What is a Medium? Types of Mediums and How They Differ From Psychics

What a medium does, the main types of mediumship, and how to tell whether a medium or a psychic fits your question.

A medium is a psychic who is said to connect with the spirits of people who have passed on and to share their messages with you. Every medium is psychic, but not every psychic works as a medium. A psychic reading usually looks at your life now and where it may be headed. A medium reading is about connection with someone who has crossed over, whether that’s a parent, a partner, a friend, or even a pet.

What Does a Medium Do?

Mediumship is a spiritual practice, and a medium’s part in it is to act as a bridge between you and the spirit world. During a reading, the medium quiets their mind and opens up to impressions from a spirit who wants to come through. Those impressions can arrive as images, words, feelings, or physical sensations. The medium then describes what they’re receiving so you can recognize who is there and what they want you to know.

You might come to a medium for comfort after a loss. You might want to say something you didn’t get the chance to say, or simply to know that someone you love is at peace. A medium’s focus is that connection. Questions about your future usually suit a psychic reading better.

Psychic Marley ext. 7595 remembers one reading like this:

During one reading, I described a man lying in the street and shared the message I received: he had been a stranger to my client, but she had comforted him in his final moments, and he wanted to thank her. My client recognized the man from my description and explained that she had found him dying in the street, pulled over, and stayed to comfort him, unsure whether he could hear her when he briefly opened his eyes. Sharing that message of gratitude was deeply meaningful to me, and I feel so grateful for the opportunity to help people find comfort and peace.

Psychic Marley

Psychic vs. Medium: What’s the Difference?

The two words are often used as if they mean the same thing, but they describe different kinds of readings. Here’s the simplest way to remember it. A psychic reads the energy around you and your situation. A medium connects with someone who has passed.

Many advisors do both. A reading can start with a question about your life and shift toward a loved one who comes through, or the other way around. If you’re not sure which you need, start with what’s on your heart. That usually tells you. When it’s a loved one you’re hoping to reach, our psychic medium readings are the place to begin.

Psychic Rika ext. 5376 sees the overlap this way:

In my experience, you wouldn’t go to a psychic for a mediumship reading, but you can go to a medium for a psychic reading. Mediumship gives me the feeling of access to the whole invisible realm, and to the ones who can help you get through. Often what we need is to open our senses to what we can’t see, and in this way a medium can help you open your eyes.

Psychic Rika

The Types of Mediums

Spiritual mediums are usually grouped into two broad types, mental and physical. Readings by phone or chat are mental mediumship, since the medium works through impressions rather than effects in a room.

Mental mediumship

In mental mediumship, the spirit is said to communicate with the medium’s mind. The medium receives the information through one or more of the “clair” senses, then puts it into words for you.

• Clairvoyance (clear seeing): images or short scenes in the mind’s eye. If you’ve wondered about this gift yourself, see how to tell if you’re clairvoyant.
• Clairaudience (clear hearing): a name or a few words heard inwardly. Here’s more on how clairaudient psychics work.
• Clairsentience (clear feeling): emotions or physical sensations, like goosebumps or a strong sense of someone’s personality. Read our guide to clairsentience.
• Claircognizance (clear knowing): a sudden certainty about something the medium had no ordinary way to know.

Some mediums also report clear smelling (sometimes called clairalience) or clear tasting (clairgustance). They might notice a loved one’s perfume or the taste of a favorite meal.

Physical mediumship

Physical mediumship involves effects that other people in the room can see or hear. Mediums of this kind claimed that spirits could make rapping sounds or move and lift objects. Some said spirits could speak in a voice apart from the medium’s, or even take visible form. These displays were a feature of many 19th-century séances.

Physical mediumship is also the form most often linked to the fraud exposed in that era. If you come across it today, keep an open but careful mind.

Trance mediumship and channeling

In trance mediumship, the medium enters a trancelike state and a spirit speaks through them more directly. Channeling is closely related. Channelers often describe connecting with guides or other non-physical beings, rather than only with loved ones who have passed. We explain the difference in our guide to channelers vs. mediums, and you can also read with one of our channeling psychics.

What Happens During a Medium Reading

Every medium works a little differently, but many readings follow a similar rhythm.

1. Opening. Many mediums begin with a quiet moment or a short prayer before they reach out.
2. Recognition. The medium usually shares details that help you recognize who’s there, such as a name or initial, the relationship, a personality trait, or a shared memory.
3. Messages. Once you recognize the spirit, messages tend to follow. They’re often simple and loving.
4. Your questions. You can ask your own questions. Spirit may answer directly, indirectly, or not at all.
5. Closing. The medium closes the connection, and you have a moment to take in what came through. Callers often end by asking the medium to pass on their love. One of our mediums always gives the same answer: “You just did.”

You may cry. That’s normal, and a good medium will give you room for it. You might also hear from someone you didn’t expect. That can be surprising, and that person may have something important to share.

It helps to stay open about how the connection unfolds. Our mediums have described the range plainly. A reading can bring a very strong connection, a vague sense of something, or nothing at all. Whichever it is, it says nothing about the bond you shared. For more on what to ask, see our list of questions to ask a psychic medium.

When a detail doesn’t make sense

Not every message lands in the moment. A medium often passes on a name or an image without knowing what it means. Psychic Abrielle ext. 9894 described it this way: “This is like solving a bit of a mystery, because I don’t understand the symbol, only my client will connect with it.”

Sometimes the person who can confirm it isn’t on the call. Psychic Donna ext. 9448 told us about a caller asking after her sister’s late fiancé. He came through using a nickname the caller had never heard. “The information didn’t make sense to my caller,” Donna said, “so I told her to ask her sister to confirm it. Her sister was very excited to hear the news.”

And sometimes it takes years. Psychic Fiona ext. 5178 has written about sitting with other mediums as a young reader and being asked, over and over, about someone named David. Fiona didn’t know a David. Decades later came the answer: a brother by that name who had died as a baby, on a side of the family Fiona had never met.

That’s the practical reason to write down what you hear, including the parts that don’t mean anything yet.

How To Prepare for a Medium Reading

• Think about who you hope to hear from, and hold that hope loosely. Someone else may come through first. Psychic Rika ext. 5376 explains why that matters: “sometimes it’s Aunt Betty that opens the door for your beloved father, so you have to let all the other spirits come through who want to.” In her words, “Closed minds close the ears and then no one gets to speak.”
• Write down a few open questions, such as, “Is there anything you want me to know?”
• Share as little as you can at the start. Short yes or no answers let the details come from the medium, which makes them easier to trust.
• Keep a pen nearby. Rika’s advice is to write everything down, because, “things often make a lot more sense in hindsight.”
• Be gentle with yourself afterward. Give yourself a little quiet time once the reading ends.

If this is your first reading of any kind, our guide on what to expect from a psychic reading covers the basics.

After Your Reading: How To Weigh What You Heard

A reading can stir up a lot of feelings. Give it a day, then go back through your notes with a clear head. A few simple habits can help you see what you were actually given:

• Start with the exact words. Write down what the medium said before you decide what it means.
• Sort the specific from the general. A nickname, a habit or a shared memory tells you more than “she loved you very much,” which is true of most people we miss.
• Ask what the medium could already have known. Anything you mentioned during the reading, even in passing, isn’t new information.
• Keep a “not yet” list. Some details can only be checked with family, as Donna’s caller found, and some are never confirmed. It’s fine to leave them open.
• Let comfort and confirmation be two different things. A reading can leave you feeling lighter without proving anything, and you can value it for that.

How To Recognize a Trustworthy Medium

A good medium can be a real comfort when you’re grieving. Grief can also leave you feeling open and raw, though, so it helps to know what a trustworthy reading looks like.

• They give you specific details you can recognize, not general statements that could fit anyone.
• They let the information come through them rather than asking leading questions.
• They never pressure you to book more sessions, buy items, or pay to remove a “curse.”
• They respect your beliefs and your pace.
• They’re honest when a connection isn’t coming through, and they know early on. As one of our mediums put it, “A good medium can tell you in the first few minutes whether or not they are making a connection and they will not try to force it.”

A reading can bring comfort, but it isn’t a substitute for grief support. If your loss feels too heavy to carry, a grief counselor or your doctor can help too.

A Short History of Mediumship

People in communities around the world have tried to communicate with spirits of the dead. Modern Spiritualism traces back to 1848, when the Fox family of Hydesville, New York, reported unexplained rapping sounds in their farmhouse. Kate Fox and her sister Maggie went on to work as mediums. The practice of holding séances to reach the spirit world soon spread throughout the United States and Europe. In 1888 Maggie publicly denounced Spiritualism in a newspaper confession. A year later she took it back.

Spiritualism also drew critics, and some of their concerns were fair. Many mediums who produced physical effects were caught faking them, and the magician Harry Houdini later campaigned to expose them. It’s a useful reminder that a medium reading should feel honest and specific, not staged.

Are Mediums Real?

People have asked this for as long as there have been mediums, and researchers have studied it since the late 1800s.

What a reading gives you is more personal. It might be comfort, a sense of closure, or a detail you can’t explain. The exercises above, from writing down the exact words to listening for specific details, help you see what you were actually given. You’re the best judge of what a reading means to you, and you’re free to take what helps and leave the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a medium contact a specific person?

You can ask for someone in particular, and a medium can try to reach them. A medium can’t promise who will come through, though. Sometimes the person you need to hear from most isn’t the one you expected.

Do I need to be in the same room as a medium?

No. Our mediums read by phone or chat, so you can connect from wherever you are.

Can a medium reach a pet that has passed?

Many mediums say they can. Our guide to communicating with a pet in the afterlife explains how that type of reading works.

How much does a medium reading cost?

Readings at California Psychics are billed per minute, and the rate depends on the advisor you choose. You add funds before connecting, and the reading ends when they run out (unless Auto Reload is on), so you stay in control of your budget. New customers get introductory pricing; see our pricing page for current rates. Tip: jot down your questions beforehand so your minutes go to what matters most.

Can you learn to be a medium?

Some mediums say they were born with the gift. Others say they built it over years of practice. If you feel drawn to it, it’s wise to learn from an experienced medium rather than trying to contact spirits on your own.

What does a psychic medium do differently from a medium?

The terms mostly overlap. “Psychic medium” usually describes someone who offers both kinds of reading. That means guidance about your life and connection with Spirit.

Is there someone special you’re longing to hear from? Our mediums who connect with loved ones who have passed can help you reach out, gently and at a pace that feels right for you.

Only 2% of applicants make it through our rigorous screening, so every advisor you speak with has been carefully vetted. Every reading is also backed by our Life-Changing or FREE Guarantee. If your first reading with us isn’t right for you, let us know within 7 days and we’ll credit it in full. After that, if a reading leaves you unsatisfied, contact customer care within 24 hours and they can credit your account. Credits go to your California Psychics account. They aren’t cash refunds, and some limits apply, so it’s worth reading the full terms.