A lot of times interpreting messages from the Other Side can be like talking to someone under water.  Interpreting symbolic information or words spoken from another space/time dimension is difficult, not to mention the fact that usually more than one spirit shows up in a session.   In my experience with going to other mediums, I have found that I am not the only one who is faced with challenges. 

Before I begin opening my closet of skeletons, I want to say that I find it amusing that people think the only spirit showing up is the relative they want to speak to, when we actually "know" hundreds of dead people - relatives, ancestors, friends, co-workers, bosses, schoolmates, neighbors, church members, etc...and all the relatives and friends of these people as well, trying desperately to give someone else a message through us.  Supposedly, a "good" medium will only focus on the spirit with the strongest energy or desire to speak, which is usually the one with which the client wants to speak.  Unfortunately, I hear them all, so I guess that doesn't make me a Theresa Caputo.  For me, sometimes the message clarity is crystal clear and specific, and other times it comes through from a seeming room at the other end of the house with soundproofing walls to boot.  Sometimes I think I am talking with one person, and then several spirits jump in without revealing who they are.  When I can hear all of them at the same time, it makes it difficult to know who is speaking or showing me something.

"Anyone who knows someone who was shot in the head, stand up."

I will relate two experiences I myself have had as the client.  The first was with the famous John Edward, an amazing medium, who can deliver a message (without knowing you), that you were standing in the gift shop at Disney World buying a Mickey Mouse doll, when you felt the presence of your dead father....  Remember that?  I was sitting in an audience of hundreds, watching John live with my friend Cindy.   Before the session, I was silently telling my boyfriend "Johnny" that he better show up and bring in Cindy's grandfather (since people on the Other Side can bring in other people with them).  Well, lo and behold, John Edward comes to my section and asks if any of us knew a man who shot himself in the head and committed suicide.  No one raised their hand.  John was struggling.  Finally, after about five minutes, he said, "Anyone who knows someone who was shot in the head, stand up."  I was the only one in the room who did.  My sister's boyfriend, who was coincidentally named "Johnny", as well, was shot in the head.  He was minding a retail store for a friend, and was killed by a gunman robbing the store.  I responded with, "...but he didn't commit suicide."  Well, it was my sister's boyfriend, and he had messages for me to deliver to her.  And in came Cindy's grandfather...yay!  

"...due to  a crazy ex trying to kill me..."

I always wondered about that day, why John Edward had gotten so confused with the details.  Well, it wasn't until about 6 years later, that looking back I realized both Johnny's had shown up together.  They had the same name, so imagine how confusing that must have been for John Edward.  My boyfriend Johnny had been killed on a motorcycle.  He had a heart condition, and was not supposed to do anything strenuous.  He was killed going down a ravine holding his chest...coincidentally on the turn-off of the road where I used to live.  (They thought it was due to his bad heart).  You see, I had moved away, was going through a really bad time due to a crazy ex trying to kill me (not Johnny), had met someone else, and was getting married.  He found out my news the day before my wedding, drove to the store and bought the motorcycle.   I always felt at the back of my mind that Johnny had killed himself.  The day of my marriage, I was hoping Johnny would show up and stop the ceremony (as I knew I was making a mistake), not knowing he was already gone.  I think the session with John Edward was Johnny's way of letting me know, now that I was ready for the news, that he had taken his own life.    

My second experience with a "confused" medium was during a live group session with Carl Woodall, a well-known medium in Atlanta.  He was speaking to a spirit named "Mike", who was wanting to get a message to the brother of someone in the audience.  Carl kept pointing at a woman and asking her over and over if she had a brother with a friend who had passed away, named Mike.  The woman repeatedly denied this.  Actually, no one in the audience had a brother who lost a friend named Mike...except me, that is.   He had this woman come and sit next to me, which by the way was the only empty seat in the house (the room was packed full with people sitting on the floor, yet the woman next to me suddenly got up and left, leaving an empty seat).  With this woman now sitting next to me, Carl said, "Mike says the brother owned a mini bike."  Now, I was sure this message was for me, and not the other woman,  but I didn't want to interrupt Carl.   Finally Carl looked at me and said, "Is this message for you?"  In summary, my brother's friend had passed away about six months earlier.  Being much younger, I did not know Mike well, but the last time I would have seen him was when I was a teenager, up at my parent's lake house where my brother kept his mini bike.  At that time, I would have looked a lot like the woman Carl originally thought the message was directed toward.  Maybe Mike was confused, knowing I was there, but having trouble finding me in the audience, just like my sister's boyfriend, Johnny, whom I had only met once.  Carl had the extremely difficult job of having to solve the confusion, and I find it really interesting the way Spirit works, arranging the seat next to me to be vacant, drawing the attention over to me.  

My message with this blog?  Don't shoot the messenger!

Do you have a similar story?  Please share!

My boyfriend Andrew's grandmother is on the other side, but she is responsible in a sense for us meeting each other, and has given us confirmation that our relationship was destined.  You see, my boyfriend and I are 18 years and eleven months apart in age, which neither of us wanted, much less wanting to break that news to family members.  
My story starts with an astrology class that I was teaching in a local metaphysical shop named "Catalpa Tree" up here in Indiana.  It was the fall of 2013, and I had just moved here recently from Atlanta.  The manager of the shop told me that a gentleman had some questions about astrology charts and was thinking about taking a couple classes.  I was a little worried, because psychically I had a sense that there was going to be a man in class who would be difficult, and the Holy Spirit told me to study up on some "way out there" concepts, because he may challenge me in class.  It turned out Andrew, was the man with the astrology question, but it was another gentleman who was the difficult person.  I didn't really notice Andrew that day, or in the other classes, as I was focused on teaching, and was not looking for or wanting a boyfriend.  I didn't even "notice" him when he invited me to lunch to look at his astrology chart.  I remember him asking about his marriage, and I tried to be positive, pointing out they were both Libras etc.  The next time I saw him in class, he told me he had just asked for a divorce, and had moved out.   It was a good month and a half later after a class, that I actually noticed Andrew, (although it was at the back of my mind and ignored) and realized we had a connection.  We became involved about three weeks later, but neither of us was taking it seriously.  We both felt like the other was our "Twin Flame" see my blog on Twin Flames, so needless to say, it somehow got serious.

It was late at night, a few months later, that an older woman came to me from the other side.  Andrew was reading a book, and I told him there was a woman with curly brown hair that had a slight coppery quality wanting to talk with me.  I thought her eyes were green.  She confirmed she was Andrew's grandmother on his mother's side.  She said the name "Earl", which I thought I had heard wrong, because I had a classmate from high school named Earl visit me earlier that week.  What was odd was that Earl and I never talked or hung out in high school, but he carved out time to visit me while he was here.  A few days after Earl's visit, a client was telling me an involved story about a man named Earl.  I remarked that that was two Earls in one week (I know of no other Earls in my life).  Now, Andrew's grandmother was saying the name "Earl".  Andrew explained that it was her husband's middle name.  Funny that she chose that name to confirm herself to me.  It is always a crazy synchronicity like that.  She gave a lot of information about herself, a lot of which I cannot remember, but she did say that I had helped Andrew onto a better path than the one he was going to take.  One thing in particular stands out in my memory from our conversation.  She kept saying over and over, "He is my son.  I'm proud of my son", and "That's my son" (pointing to him).  I asked Andrew what this meant.  He said that she had always thought of him as her son.  I said, "Yes, but I'm getting the sense from her that she means you were her actual son in another life."  

A few days later, I was invited to a family Easter party on Andrew's mother's side of the family.  There on the wall was a photo of Andrew and his grandmother.  She was definitely the person I saw and spoke with a few nights earlier.   When we got home from the party, Andrew suddenly remembered reading some notes of his grandmother's that she had taken while getting a psychic reading.  The psychic had told her that Andrew had been her son in a past life.  She also told her that after she died, it would be very easy for her to talk with Andrew!  "He is my son."  Grandma was trying to jog Andrew's memories of her notes to confirm her identity to him.  She was also saying in a way, that he and I were meant to be together, as I was the means for him to speak with her after she passed, just as the psychic had predicted.

Note:  I was told by the owner of Catalpa Tree Shop that Andrew's grandmother was the very first customer to walk through their doors when it opened 27 years ago.  It seems fitting that this is where Andrew and I met. 

Do you notice any synchronicities in your life connected to loved ones who have passed on?
   

I gave my very first professional mediumship session against my will.  I was working out of a new age store in Atlanta about 7 years ago, offering psychic readings and various services.   A female customer came in one day looking for a mediumship session, and the two psychics that offered that service were not in that day.  The owner of the store "volunteered" me to give the reading, even after my protests that I didn't do mediumship (I did, but was terrified of the pressure of doing it for a paying customer).   Apparently, I had no say in the matter. 
The session began with a bang.  (I'll call my client Sheila.)  I saw a young man come in playing the guitar, who was under the age of 20.  My client had no idea who this person was.  A moment later he was joined by John Denver telling me he was playing a song for Sheila.  I silently responded to John, saying, "There is no way I'm saying 'John Denver is here to see you. "  Well, he wasn't going away, and he continued playing and smiling, so I tentatively choked out, "Oh, and John Denver is here playing guitar with the other gentleman, although I know that sounds totally ridicu-".  Sheila cut me off with, "Oh!  I'm President of the John Denver Fan Club!" My confidence boosted temporarily, as a few more people came in from the other side to say hello to Sheila.  The session wrapped up pretty quickly, but she still had no idea of the first guitar player's identity, and he didn't seem intent on leaving.  
Sheila came back to the store a few days later and requested me again (kill me now!).  When she walked in, I said, "You know, that guitar player is here again, and I think he went to high school with you."  She said, "That's what I thought, because I brought my yearbook with me."  As she flipped through pages, I looked at the pictures upside down.  Suddenly I saw him.  As I pointed to the picture and asked who he was, Sheila said he had gotten killed in a car wreck shortly after graduation.  I said, "Well that's him, and he's saying he took you to prom."  She confirmed this, but was confused as to why he would be trying to contact her.  I said, "Because he was in love with you, and then died shortly after prom, so that was the last big event he remembers."  Then I pointed to another boy in the photos and asked who he was.  She responded that he had died in the car wreck with the other boy.  
I thought I might start to like giving mediumship publicly, and I could hear John Denver playing "Annie's Song" in my ear as I ended the session.  

Understanding Psychic Mediumship

As a medium, I read in my own way. I am not a person who walks around talking to spirits all day. I keep the door closed. If I didn't, I would be crazy, as I have my own thoughts going on in my head and have a right to my space. Just as I wouldn't allow people to enter my home uninvited, I do not allow spirits in either, until I am ready to do a session. What follows is information about my readings, as well as general information on mediumship...

A lot of people view mediumship as making a telephone call, and the medium simply has to dial up the person they want to talk with to get information. This is really not the case. Spirit communication is a complicated process involving many forms of communication, that arrive in a medium's mind much like the pieces of a puzzle that they, and you, need to fit together.

The first thing to understand when getting a reading is spirits do not have bodies, so in order for them to have the energy to get a clear message to us, they will have to use the energy from you, me, the group (in group sessions) or all three. Just as a spirit who has not crossed over needs a building, land or a person to attach to for energy, so will a spirit from the other side rely on our energy to come through the gate, maintain their presence and communicate. We will talk about this energy exchange more in a moment.

A spirit has been waiting a long time for this opportunity, and their desire to communicate is intense. What I find is that first and foremost spirits want to identify themselves so that you know it is them and that they are still with you. The spirit is going to deliver from their point of view, what they want to say, and how they want to say it. They are interested in getting their OWN message across, and this can often be not what you want to hear. They may describe themselves differently then how you saw them, or show you themselves as they like to think about themselves (such as crossing over at the age of 80, but presenting themselves to you as they looked at age 30). When a spirit communicates, they give an image, words or feelings that can make the medium's ability to interpret very difficult. Every medium reads messages differently. Most mediums give physical descriptions of what the person looked like or emotional descriptions, or information, but it depends on how the spirit is choosing to deliver the message. Some are able to get the initials of the person, and sometimes the names of the spirits. Getting names is seen as a rare talent, but I do often get names, and know a few other mediums who do as well. (Note: If you do not recognize a description of who is coming through in the reading, sometimes it is good after a session, to ask other family members if they know who the person is. It may be that they saw the person very differently than you did, and would recognize the description that was given, and be able to identify the person for you.)

When you schedule a mediumship session, you as a client have expectations of who you want to talk to, and what you want a loved one to say. Everyone has an idea of what they are looking for in a session in order to get confirmation that loved ones are still with us, and that heaven exists. Keeping in mind that spirits come in with their own agenda, it is a good idea to let these expectations go, because it may not be what the medium is getting ready to deliver, and will actually block your reading. For example, you may want your Father to call you by his nickname for you, and only then will you believe he is actually with you. Or you may want to know where to find Aunt Mary's ruby ring or why she did something, or wanting someone to ask for forgiveness, etc.

Not giving you exactly what you are looking for during a session can be frustrating for the medium as well. If the medium focuses too much on what you are wanting from the reading and getting these specifics for you, they run the risk of closing the channel or gateway further and further. It is better to let the messages flow. Otherwise the medium would be focusing on your energy and not the spirit. It then would take a lot more energy from the medium to try to re-open the connection to the spirit. If the spirit is not giving you what you want, then the only other way for a medium to give you these specifics is to get them empathically from you – meaning from your memory or getting into your mind, when they should be only getting the information from the spirit. Unfortunately, however, many talented psychics can fake the mediumship reading this way, by getting their information about the deceased person from you. Often, unfortunately, these so-called mediums don’t even realize that they are not doing the real thing. They are merely communicating back to you what they pick up from you.

One way of telling apart the true psychic medium from the empathic/telepathic psychic posing as a medium is the psychic will be delivering specific messages, all of which you can immediately confirm, and only these. And usually ONLY the people you were desiring to contact will show up. They give the exact information you want to hear, and what you “know” is true, so the information could actually be coming from you and your perspective. Meaning again, this is a sign that the medium could possibly be getting the information from you, and not from the spirits themselves. So as a general rule, if all of the information being given is exactly what you already know, and especially from your own point of view, the medium's capability as a true medium is in question.

A true medium, on the other hand, will be delivering information in a number of ways:
- from spirits you know
- from spirits you know but weren't expecting to show up
- specific details about them that you can verify
- details about them that you cannot verify at the time of the reading
- spirits who visit that you may not recognize or even know who they are, thereby getting names or               information you do not recognize.
A true medium will tell you things you didn't know about a loved one, or will identify family connections you didn't know you had, which leaves you with homework to do after the session, researching this additional information. When some of this can be verified, then there is your proof. (keep in mind that some spirits for example will say “brother”. If the medium asks if you have a brother on the other side, and you don't, just say, “I can't verify.” A lot of times this spirit may mean they are a brother to your father, or their brother is coming in with them and will be there shortly or any number of things, so try to stay open.)

Something else that comes up during a mediumship session is what I call “Memory Blackout”. The medium is creating a certain atmosphere in the room with higher energies, which can pull you into your right brain along with the medium. In this right brain space, we often forget what we know in left brain.

An example of this: A client I will call “Amy” came in for a mediumship reading. A spirit came in during her session and said they were from Amy's mothers side of the family. The spirit kept giving me the letter “J”. Amy insisted there was no one on her mother's side with the letter J. I continued on with other spirits who had come in, but the “J” person kept interrupting and saying the letter J. I returned back to the spirit, and tried again. The spirit said to me that they were a sibling of Amy's mother. So I asked Amy if her mother had a sibling with a “J” name. Amy said no. Well, the spirit would not stop, so I just started saying names any J names to try to jog Amy's memory. Amy continued to say no to all the names, which wasn't helping the energy. Finally, I had to pause the reading and ask Amy to stop and go through her mind of all her mother's siblings names. She said, “Well my mother does have a brother named Junior who died.” As soon as Amy acknowledged him, in came Junior loud and clear. He showed me the dirt under his fingernails from his years working on the railroad, and I could see his height and hair color. Amy said that yes, this is how she remembered him.

So, you see, spirits do rely on your open receiving energy as well, in order to come through fully. So if you don't remember or don't know if information is correct, simply say, “I don't know”, because you may be having temporary Memory Blackout which happens quite often.


During Your Session

Be aware that the person(s) that comes through may not be who you were there to see. Spirit communication works in its own way, and this has to do with reasons in the spirit world. The spirit that comes through is the one that comes through. The person that comes through in a reading will be the person that is supposed to come through, for whatever reasons. Sometimes the spirit is someone you don't recognize, but they know you through your connection to someone else here, and need to get the message delivered. If someone did not show up that you wanted to talk to, remember it is not because they did not want to talk with you.

At the start of a session, it is particularly important not to close the door on the first spirit who comes through, as this is often someone with enough force of energy to bridge the link and hold open the gate for other spirits to come through, who may have less energy or force. This first person can be someone the medium knows, someone you know, or someone neither one of you recognize. If you don't know the person, just welcome them in. Spirits will bring in other spirits, as they work together for their own reasons on the other side.

When the medium asks you a question during the session, it is best to only say “yes” to the information the medium receives, or “I don’t know,” or “I can’t confirm that”, “I can’t relate to that,” or “I don’t know who that is”, instead of “no”. Each time the person getting the reading says, “No,” it shuts the door, and the spirit actually loses the energy to come in as it is withdrawn. To open the door again, the medium will have to do it with their energy alone. If the door is opened and closed five or six times before the client will accept the spirit, (because they don't know who the spirit is), the connections can be lost and the session will become more difficult, as less and less information is received. The interpretation of the messages will become very difficult for the medium to decipher. You, as the client can also close the door and drop the energy in the room if you are evaluating everything the medium says, and having thoughts that the medium isn't any good, because they are not giving you information you can immediately recognize. It is best to stay open and allowing during a session, and reserve any of these thoughts for afterward.

Note: In my sessions, I do not allow you to record the reading, as I have found it interferes with my focus in one-on-one situations. Taking notes is fine.

Any information or questions you have which are not answered by the spirit can be asked through the tarot cards for an answer.

God Bless!


For Clients:

“I am the spirit you are attempting to contact. I may not be able to connect with you yet, because I am still getting used to being here, but please receive those who have been here longer than I, paving the way for me, and helping me to become prepared to greet you through my own skill and under my own power. You may not want to talk to me because of past differences, but realize that I may be the one that is able to connect you to those whom you want to speak with, so please listen. You can reject me later if that is what you want.  I may not be your passed on relative or friend, but I may know that you have a connection to someone I know and need to contact . Please be kind and deliver it.”