In my previous post about the goodness of the medium, I said that the quality of the content (of messages or readings) was an interrelationship of many things. Without inventing a whole new branch of metaphysics, let's ask Phaedrus'
perennial question, "What is quality?" With mediumship, things are rarely black and white, so it's better to put them on a continuum, with black at one end and white on the other. Here are a few important continuua to think about when it comes to quality of content, and to some extent, quality of mediumship. Positive to negative Positive content is always good, but negative content is not always bad. For example, you can get a real ass-kicking in a reading or message. This is true, and I'll vouch for it, because it's happened to me. My life was botched up, and the spirits gave me the kick in the ass that I needed to get me going in the right direction. And it is not an open license for a message or reading to mean, disparaging, condescending, or contemptuous. Basically, a good-old-fashioned kick in the ass is still good, as unpleasant as it may be to get it when you need one. Wisdom to gossip Content that provides wisdom and guides you in your life is good stuff. Gossip is exactly what it is, gossip. It's junk. Spirits don't have time to gossip. Neither should you. You shouldn't be looking for gossip in the first place, let alone from the spirits. Wisdom is on one end of the continuum, and gossip on the other. Things that fall closer to the wisdom end are better than the ones that don't. Evidence to fakery An evidential message or reading is one in which there's clear evidence of the continuity of life, that is, you know who the spirit is that's communicating from the other side. Not all messages are highly evidential, nor do they have to be. But generally speaking, the closer it falls to the evidence side of the contiuum, the better it is. The source, spirits to the medium Messages from the spirits are what seekers want, most of the time. It's better than a message that comes from the medium personally, which is sometimes called a head message. My experience is that head messages usually aren't very good, but I allow the possibility that the content of one could be the same thing the spirits would have said anyway. Determining a head message from a spirit message is whole discussion in and of itself, and is anything but black and white. Ethical to unethical This continuum is more black and white than most, but still has some gray area. Telling a seeker that they have demons or devils. Holding back content as a mean of demanding more money for a message or reading. Manipulating the content for secondary gains, such as sex with the seeker. Mean, disparaging, condescending, or contemptuous content. Form, good to poor This is more about how the content is delivered than the content itself. But it's related, because the delivery affects the perception by the seeker. For example, many of the things that cynics pick on mediums about is simply poor form. A quality message or reading should not be delivered in a way that makes people think you're doing cold readings and the like. My personal pet peeve is when a medium doesn't know where the message is supposed to go, starts polling the audience to see who responds, finds the right one, and then goes from there. Even if the message eventually lands in the right place and has good content, it's very poor form. It also gives cynics the soap box they need to stand on. If I had my way, I'd outlaw it. If the spirits can't find the right person to deliver the message to and communicate it clearly to the medium, then the message shouldn't be given. Period. You can bet I won't stand for it with my guides. I'd rather shut my mouth instead. No message is better than one with poor form. The medium as a person, good to bad A good person is more credible than a bad one. Even if the message is one hundred percent true ("the sun will rise in the morning"), I'd rather hear it from a good person as opposed to a bad one. This continuum can also affect the quality of the content, through the Law of Attraction, i.e. bad spirits can provide bad messages. The medium as a spirit communicator, good to bad This is the capability of the medium to clearly receive and clearly convey content from the spirits. While the idea of mediumship is as simple as handing a message from one person to another, who then hands it to the recipient, the reality is more multifaceted. There are various things that impact the message as it goes from the spirits to the seeker. And just like it is with our languages, things can get lost in the translation as well.
perennial question, "What is quality?" With mediumship, things are rarely black and white, so it's better to put them on a continuum, with black at one end and white on the other. Here are a few important continuua to think about when it comes to quality of content, and to some extent, quality of mediumship. Positive to negative Positive content is always good, but negative content is not always bad. For example, you can get a real ass-kicking in a reading or message. This is true, and I'll vouch for it, because it's happened to me. My life was botched up, and the spirits gave me the kick in the ass that I needed to get me going in the right direction. And it is not an open license for a message or reading to mean, disparaging, condescending, or contemptuous. Basically, a good-old-fashioned kick in the ass is still good, as unpleasant as it may be to get it when you need one. Wisdom to gossip Content that provides wisdom and guides you in your life is good stuff. Gossip is exactly what it is, gossip. It's junk. Spirits don't have time to gossip. Neither should you. You shouldn't be looking for gossip in the first place, let alone from the spirits. Wisdom is on one end of the continuum, and gossip on the other. Things that fall closer to the wisdom end are better than the ones that don't. Evidence to fakery An evidential message or reading is one in which there's clear evidence of the continuity of life, that is, you know who the spirit is that's communicating from the other side. Not all messages are highly evidential, nor do they have to be. But generally speaking, the closer it falls to the evidence side of the contiuum, the better it is. The source, spirits to the medium Messages from the spirits are what seekers want, most of the time. It's better than a message that comes from the medium personally, which is sometimes called a head message. My experience is that head messages usually aren't very good, but I allow the possibility that the content of one could be the same thing the spirits would have said anyway. Determining a head message from a spirit message is whole discussion in and of itself, and is anything but black and white. Ethical to unethical This continuum is more black and white than most, but still has some gray area. Telling a seeker that they have demons or devils. Holding back content as a mean of demanding more money for a message or reading. Manipulating the content for secondary gains, such as sex with the seeker. Mean, disparaging, condescending, or contemptuous content. Form, good to poor This is more about how the content is delivered than the content itself. But it's related, because the delivery affects the perception by the seeker. For example, many of the things that cynics pick on mediums about is simply poor form. A quality message or reading should not be delivered in a way that makes people think you're doing cold readings and the like. My personal pet peeve is when a medium doesn't know where the message is supposed to go, starts polling the audience to see who responds, finds the right one, and then goes from there. Even if the message eventually lands in the right place and has good content, it's very poor form. It also gives cynics the soap box they need to stand on. If I had my way, I'd outlaw it. If the spirits can't find the right person to deliver the message to and communicate it clearly to the medium, then the message shouldn't be given. Period. You can bet I won't stand for it with my guides. I'd rather shut my mouth instead. No message is better than one with poor form. The medium as a person, good to bad A good person is more credible than a bad one. Even if the message is one hundred percent true ("the sun will rise in the morning"), I'd rather hear it from a good person as opposed to a bad one. This continuum can also affect the quality of the content, through the Law of Attraction, i.e. bad spirits can provide bad messages. The medium as a spirit communicator, good to bad This is the capability of the medium to clearly receive and clearly convey content from the spirits. While the idea of mediumship is as simple as handing a message from one person to another, who then hands it to the recipient, the reality is more multifaceted. There are various things that impact the message as it goes from the spirits to the seeker. And just like it is with our languages, things can get lost in the translation as well.