Exploring Physical Mediumship: Psychic Photos, Spirit Voices, & Materializations

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Delorme, A., Beischel. J., Michel, L., Boccuzzi, M., Radin, D., & Mills, P. J. (2013). ‘Electrocortical activity associated with subjective communication with the deceased.’ Frontiers in Psychology, No. 4, p. 834.

In principle there should be no seances held in total darkness. Subdued lighting including coloured lights or Natural light is preferable at all times.” At the meeting I was met by David Bruton, Judith Seaman, Julia Almond, Simone Key and Tanya Smith, the general manager. Eileen and I were then handed the new protocol. David Bruton stressed that it was not a reflection on my mediumship but a way forward for the College. All physical mediums should be assessed under test conditions before being allowed to work at AFC and a register of approved Physical mediums is kept just as for all college tutors.Cohen, E. (2008). ‘What is Spirit Possession? Defining, Comparing and Explaining Two Possession Forms.’ Ethos, Vol. 73, No. 1, pp. 101-126. In years gone by, PM was very much in evidence at AFC, with a dedicated séance room in the basement. Prior to this, luminaries of Spiritualism such as Gordon Higginson were among those who demonstrated their PM at the college. To the best of my knowledge, the only physical medium currently demonstrating levitation phenomena and independent direct voice at AFC is 31-year-old Scott Milligan (pictured below). Anthropology has had a long relationship with the social and psychological phenomenon known as ‘spirit possession’. As early as 1890, James Frazer, in his voluminous exercise in cross-cultural comparison The Golden Bough, noted that the belief that ‘certain persons are supposed to be possessed from time to time by a spirit or deity’ is a worldwide phenomenon, thus indicating an awareness of the near-universality of spirit possession. 3 That said, mediumship, and the ability to incorporate spiritual entities, can undoubtedly provide women, and other socially-marginalized groups, such as homosexuals and factory workers 18, with significant social benefits that would not otherwise be available. Kilson 19 has written of the transformation in status that spirit mediumship brings about in Ga society in Ghana, for example. At the time of Kilson’s fieldwork, the Ga considered women to be innately inferior to men, which when combined with illiteracy, unmarried life and, potentially, an inability to conceive children, frequently resulted in a particularly low social standing. By becoming spirit mediums, women in Ga society were able to achieve a degree of status they could not have attained under normal circumstances, taking on a vital social role, and one imbued with supernatural authority.

Littlewood, R. (1995). ‘The Return of Multiple Consciousnesses.’ In A.P. Cohen & N. Rapport (eds.) (1995). Questions of Consciousness. London: Routledge. Because we are spiritual beings, living in physical bodies, it follows that we have spiritual senses even if few of us are aware of these latent powers. Some exercise them so naturally that they are surprised when they learn that not everybody has them. Others discover them during an enforced solitude, such as a childhood illness or perhaps when, for some reason, they’ve become isolated by their peers.

What is the difference between Physical and Mental Mediumship?

Crabtree, A. (1988). Multiple Man: Explorations in Possession and Multiple Personality.London: Grafton Books.

If you’re not familiar with PM, it’s worth my briefly explaining what it’s all about, and why it matters. Since altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are central to most mediumship traditions, 67 it seems reasonable to present a short examination of the concept of consciousness in general so that we can better understand what we mean by altering it. After all, if defining what we mean when we refer to consciousness is difficult, it must be even more so to define an alteration of it. The psychologist Charles Tart provides us with a useful starting point, describing ASCs as states ‘such that the experiencer feels her consciousness is qualitatively (and often radically) different from the way it functions in the baseline state’. 68 By the term ‘baseline state’, Tart is referring to our ‘normal’ everyday waking consciousness, which in Euro-American culture is perceived as the dominant, most practical, form of consciousness. Of course it would be unreasonable to suggest that Western culture is entirely monophasic (as contrasted with polyphasic cultures), 69 but it is nevertheless clear that our culture places a special significance on one specific form of consciousness – normal everyday waking consciousness – while other forms of consciousness are perceived as either inferior or useless. 70 TherapeuticsOne of the social functions of spirit possession practices is often therapeutic. They may be therapeutic for both mediums and sitters. LiteratureKehoe, A. B. & Giletti, D.H. (1981). ‘Women’s Preponderance in Possession Cults: The Calcium-Deficiency Hypothesis Extended.’ American Anthropologist, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 549-561. Laughlin, C.D. (2013). ‘Dreaming and Reality: A Neuroanthropological Account.’ International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, Vol. 32, pp. 64-78.