Brenda, many mediums start off by focusing on the spirit that’s reaching out, then identify who inthe audience the message is meant for. Regardless of tactic, things often start off vague and general and end up slightly less vague and general.
A normal message will start off like this:
The medium says she has someone in spirit with a
J
name, probably a generation or two back, who would have died of something in the chest area.
Now, think about how many people have a deceased relative who has a first, middle, or last name that starts with
J
. Add that they died of something “in the chest area,” and see how likely it is that no one in a crowd of 150 has a connection. Of the two dozen or so mediums I saw deliver messages at public services in Lily Dale, more than half of them started off trying to identify a spirit as being overweight or having died of something in the chest area.
After a large number of people raise their hands at the chest-area description, the medium adds something slightly more specific, like that the
J
relative is wearing a uniform in spirit, meaning that in life that relative was in the military, a delivery person, a policeman, worked in a medical field, et cetera. A few hands go down. Then another level of mild specificity: something like that the spirit loved music, knitted, or clipped items from the newspaper to send to relatives and friends. Sooner or later, the medium has it down to a specific person.
One particularly bold student medium at the service gets up and says he has a spirit with him named Eunice and wants to know if anyone in the audience has an aunt or sister in spirit named Eunice. Nothing.
Then he asks if anyone in the audience is named Eunice or has a living aunt or sister named Eunice.
Crickets.
He looks over at George, shrugs, then attempts to connectwith another spirit. He asks if anyone has a deceased relative, a woman, who was short, round in the bottom, and dyed her hair. Lots of hands go up.
When a medium delivers a message to the living, it is almost always loving, supportive good news. The spirits have come to let the living know that everything is going to be okay, that they love them and are always with them. The spirits want the living to know that while other living people don’t understand them fully, or don’t appreciate all the work they do, or judge them, the spirit is there to let them know that everything will be fine, and if they believe in themselves everything will work out. That son who hasn’t come home in years—the spirit knows he will soon. The uncertainties and difficulties in a career—rest assured that the spirit will help guide them and they will be successful. Every man is acknowledged for his hard work; every woman is counseled to slow down and take care of herself for a change.
Even after all I’ve been through, at this point in my life I am not, by any standard, a pessimist. Yet even I can acknowledge that sometimes bad things can happen and things
don’t
work out very well. Not according to the spirits of Lily Dale. They have traveled back from the great beyond to let us know everything is going to be all right. All we need to do is chill out and follow our heart/head/spirit.
After the service ends and George says another quick prayer and sends everyone on their way, the first thing I notice is more crying.
In my reading about Lily Dale before visiting, there was one curious tidbit that I couldn’t get my head around: Most of the summer visitors aren’t Spiritualists. If people don’t practice this religion or identify with all this dead-people stuff, why do they flock here? After that first service, I figured out why.
People come to Lily Dale because they are grieving.
They’ve lost loved ones and are desperate for a sense of closure or completion. They need answers and are hard up enough to schlep out to the middle of nowhere to listen to people who claim they can talk with the dead. Many of those crying before the
A normal message will start off like this:
The medium says she has someone in spirit with a
J
name, probably a generation or two back, who would have died of something in the chest area.
Now, think about how many people have a deceased relative who has a first, middle, or last name that starts with
J
. Add that they died of something “in the chest area,” and see how likely it is that no one in a crowd of 150 has a connection. Of the two dozen or so mediums I saw deliver messages at public services in Lily Dale, more than half of them started off trying to identify a spirit as being overweight or having died of something in the chest area.
After a large number of people raise their hands at the chest-area description, the medium adds something slightly more specific, like that the
J
relative is wearing a uniform in spirit, meaning that in life that relative was in the military, a delivery person, a policeman, worked in a medical field, et cetera. A few hands go down. Then another level of mild specificity: something like that the spirit loved music, knitted, or clipped items from the newspaper to send to relatives and friends. Sooner or later, the medium has it down to a specific person.
One particularly bold student medium at the service gets up and says he has a spirit with him named Eunice and wants to know if anyone in the audience has an aunt or sister in spirit named Eunice. Nothing.
Then he asks if anyone in the audience is named Eunice or has a living aunt or sister named Eunice.
Crickets.
He looks over at George, shrugs, then attempts to connectwith another spirit. He asks if anyone has a deceased relative, a woman, who was short, round in the bottom, and dyed her hair. Lots of hands go up.
When a medium delivers a message to the living, it is almost always loving, supportive good news. The spirits have come to let the living know that everything is going to be okay, that they love them and are always with them. The spirits want the living to know that while other living people don’t understand them fully, or don’t appreciate all the work they do, or judge them, the spirit is there to let them know that everything will be fine, and if they believe in themselves everything will work out. That son who hasn’t come home in years—the spirit knows he will soon. The uncertainties and difficulties in a career—rest assured that the spirit will help guide them and they will be successful. Every man is acknowledged for his hard work; every woman is counseled to slow down and take care of herself for a change.
Even after all I’ve been through, at this point in my life I am not, by any standard, a pessimist. Yet even I can acknowledge that sometimes bad things can happen and things
don’t
work out very well. Not according to the spirits of Lily Dale. They have traveled back from the great beyond to let us know everything is going to be all right. All we need to do is chill out and follow our heart/head/spirit.
After the service ends and George says another quick prayer and sends everyone on their way, the first thing I notice is more crying.
In my reading about Lily Dale before visiting, there was one curious tidbit that I couldn’t get my head around: Most of the summer visitors aren’t Spiritualists. If people don’t practice this religion or identify with all this dead-people stuff, why do they flock here? After that first service, I figured out why.
People come to Lily Dale because they are grieving.
They’ve lost loved ones and are desperate for a sense of closure or completion. They need answers and are hard up enough to schlep out to the middle of nowhere to listen to people who claim they can talk with the dead. Many of those crying before the
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