Writing Creatively With Spirit

A journey of psychic discovery


Leave a comment

An evening with Gordon Smith

Sunday 23rd February 2014

From the excellence of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl I moved almost seamlessly to an amazing evening with Gordon Smith – psychic medium extraordinaire.

I was spellbound (excuse the pun) by his accuracy. None of my ancestors or dear departed friends wanted to speak to me, but it was a delight to witness this man deliver messages that prove the existence of a spirit world in such an entertaining way.

I left with renewed commitment to remembering my ancestors in my daily life. Check out Gordon Smith here, he may be in your area soon.


4 Comments

Countdown to Cameroon – 5 days to go – The calm before the storm

Friday 13th September 2013

Legacy of the Black Gods - In Time Before Time by Paul Simons: Nebu Ka Ma'at

Legacy of the Black Gods – In Time Before Time by Paul Simons: Nebu Ka Ma’at

By the time I went to bed last night I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself for being so organised. I’m more or less packed, I’ve printed off all my paperwork, re-checked the flight details, and accepted and packed a mobile phone and some pens donated by one of my sons for me to take with me. (Nice replacement for all the ones I found that still don’t work and therefore not worth taking).

As far as my work goes, I was as up-to-date as I could be at this stage; and the book I’d ordered Legacy of the Black Gods – In time before time arrived. I thought it might be a fitting holiday read. Obviously hoping I get some time to read.

Was it all going too smoothly? Was that why I created the drama this morning of a shower that wouldn’t turn off? Brought in the tension and anxiety of not knowing where the stop cocks were for the water? ‘Why am I creating this?’ I asked myself in the midst of rushing around the house.

Then I sat and thought logically about what needed to be done, cleared my head of panic and found the stop cock – in a place I’d looked previously. My reminder? Anxiety and panic clouds the answer. Water represents emotions. When emotions are running out of control clear thinking is not possible. Calm brings clarity, as does ‘please ancestors, show me where the stop cock is.’

The problem has now been resolved. I’m going to savour the time I have left and keep it drama free. My plan is to catch up with a few friends who I’ve been putting on hold during the preparations. And to work out how all the audio/visual kit I’m taking with me works. Also going to do some more research into Cameroon and how it sits in all respects in An

I’ve put editing of Love is Not a Reward on hold for the time being. I’m trusting it will all get done in divine timing.


Leave a comment

Countdown to Cameroon – 16 days to go – getting in the essentials

Monday 2nd September 2013

Yes, I was busy today. The kind of busy you get when you know there’re only so many days to go and you see how much you have to fit into them. The pre-holiday busy. When you begin to wish you’d attended to a few of those things earlier.

First thing on the list was to call the Cameroon High Commission to check the status of my visa. The person I spoke to said she’d just completed it, did I want her to post it to me. ‘I’ll collect it tomorrow,’ I said after she confirmed that it would be sent out by ordinary post.

I immediately booked travel to London on the coach – trains were much more expensive at such short notice and some of them not much quicker than the coach. The five and three quarter hours there and back will allow me to get through a chunk of The Healing Spirit of Africa.

I shopped today. I shopped for a mosquito net, Wellington boots, sleeping bag, raincoat and trousers and a big suitcase on wheels.

The shop assistant was amazed that I’d never a) owned a pair of Wellington boots or a sleeping bag and b) that I’d never shopped in GO OUTDOORS.

However there were a couple of things I hadn’t planned for. Well it was the same thing with two different people. Talking to a friend about his connection with spirit it became obvious that he needs to make peace with his father. His father is trying to make amends and he’s pushing him away, no matter that he died several years ago. By the end of the discussion my friend had agreed to go and visit his dad’s grave and to be open to listening to him.

It occurred to me that this is the same issue for another friend who is having difficulties in a number of areas of his life. When I called him and said ‘things will not improve for you until you make peace with your father,’ there was silence on the other end of the phone.

He told me his very resistance to the suggestion meant there must be some truth in it. His father is still alive; he doesn’t need to visit a grave, just his estranged father’s house.

That’s when I realised that this is part of the work I need to do; to help men repair their relationships with their fathers.


2 Comments

Session 42 – Time for pastures new

29th August 2013 (Thursday)

PICT2188It’s been five weeks since I last went to circle. This is because I’ve been focusing on publishing Never on Sunday and also I been doing more shamanic work. I’ve been journeying most days and gaining amazing guidance. I will write up some of the more profound ones. Time is a factor at the moment as I’m preparing for Cameroon and trying to edit Love is Not a Reward.

There were eight of us at circle, five women and three men (including Greg). Of the eight of us three were new, at the start of their journeys and very excited my cards and the prospect of trying out psychometry and working with other tools.

After the relaxation meditation we focused on getting messages for each other. I got a message for one of the women.

I saw a toilet brush. The handle was the carved head of a horse. As it wasn’t obvious to me what the message was I asked, ‘what is it I need to tell her?’

‘That she needs to make a decision about how she’s going to handle the crap that’s in her life at the moment.’

It made sense to her, and was supported by the messages she got from others.

I’ve been thinking for some time that I’m getting more out of the shamanic journeying than out of these sessions and it was reinforced tonight.

Ribbon carousel

Ribbon carousel

I realise that these sessions were my introduction to a systematic way of connecting with spirit. The messages I received week after week gradually shifted me to this position. I recall too that it was here that shamanism was first mentioned to me and how resistive I was to the idea then.

I will of course be visiting Oak House from time to time for Sunday service, and to connect with some of the wonderful people who shared this part of my journey.

I know that Mary’s follows this blog, so she will be able to keep tabs on my goings on. Thanks for your blessings Mary.


Leave a comment

Session 41 – Soul retrieval and the chamber of treasures

Thursday 1st August 2013

We were five tonight, three women (including a new one) and two men including Greg.

We began with a relaxation meditation – which I really needed. It began with the usual deep breaths. ‘See any part of our body that’s in need of healing surrounded by the colour grey,’ Greg instructed us.

I focused on my broken finger (or should I say the finger that was broken ). Although I think the fracture has mended there is still some deep tissue bruising which is painful to touch, and the skin on that finger continues to peel, very slowly. I’m literally shedding old skin.

We then had to move white light through our bodies changing the grey to white, healing and rejuvenating any part of us that needed it.

Just before the meditation ended (and I’ve wondered about including this) I saw a couple of men pushing an old van. It was hot and they were naked from the waist down. They seemed unaware that their genitals were swinging for all to see. I didn’t mention this in the feedback. On reflection I’m wondering why. My own embarrassment? Not wanting to embarrass others? Maybe a bit of both?

Next we did a shamanic journey to retrieve parts of our soul and also to visit the chamber of treasures. The shamanic journeys we do here are different to the ones we did on the course a few weeks ago. These are guided, whereas the way I was taught is that you do your own journeying without any guidance from anyone.

‘Allow your luminous body to go into the earth, past the stones, tree roots, loose debris until you come to a river. Bathe in the river to remove anything that shouldn’t be taken into the lower world. Flow with the river till you come to a lake. Swim to the shore and find a power animal waiting there for you.’ Greg’s voice was soft but firm.

As I’ve been practicing on my own I’ve learned to go at my own pace and I’m beginning to find the guided ones a little too fast for me, so I don’t always get from one place to the other in time.

I travelled from my usual axis mundi and the jaguar came to meet me. He came with me to the room Greg directed us to and I saw a three-year-old version of me sitting in a corner with her knees pulled up to her chest looking a little lost and frightened.

I brought her into my heart as directed, but before I was fully integrated with her we were on the way to the chamber of treasures.

‘You will meet someone there who will give you something,’ Greg said.

I wasn’t given anything as I was still occupied with my younger self.

We retraced our steps and returned. Greg suggested that the little girl probably represented an event that happened when I was that age that I’ve never fully integrated and that this afforded the opportunity to do that.

The final meditation was one to open the 3rd eye.

We focused our energy initially on our third eye before allowing the energy to fill our heads. We then built a bridge between our third eye and the pineal gland.

My bridge was blue with sparks flying off it before it changed to turquoise.

‘See a screen ahead or you, like a movie screen,’ Greg began. ‘Look at it and project something on it from your 3rd eye.’

The Magician tarot card

The Magician tarot card

I saw a torch and picked it up. As I shone it at the screen it made lots of sideways 8 (Greg said the infinity sign) and then circles, then back to the sideways 8.

I’ve been seeing the number 8 a lot over the past month or so. I know one of the meanings is abundance and power, and another is, as Greg pointed out is infinity. I also remembered that the infinity sign features prominently on the Magician tarot card. (Ryder Waite version)


Leave a comment

Messages from Butterflies

Tuesday 30th July 2013

On Sunday I worked in my lounge which has a beautiful stained glass window. Throughout the whole day a white (well kind of cream really) butterfly kept my company. Well, maybe ‘kept my company’ is a little misleading; it would be more accurate to say we shared the same space. We didn’t communicate with each other. The butterfly flapped its wings manically against the window, as if trying to push through the glass, for longs periods of time, and then was still for equal lengths of time. It carried on like this all day making no attempt to leave the room or the corner it was in, even though the door was open.

On Monday morning when I did my cards a single one fell out – the butterfly.

When I went into the lounge the butterfly from the day before was still there, sitting on the window ledge. I vacuumed around it but it didn’t move.

There were lots of white butterflies in the garden, and have been there for some days, I asked it if it didn’t want to go out and join its friends, but it didn’t move or acknowledge me.

My son came to visit and I told him the saga of the previous day and the morning. He was fascinated, but could offer no explanation.

As I drove off on the hot summer day with my windows down to attend a friend’s funeral, I realised there was a white (cream) butterfly flying around in the car. It went into one of the spare pair of my shoes that was on the floor of the passenger side.

As I pulled over to call my son to tell him the butterfly flew out of the window.

Animal Spirit Guides Stephen D Farmer, PH.D.

Animal Spirit Guides
Stephen D Farmer, PH.D.

Today the one in the lounge is still there, so I looked up the meaning of butterfly again. I knew they meant big changes but wondered if there was something else I was missing.

Here’s what Stephen Farmer’s book  Animal Spirit Guides says:

If BUTTERFLY shows up it means:

  • Lighten up and stop taking everything so seriously.
  • Get ready for a big change, one where an old habit, way of thinking, or lifestyle is going out, and a new way of being is emerging.
  • It’s time to make the changes you’ve been considering.
  • In spite of the challenges, you’ll get through this transition, and as always, you know that ‘this too shall pass.’
  • Express yourself by wearing more colourful clothing.

I read the meanings to a friend and joked about the fact that I was wearing cream and black – hardly the most colourful of clothes. She suggested that I should speak to the butterfly and ask it what message(s) it had for me.

Oh yes, I became Mrs Doolittle. I spoke to the butterfly as it sat motionless on the window, as it had done for hours.

‘What’s with all the flapping and all the hanging around?’ I asked casually.

As if in answer it began flapping around, not as frenetically as on Sunday, but definitely flapping. When it opened its wings I noticed the black markings on the outside. It wasn’t just cream, it was black and cream. We matched! Not all butterflies are colourful. Then it was still again. Then another little flap, and a longer spell of stillness.

Then I swear it said to me, ‘I was a pupa before I became a butterfly, learn to be still. At the moment you need more stillness than activity. Be still.’

Have I officially flipped???


Leave a comment

The Way of the Shaman – The Basics – Page 2

I arrived for the first day of the course at the Amadeus Centre in Little Venice, West London on foot after a thirty five minute walk from my B&B. It had been a hot and sticky night, airless on the inside and too loud on the outside to open the windows. I hadn’t quite grasped that Kilburn High Road would be alive for so long after the witching hour.

The Amadeus Centre, West London

The Amadeus Centre, West London

By the time we were all seated in the large room there was a buzz of anticipation as people made contact with others who had made this journey (no pun intended) to learn about shamanism and shamanic practices.

The things we’d been asked to bring, a palm sized stone, a blindfold, a rug or cushion, pen and notebook, were all laid out beside us. (Well, I was sitting on my rug.)

When we were all seated Simon and his assistant Martha welcomed us. After the housekeeping arrangements were relayed Simon began by putting shamanism into context.

He said it was the ultimate democratic spirituality. There’s only you and spirit, no rule book to follow and no intermediary.

He paid tribute to the two people who had been highly influential in his understanding of and development as a shamanic practitioner, namely Carlos Castaneda and Michael Harner, and gave us a quick overview of shamanic

In all traditions where shamanism was practices.practiced (and this was world-wide before organise religions brutally squashed it, ridiculed it, or killed its masters) three things were consistent:

The Drum: 4-7 beats per second encourages the brain to move into theta waves, the state between sleeping and waking, where connection with spirit is most effective. Most spiritual practices such as meditation, chanting, and prayer are designed to help you reach this state. The drums have been proved to be the most effective at getting you there quickly.

The Voice – Is used to connect with spirit and with each other, particularly in healing when it can have a soothing and healing effect on the client.

The body – movement is an integral part of shamanic practice. Often the shaman will act out the journey he or she is undertaking on behalf of a client.

A shaman is someone who is able to move awareness from this reality into another to access information and bring it back into this one in order to heal or to provide guidance. A shaman works in partnership with spirit, and is able to make him or herself a ‘hollow bone’ or an ‘empty reed’ in order to allow spirit to work through them. A lot like trance mediumship. Indeed there was a lot of references throughout the workshop of similarities between the two forms of practice, with some small but significant differences. Mainly that a shaman would never interpret the metaphors of the journey s/he undertakes for the client, whereas spiritualist sometimes do.

He said a shaman is not a title one gives oneself, in the same way a hero would not call himself a hero. It is a title bestowed on one by others for the practitioner’s consistent ability to heal and to help.

He went on to say there are no rules as such in shamanism – the individual gets the direct revelation while speaking to spirit during a ‘journey’. This is in contrast to religions where the rules include all that is in the holy book and must be obeyed and carried out by all in the same way. Religions also require that other people interact with God on our behalf, i.e. the Pope.

A shaman’s map consists of three worlds: Upper, middle and lower. The upper and lower worlds exist as spiritual reality and it’s where the shaman journeys to find answers to questions, solutions to problems, or means to heal. The middle world is the reality as we know it.

A journey always involves an intention which is set prior to undertaking the journey. The nature of the intention will determine whether the shaman travels to the upper or lower world.

Spirit present primarily as animals or as humans because we are both. Animal spirits mainly, but not exclusively, inhabit the lower world, and humans mainly, but not exclusively, the upper world.

The shaman always travels from an axis mundi, i.e. a recognisable point on this earth. If travelling to the lower world it could be through the roots of a tree, down a rabbit hole, or in a lift. Journey to the upper world could be from the top of a mountain, a tree etc.

The final bit of information he gave us before our first journey was that a shaman engages all his or her attention with  intention. There’s no scope for thinking about what to cook for dinner, or what to wear for the work’s do.

With this we were taken into our first journey.


Leave a comment

Session 39 – Meeting my power animal

Thursday 18th July 2013

2002-01-01 00.00.00-1386Another small group, 3 men and two women but so different to last week.  We were in the log cabin again, but began our first relaxation meditation not long after 7.30.

Just as I closed my eyes to begin I saw two cats playing on the floor to the left of me.

As I’d mentioned to Greg that I was going on a shamanic workshop at the weekend he said he’d do a shamanic journey with us to meet our power animals. He’d very generously offered to help me choose a stone from the garden that would be suitable to take with me on the course. He thought the one I’d chosen was too big (not palm size as requested by the course but more something that could be used as a lethal weapon). He said it was likely to be the first of 13 alter stones if I decided to pursue a shamanic path therefore a smaller would be better.

He told us some of the basic differences between shamanism and spiritualism, but basically said there was a lot of overlap. He then took up on a shamanic journey (without the drums) to meet out power animals.

He ask us to climb up a hill and then down the other side.

‘Stop and look back at how far you’ve come,’ he said.

I was about half way down. He told us to look across the landscape to an island shrouded in mist. We were heading for the island but first we had to go through the woods that were directly in front of us.

‘Stand still and wait for a sign to show you which direction to go in,’ he said.

I waited. A coconut fell off a tree and rolled to my left. (What’s a coconut tree doing in a British woods!!!) Anyway, no time to think about it as we were being instructed that we had now come to a clearing where there was a lake and a ceremonial robe. We had to put it on.

There were seven robes on the ground in front of me, one in each colour of the rainbow. I had an internal tussle between the yellow and the purple one, but finally choose the purple.

‘Step into the lake,’ Greg instructed us, ‘and get into the canoe which you can now see.’

Wet and dripping I got in, marvelling at how things can just materialise in front of your very eyes in meditation.

We had to row across to the island, get out and choose between one of three paths, a wood, a river and a beach.

I really wanted to follow the river but found myself pulled to the beach.

‘Sit on a rock or a log. Close your eyes and wait for your power animal to come to you,’ he said. ‘Be aware that it could be huge like an elephant or tiny like a wren, or even an ant. When you feel your animal’s presence open your eyes and look at it.’

Even while Greg was still speaking I saw, in my mind’s eye, a sleek and graceful black jaguar walking down the beach towards me. When I opened my eyes I found myself looking deep into its eyes. His face was only inches away from me, but I felt no fear. In fact I felt the opposite, I felt completely safe.

‘Walk with your power animal,’ Greg told us.

As we began walking along the beach I could feel his power and knew he could and would protect me from anything.

‘Ask your power animal if it has a message for you,’ Greg said.

I waited for the jaguar to say something to me. When he spoke to me it was telepathically.

‘You’re stronger than you believe. You’re faster than you know. Never fear those who fear you.’ His voice was strong but soothing, and I was about to ask what he meant by ‘never fear those who fear you’, when Greg said,

‘You come to a river and have to get back into the boat.’

Power Animal Oracle Cards

Power Animal Oracle Cards

I was feeling a little sad that I had to leave but perked up when Greg said, ‘Your power animal gets in with you and you paddle back to the other side. When you get there get out of the canoe and immerse yourself into the water before coming back into the room.’

I reflected on my messages while the first person shared her journey. She too had seen a black jaguar, but had also had a bear and a bird. I’d look up Jaguar in my Power Animal pack with I got home.

The first two parts of my message made sense to me, but why would I fear those who fear me?

Greg said he felt it was about letting go of my fears, not just learning how to control them but letting go of them completely, because I had nothing to fear.

I mentioned the cats.

‘Was one of them black,’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ I replied wondering if he’d seen them too.

‘They are often in here,’ he said. They used to live here and their spirits obviously come back from time to time to visit.

‘Must be a thing with cats tonight,’ I joked.

Because three of us had unanswered questions from the meditation Greg suggested doing ten minute silent meditation to ask for answers. One was ‘Why am I constantly hot?’ Another ‘Why am I always rocking?’ A third was ‘How do I step into my power?’ and mine was ‘How do I get rid of my fear?’

Within minutes I felt a tremendous tingling in my back. It went on for some time. I began to wonder if it meant ‘don’t look back’ or ‘learn from the past’ or ‘don’t hold on to past hurts.’ I was still trying to work it out when Greg called us back.

One of the women said that tingling in the back is usually an indication that our angelic wings are being fitted, or if already fitted being adjusted, often being made bigger.

Greg thought it was about not focusing on the past, but looking to the future.

I’m still not sure. Do you have any other suggestions???

 


2 Comments

Session 37 – Dowsing

Session 37 – Number 242 July 8th 2013

We were six women today, including one new one that I hadn’t met before. It’s been a while since any male energy’s mingled in this group.

Open Doors within by Eileen Caddy

Open Doors within by Eileen Caddy

We began with the usual prayer and Mary asked us each to read a passage from Eileen Caddy’s book, Opening Doors Within. Not only did each reading hold relevance for the reader, it also resonated with the others in the group.

Mine began with the words ‘there is always one more rung of the ladder to climb.’ I laughed out loud and in response to the quizzical looks explained that I’ve been saying I think I’m ready to go to the next level with the mediumship work.

Following the readings Mary asked us to do a ten minute meditation to a beautiful piece of ‘angel’ music. After only a few minutes into the meditation I saw an old man with wispy grey hair sitting in a wheel chair. He was on the fourth floor of a block of flats looking out through the window.

He saw me and held up two fingers, then four, then two again. Mary called us back into the room before I had a chance to ask him who he was or what he meant.

No one in the room could take any of it. Not the man or the numbers – so I made a mental note to look up 242 in my numbers book when I got home.

The main activity was dowsing. As Mary had to leave due to an unmovable appointment Pauline took over the session. She had brought with her a most beautiful set of pendulums. Just looking at them was mouth-watering.

Crystal dowsing pendulum

Crystal dowsing pendulum

Dowsing is a very old activity and was one of the first divination techniques I leaned. It’s very simple and easy to use but I don’t always find it accurate, especially when I’m asking questions for myself. I often feel that I influence the dowser.

When Pauline suggested that we paired up to work together my partner and I decided to do readings from angels cards instead, as neither of us had any questions we wanted the dowser to answer. The problem with dowsing is that you can only ask questions which can be answered yes, no, or maybe. The cards enabled us to be more expansive.

She told me that September and November would be significant for me, and I told her she needed to focus on one thing at a time and learn how to accept help. She also needed to step up her game as a medium, which meant spending less time working with tools and more time meditating.

When I got home I looked up the meaning of 242.

This is a strong message from the angels, asking you to trust that everything is okay and working out in Divine and perfect order. With faith, all things are possible.’

I assumed this was a message for me as I’d had several earlier about trust and faith.

I thought no more of it until I was in my A Course in Miracles study group later that night. I picked a card which also talked of having faith.

‘This is the fifth time I’ve been told about faith today!’ I exclaimed.

‘So what were the others?’ Cath asked.

As I relayed the tale of the man in the meditation and his 242 Jill put her hand up and said, ‘I live at number 242, my house number is 242.’

I stopped mid-sentence and she continued.

‘My dad, who died three and a half years ago, had thin wispy hair.’

She wasn’t certain but said he could have used a wheelchair during his time in the home he was in before he died, and she wasn’t sure about the fourth floor flat either.

‘What was the message?’ she was eager to know. ‘Let me see if the message makes sense.’

When I told her the meaning of 242 she nodded and said ‘that makes perfect sense. It’s what he would have said.’

Well, as you can imagine, I was gobsmacked. That was the last thing I was expecting. Is this what going to another level mean? Is getting messages for people in a different place when the message is given the next level, or just a different version of the same level?

 


Leave a comment

Session 32 – Mediumship – being in the middle

May 30th 2013 (Thursday)

We were a diminished group of just six women two men, on account of it being half-term week. Greg explained that we would be focusing on three things:

  1. Getting a connection
  2. Validation
  3. Giving a message.

He demonstrated what he meant by choosing to work with Meg.

‘I have a flat cap,’ he said, ‘a grey sort of check flat cap. Does this mean anything to you?’

‘Possibly,’ said Meg a little hesitantly.

‘OK, let me see what else I can get,’ he continued. ‘I have a brown coat.’

Meg was nodding slowly – and nodded more vigorously as Greg said, ‘It’s a very old

and worn coat.’

She was a little puzzled by the ‘trousers hanging over the belt’, but nigh on lit up at

the ‘bald head.’ That had firmly pointed to the spirit of her grandfather.

Purple Heather

Purple Heather

‘They were stages one and two,’ Greg said. I got a connection and I got Meg to validate that it’s someone she knows. Now I need to complete stage three, i.e. get a message, because if a spirit has made itself known it will usually have a message for the person.’

He concentrated for a while then said, ‘I see you looking at two sets of paper at a table and shaking your head as though the two don’t match, like something don’t quite add up.’

Again Meg looked puzzled, but eventually linked it to some family history work she was doing. The message was eeked out in bits and pieces, each time a little more being given till the full thing unfolded as, ‘there is an illegitimate male in the family which is not recorded. Someone in the family knows who it is, ask around and put the record straight.’

This all made sense to Meg, and was the clearest explanation and demonstration I’d been given in the circle about how to interpret the images and how to keep asking spirit for clarification and explanation until the message is given.

It seem daft given the number of sessions I’ve attended, but tonight was the first time I really understood that it’s not just about receiving random images and asking the person if they could ‘take’ the images. Communicating with the spirit of those who have passed has purpose. It is to help and guide those who are still here.

‘So now you’ve seen how it’s done, it’s your turn to have a go now,’ Greg said. ‘Focus on someone you feel drawn to and try and make a connection. It doesn’t matter whether you get a message at this stage, if you do great, if not, that’s fine. We can do this in stages.’

I was drawn to Tina, the lady opposite me. I saw a tall slim and very attractive lady with long blonde straight hair in party clothes and dancing shoes who looked like she was dancing. That’s all I got for a while, then I saw her holding and rocking a baby but not looking too happy about doing so. Then I saw a cake, like a birthday cake and the number 86, and got the names Ada, Linda and Brenda.

As soon as I started to describe the woman Tina recognised her as a grandmother. She understood the party clothes, dancing shoes and especially the cake. She seemed a little disappointed that her grandmother didn’t want to rock the baby, and the 86 didn’t mean anything to her.

‘So you’ve made a connection and got validation,’ Greg interjected, ‘now try and get a message.’

Although I’ve previously got the impression I needed to tell Tina to get her dancing shoes on, I sat quietly and listened with closed eyes to see if I’d get anything else. To my mind what I got was quite a bland message, ‘do more for yourself, stop taking yourself so seriously, lighten up and little and get out more,’ but it made absolute sense to Tina.

She explained that since the birth of her baby she’d been so focused on daughter that she’d not really done anything for herself. (It was only later that I recognised the significance of the grandmother not wanting to rock the baby – don’t let the baby take over she was saying.)

Other people had varying levels of success. One person got a message for another member of her family, for him to go and get a health check. Only one person didn’t get anything from the process.

The person who had focused on me got a message from a great grandfather who wanted me to know that he’s with me and helping me to live the essence of my name (which means wisdom).

During the question and answer session at the end I asked about what to do with the other information if the person validates quite quickly. In Tina’s case I didn’t bother to use the names, or to go any further with the 86.

Greg said all the information need to be given (incidentally Tina could take both Linda and Brenda). Each piece of information needs to be interrogated until the message of the image is clear. Well, I will know for next time.

For the first time tonight I felt like I’d given a reading as a medium. It felt strange to know that I had actually connected with the spirit of someone who had lived and was able to be a mouthpiece for her.