For many people, the terms ‘medium’ and ‘fortune-teller’ are used interchangeably. However, there are actually clear differences between the two, and if you’re thinking of employing the services of one, knowing about these differences is vital.
The Physical and Spiritual Worlds
A medium is different from a psychic: the key to this is the medium’s purported ability to act as a channel between the world of the living and that of the dead. Mediums are often consulted by those who wish to make contact with a loved one who has passed on.
Mediums may use different techniques to help them act as a conduit for messages from the spirit world. Clairvoyance is the most well-known of these, which involves receiving information that goes beyond that received by our everyday senses. Clairsentience, for example, may allow a medium to feel the energies from houses concerning people who have lived there in the past. These energies create an emotional ‘message’ or link to the spirit world.
Whereas fortune tellers tend to deploy tools such as cards, tea leaves, or palm reading, mediums don’t usually use anything beyond their innate ability to connect to the spirit world intuitively.
Are There Different Types of Medium?
There are seven main types of mediumship, although a medium may possess abilities in more than one category.
Clairvoyance
This means ‘clear seeing.’ The medium sees images and spirits in their mind with the same clarity with which they perceive the everyday world around them.
Clairaudience
‘Clear hearing’ – the medium hears messages from the spirit world, experienced either in their mind or as an actual voice, as if speaking in their ear.
Clairsentience
Meaning ‘clear feeling’ is the ability to sense or feel the emotions of others, as if these emotions and feelings were happening in their own body.
Claircognizance
‘Clear knowing’ – mediums with this ability can simply and undeniably ‘know’ the truth of a situation or certain facts.
Physical Mediumship
Here, the medium and the world of spirit work together to bring forth physical manifestations of the connection between the two worlds. This could take the form of levitation or table tipping.
Healing Mediumship
Some mediums can channel the spirit to heal themselves or others. This can be done through ‘the laying on of hands’ or other techniques.
Channelling Mediumship
Mediums who can deliver messages directly from the spirit world by either speaking the message directly or writing it down are known as channeling mediums.
The Role of the Fortune Teller
Fortune tellers, as the name infers, predict information about a querent, their future, or things happening around them. They may be consulted on, for example, whether the querent will one day get married or whether a new job is on the cards in the near future. Online services, such as Ava Fortune Teller, allow people to simply visit a website and get the answers they need from the comfort of their own homes.
Fortune tellers tend to use tools, such as tarot cards, for the purpose of divination and to provide the answers to the questions asked by the querent. Due to the nature of fortune telling, there are many unscrupulous individuals out there posing as genuine divinators to con money from their clients.
Avoiding a Scam
If you’re thinking about employing the services of a medium or fortune-teller, it’s vital to take a few steps to ensure that the individual is trustworthy. Check out their website, but don’t rely on reviews you read on it – look further afield to find reviews on other sites to satisfy yourself; you’re getting an authentic picture of the service and the person themselves. Ideally, a personal recommendation from a friend, acquaintance, or family member is the best way to find someone reliable.
Before signing up or paying any money, have a chat with the medium or fortune-teller. If the individual or service is legit, they’ll be quite happy to arrange this. As well as helping to avoid being on the short end of a con, a chat allows you to check you have a good rapport with this person, which could be important to get the most out of a reading.
Lastly, a genuine medium or divinator won’t try to scare you or pressure you into paying them money for a reading or consultation. If you’re approached and told that you need this person’s help to remove a curse, or avoid disaster striking, walk away.
Final Thoughts
While both mediums and fortune-tellers deal in things beyond the bounds of the everyday world, there are some important differences between the two. Whereas a medium can connect directly with the spirit world to relay messages, thoughts, feelings, or experiences, a fortune-teller uses tools to answer questions directly from the querent by divining the future.
If you’re thinking of using either, doing background work is important to avoid getting caught up in a scam. Fortunately, although there are many unscrupulous folks out there posing as psychics, there are also many other legit individuals who genuinely wish to help their clients find peace or obtain the answers they need.
