Training Principles Of Spiritualist Mediums

Most spiritualist mediums are attached to, or part of, the SNU (Spiritualists' National Union). As such, they are part of an organisation which actively promotes knowledge regarding the religion and it's philosophy and science. Uniting Spiritualists around the world, this organisation supports 340 churches/ societies, all of which share the same seven principles.

These principles - consisting of 1) Fatherhood of God, 2) Brotherhood of Man, 3) the Ministry of Anels and Communion of Spirits, 4) the Soul's Continuous Existence, 5) Personal Responsibility, 6) Compensation for all good deeds and Retribution for all evil deeds done during one's life in the hereafter and 7) the Openness of Eternal Progress to every Soul - form a basic ethical and moral framework all members base their lives on.

The SNU has a specially formed Training and Awards Sub-committee, which in turn reports to the National Education Committee's Accreditation Committee and organises high quality regionald training sessions, as well as coordinating the many volunteer SNU tutors.

Members, in particular mediums, attend these training and assessment sessions with awards being presented to successful candidates for mediumship, public speaking, spiritual healing and spiritual writing, as well as church administration.

Achievable awards range from the Platform Accreditation Sheme, where training involves practical experience and assessments of the speakers/ demonstrators abilities with regard to spirit communication; through a variety of certificates of recognition following educational courses and showing a proven ability to serve Spiritualism; to SNU Diplomas, showing a good, acceptable level of practical ability and knowledge.

Both Certificates and Diplomas are are split into several different areas/ aspects of Spiritualism and candidates choose the aspect they wish to work in/ with, although it is of course possible for one individual to study several subjects. No Spiritualist medium will be allowed to perform public - or private - readings/ sessions without having undergone at least some of this training, thus ensuring that only those truly gifted are "let loose" on the public.

In addition to these various training options, each individual - just like any other medium - obviously spends a lot of time practising and perfecting their gifts/ abilities on a personal level.

It can therefore be safely said that Spiritualist Mediums are certainly trained, possibly more so than any other medium. It is possible that this insistence on training and assessment goes back to the times when many so - called mediums were revealed as frauds, something which dealt a real blow to the Spiritualist movement in earlier days (Houdini, for instance, spent most of his life searching for and pointing out what he referred to as "charlatans").

Making sure that those working in the name of Spiritualism are genuinely gifted, well trained in all aspects of dealing with spirit communication and able to perform in meetings in a manner which will prove to be of genuine help to those seeking help or comfort is thus of great importance to the movement and has no doubt assisted in the revival and increasing popularity of Spiritualism.