This Classic Spiritual work is now copyright expired and therefore in the public domain.

Genuine Mediumship or The Invisible Powers by Swami Bhakta Vishita

VI MEDIUMSHIP

page 4 of 7 | page 1 | Genuine Mediumship or The Invisible Powers - home

Mediumistic Sensitivity.

Emma Hardinge Britten said: "Whatever that force may be which constitutes the difference between a 'medium' and a non-medium, it is certainly of a mental and magnetic character--that is, a combination of the subtle elements of mind and magnetism, and therefore of a psychological and not of a purely physical character. Whilst the spiritualists of this generation have had no one to teach them either what spiritual gifts are, or how to use, or how to abuse them, experience has shown that the conditions under which spiritual phenomena are produced through mediums are not only helped or hindered by their mental states, but also by the will, magnetism, and mental states of those who surround them." E. W. Wallis says: "The same laws govern the relations between the sensitive and the spirit operator as between the hypnotist and his subject. Therefore, mediumship is not necessarily spiritual; it may be of all kinds; there may be psychical relationship of a high grade and of a low one. There may be messages from beyond that prove the identity of spirits, and give evidence of the continuity of life, of the survival of mind, and yet they may not minister to spiritual growth, nor awaken any exalted desire to be of service to God and man. There may be psychical sympathy and not spiritual fellowship; there may be spirit intercourse and not that sweet spiritual communion which should be the goal of all who seek for evidences of life beyond the valley of death. It is no longer possible to regard mediumship as a supernatural endowment. It is, as regards the psychic susceptibility upon which it depends, the common property of the race, and is therefore as natural as are the 'gifts' of song or oratory, or the ability to paint or construct. But as certain gifts and graces are more developed in some individuals than in others, in like manner the sensitiveness which is called mediumship is more highly developed (or is capable of such development) in certain peculiarly constituted persons who may be regarded as supernormally gifted, yet as naturally so as are geniuses in other directions."

The Higher Vibratory Forces.

The student who has carefully read what we have said in the earlier portions of the present book regarding the subject of Nature's Finer Forces, and those concerned with "vibrations," and "planes of being," will be able to harmonize the apparently somewhat conflicting opinions of those authorities above quoted concerning the nature of mediumship and spirit communication. In the first place, the student will remember that there exist planes of being higher and other than our own earth-plane, and that the rate of normal vibration on such planes is much higher than are those upon our own earth-plane. In the second place, he will remember that beings dwelling and manifesting on these higher planes are able to communicate only by means of their higher vibratory rate of manifestation. And, in the third place, he will remember that a person dwelling on the earth-plane will not ordinarily register and interpret these higher vibrations of communication; and that it is necessary for such a person to have originally, or else have developed, the capacity to raise his or her own vibrations to the key necessary to "catch" these higher vibrations. In short, we have here once more another instance of that "attunement" between sender and receiver the most common instance of which is the wireless telegraph.

Psychic Attunement.

The entity, or spirit, dwelling on one of the many higher planes of being who wishes to communicate with persons on earth through a medium, must first select some person capable of raising his or her own vibratory rate of consciousness to become "in tune" with that of the spirit himself. Then he must learn to project his own mental vibrations with sufficient intensity and force to be "caught" by the sensitive perceptive organism of the medium. These things are beyond the understanding and accomplishment of many decarnate spirits, and unless they are taught by some one on their own plane of existence they are likely to fail in their attempts to communicate through a medium on the earth-plane. But at the present time, in view of the great interest being manifested "over there" in the communication with the earth-plane, an earnest, persevering spirit will usually have comparatively little difficulty in finding a proper instructor, and in acquiring the art of "earth-plane communication," as it is called on the spirit plane.