The thought above is by Vivien Monzani Fonseca Faria Pedro (photo), a volunteer worker and Spiritist speaker at Casa do Caminho – Instituição Espírita Cristã, in the Brazilian city of São Carlos, in the state of São Paulo. She is also a teacher with degrees in Education and Literature in São Carlos, where she lives. A Spiritist since the age of 13, she shares with our readers in this interview her life-long experiences as a medium.

How did you become aware that you were a medium?

From a very young age I was able to see and hear Spirits around me. I was also able to contact Spirits in my sleep, through somnambulism. My grandmother used to tell me that I talked a lot during my sleep and would often “get up in the middle of the night and walk through the house talking to someone else.” I also heard music and noises around the house. At the age of 21, I began having premonitions, which were usually about big disasters like plane crashes and fires. I carry on with the same faculties and I can now write and speak in trance. I also have telepathic powers, or the capacity to read the thoughts of other people. That happens very often during the Spiritist talks and lectures I give.

How do you deal with that, taking into account your knowledge of Spiritism?

As these perceptions have been put to good use, they no longer cause me the afflictions they used to. Before I found Spiritism and studied the Teachings, I felt quite restless with my mediumship. My telepathy still causes me some discomfort, however. After all, it can be very distressing to find out what other people are really thinking. The sounds and noise I hear can also be a source of embarrassment. I very often don’t know if it was a Spirit or an incarnate who has spoken to me. I have in the past answered questions that I thought had been asked by someone next to me and have shared my views on beautiful music that no one else around me could hear.

What is the most striking aspect of those experiences?

I believe it is the joy that takes over our hearts when we see the transformation and the improvement that people go through after they begin attending a Spiritist centre regularly. I feel gratified for being able to help our brothers and sisters. But I am fully aware that no one benefits more from that process than me. Many will, of course, abandon the treatment and forget that they will continue to need spiritual nourishment. But I know that a seed will have been sown in their hearts and that is my reward.

What are your most vivid memories as a medium?

It is clearly the mediumship I experienced as a child. I used to be very scared as Spirits would turn up any time, out of the blue. And people would often dismiss what I said when I mentioned that I was hearing voices or music around me. They would say that was something inside my mind.

Has Spiritism helped you overcome that?

Absolutely. Without the Spiritist Teachings, I wouldn’t have been able to control my mediumship and use it as a valuable Christian tool. The knowledge I have acquired has lifted a veil over my eyes and has shown me that, as André Luiz, teaches us in Nos Domínios da Mediunidade (In the Realms of Mediumship): “Being a medium is not at all a privilege. Mediumship doesn’t mean sublimation. It is a work tool.” In fact, as James, the apostle had already taught us, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James, 2:17)

What has been the main challenge for you? And how do you deal with your emotions?

The main challenge is not to become like the soil that is taken over by the thorns of bad inclinations, where any seed that falls will die. The biggest challenge for me is to become the sower that leaves behind my bad habits and all forms of selfishness. It is to carry on working for Christ even when faced with hostility and misunderstandings. The biggest challenge is to get rid of the old man, corrupted by all sorts of illusions and desires, to give way to a new man. In this fight between the old and the new, it is often difficult to control our negative feelings and to remain emotionally neutral. After all, selfishness is still deep rooted in all of us and we tend to resort to hostility as a form of self-defence. But as difficult it may seem, we will only manage to overcome our bad habits by giving the first step in the right direction.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Mediumship is a divine tool to help others, when used according to the principles of Jesus. It offers us an opportunity to put into practice the law of love during the eternal learning process that is based on helping other people. The goal of the mediums, who are able to speak on behalf of the Spirits, is no other than spreading the scintillating words of Jesus and taking comfort and enlightenment to those who need the most.