Spiritual Awakening After Loss | Effie Linke’s Journey from Orthodox Roots to Soul Purpose | EP 455

You know you need something, you're just not sure what. You've been listening, you're doing the work, but there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place, like you're waiting for the thing that finally moves you. Now maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back, the timing, the money, or you're just not sure you're ready yet. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you. I built a resource for exactly this moment, guided meditations for when the waves hit and you just need to breathe. Workbooks to help you get out of your head and onto the page, ebooks on what near-death experiences tell us about the people we've lost, and whether they're really gone, a full course for widows and widowers who are ready to find their way back to living, and a full course for the evidence of the afterlife. And all of it is available for pay what you want. Nobody gets turned away because of money. I think these resources are valuable, but I don't want to hold them back because you don't have the money to pay for them. You don't have to wait until you're ready for coaching. The next step might be a lot smaller than you think. To find out, go to grief2growth.com/store. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/store. And check out the resources I've made for you. Close your eyes and imagine. What are the things in life that cause us the greatest pain? The things that bring us grief are challenges, challenges designed to help us grow, to ultimately become what we were always meant to be. We feel like we've been buried. But what if, like a seed, we've been planted? And having been planted, we grow to become a mighty tree. Now, open your eyes. Open your eyes to this way of viewing life. Come with me as we explore your true, infinite, eternal nature. This is Grief to Growth. And I am your host, Brian D Smith. Hi there, and welcome to Grief 2 Growth. I'm your host, Brian D Smith. And whether this is your first time joining us, you've been on this journey with me for a while, I want to thank you for being here. The show is all about navigating the pain of loss, uncovering life's deeper meaning, and discovering who we really are and why we're really here. Today, I'm honored to welcome someone who's not only a gifted medium and intuitive, but someone who I have a very special history with. Her name is Effie Link, Effie was just stepping into her spiritual gifts when we first connected, and I had the privilege of being one of her early sitters. Spirit works mysterious ways, and throughout that connection, you know, a little while ago, it's led us to this full circle moment when I get to interview Effie on the podcast. Effie didn't grow up surrounded by psychics or mediums. In fact, her strict Orthodox upbringing offered a roadmap that would soon unfold in her life. But a powerful and unexpected encounter with a psychic, one she was deeply drawn to despite every logical reason not to be, changed the course of everything. And that reading opened the door not only to her spiritual gifts, but to an inner alignment that would reshape her entire journey. In today's conversation, we're going to explore what it means to remember who you are, even when you've been taught to forget. She'll share the path of mediumship isn't about just connecting with the spirit world. It's also about self-development, radical self-honesty, and deep soul alignment. We'll talk about the isolation that can come with awakening. The discipline required to be a clear channel, and how taking breaks and listening to your soul's whispers can lead you to unexpected and beautiful new chapters in your life. So if you've ever questioned your intuition, your path, if you felt drawn to something that made no sense on paper, or you've struggled with perfectionism in your spiritual growth, this episode is for you. Effy brings heart, depth, and wisdom that you're not going to want to miss. So after you listen to the episode, head over to my Substack grieftogrowth.substack.com. And continue the conversation there. And with that, I want to welcome Effy Link.

Oh, thank you, Brian. What an introduction. Thank you.

Yeah, it's great. It's great to be with you again. As I said in the introduction, you and I go back a little while. I was one of your test sitters when you were coming onto the Very Soul platform and you just amazed me. So I've referred a lot of people to you since then. So I'm glad to have you here.

And thank you. And just the way that transpired It was supposed— it was meant to be when I look back, because the reading I recall was during a weekday, which I don't do readings, and I usually do them on the weekends or after work. And something within that day, my entire workday stopped. My entire workday stopped. I— there was no more calls coming in, the emails just stopped, and I was just prompted to shut down. And I told the office, I'm taking the afternoon off. Lo and behold, I got the call. Can you take a last-minute reading? And I said, wow, that's interesting. Sure. Yeah, that's how you and I connected, uh, for the very first time.

You know, it's really wild because a few things in common. First of all, your first name Effie is— I don't hear that name very often, but it's my grandmother's name.

Um, lovely.

It was my grandmother's middle name. And I didn't know about your Orthodox background. I grew up in a very strict religious background myself. So maybe we can start there with your Orthodox background and when you started connecting to spirit.

Great. What good question. I was raised in a Greek Orthodox background where it was the way it was supposed to be. I didn't question my parents' beliefs. I didn't question my relatives. I did what I was told as a child. So going to church every Sunday was not something you said no to. Going to Greek school Every Saturday as an extra school day was another thing you did not say no to. Taking extracurricular cultural activities, dancing, visiting your home country was something that was normal to me. I thought everybody was doing this for the longest time as a child. So it wasn't until I was in my teenagers and one of my girlfriends said, let's go to a fair. Do you know what those psychic fairs, Effie, they have? And I said, yes, yes. I love those. So we went. So we'd be roaming around, we'd be looking at all the cards, all the tarot, the oracle. And each station I would go to, they would tell me that I was going to be doing this in the future. And Brian being level-headed at that time and also being a little bit vulnerable, thinking, no, me, maybe, yes, no. But at the end of the day, they're telling everyone this, they're telling everybody this. And it became a habit, though. It was a fun girls' day to go to the fair. Go to dinner afterwards, and I never felt anything. Never felt anything. We never talked about spirituality. We never talked about what they would call a quote-unquote ghost today. We were never drawn. We were— I was just drawn to going to the fairs. Life goes on. You get married, you have children. And then one day, out of nowhere, Brian D Smith, I saw a psychic pop up on my feed, and I was so pulled to him, not knowing why. And I had no idea who he was, but I knew inside my soul that I needed to speak to him. Brian D Smith, he had no social media, he had no website, he had absolutely no TikTok, no feed. A very, very old, old school psychic and medium. And I contacted him. He asked for quite an obscene amount of money. And lo and behold, something inside my soul told me I need to speak with this man. I sent it to him via mail, cold hard cash from Canada. Who does this today? And I didn't tell an entire soul because I knew they would talk me out of it. That was a given. And I kept quiet, and I came, I came to terms with it that if this was a scam or this was a fraud, I was okay. I had come to terms and put that to bed. He did call me, and he had a 6 to 8 month waiting list. So we finally got on the phone, and it was one of those— as mediums and psychics, we get a lot of readings, Brian D Smith. A lot of readings, but this reading changed my entire course of my life, and I have never received that type of reading ever again.

Oh wow.

This man knew things that he could not have known. The reading was for 2 hours. It turned into a 4-hour reading.

Oh wow.

Yes, and he didn't charge me the extra, so— and the entire reading It was like I knew him, not knowing the synchronicities at that time. Mm-hmm. It was like I was speaking to an old friend from the past, and I kept telling him, how do I know you? You're across the world. How do I feel you? How do I— can't understand this feeling that is happening between us. It was like a soulmate, but not a soulmate, as someone I've known, but I didn't know how I knew him. And his accuracy was blowing me away, where he shared where you were at the grocery store a couple days ago and you didn't know which yogurt to get, and you're going back and forth with the Greek yogurts. And I stopped, I said, get out of my head, get out of my head. That's how accurate he was. And during the entire reading, he kept telling me that I was going to be doing this. That I was going to be doing this, which brought me right back to the psychic fairs. And I thought, okay, here we go, I'm hearing this again, I'm hearing this, here it comes up all over again. And I said, no, I'm not, no, I'm not, I will not be doing this, this is not for me, this is something that you do, you're really, really great at it. And he kept saying, Effie, you're going to be doing this, you're going to be doing this, it's going to take you by storm, and this is why we're having our call today.. And also during that reading, he said something that no one has known, that I have a tattoo of an infinity sign. And he said that, do you think that you just walked into that day to ask for an infinity sign and they just happened to have the right tattoo artist for you? Then usually they have a 6 to 9 month waiting list and it just happened to be open that afternoon. How do you know that?

Wow.

How do you know it was meant to be this call? Wow. Right, right. So the call goes on and on, and so he kept telling me to grab a pen and paper, grab a pen and paper, write down what I'm telling you. And I was humoring him. Sure, I will write down when this awakening happens, this is what I will be doing. But was more intrigued of his knowledge. How does he pull that information out? How does he know this? This is— you've seen psychics, you've seen mediums on TV, you've watched them, but this was different. This, this was different. And what was intriguing about him was his humbleness. He did not know how accurate he was, and he kept his authenticity, was something that I found— pulled, just kept pulled towards him. It was like my grandfather from a long time ago that we all need, a grand— that old soul wisdom he had. At the end of the call, He said to me that this is going to be happening very quickly, and all these notes that you have written, when it happens, please refer to them. And I said, okay, I will do that, not believing him still. But very, very— I still have the notes today, but when I look back, just after COVID, just after COVID, one morning I woke up and something ignited my soul, Brian. Something— it sparked something inside me. I could not express it. I could not express this feeling. For the first time in my life, I felt as if everything makes sense. There is something, something much more to this world than what I have been told and that what I have been shown. And it was like my body was on electricity that entire year. And there was nothing I wanted to do except develop as a medium. And there was nothing— no one could tell me that I was not a medium. Inside my gut, I just knew I could do this. And there was not a soul or person I could talk to. There was no one in my family that I was aware that had this knowledge. I had no friends to go to. I had no teachers. I was by myself, a very green, green brand new developing medium. And what did I do? I went back to the notes that we had written, that he had told me to write from that reading a couple months prior to that. So lo and behold, I'm opening my book and I'm looking at all the notes and I'm going, oh my goodness, thank God, thank goodness, thank goodness I had these notes to refer back to, to help me with this transition of what was happening. And yes, that did help me quite a bit. But just during that time period, just as I was awakening, trying to find my journey, trying to find my path— where is this going? How do I fit into this world? Why don't I have anybody else to talk to? I had this deep within wisdom knowing that I'm going to be on my own. I knew that I was going to be doing this on my own. And I think I had this discipline being raised from my family that you're gonna— there was no, uh, no talking back when I was growing up, that old school. So they instilled this way inside me that I just went right to it, and I started to develop, I started to study, I started to read. And that's all I did outside of my work day was just develop, develop, develop. And it took over my entire life, my entire life. Especially, and this is during the COVID time, and during COVID the world shut down, right? So I had no one to drive to, I had no kids to chaperone, I had no train to go to work. So we were all at home, and it was all aligned when you look back, because I could not do this today. Hmm.

Wow.

Could not do this today the way we were out of COVID So that was, that went on for a few years, for a couple of years, that's all I was doing was developing with a passion.

And when you say developing, how are you developing?

I was re— I was looking online, trying to find resources of what to do when mediums are brand new, which path to take. And I was barred with so much information. And I trusted my gut inside. I was pulled to a certain source of information where I would read it and it just resonated. And it went back to that reading from that time period. I was just pulled to that psychic. I don't know why. I was just pulled to him. So that's how I use that methodology. I was pulled to that resource. I would open it and it just felt right. And so I started to work within that, what the content was saying. And I would also practice and I would practice with people across the world. Across the world. Asia was no— for me, if it was their 3 AM, it was my 3 AM. It was— I started to get to know the time zone of Australia, China, Japan. It was incredible. And I don't know how I did it. I really, really don't know how I did it, but it was this pull to do this. About, uh, mid— let's say mid-year, my family sits me down And they said to me that we don't know who you are anymore.

Mm-hmm.

We don't know who you've become. We support you in this, but you really, really, really, really need to know that it's time maybe to get a mentor or to find someone to tutor you, something to get you into that groove. Mm-hmm. Because they were seeing how I was searching and searching and reading. And I said, that was right. That's what I needed to hear at that, right at that precise time. That was the words I needed to hear.

Yeah. Just to interrupt you for a second, how were you finding sitters? You said you're, you were Working with people across the world? A very soul. Okay, all right, okay.

That's— and a very soul came up also. And so I started to also find circles, okay, online circles where developing mediums were practicing, right? So I would write out, I'm looking for a practice session within such and such times, and I would start to— I was organizing myself. So weeks and weeks in advance, I would have all these practice sessions, uh, organized, set up, and and I would, uh, practice and just practice. But at the same time, I would record myself to see where my reading— where I could have gone deeper, why maybe I went psychic, maybe I went— all those techniques, mechanics that we learned, I learned today.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. So when you were young and you were going to these psychic fairs, were you telling your family that you were doing it? How was your family reacting?

Yes.

Okay.

I didn't tell them that I was going to psychic fairs, okay? Because it was— I'm going to a fair that sells jewelry, that sells beads, okay? Uh, they knew about oracle cards, and they just took it with a grain of salt. I was out having a fun day with my girlfriends, and it was harmless. It was— to them, it was. But I didn't bring it home. I didn't talk about it at home. Uh, ghosts were not real. Mediums were not real. The interesting thing is they believed in angels. Very, very much.

Oh, interesting. Yeah, yeah.

Yes, they believed so much in angels. So when we had a crisis or an issue or to pray, they would share, let's call in all these angels that they were aware of. So it's something that we know, you and I, spiritually, angels do exist. Yeah, angels are real.

It's really interesting because Greek Orthodox, I understand, is kind of similar to Catholicism and some of the forms and everything. And, you know, Catholics will pray to saints, but they talk— they, they think mediumship is, you know, bad, uh, that we shouldn't talk to the dead. So how did you get past that, that taboo?

A memory just came up where I want to go back, where I was 9 years old. And do you remember Sylvia Browne, that— yeah, past the late psychic? I remember on Wednesday she was in Montel Williams Mm-hmm. And the first time I had seen her on TV, I had come home from school and I dropped my bag and I was going to the kitchen and then I heard her voice.

Hmm.

And her voice, something about her voice was intriguing me, was pulling me towards her. So I looked out of the kitchen and I saw who she was and her name and I started crying. Not knowing why. Not knowing why I was crying. So run to the washroom. My dad was sitting on the couch. I didn't want him to see me cry. And I would just start crying and crying and crying. And I couldn't shake it. Why am I crying over this lady's voice? Something about her voice. So every— and I tell— I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want to tell my dad or my mom because I couldn't explain it myself. Every Wednesday from that day moving forward, I would run home knowing that she was on Montel Williams, 4 o'clock, and I— my dad would be watching her and I would be sitting in the kitchen pretending to be eating or doing some homework, but really I was listening to her.

Oh wow.

And afterwards, during the hour session with Montel, I would start to cry. I would start to cry. Tears were coming out of nowhere, not knowing then that it wasn't myself, Effie, that was crying. It was my soul that was crying inside. It was something, a piece of her I was pulled to. Something about her brought me home. And I would run to the washroom and cry. I didn't share that with my family for years and years and years. I just kept it to myself. There's some things, Brian, we just keep to ourselves. We just keep to ourselves. And that was one of the things, because I was— I didn't understand it myself as a little girl.

So, um, when you were going to the psychic fairs, were you getting readings there, or are you just kind of hanging out for the day? I know you said people kept telling you you were going to do this, but I didn't believe in readings.

I didn't believe it was actual real, real.

You're just going for fun?

Yeah, I was going for fun. And, uh, Even the teacup readings that we would get from the Turkish coffee, we would sit down and do predictions that you're going to be married at 29, you're going to have 5 kids, you're going to be— all of that, uh, high level, high level. And it was fun. And I didn't fully, fully— I just liked it. I was drawn to it. I was attracted to the whole atmosphere, I can say. Yeah. The, of the fair, not fully understanding yet that this was going to be something I'm going to be doing in, in the future. It's just, and it was myself who was organizing it. Let's go to that one, let's go to that one, let's go to that one. And in the car, okay, let's see how many people are going to be telling Effy she's going to be doing this. And I think, ladies, they're telling everyone this. Oh yeah, it's not myself. They're telling everything. Be level grounded. This is something they're sharing to everyone. And, and they say, no, Effy, they're not telling us. Sure they are. Sure. So it became this inside joke between all of us. And yeah, it was very fair. They would tell me I was going to be doing this, but I took it with a grain of salt because I did not see myself ever to be doing this, ever. This was not me. This was for them.

I'm curious, were there any predictions that they made then that came true for you later, like when you got married or had children or anything?

No.

Okay.

No, no. What I'm really, really glad is I started to— I went one day, I was drawn to go to a palm reader near my home. I just stopped to go to a palm reader, and I'm 14 or 15 years old, interested in palm reading. And I— she told me things, and this is where the fraud comes up, Brian. This is where the skepticism. And she told me that I had evil spirits inside me and that if I didn't give her more money, that this was going to happen to my family. I was scared out of my wits.

Of course. Yeah.

Scared out of my wits. I just paid her such and such, and she's giving me this information of my palm, and I need to give her more money. Luckily, I didn't have a job then. It was my birthday money I used, so I didn't have any extra money to give to her to get that evil spell off my family. Yeah, but I didn't go to sleep for weeks. Yeah, I didn't go. I was scared. I didn't share anything with my mom or my dad because I knew they would be very angry with me. And not looking back then, I dodged a bullet. I dodged a bullet. It was one of my early encounters of seeing, wow, that could have been really harmful for someone that really believed in it.

Yeah, you know, the thing about mediumship is, you know, it does get a bad reputation because there are— I, I say to people, there are bad mediums, they're, you know, average mediums, they're good mediums, they're great mediums, and then there are frauds. And, and people, they see the fraud, and they see the people who are not very good. And they say, well, that's all mediums. And it really brings down the whole, whole profession. So it does.

It's, it, they, they see your soul suffering, they see that you want answers, they see how much you're yearning for your loved one to come through. Or they could see that you want to be with your soulmate in this life, and they take advantage of that.

Yeah.

And that is where it gives us a bad reputation. The mediums that are authentic, that are working really, really hard. And there are, as you said, some fabulous, fabulous mediums out there that are real and have put the work in and really are doing this for the right reasons. Yeah, you are. You yourself have probably met lots and lots of mediums. I have the work thing.

Yeah, I have. I have met lots of mediums. And another thing that people don't really understand about mediumship, it does— you have to develop it. It's a— you have a skill, but you have to work on it to really become good at, which is, you know, you were talking about development.

People might say, well, What is that?

I thought mediums just, just were— they were just born that way.

Correct. And I'm glad we were going into this next section of development. It's not just the mechanics of mediumship— pardon me— that you need to learn. You need to learn also your self-development inside. Yeah, who you are and who are you becoming. Because as you're developing You're going to get to a place, majority of mediums, where emotions will come up from the past that you have not worked on. Now, these could be through your meditations. This could be through some inner work that you're doing along your mediumship, where you start to tap inside, and you'll be looking back at a memory that will come up that, oh my gosh, I've never dealt with this. Why is this coming up? That's a sign that your soul is sharing with you. It's time to tap into that and start to work on what that feeling is coming up, and only you or me or that person will know what it is.

Yeah.

And working with those emotions, working into that self-development, that is what helped me go deeper into the readings. Hmm. That is what really began to become a journey where I was just surface, surface level. I didn't want to go into those sections or into where it got tough, but the more I worked on myself inside is where I started to see I was getting deeper on the emotions and staying there and staying with those emotions and going even deeper and finding the right words, not just the interpretation, cuz we know the interpretation could be a thousand different things when we see a picture or we feel something or we just know something. Learning all of that took a long, long time and it's continuous, Brian. It is continuous. It'll, till the day I will die, I will constantly be learning, not just mediumship, but myself inside, who I am and where this journey is going to take me, to be very open-minded that I can be in this journey, I can turn left and this could be my new directions. I have seen mediums come into circles and, and classes where they start and then they realize, oh my gosh, I'm an excellent baker. I've always wanted to open up my bake shop. But if they never took the class, they would have never known that potential inside them. Interesting. Or they want to write a book.

Yeah.

And they— wow, I'm a really good writer. I didn't know this. And they're inspired to start to write a book. That is their potential that's always been inside them, and they were able to bring that out. And then they start to tap into that. How do you know it's your true potential? It needs to come naturally. It's not something that's forced. It has to come naturally to you, and something that you love, and something that you know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

Mm. Wow.

Wow.

So you, you mentioned you're— I mean, obviously you were, you were raised Greek Orthodox and you had this strict, but strict background. How has your family reacted to you coming out now and saying, I'm, I'm a medium? Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

You know, one of the hardest things about grief, most of the people in your life just don't get it. They want you to be further along than you are. They get uncomfortable when you bring it up, so you stop bringing it up. And that's why I started writing. My Substack is where I go deeper. Thoughts I don't always get to on the podcast. Essays on consciousness, on continuing bonds, on what it actually means to carry loss and still build a life. The stuff that used to keep me up at night, written out in a way that I hope meets you in the morning. But here's what I didn't expect when I started it. The community that showed up. People who are doing exactly what you're doing. Listening, learning, trying to find their footing. Readers who comment, who share their own stories, who remind each other that none of us are as alone in this as we feel. And that's what the Substack has become— a place to go deeper with me and to find your people. It's free to subscribe. Find me at grief2growth.com/substack. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/substack. Or just go to Substack and search for Grief to Growth. I hope to see you there.

Great question. So the— it was— I had to— I didn't tell them for a long time. I kept it quiet. And it was for good reason, because I was developing. I wasn't speaking to no one. I was Didn't speak to my friends, didn't speak to my family. Just when I needed to speak to them to make a visit from, as you know, COVID, from a distance to say hello, 10 minutes, and then that was really our visits. So I was quiet, and it was a blessing in disguise where I knew I had to be quiet with this because they would, um, not that they wouldn't believe me, but I just didn't need the interference. Because I was so focused into what I was doing. It wasn't until 2 years later I did tell some of my siblings, and they didn't really have a reaction. They knew that I'd shared that this is something extremely important to me. It is bigger than my relationship with my family. This is something I need to do, and I— if you tell me not to do it, it could be our relationship could be severed. That's how important it was, and I had to put us a stance on that, and they either accepted me for who I was or they didn't.

No.

And they saw that, and I was ready. I was ready to walk away even if I didn't want to, knowing that I had— this was my journey. This was something I was going to be doing. And thankfully, they accepted me.

Wow.

Thankfully, they accepted me, though I don't talk about it because it's not their life.

Right.

They have their life, they have their journeys, they have their families, they have their activities. So I don't bring it on to them. They ask me questions when there's some curiosity. I never give them the answers. And this is with every— all my friends that come to me, the answers are already inside them. I guide them to what do you feel is the right answer for you? If you're asking me, you already know the answer. Yeah, you're looking for validation, and I don't give them that validation because it's so important that they see that and find that for themselves, because that's when they will feel empowered. That's when they will really feel, I did this on my own. And you all— you've always had it. You've always had it. You just gotta get— and mistakes will happen. Our learning lessons are part of our life, Brian D Smith. Yeah, that is how we learn. That's how we keep evolving. We keep evolving, keep evolving.

Well, this is a good time to talk about the difference between mediumship and psychics, because people think— people get them confused and they think all mediums are psychics. So let's— can you explain to people the difference?

I didn't know the difference myself for a full year, so transparency, until I— it was explained to me that psychic is someone like you and I living. So look, you and I will be talking about your life. So you will come to me for a reading, for a psychic reading, and there is something within your life that you want an answer to, and psychics will tap into it. And by the way, when you find a good psychic, they're worth their weight in gold. They are worth their weight in gold. And I don't go back into the past. I look at their potential, where they're heading into the future, what is presently happening in their life right now. It could be several things. It could be family. Family could branch out into their partners. It could branch out into their relationships with their extended family. It could branch out into their siblings' relationships. Many, their kids' relationships. That could be one core area. It could go into the careers, careers, whether they wanna change their jobs, whether they're looking to branch out into a different career. How do we get, how do we combine both of them at the same time and what kind of career they're looking at? It could be finances. They're in a place with finances. How do I make more? How, or, or where should I be investing? Or what should I do with my will? Should I be sharing it with this. There's so many concepts to this. It could be also your friends, your relationship with your friends. So many branches it could take you to when you go, but it's for the living and it's right now. And usually those answers come very quickly with a psychic. You don't have to blend very quickly. It's all up here and it's very, very fast. And you go— it could be also their health, worried about their health, worried about a loved one's health, what to do with their health. What should we do? Should they go to hospice? Should we take them home? Lots of areas there also. And the mediumship is speaking with loved ones. Yeah, speaking with loved ones who have passed, who come in, who blend with our soul, because that's what it is. It's a soul-to-soul reading that we're having. So the more you're able to hone your soul and to sit quietly and not have those thoughts come into your mind, the more you're able to blend with the soul of the loved one that's coming in. And to step out of the way. And the true power in this is when we really step out of our ego, out of our mind, and really communicate the message that they want to say to their loved one. It can mean absolutely nothing to us, but to that loved one, it can mean a thousand and one things that they needed to hear. Mm-hmm. How many times have we heard this?

Yeah. So when you, when you do readings, Effie, do you do mediumship and psychic readings?

And so that— I love this question. This— I was going to flow into that next. So my readings are like the infinity symbol. Think of a blend.

Okay.

So it was like that powerful reading that I got from that psychic who was also a medium. He was going back and forth into my life. Yeah, he was sharing all the people that are here with names, dates, years, okay, things that we had done together. But he was also going into my life today. Okay, what I was doing today, where I was going, things I had done, things that were on my mind that I was worried about. That's how tapped in he was. So that's how my readings are. It could be a blend of both, but I meet the need of the communicator. So if you came to me for a reading, I don't— you might think you're coming in for a psychic reading, but you could have a loved one come in which you may not expect that loved one come in, but it could be the one that you need to hear from, and it could be something about your career.

Interesting.

And you're struggling with your career today, and then you have a friend or a family member that was the CEO of a company that was very successful, and they're coming in to give you a message about your career. And how many times I have heard, I came in for one thing, but I really needed to hear from that loved one, or I came in for a mediumship reading, but I really needed a psychic reading. So it can go both ways. I try to meet the need of the person that is here in front of me. It could be 50/50, could be 80/20. I don't know. But I have found trusting what the need is, and I will never know what that is until I'm face to face with them.

I love that answer. And I tell you, I, as we were saying earlier, I have hung out with a lot of mediums because of what I do and places I've been and stuff. And I've seen mediums they're just humans like everybody else, can get very, uh, critical of other mediums. And I've seen them like, I mean, medium will be giving a reading, they're like, oh, she's going psychic now. And I'm like, and? Because as a sitter or as an observer, I don't care. But I've seen mediums get very judgmental about other mediums, like, no, no, you can't, you can't go psychic.

You— that's, that's their opinion. Everyone will have an opinion. And that's one thing about, uh, mediumship and psychic, there's no regulations on it. Yeah, there's no regulation. So everyone will work differently. And you're— and if you ask, and I tell my students, it's if you ask an opinion to a medium, how to do this, you're going to get— or actually, what I say is, if you ask 10 mediums a question, you're gonna get 11 different answers.

Yeah. Well, I guess it's really interesting, because I get to work with people who are developing, and I see what they're hearing from their teachers. And I've also seen, like I said, mediums kind of judging each other. And I'm like, you, you have to— I think you have to develop your own style. Um, and I could tell you from a sitter's point of view, if I'm sitting there and I'm getting a reading, I don't care whether you're going psychic or you're doing mediumship. I— it's like, am I getting what I need? And I like, you know, like your approach to it. It's like you give people what they need, right?

Right. And I, for the longest time when I was developing, I was just getting grandparents. Grandparents, grandparents. And I knew today why, because I had a really close relationship with my grandparents. They raised me. They were an extremely big part of my life. I was very fortunate to have these two people and the other two that lived down the street, to see them one every day and the other one every weekend. And they were such a huge, significant part of my childhood that every grandparent was coming in was always about what I could resonate to, what I knew about my grandparents. And I had a blend of both the very disciplined ones and extremely funny one, extremely funny grandmother. So I had— I was just getting grandparents, grandparents. And then I started to see slowly it began to move into parents. And so moving more into mothers and fathers and distinguishing between whether this is a stepmother, this is a friend that's been a big influence in your life, like a mother, a grandmother could be a mother, because a mother today, or father could be 1,001 things to somebody. So I started, I slowly seen I was moving into parents, relationships with parents, the dynamics, what happened growing up and how the sitter today with their life, and that would be psychic where they are because of some of the influences in their past and where they're stuck. And that could be a psychic reading, it can be 50/50 where it goes. And And then slowly children. And you, Brian D Smith, were one of the first people I received as a child, one of the first primary, which I did not expect to happen. Though children was not something I was very strong at. I could not— children were just not coming. I put the intention out there and they slowly started to appear, children. And they did it the right way where I could sense that there's a child stepping in under the age of 5 or 4. And I don't go into miscarriages or stillborn. And by the way, we also didn't talk about ethics, uh, when we're doing platform demonstrations, the wording to share, the right wording, the privacy of the sitter and where they're at. And I start to get then, um, children. And then afterwards it just formed into more. It was just branching out slowly, slowly, slowly. And I start to distinguish whether the parents are still living or their past. The parents are still living or their past. And I will be the first to say I'm not perfect. Transf— I make mistakes, absolutely. And I have a roster of mediums I refer to as my resources that we are not aligned, this was not a good reading, uh, and I refer you to this beautiful 10 or 20 mediums that you were drawn to. And I think that's important, each medium does have a roster of mediums that they can refer clients to if they don't have a good reading.

I think that's, that's a wonderful admission. I love, I love your humility. And I, I can tell you, I've got— I know lots and lots of mediums. Not every medium is for every person. And I've seen, I've seen fantastic mediums just not be able to connect for certain people.

Um, right. It's like friendships. We're not going to get along book with everyone. Not everybody's cup of tea. Yeah, yeah, not everybody's cup of tea. So where were we, Brian?

Well, we were talking about— we were talking about ethics. We were talking about, you know, the— right, you know, the, um, the way that we do things, the style. And, and I think everybody should have— does have their own. And I think that's great that, that you do that. And you mentioned— so you're, um, well, let's talk about Verisol a little bit because we've kind of touched on it, but for people that don't know what it is, it's It's fantastic, but it's also very unique. So explain to people, you said when you were, when you were trying to find a way to develop, you ran across Verisol.

Yes. And Sally, and I will share her name.

Yeah.

Hawk. She just happened to develop the site at the time I needed it.

Yeah.

At the time I needed that site, there it was. And I was just starting my journey and I had no one to practice with or no one to talk to. And lo and behold, there, here comes this site. And it was my dream come true. It was my dream come true, Brian. It was exactly what I needed. So I was, believe you, to validate with Sally, one of the first 20 or 25, I'm not sure, uh, people to register. And I just started to practice. It was not learn, but more practice the mechanics that I was learning on my own through the YouTube sites or resources just for that first year. And as the site got bigger and bigger, I started to see that she started to have events which I do help her with some platform demonstrations for developing mediums, also the mechanics of mediumship. And I also do mediumship demonstrations for developing mediums. I did one last night for her. And you can see the effort that she's put into the site. And I think she's got about 8,000 to 9,000 registered attendees on the site today. And it's grown and grown and keeps evolving. You can see the site where now you can have sessions where If Brian has an extra hour free, you can go on and try to find mediums who are available across the world. Also sharing that I'm available at 10 AM. Let's do a practice session. And within those sessions, it's where I learned how to develop my skill set in my mechanics, where I was going deeper, where I was not, what I had got wrong. And I encourage everyone when they're doing a reading to record themselves. And then I want you to go back into the reading and watch yourself. But I also want you to ask the person that is giving you the other— the sitter that's giving you the reading— to give you very thorough feedback, because that's really going to help you understand where your story could have unfolded, in which direction. You had the garage, you had the, the tools in that garage. Something about that garage is very, very important to the spirit on the other side. Also, the very first piece of information you're going to receive in a reading is going to be the most important piece of information where the story is going to unfold. Understanding also bridging statements, how to blend with another communicator naturally to come in.

Yeah.

And feeling those subtle, subtle nuances, those energies to come in. So all of that I was working on diligently. I think I've done thousands of practice readings today.

Yeah, so for people that are listening, um, so VeriSoul, the thing that's really cool about, in my opinion, is that mediums— for mediums, it's a great place to develop, it's a great place to market yourself, it's, it's free for the mediums to be on it. You get to do practices with each other, you get to— again, you get to develop. And then Sally doesn't really put you out there until you've proven that you can do, you know, readings.

Yeah.

But from a sitter's perspective also, because people they'll ask me for mediums to go to. And I'm like, a lot of them are expensive. A lot of them have very, very long waiting lists. And everybody wants to go to the ones that are expensive, that have long waiting lists. And then we don't know whether they're, you know, mediums are any good or not. If you go to VeriSoul, you know, the mediums have been vetted, you know, they're available because they're there. And they're reasonably priced. So I do have a list of mediums I refer people to.. But I prefer people to VeriSoul all the time also because it's just, it's such a great thing for, again, both sitters. And I've sent mediums there to develop and to market themselves, and I've sent sitters there.

They also have an emblem now, a verified medium from VeriSoul. They have launched a couple of months ago, so they can put the mediums on this, on their website. They can put it also on the website on VeriSoul that they have been vetted and they have the gold and black emblem, the circle that they are a professional verified medium from VeriSoul, from the team, and also from clients, and also their own clients from VeriSoul practicing the readings and giving the feedback. Yeah, to the team.

And I saw something on Facebook just yesterday, I think it was, that they were— the VeriSoul is looking, I think, for volunteer sitters to help practicing mediums. Yes.

So if you are looking for a reading, they do offer— if you're not a medium, or even if you're a developing medium and you're not sure just yet to tap into your abilities, you can get one free reading from a professional medium on VeriSoul. Yeah, you can register and you will get one free reading, and you can give the feedback afterwards on the survey.

Yeah, so it's, it's a, it's a really great site. So that's— I wanted to get that in today as we're talking because I'm always trying to get get more people to, to go there. But, you know, Effie, for you, obviously mediumship is hugely important. I mean, to the point where you were like telling your family, it's like, this could become— this could come between us. So why is, why is mediumship so important to you? What is, what is it that you think that it, it provides?

It's— it goes back to the very beginning when that moment I woke up. And I knew this was something— there's something more in this world. I can't answer that fully, Brian, what it provides inside me. It is just something that is a calling that I need to do. It's something inside that I need to— does it bring me peace? A portion of it does. Does it bring a purpose? Yes, it does. Does it— is it a mission? Yes, it is. Is it a soul contract? I don't know until I go to the other side. This is— it's something that I need to do, and there— and I know I will be doing this for the rest of my life. There's absolutely no questions to ask. I will be doing this for the rest of my life, and I know that I will be going to places where there will be healing, there will be churches, there will be humanitarian to connect with people who need the healing. It may not even be a reading, it may not be a psychic reading, it could just be healing, giving them knowing that they're not alone, that there's a— they're here, we're all connected together, we're all aligned, and we're going to make it to the very end, all of us.

Yeah, it—

that's what it brings. It's not one answer, it's a combination of fulfillment of different answers all combined into one. My children are aware that they know this is something that they want to do. I do feel also my, one of my children is an empath, very, very much interested. I don't push them. I don't push them. I want them to be kids. I want them to grow. I want them to learn, to have their adventures in these years that they're teenagers. And when they're ready, if they're ready to move, to tap into this, and it could be a part of their journey or not, but I give them that open space and they watch me. So they watch me. They know that this is real, but I just let them be to their own devices.

Yeah, well, I, I see it as a, I see it as a ministry. It's interesting for people, again, so many people think that the field is full of frauds and, and stuff, which there are frauds. I mean, we have to admit that, we talked about that. But it is the people that I've, that I see doing mediumship, it's a service. They do it because they, they want to serve other people, you know. But we have to charge money because we have to make a living And that's a whole interesting thing, too, when people say, oh, the topic— yeah, it's a gift you shouldn't charge for it, which is just ridiculous. But, you know, I see people doing it. No, I don't see— and I don't see people going in because they want to get rich, because most mediums are not going to get rich. They do it because they want to serve.

It took me a long, long time to charge, and I couldn't fathom that inside me. How do I charge? How do I know what's the right rate?

How do I know?

What is— if it's that balance, if you go too low, they don't take you seriously. If you go too high, you're tapped out of the market. Finding that, uh, middle part, that sweet spot in between. And I tell everyone out there who's looking to charge to look at your community, to look where you are, look at the rates that they're charging within your currency, look at the years of experience to get a baseline learn from that and work with that. And I, I didn't charge for a long— I couldn't get there. I just couldn't get there. And it could be because I didn't feel I valued myself inside to charge. I couldn't do this, or they couldn't afford it. I, I couldn't find that sweet spot. It wasn't until clients started to pay me on their own.

Yeah.

And that's— and they start to encourage me that you need to be charging for this.

Yeah.

The amount of work that you put in, the amount of hours that you have put in, you need to be charging. But you, when you start to charge, to balance it also with your volunteer work, to balance it with sessions that are complementary for clients that need it, right? To balance it with your humanitarian work, right? Uh, inside, to give that also, to find that something that you resonate to and not to charge, because that's where I feel I do a lot of volunteer humanitarian work, and I don't charge for clients that I feel I can't. This is a complimentary session, and this is from your loved one on the other side.

Yeah, I just want to say something here, because I've worked with— I can say it because it was public— I worked with Thomas John, you know, for a while, and I happened to do some work with John Edward. And people will look at celebrity mediums and they'll say, oh, they charge, charged so much. And like, the thing is, even if at that level, you only have so many hours in the day. And if they charged $100, you know, for a reading, they would— they'd be— well, they're up, they're booked constantly anyway. So there is, there is a supply and demand aspect to it. But again, those are, those are the exceptions. Most mediums I know, they don't charge enough. I'm like, you really need to raise your rates, you know, because most of them, as you said, maybe they're a little bit uncomfortable about their ability, They feel like people— because people always say they can't afford it, even though people are going out and spending all kinds of money on other things. But most mediums I know, it's like they're really, they're really humble people. And they're not, they're not in it again, they're not in it to get rich. And most of them probably need to raise their rates when you look at what other people are charging for the service they provide. And a medium reading, I ask how you feel about this, but it's not something you should be doing every week anyway. So when people say, I can't afford this, it's like, how many medium readings are you going to get? You know, usually 1 or 2 a year is probably all most people need.

Right? Right. It's in between 1 to 2. And I don't want my clients to come back every month. If they're coming repeated sessions every month, I encourage them to take a pause. And why do you need to book a reading with myself or even another medium every month? There's, there's a need there. There's a void that you're not filling.

Feeling, right?

And to look inside that void, what it is that you need filled. And I can't make that decision what it is, but I encourage them to go to either other mediums or find some work that is volunteer for them that they feel is their purpose. And that finding that void, and it could also be speaking to a professional, and it could be working on that inner work, that self-development. Yeah, that self-development going all the way back to that, Brian. Why do you need to keep seeing the same? There's— it's something that they're filling your soul, but are they really filling your soul if you're going back every month to see them? Yeah, I would like to see them once or twice a year. That is a great balance to have, once to twice a year. Uh, recurring, repeating clients is a good sign that you're doing pretty well.

Yeah, well, the other thing about mediumship, you know, and the value of it, and, you know, being someone that works with people in grief, you know, they've done studies where people have gone to meet and they're like, a good medium reading can be as healing as a year of traditional grief therapy. They've had people and they've had them see a grief therapist, and they've had them see a medium, and they're like, after one session with the medium, I just feel so much lighter, because just that that connection, that, that knowing that your loved one is still there. Like you said, you know, the one you— the guy that changed your life with that one reading. I've had that experience 3 or 4 or 5 times with a medium where it's like, you're like, this person knows me, you know. Suzanne Wilson was the first medium reading I ever had. And I remember it was a phone reading. And I kept having to remind myself that she didn't know me, but she was describing my family and my grandfather. She knew I had my my family roots in Kentucky, because my wife is from Kentucky. She was giving me names. And I'm like, this is crazy. So that, that one reading for me was like, I knew mediumship was real before. But having that experience, it's like, I have no doubt.

And that's another good topic you're raising, Brian, because you— I've had readings, I've seen readings where the medium will not give a lot of information to the sitter or the client, though they're filling a need that the client needs. And I will explain this more further. I have seen readings where there's very little information given, though the essence and the sense of their clairsentience is really coming in. And they start to talk like them, they start to act like them, they start to do mannerisms. And I will look at the sitter and they're crying. Mm-hmm. They are crying. And that's all they needed to see was they know that their loved one is alive. They know that there's no— that's that's how they talk, that's how they move their hands. That's how you talked about, uh, it could be a little bit of trance, which I don't do. Maybe they're blending with trance, I don't know. But I know that I've seen readings where there's very little information, it's very healing. But I've also seen very detailed information, uh, given that the sitter wants from the medium, saying, where am I from? Or what's, what's their name? That's another good one we're going to move into.

Yeah, dealing with difficult That's a really, really good point because again, talking to people who are developing and seeing them go to different teachers, you know, it's like the British teachers have a certain style and there's something really great about them because they're very hard and they're like, boop, they want proof. But a lot of them are like, they call it name, rank and serial number. They're just like, just the facts. And they don't care. Some of them, I'm generalizing, don't care about the quote message. And I think it's got to be the right blend. It's got to be what is the sitter needs to feel. Because, you know, I don't want— at this point in my life, I don't want just to hear, like, you know, Shayna was 5'10" and, you know, and the age and her cause of death or whatever. I don't need all that, you know, but I want to hear more like, are we making a connection? And so from what you're saying, you're like, you give the sitter what they need, or spirit coming through you is giving the sitter what they need. And we can get really picky about, like, like, you know, that's, that's not evident, evidential.

Who's to say?

Yeah.

And we won't know until the person in front of us, how they're feeling, what it's removing ourselves, our ego, our soul, and just allowing what the spirit communicator wants to say to their loved ones. And it could be the most simplest message. I love you. I love you. And they may have never told them that they love them. And that's what they really needed to hear.

Right?

It could be friend or someone that was like a parent to them that walked out on them, and they've never saw them for the next 40 or 50 years. And then they come to you for a reading, and that's the first person that comes in, and all of a sudden they're talking about, I never told you how much I loved you, I never told you how proud I am of you. And you could see the difference in the sitter, the client, starting to cry. And that's all you have to say.

Yeah, that's absolutely— yeah, absolutely true. The— so, and like, I think that lovely made that point because those things are really important. Uh, you know, I forgive you, I think, is a huge one because so many of us are carrying around unspoken guilt when someone passes, and, and we project that onto the person who's passed thinking they must, you know, hate me because I didn't save them or I didn't visit them enough or whatever it is.

Right. I'll give you an example. This happened to me, a very powerful reading. I almost quit. I almost quit. I didn't think I was good enough in what I was doing. I didn't think I could get to that level. I— it was so much blockages coming in with the work that was needed, that we talked about discipline, the effort, the homework that was needed. I can't do this. I can't do this. I'm not good enough. I can't get into this. I can't be a medium, even though I had that awakening, there were moments where I was low, very, very deep, where I can't continue to do this. And there was one specific moment I quit. And I went to bed and I cried and cried and cried. And everything that I had done, thrown away. The next couple of days, and I share this story with some of my students, I was pulled to go to a reading. A circle where mediums were practicing, and I went in as an observer. I wasn't going to read, and I log on, and I came in halfway, and the very next reading, the medium goes directly to me, and all she said was two words: Brian, your father's here. Effie, he wants me to tell you, don't quit.

Wow.

And I stopped cold. I turned off my camera and audio and I started bawling.

Wow. Wow.

Those was— that's all she needed to say. She didn't need to go further into anything else. Do you understand now the effects of our words, that we don't need to go deep if we don't need to, to trust? She trusted. That's what I needed to hear. 2 words.

Wow.

Don't quit. How does she know that? She didn't know. Yeah, she had absolutely no idea. She says, 'Ah, it's the message you need to hear from him.' Yeah.

Wow, that's powerful. That, that is— that's amazing.

That was 2 words. And I went back into it, and I could not go back to the circle. I was a mess. I was an absolute mess. And I couldn't even share this with anyone because because no one was a medium around me. No one was. They wouldn't even believe me. They was just, 'You were quitting? Why would you quit all this work that you've done?' But it's a lonely place, Brian. Yeah, you're in this work, you, you, you have to find your tribe. You have to find people that are like you, that understand what you're going through. And that was one of my— that was one of my difficulties and challenges, finding my tribe. And I still today haven't fully found my tribe, but I do have a lot of support and networks I can tap into that. We support each other and we're there and we're humble and we're here for the right reasons.

Yeah.

So after I got that message from my dad, I went right back into it. Yeah, right back into it the next day.

That is so cool. I, I, that, that just blows me away. And, and again, finding your tribe, I think, is also extremely important because it can be very lonely work. And, you know, I know people who are mediums, it's like they don't want to tell people they're mediums for a couple of One is people want free readings if they believe in it, and the other is people are like, oh, you're either insane or, you know, you're ripping people off. So it's, it's a really weird profession, um, and that— and also, you know, just all kinds of pressures. There's also, again, the people that criticize you because you charge, you know, because it should be free because it's a gift. And so there's— it's a, it's a tough profession to go into. It's like, I remember John Edwards saying, nobody, nobody chooses to chooses to go into this, you know, just for fun. Uh, if you want to find a way to make money, there's, there's a lot easier ways to make money than to become a medium.

If you're expecting to become a millionaire, uh, yeah, yeah, that may not be the right route. You have to want to do this work. You have to have it within you that this is something that's a calling, that you, you have to put in that effort. It's just like anything else. When you're going to the gym to build your muscles, it doesn't come overnight. And if you stop going to the gym, the muscles will start to evaporate. So this consistency of continuing to develop, to continue to have that within you, because it's a lifelong journey.

Yeah.

And to be open to any possibilities that will come your way. Yeah.

So what are some of the practices you do to, to keep yourself as a clear channel?

The one of the things that really worked for me, and I was so lucky, fortunate to receive this wisdom was sitting by myself in the power. I'm such a left brain with what I do in the work world. And that took a long time with a very Type A personality. And I had to really, really sit by myself every single day. And we have COVID. So I was able to do that. And it got to the point where I had to forgive myself if I didn't do it for an hour. Or 2 hours or 30, whatever it was, it was supposed to be that day where it went. And as I started to really sit by myself, I would notice that I would not tune out, but I would just go to a place where I could hear the cars but not really hear the cars. I could hear the kids, but I couldn't really hear the kids. It was— they were there, but they weren't really there. I could kind of— it was like another place, this in-between, that ethereal place in between. But I could also feel the power moving. I could feel it really growing and growing. And the more still I got inside and the more I was able to remove myself, that's when I started to notice the difference in the readings. Being able to stay longer with your power, being able to blend with multiple spirits, but also being able to do multiple readings within the day. Not 10 or 20, but more than 1 or 2. And I caution everyone with your energy to be careful to always, when you're doing reading things, uh, to give yourself some downtime, because I didn't do that. Give yourself some downtime, because I started to see I was burning out. And then I took a step back and I was giving myself more me time, taking care of me. And nature really works for me. And if it's cold in the winter up here in Canada, I just envision it. I just envision it. And the power of our imagination, Brian D Smith can bring us to places that really is cleansing, and you're actually there. Yeah, that really helped me very, very much, was sitting in the power.

So if you, you mentioned, uh, your work, so are you still work full-time outside of the relationship also? Okay. Yeah, that's— how do you balance those two things?

Good question. I've been doing it for almost 25 years. So as an operations, uh, what I do is I, I pull it all together in the back end, but I'm also front end, a lot of support to all the engineers and actuaries, analysts. I— efficiency. So when you do something for a long time, just the efficiency, having the answers quickly, going right to it, not having to search online, not having to ask other departments and teams. I've been doing it for so long that I'm just able to balance my day out. Granted, quarter ends are tough, and I know that in advance now, so I will block my calendar. I won't do readings, I won't do any church demonstrations, I won't go to platforms. I won't do anything. I know that. Then that's something I learned the hard way.

Okay.

And now, so it's just being very, very organized, but it's come naturally to me. It's almost second-degree nature.

Yeah. Yeah. So do you envision continuing to do work full-time, or are you moving more into doing mediumship?

I, I know I will be doing this when I retire.

Yeah.

It's— I don't know what the future holds. I'm open to it all. I do have kids to put through university, um, at the moment.

Yeah.

And you and I will both know what that will— what that is. And they want to get cars and they want to get their licenses and a lot of that insurance that comes in and secondary drivers. And so that's right now, yes, um, I will be working, but I'm open. I don't know what the future holds, right?

And that's the most exciting part of Yeah, and I wanted to bring that up because again, the people have all these crazy ideas about mediumship. Again, that people think me was gonna get rich. It's very difficult to become a full-time medium and, and to support a family on that kind of, you know, because you don't get benefits. You don't have— when you're in Canada, but America, we have to pay for health insurance and, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, um, it's a, it's a It's a, it's a calling, as you said.

You have to want— yes, it's a calling.

You have to want it. Yeah. Well, we're coming to the end of our time. I've really enjoyed talking to you. Is there anything that, that you want to cover that we didn't cover today?

I would like to tell— and when they step into this journey, if they're looking for a tutor, to really look in circles at mediums when they're demonstrating, how you like their style. How you like how they deal with the nose, their energy, their personality. If they're looking for a tutor, it doesn't mean you need to go to the big tutors. You go to the one that you're drawn to.

Yeah.

And I value private today mentorship more than anything because that's where I really found myself, uh, working with a private mentor.

Oh, really?

Really, yes. And but I also did groups, smaller groups of mentorship within 8 to 12 people, right? So if they're looking for a mentor, to really look outside and see who they're drawn to and to make a list and look and say, okay, I make an appointment, see if you can find them on YouTube, have a discovery session with them, and you're going to find the right tutor for you at the right time to trust the one you're pulled to.

Yeah. Yeah, that's, that is a really good point also. And the same thing if you're looking for a medium. Again, people want to say, oh, I want to go go to this person because they're a celebrity, uh, but they have a 3-year waiting list and they charge $800 an hour. You can find very, very good mediums who are available that charge a lot less than that.

All my, uh, are referrals. It's all referrals. I don't advertise. It's, it's referrals and referrals, and that's good. Um, I just keep it like that. Um, I'm not ready to move into that sector just yet. Billboards or advertising or whatnot. It's— referrals are still today, even in the business world, the best source. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. References. It's, it's referrals.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I, I tell people, you know, there's certain things I wouldn't do without a referral, and going to a medium is one of them. I'm not going to pick a medium like— I'm going to age myself— Yellow Pages. I'm not just going to go look at a list of— I I want to talk to someone who's been to that, that person, or they're certified by somebody I trust, like A Very Soul, or like my friend Mark Ireland, who certifies mediums. I know that if Mark has certified them, I know the process they've been through. So, right, you know, do you— and intuition. Because when I get people, I'll give them a list of mediums that I trust, and they'll say, well, which one should I go with? I'm like, whichever one you're drawn to.

Good for you, Brian. Yeah, the perfect answer. Yeah, it's been a pleasure.

Yeah, absolutely. So if people want to reach out to you and find out more about you, you mentioned that you do mentorships. How can people find you?

I do have my website, mediumalia.com. When you Google, it's also going to be on Substack, I believe you referenced. So they can find me just by putting Effie Link Medium. There's not a lot of Effies.

Yeah, I don't remember any Effies that I've met other than my grandmother.

So yeah, the cruelest thing is here is mediums will call me, and I had one medium was in China and she texted me, oh my gosh, I met another Effie! Yeah, China. Wow, she's a grandmother, she's 99. I loved it.

Yeah, so for anybody that's listening, if you don't have— if you don't see, it'll be in the show notes, but it's Effie, E-F-F-I-E, Link, L-I-N-K-E, and the website, sorry, Uh, the website's— it's mediumaliya.com, right?

Yeah, yeah.

And it's A-L-I-Y-A, right?

So I— yes, I'm launching, uh, platform demonstrations, uh, mentorships, working on platform, how to deal with the nos, how to go deeper into the readings. And I'm also launching very soon a master classes, small classes, how to go deeper into your readings.

You're doing a lot for someone who has a full-time job.

And private mentorships. Fellowship.

Yeah, yeah. All right, Effie, it's great to see you today. Have a great rest of your day.

You too, you too.

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