Mediumship: The Bedrock Foundation of a Shamanic Practice

When people think about mediumship, they usually think of it strictly in terms of talking to the dead. Mediumship with the dead is a very, very limited application of our mediumistic senses. In this article, I hope to broaden your understanding of what mediumship is, how it works, and why cultivating one’s built-in mediumistic abilities is so important. 

We live in the Middle World. The Middle World is a place of energies. It is a place where different realities overlap, and a place where Otherworld Beings can visit: spirits of place, psychopomp Beings whose job it is to shepherd souls from here to there, such as when people die. Ghosts, Deities. Angels. All of these Beings have special energetic ‘signatures’. And these energetic signatures register on our built-in mediumistic senses. 

What are our built-in mediumistic senses, you may ask?

In the lingo of energy practitioners worldwide, we call these the “clairs”, or “clair senses.” Simply, clairsenses are the input channels for your spiritual energy receiver.

A short list of clairs

• Clairvoyance — seeing energies or spirits

• Clairaudience — hearing

• Clairgustance — tasting

• Clairolfactory — smelling — many cultures speak of smelling roses when Mother Mary appears

• Clairsentience — sensing emotion (also clairempathy) 

• Clairtangency — feeling things in one’s body

There are many other clairs, ways of sensing energies, including ones we don’t even have names for. One that seems to work for me is something I call “clairautolocomotion”: my body moves or does something before I’m consciously aware of a situation. Recently, a student in a compassionate depossession class found that his hand ‘raised itself’ when asked who wanted to be in the client chair for a round of practice. I’d also add things like ‘clairterrasentience’, the ability to perceive and know things about one’s surroundings. 

The Function of the Clairs

I see our clairs as essential for human safety. Many of us unknowingly trained some of our clairs to suss out the situation at home so we could know whether it was safe to go in. 

Your energy receiver system is like a mixing board; you likely get information from several channels or clairs at once. It depends on your individual setup as to which ones are strongest for you right now. These can be opened, and they can be trained. The easiest way to strengthen your clairs and open dormant ones is simply 

Notice what you notice

And how you notice it

I like to add to this

What do I already know about a person or a situation? 

By default, we filter out most spiritual information. This is because most of us don’t believe that we can get information in these ‘esoteric’ ways. In Dr. Who language, these are our ‘perception filters.’ Our clairs are not esoteric; they are normal. 

Energetic and spiritual perceptions enter through our clairsenses and are transduced through our regular senses. That is, our bodies take in spiritual energetic information from our clairsenses and translate those inputs into more familiar sensory awareness through our five tangible senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, empathy, and touch. 

My definition of mediumship

So, back to mediumship and what it is. For me, ‘mediumship’ encompasses all of the kinds of information that can come to me through any of my clairsenses. 

Once I began to understand this, and to apply the “notice what you notice and how you notice it” suggestion, I found that my body was providing me with a flood of mediumistic information all the time. 

As with every human being, I had to learn how my particular spiritual energy input system worked. I had to study it and learn from each different kind of encounter. What I’ve found over the decades is that each individual has a unique set of inputs that only they can understand: one method of psychic training does not work for all practitioners; that is, one size does not fit all. It’s up to the individual to work with their system to gain a deep understanding of how it all works. 

Why is it so important to study and train the clairsenses?

Clairsenses give a ‘heads-up.’ They describe what is here and what is coming at you: something big, impending danger, something scary maybe. Clairsenses are our early warning system! Our clairs help keep us safe as we move through the Middle World.

Clairsenses are also the means through which the Spirits communicate with us; it’s the way we can have a conversation. Many people consider any spirit contact to be scary, evil, or at the least, unwelcome. Most times, when a spirit is attempting to make contact, it’s just to say ‘hello’, or to gently ask what we are doing in their territory. Once we know how our clairsense input system works, we can participate in that conversation in a more aware way. 

When do I use Mediumship and my Clairs?

I use my mediumistic senses every day, and certainly for every client I see. My clairsenses give me vital information about what is going on with my client before they ever appear on my screen. In compassionate depossession, clairsenses are vital for tracking the progress of the client, the Being, and the wellbeing of us all. Clairsenses and mediumship are essential when working with land, spirits of place, and especially when setting and maintaining sacred space. 

My teachers in the Andes are the most sophisticated teachers of energies. Quechua, their indigenous language, has many different descriptors for types, qualities, and levels of ambient energies, and for our energy receptors in our bodies. They are adept at tracking energies in every moment while also doing other tasks, especially during ceremonies. Their word for spiritual energy is kawsay, which translates loosely to “life-force.”  The Andean understanding is that everything is made up of kawsay, of energy. ‘

More formally, I use my clairsenses and mediumship when speaking with Deities, Gods, and Goddesses, and with other kinds of Beings. Even though I often work consciousness-to-consciousness, I still get a melange of sensation from my clairsenses which help me understand the Being better, and help clarify the message that the Being may have for me. Clairsenses are also useful when working within mindrooms. 

One of the most joyous ciarsensory experiences was when I stepped across the threshold into the Wenceslas Chapel in St. Vitus’ Cathedral in Prague. I had an immediate surge of absolute beauty. This continued the entire time I was inside the chapel and faded a bit when I stepped out. What an example of a pristine sacred space! Another sublime clairsensory experience happened for me when I stepped into the household of a client who was in their final hours of life. Again, the beauty was indescribable; the thresholds were open, and the loving psychopomp Beings were strongly in attendance. I’ve never felt anything like it since, though I long to. 

This article was written by Jeffrey Rich, shamanic healing practitioner and educator.

He sees clients worldwide via Zoom.