Welcome back, my friends. People often ask me “how it works,” the receiving of messages from Spirit. So, today I want to provide a behind-the-scenes view of message work, describe some of my experiences as a Medium, and finally share with you how wonderfully creative Spirit can be in the pursuit of clear Spirit-to-Human communications.
First, recall that Spirit Communication requires a 3-way energetic link between the Recipient, or “Sitter,” the Medium, and the Spirit(s). Each of these links impacts the clarity of communication, so it’s helpful for you to understand the variables at play when it comes to the clearest and most evidential reading. These variables include:
- The energy of the “Sitter” or recipient of the message. Those who are positive and open minded with regard to Spirit communication will have a clearer, more productive reading, because their energy vibrates at a higher level. Those who come for a reading out of family pressure, desperation, or even anger at the person in Spirit set themselves up for a poorer quality reading. The best analogy is that the negative energy that comes with negative emotions adds static to the line, and it becomes more difficult for the Medium to “tune in.”
- Distractions: both the Medium and Sitter (especially if a phone reading), need to be in a peaceful place, with no distractions for the duration of the reading. Distractions can hamper or break the energetic link to Spirit.
- The degree to which the Medium, Sitter, and Spirit are of similar energies. Tuning in to Spirit is always easier if all three share a similar energy or vibration. If the Medium and Sitter have very different energies, sometimes the link is out of reach. If this happens, and it does occasionally, a graceful exit from the reading is the best path.
- The natural abilities and communication preferences of the Medium also impact the reading. As does the Medium’s training in analyzing and interpreting symbols and analogies, which Spirit often uses to protect the privacy of the Sitter. A Medium schooled in the Spiritualist tradition is trained to bring sufficient evidence of the Spirit, so that you as a receiver can identify the Spirit before any personal message is brought.
With respect to the last bullet–the Medium’s natural abilities and communication preferences–what most people don’t know is that each Medium has his or her own methods of working. Just as each of us may experience the very same event or physical object in different ways, e.g., intellectually, visually, or emotionally, Mediums also have their differences when it comes to how they receive and interpret information from Spirit. The list below describes these various methods and some illustrative examples.
- Clairvoyance or “clear visual/seeing” is when the Medium receives most of the communication visually, i.e., she sees the Spirit and/or various scenes in her mind’s eye. The Medium then describes what she sees to the Sitter, but it’s often not obvious to the Medium if the visual is literal or figurative or symbolic. For example, I may see a yellow rose clairvoyantly and interpret it as “Friendship” but the reality may be that the final flower the Sitter gave to the Loved One before she died was a yellow rose. This is where the Sitter’s input is necessary in the interpretation of the message. Furthermore, when Spirit wants to protect the privacy of the Sitter, analogies for sensitive situations are employed. Clairvoyance is my primary mode of receiving information, especially in the beginning of a reading. I try to describe exactly what I’m seeing, so that I’m not filtering (and potentially misinterpreting) before I share the info. If the Sitter understands the visual without further discussion, I just move on. It’s not my message and I don’t need to know what it means.
- Clairsentience or “clear sensing” is when the Medium feels the information. This is my secondary mode of receiving information. For example, sometimes I feel emotions of joy, or excitement, or humor, or love. When I ask a Spirit to tell me how he or she passed, I’ll often sense the region in the body that was affected, or sense a sudden impact, like a car accident. I may also “feel” the roughness of a woven cloth, or the texture of favorite pet’s coat.
- Clairaudience or “clear hearing/ listening” is when the Medium receives most of the communication as verbal communication. For me, the longer the reading, the greater the percentage of it is verbal. This shift generally signals that I’ve reached the optimal frequency, or that there’s “little static on the line.” I hear words, phrases, full sentences, laughter, songs, and other sounds–often in tandem with some kind of sensing and/or visuals.
- Claircognizance or “clear knowing.” Have you ever said, “I don’t know how I know. I just know.” That’s claircognizance. Most readings I conduct have a component of claircognizance, and it varies according to the Spirit. The more similar in energy the Spirit is to me, the more of this type of communication occurs.
- Clairescence (also known as clairalience) or “clear smelling” is when the Medium receives information through a smell. Occasionally, I smell an identifying aspect of a Loved One in Spirit, such as the smell of cigar or cigarette smoke, an identifiable perfume worn by the Spirit, the aroma of a favorite flower, etc. Once, at a Spirit Circle, another Medium brought through my former brother-in-law, Rich, who was a heavy smoker. After the message, I happened to lean forward in my chair, and caught a surprisingly strong whiff of cigarette smoke lingering in the middle of the circle. I invited the others to lean in and smell and all were able to experience it.
- Clairgustance or “clear tasting” is when the Medium can taste something that the Spirit wishes to communicate. In my experience, it’s seldom used, but when it is, it’s remarkable. After my Mother passed from cancer, I received a message from her (through another Medium) in which clairgustance was a highly evidential component. When Mom was in a coma, in the last weeks of her life, I would dip the pink mouth sponges (on sticks) in mouthwash and rub them across her teeth and tongue to freshen her mouth. I didn’t know if she was aware of it at the time. The message Medium, Jason, said to me, “For some reason, I’m tasting mint or something in my mouth; it was something she tasted before she died, and she’s thanking you for it.” It was the perfect evidential proof that she was aware of that moment in time, and that it was indeed my mother coming through.
As you can see, I (like most Mediums) use a combination of the different psychic senses described above. Spirits, as well, seem to have a preference for one form or another. As a result, no two readings are ever the same. Here are some examples of how Spirit communicates through me, and how amazingly creative they can be!
- A young woman came to me for a reading. As soon as we linked energies, I saw (clairvoyantly) a young boy come running in from the side. That location is typically reserved for siblings, and so I said to her that I’m seeing a young boy and I believe it to be a brother to her. She acknowledged that this was true. Now, the boy was dressed in a green body suit, so I described this and asked if the color green or the word “green” was symbolic in any way to her brother. “No,” was her response. I was stymied, so I asked him to work on his visuals, and focused my attention on her Mother who was waiting to communicate. When the Mother was finished, the brother came back, still in his funny green body suit, but this time, wearing a leprechaun’s hat. So, I described this, and said to her, “I feel like he wants me to say something about St. Patrick’s Day.” (clairvoyance and clairsentience) She laughed and said, “Oh, well – that’s his name, Patrick.” Recognizing that I work mostly by seeing and sensing, Patrick was trying everything he could think of to get me to see a Leprechaun and say “St. Patrick’s Day,” and he eventually succeeded! Clever, indeed.
- A man in his 70’s came for a reading about 6 months ago. His wife in Spirit came through immediately, and the link was very strong. Why? Because the desire of all three parties for communication was exceptionally strong, and the bond between this man and his wife in Spirit was fueled by a strong love—the purest of vibrations. After I’d provided sufficient evidence of his wife’s presence, she began showing me images of the man surrounded by a lot of children (clairvoyance), and yet I knew they were not his biological children and that he was no longer working. (claircognizance) I also sensed a school setting. (clairsentience) I asked if he understood why his wife was bringing in these images, and he shared with me that he was retired from a long career as a school counselor. His wife then impressed upon me that he still had so much love in his heart to share with children by making my heart feel like it was ready to burst, so I said to him, “I feel like my heart is huge and ready to burst, there’s so much love in there that needs to be shared. (clairsentience) Your wife is telling me, ‘It’s time to work with children again.’” (clairaudience) His eyes grew wide, and he said, “Oh, I was just diagnosed with an enlarged heart.” Aha! That’s why his wife was keen to talk to him; she knew that changing his lifestyle to include working with children again could benefit his physical health. Most disease comes from dis-ease. This kind, loving man (and his heart) needed an emotional outlet. He understood the mind-body-soul relationship implicitly, and said to me with tears in his eyes, “I’m going to do that. I’m going to work with kids again.” Wanna bet his heart is back to normal size at his next checkup? It’s a beautiful example of how a Spirit used “energetic promptings” to get her husband to a Medium, and then to work with me to clearly communicate her love, support, and guidance to for a healthier and happier life.
- I provided an Akashic Records reading for a woman named Terri several years ago. It was at a point in her life when nothing seemed to be working out, and she was looking for some guidance. Terri was living in Colorado. At the point in the reading when Terri asked about her career, the Lords of the Records showed me Terri going up a steep hill, representing her present struggles. As I watched further (clairvoyantly), I saw her reach a level road going around the mountain, but instead of continuing up, Terri took a hairpin turn back the other direction and down the mountain. I asked Terri after the reading if she was happy living in Colorado, because the hairpin turn visually signaled a reversal of some kind, but I also sensed a return to something (career-wise) she’d done before. (clairsentience) She said that she was generally content in Colorado, and didn’t see herself moving back to Florida, where she’d lived some years prior. I suggested she stay open to change, as it looked like something from her past would be determining her future. As it turns out, things in Colorado went swiftly from bad to worse. Through a strange set of circumstances, Terri was offered her former job in Florida, and within a year of the reading had moved back and is now much happier. This is an example of how the most probable life path is clearly identifiable, and so her Master Teachers were willing to share it with her. The energy pulling her back to Florida was already in motion, and the Masters utilized my vision and sensing to communicate her “return.” It didn’t make sense to Terri at the time, but it did appear to be her soul’s plan.
Do you have questions about the process of Mediumship? Feel free to ask via the Comments below.
With Love and Light ~ Renee Buck
Whispers From The Light 