Are Mediums born? Or made?

Sounds like the film 'Ghost Town'.

obiwan wrote:Sounds like the film 'Ghost Town'.

Never seen it,is it interesting?

You would be surprised who roams the street,Obivan...Next time you're shopping with wifie,look carefully who passes you by.

Mediums are unique,and not everyone can become one unlike footballers. Psychic is part of being a medium. Psychics are few and far between. It is now fashionable to call yourself psychic or a Medium. Mediums are attuned. to the Spirit World.
It is not a universal gift. It is a privilege to be a Medium and should be respected not an entertainment.  
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morriganish wrote:Mediums are unique,and not everyone can become  one  unlike footballers.  Psychic is part of being a medium. Psychics  are few and far between.  It is now fashionable to call yourself  psychic or a Medium.  Mediums are attuned. to the Spirit World.
It is not a universal gift.  It is a privilege to be  a  Medium  and should be respected  not an entertainment.  

Your perspective on the exclusivity of mediumship is contradicted by the great trance medium Gladys Osborne Leonard (d. 10 March 1968). She writes in her autobiography (My Life in Two Worlds):

"I think the time has come when there should be a 'medium' in every home; perhaps every member of the family could develop—not to the exclusion of other interests and duties, but as an additional gift—a faculty which can, and should, augment and help every action, word and thought in our daily lives." (p. 3)

The problem is the decline of the practice of the home circle, which William Stainton Moses called the "core and kernel" of the spiritualist movement.

synaxis

Both very good points morriganish and synaxis.

In truth they are not mutually exclusive. Mediums may be borne not made, but everyone has a touch of psychic ability which is essential for any mediumship. Indeed we all have the essence of Spirit within ourselves which is a basic ingredient.

I tend to agree that there will always be some who have higher level skills just as in all aspects of human life but there will be many who can establish a level of competence which would be acceptable on platform in a Spiritualist Centre.

Yes there are those who constantly see and feel "dead people", the apparently born or natural mediums, who will still benefit from development circles, home and church based and additional training to hone their skills to understand the exact nature of the transaction which they are taking part in. Many of the better mediums working today have all taken that route and perpetually work on improving their own skills.

However, Spiritualism is not the only place where we could find mediums and there are many with mediumship skills that we will never discover because there life journey does not take them to a place where they recognise them. Without Spirit directing Lis and I into the same place I would probably have never realised my potential as a medium. Indeed if I went into a Centre and listened to some of the poor talks with psychic demonstrations I would have run off and never returned.

Somehow we need to engage with those people, quite possibly the person with the capability to be the greatest medium may never even try to become one. synaxis you are right it was in the home circles where these people appeared. Sometimes in their own circles with no medium just being guided by Spirit like Ivy Northage (try her book mediumship made simple).

At the first circles in the 1850's, following instructions apparently given by spirit on how to run a circle, there were no mediums they found out who had mediumistic skills by, if you like, trial and error.

If mediums are born then we have to find them and they come from all walks of life, every level of individual abilities, intelligence and skills. To reach some we must re engage in a philosophical intelligent way again. The encouragement of home circles would be very welcome as would a more thoughtful way of ensuring the Centres offer the right support to help development and a coherent approach which remains attractive to seekers and thinkers.

A suddenly returned memory.
The fine natural Medium Albert Best always quietly maintained that 'Mediums are born and not made', a view  that the gift was already in place at birth - which opens much more to consider. He did recognise that many fine Mediums can and do develop later.
An innate ability in all fields would seem to lead to so much greater expression, however.

Take Leonardo da Vinci who drew wonderful mechanical devices, including a submarine - which was later demonstrated to work, some 300 years before the required knowledge arrived among humanity.
The notions of Mediumship, even if grudgingly accepted, seem to be restricted to one type of outlet.
Surely humanity would benefit from 'opening its collective mind to its vast potential'?

I vaguely recall a guide once saying to me that if the Mind doesn't accept the possibility of something, then it cannot manifest.
After all the very term - 'medium' refers to a 'go-between'.

I recall Albert, who was a neighbour in Glasgow, telling me of an occasion when he was changing trains in London when he met a group of Roman Catholic Priests also doing the same. They recognised him and vice-versa, had a brief chat then went on their ways. He told the Spiritualist folk he was with that they were an unofficial 'circle' within Catholicism, which sat with approved regularity.

morriganish wrote:Mediums are unique,and not everyone can become  one  unlike footballers.  Psychic is part of being a medium. Psychics  are few and far between.  It is now fashionable to call yourself  psychic or a Medium.  Mediums are attuned. to the Spirit World.
It is not a universal gift.  It is a privilege to be  a  Medium  and should be respected  not an entertainment.  
.

I think you are right, Morriganish. I don't think everyone is, nor can be a Medium. I think you are born with it. Maybe one doesn't realize they are a Medium, and then after a traumatic experience the 'gift' becomes apparent.

The Spirit are the ones who choose someone to be Medium. Whatever Mrs Leonard,s. Statement we see the sad state. of Mediumship standards which in some extent as to do with the "every one is a Medium"group. Mediumship used to be called seership. It has been known for millennia, in many cultures only certain individuals we're taken to the Temples to be Oracles or Mediums.

I have just tried amazon you were lucky to find the biography at reasonable price. One at £58.ok. another £117.00

Petal34. Are you talking about Mrs Osbourne-leonard? . I wish. could read her biography,tried on Amazon prices astronomical £58.00+£117.00. I have read quite a few Medium biographies and non address this topic. Have read Eileen G Garret, from her great reserve about her gift I find her refreshing She apparently originally did think her Guide was seperate from her, she later came to the realisation
that the guide was seperate Spirit. She investigated her own gift. She is one of. my Medium heroines.