Gifts of the Spirit

August recently exchanged a few emails with a reader who, at one point, understood one of Aug's comments to say that if mediums abuse their abilities, their gifts will be taken away from them. This discussion arose directly from the recent blogging here about spirit art reality and hoaxing. It is hoped that the blogs did not give forth that notion, as it was not meant to imply that an abuse of abilities will result in them being "taken away."

As has been said by us and others, what losses (and gains) we experience are due to our own decisions. A medium's gifts are not given or taken away by anyone, including themselves or spirit guides or even Creator Source; indeed, the abilities we speak of are not extraordinary, as we all have access to such abilities, for Creator Source has placed no limitations on our immortal Self -- and so we choose to use them in whatever ways we will. Our book, The Risen, strives to help people access their innate abilities of  mediumship ("do-it-yourself"). There are immutable "laws" holding the universe together; they are the universe. While they are infinitely limitless and flexible, they exist while we exist and depend upon our existence, and thus respond to our word -- which includes thought, belief and action -- which is our form of "law" arising intrinsically with and from the Word of Creator Source (as above, so below.) The results are neither good nor bad, light nor dark, as there is only good, and only light. Anything else is a label and a fruitless attempt by ego-mind to create that which has already been created. The only "battles of light and dark" are in the ego-mind and therefore illusory and, if insisted on and crystallized through a belief system, delusional.

The phenomena of mediumship have changed dramatically in this 21st century, mainly in psychospiritual ways. While modern communication modes have increased the sharing of information, they have also increased  misinformation, which includes purposeful attempts to manipulate certain truths to appear as acts of self-creation. In most of the earliest academic-oriented books and reporting about mediums in the late 19th C. up until the mid-19th C., (i.e., Andrew Jackson Davis, Robert Crookall, William Crookes, Hereward Carrington, Leadbeater, et al.) it is always stated in some way that "as above, so below" when it comes to mediumship abilities. Some writers have unfortunately made it sound as if a medium will be "punished" in some way upon a negative judgment of their lives and actions, and more than a few seem to suggest that to refuse a Risen request to let them use a person for mediumship endeavours will also result in some kind of vindictive outcome, usually that the medium will become ill, languish, and die; but all that is clearly the deceptive manipulations of ego-mind. It does appear to be so that if the Universe has found an outlet through which to express Itself in some way - such as a person who can act as a medium between non-Risen and the Risen - but is prevented from following through, the person in question will not be "punished," but might end up stressed and weakened in some ways because they have knowingly or unknowingly diverted nourishing spiritual energy that would otherwise strengthen and transform them. Like any ability, "use it or lose it." This would be true for any kind of "gift" from the Universe, such as someone who has the gift for singing but is unable to express it, or even represses it, and thus languishes from the resulting spiritual malnourishment.

As Tim shared in The Risen:

"... Creator Source will not interfere with what one desires, for Its greatest pleasure is to give us whatever we want, not to withhold it. The so-called ‘Principles of the Universe’ are really more like suggestions or guidelines. No, that’s not quite right, they’re more than that—they’re gifts. And then it’s all up to us if we want to accept them, and in what spirit, or rather in what spirit form. We also have the option to refuse them with no questions asked. The wonderful, mysterious thing about these gifts is that because they are infinite and unlimited in nature, we can use them in any way we want. There might be a Returns Department somewhere, but I would never dream of giving back an unopened present!"