By Austin Price, Editor-In-Chief
Today we’re going to talk about mediums. No, I don’t mean the size between small and large. I mean the more spooky, less common, and borderline unsettling mediums. Today, we’re going to talk about mediums as in a human that can make contact and communicate with the spirit world and with those who have passed on. Mediums are essential leaders in the occult, which is the community of individuals that participate in supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism.
The occult is commonly associated with supernatural humans with abnormal abilities such as witches and warlocks. However, a medium is nowhere near comparable to a witch. A medium can predict the things that have yet to happen. A medium is someone that can see the things we can’t see. A medium is someone who can hear the things we can’t hear. A medium is someone who gives us knowledge of the worlds we don’t know and is the messenger between us and those we have lost.
What is Mediumship?
Mediumship is the practice of mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Those who practice mediumship are known as “mediums”. Just like with all beliefs, there are different forms of mediumship including séance tables, trance, and Ouija. Mediumship gained popularity during the nineteenth century through Ouija boards that were improperly used as ways of entertaining.
One of the most popular forms of mediumship is where a spirit takes control of a medium’s voice and eses it to relay a message to a loved one they've been separated from. Another popular form is where the medium simply "hears" the message and passes it on to the person trying to make contact with the one they have lost.
There are two main categories of mediumship, physical and mental. Physical mediums are believed to produce materialization of spirits, as well as to make audible noises that signify the presence of spirits. Mental mediums can "tune in" to the spirit world by listening, sensing, or seeing spirits or symbols.
The Witch of Endor
The story of mediumship, just as it did with witches, begins with King Saul in the Holy Bible. According to Britannica, Saul had banished all sorcerers and conjurers from his kingdom; his concern about the outcome of Israel’s battle against the Philistines caused him to seek the services of someone with an unnatural ability. Saul traveled to Endor to visit a witch his servants had informed him of. This woman would later become known as the Witch of Endor. Saul asked the witch to conjure the spirit of the prophet Samuel to tell his fortunes. She did so, and her identity was solidified as a mystical being.
Something to recognize when understanding the Witch of Endor’s story is that she was not Saul’s first choice of power to predict his future. In fact, Saul had previously banished all women accused of witchcraft, proclaiming that God is the only one with the power to guide us by premonitions and warnings. However, when Saul failed to get the answers he wanted from God, he turned into a hypocrite, and rejected all his teachings on the evilness of witches by using one for his own benefit. This story of rebellion against God leads into the demonic undertones of most pagan beliefs.
Emma Hardinge Britten
To continue our study of mediums, we look back into history. One of the most notorious mediums was Emma Hardinge Britten. Born in 1823, Emma was an English advocate for the early Modern Spiritualist Movement. She was known as a writer, orator, trance clairvoyant, and spirit medium. Emma began to experience the occult and her supernatural abilities at a young age. As a child, Emma had a habit of predicting the futures of people she encountered, relating to them that she had seen in visions, along with information about their deceased relatives of whom she had no prior knowledge.
As she grew older, Emma continued to spread knowledge of her clairvoyant abilities. Upon joining the Modern Spiritualist Movement, Emma became a "trance lecturer" and delivered speeches across the country. She is credited with defining the seven principles of Spiritualism which are still used by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches in the United States and the Spiritualists National Union in the United Kingdom.
Jeane Dixon
Born in 1896, Jeane Dixon became a prominent figure in the medium world. She was one of the best-known American psychics and astrologers of the twentieth century, known for her predictions of the deaths of world leaders.
Dixon is most famous for her prediction of the death of John F. Kennedy. In an issue of Parade Magazine that was published in May of 1956, Dixon wrote that in the presidential election of 1960, the term was to be “dominated by labor and won by a Democrat" who would then go on to "be assassinated or die in office though not necessarily in his first term”.
Another famous prediction Dixon made was that before the end of the twentieth century, was that a pope would suffer an assassination attempt. This coincides with the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.
Now that we’ve examined some of the most infamous mediums in history, let’s look at those who we have declared as modern-day mediums. Let’s start off with one of the most controversial mediums of today’s world, Sally Morgan.
Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan is a British television and stage artist, author, and most controversially, a self-proclaimed medium that believes she can better people's lives with her power. Personally, I believe Sally Morgan is fake. I don’t think she can connect with spirits, and I think she has used her notoriety from her television and writing days to gain power and to persuade her mass of devoted followers. I say this because unlike many true mediums, Sally uses her so-called powers to profit from them and to rip money from innocent people, who had intentions of connecting with their loved ones.
Sally has hosted several tours throughout the world, she has published a multitude of books about her physic abilities, created an online physic session forum, and writes countless blogs about her experiences with her clients. Most recently, she formed a partnership with Amazon Alexa, with the featured skill being asking Alexa, what is my horoscope today? Needless to say, Sally is not a medium. She is a fraud and if she was truly able to connect with the spirit world, she would not take advantage of grieving families or naïve fans.
Tyler Henry
Tyler is an American reality show personality who appears in the reality show series Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry and Life After Death with Tyler Henry as a clairvoyant medium since 2016. He has written two books. He had his own Netflix show, Hollywood Medium, which ended after four seasons in 2019. His next Netflix series, Life After Death with Tyler Henry, premiered on March 11, 2022.
Personally, I have some mixed feelings about Tyler. While he’s certainly not as bad as Sally Morgan in terms of deceiving his followers, he does profit greatly from his work. Tyler claims his entire goal of being a practicing medium is to help his audience connect with those he has lost. He stays away from Tarot Card readings and oracles, unlike Sally Morgan.
In his first Netflix show, Hollywood Medium, Tyler would invite celebrities to his readings and give them information about their lost family members and friends, as well as acting as a messenger between the two realms. Personally, I have no problem with this. Celebrities have way too much money already and their spending of it on a self-proclaimed medium is their own business.
In his second, and currently running Netflix show, Life After Death with Tyler Henry, Tyler travels the world to meet people who desire readings and private sessions with him. This provides a more personal and intimate way of being a practicing medium.
Amanda Raye
Alright folks, here we go. Amanda Raye is the inspiration for this entire article. She is a medium that I admire deeply for her humility, kindness, and purity in her work. She does not use her gift for money, notoriety, or exploitation. Instead, she uses her gift to help tell stories that were never told. She exposes the secrets of dark crimes and damaging historical events.
I first discovered Amanda Raye when she guest starred on the YouTube Channel, Sam and Colby. Sam Golbach and Colby Brock are YouTube personalities that base their channel around paranormal investigations of the most haunted places in history. They are close friends with Amanda and often invite her to join them on their spiritual excursions.
Whenever Amanda joins these unofficial ghost searches, she enters each area with respect, dignity, and openness. She blesses herself and Sam and Colby and brings items of protection. She carries a notebook for notes and often participates in the Estes Method which uses sensory deprivation and a spirit box to communicate with potential spirits.
Another thing I admire about Amanda is how honest she is in her investigations. She goes with Sam and Colby with absolutely no knowledge of the location or of the history of the haunted place they will be investigating. Despite her naivety about the case, she can predict events, discover the names of spirits, and can tell the stories of the places they visit before the history is even revealed.
I believe Amanda is a true medium. With her connections to the Christian faith, understanding of the darker parts of paranormal investigation, attitude of safety for those investigating, and respect for the paranormal, she is truly a modern-day medium.