A medium is someone who can communicate with the spiritual world. Most often they use their gifts to communicate with those who have passed on. Trance Mediumship is a specific type of communication in which the medium falls out of conscious awareness so that the spirit communicator may use the medium's body as a vessel for transmitting a message.

Mediums that practice this type of spirit communication can go into various levels of trances. Some may still be aware of their surroundings and of the spirit talking through them; others are so deep that they are lost to the world during the event.

Unfortunately, not all mediums who claim to practice this type of trance communication are doing so. They may still be able to talk to the spiritual world but only a few are able to make this level of connection.

Signs of True Trance Mediumship

One of the most important signs for those witnessing the trance is that the medium takes on a different voice and mannerisms. They seem to "imitate" the deceased person even though they may never have met them during their lives.

There are also physical signs that the medium has entered a trance-like state:

* The heart rate and breathing slow down almost as if the medium was entering a very deep sleep.

* The medium will show no signs of dreaming. This is important because it could be argued that the medium is actually dreaming this experience and somehow communicating it to the audience in the same way that some people are able to talk in their sleep. Research has shown that mediums in these trances show no sign of rapid eye movement - the primary symptom of the dream state.

* The body temperature of the medium drops. When we lose consciousness either in sleep or for other reasons, our body temperature drops so that our body systems can focus on keeping the important parts working properly.

* The medium will not feel physical contact. In this sense, the medium has almost entered a chemically-induced state of unconsciousness similar to that which patients experience when they are "knocked out" before a surgical procedure. Mediums sometimes come out of their trances with minor injuries because of the actions that were taken whilst their bodies were being controlled by the spirit communicator.

Alternative Explanations

Those who do not believe in mediums explain away the physician evidence of the trance-like state in a number of ways. One of the most common is to credit the experience to a type of self-hypnosis.

Hypnosis does bring about many of the same physical signs listed above. In fact, people can use hypnosis instead of drugs to be made unconscious during surgery and while under hypnosis they also do not exhibit any signs of dreaming.

However, hypnosis cannot explain the accuracy of the medium's communications between specific spirits and their living families. Often the spirit communicator tells the families information only he/she and their loved ones would know.

Essentially, trance Mediumship is a high level method of communicating with deceased loved ones and others in the spirit world by allowing them to occupy their bodies and use the mediums as tools for communication.