Do you believe in Mediums?

[Snowballs138]

Some years ago I went (very sceptically) with a friend to see a well renowned Medium. I had waited almost 2 years to see her. I booked the appointment via telephone on a withheld number. I Gave only my first name which isn't unusual and no other information.
As I say, I was a very sceptical and pretty much a non- beleiver, but just went along with a friend to see what it was all about and a giggle. I had previously lost my husband quite young in a very unusual way. The woman seemed to know a lot about this and even specified that it was abroad, an accident and he was surrounded by water, which he was 🤯 she then went on to say he was with her and was trying to tell her a nickname he used to call me so that I would believe he was there. I was completely confused as I couldn't remember any nicknames that he had for me (non to my knowledge). So this is where I had her, or so I thought! I said no, there has never been a nickname. He never called me anything other than my Christian name. She then said she would give me the first letter of the nickname. I just looked at her blankly and said no. She then shot out the nickname and I was completely and utterly blindsided. It was a ridiculous name. I won't say it on here because it's embarrassing and silly 🤣 but it's something in humour that he used to call me when it was just the two of us (and very unusual/not guessable for her AT ALL). I had totally and utterly forgotten about it. So how could she have known this if even I had forgotten and absolutely nobody else knew? I've never to this day been able to understand how she could know. She also went on to say several other things were that were outstandingly accurate and things that nobody else could possibly have known, for example I was in the middle of a private dental claim which she said was legal (I was) and that I would receive a substantial payout very soon (I did). She told my friend she was pregnant (she was, 6 weeks, but had told nobody bar her DH) This one visit to this Medium changed my entire belief system regarding mediums and the spirit world which I never thought would be possible. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Just looked Barnum Statements as I've never heard of them..it makes complete sense, especially :

• The subject believes that the analysis applies only to him or her, and thus applies his or her own meaning to the statements.
• The subject believes in the authority of the evaluator.

That applies to EVERYONE who goes to see a physic or a medium. It's not a bit of a fun, there are more appropriate ways to have fun. Anyone who books an appointment wants to hear something, no matter how much they deny it.

Someone I know went to see a medium, they booked it via Facebook, and then were astonished that the medium knew everything about them , down to the fact that they had recently broken their leg- nothing to do with all the pictures they'd posted on Facebook showing their leg in plaster 🙄

I believe. I've have a few amazing readings.

One told
My
Mum
She would
Find a lost
Ring
She had
No idea what this could
Be. Her rings were all intact and safe
Two weeks
Before moving home she was digging up
Plants to take to her
New home
And dug
Up the
Ring her uncle
Gave
Her
In her 21st
Birthday
She had forgotten about this ring as
It had
Been so
Long.

Another
Lady I see has
Done amazing readings for
Me. She predicted things that have come true that she could
Never
Have known otherwise

"You will find a ring" is a pretty lame prediction. I found a ring in my car glovebox yesterday!

A 'spirit' would have know where it would be, when it would be found and the specific history of the ring.

If any type of paranormal phenomenon were real then someone would have claimed one of these prizes

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes_for_evidence_of_the_paranormal

Sadly mediums are either charlatans exploiting the bereaved, or are themselves deluded.

@LowbrowVictoriana

It's interesting that reading your post, the comments you have said here,
I am curious what acctracted to those tarot set card?

Like a PP, I was also with a friend when she went to one of these sessions.

I sat back and watched as she essentially unconsciously fed the 'medium' line after line (even with all that information, they only made about one hit in five).

My mate went on for ages about how uncannily accurate this total charlatan was, even though I was actually physically there and could see and hear exactly what was going on.

There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see...

No absolutely not.

I have always been drawn to the whole aesthetic of ghosts, mediums, seances, divination, gothic horror, ouija, tarot, occult… all that, particularly in a Victorian setting (see username)!

I like tarot because there are 78 cards, all with different pictures, giving scope for lots of varied and beautifully illustrated decks. And come on… The Fool, Death, The hanged Man! Its fabulous stuff. I have 4 different decks.
I was looking to buy some for DS’s girlfriend a few days ago and saw some that the seller had said “These are beautiful, but I just didn’t vibe or connect with them”
I knew what she meant! I guess the ones I have I connect/vibe with. Maybe that just means I like them.

As I said though, I find them beautiful and relaxing, but they don’t have any supernatural power.

I was cleaning out my cupboard the other day and found a crystal pendulum. I opened a random book swung it and let it falla few times. The words it chose were so uncannily specific I freaked myself out. Funnily enough it was Macbeth which does feature scrying witches. Who knows?

My DM is the most sceptical woman you could meet but was persuaded to go and see one as company for a friend. The medium accurately described my late GF lung condition, the shape (unusual) of a trophy my dad went on to win, the fact there was a faulty light in the house (reading wasn’t in our house), that DSis would move abroad.

however she said DM had a son and DM never did unless she saw a future SIL maybe!

I had a similar experience she told me things no one would know especially a complete stranger. She had no idea who I was my friend booked it anonymously and it was at her parents house so connection to me what so ever. She spoke of my grandpa the only significant person I have lost and got things pretty accurate. It was quite eerie. She also spoke of things I had no idea about although one of them after asking my nana rang true. I’m not sure I am a complete believer but it was very good and I’d definitely consider having another reading.

Think it's something to be very careful of.
Not sure of the one I saw was a clairvoyant or medium. She was renowned in the town I went out of curiosity and to prove it was bollix. She said she wasn't a fortune teller. She did tell me stuff no one knew. Her retelling of the future was incorrect but lots of things were accurate.
I would never go again. It's a dark art what ever you believe

I believe because l am one.
I have never ever charged.
I have helped the local police in the past locate an escaped convict and some other things.
( Yes the police do use Mediums/ clairvoyants/ Spiritualists.

People are cynical. It's a shame. I'm a medium, we're not all con artists. I've never charged for a reading and never will but people do need to earn a living. I'm glad you had a positive experience.

people need to earn a living

Why can't they earn a normal living, without charging people to 'talk to loved ones'?

They could train as forensic people and get the ghosts to help them follow the right lead. 'THIS set of fingerprints!'

They could write remarkable accurate historical novels and biographies.

They could be a bus driver and do readings once a week.

They could get a ghost to show them the Ming vase their executors donated to a charity shop. They could be shown the buried cartel money, the money hidden in walls.

But instead they prey on widows and bereaved parents.

Some mediums do work in those fields.

Like I said, I'm a medium, I don't do it as a full time job, I don't charge and I don't search for people to prey on. Only charlotins do that.

But why can't genuine mediums do it as a full time job? Who are you to tell them what job to do? Genuine mediums also do not go preying on people. People go to them, it's not they other way round.

You're clearly taking the piss with your reply because you're a cynic and that's fine but your opinion is not the opinion of everyone.

A person that has a skill whether it be mediumship or carpentry has the right to use that skill in a professional setting without people saying 'Why can't you be a bus driver and just use your skill once a week'.

Stop being scared of things you don't understand.

Most posters defending mediums aren't actually describing mediumship, but 'clairvoyance'. However as long as there are middle aged people with jobs, there will come retirement, eventually. As long as there is life, people will have children. As long as people have cushions, or pillows or birds fly about outside, the odd feather will turn up.

And if you're really communicating with a loved one, who would be bursting to tell you all sorts of meaningful things, would their priority to be talking about the description of an obscure household object, or dwelling on the ill health of your ex neighbour's cousin?? for eg.

I have no personal experience, and I don’t think I’d ever go to one who charges, but a DSis and niece have been told some extraordinarily accurate things about a relative who’d recently died, by a neighbour of niece - who doesn’t charge or ever do it ‘professionally’.

The relative had lived hundreds of miles away, in a remote area, and had never visited the area where the niece had lived for only a few years.

There was no way she could have known or found out any of it.

Perhaps the most startling thing was something very specific she told niece about something that had happened very shortly before the relative died. Niece was not present at the death, was 100s of miles away, and knew nothing about it, but DSis was there. Niece later asked DSis whether it was true.

It was.
So even if things were relayed via telepathy, it couldn’t have applied to that.

Nope. Con artists 😡

I can't highlight the part of your post I'm replying to as I don't know how 🤣 But with regards to your last paragraph, some mediums, myself included are what we call evidential mediums meaning we always always give at least one pierce of information that no one else knows as evidence. This may include something that someone else will see as pointless or useless but to the person we're reading for it's important as it's so obscure or silly or mundane that no one's else would ever know it or think about it. Spirit also only comes forward when it benefits the person you're reading for. We don't just pick spirit out of the air. If they come forward it's because they're needed.

Everyone has their own beliefs and it would be a very boring world if we all agreed on everything. ☺️

My husband and I once watched a program about mediums. Neither of us believed in it at all. I don’t believe in life after death, but he did. We were in our 20s at the time, and we agreed on a phrase that if one of us was dead we would use to communicate with the other, and if we didn’t use the phrase the medium was a charlatan. Neither of us was to ever share the phrase or even that there was a phrase. My husband died in 2019. Of course, where the strategy fell down was that as a sceptic who doesn’t believe in life after death I’ve never been to a medium 😂

@PurpleUnicornSparkles there has never been a single case of a clairvoyant actually contributing to the solving of a crime. Never.

They pray on the vulnerable and cold read till they get it right. And she could have found your name through your payment method or by your friends name and a bit of research. They are awful people

A simple bit of research will show you that psychic detectives have been helping find missing people and bodies for many many years.

This is the thing with Mumsnet unfortunately, people have an opinion and will not listen to anyone else. They believe they know all history, all police information, all medical information, purely because personally they've not read it on their local FB page.

🥱