Inspirational speaking and automatic writing are two forms of mediumship and both are forms of channeling. Automatic and independent writing are considered physical mediumship—a type of connection with those in the spirit world that uses the medium’s physical body to produce paranormal phenomena. Inspirational speaking is considered mental mediumship—using the medium’s mind to translate messages from spirit.
There are many examples of inspirational speaking and automatic writing. For example, Esther Hicks channels a group of beings known as Abraham. Jane Roberts is the author of a series of books channeling Seth. Even Neale Donald Walsh’s Conversations with God books could be considered automatic or inspired writing.
Inspirational Speaking
According to the Encyclopedia of Psychic Science, inspiration is a “state of psychic or spiritual awareness whereby the individual is susceptible to creative spiritual influence,” and that this creativity is often demonstrated through lectures, arts, sciences and music.
Where does inspiration come from? Does it come from spirit?
Mozart and Beethoven both experienced states of inspiration—hardly surprising given their creations. For Mozart, it happened when he was in a good frame of mind and in a place where he was able to think—walking, riding in a carriage or lying awake in bed—and the ideas came upon him in a streaming rush. For Beethoven, inspiration was a state in which the whole universe seemed to be in harmony, connected and alive.
Inspirational speaking, a form of mental mediumship, happens when a medium verbalizes “thought-flowing ideas.” It’s an immediate way for those in spirit to make their message known—decoding raps and table tipping takes a lot longer. How do you know if a message coming through inspirational speaking is truly coming from spirit? A definitive characteristic of the real thing is if the thoughts expressed are not the product of the mind or will of the medium.
John Worth Edmonds, an early pioneer of Modern Spiritualism and a member of both branches of the New York State Legislature and New York Supreme Court judge, was concerned with this matter and offered some advice to determine if inspirational speaking and writing are authentic.
Some of the things he said could be used to determine authenticity are if the medium:
- speaks in a language unknown to them
- relates events and information they wouldn’t ordinarily know about
- prophesies events which really do happen
- is only able to do this under the influence of spirit
He also said that one sign is if the medium talks about things that conflict with their own opinion. However, if we consider that all inspiration comes from spirit and if we consider that when a speaker stands up to speak he asks for the highest and best good to come through, it’s safe to say that spirit certainly is involved in the words he chooses and the ideas expressed—no matter if the opinion is the same as or contrary to his own.
In order to improve your ability to produce inspirational speaking and writing, train your mind and mold it to a higher character and higher vibration. Doing so will also result in the opinions and thoughts expressed during inspiration being resonant with your own.
Automatic Writing
Independent and automatic writing are two forms of physical phenomena that have developed over the centuries.
In automatic writing, a medium holds a pencil in their hand over a sheet of paper, keeping their arm raised off the surface of the paper. After connecting with a spirit entity, the hand and pencil it holds move across the paper, spelling out words and sentences. For automatic writing to be authentic there needs to be evidence of personal identity of the spirit entity from which it comes. Automatic writing often starts out as barely-decipherable scribbles which, with practice, learn to resemble actual handwriting. It is often not the same handwriting as the medium. Automatic writing can also be done on the computer – although the learning curve for Spirit seems to be the same, whether it’s using your hand to write or figuring out how to type!
Independent Writing
Independent writing is a similar phenomenon, but the medium often does not come into contact with the writing material. Instead, two slates, for instance, are bound together with a piece of chalk in between them and placed in the séance room. During a séance, scratching can be heard on the slate and, when unbound afterwards, messages or pictures from spirit are found. The museum in Lily Dale, N.Y., has some incredibly beautiful and intricate slate drawings.
Many mediums demonstrated the phenomena of independent and automatic writing. Among them are Pearl Curran, who channeled Patience Worth and received a Pulitzer Prize for one of her novels, William Stanton Moses and Andrew Jackson Davis.
Along with independent and automatic writing there are similar phenomena in direct painting, sketching and music. Lizzie and May Bangs were well known for their direct spirit paintings and several of their portraits are displayed in Lily Dale.
Sources:
Morris Pratt Institute Educational Course on Modern Spiritualism, Lesson 13
 |
