The title of this blog is a famous line in the “Sixth Sense” movie that became a common known phrase.   The boy in that movie wasn’t a medium per se, but he definitely had the gift of mediumship.  I must admit a fascination for people who are sensitive to “the other side”.  I believe we all have the ability to see through the “veil” into other planes (dimensions, realms, spheres of existence) but a majority of us do not.  Where some of us are born with a natural ability to use this “gift”, the rest of us must strive to develop it (me!), or are content to leave it to others to do.  And some, of course, condemn the practice or refuse to accept such things even exist!

My first brush with a medium was when I attended a Psychic Fair in my twenties.  I’d been experiencing some amazing spiritual occurrences and decided to attend a psychic fair to see if anyone could explain to me what was happening (I was having visions, hearing sounds, dreaming some pretty awesome stuff and having lots of interesting coincidences).  After walking around and visiting the various “vendors”, I found myself attracted to an Indian man who had a large crowd around him as he answered questions.  He looked over the crowd and caught my eye and waved me forward.  My heart pounding, I walked up to him and he put his hand on my shoulder.  He looked me in the eye and said, “You are attracting many spirits.  They surround your light.  You have a gift you are not using.”  Of course I wanted to know what my gift was even as I ignored the uncomfortable thought that dead people were surrounding me!  He told me it wasn’t for him to say, that I had to discover it myself.  I thought it was a gimmick to get me to pay for a reading.  But his sign-up page was full and he wasn’t taking on any more requests.  What he told me, he freely offered.  After wishing me luck, he moved on to someone else in the crowd and left me standing there forgotten.

After walking around a bit more, I finally found a woman who channeled a spirit guide who answered whatever questions I could ply “him” with in the 15 minutes I paid for.  Never having had such an experience, I wasn’t sure what to expect but after a minute of silence, the medium before me suddenly lifted her head with a different air about her.  Her soft voice had firmed and her gentle gaze was now piercing and direct.  I found it oddly uncomfortable to meet her eyes.  I asked her what my gift was.  She answered that I was surrounded by many spirits and that they all were waiting for me to communicate with them (I admit to wondering if the psychics at this fair used this tactic on everyone but nothing like that was said to my friends who attended with me).  Why? I asked.  She said that was for me to learn.  Frustrating!  What’s with all the cryptic stuff?  So anyway, she told me a few other things and I went on my merry way.

That was a long time ago and I’ve yet to discover this “gift” the Indian man spoke of.  But, I have visited many mediums since then.  Some of them give generic information and I quickly dismiss those encounters.  But, there have been others that have known things they couldn’t possibly know about me or my loved ones who have passed on.  I KNOW these authentic medium communications are the “real deal”.  It fascinates me to no end.  I would love to be able to do that.  Even though it also frightens me just a little.  Not because I fear the dead, but because I know dark forces exist in the world and I don’t want to become a target to them.  So, maybe my fear holds me back, I don’t know.  I can communicate easily enough through the Ouija (though I don’t really use that much), through Automatic Writing, through Table Tipping and I’ve channeled a spirit whom I’ve thought of as an “angel” (see my post “The Care and Handling of Spirit Contact“).  As for the channeling, I get too self-conscious about the whole process to allow it to happen and so I don’t do it anymore.  I’ve taken a mediumship class but again, I get self-conscious about what others might think of me that I hinder the whole process.  For some reason, I am not self-conscious about the other forms of spirit communication.  Maybe because channeling is such a personal thing.  As for mediums, some of them channel spirits but most of the time they just act as a go-between for the spirit and for whomever the spirit has a message.

It was my fascination with mediums that I wrote my book “Be Still, My Love“.  I mean, really, wouldn’t it be the coolest thing to have the ability to talk to loved ones who have crossed over?  But then I also wondered how a medium might handle a horrible tragedy in which they thought the death unfair or wrong.  How would they handle it if things didn’t go the way they thought things should go?  Do mediums lose their faith?  Can they get it back?  These were the things that floated around in my thoughts as I developed the character of Tess Schafer, a medium whose husband and dog were killed by a drunk driver.  The fact that the angels didn’t warn Tess of her husband’s pending demise made her angry.  She also railed at God for the tragedy.  Since ghosts, people who have died and now remain “trapped” here on the Earth plane, also fascinate me, and mediums and ghosts sort of go hand in hand, I came up with the idea of a resort being haunted by two tragic young lovers whose deaths are now under suspicion.  I believe most hauntings are because of restless spirits who cannot move on for some compelling reason.  I thought putting Tess back in her element (a haunted resort) even though she had lost her faith and thus her ability when her husband died, would create an interesting story.  It did.  I didn’t plan the book.  I never knew what was going to happen until I sat down and started typing.  Going through Tess’s journey with her was a compelling process.  The introduction of Kade Sinclair, a former Marine recovering from serious wounds sustained in Afghanistan, and a skeptic about the existence of ghosts and Tess’s ability only added another interesting perspective to the story.  Two people, hurting in different ways, searching for answers, it made for a pretty cool story and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

This is why I write, for the stories that come from “out there” (the universal consciousness?  who knows!).  There’s something to be learned from each and every thing brought into existence.  Every book, every movie, every picture, every  song, every speech, every piece of art…whatever it is brought into creation, has something to teach us.  Seeking those lessons, discovering their answers…there’s the real challenge in life!!

So, what say you?  Do you agree that the creative process is a spiritual one?  Do you believe in mediums?  Have you had any experiences you’d like to share?  Please do!  Blessings and Peace Out!!

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• What’s the Fascination With Ghosts? (deborahjhughes.com)