Rev. Steve Hermann

Microwavable Mediumship and Leaky Faucets, Who Don’t Know When to Close Down

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting a friend and colleague of mine, a Certified Medium at Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp in Florida, USA, where I teach mediumship and healing programs for a few weeks every March.  When I arrived at his residence he had just sat down in front of his massive television to watch several episodes of Long Island Medium that aired back to back during the time that I spent conversing with him.  Even when I wasn’t watching the visuals, my friend had the volume up so loud that I could not miss the dialogue. I had first heard of the cable television show last year in Long Island at a Spiritualist church that I regularly serve when I am in the USA.  The student mediums at the church blasted what they considered to be an irreverent and misleading representation of mediumship as portrayed by the star of the show.   I rarely, if ever, watch television and have no interest in wasting my time that way and, although sympathetic with their evaluation, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about in regards to the content of the program.  After seeing parts of the program I understood completely why they had been so disturbed, i saw it on a TV Show, that by the way I bought a Sony Trinitron 36 TV for sale.

I can’t control it.They won’t leave me alone whines the Long Island based medium, whose every detail of daily life is featured as part of the reality based hit cable series.   While it might be entertaining on television for a medium to casually approach strangers in public places such as Wal-Mart or McDonalds and invade people’s privacy and personal boundaries by bringing through deceased loved ones for them, such a practice indicates poor training and a lack of discipline in regards to mediumship.  I mean this all in a nice way as the medium featured on the television program seems like a nice lady and that she sincerely wants to help the people she is working with.

Over the past three decades that I have been involved with the Spiritualist movement as a student and practicing medium, I have heard some pretty ridiculous statements made by so called mediums.

I am a natural medium. I don’t need training.  My high guides teach me everything I need to know.   My mediumship is turned on 24/7. 

Of course, mediumistic ability is natural, have you ever heard of an unnatural medium?  Everyone has psychic ability and through proper training with the right teachers, whatever natural talent present in the individual may be enhanced and improved upon.

Mediumship is similar to artistic or musical talent.  We all possess varying degrees of ability and even such exceptional geniuses such as Michelangelo apprenticed with masters, who mentored them and helped them perfect their skills. Mediums who claim that they do not need training or that their higher guides or ascended masters teach them everything are seriously deluded and ignorant of the mechanics of the process.

Years ago I was contacted by a young man, who had advertised himself online as a psychic medium and wanted to do a public mediumship demonstration with me.  He was charging $400 an hour at the time.  According to what he told me, as well as the bio on his web site, he had received his training directly from ascended masters and had his mediumship turned on all the time.  His web site stated how he would receive spirit messages for people while eating in McDonalds.  He was proud about both these points.  I tried to explain the importance of controlling one’s mediumship, but I don’t think that he understood what I was trying to explain or he just didn’t want to listen to me.

One of the first skills novice mediums learn is how to properly attune   with the spirit world and close themselves down outside of the classroom or circle situation.  It is important to learn how to control mediumship ability as there is a time and place for working with the spirit world that should be strictly adhered to.  A medium should not be a like a leaky faucet and allow anyone to come through at anytime.  They call this Kitchen Sink mediumship at a Spiritualist church in Orlando, Florida that I have served over the years.

I know that as a medium I want quality in the work that I do.  Although mediumship may be imperfect as a process, mediums need to be selective with when and where they work.  Reliable mediumship is important and opening up at a cocktail party to entertain intoxicated guests at 2 AM is not the right time and place or for the right reasons.

I have a friend, one of the sweetest, most generous people I know, who opened up his mediumship a few years ago.  A skeptical instructor of engineering at a technical college, his born again Christian wife registered him to attend a mediumship demo at a college, where I taught parapsychology courses for many years.  Although he initially wanted to leave once he discovered what his wife had signed him up for, I convinced him to stay and proceeded to bring through his deceased father, whom he instantly recognized.  My friend’s life was changed forever with the realization that the personality continues after the physical body ceases to function.  He attended my popular annual mediumship retreat as well as development classes at a local Spiritualist church.  Within a year he was doing delivering spirit messages from the platform and holding open meetings every week in his own home.

My friend has good training, but for a long time he had a habit of approaching people in public and like the Long Island Medium bringing through spirit messages to them.  So far he hasn’t gotten maced, but I think that he is slowly learning, what every senior medium has told him, that he needs to discipline his mediumship and not go around giving spirit messages to total strangers.  My friend claimed that he didn’t push his messages on people, but would ask for permission first.  I suspected that he was saying this to me to get me off his back.  I was right.  When a non Spiritualist friend phoned for me at his house where I was staying, he uninvitingly started giving the caller a mediumship reading.  None of the information given was understood and the friend who called, although impartial to the practice of mediumship, felt as though the reading was pushed on him.

It is good to be enthusiastic about mediumship, but unless students learn the proper mechanics of communication and how to control the process, they will develop bad habits that will be difficult to change later on.

When we set a time aside to connect with the spirit world we are making an appointment. The spirit helpers, who specialize in communication, are with us and have made the right arrangements to assist those needing to communicate to come through.   When a deceased loved one or other comes through for a recipient they have rehearsed the process and in many cases have even observed spirit people communicating through other mediums.  The spirit helpers act as intermediaries for such communicators and assist in utilizing the psychic energies present for producing the best possible results for all concerned, both in the physical world as well as in spirit.  Many people don’t realize that what often passes off as spontaneous mediumship has generally been carefully planned and orchestrated by the spirit helpers.

Being a leaky faucet and opening up with the wrong conditions was referred to as promiscuous mediumship in the 19^th century, as such an approach leads  potentially to connecting with frivolous and unreliable communicators.

Mediumship development generally does not happen overnight.  The spirit world cannot give us what we have not earned or are ready for.  I noticed about ten years ago that there seemed to be so many new mediums popping out of everywhere and setting up shop.  The success of John Edward’s mediumship programs on mainstream television contributed largely to this.  Around this time I was holding several development classes a week in Massachusetts with new people attending whenever I would start a new series.  Two young ladies showed up at an open group that I was conducting.  Neither had attended a development circle before and both expressed how interested they were in continuing to participate in my training programs.  I cannot say that either of them was any more talented than the average novice entering a development circle for the first time.  A week later, one of the sisters phoned me to ask about attending the class again as she had such a wonderful experience. Unfortunately she never showed up and none of my calls to her were returned.  About a month later I discovered an advertisement in the back of a regional new age publication.  Communicate with your deceased loved ones the copy read with the name, contact details along with an attractive photo of the sister, who had phoned me, prominently displayed.

A few months later I headlined a program in Manhattan that featured a panel of psychics and mediums from the surrounding area of New York and New Jersey.  One of the local mediums introduced herself to me and mentioned that she had studied with a friend of mine, a well known British medium.  Later I read a flier advertising her services that mentioned as part of her bio how as part of her training she has attended an 8 hour John Edward seminar and had read people for five hours while waiting in line.

If I were to read a manual on dentistry would you want me operating your teeth?  I am sure that with some pliers or other tools I could extract teeth but would I be qualified to extract teeth?  The fact that someone is open to the spirit world does not mean that they are ready or qualified to function as a medium.  Even with someone who is naturally open to the spirit world, proper education and training are important.  A medium must not only achieve a high standard in their ability to bring through accurate information, but they must also be trained in the ethics of working with others within the context of mediumship.  This does not happen overnight.

Although people want mediumship instantly, they will achieve very little if they have not spiritually and emotionally worked on themselves.  Quality mediumship cannot be purchased for any price, but must be earned through dedication and devotion to serving God and helping those in need.  Mediumship is extremely beneficial.  While sincerity is important, quality is what is most important.  Programs like Long Island Medium are good in that they introduce the reality of spirit communication to a mainstream audience.  They are bad in that they portray mediumship in a sensationalistic and distorted manner.  I generally try to avoid microwaveable meals as the heating process destroys the life energy within the food.  Although an instant medium may at times deliver accurate information, I would personally prefer to consult a medium possessing a high standard of training in the process as well as ethics.  As a medium I want to expand and improve as an instrument for the spirit world.  I hope that people reading this blog will also strive to improve their connection with the spirit world and not allow themselves to become stagnant with their development.