The History of Mediumship- A Broad Overview

Most of the time when people think about Evidential Mediumship and Development, they find the Spiritualist church. The commonly held belief is that Mediumship originated with Fox Sisters in upstate New York, but what they don’t realize it Mediumship predates Spiritualism. The History of Mediumship predates modern-day Spiritualism, and can be traced back thousands and tens of thousands of years within Indigenous Cultures. Mediumship is woven within the traditions of every culture. The earliest record that has been found is located in a cave within the Pyrenees Mountains of Ariege, France, and dates back to 13000 BC. 

You can find Mediums in Ancient Greece and Rome. In Greek culture, they were the Sibyls and first mentioned in 500 BC. In Rome, they were the Oracles; the most famous being the “Oracle at Delphi” who spoke with the Authority of Apollo. 

In the Old Testament of the Bible, you find references to Mediums in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where it is forbidden to consult mediums and to seek guidance from Sources other than God Himself. In 1st Samuel 28, you find the story of the Witch of Endor, the Medium Saul went to visit to speak with the Prophet Samuel to get his council before going to war. He was disguised- she was the only Medium left in the City after he had driven the rest out- and when she found out who he was (because Mediums know in a reading who you are- you can’t hide from one who knows her craft), she stopped the reading. He had her continue and she brought forward Samuel to advise Saul on the battle the next day. This story has a tragic ending in 1st Samuel- but the description of how a reading typically goes sometimes is spot on and in the Bible. The original Hebrew name for Medium was changed to witch when the Church rewrote several historical texts, including the Bible. You find other mentions of Mediumship and mediumship experiences in the New Testament as well. 

Today’s Mediumship (Mental Mediumship) is largely Spiritualism-based, thanks to the Fox Sisters. Both Spiritism and Spiritualism were born just after the Second Great Awakening in America, in a home in Upstate (Rochester New York), in 1848. The Fox Sisters heard knocking in the home, and when they started tapping back, found that they were having an intelligent conversation with whomever and whatever was rapping with them. In 1849, they had a crowd of over 400 people for a public demonstration, and continued to do public demonstrations around New York. This movement birthed both Spiritism and Spirirtualism.

Spiritism slightly predates Spiritualism, and was founded by Allan Kardec of France, a scientist and a skeptic who traveling to the US and actively was working to debunk Spiritism and Intelligent Communication through Scientific Studies before he found his work was showing definitive proof that Mediumship and life after death was real. Science continues to study Mediums today- Laura Lynn Jackson and Tyler Henry both have had their brains studied when working and under scans and work closely with other Mediums at Scientific Institutes and Research Centers across the Country. Allan was known as the Grandfather of Spiritism. He has written quite a few books- the most popular in Mediumship Circles being “The Book of Mediums” and “The Spirit’s Book”. These two books hold a lot of Mediumship philosophies from that time that have now been expanded on and are outdated, but they are the first texts on Modern Mediumshup that we still have access to today. 

Spiritism was based largely around physical mediumship, phenomena and seances. People had time to sit in circle for hours- at the same time, in the same place, the same day of the week, with the same people. They would finally build enough power together to bring through evidence of the Spirit Communicator in Automatic Writing. Automatic Writing was the preferred method of communication in the mid-1800s because the information that came through within the writing far exceeded the mental capacity of the medium. The writings you find from this time inside Mediumship texts is largely question and answered based, and it was the test they used to judge if they were connecting to Spirit. 

At the same time Spiritism came into existence, so did the Charletons. This is where you begin to find the foot pedals to move the table for seances, or the pictures of ectoplsm that are just sheets. You can even find staged photos of dolls that were claimed to be Spirits. Fun fact, Harry Houdini’s wife Bess was a medium who held seances for 10 years after his death, who was largely a skeptic until his friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who later turned frenemy) and then doubled down on his skepticism. Harry Houdini went so far as to speak to Congress in support of a bill banning mediumship and psychic practices (where he also called all mediums frauds). The Bill died in Committee, but the damage was done. Mediums and Mediumship had begun to get a reputation and a bad rap as less reputable and as a joke.  

Spirtualism and the Spiritualist movement gave birth to the formation of a religion and faith. Spirtualism is a philosophy, science and religion in one, and the principle philosophies are found in it’s 7 Principles. It also was the time when Mediumship moved from mostly physical in nature and into Platform and Mental Mediumship. Platform Mediumship was practiced largely by the Spiritualist Church to prove that life continues after death, and was largely developed to appease skeptics, with the Fox Sisters having the first successful demonstration of Mediumship recorded. Presidents Lincoln and Cooleridge all reported having Mediums hold seances in the White House, and Mary Lincoln actively practiced Spirirtualism while President Lincoln was in office.

Spiritualism had its biggest growth in World War I and World War II. The religion and faith spread from the United States to England, where it flourished and grew. You can find the famous Arthur Findlay College in Stanstead Hall in England today, and still take classes on campus or online. The sheer number of casualties seen in World War I and World War II was something we as a people had never seen before- and the need for Mediums during this time was huge. One of the most famous Mediums that came out of that time was Helen Hughes- a clairaudient medium. If you read her transcripts of her readings- her information is crisp and clean, sometimes only needing one sentence to deliver the message and evidence. The most comparable medium we have working today to her is probably Indigenous Medium Sean Leonard. His clairaudience is unmatched, with the same clear and crisp evidence as well. Helen would travel by train and demonstrate across England. She brought reputability back to Mediumship and increased the standard for evidence. 

Also instrumental in the growth of Spiritualism were Indigenous, Asian, East Asian and African American bodies of culture communities and mediums. In the early to mid 1900s, Mediums like Harriet Wilson of Boston, the novelist, trance medium and lecturer, and the Cercle Harmonique of New Orleans put their lives on the line to bring forward Spirit Communication and Philosophies and Spiritualism into the mainstream. 

In England during the 1940s, Gordon Higginson began working as a Medium. Known as one of the most influential spiritualist mediums of the 20th Century, he helped establish and develop Arthur Findlay College into the internationally renowned center for the advancement of spiritualism, mediumship and psychic sciences. He was the President of the Spiritualists National Union from 1970 until his death in 1993. You can still find recordings and videos of his lectures on his Tribute page and on You Tube, including his trance mediumship sittings. 

In the 40s, it was widely believed you were either born a medium or you weren’t. Today, we know we all have the ability to connect mediumistically and we can all develop that ability further with patience, devotion and practice. Much of what I have learned and developed is Spirtualist and Indigenous based, as I prefer to work outside of structures even if I belong to a structure. Because Mediumship is like a thumbprint and we all have out own unique way of connecting with Spirit, we should all be able to develop outside of boxes. If everyone gets the same information and evidence- Mediumship begins to look boring, and the joy of creating art  that we develop in the process of developing out unique version of Mediumship is lost. Development should always be fun! 

In the 90s, Mediums like Sylvia Brown, John Edwards, James Van Pragh, and John Holland modernized Mediumship. Mediumship became more accessible main stream as it was introduced to television. Because Mediumship is so mainstream now, people are less skeptical than in previous years and centuries when the focus was more on proving existence of life after death with evidence than the messages. Because the practice is more mainstream, people have a better understanding of what mediumship is, what it can be, and how healing it is. Mediumship has switched from more evidential to more message based within the mainstream. Mediumship also has become more multi-disciplinary, and people come into mediumship now from Reiki, massage therapy and even hair. 

When we start down the Mediumship Development path, and when we begin to connect to our family and our Ancestors, we are able to begin to connect to our own cultures and our roots. Every culture and tradition has its own history of mediumship. As you begin your development journey, I encourage you to look at the culture you are from and the history of mediumship found within it. Identify within yourself and your Heritage where your mediumship is from, and what it looks like to and for your culture. These people have blazed their own trail for us so we can sit in spaces and develop, and play with our own personal and unique connections to Spirit. And never forget, when we sit inside a Development class we are writing history ourselves in this moment- by healing Ancestral Wounds in our Lineage and by making Mediumship accessible for everyone.