What To Know To Prepare For A Mediumship Reading
Updated 2025.04.07
Sitting with a medium is becoming more and more commonplace.
The industry is expanding, research is rapidly supporting many of the claims that arise in readings, and lots of new practitioners and products are coming onto the market.
If you're a medium, it's a great time to be in the field. If you like mediums and could use their support, you’re in luck because more and more people are training to improve their talents every day.
If you're looking for an alternative way to find a safe way to come back to peace of mind, body, and spirit, and you choose a psychic medium to get you there, we’re honored to fill the role.
Many mediums double as therapists, bodyworkers, naturopaths, herbalists and energy healers. So there may be more than just a message from Spirit awaiting you when you see one.
A medium may be able to provide clarity, confirm some things you already knew, plus provide spiritual and emotional healing.
Whether you're booking an Angelic reading to ask about life, a Soulmate reading to ask about your Twin Flame, it's always an uplifting and enlightening experience.
So if you're booking a reading for the first time, below are a few things to know to make sure you have the best session yet.
11 Things To Know When Preparing To Sit With A Medium
1 - Mediums are often specialists
Some mediums specialize in communicating with the dead. But that is only one type of spirit with whom a medium can connect. Other types of spirits that people go to mediums to communicate with include: Angels, Spirit Guides, Earth Spirits, Fae, Earthbounds and Pets.
Mediums can specialize in teaching, love, career, or health. These are just a few examples, and these specialties are usually related to their background or personal research interest.
To find your medium, consider looking for someone who has similar interests to you.
2 - They bring through communications with Spirits in different ways
Mediums can receive intuitions from The Spirit World in 4-6 ways, though you are usually predominant in 1-2.
Many mediums are clairaudient. Some are primarily clairsentient or primarily clairvoyant.
Clairsentient mediums absorb the feelings as messages from Spirit and make great communicators of emotion from The Other Side. They can be excellent at validating death. They usually absorb (temporarily) the feelings of however the person they are channeling died to confirm their identity.
Clairvoyant mediums see images which they can describe as words.
Just know that when you go to see a medium, your medium's gifts may work slightly differently than anything you have seen in the media. So be open, remember, all manifestations of these gifts all have their virtues.
Mediums bring through different types of information like wellness tips, intuitive impressions, life plans and charts, your soul purpose, relationship healing information and much more.
3 - Different types of Spirits bring different kinds of information
Deceased people can help you with tangible-life problems and empathy with your family and personal situation.
Angels generally tend to bring through more philosophical points, sharing higher worldview ideas of your life, rather than telling you what to do. In contrast, Spirit Guides tend to share more of the backstory of what's going on.
They can all be pinpointed, offering helpful step-by-step information. It's just different focuses of the different energy groups that come through.
If you have a specific Spirit Group you want to hear from, you can always say a prayer or set an intention the night before your session. Typically, The Spirit World starts planning the information they are going to bring you when the arrangements for you to have the session are being made.
They can begin to come in the night before or the morning of your session so you may feel The Spirit World around you as your session approaches.
4 - Let the medium choose who comes through
Most mediums can bring through most types of Spirits.
Whenever I get a reading, I generally let the medium do their work and choose who comes through first. I find this does tend to make for better readings and then afterward, ask my questions and follow-ups.
5 - The deceased's personality may be different than who you thought they were
Most people expect their parents to be precisely the people they were while alive, and while this is sometimes the case, people change their views once they cross over. They soften. Their views shift.
Our judgments and pain can color our views of the living, and when we die, we shed all of that so that a Spirit can appear different to people in death.
Usually, this means the people you love are more loving. The sense of humor is typically the same. The best way I can describe it is that people show up as most them. They’re usually better.
So if you remember a deceased loved one when they were sick, they may not appear their way. They may look this way only a short time so you can identify them, and then change shape at some point as they are identified.
Angels, while they typically appear as huge glowing masses, may seem more person-like, and Spirit Guides may sound a lot like people you knew.
And while many will come back to the reading table more compassionate than they were on earth, not all are there yet.
If your person hasn't completed their life review or they're off with an Angel doing something at the time of your session, another Spirit may fill in their place.
With anyone we interact with on Earth, we only see just a sliver of who they are. People tend to hide their real selves, and if there has been trauma, some people in life, guarded so much against the hurt that we never got to see the real them.
In sessions, Spirit gets to show you their real selves.
Not everyone changes though - some of the more freedom-loving Spirits are exactly who they said they were, though usually presenting at their most compassionate and loving.
6 - Spirit may look different or better
Your medium will do the best they can to describe the essence of the Spirit who has come forward to speak with you.
Anything from their accent, their dress, to their gender, to a place near where they lived or died. Their coloring and appearance, how they know a person, their species, in the case of Animal Guides, are all ways you can identify energy.
The deceased and all in Spirit, are not bound to a physical body. So they get to choose their appearance, and many opt for a younger, healthier self, though not always - some opt for the way people remember them, just to be on the safe side.
If this happens, take a review of your old family photos before going to your session to be sure of anyone you think may come, or how they looked, younger. If they had a signature or favorite outfit, they might describe it.
Before going to a session, try to recount everyone you know, and who may be watching out for you in The Spirit World so that you can more easily identify your loved ones.
7 - What if the person you want to see at a reading doesn't show up?
All in perfect timing.
As a personal story, in my first mediumship reading, I wanted a relative to come through. Instead, a family friend who passed suddenly came through and commanded the entire reading.
This friend laid out the basics of everything in my life that had happened since he died and proof he had been watching.
Surprise, you have more friends in Spirit than you thought!
Sometimes whom they send seem to be improbable candidates in your mind, but they often do try to demonstrate a wide range of support, which is why you may have someone you didn’t expect come through.
The Spirit World can decide there are more urgent messages than the one you had in mind, they will guide an entire reading towards it.
So it occasionally happens that you want to talk to one person and several other persons, Angels or Guides, wish to speak to you first.
If this is the case, consider yourself lucky.
Take in what you need to take in for the first session and then book a follow-up in a couple of weeks, with that same medium or another. That way, you can assure that all the messages The Spirit World has for you do have their appropriate time and space to get to you.
If it's your first reading, it's not unusual for a 'primer' spirit to come to your first reading instead of the one you wanted initially.
This Spirit's job is going to be to prepare you for future sessions, possibly with someone you were more close with, which could be more emotional.
Future sessions may go more in-depth, and like any intensive spiritual work, you may want to stage yourself into it.
Readings can be fun, but their general point is sometimes for emotional relief.
So if you do get some exciting assistance in your first session, I suggest gratitude and happiness for knowing you have such a large Spirit Team.
8 - If the Spirit you wanted didn't come to your reading, where are they?
If you want to speak to someone directly, and the medium isn't mentioning it - sometimes they are still there. Just ask the medium about it.
In some cases, the energy of the Spirit you want to speak to isn't as strong in presence as the others, and they may get hidden behind some of the larger and more boisterous energies.
If you think this may be the case, you can try asking the medium to call them forward with their first name.
As long as their energy hasn't waned yet, they'll be able to ask The Spirit World for more details on that individual's whereabouts.
They may also be able to request their guides to tell you more about why this person may not be coming forward, or they may be able to call them ahead through the crowd.
9 - Let your medium know if you need a message clarified
Spirit will often speak in metaphors, through symbols you have with your Spirit team or with feelings.
Part of this is so that you can maintain some privacy about what's going on in your life. Part of it is because Spirits use something called a Primal Language or Original Language to communicate, which is the language of signs and emotion.
If you aren't used to symbolic communication, or if The Spirit World is using new analogies, you can ask for another interpretation, and see if it clicks.
10 - You may need another type of session in addition to a reading
Many mediums offer spiritual guidance or energy healing sessions, in addition to their readings.
Need to know what your Guides think about the XYZ project? Need help executing a plan and want your spiritual guidance team's input on it? Starting a business and want to know what to do first?
If other spiritual services are recommended, consider them.
11 - Your medium is there to help you
Mediums want to support you in achieving all the good things life has to offer.
They have also seen and heard many things, so you have a safe space with your medium to share the truth. The practice of mediumship is often similar to that of a spiritual advisor, which means implied confidentiality exists.
You can ask questions or request clarification. If you are looking for specific information, let your medium know.
Most mediums you meet are there because they want to be and they continue the work for reasons beyond the monetary.
Going into your session, know all readings are different because all spirits are different, and all lives are different.
Still, many core issues we address are the same - these often come down to love and happiness.
To recap, when getting a mediumship reading:
Have an open mind
Know The Spirit World likes bring to the surface the unexpected
Prayer and intention ahead of time can improve your session
You may like to bring a notepad with them to your readings or see if your medium offers complimentary recordings. Ground and set the intention for a positive experience before you go into your session.
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