Using the suspended metaphor in mediumship.

Imagine that you’ve moved very far away, but suddenly caught sight of a loved one you’ve missed for so long, who’s been waiting to hear from you.

However, blocking your view is this complete, utter stranger who apparently wants to interrogate you first about your life before you can talk to your loved one.

The interrogator needs to know that you’re who you claim to be, in order to have just a few minutes to speak to your loved one.

How would you describe yourself succinctly so that you’d be identified as quickly as possible in order to have this important conversation?

But wait! Imagine that the interrogator speaks a foreign language and their frame of reference is from another generation. On top of that, you can’t make yourself visible, or audible...the person questioning you can only feel what you mean.

Wow. It’s a miracle that mediums are able to do this work at all! 

Assuredly, there is an easier way to make an impact. 

We all have themes or common threads to our lives. In Words at the Threshold, linguist Lisa Smartt’s data showed how people at the end of their lives often spoke of a similar theme over a period of weeks or days, up until they died, at times predicting the time of their deaths.

Lisa referred to this phenomenon as a “suspended metaphor.” Metaphors differ from symbolism in that they are continuous. A symbol stands alone for something else.  

Here is my example of a suspended metaphor from a man named Joe who enjoyed playing bridge: Joe is in hospice care, and is visited every day by his wife. Two weeks before Joe dies, he brings up to his wife that he was asked to join a bridge game with friends who have already passed. (In this metaphor, “joining a game of cards” means preparing to join his friends in the afterlife). His wife is surprised to hear this, and passes it off as nonsense.

However, Joe brings up the game again to her the next week. He then mentions it in a different context days later.  His wife and caretakers notice that he keeps talking about this phantom game. Ultimately, the day before he passes, Joe said to his wife, “They tell me the game is tomorrow night, I have to join them.” Not surprisingly, Joe passes away the next evening.

His wife and family may speak about Joe’s “delusional talk” and remember it for years to come. In fact, Joe himself may bring it up to a medium his wife visits for a sitting.  The medium who picks up on this kind of metaphor from Spirit will be able to zero in on Joe’s identity very quickly.

I often hear mediums say of their communicator, “I don't know why, but he keeps talking about…” without asking Spirit the significance of what they keep insisting on. We must never play a guessing game with Spirit’s words or images.

Spirit people who were teachers may show themselves in front of a classroom, or reading from a book, or writing on a chalkboard. Sometimes the metaphors are more subtle: a relative the sitter saw infrequently may show herself dolled up at a wedding, or dancing in front of a big band, or putting on make-up.

Mediums must feel into the significance of such situations. The medium might say, “Your great aunt is applying make-up because she says you saw her only at family functions...she is dressed very nicely, and hands you a peppermint from her pretty red clutch. Now, she is in her hospice bed, but she talks of getting ready for the big dance, which you will understand…”

These suspended metaphors, piled on top of each other, reinforce the identity of the spirit communicator. Ask for information from Spirit on their life’s metaphor or a simple common thread and work with it exclusively as you give their words to their recipient.  

Remember, Spirit knows what the recipient needs to hear. If you trust what you get and give it accurately, confidently, and in their tone of voice, it will be understood and received with gratitude.