An Educational Testimonial

I work with Carole and have known her for over 20 years. She came to my “Introduction to Hypnosis Workshop” just for the experience and then asked me for a Mediumship reading. She sent the following Email to me. I think it is a great description about a person’s FIRST experience with Hypnosis AND Mediumship. Although it is a long email, if you are curious about the effect of hypnosis or Mediumship, it is worth the time to read it.

 Carol's Testimonial

I attended Garry's Hypnosis Workshop in October of 2013 it was the first time in my life that I went to any type of workshop like that. Now I am a person who would NEVER BELIEVE THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ME. I would see it on TV and say it was "FIXED". So I told Garry that a friend of mine and I would attend but I really didn't believe that I could be hypnotized. I didn't know what to expect or what would happen. I said to myself that I'll just go and see what happens.  Garry stood in front of the group of people and talked about hypnosis and other things and told all of us what we needed to do which was basically just to relax, listen to the music and to him talking. I was in a room with total strangers and a friend that I grew up with. He explained what we would feel and to just go with it.  I was thinking "NO WAY IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME... NO WAY!!!!

As he was talking to us, it was so strange that everything he said I would feel, I DID! I couldn't believe I was really hypnotized, I thought, "anybody but me!" At the end of that first hypnosis experience, he said that if we wanted to open our eyes to do so. But I didn't want to, it felt so nice! During the second hypnosis experience, he told us to put our arms straight out, close our eyes and imagine one hand holding heavy books and the other holding a bunch of colorful balloons. What totally blew my mind was that I actually felt and saw them! I was like "OMG this is unreal".

When Garry said we can all open our eyes truthfully I didn't want to, but did.  After the session was over I was like "WAS I REALLY UNDER?", "DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN?"  Well I know it did cause, man! did I feel and see things that I never would have guessed I would.  GUESS WHAT I NOW KNOW? I have no doubt about hypnosis or if I can be hypnotized. IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE. If you have a chance to be hypnotized, jump at it!

Garry is a teacher (in more ways than one way) we both work in the same school and I have known him for over 20 years. The experience at his workshop got us talking a lot about all that hypnosis stuff. And as if that alone wasn't enough to blow my mind, what happened later REALLY blew my mind!!! I read on his website that he is not only a hypnotherapist but a  psychic Medium. Which is so weird, because I just starting to watch "Long Island Medium" with Teresa Caputo! I just got a reading from Garry that really got me in believe in Mediumship. I used to think there's no way possible for something like this to be true or to happen. I again sat patiently wondering how this was going to turn out.

After school, Garry was able to sit with me and he said that he was "aware of" 2 men, he stated one had cancer and some type of issues with his stomach, had chemo, something about having breathing problems and one was in his late 50's and one in his late 70's  when they passed. I thought one was my Uncle and the second was my Cousin, my Uncle was in the 80's and my Cousin was 60 when he died. Although my cousin was not my uncle's son, he was his nephew, but my Uncle raised him as his son. I told Garry that it all made sense to me and who they were. Garry said that my Uncle stated he also had eye issues which was definitely my Uncle 'cause he did have glaucoma. Garry told that he was feeling his right arm was weak and shaky and that my Uncle said he had all his faculties back which was so wonderful to hear because he had a stroke 26 years ago during a surgery which caused damage on his right side and he had a brace on his leg and walked with a cane. As Garry was communicating with them he said these men were on my Mom's side of the family and they were!

Garry said the younger one had chemo to treat a cancer and that again I was able to take as my Cousin who had colon cancer. He was receiving chemo for a long time period! I was amazed that they were there. I never had a reading before and I couldn't believe it. At one point Garry said that the both of them were talking to him at the same time and I was taking one piece for one and a different piece of information for the other.  So, Garry stopped and asked them to separate and talk to him "one at a time"! The amazing thing was that when they were alive, they were always together just like that! Even finishing each other's sentences! So it made perfect sense to me that he had problems separating him, we ALL did, always!

When they separated, my uncle came through stronger, telling Garry of his concerns about his son having health issues.  He told Garry that he was concerned about his Diabetes. I couldn't understand that because as far as I knew my cousin didn't have diabetes although he was always heavy.  He also said to tell my cousin (his son) to "Get off his ass and get movin'". I laughed so hard, and told Garry that was the way he would always get his point across to my cousin, in just that loud way, Garry even had his tone of voice, Amazing! Garry said that my Uncle had 2 children; 1 male and 1 female and 2 grandchildren, also 1 male and 1 female. Amazing! Right again! How does he know this?? Garry couldn't understand the name he was trying to get across; he said it sounded like "Hel" something. Helen was my Uncle's sister name, my Mom, his sister Helen... OMG!!! Then if all that wasn't enough, Garry said that he has a third man coming thru who wanted me to know that he was doing well, was happy and at rest. Garry had communicated with my father before and said it was him and that he; my dad wanted my Uncle and Cousin to come through, because he knew I would love to hear from them... Isn't that crazy?!

Now these 3 men, My Uncle, Cousin and Dad, loved to have a fun time, sing, play cards and play out to make people laugh they were always a hit at any party. Garry also mentioned about their passing being close to each other. He stated 3 years and that's exactly what it was. My Dad was a different time but mainly the two that came through first, passed within a year of each other, 3 years ago!

So after the session was over I was like wow the 2 people I would never have thought would come thru to me, did. My Uncle who was also my Godfather was always there for me no matter what and was like a dad for me after my Dad passed away. I left with such a nice warm feeling to know they were ok and that they were still together.

When I got home and I just couldn't wait to call my Cousin's wife and tell her what I just heard. I knew she would love to talk to me about my experience, as she always wondered if she would get the chance to go to a medium. I asked her if my cousin had diabetes.  At first she asked how I knew about the diabetes, that no one in the family knew that he was recently diagnosed but yes that he's got diabetes and he does have weight issues and that they were looking into joining a gym because they felt that he needed to take care of his health. When I told her that that's what was told to me by my Uncle, her father-in-law, thru Garry she was totally amazed. Then she validated that my Uncle was always on her husband's case that he needed to get up and about. She told me that my Uncle said to his son you need to get "Off your ass" and do something and that is exactly what Garry said to me. I said to her that that's the way he used to talk! My cousin's wife totally agreed "Yep that's exactly what he would say and my husband!" When I told her about how Garry stated that my Uncle was up and about moving around that he has everything back and that he's happy, well she couldn't get over it. She couldn't wait to tell this to her husband and that she will let me know what he says.

The next day, Garry came into my office to see me about something and we of course started to talk about Mediumship. As we were discussing it, he went to give me an example of how it works with a name and he used the name "Gertrude" as an example, just throwing it out there. I looked at him and said, "Garry what made you say that name out of all the names that are out there?!! Garry said that Gertrude just popped in his head. Well, Gertrude was my Uncle's daughter! He was still here! Another OMG!! Because he is a teacher, he loves to explain how "it" works. For whatever reason he was using cars as an example of how he connects with spirits and brought up a 55 Plymouth Belvidere!, as another example. I almost fell out of my chair! I said "Garry, NOW...WHAT MADE YOU SAY A PLYMOUTH BELVIDERE, out of all the cars that have ever been made?" and he said that someone just told him to say it, why? I said cause that's the car my Dad had and it was his treasure! He took such good care of it! He cleaned it to the Max. Then Garry proceeded to tell me what the inside of the car looked like and he was exactly right! He proved to me that my Dad is STILL with me even after all these years.  It just blew me away.  It's just amazing how something like this happens.

I'm so looking forward to another session with Garry. I have my Cousin's wife coming to a workshop , she stated "Garry hit everything you said right on the head; like straight out of my Uncle's mouth to you/us" I couldn't agree anymore.

Garry thanks for what I learned from all this and I'm so looking forward to what can be told to me by them again. Hopefully, the next time the women will come through. Garry, it's amazing how the people in our lives come back in ways we could never think of.

Carole

WORKING WITH SPIRIT - Posting 3 of 3

Synopsis;
This posting would be too long for one posting so it is posted in three parts. In Parts 1 and 2, I relay my experience of being on “the platform” at a “Spiritualist Church Student Service”; what being a “Psychic/Medium” feels like when you are in front of strangers trying to “bring through”  messages from their loved ones who have passed away. In Part 3, I describe observing Janet Nohavec my tutor, pastor and perhaps one of the top ten best Evidential Mediums in the world today. I describe the masterful way she brings evidence and messages to people who have lost their loved ones and the uplifting effect these messages have on those who were there.

…After some other validations and a loving message,

I thanked Pat verbally for accepting my reading

and thanked her mother in my internal voice;

“Thank you Mom, for coming through and connecting with me so well”
I projected to the energy of her mother and I heard
“No… Thank-YOU… And I felt a kiss on my cheek!”

And as I walked back to the oak chair on the platform, I knew why I love doing this work…

Working for Spirit – Posting 3 of 3

Janet thanked me and Lena and stepped to the front of the platform.
I have seen Janet do readings during Sunday services
and years ago had a private reading with her.
She IS an amazing evidential medium.
So I was prepared to see her do a reading.

I expected her to do what she had been teaching her students for the past year.

Connect with a spirit communicator and get their
“Name Rank and Serial Number”.

I assumed she would give 8 – 10 pieces of evidence.

I assumed a few hands to go up in the audience, of those people who could accept all the pieces of evidence that Janet brought to them.

I assumed Janet would narrow the number of people wanting to make that connection down to one.

I assumed she would work with that one person
and give them one message.

I assumed Janet would “Wow” the congregation and me with more exact pieces of evidence. I knew that I would not be hearing
“I have your Daddy here and he says he loves you”.
I knew the evidence that we would be hearing would be impressive.

I assumed we would be hearing an uplifting and inspiring message.

Well as the old saying goes “When you assume…”

“I am aware of a man”… she started “he tells me he liked a ‘stiff shot of liquor’, but he was not an alcoholic”… No one responded.

“I feel this man is with a couple in this area,”
pointing to the large family group.

Still no one acknowledged the spirit connection.

“I am with this couple here”…
pointing to a man and a woman seated next to each other in the center of the group.

Still they shrugged looking at each other, the man looking uncomfortable.

She brought up a poker game.
“He is now showing me a group of men playing poker”.
Two woman in the group looked at each other and then at the couple that Janet was addressing with a puzzled expression on their faces. But not puzzled by Janet’s evidence, puzzled and exasperated by their family members who were not accepting any or all of the information.

This couple was experiencing “Psychic Amnesia”, a condition that happens when you are being given information from a Medium, that because you are so excited to be called upon; and wondering who this person is; and being taken off guard; and a hundred other conflicting emotional reasons, that you completely forget who this person is, even if they were the closest person in the world to you.

At this point I think I would have folded or
at least I would have started to profusely sweat.

Janet didn’t bat an eye. She is so confidant in her connection with the spirit world that she was not going to leave this couple until they said that yes, they could take this man.

But still they shrugged; actually the woman shrugged, her husband looked like he wanted to crawl under his chair. You didn’t need to be a psychic to read this situation. I pictured his wife telling him he “really needed to go tonight; our whole family is going; don’t worry honey, these people aren’t going to call on you…”

Well I think this man got a lot more than he bargained for and as it ended up he got exactly what he needed to get…

I love Janet!
If it were me giving this reading and this couple who I knew the reading was for,
completely rejected my connection,
I would be looking to crawl under my own chair.

But I am a long way from having the confidence that Janet showed that evening.

She folded her arms in front of her and I saw her connecting with her spirit communicator, I saw her nodding as she was processing more evidence.

“He says to mention a ‘Royal High Straight Flush’”…

And that was all it took.

It was as if 12 light bulbs went off over 12 different heads…
The whole family reacted with gasps, hands to the chest or mouth, smiles, awestruck faces…
The couple did not have to say anything the family’s reaction said it all.

Looking at the man again, Janet asked
“Who is Tom?”
The man’s eyes opened as large as saucers
as he pointed at his chest and whispered, “Me”

More gasps from the large family.

“Who’s Ruth?” Janet asked.

The man’s saucer eyes got even bigger

and his wife’s jaw dropped open he pointed at her with his thumb
as she ever so slowly raised her hand.

Her jaw wasn’t the only one that dropped.

Mine dropped with Tom and stayed that way for the rest of the reading.

“Who is Tony”, Janet asked and the stunned couple replied
“Our brother-in-law”.

 “The one who liked to play poker on Thursday nights and got the Royal High Flush?” she asked with a broad smile on her face as the couple smiling and crying nodded as did their whole family.

The whole audience laughed and was clearly amazed by this reading; not only did Janet know the name of her spirit connection;
she got the names of the couple who the reading was for

through Tony who is in spirit!

Now at that point I would have said

“Wow! That was an amazing reading!”

And if Janet had given this couple a message from their brother-in-law,

it would have been perfect, but Janet wasn’t through yet.

I saw her take a breath as if her connector was giving her something more. But she was not smiling as she had before.
Her demeanor became more serious
and I felt that the next piece of evidence was going to be powerful and it was.

She looked at the couple again, they were still smiling and clearly impressed that their Tony came thru to them.

Janet took a deep breath and stated quietly and compassionately,
“You have lost a son; is that right?”

The woman gasped, nodding as she brought a handful of tissues to her face. Her family through their own tears were touching her to give her love and support.

Her husband, obviously holding back his own tears, handed her the box of tissues that was being passed around to their family.

Who is Joseph?” Janet asked quietly.

“Our son” was the whispered response from the woman,
at which point her husband could not control
his hardened façade any longer and with a handful of tissues,
buried his face in his hands and gently wept

as his family placed hands on his back for support.

“He says that he passed quickly and that he felt no pain…
He knows you have struggled with that;
He says he passed before the flames consumed the car…”

The weeping grew stronger and now their whole family was crying

along the rest of the congregation.

“He says he sees his nephew at school and at the play; that it was good to see everyone laughing again”

The crying slowed and was replaced with smiles and awe as Janet brought through more loving and healing validations and messages for Joe’s family.

After the service ended, Janet thanked Lena and I and Barbara the homilist. I felt driven to thank Janet for asking me to read, but what came out of my mouth, surprised me, I didn’t really think about it, the words formed almost by themselves.

“Thank you Janet for asking me to read” I started

“As your student and a Medium, I am comfortable with readings and love watching an accomplished Medium, do their work,

especially the tutors you have teach us from Arthur Findlay College…
But I have to say, watching you this evening…

Well, if we were your art students and you were our art teacher,
showing us the use of color and form; how to use perspective and shading; teaching us how to paint a sunset on canvas using light and darkness…
Sitting on the platform tonight watching this demonstration of Mediumship that you just performed, was like watching Da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa;
all I can say is WOW!”.

I could not have assumed we would be witnessing a reading like the one we saw. The interesting thing was that afterwards, after the evening was done and my jaw was able to close when I spoke with Janet about her reading, she seemed to be surprised by my reaction to her reading. She thanked me but to her it was her norm; her method of Evidential Mediumship. It is what each and every student in her class strives to do.

I watched as Janet did, on the platform what she had been teaching us for a year.
She asked for, received and presented
“Name, Rank and Serial #”.

She brought names, dates, how their loved ones passed,
specific validations that had tears and laughter simultaneously.

The closure, relief and joy that that couple received was priceless
and exactly what they both needed to hear.

And again it was validated for me why I love to do this work so much.

(Last month I went back to the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies for a week workshop with James Van Praagh again. The next posting will be about my AMAZING experiences there)

WORKING WITH SPIRIT - Posting 2 of 3

Synopsis;
This posting would be too long for one posting so it is posted in three parts. In Parts 1 and 2, I relay my experience of being on “the platform” at a “Spiritualist Church Student Service”; what being a “Psychic/Medium” feels like when you are in front of strangers trying to “bring through” messages from their loved ones who have passed away. In Part 3, I describe observing Janet Nohavec my tutor, pastor and perhaps one of the top ten best Evidential Mediums in the world today. I describe the masterful way she brings evidence and messages to people who have lost their loved ones and the uplifting effect these messages have on those who were there.

… After Lena’s evidence and message, she thanked the congregation and went back to her seat. Janet walked to the pulpit and said into the microphone, “Garry?” nodding towards me, I stood up and simultaneously said to the spirit of this woman I had felt,
“Ok, mom… we’re up”

Working for Spirit – a 3 Part Posting
Posting 2 of 3

“Ok Garry…” my self-talk began by trying to calm myself down.
“BREATH! Focus…”
“You have done this before and you now truly believe in the process,
so put what you’ve learned from Janet into action”
I began to listen to this new supportive voice and it felt good!
I was not hearing any negativity…
I was confident that the spirit of this woman that I had communicated with,
wanted to connect with her children.
And I certainly wanted to help her; I knew that if her child was sitting in the audience,
she certainly wanted to hear from this woman, her mother.

I was ready.

Gone were the butterflies in my stomach.
Gone was that doubting voice in my head and I was ecstatic that I no longer heard it.
Gone was questioning if I could make a contact with a spirit.
Gone was the fear; of looking foolish; of failure; of public speaking
(that one I had been working on my whole life and now I did not feel it)

In my awareness even the congregation was gone.
All I wanted to feel was the energy of this woman
who I knew was a supportive loving mother;
I felt her and I focused on nothing but the connection
I had with her for only the briefest of seconds.

I have become accustomed to the physiological feeling I get when a spirit is close.
There is a tingling on the back of my neck,
almost like someone blowing on it.

This tingling which then runs up and down my spine,
is my first indication that I am connecting with a spirit.

Then the hair on my arms and if the spirit is strong enough,

the hair on the back of my neck will stand up.
This is when I begin a conversation with the spirit; in my head of course…

“I know you’re a woman” I asked.
I “felt” the affirmative answer more than heard it…

“I feel you were on your 70’s or 80’s when you passed”
Again affirmative response.

My next question was “How did you pass?”

I am clairsentient, I feel what the spirit sends to me and at that split second,
I felt a sharp pain in my chest and my left arm
and I knew she passed of a heart attack or a heart related issue.

She showed me smoking in her youth, but not as an adult.
I then heard “Kearney”…

All this information came to me in a split second and I felt confident
that someone in the audience could connect with this woman.
I felt that after someone said that they could accept this information,
I would be able to get more evidence, prove the connection and then get a message.

So, I began to relay this information to the people in the chapel and at the same time,
I was drawn to a mother and daughter who were part of

the large family group that I saw in the parking lot.

I felt that this woman in spirit was the mother and grandmother to these two women.
I offered what I was receiving to the people in the chapel…

“I have a woman here who passed in her 70’s or 80’s…” I stated.
“She was a mother and grandmother in this life…”
“She says that she smoked in her youth but quit a long time ago…”
“She hasn’t been gone for a long time, perhaps a few years…”
This information was new and came to me as I was giving the information that I had already received.

My awareness was again drawn to the mother and daughter in the family group. With each new validation I offered, they looked at each other smiling as if the connection I had was for them and I felt comfortable and confident that not only did I have a spirit, but I knew who it was for.

I continued, “She passed from either a heart attack or a heart related issue…” The mother and daughter looked questioningly at each other.

“I just heard the word ‘Kearney’, I don’t know if is the town, a name or maybe she is referring to a circus?”

To my surprise, as I gave the information about Kearney, they seemed to disconnect with me, sadly shaking their heads as if to say that, although they wanted to connect, unfortunately, the information was not for them.

Equally unfortunate, for me, was that I went into my head.
This is what happens, to all mediums that are starting to hone their craft.
Once your sitter can’t or won’t to take the information you are offering,
you think the fault lies with you.

You instantly doubt if you even had a connection at all.
Your confidence levels drop like a stone;
you begin to question yourself as to why you are even doing this…

You kick the door wide open to have your “Doubter Part” make it’s grand re entry!
Which was something I was determined not to let happen again.

This situation, like the “from me to me” dilemma, I have posted about http://hyp4lifellc.blogspot.com/2010/07/sometimes-you-win-sometimes-you-lose.html
can ruin a good reading/connection and destroy the fragile sense of confidence
that all beginning mediums struggle with.

I accepted that who I thought the connection was for, was not going to be the case,
I again asked the congregation if anyone could take any of the information and I repeated it once more…

"A 70 year old mother and grandmother, a smoker who quit early, who passed of heart issues, a connection with the word 'Kearney'”.
I looked around the congregation expecting to see a hand rise, but no one raised their hand.

My heart sank again…
No one…
O…M…G…
NO ONE??? I stared to sweat, something Janet taught us not to do…

“Always trust in your connection…” she stresses.
Easier said than done, though…

A bead of “flop” sweat formed at my hairline…
“Never let them see you sweat…”
“You are a professional, always stay in control”

I started to “stroke” my chest, which was something that is neither in my nature to do nor one of my stress management tools.
But doing that caught my attention.

As I stroked my chest, I felt a chain around my neck and a cross…

Almost to myself, but loudly enough for everyone to hear, I asked

“Why am I doing this?”, as I demonstrated stroking my imaginary chain.

“I feel a chain and a cross in my hand…
This woman is telling me that she was buried with her cross…”
The connection was back; In fact, it was never gone,
it was just my confidence that was temporarily gone.

Instantly I was flashed my symbol for “NOT”; a red circle with the diagonal line threw it.
When I am shown this sign it usually means I am either wrong or
I need to be shown something different due to my misinterpritation.

I said to the audience, “No Wait… She wasn’t buried with her cross…
Bare with me for a moment here…” as I tried to understand the conflict
between either being buried with her cross or not.

Symbols are a communication method that spirits use
to quickly relay information to Mediums.
For example, John Edward’s symbol for love is a yellow rose.
My symbol for Roman Catholic is a feeling of rosary beads
over my hands in a prayer position.

So when I received my “Not” symbol
when I said this woman was buried with her cross,
I asked and waited for clarification and I got it.

“No, sorry, she wasn’t buried with the cross. There was discussion about burying her with the cross but it was decided that her granddaughter should have it”

Immediately a hand went up in the back of the church, Carole a long time member of the congregation and an excellent Medium herself said
“Garry, you’re with me! You have my mother!”…

I could have jumped right off the platform,
run to the back of the church and kissed her!
The flop sweat instantly evaporated!
The knot in my stomach untied and I felt the connection again, only stronger.

When she said that I had her mother, I felt a surge of energy…
A chill went up my arms and my spine;
a feeling I have found to be my validation that I truly do have a connection.

After some other validations and a loving message,
I thanked Carole verbally for accepting my reading
and thanked her mother in my internal voice;
“Thank you Mom, for coming through and connecting with me so well”
I projected to the energy of her mother and I heard
“No… Thank-YOU… And I felt a kiss on my cheek!”

And as I walked back to the oak chair on the platform,
I knew why I love doing this work…

In "WORKING WITH SPIRIT -  Posting 3 of 3" (scheduled for posting on 8/19/2011) I describe an amazing reading done by Janet

WORKING WITH SPIRIT – a 3 Part Posting

Synopsis;
This posting would be too long for one posting so it is posted in three parts.
In Parts 1 and 2, I relay my experience of being on “the platform” at a “Spiritualist Church Student Service”; what being a “Psychic/Medium” feels like when you are in front of strangers trying to bring through messages from their loved ones who have passed away.
In Part 3, I describe observing Janet Nohavec my tutor, pastor and perhaps one of the top ten best Evidential Mediums in the world today. I describe the masterful way she brings evidence and messages to people who have lost their loved ones and the uplifting effect these messages have on those who were there.

WORKING WITH SPIRIT Posting 1 of 3;

On Sunday June 5, 2011 at 5:15pm, I was driving on Rt.287 North to the
Journey Within Spiritualist Church in Pompton Lakes where
I would be giving a Mediumship reading.
But this reading was going to be a new experience for me
and I am a big believer in the importance
of new experiences for the growth of your soul.

The Journey Within Church
http://journeywithin.org,
is a Spiritualist Church in Pompton Lakes NJ and is a member of the SNU,
The Spiritualist’s National Union
http://www.snu.org.uk

The Church’s Pastor, Janet Nohavec is a world renowned psychic/medium
and an amazing teacher.
She had invited me and about twenty other Mediums,
to join her school for Evidential Mediumship.
Her goal is to make us the best Psychic Mediums we are capable of being
and that means getting evidence, evidence and more evidence.

Saying
“...I have your father here…
Your father IS in spirit, isn’t he?
Well he is here and he says he is proud of you”...
will just not fly in Janet’s class.
Janet wants “Name, Rank and Serial Number”,
by that she means; she wants specific information from the spirit
that you are feeling, in a specific order
with no fuzzy fluff like...
“Your mommy says she loves you”...
Janet says that is not a “Wow” reading and
there is no evidence from that statement,
that you are actually in communication with a spirit.

A wow reading is one that when it is over, everyone there;
The sitter,
You - the Medium
and The spirits that are there say...
"WOW! that was amazing”

Janet is a tough teacher and I should know, being a teacher.
She also has one of, if not the most important attribute of a great teacher;
an absolute passion for her subject and in this case,
the subject is Evidential Mediumship.

I received a call from Janet about a week or two before,
asking me if I would be able to read at the Student’s service on Sunday evening.

I was so honored by her asking me
that I answered immediately with a resounding
“SURE! And Thank-you for asking”.

Which was just before the annoying voice of my doubter part said
“What are you crazy, what if you screw it up?”
I have learned to acknowledge that part of me
that is always causing self-doubt and
then try to ignore it;
perhaps it’ll stop one of these days.

In any event, If Janet had the faith in me, as a student, to “read” during the service, who am I to doubt her or say “no”.

So there I was driving on 287.

Having given myself extra time, I was cruising along at a slow 60 mph…
Just me and my increasingly annoying voice in my head.
Those of you, who know me, know that in my hypnotherapy practice,
I use Parts Therapy for many issues that trouble my clients.
Then, why, you may ask don’t I use it to treat this part of me that is so full of doubt.

Well the answer to that one would be a 10 part posting!
(Maybe at a future date)

As I entered the church’s parking lot with lots of time to spare,
I noticed that 4 cars had just pulled in and parked ahead of me.
There were about a dozen or so people huddled in a big group
animatedly talking with each other
and you didn’t need to be a psychic to know
they were all related and anxious about the experience they were about to have.

Once in the church’s beautiful chapel,
I met with two other students of Janet’s Medium school.
You could tell quite easily that we were all quite anxious and nervous.

Janet called us over to explain how the student service was going to work.

“First, Barbara, you’ll be the homilist and will speak to the congregation then you both” pointing to Lena and me, “will connect with a spirit and give evidence and a message to someone in the congregation and then I will give a message”

Before we walked onto the platform, I sat in the fourth row and closed my eyes.
Not only to center myself and get into the Medium mindset,
but to stop the old annoying frightened voice in my head
filling me with self doubts.
It seems to show up in my mind
as soon as I am about to read someone and always,
its timing is perfect to get me off my game.

“What if you don’t get a spirit? I felt/heard it say…
“You’ll look like a jerk, up there” it seemed to know exactly what I didn’t want to hear.
“…Mr. Wannabe Medium…” it said, spewing it’s venom and sarcasm.
“Why do you do this to yourself?...” the voice was relentless…

Finally another voice in my head chimed in…
“Shut-UP!” it said
“He wants to do this so stop hindering him!”
This conflict has been going on for years, if not decades.
But now I began to pay attention to this new supportive voice.
I liked his supportive energy.
It knew what I wanted to do and now I decided to only listen to him…
My supportive part…
And it felt good…
It felt right!

It wasn’t so much listening to this new part/voice in my head as much as it was deciding to do what Janet has been teaching us…

“Have faith in those spirits and they will never let you down.
Oh, and just say ‘screw it’ and have fun!”

Janet stood up and motioned to us to take our seats on the platform
and I began to put my supportive self to the test.
I also felt him sitting on top of my annoying doubter self.

So, the three of us,
Barbara, Lena and I stood and walked onto the platform with Janet,
sat down in the tall oak chairs on the platform
that were vibrating with the energy of the hundreds of Mediums
who had sat there over the years.

The service began with an address to the congregation by Janet,
who thanked all the people for being there
and explained what this special “Student Service” was;
that it was an abridged Spiritualist service
to provide experience to her students.
She went on to say that we would have a student homilist speak,
two students will give a reading each and
then she (Janet) would give a reading.

Janet had the music system cued up to “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles
and we all sang along with John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Honestly, it felt a little awkward singing on stage
with the feeling that all eyes were on you.
But by the second chorus of “All you need is love…”
my energy was definitely picking up as I harmonized with John.

Janet introduced the homilist, who began giving her homily and I hate to admit it but I was distracted.

The same ego driven concern popped into my head once again
but this time I had anticipated it and was able to ignore it.
Janet consistently told us that when the butterflies are fluttering
in the pit of your stomach, just say
“Screw it and enjoy yourself”
and that was my intention.

Since my introduction to Metaphysics ten years ago
at a week long Past Life Regression Workshop with Dr. Brian Weiss
which peaked my interest in psychic phenomenon,
I have had an ongoing internal conflict between my ego and faith/trust.
After these ten years…
finally, my trust and faith have won the battle and now,
to my surprise, I am comfortable on the platform.

As I sat on the platform, knowing I was going to be asked soon to make a connection, I asked my Spirit Guides to give me a hand.

“OK guys… Time to put up or shut up…”

I began getting that familiar tingle up my spine, the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up and I thought…

“Great! I have a link… thank-you God!”

I felt a woman, who had passed in her older 70’s or 80’s,
and was a mother and a Grandmother.

I thanked her for connecting with me and I asked her, if she could,
hold off until later when I am on the platform.

I began my self talk;
the set up I do prior to doing a reading.
Eyes closed now...
Slowing down my breath…
Expanding my energy out in front of and behind me…

Now I set my intention;

“I want to make a connection with a person in spirit
who wants to communicate with their loved one
who is sitting in this place of love and light”…

“I surround myself with the white light of truth…” I said my white light prayer.

“Our father who art in heaven…” I said the Lord’s Prayer.

Lena wanted to go first. Even though she was clearly very nervous, she did fine.

“Hi I’m Lena…” She said to the congregation...

“Hi Lena” the congregation responded.
I smiled as I pictured an AA meeting.

I thought that when it was my turn, I’d mess up and say,
“Hi I’m Garry and I’m an Alcoholi… I mean a Medium…”.
Then said to myself that there is a time and place for everything
and this was certainly not the time to be joking around
and this is not the place for comedy.

Lena made a connection with a woman in spirit who was “taken” by Jake, one of our fellow students in Janet’s class who came to the service to support us, his classmates.

After Lena’s evidence and message, she thanked the congregation and went back to her seat.

Janet walked to the pulpit and said into the microphone,
“Garry?” nodding towards me,
I stood up and simultaneously said to the spirit of this woman I had felt,

“Ok, mom… we’re up”

In WORKING WITH SPIRIT Part 2 of 3, I describe my experience of connecting with the spirit of a woman whose daughter was sitting in the congregation.

I'm BAAAACK!

Synopsis;
In this brief posting, I apologize for being away for so long and update you on what has been happening during this past year

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned...
it’s been a year since my last Blog entry…”
and I have no one to blame except me and my laziness…
shame on me.

Although I could blame my laziness on my very busy schedule,
I really need to get back into the habit and discipline of writing every day.

Since I last did an entry, when I was planning on finishing my book and
although I did work on it over the summer,
I am still only 75% done and again,
I plan on finishing it soon or at least before I retire from teaching in 4 years..

Between teaching, hypnotizing, being a Psychic/ Medium and
the responsibilities that come with being a husband, father and grandfather,
the last thing on my prioritized “to do list” is the gym and writing…
OK who am I fooling,
the last thing IS writing.

Whether in my blog or my book, once I am done with all the “Have to do’s”, the “wanna do’s” like writing just don’t seem to get done.
But that will change;
that must change.

So that’s why this entry is titled “ I baaaack”.
Maybe by saying it I will be back…
writing again.

It is a great release.
Sooo…
This past year has been very busy and
quite interesting metaphysically speaking…

- Last summer I spent a weekend at The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies,
working with James Van Praagh.
That was my next to last blog entry.
This summer I will be back at Omega and work with James again for a week!
I am most definitely looking forward to it.

- I have taken classes with 4 different teachers of Metaphysics from
Arthur Findlay College in England.
Bet you never knew that there is an actual college in England
for Psychic/ Mediumship along with many other Metaphysical areas of study.
Actually the college is what the school in the Harry Potter series was based on! If you are interested, check their website at http://www.arthurfindlaycollege.org/
- I was asked along with about 20 other Psychic Mediums
to join a class taught by Janet Nohavec,
at her church to improve and hone our P/M abilities.
Janet is not only a world renowned Psychic Medium,
she is a true teacher in every sense of the word.
By that I mean, she is surely NOT doing it for the money
(all “true” teachers will attest to that, money is not the motivating factor in teaching, the motivating factor is the advancement and growth of your students.)
Janet teaches her students because she is driven to produce better evidential mediums; people who can prove to the public that we never truly die.
To prove to a cynical public that our consciousness is eternal
and after our bodies die, our consciousness is still “alive”
and aware of our loved ones who are still here.
An evidential Medium’s purpose is to assist the spirit in communicating with their loved ones on Earth and to prove to those loved ones that those who have passed away are truly still here.
Services at the Journey Within Church start at 10am.
Check out the services page on Janet’s website http://www.journeywithin.org/services.htm
I am proud and honored to be invited by Janet to “read” at the
“Sunday Night Student Church Service” this Sunday evening June 5th at 6:00pm.
I will let you know what it was like.

- I am doing many more “readings”. With each reading I learn more of how our loved ones in spirit communicate.
- I started a psychic circle that is still going strong

As the title “Spiritual Evolution - A Journey from Atheism to Spirituality” of my book implies, we are all on a journey and I will keep you informed of what I am learning along mine.
Until the next time…
This Journey continues.

Sometimes You Win Sometimes You Lose - Part 2

Synopsis;
this is the second of a 2 part article (please excuse the length) about how you can learn from losing, often learning more than from winning.
I describe my experiences at my weekend workshop with James Van Praagh http://www.vanpraagh.com/ and the lessons I learned.

So, after that reading (from Part 1),
I was wondering why I do Psychic/ Mediumship (P/M) readings at all;
I was that upset.
I considered taking down all my blog postings on P/M,
taking all references to P/M from my website and just give up.
I went home that night ready to cancel my weekend at Omega
and take down my P/M shingle for good.


I was that miserable.

Fortunately, I spoke with my friend Sylvia (an excellent Psychic/Medium),
who helped me tremendously.
he said, “Garry, picture a balance scale,
measuring all the readings you have ever done …
on one side sits all the good ones and the other all the bad ones.
What would this balance scale look like?”

As that image formed in my mind,
I saw the scale overwhelmingly heavy with good readings
and only a handful of bad ones.
I not only saw the good readings,
but the faces of the sitters who were so happy with their readings;
how their energy changed after their reading;
how light and good I felt after giving them messages
from their loved ones in spirit
and how I was aware of a feeling of appreciation and gratitude
from spirit, after a good reading
(I plan on expanding on this feeling of gratitude
from spirit in a future posting, suffice to say, we [P/M’s] work
for those in spirit more than for the sitters who pay us).


That conversation was just what I needed
to get me off the floor and back in the game.
Sometimes it seems to be necessary to get shot down occasionally
so that you know how to get up, brush yourself off and keep on keep’n on!
I thanked her for showing me this simple metaphor
and I realized that I had allowed these two sitters
to so negativity influence me that
I wanted to quit this work that I love to do.
I also realized that my ego was hurt and that was why I felt like quitting…
It hurts when your self-image is attacked.

After a good night’s sleep, I woke up and in the shower,
I washed off the negative energy that I absorbed the night before
and looked forward to the coming weekend
at Omega in Rhinebeck NY,
where I would learn from James Van Praagh himself.

I also planned to relay this experience
(of a reading where the sitter would not take anything I offered)
to him for advice;
I was not disappointed.

On Friday July 16, 2010,
I arrived at Omega at 6:30pm after a drive from hell,
287 North was closed for emergency repair;
one lane open and a 3 hour ride took 6 hours,
but the frustration vanished
with the smiles of the young people working at Omega.


If you get a chance to take a workshop there, you really should,
it will be worth your time.

After settling into my room,
I walked into James’ Friday night introductions.
We had about 125 people there
and we were all anticipating a great weekend.
James began by answering the questions of the participants
and I was able to ask him the question
that was praying on my mind from that Monday’s reading.

He had two helpers
running back and forth handing microphones to the questioners.
“James, I had a reading this past Monday”,
I said as the microphone was handed to me.
With a big broad smile, he said to wait for the microphone
so everyone can hear, as I continued…

“I was giving a reading to a woman and her 30ish year old son…”
I relayed how no matter what I said; no matter how strongly
I knew I had a good link with the spirit of their husband/father
they refused to accept anything.


His answer to me was understandable and simple,
but his follow up about the ego was profound and worth relaying.
He said that all you can do as a Medium
is to give the information that you are receiving
from a spirit to the sitter the best you can
and if your intention is coming from a place of love;
you are doing this work for all the right reasons;
your heart is in the right place
but your sitter is too closed off to accept it
or if they come to the reading with preconceived ideas
or if they want to hear from only a specific spirit
and not the one that is there,
there is nothing anyone can do.

I understood and accepted his rather basic response, but he continued…
“Sometimes”, he said,
“your ego gets in the way and you get upset because
the person you are working with doesn’t understand
that you are a wonderful P/M;
you are a loving individual
who is doing this work for all the right reasons;
they don’t see the work you are putting in
or the energy it takes to do this work…
They don’t know that you were a boy scout
and that you love puppy dogs
and you go to church every Sunday…

They misjudge you…

He then said something worth repeating…
often…

“What people think about you…” he said
“Is none of YOUR business!”

Now re-read that statement,
because it is simple, true
and is something a lot of us would disagree with.

It’s none of your business what people think of you!
Wow another Life’s Lesson!

Saturday at James’ workshop
was a great learning experience
and I met some great people and new friends.


I met Jali on Saturday morning and
we hit it off as if we knew each other for years (lifetimes?).

She is an amazing psychic medium from Maryland
her website is
http://www.psychicphotoreading.com/
we did a few psychic exercises together
and I was impressed with her dead – on (no pun intended) readings.


She was kind enough to send me a bunch of photos
and I will attempt to paste them onto this posting
(using my extremely limited computer expertise).

The photo below was by far the most interesting.
James did only one reading the entire weekend,
letting the participants gain a lot of
practical experience as opposed to
watching a pro (James) in action (doing a bunch of readings).


Jali emailed a photo of that reading,
when James was reading the energy of a spirit
for a young woman in the audience.
I’ll attach it below but the amazing thing was
that out of all the photos,
only this one when James was reading had some interesting…
well…
observers for lack of a better description.

No other photos I saw from that weekend had orbs like these in them…
I count 8!

On Sunday before we finished at 12 noon,
James said that he would be bringing up some of us
to “read” for the audience.
Talk about pressure!
Reading a group of Mediums
with James Van Praagh sitting behind you
and he is NOT an easy teacher.

He said from the start that he was going to push us
right out of our comfort zones,
and he did just that!

At first only one person raised their hand.
James said “Good!”,
that he had seen her work and that he would help her.

She came up and did he ever push her!
He was helping her refine
the information she was getting,
but by the time the reading was through,
she was exhausted
and I saw a lot of hands
that had been waving to get a chance to read,
quickly go down and some hands were being sat on!

I was torn between wanting to challenge myself
and embarrassing myself.
I knew that the challenge to do the work
was coming from my “higher self”; my sub-conscious P/M self
and the part of me that was afraid
that I would embarrass myself
was most definitely coming from my ego.

One of the important lessons James taught us
that weekend was the detrimental effect
of listening to your ego
over your intuitive (psychic) self.

I wanted to challenge myself
and decided to ignore my ego
although with that decision,
my ego got louder…
until…
I “felt” the presence of an older man in spirit
touch my arm.

As James was choosing who would be next to read,
my hand had a mind of its own!
It shot straight up
waving like one of my students
in High School
who had to really,
really go to the bathroom.

I felt as if the spirit of this older man
was standing behind controlling my hand!
But I truly wanted to challenge myself for a number of reasons.

First, I felt very comfortable
that I had a strong connection
with this man and after all is said and done,
we Mediums work for them.
If he needed this message to get to someone in the audience,
I felt it would be my honor, duty and pleasure to bring his message through.

Secondly, this was a place
and time where we were all supporting each other
and there were a lot of egos outside,
banging on the windows and doors,
mine included and
I made sure I had left my ego outside
with my flip-flops.

I was ready to do this.

Now, James had called up three other people
and my hand was shooting up
when each one finished
and I honestly felt that I was not going to be picked
and then the strangest thing happened…

I “threw it up to the Universe”
I said in my head to whoever was listening,
my spirit guides;
my higher self;
the spirit of the old man;
God…
“If I am going to do this work
and the time is right, it will work out.”
I felt a sense of calmness wash over me and I heard…
“You’ll be the last one up!”
I don’t know who it was,
but I heard it as clear as day…

“Calm yourself…”

“Prepare yourself…”

“You Will be the last one up…”

The calmness I felt continued…
James announced that he had a plane to catch
and that he had to leave at 12 sharp,
so he could only do a total of five readings
and picked the 4th reader…

I felt I would be next;
no fear;
no apprehension;
no doubt!

When the 4th reader stepped off the stage,
handing James the microphone,
James had his back to me,
looking at a sea of hands all wanting to be the last to read.

This memory will always stay with me.
He turned around, microphone in hand,
pointed it at me and asked if I wanted to read!

I can’t describe what went through my mind in one millisecond!

Yes!...
Hell Yeah! I want to read!
OMG! It really worked,
I asked spirit to help and they did exactly what I asked for!

They said I would be last and I am the last reader!

OK mister, ghost guy…I am all ears, talk to me.
Who do you want to connect with?
What relationship did you have with the person in the audience?
How did you die?
Give me more information…

Then another voice said…
“Holy crap you better do this right
this is THE James Van Praagh!
You better not screw this up,
like you did Monday!”

and I knew Mr. Ego was back in the house!

In my mind I pictured standing up facing my arch nemesis,
grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and his belt,
kicking the door open,
throwing him out the doorway
like John Wayne in every western he ever made…
and then hearing from the PA system…
in the voice of James Van Praagh himself…
“Garry’s Mr. Ego has just left the building!”
…and good riddance.

The reading went great!
I went up on stage
and sat in a chair
with James sitting behind me to my left.
He prompted me to calm myself…
to breathe deeply…
to allow an image to form…

“I have an older man here”, I started…
“Good”, said James, “describe him!”

“He is telling me that he drank and
that is what contributed to his death;
he is a father to a man who is not here,
but his wife is…
This is a woman’s father in law…
He was an educated man,
a professional, doctor, or lawyer...
A tough demanding father…
showed no love to his son.. your husband.. ”

I continued with some more evidence
with James giving me hints as what to ask him,
how to phrase my questions.

I felt that James knew exactly who it was I was connected to.

Finally two women raised their hands claiming this man may be for them,
one in the front of the group
and one in the back.

With some more evidence,
we were able to narrow it down
to the woman in the back of the room,
who was able to accept everything that was coming though.

Then it was time for the all important message,
which was short and powerful.
He wanted me to relate
that he was so very proud of his son,
that he was never able to show his pride
for his son while he was alive.

He was incapable of showing love
and alcohol only made his aloofness
all the more hardened and at times violent.

He said that he was asking for forgiveness from the whole family;
that this was the first time he was able to get through to anyone;
that he had been so difficult to live with that in spirit,
his whole family refused to hear him
as he tried from spirit
to communicate and to apologize to them.

But they heard now!
Through the openness of his daughter-in-law,
the message would finally be delivered to his son,
with the additional sweetness
of saying that his son
is a better person, man and father
than he had ever been
and he can finally relay to his son
through his son’s wife
that he is proud of the man he had become
and that he truly does love him.

There were few dry eyes,
including mine when this man had finished allowing me to help him get his message out.

I will always remember that weekend at Omega and the many life lessons I learned there.

Sometimes You Win Sometimes You Lose - Part 1

Sometimes You Win Sometimes You Lose - Part 1

Synopsis;
This is a 2 part article about how you can learn from losing,
often learning more than from winning.

On Monday July 12, 2010, I had a Psychic/ Mediumship
reading scheduled for a woman and her son.
It was the Monday before my weekend workshop
with James Van Praagh at Omega
and I was excited about the weekend
and looked forward to doing this reading,
just as I look forward to every reading I do.

I view doing a “reading” with a combination of emotions;
from anticipation of the unknown
to dread of being inaccurate in the reading;
from the satisfaction of having people walk away from my office
happier than they were when they came in;
to the satisfaction of knowing that the work a Medium does,
is for those who are in spirit, more than those
who are still here on the earth plane.

This is how I looked forward to this reading.
I wanted to do the very best I could
for both the sitters (the mother and her son)
and for their deceased loved ones.

I have learned from years of classes and readings
that one of the biggest obstacles to a great reading is your own ego.
I learned that weekend from James Van Praagh
that EGO is an acronym for “Edging Out God”.

A new Medium is always concerned if the
images, thoughts, symbols, etc.
that they receive are from “the source”
or from their own mind or imagination.

I refer to this as the “From Me/ To Me” dilemma.
It is usually an ego conflict;
“Will I look stupid?”,
“Am I making this stuff up?”

These internal questions fade with experience and confidence.

The experience of doing more readings,
reinforces the perceptions a psychic has
as to where the information he is getting, comes from;

either from his own mind or imagination
which is in no way psychic at all
and is purely guessing, also known as “Cold Reading”;

or

the sitter (the person being read);
their mind, energy or aura which is the definition of a psychic reading;

or

from the energy of a spirit’s consciousness
which is the definition of a Psychic/Mediumship reading.

As a psychic does more and more readings,
he learns to distinguish between the “From Me / To ME” dilemma
and soon only focuses on the “To Me”
and can detach from the ego driven “From Me” thoughts.

With that distinction, he begins to gain the confidence he will need to do accurate readings.

I have witnessed incredibly gifted Mediums like
John Edward, John Holland and James Van Praagh,
stick to their guns, so to speak,
and refuse to be shaken by the denial of a sitter
to accept the information being offered.

At a demonstration of his Mediumship
with an audience of over 1000 people,
I saw John Edward stand his ground for a half hour,
until the light went on over the person’s head
and the sitter was finally able to accept
everything that John offered to him.

A novice would fold at the first “no”;
or at the first arm crossing over the chest
and the negative head shake
that we have all been aware of when being “dismissed”.

This situation is devastating to a psychic Medium
and was what happened on that Monday in July.

Unfortunately I don’t have the confidence of a John Edward.

Although I felt confident that the information I was receiving
was from a spirit that needed to communicate
to this woman and her 35 year old son.

They both just sat there,
arms folded
and even though I was giving them images that they could accept,
they acted very aloof;
no big deal about the information they were getting.
Almost every piece of evidence
I brought up was minimized and discarded.

They even said things like “Yeah, everybody has a dog!”
At one point, as I was giving the son
some additional evidence, when he said
“Yeah… So… I have a lot of friends who died on a motorcycle who also had lung cancer…
we all smoke”, shrugging and looking at his watch while rolling his eyes.

I was giving them the best I could do but they were totally unsatisfied.

Then I made a real mistake, I read them for another hour and a half!
because I truly wanted to work for their loved ones,
even though they refused to accept anything I was saying.

After a marathon 2.5 hour session, they left.

They did pay for the service… $100

That evening I received a very long email from the mother,
saying how they felt ripped off by my reading and
she went as far as saying that I was a fraud.

My reply to her diatribe was to simply
ask her for her mailing address and sent her a refund,
with a note saying that
I hoped that at least she no longer felt “ripped-off”.

Part 2 will be posted next week and
I will describe some of my weekend experiences
at Omega with James Van Praagh and
what I learned from this very uncomfortable reading.

Off to Omega Again

"Off to Omega Again"

Well I am off to “The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies”, tomorrow.

For those of you who don’t know what Omega is, picture a commune of the 60’s updated to the 2010’s. It is a wonderfully relaxing place in Rhinebeck, NY, where I have gone for the past 7 years to take classes by amazingly gifted people.

I attribute my “Spiritual Evolution” to my experiences there
(nice how I dropped in the title of my book, even before it is published…
heck! Before it is even finished!... ) but I digress…

I have been to classes there with
Dr. Brian Weiss http://www.brianweiss.com author of “Many Lives, Many Masters”,
who I learned how to do Past Life Regressions from
and who’s week long class started me on my “Journey”;

Neale Donald Walsch, http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
author of the “Conversations with God” series
who opened my eyes to the possibility that
you don’t have to be “religious” to be spiritual and believe in God;

Raymond Moody http://www.lifeafterlife.com who introduced me to life between and after lives;

Suzane Northrop http://www.northstar2llc.com/theseance author and Psychic/Medium who broke down my hard-core cynicism about all things that are new-age

and

Last but far from least, John Holland, http://www.johnholland.com author, teacher and psychic/Medium extraordinaire!
Who took me from skeptic
to believer
to a practicing Psychic/Medium.
John had the faith in me during 2 separate classes to bring me on stage to “read” (give messages to people from their deceased loved ones) for the class.
I was about as nervous as I have ever been,
but with his guidance, I gave fairly good readings, but more importantly,
I started to grow spiritually into who I am today

(if you read this, John… I will be eternally [and that’s a long time] grateful for your devotion to spirit and your expertise in not only Mediumship but in teaching [Kudos from one teacher to another]).
His new book “The Spirit Whisperer” is a must read for anyone who is the least bit curious about psychic phenomenon.

Sometimes, being at Omega makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
Being an old New Yorker and having everyone there,
walking around nodding and smiling at you,
the cynical, street wise, Ex-Brooklyner in me thought that
I was in a place where they must be putting Thomasine in the drinking water;
everyone was sooo mellow.

Eventually this old city boy chilled out and soon I was nodding and smiling, like everyone else.
I was walking around saying “Good Morning” to everyone;
the kids that worked there,
the other students,
the chipmunks, the squirrels, but when I said good morning to on old Oak tree,
I knew I had had enough and I’d better leave!

Well as I said, I’m off to Omega again in about 12 hours from now.

I will be having a weekend workshop with James Van Praagh, http://www.vanpraagh.com Author, Executive Producer of the TV series “Ghost Whisperer” and world renounced Psychic/Medium.
If I learn half as much as I have learned from John Holland’s workshop, I’m in for a treat!

Hopefully, I can put these new learning’s to good use and considering the last reading I had, I could use some new teachings.

The next entry will be a 2 part article titled “Sometimes You Win; Sometimes You Lose”.
It will be about the reading I have just referred to.
Suffice to say it was not the best work I have done but I sure learned from it.

I will keep you informed as to my “Mediumship” progress.

Metaphysicality Part 5; ESP and Psychic Abilities

Synopsis,
In the 5th posting of the series, I define the seven psychic or Claire-senses we have. I describe the "Paranormal and some good links.

ESP and Psychic Abilities

The term clairvoyant is used commonly and interchangeably whenever people discuss the subject of Extra Sensory Perception – ESP. I would like to bring in a definition of each extra sense we possess. A definition for the seven “Claire” senses can be helpful.

Clairvoyance
Or "Clear Seeing" is the ability to see anything which is not physically present, such as objects, animals or people. This sight occurs "in the mind’s eye", and some mediums say that this is their normal vision state. Others say that they must train their minds with such practices as meditation in order to achieve this ability, and that assistance from spiritual helpers is often necessary. Some clairvoyant mediums can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. They see the bodily form as if it were physically present (This is Bill’s strength; Bill, Jill and I have an ongoing psychic circle, called “Connecting with Loved Ones in Spirit, which meets every Tuesday evening). Other mediums see the spirit in their mind's eye, or it appears as a movie or a television program or a still picture like a photograph in their mind (which is a good way to describe the way Jill and I “see”).

Clairaudience
or "Clear Hearing” is usually defined as the ability to hear the voices or thoughts of spirits. Some Mediums hear as though they are listening to a person talking to them on the outside of their head, as though the Spirit is next to or near to the medium, and other mediums hear the voices in their minds as a verbal thought.

Clairsentinence
or "Clear Feeling" is a condition in which the medium takes on the ailments of a spirit, feeling the same physical problem the spirit person. The medium also takes on specific mannerisms and attitudes. People have stated that a Clairsentient medium at times even looks like the person who they are in touch with (I have been told exactly that by some of our sitters).

Clairalience
or "Clear Smelling" is the ability to smell a spirit. For example, a medium may smell the pipe tobacco of a person who smoked during life. I have smelled Chicken soup, so strongly I had to ask if anyone else smelled it. When asked about chicken soup, our sitter said that her (pased- grandmother would always sit over a bowl of home made chicken soup. Jill, smelled the strong odor of cleanser, which was a strong validation to our sitter.

Clairgustance
or "Clear Tasting" is the ability to receive taste impressions from a spirit but this is a rare ability.
Clairsentience
or "Clear Sensing” is the ability to have an impression of what a spirit wants to communicate, or to feel sensations instilled by a spirit.

Claircognizance
or "Clear Knowing", is the ability to know something without receiving it through normal or psychic senses. It is a feeling of "just knowing". Often, a medium will claim to have the feeling that a message or situation is "right" or "wrong."

As I stated before Bill, Jill and I have a psychic circle on Tuesdays evenings. We bring into our circle from one to five people to give psychic/medium readings to. See my website for more information http://www.hyp4life.com/

Bill’s predominant senses are Clairvoyance and Clairaudience. He also reads auras and energy.

Jill’s predominant senses are Clairaudience and Clairsentinence. She has an ability to separate and sit with spirit to gain information and messages.

My predominant senses are Clairaudience and Clairsentinence; I allow the spirit to make me feel what they had felt in life. People have told me that when I am communicating with their loved ones I actually “look like them”.

All three of us are Claircognizance and Clairsentinence.

There are some people who call what we do “Paranormal” implying weirdness or not normal. Let’s look at the word first, before labeling our work too quickly.
There are various definitions for the paranormal, Beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation: “such paranormal phenomena as telepathy; a medium's paranormal powers”.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=dictionary%3A+paranormal&content=ahdict%7C9513&o=0&l=dir

Paranormal is a general term that describes unusual experiences that lack a scientific explanation, or phenomena alleged to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure. In parapsychology, it is used to describe the potentially psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings. The scientific community, as referenced in statements made by organization such as the United States National Science Foundation, contends that scientific evidence does not support paranormal beliefs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal#Skeptical_scientific_investigation

What is paranormal?
We are often asked, "What exactly does paranormal mean?" The term paranormal is used to describe a wide variety of activity and phenomena. According to the Journal of Parapsychology (a quarterly publication devoted primarily to the original publication of experimental results and other research findings as published by the Parapsychological Association), the term paranormal describes "any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific assumptions." The actual word is derived from the Latin use of the prefix para meaning "outside or beyond" what is considered normal.
http://www.milwaukeeparanormal.com/What-IS-Paranormal.html

There has been much research in the field of Mediumship. In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has investigated some phenomena, mainly in connection with telepathy and apparitions. According to an article in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, in some cases mediums have produced personal information which has been well above guessing rates.

The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, run by Dr. Gary Schwartz, was created primarily to test the hypothesis that the consciousness (or identity) of a person survives physical death. Studies conducted by VERITAS have been approved by the University of Arizona Human Subjects Protection Program and an academic advisory board. Gary’s book “The Afterlife Experiments” is on my reading list.

References and Links;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
http://veritas.arizona.edu/
http://www.nsac.org/
http://www.lighthousespiritualcentre.ca/Churches/churchengland.html
http://www.edgarcayce.org/.
http://www.ask.com/web?q=dictionary%3A+paranormal&content=ahdict%7C9513&o=0&l=dir
http://www.isd-sparta.org/
http://www.sethlearningcenter.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal

Metaphysicality - Part 4; Mediumship

Synopsis;
In the 4th posting in the series, I discuss the new popularity of psychic mediums; a history and definition of Psychic Mediumship; what to look for, be aware of and be concerned about, when using a medium to connect you with passed loved ones and give some insight as to what my partners and I do during a psychic circle.

Mediumship

There are TV shows like “Ghost Whisperer”, “Medium” and more Psychic shows, from psychic detectives to pet psychics than ever before. The subject of Psychic/Mediumship is once again, very popular.
I say “once again” because contrary to current thought it is by no means “New Age”;
Mediumship is and always has been Age-less.

The ability that Mediums like John Edward, John Holland Lisa Williams, and others demonstrate are as inherent to human beings as their other five senses. People are beginning to believe that in fact, we are all psychic.

In fact, it was watching John Edward on TV that first aroused my curiosity about how Mediumship works. Through various synchronicities (which I attributed, at the time, to coincidence) I went from being a cynic to a skeptic to a believer and after many classes and effort to becoming a psychic/medium.

A Definition and a Brief History of “Mediumship”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship

The term "Mediumship" denotes the ability of a person (the “medium”) to apparently experience contact with spirits of the dead, spirits of immaterial entities i.e. angels, spirit guides, ghosts etc.

The medium generally attempts to facilitate communication between non-mediumistic people (the “sitters”) and spirits who may have messages to share.

A medium may appear to listen to and relate conversations with spirit voices; go into a trance and speak without knowledge of what is being said; allow a spirit to enter their body and speak through it; relay messages from the spirits those who wish to contact them with the help of a physical tool, such as a writing instrument.

Mediumship is also part of the belief system of some “New Age” groups. In this context, and under the name channeling, it refers to a medium who receive messages from a "teaching-spirit".

There is a long documented history of Mediumship. Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to early human history.
One of the most well-known is the story of the Witch of Endor, who was said to have raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew King Saul to question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the Old Testaments’ First Book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh.

Mediumship became quite popular in the United States after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date to the mediumistic activities of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid 1800s. Mediumship was also described by Allan Kardec, who coined the term Spiritism, around 1860.

After the exposure of the fraudulent use of stage magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers, Mediumship fell into disrepute, although it never ceased being used by people who believed that the dead can be contacted.

From the 1930s through the 1990s, as psychic Mediumship became less practiced in Spiritualist churches, the technique of channeling gained in popularity, and books by channelers who related the wisdom of non-corporeal and non-terrestrial teacher-spirits became best-sellers amongst believers.

For some mediums, a spirit guide is a highly evolved spirit with the sole purpose of helping the medium develop and use their skills. They assist mediums in following their spiritual path. For other mediums, a spirit guide is one who brings other spirits to a medium's attention or carries communications between a medium and the spirits of the dead. Many mediums claim to have specific guides who regularly work with them and "bring in" spirits of the dead. Some mediums believe that spirits of the dead will communicate with them directly without the use of a spirit guide.

In Spiritualism, a portion of the services, generally toward the end, is given over to the pastor, or another medium, who receives messages from the spirit world for the congregants. This may be referred to as a "demonstration of Mediumship." A typical example of this older way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the 1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the Spiritualist Camp at Chesterfield, Indiana: "Services are held each afternoon, consisting of hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and demonstrations of Mediumship."

Today "demonstration of Mediumship" is part of the church service at all churches affiliated with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches 'NSAC'.
These types of services are held each Sunday at The Institute for Spiritual Development in Sparta NJ. Their website is http://www.isd-sparta.org/

Mental Mediumship is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium mentally "hears," "sees," and/or feels messages from spirits, then, directly or with the help of a spirit guide, passes the information on to the message's recipient(s). Trance Mediumship is often seen as a form of Mental Mediumship.

Some mediums remain conscious during this communication period, while others go into a trance, wherein a spirit uses the medium's body to communicate. Trance Mediumship is defined as a spirit taking over the body of the medium, sometimes to such a degree that the medium is unconscious.
“Part trance mediums” are aware during the period of communication,
while “full trance mediums” pass into an unconscious state in which their physical and mental processes are completely controlled by the spirit communicator.
Because the typical trance medium has no clear memory of the messages conveyed while in a trance, a medium of this type generally works with an assistant who writes down or otherwise records his or her words.

A good example of this kind of relationship can be found in the early 1970’s in “The Seth books”. Full Trance Medium Jane Roberts channeled “Seth” an advanced spirit guide, while her husband Robert Butts transcribed the sessions. Her website is http://www.sethlearningcenter.org/
Edgar Cayce, known as “The sleeping Prophet” is another example of Trance Mediumship. Mr. Cayce has an extensive library in Virginia Beach, Virginia of thousands of recorded full trance medium readings covering all aspects of human life. For more information on Edgar Cayce goes to http://www.edgarcayce.org/.

In Spiritualism, psychic senses used by mental mediums are sometimes defined differently than in other paranormal fields. The term clairvoyance, for instance, may be used by Spiritualists to include seeing spirits and visions instilled by spirits, whereas the Parapsychological Association defines "clairvoyance" as information derived directly from an external physical source.
***

In my opinion, it is extremely important for anyone, seeking the use of a Medium to contact deceased loved ones, to understand how the process works and to always keep their healthy skepticism.

Some important things to keep in mind;
- As in all professions, we all have varying degrees of proficiency. Mediums are no different, you will find some that are amazing and some are less; Most are 100% ethical and unfortunately some are… less.

- The best way to judge any professional is through word of mouth and referrals.
Listen to friends and family that have been to a Psychic/Medium (P/M). You would be amazed by how many people, who you would not expect to go to a P/M, that do. You would be equally amazed about how many people, some that you know who are Mediums or have great hidden mediumistic abilities.

- Most P/M’s are scrupulous but unfortunately there are those that are frauds.

People who so desperately want to hear from loved ones that they let their guard and common sense down are most vulnerable to fraud. They are unaware of or choose to ignore that there are those supposed “Mediums” who are fraudulent and are doing this to steal from the most vulnerable of us.

When seeking a Medium be aware of and avoid any who,
- seems to be fishing for information, or coming up with many very general impressions. If they are more focused on your reaction, if they are reacting to what you are saying, rather than what they perceive from spirit, they are probably doing what is known as a “Cold Reading” and is either not an experienced psychic or perhaps a fraudulent one.
A Medium should always be more concerned with what spirit is telling them than what you are.

- Asks you to return with more money. If the P/M suggests that you should come back for more readings, because your loved ones are requesting you to do so, along with asking you for more money, they are frauds and you should leave as soon as possible! Messages that you receive from a loved one is as important for the loved one in spirit to get to you as it is important for you to receive it.
All those in spirit want to get their message to you immediately, completely and always from a place of love. They will never say “I will have a message for you on your next session”, if a medium says that they want you to return for additional readings, you should know that it was not your loved one’s message, that message is coming from a fraudulent medium. That is just not how spirit communicates. Please keep a healthy sense of skepticism.

Many people want to hear from loved ones so badly that they can be easily scammed.

There is nothing wrong with going back for additional readings as long as it is you who wants to return and it is your request. Most P/M will suggest that you wait a while before scheduling an additional session.

If you plan to come for any P/M work either with me or with our Circle, PLEASE tell us nothing!

It is not that I (we) don’t want to know who you want to contact.

The information, validations and messages MUST come from them, your loved ones in spirit. As soon as we think about who you want to come through, we are using a different part of the brain. When a P/M begins to think with the logical part of the mind a situation arises that I call “From me/To me”.

I can get mixed messages if I am confused by a message coming “From me” which is based on assumptions, guesses and are usually wrong.

This is also connected with “Cold Readings”.

What we do want is information “Coming TO me”. Information coming from spirit will not make sense to us, but the validations, information and messages are not for us, they are for you.

After a session is over, I/ We will ask for you to validate the information that we did bring through.

I hope that this posting was informative.
Please feel free to post a comment or question and I look forward to replying.
The next posting will be on 1/18/2009 and will be titled,

Metaphysicality – Part 5; ESP and Psychic Abilities.