Peppa Pig

So, I've been sat in the cabin at Grødalen, for the last few days, just catching up on some work. Unfortunately, tonight my attention turned to the tv and the program “Ghost Whisperer”, I know, I know, shoot my now! ! ! No, I've not seen it before and don't plan on making a habit of it but there it was, and so was I.

Anyway, the “star” of the show is an annoying woman who can see dead people, like me. Only not quite like me. The star, Melissa (or something), sees dead people like you and I see each other, regular, normal folk. When I see them, it's much more complicated and it is rare for them to appear so clear and solid. I know it's just tv and American tv shows and it's at this point my wife would usually say to me “Peppe Pig”, meaning it's all a load of rubbish and has no meaning, so don't get wound up about it. But Eva isn't here and I'm on my own, so there is no one to say it.

Back to my point, this tv show got me wondering why certain people (Mediums) see dead people one way and others (me) see them another. When I was a lot younger, I used to see a dead man sat at the end of my bed each night and he looked like a normal, regular person, just like anyone else. So, if I've seen dead people in solid form before, so I should be able to see them this way again.

To be honest, it would make my working life so much easier as I would be able to see and hear what the dead are saying without the usual issues of them coming through to me clearly enough. Hmmm. Annoyed by this Melissa woman, I turned the tv off and decided to ask one of my Helpers why I can't see the dead as clearly as Melissa the magnificant, and the answer I got was as annoying as the tv show itself, “Peppa Pig, Darling, Peppa Pig”. All of a sudden it was like being back at home.

My Helper said to me that there is no need to see the dead as clearly as on tv and if I did, my communication would still be as complicated. My Helper showed me an example, she sat on the sofa and asked me whether she was wearing a skirt or pants, I looked and said skirt, she said to look again and I saw her in pants. My Helper went on to give me another couple of examples but her point was that whether I see dead people as solid objects or not is irrelevant as the information they want to show or give me could and would change as it needed to. Therefore, why waste the energy making themselves solid when they could get their point across just as easily with less energy.

I thought the answer was a bit of a cop-out and told my Helper so, she is used to this kind of conversation with me and told me that if I wanted to see dead people so clearly, I could do it but the amount of time and energy it would take me was simply not worth the effort. According to her, my time would be so much better spent developing what I do, in other ways. I'm not convinced and would like to see dead people and especially this particular Helper as a solid person. So while I am working on my own development over the next period, I will also be concentrating on building up enough energy to see the dead as solid, rather than just a transparency. As I type this I can see my Helper raising her eyes to the heavens in resignation, and she says, maybe I should just be grateful for the gift I have and work with it rather than chasing rainbows.

I hate it when she is right.

One crazy man

Where do you draw the line between going crazy and being a medium?

My beautiful wife tells me I look crazy when I talk to myself. OK, granted, I do it all the time and if anyone were to see me walking back from barnehage along the R70, they would see me having a full conversation. I even talk about myself as “we” rather than me or I, simply because there is usually more then “me” here. Now, before you go jumping to any conclusions and agreeing with my wife, take a minute and just consider what I do for a living – I speak to dead people! Of course it looks like I am talking to myself, because you can’t see who I'm talking with!

There is a bigger and perhaps more sensitive aspect to this conversational issue and that's faith . . . Whoa . . . that's a big one, even for me. Faith has to come into this because without the faith that I am actually speaking with dead people, you might as well put me in an institution. Imagine, if you will, that when you begin to think about something in your head, you wonder what to do about a certain problem or even what to have to dinner and from nowhere you hear a voice that has an opinion all of it's own. OK, on the face of it I sound like a right nutter, and it's true, I do speak back to these voices. It's not usually out loud but if there is no one around, I don't see why I should keep quiet. So without faith in what I am doing, I would really think I was going mad. The faith I have, comes from experiences day after day, where I have sat with people who wish to contact their dead friends and relatives, and the voices I hear turn out to be the the ones they are looking for. Yes, a lot of work has gone into what I do, but sitting behind all of it is faith.

There does come a time when enough is enough tough. I don't need someone's dead Grandfather having an opinion on my choice of dinner, I think it's a bit rude to just come barging into my head like that. But when dead people really want to come through, that's what they do, they come into my everyday thoughts and life, so they can interrupt me and make themselves heard. Furthermore, when I'm on my own, walking back from barnehage, it's sometimes good to have company and if I can bounce some ideas around with someone, then great, I'll do it. It doesn't matter to me whether they are dead or not. In fact, sometimes, it is useful if they are dead because I can feel pretty confident they aren't going to tell anyone else what we have been discussing. Clever.

There is a downside to all of this and that it's easy to become absorbed by these conversations. If I am speaking with a dead person who is good fun or has something interesting to say, I like to keep the conversation going, whether I'm on my own or not. And like any other conversation, it would be rude to interrupt it, so I simply continue until it reaches it's natural close. This can be annoying for my family who obviously are not included in these conversations and are left guessing when my conversation has ended.

Crazy is as crazy does and I don't think I act all that mad. Granted, I like to talk to dead people and like everyday living people, I prefer some more than others but at the end of the day, I see them as just another person to talk to and I'm not shy, so I talk!

I think my wife will say I'm a bit crazy whether I talk to dead people or not, but that's ok because I think she is a bit crazy too :-)

What's the point?!

What's the point in being able to speak to the dead?

Well, it's all very interesting and entertaining but what actual use does it have? I asked Eva (my wife) this question a few days ago. It was a serious question because I had just seen an advert for Colin Fry who is coming to Norway again, and I am trying to find my own place in this strange business of mediumship and working with the dead.

My working life in the UK was in finance, it was very ordered, organized and structured by a government that did their best to keep an eye on what I was doing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (still didn't stop the credit crunch though, did it!). Now, I am a full-time Healer and Medium where there are no guidelines to follow and government policy dictating what I do. I can understand what place financial services has in this world but what about being able to speak with dead people? I don't know. Healing has a very logical use and I am happy with it, but mediumship . . . I am a bit stuck.

When people go to see a medium for a public “demonstration”, they do it for entertainment purposes and so clearly mediumship has an entertaining value but I don't see myself as an entertainer, it's just not me. So what else is there? Ok, so people come to see me for personal readings, hoping to get some kind of information or closure from their dead people. This is good stuff, and it's what I enjoy most. But is that its main use?

Some come to ask their dead people for help with problems, others come because there are unresolved issues. There is an immense amount of satisfaction surrounding a reading for someone who is able to really connect with their dead loved one. When a reading is personal, specific and answers some questions that have long worried the living person, the moment becomes golden. Here is an example; a Mother and Father came to see me who's Son had died in an accident about a year before. Both parents were distraught as their Son, in his late teens, had been depressed leading up to the accident and had given hints to his best friend that he would not have long left in this world. The Son left no note and the police were unable to say whether the incident was an accident or suicide.

Clearly, the parents were in a delicate situation emotionally but we were able to get in touch with their Son, who gave wonderful evidence that it was him with us and he talked about the whole situation relating to his death openly. It appeared that although the Son had had suicidal thoughts and that night had intended to go out and kill himself, he didn't expect to actually go through with it. So, when he did and died there was a very big, “Oops” and he was as surprised as everyone else.

The whole reading was very emotional but the Son did very well in coming through with such clear information. In addition, he reminded his parents of some of the funny things he had done throughout his life and so brought some humour to the conversation.

To me, readings like these make everything worthwhile and I forget all the times where the dead people don't have much to say, don't really want to come through or simply something is wrong and my Helpers take me offline. But, are these moments the real reason I can speak to the dead? Is this the real use for it? If I were to just work with families of lost children, I too would be an emotional wreck and after a week I would be moving to the mountains to live in a cave.

The religious answer according to the Spiritualist movement would be that I am able to help people through their grief, give them closure and I can't disagree with that, it's logical and it's true. They would also say that it helps spread the word that life doesn't end at death, there is something beyond. Great, ok, I can work with that too but I'm not into the whole religious thing, it's simply not me. I don't tie myself to any particular religious belief and think that structured religion causes more problems than it solves. Thank goodness that I'm not Catholic or I would be considered evil and in need of the devil to be taken out of me. Wow, those guys really do live in fear!

Perhaps mediumship has a duel role of entertaining people and helping them through the ideas and issues surrounding death. I don't know and I don't have the answers. Eva thinks I should stop staring at my belly button and concentrate on getting on with it. She is right, there is no need to worry about these things . . . but I can't help it :-/

Maybe there is an opportunity to assist police in cases where a death is involved, help them get another perspective on the situation? Maybe I should consider what I do as simply a translation service, helping people who don't speak to the dead, do so? Perhaps I can help people recover lost information or forward ideas that the dead have to help the living solve practical issues? What about getting a number of Mediums together to offer a “think-tank” service? It would be nice to think that speaking to the dead can have a wider application than is currently being experienced.

Well, for the moment I shall do what Eva suggests and just get on with it. But, if those of you reading this have any clues, thought or ideas about what this gift could be used for, let me know. I am open to all manner of ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.

Superman?

Super-Hero, supernatural or just Clerk Kent with a beard?
Superman can fly, so can I (but it costs a bit more). Superman can run faster than a speeding train, why bother when you can sit in comfort and watch the world go by? Superman can crash through concrete walls, bend iron bars and break whole trees with his little finger . . . such mindless destruction is so passé these days. Besides, one look at my kryptonite and the poor guy rolls around on the floor like a baby. Huh, super-hero my arse!
Can Superman heal your back, fix your baby’s colic or contact your dead Grandmother? I don’t think so! Ahh, it’s all in a day’s work for “Gjørahealer! Healer from the upper valley”. Hmmm, it doesn’t really have the same ring to it as “Superman – Man of steel” but I am not really so interested in the whole super-hero thing, too many expectations and bad PR will exile you to the realms of fallen hero’s like Super-Ted, He-Man and the Thunder-Cats.
I digress, once again . . . my question here is whether putting my hands on someone and them becoming well again makes me something special? Is it super-natural or simply something really quite natural?

Without doubt, there are times when I am working with someone on fixing a problem, and something happens, I feel what is going on inside them and can literally see the problem being fixed. Now, don’t tell me that’s not strange! Even though, in the cold light of day, to think back and remember what happened may seem odd, at the time, it is all encompassing and feels very normal.

It is the same type of thing when I speak with dead people. To most normal folk, speaking to the dead is something best left to the crazies but for me it just seems normal. No, before you ask, I’m quite sure I’m not crazy. But to consider the idea that my working life is spent dealing with things no one can see, yet get physical results from, it is a little strange but it doesn’t make me any more special than someone who works with wood. You would understand this if you asked me to saw a straight line. . . I simply can’t do it

Back to my point, we can forget the super-hero type when it comes to things of this nature, and I also think we can rule out anything super-natural although if you take the true nature of the phrase, super-natural – very natural, then what I do probably is. . . super-natural but the connotation these days is somewhat different. So, Clerk Kent with a beard, that’s me. Normal, natural but dealing with things that we tend not to see when looking with our eyes.

Nevertheless, taking all this into account, I would still prefer to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, have x-ray vision and save damsels in distress.

Does anyone know these girls?

Does anyone know these two girls?

For the last couple of years I have been plagued by two girls (dead). Well, plagued is somewhat strong as these are two good looking girls in their early twenties. The girls first came through to me when I moved to Norway in September 2008 and I've not been able to find their living friends or relatives since.

So, I thought I would use this blog to see if anyone recognises the story and can point me in the right direction of anyone living that might know them. I have limited information on the girls and their situation but here goes:

It was summer, sometime in the late nineteen sixties or early nineteen seventies. Two girls in their late teens or very early twenties were driving in what I think was a Volkswagen beetle. They were in the Ålvundfjord area, not far from the sea when by complete accident, they came off the road. The car rolled onto its roof in a river and neither girl was able to get free of the car and they drowned.

Someone must remember these girls, they were very good friends and so two families have been touched by this accident. I would dearly like to find anyone who recognises this situation as I keep remembering the girls and see the car rolling into the river, time and time again.

It's not often that I get dead people coming through to me and can't get in touch with the people they are looking for. I have had dead folk come through just because they can and almost just for the fun of it. For example, I saw a dead woman waving at me from the upstairs window of a building I was walking past. The woman showed me that she had been hung in the attic room by her boss and his sister.

I've also had an old soldier come through who was really interesting. He came through telling me that my wife, Eva, was going to find him when she was researching her family tree. This amused him greatly and he showed me where he came from, what he did with his life and how he felt about certain things that happened with his family. In interesting man to have through. Surely enough, Eva found him a couple of days later in one of the Bygdebok.

While I'm talking about general people that have come through to me, there was an incident, in fact it has been the only incident, that frightened me when dealing with all these dead folk. I was lying in bed when a young girl of about ten years old (dead) came into our bedroom. This girl stood at the end of our bed, next to the window and said to me, «come here, I want to show you something». I answered swiftly and surely, «No.». There was something about this girl and what she wanted to show me that was scary, really scary and so I refused. I told her to go away and show someone else.

The girl didn't go. In fact for the next several days, she kept popping up and in the end Eva said to me, «Oh, for gods sake, just go and see what she wants to show you!» Finally I got out of bed and went to the window where she was standing. When I looked out, I saw her in the verge next to the road and she was on her knees, there was a boy of about fifteen years old with a rock in his hand and he was beating her about the head with it. He killed her, then pushed her body from the road and walked off. It wasn't a pretty sight. The girl was then back in my bedroom and told me that she wanted someone to know what had actually happened to her, as she felt her story had not been told correctly in the past. The girl also wanted to show me the situation regarding the boy that killed her and that it wasn't her fault she was killed. Once I had acknowledged what the girl had said and shown me, she left and I haven't seen her since.

It's sometimes strange communicating with these dead people, they have all sorts of ideas and thoughts and reasons for coming through. But that was the only time I have ever been frightened about what I do.

To me, working with the dead is just another part of daily life and they come across no better or worse than the living, in fact, they are no different at all really, other than I can't shake their hands when I say hello. Dead people have just as bad timing as everyone else living and even turn up unannounced at the most in opportune moments. Fortunately, I feel I can be a little more strict with them and have no problem telling them to go away and come back at a later time, otherwise I would be forever interrupted. Sometimes I think they forget I have a normal life here on earth still need to get kids to barnehage, earn some money and live a life where practical things matter. Eva tells me that if she dies before me, she isn't going to care about what I'm doing or who I'm with, she's going to interrupt me anyway. I say, what's new!?

Podium problems

Providing mediumship readings for people when in a large group of people is fraught with problems! I was once standing i

n front of a group when a teenage boy (dead) came through to me, he was pointing at a woman in the audience and said, “I came with her, I'm her brother.” There is nothing unusual about this except that I had the feeling that there had been abuse in the family. The boy went o

n to tell me that he had died in a car crash and that it wasn't an accident, he meant to end his life.

So, standing in front of a lot of people, most of which didn't know each other, I was faced with a problem. I knew this was going to be a great message to get across to the woman in the audience, at the same time I didn't want to embarrass her. I proceeded to tell the woman that I had a teenage boy with me and that he tells me he is your Brother. The woman's face turned a certain grey colour and all of a sudden I knew there was more to the message than expected.

The Brother proceeded to tell me that he had sexually abused his sister for a considerable period and wanted to let her know that he was sorry. Hmmm. . .

At that point I wanted to end the message by saying something non-de-script and move onto the next reading. But, it's not that simple! I can't give a vague message with no specific meaning and be done with it all. As a medium I have a responsibility to both the dead and the living. That teenage boy had a reason for coming through and even though that was not the best time or place, still he came through and wanted to be heard. Furthermore, the woman in the audience, now knowing that her brother was with me, needed an explanation and something to let her know everything is ok.

While keeping the audience in mind I told the woman that her brother is telling me there was a considerable period of unease at home and that he knows she knew what he meant. I went on to say that the evening he drove away from the house and died, he knew what was going to happen and believed this was the best thing for everyone. The woman acknowledged the message and I went on to tell er that he has spent a long time coming to terms with all he has done and wants to begin to say sorry. I suggested to the woman that she come and see me after the event and we would talk further.

Such messages are not at all uncommon, all families seem to be touched by tragedy of one description or another. I don't consider death as tragedy, of course it's upsetting when someone dies but tragedy is something altogether different. I feel there is a line which shouldn't be crossed in public when dealing with personal situations and it's a fine line. I still need the message to be personal, mean something to the audience and at the same time, not deliver anything so personal that is embarrasses the recipient.

Speaking with dead people is great, I love it and wouldn't change it for anything and even though there are times when the messages don't seem appropriate for the public arena. The benefits far, far outweigh the drawbacks even though each week I ask for the winning lottery numbers and never get them.

Musgjerd Grendahus

A few weeks ago Eva, my wife, suggested it would be a good idea if we did what’s known in the UK as a Podium night. I laughed, shook my head and said, “are you mad, Woman!”. Now, those of you who know Eva, will know that such a comment is like a red-rag to a bull and we agreed that a mediumship demonstration would be held a few weeks later.

For the three weeks leading up to the evening at Musgjerd, I pissed Eva off with my constant, “what if no dead people show up?!” and “but, but, but there is nothing I can do to prepare for it!”. Well, that part was true, there is no preparation that can be done for such an event, you have to put yourself in the hands of the dead people and hope for the best and it’s this that I’d like to comment on.

When I turn-on to the dead people and look for someone to come through, I simply say in my head, “right, let’s see who’s there . . .” and then allow the people to come through. It’s all very simple and normal and on an everyday basis, that’s exactly what happens, they come through and give confirmation to those of us alive, that even though their body has died, their soul is still very much with us.

So, back the Musgjerd and 20.05 on Wednesday 14th April 2010 . . . Eva introduced me on stage and I walked to the front, to a room packed full of people. The first thought that went through my head was, “so many people . . . bloody hell, I hope there is someone here ready to come through!”. There wasn’t and I was on my own, standing on a stage looking out at 92 paying people, looking right back at me, expecting messages from the dead to miraculously come out of my mouth. For the first time as a medium, I was blank and was cursing the fact that there was nothing I could do about it.

After saying hello to everyone, I took a sip of water, closed my eyes, asked my helpers to work some kind of magic . . . please . . . and I looked to see if there was anyone quietly waiting to come through. Thankfully there was an old lady ready and waiting and I instantly knew who the message was for. We were ready to go and by the time I came back to the microphone, I could see a number of people queuing up, patiently waiting their turn to come through.

Privately, a flood of relief come over me and it taught me that I must find a way to relax before getting up in front of so many people because it was my own nerves and anxiety that was blocking the communication and nothing else. This takes us back to the problem of not being able to prepare for such an event. I have people come to see me almost every day, wanting to speak to their dead friends and relatives and so you would think I have all the practice I need. But, when it comes down to it, because the messages that come through are so subtle and a degree of relaxation and concentration is needed on my part, there is little I can do other than hope and try to let go.

I’d like to thank everyone that came to the mediumship evening and for all the kind messages sent to me afterwards. Once I was past the initial worry about not having any dead people with me, I had a great deal of fun and thankfully, so did your dead friends and relatives.

Getting easily turned on

Amongst the mediumship community, there is a huge debate about how to connect to the dead people (spirit) and disconnect from them after the communication.

I am frequently found on forums, chatting with other mediums and getting across my unpopular belief that all their rituals and elaborate ways of connecting with and showing respect to those in Spirit ( the dead) are just a load of rubbish!. I am not popular for it and have been kicked off one forum in the UK for exactly that. I’ve been called everything from a worshiper of the “dark side” to someone who simply has no respect for my gift. But, this kilt wearing, ginger-bearded medium can’t help himself , taunting such people is good sport!

The reason all this has come up is because generally people find it difficult speaking to and hearing from the dead. This is obvious because we rely almost totally upon our five physical senses and only use our intuition in times when we can’t use the others and then we tend not to trust it anyway. So, when people want to speak to the dead, they create a ritual or a process around what they do because it works for them. Great, good for them. I have no problem with that, unless they tell everyone else that this is the only way to do it and they go around preaching it. Then I feel the need to shout out loud.

Speaking to dead people is as normal for me as speaking with you. On a daily basis I have some kind of conversation with the dead, whether it is for a client or just because someone comes through and wants to be heard. When I “tune in” to the spirit world, I simply think about them, consider it like this; you have a cell phone and I have your number, even though you are not in the same room as me, I can call you on your cell and speak to you. When our conversation is over, we both hang up and carry on with whatever we were doing. The same is true for when a dead person wants to contact me, they have my cell number and call me up . . . fortunately I have caller display and can decide whether to take the call or not . It’s a bit cheeky, I know but I don’t think you would want to answer your cell phone at 01.00 in the morning when you are trying to get to sleep either!

I know in real life, it is not as simple as picking up a phone and speaking with your dead Grandmother, it takes dedication and a lot of practice but the principal is the same and in the end it comes down to making it as easy as we want to. To me, the debate about how to contact the dead and how to switch off afterwards is just a way of saying to each other, I’m not yet happy to loose the stabilizers on my bike. Although everyone goes through the same type of learning process, a great number of people never let go of their stabilizers, in fact they make them bigger and bigger, and more elaborate!

My wife and I put a great deal of work into what I do and spend a lot of time doing what we can to improve it. We go out of our way to try and make the whole process as simple, easy and natural as possible so as to not exclude those people that might be interested in hearing from their dead friends and relatives.

So, getting easily turned on is part of the long but steep learning process and as with all things, it’s simply a matter of practicing, pushing the boundaries and being taken out of your comfort zone.