that mediumship is some rare ability that barely ever happens. Lively bonds with the spirit world are happening every day, to millions of people, some who call themselves mediums, and some who don’t.

This shift in paradigm from mediumship as rare, to mediumship as a common function of human consciousness would lead to different hypotheses and research than what is currently being offered.

I think it would be useful for the science of mediumship to proceed in consultation with people like me who have one foot in the spirit world, and one foot in the academic one. Who are able to speak clearly and critically both about what it is like to experience mediumship subjectively, and how to go about doing science on us, objectively.

For these reasons, I have been putting myself and my BICS paper forward for more opportunities in the scientific and academic world, and it’s intimidating.

It’s scary to put something so personal, so core to who you are, up for sacrifice on the altar of skepticism and critical evaluation. In a sense, you’re putting your self, your very being, up there.

It’s also frightening to challenge smart people who you look up to and admire; to point out unsubstantiated assumptions, approaches that aren’t quite right, and hypotheses that betray a lack of intimate understanding of the process of spirit communication.

I have shakily, and with sweaty palms, applied to speak about my paper at:

• The Scottish Society for Psychical Research annual conference

• The Society for Psychical Research annual conference

• The Scientific & Medical Network ‘Beyond the Brain’ annual conference

• The Arthur Conan Doyle Centre’s Tuesday Talk series

My next book will also lean much more heavily into philosophy, research, and scientific approaches to studying mediumship, from an intersubjective point of view.

I believe that science and other spaces of critical thought are the right spaces for mediumship to find itself. But we need to move beyond the current ‘is any of this real?’ paradigm into deeper questions, in order to make progress and uncover the real truths about consciousness and human connection which are locked away within mediumship.

I dream of a day when spirit communication is thought of as an effective and valid therapeutic modality, with much research, evidence and data to back it up. A day when practitioners are regulated, insured, and paid accordingly, and where mediums can get on with their work in an appropriately respected, healing context.

I think this context would be best for all concerned - for mediums, for those who seek them, and for those in the spirit world who wish to make contact.

A context beyond parlour tricks, ‘entertainment’, snide remarks from Christians, skeptics and magicians. A context with the backing and support of science, mutually supportive, where we helped them get to the truth about consciousness. And in return, they validated our perspective.

The first step on the road to mediumship being respected as a therapeutic modality is for science to hear, know and understand mediums, and for mediums to be willing to get their sleeves rolled up and work with science.

So although I will sweat, worry, shake, feel out of place, and out of my depth; and although I will no doubt be rejected many times, I will keep trying to have these connective conversations. To help key thinkers understand what it’s really like to live with the spirit world right at your back. I will do it for the mediums of the future, in the hopes that they will be able to practice their abilities fully, without shame, ridicule or fear.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. In what space does mediumship reside in your life? Is it entertainment, religion, therapeutic, or something else?

Please share your thoughts in a comment.