The MIRACULOUS Healing Power of Mediumship: Carol Obley’s Revelations! EP 370

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Hi there, welcome to Grief to Growth. Whether it's your first time with us or you're a returning listener, I'm Brian D Smith, your guide through the complex tapestry of life where we delve into our essence, explore our origins, question our purpose, and we chart our paths forward. Today we're really fortunate to have with us the esteemed spiritual medium and author Carol J. Obly. Her work has been a beacon for those navigating the tender terrain between heaven and earth, offer not just a bridge for messages from beyond, but also deep, comforting insights into the nature of our existence and the continuity of our life after death. Carol has an extraordinary career that spans thousands of individual and group readings, and her ability to bring through names, personalities, and strikingly accurate validations from spirits has brought solace and has brought healing to many. Her sessions are renowned not only for the evidential quality of the communications, but also for the profound impact that they have on the lives of her clients. They offer guidance on a wide variety of life's challenges, from relationships to business to spiritual growth. And her compassionate approach to mediumship is underscored by her dedication to serving others with integrity and sincerity. She's a respected figure in the medium, and she's a regular guest on George Noory's Coast to Coast radio show, among others. She's shared her insights and live on-air readings with audiences nationwide, further cementing her reputation as a trusted voice in the field of spiritual mediumship. She's also taught at the esteemed Lillydale, New York, the largest US center for spiritualism, and has helped many to develop their own spiritual paths and understandings. So with that, I want to welcome to Grief 2 Growth Carol Oakley.

Good to be with you, Brian. Thank you.

Yeah, Carol, it's great. It's great to meet you. Great to be with you as well. Whenever I talk to mediums, I'm always curious, like, how did it start for you? So how did mediumship start for you?

Um, well, I've written openly in all of my books about this. Um, it really began on the pathway of spirituality, uh, through addiction. Uh, that was in my 20s, and, um, I entered 12-step recovery. Um, so I became very, very interested in spirituality, and I really knew that I needed that in order to stay sober. To stay clean. And so I delved into it with a fierce passion, um, and also women's studies as well. And so that kind of went to sleep for a little bit as I pursued other careers. And, um, I was running a business in my mid-30s, and it burned. It burned to the ground., and it left me really directionless for about 9 months. And, uh, then I was— I received a phone call from a friend who invited me to a metaphysical center near the town where I live, and I put that off for a while, and she called again, and I said, well, I guess this is something I need to do. So I went there, and as soon as I stepped into that building, I felt at home. I felt as if I had, uh, come home. Uh, they were doing hands-on healing. Um, you know, there, there were workshops about spirituality, about intuition, uh, connecting with spirit guides and so forth. And I couldn't get enough. I couldn't download it quickly enough. And then I went to a place called Delphi. To sharpen my skills. That's near Atlanta, Georgia. So it's been a long and winding pathway to where I am today, everything leading to this purpose, this calling of being a conduit for spirit.

So I was gonna ask you, do you feel like it was something that was kind of preordained for you to go into this field?

I do. I am of the school that mediums are born, not made.

Interesting.

In no way saying that people do not have intuition. Every human being has intuitive ability, and so do animals. Uh, they are actually more intuitive than we are. Um, but the pathway of mediumship is— and I in no way am I saying this from being a martyr, I don't mean that at all. Um, but it does require an enormous dedication, uh, practice for years to reach a certain level where you're certain that what you're receiving are not your own thoughts, but the thoughts from Spirit. And so I've been somewhat dismayed by seeing so many people today who claim they are a medium when I know what it takes, uh, to be on this pathway. And again, I'm not saying that from a better than anyone, absolutely not. That's why you'll never hear me use the word gifted. There is humility that needs to accompany this pathway.

Yeah, that's really interesting. I want to explore that more, if you don't mind, because there is— there doesn't have to be a debate, even among mediums. I have a lot of friends that are mediums, you know, are mediums born, or can anybody become a medium? I've heard some— I've heard people say both ways. But it's interesting because you, you're not one of those people who— I know some people that I started seeing spirit when I was 3 years old, you know, that kind of a person. So for you, you developed, or you developed your talent, let's say, later in life. That's when you started coming, becoming a medium.

That's correct. Although, you know, I am very skilled with astrology as well. It for many years, and I offer karmic astrology or life path astrology for— to help people understand their challenges, their skills, what karma they've come in with. Um, if you look at my birth chart, uh, if you know what the planets symbolize, it's right there in my birth chart that I was born with the ability. However, just like being an athlete, a musician, or anything else that requires training. The skill has to be honed and it has to be developed.

Yeah, I think that's a really important point.

There also has to be sort of an overcoming of these false beliefs that we can hold. You know, the biggest one being trust. You know, surrender. Spirit. Spirit is my word for God. That's with the capital S. Um, and understanding it's never about me. It's something much bigger than me. And so that operates through me, but ego really doesn't have a place in this work.

Yeah, I think it's— I like having— I'm enjoying having this conversation because I talked to people actually fairly recently. And I refer some people to mediums sometimes, and people will come back and say, why do they charge so much money? Or why do they even charge at all? It's a gift, so they should give it away freely. So I appreciate you telling us like what it takes to become a medium and the dedication it takes.

You know, thank you for mentioning that, because most people think that I just woke up one day, or, you know, well, when did you know you had your gift? Well, first off, I don't call it a gift. It's just what I happen to be doing. You know, the truth is this: no matter what a human being is doing in life, it's all valuable. I don't care if you're a janitor, You're a teacher. You are— what you're doing, you know, with psychology or whatever, uh, helping people in that, in that way, it's all essential because it's all part of God. It's all part of the high— of the big puzzle. So there is not one skill or one profession that is more valuable than another. And absolutely, I will tell you that it takes many years of sitting in the power of spirit to reach a confidence level that you can absolutely know that what you're receiving is valid and accurate. And also, you constantly have to do your own inner work. You have to do your own shadow work. You, you cannot help others when you're carrying around a bunch of baggage of your own.

Yeah, I think that's, again, people don't really understand the dedication that it takes. And you're right, everything we do is valuable, whether it's from being a janitor. We saw that during COVID right, when, when we could, what we needed, we start calling people essential workers. Whereas before, we kind of, kind of devalued some of that. But mediumship, I think, is, it's a, it's more than just being a profession. It's a calling. It's, it's something that you have to really dedicate yourself to. And, and I, when I talked to mediums. I come from a background of ministry. My grandfather was a pastor, his parents were pastors. And we call it a calling, you get called into it. And I see mediumship as similar to that as a ministry.

Yes, that's, that's a very good point. I believe that it definitely is. And not everybody— it's like, I love music. And I've loved music since I was a little girl. I had an old 45 record player. I'm dating myself with that one. I would love to play an instrument. And I did for a brief time. I played the piano, but I didn't want to practice. I was just young. Right. And so I could probably play chopsticks on the piano. But am I going to get on a stage and give a concert? No. So, you know, it's very similar. Or, you know, I could run a 100-yard dash maybe, but I'm not going to be in the Olympics. So it's much like that. And so, yeah, it really does take a certain temperament. It takes, you know, spunk. It takes stamina to stay on the pathway. If I had a dollar for every time I wanted to quit, I'd be very wealthy.

Really?

Well, yeah, I mean, discouragement, you know, every once in a while, the skeptics and, oh, you know, you're a charlatan. You know, I don't know any other profession that really gets that, that, you know, that those sorts of comments, that I have to prove I'm real. You know what I mean? So, yeah, nowadays, you know, and then I get the religious backlash to that what I'm doing, oh, you know, you're communicating with devils or whatever. So that doesn't bother me at all. I just, whatever. If you want to believe that, you're free to believe that.

Yeah, well, that's a good, that's a good point you made about the backlash. And it's from, it's from both sides. It's from the materialists who say that it's all fake, that it can't be real. And as you said that, like, no, I can't think of any other profession where you are constantly having to prove that you're real, where people actually even come to you and say, prove to me that you're real. And then from the other extreme, you got the people who are spiritual, supposedly, that say you're communicating with the devil, or, you know, my religion forbids this, therefore you must be doing evil. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and I mean, I've gotten emails, I've gotten letters in the mail. So one has to steel oneself against that sort of outside approval.. And I'll share this with you. A long time ago, my spirit guide said to me, because somebody said to me, wow, that was a fantastic reading, or, you know, this was years ago. And I started to feel really good about myself and all this. And I heard in my head, my spirit guide said, just as you should not attach to someone saying something negative about you, don't attach to that either with the praise. Try to remain neutral, you know. And so, um, my spirit guides are very wise, um, and I never forgot that. I never forgot that. And so I think it's very good to detach from the outer world as far as approval. I will tell you that about 85 to 90% of my clients are referrals. From people who have had readings with me. I've written 5 books, but you know, nothing will do for me what a good experience with somebody will do as far as more people contacting me.

I know that you've given several thousand readings. What, what do you think it is people get out of having a great medium reading? What is, what is the benefit to that person?

There are several, and some of them are overlooked. Uh, the first is the comfort in hearing the evidence given, because I, I am an evidentiary medium, meaning presenting facts about that, that soul in the spirit world. Um, you know, what was their personality like? What did they do for a living? What did they pass from? Uh, memories that they had that they shared with you. The recipient. So gaining comfort and going, how would I, a complete stranger, know that? So it must be a communication with that soul. And I mean specifically, not just general, oh yeah, I see a lady with a round face behind you, or whatever, you know. I don't do that type of mediumship. Um, secondly, one of the most beneficial things for people is the knowledge that they too are an eternal soul. Why or how does that happen through mediumship? It happens as a result of knowing if Dad or Mom or Grandma in the spirit world is still going on and still has consciousness, that must mean I'm an eternal soul too. And thirdly, it eliminates, I believe, fear of death. You know, that this is not all there is. This is one experience in the multitude of experiences that our soul will have. So I think that those number 2 and 3 are often overlooked when talking about mediumship, that it is It's not just the communication with that soul to provide evidence of the continuity of consciousness. It is also to heal that recipient in knowing that they are eternal and they are spirit.

Yeah, I completely agree with that. I think, and I agree with you, I think those, those can be overlooked. The, the, because we fear what we don't know. And for most people, when they think of death, they think of blackness. They think of the end, you think of lights out. And even people that claim to have beliefs about the afterlife because of, say, religion, they don't really— we don't really understand it. And we're so— we're still kind of not really solid to us. But having that knowledge that our loved one is still there, validating that they're, they're still aware of what's going on even around us to this day, is, I think, a very healing thing.

Thank you for saying that, Brian D Smith, too, because there are so many readings I've done in which the soul and spirit that blends with me— and that's how mediumship occurs, there's a blending of my soul with the soul of that spirit person— they will give information about, oh, I see that, you know, somebody has been ill in the family. And they have, you know, heart disease going on. Oh, I know that my niece is getting married. You know, there's no way that I would know those things. And it's not for, you know, those things aren't given to for entertainment. They're given so that that recipient understands that, oh, you know what, my mom knows that her granddaughter or her niece is getting married. You know, how would she know that? Unless she's in, in contact, uh, or about the illness. Um, I will tell you that those in spirit draw near to us when we are going through tough times— an illness, a divorce, um, you know, something, you know, maybe losing a home, anything that is painful. Those in spirit know about that. And they will come through. Sometimes they'll just say, I'm here. I want you to know you're not going through this alone. Sometimes they will offer some type of guidance, but not all the time. So it really depends on the communicating soul.

Yeah. How do you experience spirit? I know people have different clairs, different abilities in terms of seeing, hearing, just knowing, sensing. What's your experience when you're connecting with the spirit?

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Well, all 3 of the inner senses, clairvoyance, clairaudience, which means listening, means feeling. I've been clairsentient for— since the beginning. From clairsentience arises the other two senses. But it's mainly the best analogy I can give you. And I think it's probably something most people can identify with. If I held up a painting to you, and I had it covered with a cloth, and I say, Brian D Smith, give me your impression when I take this cloth off. And so then I remove the cloth and you see the scene or whatever it is in that painting. And you go, oh, I feel calm when I look at this, or I feel, you know, um, I don't know, that this is very beautiful, or, you know, there's some sensing that's going on through that impression. That's really what it's like for me. That it's, it's a feeling that will open then like a bloom on a flower. And what I do is, and how I've been trained, is to follow that spirit communicator, to surrender, surrender to them, because it's as much as it's the client session, it's the spirit world session. So I'm really serving them. As well as the client. And I have an absolute obligation. I've made a commitment to communicate for them because they're no longer here physically. So I, I follow— the first thing that I notice about a spirit communicator is what I will voice. You know, it might be what they passed from. Here's a gentleman here I got a dad figure here. He's showing me he had an enormous amount of problems with his legs. He had congestive heart. He was very weak, that sort of thing.

Mm-hmm.

I've got mom here. She's holding out a flower pot, and in that flower pot are geraniums. And then I get a feeling, oh, she tells me that, you know, you maintain her grave all the time. You put geraniums there. You know, that it's the first thing I notice. And then it's sort of like like you and I having this, uh, this interview where things will just flow, but I follow your lead and, uh, that's what I do in the session. So it's really a very receptive or feminine position, um, to be in. Has nothing to do with gender, um, but I mean, you know, not leading, not demanding certain things. There's a school of mediumship, which actually I was trained in early, that you ask questions for a communicator. Well, I did that for a long time. And then I reached a level where I felt I need more, I need more. So I took training with a wonderful British medium. And I believe they have the best mediums around. And I did it virtually through Zoom. And this teaching was surrender. Let them in charge of the communication. You, you don't try to control it. Don't even ask questions. Allow it to flow to you.

Hmm, interesting.

It is.

The reason I, I said that, like, I, I have a friend, uh, and a client who is studying mediumship, and she's studied with many, many teachers, which I think is a great thing to do personally because they all have different styles and different things. But some of them are almost like they are, they're demanding. They're like, the spirit comes in, they're like, okay, give me your name, rank, and serial number, you know. And, and so it's interesting that you're saying that you, it sounds like you kind of started there and evolved to more conversational.

Exactly. That's a very good description. Um, I felt frustrated. This is not a field where you can rest on your laurels. It's just not. There is always more to learn. There is always a refinement of the vessel. There's a refinement of sensitivity. And, you know, so, yeah, even at this point, 14,000 readings later, I'm still taking training, because I want to serve even better. And to give even more specific things, uh, to clients. Um, so that's why I continue to take training. But yeah, the demanding, um, there's a world of difference. And it made a huge difference in the quality of my readings when I began to surrender and not ask, but to allow. You've heard, you've probably heard that phrase, the space of allowing. That's what it is. That's what it is. You step into— I say my prayer. Everything I do is spiritually based. I cannot imagine doing this work without being spiritually based. I just—

tell me what you mean by spiritually based. What does that mean to you?

Compassionate. Looking at the journey of the soul, the sacred journey of each soul. Why, why are we here? You know, the most common question I've been asked in readings is, what is my purpose? Yeah, that's the most common question. And, you know, besides mediumship, you know, the, the most common question there is, is my mom happy? Well, you know, anybody can say, oh yeah, she's happy. You know, she's not suffering anymore, whatever.

Sure.

I don't do that. It's necessary to provide evidence. And I do not censor the readings at all. Because then I'm controlling it.

Right?

If something needs to be said, and yes, there are souls who come through and they go, you know, I got a ton of regrets. I, I regret that I was a mean person. I regret that I was an alcoholic. I regret that I was an abusive individual. I regret that I made my work a priority over relationships. Um, I mean, that sort of stuff comes through as we're dealing with, you know, living, breathing souls who had a life. And so, um, Yeah, I do not withhold that.

So when someone asks, asks you, what's my purpose? You're getting that from their loved ones on the other side, I assume. What, what type of answers do you get?

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No, not necessarily. Okay, well, it depends. Sometimes I will use the birth chart because in the natal chart, the minute that the incarnating soul came into the body of the infant, the planets were in certain signs, they were in certain what are called houses, which relate to areas of life, of human life. Um, they were in certain relationships with one another. By studying and looking at the birth chart, one can determine what the karma is, where the soul— I'll put this in quotes— left off in prior lifetime.

Okay.

And by the way, yes, I do not believe in reincarnation. I have directly experienced it. I never asked for that. It came through to me spontaneously many, many years ago. I would be sitting with clients, they're asking routine questions, what about my job, what about a relationship, and then all of a sudden I would see a scene that would unfold above their left shoulder. And at first I didn't relay that to clients because I was a little bit confused by it. And then I got to the point where I'm going, you know, I'm going to say something about this. And when I would the person would go, that's funny. And as soon as I hear that's funny, no, that is accurate. And I know that the person identifies with it. And so there are themes, karmic themes, and in the emotional body, in the, in the physical, illness can be karmic. I mean, all of this stuff is carried in. Purpose might be, uh, not a career. This doesn't mean a career. I'm a student of Eckhart Tolle, who talks about purpose being spirit. Like, right now, you and I are in purpose, sitting here doing this interview, right? Tolle says it's what you are doing that you're emanating purpose. Now, is that in alignment with the higher self, with the soul self. If we're radiating God, then we are— you know, we can radiate the ego too, right? We just watch the news for a couple of minutes, you'll see how powerful the ego is, you know, right? Um, so purpose is, is not necessarily career. It's about whatever, however you choose to radiate the light within, which is spirit. That is purpose. And the alignment— the closer one becomes with the alignment with that light, the less karma you create, and the more that you are going to find that life flows a lot easier when you get out of the way.

Yeah.

Interesting. So you mentioned another question that a lot of your clients have, and I hear this all the time, too. Is my loved one happy? Are they okay? So, and you said you don't, you don't give generic answers to that. But you also said something that I thought was really interesting, because there's, there's debate about this as well. I've heard some people say there are no negative emotions on the other side, we, we can't experience any kind of negativity. What's your experience been with that?

Um, I would agree. And it that takes a little, a short, brief explanation. The personality really dissolves when we go into the spirit world. And you might ask, well, then how come, you know, when you're doing readings, you can go, oh yeah, your dad was a funny guy, your grandfather, and your kid, he was a minister, he was a holy man, or, you know, how can you do— if it dissolves, how can that be? Because when that, that soul is now blending with me. It had— they have to lower their vibration, I have to raise mine. That's why it's called mediumship, because we meet in the middle. That person, that soul is using the personality, or there's a memory, there's a memory of that personality contained within that soul that I become aware of. It's really— mediumship is becoming aware of the totality— or I shouldn't say totality, because that's impossible— aspects of that soul's experiences. That's why memories will come through.

Okay.

You know, oh yeah, remember the time Dad took us on this vacation to the beach? And you know, there was a funny incident that happened. That's a memory that was contained within that soul's consciousness. You see, nothing is ever lost. The soul never loses any experience. And that's called the Akashic Files. In Wisdom from the Spirit World, my latest book— I have a new book coming out at the end of this year— in Wisdom from the Spirit World, um, I write about that, about the Akashic Files. The whole first section is called You Signed Up for This. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did, we did. So in, in the Akashic, um, your Akashic, my Akashic, everything that we've ever done since the beginning of time is in that Akashic file. It's like a giant tape recorder that's always going, always going, always recording, and you can access that through the subconscious.

Yeah, so I do want to explore this a little bit more because I, I've tried— when we say, when we cross back over, we're still, we're still who we are. We're still a person. We're still— we're not— we don't, as my friend Kelvin would say, we don't merge into the cosmic soup. We, we still retain some individuality. But I also heard you say that the personality dissolves. So can we, can we expand on that a little bit more?

Well, you've probably heard that when we cross over— in my second book, I'm Still With You, I wrote about what happens when we die. There's a whole chapter, it's called Death: A Beginning.

Yes, yes, I want to talk about that too.

So it's, it's, we're reborn into our natural home, which is, well, it's eternal. So we are eternal beings. What happens is we go through that life review. And in Wisdom from the Spirit World, there's a section there called the Soul's Report Card. Hmm, what do I mean by that? Well, you and I grade ourselves. You know, I had signed up for, let's say, I needed to learn compassion this time around. Okay, I look back at my life. From when I was born till the point where I died. How did I do on that? Did I get a C? Did I fail? Did I get an A? And so from that vantage point, I— and there's no lying. This is what I mean by dissolving the personality. There's no deception. There's no, there's no screen. There's total transparency. And, um, It's, you know, an honest assessment of, you know, I chose this particular personality. And we do, we choose parents, which it's not on a conscious level, but it's on a soul level. And so I chose this particular personality, I chose, you know, to be male, I chose to be female, whatever, this particular race, I chose this particular religion. This geographical area for purposes of advancement of the soul, the soul's plan. So the personality is no longer needed because it is— the personality is an extension of the ego. The ego— I'm not demonizing the ego. Too many New Age teachings have demonized the ego. I absolutely do not look at the ego as something bad. It's necessary. It's, it's part of us. But in the spirit world, there's a return to— it's sort of taking the cloak off.

Yeah.

You see, now coming back in, I'm, you know, here I am in the spirit world, I want to communicate with my daughter. I'm her mother. And so I'm blending with the medium who would do that. And, um, the medium is becoming aware of that personality that I had. Let's say that I was a really generous person, I was very giving to the family, I was family-centered— would probably come through in the reading. Now, the personality is a servant of the soul. Many people in our world today have it reversed. And I will tell you that the personality, it will never be, you know, it's going to be dissolved. So that's not the true essence of who, who you are, I am. Our true essence is the soul. So do we actually choose a personality? I've, you know, have I directly experienced that? Because usually all I talk about in interviews and my books is what I've directly experienced. I have not directly experienced that. But it feels right to me that we become the pure essence again, of spirit.

Okay, yeah, it's interesting. So you're saying as a soul, we choose the conditions of our life, we choose kind of a plan. And this personality that we have, we have when we're here, and it's to serve I guess, that plan and to serve that soul. But when we go back, that personality is no longer necessary in the spirit world.

Correct. Yeah, you put that very well. Um, it's the personality is chosen specifically by— I know this is hard for people to really understand, not you, but maybe some people listening. Um, we choose the personality to advance the mission. So, so that's why I say it's a servant of the soul, the way around. And what— and I don't know, maybe servant isn't that, but it's, it's there for the evolution of the soul. Let me, let me state it that way. Some people will allow the personality to lead. And that's where you end up in trouble. That's where you're going to end up in trouble. Um, because the ego is— I mean, it's a wonderful thing, our ego, but it also has beliefs. It also has defenses. It also sees division. The ego also sees separation. You know, I mean, just look around. That's where we're at right now.

Yeah, I think this is a— I would say this is not a 101 conversation we're having, or 101 conversation we're having here. This is a little bit more advanced, but it's some of the stuff that I'm coming to understand. And, you know, what we call ego or personality, as we're in the body, and before we start to understand some of these concepts, we identify with the body first of all. And then maybe we start to identify with our personality or ego. And it takes us a while to realize that's not me either. So first, it's like, is it first is the body? It's like, well, no, I'm not my body, I'm my mind. And then it's like, well, no, I'm not, I'm not that, I'm this. And there we are, these multi-dimensional, complex beings. And one of the challenges of being human is figuring out who we are.

It is a challenge. It is a challenge, that's for sure. Um, there are so many people nowadays. It began in COVID for me with what I was seeing here in my, uh, private practice of mediumship. And I do all my readings through the phone or through Zoom, and I, I read for other countries, all over the US. Um, I started seeing people and connecting with people who were, you know, during COVID and that great transformation, uh, I don't know who I am, I lost my job, I lost my business, um, who am I? And actually served, you know, there's always the polarity operating, there's always negative and positive. So Oh, you know, this is a catastrophe, and look what's happened. I lost the job, and I don't know where to turn. But there is an opportunity embedded within that to open you up to use new skills, to learn new skills. Um, and also anxiety and depression being epidemic now, that started really intensified during COVID right? And so I connect with many, many people— addiction as well. I've done many readings for people who have lost children through a opioid overdose.

Mm-hmm.

You know, that's epidemic as well. So people today are really, really seeking. I don't even like to use that word. Because I don't believe we need to go out and seek. I mean, we, I think we need to be open and allow spirit to direct us into what area we're called to. And that doesn't— that's not about mediumship. It could be anything. Um, so people today are hungry for, um, to know who they are as spirit. I don't even think that a lot of people really understand who they are, because as you were saying, they might think that they're their thoughts. You know how many people think they're their thoughts?

Yeah.

You know, we have thoughts, but we're not that. We have a body, we have a brain. Um, the brain is— there's speculation now that the brain acts as a step-down unit for higher consciousness.

Yeah, but we've been taught by our materialistic society that we are, we're biological robots, and that our brain generates our consciousness, and our consciousness is what we are. So therefore, we are our body, we are our brain, and that's responsible for everything that we, we do. Um, and it's, it's a big step for people to pull back from that and understand that we are spiritual beings. And, you know, you and I having this conversation is, it's the way that we think, but Most people don't. That's why they come to us and say, who am I? You know, I always say the big questions are, you know, why am I here? Where did I come from? And where am I going? And most people can't answer those questions.

That's a good point. You're absolutely correct. In my new book coming out, The Art of Sensing, I have a whole thing in there about different soul groups. What are those? Well, I actually had created a workshop called Why Am I Here? What you just said, right? Why am I here? You know? And so these, this phenomenon of soul groups, or the, what it simply means is there's certain groups of souls who have a similar consciousness, has nothing to do with race, gender, really nothing. To do with that. But the consciousness of the souls that are within that group, so in other words, they're also called rays, rays of the divine. And so that, I mean, there are the healers, there are the teachers, you know, there are scientists, you know, different groups, and I have these listed in my, in my book. So Um, that's a clue. That's not the be-all and end-all, but it's a clue to, to know, you know, with these certain characteristics that I exhibit, you know, and most people have more than one group that they're in, um, you know, it's likely that I'm radiating this particular ray. And a lot of people don't stop and consider that, you know, like they just go, well, you know, like you know, I was earning $15 an hour, I was doing this or that. Um, it's not about money. It's really about where— what makes you feel alive. What would you do all day long even if you didn't get paid for it? Um, that is true passion. That is a true calling.

Mm-hmm. So we touched on this a little bit earlier. I want to come back to it because Again, I work with a lot of people who have lost loved ones, and especially a lot of parents who've lost children. And people want to know, what's it like for— for them? It's funny, because people always say them. I have a big problem with this, like calling people in spirit them and us us, because we're all going to be— we're all spirits. And we're all going there one day. But what's it like for them when they, when they cross over? So what's been your experience with that?

I need clarity on your question. You mean, what, what's, what do we experience?

And I know it's probably a wide range, but what people want to know, what do I, what is, what did my daughter experience, for example, when she crossed over? I mean, is there, is there a heaven? Is it like this, you know, that kind of stuff?

Well, It's, it's as unique as the individual. So it really depends. Here's the— here's just a flat statement that I have found to be true. The consciousness that we leave here with at the moment of death is the consciousness that we take to the spirit world. That consciousness determines where we will go as far as the level, the plane of consciousness in that spirit world. So for example, let's take, you know, Jeffrey Dahmer, Hitler, or, you know, I don't know, a serial killer, anybody who is, quote, evil. That person, unless they did some kind of healing when they were here prior to death, they will go to the relatively low levels in the spirit world. They're they're relatively very— there's not light there. I mean, like physical light. It's ugly. And oftentimes, the soul will become imprisoned in their own darkness, in their own thoughts. However, no soul is ever lost. There is redemption in that there is always help available. You know, I've done many readings with— I had one the other day, uh, person lost somebody to suicide. And there's certain religions that teach if one commits suicide, they're going to, um, you know, purgatory, or they're going to hell, or, you know. I have not found that to be the case. I— what I have seen is that there are spirit counselors in the spirit world. I've actually connected with some of them over the years.

Hmm.

Or like counselors here, they help that soul to grasp, to understand the emotions that they left with. There's many souls who leave with unfinished emotional business. Okay, that has to be dealt with. That doesn't just evaporate in the spirit world. So there's counseling, There are— I've seen spirits who are undergoing some sort of healing in the spirit world through being wrapped in different colors of light.

Hmm.

You know, color is frequency, vibration. Some of them need a blue light, a green light. These are things— so it's sort of like being in this cocoon. So Yeah, I mean, these are all things I wrote extensively about the spirit world in my second book, I'm Still With You.

Okay.

And what I've, you know, what I have personally seen there, as well as years and years of study of metaphysics. But mainly what I write about now is what I've directly experienced.

Well, you know, that makes sense to me, because I've heard, you know, we hear extremes. So we hear from the religious world sometimes, well, it's heaven and hell, it's black or white, there's two choices, it's binary, and they're both eternal. So if you did something bad or you die in the wrong state, you're in hell forever. And then I've heard other people, I think maybe as even a rejection of that, saying everything's love and light, everybody goes directly to the light, you know. And then people say always, what about Hitler? What about Jeffrey Dahmer? Do they go directly to the light?? And I think that your answer is a lot more realistic, frankly. I mean, it doesn't, it doesn't make— not everybody here is in the light, and everybody here wants to be in the light. And so I think there are some people that, for whatever reason, might say, I don't— that's not where I want to be right now.

Well, you're exactly correct. You know, you can't just automatically— in the spirit world, there there is a, um, one of Christ Jesus's sayings from the Christian Bible that says, in my Father's house there are many mansions, right? And what he's referring to, I believe— and a lot of his things were highly metaphysical, a lot of his sayings— um, that there are levels, there are different levels to the spirit world. But levels mean, uh, states of consciousness. That's what that means for people not understand that. Um, so that's what I believe he was referring to. And so you cannot— if you're, you know, a Jeffrey Dahmer, you can't, you know, die and go, well, I'm going to go up there where, you know, the, the ascended masters are, like Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, you know, whatever religion. Um, you cannot do that because your consciousness does not match that. And natural law, which is also what I've wrote about in this new book, um, God's laws, which are the only valid laws in the entire universe— like energy attracts like energy. So therefore, it's impossible energetically to be drawn to something, you know, that doesn't match your vibration. That's why when people go, well, you know, are you afraid of, you know, talking to negative or evil spirits? No, because I don't emanate that. I'm not negative or evil. I might be negative sometimes. I'm not evil, you know, right? I don't, I don't attract that. I'm not afraid of that. Fear is also very powerful. Fear, we saw so much of that. And it's still going on. I mean, fear is— it's like a magnet. It can draw to you what you, what you fear.

Yeah, yeah. I was going to ask you about that because that's another thing that I hear a lot of mediums get asked about. Like, how are you protecting yourself? How do you know you're not going to attract negative entities? You know, aren't you scared of opening yourself up?

Yeah, well, as if you keep, you know, a long time ago, my spirit guide said to me, and I've told this in other podcasts, but they said, Carol, keep your slate clean. And I go, what do you mean? And they said, if somebody does something to you or harms you or whatever, if you retaliate, that's your karma. If you, you just go, you know what, karma is going to take care of them or whatever, higher Source will take care of them. Um, but don't put it on your slate. So if I do my own refinement and I'm coming always from an intent of help, when I sit with a client on the phone or through Zoom, my intent is to help, not to hurt, ever, ever. So, you know, coming from that intent, I, I really don't think that demons or the devil wants to help. You know, so that's why I'm very confident. You know, has it affected me physically? Yeah, because energetically, I've changed so much since I've been doing this work.

Really?

What way?

Well, for one thing, I've become vegan. I do not— I mean, I probably eat some very limited animal products, like in baked goods, you know, eggs or something. But I've changed that. I spend a lot of alone time, you know, even though I'm married. I mean, alone time is very necessary. I meditate every day briefly. That changes one's energy. And I've had to do an enormous amount of self-forgiveness work. Because during addiction, I mean, this is many years ago, I was during my 20s. I hurt people. And that I, you know, I, when I have entered into this type of work, I wanted to balance that and heal that within myself. And so I really had to focus on self-forgiveness. I've written a lot about forgiveness in my books, right? Wisdom from the Spirit World, there's a whole big section on forgiveness. And the importance of self-forgiveness.

Let's talk about forgiveness a little bit more because a lot of people, um, I think they misunderstand forgiveness and they say it as, okay, you're, you're, you can't tell me what to do, you can't make me forgive somebody. I ever saw someone on Facebook just a few days ago, it's like, you know, you can't make me forgive. And I'm like, well, no one's trying to make you forgive. So what do, what are your thoughts on forgiveness and its importance?

Well, you're absolutely correct. Most people believe that it means, well, you know, my dad abused me horribly, but I'm going to forgive him now, and that's all okay. It doesn't mean that, at least in a spiritual sense. In a spiritual sense, it means a release of the past. Simple, simple. I make a conscious decision to release the past. That doesn't mean that I'm putting a stamp of approval on it. What it means is I continue to carry hard emotions— anger, bitterness, resentment. It's a good way to get heart disease. Yeah, this stuff will go into the physical body if it's held. Not 100% of the time, but I've seen it happen with people. Um, that again, it's about keeping your slate clean, um, you know, uh, to release that. One of the Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity— I studied these a long time. I'm a Vlimas reader, and I'm always watching videos on YouTube. I'm constantly learning, um, and the Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, because I hear so many people, why is money such a hard problem for me, and doo-doo-doo, you know. Um, well, let's see, what are you doing? What are your beliefs? So one of the 4 spiritual laws of prosperity is forgive everybody all of the time, including yourself. That's one of them. Another one is tithing, giving. It doesn't have to be 10%, you know, if you can't do that, but give to someplace where you're spiritually fed. Because that multiplies, that multiplies. Um, so, uh, and I am— I, I feel I should have given the name of the author of that book. I cannot, I cannot remember her names. I, I, I think it's Edwene Gaines. Um, her father was a fundamentalist minister.

Oh, okay.

And she was raised in the sort of that, but I found out about her through Unity.

Okay. Yeah.

Workshop with her at Unity. So it was tremendous. So I practice that every Sunday. I write out— I write out— they're not big checks, but I write out checks to charities, you know, and I believe that it's an obligation. I believe that, you know, that everything returns. And I can tell you 100% it will come back to you, and oftentimes unexpectedly.

Yeah, well, you, you've, you've spoken quite a bit. You've mentioned the word karma. So I think a good way to kind of wrap up is to help people understand what does that mean, because again, I think there's a lot of misconceptions around some words that we think we know what they mean, but we really don't.

Karma simply means cause and effect. Everything that you see in the physical world was first a thought. It was either a collective thought, or, you know, if you believe in the Bible, I mean, it was God's thoughts that created the earth, universe, or it doesn't matter. It was thought. And so, you know, we've all heard the clichés, oh, our thoughts create our reality and all this. Well, it is a cliché, but it is true. So a lot of mediumship also involves— I'm going to be honest— counseling. I don't bill myself as a counselor. I certainly— I have a minor in psych from college, but I end up, you know, doing a lot of counseling with people. And I don't misrepresent myself, but sometimes it's just things that are so obvious, and I have to remind people about it. But karma simply means what you create, you receive.

I love what you said about mediumship being about counseling. And we have to be careful when we use terms because counseling has a medical connotation, just like me being a life coach, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm not a counselor. But I think as a medium, you're not only there to, you said you're serving your, your client, the sitter, you're serving the spirit world. But you're also, I think you're there to heal. And, you know, it really irks me, and I know people have to do it for legal reasons. But when people put on their websites, you know, for me, for entertainment purposes only, because I think a lot of people still think of mediumship as for entertainment. Whereas mediumship is about healing. Mediumship is about, you know, it's about, it's about lessening that grief. It's about lessening the fear. It's about making that connection. It's about the continuing bonds that we have. It's, it's not, um, it's not a joke, you know, going to a medium.

Yeah, well, uh, I've had to turn— as you can imagine, dealing with the general public, um, I've had to turn some people away. I remember one time— you'll probably get a chuckle out of this, Brian— um, somebody called me and he goes, can you give me the 'Can you tell me who's going to win this football game?' Yeah, yeah. Like, no. If I, if I— or I've had people ask me for numbers. I mean, that's more psychism. I, I am very psychic too. I don't usually use that word. I say spiritual medium because psychic is a very loaded word in the public, popular vernacular, you know. Um, but if I use my abilities in that way, I, I would lose them probably. But if people go, yeah, what are, you know, what are the good numbers to play? And that's, you know, this is not fortune telling. And believe it or not, I mean, there are still states that have fortune telling laws on the books, and allowed to do this. And so that's why I say no, you know, I do have a minister's license, I got that years and years ago.

Yeah.

So, and I had to do certain things in order to get that. It wasn't like off the back of a matchbook or anything.

Right.

You know, it's, it is what it is. But not, this is not for everybody. But it is for some people. And I'm very realistic. I'm extremely transparent. And I tell people, this is one tool in the toolbox. You know, go to someone like you, you know, doing grief work, go to a regular psychotherapist, you know, do journaling. This is just one tool in the toolbox. It's not a cure-all.

Yeah, it's not a cure-all, but it is a very powerful tool. I, I know that some people have gone to— had a great medium reading or two. And said it was more valuable than a year of therapy. Because again, that validation that our loved one is still there, that validation that we are still going to continue on, there's something about that that can be very, very healing.

Yeah, thank you for saying that. Because I too have been the recipient of those sorts of comments. And I have actually, when I used to do in-person readings, I would watch people when they came in, and they're— even their body posture, their demeanor, you know, kind of down, or, you know, they're, they're slumped or whatever. And then like the half-hour session or the hour session, they're totally different. And that's not me. I'm not taking credit for that. It's Spirit working through me. But, and I've had people say, and they'll go, you know, I can't believe what you said to me just really changed everything. And I always just say, it's not me, you know, but yes, I'm the conduit. Um, so thank you for saying that. I appreciate it.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing what you do. So, um, remind people of where they can find you. And I know you mentioned several of your books. So what's your most recent book?

Um, The most recent one is Wisdom from the Spirit World. New book coming out end of this year. And maybe you and I'll get together again for that. My website is soulvisions.net. That's plural, visions, soulvisions.net. I also have a Facebook page I'd like to mention, and that's facebook.com/soulmedium, S-O-U-L plus the word medium. I put on there everything I do, every podcast I do, I post it there. And, you know, you can get my books through Amazon, and they're on Kindle, they're Barnes Noble, Nook, my publisher, which is Collective Inc. Six Books is the imprint, any of these places. But you will not get an autographed copy unless you go to my website. And I mail them out. So you won't get that through Amazon. I can't beat Amazon's prices, though. I just can't, even as an author.

Well, Carol, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for what you do, and enjoy the rest of your afternoon.

Thank you, Brian D Smith. It's been a pleasure.

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