Ever been in Sedona, AZ? There must be a million psychics here. Not really - because there’s only 12,000 or so residents. But if you wander into Uptown and the Y, into the health food store, Crystal Castle and Crystal Magic Bookstore you’ll find bulletin boards overflowing with people who do readings, channeling, past life regression, healings, bodywork, soul retrieval – every thing you can possibly think of to help people on their spiritual paths. In the midst of America’s New Age Center I often wondered as I looked at the flyers and announcements – who is real? Who is really good? Who’s way way off and likely just a “charlatan”? Who is pure, open, real and who is driven by ego?
Because I want information from the other side and not from my Self, I look for the “spiritual medium” rather than the “psychic”. A lot of people don’t understand the difference. Basically it has to do with how the person receives the information that is given to you in the reading. Is the reader gleaning information from your aura, your body language, your energy, or is the reader getting it from someone who has passed on or a guide. In a nutshell, that’s the difference.
A great and helpful explanation of the two ways of receiving information is found in this Spiritualist Church Blog : http://www.stmatthewschristianspiritualistchurch.com/apps/blog/show/2679753-clairvoyance-psychicism-vs-mediumship- Sandy Walford puts it much better than I could so I add this here for those of you that want to understand the real difference between the two.
In Sandy’s blog she goes into detail about the ways a spiritual medium picks up on information. As with you and I, we have our sensory strengths. I am visually dominent, and then auditory. As a piano player you’d think hearing would be first, but I realized years ago that I play by reading first, and use the hearing to doublecheck to make sure I read it right ! If you told me your name I’d never remember it, but if you hand me your business card and I see it, then I’ll always remember you.
A medium usually has one, two or all of these strengths:
- clairvoyance (clear-seeing)
- clairaudience (the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach of ordinary experience or capacity, as the voices of the dead)
- clairsentience (the ability of being able to feel or sense spiritual beings and subtle forms of energy)
When it comes to hearing those from the other side, my friend and amazing medium explained it this way to me. She said the sound comes in waves – like a sine wave with peaks and troughs. When the energy is high between herself, the soul on the other side and the one coming for the reading, the sound is always stronger. But also within that relay of words, at the top of the wave peak the sound is strongest, and at the bottom of that wave the sound is faintest or sometimes choppy like a bad cell phone call. When she says “Give that to me again, darling” I know from experience a vital part of the communication has been lost in the dip of that wave and she is asking to hear it again to make sure she got it all.
A good clairaudient medium can hear the voice of the departed as it was when they were alive. It has the same pitch, tone, inflection and personality behind it as they had when they were here.
A clairvoyant medium primarily gets information from souls presenting imagery to them. The imagery can be symbolic or quite literal. It’s up to you to do the interpretation and a good medium stays well away from telling you what it meant.
Sometimes when words and images can not be received satisfactorily by the medium, the soul on the other side will place a “feeling” on the medium to express what he/she is trying to get across. I remember one winter I had a horrible upper chest cough. It was long and lingering, and I’d wake up in the middle of the night with a hacking fit that lasted for what seemed like hours. I had a reading shortly after that and “John” put a heavy heavy feeling on her chest and throat to the point where she started coughing, and she immediately recognized the point he was trying to make.
The one clear and easy way to know just what kind of information has been given you in your reading is to ask yourself this. Did the information validate my hopes and dreams and expectations? Did it confirm what I already knew and felt? If so, likely you got a psychic reading. If the information contained information about the life of the departed one – enough evidence so that you were completely clear about who you had there with you, AND the conversation that insued was unique to their personality, and your history together, then it was most likely a spiritual reading. I always know the difference by one thing and one thing only. What the person on the other side says. So often it relates not to ME at all, or any questions I have that I need help with, but it becomes a way for them to express their pain, their concerns, their life, their world. Afterall, they miss us and want to share their lives with us, as they did before.
Hi Sue,
Just wanted you to know that you have kept my interest. Normally, if I had read something like this, I would chuckle and move on. But there is something about your writing style, your honesty, I am not sure what, but it makes the information credible. I appreciated that you acknowledged charlatans.
I also appreciated reading the differences between psychic and spiritual mediums. I hope in future post you will tell us how you determine the authenticity of the person you choose. I wonder if you have experienced being fooled. Hmmm…it seems I am focusing on the negative aspects.
Maybe I should just keep reading as your post. I don’t need to direct discovery.
Skip
Fooled? Yes, I have to admit. Many times. I think being fooled occurs when you give you power away, when you don’t pay attention to your own intuition, when you’ve put someone else or something else on a pedestal.
I spent my 20′s wild and free. My 30′s studying everything metaphysical I could get my hands on, and experiencing/experimenting with all kinds of metaphysical practices. I spent my early 40′s in Sedona where, if you’re NOT aware, you can get sucked into any number of deceptions by “spiritual” people who prey upon the innocent new seeker who isn’t strong in their sense of self. There’s an old bit of advice here for the newcomer – watch out for the guys who appear to be really together and spiritual, especially if they say “If you sleep with me, I will raise your vibrations”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard women tell me they were approached with that line !
I got stung big time by something similar to that deception and realized that I’d let someone tell me my intuition was wrong and not to trust myself. Never again would I put aside the “voice” inside to that extint.
I spent my 50′s just being. Walking everyday in nature, working hard at my craft, meditating little, reading nothing. More involved with the communications I was having with “John” from the other side, and fascinated with the process.
I learned a long time ago that everyone has their way. I’m not here to convince, just to share. Just to say it’s been an amazing series of events. That following “spirit” has been challenging, exciting, intimidating, embarassing, painful, joyful, spectacular, and definately mind blowing.
Wait til I get on the topic of aports and transfiguration – you will definately have to think about that ! (boy has she lost her mind or what? )
But seriously, there is no book, or medium, or group, or one single path of thought or practice that is the way to what we’re all looking for. And what is that? Peace? Understanding? Knowledge? Truth of what reality is?
My best guess is that, for me, all the answers reside inside me. All the answers. And when I’ve slowed down, and spent lots of time in nature, and listened, and been in touch with my emotions, and honored the little nudges to do this or that that come into my mind – my life gets fuller, and happier, and more expanded with friends and experiences that offer new options for me. And then suddenly a decade has gone by and I look back and see how perfect that was. Life flowed just perfectly because I was in touch with myself and honest with myself, and not trying to be someone else for someone else.
I do hope you keep reading. I appreciate your thoughts and feedback and questions. Thanks for leaving your message !
A well written and thought out explanation of the differences. I think it will be really helpful to your readers.
This was really informative. I hope you do go on to explain how to find an authentic psychic. I knew an amazing woman in Michigan when I was young — I have never met anyone like her sense and I have tried! Thank you for sharing. I’ll be back for more. ~Kc
Your blog is VERY interesting and I read all of your posts. I have had some experiences that have made me a “believer”. In fact I am having an animal communicator here tomorrow night to speak with my two foster horses.