From time to time, I get requests from people that want to speak to loved ones that have passed on. Tarot CAN do that but if you are looking for a more reliable voice for the other side, you are better off seeking the services of a “medium”.
A medium is a psychic that specializes in speaking with the dead. I sat down recently with psychic medium Deborah Smith to give you a little more insight into how they work. Check out her answers to my questions:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q: What do people need to know about mediums? Are they different than psychics?
Deborah: People need to know a medium serves as a channel for communication for the other side, beit loved ones or spirit guides. And while a medium can be intuitive (clairsentience), a psychic is sensitive only on an intuitive level as with remote viewing or predictive work and does not get their messages from those on the other side. The line is a fine one, and many have both abilities calling themselves psychic mediums. Some prefer the word “intuitive” or “spiritual counselor” now rather than “psychic” due the stigma con artists have left to the word.
Some mediums hate to be called psychics and vice versa. The Long Island Medium, does not want to be called a psychic at all because she simply is not a psychic.
There are four basic categories that defines specific mediumship talents: clairaudience – extrasensory data perceived as sound, clairscent – extrasensory data perceived as taste, clairsentience – extrasensory data perceived as feeling or awareness, clairvoyance – extrasensory data perceived as heightened sight.
I am both a psychic and a medium, who happens to be a Tarot Reader (smile).
Q: How did you know that you had the ability to talk with the dead?
Deborah: I knew I had the ability to talk to the deceased, when my first brother was killed. He was shot at 38 times and caught 18 of the bullets in his body. I was 11 and I remember when my dad told me the news, the bullets ripped through my body and I could smell my brother and then I saw him standing behind my bedroom door, I freaked and I screamed “WHY!!” (telepathically) and I heard him say ” I had nothing lose, it is what it is” and I was frozen. But I saw “shadow” people at age 5 or 6. A shadow person (also known as a shadow figure, shadow being or black mass) is an alleged paranormal entity.
Q: How do the dead speak to you?
Deborah: For me, as a physical, polygraphic, trance, clairvoyant, mental Medium. I am able to transmit messages, in order to create a connection with a discarnate (or any energy in a different dimension), and am able to shift my focus and alter my state of consciousness, somewhat to one of “feeling and sensing” any information that the spirits wish to share with me.
Once I am able to perceive this other dimension, the more difficult part of the process is then “interpreting the information correctly”.
Nevertheless, once a link is created, what takes place next is a “meeting of the minds” if you will, but without actually engaging in the thinking process. It is at this point, that I need to feel the information coming through via the “mind-to-mind connection”.
Once my spiritual pathway is open, the deceased [sometimes referred to as the main communicator] may then attempt to convey information by actually blending their energy with me, via my central nervous system.
I am a natural born medium, I was born with mediumistic ability and I was able to see and hear spirits as very young child.
I am also consider a trance medium because I can enter the trance state either unknowingly or at will [the lowest level of brain wave activity referred to as the Delta state, or the sleep state]. They may actually allow the spirit access to their body; in this way, the medium offers the spirit ‘a temporary vehicle’ for use in communicating. By utilizing the mediums’ central nervous system, by letting the deceased or spirit go through my body. However, this does not necessarily mean that I will allow this. That particular process is sometimes referred to as channeling, or trance channeling.
I also communicate as a Physical medium. This simply means that I can bring about physical phenomena within the room that others can see, hear and/or feel.
I also communicate as a Polygraphic medium [sometimes called an automatism]. I am capable of automatic writing [writing messages from spirit intelligence].
I also communicate as a Mental medium, I just facilitate a connection via the mind.
Mediums don’t all receive information in exactly the same way. Once a link is created with someone in the afterlife, most of the information comes through “symbolically”. And since everyone has their own unique symbolism, the interpretation of that symbolism would be specific to the medium.
Another tricky part of this process is learning to recognize “switching”, meaning when you begin to get information from “another discarnate”.
However, the entire process is just like learning anything else, the more practice, the easier it gets.
As a clairvoyant medium, I can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. I see the bodily form as if it were physically present.
Other mediums see the spirit in their mind’s eye, or it appears as a movie or a television program or a still picture like a photograph in their mind.
I also have Premonitions, Precognition and Remote Viewing abilities as a medium.
Though similar in nature, premonitions and precognition have only one difference. One ability works by day and the other by night, beyond that there is very little difference between the two.
Remote Viewing (RV), refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen target using your paranormal, extra-sensory perception or intuitive abilities.
Q: Are there ever times when you cannot make a connection?
Deborah: There is never a time I don’t connect but there are times where the deceased energy is not strong enough to stay with me long or they are just not present.
Q: What do we need to know about the other side?
Deborah: When a person dies the physical body ceases to exist. However, the rest of our existence or consciousness continues. The existence of the person minus the physical body is known as the subtle body (linga-dēha) and it comprises of the mental, causal (intellect) and supracausal (subtle ego) bodies. This subtle body then goes to one of the 13 subtle planes of existence other than the Earth plane. I grew up Catholic and I still practice Catholicism. I always thought when we die we go to heaven or hell, no in-between. But, I had a client who had a sister who committed suicide and even though I saw the death, she was surprisingly happy and at such peace, you couldn’t imagine. So, just know the other side is just like another “Life Path” we still continue after death. Death is a beginning not an ending.
Q: Can you share a particularly moving or memorable story with my readers?
Deborah: Yes, I have one that still haunts me or stands out. It was so emotional for me and still is today. I was at the Boston Tea Room, when a call came in from Texas and the woman wanted a medium. I panic because I hate doing mediumship over a phone, its so impersonal for me and my grandmother always told me to ALWAYS, “lay eyes on a person” so you know, that they are alright and taken care of. So, taking that call put me in this whirlwind of panic, but before I could take the phone, this deceased young woman, came right in front of me and I totally had this crazy calm take over me and I proceeded to take the phone.
The deceased woman told me she was my client’s sister and that she was brutally killed, then she started showing me her last moments, something seemed off, the vision (remote viewing) was at a half body viewing, like someone was on their knees. This was different for me, usually I am seeing a movie screen view so I just ignored it. She then, meshed with my body and I could hear screaming and yelling. I could see fighting and I could feel some one come up behind her and my head explode, it felt like a gun shot and then I felt dragged, my vision went black, and then came back.
The next scene, I could see myself in a bathtub bleeding, then my vision went black again. Then I could see dirt, just lots of dirt, then the vision faded black again. The deceased woman, then preceded to tell me her sister was wearing her sweatshirt and she touched her neck in a motion of moving a necklace around the neck, I then asked her sister was she wearing a necklace that belonged to her sister, she said “yes” and “yes” to the validation of the sweatshirt. I knew that this was brutal attack from the deceased woman’s husband.
I could barely breathe on top of trying to take in the crying and sobbing of my client. My body was in so much agony from taking on so much empathic emotions from the brutal attack and gun shot to the head. The last scene the deceased woman showed me, was back in the bath tub bleeding. She was lying there and she showed me a little boy (around 3 or 4 years old) standing in a door way. I almost dropped the phone, because at that moment I knew why my vision appeared to be at knee length: her little boy had been present during the attack and saw his mother get beaten and shot in the head. He saw almost everything that happened that day.
The client explained to me her sister’s husband had brutally shot her in front of their 4 year old son and buried her underneath there house and that the family had been looking for her, for days. An Amber Alert was issued to find her sister. The client told me that this case was in the Michigan News in 2011. I cry every time I think of Stephanie Gates the family has remained in contact and sent me pictures of Stephanie’s beautiful son. That always gives me much peace and gratitude because I know she is smiling and watching her son grow up. I love that family, till this day.
This is the article of the murder: http://www.themorningsun.com/article/MS/20120508/NEWS01/120509664
Below is thank you letter from the sister of the murdered woman:
Ever since I tragically lost my sister, Stephanie, I became an avid fan of Theresa (Caputo) and her show Long Island Medium. Stephanie was murdered by her husband in front of their four year old child on November 18, 2011. She was stolen from the people she loved and loved her. Given the circumstances from this horrific nightmare, I thought Theresa would be the only one to help me; until I found Deb, who has an amazing gift and is a beautiful gift herself. However, I’m sure Stephanie found her first, because I was brought to Deb through a phone reading the following night, my mother was brought to Deb for a face-to-face reading . I never mentioned to Deb that my mother was going to be there to next day, because her appointment was scheduled with Deborah, not Deb like mine; I researched both Boston Tea Room locations and found that there was a Deb as well as a Deborah. Although, the main reason was so we could see her talents for ourselves. Within the first five minutes of my mom’s reading, Deb knew she was talking to my sister again. First of all she read me the night before my mother set the appointment with her, I never told her my mother would or was going to make an appointment. My sister was able to tell Deb about the sweatshirt I was wearing , that belonged to my sister and a necklace I was holding on too around my neck, while on the phone with Deb. Deb was able to gently and respectfully take me through that horrible day, when my sister took my last breath and it was accurate. Deb was so clear and precise, I was crying and astonish at the same time. I knew this was my sister spirit and that she still was here.Because of Deb, I know that my sister is still here, in spirit, and I know that I can talk to her whenever I’d like to, thanks to Deb. Because of Deb, I am able to acknowledge and fully embrace Stephanie’s presence and the signs she gives me. Because of Deb, I know I’m not crazy when I hear Stephanie’s voice in my head. Because of Deb, I’ve been able to breathe more deeply and evenly. There clearly is a tenacious bond between Deb, and myself, my mother and most certainly with my sister. Deb is a part of our family and I love her dearly. Deb is truly an angel and I am beyond thankful for her.-Sarah Gates
A little bio about Deborah:
Deborah is a natural-born gifted Medium/Psychic, whose incredible gifts were discovered at a very young age. Deborah is a master of spiritual communication. She possesses the four “clairs:” Clairvoyance (clear seeing), Clairaudience (clear hearing), Claircognizance (clear knowing), and Clairsentience (clear feeling) also known as Empathic. She has also been reading tarot for over twenty years. Learn more at deborahpsychicmedium.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A big thank you to Deborah Smith for taking time to speak with me. I hope that this gives my readers a bit more clarity around mediums and how they operate. I find this subject fascinating!
Blessings!
Theresa
© Theresa Reed | The Tarot Lady 2014
I’m Theresa Reed (aka, The Tarot Lady). I’ve been a full-time tarot reader for 30+ years — which, in my industry, makes me pretty badass.
I’m definitely not your average Tarot expert — I drop the F-bomb, I quote rappers, and I’m obsessed with pop culture + reality TV. Folks come to me for straight-talk + tough-love — without the woo-woo fluff. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.