Opportunity knocks for would-be mediums

Martin Wainwright - 1 May 1988

Britain’s spiritualist mediums are suffering a crisis of over-popularity, brought on by an apparent national urge to get in touch with The Beyond. The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain is finding it impossible to keep up with the demand from local churches for experts with access to “the room next door”.

The result has led to a second crisis for novice mediums, who face a similar fate to young officers and men sent prematurely to the front in the First World War. Mudéles over dark strangers, incorrect leg wounds or the colour of a departed one’s favourite cardigan are bringing increasing complaints from congregations.

The president of the association, Mr Terry Gordon, acknowledges in an interview in this week’s Psychic News that standards are falling. He laments: “The standard of mediumship has declined everywhere. I am very concerned that as mediums like Nora Blackwood, Ena Twigg and Doris Stokes pass on, there are gaps to fill.”

The recent deaths of Mrs Stokes and other experienced mediums has made the problem worse, says the body’s general secretary, Mr Tom Johanson.

“There’s no decline of interest in spiritualism. Quite the opposite — and that’s the problem,” he said. “There’s been a fantastic demand in the last few years, and it’s put a lot of pressure on mediums in training. They’ve allowed themselves to be coaxed away from their classes.

“They’re often inexperienced, not fully-trained and not used to working in front of an audience, and, of course, it shows.”

The association is doing its best to get new mediums through their training quickly, but without missing out on essential details about auras, kundalini and other telepathic nuts and bolts. In emergencies, trainees are sent officially to deputise on platforms, but the congregation is told beforehand that their training is incomplete.

The association’s headquarters in Belgrave Square, the immensely valuable lease of which is one of British Spiritualists’ main material assets, has raised its number of weekly “medium development” classes to 14. More than 150 would-be mediums are in training, and the association is permanently on the lookout for “naturals” who could become the next Doris Stokes.

“We are always looking for up-and-coming mediums,” said Mr Gordon, who is 72. “If we think they are good enough, we will give them a chance.”