A Sociological Perspective on ‘Becoming’ A
Spirit Medium in Britain
Hannah Gilbert,
Ph.D.
continued
While my doctoral project
(Gilbert, 2008) was rather modest in its sample size (I
attended 10 demonstrations, interviewed 17 mediums, and
analysed five autobiographies), there emerged a number
of interesting features about the biographical
experiences of contemporary spirit mediums, the ways in
which they account for their spiritual experiences, and
the dynamics of their performances of spirit
communication. In this article, I have chosen to focus
on some of the biographical features of medium accounts,
and will aim here to highlight some of the processes
relevant to understanding how individuals become
practising spirit mediums. It is difficult – perhaps
even impossible – to provide a categorisation of
mediumistic characteristics that would be applicable and
representative of all practising mediums. Spirit
mediumship is experienced and practised by a variety of
different people, from all walks of life. Experiences of
spirit can also be highly individualised, and the ways
in which mediums actually experience their spirit
contacts differs from medium to medium, although the
most common means are seeing, hearing and/or sensing
spirit, and via thought transmission (i.e. mediums state
that they often receive fragmented images from spirit
that they must make sense of for their recipients). It
is important to note that some of the findings discussed
here were not applicable to all of the mediums I
interviewed. However, they were significant for the
majority, and so I would argue constitute an insight
into the social lives of many contemporary spirit
mediums.
Becoming a medium: Reflection on rites of passage
It has been suggested elsewhere that a number of
psychic or spiritual practitioners have had spiritual
experiences since early childhood (Emmons, 2000; Emmons
& Emmons, 2003; McClenon, 1994). While some of my
informants stated that their mediumship had been
facilitated by a spontaneous spiritual experience later
in life, the majority told me that they had first
experienced spirit at an early age, often as young as 4
or 5. These experiences often occurred unexpectedly, for
example, one of my informants’ first apparitional
encounters involved seeing a figure appear and walk
through a wall while he was alone in his bedroom. Early
spiritual experiences generally occur when the experient
is alone, and my informants who had had such experiences
during their childhood often stated that it was
initially unexpected. Experiences of spirit did not
usually involve communication, rather, the experient was
simply aware that they had seen, heard or sensed
something unusual. |
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What was also typical about
these early spiritual experiences is that they often
became a source of concern for the experient. Many of
the mediums I spoke to stated that they were well aware
of social prejudices about such experiences, and
understood that what they had experienced was not
something typical of everyday life. In some cases,
informants would state that they distanced themselves
from their experiences, as it made them question their
mental health or was thought that it might jeopardise
their respectability. In instances where they had
reported their experiences to others, it was typical
that such was met with a degree of discomfort, and that
they were advised to keep such things to themselves (see
also Emmons, 2000). In instances, however, where their
reports were met with a more sympathetic response, it
was still common for mediums to be unsure of what they
had experienced. In all cases, the mediums I spoke to
did not consider themselves to have genuine mediumistic
abilities until later in life.
The vast majority of mediums that I spoke to
cited the relevance of an already established medium who
recognised their as yet untapped potential. Often, they
cited that this acknowledgement came unexpectedly.
Typically, this acknowledgement came during a
Spiritualist meeting or public demonstration of
mediumship, during which time one of the established
mediums would tell them that they themselves had
mediumistic abilities that they should develop. It was
not clear from the accounts what facilitated this
interaction, but the accounts seemed to stress that this
was important as they had not previously considered that
they had mediumistic potential. Also, many mediums
explained that their attendance at such Spiritualist
activities was not motivated by their own curiosity
about potentially having mediumistic abilities, again,
they seemed to stress that they were not actually
expecting or looking to be recognised as a potential
medium. Most of the mediums I interviewed displayed an
awareness of potential negative inferences that could be
made about their identity as mediums, i.e. that they
were predisposed to favouring paranormal explanations,
were easily suggestible, etc. On the contrary, their
accounts stressed that they had maintained a high level
of criticism about mediumship, were well aware of other
possible explanations for their experiences, but that it
was the persistence of experiences that could not be
explained as anything other than evidence of spirit,
that led them to accept they had mediumistic abilities
(for a similar discussion regarding individuals
reporting paranormal experiences see Wooffitt, 1992). A
number of reasons were given as to why they had become
involved in Spiritualist activities, and it was typical
for mediums to cite that they were motivated by other
concerns, for example, a family member had been recently
bereaved and they were looking to support them, they
were taken by friends, or that they were simply curious
about seeing mediumship in action.
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