Journey into Mediumship
It still surprises me how I can sit down to create a piece of writing or a PowerPoint presentation with a clear intent but absolutely no vision or expectation, and suddenly enter a flow in which it comes together seamlessly and quickly, with astonishing quality. In a way, it should not surprise me, for isn’t that an aspect of mediumship?
September 10, 2026, will mark the 20th anniversary of my first service leading GOTSC. I must admit that, while I was steadfast in my intent and commitment to lead this organization, the human side of me was extremely nervous and scared. Back then, I was not yet doing any mediumship, and it still baffled me how I could lead a Spiritualist church without being a medium. How could I fill Carl Hewitt’s shoes, who was such a phenomenal medium?
However, once again, even though I did not have a vision for it, the pieces came together, and I began my journey to unfold my mediumship. My journey began with a trip to England to take courses at the Arthur Findlay College (of mediumship).
One day, the teacher, Mavis Pittilla, announced that we would spend the day practicing platform mediumship, the formal term for a medium delivering a message from a Spirit to someone in the audience. I had never done this before.
I was sitting in the second row, with an empty seat to my right. Suddenly, I had a clear “vision” of Carl sitting next to me. He said to me, “Git on up there,” in his pronounced southern accent. As he said it, he raised his left arm, stretched it to the left, and pointed to the front of the room, where the first student was standing and delivering a spirit message. As Carl moved his left arm and pointed, it would hit my right arm. Carl said nothing else, but the scene played as a video loop, over and over and over again.
I simply ignored Carl’s instruction. A second student stood to give a message. The video loop kept repeating endlessly. Finally, I told Carl, “Well, I can’t go up there now; someone is giving a message, but I will go next.” However, the video loop did not stop.
The student finished and returned to her seat. I stood and walked to the front of the room. I had no idea what to do. I began rubbing my hands together and immediately started talking, explaining that I had never done this before and had no idea what I was doing. Then, suddenly, I saw a picture of my grandfather, as it appeared in a photograph in my parents’ home. It was my paternal grandfather, who had passed to Spirit about a decade before I was born.
“What in the world is my grandfather doing here?” ran through my mind. I was too new to platform mediumship to know that if I had begun describing my grandfather’s physical features, they would have matched those of another spirit, a spirit who belonged to someone in the audience. Once that connection was made, more information would begin to flow.
However, on that day, I did not know that, so the energy dropped. Mavis came up to me, put her hand on my shoulder, and gave me instructions on how to convey a message. I don’t remember what happened next. I stayed at the front of the room for a minute or two more, being prompted on what to do. Finally, the teacher said I was done and that I should return to my seat.
After the class ended, a friend of mine, who was also taking the class and had much more experience as a medium than I did, approached me. She asked, “How did you know to do that?”
“What do you mean? I had no idea what I was doing.”
She said, “You got up and began rubbing your hands together to raise the energy, and you began “bantering.” Your speaking also raises the energy.”
“It does?”
“How did you know to do that?”
I suddenly realized that Carl had done more than just sit next to me and encourage me to get up and give a Spirit message. He must have overshadowed me, leading me to take steps to increase the energy, without my conscious awareness that most mediums use these techniques to connect with the Spirit communicator.
This is one of the first lessons I learned in trusting Spirit and in learning to ignore my nervousness and doubt. By approaching mediumship without the negative thought, “I can’t do this,” and simply allowing myself to be neutral and let the experience unfold, mediumship can occur.
After 20 years, I suppose I have mastered letting go of doubt. By simply allowing whatever it is to unfold or come together, anything can happen. I now use this approach automatically when I sit down to create a piece of writing or a PowerPoint presentation. Yet after 20 years, I am still amazed by the results that manifest.