Is Every Medium Already Experiencing Trance?

A Common Question

Do all mediums experience trance, even if they do not realize it?

Answer

No.

Mediums may experience many changes in their usual condition of consciousness while communicating, but change alone does not establish trance.

Trance mediumship involves a relationship with a Spirit communicator in which the medium’s usual manner of participating in communication changes.

The distinction matters because absorption, relaxation, changes in attention, unusual sensations, or altered perception can occur in many human experiences without being trance mediumship.

Introduction

Ask someone to imagine trance mediumship and a familiar picture often appears.

Eyes closed.

The body completely relaxed.

Little awareness of the surroundings.

A different voice.

Perhaps even no memory afterward.

Because these images have become closely associated with trance, students sometimes reach one of two conclusions.

Either:

“That has never happened to me, so I must not be capable of trance.”

Or:

“My experience changed during mediumship, so perhaps I was already in trance.”

Both conclusions can be premature.

Trance is not defined by one particular outward appearance.

But neither should every change in experience be called trance.

That distinction is important.

Throughout ordinary mediumship, a practitioner may notice that attention becomes more focused.

Thought may become less intrusive.

Time may pass differently.

The body may feel heavier, lighter, warmer, cooler, distant, or simply less important for a while.

Words may arrive with less deliberate construction.

Communication may become absorbing.

Something has changed.

But what does the change actually tell us?

Not as much as we may first assume.

A change tells us that the condition of experience is different from what it was moments earlier.

It does not automatically tell us why the change occurred.

It does not establish its source.

And it does not, by itself, define the form of mediumship taking place.

This chapter therefore begins with a distinction that will become increasingly important throughout the Academy:

Change is real.

But change alone is not trance.