The Spiritualist Medium: A Study of Female Professionalism in Victorian America

The Spiritualist Medium: A Study of Female Professionalism in Victorian America

By: R. Laurence Moore

 

This week for my research I decided to continue on with my jstore articles that I had mentioned finding in my first blog post. The one that I decided to read for this week I actually found quiet recently after evolving my key word search to allow for more resources. My blog post this week is going to expand on the article and add some insight into how it applies to my research question: What role did séances and mediums play in Early American Spiritualism?

Cora Maynard
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln's Favorite Medium
 

The majority of The Spiritualist Medium: A Study of Female Professionalism in Victorian America focused upon what made females more prevalent in the profession of medium. First off medium-ship was one of the only career opportunities open to women in the nineteenth century. Inadvertently, the women who chose a career as a medium played upon societally defined characteristics of women during that time. The article cited some “key” character defining features of a medium as being “weak in will and reason (male trait), strong in intuition and nervousness (female trait), impressionable, and passive.” (pg.202) all of which were associated with the feminine persona.

Women accepted the lot appointed them as women in society and as mediums as they accepted suffering, sickness, and self-sacrifice that was associated with women at the time. Being a medium played along with this societal role in that women who became mediums were typically sick and bed ridden themselves. Female mediums played upon their frail nature. By all accounts vigorous and healthy people did not become mediums. “Cold hands and a light complexion, accompanied by a long record of sickness and physical suffering, gave the best possible signs of budding mediumship.” (pg. 215).



Emma Hardinge

Feminism, according to Moore, was evident in female mediums in a variety of ways including the fact that women took their womanhood seriously and this affected her inability to accept responsibility for her vocational choice. Instead of taking responsibility the women would blame her course of action on the spirits that controlled her. Throughout several texts it can be seen that a great number of women were frightened by their powers and reluctant to demonstrate them.

Emma Hardinge (pictured at right) was so frightened by her gifts that she ran from the room and tumbled down the stairs. This did not injure her severally and she went onto be a very influential medium even being called upon by the Lincoln and the Joint Congressional Committee on Reconstruction asking for her advice on “questions that involved a practical knowledge of finance, history, political economy, jurisprudence, and the science of government.” (pg. 209)  

Miss Ellen D. Starkweather almost meet a similar fate but was saved by a mysterious table that slide across the room to block her exit.

The article also defined two different types of mediums. The two main mediums roles that people took were either “trance” mediums or private “test mediums”. Females almost always went on as trance mediums. At that time women who took the stage stood in defiance of St. Paul’s admonition against women preaching in public. Speaking in trance was good theater and was also a way for women to be blunt. Acting as trance mediums allowed women to speak openly in public about issues otherwise off limits to them. Again the spirits were to blame for this since they were speaking through the medium….or were they???!?!?!?!

Contrary to popular belief mediums ship was not a way to get rich. From time to time a wealthy benefactor would act as a patron to mediums. Some wealthy benefactors included Cornelius Vanderbilt (pictured at left), Charles Partridge, Henry Seybert, Henry J. Newton, and David Underhill.

The average medium, male or female, typically got $5 for an evening’s work away from home in the last half of the nineteenth century. Private home sittings brought $1 and hour. Income as one can image was irregular and dependent upon the clientele. Travel expenses had to be considered in the paycheck as well. Warren Chase, (pictured at bottom) a well-known spiritualist, lectured for over 40 years and reported a typical earning of $425 for a sum of 121 lectures.

A great deal of the article focused upon the hardships that befell mediums as well. Mediums were more often than not treated more as an object then as a person. Séance goers often “treated a private medium as unimportant, intermediary, to be praised if things went well, but only for her strange gifts rather than for her trained skill.” (pg. 214). Sometimes the medium was even bound and gagged to prevent fraudulent actions.

The spirits that possessed the women could also have negative effects on them if they were benevolent. These hazards were played upon by critics as a means to say that women were asking for it. These hardships were a “good reason for women to stay at home and perfect the arts of domestic science.” (pg. 215).

Exploitation was another danger that female mediums encountered. Exploitation for many started at a very young age. Several female mediums fathers pushed them into the light. There were cases of fathers who became so obsessed with the spirits and turned the whole family’s attention away from other things. Laura Ellis’s father advertised her presentations of spirit wonders at the age of thirteen. She was repeatedly bound and gagged by audiences along the East Coast, yet she somehow managed to get spirits to play musical instruments which had been laid beside her in a darkened room.

The Spiritualist Medium was a very intriguing article that played upon the mindset of a lot of people living during the heyday of Spiritualism. It gave some insights into the darker side of being a medium and what key things it took to become one. I am interested to see if any of my research will shed some light on more famous male mediums. We will see.  

 

 

I have attached a video that shows showcases some Victorian photos connected with Spiritualism for you entertainment. Take a look some of them are really intriguing.

 

Ectoplasm: is a term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of spirits.