Independent Voice and Direct Voice mediumship
Learning mediumship
Most recommended
These are the books that helped me the most.
You Are Psychic by Sophia Williams (this is the 1961 book, not the more recent book of the same title by a different author.) This is the first book that I read about mediumship. Incredible guidance from Spirit! Unbeknown to me, Sophia was the direct voice medium used by Hamlin Garland in his book The Mystery of the Buried Crosses. She has great advice about meditating for mediumship.
Where Two Worlds Meet by Janet Nohavec (not the earlier book of the same title by Arthur Findley.) Janet’s book was helpful to me in that she stresses evidential mediumship and teaches a system to use when giving a reading.
Other recommended
A Guide to Mediumship and Psychical Unfoldment (Mediumship Explained) by E. W. Wallis
Beginner's Guide to Mediumship by Larry Dreller
Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field by Barbara Brennan. This book was recommended to me by a medium who said that starting out as a healer is a good way to develop mediumship. Much of the book didn't really apply to me, though, as at this point I don't see auras and so could not use the material. However, I kept the book just in case I develop the ability later on.
If you can see auras, though, I imagine this book will be very helpful. There are a lot of charts and diagrams that relate to auras and medical problems.
The most important thing that I did get was buried in the text near the end of the book: Having patience is a direct statement of faith in the Divine plan.
Mediumship and Its Laws by Hudson Tuttle. This is a great book to read about mediumship. However, the most important things that I got from it are:
- Hold mediumship above price and not as a means of livelihood.
- Accept what is given to you.
Mediumship and Its Phases by Margaret L. King
Mediumship Mastery by Stephan A. Hermann
My Life in Two Worlds by Gladys Osborne Leonard. I really enjoyed the author’s down-to-earth style of writing. She describes how she discovered Spiritualism and her path to becoming a medium. She also describes and teaches various aspects of mediumship at the same time.
I have a few disagreements with her over veganism and paid mediumship, but I think the book is very helpful. One of the informative parts of the book was where she described how spirits who are not used to earth conditions are susceptible to being overcome by a sleepy state: “At a much later date, a spirit Communicator explained to me that sometimes the spirits who were not ordinarily in close touch with the earth conditions, would find themselves overcome by a sleepy, dreamy condition when actually entering the physical vibrations. This only lasted a short while with most people, but if it lasted longer, they would be escorted back to their own planes by Guides whose work it is to help in that way, because they would not be able to communicate, or manifest satisfactorily, while in that condition. At the same time, it was a very weird and puzzling phenomenon, the only one of its kind that I have ever witnessed.” This was in chapter 28.
Spirit Lights a Path to Mediumship by Pat Chalfant
The Mediums’ Book by Allan Kardec. You will be taught, not so much how to develop mediumship, but the things that you will need to watch out for when you communicate with the spirit world. I believe it is probably better to read this first before you concentrate on development. There are many pitfalls that involve our weakness that is called pride and ego. This book is a good antidote.
The teachings come from a Spiritist viewpoint, which I favor.
Trumpet Mediumship and Its Development by Clifford Bias. Words spoken literally within your trumpet. Formed via ectoplasmic vocal chords, a spirit’s message is transmitted directly (direct voice). Particularly zippy in its number of pages (just 43), what is important is the valuable words written within.
Independent Voice and Direct Voice mediumship
Fifty Years a Medium by Estelle Roberts. Estelle Roberts would relay messages that were unknown to her using Direct Voice (via a trumpet) while she was asleep under the effects of trance induced by her Spirit Guide. Estelle related many evidential encounters as told in print in popular publications. Because she was under trance she quoted these accounts as a way of giving testimony of attendees of her séances and sittings.
The Mediumship of Jack Webber by Harry Edwards. The manifestations brought about include levitation, and independent and direct voice. There are photographs in the book of some of the mechanisms that make this possible. It is rare to have photographs like this, and it is shown through explanation how it would have been impossible to fake them.
The Voices by William Usborne Moore. This is a collection of testimonies and recorded séances with the medium Etta Wriedt. The evidence was wonderful in that those on the other side spoke directly, using either the trumpet, or, sometimes, independent voice (the voice comes from the air without using a trumpet or other material device). She didn’t go into trance and at times there was more than one voice talking at the same time.
The only little controversy, as far as I’m concerned, is the refutation of reincarnation by two different spirit sources on page 209:
- A friend answers: “Theosophy is not true in every sense, and there is no reincarnation.”
- A schoolmate answers: “There is no reincarnation. When I rowed my boat over the river I did not leave my oars crossed.”
I believe that there is reincarnation, but that it is sometimes hidden to certain spirits because they are not yet ready for it, especially if their life in the physical was very difficult.
Voices in the Dark by Leslie Flint
Where Two Worlds Meet by Arthur Findlay. This is a collection of 19 recorded séances using the direct voice medium John Campbell Sloan. The voices from the other side came through using trumpets. In fact, the trumpet would usually point to the incarnate person that the discarnate person wanted to talk to next.
This is a long book (624 pages) but is good to read in that you get the personalities of the individuals that came through, along with their emotions. Much of the conversations are those like you would expect of people who hadn’t talked with each other in a long while, which reinforces the idea that when we pass we will spend quite a bit of time in the beginning “catching-up” with those who we knew in the physical but who had passed before us.
There is a little controversy in that some of those who came through and talked about reincarnation said that reincarnation does not exist: “Many people believe in Reincarnation, but in all my many talks with Etherians I have never found one who knew anything about it. What they talk about is progress, but never about returning to earth to take up a new physical habitation. Anyone who knows anything about genetics will realize the absurdity of the idea, and why this Eastern belief has such a hold on many people in the West is difficult to understand. In the séance given in this chapter we notice that Mr. Cameron was told: ‘We cannot come back and go through the same again.’” (page 224). I believe reincarnation is real but that not all spirits are ready to accept it until they have progressed enough to understand it.
The medium John Campbell Sloan is to be admired: “Finally, Sloan is unique because these gifts, if they may be called so, do not interest him. He has never exploited them for money; in fact, he is quite indifferent about money. Consequently, he has given séance after séance over the past fifty years, and never received a penny. He was paid nothing for attending the Meetings recorded in the pages which follow. Instead of gaining anything from them he put himself to both trouble and expense to be present. He has received gifts from grateful sitters from time to time, but he never asks for anything and never expects a reward for his services.” (page 17)
Life in the afterlife
Most recommended
In the Domain of Mediumship by Francisco Candido Xavier and spirit Andre Luiz. This book shows what is going on in the Spirit side when we do mediumship. A real bonus is the emphasis on how important it is for us to be spiritual.
The Blue Island by W. T. Stead. Very easy to read and gives a great account of the afterlife.
The French Revelation by N. Riley Heagerty. A longer book than The Blue Island but is excellent.
The Afterlife Revealed by Michael Tymn. This book gives a look at the afterlife from different directions. It talks about how the afterlife is made up of spheres. We also retain our individuality - you exist as an individual and do not merge into some kind of big melting pot of spirits. You actually become more of an individual because you develop gifts and progress in your spirituality.
In chapters 1 and 6, especially, he talks about the difficulty spirits have in communicating with us from the other side. For example, as spirits advance in the other side, and the vibration gets higher, it becomes harder to communicate. What happens, then, is that there is a relay system that is setup. This allows communication from higher entities down to the lower ones that actually make the communication with us happen.
There is also a discussion of Biblical instances where spirits communicated with discarnates.
At the end, in an appendix, the author talks about reincarnation. He concludes that it is beyond his comprehension. It seems that lower level spirits don't believe in it because it is hidden from them. There is something about having multiple parts of a group soul based on teachings from Silver Birch. There is no clear-cut decision one way or the other, which also is reflected in the Spiritualist community - reincarnation cannot be expounded from the platform, but may be taught in classes. Spiritists, however, firmly believe in reincarnation (see The Spirits' Book).
Other recommended
Nosso Lar: An Account of Life in a Spirit Colony in the World of Spirits dictated by the spirit Andre Luiz through the mediumship of Francisco Candido Xavier. Andre Luiz was a doctor in the physical. He then passed on and described his experiences on the other side.
I also recommend watching the DVD Astral City [Blu-ray] which tells the same story in a very beautiful way making use of brilliant colors. There are subtitles - I was a little concerned in the beginning when there wasn't a setup option on the main menu to turn subtitles on but they were there automatically in the movie.
On the Edge of the Etheric by Arthur Findlay
Testimony of Light by Helen Greaves. Helen Greaves was a nun when on Earth. After she passed she made contact with a friend who was a writing medium. This book is her dictation of what the afterlife is like.
The Betty Book by Stewart Edward White
The Unobstructed Universe by Stewart Edward White. This was hard reading only because the concepts are so complex. I don’t remember if this book or his other book (The Betty Book) introduced the sidereal time concept. Substitute the term clock time for sidereal time to make it more understandable.
Proof of mediumship
A Lawyer Presents the Evidence for the Afterlife by Victor Zammit. This book has a lot of evidence for the afterlife, approached from many different angles. I am reluctant to highly recommend it only because there was almost too much information to digest.
For those critics of Leonora Piper, instead of relying on what is in Wiki, I'd recommend you read the book Resurrecting Leonora Piper instead and then make your judgement. In Wiki someone wrote that she became rich from mediumship. If that person would have bothered researching it, they would have found that she made 200 pounds per year in 1887 (see page 395 in William James’ book Essays in Psychical Research.) This was supposed to help her build a fund for retirement. 200 pounds then is worth 18,386 pounds today, which is equal to $27,984 - hardly a way to get rich. When it comes to mediumship I've seen a lot of inaccurate information on Wiki. In most cases I don't believe that mediums should charge (see the section called "Service preferred motivation" on this website) but I think the criticism of her getting rich is unjustified.
Listen My Son by Harry Emerson. Harry Emerson lost his wife and had a son who was a World War II prisoner-of-war. This book is a compilation of letters that he wrote to his son about his experiences in interacting with his wife who physically manifested through the physical mediumship of Hunter Selkirk, and also his experiences in attending Hunter’s circle over time.
Physical mediumship is rare and this is an excellent account of it.
This book can be ordered from the Craghead Spiritualist Church in England. Send a private Facebook message to the church asking for information about how to order the book. I’ve found it is cheaper ordering from the church.
Resurrecting Leonora Piper by Michael E. Tymn. Leonora Piper was a late 18th century/early 19th century medium who mainly used automatic writing to get communications from the other side. She would lay her head down on pillows and rest her hand on 100 sheets of paper. She then went into trance and the control on the other side would take charge of her writing hand.
Many scientists tested her and found her to be genuine. Some of these scientists subsequently passed on and began communicating from the other side.
What I found fascinating was learning how difficult it is for someone in spirit to communicate. They needed someone who was at a lower vibration in the spirit world to be able to control her hand (chapter 5). “Adding to the confusion, it appears that the more a spirit advances, the greater the difference in vibrational frequency between the spirit and the earth realm and the more difficult it is for that spirit to communicate with those of us on earth. In order to communicate, the advanced spirit must relay messages through spirits in lower realms. This can result in a distortion of messages as they are handed down to and through the earthly medium.” Chapter 1. There are more explanations in chapters 3, 5, 6, 8, and 11.
She was controversial and even in Wikipedia you will read a lot of disparaging things about her. But, if you read this book you will get a better picture of her. By the way, when it comes to mediumship, I’ve found a lot of inaccuracies in Wikipedia.
Science and the Afterlife Experience by Chris Carter
Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go by Mark Ireland
The Articulate Dead by Michael E. Tymn
The Mystery of the Buried Crosses by Hamlin Garland
The Scole Experiment by Grant & Jane Solomon. This is a recap of the experiments that took place in the “Scole Hole” as detailed in the book Witnessing the Impossible. The book was written from the viewpoint of the scientists who were invited to attend many of the psychic phenomena.
Reading Witnessing the Impossible was a long hard slog at almost 600 pages of great detail, whereas The Scole Experiment is easier reading at around 300 pages. Both books are very informative, though, and each fills gaps that the other is missing.
Witnessing the Impossible by Robin P. Foy
Spiritual development
Most recommended
Hints on Spiritual Unfoldment by Usrula Roberts. The author talks about various subjects such as detachment, changing the consciousness, honesty, and doing good works. As with the book In the Domain of Mediumship mentioned above, mediumship is a first step to being a more spiritual person.
One of the nuggets of gold: “Is it possible to utilize the conditions which distress and fret you? Yes, if you will get it firmly embedded in your mind that what you are meeting now is completely right for you at this moment. When you understand this you will cease to resent the people and conditions which surround you. Instead, you will begin to enquire why they are surrounding you. Instead of fighting against them you should begin to perceive the fact that they are there to help you develop tolerance, understanding, self-control, patience and forgiveness. Once you know this you will know that you have taken a big step on the pathway of spiritual unfoldment.”
The Gospel According to Spiritism by Allan Kardec. The New Testament’s true interpretation as received from enlightened spirits. Topics such as forgiveness, caring for others, ethical behavior, and being governed yet staying true to the needs of spirit. This is a book that can be read again and again, diving deeper into spiritual truths each time.
The Spirits’ Book by Allan Kardec (ISBN 0964990709). The book details the Spiritist Doctrine in a very comprehensive way dictated from higher spirits. They explain how things work, both in the physical and spirit planes. Spiritists believe in reincarnation, and that spirit phenomena is simply a gateway for us to be more spiritual beings.
You definitely want to buy the most recent edition because not only is the language up-to-date, but there are also helpful comments based on recent events.
Other
Most recommended
An Extraordinary Journey by Stewart Alexander. Stewart Alexander’s physical mediumship brought manifestations of those in spirit to many people. This form of mediumship is rare nowadays and this accounting from him of his experiences demonstrating it is enlightening in the way he is so honest in his recollections.
Toward the Light: Rescuing Spirits, Trapped Souls, and Earthbound Ghosts by Amy Major. A wonderful book on spirit rescue that explains what is involved in assisting spirits who are earthbound. These are people who have passed but for one reason or another are resisting going to the other side. There are various types of scenarios that these spirits find themselves in when they leave the physical body. Amy describes these and gives examples of them.
We may be called on to be rescue mediums so that we can be of service in this capacity.
Recommended
Genesis: Genesis - Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism by Allan Kardec. Other explanations are provided for the many miracles as put forth in the Bible. The scope is not limited to the Old Testament - there are also explanations for New Testament miracles.
Of course, in Spiritism and also Spiritualism there are no miracles because everything follows natural law.
The timeline of the earth from formation to current day is laid out. One of the explanations that I found fascinating for the flood is that it took place in a limited area - it didn’t cover the whole earth.
Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec. The book is divided into two parts.
Part 1 compares orthodox religions’ concepts of heaven and hell with that of Spiritism. It even compares the concepts within some of the orthodox religions.
Part 2 gives examples of different progressions of spirits, starting with the highest progressed and then moves down to the lower progressed spirits such as criminals and hardened spirits.
Healing: Miracles, Mysteries and John of God (DVD). An overwhelmingly heartwarming evidential film about the selfless mediumship practiced in allowing spirit doctors and other healing entities the opportunity of administering healing encompassing both physical and spiritual in nature.
How to See and Read the Aura by Ted Andrews. There are a lot of exercises in the book. Those waves may reveal the characteristics inherent in the individual that is being viewed.
I See Dead People: How I Learned to Help Earthbound Spirits by Jane Ross. Triangulation occurring among a skilled facilitator, confused wandering spirit, and a channeling medium result in explanations of the many regrettable circumstances a human can find themselves in after they pass under conditions that are not conducive to their transition to the other side.
In the Greater World by Allan Kardec dictated by the spirit Andre Luiz. The author Andre Luiz shows us the work that is done for us by helpers in spirit. While we are incarnate we are unaware of the effort that goes into helping us on our spiritual path. It may seem that we are alone in our circumstances, but in reality, we are assisted by empathetic beings who are committed to guiding us along.
John of God by Heather Cumming and Karen Leffler. After watching the “Healing: Miracles, Mysteries and John of God” DVD I purchased this book. The authors describe who John of God is, his background, and the fact the entities incorporate into his physical body when they are doing the healing. Most of these entities were doctors when they were “alive” here on Earth. There are also a lot of testimonies from people who were recipients of physical healing.
I’d recommend watching the DVD first.
Spiritual Alliances by Emma Bragdon. Why Zoysia travels worlds removed from where its nourishment was wrestled away from its roots, travelers to the Casa de Dom Inacio leave hearth and home to obtain healing.
World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present by Geoffrey Parrinder. This book has a pretty detailed description of the backgrounds of the world’s major religions.
I especially enjoyed the many illustrations. The only suggestion I would have would be to place the illustrations with the material that they describe, rather than putting them on one page and then referring to them by page number in the text.
You Are Psychic! - The Free Soul Method by Pete A. Sanders. The exercises in this book are designed to trigger an awakening of certain psychic areas. The emphasis in this book is not mediumship, but developing psychic powers instead. Remember: all mediums are psychic but not all psychics are mediums. So, in doing these exercises you may find yourself connecting with those in spirit as a side effect, but that is not the focus of the book.
Not recommended for those that are not mediums
Ghosts and Earthbound Spirits: Recognize and Release the Spirits Trapped in this World by Linda Williamson. (Note: I’m using the American English spelling of Recognize - the printed title uses the British spelling “Recognise”.) I am so jaundiced after reading this book that it is necessary to add a new category of “Not Recommended for those that are not mediums” on this website, my purpose being solely to warn people that are not mediums to read instead Toward the Light: Rescuing Spirits, Trapped Souls, and Earthbound Ghosts by Amy Major.
Mediums can get input and advice from their honest guides while reading this book. From this perspective, misinformation will be identified and corrected. The information thusly learned will then be valuable.