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. Set the intention - Attract it to you
   On my own journey, what really started my development was setting the intention that this was something I wanted. Clarify for yourself why you want to develop this ability? Is it because you want to help people in a deeper way? Do you just feel drawn in this direction? Do you just want to learn how to harness your already working abilities? You might find that as you set your intentions, the perfect learning opportunities or classes or books start to pop up in your life.
   
   
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 being offered pretty much everywhere, and I am also seeing more and more online courses being offered. Even people who teach their classes in-person have an online option for those who can't attend.
   
   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 one in particular that I can recommend is the online practice circles run by Alyson Gannon at www.spiritcommunication.com. She has one starting this Thursday the 4th of October, and she does these relatively often throughout the year.
   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/psychic-situps-online-classroom-tickets-49070369797
   
   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