Frequently Asked Questions About Spiritualism (FAQ)

Does Spiritualism believe in God?
YES! Absolutely. Spiritualism lets you define God in your own personal way. Spiritualism does not dictate that God be a person on a throne or even a person at all. Your definition of God is personally yours, and Spiritualism recognizes that. It is certainly possible to have a religion that does not define God, because there is more to Spiritualism than just a definition of God.

If you have to have someone define God for you in concrete terms, then you won't be comfortable with this, but nevertheless, Spiritualism definitely believes in God. Spiritualist literature commonly refers to God as "the God of your understanding", or "infinite intelligence". If I haven't made it clear already, let there be no doubt - Spiritualism believes in God.

Does Spiritualism believe in Jesus?
Not the way Christians do. Spiritualism does not believe in the Jesus-as-savior concept supported by many Christian religions. However, Jesus is viewed as one of the greatest mediums that ever lived on the earth plane, and the Bible may be used as a source of inspiration for a lecture, but Spiritualism does not give either Jesus or the Bible a central role. Spiritualism does not limit itself to any particular Spiritualist or other material - it is free to draw inspiration from material found in Christian and other religions provided that there is an appropriate fit.

Does Spiritualism believe in Hell or the Devil?
No and No. This doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want to and still end up in a good place in "heaven". Natural Law has a way of taking care of the "I can do what I want - no consequences" idea that people seem to fear if there is no belief in Hell or the Devil.

Isn't communicating with Spirits of the Devil though?
No - no more or less than communicating with anyone else. However, the Spirit people around you are based on the Law of Attraction, meaning that they are spiritually similar to you. So, if you are very mean-spirited, corrupt, and cruel, you will attract the very mean-spirited, corrupt, and cruel spirit people to you.

Becoming a medium involves a lot of responsibility and learning to reach for the highest and best in Spirit communication. Far too many people have made fun and games out of their early attempts at mediumship and then get burned one way or the other. As a result, it is very easy for some to say that it is of the Devil. Spirit communication is NOT to be toyed with, but taken seriously. Under the proper guidance, mediumship can be developed with wonderful, positive results.

What is a medium?
A medium is a person who is sensitive to the vibrations of the Spirit world in some manner. Mediums often communicate messages from people in the Spirit world to us here on the Earth plane. Although there are many forms and expressions of mediumship, mental mediumship is common. The medium is in tune with people in the Spirit world who want to communicate and they speak through the medium to the person getting the message. The medium is the message bearer.

What is a message and a reading?
A message is exactly that - a message. If you get a message from someone, it is a quick communication, as opposed to a lengthy conversation. In the same way, a medium will bring you a message from someone in the Spirit world, which usually lasts a few minutes. A reading is the same thing but longer, about 30 to 60 minutes. The content of a message or a reading is really between the people in the Spirit world and yourself - the medium is the message bearer and provides the avenue for the message to come through.

What's the difference between a medium and a psychic?
The primary difference is in how the information is obtained and where it is coming from. The medium's approach is passive. The medium gets information from the spirit people and then gives it to you. The medium is not personally involved in the process. It's like being on the telephone - when you and a friend are talking on the phone line, the actual phone wire is there to make the connection. The phone wire just passes the information through from your friend to you. In mediumship, the medium is the "phone wire" that is passing information through from the spirit people to you.

A psychic's approach is active. The psychic plays an active part in getting the information. Psychics get information by either picking it up from your vibration or they get it from themselves personally, then give it to you. Spirit people are not involved.

Mediums can get information using either mediumship or psychic ability. Psychics get information using their psychic ability only. The statement "all mediums are psychics, but not all psychics are mediums" is an accurate one. Mediums prefer to use mediumship instead of their psychic ability because mediumship can prove the continuity of life. If your aunt is in the Spirit world, and the medium tells you something only you and your aunt knew about then it proves that your aunt does indeed continue to live on in the Spirit world. Additionally, mediumship should be more accurate than psychic ability because the information is coming from the spirit people and not personally from the medium.

People who give readings or messages will generally describe themselves as either a medium (giving spiritual readings) or a psychic (giving psychic readings). Any person who is giving a reading or a message could be doing so mediumistically, psychically, or some combination of both. It is not a simple matter to tell where the reading is coming from and mediums take extra precautions to be sure that the reading is not coming from them personally. Spiritualism focuses on mediumship, but does not discount psychic ability.

How do I develop mediumship?
The best way to develop mediumship is to study and take classes. There is no single "right way" to develop mediumship, and it is not as simple as "one, two, three - now I'm a medium and can give messages and readings". Developing mediumship is a personal spiritual endeavor. Your mediumship is an expression of your spirituality. The path you are on to develop mediumship is uniquely yours, which is wonderful. Even though your path is unique, you can share with others and also learn from them. In class, you often learn as much (if not more) from your fellow students as from the teacher.

There are two aspects involved - spiritual unfoldment and mediumship development. Spiritual unfoldment involves learning about spirituality and making improvements to your spiritual life. Mediumship development primarily involves meditation. You can work on both aspects in classes.

Spiritual unfoldment and mediumship development are actually separate from each other. You could develop only one or the other, but you want to develop both. They don't always start developing at the same time. Some people start out very mediumistic and then begin spiritual unfoldment, and others begin spiritual unfoldment and then develop mediumship. The latter case is probably more common. For many people, mediumship comes as a by-product of spiritual unfoldment.

Spiritual unfoldment is important part of mediumship, because your mediumship is an expression of your spirituality. If you are not very spiritually developed, you will attract similarly undeveloped spirits around you, and the quality of your mediumship will reflect that.

Spiritual unfoldment and mediumship affect your personal spiritual life in positive ways. It takes time, usually a long time, to develop mediumship. Each person develops individually, and not everyone becomes a (message giving) medium. It is not considered a failure if you do not become a medium who gives messages and readings. The emphasis is on your spirituality, not merely turning out mediums like widgets on an assembly line.

People don't become mediums in a vacuum. "I can learn it on my own" is not recommended. Doing it on your own without any training or background frequently invites spirits of a lower vibration. Those spirits are often the ones who will lie to you, take advantage of you, play nasty games, and pretend to be whoever you want them to be (often famous figures like Jesus, Mother Mary, etc.). These negative experiences generated by a lack of education, training, and outright fear are usually what people base their arguments against mediumship on.

Genuine mediums always reach for the highest vibration and have good relationships with their Spirit guides and teachers. To develop such relationships you will need guidance, and plenty of it. Classes are the best way to learn. Classes are generally discussion based. Again, you learn as much from the other students as you do from the teacher (if not more). To learn about what vibration is, you should read Spiritualist Basics.

What about the Ouija board, Tarot cards, Astrology and the like?
Spiritualism as a religion generally does not endorse or believe in the Ouija board, Tarot cards, or Astrology as valid methods of mediumship. Spiritualist mediums do not use these methods.

My personal opinion is somewhat different. I believe that the Ouija board is the most misused item there is relating to Spirit communication. My belief is that nearly anything can be used as a method of mediumship if used in a sincere and honest way. This would explain why some people use Tarot cards, Astrology, etc. I think that a medium can use the method that works for them, whatever that method may be. If that happens to be the Ouija board, so be it. My past experience with the Ouija board (long before I became involved in Spiritualism) has been quite positive, and my theory is that you could get valid information this way if you took it seriously and worked with it.

My belief is that the "magic" is not so much in the method used but more in the person using it. If the spirits find that they have to use the cards or whatever in order to communicate with you, then they will use them. The limitation is at your end, not theirs. As you develop spiritually, these limitations tend recede into the background.

Personally, just because the religion of Spiritualism does not endorse or use these methods, I don't look down on them or on people who use them. It does not invalidate those methods either. I just think that you should put the weight of your faith in yourself and your Spirit guides and teachers - the method(s) used are distinctly secondary.

Does Spiritualism believe in reincarnation?
Spiritualism as a religion, especially in the United States used to be anti-reincarnation but has recently made an official change to a more neutral position. It is a mixed issue, primarily because people have received conflicting answers and experiences from Spirit relating to reincarnation. Since Spiritualism as a religion used to be anti-reincarnation, I would say that Spiritualism doesn't believe in it. No one has measured it though. Many Spiritualists believe in reincarnation, but no one is running around taking surveys to find out if it is a majority. Believing in reincarnation is not a conflict with Spiritualism, at least not as I see it. The basis of Spiritualism is spirit communication, which says nothing about whether you or the spirit you are communicating with have been reincarnated in the past, present, or will be in the future.

Why would people get conflicting answers from Spirit about reincarnation? I would say that part of the problem could be that the spirit people around you are there based on the law of attraction. Since "like attracts like", Spirit people around you are similar to you. So if you don't believe in reincarnation, you may attract those who also don't believe in it. Naturally, it's not as arbitrary as it may sound, but it may apply.

I would also say that not everyone in the Spirit World has studied or learned enough about reincarnation to say whether it is true or not. It may sound unusual to think of spirit people as having beliefs and that they do not "know everything", but remember that they are people - just like you. When your body dies and you go to the Spirit World, you are still the same person you were on the Earth plane, and that includes your beliefs in God and reincarnation and all the other aspects of your personality.

I think the problem people have with reincarnation is that they think you are recycled endlessly like just so much waste paper, and you have to start out as some type of lower form of life and incarnate upwards from there. I don't buy into that, but my personal belief is that reincarnation does exist. I believe that a person's soul is an entity which has many aspects to it. Those aspects are individual incarnations. I prefer to think of an individual incarnation as an aspect, and the soul as the greater aspect. Individual incarnations are related to the soul in the same way flower petals are to the flower - all connected and integral. You as an individual on the earth plane are one incarnation that is part of your soul, which has multiple (and likely concurrent) incarnations. Some of your incarnations may even be on the earth plane at the same time you are. Incarnations aren't limited to the earth plane - there is the Spirit World and many other worlds an aspect could incarnate on.

A soul chooses an incarnation in order to learn something. While an incarnation may not consciously have all the knowledge of its greater aspect, it does have some access to that knowledge. When an incarnation expires, the knowledge is not lost because it is part of the greater whole, which continues. The physical form that a particular incarnation takes is secondary to the learning that is to occur.

It is a real change of reference to think this way. All your life you have been going along thinking you are a complete individual entity. I suppose that if you asked a flower petal what it thought of itself you would get the same thing. Then you learn that you are an aspect of something larger. It does not diminish my individuality to think of myself this way.