Eileen Garret was a psychic and a medium. But she wasn’t the only one. Even now, there are millions of them scattered all over the world. They come from every race and every religion, every culture and every ethnicity, every level of wealth and every level of poverty. Some are good people, some are bad. Some are even criminals. The vast majority don’t have the slightest idea that they are psychic. I refer to these people as “psychic sensitives”.
A psychic is a person who can “sense” things without using their eyes, ears, nose, tongue or sense of touch. A medium is a psychic that can use these facilities to see, hear and otherwise sense the spirits of the dead. Parapsychology is the science that studies the abilities that make it possible for psychics and mediums to sense things that most others cannot. It attempts to scientifically investigate the following four major psychic aptitudes:
Clairvoyance: the ability to “see” without using the eyes.
Telepathy: the ability to send and receive information directly from brain to brain
Precognition: the ability to know the future
Psychokinesis: the ability to move things with the mind alone
The first three of these facilities are lumped together under the heading “Extra Sensory Perception”, or ESP for short. It is said that everyone has at least some of these abilities, but the difference between a real psychic and the rest of us is like the difference between a trained pianist and someone who can barely bang out Chopsticks on a piano. The difference between a trained psychic and a psychic who is unaware of his or her abilities is like the difference between a concert pianist and someone who has had a few piano lessons.
Finally, as discussed in chapter 1, a skeptic is a person who adamantly refuses to accept any of these things as real human attributes. Skeptics all think of themselves as rationalists, but in reality they are religious fanatics. Their religion is atheistic materialism and they pursue heretics with the same vigor that seventeenth century Puritans pursued witches.
Secular humanists are the modern versions of the nineteenth century skeptics who arose to debunk Spiritualism. Spiritualism became a popular religious movement after the 1848 “Hydesville poltergeist” incident at the Fox family residence in Hydesville New York. Secular Humanists are currently in charge of most aspects of public education and popular media. You can easily see their work when looking up any subject mentioned in this book on Wikipedia. Not a word of anything that hints of Spirit, survival, religion or God escapes their zealous vengeance.
Almost everyone knows someone who is psychic. Even so, for those working in academia, to profess a belief in God, ghosts or ESP is a cardinal sin worthy of expulsion. These people keep quiet to avoid being “canceled” but secretly believe because they themselves, or someone close to them seems to be “intuitive”, or has had psychic experiences. While most of the people you might know who seem to be psychic are untrained or unaware of their psychic aptitudes, there are many thousands of others who have honed their skills and trained themselves to excel.
Unfortunately, not even the best psychics and mediums are always accurate, and not all of them who claim to be good at their vocations are as good as they claim! The public’s ignorance and naivety about psychics and what they can do has bred an army of frauds who not only fleece their clients, but have provided skeptics with ammunition to discredit an otherwise honest profession.
The frauds and failures are gleefully displayed by skeptics as proof that there is no such thing as the paranormal or an afterlife. The skeptics have scrubbed Wikipedia and academia of anything remotely resembling proof, or even evidence for a spiritual world, but if you scratch the surface, you will find a universe full of the evidence that the skeptics have tried to hide, or to fraudulently distort. There are a lot of good psychics, and most don’t seek notoriety because of the bitter attacks aimed at them by skeptics, atheists and the media whenever they raise their heads high enough to be noticed by the public at large. Most do their work quietly, away from the glare of publicity.
Important note: There are a lot of skilled cons out there ready to take advantage of naïve people. If you feel a pressing need to contact a psychic for any reason, be very careful! Avoid psychic hotlines and internet ads or storefronts with neon signs.
Real psychics don’t sell crystals to bring you luck! They don’t demand more money for more information. A real psychic medium won’t try to sell you anything or make you pay extra to “remove a curse.” A real psychic won’t tell you who to marry or give you dietary advice. That’s not their job! It IS their job to give you information from a spiritual source that is comforting and/or practical, and most of the time can be verified through other sources!
If you are suffering through a haunting and you don’t know how to contact anyone who can understand your situation, there are usually reputable local paranormal research organizations that will investigate haunted houses. Some are better than others and you may need to consult several before you find one that can do anything for you besides documenting your problem. Most are composed of amateur, but earnest and relatively knowledgeable ghost hunters. The best paranormal organizations employ one or more psychics of proven abilities.
There are a few national organizations that certify psychics. Try contacting the Lily Dale psychic community in New York State, the Cassadega spiritual camp in Florida or, for Europeans, the Arthur Findlay College just north of London England.
Note that not all hauntings are caused by human spirits. Some hauntings are demonic in nature and require the intervention of an established religious organization, (Catholic, Jewish, Protestant or an experienced imam) or a qualified Native American shaman willing to do an exorcism. Any person or organization claiming to understand paranormal investigation should be able to tell the difference between human and demonic infestations and make the correct referrals if necessary. Under NO circumstances should anyone claiming to be an exorcist charge you money to remove an evil spirit!!!
Psychics and mediums are people who are “tuned” to receive paranormal “broadcasts.” This allusion to the radio and television industry is intended. In fact, psychics and mediums have a lot in common with radios. When we speak of a medium’s ability to receive and then relay paranormal information, we say he or she is “channeling” that information, and we also speak of mediums as spiritual “channels.”
Mediums form their opinions about the spiritual realm through the various spirits that they prefer to channel. You will learn later that a spirit’s status within the spiritual world depends upon its vibratory rate, or its “spiritual frequency” (see chapter 8). Some mediums tune themselves over time to receive a particular range of spiritual frequencies and avoid going outside of that range for their own personal reasons and because it can be quite unpleasant or even dangerous to channel spirits with very low frequencies.
The receipt of psychic information is a very subjective process for most channels, and becoming a GOOD professional psychic or medium requires a great deal of training and practice on the part of the channel him or herself. Anyone who has visited Lily Dale in New York state, or Cassadaga in Florida (both of which are small towns devoted to Spiritualism and mediumship), will know that no psychic or medium will be allowed to advertise their services in town without a very thorough screening from the entire community. The Arthur Findlay College in the UK trains mediums in an almost military fashion to use their skills properly while recognizing fraud and exposing it when they see it. Even if the mainstream media does not take mediumship seriously, real psychics and mediums certainly do!