Learning Mediumship: 9 steps to developing your abilities

Mediumship, Learn Mediumship, Develop your mediumship, Spirit communication, mediumship tips, portland medium, portland animal communicator

When I was little, I was always interested in anything to do with psychics and mediums. I was also very sensitive to other people's energy. I wrote about that whole journey in these two blog posts: When I first realized I was a Medium, & the post Not crazy, just sensitive. Today I wanted to talk about the specific steps I took towards actually developing my mediumship abilities.

You see, it's not usually enough to be born with abilities (I talk more about that concept in this post:  Misconceptions about Psychic Mediums.) Unless you have a mentor from a young age, you still have quite a bit of work to do to uncover, develop, and harness those abilities. In this post I will share the things that I have found helpful towards developing abilities such as mediumship. Even if you don't want to develop the ability of talking to dead people (understandable, I guess?), these are tips that can be applied to most intuitive arts, such as psychic readings.

These tips are based on what I have found helpful for those just starting out, but it is certainly not an exhaustive list, nor does it need to be done in this order, or done at all. You may have a very different journey towards developing your abilities (it is unique for everyone).

1. You are a lot more tuned-in than you realize
   This isn't so much as a tip as it is a little guidance I wish I could give my past-self when I was just starting off. Now in hindsight, I can see I actually was connecting a lot more than I realized, and I see this quite a bit in my students as well.
   
   I highly recommend a mindfulness practice of some kind, as it can really help you become aware of the ways in which you actually are connecting. Start a journal to help remind you of the times you did connect, the times you did get things right, because it can be hard to keep in mind as you go through what is a natural roller-coaster of a journey. It's easy to focus on the negative, but if you have some place you've recorded down all the times things did work out, then you can bounce back quicker on your way to developing your abilities.
   
   
2. Meditation and taking time to connect to the spirit world.
   Meditation and specifically the practice of "Sitting in the Power" is invaluable to develop as a medium. You can try various meditations out there, and there are some good guided SIP meditations out there too (for example, I like the one that Tony Stockwell has recorded)
   Here's a meditation I recorded to connect to your own loved ones. This includes a short talk at the start to explain a bit more about how it works and what to keep in mind. Then the actual meditation starts at 11:22.
   
   
3. Take a class (or five)
   This one is obvious, but even for people who have taken a class before in mediumship, it's actually helpful to continue taking classes from different teachers. Mediumship is not necessarily something you can take a one-day workshop in and all of a sudden you're a great medium. It takes time and effort and practice and learning all the time to develop.
   
   There are mediumship or other intuitive classes offered pretty much everywhere, and I am also seeing more and more online courses offered. Even people who teach their classes in-person have an online option for those who can't attend. You can find the online classes that I teach here.
   
   If you can't find mediumship-specific classes, then take a class in a different intuitive art. Whenever you're working on developing any kind of intuitive reading, it will automatically help you develop in all other kinds of intuitive readings. So for example, if you can't find a mediumship class, take a psychic reading class instead, because it's bound to still help your mediumship.
   
   Go with a teacher that really resonates with you. Take a look at the things they have available online (whether it's their business' social media posts, or if they have a blog, or their newsletter). If they have recordings of their readings online, see if you like their style of readings. Or take a look at their reviews online. Make sure the teacher feels good to you and your energy and the types of things you are interested in.
   
   
4. Read books
   Books can be helpful additions to your development, though they might not go as deep as a class can. These are some books that I really enjoyed at the beginning of my own development:
   "The Psychic Pathway" by Sonia Choquette
   "You are Psychic" by Debra Lynne Katz
   "Spirited" by Rebecca Rosen
   "Opening to Channel" by Sanaya Roman
   (if you have book recommendations, drop them below in the comments!)


5. Practice with others
   No matter how many books you read on the subject, nothing will help you develop quicker than practicing with real people. Practicing with other people gives you feedback, and helps build your confidence, and teaches you how to navigate real-life reading situations. There are many practice opportunities out there, but I run a monthly practice circle here. 
   
   If you are keen on in-person practice, take a look on meetup.com There might just be someone who has created a group that meets for mediumship practice. If there aren't any yet, consider creating your own group on meetup, and organize the practice circle yourself. Local metaphysical stores in your area might also have classes or practice circles going on, or they might be open to hosting one.
   
   
6. Practice with yourself
   If practicing with strangers seems too daunting for you at this point, try learning to use a divination tool and practice on yourself first. Something like oracle cards is easy to learn to use intuitively. Once you've tried this out for yourself a bit, take the next step and search for practice groups on websites like facebook. That way you can take baby-steps towards practicing with others, and begin to build that confidence.
   
   
7. Continue to work on your self-development
   Like I've mentioned before, your mediumship is going to develop over the years as you yourself develop as a person. The more you work on yourself, the better your mediumship will get. In my case, it has been invaluable to my mediumship to work on assertiveness. I continue to work on other things about myself that are out of balance.
   
   
8. Watch others work
   Watch other mediums do readings, whether that means going to see them at audience readings or watching their recordings on youtube, or watching a mediumship reality TV-show. This tip is best used as inspiration to open your mind about what things are possible to bring through in a reading. However, it's important to not compare yourself with those people. Do not use them to measure your success as a medium. Everyone has their own style. You can still rock a reading even if it's a different style than what your fave reader does.
   
   Also, don't compare your readings to those you see on TV-shows, because they are edited down to the 5 minutes of amazing zingers of that reading. Your readings can still be filled with zingers, but it will also likely have some "no"s from the recipient, or confusion, things that are also a natural part of a reading but rarely included in TV-shows. Readings on TV seem to flow much faster than normal, because of that editing. TV doesn't have time for those pauses a reader normally takes.
   
   
9. Be open to a variety of experiences
   Don't just sit inside meditating all the time. By living a normal human life, you are constantly adding things to your "box of references", that spirit can then draw upon in readings with you in the future. Learn new things, watch a new show, get out of your comfort zone, study new subjects, go new places, go to new events, keep adding to your experiences.

If you've already begun developing your abilities, what things have you found most helpful so far?
If you haven't begun developing your abilities yet, what step seems the most daunting to you, or what blocks are you coming up against?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

In the meantime, I hope you all have a lovely week

Warmly,
Thea