What's the difference between a psychic and a medium?

How do we define ‘connection’ in terms of mediumship and psychic work, and how can we validate it when it’s occurred? When using mediumship and the intuitive arts, especially when demonstrating in a public arena, the importance of communicating information which can be validated is huge. Mediums and psychics rise and fall due to the quality, and clarity of the evidence they deliver and unless we receive responses from the recipient, there is no other objective way to assess the connection. The chair people at our mediumship demonstrations often say we need validation and confirmation from our recipients for us to work well. We seem to rely on the recipients responses to know how well we’re doing. As mediums we look to validate our experience of mediumship in a very external way. We ask the recipients to reply with “yes’ or “no” to the statements we offer. But is it really necessary? When we look to validate our internal experience from an external perspective, we’re always going to be at the mercy of others. When we also demand that recipients validate our evidence, then in essence we’re not fully trusting our own connection.

A connection can be defined as a linking of at least two people or things. In working both as a psychic and as a medium there is a point A, and a point B. As a medium, your point of connection is between you and the Spirit World. As a psychic it’s with another person, place, or thing. The intent with both mediumship and psychic connections is that you have access through your sensitivity to the experience of something or someone separate to you. As always it is the intentthat moves us to experience the content and whatever you focus your attention on, your awareness will move towards.

Psychic Connection

There are two types of psychic connection, both depend upon there being a particular ‘object’ to read. The first type I call a subjective connection, meaning that the person, or thing you’re reading is sharing the same space that you are in; i.e. the client is with you, or you’re psychically holding an object etc. The second method is an objective connection which is where the person, object, or place you’re reading isn’t in the same physical space as you, i.e., they’re in another country and so on.

With a subjective connection the psychic focuses their intent on the person or object, moves into their sensitivity and states their intent to understand the experiences of the person the connection relates to. When using my psychic faculty, I state my intent, focus on the recipient, and then I experience a form of expansion, where my sensitivity almost reaches out towards the person. Once focused, I then have access to the recipients’ experiences and as my conscious, logical mind moves out, I’m left feeling their experiences as if they were my own.

Alternatively, with an objective connection there is also a focus, a point of connection that takes place away from the physical presence of the psychic. Whilst it is our intent that defines the outcome of the reading, when giving an objective reading often psychics will ask for a name, or date of birth, to act as a focal point for their awareness. When I’ve  given psychic readings at distance, I hold the name, date of birth or another focal point within my mind and I ‘feel’ it. I hold it close to me, and I adopt a curiosity about the person, place, or thing.

Again, once my sensitivity increases and my conscious, logical mind moves out, then I start to experience images, feelings, sounds, and impressions related to the target or focus. With both methods of connecting you’re reading the energy or auric field surrounding the person, place, or thing.

Everything we have ever experience in our lives, including all our thoughts and feelings, stay within our energy field forever. Every loss, every joy and every hurt sit there and regardless of whether it’s been healed or not, the memory of it remains and can be read by a psychic. That isn’t to say that we are walking around as an open book for any medium or psychic to access.

If for example there are experiences in our lives we don’t want to reveal, then the auric field will also reflect that in how it behaves. It will not reveal what the mind doesn’t want to release and this is especially true when there are experiences regarding shame or guilt. Using the example of someone who has been abused, a psychic may well get a sense of a trauma at a certain point in their life, and peripheral feelings of the experience, but because the client is still experiencing shame, guilt, or denial about that experience, the aura may ‘shield’ the psychic from knowing the details of what they went through. That shielding doesn’t occur when reading an object, or a place, because unlike people, objects cannot create defence mechanisms which operate in the same way that people can. In fact, when reading for people who seemed to be defensive, fearful, or guarded, I would often ask to hold an object of theirs as this bypassed some parts of their shielding process. As a side note, when doing psychometry, where we’re able to read the memory of the objects’ life and Its wearer, those objects such as watches or chains that have been worn over a pulse often gave greater impressions. I think it’s partly due to the fact that everything we go through in life impacts the circulatory system, and our pulse rate changes according to every emotion and state of consciousness. It would therefore make sense that when an object has been worn over these areas, there is a greater ‘charge’ of energy and therefore, information transferred onto it.

Mediumship Connection

A person who demonstrates an evidential connection to the Spirit World is called a medium. The keyword here is evidential, meaning there has to be a component where the reality of the individual who has passed over, is demonstrated through the accuracy of information the medium gives. That is to say, you cannot claim to be a medium and then give nothing evidential. Over many years I have witnessed all manner of things passed off as evidence of the Spirit World which, at best was whimsical, and at worst was utter nonsense. Unicorns, Archangels, aliens, and all manner of other mythological beasts and beings have been given from mediums under the guise of mediumship and yet none of these things can be proven.

Likewise, statements such as “She loves you”, “She’s proud of you”, or “She says you’re kind”, are all very nice to hear but as we’ve already said, they don’t constitute evidence of life after death. We have a responsibility to the Spirit World and to the legacy of those wonderful evidential mediums who’ve gone before us, to demonstrate the reality of the Spirit World through the strength and authenticity of our connection to it.

In order to make a connection we need a point A and a point B and if we’re point A, we need to know how to access point B, and to do that we need to know where to focus our attention in order to begin. A common question I hear is, “Where is the Spirit World?” Let’s make a very earthy comparison to illustrate the point. The room you’re now sitting in is filled with communication. Look around. It’s filled with TV signals, radio waves, mobile phone signals; there are text messages buzzing around waiting to be delivered. There is information whizzing around you and yet you don’t see it, you don’t see it unless there’s a receiver which is capable of connecting to the frequency of those unseen signals. Once we turn on the TV, or answer the phone, switch on the radio, that ‘world’ which goes unseen without a receiver, starts to become tangible and real. A medium is also a receiver, but to the thoughts, feelings, and communications from those who have passed away. So, when we can accept that, the answer to where is the Spirit World becomes very clear, it’s right here, and our loved ones are ever present, albeit on a different frequency and for the most part, outside our awareness. When we make a connection, or tune in through our sensitivity, whether it be consciously or otherwise, the reality of the Sprit World is apparent to us. This is also possible when giving a mediumship reading for someone at distance, over the internet, via email, by letter, or any other ‘medium’.

Students of mediumship often ask, “How do I know it’s the Spirit World communicating?” and “How do I know I’m connected?”

Whenever we connect to the Spirit World we shouldn’t just rely on the evidence alone as an indicator of our connection. After all, our imagination can make up all sorts of wonderful stories that have nothing to do with the Spirit World! Regardless of the thoughts in our head we must also be open to the experience and feeling of connection within us in the following ways;

• Physical sensations – temperature changes, sensations of pressure, feeling bigger or smaller, shivery feelings, palpitation-like sensation, tears.

• Emotional changes – feeling more loved, or more loving. A welling up of emotion from within, feelings of being held, supported, and safe.

• Psychological changes - absence of thinking, no head chatter.

When we initially begin our mediumship unfoldment, any of the above sensations can present in a very tangible way and they’re difficult to ignore. We often look for them, and come to rely on them as indicators of connection and then we worry when one day we don’t have them! At the beginning of my mediumship I would know it was the Spirit World communicating because I would experience what felt like a second heartbeat in my abdomen. That was my ‘sign’ that I was connected and it always preceded the evidence from a communicator. After a period of time and when I’d learned to recognise the presence of a communicator and to connection intuitively without the thump of the heartbeat, the signs of connection appeared to be less tangible. I think as trust started to build in my awareness and my connection, I didn’t need those ‘big’ physical signs so much, but even now, my amplified emotional state and also how my mind behaves when I’m connected remain the same.

So, as you can see, the only difference in psychic connections compared to mediumship connections is the origin of the information; how we experience them is the same. In both faculties, we can see, hear, feel, smell, taste, and know information but the feeling is definitely different; one is concerned with and is from a Spirit Communicator and the other isn’t. It’s also important to understand that if we accept that all information is held within the energy field of our recipients, then it’s also important to accept that it’s very possible to read the memory of someone’s death through the recipient’s energy field too and not get that information from the actual Spirit Communicator. The only way we can be sure of the origin as mediums is to reach out to feel the living presence of that loved one in our connection to them.

When reading the memory of the experience through the aura, we can still give highly specific information but their presence won’t be felt by the medium, and nor will it be felt by the recipient or audience either. When working as a medium, it’s important to recognise that everything you experience, including how you behave contains an evidential quality to it. How you stand, how you move, the flick of your hair, even the way you speak may be aspects of the communicator; it’s therefore important that our mind maintains an ‘observer’ role so that this can be identified when it happens.

Why is it so important to know the difference and how can we ensure both dynamics are clearly defined? Firstly, it’s about honesty and authenticity. If we are advertised as an evidential medium, then that is what we should offer. If it’s an evening of psychic readings, then that’s what we do. Regardless of whether the audience know the difference or not, WE should know. What that means for our awareness is that there is a clarity to it, it isn’t scattered or unclear, it doesn’t lack flow, and most importantly it still retains its therapeutic potential and quality.  By offering people a psychic reading under the guise of mediumship, you’re potentially robbing the recipient (and the Spirit communicator!) of the opportunity to heal because the presence of their loved one isn’t being communicated or even allowed through you. Conversely, if you’re advertised as a psychic and someone comes along not expecting to hear from the ‘dead’ and you then launch into speaking about their departed great aunt Marge, it could freak them out so much it sends them into the Spirit World to be with her!

The way that I operate with my awareness, especially when I’m demonstrating in public, is that I define the space between myself and the audience. I visualise an energetic ‘wall’ between us which affirms where my faculty as a medium ends and my faculty as a psychic begins. When I am in my mediumship, I’m very clear on feeling the presence of the communicator and also how the evidence presents. If throughout the demonstration there’s an intuitive need for me to speak about the recipient’s life, then my awareness gets gently moved into the energy of the recipient under the guidance and influence of the Spirit World, so I’m able to operate on that level. Affirming this space is a way that also insures I’m not likely to be influenced by the ‘demand’ of the audience. As I move into my sensitivity to the Spirit World, I’m also aware of the thoughts and feelings of the audience. An audience member demanding and wanting a communication could have the effect of pulling my awareness to them, without the spirit people directing that communication. If my awareness is moved to the demanding audience member and into their aura, I always explain to them what’s happening so that they are educated about the difference and also, in the name of transparency. Just to make this clear, I’m defining the space of my awareness, and not defining the limit of the Power of the Spirit within, or around me. The Power of love that comes through a medium in connection with the Spirit World fills the entire room, it knits, and holds the audience in Its embrace ensuring the potential for them to feel the presence of the Spirit World, even if they don’t receive a direct communication.

In relation to connection, I want to reiterate this point; it is that whatever we give our attention to, we move towards. In the search for a recipient’s validation, and by constantly asking them to affirm the evidence, we sometimes focus a little too much on them, and can inadvertently disconnect from the Spirit World. By doing so, we move into their space and then the connection moves into more of a psychic connection rather than a mediumistic one. People mistakenly think that a ‘psychic message’ is when the medium starts talking about earthly things such “you have a new washing machine”, or “you have a bad tooth”, but in reality, how the dynamic is defined is not by the content held within it, but by the type of connection made in order to receive it.