Mediums

“What do you think about Mediums?” she asked.

She had come along with her husband who was helping my husband build a new porch.

“I love them,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

She went on to share about her niece having recently received a message from Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium. The niece was not a believer, but she knew beyond a doubt the message had come from her mother to offer her support and encouragement.

As the other two women arrived, I whispered, “This conversation probably is best finished now because Marge (not her real name) would likely not be comfortable with the subject.” I knew Marge had a very different world view.

We all pulled up bar stools around the island in our tiny kitchen. I poured ice water and put some chips and homemade chocolate chip cookies on the counter and stirred the sloppy joes on the stove. Soon the first woman began telling the story about the Long Island Medium’s message to her niece, and before I knew it I was also telling about the time my client blurted out, “So you are the woman with the green fairy hanging above the table!” A medium had told her about a woman with a green fairy hanging above her table.

I could tell this did not sit well with Marge. She actually got up and walked away as I shared how the medium my client had visited lived a normal life in her community but would travel to other locations to give messages from loved ones who have passed, messages which are always loving and reassuring.

I went on to explain how the medium tried to ignore the spiritual gift for a long time. One day (several years prior) this medium was at work when the image of a young woman’s face popped into her mind’s eye, along with a message. Not recognizing the face and somewhat accustomed to strange inner experiences, she ignored the message until later that evening when she saw the same face on the 6 o’clock news! A fatal auto accident had taken the life of that young woman the night before and it was obvious she had been given a message to the family.

Running from the living room choking back tears, she knelt in the privacy of her bedroom and sobbed as she prayed, “God, I don’t know why you gave me this gift, and I really have not wanted it, but if you will guide me I will do my best to share what you call me to share.”

This morning I was still processing all of this and wondering if I should send Marge a text or a note acknowledging what seemed to be an uncomfortable situation with the subject. Lost in that make-believe world as I was making my bed, I stepped on something. There on the floor was the gemstone given to me a couple of months ago by a woman in my hometown who gives spiritual readings. I had been instructed to put the stone under my pillow, and it had been tied in a drawstring bag and safety pinned to the pillow all this time. The bag was still tied, and still pinned to the pillow inside the case, but the stone had been on the floor and was now in my hand.

I began to think about the courage it takes to honor our experiences. I remember when a dear friend apologized that I had been “outed” because she had written about me in her blog, saying that I talk to dead people. (See Ella’s Soapbox.)

As I held that gem stone in my hand, this is what I heard in my head:

I don’t talk to dead people. I talk to people no longer in body.

Just because you haven’t had the experience does not mean that the experience is not real. And just because someone’s experience of God does not fit with your experience of God, does not mean it is not a valid experience of God.

I wonder why the woman told the story about her niece’s message from the Long Island Medium knowing Marge would likely not be comfortable with the subject of mediums. And I am curious about my own sharing the story of the medium who told my client about the woman with the green fairy hanging over her table. We may never know for sure the answers to all of our questions but Marge’s husband passed away one month ago today…