Fuck mediums. I think these people are the scum of the earth.
Before I go any further with this nuanced and emotionally-even blog post I want to extend the olive branch to energy workers/healers. I have friends who make an honest living doing energy work and have many friends and family who have benefited from it. The inner focus and self awareness it can provide, along with many methods of meditation and reflection are beneficial to those who study it. While I may not believe in much of it, I find no harm or fault in the benefits it provides to its practitioners and adherents, as it effects only them and their well-being.
Now that that’s out of the way…
Fuck mediums. These people who claim to be able to communicate with the lingering spirits of our loved ones are predators who prey on the grieving. Death is the great unknown and can leave relationship problems (whether platonic or romantic) forever unresolved with the departed. It is the finality we all face one day and that, whether personal or the prospect of losing someone dear to you, is scary. That mediums take advantage of this natural fear and the grief we feel over the loss of a loved one makes me sick to my stomach.
And it’s easy to prey upon. We crave connection to our loved ones or closure with those who left us on uncertain footing. It’s a natural thing to want and death is the final curtain on any and all opportunities for traditional connection and closure. Death can be devastating. If someone were to come to you with an offer that you could speak to your loved one again? That they were a conduit to reassure you that everything is all right and whatever uncertainty you felt with them before they departed is resolved? That sounds amazing. That sounds just like what your grieving heart needs. You’d pay a lot of money for that kind of comfort and reassurance, wouldn’t you? That’s what these con artists are counting on.
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen these people exposed for what they are. From Penn & Teller’s Bullsh!t to the James Randi Foundation to local news reports… hell, even Harry Houdini made it a mission to expose mediums as frauds!
This current story, Spirit Shepherd, is not only my opportunity to show how necromancy has changed since I returned to this setting, but it’s my chance to express my outrage and anger towards these grief parasites. Pares’s cold-reading in last week’s comics is a somewhat simplified version of how real-world mediums work. Saritha yelling at Pares is frankly me yelling at these people. I honestly don’t care how ham-fisted my writing gets with this, so long as my feelings about these scumbags who exist in the real world are made crystal clear: FUCK YOU.
The argument for mediums, even when it’s known that they can’t really speak to the dead, is that they’re providing a service and the lies they tell are giving comfort to those who need it. I have a huge problem with lying, and an even bigger problem with people charging the grieving for it. Some of my greatest personal lows and bouts of depression have been the result of people lying to me. Mixing deception with the complicated feelings surrounding death makes my blood boil. Fuck these liars.
If you are struggling with the loss of a loved one and dealing with grief, please seek grief counseling or other forms of legitimate therapy.
Fuck mediums.