In my work I am asked to act as a psychic medium on a regular basis. This means that a living person (the client) asks me to act as a “medium” between them and someone who is no longer alive. There are two styles of mediumship that I am familiar with, let us refer to them as “active” and “passive”. The active style involves a psychic that is actively conversing (in a manner of speaking) with the consciousness of the target being and is then relaying the results of this conversation to the client. The passive style involves the psychic becoming effectively unconscious and giving up control of their body to the target being in a form of temporary possession.
In my practice I employ the “active” style. This is a personal choice, but I feel that remaining conscious, thereby retaining my ability to discern, is paramount. It is this discernment that is the focus of this article.
The typical mediumship client expects to talk to their deceased loved ones immediately. This is not too different from the typical owner expecting their car to get fixed when they bring it to a shop. What the owner does not expect to hear back is “I’m sorry, that’s not possible in the short term.” Even if the engine was blown to bits that are now evenly distributed over the interstate, the non-technical owner will still expect prompt and convenient results.
So when a hypothetical client named Anne asks to speak to her favorite uncle Jimmy, she does not wonder whether Jimmy is currently available to talk. Understanding this part of the equation requires some agreement regarding belief systems. Does Anne subscribe to the Judeo-Christian single-lifetime worldview? Does she believe in infinite (or even fixed-count) reincarnation? Understanding reincarnation will make the conversation easier. The reason this is important is that it raises a not-so-obvious question: What is uncle Jimmy doing when I try to establish communication with him?
The way I see it, there are several possibilities for Jimmy. Let’s name a few.
- He may be living a relatively conscious Astral life, meaning that he is at the very least aware that he died and that this is a different world. You can also describe this as being “in between” physical lifetimes, and the specifics will vary a lot.
- He may be confused over his death, having learned nothing while alive that would have prepared him for the transition. In this case he is probably stuck trying get back to what was, and, unfortunately, there is no telling when he will move on.
- He may be living a new physical life. In this case, Jimmy may now be a teenage girl named Roxie who has little if any memories of being Jimmy and even less interest in the matter. Recall that you yourself are most likely a reincarnated Jimmy, and you probably would not be in any position to answer a psychic call while you’re busy living your own life.
This is by no means a complete list, but you can already see that it would be unwise to assume that you can always get in touch with any deceased consciousness. Yet I will try, and, interestingly, there are multiple possible outcomes:
- Jimmy is not too busy and, better yet, has an important message for Anne. All is well.
- Someone responds to my call and claims to be Jimmy. This is where discernment comes in. I can see that this is just a random lost soul that would answer just about any call. There are many incentives for non-physical entities to do this, but for the most part they are the same motivations that would entice a human being to pretend to be someone else. The living person, be it the psychic or the client, is giving them energy and entertainment. Enough said. This is why I prefer the “active” mediumship style, where I retain my discrimination.
- Jimmy is busy. If he is currently physical, I may be able to see something about his current incarnation, or I may not be allowed to see it in some cases.
So how do I tell Anne that Jimmy is now Roxie who will not be chatting with her today because she’s on a date and couldn’t possibly hear me over the chatter of her busy mind? I start by telling the truth using option 3 above. Some people accept this, but here is what happens otherwise. Anne then tells me that I’m a crackpot medium because she feels Jimmy’s presence all the time, and when she went to see another medium just last month she had a pleasant conversation with him! Will Anne believe me when I explain that this is because of option 2 above, that the being she’s been sending love to is simply an energetic leech that responded to her call?
Would she want to believe that? I’m guessing not, and this is why many psychics will tell their clients only what they would want to hear. I still tell the truth, but I’ve learned to gauge how gently it must be delivered to each individual. In the end, I believe that Anne would be better off leech-free.