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Develop Psychic Powers and Mediumship

1 Psychic Powers and Mediumship | 2 Forms of Mediumship
3 Develop Psychic Powers and Mediumship | 4 Spirit Guides
5 How to Become Psychic

Harry Edwards, the great healer and founder of the Harry Edwards Spiritual Healing Sanctuary likens consciousness to a “mirror of the mind” [Edwards, H; A Guide for the Development of Mediumship; Con-Psy Publications, 2003]. According to Edwards, the impressions received by the senses are projected onto the mirror, where they are interpreted and understood. However, we also have a “Spirit mind” which is able to receive Spiritual (and presumably psychic impressions).

Edwards writes, “the mirror of the mind is able to receive these Spirit experiences when the mirror is unoccupied by physical ones”. Thus to become aware of Spiritual or psychic impressions we must try to rid our mind of sensory input and to quieten the eternal flow of thought. Edwards describes this state as one of “abandonment”.

Edwards’ view is supported by research in parapsychology (the scientific study of psychic functioning) which found significant success in “Ganzfeld” experiments which involving mild sensory deprivation such as white noise played through headphones and ping-pong ball halves covering the eyes.

Daryl J. Bem of Cornell University reports in Ganzfeld Phenomena [http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/ganzfeld.html last accessed Aug 2005]:

" In 1985 and 1986, the Journal of Parapsychology devoted two entire issues to a critical examination of the ganzfeld studies, featuring a debate between Ray Hyman, a cognitive psychologist and a knowledgeable, skeptical critic of parapsychological research, and the late Charles Honorton, a prominent parapsychologist and major ganzfeld researcher. At that time, there had been 42 reported ganzfeld studies conducted by investigators in 10 laboratories.

" Across these studies, receivers achieved an average hit rate of about 35 percent. This might seem like a small margin of success over the 25 percent hit rate expected by chance, but a person with this margin of advantage in a gambling casino would get rich very quickly. Statistically this result is highly significant: The odds against getting a 35 percent hit rate across that many studies by chance are greater than a billion to one. Additional analyses demonstrated that this overall result could not have resulted simply from the selective reporting of positive results and nonreporting of negative results."

Psychic Development Circles

Beginners are frequently advised to join a development group or circle. While lone development is possible faster results are likely to be obtained with the benefit of guidance from the more experienced. Circle membership may also help safeguard the novice from the influence of “negative” entities. One often hears of circles through attending a local Spiritualist church (eg by speaking to the medium after the service) or perhaps through ads in local papers or the psychic press.

The rule with circles is to be guided by your “inner voice” or “gut feeling”. If a circle is right for you it will instinctively feel right. Equally, avoid any circle with which you feel uncomfortable, even if you cannot verbally express the reason for your discomfort.

Ouija

Ouija is a technique related to automatic writing that allows messages to b delivered through more than one sitter. Ouija is a board with letters of the alphabet painted around the outside, and areas corresponding to “yes” and “no”. Sitters place their fingers lightly on a movable pointer that then travels around the board pointing to different letters. The simplest form of Ouija consists of cards or scraps of paper with the letters on with an upturned glass as a pointer. A variation is the planchette, a triangular pointer with a pencil at one corner that draws or writes as it moves.

Beginners would be well advised to avoid the Ouija and planchette as they can provide a means for negative entities to manifest themselves and there have been cases of sitters developing mental problems as a result of their experiences with these tools.

Discernment

One of the hardest things for those beginning on the path of development is to be able to distinguish between impressions coming from Spiritual or psychic sources and those from their own subconscious. In time it should be found the Spiritual and psychic impressions have a different, more vivid, quality.

In all things there is a need to be discerning. Never accept any message, whether from your own work or from a medium or psychic, that does not feel instinctively right. Spiritual communication must be received through imperfect human mental equipment and can be distorted. If it feels wrong, it probably is.

Abandonment

Sit in a comfortable - but not too comfortable - position. Take the phone off the hook and play some gentle New Age or classical music. Try to empty your mind without falling asleep. This will be difficult at first. Aim for just 5 or 10 minutes initially. If thoughts come in, as they inevitably will, gently dismiss them and let them go.

Visualization

Close your eyes and try to see the room around you. See the object s, the details. Keep it going for a few minutes. Then open your eyes and compare your visualization with reality. Try visualizing somewhere familiar, the town centre, your workplace, a friend’s house. Visualize something from your past, eg your grandmother’s house, somewhere you once stayed on holiday. Visualize something imaginary, eg the house you’d buy if you won the lottery. Practice often.

Try some guided meditations. Invent a scenario, a walk along the beach or through a forest. If it helps, tape-record a commentary. Imagine yourself experiencing the scenario. See the sights, hear the sounds, experience the feel, the smells.

Visualize a psychic screen in your mind, like a cinema or TV screen. Practice seeing it blank. Then allow images to spontaneously appear on it. Never mind where the images come from at first.

Psychic Activities

Shuffle a pack of cards. Without looking try to sort the cards into piles, one for red, one for black. Roll a dice. Guess if it will turn up an odd or even number. Then try willing the dice to produce an odd (or even) result. Can you beat chance? Scores considerably below chance may also be psychically significant.

Imagine the morning mail. How many letters will you, and other members of the family, get? What are the sizes and shapes of the envelopes? Who are the letters from? What do they say?

See psiTest, an online test of precognitive psychic ability.

Prayer

Pray to God, the Great Spirit, or the particular deity you consider to be the supreme power of the universe. Thank the power for all it has provided for you. Ask for protection for yourself, your loved ones, the world. Then ask to be granted Spiritual and psychic powers. Tell your deity why you want these powers, and that you will use them only for good.

Dreams

In the dream state the physical concerns of daily life are removed, or at least lessened. Thus in dreams it is easier for psychic or Spiritual impressions to come through. Not all dreams are of a psychic or Spiritual nature. You may notice that some dreams are extra memorable, clearer, brighter or just special in some way. These are candidates for psychic/Spiritual dreams. Get into the habit of recording your dreams as soon as you wake. Keep a dream diary. Look back at your dream diary a few days later. Note any recurring or prophetic dreams.

Psychometry

Psychometry is the process of reading an object’s history from handling it. Psychometry is a common technique in Spiritual development circles. Try to clear your mind and accept whatever impressions arise when handling the object. Psychometry is more valuable when the actual history of the object can be verified, but once the faculty becomes awakened it can be interesting to visit antique and used goods stores and simply allowing the impressions to flow.

Discipline

Psychic and Spiritual development requires both discipline and patience. Patience because development does not always occur smoothly. It may be some time before any results are seen at all. There may be massive leaps forward, only to be followed by the disappearance of the emerging talents. Discipline is required to stick with the training through good and bad. The physical mind is lazy and may sometimes prefer to simply watch TV that attend a circle or undertake a meditation or visualization. Discipline is also required to keep Spiritual and psychic work in its place. For example, if Spirit tries to come in at inopportune moments it will be necessary to tell them politely but firmly, “not now”.

Spiritualist Books offers a selection of some of the best Spiritualist books ever written in association with Amazon.com (the world's largest bookstore).

Next: Spirit Guides

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