Hannah Gilbert, Ph.D.
Introduction
Psychical research and parapsychology have accumulated an impressive body of research into Western spirit mediumship. Since 1848, when the Fox sisters’ earliest demonstrations spawned a quick succession of spirit mediums, a number of researchers have sought to use the latest scientific techniques in order to evaluate whether such phenomena provided evidence for life after death. There was, from the offset, a recognisable split between supporters and debunkers, a dichotomy which still resonates in the contemporary field of mediumship research. For some, experiments seemed unable to prove how mediums were able to provide such phenomena unless they were what they claimed to be. For others, fraud was prevalent, and numerous reports detail the various mundane methods employed in public demonstrations and smaller sized séances. In the pursuit of acceptable proof, mediums have been tried and tested time and time again, in the field as well as in the controlled settings of a laboratory (see Cerullo, 1982; Gauld, 1982). Some may argue that we should be done with mediumship, that the debunkers have effectively done their work. But spirit mediumship persists. If anything, recent times have seen a notable rise in both the frequency and consumption of spirit communication. Spirit mediumship is obviously an attractive enterprise, for it offers us a chance to reconnect with those we have loved and lost, and proposes a promise of evidence for post-mortem survival.
From the search for proof to accounts of experience
The ongoing prevalence of spirit mediumship surely begs its consideration as an important and necessary topic of research. Indeed, psychical researchers and parapsychologists are still investigating mediumship, and they make convincing cases as to why such research is so important. More recently, however, there is emerging a new crop of researchers who come from a somewhat different perspective: the agnostic social scientist. The research agenda here is often less concerned with whether or not mediumship is something we can objectively validate one way or the other, and more focused on the social dynamics of spirit mediumship both as individual spiritual experiences, and as a social performance that is meaningful to its public consumers, and a society within which it operates more generally. A number of researchers, often using an historical approach, have investigated the relationship between spirit mediumship and society, focusing on areas such as bereavement, class, gender and politics (e.g. Barrow, 1986; Bourke, 2007; Carroll, 2000; Hazelgrove, 2000; McMullin, 2004; Owen, 1990). In 2003, I started a PhD at the University of York in order to explore the ways in which contemporary British spirit mediums represent and experience their spirit contacts. I used three specific data sets: participant observations of public demonstrations; semi structured interviews with mediums; and medium autobiographies. These data sets were thought to compliment the social reality of spirit mediumship in everyday life: in the ways in which mediums present spirit contacts to their audiences, as well as through a discussion about such experiences with mediums in a one-on-one interview, or through readings of their autobiographies (Gilbert, 2008).
The main focus of this research was to explore spirit mediumship as a social phenomena that is located both as a series of private experiences reported by a number of individuals, and the use of such experiences in public performances. Because of such, my interests were not concerned with whether or not mediums could scientifically prove that they were in contact with a real, interactive spirit world, but rather it treated the spirit world as something that is sociological real and meaningful to these individuals and their audiences. As McClenon (1994) has argued:
“Sociologists and anthropologists are often unable to determine if their informants are lying or have reconstructed their memories of events… If observers believe that a particular event occurred, than that event is sociologically real. It affects those who believe in it.” (McClenon, 1994: xi)
The move away from issues concerning scientific validity may seem to ignore what many researchers could argue is of crucial concern to mediumship research, but there are weaknesses to an approach that focuses primarily on this question. Information about the characteristics and personalities of spirit mediums has, for a long time, been under examined. While researchers such as Fontana (2003) argue that accounts from similar individuals – i.e. individuals who ascribe to a particular religious framework – are liked to be heavily biased and potentially unreliable, their accounts are nevertheless indicative of the belief systems of particular social groups, and give insight into personal means of making sense of their experiences and the world around them. To treat accounts as ‘sociologically real’ does not necessarily infer that we must consider them uncritically, but it does encourage us to give attention to beliefs that are sociologically real and meaningful for people, and not discard them as unimportant or in some way contaminated because of personal bias. Particularly for mediums, an affiliation with particular religious or spiritual frameworks reflects a process of meaning making and experience: rarely, it seems, do mediums enter in to such affiliations without a succession of meaningful experiences that encourage them to question their notions of reality. There are a number of social processes and experiences that influence individuals who become mediums, and it these social processes and experiences, and their relevance, that is of interest to agnostic social scientists. Looking into individuals’ backgrounds and gathering data about their life experiences, is an important part of understanding spirit mediumship sociologically. If we consider the experiences surrounding spirit mediumship as sociologically real, then we may be able to gain insight into this phenomena as something that ‘affects those who believe in it’, who do not necessarily operate in accordance with scientific experiments but do so in a number of specific social and private situations
While my doctoral project (Gilbert, 2008) was rather modest in its sample size (I attended 10 demonstrations, interviewed 17 mediums, and analysed five autobiographies), there emerged a number of interesting features about the biographical experiences of contemporary spirit mediums, the ways in which they account for their spiritual experiences, and the dynamics of their performances of spirit communication. In this article, I have chosen to focus on some of the biographical features of medium accounts, and will aim here to highlight some of the processes relevant to understanding how individuals become practising spirit mediums. It is difficult – perhaps even impossible – to provide a categorisation of mediumistic characteristics that would be applicable and representative of all practising mediums. Spirit mediumship is experienced and practised by a variety of different people, from all walks of life. Experiences of spirit can also be highly individualised, and the ways in which mediums actually experience their spirit contacts differs from medium to medium, although the most common means are seeing, hearing and/or sensing spirit, and via thought transmission (i.e. mediums state that they often receive fragmented images from spirit that they must make sense of for their recipients). It is important to note that some of the findings discussed here were not applicable to all of the mediums I interviewed. However, they were significant for the majority, and so I would argue constitute an insight into the social lives of many contemporary spirit mediums.
Becoming a medium: Reflection on rites of passage
It has been suggested elsewhere that a number of psychic or spiritual practitioners have had spiritual experiences since early childhood (Emmons, 2000; Emmons & Emmons, 2003; McClenon, 1994). While some of my informants stated that their mediumship had been facilitated by a spontaneous spiritual experience later in life, the majority told me that they had first experienced spirit at an early age, often as young as 4 or 5. These experiences often occurred unexpectedly, for example, one of my informants’ first apparitional encounters involved seeing a figure appear and walk through a wall while he was alone in his bedroom. Early spiritual experiences generally occur when the experient is alone, and my informants who had had such experiences during their childhood often stated that it was initially unexpected. Experiences of spirit did not usually involve communication, rather, the experient was simply aware that they had seen, heard or sensed something unusual. What was also typical about these early spiritual experiences is that they often became a source of concern for the experient. Many of the mediums I spoke to stated that they were well aware of social prejudices about such experiences, and understood that what they had experienced was not something typical of everyday life. In some cases, informants would state that they distanced themselves from their experiences, as it made them question their mental health or was thought that it might jeopardise their respectability. In instances where they had reported their experiences to others, it was typical that such was met with a degree of discomfort, and that they were advised to keep such things to themselves (see also Emmons, 2000). In instances, however, where their reports were met with a more sympathetic response, it was still common for mediums to be unsure of what they had experienced. In all cases, the mediums I spoke to did not consider themselves to have genuine mediumistic abilities until later in life.
The vast majority of mediums that I spoke to cited the relevance of an already established medium who recognised their as yet untapped potential. Often, they cited that this acknowledgement came unexpectedly. Typically, this acknowledgement came during a Spiritualist meeting or public demonstration of mediumship, during which time one of the established mediums would tell them that they themselves had mediumistic abilities that they should develop. It was not clear from the accounts what facilitated this interaction, but the accounts seemed to stress that this was important as they had not previously considered that they had mediumistic potential. Also, many mediums explained that their attendance at such Spiritualist activities was not motivated by their own curiosity about potentially having mediumistic abilities, again, they seemed to stress that they were not actually expecting or looking to be recognised as a potential medium. Most of the mediums I interviewed displayed an awareness of potential negative inferences that could be made about their identity as mediums, i.e. that they were predisposed to favouring paranormal explanations, were easily suggestible, etc. On the contrary, their accounts stressed that they had maintained a high level of criticism about mediumship, were well aware of other possible explanations for their experiences, but that it was the persistence of experiences that could not be explained as anything other than evidence of spirit, that led them to accept they had mediumistic abilities (for a similar discussion regarding individuals reporting paranormal experiences see Wooffitt, 1992). A number of reasons were given as to why they had become involved in Spiritualist activities, and it was typical for mediums to cite that they were motivated by other concerns, for example, a family member had been recently bereaved and they were looking to support them, they were taken by friends, or that they were simply curious about seeing mediumship in action.
The significance of legitimating others seems extremely important to contemporary mediums (see also Emmons, 2000). Their accounts suggest an initial reluctance to accept their experiences at face value, though they prioritise experience as a key to knowledge. They are critical about accepting a belief in spirits until they feel they have exhausted all other potential explanations. Under going a developmental period seems important for mediums not simply because it enables them to hone their skills and learn how to perform spirit communication, but because it provides a social arena whereby others are able to provide their own experiential proof for the mediums’ claims. My findings suggest that becoming a medium is as much about being recognised and legitimised by others as an authentic spirit communicator as it is in finding a role for their abilities. The experience of others is just as importance as the mediums’ own experience, particularly during the developmental period (see also Emmons, 2000). While the pursuit of authenticity from recipients seems an ongoing concern, – interaction between mediums and recipients needs positive affirmation from the recipient in order to be successful (see Wooffitt, 2006) – it is also crucial that they find support and validation from others who constitute a supportive community. The performance of mediumship is not a solitary interactive act, and it is surely significant that the vast majority of mediumship demonstrations are hinged upon audience participation. Mediumship, after all, generally orientates toward engaging others in a positive therapeutic interaction with their beloved dead. Mediumship performances operate in conjunction with others, and the actions and responses of the selected recipient and other audience members are important if such a demonstration is to work effectively (see Wooffitt, 2006). As Meintel (2007) states “…clairvoyance is a social experience. Apart from the fact that several people may perceive the same invisible phenomenon at the same time, there is the unspoken communion that is necessary in order to give clairvoyance to another.” (Meintel, 2007: 155).
Conclusion
What the interview data seems to stress is that individuals are not born believing that they are mediums. While many may believe that some people are born with potential, this is different to becoming a medium, for individuals may have mediumistic potential or experiences and yet do not develop into mediums. The developmental period is important as a rite of initiation, both for the mediums’ acceptance of their identity, and for their acceptance by others. Those who have early spiritual experiences seem to regard them as a source of uncertainty. This does not necessarily mean that they deny the existence of spirits, rather, that they do not come to the conclusion that these experiences mean that they have mediumisitic abilities. Becoming a medium relates to being accepted and legitimised. This involves being recognised by someone who is already established as a spiritual practitioner, and ongoing experiential proof from others who are involved in the development of their mediumistic abilities, as well as selected recipients of spirit messages. It is after they have been recognised, and others have affirmed the authenticity of their messages from spirit, that mediums start to accept their identity as a spirit medium.
These issues are only a very small example of the kinds of findings an agnostic social scientific approach to the study of spirit mediumship may yield. Such approaches raise a number of important questions, and I sincerely hope that more researchers will become involved in this field of study: spirit mediumship is still an area ripe for research. Contemporary mediums have fascinating accounts, and should be sought more keenly as gatekeepers to the social world in which they operate. Research adopting an agnostic social scientific approach has suggested that using such an approach can provide new, perhaps unexpected, insights that may encourage a more holistic and detailed understanding regarding the phenomenon of spirit mediumship (e.g. Emmons & Emmons, 2003; Hunter, 2009; McMullin, 2004; Meintel, 2007).
References
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