In 2016 Religion Still Divides

​My heart broke for a dear friend when she encountered prejudice regarding her acceptance and belief in mediumship recently. She had innocently posted on her Facebook timeline, “If I was to have a gallery reading party with a medium at my house, who would be interested?”
 
Almost immediately, she received the following response, “Please don’t. Don’t bring that into your home. You may not understand what you are inviting in.”
 
This blatantly negative, unaccepting and public response brought tears to my friend’s eyes as the individual who wrote this is considered a good friend. It also struck a chord with her because SHE and HER daughter are incredibly intuitive. And it has not been an easy journey to acceptance.
 
When I met my friend, she was skeptical (and afraid) of her own gifts. But, because she witnessed her daughter’s stress and anxiety manifesting physically (she was a lip and nail biter) due to her empathic and intuitive abilities, she has worked hard over the years to embrace the gifts; if not for herself, for her daughter.
 
And you know what? Embracing those gifts worked! Not only have the physical symptoms resolved in her daughter, but she has experienced better health (minus a few falls) as well!
 
Due to the positive impact this has had on her and her family’s life, she now works to educate and introduce spiritualism to her friends and family. Hence the question, “who would want to come?”
 
I applaud her for her courage as sharing, sometimes controversial beliefs, is hard. And I weep for her for being met with a hostile environment.
 
But I didn’t need to weep for too long, for she advocated and explained her beliefs to the woman. And asked her not to agree with or embrace the concept, but rather accept that this is HER belief and trust in her knowing that it comes from a place of love and respect.
 
Unfortunately, my friend was met with continued criticism and encouraged to “Take a look in your Bible, you will see that it is advised against.” It saddens me that one woman’s beliefs cloud her judgment and acceptance of another’s, especially one she considers a friend.
 
Now I have to admit, I am not overly familiar with the entirety of the Bible. But, what I have been told by good Catholics is: “Yes the Bible offers warnings for false soothsayers. But, the Bible also speaks of people with special gifts. Those that are able to communicate with Angels and Spirits of the departed. Some of whom have been canonized as Saints. It is not the gift that is to be cautioned against, it is the person.”
 
I was pleased to see this sentiment echoed by several other of my friend’s friends. One even spoke of Spiritualism and how the beliefs of that religion has brought her closer to God. To Spiritualists, mediumship is PART of their religion. If you are not familiar with Spiritualism, two of the major principles are 1) “We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death” and 2) “We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.” Due to these tenets, demonstrations of mediumship are conducted at every single Spiritualist service.
 
This situation, while I like to live in my bubble and believe this is the exception to the norm, makes me wonder if my experience of acceptance is actually the exception. I hope in what I do, I can continue to educate, inform and inspire. What pleases me, is I think what I am doing is working as I’m already seeing a ripple effect. My friend stood up for her beliefs despite the hostility and let love and her truth shine.