Online Mediumship Practice vs Facebook Groups: What Actually Works for Development

If you've started exploring your mediumship and you've gone looking for places to practise online, you've almost certainly bumped into Facebook groups. There are hundreds of them. Some are huge, some are small, some are friendly, some are chaos. They're free, they're easy to join, and they're full of people who, like you, are trying to develop their mediumship without quite knowing where to start.

The honest question is whether they're actually any good for your development, or whether they're a sort of placebo: feels like practice, looks like practice, but isn't really doing the job. I'll give you my view as someone who's been around this world for a long time, taught a lot of developing mediums, and watched plenty of them spin their wheels for years in unstructured groups before finally getting somewhere when they tried something different.

Spoiler: my view is that Facebook groups have a narrow useful role and a much bigger downside, and most developing mediums would progress dramatically faster in something more structured. Let me explain why, fairly.

Why people end up in Facebook groups in the first place

Worth steelmanning before we get into the problems.

Facebook groups are accessible. You join, you're in. No fee, no application, no audition. For someone tentatively wondering if they might be a medium, that low barrier matters. You can lurk for a while, watch how others work, dip your toe in, leave if it's not for you. That's genuinely useful at the very first stage.

They also have community. You meet other developing mediums, see what's normal, realise you're not the only one having the experiences you're having. The "oh, other people get this too" feeling is real and valuable, particularly if there's no-one in your offline life who'd understand.

And occasionally, you'll find a group with a teacher or admin who's genuinely good and runs the space with care. These exist. They're not the majority, but they exist.

For lurking, light community, and very early exploration, Facebook groups can serve a purpose. I'm not going to pretend they're nothing.

What they can't actually do for your development

Here's where it gets harder. The reasons Facebook groups are convenient are the same reasons they don't really build developing mediums into capable working mediums.

There's no real feedback. This is the big one. A practice group on Facebook is usually people taking turns offering messages or reading for each other in comments, with the others responding with thumbs-ups and "wow, that resonates" and "thank you so much." It feels like work is happening, but very little actual feedback is being given. Nobody is sitting with you and saying "I think you slipped into psychic mode there, can you go back and check?" or "your evidence is good, but you're rushing past it before the sitter can confirm." Without that kind of input, you can practise for years and stay stuck in the same patterns.

The teaching is variable and often anonymous. You don't always know who's running the group, what their actual experience is, or whether the advice they're giving is sound. Mediumship is full of bad teaching presented as gospel by people who haven't done much real work. In a Facebook group, the loudest voice often wins, which isn't the same as the most accurate voice.

Safety and moderation vary wildly. Some groups are well-moderated; many aren't. People share genuinely vulnerable things and don't always get the response they deserve. Newcomers can be talked into things by more dominant members. And occasionally, you'll get people who treat the group as a recruiting ground for their own services in ways that aren't always honest.

The level mismatch. Facebook groups tend to be huge and mixed. You'll have complete beginners, intermediates, and a few experienced mediums all in one space. That can be good for community, but it's terrible for actual practice, because you can't tailor the work to where you are. Foundations practice is different from intermediate practice is different from advanced practice. Mashing them together rarely serves anyone well.

No accountability. Nobody's tracking your development. Nobody's noticing if you've gone quiet for weeks. Nobody's saying "you've been working on the same thing for six months, let's stretch you." Development needs accountability to progress, and unstructured groups don't provide it.

The "kiss frogs" problem is enormous. Even if there's a genuinely useful group out there, you might have to try ten before you find it. That's a lot of wasted time, and a lot of opportunities to pick up bad habits from groups that don't know what they're doing.

What proper online practice actually gives you

Compare that with what a well-run structured online practice setting offers, and the gap becomes obvious.

You get feedback on your actual work. Someone experienced watches you work, listens carefully, and tells you what they noticed. Where you're connecting cleanly. Where you slipped into your own assumptions. What to practise next. This single ingredient, more than anything else, is what turns a developing medium into a working one.

You're working at the right level for you. Not lumped in with everyone else. The work is tailored to where you are now and where you're going next.

The teacher's track record is visible. You can see who they are, what they do professionally, where you can watch them work. There's accountability built in. They have a reputation to protect.

The group is small enough to actually develop. A well-run online practice clinic might cap at eight people, so you actually get time to demonstrate and be coached. In a Facebook group of three hundred, you're one voice among many, and you might wait weeks to be properly worked with.

It's structured. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end to each session. Teaching, demonstration, feedback, takeaways. You leave knowing what to work on. You come back the next time and that work gets checked.

Safety is built in. People are vetted (even informally, by virtue of having paid to be there and committed to the process). Conversations are held with care. The teacher takes responsibility for the space.

What I run, and where each one might fit

Since you've read this far, I'll be honest about what I offer and where it might fit for you. Pick what suits your stage; ignore what doesn't.

The Mediumship Clinics. These are the closest thing to "what Facebook groups could be, if Facebook groups actually worked." Small-group (max eight) live online sessions in three levels: Foundations for beginners and returners, Clarity for the intermediate practitioner who wants more precision, and Mastery for those already demonstrating who want refinement. Every participant demonstrates and receives personalised feedback. You leave knowing what to practise next. Two hours, on Zoom, with a replay included. This is where most developing mediums would benefit most. The Mediumship Clinics

Spirit Social. The ongoing community I built for developing mediums who want a curated space to grow. Practice sitter exchanges, monthly Q&A where I troubleshoot what's coming up in your practice, and community without the chaos of open groups. Spirit Social is more like a long-term home for your development than a one-off session. Spirit Social

Elevate Advanced Mediumship Training. This one is for mediums further down the path. An intensive eight-session annual programme for those already comfortable making evidential connections, working with sitters, and ready to be properly stretched. It's not gentle, and it's not for beginners. If you're at the foundations stage, it isn't for you yet. But if you're an experienced developing medium who's ready to raise the standard of your work, the next intake runs in January 2027 and the waiting list is open. Elevate

For most readers of this post, the Clinics or Spirit Social will be the right fit. Elevate is for the smaller number who are properly advanced and ready for serious work.

How to choose what's right for you, regardless of where you go

Even if you don't choose anything I offer, please consider these criteria when you pick your practice space. They matter more than the brand or the platform.

Will you get feedback? If not, it's a community, not a development space. Both have their place, but don't confuse them.

Who's running it, and what's their track record? Can you see them work? Do they have a public body of work you can evaluate?

How small is the group? Above ten or so, you can't really be properly coached. The big advertised "online mediumship groups" with hundreds of members aren't development spaces; they're social spaces.

Is there structure? A clear shape to the sessions, a teaching focus, time built in for demonstration and feedback.

Does it match your level? Foundations work in a beginners' space, intermediate work in an intermediate space, advanced work in an advanced one. Mixed levels can be friendly but rarely accelerate development.

Are you paying for it? I know that sounds counterintuitive, but free spaces rarely have the accountability or curation needed for proper development. Paid (and not extortionately priced) tends to mean curated, structured, and committed.

A last honest word

If you've been spinning your wheels in Facebook groups for ages and feeling like you're not progressing, please don't take that as evidence you can't do this work. Most of the time, it's evidence that the format you're using isn't built for what you're trying to do.

The shift from unstructured groups to proper feedback-led practice is usually the thing that unlocks the development that wasn't happening. Not because you suddenly became more capable, but because you finally entered a space designed for capability to be built.

Find somewhere that actually does the job. Your development will thank you for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Facebook groups any good for mediumship practice? For very early exploration, lurking, and light community, they can be useful. For actual development, they're limited. Most don't offer feedback, the teaching quality varies wildly, and the group sizes are too big for proper coaching. They tend to feel like practice without actually being it.

What's wrong with practising mediumship in a Facebook group? Mostly the absence of structured feedback. People take turns reading for each other in comments, but nobody is qualified to (or in a position to) properly assess and coach the work. Without feedback, developing mediums often stay stuck in the same patterns for years. Other issues include variable teaching quality, mixed levels, no accountability, and patchy moderation.

Are online mediumship practice groups as good as in-person? The mediumship works just as well online. Online sessions also have advantages: smaller groups (you can cap numbers properly when you're not constrained by a physical room), participants from anywhere in the world, recordings to revisit, and no travel. The format genuinely doesn't matter; structure and feedback do.

How big should a mediumship practice group be? Small enough that everyone can demonstrate and be coached. Above about ten people, the time stops working. Well-run online clinics often cap at eight for exactly this reason. The huge online groups with hundreds of members are community spaces, not development spaces.

Should I pay for mediumship practice or is free fine? Paid is almost always better for actual development. Free spaces rarely have the moderation, structure, and accountability needed for serious progress. Paid doesn't have to mean expensive; it just means there's enough investment on both sides to make the space serious.

How do I know if a teacher is worth learning from? Look at their public work. Can you see them demonstrate? Have they written books, recorded a podcast, taught publicly? Do students they've taught go on to develop? A long visible body of real work is the most reliable signal. Be more cautious of teachers whose track record exists only inside their own private group.

Can I learn mediumship in a free online space? Up to a point, yes. Light learning and exposure can happen anywhere. Real development tends to need structure, feedback, and accountability, which free spaces struggle to provide consistently. Most working mediums I know got there through a combination of community (which can be free or low-cost) and structured feedback-led practice (which usually isn't).

What if I can't afford structured mediumship training? A few thoughts. Books are cheap and give you knowledge. Podcasts are free and give you exposure to working mediums. Spiritualist churches often have low-cost circles. Some teachers offer payment plans, scholarships, or occasional free workshops. Start where you can and build up. Don't let cost stop you from developing, but also don't pretend free Facebook groups are the same as structured practice.

If this post resonated, you might find my podcast useful too. It goes deeper into the realities of developing mediumship, the bits that don't get said often enough, and the honest stuff about what actually works. Worth a listen if you're at the development stage and looking for grounded company on the journey.

Mediumship Matters Podcast