Student Education Program

​There’s no better platform to become a medium and healer than the Spiritualist Camp.

The student program at Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp is no easy feat. You had better be ready to evolve spiritually. It’s not just about developing your gifts. The student program takes at least four years to complete. There are two tracks – mediumship and healing. There’s also a ministerial program. That takes two to four years to complete. I will speak to the mediumship and healing programs.
First, one must become a member of the Spiritualist Camp. This requires that you be or become a Spiritualist, be seen for at least year – either at services or in classes – attend the New Member Orientation and present three letters from members attesting to who you are along with the application. This is a Spiritualist Camp, not a church. The Board of Trustees votes on the recommendation.
Once you become a member, you must find a certifying evaluator, a person in the Camp who is willing to assist you with your four year journey. There are four levels in the mediumship and healing programs. Depending on your experience and your education level in the area of study, you may come in as a Level II student. Most come in at a Level 1. The Education and Certification committees decide at what level you are able to enter the program based on your information provided.
There is a rigorous curriculum throughout the programs. Some classes needed include Platform, Ethics, History of Spiritualism, Ancient Spiritualism, Comparative Religions, and of course Mediumship and Healing.
At Level II students are able to participate in public demonstrations. As a mediumship student, you are required to work at the Sunday Afternoon Message Service from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Andrew Jackson Davis Educational Building. There’s normally about 75 at that service. Each reading that is given, the receiver will be given a short critique form to fill out regarding the accuracy of the message. After that requirement is met, students are required to do 15 minute readings at Medium’s Night, the first Monday of each month.
I remember my first time reading at the Sunday Afternoon Message Service. I stood up, looked around the room, saw what appeared to be a white mist emanating from someone’s sacral chakra and freaked out. LOL. I went to someone else, gave half the message and sat down. My first 15 minute reading wasn’t easy either. The woman frowned the whole time. My certifying evaluator was there and assisted. That critique was dismal. Obviously, I kept at it.
As a healing student, you are required to heal at the beginning of Sunday Service, which starts at 10:30 a.m. in Colby Memorial Temple; at the beginning of Wednesday Night Message Service; and in the Caesar Foreman Healing Gazebo before Sunday Service. At each of these venues, students are critiqued. This continues throughout the program regardless of your level. Again, the Education and Certification committees decide when students are moved up based on coursework, public demonstrations and critiques, or healing statements, depending on the program. It is a process.
When students are ready to become certified, a test is given – either written or oral. Mediums must give three 30 minute readings to those who are around in the Camp at the time. The students certifying evaluator is with them during this time. In the healing program, students must take a test – either written or oral and must have a certain number of healing statements in their file. Healers are not allowed to give out healing statements. They are only to be received.
I know this BLOG entry may not seem like the student program is all that much, but trust me it is. I worked the Sunday Afternoon Message Service for four years, only missing one or two Sundays. Same with Mediums Night. One must actively participate to grow his or her gifts. Again, your own spiritual evolution will occur, which may seem daunting at times. Of course, meditation is a must. This topic is deserving of a BLOG in itself. Perhaps my next. So when you come to Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, know that mediums and healers are getting an education like no other.

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Submitted by Lori Carter
SCSCMA Certified Medium and Teacher