us?”
29
30 Matt
Dan looked towards Matt and smiled, then continued eat-
ing his breakfast.
“Yep,” he said casually.
“What colour is he shining at you?” I asked equally flip-
pantly.
“Purple!” he laughed.
I was consumed with happiness. Firstly, it’s always wonder-
ful to share your visions with someone else; it validates the
experience and nullifies any doubts. I was especially delighted that I was sharing the experience with Danny, as I’ve always
tried to nurture my children’s sensitivity to spirits. Embracing the existence of the spirit world has enhanced my life beyond
measure and I wish the same sense of joyousness for my chil-
dren.
I was also delighted by the fact that Matt was radiating a
purple, positive energy. This confirmed that he was well and
truly advancing on his spiritual path and was only dropping by in the hope of a visit with his family.
I couldn’t wait to try and facilitate contact between him
and his loved ones, especially since I knew that Matt was itching to do the same.
It’s times like these that my lack of clairaudience is partic-
ularly frustrating. How much easier would it be to just tune in and say Right! What is it you want me to tell them? Whereas all I’m able to do is say There he is … on the stairs!
I knew that Matt was eager to provide proof of his pres-
ence, so I thought of little else for days whilst I tried to work out the best mode of contact. The orb photos and communication
via the pendulum were compelling, but I just needed that little something more. I was hoping for a concrete manifestation of
Matt’s energy which would leave little room for doubt.
Matt 31
Then it hit me like a sudden and obvious revelation, why
not try table tipping?
Table tipping is a way of inviting spirit contact, whereby
the participants seat themselves around a table, place their
hands on it and invite the spirits present to move the table.
Successful contact can manifest as anything along a spectrum
of physical events; from the table simply vibrating to moving right across the room. The table is used as a vehicle for spirit energy, and has the potential to produce spectacular results.
Admittedly I balked a little when it first occurred to me;
after all table tipping could be classed as a type of séance. If I was honest with myself, it was just one step away from whipping out a Ouija Board, a form of communication which had
always made me feel uneasy.
However, in light of the recent séance I’d experienced with
Tony G, I felt confident that I could facilitate a safe interaction with the spirit world, as long as I took suitable precautions and had appropriate protection in place.
I was also bolstered by what Dot the medium had told me
a fortnight earlier. She had said that I was a channel and that in the future I would help people contact their loved ones in the spirit world. When I balked at the thought of conducting any
type of séance, she assured me that I had the ability and experience to do so safely. She told me that Ouija Boards and the
like are only dangerous when used ignorantly, as it is then that the doors to the spirit world are opened indiscriminately and
can lead to all types of havoc.
“It’s like crossing a busy road,” she explained. “If you just charge across without checking first, of course you can come
to grief. But if you approach mindfully and carefully, it’ll get 32 Matt
you exactly where you need to be. It’s the same with séances.
Approach with careful respect and you’ll be fine.”
With these thoughts in mind, I decided to ask Matt his
opinion on the matter via the pendulum.
“What do you reckon Matt?” I asked. “When the girls
come, do you think we should try our hand at table tipping?”
YES! was the immediate response.
“Do you think you’ll be able to do it?”
Again, a strong and undeniable YES.
And finally I asked whether he thought the sight of a table
tipping and moving of its own accord would freak the girls
out.
NO.
And so it was decided; if Matilda and her family were
happy to give it a try, table tipping it would be!
I spent a large part of the preceding day in preparation,
everything had to be just right. I hadn’t come this far to jeopar-dize the success of the evening by being ill-prepared, and I was paranoid about compromising our safety.
I meditated, prayed, burnt white candles and incense and
kept my home’s vibration high. I made it clear that only spirits who came from God’s light were welcome and I white-lighted
both myself and the house several times during the day. I also made sure that neither my guests nor I consumed any alcohol beforehand. It’s believed that alcohol lowers one’s vibra-
tion, which can in turn attract lower vibrational, earthbound
entities rather than the crossed-over spirits we were hoping to make contact with.
By the time Matilda and her family arrived at 8pm, the
house was buzzing with spirit energy. It seemed that word
had gotten out in the spirit world and the family room was
Matt 33
inundated with a throng of excited spirits. As much as I sensed their presence, I was still taken aback when Stu took a photo
which captured around 30 orbs waiting near the fireplace! I
was convinced it would be an eventful night.
I had asked Matilda to bring along a list of ten dates,
amongst which was Matt’s birthday. We then proceeded to call
out each date in turn, asking Matt via the pendulum whether
the date in question was his birthday. He answered NO to each until we reached the correct date, thereby providing the first validation that it was indeed Matt we were speaking to.
His family went on to ask him a barrage of questions, all of
which he answered correctly. By now we were in little doubt
that our spirit friend was Matt, and felt comfortable enough to up the ante and allow him to prove his presence further.
We moved over to the large round table. We seated our-
selves and placed our hands flat on the tabletop, fingers spread so as our little fingers were touching those of the person
beside us. We closed our eyes and breathed steadily, whilst I
white lighted the table and asked once again that only spir-
its who came from God’s light be permitted to make contact.
I asked for our guides to protect us from lower vibrational
entities. I also offered a specific invitation for Matt to come through.
Within a couple of minutes, the heavy wooden tabletop
began to vibrate. We opened our eyes and looked at each other
excitedly, Matt was beginning to make contact. The vibrations
were soon replaced by a gentle rocking motion, as the table
began to gently shake from side-to-side. We were overcome
with a sense of awe and happiness, delighted that Matt was
offering physical proof of his presence. We began encourag-
ing him to move the table more forcefully, and invited Matt
34 Matt
to use our psychic energy if he needed to. At this point it felt as though there was someone under the table; the energy was
starting to mount and it seemed to be straining to lift.
“Let’s move to a smaller table,” I suggested, reasoning that
it might be easier for Matt to lift off the ground.
We seated ourselves around a small wooden table, placing
our hands on the top once again. Almost instantly, the vibra-
tions began, soon to be replaced by a steady, unmistakeable
rock. The table legs banged on the floorboards as it seesawed
from side-to-side.
Our excitement was palpable and was increasing with
every passing minute.
“Tip it over Dad!” encouraged Matilda.
We all offered similar encouragement, egging Matt on
towards his spectacular finale.
It didn’t take long before one side of the table started to
lift, teetering shakily on two of its wooden legs.
“Keep going,” we cheered. “You can do it!”
The table continued to steadily tip, pausing precariously
above the floor at a thirty degree angle.
“Come on Dad … Bang it!” said Matilda.
“Don’t worry about the floor,” I added. “Just slam it down
for us!”
And in what was to be his spectacular finale, the table
slammed into the floor with a triumphant bang.
At this, we all began clapping, happy that Matt had been
able to provide proof of his presence as he had hoped.
As we debriefed afterwards, we were all similarly heart-
ened by the evening’s events. We were in no doubt that we had
just shared a wonderful experience with Matt, and we were
Matt 35
convinced that he was equally delighted with the success of
the night.
As evidenced by the large number of orbs which showed
themselves prior to our table-tipping session, I knew that my
preparations had attracted a large number of spirits to our
home.
As I lay on my bed the following afternoon, I noticed doz-
ens of flashing lights up near the ceiling. I was speaking on the phone to my friend, Deb, and was telling her about the previous night’s events.
The camera was beside me on the bed, so I grabbed it
and took a quick snap. Not surprisingly, the photo was sprin-
kled with numerous shining orbs. In light of this, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by what happened next …
It was a few hours later and I had not long fallen asleep.
I was woken by my bed shaking, in the same steady rhythm
that the table had been shaking the night before. I wasted no
time snapping on the bedside lamp and as I sat up, the bed
continued to shake.
“Guys!” I said in a voice which betrayed my nervousness.
“Stop this right now!”
The bed continued to shake.
“If you freak me out, I’ll end up blocking you out forever.
This isn’t fair, it’s my rest time!”
I went on to tell them that there had to be boundaries.
The spirits were welcome to contact me, but preferably not
at night. And especially not when I was alone! I asked them to only come in the day time, or at night only if they had been
invited.
It took quite some time, but the bed eventually stopped
shaking and I got out my pendulum once again.
36 Matt
Matt stepped forward.
“Was that you shaking my bed?” I asked.
NO.
“Were spirits shaking my bed?”
YES.
“ Were they trying to frighten me?”
NO.
“Were they trying to get my attention?”
YES.
“Was there a main instigator?”
YES.
At this, I immediately knew it was Gary, the young man
who had shown himself at Matilda’s first visit. I asked Matt if he would please encourage Gary to step forward.
“Gary?” I asked, “Are you here?”
YES.
“Were you shaking my bed?”
YES.
“Are you going to do it again?”
NO.
“Promise?”
YES!
And at this, I made a promise of my own. Whatever it took,
I would find a way to contact Gary’s family. Gary didn’t want to frighten me, he was just desperate to let his family know that he was OK. I just needed to work out how I was going to facilitate a meeting with a family I had never met. Now that the doors of communication were open, there was no way I could turn back.
I hoped that between us, Gary and I would find a way.
chapter five
G a r y
As my mediumship abilities have developed over time, I’ve
certainly noticed how some spirits will do whatever it takes
to make themselves known to me. This is particularly true of
those who have taken their own lives. No matter how tenuous
the link between myself and the spirit, these souls somehow
manage to find me. Sometimes it feels as though they have
deliberately sought me out, to help them pass on messages of
reassurance to the families they have left behind.
This was particularly true with Gary, who made himself
known to me when the young journalist Matilda came to my
home. As you may recall, I was trying to facilitate contact
between Matilda and her father Matt; yet Gary was desperate
to be acknowledged and kept repeatedly butting in.
Matilda had been in a relationship with Gary’s brother,
Callum. He was now taking advantage of Matilda’s connec-
tion to me, in order to come through.
37
38 Gary
Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was another con-
nection between Gary and myself; he had actually been a
patient at my clinic. I have no idea how the realisation dawned on me but I was suddenly struck by the thought of I wonder if Gary’s ever been to my work?
Once the thought occurred to me I just couldn’t let it go,
so I jumped into my car and drove to the surgery. My recep-
tionist, Sue located Gary’s file within minutes. As I held it in my hands my heart was beating wildly, and I began to understand why he was reaching out to me.
Although Gary had been to my clinic several times as
a teenager, I had never met him personally. He had been
attended to by one of my staff members rather than myself.
But still, the link was there; he was using whatever means he
could to get through to his family.
I took the file home with me, grateful to have something
tangible to work with. It was heartening to have something
concrete that I could use to help link us together.
As I flicked through Gary’s notes to see where he’d lived, I
was taken aback to see that his house was just around the cor-
ner from mine. When I typed his address into Google maps,
I was stunned by what I saw. Gary had lived only six hundred
meters away, his house virtually in line with my own. No won-
der he had gravitated to me!
Since Gary had been vying for my attention from the
moment he first came to my house with Matilda, I called her
to ask what she thought we should do. Gary had been moving
things in my house and had appeared to me as both an orb and
an apparition. He had been shaking my bed and waking me at
night. Although the bed shaking had been unnerving, I knew
Gary 39
that Gary wasn’t trying to frighten me. He was just desperate
to let his family know that he had survived his bodily death.
As you can imagine, having mediumistic abilities can place
you in some fairly compromising situations, and this was cer-
tainly the case with Gary. If a spirit goes to great lengths to make themselves known to me, I feel I owe it to them to find
out what they want and help them. I know that if I were in a
situation like Gary’s, I would seize whatever means I could to try and comfort my family. I knew that Gary wasn’t trying to
frighten me; I could sympathise with his predicament.
The problem lies in the fact that approaching someone
with the claim of being in contact with their deceased loved
one, can be met with all manner of responses. It’s impossible to gauge whether the revelation will be welcomed or rejected.
As a medium, this situation can make you very vulnerable.
There is the chance that you will be dredging up pain-
ful memories, or perhaps be dismissed as a fraud or a crank.
There is a lot to be fearful of when preparing to disclose this type of information.
Although Matilda and Callum were no longer dating, they
had maintained their relationship as friends. I asked Matilda
if she would consider broaching the subject with him. I just
couldn’t think of any other way to initiate contact with Gary’s family.
Although Matilda was worried about how Callum would
react to being told his brother was hanging out at the local
podiatrist’s house, she reasoned that she had no choice but to tell him. After all the effort Gary had gone to in order to make himself known to me, it wouldn’t have been fair for his visits to go unacknowledged. It took Matilda a couple of weeks to
summon up the courage to call Callum.
40 Gary
When my phone woke me at one in the morning, I
expected the worst. As Matilda’s name flashed urgently on the
touch screen, my first thought was that she was calling me in
a panic because Gary had paid her a visit. Why else would she be calling me in the middle of the night? I fleetingly wondered whether Gary had been shaking her bed.
“Barbie,” she said excitedly.”I’ve done it … I’ve told Cal-
lum!”
Relief washed over me as Matilda continued chattering at
a mile a minute.
“I told him everything. From that first day we met when
Gary was sitting next to me, to how he was shaking your bed.
I told him that Gary wants him to know he’s OK …”
“And?” I asked hesitatingly. “How did it go down?”
Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side Page 4
