Warm up your mediumship.

"Do not be in too much of a hurry to obtain 'test' messages. Let the communications flow on in a somewhat rambling manner at first, until the lines of communication are fully and firmly established, and then you may begin to think about asking test questions of the spirits in order to establish their identity...Remember that the first requisite is to establish the channel of communication; and all personal questions as to who and what the spirit is should be reserved until the initial difficulties are overcome. It is at first most probably that the spirit operators will not be fully aware just what effect they are producing, and the mind of the medium may not as yet be sufficiently passive.”

The passages quoted above are from Genuine Mediumship: The Invisible Powers by Swami Bhakte Vishita (“Hindoo Master” a.k.a. William Walker Atkinson), published in 1919 by Advanced Thought Publishing Co. in Chicago, Illinois.

What I love about this book is the accessible, encyclopedic covering of all matters psychical and mediumistic. 

I like to dip into it and usually find something that pertains to an experience or conversation that I’ve just had.

The author William Atkinson says mediums should first “establish the channel of communication” and that it’s okay to let spirits ramble a bit before asking for evidence. They may be new to this kind of communication as well!

Of course, as someone who feels that spirit communication should be as natural as possible, this makes complete sense to me. Who wants to be interrogated at a first encounter?

In order to allow for more relaxed sittings, it had recently crossed my mind how we mediums should warm up before practicing evidential (or, to use the old fashioned word, “test”) mediumship. Groups who work together, such as sports teams and artistic ensembles, warm-up before performing, so why shouldn’t a circle of mediums? Instead of muscles, we would focus on our clairs and raise our group energy in order to work in the most productive way.

Here are eleven ideas to get your circle’s senses flowing:

• Who was the last person you spoke to before the start of today’s circle? Your spouse? A neighbor? A co-worker? The UPS delivery guy? In turn, each member has one minute to describe that person’s face and hands in detail. Did you notice any unusual marks on their face? What were they doing with their hands? What kind of jewelry did they wear?

• The circle host leads the circle in a guided meditation, then begins speaking once she feels inspired for a sentence or two. Each member continues the inspired thought until the message is complete.

• Quickie readings: A member chooses a discarnate spirit known to her/him, and only gives their name. Each circle member links with this spirit and gives three unique pieces of information in turn.

• Affirmations and acknowledgements are uplifting. Each member acknowledges something they felt good about their day so far, such as “I took an extra long walk outside” then states an affirmation (“It feels good to stretch my legs”) that prompts the next member to share something good about their day and give another affirmation.

• The psychic version of the affirmation warm-up is for each circle member to read the aura of his neighbor in the circle, and provide an acknowledgement and affirmation that person would find uplifting.

• During the playing of a few upbeat songs, each circle member should pay attention and note how the music affected them, perhaps if any spirit communicators or certain images appeared. Fun choices include dance music from the early to mid-20th century.

• Paying attention is an important discipline to develop. The circle leader reads a long list of subjects after which each member has one minute of time to write down as many of the subjects they remember (in any order). The member with the longest list begins the class with the first communicator.

• Let’s play the name game! To raise vibrational energy, it’s best to do this game rapid-fire. Names may come to us as if out of the blue--each member has a chance to quickly state the first or last name that comes to them as the circle works its way through different letters of the alphabet (best done out of order so there’s no chance to think of what’s next).

• Warm-up your clairalience skills with a smell-a-thon. The circle host passes around small, unmarked vials of oils or perfumes for each circle member to sniff then characterize before naming.

• Our spirit guides aid us in mediumship and are just waiting for us to ask for assistance in details like relationships, health concerns, names, ages; or to help those who feel nervous, tend to ask questions, etc. The circle chooses a problem area, then the host  leads the circle in a guided meditation to request help from the guides, which we trust will be given as the circle members work.

• Clairgustance, or clear tasting, is something I like to combine with colors. For instance, an orange is a readily identified taste and color. As the circle host goes through the colors of the rainbow, she will ask each member to say which taste they associate with that color at that moment in time.

After the warm-up, it’s time to start the circle. Often a prayer is called for; if inspirational speaking was not used as a warm-up, why not ask each participant to offer a phrase in turn so all could be included in the prayer?

A debriefing session may be useful after the circle closes for members to comment on how they felt their mediumship was improved by the warm-up or if they had an experience they weren’t expecting.

Some questions to consider are: Did the warm-up improve the cohesiveness of the circle? Did the energy in the room feel elevated? If the help of guides was requested, was there a noticeable improvement?

If you have any warm-ups you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about them!