Fifty Years a Medium – Chapter 14, 6/8 by Estelle Roberts

In this connection it is interesting to note how easily a circle is upset if the atmosphere is at all strained. Red Cloud is always urging us during the sittings not to get tense. As a matter of fact, he often uses a little dance with the trumpet instead of telling us this, and experienced sitters know what he means.

A too highly emotional atmosphere, whether hostile or the reverse, also seems detrimental to the ease with which the communications can be effected. Furthermore, it does not do to press for information as this seems to impede the power. For instance, I have heard a rather sceptical wife repeatedly demanding from her husband,

who had been giving quite a good evidence of his identity, that he should tell her the pet name by which he used to call her. The communicator began to falter in his speech and the trumpet dropped. She was warned not to be so insistent. Later, as the conversation picked up, the husband called her by the very name she wanted.

Of course, this incident could quite easily be accounted for by telepathy, but the point I wish to make clear is that for good results it is best to let the voices give their own evidence in their own way. To accomplish this the conversation should be a natural one and its thread not abruptly broken by sudden demands or queries.

One must remember the condition in which these entities are supposed to be – a superphysical state from which their vibrations are “tuned down” to enable them to communicate with us on earth. One of my own relatives, manifesting for the first time, said to me that he felt it was like “taking a dose of your ether,” and when questioned as to what he meant said, “Your medical stuff, of course.”

Many of the communicators are very excited on coming for the first time. It is easy to understand how difficult it must be for them in their confused condition to be able to answer every question hurled at them by an irresponsible sitter. We know ourselves how easy it is in everyday life when suddenly asked for a name or fact usually quite familiar,

for it to prove temporarily quite inaccessible. It seems to me surprising that under these difficult conditions such wonderful evidence of survival of personality after death can be and is given.