Tiffany Hopkins – ‘Living Persons Guide to the Dead’

Description

What if mediumship and creativity trace back to the same roots?In this episode of Memento Morbid, Joanna Ebenstein is joined by medium, researcher, educator and author Tiffany Hopkins for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between science, spirituality, and the porous edges of perception. From her academic background in cognitive science, computing, music, and international business, Tiffany traces an unexpected path into spiritualism—one shaped as much by data-driven thinking as by ritual, intuition, and inherited belief.At the heart of the conversation is Lily Dale, New York—the historic centre of Spiritualism—where Tiffany spent eight years living in a community dedicated to communicating with the dead. She describes a place where grief, curiosity, and connection coexist openly; where talking about the dead is as ordinary as ordering coffee; and where belief is less about doctrine than lived, shared experience.Together, Joanna and Tiffany explore the history of Spiritualism, from its 19th-century origins in upstate New York revival culture to its entanglement with abolitionism, women’s rights movements, and questions of voice and authority. They ask what it means to “receive” information—whether from spirit, subconscious, or imagination—and how creative practice might overlap with mediumship in ways we don’t yet fully understand.The episode also becomes experiential: Tiffany guides us through a grounded exercise in attention, sensation, and imaginative connection, offering listeners a way to explore perception without losing the anchor of the body.Across the conversation runs a shared curiosity: how do we live alongside mystery without collapsing it into certainty or scepticism? And what happens when we treat death not as an ending, but as a different kind of relationship?📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your