My Life As a Medium Read online

  Just as I was about to talk Martin out of his relaxed state I happened to look up and there before me was my spirit tutor. Unfortunately, I was unable to take in his appearance because on eye contact I was quite simply, knocked out. I opened my eyes when I felt someone shaking me. It was Martin.

  ‘Were you in a trance?’ he asked.

  ‘I think I must have been,’ I replied.

  ‘I think I have been too,’ he said. ‘I saw this man standing beside me, and he was talking to me.’

  ‘What did he say?’ I asked.

  ‘He was telling me to wake up, but I didn’t want to, and then he put his hand on me. It gave me such a shock that I woke up, and then I saw you sitting there in a kind of trance.’ He was smiling. ‘I don’t know what you’ve done to me but I feel great.’ He was jumping up and down now, and swinging his arms around. ‘I can’t feel a thing, the pain has gone.’

  He was fascinated when I explained what had been happening. I was about to question him about his life, because I did not want him to get into such a bad state again, when a woman’s voice came through.

  ‘I’m his granny,’ she said. ‘He won’t tell you, but he makes himself ill because he can’t read.’ I passed this message on. Martin’s face was bright red, and he sat with his head in his hands for some time before he spoke.

  ‘I’m mortified when people find out that I can’t read,’ he said, then sat up. ‘What else does she say?’

  His granny then gave him the most wonderful survival evidence. When she had finished, he told me that this had been the most incredible day of his life.

  ‘Are you going to do something about this problem?’ I asked. ‘You simply cannot go through life not being able to read.’

  ‘What can I do?’ he replied. ‘I would look a right mug trying to go back to school at my age.’

  ‘Would you go to a private teacher if I could find one for you?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, but I’m dyslexic, I don’t think anyone can help.’

  I was able to find a teacher for him and, after testing him, she found that he was not dyslexic. The teacher in question could not understand why he had never been able to learn to read, as he was such an excellent pupil. Within a year he was reading and writing with ease and had also found himself an interesting clerical position with a large electronics firm. With effort, he had completely turned his life around.

  I believe the mind energy blockage had been pressing on his brain for many years, hence his inability to learn.

  During this time I offered hypnotherapy to many people with severe physical problems, and those who were adventurous enough to have faith were certainly rewarded.

  When I was alone, I speculated as to who the entity was who performed so powerfully during these sessions. It was during one of these meditative moods that I was given a vision of a white cloud with a vortex in the centre and as it spun, a group of spirit entities emerged, giving the impression that they were descending an unseen ladder. Then the vision faded and another took its place. Dozens of these vortices were hovering over a vast stretch of land, and blue energy was streaming out of them. It swirled around, covering the whole scene, and was finally drawn back into the vortices. For many months I was to wonder about these visions and their meaning, and I finally came to the conclusion that I was being shown how spirit entities can enter this dimension for a while, but have to return when the blue energy is drawn back into the vortices. This was corroborated one day when I was giving healing.

  I had my hands on a patient’s head when I saw a spirit doctor standing opposite me. As I looked at him, the room filled with a blue healing energy. Towards the end of the treatment I heard him say, ‘It is time for me to go.’ Immediately, the blue energy in the room began to swirl and the spirit doctor disappeared into a vortex. I could feel the power evaporate and assumed that the healing had been successful.

  I believe that these vortices are the doors to the energy dimension, and when we meditate we may occasionally spin through them, allowing us to have a glimpse of the magical world of the afterlife.

  This brought me back to the question of the spirit hypnotherapist. Why was he so much more powerful than the other doctors who worked through me? What was his secret? I was to find out about two weeks later.

  Lynne, a young married woman with two children, was having terrible nightmares. She came to me in desperation, as she had not had a good night’s sleep for about a year and had become so weary that she could not look after her family. I gave her hypnotherapy and immediately felt the presence of my spirit friend, only this time it was different. At first it was as though our two minds were one, then the power of his mind overshadowed mine and I became such a powerful personality that I felt as though I could change the world. I sensed I had a knowledge that was unique, and I realized that it was this person’s knowledge that gave him power.

  It was through this evidence that I recognized the importance of seeking knowledge, and how this in turn strengthens the mind. I also understand how powerful minds are attracted by like minds, and under certain circumstances can overpower the mind of the medium and put them into a trance state. Which was to be the next step of my mediumship.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I was enjoying a relaxed, cosy chat with a friend one afternoon, when I felt a presence behind me. I was not at all pleased, as this was supposed to be my day off. I told my friend about the presence.

  ‘If you don’t accept that it is there,’ she said, ‘it will go away.’

  Unfortunately, it did not. I could feel the pressure as it came closer, and could feel my facial muscles being pulled around; I had no control over them at all. The last thing I remember was being overwhelmed by a feeling of lethargy, and a total inability to communicate. I awoke to find my friend staring at me.

  ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, her eyes anxiously scanning my face. ‘Betty, you turned into a Chinaman!’

  ‘You must be joking,’ I replied.

  ‘No, really!’ she exclaimed. ‘Your features changed completely, even the shape of your eyes.’ Still looking at me intently, she said, ‘Surely you must know what happened to you?’ When I told her that I couldn’t remember anything, she said that a man with a Chinese accent had spoken to her, through me, giving her survival evidence from a friend, who had died two years previously. She was so happy that I was delighted for her, but as I had no recollection I was somewhat concerned by this new and unwanted talent.

  I did not mind the doctors helping me whilst I was healing because, most of the time, I was in control. But to have someone else taking over completely was not something I appreciated. Trying to make sense of this phenomenon, I asked my friend to describe the transformation.

  ‘At first,’ she said, ‘I noticed a change in your features, but it was so fleeting that I convinced myself it was my imagination. Your head sank onto your chest for a few minutes, then you sat upright, and your face had changed into that of a Chinaman. I was shocked at first, but when he spoke, his voice was so compassionate that I lost all fear.’

  When I asked her to describe the voice she told me that the man had had a very noticeable Chinese accent, and had even spoken a few words in Chinese.

  My friend was still overwhelmed by her experience and said repeatedly that she couldn’t believe it had happened to her. She told me that she thought she would have been frightened to death, but instead had found it absolutely fascinating. Then she paused, and said, ‘You never knew my friend Clara, did you? She died before we met, which is even more convincing.’

  We talked for about an hour, and she told me that when the evidence had come to an end my head had dropped again, as before, and when I straightened up my face had returned to normal.

  I was absolutely stunned. Over the past three years I felt I had dealt stoically with everything that had happened to me, but this was different, I had not been in control. I did not like that at all.

  I asked my friend to keep this episode confidential. I felt that I had
enough to deal with without this becoming common knowledge, and I suppose, in a way, that I was ashamed at having allowed someone to take me over to that extent. I saw it as a sign of weakness. Later, for some unknown reason, I made an appointment to have a sitting with a well-known London medium. I had no idea why I chose her or, to be truthful, why I was going in the first place.

  We sat quietly for a few moments and then she said, ‘I have a Chinese man coming through, and he is saying that it is he who taught you about the meridian lines and chakras. That he has been helping you to understand the elements of life-force and how it works. Now you are on your own.’ The medium looked at me, and said, ‘What on earth is he talking about? Meridian lines and chakras? I’ve never heard of them!’

  I had to hide my smile, because it was obvious that she was completely out of her depth. But the message was more convincing for that reason, and the pleasure it brought me was immense, as the realization dawned that when my tutor had taken me over it was to say goodbye. I found this very touching. I never felt his presence again, but I hope he received my message of thanks, for without his tuition my diagnosis would not have been so successful.

  I had another reason to be grateful to him. He had shown me that we do have a consciousness outside the physical body, and that it was possible for one mind to overshadow another. The evidence in support of the mind energy factor was immense, and I longed to share my experiences with the world. But I knew that I had to wait until my theories were foolproof.

  On another occasion, my daughter Janet and I were invited to sit with a group of people to meditate and give absent healing. Again, I felt the pressure of a presence as it stood behind me, and then the familiar lethargy and facial contortions. This time, it was a Norwegian doctor. When I awoke, the group was discussing the evidence that the doctor had given them, but one look at Janet’s face told me that she was furious. The group told me that the doctor had given them a spiritual lecture, before turning to one person in particular to offer advice, which was sorely needed at that time. They were even more impressed when they found that he had left an apport, a spirit offering, in my lap. It was not a valuable item, but it was a very unusual stone.

  On our way home Janet said, ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again, it was horrible.’

  I tried to tell her that I had no control over the situation, but she argued that I could have stopped it happening if I had so wished. ‘You frightened me to death. Don’t ever ask me to go anywhere with you again.’

  Janet was only in her teens at this time, and through my own experiences had been thrown in at the deep end. Her reaction troubled me. Was I asking too much of my family to back me in my pursuit of mediumship and healing? After all, our family home had been turned into a sanctuary for others, with people coming and going all the time and the telephone ringing continually. I decided to have a family conference, and the outcome was that they agreed to back me all the way.

  The strange thing was that, unbeknown to any of us, Janet was herself in the first stages of becoming a medium. When this eventually grew obvious, she made it quite clear that she had no intention of involving herself with the paranormal. But, like her mother before her, she gradually became involved through her work as a yoga teacher. Later, as an experienced medium, she was to find out that when a powerful personality takes over there is very little one can do about it.

  There have been many times that Janet, when she has been speaking on the telephone with a friend, has taken on the features and speech of a relative when giving survival evidence.

  Whilst giving healing I have been entranced by many personalities. One of these was a young girl of about sixteen years of age. Several people told me that I looked very young when healing, but it was an artist who gave me the most detailed description of this young person. Apparently, she had fair hair falling over her shoulders, high cheekbones and full lips.

  I thought she sounded rather familiar, and mentioned this to my artist friend.

  ‘As a matter of fact, she looks rather like you,’ he said, ‘but that may be because her face manifests over your own.’ We were both intrigued, and wondered who this young lady could be. And why should a person as young as that entrance me whilst healing? My friend’s wife was so curious when he told her about this episode that she phoned immediately to make an appointment for herself. I explained that it was not a regular happening, and that the young girl had only been seen by a dozen people at the most, but she still insisted on visiting me.

  ‘The healing will do me good, anyway,’ she said. When she arrived for her appointment I went straight into my healing mode, as I call it. I immediately felt spaced out, as I always did when a spirit entity was around, and then – nothing. It must have been thirty minutes later when I opened my eyes and found my patient looking at me as though she had also been entranced.

  ‘Betty, it was marvellous. This girl is so young, my husband’s description was absolutely spot-on.’ She spoke excitedly for about ten minutes.

  ‘What I do not understand,’ I said, ‘is why a girl as young as that should be here whilst I am healing. Surely, she can’t have the experience needed to help in the healing process.’

  ‘Well, the room was positively vibrating whilst she was here, so she must have a lot of power of some kind,’ she replied.

  It was a complete mystery to me, and as there is no memory recall when one is taken over by an entity I had to rely on the information given to me. I did not mention this young lady to anyone else, so each person thought their observation was unique. And as those who saw her were not known to each other – apart from the artist and his wife – the information could not have been passed on. I also asked each individual a specific question about the young lady’s appearance and I was satisfied, in every case, that they had actually seen her.

  She was to appear intermittently over the next twelve years, until I had lunch with the medium who had first forecast my mediumship and healing career. We had not met for many years. We chatted during our lunch, and when we reached the coffee stage, he suddenly said, ‘I have a young girl here,’ and went on to describe the young lady. ‘She is telling me that she is your daughter. Have you lost a child?’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ I replied, shaken by his words.

  ‘Well, my dear,’ he said, ‘we must get to the bottom of this.’

  He sat with his eyes closed, and then he said, ‘She is telling me that she was one of two, twins in fact.’

  I was completely stunned by this information, as I had, in fact, miscarried twins at three months, much too early to have known what sex they were. When I told him this he simply said, ‘Well, there you are then. I knew I couldn’t be wrong because I could see and hear her so clearly.’

  ‘Will you ask her if she has been with me for some time?’ I said.

  ‘I don’t have to ask her,’ he replied. ‘I know she has. She has just told me.’

  Once my daughter had identified herself, she was not seen again. I only wish that I had been able to see her but, so far, this has never happened.

  I hope this story will give help to those who have grieved over losing babies in the early months of pregnancy. Even though the babies have moved on into another dimension, they still regard themselves as our children. They chose us in the first place, after all, and one day we will all meet again.

  It is amazing how, when one mind overshadows another, the features change. Sometimes it is only gestures, but they are immediately recognized by the person receiving the survival evidence. It may be that I brush my hair back from my face, not a habit of mine, and I am told that it is identical to the gesture used by the communicator when they were alive. It can be a touch, a look, a mannerism, or an irritating habit, but there will be no doubt on the part of the sitter that it is someone whom they have known, even if they have not identified themselves.

  In my book Mind Waves I told the story of how one very sceptical man saw my features change into that of a Red Indian, my blonde hair disappea
ring under a mane of long black hair. Michael Bentine also saw the same transfiguration when I was giving him healing. It did not bother Michael at all as he has been involved with the paranormal since he was a child, but it can be a shock if one is simply sitting in on a treatment.

  In 1977, as I moved into my fourth year as a medium and healer, this process was all still a mystery to me, but it later became obvious that the brain is the computer and the mind the power that motivates it. Without the power, the brain is dead. Therefore, when another mind moves in and takes over, the input from that mind transfers itself to the brain, and the physical body will then take on the features and mannerisms of that person. The mind also holds the records of past and present lives, and from it we can extract past talents and make them work for us in this life.

  The whole thing turned around on me when I visited another medium in London. We did not know each other at the time, so, after a brief handshake, I sat down with her. Immediately, I saw her head drop to her chest; when she sat up straight her face had changed and she spoke to me in a deep, masculine voice. She was in trance. I was given the most wonderful survival evidence and advice. When she returned to normal I thanked her, and she said, ‘You must be very powerful. I would normally need the help of several friends before going into trance.’ I asked her the reason for this.

  ‘Well, you see, my dear, the spirits have to draw their strength from us to be able to stay here.’ I was learning all the time. As I was about to leave, she placed her hand on my shoulder, and said, ‘You have a beautiful soul.’ It was the nicest thing that anyone had ever said to me; in times of despair, I have often thought about that statement, and it has given me hope.

  If only people would look at the whole concept scientifically then they would find it easier to understand, and most of their unnecessary fear would diminish.

  I am often asked if I was ever frightened in those early years.