The spiritualist’ establishment by and large fails to accept the belief that Spirit communication demands the need for careful scrutiny, in as much as failure to carryout any kind of evaluation will cheapen the effectiveness and evidential quality of the 'spirit message'. The following survey of 'spirit contact' styles is largely unsound and should not be accepted as proof of spirit communication.
Psychic related skills:
Aura repairs, sand readings, runes readings, fortune telling, magic potions, coloured card readings, crystal energised rocks, psychometry (obtaining information about a person through a personal object, such as a watch or a ring, etc.), are seen in psychic fairs and psychic workshops and contain an element of mysticism. These skills can be demonstrated without the need for spirit contact and should be treated with vigilance.
Blind faith:
A belief system based on history and doctrines are normally associated with religion. Spiritualism and successful spirit contact must be built on hard facts and concrete evidence. It is remarkable to witness people who accept as evidence, any information that is handed to them by the Medium. This can be attributed to many reasons, but amongst the most striking reasons is the assumption that the demonstrating medium is competent and his / her being on the platform is justification in itself for accepting ' evidence'.
Spirit guides:
The portrayal of exotic guides, including North American Indians, Chinese and African Guides, DoorKeepers, Spirit Helpers, Fairies and Angels cannot be discounted entirely as proof of spirit survival. Nonetheless, this type of 'evidence' should be treated with caution because it is based from start to finish on a physical description of an unknown personality. Most people are not in the position to affirm any information about their 'spirit guides' because it is so unlikely that the recipient of the message personally knew the guide during this lifetime. Similarly, psychic artist’ impressions of spirit guides should be treated with caution for reasons already explained.
Regression:
A popular concept amongst numerous Mediums is to give 'evidence', which is solely based on a 'past-life' experience. Apart from exceptionally recorded cases, most people are unable to retain a link from a 'previous life'.
Personal behaviour:
It has been widely noted that some Mediums will resort to personal tactics in an attempt to force someone into accepting unsound information as spirit evidence; for example, bullying tactics, insincerity, stonewalling or vagueness and asking direct questions are just a few examples. This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and should been condemned as counterproductive.
Famous dignitaries:
There is a terrifying trend within mediumship that gives scope for the Medium to pass on messages from famous dignitaries. Named examples have included Henry IIIV, Princess Diana and Florence Nightingale amongst other notabilities. The possibility of a famous person emerging as a spirit communicator is very feasible but vigilance should be shown if the Medium demonstrates the same notability time and time again. Even so, a message that is delivered by a dignitary embraces an ingredient of power and status that may be too irresistible to reject by some people, including the Medium.
Flowers:
Countless Mediums hand out to their sitters, a cluster of 'petals' from 'loved ones' in spirit. Roses, Chrysanthemums, Carnations and Lily of-the-valley are the most popular to cite. Whilst it is recognised that the giving of flowers can be symbolic, it does not constitute evidence unless it has a clear-cut link to the sitter.
Second guessing (the Mediums dream):
Some Mediums may consciously or subconsciously manipulate information to their advantage. To illustrate this point, the following scenario is a typical case whereby the recipient of the message has fed the Medium with a salvo of information; thus the 'Mediums dream' becomes a reality:
Medium: "can I come to the lady at the front"
Sitter: "yes"
Medium: "can you accept a lady in spirit"?
Sitter: "yes, that is my Mother, she died with a rare brain disorder at the age of 85, she was in China at the time, it was very distressing for my brothers and sisters"
Medium - "why do I get hospital appointments and many tests performed"?
Sitter - "she had brain scans"
Medium- "I get the impression she was very old when she died"!
Sitter - "that is correct"
Medium - "she was very adventurous and liked travelling far across the world"!
Sitter - "that is correct"
Medium - "You were part of a large family"!
Sitter - 'yes'
As you can see, the Medium did not intend to extract information from the sitter in this way. In spite of this, the Medium has cashed in on the information and has claimed full praise for his awe-inspiring performance.
