Transfiguration is a form of physical mediumship which allows a spirit to materialise and communicate through a medium. The idea is that the face of a person who has died will appear on the face of another person. It’s not as commonly practiced as other forms of mediumship as it’s supposed to be very draining for the spirit involved, because they need to use a lot of energy to be able to appear.

Before transfiguration can take place, the medium, a person who is said to have psychic abilities which enable them to communicate with the spirit world, will go into a trance. This is an altered state of consciousness which is supposed to make it easier for the dead to communicate with the living. In some cases the medium may be in such a deep state of trance that they appear to have fallen asleep.

If the transfiguration is successful, a veil of ectoplasm will appear on or just in front of the medium’s face and this is moulded into the features of the spirit that is trying to communicate. Ectoplasm is a light coloured, glutinous substance which allegedly oozes from the medium’s body and is then physically manipulated by the spirit. It’s sensitive to light and so séances often take place in darkened rooms. Sometimes it may be barely visible to the naked eye but can be seen in photographs. At the end of the séance the ectoplasm is said to return to the medium’s body.

During transfiguration the face that materialises may appear to be almost translucent or in extreme cases the medium’s face might disappear altogether, replaced by the features of the spirit. The spirit may mouth words and in some cases may also manipulate the vocal chords of the medium and speak through them. It isn’t just the face that can be affected by transfiguration. There are stories of other parts of the body taking the form of the spirit; making the medium appear taller or shorter, changing their hair and other physical features. If the dead person used to wear certain clothes or jewellery, this may materialise too.

There are cases where more than one face has appeared during a transfiguration séance. If there’s a group of people present, many of them may claim to see a face or number of faces that they recognise as dead loved ones.

Transfiguration was popular during the Victorian period and the beginning of the 20th Century, when interest in spiritualism was at its height. Many séances were held in the hope that the faces of dead loved ones would appear, especially during and after World War I. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famous for his ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novels, was a great supporter of spiritualism, including transfiguration. He wrote books on the subject and was president of the College of Psychic Studies.