Channel
A channel is one who acts as a medium for discarnate beings generally to communicate with mortals.
Mediumship is a term used mostly in Spiritualism to denote the ability of a person (the medium) to produce psychic phenomena of a mental or physical nature. The term is usually used to denote a person who is thought to be able to facilitate communication with spirits of the deceased, either by going into a trance and allowing a spirit to use their body, or by using extrasensory perception to relay messages from the spirits. Some mediums (or the spirits working with them) are also said to be able to produce physical paranormal phenomena such as materilizations of spirits, apports of objects, or levitation.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many Studies are conducted by VERITAS have been approved by the University of Arizona Human Subjects Protection Program and an academic advisory board.
Critics dispute the existence of genuine mediums, arguing that individuals who claim to possess this ability are either self-deluded or charlatans who engage in cold or hot reading.[1]
Critics say that Gary Schwartz's studies such as The Afterlife Experiments have not provided competent scientific evidence for survival of consciousness or that mediums can actually communicate with the dead. In the January/February 2003 issue of the Skeptical Enquirer, Ray Hyman charged that the research Schwartz presented is crucially flawed in a number of ways, including inappropriate control comparisons, inadequate precautions against fraud and sensory leakage, reliance on non-standardized, untested dependent variables, failure to use double-blind procedures, inadequate use of double-blind protocols, failure to independently check on facts the sitters endorsed as true, and the use of plausibility arguments to substitute for actual controls. [2] How Not to Test Mediums1 Critiquing the Afterlife Experiments By Ray Hyman "The studies were methodologically defective in a number of important ways, not the least of which was that they were not double-blind." Schwartz and Hyman debated these points in the March 2003 issue of the Skeptical Enquirer.[3] Follow Up: How Not to Review Mediumship Research By Gary Schwartz The Skeptical Enquirer May 2003 [4] Hyman’s Reply to Schwartz’s 'How Not To Review Mediumship Research In January 2007 Julie Beischel and Gary Schwartz published the results of a triple-blind study in EXPLORE The Journal of Science and Healing that also had positive results.[5] Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Demonstrated Using a Novel Triple-Blind Protocol by Julie Beischel, PhD and Gary E. Schwartz
Well-known mediums
Some well-known mediums are, Derek Acorah, Sylvia Browne, Kuda Bux, Edgar Cayce, Jeane Dixon, Allison DuBois, John Edward, Daniel Dunglas Home, Esther Hicks, Colin Fry, JZ Knight, Joseph Kony, Jane Roberts, Sathya Sai Baba, David Wells, Lisa Williams, James Van Praagh, Rosemary Altea, Divaldo Pereira Franco, Myles Balfe, and Chico Xavier
Fictional mediums
Television and movies
- Medium is an American television series about a woman (played by Patricia Arquette) who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office. The series is based on the life of Allison DuBois, who claims to use her psychic ability allowing her to contact the dead to help the local law enforcement agency.
- Ghost Whisperer is an American television drama-fantasy-thriller starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a young woman who can communicate with the spirits of the dead.
- A green chihuahua named Shirley is a medium from the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog.
- Technically, Cole in The Sixth Sense is a medium, especially when he acts to help others via the knowledge given to him by the "dead people" he sees.
Video games
- In the 2004 video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the player meets The Sorrow, a mysterious dead medium who battles and also assists the player.
- In the Ace Attorney series, Maya, Pearl, and Mia Fey are spirit mediums who have the ability to allow spirits to take over their bodies temporarily and at the same time alter their appearance, although Mia Fey never does so in the games.
Books
- "The Signalman" from Charles Dickens' short story, The Signalman isn't a medium per se, but he sees the ghost of a man who warns him of danger before it happens.Template:Dubious
- Yoshino Somei in Spriggan uses her necromancy skills to act as a medium, allowing the dead to speak to any living human.
See also
- Automatic drawing
- Cold reading
- Faith healer
- Séance
- Spiritualist Church
- Spiritualism
- Channelling (mediumistic)
- The Spirits Book
- The Book on Mediums
