What Is Mediumship?
Mediumship is the sensitivity some people have to perceive the spiritual world and the energies around them. Put simply, a medium acts as a bridge: they pick up on things that most people walk straight past. It is not a party trick and it is not a trend. It is a faculty, and like any faculty, it needs understanding and care.
It is also far more common than people think. Plenty of people grow up feeling things they cannot explain, sensing moods before a word is spoken or knowing something is off long before the facts arrive. Often they spend years assuming they are simply “too much”, when in fact they may have been picking up on something real all along.
Mediumship also varies from person to person. For some it arrives as intuition or vivid dreams, for others as a strong sense of presence, and for others as a physical reaction to certain people and places. What matters is not how dramatic it looks, but how well it is understood, guided and kept in balance.
Mediumship is not a gift reserved for the dramatic or the unusual. Many of the people I meet are thoughtful, professional and entirely grounded. What distinguishes them is not eccentricity but sensitivity, and the willingness to take it seriously rather than dismiss it.
Signs You May Be Sensitive
Common signs include soaking up other people’s moods, feeling suddenly drained or heavy around certain people or places, restless sleep and very vivid dreams, a sense of being watched or accompanied, sudden shivers, and strong hunches that keep turning out to be right. Many people feel all of this constantly and never quite switch off. These experiences can also have everyday causes, so if you are unwell, please see a doctor as well.
It is worth saying that sensitivity is not the same as being overwhelmed. Left without guidance, it can feel exhausting, as though the world were permanently turned up too loud. With proper understanding, however, many people find that it settles, becomes steadier and gradually turns into a source of insight rather than strain.
Finding the Right Guidance
If this sounds like you, my advice is simple: do not go it alone, and do not hand yourself over to just anyone. Look for a competent priest or spiritual leader, someone with real training, humility and a track record of caring for people properly. A good guide helps you develop your spiritual field, understand what you feel and handle these energies safely.
Be wary of anyone who preys on fear, promises miracles or pushes you to depend on them. A genuine guide gives you clarity and confidence, not dependence. Trust your instincts about the person in front of you, take your time and ask questions. Developing your sensitivity is a gradual process, and it is perfectly fine to move at your own pace.
Development, in my view, should always be patient and respectful. It involves learning to tell intuition from anxiety, to recognise your own limits, to rest when you need to and to keep both feet firmly on the ground. Spiritual work that ignores ordinary life, health and common sense is rarely work worth trusting.
Spiritism and Allan Kardec
Mediumship has been part of human history for as long as people have wondered about life beyond death, but modern Spiritism took shape in the nineteenth century. After the much-publicised experiences of the Fox sisters in Hydesville, New York, in 1848, interest in communicating with spirits spread across America and Europe, and by the 1850s “table-turning” had become the talk of Parisian drawing rooms.
Among those who took a serious interest was Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, a French educator who would later write under the name Allan Kardec. Rather than simply marvel at the phenomena, he approached them like a researcher: asking methodical questions, comparing the answers he received through different mediums and organising them into a coherent body of thought.
In 1857 he published The Spirits’ Book, the foundation of what became known as Spiritism. It was followed by The Mediums’ Book in 1861, The Gospel According to Spiritism in 1864, Heaven and Hell in 1865 and Genesis in 1868. He also founded the Revue Spirite and the Parisian Society for Spiritist Studies in 1858.
At its heart, Spiritism teaches belief in God, the survival of the soul, communication between the living and spirits, reincarnation and the moral progress of every individual. Kardec died in 1869 and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where visitors still leave flowers at his tomb. His ideas took particularly deep root in Brazil, where Spiritism remains widely followed today.
What I value most in Kardec’s work is its seriousness. He insisted that nothing should be accepted blindly and that every claim deserves reason, reflection and moral responsibility. Whatever your own beliefs may be, that spirit of careful and humble enquiry remains an excellent compass for anyone exploring this subject today.