Book Review: How to know if You Are A Medium

 

My own Rating system: 3 out of 5 Ghosts

I recently bought "How To Know If You're A Medium" by Lorraine Holloway-White.  It's available both as a hardcopy and Kindle version which is about 2/3rds the price of the printed book.  I don't get a lot of ebooks, but this one was on sale for $2.99 so I thought it was worth a shot.

I enjoyed the book but I don't feel it's the 'best' one out there.  For anyone out there 'unsure' if they are senstive or not this book will help them.  I have been really hesitant to use the term "Medium" in regards to myself so I'm subsituting Sensitive.  I guess I am always questioning myself whether I AM or not, so it was good for me to read it and get validation. As I've said before, I've had a lot of experiences since as long as I can remember. However, only THIS year have I really realized/accepted that my experience with Spirit is a wee bit more involved than the 'general' ghostly experiences of others.  But I digress, back to the book!  She talks about the various ways of being sensitive, different experiences, and basically answers a lot of FAQ's. This isn't a book on how to develop skills but just if you HAVE skills.  But I have to be honest and say there are a few things that bothered me about it.  

 

In the book, she comes across as really bitter towards the Spiritualist Church. It may not bother others who read this, but I found it a downer. MOST people in this field are pretty openminded and/or know not to say things that may turn off the buying/supportive public. The header on her website says "As a Natural Born Medium – I am a 'Sensitive' NOT a spiritualist"  That kinda sums it up doesn't it??? If I had seen that before reading the book I would have been prepared for her thoughts about Spiritualists. In the book, she wrote that she was a devout Catholic and didn't agree with anything about the Spiritualist Church. She also wrote that she had attended classes there but didn't like they were trying to make mediums out of people who weren't born with that talent.  I can understand not agreeing with another form of religion but to air your grievances in public so strongly could turn people off. I understand that that was her experience with the Church she was at, but I think its wrong to state that EVERY Spiritualist church is bad.   She mentions her displeasure with Spiritualists so many times throughout the book, that her negative energy really put a damper on it for me. Not to sound too hippy-dippy airy-fairy but I'm Sensitive!

 

Another thing that didn't sit right with me was questions about charging for your work. She feels you shouldn't charge much, shouldn't charge by the hour and those that are charging a lot of money aren't really good mediums. Again, another gross generalization of people! Sorry but I will respectfully disagree.  Why SHOULDN'T a talented medium or psychic charge more as their skills and experience grows?   Just because it is a "natural" skill doesn't make it worth-less.  LOTS of skills are "natural" such as artistic skill, athletic skill, intelligence, etc... Should professional artists, atheletes and intellectuals NOT charge for their skills?? I am sure John Edwards charges more then $75 a session (that was what she thought American mediums should charge).  I kinda got the feeling that she was bitter because she's been doing it for years and now all these 'new' people are in the spotlight and on TV making it their career and she is one of them. 

The biggest thing that bothered me about this book was her stance on protecting oneself. The author wrote that you don't need to do any kind of psychic protection and that is was a made up ritual with no basis in fact. Her quote was "If you are doing the work of Good than you have nothing to worry about". That's a misleading and dangerous thing to suggest to newcomers or anyone doing any kind of psychic, paranormal or spiritual work.  I have always done "Good" work and I can tell you I have come across some negative and downright evil energy.  To tell someone NOT to psychically protect themselves is wrong!

If this book hadn't had three things that bothered me, I would have given it a 4 out of 5 rating. I would like to read some of her other books and will be looking at those in the future.

A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go.....

My birthday gift to Rob this year was to join an organized paranormal investigation aka 'ghost hunt'.  It was held at an old farm house over in Euclid. It was the first time the place has been investigated and was a fundraiser for the local historical society, organized by the Haunted Housewives group.

This was our first time to do this with other people. Usually our experiences are spontaneous, so we were both curious to see what would happen.  There were 6 investigators leading 3 groups of attendees. It was a smallish group-about 22 people so each group was 7 or so people.  I found it a bit hard to concentrate with so many people in one room.  Its funny that now I recognize that kind of busy energy around me.  Living in a busy small city like SF, its not wonder I had to shut down that awareness!  Anyway,  We got to explore three different areas-the main house, an ancient barn (the oldest building) and a small bungalow.  I could feel a lot of 'busy' energy in the house. But that could all be residual from the large family and the amount of renovation going on. I kept feeling like someone was saying 'maid', then Cathi  from The Haunted Housewives said the matriarch of the family was Maude-very similar sounding so maybe I did pick up on something?

Our group was led by two men-I only talked to the leader Chris, the other man was very quiet.   We also had mostly men in our group and sadly no one introduced themselves. I think there were 5 men and 3 women.  We started with the bungalow. It seemed to be really quiet. I went up to the attic and could immediately feel energy. It was "leave me alone" energy. I told our leader about it and he said he had heard a growl when he was checking out the place before we got there.   We did an EVP session but got nothing.  Chris and a couple others went to the attic and I got the feeling that whoever was there did NOT like him being up there. So I told him so, they all came down and then he went back up to try and get something. He got a bit of the growl on the EVP, but did feel the energy sort of calm down while he was up there.  We moved on to the house-again I couldn't get a good feel on anything being present. We went down to the basement, which normally always gives me the heebie jeebies and it was ok. I even stayed in a small dark back room without light and didn't freak out. That alone is a HUGE deal for me.

   When I came, I felt like no matter what happened or might happen,  our group was in some kind of white light bubble. So, I asked the group if any of them had done some kind of self protection. Everyone said they hadn't-which is kinda bad LOL. I think they all thought I was hippy dippy woo woo, but I said "If none of you have, than one of you have a spirit guide, guardian angel or protector that has us all in a bubble of light" protecting us all.  Then I turned to one of the guys in our group and said "Aaron, right?" he shook his head yes.  Now, the weird thing is- I had NO idea what his name was since none of us had introduced ourselves so I shocked myself there!! Anyway, I told him I felt he was the one with the spirit who was guarding us all. He said he did have 'something' that was following him and agreed it was probably protecting him.  VALIDATION!!! LOL  That was kinda weird and kinda fun to find out.  I wonder if anyone else has had this kind of experience-that one person in the group had the entire group surrounded by white light??  It's one of those things I hope to be able to find someone to ask about!   After that, we went up to the attic and while I felt old energy I couldn't get anything active.   Chris and I both felt something touch our legs, about dog height and a bit of a cold spot but no EVP.  I think it would have been different if we hadn't had so many people in the group milling about. Too many people scattering energy everywhere.  

I got to talk to some of the people after everyone had taken their turn. It seems like they all come to these things since they all knew each other.  Most hadn't gotten anything but a couple of small EVP's or light touches. It was interesting to see they had all gone to the previous event the weekend before and were all talking about various places they had gone too.  I chatted but was a bit reserved since it seemed to be a close knit group of regulars.   I didn't get anyone's contact info, but I'm hoping to do another one of these events at a more 'hot' spot.  At first I felt a bit disappointed that we hadn't had anything really big happen. I had hoped that Rob would get a good EVP or something since it was his birthday gift. Come on Ghosties!! LOL.  I also felt disappointed that I wasn't more 'on', and questioned that maybe I was wasting my time exploring this part of my life.  Looking back I know it was a good experience and exercise for me. We are thinking about doing it on our own someplace here and see what we can come up with.   

Even though I enjoyed getting out and doing something, standing and walking for 4 hours in the cold put my fibro into high gear.  I was in pain and could barely walk or move my legs on Saturday.  Note to self: limit time spent in cold when doing one of these things!  

You might be an Empath if.......

I'm not a big fan of Jeff Foxworthy, but I do find his "You might be a redneck if....." comedy sketches extremely funny and so accurate.  While doing some research about empathy I realize  I could do a similiar skit but replace the word 'redneck' with 'Empath'. 

I've always known that I was a bit of an empath, although I use to call myself chameleon. I could always have conversations and 'fit in' with anyone from a crazy homeless person to celebrities, hillbilly moonshiners to multi millonaire business people, etc... It is an ability my friends find most entertaining. Over the years, I've realized it is a bit more than just being able to connect with diverse groups of people.I never thought it was a bad thing.  I have just recently realized how strong it is and how deeply (and detrimentally) it has affected me, my relationships with people throught out my life.

While looking for information, I came across the blog "Psychic but Sane" by Anna Conlon and it has been extremely helpful to me.  The first article I read was Signs That You’re An Empath . I read thatn it was such a WOW moment for me, I am the poster child for that article LOL.  An overactive 'unskilled'  Empath literally steps into someone else's shoes. I can not only read moods, but I can also 'feel' them.  Not so bad when someone is joyous, but when people/animals are in pain or grieving I feel the same.  I know they aren't MY feelings but I am feeling them just the same.  Thankfully, Anna has written a series of articles including, Is Overactive Empathy Ruining Your Life?" and the extremely helpful  "How to Turn Off Overactive Empathy"  I use to do simple closing and clearing when I was working as a massage therapist, but I know now it wasn't enough for someone like me. 

I am happy to learn why I have been the way I am. I wish I had learned this many many years ago, it would have saved me so much heartache.  But, you learn things when you are supposed to and for me the time is now.   It's not going to be something I can learn to turn off and on in a day. I'm working on it though, and I already feel better.  ♥

Hello and Happy Hallows Eve!

Hello!!! I am starting this blog to document my own journey and experiences within the paranormal world or what I call "my pretty normal paranormal" life.

Halloween seems to be the perfect day to do this. It's the day when the veil between the worlds is at it's thinnest and many honor their ancestors today. Things I've always thought were pretty normal things to other people such as sensing energies and people's emotions, seeing, hearing and communicating with spirits,  etc....I now realize this things aren't normal for most  people.   I truly thought most everyone has had some kind of paranormal experience, but I've come to realize most people haven't. 

.In my teens and 20's I was very into learning about spirituality, meditation, paganism, paranormal,  and personal development.  Those things got put aside when I moved to California. Now back in Ohio, I find things are happening again. I am very sensitive again and it's not something I can just put aside anymore.   I'm trying to figure out what my purpose is as a light worker (if any), find some like minded people for networking/brainstorming and hopefully make others comfortable about things going they may not understand.

In this blog, I'll be talking about various things that go on in my life as well as my own thoughts about all things paranormal. I hope to become more active in the local community as there are a number of paranormal groups around the Cleveland area. If not-I may have to start one of my own.