Mediumship Demonstrations, Audience Energy and Why Some Nights Just Don’t Work
- Hannah Macintyre
- May 26
- 6 min read
Mediumship Demonstrations, Audience Energy and Why Some Nights Just Don't Work
By Hannah Macintyre | 5 min read
Why can one mediumship demonstration feel absolutely electric — and the next feel like you're wading through wet concrete?
That's the question at the heart of the Season Seven opener of Mediumship Matters. And after a busy few months of demonstrations with wildly varying results, I've started to land on an answer that surprised even me.
450,000 Downloads (And What I've Learned Along the Way)
First things first: Season Seven opens with a milestone. Mediumship Matters hit 450,000 downloads, which still feels completely unreal to me. I say it in the episode and I mean every word — this podcast is a collaborative effort. You asking questions, sharing your experiences, telling your friends — that's what makes it what it is. Thank you.
But milestones aside, I wanted to use this opener to be honest with you about where I've actually been since Season Six. Because while I haven't been releasing episodes, I have been working — and what I've experienced has genuinely shifted how I understand demonstrating mediumship.
When the First Link Sets the Tone for Everything
Here's something I've always believed but have really lived this year: the first spirit link in a demonstration can set the tone for the entire night.
If that first recipient responds with a closed, sceptical energy — the kind of energy that teaches the rest of the audience how to receive mediumship — you can feel the whole room contract. I've had nights where I've watched that happen in real time, and it's one of the most challenging things to work through as a demonstrating medium. You're not just connecting with spirit. You're working inside a live emotional field that you didn't create and can't fully control.
I had a demonstration in Southampton this year that was exactly that. Beautiful venue, great turnout, and someone in the audience who brought a really judging energy. I describe it in the episode as feeling like a specimen on a petri dish. Everything felt stop-start, effortful, heavy. I recorded it — so if you want to watch me sweat for an hour and a half, it's on YouTube — but it wasn't my best work and I knew it in the moment.
The day after, I drove three and a half hours and demonstrated in Tunbridge Wells. Completely different energy. Much better flow, better spirit blending, three names across three different communicators. And at the end, someone raised their hand and asked: "Do you ever get names?"
I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.
What a Night in Glastonbury Taught Me About Mediumship
The most phenomenal demonstration I did this year was in Glastonbury — and I think it's the most important story in this episode.
The audience arrived warm, open, spiritually literate. A lot of my students were there. There was genuine laughter from the start. And what came through in the mediumship was on a different level: a man who drove for a living, passed in middle age, something going on with his teeth — and since he passed, his family had discovered he had a second family. That link landed with incredible clarity and detail.
I tell the same jokes at every demonstration, by the way. Nerves, habit, getting into my power — take your pick. Those same jokes got polite smiles in Southampton and roaring laughter in Glastonbury.
That's when it really clicked for me. Evidential mediumship demonstrations are more like live music or stand-up comedy than we'd probably like to admit. There are nights when a band is flying off the crowd, feeding from the energy in the room. And there are nights when they're just getting through it. It doesn't mean the music is different. The instrument is the same. The energy in the room is not.
The Telepathy Tapes Changed Everything
Here's where things got genuinely mind-bending.
During the break between seasons, I got obsessed with a podcast called The Telepathy Tapes — highly recommend, it'll change how you think about all of this. It documents non-verbal autistic teenagers who appear to be communicating telepathically under controlled scientific conditions. Reading digits. Describing scenes. In another room.
Except — and this is the bit that stopped me in my tracks — their abilities disappear when there's a sceptic in the room.
Not weaken. Disappear.
So when I'm standing on a platform and one person in the audience is bringing a hard, doubting energy, it may not just be a psychological challenge for me to manage. It may be that the energetic field itself is genuinely different. That's not me making excuses. That's what the science on those kids suggests. And it's given me a kind of permission I didn't know I needed — to stop blaming myself entirely when a difficult night is difficult.
The Real Cost of Doing Demonstrations Right Now
I also want to be honest about something else, because I think a lot of you in spiritual businesses are feeling it too.
The economics of running live events have become brutal.
A few years ago, I could fill 150 seats in Faversham and spend £150 on Facebook advertising. A pound a ticket. I was happy with that — I've never expected events to fill themselves. This time around, I reduced capacity to 120 seats for the audience's comfort, spent £400 on advertising, and sold 60 tickets. An empty-looking room that then affects the energy of the night. Eventbrite charging platform fees and then emailing me to say they could reach a wider audience for £25 a day. Facebook doing the same.
It's not just me. Every platform has handed spiritual businesses to an algorithm that's only interested in money, and we all played along while it happened. I'm not doing that any more — which is part of why Spirit Social exists.
Why I Built Spirit Social
The frustration with algorithms wasn't just background noise. It became the thing that pushed me to actually do something.
Spirit Social is a social platform built specifically for people in the spiritual space — a place where you see the posts of the people you follow, where you control your own algorithm by selecting what matters to you, where spiritual businesses can post from a place of genuine alignment rather than chasing visibility metrics. I put everything I had into building it, because Spirit kept nudging me until I couldn't ignore it.
If you're listening to this on release day, Android users can download it now. Apple is following very shortly. Six months' free access for anyone who signs up at launch. Come and have a play at spiritsocial.co.
One More Podcast You Should Listen To
If The Telepathy Tapes is the episode that opened my mind, Dangerous Memories by Tortoise is the one that kept me up at night thinking about ethics.
It's a deeply uncomfortable documentary about a healer who implanted false memories of sexual abuse into her clients — not out of malice, as far as anyone can tell, but out of genuine belief that spirit was guiding her. The journalist asks throughout what her motivation could possibly be, and it's clear it never occurs to them that she might genuinely believe she's helping.
That's what makes it so important for anyone doing this work. Intention doesn't automatically equal integrity. Our industry is unregulated. The belief that spirit is directing us is not, on its own, a safeguard.
Heavy listen. Absolutely worth it.
Key Takeaways
The first spirit link in a demonstration can shape the energy of the entire night — and not every difficult evening is within the medium's control
Research into telepathy in non-verbal autistic children suggests that sceptical energy may genuinely limit psychic and mediumistic connection, not just psychologically but energetically
Live events are increasingly difficult to run sustainably as platforms prioritise paid visibility over organic reach
Spirit Social was built as a direct response to these frustrations — a space for the spiritual community that puts creators back in control
Ethical responsibility in spiritual work matters more than good intentions alone
Listen to Mediumship Matters on all major podcast platforms. Got a question or topic for Season Seven? Email podcast@hannahmedium.co.uk — I'd love to hear from you.
If you'd like to explore mediumship development in a grounded and supportive space, you can find Hannah's workshops and programmes at hannahmedium.co.uk.
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