Description
Mediumship is a fascinating and provocative subject for it touches upon essential questions about the mind of man, the nature of his consciousness, and even his ultimate destiny. A medium is normally defined as "a person supposed to be susceptible to supernormal agencies and able to impart knowledge derived from them, or to perform actions impossible without their aid." Most people picture a medium as a lady bedecked in exotic clothing, skulking in dark corners, waiting to bilk her clients of their hard-earned money. While I have no doubt that such mediums still do exist and have even run across some this is hardly a complete picture.
It was just before the turn of the century that mediumship became popular and Spiritualism developed as its religion. Séances were then held in semi-darkness in a small, well-designed room, often resembling a small theater whose set was a chapel or had some other religious overtones. The sitters, usually emotionally overwrought by some recent tragedy in their family, were further brought to a point of hysteria by hymn singing and organ music. It was, overall, a well-staged production. The medium went into a trance and through the help of her spirit "control," communicated messages from departed loved ones in the "spirit world." Most often these messages were trivial and even foolish, but the bereaved went home comforted that their loved ones still existed "somewhere" and were "happy."
ISBN 0138071802
