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Psychic mediums use something called mediumship which is a term used to describe communication with spirits in the spiritual realm.  It is often associated with religious beliefs, but there is of course no scientific proof or consensus that spirits exist, but it is more of a belief that someone can actually communicate with spirits.  The role of a medium psychic is to relay messages to non-mediums from the spiritual realm.  Mediums are also said to communicate with angels, demons and other non-human spiritual entities.  In the “New Age” community they practice mediumship, called channeling, by speaking with a spirit guide or teaching spirit.  Other mediums are said to allow the spirit to come through them and speak through their bodies as well as communicate through writing the messages.

Mediums who use spirit guides claim these guides are teachers and guide them in developing their psychic abilities.  They claim these guides are the bridge between the medium and the spirits trying to communicate.  Of course there are mediums that claim they can communicate with spirits without a spirit guide.  Other psychics also claim to use guides to help them with messages during “regular” psychic readings, not necessarily for communication with the dead.

There are different types of mediumship.  Mental mediumship is where the medium communicates with the spirits via telepathy.  The medium mentally sees, hears and feels the messages.  This is referred to as clairvoyance (seeing), clairaudience (hearing) and clairsentience (feeling).  Trance mediumship is defined when a medium enters a trance and allows their ego to step aside and the spirit to step in and speak through their body or use their body for another form of communication such as writing out messages.  Physical mediumship is when the spirit physically manifests its presence by a rapping noise or materialized spirit bodies.  Of course a lot of these manifestations have been debunked and there are tools of the trade that can be used to fool the client.  Be very cautious when employing a medium or any psychic for that matter.  There are some people who are out there to just take your money and scam you, but there are people out there who truly want to help others and those are the types you need to look for.

The best psychic medium is often claimed to be John Edwards, but again this is debatable.  The best psychic medium readings are often performed in private and not in a public forum.  Psychics and mediums are humans too so they are not above mistakes.  When hiring one, be sure to do your research and get referrals, especially when dealing with such a sensitive subject as communicating with dead loved ones.