Médiums

Médiums is a term used in several related but distinct contexts. Etymologically, it derives from the Latin medium, meaning an intermediary or channels through which something is conveyed.

In the arts and communications, a medium (plural médiums) refers to the means or material used to create or transmit information and expression. Examples include painting as a medium (oil on canvas, sculpture in stone), literature as a medium (text), cinema and photography as visual media, and digital platforms such as the internet and social networks. In communication theory, a medium is also the channel through which messages are delivered from sender to receiver, shaping how content is produced, presented, and perceived.

In parapsychology and spiritualism, a médium is a person who claims to facilitate communication with spirits or deceased individuals. Such médiums may work in séances, trance states, automatic writing, clairvoyance, or psychography, and their practices have been central to 19th- and early 20th-century spiritualist movements. The legitimacy and mechanisms of mediumship are a matter of substantial debate; claims are scrutinized under scientific evaluation and are often attributed to psychological factors, misinterpretation, or deception rather than paranormal phenomena.

Criticism and evaluation: Across disciplines, médiums face scrutiny regarding reproducibility and evidentiary standards. In the scientific community, robust proof of supernatural mediation is lacking, and many seemingly miraculous effects have alternative explanations. In cultural contexts, médiums continue to appear in literature, film, and popular culture as figures representing communication between realms or as symbolic mediators of personal or collective experience.

See also: medium (communication), spiritualism, psychic phenomena, automatic writing.