While engaged in a conversation about mediumship and the training of mediums at the recent Parapsychology Foundation Mediumship Conference in Charlottesville, VA with two mediums, Nancy Garber (M. Ed. in counseling psych, trained in England at a mediumistic center etc…) and Joanne Gerber (evidential medium) both from the Boston area, I asked about their training practices and about how students go about their studies. This conversation lead to a discussion of readings, and specific practice tasks to prepare the novice medium, and of a certain type of learned concentration and focus which often lead to being able to begin communicating with those who have passed on. Subsequently in the spirit of demonstration, Joanne began to give this writer a reading.

According to Joanne, she often has someone just sit for her during a session, and sees what comes through. Since it was informal, I decided to ask a specific question about my ability to hear from my father who died 20 years ago.

The following is an account that I wrote down about one and a half hours after having this reading which I experienced as quite phenomenal. Unfortunately this was not tape recorded, due to the informal nature of its occurrence. The medium stated that the atmosphere was too busy and distracting to know what to expect (it was a post conference social hour, and amongst a room filled with people):

Sitter: "I want to know where my father is and if he is separated from my mother on the other side?"

Joanne: "Why are you worried about that?" "They were never separated in this lifetime." (Comment: This is true. There were married for 35 + years ...they were children when they met and were married at the age of 26)

Joanne: "I hear your dad’s laughter…..he is smiling and he is laughing with a very subtle laugh…(demonstrates) does this sound familiar?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "I feel a sensation like choking and coughing …there is a large lump in the throat… (she shows where the lump is…) he had trouble with his breathing… smoking …your father passed of lung cancer?"

Sitter: "Yes."
(Comment: He did pass of lung cancer, but the cancer first appeared as a lymphoma in his neck where Joanne had indicated in her throat, he had a large lump on one side and then it metastasized to his lungs.)

Joanne: "I am seeing the letter W… is there someone in your family whose name starts with a W?"

Sitter: "No, not that I know of…"

Joanne: "This person passed prior to your father…. a relative of yours and his…..your grandfather?"

Sitter: "Oh.... his father was named William. It was my grandfather. I was to be named after him if I was a boy." (Comment: I had never met William because he died when my father was 8 years old which is why I did not immediately recognize this fact.)

Joanne: "He is saying he was there to help your father with his transition when he was passing."

Sitter: "That is so comforting since he lost his father when he was 8 years old."

Joanne: "He loved dogs…a B.....a beagle dog is with him."

Sitter: "That makes sense, and it was my brother’s dog from a long time ago, but the dog lived with us until he passed."

Joanne: "Yes I see the dog has short brown legs and beagle coloring…"

Joanne: "Someone had a heart condition.....Your mother?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "She passed of a heart condition?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "Who is Elena...or Eleanor?"

Sitter: "My mother’s name was Lenore."

Joanne: "She is here too, she is with your father."

Joanne: "He was always wearing an undershirt under his shirts…the scoop neck kind (makes a gesture) he is showing me a plaid shirt over his undershirt…does this make sense to you?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "I am seeing a fish... a Mackerel specifically ....did he like to fish?……I am hearing ”Holy Mackerel”... did he used to say that a lot? He would say this instead of swearing?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "I see water and boats and a dock does this make sense to you?"
(Comment: I grew up on a small lake in IN , the same lake where my father grew up)

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "I see fishing… did he like to fish?"

Sitter: "No." (Comments: He did not like to fish particularly, but I did…it did not occur to me to tell the medium this at the time. My father was always happy that we lived on the lake so that we could have this wholesome, nature centered life…he could have taken a job and moved us away to the Detroit area for a lot more money, but chose not to so that we could have the lake environment to explore and to enjoy. This decision was a source of pride for him, although it caused a lot of monetary troubles for us.)

Joanne: "He liked to build things… and do wood working…he had lots of tools and equipment…he is very particular about his tools…he feels his tools are not being cared for properly…do you have a hand drill of his?"

Sitter: "I am not sure, I might have the one."

Joanne: "He is still talking about his tools… those were and still are very important to him."
(Comment: My father did indeed work with tools for building furniture as well as larger things like small buildings, additions, and docks. He had a large elaborate wood shop in the basement. I spent many hours there with him while he worked. He engraved his name on every tool he owned. We always gave him new tools as gifts. I probably do have a drill of his…the fact that I am not sure is maybe why he is concerned about the care of these tools)

Joanne: " I see him building a fence… and painting it white."

Sitter: "The fence does not make sense to me."

Joanne: "I am now seeing large machinery to dig and break ground…is someone building a house?"

Sitter: "No."

Joanne: "Are you or your brother building a house?"

Sitter: "No."

Joanne: "I am seeing ground being broken and about moving?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne : "You are moving to a house that is in the process of being built?"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "But you have not actually bought the house yet…there is some indecision there…"

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "Your mother was a very comforting person. She did not like worry and she tried to comfort everyone that all would be ok."

Sitter: "True."

Joanne: "She is showing me "rolling pennies" which indicates to me that you have financial worries connected to that new house."

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "She says it will all be fine, not to worry... she wants you to feel comforted…She has been to your house…your current kitchen counter space is lacking, there is too much stuff…and no counter space…."

Sitter: "Very true."

Joanne: "Your mother liked to cook…she was a good cook, she made lots of casseroles…she is showing me a Pyrex casserole dish that is burnt on the bottom from so much use."

Sitter: "Yes she made lots of casseroles in Pyrex casserole dishes…she was not a good cook…."

Joanne: "I see your mother was a little heavy at one point around the middle, but she was stylish and had a simple elegance....-not too much jewelry. She always liked to look nice, she wore her hair back like this… when it was longer and put some combs in it."

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "She does not like it that you criticize her cooking...."

Sitter: (laughs)

Joanne: "You have a ring of hers?"

Sitter: "No."

Joanne: "Wait a minute….I am seeing rubies…did she give you a ruby ring? A small cluster of rubies on the ring......"

Sitter: "Yes."
(Comment: This is significant, because this ring has an emotional charge on it. It was a gesture of reconciliation to me after my mother and I had been out of touch for a long while after being banished from our family home over a fight and harsh words one Christmas. It was a ring to give to a young girl, I was 26 at the time..it was a way to show me what she wanted to give me but could not do to money problems, when I was younger. She gave me a Raggedy Ann doll then too to remind me that she was focused on being motherly to me at one point when I was young and maybe easier to deal with for her…I never wear this ring because the memory of her somewhat strange gesture and my reaction to it are painful)

Joanne: "Who is Tricia?"

Sitter: "My sister's name is Tricia."

Joanne: "Your mother wants you to know that she is watching over her and helping her to heal. She has money worries too….."
(Comments: My 54 year old sister underwent emergency quintuple bypass surgery last year after heart failure, and she indeed has perennial money worries)

Joanne: "You are out of touch with this sister....."

Sitter: "Yes."

Joanne: "Your mother wants you to contact her …she want you to know that the family is important…she is making a gesture of two fingers close like this….(gestures with her fingers together) closeness is important ….family is important… she had some problems in her own family that she regretted she says that family is very important….do not lose it…build on small steps to connect with her."

The session was then brought to a close after medium Nancy Garber added additional information that supported the evidential nature of this reading.

Lori - PF Conference Attendee
Charlottesville, VA