A look at the role and meaning of spiritualist meetings.

Emma-Louise Rhodes © 2008.

A cross section of society?

In general, more women attend psychic readings, Spiritualist churches and clairvoyant evenings than men. It would be interesting to take a survey and find out exactly why this is so. Do men feel that Spiritualism is too effeminate for them, due to its association with angels, crystals and spirit guides? Certainly there are plenty of men who are themselves mediums, yet commonly the majority of Spiritualist supporters at a gathering at any given time will be female.

Looking around a typical psychic meeting it is very apparent that the majority of the audience is made up of pairs/small groups of women. Many are parties of friends who, due to the popularity of TV programmes such as Most Haunted, Sixth Sense With Colin Fry and Haunted Homes (the target audience of which is predominantly female) are interested in the supernatural and the possibility of contacting the dead. Others are local healers, Spiritualists or novice psychics who attend the evenings regularly and support the various local groups. Others still are those who have lost loved ones and are looking for an earthly reunion.

The age range of the audience tends to vary from mid-thirties to mid-seventies, younger people usually attending with older sisters or parents. Of course, every crowd is different and it would be a huge error to judge the audience of every psychic evening based on such facts. Location, population and average income all contribute to the type of people present at these events at any given time and in any given town. Nevertheless, it is generally safe to say that in very few cases men outnumber women at such gatherings, unless they are themselves mediums.

The attendance of the working class is always apparent. This may simply be down to the type of venue the evenings are held at, or it might echo back to the fact that subscribers to the early Spiritualist faith (not including table rapping, which was widely practised by the middle/upper class during the Victorian era) were predominantly working class. The founder of the first church in the UK was the socialist reformer David Richmond and the Seven Principles of Spiritualism were allegedly dictated to Emma Hardinge Britten, whilst in a trance, by the dead spirit of Welsh socialist Robert Owen.

Despite the popularity of psychics in the media in recent times, there is still a stigma that goes with being present at clairvoyant evenings, and, perhaps, a well respected local businessmen might think twice before attending. There are several reasons why this is the case. Firstly, it could be due to the fact that trying to conjure up the dead is still seen as slightly risqué in certain circles and not really ‘the norm’. Secondly, the lack of credibility that is achieved in being shown to believe in such doubtful phenomena is a very good reason for a prominent member of the community to reconsider an invitation to such a gathering. Lastly, the fact the Spiritualist movement is still viewed as a dubious splinter group of the Christian faith makes valued men and women alike turn from such ideals without a second curious glance. All of these factors are crucial in the understanding of exactly who attends these evenings and who shuns them.

Faith is meant to be classless, yet regardless of this, Spiritualism still generally attracts the working class. This established, it is interesting to note exactly what is said by the medium(s) during clairvoyant evenings and the level of belief that is required to embrace the attitudes of the Spiritualist faith.

Professional patter

The evening that I partook in was, in my opinion, a good representation of what usually takes place. The medium, a personable man in his early fifties, dressed in a smart dark suit and open neck shirt, amiably flitted from one audience member to the other, giving them an abundance of names from Fred to John to Joan to Elizabeth. Commenting that he didn’t like to give typical names, he continued to do so, presenting his audience with information that could well have related to anyone in the hall at any given time.

Listening intently, I placed myself in the position of every person spoken to and, sure enough, it was very easy to ‘take’ as my own some of the information given to everyone visited by the medium. However, the fact that people were all too ready to accept these statements without question, was even less plausible than the weak utterances of the medium in question.

The many events that I have attended, be it at Spiritualist churches or private evenings, have hung somewhere between being quite polished cold readings and shabby attempts at conjuring up the dead by amateur psychics. The ironic thing with this is that sometimes the most well meaning mediums (those who truly believe in what they are doing) perform poorly, whereas the more calculating psychics (those who are fully aware that they are providing nothing more than cold reading) execute accurate and believable readings.

However, the most important thing, as any comedian or used car salesman will readily tell a novice, is patter and, in order to sustain believable, constant contact with the spirit word, rapid spiel is the best thing to prolong the audience’s interest. Regardless of whether the information given is entirely false, if this is followed up speedily with another torrent of messages from spirit, the sitter in question will hopefully forget the bogus facts that have been presented before.

Regardless of whether the psychic in question is skilled in the art of cold reading, or if they are in fact (sometimes slightly more worryingly) listening to the voices in their head and giving inaccurate information accordingly, their style and manner is extremely important and plays an integral part in how the audience respond and react to them.

Thus my psychic evening trod the tried and tested grounds of mediumistic chatter, inaccurate cold reading and (what is sometimes overlooked but relatively important in terms of clairvoyance) comic quips from the world of spirit.

The usual suspects

The first woman that the medium approached was known to him as a local healer. He told her to keep up her healing and to concentrate more on tuning herself to listen to spirit voices. In fact, this was said to the majority of audience members approached – one of which was told that her tinnitus was actually spirit trying to contact her (whether she actually suffered from the condition was not revealed).

An older couple who had got to the venue quite early and sat right at the front, were approached and given a message from someone in the air force (although they revealed that they both been affiliated with the navy during the war). A woman wearing a cross was told that there was a nun in spirit who wanted to connect with her, and another was asked to contact her sister with whom she hadn’t spoken for a while. The evening progressed very much in the same style, with no surnames, personal information or incredible revelations given. The raffle was then drawn and an announcement of the date of the next meeting made. Most of the audience certainly seemed happy and interested in what they had heard and certainly not begrudging of the £3.50 spent.

The formula used for the evening was quite basic, yet the majority of people there were pleased with what they had witnessed and, furthermore, had attended before and would be there again the next time. The room was arranged cabaret style, with people sitting at tables, the majority of who had got drinks from the bar beforehand. On entry, raffle tickets could also be purchased (the prizes of which were small potted plants and Easter Eggs) and there was generally the air of pleasant chit-chat and friendliness.

Before the medium spoke, the evening’s organiser (a woman in her sixties who was credited herself on her business card as ‘clairvoyant, healer and confident’) briefly addressed the audience, asking them to ‘speak up’ if the spirits chose to come to them, as it was important that ‘they hear your voice and what you have to say, so that the spirits can reply accordingly – a bit like a psychic telephone’. This is commonly asked by mediums and it has always appeared to me that, in speaking, the sitter will no doubt give way additional information in order for the psychic to give them a slightly more accurate reading.

The medium then commenced his forty-five minute first half, spending up to fifteen minutes on a responsive person, but only two or three on a member of the audience who could not connect with what he had to tell them. He was keen to point out, before he even began, that sometimes the spirits are not clear as to who exactly they want to contact and he might well give information to the wrong person. Therefore, he asked his audience to raise their hand if, in fact, they thought that the message was intended for them and not the person he was addressing. Again, I have heard this many times before and it is a perfect representation of a medium hedging his bets and trying to get away with some unconvincing cold reading.

If, at any point, he faltered in what he was saying or got something hugely wrong, the medium would laugh that the spirits were distorting things or joking with him. This is a commonly employed tactic by psychics (even in churches) that allows them to relax and bond with the audience whilst, at the same time, smiling their way through any unfortunate mistakes.

After the break, the same patter continued as before – the last sitter responding badly and not being able to ‘take’ any of the information presented. After this, the medium closed the proceedings quite swiftly, apologising to those who had not visited and informing the audience that he thought ‘that was about it’ from the spirit world for the night (the spirits, who in these cases tend to be keen clock-watchers, finished right on nine-thirty).

Spiritual connection or cheap entertainment?

After the medium had left, the organiser made her way around each table to canvas opinion on what those new to the evening made of it and if they would be coming again. Along with this, she distributed her own personal card to those interested in a private reading at her house.

The general feeling in the hall both before and after was that of expectation and waiting. Will he come to me and, if so, what will be said? Did he give the correct information to those he gave a reading to and, if he did, were they comforted? These thoughts, no doubt, go through the minds of most attending such events.

Regardless of the shortage of solid evidence presented during the evening, the audience, surprisingly, did not seem to be too discouraged. The lack of questioning and the apparent promises from those who attended that they would return, illustrated the fact that the audience might well have been there purely for entertainment. Certainly, admission to such evenings is quite reasonable and cheaper than a theatre or cinema ticket and gives an inexpensive option for a night out.

Undoubtedly clairvoyant evenings are a source of income for the organisers who put them on. The audience figures are usually high and the hire of the halls relatively low. The very fact that the general public pay on the door makes it seem much more like entertainment (not dissimilar to a psychic theatre show with a famous medium, but on a much smaller scale) and the presence of a bar or refreshments of some kind, steer the evening well away from any form of religion. These events also quell the need felt by many to dabble with the spirit world in a very safe manner, without the formality of prayers, hymns and readings. Not unlike the séances held in parlours over a hundred years ago, the evening provided a diversion from the dullness of day-today existence and (for some) experiment without religious connotation.

In essence, clairvoyant evenings are simply an innocent, if not slightly naïve, form of entertainment, where the curious can while away a few hours for a couple of pounds. Conversely, as with any form of Spiritualism, there is always the risk of bringing back upsetting memories to the sitters or false hope, without there being any real substance in what is being said. Maybe, though, the most harmful thing about such events is purely the lack of analytical enquiry that so often accompanies them, along with the startling willingness by the audience to believe in what is sometimes nothing more than bad cold reading presented by an ever cheery con man.

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