Every Tuesday evening our home circle sits for spirit and during our 15 month of sitting we have had some remarkable contacts from our spirit instructor and spirit teachers. They have provided words of wisdom through gift of David Golden. A demonstration of Trance Medium-ship was conducted at Runcorn Spiritualist Church. The communicating Spirit provided some wonderful messages for the members of the church. It was also noted that the sitters observed spirit impressing themselves upon David as he was in Trance. The members were aware of spirit lights and the change in energy has spirit drawn close.

Trance medium-ship, is often seen as a form of mental medium-ship.

First of all it needs to be established as to the difference between the levels of actual trance control and how it takes place.  Trance medium-ship has many facets and levels, ranging from light inspiration, to a deep uncontrolled catatonic state of the medium known as deep trance.

 More frequently, trance is the suspension of ordinary consciousness of external surroundings, in a sort of temporary oblivion, which can best be described as a semi- conscious state, in which the person entranced has lost the ability to use their thinking powers. The possibility of a spirit operator controlling the mind of the entranced medium depends upon the above condition and in order that the spirit can express their thoughts through the medium, it is essential that the sensitive should be under their control. The greater the degree of control the more perfect will be the expression.

 When an entranced medium is used by a spirit to deliver an address, the relationship between spirit and medium is usually one of control by suggestion. The spirit will transmit certain ideas, stimulating the brain and the organs of expression, to clothe the thoughts with words and give them utterance. The controlling spirit will, however, be unable to use the correct expression through the medium unless the words to be used are already contained in the memory of the medium. The message will no doubt "get through" but not precisely as the spirit desires and it will therefore suffer according to the cultural development of the medium. The vocabulary used will be that of medium and therefore corresponding limitations will be imposed upon the purity of the thought conveyed.

Some mediums, who lack the power of self-expression due to little education, give the impression that they would not be able to give intelligent messages in trance but it is important to bear in mind that, although they have little command over thousands of words recorded in their memories, it does not follow that a controlling spirit will not be able to have greater access and control over them as the association between them develops and strengthens.

This also has a beneficial effect upon the medium for the memory will constantly register the more enlightened thoughts transmitted. Gradually those thoughts will influence the conscious thought process of the medium and bring about a more enlightened state. It is a mistake however for the medium to be content with this form of education. The association should be co-operative, bearing in mind that knowledge consciously gained will enrich that which is unconsciously acquired.

In deep trance state, the discarnate spirit will take control of the mediums body.

When a medium sits for development of the deep trance state, he allows discarnate spirit to take over his/her body and their own spirit withdraws. If the take-over is complete the discarnate spirit is in full control but if the spirit of the medium is merely suppressed, or incompletely withdrawn, the discarnate spirit does not have sole control, and in manifesting its spiritual powers is hampered by the thought influences of the medium. This explains the variability in the powers and lucidity of the different trance mediums. When a medium is passing into, or out of, trance control, it is sometimes obvious that there is an intermediate state in which the medium`s subconscious is in control. First the conscious self goes out, and gives place to the subconscious, which finally yields its place to the spirit control.

There is therefore the need to discriminate between the subconscious activity of the medium and the intervention of a discarnate spirit. If the entranced person displays knowledge that is far in advance of our own, or if the philosophy expounded is well beyond the level of understanding of the medium, it becomes possible to accept that the medium is being used as a "mouthpiece" for advanced discarnate spirits. This was obviously the case with Andrew Jackson Davies who when in deep trance, delivered well over one hundred learned discourses.

If, on the other hand, the words spoken by the entranced medium do not match the normal intelligence of the medium, this does not necessarily mean that they do not originate from a discarnate spirit - on earth we are all individuals with varying levels of intelligence and knowledge, and naturally it is the same in the spirit world.

Control in the trance state can be affected from a distance anywhere within the building or hall, on many occasion spirit guides have control their mediums from a distance. Communications given through a medium that is in deep trance have been, and are of inestimable value in proving the fact of life after death. Pseudo-trance, on the part of some who claim to be entranced, brings discredit to Spiritualism. It is often the desire of mediums not to accept responsibility for their actions and to hide behind "closed eyelids".

Trance phenomena result from the behaviour of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain.

In the typical deep trance, the medium may not have clear recall of all the messages conveyed while in an altered state; such people generally work with an assistant. That person selectively wrote down or otherwise recorded the medium's words. Rarely did the assistant record the responding words of the sitter and other attendants. An example of this kind of relationship can be found in the early 20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs Cecil M. Cook of the William T. Stead "Trance medium-ship" is often seen as a form of mental medium-ship.

All trance mediums remain conscious during a communication period, wherein a spirit uses the medium's mind to communicate. The spirit or spirits using the medium's mind influences the mind with the thoughts being conveyed. The medium allows the ego to step to one side.

In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums were very popular. Spiritualism generally attracted female adherents, many who had strong interests in social justice. Many trance mediums delivered passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women's suffrage. Scholars have described Leonora Piper as one of the most famous trance mediums in the history of Spiritualism.

To produce this this trance induce state two factors are essential. First, the physical body must be adaptable to manipulation by discarnate entities, and secondly, the mind and senses of the medium must be responsive as well as attractive to those who desire to communicate. Development means that practise enables spirits to function through the medium`s sense, and thus relate themselves to earth life again. Conscious co-operation, with set times of meeting, are essential to methodical spirit communion or medium-ship. The main difficulty is to guard against subconscious interference arising from early training, vanity or prejudice. These most easily elude the sensitive because they are part of the normal expression. Control cannot become effective without specific knowledge on the spirit side and mental and auric affinity with the medium.

Inspiration and trance medium-ship are classified as follows:-

1.       Inspiration. Normal power exalted and expanded with or without apparent assistance from discarnate individualities.

2.      Conscious control arises when the medium is conscious during the delivery of an address or spirit message and is more or less aware of the individuality of his mentor.

3.      Unconscious control, stage one. This is fairly common during early development. The spirit or medium, or both, are ignorant of their effects upon each other.

4.      Unconscious control, stage two. The medium alone is unconscious of what transpires. The mentality of the spirit clearly expresses itself and the individuality of the medium is completely changed.

5.      Partial control is an obvious blending of the ideas of the medium with the mentality of the controlling intelligence.

6.      Subconscious action. Lastly, we must deal sympathetically with the egoistic or ignorant poseur. He is not a conscious fraud. Besides, you may be wrong. Be just, but be merciful. Telepathy affects all. Thoughts transference intensified into trance states presents many perplexing problems.

The ego is ever alert, through its activities are temporarily suspended or diverted. Its memory during trance states is apparently defective, or increased by suggestion, but as soon as the embargo is lifted, the spirit consciously contacts material relationship once more. The body may be incapable of action, but reawakened memory proves that the soul never even slept. All the thoughts and feelings we have ever had, both expressed or repressed, were stored away in the wells of memory, and under proper stimuli can be drawn upon and expanded. This clearly confirms spirit reaching on the permanence of memory. The psychic organism is subjected to its own peculiar laws of development and does not disintegrate like the physical.

If you wish to sit to develop to become a trance medium generally you must be prepared for a long haul. It is helpful of course to have had some indication either from another medium or perhaps through some inner experience that you have the potential for trance medium-ship and that development can therefore come about in time. You may find it helpful to attend a development class specifically set up for the development of trance medium-ship if you can find one nearby. However, unless you are already well on the way to developing trance you are unlikely to develop it to the point of being an effective trance medium during the duration of such classes. Of course you may be lucky enough to come across a class that has been set up with the long haul in mind. Even the short classes can be useful in providing guidance, advice and reassurance. In most cases though, the real work will have to be done by you in many hours of patience, regular sitting. Once I started to experience energies I sat for about as often as four times a week for an hour at a time for about eighteen months.

It is highly desirable to have someone to sit with you when you sit for development privately. This serves a number of purposes. The person is able to monitor and give you feedback. They are able to contribute their loving energy to your development and offer moral support. They can also participate in communication at such time as a spirit attempts to speak through you. I do not recommend sitting on your own if you are inexperienced.

You obviously need to sit in a room where you feel comfortable and where you will not be disturbed for the duration of the time. Switch off phones if you can. An upright comfortable chair is desirable, one in which you can feel relaxed but not so relaxed that you might fall asleep. It is probably not a good idea to sit if you are already tired or after a heavy meal. Only eat a light meal at least 4 hours before sitting, you need the energy for sitting and not for digesting your food. Drink plenty of water before two hours before sitting.

This is just some information to explain about type of trance levels and to help you to start your development. Furthermore I am only a thought away to help and guide you, please feel free to contact me at any time.

HAPPINESS IS ONLY A SMILE AWAY