You’re going to be presenting a three-day workshop following the Minneapolis Edge Life Expo on “Awakening Your Mind to Mental and Physical Mediumship.” What’s the difference between mental and physical mediumship?
JVP: This will be a workshop for people who are established mediums — I’ll find out right away — or those who are brand new at this. I’ll give them basic tools to begin with, which means that they have to continue further on with their study.
Mental mediumship is using the six senses. The three principal mental mediumship traits I will be working with are: clairvoyance, clear sight, seeing spirit; clairaudience, hearing; and clairsentience, feeling. I will work with attendees to help them build up their sensitivity.
Physical mediumship is a little different. It’s when you are actually being used by the spirit in a physical way. I will work with trance energy, which is when you become so receptive that your heart beat slows down, your breath slows down, and you really become an open vessel for the spirit to come in and to bring through the energy of the true sense of someone. The person who is receiving the message can feel them very, very strongly, too, and also to receive messages from words that sound like the person who has crossed over.
Like Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Ghost.
JVP: Exactly right. At the end of the movie she was a trance medium. She also was a mental medium. They portrayed her as a mental medium when the spirit would say things and she would blurt things out. But, at the end of the movie, she became the soul on the other side. That’s trance mediumship, and we’re going to work on that.
Those are two very different energies. In mental mediumship, you bring the energy up and are so receptive that you are hearing and seeing and feeling at the high level. But when you work as a physical medium, it’s just the opposite. You go down, and you really close down the energy and push your own personality, your own self, to the side. You let the spirit infuse with you and blend with you. I like both forms. I prefer mental mediumship, but I do like the feeling of trance mediumship because it’s such a lovely, complete feeling. I don’t know how to describe it. People just love sitting in trance energy.
Is there a way for someone to know that they have practiced enough or had enough good results before becoming a professional medium?
JVP: I’m going to talk most about mental mediumship, because that’s my expertise, but it’s the ability to sense people all the time. On my website I have a list of mediums I refer others to. They have been tested three different times, first by two people and then by me. If they pass me, then they’re in. But I’m tough. Before they even are able to give me a message, they have to have five pieces of evidential information, such as “I have a man here, his name is Harold, he is 78 years old, he died at St. John’s Hospital of a heart attack,” That information has to be substantiated by a third person. That’s my way of assessing them.
Now, for somebody who is thinking of going to a medium to connect with their dearly departed, are there any hallmarks they should look for to find out if someone is effective or not?
JVP: Yes, and I talk about this on YouTube, because a lot of people ask me about this. Number one, always go by referral. Do not go to someone off the street. You have to go by referral. Number two, what’s the charge? Are they raking you over the coals, or is it a decent energy exchange. Pay them what’s worthy, but not abusive. Third, if the information comes through, are there enough evidential details that allow you to feel that the medium, indeed, has been in contact with your loved one? They need to offer specific details. Also consider whether it is an uplifting experience for you, because that is what you are looking for.
For those who are or choosing to become a medium, are there any unique challenges that ultimately arise — mentally, physically, emotionally — to being a medium, perhaps factors that someone isn’t prepared for?
JVP: I have been interviewed for a long time and you have some great, insightful questions, because not many people think about that. Many people who study mediumship don’t know this — and you know this.
When you become a medium, or try to, it’s not just, “I want to talk to dead people.” It really has to be a calling to do your service. And people have to realize they are not going to be the same afterward. You are not just developing as a medium, you are becoming a sensitive, which means that you will be very sensitive to energies all around you.
I’m finding that there are not many people who learn the proper way of development. You have to have proper grounding. We are all made of electricity and there has to be a grounding cord, otherwise you would go crazy and be all over the place with the static energy and kinetic energy. So you have to learn the proper tools about grounding the energy and really coming into your center. You have to have a very strong sense of who you are, so things don’t throw you. You have to realize that this work will affect your endocrine system, your mental system and your emotional system, so you certainly have to learn how to be in balance.
A lot of people get involved in this and they say, “Here I am, just use me.” That’s not true. You have to be in control of it, and it can’t be in control of you. You have to learn how to open up the energy centers when you are ready to begin the work. As I say to people, it’s like a radio. You turn it on, you tune into the station, and then when you are finished you turn off that radio. You begin by being mentally aware, then you mentally tune in, and when you’re finished, you’re done. If you don’t do it the proper way, it will zap you — physically, mentally, emotionally — and you’ll lose chemical balance of the body. We are instruments, mediums, and your body is really a vessel. Like a car, you have to make sure it is properly running with oil, gasoline and lubrication If you don’t, if you run the car down with no oil, it will burn out. It’s the same thing with your body, as far as mediumship. You’ve got to learn exactly the precise calibrations — and a lot of people don’t know that. It’s kind of scary.
On the flip side, what’s the reward of being a medium?
JVP: At my level, I’ve been honored to be able to be a conduit of that loving energy from the spirit world and provide healing for millions of people around the world and let them know that there is no death, that when you can alleviate fear out of life, you really can begin to live life. And I’ve had the joy of educating people to be responsible for their thoughts, being more spiritual people, and how to live that way. This work gives people back their sense of self, their sense of Source, if you will. It provides love and provides again a healing and it alleviates the fear, which is incredible.
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Very interesting and insightful – I really enjoyed the article