Somnambulism  |  The Somnambulic Medium  |  Related Topics: Ecstatic Trance and Second Sight

You may sometimes hear reference made to the "somnambulic medium".  It is important to understand that one can be somnambulic without being a medium, and one can exercise a mediumistic faculty without being in the somnambulic state.  In the somnambulic medium, there is actually two types of phenomena taking place; here we will point out the distinction between the two. We first describe the state of somnambulism in order to then make the distinction with the somnambulic medium.

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 Somnambulism 

Just as the perceptions of a Spirit are heightened in this trance state, the somnambulist (a person in the somnambulic trance) may also speak of things that he/she is unaware of during the normal, waking state and that are often above his/her intellectual capacity. That is because, during this trance state, the Spirit may be able to access (though not always completely) knowledge that it acquired during a past life, knowledge that, during the present life, remains latent because of the physical body's imperfection and subsequent inability to remember all that the Spirit knows.   Once the trance is over, these recollections fade from its consciousness. ("Spirits' Book" #431)

We must be careful and understand that even though the somnambulist sees with the eyes of the soul, it may not see everything and may be mistaken at times. The Superior Spirits explain ("Spirits' Book" #430), telling us: "In the first place, average spirits don't see and understand everything. Remember, they still share your misconceptions and predispositions.  Furthermore, as long as they remain attached to the material world, they cannot make use of all their capabilities.  God has given that gift of trance to the human species for a serious and useful purpose, not to inform you about matters you are not prepared to know.  This is why trance subjects are often unable to give flawless information."

In the somnambulic state, though partially liberated from the body, the Spirit can command its body to perform certain actions, and "the use of the body in this manner is reminiscent of the way Spirits use tables or other material objects to produce physical manifestations, or use the hand of a sensitive to transmit written messages. " ("Spirits' Book"  Q.42). (note: what we sometimes refer to as "sleep-walking" falls under this category of phenomena).   In the Book "O Espiritismo Perante A Ciencia" (Spiritism and Science) by Gabriel Delanne, we find three interesting examples of such cases that were studied.  The first was of a priest who arose every night, composed a sermon (in the sleep-state), and then returned to bed. He always "read" aloud each page as it was finished, even when some friends held a thick paper between his eyes and the paper, proving that he was seeing with the eyes of the Spirit. The second case is of a pharmacist who, during his sleep each night, arose and went to the laboratory of his pharmacy to continue filling the prescriptions that he did not finish during the day; in this work that involved using stoves, preparing stills and vases, managing test tubes, weighing out exact measurements of the various substances and mixing them with the appropriate materials, etc., he took great care and never had an accident, an example of the confidence with which many somnambulists act. The third example demonstrates the clear rationalism with which the somnambulist thinks and acts in the state of liberation. It is of another pharmacist who arose during his sleep and prepared chemical mixtures, the formulas for which were laid out on the table. To test him, a doctor laid out an absurd prescription that would have been detrimental to any patient. The pharmacist was extremely puzzled with the formula, concluded that the doctor must have made a mistake, and did not fill the prescription, whereby he went on to complete the rest of his work.

Note: Somnambulism can be either natural (also called spontaneous) or induced, the exception being that the latter is provoked ("The Spirits' Book" Q 426).  This provocation involves a technique that began with the magnetizers of the late 18th century and has evolved into what is known today as Hypnotism (see translator's note <in AK.E.S. publication> to this question). 

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 The Somnambulic Medium 

Now that we have a general idea of what a somnambulist is, we can now define the somnambulic medium.  We know that a medium, in general, acts as the instrument of an intelligence exterior to himself. Likewise, as Kardec writes ("Medium's Book" #172), "The Spirit who communicates through an ordinary medium may do so through a somnambulist, the soul-emancipation of somnambulism often rendering spirit-communication even more easy."  When acting as a medium then, the somnambulist is passive, and what he says does not come from himself.   In other words, when speaking to us, the somnambulist reveals his own knowledge and relates the perceptions of his own Spirit, while the somnambulic medium expresses the thoughts of another.

To demonstrate the difference between the somnambulist and the somnambulistic medium, we can refer to the example given by Kardec in "The Mediums' Book" (#172).  He writes:

"A friend of ours had a somnambulic subject, a lad of about fourteen years especially in the treatment of disease, and cured a great number of persons who had been regarded as incurable.  One day, he gave a consultation to a sick man, whose [illness] he described with entire exactness.- 'That is not enough,' said a bystander, 'you must now tell us the remedy.' -  'I cannot do so,' he replied, 'my angel-doctor is not here.' -  'What  of age, of very limited intelligence, and very imperfectly educated.  But, in the somnambulic state, he gave proofs of extraordinary lucidity and great penetration. He excelled do you mean by your angel-doctor?' - 'Why! the one who prescribes the remedies.'- 'Then it is not you who see the remedies?'- 'No; did I not say that it is my angel-doctor who tells me what I am to prescribe?'   Thus, in the case of this somnambulist, the seeing of the disease was the act of his own spirit, which, for that part of his work, had no need of assistance; but the remedies were dictated by another; so that, when this other was not present, the somnambulist could say nothing about them.  Left to himself, he was only a somnambulist; assisted by him who he called his 'angel-doctor,' he was a somnambulic medium."

The case of medical prescriptions is also a form of somnambulic mediumship used by Spiritist groups, though it is not one of the more common mediumistic practices, since the faculty is rare.   Obviously (though we must make not of it), much caution should be taken when consulting such a medium, and one should not do so with proper knowledge of the medium's mediumistic abilities and moral character, as well as the seriousness of the Center in which the medium works.  Again, though it is rare, somnambulist mediums can also work as unconscious speaking mediums (see "Speaking Mediums" on menu bar at left).

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 Related Phenomena 

Ecstatic Trance

The magnetic action of soul liberation is manifested in different levels, from the lightest levels of the sleep state, to a lucid somnambulism, and finally to a state of almost total liberation of the Spirit, called the ecstatic trance, in which the Spirit is far more independent and travels to higher realms.  Kardec writes, "In dreaming and induced trance states, the Spirit wanders about the earthly realm.  In an ecstatic trance, it penetrates into an unknown world, that of illuminated Spirits.  There it communicates with those Spirits, being careful not to exceed certain limits, since to cross over completely would amount to severing the bonds connecting it with matter and brining about the death of its body.  In this world, the Spirit is immersed in radiant and bright surroundings, enraptured by harmonies unknown on Earth, and overcome by a bliss that defies description.  In short, it enjoys a foretaste of celestial ecstasy and may be said to have placed one foot on the threshold of Eternity." ("Spirits' Book" #455) You can read more about this topic in "The Spirits' Book".  We only mention it here to make you aware of the condition, and we add one more note, the comment of the Superior Spirits in "The Mediums' Book" (item #190), which is the caution that "many ecstatics are the sport of their own imaginations, and of deceitful Spirits, who take advantage of their state of mental excitement.  Ecstatics worthy of entire confidence are extremely rare."  

Second Sight 

There is another phenomena that occurs in a state in which the Spirit is partially free. It's called second sight, and the key distinction here is that the body is not asleep.  It is a kind of spiritual vision.  To define this phenomena, we will include here an excerpt from Kardec found in "The Spirits Book" (#455):

"When the liberation of the soul occurs in the waking state, it produces the phenomenon of second sight or double vision.  Individuals with this faculty can see, hear, and feel beyond the limits of human perception.  They break through the barriers of ordinary sight as if the latter were a mirage, perceiving things and events as far as he action of their souls extend.....   People endowed with second sight consider their gift to be as natural as ordinary sight.  They regard it as an attribute of their being and are not aware of its exceptional character.  Generally, they tend to forget their passing clairvoyance, and the memory of their revelations becomes vaguer and vaguer until, dream-like, it disappears.  The gift of second sight varies from a confused sensation to a clear and distinct perception of things present or at a distance.  In its early stages, it appears as a sort of definite intuition about events and that have already happened or that are about to occur."

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* You can read more about natural and induced trances (somnambulism), ecstatic trances, and second sight in "The Spirits' Book" Chapter XII (#s 425-455).

Kardec, Allan. "Liberation of The Soul." The Spirits' Book.  Trans. Allan Kardec Educational Society (translated from 2nd edition in French). Philadelphia, PA. Allan Kardec Educational Society. 1996. 151-161.

Kardec, Allan. "Mediums." The Mediums' Book. 2nd ed (1st edition FEB). Trans. Anna Blackwell (translated 1876). Ed. Livraria Espírita Allan Kardec. Brasilia-DF, Brazil:  Federação Espírita Brasileira [Brazilian Spiritist Federation}. 1986. 183-185 (items 183-185).

Kardec, Allan. "Mediuns Sonambulicos" [Somnambulic Mediuns]. Obras Póstumas  [Posthumous Works]. 8th ed. Trans. Salvador Gentile. Ed (of translation). Elias Barbosa. (translated from 6th edition in French). Araras-SP, Brazil. Instituto de Difusão Espírita [Institute for Spiritist Dissemination].1993. 59.

Delanne, Gabriel.  "O somnambulismo natural" [Natural Somnambulism]. O Espiritismo Perante A Ciencia. Trad. de Carlos Imbassahy. Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil: Federação Espírita Brasileira [Brazilian Spiritist Federation]. (2nd ed) 1993. 93-98.