This article was written
for this site by a practising Spiritualist medium whose opinion is
based on decades of
experience.
March 2005
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The basic belief
of the Spiritualist religion is that spirits communicate through mediums.
The mediums act as the channel for discarnate entities to pass messages to
those living in this material world in physical corporeal form. The
communication of spirit in the Spiritualist religion usually takes place
within a church and is conducted as a part of the religious ceremony. Such
communications are usually made by the following means:
CLAIRAUDIANCE: The medium ‘hears’ the voice of the spirit within his mind
and passes the message as received to the intended individual who may or
may not be a family member or friend of the discarnate soul.
CLAIRVOYANCE: The medium ‘sees’ visions and images shown by a discarnate
entity that have meaning for the intended recipient individual. These are
then passed on by the medium using descriptive terms i.e. I see an older
man, he has a limp and uses a walking stick etc.
TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP: The medium places themselves into a state of deep and
tranquil relaxation and allows the spirit of a discarnate entity to enter
their corporeal form and use their physical being to directly communicate.
This form of communication is quite rare. Mediums that do practice trance
most usually channel specific spirits that bring messages of hope and
guidance from the world beyond. The medium in trance is protected by their
personal spirit guardians who will not permit wicked or malevolent spirits
to enter as this would be dangerous. No true medium would allow
communication from an evil spirit as this would amount to a misuse of the
gift they have been given.
On television there is today a programme called ‘Most Haunted’ that
features a man calling himself Derek Acorah who claims to be able to enter
trance and channel the spirits of discarnate entities who are of an evil
disposition. Having observed a number of these supposed ‘trance
communications’ I am certain that this individual is faking trance and his
performances during the ‘trances’ are nothing more than a charade enacted
for the benefit of the cameras. The fact is that no medium’s spirit
guardian would permit an evil or malevolent entity to enter the body that
they are there to protect. Acorah claims to have a spirit guide he calls
Sam, if this is so then Sam would prevent the wicked spirits from entering
Acorah as that is his duty. But Acorah is not in trance, he is obviously
wide awake and this is demonstrated by the fact that he interacts with his
surroundings and other members of the Most Haunted team whilst he is
supposedly channelling a demonic spirit. For example in the recent Most
Haunted Live broadcast this March, Acorah was to be seen supposedly in
‘trance’ shouting abuse directly into the face of the presenter Yvette
Fielding and she was shouting back. Had Acorah actually been in trance
then the actions of Fielding could have seriously damaged the medium had
he woken suddenly from a true trance state.
There is a real problem with the fake trance communications of Acorah as
they amount to an insult to the Spiritualist religion. His ridiculous
claims to able to channel all manner of long dead discarnate entities,
almost at will, would, if it were true, make him the most remarkable
medium the world has ever known. But he cannot do this. The fact that it
is presented as the truth within the programme Most Haunted creates a
false impression in the mind of the general public.
I recently spoke with a senior member of The Spiritualist religion who has
been witness to many of the best known trance mediums in the UK. He told
me that in all his fifty or more years observing mediums he had never seen
anything remotely like the Acorah method of ‘trance communication’ and he
hoped he never would as it was just utter stupidity.
The programme ‘Most Haunted’ ridicules Spiritualism by permitting Acorah
to fake trance-communication, which is a basic tenet of the Spiritualist
religion. The producers are fully aware that this is all nonsense as they,
in the form of Yvette Fielding, take an active part in his antics. The
really worrying thing is that some innocent people actually believe that
Acorah is actually possessed by demonic spirits and that is a dangerous
deception. In my opinion this form of misguided entertainment should carry
a mental health warning, as belief in it could lead to the sort of
insanity displayed by Acorah when he feigns trance and behaves like a man
possessed. It should read something like this: ‘Warning This Programme
Contains Scenes Of Utter Stupidity That May Damage Your Mental Stability’.
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