Alex Owen. (2004). The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-64205-5

The medium will then allow their spirit communicator (guide) to blend their energies with them. They allow the spirit being to merge with their physical and subtle bodies, mind and soul. How to know when it's trance mediumship Clairsentience or "clear sensing", is the ability to have an impression of what a spirit wants to communicate, or to feel sensations instilled by a spirit. Joseph McCabe. (1920). Scientific Men and Spiritualism: A Skeptic's Analysis. The Living Age. June 12. pp.652–57. A skeptical look at SPR members who had supported Spiritualism, concludes they were duped by fraudulent mediums. Many 19th century mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud. [64] While advocates of mediumship claim that their experiences are genuine, the Encyclopædia Britannica article on spiritualism notes in reference to a case in the 19th century that "...one by one, the Spiritualist mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers." The article also notes that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States." [65]Brown, Michael F. (1999). The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-10883-3. The different levels of trance mediumship – light, medium and deep –relate to the level of conscious awareness of the medium and the depth to which the spirit being has blended with them. The trance medium always has control over whether they enter into the trance state. It is a willing and loving working partnership between spirit and medium, built up through years of training and familiarity to form an absolute bond of trust. D. Scott Rogo. (1978). Mind and Motion: The Riddle of Psychokinesis. Taplinger Publishing. pp. 245–46. ISBN 978-0-8008-2455-6

Psychologists and researchers who studied Pearl Curran's automatic writings in the 1930s came to the conclusion Patience Worth was a fictitious creation of Curran. [154] [155] In 1931 George Valiantine was exposed as a fraud in the séance room as it was discovered that he produced fraudulent "spirit" fingerprints in wax. The "spirit" thumbprint that Valiantine claimed belonged to Arthur Conan Doyle was revealed to be the print of his big toe on his right foot. It was also revealed that Valiantine made some of the prints with his elbow. [156] Paul Kurtz. (1985). A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-87975-300-9 "Florence Cook was caught cheating not only before her séances with Crookes but also afterward. Furthermore, she learned her trade from the mediums Frank Herne and Charles Williams, who were notorious for their cheating." Also see M. Lamar Keene. (1997). The Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-57392-161-9 "The most famous of materialization mediums, Florence Cook – though she managed to convince a scientist, Sir William Crookes, that she was genuine – was repeatedly exposed in fraud. Florence had been trained in the arts of the séance by Frank Herne, a well-known physical medium whose materializations were grabbed on more than one occasion and found to be the medium himself."The various degrees of control for both trance mediumship and channelling depend on the intent and conditions of communication as well as the ability of the medium. History's greatest trance mediums Direct voice communication is the claim that spirits speak independently of the medium, who facilitates the phenomenon rather than produces it. The role of the medium is to make the connection between the physical and spirit worlds. Trumpets are often utilised to amplify the signal, and directed voice mediums are sometimes known as "trumpet mediums". This form of mediumship also permits the medium to participate in the discourse during séances, since the medium's voice is not required by the spirit to communicate. Leslie Flint was one of the best known exponents of this form of mediumship. [29] Channeling [ edit ]

Another channeler in the early 1900s was Edgar Cayce, who claimed to channel his higher self while in a trance-like state. Massimo Polidoro. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims. Prometheus Books. pp. 65–95. ISBN 978-1-59102-086-8 Sherrie Lynne Lyons. (2010). Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls: Science at the Margins in the Victorian Age. State University of New York Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4384-2798-0

Different kinds of medium

James Houran. (2004). From Shaman to Scientist: Essays on Humanity's Search for Spirits. Scarecrow Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8108-5054-5 Also see Michael Shermer. (2002). The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. pp. 220–26. ISBN 978-1-57607-653-8 This was followed by a remarkable form of phenomena. The medium, still in trance, rose from his chair and walked across the room, with all the ropes remaining secured to his body. He shook hands warmly with Mr Turner and whispered a warning to him of things likely to happen in the séance which could spoil everything. Several of the sitters were sensitives and were judged to be giving way to their spirit controls and were thus sapping the power in the room which might easily bring chaos in the séance. Mr Webber returned to his chair and within less than a minute the guide requested that the lights be put on and the knots examined. Channeling Mediumship is much like Spiritual Mediumship, except rather than connecting with many Spirits, the Medium connects with only one spirit or the same group of Spirits time and time again. Jones, Kelvin I. (1989). Conan Doyle and the Spirits: The Spiritualist Career of Arthur Conan Doyle. Aquarian Press.