About Bernard Ilsley

The London Medium

Bernard Ilsley, known professionally as The London Medium, is a British professional medium, author and performer whose career has spanned more than four decades. His work has taken him from theatres and radio studios throughout the United Kingdom to public appearances, private consultations and performances across the United States.

Mediumship has been part of Bernard’s family history for generations. His grandmother, Edith Cole, was a practising medium involved with psychic research in Birmingham, while his grandfather, Edward “Ted” Cole, spent more than fifty years studying spiritual philosophy and sitting in development circles. Both had a profound influence on Bernard during his formative years.

Bernard recalls his first significant spiritual experience at around eight years old. While painting an egg, he found himself entering an altered state of concentration and producing an intricate pattern far beyond what he believed he could consciously create. He later came to regard the experience as his first awareness of the spirit guides who would become an important part of his work.

In his late teens, Bernard joined the development circle run by his grandmother and began accompanying her to psychic and spiritual events. By the age of twenty, he had decided to work professionally, and at twenty-three he embarked upon his first theatre and town-hall tour.

A Life in Mediumship

Over the decades, Bernard has developed a distinctive style of stage mediumship combining clairvoyance, spiritual philosophy, meditation, mantra and communication with spirit.

His work has taken him throughout Britain and extensively into the United States, where he has performed in theatres and appeared on radio and television.

Bernard describes working with three principal spirit guides: Silver Cloud, Dr Chan and Master Chow. Their presence and individual roles within his spiritual work are explored more fully in his writing.

One of the enduring themes throughout Bernard’s career has been the belief that mediumship should not simply concern prediction. Instead, it can encourage people to consider questions surrounding consciousness, survival beyond physical death and their own relationship with the spiritual world.

Bernard has never sought to tell people what they should believe. He shares what he experiences and allows each person to reach their own conclusions.

Music, Meditation and Robert Plant

An important chapter in Bernard’s early career developed through his connection with the family of Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.

Bernard later held meditation and development circles at the Plant family home and spent considerable time within that circle of family and friends. One of his meditation recordings was recorded in the barn at Robert Plant’s home.

Music, mantra and meditation subsequently became recurring elements of Bernard’s work, both privately and during his stage performances.

Chatsworth House

Bernard’s career also developed an association with Chatsworth House and members of the Cavendish family.

In 2010, his work took him to Chatsworth, where he appeared before an audience and performed his poem “Mary Queen of Scots”, which Bernard says originally came to him during a vivid dream.

His association with Chatsworth continued beyond the stage. Bernard spent time with Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, including conversations and walks within the Chatsworth estate, and was also welcomed into the home of Deborah Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, known as “Debo”, the youngest of the celebrated Mitford sisters.

These encounters, together with other episodes surrounding Chatsworth, Edensor and the Cavendish family, later became an important part of Bernard’s writing.

His poem “Mary Queen of Scots”, which has also formed part of his theatre performances in Britain and the United States, appears in both Divinus Spiritus and Ultra Velum.

Radio, Television and Theatre

Bernard has been interviewed and featured on radio and television in both Britain and America.

His British television appearances have included ITV’s This Morning. In 2005, he appeared as himself in the television comedy series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman.

Radio has played an equally important part in his career. Bernard was a regular guest on BBC WM’s Late Show for a number of years and has appeared on numerous other regional and national stations.

In the United States, Bernard has appeared on both radio and television, including New York radio and broadcast interviews connected with the promotion of his American theatre appearances. His American stage career has included performances in California and Connecticut, including appearances at The New Vic Theater in Santa Barbara and The Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut.

Author

Bernard’s experiences eventually led naturally into writing.

His book Divinus Spiritus draws upon events from his life and work, exploring mediumship, spiritual experience, personal encounters and questions surrounding consciousness and survival beyond death.

The extensively reworked edition of Divinus Spiritus was followed by Ultra Velum, Latin for “Beyond the Veil”. The second book continues that journey while moving more deeply into history, symbolism, spiritual philosophy and some of the people and circumstances that have crossed Bernard’s path.

Together, the books form part memoir, part spiritual exploration and part record of a career that has rarely followed an ordinary path.

More Than Four Decades

After more than forty years as a professional medium, Bernard continues to give private readings, write, perform and explore the subjects that have fascinated him since childhood.

His career has crossed worlds that would rarely be expected to meet: mediumship, theatre, aristocracy, rock music, broadcasting, history and spiritual philosophy. Yet throughout it all, his work has remained rooted in the same questions that first fascinated him as a young man:

What are we? Where do we come from? And does consciousness continue beyond the life we know?