AN ATHEIST HAS A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE AND DISCOVERS THAT HE IS A MEDIUM: RAY CATANIA

Hello everyone, I'm Shannon Torrance and welcome to Magic is Real, a podcast focused on proof of afterlife whose mission is to bring hope and inspiration to others and to spread the word that death is only an illusion. If these interviews resonate with you and you want to hear more like them, you can support the podcast by liking, subscribing and sharing with like minded friends. Thank you so much and thank you for being a part of the Magic Is Real family. I wish you peace, light and love always. Hello Magic Israel listeners. Thank you so much for being here today. My guest today is Ray Catania. Ray is the author of this book that you see behind him called the Atheist and the An Autobiography which I am halfway through now and I do highly recommend. What I really love about Ray's story is that he is a near death experiencer. He's also a medium. He also has a PhD in I'm going to look at this metaphysical parapsychology to make sure I get that right. I have to look at it. He is a master certified life coach and what I love about his story and stories like it is the fact that he was an atheist. And I think that shows that I also was an atheist at some point and now I'm a medium. So I think I really like to present a very grounded approach so that people understand that this isn't all woo woo and that we are logical thinkers and rational people who also questioned whether or not this is all real. So with my very lengthy introduction out of the way, I would like to introduce to you Ray Catania.

Why thank you so very much, Shannon. I really appreciate you having me here and I'm honored and grateful to be here today with you. And I just wanted to say that my story, as you know, the book is entitled the Atheist and the Afterlife and the title came from the transformation that occurred within myself. It is an autobiography. I did begin life as an atheist in even though I was brought up being Christian, I questioned it constantly, didn't really understand, had a lot of questions that no one was able to answer for me. And then I had experienced a lot of trauma and violence and things that just led me to believe. If there's this loving, you know, being God out there, why would he let these things go on? Why would he let these things happen? So it really I went to the farthest of the other side. Complete non believer. We die, we're done, we're dust, it's over. And then the series of events that transpire throughout my life, you'll see how they Progress and kind of don't give me the option to not believe anymore, you know, because the first thing, like you mentioned, the near death experience. I was around 20 and there was a fire in my house. And the fire was caused by a gas leak under the stove. The stove was located just underneath my bedroom at that time. So I was inhaling the gas. That's actually what caused me to die. It wasn't the fire or the smoke. So the fire was put out relatively quickly. But the point is, when I had that experience and I crossed over and I saw the most amazing, beautiful place, I can. I just can't even put it into words. The feeling there's no pain, there's no suffering, there's no. It's just. I can't even explain the transformation. I see it as though it's almost like I'm looking forward to it. If that sounds, you know, not like I want to get there tomorrow, but. But it's. I don't fear being there. But even when I was 20, I still suppressed that. I chose to say, no, no, no, something's wrong here. Maybe the gas fumes just made me high. And I hallucinated. And the white light was the sunlight that was coming in through the window. And I justified it. I justified it away because maybe I just didn't want it to be real at that point. I certainly. I only told maybe one or two people that I experienced that and they thought I was completely nuts. So I shut it down and I repl. Repressed it and just stuck it in a box and tucked it away. But then other things that led after that started to become more prevalent and I had to kind of be aware of them. They were right in my face, if you will.

Right? Yeah. And I know that your near death experience. I know. I don't know what the time felt like for you. And I. I'll. I'll ask you to explain that because I know that when you left your body, you actually sort of, in your experience, sort of stayed in the room. I mean, you were able to see your father crying and holding you. You were able to hear the sirens and see the paramedics working on you. And yet it was more the feeling of the euphoria and the peace. And the reason I understand why you came back is that you saw your father in such a state of grief and said, I can't leave him like this, and came back fairly. I say quickly, even though I understand that time, as I always say, time is an illusion. But in that. So what for you this is. What did the time feel like to you? Can you describe that?

Sure. Well, when the. When I actually, in the beginning, I was laying in bed and I. And I found that I was almost completely paralyzed. So that's when I knew something was wrong. I had one arm that I could utilize and pull myself, and I knew I had to get out of the bed or I was going to die. So I hear the commotion downstairs, the fire department, the police. I know I've got to get up, I got to get out. And I'm trying to pull myself and I finally get to the edge of the bed and I passed out. But when I passed out, I hit the floor and it made a big thud, right? So the first person to run up into my room was my father. And at this point, when I hit the ground, I didn't even feel hitting the ground. I was gone. I was out of my body at that point. I was hovering over myself, looking down. My father scooped me up, was screaming and crying for the paramedics. And it was like there was a spotlight that was just on me. And it was this huge cone shaped white light that at the end of it was a being who said, you can come into the light. It's safe to come into the light. I don't know who that was, but I believed him or her. And I proceeded to go into the light. And the more I went in, the better it felt. The euphoria would build and build and build. I wish I had. I wish there was a word to describe how amazing it feels. But anyway, I was looking at myself and my father in this. In this, you know, crying and so upset. And we didn't have a very good relationship. So when I saw him cry about my death, I felt loved. I felt like, well, if I go back, maybe we will have that relationship that I always wanted. So I went back and I didn't wake up in my room. I woke up in the living room on the floor. And like you said, the paramedics are doing their things. And I was like, guys, get off me, get off me. Did you see the light? Did you hear the voice? Did you see the light? And now, you know, they're starting to look at me like a little cuckoo, right? So I just shut my mouth. I don't want to wind up in the wrong hospital, if you know what I mean. So, yeah, it was a surreal experience. And I remember after the pain set in and I was officially back, I said, why the heck did I choose to come back here when I could have Stayed there. I wanted a do over.

Something that. I may be bringing this up a little earlier in our conversation, but I don't want to forget it. I just. I just got such. I just got chills. So sometimes spirit, like, starts to pop in when I'm. When I'm just talking about things. But I. It really struck me because in the book you speak about your childhood trauma and. And this whole path is so interesting to me because you mentioned that you have PTSD or that you developed PTSD from this experience, from all of your experiences. I find this so interesting because I have a very close friend who has ptsd and I know quite a lot about it and what it does to the brain and how it. How it works. But what I find really interesting is that so many mediums have ptsd. And my theory, and I'd love to hear yours, is that when you have ptsd, the amygdala becomes sort of hyperactivated. It's a protective. PTSD isn't actually a disorder. It's actually your brain protecting itself, attempting to protect you. Unfortunately, that doesn't really serve us in the long run because you can't be in a constant state of fear and panic. And therefore, I believe because that part of your brain is heightened in order to scan for danger, you're also unintentionally scanning everything for everything and picking up on that radio station that we talk about. My friend is completely psychic and doesn't. Didn't believe in this stuff until I started doing this work myself. And she said, well, if you're doing this, I know you and I know it has to be real. But she started to develop these knowings and these knowing she was going to hear from someone and knowing what was going to happen and having premonitions and it all just. I find that really interesting. And of note, what do you have to say about that or anything else that. That you feel like commenting on?

When I first got involved in mediumship and exploring psychic ability, the one common denominator that I found with every mentor, every teacher, or everybody I interacted with, that was a medium. And they all had significant trauma in their youth. And from my own experience, and I put this in the book, when I was very young, I would hide in a closet. And just to get away from everything, I would hide. And when you're alone and you're hidden, like you say, I didn't want to be in that world. I wanted to be in another world. And I kept trying to push and push and push, and eventually I broke through. And I started to experience my imaginary friends, if you will. But mine weren't imaginary. I didn't really care at the time. It seemed perfectly normal to me. It wasn't until I revealed it to one of my friends, who was. Who then told her parents, who then told my parents. And then, you know, of course, that didn't go well for me, to say the least. But yeah, I think it's that when you are experiencing trauma, your brain tries to get you out of that situation into another. And if you do that repeatedly enough times, you're going to see that there. You can break into another realm of existence and connect with it because it is there. But we don't try to get there unless there's a trauma. You know what I mean? Unless you really seek to try to do this work, it's kind of done to you.

That's right. I hear that so often. And they have done brain scans on mediums, like the Long island medium, Tyler Henry, maybe Matt Frazier, I don't remember, but also Carmel Joy Baird, who I've worked with, they all had brain scans. And with Teresa, they said it looks like your brain is in a meditative state all the time. Even as high strung as she has the reputation for being, her brain stays in this unusual meditative state. Carmel also had some severe trauma she talks about in her book. And they said it looks as if you've had a brain injury. She did. She hasn't. So I find it so interesting also in terms of people saying, oh, my grandmother was a medium, my mom was a medium, and now I'm a medium. I really do believe it has so much to do with your brain structure or. I mean, I think it has other reasons. Like, I also think it's your purpose to do the work, but. And also sometimes I think it's also your purpose to go through the trauma so that you can better serve others, having learned these lessons. So I think it's all part of. Of it.

But I totally agree with what you're saying. Absolutely. It's the perf. It's a perfect storm, if you will, of events and the purpose and the. Perhaps there is a hereditary component. So, yeah, it's a combination of all of those things that makes you break through that barrier for the, for the first interaction. And, you know, it kind of. It's. It's scary. You know, the first. I'm sure the first time you experienced that you were actually talking to someone who's deceased, you had to have been, oh, my God, you know, like, what's happening to me? What's going on with my. My brain, my body, what's happening? And it's, it's a. It's scary in the beginning. Very, very scary. I remember being. Not knowing if I was insane or not. Basically, I just. I'm an atheist. You were an atheist. Right. So we're coming from the far side over here to coming to terms with, okay, there's an afterlife. And hey, by the way, you can speak to it anytime you like.

Right?

That's nuts.

Yeah. And unlike you, my first foray into it was seeing spirit with my bear with my naked eyes. Although it showed up as an orb, a beautiful orb. So it wasn't. But I screamed because who expects? I'm 14 years old. I turn the light off and this glowing blue orb appears over my bed. And even though it's friendly, it almost looks like Tinkerbell in its personality and essence. I screamed because what are you? What is that? And then it disappeared because I know it didn't want to scare me. It just wanted to say, hey, just so you know, I'm here. But I find that interesting because you also talk about when you were speaking with your imaginary friends, how did you sense that they were. How did you perceive that they were communicating back to you? What was your experience of that?

It was kind of like playing one of those video games where multiple people can play, like Fortnite or something like that, where you're in this different world kind of. Now I'm literally just sitting in a closed. If I'm in the closet, I'm in a closed room and it's dark, but in my mind, I'm in this different world. I'm part partaking in another realm of reality. And some of those avatars or characters or however you want to say, they interacted with me.

And.

And like I said, I thought nothing of it. I thought everybody could do this. It's not a big deal. You know, I just was a place I went when I wanted to escape my current reality. I went to that reality.

That's such a good description of it. Now, cutting forward, I know that your spiritual evolution sort of unfolded over a period of time as. As most. Dr. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't even realize it was that long, but so, yeah. What was your life like in between the near death experience and discovering that you had your abilities, which I know has a lot to do with Jessica and I. I find this. Yeah. There's so much to talk about, but I want you to. To share it.

So. Okay. So after the near death experience. The next really prevalent event was I had moved into an apartment building. It was quite nice and I had a roommate, but my roommate was never there. He was always staying with his girlfriend at that time. So I pretty much had the place to myself, or so I thought. And I would start seeing shooting black lines across the room. The energy of the room would change and I would feel vibrations and feel tingly. The phone would cut out, the lights would flicker and just all these things were just happening. And I didn't want it to be real, right? So I'm just thinking, okay, maybe this place is haunted. I'll just move to another place, everything will be fine. I move to the next place. I have the same thing. So it's not the place now. It's me. And again, I don't want to acknowledge this. I don't, I'm. I don't believe in this at this time. So, you know, I would just do anything I could do to, to sleep because they would keep me up. I would, I would take drugs to go to sleep or drink myself to sleep or whatever I had to do not to interact with this. So you remember I went through that period when I was a kid. I'm fine with it. But after that, I'm told that this is horrific and it's a, it's, you know, Satan's doing this and it's terrible. And so I'm trying to suppress it and keep this a secret. And now it's coming out more and more all, all around me. So at that point, many years later, after that, I eventually, I'm making this story very short. Of course, the next big event was meeting Jessica. We had first just started dating, and I think we were maybe like a month or two into our dating and we had like that conversation that probably every couple has at some point. So what are your religious beliefs? What are your spiritual beliefs? Right. So she asked me that question and I said, you know, I'm not sure. I really am not sure, but it's been something that I've wanted to look into. And she said, well, your birthday's coming up and I'm going to purchase a spiritual clearing for you. And I was like, huh, great, hon. I don't know what that is. I was like, so we haven't cake, you know, I was like, completely, you know, just, okay, whatever, go for it. So you're not present for that, as you probably know. So the healer, the energy healer called me, told me the time of day, don't make any appointments on that day, you know, keep your schedule as free and clear. I'm like, whatever. You're going to feel a little bit different. Yeah, right. Okay, Click. So afterwards I did feel different. I. There was like my equilibrium was off. You know how you have a day where you just drop everything or maybe you trip on something and you just. Oh, it's one of those days, right, where you like, everything just falls out of your hand or whatever. So I literally felt like wobbly. And that went on for about two days. And then what happened next was the defining moment. I started to get a message from a man. Every time I was idle, I saw him on a movie screen. I'm not seeing this with my eyes. I'm seeing it with my, my third eye, if you will, on a screen. And the man is on the screen and he says. He turns to me very slowly and he says, I fucked up. I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. That's the message. Next to him is Jessica. And she's looking down on the floor that I cannot see. But she has a look of horror on her face. So whatever this it is is a big deal, right? She's horrified. He's telling me I have to help somebody. I don't believe in any of this. And this message continues throughout the day. The same 8 second video loop I called it over and over and over and over. There's no way I'm going to call up my girlfriend and tell her I'm seeing things. Let's top it off with the fact that she is a doctor of psychology. If all of that's not enough, right the beginning of our relationship, I'm going to call her up and say, hey, you know, I'm seeing things and you're in there and blah, blah, blah, she's going to run for the hills. At least that's what I think. So day two, this goes on. Same guy, same message, eight seconds over and over and over. Day three, it goes on and on and on. So at the very end, when I just couldn't take it anymore, I remember being at the cashier in a store. I was paying for something and I'm seeing this again. And the woman behind the cash register says to me, are you okay? And I said, I don't think so. And I put my credit card in and I took it out. I got into my car and I said, this is it. If I am crazy, then I need to get help. So at least if I can go to Jessica, who is a professional, she can at least tell me Am I crazy? So I bring the story to her that night, and I. At first, I just told her it was a recurring dream. Eventually I told her it was all day long. And I said, well, I keep seeing this man. And he turns to me and he says, I fucked up. I made a mistake. You can help her. I cannot. And you're looking at this, too, and with this really horrific. Like you're really scared of whatever it is. And she says, oh, well, do you think it was my dad? I'm like, no, definitely not. It didn't even look like your dad. I saw that picture. She has a picture that's on the mantle, and it didn't look like him at all. And I was like, no, no, no, but why would you say that? She goes, well, years ago, I went to a medium, and I was like, oh, okay, so you believe in this, you know, now. Now this is, like, unfolding. I saw a medium. My dad came through, and the medium told me that, you know, he was like. He was just this huge. He came through very easily, and it gave me the closure I needed, and it was a great experience. And so I said, okay, you know, that's great, but I don't know who this guy is. And she sends me a photo. She texts me a picture of her dad, and it was the guy. And I'm like, you know this guy? And she says, that's my dad. And I said, but on the picture, he's clean shaven, and he. And he was lighter. She's like, yeah, that was like a special occasion. He shaved. He normally has a full beard, mustache, and he was always heavier. And I'm like, oh, my God. She goes, you might be a psychic medium and you don't even know it. I was like, don't ever say that again. That is a burden that I would never want to carry. But that was the beginning. And he kept. He came back and he brought friends, and they continued to give me messages. And I would give them to Jessica and she would bring them to the people who they were for. And I'm still trying to not believe this. I want this to not be real. I really do. And I told her, never, ever tell anybody that I gave you the information. If you want to say it, you know, to your friend who was a widow and did need closure and needed to get the message that I got, just say you got it from your medium. And she said, okay. And some of the things that they were giving me were for the purpose of, you know, what we refer to as evidential Mediumship. I remember one thing the man said at the very end. He said, remember the silly shoes. And then he went away. And I was like. So I told Jessica, I said, if you're going to relay this information at the end, he said, remember the silly shoes. I don't know what that means, but if that means something to her, I'll believe this is real. So she delivers the message and she comes back and tells me how, you know, the woman just cried. And the message was so important to her. And the silly shoes was the first date that they had together. She said he had the most ridiculous shoes on. And it became the running joke throughout their entire marriage.

That's incredible.

That's when I kind of just. My jaw hit the floor.

Yeah. That moment where even we are like, it's so hard to believe that. That it's real. And that's why. Evidence. That's so interesting. It's funny. It just reminded me of when I was taking a class with Monica, the medium, and I was just learning. And I remember thinking, I am, quote, unquote, the worst in this class. Everyone here is so much better at this than I am. And I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. And she had a guest sitter on, and she said, what can we get for her? I really wasn't getting anything because we were all chiming. Everyone was chiming in at the same time. And I can't work with distractions like that. I mean, personally, I wasn't getting anything that way. And she said, well, none of you really got anything, but I'm going to give you another minute. Because she lost her fiance in this horrible, tragic accident. And. And he was very young, and so was she. And so I said, please, just show me something. Like, just in the last minute, just give me something funny to make her laugh. And I saw slippers, and I'm like, I feel kind of silly, but he just showed me slippers. And she goes, oh, my God. When we were in college together, he wore slippers to class, to the store. He never wore shoes. And I hated that, that he just would always wear his slippers everywhere. And that was one of those really. It's this little. They just want to show you it is really me. And it's so. It's so incredible. So now I know that, and you can fill in anything I'm missing at this point. I think this is where Jessica says, why don't you come see this medium, Bonnie?

Exactly.

And I may be missing something, but tell me your version of this.

You're right there. So that is the thing that happened next. And I'm still conflicted with the reality of this. And if it is real, well, then what am I supposed to do with it? And how do you know? Why do I have it? So she says, you know, Bonnie's coming around. Why don't we go see her? I'll book you an appointment. I'll book myself one, and we'll go together. And I said, okay. She goes, at least you can get your answers. You can ask her questions and blah, blah, blah. So I wasn't going for a reading. I've never had a reading. I didn't even know what a reading was or what it looked like. I mean, that's not something that I've ever been involved in. So I go in first, because if I didn't go in first, I probably would have ran for the hills and not gone in at all. And I. And I sat down and I said, hi, I'm Ray. And she goes, oh, you're that Ray. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm not Ray. I don't know what that means, but here we go. So we sat together, and I gave her the first three. Well, three different types of messages that I received and including the one from her dad. And I explained how I saw it. The movie screen, the feeling, the vibrations, the lines across the room. And she said, that is exactly the way I see it, too.

Wow.

And it was in that moment that I guess there was a relief that I wasn't nuts. But then there was a new anxiety caused by, well, what now? What happens next? And we actually had a great, like, session because we were talking, and I remember I asked her, what's the question you hate most as a psychic? Right. What's the question you hate most? And she says, we both said it at the same time. How do you know that? And I'm like, yeah, people ask me that all the time. And I'm like, I have no frigging idea how I know anything. It's just there.

Yeah.

So, you know, we had a really great time. And so I left with the validation that I needed. But at the same time, I had no idea what I was going to do with this. And she became my teacher in the beginning.

Yeah. How did you go from that? Okay. What was the okay? I have these abilities. What did you decide to do from there? Or was it a decision? Did you kind of just keep going about your life and it kept nudging you, or did you say, okay, now? I need to really study because I know you did study with Bonnie as well.

I did, I did. I studied with her for a while and I kept my day job. At point, I was, you know, I had a great job, made great money, everything was great. I had a great girlfriend, my kids were just going, starting college. I mean, life was perfect. And all of a sudden this comes into play. And so I studied with Bonnie, I kept my job. I studied and studied and tried to take in as much information as I possibly could. Because in the very early days, I remember going to Bonnie and saying, listen, turn this off. Make the stop. I don't want this anymore. Make it go away. Tell me how I can make it stop. And she says, hold on, hold on. Just take a breath and relax and tell me what's going on. And I said, well, they disrupt me like all day. I can't get my work done. It's at the worst time. Sometimes it's when I'm driving. I mean, it's nuts. I don't want this anymore. And she said, give me two weeks. And if after two weeks you still feel the same way, then I will show you how to shut it off. I said, okay, I can do that. I'll give you two weeks. So what she did was she taught me ways to control it and ways to communicate. Like if somebody is disruptive, you can say, hey, listen, I'll meet you. I can't help you right now, but I can meet you at nine o'clock later tonight. And you know, I'll meet in the kitchen or whatever, and it works. So I started to become in control. And I learned that, you know, this is our world. They're visiting our world. So we are in control. We can choose to speak to them or not to speak to them. But I didn't know that. So basically that was the very, very beginning stages of my teaching. And then I got my next mentor I have been with for two and a half years, that's Joe. And again, I've just been consuming information and taking in as much as I can. I still consider myself a beginner. In the world of mediumship. There's people doing this for 20 years, and I'm only like two and a half. I don't do readings. I'm still developing, I'm still learning. But.

With.

So with Joe, he kind of. He really took me to another level. And I felt like you did. Like, I'm the worst in the class. You know, all these other people are accomplished. 400 people applied to to get into the mentorship. 12 were chosen, and I was one of them. And I'm like, wow, this is nuts. But he must know something that I don't know. And I've been with him ever since. And, you know, he. He's been. He just takes me to higher and higher levels. Then the pandemic hit, and when that happened, I decided to go back to school and learn and get my degrees in metaphysical parapsychology. I didn't do it all through the pandemic, obviously. I started in the very beginning and. And started to learn about metaphysics. And also Joe teaches a lot of metaphysics as well, in addition to mediumship. So it was coming together for me, and I started to see things that I had done in my life utilizing things like the law of attraction, the law of vibration. And I was like, this is. This is something that not only interests me, but, like, I could give back to the world if I. If I give this information. Right? So my. The beginning of the book actually started as a journal where I was writing the events that caused my PTSD down. It was suggested by my therapist at that time. And I wrote it in a way like. You read it, right? So I showed it to Jessica, and she's like, oh, my God, you got to publish this. And I was like, are you nuts? That's like my most private, private crap in there. I can't publish that. And she's like, no, you don't understand. You have to publish that. That will change people's lives.

Yes.

And I said, do you think people want to hear about my shit? She goes, not the shit. It's where you started and where you are now and the tools that you use to get here. And then the light bulb went off. And I'm like, you know, she's right. Let me give it a shot. So I wrote the book. And that's exactly. The book is more about coming from nothing or less than nothing, and achieving so much using universal laws and principles. And really and truly. And I mean this. Anybody can do anything they want to do. You are co creator of the universe. Most people don't realize that you are one with God. God is not a separate entity, not a separate thing that's judging you. We are all connected to this universal consciousness. And when you learn how to tap into it and communicate with it, you can create. And it's just been such a great ride, and I just wanted to give it back to other people and teach as many other people as I can. So one day I was talking to Bonnie, and she Said, you haven't published your book yet, have you? And I said, nah. She goes, why? I said, I don't know. I still have doubts and apprehensions. And she said, well, here's the deal, right? You have to let yourself die and that's what you're scared of. And I said, well, I don't, I don't follow. She's like, the day you publish the book, the ray that sits before me dies. And the new ray, it will be reborn. And that new ray is going to have a different message and be a different person and do things differently. And you're scared of that, you need to let yourself die. And I took those words and I listened to them over and over again. And finally it was New Year's Eve, 11:30 at night, and I clicked the publish button to send it off to be published. And I was like, that's it. I'm going to start the new year with the book being published. Everything is out there. I quit my job, I left everything and started a whole new chapter of my life. And that's where I am now.

I keep seeing that emoji of the prayer hand. They're not prayer hands there. When someone says yes, and the hands go like this. Which to the podcast listeners, I don't know if you'll understand what I mean, but I, first of all, you are speaking my language 100%. Second of all, the fact that yes, people are often afraid to speak about their trauma publicly, but it's in doing that because I've had friends say to me, should I talk about this publicly? And I'll say, okay, look, as a, I'm biased, as a 12 step recovery success story, I. It is, I always share my stuff, my shit, because I want people to know when they look at me now, you should have seen me, you know, 15 years ago. You would not recognize me. I don't recognize me. I don't even relate with that person anymore. But she's a part of me and she's what brought me here.

Right?

And I love nothing more than a success story. An adversity to success story. And success doesn't mean money, business.

Correct.

It means just finding self love, happiness, being of service, just finding peace. Finding peace and love and recovery and. And it's beautiful. So thank you for doing that. And it also helps that person who's going through the same thing and realizes that not only are they not alone, but that there is hope. Which is part of why I do this podcast as well. To show people that there is more to Life. And there is always hope. And also, I would love to. Well, two things I'd love. Can you sort of. Because this is really interesting. Me personally, can you say what sort of the definition of. What is it metaphysical parapsychology is? Sure, that's the first part of my question. Go ahead.

So metaphysics is the study of life, death, consciousness, universal laws, the mind and the different parts of the mind. It incorporates Freud's work, Carl Jung's work with paranormal. I really don't like the word paranormal, but it's the connection between our minds and the conscious collective consciousness. How to interact, how to acquire things, give things, and. And it also teaches you to not fear death. You know, it's a transformation, it's not an ending. So there was so much good. I went to the University of Sedona and I highly recommend it. If anybody's interested in.

I am.

Yeah. I got so much from them. It was fantastic. And now I do private coaching, one on one. And I also do speaking events, either online or in person. And I try to spread this word and I try to teach people how to get everything that they want. And like you said, success is not measured in money, it's measured in happiness. But if it's money you want to. You can manifest money. You know, there's. You're allowed to. It's okay, I've done it.

Yeah. And my second question starts with. I am completely obsessed with manifesting to the point where it's. I mean, I literally don't watch tv. I just. When I'm not doing stuff, I watch manifestation videos and Joe Dispenza. And I mean, I could just. Because it pumps me up and it makes me feel good and excited and I really love. I really love Robert Zwick from Law of Attraction, Attraction Solutions. Who is this guy that's. He's so funny, but just hearing him say, you can do this just kind of. I get really excited about it. And I also do manifestation stuff every day. Not to. Not because I think you need to do it all the time, because you actually don't. And I know that we're also here to be present in our lives and express, experience it. But personally, it just gives me a lot of energy. So I would love to know. Yeah. Once you have that degree, what are the ways in which people can apply it? But also specifically, what. How do you use the knowledge and experience you have to coach others? What do you coach them in and how do you help them and provide a service to them?

So everybody, there's. It's not a cookie cutter answer, because everybody that comes to me comes with something different or comes from something different. But the first thing we do is establish the goals that they wish to achieve. So this way we develop a path and a plan to get there. Now with different people, that has different meanings. Again, success is not always money. It can be many, many other things. It could be relationships, you know, marriage, it could be children raising children. You know, there's so many just different things that you may want to learn or improve or what have you. And. But the methodology, a lot of the methodology, once you learn universal laws and principles, laws of vibration, laws of attraction, et cetera, et cetera, you can use them to achieve those goals. So everybody's in a different part of their journey, but I take where they are and I know where they want to be because they've told me that. And then I give them the information they need to get from point A to the end point and. And achieve their goal. But I always remind everybody it is not. And this is a great Buddha quote. It's my, it's probably my, my favorite. There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path. So what that means is it's not the goal, it's the journey to achieve the goal that must be just as desirable as getting the goal. You need to love life every day and love what you're doing to achieve the goal and to be willing to do what needs to be done to get it. So I'm not sure if I answered your question.

You did.

I did. Okay.

Beautifully. Beautifully. And I agree. I always like. I like the phrase what you believe is what you will see. So the belief comes first. And, and like I said, I've just found that I'm in a constant state of high vibration because I just keep reinforcing. I have everything I need. I'm grateful for what I have. And being grateful for what I already have.

Yes.

Is key as well. Then I start to see it unfold in these miraculous ways. And I just posted something on Instagram about how about a year ago, maybe a little before, I wrote down all the things I wanted, didn't know, and I had no clue how it would even pan out. I live on the East Coast. I was in LA at the time. I was in a relationship with someone who didn't want to leave. I live on the East Coast. I have a creek in my backyard. I have. I set an amount of money that there was no way I thought I could possibly achieve. I. I received this much money from an unexpected Source. Well, and a lot of other little things there. Yeah. Unbelievably, I was. I moved to Virginia. I broke up with my boyfriend, moved to Virginia. And I looked at. I opened up this box and I looked inside of it and every single thing that I had wrote, written down, manifested, including an inheritance. That was exactly the amount of money that I had written down. And I had even written myself a check for that amount that I had hanging on my wall. I was like, there's no way I'm going to see that much in my account ever. How's that ever going to happen? But I knew, keep believing it. And it actually happened. And I just was blown away.

It is so amazing when the amounts are like right on point or the details are right on point. It's just so mind blowing.

Yes.

And I love to see when people come back into my office and they go, it worked, it worked. Sometimes I work with younger people that are in college, which is great that they're even open to this. And one of my, one of my clients said that universe stuff, right? It works, bro. It works. It's really good. They just made me laugh. I was like, yeah. He goes, I got the internship and it was easy. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I got everything I asked for. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I love to see that. I just love to see that.

That is so cool. I love that you get to do that work. Do you have plans of doing readings for people professionally?

I don't know. I really don't know. And there's a lot. As you know, there's a lot of.

What?

Here's the thing. Whether it be psychic or mediumship, what information is right to give to another person and what may be not for their highest and best selves. I'll give you an example. So if I know that a particular person is going to experience a trauma in their life and I know what it is, and I know kind of what it. How. How it's going to happen. And I tell them, here's how to avert it. Okay, Right. So they avert it. But what did I just do to them? Maybe they needed that as a learning experience to go to their next level. Because if you take out some of my traumas, I'm not me anymore. I don't have my ability that I can help other people. If you take my traumas away, I'm just a talking head. It's because I lived it, that I can share it and help people with it. So when do you tell somebody? When do you not tell somebody, what do you share? What do you not share? Everybody wants to hear, you know, from their mom or their dad, I love you. Well, you know what, they don't always say that. Sometimes, you know, sometimes they say things you might not want to hear. So, you know, there's beautiful moments when I've get. I've reunited a widow with her husband and she was a complete non believer. This was a practice test with Joe. We were in class and we were each given someone to read for and it was just an amazing experience to watch her who didn't believe at all. To me giving her evidential medium, mediumship and incidences and things. And she was just like blown away and loved every minute of it. And it was really gratifying, really rewarding. But it doesn't always go that way, as we both know. So, you know, I struggle with that a little bit internally. But when I do coach people if there is something, a message that they, you know, they need to get and I'm, you know, I will relay that message, but I don't do straight up readings. I just. Not, not yet.

Yeah. And that's okay. I mean, I think like Susan Schuller, my friend and meet a very good medium I had on my show last week. She said if it's meant to be, spirit will let you know. They're not going to let you get away with it. I mean, they're going to pull you into it, which is what happened to her.

Oh yeah.

And I also think that you can use that intuition in your work anyway for good. I mean, not that I think mediumship is good if it's done by someone who's responsible, ethical and is very. And has a great bedside manner and knows how to also hold someone, hold space for someone in their grief. Which is a very sort of sacred responsibility.

Right.

And you clearly do and you clearly sensitive to it or you wouldn't even question whether or not you should be doing it. But I think you can also use that just in dealing with one on one clients because it's feeling into someone's energy, being able to connect with them and know what's in their highest and best is part of the work that you do and you enjoy it. So yes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it kind of thing.

Right.

And, and also unlike you, I don't get strong downloads of you have to say this message. I'm still, when I read, I'm still in the, in the place where I wish I. My messages were as clear as Yours are. And I'm just learning the very subtle art of piecing it all together and. And saying, okay, don't, and I'll. And I still say, don't quote me on this, because this is just what I'm feeling. Take it as you will. And they know when it's coming from their loved one. And I personally don't get like, oh, this. You're going to have this illness or. Or anything like that. It's all just mainly evidence. It's mainly, remember this. I have this memory of this. And the other day I had one where I said, I'm still working on messages, and I'm working on not reaching for the message and just letting it come through. So I just said, what is your message? From my sitter? And I said, it's a very loud. It's your grandfather's voice saying, rock the boat. I said, I usually hear, don't rock the boat. She said, And I said, and there's something legal. She said, I know exactly what this is. It's a big family thing where we have to take my stepfather to court for something terrible that he did. And she said, none of us want to do it, and we didn't want to rock the boat. And he's saying, yes, rock the boat. And so it's really only messages like that. But I can understand if you're getting so much stuff, you'd really have to be very selective, and it's such a responsibility that you have.

I. There's a story near the end of the book where I'm at the bedside of one of my dear friends who is in the hospital with something that was not serious, right, or no one would think it was serious. And when I got closer and closer to the room, as I approached the room to visit him, I began to see his. His wake. And now I am about to walk into this room with this man who's been a dear friend of mine for so long. I know what. That he's not coming home. But I can't say that. Yeah, I. I can't acknowledge it in any way. His children are there. His. I mean, it's just sometimes it can be tormenting. And I sat with him and I said, you're a fighter, and you're going to get through this and you're going to be great. And I said to his children, don't worry, don't worry. He's, you know, everything's going to be great. And I left there and a mess. A mess, because I knew he was not coming out of that hospital, not the way he was going. And I would love to have just been able to say, get your affairs in order. Where you're going is going to be a wonderful place. Don't fear it. Don't be scared of it. Embrace it. You're gonna love it. And I couldn't, I couldn't. I just couldn't say any of that.

Of course.

So I've had some situations like that where I just, you know, I, I don't. Is it a curse? Is it a blessing? I. I don't know. I don't know.

Yeah. And maybe it's both. And it's just, maybe it's both a part of your challenges that you have to deal with in this life. It does feel like you were one of the. And I don't want mean to say this in a way that sounds like people like you are on a pedestal, but the chosen ones, in the sense that so many people I interview who've had near death experiences, it's very clear that this was part of their path to be awakened, to be shown. Some of them, like you had abilities that they were aware of beforehand. Some don't have abilities afterwards at all that they're aware of. But the common theme I see is that there was this clear path where they were meant to come into this world. Because people I know, people that have had two or three near death experiences, the first one, they got answers, they kept their mouth shut, didn't say anything. So spirit took them back and said, I have to. Do I have to remind you again, I'm going to do it again.

Apparently you didn't get this the first time. So here you go.

You are meant to come back and do the work. And they were like, fine, I finally get it. So it does seem like that's part of your path. And it's so wonderful though that you do get to. I'm sure that it can, it does come with its difficulties as, as does having a near death experience. A lot of people have trouble assimilating back into this reality for. And some of them, even for their entire lives since have struggled with being part of this world.

I was, remember, I was 20 years old. So now imagine yourself as a 20 something year old person and you have no fear of death. So the positions I put myself in, which I wrote about, you know, not good choices.

Yeah, right.

Because I figured, well, what's the worst? I go back to the light. That place was great. You know, I didn't have kids, I didn't have any, you know, Anybody relying on me. So at that time, I was like, yeah, what the heck? Yeah, I'll go back to the light.

Let's party. Let's party. Yeah. That's what. That's what you did.

Yeah. The next thing I know, bullets are going everywhere. And, you know, the voice is like, get out.

Get out.

You know, like you said, there was always that someone or something that told me how to get out of the situation safely and at the last possible second. But I don't think of myself as chosen or special or any of those things. I don't. And I know that's. I don't know.

Yeah, I agree. We. We're all special. We're all. I think some of us are sort of put here to do this kind of work. I do believe that, you know, that was kind of your path. But we are all part of the same light, and we are all part of the same love, the same light. We are all. We are all one, truly. And we all have our different gifts that were put here to express or. Or our challenges that were put here to unfortunately suffer through. And hopefully we get it. And that's. That's something. I know a lot of people kind of look at mediums, and I used to sort of be like, what can you tell me? What do you know? And I've said before, when people ask me questions, when I'm doing readings, can you tell me what's going to happen to me? Or I say, look, I'm only a human being like you are. I can ask spirit. And I'm. And I'll tell you what I feel and see. Please know. It could be open to interpretation. I could be wrong. My. My mind might be getting in the way and creating a story. So just know that I'm going to tell you this, but please take it with a grain of salt. If it resonates, great. If not, don't look to me for the answers. I. I'm just as. I mean, I'm especially also new to this, but definitely I'm just working to be a channel because I love doing it so much. It. It means so much to me, the connection that as a medium, you get to have with a human being. You get to sit with another person and you get into. It's such an intimate relationship right off the bat. There's this. I. There's this. We are one, we are connected, and.

You have to blend in order to achieve that. Anyway. You have to blend. One of the things that I often discuss with my clients is I. I teach them how to use their own sixth sense, because we all have it. Can you be a medium? I don't. You know, maybe not, but you still have a sixth sense. You have that ability to connect with the universal collective and acquire information from it. You don't have to be a medium to do that. You have to be a psychic to be a medium. But you do not have to be a medium to be psychic. And if you go all the way back to the 1500s when science was just emerging, they said that we had six senses, not five. But the church, which was all powerful and all knowing, heard about this sixth sense thing. And they were like, whoa, that sounds a lot like spirits and souls. And you're getting into our category. And if you want to talk to God, you go through us. And that's how that works. And they literally killed anyone who went against that. And eventually scientists was like, okay, they would be labeled a heretic and burned at the stake. And that went on until the 1800s, 300 years of killing people. Science was like, all right, we'll take five senses. We're good with five. We'll keep five. You keep the others. And that was what happened. So we never learned that we have this ability, but everybody has it. Everybody.

Yes. And I've never heard someone say it like that. That makes so much sense. And it does, because that sixth sense is our intuition. It's actually, I tell people who don't believe in this stuff because I've told friends what I do who've said, I don't believe in it. And I said, that's okay. You don't have to. I said, think of it this way. Animals sense when there's a predator. That is a survival instinct. That is why animals know when there's going to be an earthquake sometimes. That's why you have a weird. You just know someone's going to call. You have a feeling you're being watched, even if you're not looking at someone. It's an energetic perception, and it's there for survival. So if you don't believe it's spiritual, that's fine, right? But it's not out of the realm of possibility that there is a sixth sense. And also, we have shut it down because of our. The way that we're raised, children have that sixth sense. We then. It is so hard. We then go into school and we're told, you have to learn math and science and history, which is great. And so we focus on facts that we can read and touch. And we also don't rely in this particular age on our intuition, because we can just Google it. We can just use a map. We don't have to look around and say, oh, which way is the wind blowing? Or whatever it is.

Yeah, that's a good point.

So we just. We. We have cheat sheets, and everything's available to us to the point where I can do a math problem on my phone. I can. I can do anything I need to do on my phone. I don't need to. I don't have the real survival need to rely on my own senses. Which is why you can get it back. And that's what I did. I'm not like you. I didn't start getting downloads. I'm sure I did, but didn't realize it.

Right, that's right, you did, but you didn't know what it was at the time.

Exactly. And so I took classes to develop it. And a woman one day commented on one of my podcasts saying, I don't understand why we need. She said, no disrespect, I just want to know why do we need mediums? I said, you don't. But the. What mediums have that can help is that we are trained to interpret the language of spirit. If you want to do what I do, which is meditate every single day, talk to spirit every day, journal, really communicate, do practice readings every single day, you can do it, too. Not every single day. It's. You can learn it, you can get it back. But it's also hard to hear your own loved ones in spirit because you may not know what's coming from your own previous knowledge of them versus a strong voice. I'm an objective party. That's it.

Yes. And when I work one on one with clients, sometimes they'll say, well, you know, can you do a reading? You know, can you just make an exception into a reading? And I said, I actually can't because I have a vested interest in your success now and I know too much about you.

Yes.

It may be convoluted. I may just indirectly tell you things because I want you to have them.

Yes.

And not because I'm being objective, you know, so if you're going to read, it's got to be a complete stranger. I don't want to know a last name. Just, you know, the less I know, the better. Then I can be completely objective and just express what I see and leave it at that. So, yeah, we can't do this. And I. And I actually, in the next book that's coming out in March, there's store there's a significant story about me making that mistake and trying to read for a friend. And it didn't, it didn't work out so well. And I called my mentor and I said, you know, which basically, like, what did I, what should I have done? And he said, well, you know, you know, rule number one is you don't read for friends because, you know, too much information and it's always going to have some sort of a backlash. And, you know, he's right.

Yeah.

It's something we just, you know, shouldn't do because we can't have that same objectivity.

That is correct. I think that really, that we've really covered a nice broad a spectrum of ideas and I, I once again, really want to encourage people to read your book. I, I find it. I just, I was getting so in. Right. I'm getting to that meaty part where I'm like, oh, I relate with this. And I love really, really learning about your evolution and all these things that happen to you. It validates my own experiences. And also, is there anything else you have. I know you're, you're writing a new book. Is there anything else you want to share that you're working on, where you. And we will put your links below so that people can reach you if you're accepting new clients, I assume, and that sort of thing. But anything else you'd like to share about what, what you're offering or what's coming up for you?

Well, the, the new book is going to be a little bit different than the one that you've. You're reading now in the sense that it's going to sort of be more of a how to book. So book number one explains how did I get to this point? Book number two is going to be, well, what can you do with that information? It's still got plenty of stories of my life and things like that that, you know, because it is crazy life, I guess.

Yeah.

But it's going to be more geared towards. If you practice this, you can have this. If you practice this, you can have this. And it's going to be more of a, I guess, educational, if you will. And I'm, I'm pretty excited about it. I like the, I like it so far. I think it's coming out well and hopefully it'll be out by March of 2022.

Excellent. And my last question for you is, in these crazy times where we're going through a pandemic, there's a lot of world strife, which there's, there's always World strife. But this seems to be a particularly profound time in our, at least my history being I'm Gen X. So in my, in my history, this is sort of next to 9, 11, one of the most profound moments in our history. What do you. Do you have thoughts about what exactly is going on from a spiritual perspective and where this is all leading us? And I'm sure you also have like a hopeful message in there that I think. My question is more what are your thoughts about it all from a spiritual perspective and where do you think it's.

Going from a spiritual perspective? I can't really tell you why it is what it is, but what I can say is Jessica and I, we wake up every day, we do our meditations, and then we try to change the world one person at a time. We just try to get the message out to if we can take one person and give them that aha moment and let them carry that and pay it forward, we can eventually make a dent and make a difference. And the more people that become spiritual and the more people who become loving and caring will have less of these things going on in the world. Less violence. And there's people that are just misunderstood and they may be rebelling against something that happened and they need to learn how to release that and let that go and become enlightened or, or awakened, if you will. And we just literally try to do it one person at a time and have those people then pay it forward to others. I think that's our contribution to the world.

That's great. That's the. Be the change you wish to see in the world. And I think that's really all we can do. I mean, I don't want to say it's all we can do, but I think at the end of the day, that's always been my philosophy that it really starts with us as individuals. It's not systems that can change this. It's not. I mean, because systems are made up of people. And so it's really. That's right, you can say it's. It's the government or whatever, but the government, for instance, is made up of people. So as human beings, let's all strive to, to encourage, to be better people and just live with integrity, honesty, love, compassion, and, and do what you're doing, which is being of service, using your specific gifts. So thank you so much for this.

Thank you.

My absolute pleasure. I loved this conversation. I loved meeting you, and I really look forward to keeping in touch with you. And again, anyone who wants to connect with Ray. There will be links below and I really encourage you do that. Thank you so much again, Ray.

Thank you. I'm honored and grateful.