Books on Spiritual Expansion and Mediumship Development
Blog
Subject:
Books on Spiritual Expansion and Mediumship Development
by Danielle Searancke
I've been asked many times for book recommendations and I finally had time to put together a list. These have impacted my mediumship development, quenched my thirst in my nerdiness around mediumship and historical mediumship, or cracked my heart open.
There are many more books that I have read than this on the topic, but these are the ones that stick out for me the most.
Mediumship Development
I want to start with five of my favourite books regarding mediumship development. These are more of the how-tos with a little bit of philosophy.
The first one is by Gordon Smith, a Scottish medium known as the psychic barber. He is amazing and will up a few times on this list. I've never met him or studied under him. But one day, I hope to meet this man because he has made such a huge impact on me in my mediumship development. He has two books on mediumship development and intuitive studies, which I love. There's a lot of how-to within them and a lot of philosophy.
I really loved John Holland's book Bridging Two Realms. I thought it was a good book because it covered a little bit of everything, and I really enjoyed that.
Now this book is new to me, but I love it, and it's something that many of my students recommended to me, Between Two Worlds by the late Janet Nohavec. It's a great book, and she was also the minister of the Journey Within Church. She was definitely very respected and revered in the mediumship world.
When we are starting out on our mediumship journey, many things come through very symbolically for us, whether they're flashes of imagery or sensations that come. I found The Big Book of Psychic Symbols to be a really cool resource for me.
Between Two Worlds - Janet Nohavec
Intuitive Studies - Gordon Smith
Developing Mediumship - Gordon Smith
The Book of Psychic Symbols
Bridging two realms - John holland
Subject:
Books on Spiritual Expansion and Mediumship Development
Spirit School Blog
Historical/Inspirational Mediumship
When it comes to historical and inspirational mediumship, I love The Mediums Book by Allan Kardec. I was guided to Alan Keck in my first year of development in 2013. This book is kind of what sparked spiritism in the early 18 hundreds. He was very skeptical of mediumship and used to travel, study other mediums and try to find the frauds. A lot of these philosophies are outdated today, without a doubt, and they are a little bit fear-based. There's a lot of that language, but there's also some beautiful simplicity regarding spiritual communication. Everything back then was automatic writing, inspirational writing, and not so much mental mediumship, like we have more or less today, but I really enjoyed reading this book. He even touches on the skepticism of mediums charging for money. It was interesting for me to read, even back in the 1840s, that it was fully acceptable for a medium with this ability to receive financial compensation.
The mediumship of Helen Hughes by Bernard Upton is another amazing book. It's very hard to find, but Helen Hughes was one of the most incredible clairaudience mediums. You can Google her, and some websites show transcripts of her mediumship; the information she brought through was accurate and detailed. It was shocking for the day. This book follows her life as a working medium and includes some of her readings and transcripts.
Another one is a historical book called Awareness by Eileen J Garrett. And this one was written during World War II. She definitely has more of a scholarly outlook at mediumship and was somebody who really wanted to get to the bottom of the abilities and look at the science behind it.
I also have to give a shout-out to one of my mentors, Mavis patella. I love her book, Droplets of God.
Sharon DeBartolo is somebody who started developing her mediumship in her sixties. She's also a genealogist and wrote this book called In Search of Marie B. Hayden MD, the American Medium Who Brought Spiritualism to the UK. The most interesting thing was I've studied a lot of historical mediumship and before I heard her interview on a podcast, I couldn't quite place how mediumship - which really stemmed from the Fox sisters in the Eastern USA - became way bigger in the UK. Like how did it get over there? And this book answers that question.
The Mediums Book - Allan Kardec
The Mediumship of Helen Hughes - Bernard Upton
AWARENESS - Eileen J Garrett
Droplets of God - Mavis Pittilla
In Search of Marie B Hayden, MD. The American Medium Who Brought Spiritualism to
the U.K. - Sharon DeBartolo
Book By and About Mediums
Here are some of my favourite books by mediums about mediums. These are the books I really started with. I loved reading books about mediums and how they became mediums and their like mediumship journey. So they're not necessarily how-tos or philosophical or anything like that. They're more about mediums in their lives.
The first one is the first Sylvia brown book, I read all her books when I was quite young, but this book I credit with saving my life. I was just about to go down a very slippery and dark road in my life, making lots of bad decisions. Then one day, this book appeared on my coffee table. I feel like it was literally dropped there by Spirit. It's called The Other Side and Back. I highly recommend this book if you read just one of hers. After I read that book that night - I finished it one day - I wrote a letter to the universe, and I completely changed my life; I left my boyfriend, who was really abusive. I would be scared to know where my life would be if that book had not landed on my coffee table.
I really love The Light Between Us by Laura Lynn Jackson. She's very popular now and has since been on Goop Labs on Netflix and the new series Surviving Death. She's a very accurate medium and what I love about her book is that she is one of the few examples I know of, of a self-developed medium. Her book really highlights her journey to being a self-developed medium. She's never been mentored. And I really loved that because I get a lot of people in my DMs saying, "I can't afford mentorship" and "I can't afford classes." And I say, "you don't need money to develop mediumship."
I love the Language of Spirit by Aboriginal medium Sean Leonard. Of course, he's my favourite medium in the entire world. He's the most jaw-dropping accurate, humble, just amazing medium I've ever seen in my life. He's Canadian too, and if you ever see him live, you'll be blown away. He's another clairaudience medium. I think that people who work in their clairaudience are probably the most accurate.
I really liked We Don't Die by Sandra Champagne. Of course, she's the host of, We Don't Die radio. She has some really great and interesting interviews on her podcast.
My first mediumship book was a gift; it was called Talking to Heaven by James Van Prague. I just put down a list because it really stuck out for me. I'm not the hugest JVP fan, but I remember his book being very impactful in my youth.
I loved Mavis' book With Spirit. It's written by someone else who interviews her. She is one of the great living mediums, and I've met very few people who have such a reverence for the world of Spirit. I also really love her philosophies and feel we need to capture them while she's here with us because she's amazing.
The Other Side and Back - Sylvia Browne
The Light Between Us - Laura Lynn Jackson
The Language of Spirit - Aboriginal Medium Shawn Leonard
We Don't Die - Sandra Champlain
Talking to Heaven - James Van Pragg
With Spirit - Mavis Pittilla
Heart Cracked Open Books
There are a few books that I wanted to mark down that cracked my heart open. It's hard to make me cry, and it's also hard to get me in feeling mode because I'm very much in my masculine a lot of the time. But these books made me slow down.
The first one changed me fundamentally as a person and how I teach and create communities in my business - Rise Sister Rise by Rebecca Campbell. It's probably one of the top three books I've ever read. It's a collection of poetry, wisdom, philosophy, and healing. I have a signed copy, and it's one of my most prized possessions.
Another one that I loved was Mary Magdalene Revealed by Megan Waterston. She's a theologian who studied at Harvard and talks about how Mary Magdalene was omitted from the Bible. She talks about the different writings of Mary Magdalene, the meanings behind them from a theological lens, the history of the bibles that we see today, why she was omitted, and what else was omitted. I loved this book and talk about it all the time.
Anyone who's ever had a reading with me or has studied under me has heard of this book - The Afterlife of Billy Fingers, by Annie Kagan. If you know anyone who has died of an overdose or suffered from addictions, this is a fantastic book. I've read it every single year. I will continue to read it. There are so many different lessons within it, and it's very life-affirming. It gave me a lot of empathy towards people who choose an addiction path in this life.
Another is Intimate Conversations with the Divine by Caroline Myss. I have a few of her books on the list. She's amazing, and this book is a collection of her prayers. I'm someone who loves prayer from a non-religious sense. It's just basically conversations with Spirit, and I really enjoyed it.
Of course, I must mention Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss; this is about past lives and is heart-opening.
I also have to mention the Conversations with God series by Neil Walsh. I really enjoyed the first one, but then the skeptical side of me that came out. But I really did enjoy the first of the three books. I also know that many people credit this book to their spiritual awakening back in the day.
This one's a bit funnier and lighter - You're a Badass by Jen Sincero. I think everyone needs to read it. Everyone needs a kick in the butt. It is hilarious, and she's so funny.
Of course, I have to say Rebecca Campbell's first book, Light is the New Black is so good. Rise Sister Rise had a stronger impact on me, but Light is the New Black is the same premise, a mixture of poetry, a bit of her life, etcetera.
Mary Magdelene Revealed - Meggan Watterson
Rise Sister Rise - Rebecca Campbell
The Afterlife of Billy Fingers - Annie Kagan
Intimate Conversation with the Divine - Caroline Myss
Many Lives Many Masters - Brian Weiss
Conversations With God series - Neale Walsch
You are a Badass - Jen Sincero
Light is the New Black - Rebecca Campbell
Angels
There are only three angel books I'm going to recommend because with angels, I feel so many people make it feel very corny, and I'm just not a corny person. So there are a lot of people I have not resonated with when it came to angel studies or angel work. I'm just gonna talk about the ones that did resonate.
Kyle Gray's book Angel Prayers is one of my favourite books. He gives a little bit of a what's what on different angels. Then he writes out these beautiful prayers for each angel, and it's just such a beautiful read. It's like my angel bible, and I absolutely love it. Kyle has a very modern approach to angel studies, and I love his connection with them.
My favourite angel book is called The Big Book of Angels. There's no author accredited because there are multiple authors. What I love about it, for somebody like me who really wanted to go to university to study theology back in the day, is that it talks about angels from all the different historical religions, from a Catholic lens to Islamic and Muslim lenses. It gives it a non-biased look at angels, how they appear across different faiths, and the impact they had on those faiths.
Angels in My Hair by Lorna Byrne I enjoyed, but I will say that I don't agree with all of her philosophies. She does not believe in women's rights, and we have very different belief systems and approaches to life, but this book was really good. It still made my list because I thought it was beautiful, and I really enjoyed it.
Angel Prayers - Kyle Gray
The Big Book of Angels - multiple collaborators
Angels In My Hair - Lorna Byrne
Healing Books
Here are some books on healing and books that I found to be healing for the spiritual journey. It's becoming more and more apparent to me that the mediumship and spiritual development journey go hand-in-hand with our healing journies. You've got to open up to this self-help and this self-healing journey as well.
The first healing book I want to talk about is You Can Heal Your Life by Louis Hay. I only read that book last year and almost died of shock because I felt like I've been channelling Louis Hay in my sessions for almost six years. So many things that I have said from Spirit to my clients, even on a more psychic level, are exactly what Louise Hay was talking about. I find myself referencing her work quite a bit, and I really love it. In the back of this book, there's a glossary where you can look up what emotional symptoms are related to physical ones. There are different, more spiritual and emotional aspects to our discomfort and diseases, and this is what she gets into in this book.
I love The Shift by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I will admit I haven't read the book, I saw the documentary and books are usually better than what you see on TV, so I can only imagine this book is phenomenal.
The next one is The Dark Side of Light Chasers by Debbie Ford. This is all about shadow work. I had a hard time finishing it because I just felt so seen. You're like, 'Oh my God, that's me. That's my problem. I totally get that.' I highly recommend it.
Another book I have listened to many times is Advanced Energy Anatomy by Caroline Myss. Her book The Anatomy of Spirit is definitely more popular. Still, this book talks about four different archetypes that we all have: the prostitute, the child, the victim, and the saboteur. She also talks about finances, chasing dreams, hell, and different things we encounter in our lives from those four archetypes. I cannot recommend it enough.
Another one that will make you feel so seen is The Expectation Hangover by Christine Hassler. This book changed my life. She's an amazing coach, and she's very intuitive. A lot of our suffering is because of unmet expectations we place on ourselves and others, and this book completely addresses that. So if you're somebody who likes to suffer because of unmet expectations, you must check out this book.
Another book I love by Dr. Wayne Dyer is 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. This is an audiobook that I got through my library app, and I believe that he's speaking to a graduating class, but it's phenomenal. It's something that I've listened to over and over and over again. And I pick up different pearls of wisdom and nuggets every time I hear it.
You Can Heal Your Life - Louise Hay
The Shift - Dr. Wayne Dyer
The Dark Side of Light Chasers - Debbie Ford
Advanced Energy Anatomy - Caroline Myss
Expectation Hangover - Christine Hassler
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace - Dr. Wayne Dyer
Books About the Cosmos
These are a few books about the cosmos because these are also books I've held onto and I've really enjoyed.
This is more about the moon and astrology, but I love New Moon Astrology by Jan Spiller. I used to write new moon articles years ago, and I remember I was on a walk and I heard Spirit say to me very clearly, 'you need to write about the new moon.' This was in 2017, and I knew nothing about the new moon. That night, I wrote a blog entry about chakras, and I went to my library shelf and there, this is this book - the second to just appear to me.
I also love Yasmin Bolland's Moonology. I use the Moonology deck a lot, and I love it. I learned so much from her book. It's probably my favourite resource when it comes to moon work.
I also love The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Martine Wollfolk. It's a huge book, very simple and digestible for somebody curious about astrology.
Another book I love but is highly complex, detailed, and accurate is called The Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas. I have Saturn in my second house; what does that mean? I'll go to this book and look up Saturn in the second house, and it's incredibly accurate. I love it so much.
New Moon Astrology - Jan Spiller
Moonology - Yasmin Bolland
The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need - Joanna Martine Wollfolk
The Twelve Houses - Howard Sasportas
End of Life and Grief Books
Now, I want to talk about books on the end of life and grief. I'm an end-of-life doula, and I can't leave without giving you these books.
Caring for the Dying by Henry Frisco Weiss was mandatory reading for my end-of-life doula training. I really enjoyed it and thought it was fantastic. It talks about caring for someone dying and the different experiences that dying people have.
I also really enjoyed The Needs of the Dying by David Kessler. That was another book that really did give me the perspective that I didn't have on what my clients would've gone through with loss because this does come up quite a bit in my mediumship readings.
Finally, I can't leave this topic of end-of-life and grief without mentioning On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. She up-levelled the end-of-life doula industry and brought the death conversation to the table.
Caring For The Dying - Henry Fersko-Weiss
The Needs of the Dying - David Kessler
On Death and Dying - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
These are the books that have impacted my life here so far.