Mediums

I recently saw Bernie Scott locally and was astonished at the things she said that could only apply to me and my late husband. Very personal things about his illness that only he and I knew. I was completely amazed and felt very comforted. My SIL has this gift too, though not taking to spirits but he sees things. He told me recently that he was frightened of it and refused to “see” what is shown. He was on a train recently when someone came up to him and said she was so sorry to bother him but she could see someone with him and went on to describe his father and how he had died and that he was always with him. He said he did not respond but that the woman had been very accurate. She didn’t know him from Adam. We do not know half of what is possible in this world or the next.

My aunt was a medium. She certainly believed in her gift and so did others, although my dad (her brother) was a sceptic. She was attached to a spiritualist church and wasn't paid for her work. She believed that it was her duty to act as a channel between the spiritual and the material world.

The question of money always arises when spiritualism is mentioned. Obviously, if someone is a leech and latches onto a bereaved person with the intention of bleeding them dry, that's contemptible. However, if modest sums are involved, is it any different to giving money to the established religions? After all, they also claim to meet people's spiritual needs.

I went to two funerals, a couple of years ago. One was Christian, for my next door neighbour. It was obvious that the minister knew nothing about him and just waffled about him being "a lovely gentleman." (He wasn't.) We had two prayers and two mumbled hymns, and I found it hard to believe that his widow found much comfort in the whole thing. The buffet and the chat in the local pub, after the service, probably did her more good. The minister, of course, would have been paid.

The second was Hindu, for my FIL. The priests have got the whole thing off to a fine art. There's a lengthy funeral ceremony, a ceremony to release the soul, a ceremony to dispose of the ashes and an anniversary ceremony a year later. Of course, there's a fee for the priest every time. Part of the funeral was in Sanskrit, which nobody except the priest understood, and he gave a rambling talk about life and death which he seemed to be making up as he went along. Any comfort that my in-laws felt was clearly derived from knowing that they had correctly performed the ceremonies which the priesthood had invented in the first place.

In both cases, the religious leader was paid for providing a spiritual service. There was not much comfort beyond a vague hope of meeting again in heaven or in another incarnation. I am not surprised that people are prepared to pay for a message that their loved one is okay. And if they go to a spiritualist church they have a good chance of getting a message for no more than a contribution to the collection.

It might be made up but that applies to all religion.

The only thing which astonished me when I last saw a medium is how wrong she was, on absolutely everything she said.
She actually really offended me.

Once and once only did I see someone who I believed to be genuine. She did not want money but told me such abstract things that I believed her.
Many years later I was in my office recounting my story. We were making outgoing calls. When I looked at my new list, first call was her. Unfortunately she passed away many years ago.

They are zCharlatans and prey on mostly bereaved people. Money grabbers too.

I had a room mate who definitely had some gift. She was raised strict Mormon and got in a lot of trouble as a child before she learned to button up what she saw and heard. I never believed in this stuff until living with her changed that. It didn't appear like much of a gift to have these messages thrust upon a person and interrupting daily life. She attracted a stalker boyfriend with a dangerous background and was relocated by the Mormon church - her parents had clout. I still miss her exceptionally sweet personality.

So, nipsmum, the people on here who have described their very positive experiences with mediums who have taken little or no money are all liars are they? Not in my book.

There are certainly charlatans who prey on the vulnerable but also good people who really know their onions.

DH and I saw a very good one who'd been recommended by his workmate. The medium urged him very strongly to take his car to a garage - she was very worried for him. He did as bidden, not saying that a medium had sent him as he didn't want to be laughed at. They rang him later to say that his brake cable was almost sheared right through - he'd been driving a death trap. This medium wasn't just good - she saved his life.

The things she told DH and I were astonishing, things she couldn't possibly have known and there was no prompting she was the real thing. We paid for her services and I'd go again if I felt the need.

The above was a 'one-to-one' visit - I'm not keen on mediums as 'theatre' or a church setting as the former can be faked and the latter a bit embarrassing as it's a bit too public for me. With everything in life there is good and bad.

I haven’t really had any experience with mediums, and I’ve never considered myself physic, but some years ago we were on holiday and I had the strongest feeling that my stepfather had died. We weren’t particularly close, but I couldn’t shake it. These were pre mobile days so I couldn’t find out, but I was right. So I do think that some people have a gift, if that is the right word. It’s never happened to me since.

As a bereaved parent I understand how tempting it is to want contact with someone. But I’ve seen/ heard of too many people taken advantage of by di- called mediums.

I tend to believe that most of them are frauds although I could be convinced that some, rare, people do genuinely have ‘the gift’. What it is, how it comes about and whether it could help me I don’t know and prefer not to find out! I am a (rather bad) Christian and believe in the Bible’s teaching which warn us against these things. Many will disagree but I do sincerely feel we are perhaps not meant to know!

Two of my best friends (one following the other) have decided they are mediums, tarot readers and spirit listeners.

Sadly drawing our friendship to an end, as I struggle with our coffee with spirit meets. It is spirit this, spirit that. I feel they know a great amount about the people they read - or state the obvious. Such a shame.

There was a woman who lived in the same road as my mum, who would randomly, in the course of conversation mention things she couldn't have known.
She was known as 'Spooky'.

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I worked night duty in a nursing home with a lady who had "the gift".
One night we were taking a break in our little office/rest room when she told me that there was a man standing behind me. She described my grandfather exactly, she even said that his hair turned white at about age 40. I asked my mother the next day at what age her Dad's hair turned white. She said she was born when her was 40 and only knew him with white hair.
This lady was from a different part of the country to my family and had only known me for a few months. I had never spoken to her about my grandparents.

Fraudsters.

There are alot of charlatans about who cold read, but I do believe some things cannot be explained as some strange things have happened to me.

When I was first working in London (many, many years ago!) I went to a Tarot reader with a friend - it was all just a bit of a laugh, I had no interest but my friend did.

I can't remember everything she told me but one bit stuck in my mind, mainly because it sounded weird. She told me she could see a network of lines spreading around the world and I was in the middle of them. It meant nothing to us and we laughed about it at the time, until about a year later I started work on a London Underground project and later worked all over the world on different train, bus and underground systems. I didn't remember the Tarot reading until a colleague was talking to me about 'the rail network' one day.

She did tell me I would have two sons, but failed to mention my daughter, something my OH and I used to joke about when my daughter was being especially awkward and I used to tell OH she must be all his as I wasn't having a daughter ?

In the case of Tarot cards. I believe a certain amount of cards are turned over and the reading is based on this. If one did it twice in a short space of time , surely the result would be different. Serious question, am I missing something ?

I think most, if not all, are charlatans. However, a few years ago, we were sat next to a lady (a complete stranger) who told us that my Mum would have 4 children but only 2 would survive and that one had already gone before. My mother scoffed but, strangely enough, that was exactly what happened.

I'm far less concerned with mediums than Joel Osteen and those of his ilk.

I completely believe that there are such things as mediums and that some of them can give messages from the dead - not because of any personal experience, but because I've read about it in the bible. Have a look at 1 Samuel Chapter 28 verses 1-16. I also know not to tangle with such things - again because of what the bible tells me. Look at Leviticus 19 verse 31 and Isaiah 8 verse 19. Some people are dismissive of the Bible - but although trying to apply the teaching to one's life is often really difficult, it makes some decisions really easy! I'll never agonise about trying to get a message from a dead person, no matter how much I've loved them!

Bibles and tarot cards are much the same I'd say - attempts to find knowledge a different way either through a text you happen to believe in or through an intuitive reading of images which will stimulate the subconscious.
Replying to Ginny above, I have seen more than once, a cynical demand for a second reading from a pack of tarot cards turn up exactly the same cards!
There are enough genuine reports of foresight to make it difficult to reject all as false, surely. I have only occasionally had a psychic reading but have certainly been surprised by the accuracy of what I have been told.

After my husband died, and he died suddenly and unexpectedly I kept seeing adverts for mediums
I did not respond
However I heard of someone who friends told me was genuine but I remained sceptical
I decided to book an appointment
The medium was very normal, ordinary, she was a care worker and she knew nothing about me and she charged only £25
I wrote down what she said as she said it
She was 90% accurate, it was uncanny
For example she told me I was the middle child of 3 daughters
I said this was untrue but afterwards I recalled I had a sister who died before I was born
She told me I had 2 daughters and that my deceased husband was ashamed that my youngest daughter had not been more supportive My daughter had been quite cruel
There were numerous uncanny accuracies
I used to believe in god and an afterlife then I lost my faith
Now I don’t know

Why are mediums automatically dismissed as frauds but vicars, rabbis, Brahmins, imams, etc tend to be treated with respect and a certain amount of deference?

If a priest tells you that God is listening to your prayers and a medium tells you that your granny is happy in the afterlife, neither of those statements can be be independently verified. Yet one is considered a respected member of the community and the other is regarded as a con artist.

Seems rather unfair.