Sarah Benson, Sacred Mantra, Mediumship and the Healing Power of Sound

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1.1)

As a teacher of mediumship much of my work involves facilitating the development of student mediums in various phases of mediumship.  There are many subtle and spiritual worlds beyond this physical dimension populated by unlimited personalities many of whom have experienced countless physical embodiments.  The spirit world is not found in some far off location, but exists all around us at a much faster frequency of vibration.  Mental mediumship involves proper mental and energetic attunement with the personalities in the spirit world, who facilitate the communications or healing treatments.  A medium must be able to raise their own vibration and attune to these spirit benefactors, who in turn must lower their rate of vibration to connect with the medium.
While it is not uncommon for many people to describe God as being light, few understand that God is also manifest as sound.  According to the teachings of the ancient Vedas as well as other spiritual systems, there is no difference between the Holy Names of God and the personal and impersonal energies of God.  As such higher, transcendental states of consciousness are easily achieved through chanting and singing select sacred prayers.  The process of hearing and vocalizing transcendental sound vibrations for advanced yogis, mystics and devotees of all the world’s great spiritual traditions is not a lifeless, mechanical process, but a blissful journey within the heart that leads to higher, transcendental states of consciousness and enlightening, realizations of self and God.  When we examine indigenous cultures the world over, we find sound utilized as a medium to achieve altered states of consciousness for healing and connecting with spiritual guardians in the spirit world.
Any type of mediumship involves the medium attaining a deeper state of altered consciousness and mental disassociation from the physical body.  It has been my experience in practicing mantra meditation for decades that it has greatly enhanced my abilities as a medium and healer.  As a child I studied Transcendental Meditation(TM) in 1975, which at the time I found boring as it involved silently reciting a mantra within the mind.  I later learned to chant mantras on prayer beads through which I experienced unbelievable feelings of bliss and connectedness with God.  In the decades that I have practiced mantra meditation, I have found that as a method of spiritual purification, it is unbeatable and is the most effective approach to attaining higher awareness of self.  A by product, of this disciplined, daily practice, has been that it has helped raise my personal vibration to a higher frequency and has also opened me up as channel for the higher spirit personalities to work through.

There are many distinct phases of mediumship that may be cultivated, all of which are connected to the chakras or energy centers found within the subtle body and relate to physical glands within the endocrine system.  For example, clairvoyance or mediumistic vision involves the function of the third eye at the forehead and healing mediumship greatly involves the use of the heart chakra located in the center of the chest. The development of mental mediumship as a process involves changes within the chemistry of the physical body. The spirit chemists or doctors responsible for the psychic awakening of a particular medium work through the chakra and endocrine systems to accomplish the development of mediumistic ability.  Generally mediumship development is a gradual process, but due to the excessive hormonal levels present in puberty and the decline of hormones in menopause unfoldment of psychic abilities in these phases of life may be much quicker.  As such the mental outlook, diet and lifestyle choices as well as spiritual practices of the medium all contribute in the unfoldment process. The importance of the use of sound as a tool for heightened mediumistic unfoldment cannot be over emphasized.

 Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel.  Each chakra vibrates at a different frequency of both sound and color.  In the yogic discipline specific mantras are used to awaken the individual chakras for higher realization and in some cases the attainment of mystic powers or Siddhis.   This use of specific sounds as a tool for mediumistic development helps stimulate the various energy centers and facilitate the phases of mediumship associated with them.  In addition, the use of sound greatly raises the personal vibration of the medium and the collective psychic and spiritual atmosphere of groups sitting for mediumship development or communication.  Sound also assists in the process of achieving deeper states of altered states of consciousness as practiced universally by shamans and mediums in all cultures around the world.

The early Spiritualists holding home circles generally spent considerable time singing for the purpose of harmonizing the collective energy of the group and raising the vibrations. Such properly utilized singing also assists the medium in mentally disassociating from the physical body and achieving a deeper state of altered consciousness. The more a medium is able to relax the physical body and mentally get out of the way, the better that the spirit operators can work through the medium for conveying communications, imparting healing or producing physical phenomena.  In an early manual for mediumship development that I own, it instructs participants sitting for the production of physical manifestations to spend considerable time singing upbeat, peppy songs as opposed to slower tunes.  Faster songs contribute to building up the energy necessary for physical mediumship. If you are involved in a mediumship development group experiment and see for yourself. 
In the mediumship development programs that I conduct, I use specific musical compositions for the guided meditations that I do with my students.  I find that certain music works better for getting the students into extremely deep altered states. I also generally have my students sing songs and chant affirmations or positive statements and prayers, which greatly harmonizes the psychic atmosphere, raises the vibration and builds the power.  The results of such an approach are evident in the beautiful energy that is felt throughout the premises.  I have found that singing songs that are well known by the participants and repetitive work best.  I typically use Christmas songs such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and children’s numbers such as the ABC Song.  Sometimes prior to demonstrating mediumship at a group meeting, where the energy is low, I have people sing You are My Sunshine.  When a group sings this favorite song of mine, it always results in the vibrations being raised considerable.  People often attend a public mediumship meeting with the wrong mental attitude and as such their energy field or aura is withdrawn and not harmoniously blended with the collection energy of the group. The right music will positively change such disharmonious mindsets and conditions making the atmosphere much more conducive to spirit communication.

So often a medium will attempt to demonstrate in a public meeting and find that the audience are more dead than the people in the spirit world.  I have worked in many venues around the world, including many Spiritualist/Spiritist centers, and the easiest, most powerful places energetically to do mediumship at are the places that include enthusiastic singing and music as part of the program.  I remember regularly serving a Spiritualist church in the Boston, Massachusetts area that did not include singing as part of their Sunday meeting.  The reason being that the pastor did not like having songs or hymns as he was turned off by Christian style worship services.  The fact that their meetings were held in a Protestant style church with pews and other trapping of orthodox Christianity did not seem to cross his mind.  Using sound to raise the vibrations for the purpose of spirit communication is not done out of religious sentiment, but for scientific and practical reasons that work.  Because the energy at the above mentioned church tended to be low, I always had to engage the congregation in a lively rendition of You are My Sunshine, which always succeeded in raising the vibration.  Of course, some might argue that a medium does not need music or singing to work and this is true, but scientifically lively singing opens people up and creates a psychic atmosphere conducive for spirit communication.

 

With mediumship the vocal response of the recipient of spirit messages greatly strengthens the link with the spirit world. The process of mediumship communication is a two way street with the medium merely functioning as an intermediary between the spirit personalities and the recipient.  In a phone conversation if one party remains silent and does not respond, the other party will conclude that they are not there and will hang up. This same principle applies to spirit communication.  Both the medium and the recipient should vocally speak to the spirit communicators as the use of sound vibration greatly strengthens the telepathic and energetic connections between the two worlds.  I have found that this is also accomplished when I speak loudly during my delivery of spirit messages.
Sound healing is an approach that is sadly greatly overlooked by most practicing mediums I know in the Spiritualist movement.  On the other hand, there are many healing practitioners within the alternative healing community, who make use of sound for healing treatments. We know that everything is energy and vibrates at a different frequency. We have both negative and positive sounds.  Loving, encouraging words bring about psychological healing, while negative words create mental disharmony, unhappiness and pain.  The same is true for music or other frequencies of sound.  It has been found that playing certain types of music such as Classical enhances the growth of plants tremendously, while playing ear splitting Heavy Metal or Rap does the exact opposite.

The subtle body with its energetic chakra and meridian systems as detailed in Oriental and Ayurvedic medicine are a blueprint for the physical vehicle.  According to medical science about 65 per cent of the physical body is made up of water with individual organs in some cases containing even a greater composition. The brain, muscles and heart are made up of 75 per cent water, the lungs 86 per cent, the liver 85 per cent and the kidney 83 per cent. The Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto authored a series of fascinating works detailing his experiments on the affects of thought and sound on the molecular structure of water.  According to Emoto the molecular structure of water varies depending upon its source and may be altered in a positive or negative manner by energy or sound directed toward it.  Emoto has documented his experiments with photographs showing the often dynamic changes that take place within the formations of crystallized water. With this in mind it makes sense that certain sounds may be extremely healing, not only psychologically but on a physiological level as well. 
One of the most powerful mediumistic healers I have ever met was the late Sarah Benson, who lived in on the Mohawk Trial in Charlemont, Massachusetts, a half hour drive from where I was living at the time.  As a working medium I had seen Sarah’s name for years as she served at many of the New England churches as a speaker as well as workshop facilitator.  Sarah was best known as one of the pioneers of the sound healing movement back in the Seventies and Eighties.  Sarah mastered the art and science of sound healing and for decades taught programs internationally.  The majority of the leading teachers of sound healing in the USA  studied with her.  Sarah recorded many tapes and CDs of her work, both solo projects and collaborations with other prominent sound healer musicians that are amazingly effective as vehicles for higher levels of healing to take place.
When I finally met Sarah at a Spiritualist church near Boston and found out that she lived close to me, I immediately invited her to attend one of my weekly mediumship development groups. I loved her energy instantly and for the next few years Sarah participated in my Tuesday morning circle.  At the time I was holding four or five development classes weekly as well as holding an open healing sanctuary on Monday evenings.  Sarah had originally got involved in the Spiritualist movement in 1978 and regularly attended meetings at the First Spiritualist Church of Salem, Massachusetts pastored by the late Reverend Gladys Wosencroft.

 

As a sound healer Sarah utilized every type of musical instrument imaginable.  String instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments-all were used by Sarah in her workshops and public healing performances.  We did a number of Spiritualist services together, the most memorable were for Easter and Christmas at a Spiritualist church in Vermont that one of her friends had established.  Once at the First Spiritualist Church of Springfield, Massachusetts,  I invited  Sarah to do the healing portion of the service, while I gave the inspirational address and delivered spirit messages.  The Springfield church had been used for mediumship since it was purchased by the Spiritualists in 1918, and as such the energy inside the building was pretty powerful to begin with. During the healing portion of the service, I performed hands on treatments with other church healers for members of the congregation.  Sarah stayed on the platform, sitting crossed legged she began to work play various exotic musical instruments and vocalize various tones and prayers.  Although my back was turned away from her facing the congregation as I channeled energy and worked with my spirit doctors, the energy that I felt was incredible. Physically Sarah was under five feet tall, but the size and intensity of her energy field was unbelievably powerful.  I could mentally sense the personalities of the healers who were influencing her from her position on the church platform behind me. The energy of the spirit personalities directing the healing through her were exceptionally strong.  As she loudly vocalized prayers and chants you could feel the vibrations within the church intensify with each passing moment.
In the development programs that I teach, I typically am overshadowed by my spirit teachers, who influence me to deliver a guided meditation for the participants.  I loved the recordings that Sarah had produced for healing and used them frequently for group meditations as well as healing sessions. It goes without saying that I was extremely happy when Sarah suggested that we collaborate on a healing meditation tape that would be professionally recorded and available for purchase. We recorded the tracks separately at my friend Atendriya’s studio in Easthampton, Massachusetts.  Inspired by my spirit teachers, I vocalized two 30 minute guided meditations for healing and connecting with the higher guides.  A short time later, Sarah contributed a beautiful musical arrangement to accompany the meditation.  Atendriya mastered the tracks that included hidden healing affirmations along with the music and the meditations.  Sarah’s husband Donald, a retired university professor of theater set design, masterfully painted the image for the tape/CD cover. 

 

Over the years I have sold thousands of tapes and CDs of our healing meditation program  to many people around the world. The healing meditations have helped many people receive personal healing as well as better connect with their spirit guardians and helpers.  I have even met a number of people suffering from chronic insomnia, who have used the meditations to successfully cure them selves of not being able to sleep.  When Sarah was physically present she was undoubtedly one of the greatest channels and teachers for sound healing in the world.  I highly recommend that anyone interested in healing obtain copies of her marvelous works. An online search for her healing music will yield results on Amazon and other locations.  Any of Sarah’s recordings are brilliant and extremely effective for healing and may be utilized in a variety of ways for both individual and group work.

 

In conclusion, the use of sacred sounds purifies our consciousness and effectively establishes higher states of self and God realization within our hearts.  Sound is provides the means of direct commune and association with God as sound vibration. On a more mundane level sound may be effectively utilized for the cultivation of mediumistic and healing abilities. Mediumistically sound may be used as a means of achieving deeper levels of trance, mental disassociation and attunement with spirit personalities. In terms of mediumistic healing the importance of focused application of sound for healing self and others mentally and physically cannot be over emphasized.  God is light but God is also sound. Spiritually we are all parts and parcels of the Supreme Spirit and as such we possess the same qualities as God.  Although we are eternally individuals through the medium of sound the barriers that exist between ourselves and others can be eradicated and the material imperfections within our hearts that separate us from God may be cleansed. The energetic and telepathic exchanges between the higher subtle and spiritual worlds and the material world are greatly intensified by the use of sound vibration.