Mediums

I don’t believe they have any special abilities. I have a number of American friends who go to their performances or pay for consultations.

To me, it’s all fantasy. I’ve never been superstitious or easily influenced.

One of our mutual friends recently died and this group of friends plans to hire a medium to communicate with him. I’ve been told I’m not invited. Fine by me! ?

MercuryQueen

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

I completely agree.

Bluecat:
'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?'

I don't know - as it's all complete nonsense and fairy tales to me!

absence of proof is not proof of absence.
If someone had said to Henry VIII that big metal boxes would carry people through the air you'd have been ridiculed, but that is exactly what airplanes are

Just to add my twopeneth on this topic. My late husband was a medium and he had quite a few mediumistic friends. None of them did it for the money I can assure you. Most didn't charge. My husband was also a good healer. He didn't charge anyone for his services he was only too pleased to be able to help people. They would sometimes buy him gifts because he wouldn't take money and they were so pleased with the result from both readings and healing. He had a firm belief in the after life and he never lost his faith even during his illness towards the end of his life I told him that I would miss his wisdom and he said I would still receive it from him on other side. I have many experiences from when he was alive and since his passing that ate too numerous to relate on here and to people who quite insultingly label all mediums as charlatans but he was a good person who never knowingly did anyone any harm he only tried to help. Feel I had to speak up for the people who are drawn to the spirits for whatever reason.

Sorry for the garbled message and typo errors in my first comment but I felt so insulted and upset by some of the comments on here I just had to get my thoughts out.

Nannysprout I hope you take comfort from the many posts on here describing how people have been helped by mediums and healers. It sounds as though your husband was a very good man and that many grateful people held him in high esteem.

This thread has made me think again, after all these years about the medium I visited. The more I think about it the more I remember and am more astonished. She absolutely described the house I was living in down to the details of the business that was run next door. She described me coming home and walking up a wide drive between tall stone pillars and a trees to a red stone house with a black door with bicycles in the hall. She said I felt glum returning to that house. It was all as though she had seen a picture of me. I just can't explain it but there it was....it happened.

Thank you Scones. Yes I was pleased to read some of the thoughtful and less dismissive comments on here. It's a pity we don't have a thumbs up or thumbs down for each comment but maybe that would cause more upset to people so perhaps it's just as well we don't. I'm glad you had a good experience with the medium you went to see. They only try to give evidence of after life really they're not really fortune tellers but they do sometimes come up with some amazing insights. If it makes you think that maybe this isn't all there is it may help some people to navigate their lives forward in a more hopeful and positive way. Not everyone is going to believe but that's ok just wish some folks weren't so dismissive to those who do.

Another vote here for your husband’s good work Nannysprout. Some posts on this thread are disgraceful.

Thank you Germanshepherdsmum ?. Its always amazed and dismayed me the way some people react to mediumship and spiritualism. I've known a good many Christian and other faiths people in my time and I've never been disrespectful of their beliefs. I've always found it very hurtful the way some people have no respect for the spiritualists. There are good and and not so good people in all faiths but we should try not to tar everyone in that faith with the same brush.

This is a very interesting conversation.

I neither believe not disbelieve in life after death. I'd like to believe in life after death, except how spirits mainly talk about banal stuff that does not interest me a lot. Also it worries me they might be in the bathroom where I prefer to be alone.

So right Nannysprout. How many conflicts have been caused and lives lost and shattered by religious intolerance.

I'm pleased you think it's interesting Caleo ?. I think you're right about some of the stuff from spirit is a bit banal but if you go to a spiritualist church for a service they will always say its the mediums wish to provide evidence of the existence after death. So I suppose sometimes some of that evidence is going to be a bit mundane. It made me laugh about being watched in the bathroom! I've felt like that at times too when I'm doing something personal. I just try and put it out of my mind and if anyone is a little shocked on the other side then they shouldn't be watching! ?

Sadly true Germanshepherdsmum. I've met quite a few spiritualists in my time and I don't remember any of them being intolerant of other faiths. To believe in anything is enough for them and as far as I know no one has ever started a war or instigated violence from the spiritualist community.

Nanatoone,
I too have seen Bernie Scott, when she appeared at a clairvoyance evening in my city. She absolutely blew me away with her accuracy about my husband’s health condition, a work colleague’s obsession with a hobby and she told me he had tantrums and threw his toys out of the pram when things didn’t go his way ( she was absolutely spot on). Everything she told me was so true. All the messages she gave that evening to the audience were accurate. I have also seen T J Higgs, Tony Stockwell& the late Colin Fry who were all phenomenal.

As one lady has pointed out, the Bible teaches/records (according to your personal beliefs) that genuine mediums do exist. King Saul contacted the prophet Elijah through a medium, and St Paul related casting a spirit of mediumship out of a slave girl.
I think there are some seemingly very strange events that can occur that may be explained by a better understanding of science in the future.

Oh dear I seem to have got the prophet Elijah and Samuel confused ! I’m awarding myself one out of ten for Bible study. A timely reminder I should be reading it more often.

In my experience Mediums are like everything else in life
Good Bad or Indifferent
It’s up to us to use our own discernment when consulting one
I’ve had some amazing consultations & some real duds.
But overall I think most of them mean well & have a desire to help others through difficult times in life

Found this felt it appropriate ?

I have had some experiences that are difficult to explain. Growing up my gran (who lived with us) several times announced very firmly that a named person had died. This was always said in the morning and that she believed they had 'visited' her in the night to say goodbye. She was always right. I also remember as a teenager my mum rushing home from work upset and saying my brother was in danger. She was so sure that she phoned his number in Australia - not something you did lightly in the 1960s - to find his wife had just been told his car had come off a bridge (he survived).

Lovely nannysprout!?

I’ve had experiences myself and also had unbelievable readings from psychic mediums. Yes there are frauds as there are in every walk of life but the condescending dismissal from those who think they know it all is, frankly, plain rudeness and illustrates their ignorance.

I've stayed off this thread as I have very strong views on this but I do feel its inappropriate to tell people what to believe. I'm probably closest to Hetty58 in my outlook. But believe what you like, if it gives you comfort.

So equally, somebody telling me that I'm rude and ignorant for not believing in something that only exists in the realms of anecdote, is pretty annoying, really.

Unbelieveable. Good word.

To me it’s not a question whether you believe in some people’s abilities or not, Alegrias.

IMO it’s a question of posters saying it’s invariably all rubbish spouted by charlatans, and thus implying that anyone who has had a positive experience has been duped, and is therefore pretty stupid.

The person I know best who has had an overwhelmingly positive and accurate experience (from someone unpaid who she just happened to be talking to casually before it happened) would almost certainly previously have classed herself as a total sceptic.

No, my mum believes she saw my grandad after he died.

I don't believe she did.

I don't think she's stupid, just grieving.