Have You Ever Been To A Psychic Medium?

[Mudhoney]

If so, did they tell you anything useful? Or say anything that would lead you to believe that the spirit world exists? I went to one today and I'm wondering if what he said could be real or if it was a scam. I asked if I had any "spirit guides" (I'm not sure what these would be but I was nervous and it sounded like an appropriate question), and he said not exactly.

 

He said that he saw two spirits, a male and a female, on either side of me who watched over me and "protected" me. He said they seemed like relatives and actually gave me 4 letters that could actually be initials for some relatives of mine that are deceased. He also mentioned a dog that was "coming through" during the reading and this made me tear up a little because I do miss my old dog very much.

 

So what do you think? I'm torn between believing it completely or not at all. The sticking point for me was getting letters instead of full names. The medium is supposed to be similar to the Matt Damon character in the movie Hereafter. Now I'm trying to figure out who these spirits could be. Four different letters for two spirits and a dog is confusing. Please share any stories that will help me make sense of this.

[TotalWreck]

I haven't been to a psychic medium, but I have been to two different "psychics".

 

The things that each of them said would happen never happend.

[Will02]

If so, did they tell you anything useful? Or say anything that would lead you to believe that the spirit world exists? I went to one today and I'm wondering if what he said could be real or if it was a scam. I asked if I had any "spirit guides" (I'm not sure what these would be but I was nervous and it sounded like an appropriate question), and he said not exactly.

 

He said that he saw two spirits, a male and a female, on either side of me who watched over me and "protected" me. He said they seemed like relatives and actually gave me 4 letters that could actually be initials for some relatives of mine that are deceased. He also mentioned a dog that was "coming through" during the reading and this made me tear up a little because I do miss my old dog very much.

 

So what do you think? I'm torn between believing it completely or not at all. The sticking point for me was getting letters instead of full names. The medium is supposed to be similar to the Matt Damon character in the movie Hereafter. Now I'm trying to figure out who these spirits could be. Four different letters for two spirits and a dog is confusing. Please share any stories that will help me make sense of this.

 

I may regret posting all this later depending on how people react to it, but the question I have to ask first is what exactly did you tell him? Lots of those guys do the same thing as that TV show that was popular awhile ago where they give a letter and ask if you know anyone whose name starts with that, etc. Those guys are totally bogus. If he came up with the letters on his own without you telling him anything, then that is much more impressive and the guy might be the real deal.

 

You seem open-minded, so I’m going to be open with you. The spirit world is very real. There was a time when I didn't believe in it but then stuff started happening to me. Although there are a lot of frauds, there are real practitioners out there. Not every person has the same abilities--some are healers, some are empaths, some are mediums, some are general-purpose energy workers, etc. We're not special or better than anyone else...anyone can learn how to do this stuff to some extent with sufficient training after they awaken. In my case, I never asked for any of it... things just started happening and I delved deeper to try and make some sense of it all. I have some gifts although I’m not a typical medium type. (I'm more of a warrior type, with heavy emphasis on offense/defensive techniques) Like mediums, I can sense spirits/other entities but I’m not as skilled at communicating with them. I almost never mention this to other people because even though they know next to nothing about it they often never hesitate to get judgmental and tell me that I’m wrong.

 

As far as knowing whether there are entities following you around, I can't say for sure because I wasn't there. However, even non-sensitives can somewhat detect spirits in close proximity. Many ghost hunting shows are fake but they still manage to get a few things right: do you feel a lot of unexplained cold spots or have a tingly electrical charge feeling often? Do you feel like you're being watched when there's no one else around?

 

The guy was right about one thing...spirit guides are something completely different. They only appear to people who seek them out on the higher planes and usually teach and "guide" the person. I've never bothered with that because I've never been sure I could trust them. (I prefer flesh-and-blood teachers) From what you’ve said, you’re not even a practitioner so it makes no sense that you would have any guides.

[MultifariousBirdLady]

Yes, as someone who is not only Pagan (and know some people who get psychic impressions personally) but also enjoys exploring different spiritual beliefs and practices I've been to different psychics associated with different groups, including a couple mediums from Spiritualist Churches. I take what they say with a grain of salt, but as time has passed, I've noted that there have been a few that have been surprisingly correct with almost no initial info to go on. Others have presented a bunch of interesting info which has been fun to turn over in my mind but which I've never been able to confirm and didn't necessarily offer specific help to me here-and-now. A few others really seemed outright wrong.

 

What Will02 said about "what did you tell them" is a very good point. There are definitely frauds out there and skeptics like James Randi have exposed some of them. What he said about someone tossing letters out and hoping you fill in the blanks is also true. Now, they may tell that with absolute sincerity that a letter has simply come to them and they don't know what it stands for. It's not necessarily said to you with intent to manipulate; they are simply reporting their impressions. One of the things that's been very amusing is that occasionally I'll find someone who does a reading and attempts to reconcile impressions of symbols that make religious sense to me but which appear to make little religious sense to them. I could give you examples.

 

If you have any interest in shamanic practices, "journeywork" or mediumship yourself, you can learn similar things and have similar experiences, which IMO can also turn up some pretty interesting stuff.

[Mudhoney]

I told him nothing about any deceased relatives or about having had a dog. This guy is really popular in my area and he's really expensive if you a get a full session. I only purchased two questions in case it was a scam. My main question had to do with what a I been told in the past about having blocked chakras and a negative influence surrounding me. This particular person told me she could remove the "blockage" and negativity over a few healing sessions for $210. I knew this was a scam right away but because she has also told me some accurate things I was worried that it could possibly be true. I wanted a second opinion about this.

 

The psychic medium told me he saw absolutely no negativity or blockages at all and in fact I had a very positive aura. He told me that spirit guides normally present themselves to him at your center back and that my two spirits were directly on either side and appeared to him to be relatives. He also said that the male figure was from my dad's side of the family and the female was from my mom's side, and that I appeared to her as a little girl. The two people I think these are only died within the past ten years. Does this mean I had no one protecting me before then? I didn't think about this at the time.

 

I would like to try and contact them myself. I have never really felt any tingling sensations or cold spots. I do have the feeling that I'm being watched quite often but I thought that was part of the xtian programming about god always watching everyone. Thank you all for the responses.

[badpuppy]

No. I don't really believe in them. I'm not saying they "can't" be real, as I'm not all-knowing, but the way I believe things are structured, I don't think this reality and the next interact. I just don't think it's set up that way. (Which is actually a good thing, since we all have plenty of things to worry about in this life without invisible crap on top of it!)

[MultifariousBirdLady]

I told him nothing about any deceased relatives or about having had a dog. This guy is really popular in my area and he's really expensive if you a get a full session. I only purchased two questions in case it was a scam.

It's understandable to be curious. I think not spending a bundle is a good idea.

 

My main question had to do with what a I been told in the past about having blocked chakras and a negative influence surrounding me. This particular person told me she could remove the "blockage" and negativity over a few healing sessions for $210. I knew this was a scam right away

Good, I'm glad you spotted that as a scam. Anytime someone says you're cursed or whatever and that they can fix it for a lot of money is a big, big red flag to me.

 

but because she has also told me some accurate things I was worried that it could possibly be true. I wanted a second opinion about this.

Some people are good at "reading" people based on what they can see... from the type of clothing you have on or your mannerisms, for example. Between that and info that you tell them they are likely to hit on something true. It's good to keep those things in mind and, like I mentioned, take what they tell you with a grain of salt.

 

The psychic medium told me he saw absolutely no negativity or blockages at all and in fact I had a very positive aura. He told me that spirit guides normally present themselves to him at your center back and that my two spirits were directly on either side and appeared to him to be relatives. He also said that the male figure was from my dad's side of the family and the female was from my mom's side, and that I appeared to her as a little girl. The two people I think these are only died within the past ten years. Does this mean I had no one protecting me before then? I didn't think about this at the time.

Let's play "what if" and assume for a minute that not only what he "saw" was "real" but also that his interpretation of what he saw is accurate (because I've run into readings where the symbolism they saw as I interpreted it made more sense to me than how they interpreted it). I don't think this necessarily means nobody protected you before then. It only means that those are the two people he happened to see prominently. There may be others that he didn't see.

 

Now, that's just a "what if" scenario. Whether what he said to you was true or not on various levels is in reality very much open to question.

 

I guess some of the questions I like to explore after experiences like this are: What strikes you as helpful, interesting, or important in what he told you? If he didn't give you his interpretation of what he saw, how would you interpret it for yourself? Does what he told you seem to connect with anything specific happening in your life now? These experiences can be used a little bit like a Rorschach Test to learn about yourself, your reactions, and/or to make interesting connections between things that you might not have made otherwise. Sometimes doing that can result in you coming up with creative ideas that are actually useful. Sometimes it's just fun and interesting, or simply comforting to be told that your deceased loved ones are still looking out for you.

 

I would like to try and contact them myself.

Are you familiar with meditation or "journeying" techniques? Jungian "active imagination" or anything like that? Some of these techniques have a lot in common.

 

I have never really felt any tingling sensations or cold spots.

That sounds to me like somewhat traditional Spiritualist/seance expectations for what happens when spirits are encountered. I've heard others report different experiences.

 

I do have the feeling that I'm being watched quite often but I thought that was part of the xtian programming about god always watching everyone.

That could very easily explain that sensation.

[mymistake]

So what do you think? I'm torn between believing it completely or not at all. The sticking point for me was getting letters instead of full names. The medium is supposed to be similar to the Matt Damon character in the movie Hereafter. Now I'm trying to figure out who these spirits could be. Four different letters for two spirits and a dog is confusing. Please share any stories that will help me make sense of this.

 

It's a scam. The reason they give letters instead of names is because the con artist doesn't know. They guess four letters and make the client fill in the details. If I wanted I could give you a performance that was on par with whatever that medium did. The difference is that I would tell you it's a trick and they will tell you it's real. I use to take care of a former palm reader who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. She enjoyed giving free readings. The other caretakers and I would allow her to do so whenever we had time. Because she had no short term memory she would give the exact same reading to everyone. Man or woman, young or old it made no difference. Every single person she read for would have an opportunity in the future to buy a piece of property for a real estate venture and if they did she foretold that they would make a big profit. After mentioning the property she would then see a police officer in that person's future. She sounded very sincere at the craft but she didn't have any new material. "Psychics" are experts at reading body language. No spiritual power is required for that. They will build upon whatever you tell them or show them. If you wear a wedding band that is information they will incorporate into their act. If they say something completely off the wall they will notice your confused look and gloss over that topic until they say something that sound familiar to you.

[mymistake]

My main question had to do with what a I been told in the past about having blocked chakras and a negative influence surrounding me. This particular person told me she could remove the "blockage" and negativity over a few healing sessions for $210. I knew this was a scam right away but because she has also told me some accurate things I was worried that it could possibly be true.

 

If you believe in blocked chakras then you don't need to pay anybody. You have a resource right here at ex-C. Antlerman has all sorts of spiritual insights that he gives away for free. (Imagine that - someone who does good just for the sake of doing good) Read his old posts and see if those things will help you. Read lots of his old posts before asking him questions because he probably has already covered any general question you have somewhere in his thousands of posts. Personally I don't believe the spiritual aspects of blocked chakras but I do believe that the ritualistic aspects have benefits. Do you understand? Chi does not have to be real in order for chi meditation to help. There is a repeatability and observation element at play even if the theory is misguided.

[Will02]

That sounds to me like somewhat traditional Spiritualist/seance expectations for what happens when spirits are encountered. I've heard others report different experiences.

 

You usually only get cold spots when the spirit is trying to manifest or do something. (It's trying to absorb whatever energy it can from the environment.. living people who are astral or etheric projecting can do the same thing) If a spirit is just passively floating there, a non-sensitive may even be able to walk through it without feeling anything amiss. Of course, a spirit is highly visible to a sensitive person from quite a distance. We may not always "see" it in a physical sense, but we know its there and can tell you its general location at any given time. If the spirit is hostile or upset we can feel this as well.

 

 

He also said that the male figure was from my dad's side of the family and the female was from my mom's side, and that I appeared to her as a little girl.

 

That information is unusually specific... if you have any time left with him I would try to get some confirmation. Get pictures from people in your family who have died in the past 10 years and see if he can identify them as the spirits he claims are following you. Also, get some pictures of random people you don't know and mix those in with the real pictures. (there should be more fake than real) See if he gets it right.

 

As far as the spirit viewing you as a little girl, I’ve heard of things like that before. It's not unusual for human spirits to be stuck in time. They may not realize how much time has passed since they died, especially if they died really suddenly (they may not even know they're dead) or have unfinished business in life.

 

Non-human spirits are totally different things altogether. As a warrior, my gifts revolve around fighting and getting rid of these things. I've had to deal with a few in my time and those experiences have not been pleasant. These types of spirits were never alive in the first place and tend to be stronger, more intelligent, and much more dangerous than most human spirits. Whether these entities are "demons" in the way that Christians understand them or something else entirely is something that I don't know for sure. (I suspect they are really astral critters that have found their way into our world at some point)

 

My main question had to do with what a I been told in the past about having blocked chakras and a negative influence surrounding me. This particular person told me she could remove the "blockage" and negativity over a few healing sessions for $210. I knew this was a scam right away but because she has also told me some accurate things I was worried that it could possibly be true.

 

Like I said before, I haven't met you in person so I can't confirm/refute that you have a negative influence or blocked chakras. (did this person say what caused it?) Fixing blocked chakras is more of a healer's domain, so I can't help you much there.

 

 

I don't think this reality and the next interact. I just don't think it's set up that way.

It's not so much this world and whatever afterlife there is interacting. There are higher planes (the astral being the most well known) and they do overlap with the physical world to some extent. If you ever encounter a human spirit, that spirit is not in the next world. It is still trapped in our world for some reason and can't leave even though it may want to.

[badpuppy]

I still don't think the realities interact. But I can respect that you do.

[hereticzero]

I think you should throw salt and holy water at your psychic. They are as much full of shit as religious prophets.

[Will02]

I still don't think the realities interact. But I can respect that you do.

 

Fair enough.

 

I realize a lot of this stuff sounds strange to people who aren't already into it. Practitioners don't expect other people to believe in it unless they have had first-hand experiences of their own. Unlike organized religion spirituality is a very personalized thing. Fortunately, you don't have to always place faith in what someone else tells you.. with enough training anyone can learn how to see for themselves.

[Jedah]

[Mudhoney]

I think you should throw salt and holy water at your psychic. They are as much full of shit as religious prophets.

 

This is what part of me feels like doing. I can't make a decision whether or not to give this up and move on with life.

[hereticzero]

Move on with your life. Learn to trust in yourself. We know our own futures better than anyone else. The future is always an unknown but we can prepare ourselves for its worst parts if we learn to trust ourselves. That's how to develop intuition, by experience.

[Deva]

I think you should throw salt and holy water at your psychic. They are as much full of shit as religious prophets.

 

This is what part of me feels like doing. I can't make a decision whether or not to give this up and move on with life.

 

 

I think I would abandon further thought about letters and your dog (although I know your dog meant a lot to you) and stuff like that. This psychic was fishing for something. They throw out suggestions and hope you will help them along. It sounds like a scam to me.

 

Personally, I look at astrology. I have seen my personality laid out in my birth chart. It is as clear as day, and tells me a great deal more than any psychic. It just takes some study.

 

I have been to a psychic and had the tarot cards read to me. This was maybe 5 years ago. She said I was going to get married. Well, it hasn't happened and I don't think it will. Sometimes these people say things they think you want to hear.

[agnosticator]

I may regret posting all this later depending on how people react to it,........

 

.....The spirit world is very real. There was a time when I didn't believe in it but then stuff started happening to me.

 

I used to believe in a "spirit world" until I studied Anomalistic Psychology. I spent years trying to bolster that belief. Everything I experienced turned out to be hypnogogic/hypnopompic mind states among various other psychological mechanisms. People may truly believe they are mediums, psychics, etc., and it is understandable. But a mind is a terrible thing to waste on chasing phantoms.

[badpuppy]

 

 

I used to believe in a "spirit world" until I studied Anomalistic Psychology. I spent years trying to bolster that belief. Everything I experienced turned out to be hypnogogic/hypnopompic mind states among various other psychological mechanisms. People may truly believe they are mediums, psychics, etc., and it is understandable. But a mind is a terrible thing to waste on chasing phantoms.

 

I know what a hypnogogic state is but what is a hypopompic state?

[agnosticator]

I know what a hypnogogic state is but what is a hypopompic state?

 

Hypnopompic refers to the transition state from sleep to waking up. It's interesting that I completely stopped having any sort of hypnogogic/pompic events after I was 24 years old. I recall reading somewhere that it rarely occurs after age 30.

[badpuppy]

I know what a hypnogogic state is but what is a hypopompic state?

 

Hypnopompic refers to the transition state from sleep to waking up. It's interesting that I completely stopped having any sort of hypnogogic/pompic events after I was 24 years old. I recall reading somewhere that it rarely occurs after age 30.

 

Oh, interesting! I didn't know it had a name. I remember the hypnopompic state when i woke up this morning. For me if I wake up naturally, which I often do, it's this state where my dream suddenly shifts and turns into this thing I'm just imagining continuing on and suddenly I realize I'm fully awake. And then I sit and wonder "Okay, how much of that was my dream, and how much of that did I just create after i was awake." Really? I'm 32 and have both states most nights. I've always thought it was a normal part of the going to sleep and waking states. How does your perception of dream states work then? Are you just suddenly asleep, have some dreams and then are suddenly awake? Because it's a transition path both ways for me most of the time. Do you/have you ever had a lucid dream? Because now I'm wondering if losing those hypnogogic/hypnopompic states are in any way correlated to lucid dream states, or at least one method of achieving them since some people "use" the hypnogogic state as an entryway to the lucid dream state.

[agnosticator]

Oh, interesting! I didn't know it had a name. I remember the hypnopompic state when i woke up this morning. For me if I wake up naturally, which I often do, it's this state where my dream suddenly shifts and turns into this thing I'm just imagining continuing on and suddenly I realize I'm fully awake. And then I sit and wonder "Okay, how much of that was my dream, and how much of that did I just create after i was awake."

 

Yeah, I do that with my dreams too. But I used to confuse some of my dreams with reality. I would wake up in the middle of the night having vivid dreams that were traumatic. I never remembered falling back asleep, so I swore they were real events. That's what's changed for me, thank goodness.

 

 

Really? I'm 32 and have both states most nights. I've always thought it was a normal part of the going to sleep and waking states. How does your perception of dream states work then? Are you just suddenly asleep, have some dreams and then are suddenly awake? Because it's a transition path both ways for me most of the time.

 

I drift off to sleep, and wake up while dreaming most of the time. Nothing is sudden, and I transition from being awake to sleep and vice versa. But I no longer have vivid dreams I confuse with real events. That's the difference. Now, bad dreams are nightmares, not terrifying experiences. By the way, the term "nightmare" comes from the monster (or old hag) that would be on top of you and crush during sleep paralysis! Ugh!

 

Some of my vivid dreams involved shadowy figures staring at me, or I'd have crazy ones where I fell out of my body after seeing a gruesome monster's face in my window. I had an OBE and astral projection. One dream involved some of my relatives. I questioned them for years to admit it happened, but they all denied my story. They must have thought I lost my mind!

 

Do you/have you ever had a lucid dream? Because now I'm wondering if losing those hypnogogic/hypnopompic states are in any way correlated to lucid dream states, or at least one method of achieving them since some people "use" the hypnogogic state as an entryway to the lucid dream state.

 

You're probably right. There may be a correlation, but I have no idea since I haven't studied the subject in a looong time. I do have lucid dreams quite regularly. I can make up endings whenever I realize I'm dreaming. Most of my dreams are interesting and fun now! I thank the FSM for granting me the gift of normal dreams and nightmares.

[badpuppy]

Wow. That's hardcore. That sounds like night terrors. One of the problems I tend to have when I lucid dream is false awakenings, where you think you woke up because you're in your bed and it seems like the next morning and you start going about your day and at some point something really weird happens and then you wake up again. I've had upwards of 5 false awakenings in a row and they are annoying as crap because you feel like every time you wake up it's not real. After a lucid dream I always have to do reality checks to make sure I'm really awake and not still dreaming.

[Will02]

I used to believe in a "spirit world" until I studied Anomalistic Psychology. I spent years trying to bolster that belief. Everything I experienced turned out to be hypnogogic/hypnopompic mind states among various other psychological mechanisms. People may truly believe they are mediums, psychics, etc., and it is understandable. But a mind is a terrible thing to waste on chasing phantoms.

 

You're entitled to your own opinion of course, but I’ve had lots of experiences that tell me that all this stuff is much more than a simple state of the mind. How do you explain the fact that another practitioner was able to accurately detect and describe what I was doing one time without me saying a word about it? Also, I’ve tested a few techniques (making harmless energy balls and moving them around) on dogs, who are one of the animals that can naturally sense this stuff. The dogs were consistently able to track these manifestations accurately even though 1. The energy is invisible to human non-sensitives and 2. I wasn't looking at what I was creating, so the dogs weren't simply responding to what I was looking at.

 

I'm confident that science will be able to define, study, and manipulate this stuff with machines someday. Right now, I think we simply don't have the technology to detect it. We don't even know everything about how the human body works yet.

[stryper]

Wow. That's hardcore. That sounds like night terrors. One of the problems I tend to have when I lucid dream is false awakenings, where you think you woke up because you're in your bed and it seems like the next morning and you start going about your day and at some point something really weird happens and then you wake up again. I've had upwards of 5 false awakenings in a row and they are annoying as crap because you feel like every time you wake up it's not real. After a lucid dream I always have to do reality checks to make sure I'm really awake and not still dreaming.

 

 

Now I have never had a false awakening before. Usually what happens to me when I am lucid dreaming, provided I don't have to get up to an alarm, is as the sun rises, I started getting more and more tired in my dream. Eventually, I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Then everything goes black and I wake up usually with the sun on my face.

 

Or a cat. Cause that happens too sometimes.

 

 

 

Now to the OP. Yes I have. That is how the Micheal Teachings are transmitted.