Let the Dead Rest

Don't disturb the dead. Don't walk across graves. Let the dead rest.

From ever since I can remember, these were phrases I heard or were told – I'm not sure why. I don't disagree with the principle, but why did I hear this so much? Was it because I loved graveyards? Was it because my family's background was Roman Catholic? As a young child I used to sing and play the guitar in a few churches every now and then. I loved graveyards; they were so peaceful and I never once felt scared or intimidated being in one. I never thought I was disturbing the dead when I played in graveyards because I did not feel spirits (specifically those of humans who had passed) hung around in graveyards. In fact, graveyards were among the places my mind felt quiet and my heart felt light. The beach is the other place I experience such lightness.

Don't disturb the dead. Don't walk across graves. Let the dead rest.

I attribute these words and this philosophy – combined with my wariness of earthbound spirits and the "shadow men" I used to see in my room at night – to the reason I never once explored mediumship (meaning deliberately connecting with those crossed over). I never went anywhere near it. As an adult, I accepted that earthbound souls would choose to communicate with me and seek help crossing over, especially because I sensed them anyway and was doing a lot of shamanic work opening sacred space and portals and whatnot; but I felt that connecting with those already crossed over would disturb them; they were at peace now and had better things to do than deal with we humans who could not let them go – that was our problem, not theirs, after all, everyone dies.

Sounds harsh, but this was what I thought until very recently. Spirit has ways of pushing you to change your perspective – gently or roughly – and my perspective was changed (roughly) when life events happened and I was taken down the route of "if you only have a year left to live, what would you strive for that you have not yet accomplished?" To my complete and utter surprise, I found myself facing mediumship: this strange practice of 'disturbing the peaceful dead' I had stayed far away from, and what I found was so very much the opposite to what I had assumed.

I already knew you could not "summon" those crossed over – they don't make contact unless they want to, but I felt certain that my trying to make contact would be like ringing a loud bell and disturbing their sleep (so to speak). I discovered this was not the case – I had to do it to know it, though – it's rare I take anyone else's word on something like this. So, off I went to a spiritualist church and am grateful I got invited to a practice night. I went and I practiced. My new found experience showed me that:

1. the ones who want to and can communicate are eager to do so of their own volition to help us in whatever little way they can because they remember full well how difficult physical incarnation is (and of course, they also love us, but many spirit beings carry love – human spirits remember the human condition, though);
2. the feeling of one who has crossed over is not at all like that of earthbound spirits. Earthbound spirits (those who have not crossed) feel almost exactly like living human beings and often carry the same anger, sadness, loss, depression, and confusion (ultimately because they are supposed to have crossed over). I understand there are a few exceptions to this rule where the occasional earthbound wants to stay on this plane and is very happy here. I have not personally met any of these ones yet;
3. after I tried it for the first time, I carried the mediumship experience for over 12 hours – and yes, I closed myself down properly and everything ... what I mean is I still felt what I had felt when I helped to bring someone through with their message, and I can only describe it as "touching a piece of heaven" (swap the word 'heaven' for whatever suits you and your culture best). And it felt nothing like connecting with angels – for me, angels actually have a cool diamond-light kind of energy; very beautiful, but also a little hard to get on with. Those crossed over felt different – they felt like a familiar, protective hug; they felt like warm pink; they felt like a heartbeat and a mother's love. I was quite taken aback. I was left uplifted, and I really didn't expect that. I am still carrying the feeling that I have been of service to something quite special, and this was just one soul, for five minutes.

I could go on a bit longer, but long blog posts are overwhelming. My purpose in writing all of this down is simply for the sake of communication and sharing experiences. There was a time when we were burned at the stake for expressing such a thing (and still are in several parts of the world), so it's important to make full use of the eras and opportunities where we have the ability to do so freely.

I was pleased the process of mediumship in this way came naturally to me – well, the 'platform' bit didn't! But the rest was not so different to the work I had always done, bar a shift in perspective and in my own rigid beliefs.

Don't disturb the dead. Don't walk across graves. Let the dead rest.

Additionally, and this is a very important aspect for me, it has been made clear to me that we have the opportunity through mediumship to heal and potentially even end karmic cycles by bringing much needed closure to some people. This can save lifetimes of challenges in future incarnations! Being someone who works with ancestral healing and the shadow, this is vital. So, so vital. How did I not see this before? Because of my own programmed beliefs, sneakily ingrained there from childhood, that I had to bring down.

I feel every single human being is psychic and mediumistic by nature – it's our birth-right as beings of energy, conscience, and higher consciousness. We are not disturbing anything by connecting to Spirit in this capacity as long as we are full of good and healing intentions – we are, in fact, re-membering (not just others, but also ourselves), and honouring both life and love.

Photograph: A Graveyard in Cambridge © Dianna Hardy, 2023