Mediums: Messengers For Those Who Have Crossed Over
A medium is a person with the ability to tune into the energy of a soul who has left the physical world, i.e., crossed over to the other side of spirit, and communicate with that soul. She becomes the bridge of communication between the person who has left the physical plane and those friends and family members who were left behind to complete their earthly lives.
Some people view mediums strangely, not understanding that a gifted medium performs a valuable service to the surviving family and friends. Mothers and fathers who have lost children, children who have lost parents, surviving spouses all want to know that the personality and the soul of their loved ones survive the transition to spirit and that they are happy and content on the other side. In many cases, a medium is the only one that can ease a grieving mother or daughter’s heart by passing along information about the deceased that only the survivor knows, information that verifies that the personality does go on after the death of the physical body.
How does this happen? Is there an instruction manual for the process or does it just happen?
Mediums usually do not consciously choose to have this gift in their lives. It usually seems to appear from out of nowhere. In some cases, the medium is aware of the spirits of others from early childhood and does not know for several years that friends and family do not also see them. When the realization of this unique gift is accepted, then spirit guides on the other side make contact with the medium and an adjustment of energies of the guides and medium is made to facilitate easier communication between the spirit and physical worlds.
Though mediums do not choose mediumship as a rule, most accept that this mission of reuniting loved ones with those who have passed over is something orchestrated and agreed to before they are born into the present physical life. The need for a medium to work in the field is as necessary to them as breathing.
According to the accounts of mediums like Rosemary Altea, author of “The Eagle and the Rose” and “Proud Spirit”, the process just happens, or at least it did to her. From the time she was a child in England, she saw the spirits of those who had passed and heard their voices. Because of the spiritualist atmosphere of her mother and family, she accepted it as real. As she grew older, she learned to work with the energies with the help of a spirit guide named Grey Eagle. The fascinating story of how this occurred is the basis of her book “The Eagle and the Rose.” One of the things I enjoyed about the book was the difference between the attitudes of the English about spiritualist subjects and those of the average American. Perhaps it has something to do with the antiquity of England versus the relative infancy of our beloved country.
John Edward is a well-known psychic medium who hosts a television show entitled “Crossing Over”. This television show has allowed people to observe how the process works first hand without necessitating a personal visit to a medium. John works with a gallery of people in the audience who come hoping for a message from a loved onw who has crossed over. As John points out, however, the process is not controlled by him, his producers, or anyone else in the physical world. The process is entirely under the control of those on the other side. It is made quite clear to those attending the taping of the television shows that attending does not guarantee the person will receive a reading or a message. Those who do receive messages may not receive them from the person they came to communicate with, but they will hear the message that is intended for them to get.
John also conducts private readings that are booked in advance, but even those are subject to the desires of the "dearly departed". Many televised readings have shown messages that were intended for the friend of the client, or the cameraman. In some cases, the clients have had to phone relatives for information only to discover that the reading is for the person on the phone rather than the one physically attending.
John Edward explains the process and how his life changed when he accepted his lifelong mission in his book “One Last Time”, named for his belief that we all need a chance to say goodbye and to know that those we love survive. His book “Crossing Over” related the way the television show began and the stories behind the scenes. Both are fascinating accounts of the life of a medium and the bizarre ways that events occur to place people in the right place at the right time for the right reading. After all, he points out, there are no coincidences.
The touching point he makes during each show says it all. Those who have crossed over make the effort to communicate with us to let us know that love goes on and the soul, the spirit never dies. Those on the other side are never concerned about the physical stuff in their loved ones' lives, like who got the house or the rings or the dog. Their only concern for us in the physical is that we show the love we share with one another and continue living and learning while we are in the physical earth plane. We need to live fully, he says, and learn all the lessons that we are here to learn.
“Make sure that your family members know how much you love and cherish them while they are alive,” he says, “so you won’t need a medium to connect with them after they are gone.”
