Psi vs. survival: A qualitative investigation of mediums' phenomenology comparing psychic readings and ostensible communication with the deceased

<p><i>Certain mediums are able to report accurate and specific information about the deceased loved ones (termed 'discarnates') of living people (termed 'sitters') even without any prior knowledge about the sitters or the discarnates, in the complete absence of any sensory feedback, and without using deception. Despite recent experimental research investigating this phenomenon (e.g. Beischel & Schwartz, 2007), few systematic qualitative studies (e.g. Rock, Beischel & Schwartz, 2008) have been conducted. Consequently, six certified research mediums were asked to describe in as much detail as possible their subjective experiences during discarnate communication and psychic readings for the living. Thematic analysis revealed various comprehensive constituent themes for each experience type. Mediumship and psychic reading experiences were subsequently situated within Grof's (1975) cartography of the transpersonal dimensions of the psyche. The present study constitutes an initial step towards isolating the phenomenological processes underlying discarnate communication readings. A detailed understanding of these processes may, in turn, assist researchers with regards to determining the source of the purportedly non-local, non-sensory information mediums report.</i></p>