Mediums The existence of mediumship has a noble purpose; that is why it is our duty to educate it and guide it toward goodness

We are living the significant year of the 150th anniversary of The Mediums' Book, a unique work that is considered the greatest treatise ever published on mediumship in the world. Mediumship, as we know, is a human faculty. Spiritism has not invented it, nor has exclusive right to use it, nor anyone, any group, religion, race, gender or social status have either. Since it is of organic origin, it occurs in all social classes regardless of culture, belief, nationality and even in different age groups and of course in varying stages of perception. 

This variation in the stages of mediums' perception and performance is an inherent characteristic of the aforementioned faculty, which provides different results according to background, life experiences, morality, the environment where they operate and, of course, subject knowledge. Such knowledge calls for discipline, proper and responsible use to fulfil its function as a bridge between the world of the incarnate and the plane of the true homeland, the world of the Spirits. 

Therein comes to light, then, The Mediums' Book, the masterful work of Allan Kardec whose full text and content of chapters guide towards the good use of the faculty, in order to meet its purpose.

Therefore, the joy in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the work and the importance of encouraging its study and dissemination is only natural. The chapters, questions, themes, reflections and the clear guidance provided by the work cannot be disregarded in the face of the study that the subject requires which is in itself inexhaustible.

One would ask what we think about mediums. Do we consider its bearers as diviners, soothsayers, people we can use anytime to ask questions, solve everyday problems? Are they those who have answers, or even better, would they be the solution for our anxieties? No, nothing like that!

The mediums are ordinary men and women who, due to an organic and mental faculty, are instruments of communication with the Spirit World, home of the extracorporeal beings or the World of the Spirits. This faculty is known as mediumship. It only exists when there is the exchange of experiences or interchange between the spirits and the so-called mediums. It can be triggered by the spirits or by the mediums who seek them.

As is well known, Spirits are equally male and female inhabitants of the spiritual homeland. The primitive normal world (in the sense of origin) - from where we came and to where we will return in this continuous process of intellectual and moral advancement, through successive existences, until we reach a stage at which we will be free from the need for incarnation in physical bodies.

This faculty, however, is so immensely variable - naturally depending on the intellectual and moral stage at which the medium is - which inevitably will produce a huge variety of phenomena known under the name of mediumistic phenomena.

Some bear it spontaneously - it may occur from childhood or later - others appropriately educate it in adulthood and many possess it in an intuitive manner, be it consciously or unconsciously.

In order to become acquainted with the variety that it presents, we recommend the study of the second part of The Mediums' Book. In Chapters XIV, XV and XVI Allan Kardec, the Codifier, addresses the issue of mechanical, semi-mechanical, intuitive, inspired or involuntary mediums as well as a Synoptical table of the different varieties of mediums that brings further approaches on hearing and seeing mediums, among others.

What is, however, found in the study of the foundations of Spiritism, is that there is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about the medianimic faculty. It is inherent to human beings because we are also spirits (with the difference that we are incarnated). We are linked to each other and what varies is only the intensity of that human faculty.

In the booklet Resumo da Lei dos Fenômenos Espíritas (Summary of the Law of Spirit Phenomena) (IDE, 2nd edition, 1988, page 24, translated by Salvador Gentile), Allan Kardec makes important remarks that should guide our thinking towards the understanding of the old question. It is in the item 33: The medium has but the faculty to communicate; effective communication depends on the will of the Spirits. If the Spirits do not want to speak, the medium gets nothing; it is like a musician without an instrument.

Note that this short phrase answers the question that is the title of the chapter with remarkable simplicity. Mediums are people who have the ability to communicate with Spirits. This faculty is the result of the stage at which the medium is and the result of his accumulated experiences. Communication or mediumistic phenomenon depends, however, on the will of the Spirit who may solicit him his faculty, or respond to an initiative of the medium. Nevertheless, given the lack of initiative of the Spirits or responses to stimuli originating from the medium, nothing is obtained.

Mediums are therefore instruments of the human faculty to communicate with Spirits. Knowing this, there is no reason for attitudes such as of a supernatural, of deification or dependence.

Situated, thus, within this connotation, other developments and prospects arise for our consideration and can be found in the masterful work. What is the purpose of mediumship? What is the reason for its existence? How can it present itself so diverse? How to manage such varying degrees of perception, educate its use and use it for one's own sake and that of the collective? All this can be answered through study and reflection.

Such questions break down in a multitude of other subtopics, all very current and relevant, such as mediumship in childhood, tuning, concentration, mediumship study groups, interruptions in activity, prayer, moral guidance, methodology in the tasks, cures, frauds, hoaxes, talents, analysis of communications, among others... It is a world of endless meditations, debates and studies.

To place all that well, it will be interesting to note what is in The Gospel According to Spiritism, chapter XXVI. In the partial transcript of item 7 of that chapter we read: Mediums today - since the apostles also possessed mediumship - have equally received a faculty gratis from God. This is of being interpreters of the Spirits for the instruction of humankind, to show them the pathway of goodness, conducting them along by means of faith. (...) God wants the light to reach (...).

The brief transcript translates an entire program of work and understanding, leaving no doubt as to the purpose and importance of the faculty. The three items should always be in our thoughts:

a) Education of mankind

b) Show them the pathway of goodness

c) Conduct them to faith.

One should note, therefore, the scope involving work, moral renewal - including the medium's own - and rational construction of the faith, which includes, of course, charity in all its extension.

Such considerations, saturated with gratitude towards the work of the Codifier, lead us to remember numerous scholars, embodied and disembodied, that have drawn on the aforementioned basic work - a reference to the study of mediumship and to which we pay tribute in 2011 - in order to study it, extend it to the popular understanding, spreading its concepts and studies. Valuable works have been published in this sense, coming from several incarnated authors and mainly through the mediumship of Chico Xavier, Yvonne do Amaral Pereira, Raul Teixeira and Divaldo Franco. Yvonne, to just to mention one of the mediums cited above, translates special significance in the particular study. Her books are rich in doctrinal content and the personal experience of the medium, deserve to be known and disseminated widely among the mediums.

In addition, the writer Lucy Ramos Dias from Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, a well-known columnist for the magazine Reformador (Reformer) of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation and author of other books, now presents valuable work: A mediunidade e nós (Mediumship and us), published by Editora Solidum. It consists of testimonies of her personal experience as a medium - from the earliest childhood perceptions to the decades of work in the same spiritist group - in an exquisite work that we had the pleasure to preface. We get enthusiastic with the content of the work, be it through experience, be it through the doctrinal referential presented. The text by Lucy is like a guideline for mediums, both beginners and veterans, and means valuable tribute to the 150th anniversary of The Mediums' Book, as discussed here as well.

As we write these lines, the work is still being printed and now that the readers can get their hands on this issue of the magazine, the aforementioned work must be very close to be available to the public, if not already. Contacts with the publishing company can be made on 0800 770 2200 or through the website www.solidumeditora.com.br.

The final fact is that the work is precious. Toward the end of the book, the author was fortunate to create a remarkable description of the meaning of service in the mediumistic meetings in helping the ailing Spirits. What a perfect image has the author created!

Given this, it is worth recalling here, what the wise Spirit Emmanuel said in the book O Consolador (The Comforter), FEB edition, question 410: "The main enemy of the medium lies within himself. Often it is the cult of personality, greed, ignorance or defiance in the voluntary ignorance of their duties in light of the Gospel, factors of moral inferiority, which often lead to heedlessness (...). The second most powerful enemy of the medianimic apostolate does not lie in the field of activities contrary to the expansion of the doctrine, but it is within the very spiritist organizations, being that one who has been convinced about the phenomena without having been converted to the Gospel through the heart."

Let us study, then, mediumship. Its existence has a noble purpose. It is our duty to educate it and guide it toward goodness.

Here is, therefore, our gratitude to Allan Kardec. Here is our praise to The Mediums' Book!

Orson Peter Carrara is an editor, spiritist lecturer and author. He has published ten books. His work can be accessed through the website www.orsonpcarrara.com.br and the blog orsonpetercarrara.blogspot.com