As I continue to actively teach Psychic Development to others, I am constantly reminded of the development and realization of my own mediumistic gifts and the personal struggle I had to eventually understand and become at ease with them. Early on in my youth I started to receive messages from the Spirit realm that were both stunning and beyond my comprehension and knowledge at the time.

I was just 18 years old in my first year of university when a deeply personal message was given to me in the company of my mother. The serendipity and deliverance of the message was remarkable because it interrupted a happy time of laughter between me and my mother. In the midst of our laughter, I suddenly noticed an object appear in a glowing light and hover above her left shoulder. As I gazed into the misty light, I could see it was the shape of a miniature casket, approximately six inches in length. Immediately following this recognition, I heard a male voice inside my head say to me: “Your mother will die soon and quickly.” I was struck by the emotional content of the message and the powerful and absolute tone of surety in this voice. This life-changing information was delivered to me in a manner without emotion, like simple data, and without question I knew it to be the truth.

It is important to note that my mother was enjoying good health and well being at this time in her 50’s. An earlier coronary heart attack left an inoperable aneurysm on her heart and the consensus was uncertain as to if and when this aneurysm would ever burst in her lifetime. She had come through it and improved her health through diet and exercise to such a degree that she was in the peak of her wellness. But my mother did die soon after and quickly and her sudden, untimely death came as a great shock to all, but not to me. In my own way, I was prepared on one level but unprepared for the devastating loss of her while I was still a teenager.

Much later in my development, striking evidence of a higher realm at work again innocently took place in my life. I was living in Toronto at this time and busy making travel plans to the Dominican Republic with a friend who was an antique dealer in Jamaica. A mutual interest in early West Indian furniture of the 19th century brought us together in planning for a trip with the idea of possible acquisition of such pieces in the Dominican. It became my task to obtain general tourist information regarding hotels and car rentals from the Dominican Republic Tourist Board located in Montreal, Canada. Subsequently, I called their office to request some basic assistance for our forthcoming trip and inquired if by any chance their office knew of any businesses on their island related to Antiques? I was met with a long silence on the other end of the line, and then with a reserved response that gave me little hope. Nevertheless, I thanked the assistant for their effort and then tried to research this matter myself, to no avail.

A few days went by and one morning as I awoke I noticed directly above me near the ceiling of my bedroom an old style Smith-Corona typewriter hovering in mid-air, with a newly placed piece of white paper in it ready to type. As I gazed spellbound at this fantastic image, two human-like hands appeared and began to type. One letter at a time, this pair of hands typed out the Spanish word “Ancestros” and then stopped. High above any human ability to read the small print, the image then became enlarged to such a degree that I could easily read it. As I read the word out to myself, I simultaneously heard a voice in my head explain the exact meaning of this word. “Ancestros” was the name of a shop, that’s all. Seconds following my comprehension of it all, I watched as the typewriter, hands and paper vanished from my sight.

At the time, I was completely puzzled by this twilight state ADC (After Death Communication that occurs just as people are waking up or falling asleep), and knew nothing of its meaning in my personal life. Regardless, its visual impact on my psyche remained as a pinnacle moment and a stunning mystery to me. Then came my answer. Within a few days, I received a packet in the mail from the Dominican Tourist Board with the expected travel brochures and a single folded piece of typing paper. Without thinking, I casually opened the folded paper and read the title:

Information on Antiques in Santo Domingo

Ancestros
Street Roberto Pastoriza #463
fax #809-563-3074
tel. #809-563-3072

You can only imagine my shock and disbelief when I noticed that the paper was a match and the letter font had been typed on an older machine!

I knew enough that there was a more subtle yet deeper meaning as to why I would receive such a powerful validation from the Spirit realm. It was deliberately arranged to give proof that I was clearly and accurately receiving the information sent to me.

When you are advancing to the highest levels of mediumship with your spiritual gifts, receiving complex information all at once can be challenging at times. And as you grow, the inherent responsibility for your gift grows as well. You are made to jump through the many hoops sent to you to test your abilities along the way.

I remind my students to be brave and have the courage to say what they get, no matter how bizarre they may feel it to be. To go ahead and “stick your neck out” in trust of what they receive because True Spirit communication will always come from “Less of me, more of it.” Without taking this risk, development can go painfully slowly. Without sharing your impressions, you may never come to realize the extraordinary guidance that lies behind it.

In my private practice, some of the most profound evidence of the Spirit realm at work has been in messages I repeat word for word without knowing why and having no idea of the profound result and meaning for my clients.

It is now years past, but my memory still holds to the warm invitation that I received from a very dear friend to her new residence in the rural backcountry of New England. In the glory of summertime, I arrived upon a simple traditional Cape House located on a large expanse of preservation land. The charms of pastoral land and animals were welcoming, with the joy of seeing my friend.

Our close kinship goes back to the early days of Art School and Karen was naturally looking forward to sharing her decorative visions with someone who was in the know. At first, I fell under the spell of color choices and fabric samples from room to room and my mind was ticking away with the decisions at hand. Amongst all the feelings of our happy reunion crept an unlikely but definite feeling of death invisibly surrounding me. Then more detailed information subtly impressed me that this feeling of death all around did not have anything to do with her family, but rather with the historic past of these rooms. There was also a mysterious feeling accompanying this information, that the former inhabitants had died there in unusual numbers and circumstances. No matter where I wandered in the house, this compelling wave of energy kept coming to me and I could not rid myself of it.

In the world of Spirit communication, this particular spiritual ability of a Medium’s awareness and knowledge of historic events that have already taken place (without any prior knowledge of them) is called RetroCognition. It can come out of seemingly nowhere and make you feel immersed in what the Spirit realm wants you to know. Receiving this information in such a spontaneous manner, I felt personally troubled for the time being. In consideration for Karen’s enthusiasm for her family’s new home, I tried to keep my feelings to myself. However, on the third day of my stay this compelling sense of a dying group of people became overwhelming, so I decided to carefully word my experiences to my host. It was not the kind of cheerful support and encouragement one would wish to give to a friend.

I have a naturally intense nature, so by the time I felt certain to reveal the information I was holding back I was emotionally spent. As I began to put into words what I was feeling, still careful not to upset my friend, she looked away quietly amused, then rose up without a word and went into another room. She returned after a few minutes and handed me a framed early photo of the house with a hand scrawled description of its history.

Built in 1835, the photo of the Cape was a copy of the original photo she had found in the local library. Ideally isolated on the edge of town, this house had been used as a “Pest House,” a historic name to describe homes chosen for quarantine shelter during epidemics. The town’s history had suffered several terrible epidemics and in one such Smallpox outbreak, local victims were sent to this house for quarantine. In another remote area of town, there exists a Smallpox burial ground, containing 12 graves for the unfortunate victims.

I felt a sigh of great relief come over me at once. All my feelings suddenly made perfect sense. After days of unrest and mystery, I felt peace within.

But there was more. In our discussion about the history of the house, Karen had her own experiences to share with me as well. From the very beginning of living in the house she had sensed a deep sorrow. And she was aware as she stepped into the house that suffering had gone on there. And early on there were disturbances in the house. Footsteps caused by spirits were heard on the stairs. Karen and her family had lived in this house for years without any knowledge of its past sad events.

My ability to know and play witness to the past historic events of her residence without any direct observation of the events gave my friend solace as we shared our spiritual experiences. It deepened our kinship and became one more chapter in the remarkable friendship we share.

I recently read that Smallpox is one of the deadly diseases we have been able to defeat with modern medicine. It is interesting that in some ways the energy associated with the human devastation it caused still remains intact.

There are times I innocently find myself in social situations in which I’m expected to psychically “jump through hoops,” especially with curious friends who are more scientifically inclined.

In this particular instance, I was invited to lunch at the home of my friend John, who is a medical doctor. (All of his family had previously seen me for readings, with the exception of his wife.) After lunch, I was led into the family room and John casually handed me a framed photo of his two young sons with another child. I glanced at the photo and commented that it was nice. Undeterred by my casual comment, he returned the photo to me and asked me directly “What about the boy in the middle?” I replied instantly, “Well, he’s dead….” I had sensed a Spirit presence directly behind me and I had been relayed this information using my Clairaudient ability (the ability to hear Spirit). I then began to receive specific details relating to the young man’s tragic death, strongly emphasizing that it was an accident. (I was later told that there was some uncertainty in this regard, and someone close needed this assurance).

Afterward, we entered his living room and John proceeded to show me another framed photo, this time of his deceased father-in-law. As I reached for the photo, I distinctly heard a male voice say to me in no uncertain terms, “DON’T hold the frame like that—hold it this way!” The energy was off-putting, so I barely glanced at the photo. Returning the photo I said, “Your father-in-law had quite a cantankerous personality.” He looked puzzled and replied, “No, not at all. He was a nice man.” Well, I knew what I had heard but decided to let it be.

As the story goes, later that evening John, believing I had been mistaken, discussed with his wife the perplexing incident regarding her father’s photo. As my friend repeated my exact words, his wife’s excitement grew evident and she exclaimed, “That’s my father! But you’d have no way of knowing that! As a scientist, he had framed glass slides lying about at home and when we were young children at play we’d sometimes handle the slides and smudge our fingerprints on the glass. It was one of his pet peeves and he would scold us.”

No matter to what extent you are gifted as a Medium, the Spirit realm remains “the boss.” They decide when and what to give you. Most of the time, I can turn my abilities on and off such that I can carry on normal daily activities without Spirit interactions. It has taken me a very long time to be able to harness these abilities in such a way that they no longer bombard my life and “manage” me. However, there are times, regardless of what I’ve personally achieved, when in my daily existence I can experience a breakthrough from the Spirit realm, with the sole purpose to give guidance. In these circumstances, my being is intercepted momentarily, as I am used as a vessel for what the Spirit realm wants to accomplish.

At the time of this incident, there was only evidence of the presence of her father that seemed otherwise insignificant without a meaningful message having been conveyed. However, I now realize that this was not the case in that, unbeknownst to us all at that time, it was an example of the Spirit realm at work, subtly laying the groundwork for a future time of need. At a later time, John’s wife unfortunately became gravely ill and after all the necessary medical tests were completed, he arranged for her to have a medical reading with me regarding her health issues. The information received in the reading was of enormous help to her in facing a diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and an insight given to her in the metaphor of “a living condition,” allowed her to hear that she would successfully come through the illness.

It is my belief that her willingness and trust in the information and the guidance given to her in her later medical reading was borne out of that earlier experience of the Spirit realm “networking” in the familiar voice of her father. It laid the foundation for a more important time to come.

Most people who know me well are aware that I have forever been a “night person,” as I love to stay up deep into the night if my schedule permits. So I usually don’t accept early morning calls unless it’s an emergency. However, the phone rang early one morning and the call was from my elderly neighbor who is a dear friend. From her weak voice, it was instantly apparent that something was wrong. She told me that she was having pain and difficulty breathing and asked if I had some aspirin. I am also known among my friends as having little to offer in the way of pharmaceuticals in my medicine cabinet, but, luckily, on this occasion I did have some baby aspirin on hand.

I grabbed the aspirin and rushed to her door, opening it with a spare key. Upon entering her bedroom, I found my friend slumped in an easy chair unable to move from the pain. Although I was deeply concerned for her, I was equally distracted by the spirit of her late husband’s energy, pacing the room in a state of unrest.

Deborah’s late husband, Ralph, was of a bulky body type when he was alive and, as a Medium, his presence was instantly recognizable to me using my Clairvoyant ability (the ability to see Spirit). Indeed, I felt a slight relief inside at his concern for her, since I am aware that one’s loved ones come with a calm and accepting energy before we are about to pass over.

I let Deborah know that Ralph was in the room with us and then I asked her how many baby aspirin she would like. She replied: “I don’t know, I thought you’d know.” Well, I did not know anything of the sort. As I began to fret, an idea entered my thoughts that I should ask Ralph, using my Clairaudient ability (the ability to hear Spirit). Speed being of the utmost importance, I did not hesitate to ask Ralph telepathically the exact number of baby aspirin to give his widow. Almost instantly, I heard in my mind Ralph’s reply: “4 aspirin.” I gave her the 4 aspirin and proceeded to call 911.

When the Fire Department arrived, the lead EMT asked me how many baby aspirin I gave her. I told him the exact amount. He replied curiously: “That’s correct, how did you know?” I smiled and replied: “Women’s intuition, I guess…” At that moment I felt that there was no time for the more complex truth of the matter.

I watched as they took her vitals and heard the lead EMT tell her: “The good news is that you are NOT having a heart attack.” I instantly knew he was mistaken through my ability of Claircognizance (the ability of clear-knowing). As the EMT men placed her on the gurney to be transported to the hospital, her acute pain continued. The lead EMT began to ask her questions about her recent activities that could have possibly caused a muscle pull. At this point, I strongly intervened by saying: “It is not any of those reasons. She IS having a heart attack and you need to treat this as such because she will Code Blue. She is blocked!”

He turned my way and asked me if I was a doctor? I replied: “So to speak…”, after which my opinion was completely ignored.

According to my friend’s account, after arriving at the hospital, they took a blood sample that determined that she did have a heart attack. Within a short period of time in the ER, her condition worsened into a far greater cardiac arrest and she then suddenly became Code Blue. At the time, I was awaiting news with her family, when I received another strong message Clairaudiently: “She is blocked!” We later learned that simultaneously and unbeknownst to us all, at the time of this message her medical team was making heroic efforts to save her life by placing stents in her arteries.

Many people may be wondering, are my Mediumistic abilities ever-present in whatever way I may choose to use them? Quite the opposite is true. It has taken me a very long time to be able to harness these abilities in such a way that they no longer bombard my life and manage me. Most of the time I can now turn my abilities on and off, such that I can carry on normal activities in life the majority of time without Spirit interactions. This was certainly not always the case, as in the first decades of my life when the onslaught of Spirit communications was overwhelming, spontaneous and disruptive in my daily life and I had little control over it.

However, there are times, regardless of what I’ve personally achieved, when in my daily existence I can experience a breakthrough from the Spirit realm, with the sole purpose to give guidance. In these circumstances, my being is interceded momentarily as I am used as a vessel for what the Spirit realm wants to accomplish.

It was at such a time, out of my comfort zone of giving a private reading, and in my least functional early morning hours and in an emergency, that I was fed consistent positive information from a higher realm to aid my friend’s well-being.

This is representative of how a higher realm does know information that is far greater than what the combination of our best human efforts, training, and education can provide. And, as a Medium, this is proof of how I can be used in times of need as a vessel for invaluable help and for a greater good. In my experience, the extraordinary guidance from Spirit can be of profound help and provide information that you will most likely not hear from any other source.

Many people may also wonder how it is that I was able to receive clear, precise and, most importantly, accurate information in an emergency using my spiritual gifts as a Medium?

I was born with the rare gift known as DIRECT VOICE, whereby I do not have to interpret symbols impressed by the Spirit realm and therefore I am able to deliver clear content in an expedient manner. It comes as a surprise to most people to learn that the majority of Mediums must interpret symbols given to them from the Spirit realm and therein lie all the potential errors that can understandably accompany human interpretation of symbols. This rare ability of Direct Voice allows me to work directly with Spirit as I am not having to ask myself, what is the meaning of this symbol? The information or data comes through me, not from me.

In this particular incident, I was attuned with information that was pertinent and timely with each new development in my friend’s medical emergency. The work speaks for itself.