Not every communication from the spirits is going to be a heavy-duty, highly evidential proof of life on the other side, nor should it be. As a medium, you can get all kinds of communications, including funny stuff. Spirits do have a sense of humor.
I think that from the medium’s perspective, having good relationships with your spirit folks is technically not required, but it is so valuable and worthwhile that it ought to be. I think mediums forget that spirits are people too (in whatever skin they’re in).
Over time, you’ll likely be able to distinguish some individuals from others, as they pop in and out and hang around from time to time. The ones who seem to hang around more consistently are likely to be part of your spirit group. If you avoid the extremes of either deifying them or treating them like your servants, they may open up to you, and you may learn about them. Like anyone else you meet, it’s about relationships.
As I mentioned in my previous post, Hydesville is Southeast of Rochester, NY (US). It’s the foundation point for Modern Spiritualism, and is where the Fox sisters heard raps from a deceased peddler. The town of Palmyra is nearby. It is the foundation point for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), (a.k.a. the Mormons), and is where Joseph Smith talked with the angel Moroni and discovered the plates, which became the book of Mormon.
Lily Dale is in Cassadaga, NY, which is about two hours drive from Rochester, and it is the capital of Spiritualism in the US.
The Genessee river runs through the middle of Rochester, and it flows from South to North, which is a rarity on our planet. (In addition to the Nile, there are other rivers that flow from South to North.)
Do these spiritual influences and the geography of the region somehow go together? I’m not sure, but I’d like to know.
The Fox sisters lived in a small cottage in Hydesville, which is a very small town that is Southeast of Rochester, New York (US). They heard spirit raps in the cottage, and learned how to communicate with the spirit there, who was a peddler who had been murdered in the house years before. The news of their ability to communicate spread like wildfire and became the catalyst event for the foundation of Modern Spiritualism. Here is an excellent first-person account of their experience, and a historical account that describes their lives and experiences with Spiritualism. The Lily Dale Museum has items from the Fox family.
The House in Hydesville is a play that just finished running in the Geva Theatre in Rochester. I went to see it. The acting was excellent, and the stage was well done. It’s a beautiful place. There’s not a bad seat in the house, and it was two or three seats short of a sellout.
As a Spiritualist, I found the story very disappointing. On the way out, one of my spirit folks said “Skeptics win on this one”, and that describes it quite accurately. I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone.
When it comes to perceiving/receiving spiritual stuff, it’s easy for beginners to get all hung up with the means of perception (hearing vs. seeing, etc.). It’s easy to think that it’s so important to do one or the other, or think you have to do them all well, or think you have to develop your weak points. It doesn’t work that way, it’s not a report card where you want (or should have) an A in every subject. It’s easier, better, and more productive to work with whatever perceptions you have.
From the medium’s perspective, mediumship is a very personal endeavor. It’s about how you personally perceive spirit communications, and it has next to nothing to do with how your peers perceive. So don’t compare. Work with what you have.
One of the overlooked bonuses of being a medium is that you can work with your spirit folks to improve your perceptions so that communication between you and them is better. Metacommunication. When you do this, you work with the “A’s” on your report card, not the “C’s and D’s”. For example, in my case, clairaudience is my “A”, and clairvoyance is my “B”. If I wanted to work with the spirits regarding metacommunication, it would be with my A or B, not my “F”, which happens to be seeing auras. And there’s no need to try to turn my F into a C. I’ve worked with it, it does not work for me, so that means there is probably a good reason. Given enough time, it’s technically possible for an F to turn into an A and vice versa, as your mediumship can change, but it’s fairly unlikely. The bottom line is that everyone cannot do everything, and it’s perfectly ok.
I have a lot of very vivid dreams. According to reference.com, you could call them lucid dreams, because I am active participant. I’m more comfortable calling them spiritual experiences, because that’s what they are for me. There are places I go, people I meet and talk with, all kinds of things, and the experience of it is pretty similar to normal waking experience.
This morning, I went to a large building on a campus. The buildings were sandstone brown and reminded me of the University of Buffalo where I went to college. I was standing on a porch next to an elevator and was observing the architecture of it. It was unusual because there were multiple floors and the porches were stacked up in the same part of the building (like patios on a large apartment building) but you could still see the sky above perfectly well. It was like you could look above you and see right through the porch to the sky, even though the porch was there. I was with some people, but don’t have any specifics. I’ll bet I was learning something there. It’s not unusual for me to get some kind of school or education reference when they’re teaching me something. But you almost never consciously learn of what they’re teaching you. It’s paradoxical to some extent, but that’s how it works.
I also meet spirit folks via dream experiences. Spirits are normally very protective of their personal identities, not out of greed, but out of fear that we will react poorly and treat them in less than ideal ways. My approach has always been that they are people just like anyone else, and I treat them that way. Over time, it has fostered a lot of trust and good will.
At the “school”, my car was in the lot somewhere and I had the keys, but didn’t know where it was parked. I was stuck, and needed a ride back to Rochester. A nice lady stood in front of me and said she would give me a ride. I asked to be sure she was going that way, and she said she was.
She was directly in front of me. She was in her 50’s or so. I could clearly see her face, nice hairdo that was a little bit bouffant, a black silk dress with a pattern on it, a necklace that was beaded but not pearls. She likes the name MaryAnne, although it’s not hers.
I’ve had lots of folks like MaryAnne appear in my dream experiences over the years. I’ve learned that because they trust me with their identities, I’m often the first one they show themselves to on a personal level. From there, they often go off and work with others.
My view is that it’s a privilege, and I am honored. I always like meeting new people and learning about them. It’s nice to know that it works equally well on both sides of the fence.
