Public Seances
A writer, himself a successful medium, gives the following good advice
to young mediums: "I strongly advise all mediums to wait and serve out
their apprenticeship thoroughly before they undertake to sit for
sceptics or perform public work, either as test, impersonating,
speaking, seeing, or healing mediums; and the best place to secure the
necessary experience, training and unfolding is in the home circle.
After a cert
in stage has been reached, however, the medium who has been
used for impersonations will in all probability begin to display the
powers of clairvoyance and to receive vivid impressions. Then will come,
or they will be accompanied by, the efforts of the spirits to pass
beyond the purely personal and limited forms of expression associated
with the affectionate messages and greetings, to the consideration and
explanation of the conditions and experiences of life on the other side.
Spirits who can teach and give more sequential and sustained addresses
will in all likelihood assume control, and under such conditions it will
be found necessary to enlarge the circle and introduce fresh sitters.
The clairvoyant, or psychometrist, needs new subjects with whom to
experiment, and the speaking medium requires an audience to listen to
his discourses, so that the next step beyond the small private circle
may well be a semi-public one, or an 'after circle' such as is
frequently held at the close of the public Sunday services in many
towns, at which mediums who have reached this stage are afforded the
opportunities they need.