Medium (spirituality)

For other meanings of "medium," see medium (disambiguation).

In spirituality, a medium or spirit medium (plural mediums) is an individual who claims the ability to receive messages from spirits, ghosts, or other discorporate entities, or claims that he or she can channel such entities -- that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the medium's own voice. While skeptics believe such individuals are either self-deluded or simply charlatans, popular mediums often have many followers who believe strongly in their purported abilities. Examples of popular modern-day (mental) mediums include Sylvia Brown and John Edward.

Mina Crandon, Margery, was the last mental and physical medium,(the movement of objects and the production of ectoplasm) of note in the USA. Her prayers were read by the US Army. She was tested by the scientific community but did not win the award from Scientific American magazine. Harry Houdini claimed she was a fraud and duplicated some of her feats, but not nearly all. There have been claims by conjurors examining sitting records that Mina hid and removed modified body parts, connected traceas, from her altered vagina; both made by her husband, who was a Boston surgeon to produce "ectoplasm."

Mina was the highlight of the evening. After a dinner with prominent invited guests, she did her performances in the nude, and never in full light. Only Houdini refused to dine and spend the night in the Crandon home. There are rumours of sexual favors between Mina and investigator Malcomb Bird. It is little known that Dr.J.B. Rhine refused to test her abilities. This last information can be found in the ASPR Journal.

Mediumistic automatism is the practice of a medium receiving supernatural messages from ghosts, spirits or the like, the expression of such messages (in speech, writing or drawings) lacking conscious control or intervention by the medium.

See also

• Séance
• Medium the TV series with Patricia Arquette who plays a medium

External links

• John Edward
• Sylvia Brown
• James Randi Educational Foundation (skeptic's organization)