Magickal Mediumship: Partnering with the Ancestors for Healing and Spiritual Development

Foreword

As I read Magickal Mediumship , my thoughts drifted to the old myths where the division between our human world and the otherworld was not such a hard line. We are told in these old tales that the spirits and gods once walked among us in the very first days of creation. That the dead were not in some far-off heaven, but walking beside us, on their own journey, but watching and guiding us. Speaking to the beloved dead required no special procedures. And in all these tales, there came a time of separation, of division, between the world of flesh and time and the world of Spirit and eternity. The spirits haven’t turned from us, but we appear to have lost our way to them. They are still there, but we have grown spiritually blind, more so since the rise of industrialization and modern technology, divorcing us from that magickal world of trees and roots and the cycles of light and dark, life and death.

It is no coincidence that in a time when we grow divorced from the world of Spirit, the world would give rise to the Spiritualism movement in the hope of reconnection. The Soul of the World is wise, and she brings forth what we need as we need it, planting seeds of consciousness in the mind of her children. Spiritualism is a rekindling of our oldest cults of the dead in a way modern people could understand. I also find it no coincidence that today, in a time of further disconnection, an interest in the union of magick and mediumship has risen so strongly, and found its voice in the work of Danielle Dionne.

Never before have we had access to such wisdom, lore, and traditions as we do today, yet the very information we have can itself be quite a hindrance. Where do we begin? What is true? How does this apply to me? To have so much is both the great blessing and great curse of our time. We often lack context, and guidance, and spend a lot of time haphazardly moving from one thing to the next, with no deepening of wisdom or experience. We have the voice of knowledge, but need to find the voice of experience—the voice of wisdom. We look for a guide.

On one level, we seek the mysteries of magick, of spell craft. As more of us find ourselves in places of marginalization and disempowerment, magick becomes the remedy, as it has in times past. Magick grants power over the self first and foremost—the knowledge of the self—but can be used in the process of changing your reality. Yet we are also rootless from the traditions and cultures of the magick that came before, or we seek our own way without taking formal training and initiation into other groups and traditions. We seek guidance, the guidance of our own ancestors and spirits. We have so many questions about where we came from and who came before us. We can only figure out where we are going if we individually and collectively understand where we have been.

Who better to truly teach us than our ancestors, starting with our most recently beloved dead, to help transform our worldview out of the strictly mechanistic to where one is living, breathing, and in cooperative partnership with the unseen world. We are seeking the remedy for our spiritual blindness. Without giving up all reason or discernment, we also have to be willing to experience what others would call the nonordinary—the esoteric, the supernatural—to walk this path. With both this magick and guidance, we have to craft our own way for ourselves. Danielle has been there, and she continues to be there, in that liminal space in between, helping guide us by sharing her experiences.

One of those old myths I think back to is from the collection of Celtic tales called The Mabinogion. The collection is four distinct branches on four different families of gods, depicting a time and place where the otherworld wasn’t necessarily above or below, but between. Cross a hedge, enter a clearing, or move through a stream, and suddenly here becomes there, and you enter a world of fantastic bright white creatures, gods, spirits, and mystical heroes, and you might not even realize you have done it.

," Branwen marries the King of Ireland, and is sent from Wales across the sea to live in that seemingly far-off land. She is separated from her brother, Bran. Here we have a division. Though not dead, as we consider both Branwen and Bran deities, different worlds are divided by bodies of water, with mythic lands as islands off to the north or west. Did she leave the eternal realm to go to a mortal world, or simply another realm of spirit, farther away from her family?

Branwen is mistreated by her new husband and his family, so she trains tiny starling birds to deliver a message to her brother. Once word reaches Bran, he mounts a rescue operation. Bran is a gigantic being, able to easily walk across the dividing sea between the two realms, carrying his company upon his shoulders. The King of Ireland retreats over rivers and destroys bridges so Bran cannot follow. Bran, displaying the wisdom of his status, says, He would be a leader, let him be a bridge, and literally becomes the bridge for his company to cross these divides. This wisdom has become a proverb among the Welsh in regard to their leaders.

Becoming a bridge is the work of the medium. Though that is not the obvious teaching from Bran and Branwen, we can see it on some level. Her sending of starlings with messages is like our prayers, meditations, and simple ceremonies, seeking the aid of our beloved ones across a divide. When we call, they come, but the conditions of our circumstance, the things that appear to rule us, like the King of Ireland or our own modern worldview, can try to create further division and separation even when we are sincerely seeking help from beyond. Bran becomes the bridge, linking his company of allies with the realm where Branwen resides. Mediums and spirit workers become the bridge, connecting both sides and relaying messages, blessings, and healing.

The bridges are leaders. That is key and cannot be forgotten. What does leading look like? Just as many Spiritualists have been on the cutting edge of social change and civil rights, guided by their inner world contacts, those of us who are spirit workers today must also listen deeply and be a voice for change in the material world, from the perspective of the spirits. From that perspective, we are all in this together, and we want to create a world that is beautiful to return to once again. Individual mediumship is wonderful to create moments of healing within a person, a situation, and a family line. But leadership goes beyond just the personal.

Danielle’s ministry with the ancestors transcends just the focus upon her mediumship. While she has been a wonderful bridge to the spirits for myself, my friends, and my family, as a leader, she seeks to empower. Some mediums jealously guard their secrets of technique from both the public and potential students in an effort to hold on to fame and fortune as a celebrity medium. Danielle seeks to educate and empower her clients, students, and community.

This book and her educational work are the first way she leads, by honestly and open-heartedly sharing her experiences and wisdom so you can do this on your own. She doesn’t hold back and it shows. As an educator, she teaches us to have both discernment and to be open, bridging the gap between the modern world and the mystical. With her esoteric studies, she also bridges between what many perceive as dark and occult—the magickal world—and those who are often considered of the light—the Spiritualists of the New Age. There is great misunderstanding between both schools of thought, and Danielle deftly bridges them in her work—a particularly noteworthy feat.

Her second ring of leadership is in having the difficult conversations that none of us want to have and making them fun. She has a foot in the modern, the practical, and the administrative, and realizes that, while people love the seeming glamor of the ancestors and mediumship, if we are going to be authentically real, we have to talk about the end of life, about funeral arrangements, and about last wishes and wills. Do you know what you want done with your body? If not, you might want to figure that out as you journey into mediumship and not shy away from death, for it comes for us all. Danielle helps facilitate these difficult conversations in our community and beyond to get people more comfortable with the idea of death itself.

Lastly, her leadership is truly by example. She is the one willing to sit with the dying at the end and with the family as it happens and afterward—in hospital, hospice, and home. She is willing to facilitate end-of-life rituals for the dead and for the living, navigating the difficulty of honoring a loved one even when it might be in a religious worldview outside of her own practice. You cannot plan for these acts of service or schedule them out between your work. A leader just knows they have to show up, because that is part of the job of one who serves death and life.

I have been supremely honored to watch Danielle’s already considerable talent and knowledge grow in the time since first meeting her, watching her become an amazing teacher and priestess and a true leader in our community. Her dedication to both the holy arts and the community is inspiring. It is my fervent belief that this book can transmit the essence of her teachings at this time to serve as a bridge for you between the living and dead and empower your practice, no matter if you are coming from a magickal side seeking to understand mediumship or a mediumship side seeking to understand magick, or you are simply new to both.

Christopher Penczak

Author and Cofounder of the Temple of Witchcraft

[contents]

Chapter 1

Introduction to

Magickal Mediumship

Maybe you’ve felt it before. It might have been a subtle, energetic rush and feeling of deep love in a quiet moment of need. It could have been the smell of familiar perfume in the air, or a gentle whisper in your ear. Perhaps it was a quiet stirring as the season’s first daffodil conjured the sights and smells of your grandmother’s garden. It could have been the sudden delight of a cardinal perching on the fence the moment you remembered your aunt. It might have been a stream of synchronicities quickly unfolding after asking your deceased grandfather for guidance. Perhaps it was a louder call, with whole crowds of ancestors visiting your dreams and revealing a clear path ahead. Whatever it was that moved you to realize a connection to someone beyond the veil, I welcome you! The dead are here, and they still commune with the living. When we pause in our busy lives to listen, make space, and seek that connection, magick is possible!

Why Mediumship?

Mediumship is communication with the spirits of the dead. There is a process to mediumship, but it is more nuanced than just following steps. You will sometimes hear folk using the term medium to encompass all types of spirit communications and spiritual messages. As I was taught, and for ease of use in this book, mediumship refers to communication with the dead. However, many of the techniques discussed in this book are applicable to enhance psychic ability and to connect with other types of spirits, entities, angels, deities, and beyond. Exploring mediumship can also be beneficial for oracular work with deities and channeling messages from higher vibrational beings such as the Mighty Dead.

For me, my first experiences with the spirits of the dead were comforting and helped me grieve and process the death of my best friend. Many people who seek to develop their mediumship ability come to it after experiencing a significant loss. This is certainly what caused me to explore what was happening. When I was six, my childhood best friend died unexpectedly, and in a short time following his death, another childhood friend died from a brain tumor. These deaths were followed by the death of my grand-mère. These experiences made deep impressions that shaped me psychologically and spiritually. I can see the threads of their stories have woven into themes for me to explore throughout my life. Sudden, tragic, and unexpected grief from a medical mistake. Dealing with terminal illness and acceptance of mortality. And nearing the end of a well-lived life and the hospice experience. I am grateful for these early experiences with death. And I’m grateful that the spirits of my loved ones began to connect with me while I was so young.

Whether you have had experiences all your life, just once, or never before, you still have the ability to connect with the spirit world. I’ve heard various schools of thought on this, and I must say, what I feel in my heart—what I have seen from holding development circles for over ten years—is that anybody can connect to the spirit world and has probably done so before. We are conditioned to tune it out, to doubt our ability and the messages we’re receiving from our loved ones in Spirit. It does seem that some people are more wired naturally for mediumship, whether that is from something that has been experienced in this lifetime or perhaps from a past life. It is possible some people, much like those who are prodigies with instruments or sports, pick it up rather quick and progress in their development faster than others. That does not mean that one can’t progress their mediumship with practice. As I’ve mentioned before, oftentimes people come to mediumship after experiencing a loss, hoping to be able to feel closer to their deceased love one. What I tend to find is mediumship does not actually bring them closer in the way they expected, but it does help heal their grief, mourn their loss, and process the death and their feelings on death. One thing I do my best to convey during mediumship demonstrations is that while you may not receive a message as it’s impossible to bring one through to everyone’s deceased in the room, just witnessing and holding space for folk in similar situations can be helpful, healing, and empowering. This is why mediumship demonstrations and gallery sittings (where a medium delivers messages to those gathered in a crowd) are so sought after, from post–Civil War times to the here and now, especially following events of mass death.

Practical Application & Spiritual Development

Why would anyone want to put in the work to communicate with the spirit world? First off, continuing to immerse yourself in spirit work and spiritual development will allow you to make progress in your ability to communicate with the dead and strengthen your own intuition. I’ve been connecting since I was six and formally sitting in development groups since my early twenties. I’ve now been teaching for over a decade. The more I immerse myself, the more I feel it. The more I know it. Actively developing my ability led to a gain in confidence and trust in my process, the spirit world, and myself. This opened doors for me to follow my intuitions, psychic perceptions, and spirit connections and to access my higher self for guidance and aid.

The purpose of writing this book and sharing information in a compiled and accessible format is to create the guide I wish I had when I was starting out. Over the years, I’ve seen many people developing their mediumship while approaching it as if it were a hobby. I’m not shooting down that idea as that’s a fine way to open the door and start exploring. My advice and what I’ve truly found to make a difference is to reframe the work to focus on spiritual development and growth while living a magickal life in partnership with the spirit world.

When referring to spiritual development, I’m talking about your connection to your own soul—your own spirit and way of living in relation to the gods, creation, and the divine. This could be through a religious affiliation or your connection to the universe. We could go down a rabbit hole assigning what it means to be spiritual, but for me and my practice, spirituality centers on my mind, heart, and soul connections. The best place to start is in your mind. Yep, my mind and mindset make or break it. Contemplative practices have been key to understanding how I work internally and function in the world. Knowing myself deeply helped me expand and continues to do so. And while I’m certainly still working on this process, I’ve grown from it. Finding a daily contemplative practice such as prayer, meditation, devotionals, and divinations can help us examine our truth and universal truths. It helps us develop our ability to discern, which is imperative in this work. You’ll hear me state this repeatedly because it is one of the keys necessary for spiritual development, exploration, and progress.

To Walk the Crooked Path

Magickal practitioners often refer to walking a crooked road or crooked path. This means you must seek out and develop your spiritual practice and work to change your world, inside and out. The path may be long and winding, leading you to places you could have never imagined. Your path may include straight and narrow parts where you feel you’ve mastered it all before it suddenly bends off into somewhere new and unexplored. This journey is no easy task and unique to each person who pursues it. Walking the crooked path is a beautiful analogy for forging your soul and your relationship to self, the spirit world, and the divine.

One place to start as you set foot onto your path, or perhaps as you round this next bend, is to explore what it means to connect with the spirit world. What called you to this work? Have you had curious experiences? Are you working in tandem with spirits but seek a deeper relationship? Do you want to work with the dead to change your life and make magick? Does your ancestral lineage need healing?

All are reasons we walk farther down the crooked road. And sure, a medium is someone who connects with the spirits of the dead. We think of séances and Spiritualist mediums bringing through evidential information from your grandmother. That’s one way of being a medium. Yet connecting with your own dead—your ancestors and those who have inspired you on your path—can provide such a powerful partnership that can outweigh and surprise you when you reflect on why you wandered here in the first place. Rich relationships and allies are waiting to guide you, guard you, and inspire you as you walk your own crooked path. And being a medium can be much, much more.

What Is Magickal Mediumship?

When we talk about magick, we’re talking about the ability to create change in the world around us. One of the more commonly referenced definitions comes from Aleister Crowley, who states that magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. ¹ That includes the formalized ritual magick you may be imagining when you think of ceremonial magicians, witches, or sorcerers. It also includes the more practical and common acts of magick. Think of the vision board on your wall and stating affirmations while gazing into the mirror. These are forms of magick. Who knew you might already be rocking a magickal practice?

Another goal of writing this book is to introduce you to some of the basic concepts of partnering with the spirits of the dead and how to then enact change and bring magick into your life. This idea doesn’t sound so novel, but you’d be surprised. I’ve been actively sitting in and leading mediumship and psychic development groups for over a decade. Many of those attracted to learning mediumship don’t have a foundational spiritual practice. Heck, it took me a few years before I began incorporating my knowledge of ancestral work into my mediumship practice. It is that divorced in mind. When I finally realized I could deepen the connection with the spirits of the recently deceased and the long-dead ancestors, my practice shifted dramatically for the better. Not only could I be a communicator for the dead, but I could focus on receiving my own messages and practice listening to the guidance that was being offered to me. This is quite different from the hobby-style table tipping and spirit circle experiences that were my introduction to mediumship development back in my early twenties.

I hope to blend the teachings I have integrated from multiple traditions into something useful and practical to the newcomer or somebody who has studied mediumship for some time but wants to deepen their spiritual practice in communion with the dead. I hope this book will guide those seeking something more meaningful than basic evidential mediumship messages.

So what is magickal mediumship? It’s the partnership with the dead to enact your magick and enhance your life. Remember, magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with your will. By allowing the dead into your life, you can open the doors for connection, intercession, energy, wisdom, and an abundance of magickal support. I challenge you to explore this and see what I mean!

How I Came Upon This Work

For most of my life, I’ve felt a deep connection to the dead and have known they can make an impact on the living. When I was a child, I had several significant losses that catalyzed my connection and curiosity about what happens when we die and the potential for communication with the dead. Stemming from these early experiences, I’ve continued to study, practice, experience, and devote myself to mediumship, magick, ancestral practices, and death work. I’ve been a professional psychic medium for more than a decade and run a spiritual education center in Bedford, New Hampshire.

Prior to taking the plunge and pursuing my full-time spiritual work, I enjoyed my journey through collegiate studies, odd jobs, volunteerism, and a successful career in healthcare. The threads of my death work connections have been woven since my initial start of spiritual work and jobs that helped me pay my bills. For example, when I became a Reiki practitioner at the age of seventeen, I performed my first Reiki session on an ill iguana in my care at the Petco where I worked. The iguana sighed and died in my hands. Reiki is a Japanese healing practice that utilizes universal life force energy, so, naturally, being new to it, I was alarmed by this occurrence. While it was a peaceful death, I remember crying to my first spiritual mentor that I had killed the reptile. She assured me that I had done no such thing and told me what a gift I was able to bring this creature as it transitioned. Prophetically, she casually mentioned that some of us are more aligned with death work and that we may find ourselves in situations to serve the dying, just like with the iguana. Her words proved true again and again with sick or injured animals as well as with people.

While in college, I pursued a degree in healthcare management and policy and public health. My morbid fascinations led me to excel in epidemiology, the study of diseases and death in populations. To put myself through college, I continued to work at the pet store, became the teaching assistant for epidemiology courses, and began working at an assisted living home on the weekends. Working as a personal care assistant was hard work, but I loved it! Elderly folk hold a special place in my heart, and caring for them was rewarding, challenging, heartwarming, and heartbreaking all in one. It was here I had my first opportunities to walk beside those who were making their way to death’s door. The experiences I had in the time I worked there showed me that death wasn’t to be feared and how much of a difference one person can make during that transition time. It offered me comfort and a sense of purpose to provide support to the person on the physical level but also on the level of healing and spirit work that came with this role. I had begun noticing patterns when someone was closer to the end of their time here. The room would grow crowded as the ancestors came forward. I began witnessing the experiences I’d heard about from other hospice and healthcare workers where the patient would call out to a loved one who was already in the spirit world.

While taking care of the woman whose death several days later would be the first I attended, she appeared to catch something out of the corner of her eye. She gave it a startled, then strange but comforted, look. I asked her, Did you see someone? to which she only nodded and smiled mysteriously. On the day prior to her death, I heard the woman speak Polish to what seemingly was her deceased sister, only recognizable by the name she repeated. This first death was such a privilege to be part of and prepared me for the many similar experiences that would follow as I became more involved in this work. I remember feeling my young twenty-year-old heart weep with joy and sadness throughout the process, and I was so humbled by witnessing the labors of death. It shaped me