Why Physical Mediumship Is So Rare

During the last century, up until around the 1930’s, physical mediumship was very common, and the strength and range of phenomena were amazing. Today, it is quite rare. There are two basic reasons for this:

One: Earlier on, when modern Spirit phenomena was relatively new, people needed to see. They needed objective evidence of Spirit’s presence; thus, the preponderance of physical manifestations. As people began accepting the reality of mediumship and, then, yearning more for teaching and philosophy, the occurrence of physical mediumship began to lessen, while mental mediumship became predominant. In other words, the needs of Humanity dictated how Spirit would respond to those needs – always the case with Spirit.

Two: The development of physical mediumship can be a lengthy process; sometimes tedious, with nothing happening in the circle for months or even years; requires great commitment on everyone’s part; and generally revolves around the development of one, maybe two, people in the circle, with the other people sitting to help them in their development.

Today, people are just not geared to putting this amount of time and effort – sometimes totally selflessly – into the development of any form of mediumship. In earlier years, sitting in circle was, often, what people did to socialise. Most of the great pioneer mediums began by sitting in a home circle. Today, this is simply not the case.

Thus, today, the occurrence, as well as the nature, of physical mediumship is nothing like it was a century ago. However, I have noticed during the last decade that there seems to be a resurgence of interest in physical mediumship and, consequently, a resurgence in the development of physical mediums. Where this will lead, only time will tell.

Spirit is Spirit is Spirit

As stated: Mind over matter; that is what physical mediumship is all about. If this is so, and if we are all Spirit, can those of us in the body create such manifestations?

Traditionalists in Spiritualism will answer with an emphatic and resounding, “NO. Only Spirit out of body can create such manifestations.” My question is: why should that be the case? Spirit is Spirit is Spirit.

In the 1970’s, this very question was put to the test by the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, in conjunction with the New Horizons Research Foundation. Their findings were published, in 1976, in the book “Conjuring Up Philip: An Adventure in Psychokineses.”

Very briefly, the story goes like this: a group of people decided to meet regularly, just as they would if sitting for mediumistic development, with one major difference: they decided to create a fictitious character, whom they later called “Philip.” Little by little, as the meetings continued, the character of Philip was being created by everyone present. More and more details were being woven into the life story of Philip. Finally, the group decided to put their experiment to the test. They wanted to see if phenomena – attributed to “Philip” as the operator – would occur. They got more than they bargained for.

Remember, they were sitting to experiment with psychokinesis, not mediumship. Psychokinesis, or PK, is the movement of objects via the directed use of INCARNATE mind. The most noted subject of research in PK is Uri Geller.

Not only did the Philip group get PK phenomena, they got levitation and direct communication, through raps, from Philip. But, they did NOT achieve any actual manifestation of Philip.

The debate is this: Was the phenomena a result of mass hallucination? Was this a genuine demonstration of the group’s energy, collectively known as Philip, manifesting itself as Philip? Or was Philip actually a person, in Spirit, who decided to work with this group and telepathically fed the group information about himself and his earthly life and, then, through the power of physical mediumship – with the group (or, perhaps, one person) acting as the medium – physically materialised himself.

The conclusion of the Philip group, itself, was that it was strictly PK at work here. In other words, the combined mental energies of the group, focused through the “person” of Philip, was the source of the manifestations.

What do you think?

Regardless of what actually happened with the Philip group, the results were amazing.

A full recording of the Philip group can be found in: “Conjuring Up Philip” by Iris M. Owen, with Margaret Sparrow. Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Ontario, Canada. 1976. ISBN 0-88902-003-5.

Thus it is with physical mediumship. Some mighty amazing phenomena have occurred through this vehicle of Spirit interaction and communication. As phenomenal as it all is, the implications behind physical mediumship are even more phenomenal. If spirit intelligence can do all this, what else can it do? If this is what the directed use of mind can produce, what other uses can there be for this tool of the Spirit, known as the mind? If we are Spirit in body – and we ARE – what are we capable of accomplishing, once we unlock the hidden mysteries of the mind? And, when we do unlock those mysteries, shall we have attained the maturity to use this knowledge wisely?

These questions go right to the very roots of mediumship in general, not just physical mediumship. This is why mediumship is so important for us all, today. This is why Spirit comes to us in the first place. Throughout human history, Spirit has come to reveal to us all one basic truth:

God is Spirit; We are Spirit; That is how we are all One