When and How I Became a Medium

WAIT... You’re a what? When and how did that happen?  If anyone had told me back in 1975 (when this picture was taken), that I would one day be talking to dead people for a living, I would have pulled back the covers that I was hiding under to protect myself from the “others” I knew were in my room and told you that you were the crazy person!?  I did not actually see them then (because I was too afraid to open my eyes), but looking back on it now, as a child I guess I always knew that they were there. I basically spent my childhood doing anything possible to avoid the dark and/or sleeping alone. Just ask my older brother, whom I begged and bribed to sleep in my room until we got too old (ages 8 and 9 maybe?) and he decided it was just too weird.  The last time I ran for cover and spent the night in my parents room I was 18 years old and had just watched a scary movie. No, I’m not kidding!?

As a teenager I went to psychic fairs and tea & tarot readings with my mom or my aunt for fun, and when I turned 18 and was about to head off to college, my mom got me my first set of tarot cards with instructions.  I practiced often and spent the next 25+ years doing card readings for friends and family, again, just for fun. Somehow the readings were almost always strangely accurate (I’ve lost count of the number of love triangles, job/house changes, and pregnancies I’ve predicted over the years), but I always thought and said, “Cool. Must be the cards.”  I had no idea that I had any actual part in the uncanny accuracy. Then, at the age of 45 (after one very long and one very short failed marriage) I met my current (and bestest!) husband, Scott, and my life changed completely and for the better in every way imaginable. I’d had a lot of “weird” stuff happen to me at home and in my classroom in the years between hiding from them and meeting the love of my life on eHarmony (anecdotes you’re sure to hear about in future blog posts), but it wasn’t until I met Scott and his “house ghost” that my journey as a psychic medium began.

Spirits require energy to make their presence known, which is why your lights may flicker strangely or the TV may go off and on when they are trying to get your attention.  As soon as I started staying at Scott’s house, someone began trying to get my attention big time.  I’ve always had problems with technology and electronics getting “wonky” or shorting out, but this was different.  There were plumbing issues—the shower, which for months had never gotten hot enough for me, suddenly went from lukewarm to scalding mid-shower, but only when I used it.  The DVD player stopped working, but only when I was in the room. The radio station got staticky, but only when I entered the room.  Light bulbs blew and the ceiling fixture in the kitchen would visibly shake, but only when I stood under it. Then clothing and jewelry items would go missing, but only my clothing and jewelry...  to the point where my girlfriends and I deduced that Scott was either secretly a cross-dresser (doubtful because at a foot taller and 100 lbs. heavier he couldn’t fit into my stuff), or he had a size 2 sex slave chained to a radiator somewhere in the basement!? I did a thorough search of the basement and, after finding no one being held captive, I began to wonder if someone or something did not want me in the house. Could it be a former owner? Scott informed me that he had bought the house from an elderly widow.  The house was built circa 1950 and they had been the only previous owners. “Maybe it’s the husband”, I said. One day, when the DVD player refused to cooperate for the umpteenth time, I randomly said aloud, “Oh, for the love of God, JOE, would you please stop messing with us… it’s still your house and I’m not trying to take it over!?” Scott had a shocked look on his face and asked, “Why did you call him Joe?” I said I had no idea why, but I would like to watch a damn movie.  He said that he had never met the man, but he remembered the old lady’s name and was pretty sure that his name had in fact been Joe. He found some old paperwork with both of their names on it and there it was: Joseph Madden. So that was something.  What happened about six months later was something else.

Scott’s family was coming over the next day to celebrate his birthday.  As I lay in bed thinking about what all I had to get done before they arrived, I heard someone say, “Tell Chrissy I’m fine.  Tell her the name Ellen and she’ll know it’s me.” I sat up, looked around and, seeing no one in the room with us, shook Scott and said, “Babe, did you just hear that?”  “Hear what?” Was his response. “It was Chrissy’s mom… I think… What was her name?” Chrissy’s mother had passed away before I met Scott and I didn’t know much about her. “Barb.” “Huh”, I said, “Well this is what I just heard… I’m gonna ask her about it tomorrow because I may be going crazy.”  

The next evening, after we ate Scott’s birthday crabs, I told Chrissy what had happened/what I’d heard and she burst into tears.  I looked over at her brother, Ryan, and he said, “Ellen was Mom’s middle name.” Then, when Chrissy was calm again, she added, “It’s not just that… Ellen was our favorite show to watch together and as I watched it the other day I spoke to my mom and said ‘I really miss watching Ellen with you… and isn’t it weird how your middle name was Ellen’?”  To say that we were all freaked out is an understatement, but I still just thought it was something about the house… I mean how could I suddenly start communicating with the dead at this age????  Believe me, I was the biggest skeptic of all… until it started happening more frequently, in greater depth, and with more detail.

At about the same time that Barb communicated with me, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and began chemo and radiation.  I was sad and frightened, but felt very lucky because it happened over the summer and, as a teacher, that meant I was free to go to his appointments with him.  My brother and mom, who has early onset dementia, were there every day as well. Over the course of his treatment, I began to not only hear, but see and communicate with members of Scott’s family and my own.  I kept my dad posted as my visits with the those on the Other Side progressed and he never once questioned them, nor doubted me.  One day, about a week after he finished his treatment and school had started back, I stopped over to see him and both my grandma and grandpa (his parents) were “there” in Spirit.  I excitedly shared their message and he confirmed all of the random details that they had shown me from his childhood that I had never known. Two nights later he passed away, somewhat unexpectedly despite the cancer, in his sleep. I spent the next day with him as we waited for his body to be taken away.  That night I stayed with my mom, on his side of the bed, until my grandmother and aunt arrived from Michigan. Sometime after my mom fell asleep, I heard a loud, crazy frequency coming from the nightstand. It continued, but my mom never stirred. Not understanding how she was sleeping through it, but not wanting to wake her, I got up in the dark to figure it out.  As soon as I reached out and felt his hearing aid, it stopped. I knew then that it was his way of “checking in” and letting me know that he knew I was there and he was okay. This, of course, gave me great comfort, as did knowing that because of what I had seen and shared with him two nights before, he had passed away knowing that my grandparents would be there waiting for him.  Though I grieved just as everyone does, I recognized that this gift I had been given made his passing and my acceptance of it so much easier than it is for so many.  I decided then that I would fully embrace my new “super power” and do everything I could to help others who are grieving to heal as I had.

The next year and a half to two years literally flew by as I threw myself into learning everything I could in order to fully understand and hone my gift.  It sometimes seems incredible, even to me, how far I have come in such a short time… until I started calculating just how many hours I have devoted to it since that September.  I read a quote recently (I can’t remember where I found it, so forgive me for not giving the author credit) that said something like, “Six months of consistent grinding will put you two years ahead with your goals.” While I believe there is a great deal of Spiritual “magic” involved in what I do and I give most of the credit to God and my Guides, make no mistake, I’ve been grinding!!! Before leaving my “day job” of 17 years (teaching) to devote myself full-time to Spirit Work, I spent roughly 2 hours every morning praying, meditating and writing down messages to deliver.  I would wake up at 4 AM and do Spirit Work until 6 AM, when I had to get ready for school each day. Broken down, that is 180 days in each school year x 2 years = 360 days x 2 hours each day = 720 hours just in my “morning” work.  Add another 2 hours (at least) per day after school and 6 hours a day (minimum) during the summer spent learning, reading and delivering hundreds of messages (either on the spot or via one of my 35+ sparkly notebooks filled with notes). This adds up to about 1,680 hours total, or 42 straight 40-hour-weeks of grinding… and does not include weekends and holidays, which I rarely took off.  So, while I have no formal degree in mediumship (if such a thing exists! Lol.), I think it’s safe to say I have earned an honorary PhD in my “fifth language”, which I call “Spirit Speak”.

I’m certain that some of you think that this sounds crazy, or that I am crazy… not just for talking to dead people, but for quitting a job that I loved (and which had a pension and medical benefits!) to talk to them full-time.  But for me it was not really a choice, it was a calling.  I loved teaching French, Italian, Spanish and ESOL.  I loved my friends and colleagues, who were incredibly supportive (and who were very often my willing “guinea pigs” early on).  I loved my students who, to be honest, probably didn’t learn as much French as they should have those last two years! But I love this even more.  I love it and I do it for one reason: so that other people can begin to know and understand what this gift has given me the privilege of fully knowing and understanding… that there is no true death. That there is something more, something much, much more than what most of the world can see, hear and feel.  And, most importantly, that our loved ones never leave us. They are still with us in Spirit, experiencing our daily joys and disappointments, loving and guiding us. They want us to know this, and my job is to help them help you to experience and understand this amazing truth as best I can. return to website

To learn more about how I went from teacher to medium, read my book Madame Medium: Unleash Your Inner Psychic with a French Teacher Turned Psychic Medium, available on Amazon.com

For more information on services & rates, or to book a reading, visit my website: bethparkermedium.com