Importance of a Psychosocial Approach for a Comprehensive Understanding of Mediumship

Abstract

There are several definitions of mediumship. The majority of them are religion-based. In this article, the term mediumship is defined as the supposed capacity that certain people--that is mediums--are said to have by which they can mediate communication between spiritual entities or forms and other human beings. Such a definition does not explain the origin of mediumship, but rather highlights its characteristics as they are reported by people who experience the phenomena in different sociocultural contexts. In general, it is said that mediumistic capacity is aroused when the medium is in an altered state of consciousness such as a trance state. However, for Kardecist Spiritists for example, mediumship may also occur in conscious states. Mediumship can be present in practically any human activities, from the elaboration of a scientific or literate text to an artistic production, as well as in such minor experiences as vague physical sensations or even emotional states such as irritability, sadness, sudden joy, obsessive thoughts, moments of inspiration or geniality, and so on. In all these experiences-from the most common to the most exceptional-Kardecist Spiritists admit the possibility of spirit intervention. So, in many cases there is no clear delimitation between what comes from the medium as an individual and what would come from an external source. Although the Kardecist perspective--very widespread in Brazil--is based upon certain religious and philosophic hypotheses that are unacceptable for many scientists and academics, Kardecism has contributed to the development of scientific and psychological conceptions of so-called mediumistic manifestations. Shamdasani (1994:xiv) pointed out that because Kardec believed that mediumship was a fundamental aspect of humanity and must be considered in order to understand the human condition, his Spiritist doctrine was formed in such a way as to facilitate psychological interpretation of what seemed to be mediumistic phenomena. The main difference between Kardec's theory and a completely psychological study of mediumship is the cause of the phenomena: that is whether the phenomena occurred through the action of spirits or through the action of the medium's subliminal or subconscious imagination. The search for an intrapsychic source for mediumship contributed to the "discovery" of the unconscious mind.

Keywords: mediumship--Spiritism--Allan Kardec