Inspirational | Relationships | Psychic Mediums
This Is Why I Will Never Do Professional Readings Again
The hidden side of being a psychic and medium.
As a young girl back in the Dark Ages, I experienced a rather powerful and disturbing introduction into the world of being a medium. After dreaming that my two best childhood friends were dead, I couldn’t shake the awful feeling that hung over me like a suffocative black cloud as I dressed for school.
As soon as I got to the kitchen for breakfast, I told my parents about the dream and was puzzled by the peculiar expressions on their faces. My dad left the kitchen, returning momentarily and placing a morning newspaper article in front of me.
It was true. The girls were dead. Their entire family had been in a dreadful collision with a train during a blizzard.
It was bad enough to receive this shocking news. Making it so much worse was the frightening dream. I was terrified; I had no idea what to make of it. Back then, there were no psychic fairs or phone lines, or television shows with people like Colin Fry, John Edward, or the “Long Island Medium.”
Over the following years, my abilities continued to develop naturally. It was a frightening time but that is not the subject of this writing.
In time, I began doing informal readings and eventually I did them professionally, including doing approximately monthly “psychic phone-ins” on the BBC. As a result of that, I began doing stage work as a medium, connecting audience members with loved ones in spirit.
I was also a reader on one of the UK’s top international psychic phone lines, which I have to say was the most soul-destroying job I’ve ever had. I’d rather flip burgers again like I did when I was a teenager.
“What will happen when his wife finds out?”
“When is he going to leave her?”
“Is my idiot abusive boyfriend going to come back to me?” (Okay, my words, not theirs, but for about 70% of the calls, this was essentially what they wanted to know.)
And then there was the very first call I ever received on the phone line: “Should I fold my business and go bankrupt?” Yes, really. Some guy actually called and asked me that. He was fully expecting me to give him an answer. I did not — but rather, convinced him to contact a financial advisor.
Aware that the bosses were listening in on the newbie’s first call (and they often listen in on random calls, no matter how long you work for them), I didn’t dare tell him what I really wanted to say. If he’d been sitting across a table from me for a private reading, I’d have said, “Are you kidding me? Are you freakin’ stupid? You’re asking a psychic for financial advice? If that’s how you handle your business, no wonder it’s in trouble! Take your money and spend it on proper advice!”
But there are many “psychics” out there who would actually tell him what to do. This is so horribly, terribly, absolutely unethical and just plain wrong. I don’t know how they can live with themselves. Anything for a buck, I guess.
In my experience with others in this line of work, there are certainly many genuine, truly gifted psychics and mediums who will ethically offer their guidance, insights and advice.
Sadly, there are too many others who will dispense life-altering advice as if it were candy. I can’t imagine how they live with themselves. Arrogance at its most ugly, I suppose. A tad too full of themselves.
That, too, is another topic, best left for another day…I might just get to the point in a moment.
I loved doing readings that were about mediumship — connecting people with those who had passed to the spirit world. But those calls were few and far between. And even then, there were the ones who wanted to test me. “Ask him what our secret word is so I know you’re not a fraud.”
(Can you see me rolling my eyes and shaking my head?)
During the many years I did readings, what I enjoyed most was drawing on my professional experience in social work and counselling to help my clients make meaningful life changes. It’s not particularly helpful to tell them what might happen down the road; I could do a lot more good by showing them options for taking steps toward where they wanted to be. I could offer insights or a new perspective, or help them find their power so they could get unstuck and moving forward.
Too many clients just wanted someone to predict the future and hand them the answers that they should be figuring out for themselves. They wanted me to tell them what to do and how to do it, or expected me to take responsibility for their major life choices.
This is one of the reasons why I decided that I would absolutely not do readings anymore. For the other reason, read this super short article.
I can’t help the fact that my intuition plays a natural role in my work; it’s part of who I am and it guides me in helping clients wade through their issues and make their own decisions.
And there’s the key: Their decisions. Not mine.
I knew one lady who was going to any and every reader she could find. She had already come to me for a few sessions and when there was no new or useful information to pass on, I told her to stop booking with me. I refused to read for her anymore but she was spending ridiculous amounts of time and money on psychic phone lines, in spite of my advice.
I told her she already had all the answers she needed; she just didn’t like the advice that the other psychics and I were giving her (leave an abusive marriage). But she continued to throw her money at readers, having anywhere from five to ten readings in any given week!
Sadly, there are some unethical readers who will think of such poor desperate souls as “repeat business” for as long as possible, taking advantage of their vulnerability and distress. I prefer to be of service, to be honest, and to say something that will truly help them to help themselves — including to stop having readings every six minutes!
And although I love doing readings as a medium, if people are going to show up and test me I’m not interested. If they have to test, I guess they’re not ready for whatever message might come through. It’s not a parlour trick and I’m not here to prove anything.
Delivering messages from the spirit world is sacred work and should be treated as such. Therefore, I will only do readings spontaneously when spirits come through randomly with a message.
Life is tough enough without giving up your control and your major life decisions to someone that you hope is accurate and ethical in offering a potential view of your future. If you’re simply looking for reassurance, go to a trusted friend or a counsellor. If you want to know if you should fold your business, talk to a financial advisor or an accountant — not a psychic on the other end of the phone, for Pete’s sake!
And do you really need to ask what’s going to happen when his wife finds out? She’s going to be seriously pissed! And if she sends him packing, he’ll be so immersed in divorce hell that he isn’t likely to want to be with you. After all, you will have become the scapegoat for why it all went tits up. You’ll become the reason why he’s losing half his assets and time with his children.
And no, he isn’t ever going to leave her. As long as he can have his cake and eat the damned thing too, why would he rock the boat with a painful divorce, mess up his finances, and only get to see his kids part time?
Oh, and one other thing: Of course he sleeps with her. He’s keeping up appearances, can’t tip her off that he’s playing on the side. Plus it’s free, easy, sex. Don’t kid yourself; more often than not, they are still in the same bed doing what grown-ups do.
It’s true that there are times when a couple is essentially separated but living in the same house. They’ve grown apart; they know the marriage is over in any meaningful way. And sometimes it does mean they have separate rooms.
But in the majority of cases when people are on the other end of calls to psychics, they’re being played by cheaters. Gender is irrelevant; some people are disloyal, unfaithful, cheaters at heart and they’ll think nothing of having affairs.
Those people are never going to leave their partners until they get thrown out on their sorry asses. They’re selfish as hell and they have too much to lose.
If you’re going to see a reader, go with the idea of viewing the appointment as a counselling session. Look at the possibilities for your future; see what feels right in terms of the potential outcomes of the various decisions you could make. If you’ve found a reputable reader, you will have a compassionate and patient ear in someone who will be willing to guide you through resolving your own issues, instead of telling you what you should do about them.
Don’t put your life and major decisions in the hands of someone who may or may not get it right. Otherwise, you’re just asking for mountains of trouble. They don’t have to live with the consequences of their advice. You do.
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Thank you to the Good Men Project and the team at Change Becomes You for publishing this. I appreciate you!
Originally published on libertyforrest.com
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