Mediums

* I think it's possible that particles from our existence can be sensed by some people and those particles retain something of the whole being. This could also be described as a soul,spiritual and/or religious.*

I do hope science can add to this in the years to come wilma
Do those we love stay close by once they die, in spirit form? Is something of their 'essence' left behind? I truly believe there is. My own kith and kin rubbish that notion, with the 'when you're dead, you're dead' retort. However, so many things have happened to me, just after a person dies, to make me believe they (the deceased) know I am 'open' to receiving messages, a bit like a conduit. That sounds bonkers, I know but in the presence of a family member it happened and they were blown away by the message that came through me, out of the blue. We were sitting having coffee together. It shook me too, to be honest. If you say such things or write it down people laugh and scoff. You cannot blame them.

My daughter told me I must be open to her making her presence felt after she died. I'm genuinely searching for a sign.. she felt I was too sceptical and would brush things off or not notice them.

My Mum told me that when I was a baby (her first), she went to see a fortune teller (her words) with some work friends as a bit of fun. They each went into see her on their own and my Mum remembers being told she'd have 3 children and a couple of other things I can't remember now. I don't think she treated it as a serious thing, but years later she realised that what had been predicted did happen. She also told me that she hadn't told her family about going because the Catholic Church was against that kind of stuff.

My friend lost her son to cancer just before Christmas Miss Adventure. He too told his Mum he would let her know he was there once he'd died. She felt very comforted by this, but perhaps there does have to be an 'open channel' somewhere for receiving, for that presence to get through?

From my experience, described above, I think you will KNOW if and when it happens, because it's startling and very real.

This is why I wonder about mediums, because you cannot summon it up, to happen at will. Not in my 'experience' anyway. Again, it sounds strange and slightly barmy trying to put this into words.

Wouldn't I need to find a conduit, day6?
I somehow think I would be setting myself up for disappointment by seeing a medium. I want more than they could ever give me, I think. I suppose if they gave me anything, however small, that struck a chord, then I could easily become obsessed.

I can say this here because I'm anonymous, but I don't have a problem with the whole idea of talking to the dead. I mean out loud as well as in my head.

I know some people visit graves of lost loved ones and have conversations with them. I like that idea, but my surviving family will not be buried, so I think I will just talk to them when ever I feel like it. If they ever answered me back I would probably faint, but I would be so happy. I don't know that I would tell anyone about it though.

I know the bereaved can look for signs from the loved ones they have lost, but I think I would be open to the idea of 'taking the time to smell the flowers', in other words see the beauty of the world around you and take my signs from there. Sorry if this sounds mawkish and I hope I haven't upset or offended anyone.

You certainly haven't offended me, Wilma. Its good to talk about these things.

MissA that's what happened to my friend's SiL I mentioned earlier. She was forever looking for fairs at weekends where she could find a medium and asking my friend to drive her because she couldn't drive herself. It went on for a couple of years and eventually the time between events got bigger. I'm not sure if she still goes sometimes.

One of the problems I had with the $1 million challenge mentioned before is that the tests had to take place under certain conditions to try and prevent fakery. I don't think a medium or clairvoyant would necessarily be able to 'perform' on command?

I don't suppose they'd be able to either. I should imagine that if someone has a genuine gift, then they would just get things filtering through randomly.

MissA whew. I agree.

The thing is unless you decide it's all a load of rubbish, how can someone resist the urge to give it a try? I'm not sure if I could, although I wouldn't tell anyone I know about it.

Look how many people on this thread have been to see someone.

Maybe we should set up our own experiment? Each go and see a medium, and report back?

*Wouldn't I need to find a conduit, day6?
I somehow think I would be setting myself up for disappointment by seeing a medium.*

Obviously, I cannot speak for people who claim to be mediums and seemingly CAN summon up messages from beyond at will. They may have that gift, who knows? And yes, Miss Adventure, I imagine most people who visit mediums desperately want to feel their deceased loved ones are in touch. I know it can be done, but I am not sure how mediums can work for all-comers. My belief /experience is that you cannot summon up the spirits of the dead. They use the living when they want to without any fore-thought from the vehicle (living person) used as a receiver.

Only speaking from my own strange (but comforting) and limited experiences and I too hope the conversation is not upsetting anyone.

The thing is though, for me, I couldn't take it with a pinch of salt anymore. I suppose I'm desperate for a tiny bit 'more time' and a medium seems to be the only way..

Anyway, I shall be desperate for more time in bed tomorrow morning when I have to 'get up for school' so I better try and sleep.

Thank you. very interesting.

Perhaps you could find someone through research MissA? Or a recommendation.

We have mentioned that those who have been bereaved are perhaps susceptible to the charlatans. I'd only want you to go if it was a positive experience for you. <hug> Oh I know we don't know each other, but the thought of the grieving being taken for a ride upsets me.

Night night. I should go to bed too. x

I would only go to see someone recommended to me and I don't know anyone to ask. Time for some ???????

I always wondered if there was some sort of contact with the electrical impulses in people's brains that made these connections, with some people being more efficient conductors, though this does not explain predicting future events.

Wilma I have been strangely drawn to 'His Dark Materials' since I first read the books but was more interested in the idea of parallel universes. I did not make the link with particles though which is strange as one of my favourite pictures is the one of every living, dead and not yet created living thing except Michael Collins, who took the photo from the moon.

I am still quite sceptical about mediums but perhaps should put one on my 'bucket list' purely for research purposes of course.

The first book of The Book of Dust is La Belle Sauvage and is indeed a prequel to Northern Lights,. It was broadcast in full on Radio 4 one Saturday afternoon last November - an absolute treat.
I understand the second book is designed to round off the His Dark Materials trilogy.
That said, I will shut up now as I don’t see the relevance to the title of this thread.
In answer to which, my opinion for what it is worth is that they are self deluded or charlatans and basically exploit the feelings of the many bereaved who find it hard to accept that they can no longer communicate with someone they have lost.

What on earth are people thinking? Are you really serious that you think people can contact the dead?

Come on. Think about this logically.

MawBroom and others are correct. You are deluding yourselves and playing into the hands of those who prey on the grieving.

Maw the relevance links back to my post yesterday at 19:05 and the subsequent discussions about physics and our brains being particles like the dust in the Pullman books.

I don't see either, how the £1m challenge could work in artificial, scientific circumstances. In any case, how could it be tested?

I know it's not the same thing, but my mother (a hyper sensitive type, which could sometimes make her difficult to live with) was occasionally acutely telepathic. Just 2 or 3 times over many decades she dreamt exact details of some trauma or distress in a family member thousands of miles away.

This was not a case of being wise after the event. She would be worried enough to tell us all, and later (this was pre overseas calls being a usual thing, let alone email) it would transpire that whatever it was had occurred on the night when she'd had the dream.

In one such case, involving the birth of a baby we hadn't even known was on the way, we even knew the timings, since we later had a card with time and date, and my mother had said at the time that she'd had the dream between 6.30, when she'd woken to look at the clock, and the alarm going off at 7. A quick check of time differences - baby born in Canada - proved it.

However her ability could never have been proved under lab conditions, since it only ever happened (at least that I knew of) at times of trauma or distress in someone she was close to.

Not misguided charlatans- but crooks who pray on people's insecurities and misfortune... and make a fortune out of it.