Meditation is to think upon.  When the mind is active - use it.  Visualization is a wondrous tool of picturing any and all that nature has to offer.  Picture a place where you can sit and be quiet as you examine the environment.  I like a garden.  And as you have been given flower symbols that would be a good place to start.

See how the beds are laid out.  Turn over the soil.  Make all things ready for seeds to be planted.  Then you can meditate on seeing flowers in different stages of growth (if that appeals to you) and fill the bed with the variety that nature offers.  Stay in your garden for about 10 minutes just examining all that it offers.  You will find you have found peace of body, mind, spirit by just absorbing the energies of your garden.  

Just because I have a garden does not mean it will be the same as your garden.  That is what makes meditation personal - we design by our own preferences.

When you are at peace set a seat and symbol for your guides to join you.  Invite them like a friend to commune in your garden.  As the symbols you have been given are flowers it is easy to insert them into your garden.  I work with only one guide, so do this one at a time to eliminate any confusion.  When they come, you will feel a change of energy. It will not be necessary to have a name or identity, just commune with the energy that feels right.

When someone visits to communicate it is a 2-way conversation.  Asking who, what, where, why, how on all things from visions to messages for a specific person, or even answers to your own questions keeps you in the conversation.

How would one know ffom psychic abilities to mediumship?  How do we know someone is truely true - usually my instincts are really good but years of conditionning make me want to distrust everyone because the real are hard to find

A simple way to know mediumship is the connection to spirit - a spirit presence is always known to be present.  The medium will bring loved ones through for the sitter.  

A psychic will read the energies around a sitter.  They will talk of their physical/material journey and even project the possibilities for the future based on these energies.  As some of the energies will be emotional, it is important to differential between self and the sitter and that, too, is the measure of a good psychic.

Trust issues in being a medium are one of the important factors.  We are forming a partnership with a spirit entity (guide) and the trust and love in the attunement is the measure of the mediumship.  As the spirit entity draws around on the law of attraction - like to like - making it a spiritual exercise will draw a spiritual guide.

This thread grabbed my interest in that I've had but a few experiences that I consider to be "spirit contact".  Let me first say that this is not an area that I've ever considered moving into and yet, twice I've had some serious encounters that gave the clients I was working with some wonderful comfort and joy but left me seriously drained and feeling a touch "ill"... that is to say, not all there, not "ill" as a negative.

I've always had an affinity in being able to feel the presence of others and know where "hot spots" are at which tragic things have happened but experience such as I've described are rather peculiar and rare.  On one hand I don't care for it much and yet, I've seen how it can be a powerful mode of healing.

It's quite confusing.

Like all talents it is important to work to develop and understand what the skill actually is and how it works.  If you have had random experiences, rather uncalled upon, perhaps it is time to consider the strength of your connection to spirit contact.  

The first step in all development is TAKE CHARGE!  No one uses your energies - materially, mentally, spiritually - without your guidance and permission.

No spirit contact is ever depleting.  When physical phenomena is practiced it tends to deplete a medium because of the lower level of contact - the spirit must be close to the earth plane to manipulate earth plane, material energies.  It is all energy work after all.  

With mental mediumship the medium is more often replenished - sometimes even buzzed - before, during and after all spirit connection work.