My Life As a Medium

by Betty Shine

  While the cat roamed the protected garden, marking her territory, the dogs ran up and down the long corridor, revelling in the freedom of so much space. I understood how they felt.

  It was not long before another strange thing happened. I was cleaning the lounge one day, and felt a cat brushing against my legs. Thinking that it was Sally, I bent down to stroke her only to find that, apart from myself, the room was empty. I looked for Sally, and found her asleep under a hedge in the garden. So we not only had a lady spirit, but also a cat. I asked my new neighbours whether the artist had had a cat, and was told that she had befriended a stray that had never left her side. When she died, a friend gave it a home, but it had pined away. I asked for a description of the cat, and was told that it had been an ordinary tabby.

  As soon as my healing room was complete, I was invaded by groups of my patients from Sutton. On one particularly busy day, I had to ask a group of three women to sit in the waiting room for fifteen minutes. When it was their turn to have healing, one of them said, ‘I didn’t know you had two cats, Betty.’

  ‘I haven’t. Sally’s my only cat,’ I replied.

  They looked at each other in astonishment. ‘But we’ve just been making friends with a lovely tabby. It climbed onto our laps in turn demanding attention, and we’ve spent all this time stroking it.’

  ‘Where did it go?’ I asked.

  ‘We don’t know,’ one lady replied. ‘We were distracted when you entered the room, and now it’s gone.’

  As there was no way that a cat could have entered my waiting room, I told them the story of the tabby cat and its owner. They were both astonished and delighted.

  ‘I’ve never seen a spirit of any kind,’ one of them remarked.

  The other two ladies were equally adamant that this had been their first experience of a spirit sighting.

  They made a point of coming down to Sussex every month for their ‘top up’ and a chat, but they never saw the cat again. Instead of being disappointed, they told me that it made their encounter with the cat even more special than it had seemed at the time, and they never ceased to talk about it.

  The tabby was not the only spirit cat roaming around. Six months later a black cat made an appearance. The first encounter was when it leaped across our bed one night; after that, it was often seen springing around the house. Even though I spent months trying to find out about its background, it seemed that no one had ever seen a black cat around the property. I could only assume that it might be the same one who had attached itself to Sally in Sutton, and who had decided to join us in Sussex. After all, when you are a spirit, time and space mean nothing at all.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Patients old and new saw my new healing room transformed by an amazing kaleidoscope of colours. At other times the room was suffused with one predominant colour, the favourite being a beautiful sunflower yellow. People also attracted their own colours, and these were determined by their ailment.

  The room, once energized, supported the most amazing materializations, and several times I saw a spirit child slip into the room by way of a coloured slide. Grieving parents were transformed as they were given proof of survival by their late children.

  As I felt my spirit world return to normal, I knew, without any doubt, that the material world in which we live made no sense to me at all without its spiritual counterpart. There are complex variations of this force and, like the spokes in a wheel, they complete the whole. I knew now that, once having seen all of these variations, I could not conceive of a life without them, and I was delighted when the gift of healing made these visions available to others.

  I also knew that I had to bring my experiences alive for others, so that they could share the wonder of this mostly unseen world, and share the gift that I had been given.

  I found out, to my cost, that a book does not get written without a great deal of hard work and discipline. I have never had a problem with hard work, because the alternative would be boredom and that for me would be a fate worse than death. But discipline was not one of my virtues. Although my mediumship had brought its own discipline, I scarcely noticed it, because other people’s needs were greater than mine and I always had company. Writing, on the other hand, was a solitary occupation. After writing for hours, I would feel as though I had produced several thousand words, when, in fact it was only a few hundred. With a permanently aching back and arm, I began to think that mediumship and healing were a doddle compared to this, and constantly wondered why I was putting myself through this agony. But I knew the answer, and plodded on painfully.

  Luckily, help was at hand. Because of the interminable interruptions I suffered through writing on the kitchen table, I decided to change my venue and shut myself in my healing room, using the couch as my desk. The room was peaceful, and had the right vibes, and as I looked at the first blank page I saw that it was alive with words, dancing across the paper like ripples over a lake. Although I was unable to read them, I received the message loud and clear; someone had been elected to guide me through this new and exacting experience. I picked up my pen and began to write, and the words flowed. I felt humble and elated alternately, as I realized that my book had the spirit seal of approval, and all was well.

  Over a period of time another guide joined the team. I became aware of him one day when I was struggling to remember the day, month and year, of a particular story. As I sat, face cupped in hands, staring at the page, the information appeared as if by magic. At first I thought I was dreaming, and then I burst out laughing. This was ridiculous! But, fortunately for me, it was for real. The facts remained on the page long enough for me to hurriedly write them down, and were confirmed later when I checked through my old diaries. From that time, whenever my memory failed me, I was given the information in this manner. Much later, when I had eventually learnt how to use a computer, the phenomenon continued, but this time the information I needed appeared on the screen, for all to see.

  Although my days in Sutton now seemed so very far away, and my life had changed out of all recognition, I still felt that I had left a vital part of my soul behind. Then one day a friend called and told me that my old home had been pulled down, and was going to be replaced with a small block of flats. Although I was upset by this news, I knew in my heart that it was meant to be. It could never have retained its atmosphere, because the life had left, and I was warmed by the thought that the memories of the years I had worked there would remain for ever in the hearts and minds of myself, my friends and my patients. They could never be erased. They would be a more fitting memorial than the bricks and mortar; the spirits still lived, with me, and would continue to do so wherever I chose to be.

  After months of hard work, the book was finished. It might not have been a literary work of art, but at that time it was the best I could do. A friend gave me the name of his literary agent, and I sent the book to him. He sent it back. He had turned it down. This did not make any sense. The spirits had not only told me to write the book but had also taken an active part in the process. So what was going on? I was advised to send it direct to a publisher, which I did, and eight weeks later it was accepted. Mind to Mind was on its way.

  When the book was eventually published, it immediately went on the Sunday Times bestseller list, and it was then that I knew it had all been part of a spiritual plan. I was kept busy for some time with the usual promotion tour, and received a massive amount of post, most of the letters sent by people needing help.

  One of these was a friend of Michael Bentine. When I started writing this book I asked him if he would give permission for his story to be included. He agreed, and very generously offered to write it himself. This is his account of what happened.

  ‘Once negative and evil forces lock on to one, help may be needed to shake them off – as my wife and I found some years ago. It was only after Betty had put in a lot of very hard work on my behalf that it became clear they had been banished for good.

  ‘Many years before, as
an inexperienced, single young man, I had become involved with a girl whom I later came to realize as having an hysteric and unstable personality. She was very manipulative, and eventually manoeuvred me into marrying her. Leaving out all the details of the disastrous relationship that followed, the deterioration in her mental health, over the years, was such that she eventually took her own life.

  ‘The years I had spent with her had deeply damaged me, and I felt an enormous sense of relief after her death.

  ‘Two years later, I remarried. This time it was true love and things seemed set for a rosy future for my wife and I. But we soon sensed that there was a problem. It seemed as though my first wife had never truly departed, because my new wife was experiencing hysterical screams, through her psyche, which threatened the love that had grown between us. Also, we were continually meeting circumstances where things went wrong for us. Although I didn’t recognize it at the time, I often reacted badly to these situations, and my ability to show the love that I felt was somehow blocked, leaving us both isolated.

  ‘By this time we had moved, but the feelings followed and, in despair, I approached our Bishop. He told me to contact a Benedictine monk, whom we learned was one of this country’s leading authorities on exorcism. This was Dom Robert Petitpeurre who, before he entered the Order, had been a theoretical chemist. We came to know him as a truly remarkable man, to whom such matters as coping with evil forces were a perfectly normal, if highly undesirable, part of life. He kindly came to our new house and cleared it of the unwanted influences. We visited him regularly at his Abbey until he eventually died.

  ‘By then we had moved again and, in our new home, found that the earlier evil influences were trying to creep back. Dom Robert had previously told us there were three entities ‘sitting on my shoulder’ – representing my first wife, her mother, and another distant female relation from that family’s remote past. In the time we knew him, he had given me valuable advice on how to ward off immediate psychic threats and send back the ‘nasties’ from whence they came.

  ‘Then, one day, we heard Betty Shine talking on the radio, having just published the first of her Mind books. We bought a copy and found that my old friend Michael Bentine had written the foreword. I called him and asked how I could contact Betty. He put us in touch with one another.

  ‘Betty, uncannily, understood the situation and told me that she would work on it. A few days later she called me and told the remarkable story of how she had faced these three beings which I had not mentioned to her – on their own ground, and had spent many hours trying to persuade them to depart and leave my wife and I alone. She also told us that it had proved one of the most difficult tasks of its type she had undertaken. Eventually, she had only managed to influence the three entities by convincing them that whatever evil they used on us would inevitably turn on themselves. After that, Betty said, they withdrew, whereupon she placed an army of protectors around us to prevent their return. We have never been troubled by them since.

  ‘We keep in touch with Betty – and also feel that Dom Robert is still keeping an eye on things.

  ‘I am an engineer by profession, but have learned to be aware that there is much more in the world around us than appears on the surface, and my wife and I much appreciate the skills of people such as Betty who can help bring out that inner awareness which is so beneficial to anyone prepared to seek it.’

  Exorcism is not something that I enjoy. In fact, I would be very wary of anyone who said they did. However, evil influences do abound and someone has to deal with them. Sometimes that person may be a member of the church, but it is usually mediums who take on the task.

  I use the same method with remote viewing as I do when the affected party is with me physically, and this has proved to be very effective. Sometimes, for the medium, it is less harrowing.

  The hardback version of Mind to Mind stayed on the bestseller list for many weeks; as a result I received thousands of letters – and my life changed once more. I had written the book to free people from dependency, because it had been painfully obvious when I was in Sutton that I could not possibly see the hundreds of people who asked for an appointment. In the end, I had had to turn down those whose ailments were not life-threatening. With the discovery of mind energy I had realized that I could teach others how to manage their lives as well as giving themselves self-healing through exercises and meditation. Now, surrounded by a huge pile of letters, I realized that the majority did not want to be totally independent; they wanted to experience all of the phenomena for themselves, preferably in the company of a medium. It was certainly an eye-opener, and it was not necessarily their fault.

  From birth, we are taught to be dependent on others. First it is our parents, then our teachers, along with the family doctor and various other people who flit in and out of family life. We find that dependency is cosy, as there is always someone to protect us from the cruel world outside. Mothers, as a rule, protect their young and guard them from their enemies, and that is the right and proper thing to do. But there comes a time when children should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions and health, and this could start from as young as two years of age, by showing them the rudiments of self-healing (there is a chapter in my second book, Mind Magic, that will show you how to start). If this is done, your children will reach their teens knowing that life is what we make it, and not something that is served up on a silver platter. They will be able to embrace the outside world, and to deal with the everchanging issues, with confidence.

  What is the secret of success in a career, and as a human being? I believe it is the way we handle the obstacles in our lives. If we have been successful in overcoming a difficult situation once, we know that if the same thing should present itself again, albeit under a different guise, then, by changing the formula a little, we can succeed again. In other words, we ‘feel’ a success. However, if we fail that first time, then we live in constant dread of the same thing happening again. This, in turn, introduces negative influences that affect other parts of our lives. Throughout our lives we will be presented with obstacles of one sort or another, and we have to deal with them.

  Reading through the mountain of letters taught me a great deal, for I realized that those asking for help were not failures. They had taken the first step in their healing programme by writing the letter, and the second step by asking for help. If we are not strong enough, or qualified enough, to take the first steps ourselves, then we must lean on others until we are strong enough to continue alone. Meditation is a fantastic way of dealing with adversity, for it introduces you to your higher self, from which we draw our inspiration and strength. If we can deal with eighty per cent of our problems ourselves, then we are entitled to seek help when the other twenty per cent becomes too much for us to handle alone.

  The letters also revealed just how much psychic phenomena prevail in our lives. It was almost as though my revelations had unleashed a tide of frustration, where ordinary people had been so frightened of other people’s reactions that they had formed a wall of silence around themselves. Inside these walls, they remained a prisoner of their experience. I learned that in many cases this fear had also left a legacy of disease, and the knowledge that there was someone who would understand had enabled them to shed their fear as they wrote their very graphic accounts of their experiences. It was a happy experience for me when the realization dawned on me that perhaps my book had been the key that had opened so many prison doors, and that people would have the courage to face their antagonists, in the knowledge that they were not alone.

  For the moment I had my own antagonists, the media. The requests for me to appear on television and radio and for personal interviews, were relentless. The presenters and journalists alike were intrigued by Betty Shine. Was she for real, or simply mad? They had to find out. And if she was not mad, then perhaps she could be made to appear so, which would make a good sensational story. Fortunately, my spirit friends never deserted me, and when
ever I gave an interview for a paper, or for radio and television presenters, the phenomena, survival evidence, clairvoyance and healing, gave them something to think about. I was frequently besieged by bogus journalists, who tried to get ‘something for nothing’ by pretending they were freelancing for major daily newspapers. But on the whole I was treated very courteously by all concerned, and some of these journalists have since become good friends.

  One of the radio presenters also became a close friend. His name is Peter Quinn and, at the time, he was producing a programme called The Eleventh Hour on Southern Sound. There was a tremendous rapport between us from our very first meeting, and the first programme was so successful that Peter asked me if I would appear on alternate weeks. The phenomena we experienced during the following year were unbelievable, and I included one of the stories in Mind Magic.

  It was during this period, after I had confided in Peter that the sheer volume of requests for help had left me feeling inadequate, that he suggested that I make self-help tapes, which he would produce. There was no suggestion of money changing hands because his offer came from the heart. By this time he had also met my daughter Janet, who was, at that time, a ‘Wheel of Yoga’ teacher. He persuaded her to make her radio debut on The Eleventh Hour, and this was such a success that she was able to take over when I left. Later, he persuaded her to make her ‘Mantra’ tapes. Peter has produced all of our tapes over the years, and they, in turn, have given others the strength and knowledge to help themselves, or have complemented the absent healing they were receiving.

  If I had been amazed by the number of letters I had received when the hardback was published, nothing prepared me for the onslaught when the paperback was distributed world-wide. I was now receiving letters from the farthest corners of the earth, and every one had to be answered. It was a daunting task and threatened to overwhelm, and finally bury me, beneath mountains of paper. I worried constantly that someone who had written might be dying alone, and had reached out to another human being for a sign that someone cared, and that my answer would be too late. Eventually, of course, common sense prevailed. I knew in my heart that I could not save the world, but as I had fought for the lives of my patients before, I knew that I would help as many people as was humanly possible. I discussed this with Janet, and she agreed to work with me every day to this end, but the task was so monumental that I had to take on another helper. Eventually, Janet gave up her teaching to work with me full-time, and it is a credit to her that my absent healing service became so successful.