Glossary

AUTOMATIC WRITING:  Control of the hand of the medium by Spirit during the process of writing.  The medium is in a trance state relinquishing physical control of the hand.

CLAIRALIENCE:  Smelling a fragrance/odor of a substance which is not in one’s surroundings.  These odors are perceived without the aid of the physical nose.

CLAIRAUDIENCE:  Words, voice, music or other sounds that are perceived by mediums.  Clairaudience is subjective when it is heard within the mind vs. objective when heard outside the body in the surroundings.

CLAIRCOGNIZANCE:  Refers to clear knowing; mediums can’t explain how they know or where the information or idea came from but they are confident it is correct.

CLAIRGUSTANCE:  To taste a substance without putting anything in one’s mouth; the perception of the essence of a substance from the spiritual realm through taste.

CLAIRSENTIENCE:  A feeling or sensing spirit, their physical characteristics and personality traits.  Physical impressions often accompany this ability.  It is akin to empathy.

CLAIRVOYANCE:  A visual perception in the medium’s mind of Spirit, people, objects and scenes in the past, present or future, and near or at a distance. True Clairvoyance is objective whereby the medium can see spirit with their physical eyes.

ORBS:  Typically a circular translucent object that may be noted in a photograph but which was not perceived with the naked eye, and which may represent Spirit energy.

PSYCHOMETRY:  Greek for soul measuring.  A term coined by Joseph Rodes Buchanan, a 19th physician, who proposed the idea that all things give an emanation.  He described it as the past entombed in the present.  In Spiritualism, psychometry is a method of obtaining mainly clairsentient information from an object through touch.  Psychometry can also trigger clairvoyant and clairaudient perceptions and is often used in development circles for that reason.

SPIRIT ART:  In the broadest sense, art that is inspired by the spirit world’s influence on the artist/medium.

TRANCE:  A state that mediums achieve when they disconnect from everyday consciousness and allow Spirit to manifest.  Trance is not the possession of the medium’s body, but rather, a mental process of mind blending between Spirit and medium.  The trance can be light, in which the medium is partially detached from normal consciousness and is aware of what is being said.  Spirit speaks through the medium’s own voice, imparting personal thoughts, and using characteristic expressions.  Inspired phenomena, such as speaking, writing, or drawing, are expressions of light trance.  Deep trance is reached when mediums detach themselves completely from consciousness and are unaware of what takes place.  Spirit’s own voice is heard.  Through the trance state, Spirit is able to speak, teach, write, paint, compose music and heal.  Although considered mental mediumship, some physical phenomena, such as levitation, movement of objects, materialization and automatism were produced in deep trance.  Healing has been transmitted in a deep trance state, as well as in a normal conscious state.