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Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos  I suspect that whether a medium uses a trance is just a matter of current fad and habit. It doesn't lend itself well to television. |
Well, whether or not current mediums tend not to not use trance as a matter of fad or habit, historically, mental mediums have been divided into two groups -- trance mediums and "clairvoyant" mediums. Some mediums have claimed to be able to do both, but others were primarily one or the other. As you indicate, clairvoyant mediumship lended itself well to "platform" demonstrations, where the medium was in normal state of consciousness and claiming to receive "impressions" from the dead. Trance mediumship would be characterized as the medium losing consciousness (simliar to being under general anesthesia) and the communicating spirit possessing them and speaking through them. It would be the difference between you going to John Edward and asking for a communication from your grandfather, and Edward perhaps saying, "he's showing me x," or "i'm getting a c sound." If you went to a trance medium you might hear a communication that purported to be your grandfather speaking to you directly.