Special Thanks to my super supportive family!
Thank you to my incredibly supportive family, who have not only encouraged me to explore, embrace and fully honor my gifts, but for all the sacrificing of my personal time that I have devoted to my work as a medium.
I love you all so much and truly hope that my journey in the spirit world has inspired and helped each of you along your own way in life.
Thank you to my clients who have reached out to me for assistance in your homes and businesses. I am forever bonded to you all!
And to the Spirits that reside…
“We are all Spiritual Beings, living a Human Life”
Life Purpose
“When I let go of what I Am, I become what I might Be”
Lao Tzu
Preface
Karen and her dog Spanky
So, it has been quite a journey these past 10 years, as I sit here in my sunroom and begin this process of writing about my spirit adventures. It has been such an incredible journey, one that I am forever grateful for. How did this all begin? Well, the funny thing about it, is that this was never something that I really set out to do, or to be, it just happened one crazy weekend at a haunted hotel. What happened exactly? Well, it was when the reality of my life’s purpose on some level was really revealed to me. It was that moment of really coming to terms with my mediumship abilities. Everyone always asks me what it is like being a medium and boy I guess I have to answer that by saying, and I add a little humor here, it depends on what phase of my life I was in to best answer that question. As a child I was quite accepting of my; “Karenisms” as many who know me refer to that terminology sometimes to best describe those moments of “me”.
My childhood was much like many, two very loving and wonderful parents. My mom and dad were young when they had me and truly describe our childhood as growing up together. Learning what it was like to be parents at the age of 17 and having to figure out not only being a parent, but also a parent of a child who saw spirits and was in touch with the spirit world and things unseen. We lived in Arizona, which was a magical place for me on so many levels. I was always the kid that played outside and “talked” to the trees and land as if they were my “friends”. I loved being in Arizona and have such great memories of my time, playing in the riverbed near our trailer and having adventures of my own. I had imaginary friends and had insights that truly just were of my own. My parents were not really into spirituality, heck they were trying to figure out how to be teenagers and parents. My father was a talented musician and artist on the verge of signing a record deal and playing back up for the Rolling Stones and the Mama and Papa’s, while my mom was a nurse trying to also balance her passion for wanting to be a doctor and now approaching the reality that she was going to be a single mother. Yah, my parents separated and that was devastating for me and a book all on its own.
I can recall the instance of playing outside in the riverbed and somehow managed to sit on a prickly pear cactus. You can imagine the pain I was experiencing while my parents were trying to remove the hundreds of thorns from my behind and my “Karenism” of being more worried that I killed the cactus and was it okay? I laugh when I think of this, because that was my world, everything was alive, and everything was my “friend”. That was me and it continued in my life, along with my stubborn sense of needing to do things on my own and be my own person. Teaching myself to swim and refusing, sometimes screaming at all the people in the community pool in Arizona to leave me alone and I will figure it out myself. As I type this, I think, my poor parents. Ha, ha. But that was me and all was good in my land of imagination and exploration.
One of my fondest real encounters was when I was probably around 7 or 8 and was watching TV alone in the living room. I had this feeling and sensation, like something calling me to go to my bedroom which was shared with my younger sister, Kendra. My bedroom door was ajar, and a bright light was illuminated from the room. As I approached and opened the door, there stood this huge, glowing figure of a woman, just totally engulfed in swirling beautiful colors, much like how we may describe an angelic being. There she was, this beautiful female, smiling at me. The amount of love and peace coming from her was so amazing to ever be able to describe with words. In that moment though, what I remember is that I felt like I was seeing my friend and looked up at her and smiled back, this exchange of “knowing” between the two of us. I then just went back to the living room and continued to watch TV, like no big deal. I just saw this amazing apparition or angelic being, and went back to watching TV, yah, that is exactly what happened. It was not anything to be afraid of if anything it was a "hello again" moment. As I type this, it makes me think of this beautiful female voice that often comes in when I do my readings. There are times that I deliver more channeled messages to my clients and often for myself. They are messages that I have often written down, as they are so incredibly wise. Who she is exactly, I do not presume to even know or try to know, just that she has been a higher presence in my life for as far as I can remember? I will enclose some of her messages at the end of this book. Hopefully, her words of wisdom that have truly touched me and many of my clients, will also touch something inside of you.
As I grew in my life, like many of us do, there was this awareness that I had knowing and could not really understand and figure them out. We did not have the internet, libraries, TV shows or people openly talking about spirits and the unknown. We had the TV show, In Search Of and boy did I watch that. I was fascinated by the stories of the unknown, Bigfoot and UFOs. I was convinced that Bigfoot was outside my window each night, ready to eat me. I do recall though that this time of life, between ages 10-12, I began to feel a sense of fear with spirits and would wake up each night terrified. I had many visitors at night, spirits standing in my room talking to me, trying to get my attention and what seemed as passed people needing something from me. This was not the best time in my life for this, as there was no one really to help me understand why these spirits were visiting me and how to not only stop it but at least be able to work with it. It was also an exceedingly difficult time in my childhood with a lot of trauma from my parents’ divorce. I can recall on many occasions being woken and scared out of my mind, hearing people calling my name and talking to me, which would then result in me wetting the bed. I would stand in the hallway with my stepfather, as my mom worked nights at this time and ask him if he heard them, with the usual reply of let's get your bed made and get back to bed.
As with many things in life, we fear what we do not understand and as a kid, that time when our rational mind begins to develop, we are sort of in the in-between. The reality is that hold on a minute, our imaginary friends are not real, and mermaids do not exist? I never grew out of this ability as many children can, but more so did not entertain or embrace it much anymore. This began the time when TV began to enlighten me to the darker side of it all. I saw the Exorcist when I was just 12 years old and truly that movie freaked me out, as with many people, I'm sure that was not the best thing for me at such a vulnerable and impressionable time in my life. It was fascinating on one hand, just as Bigfoot, Aliens, and the Loch Ness Monster were, but this was REAL! This was a real story of a child possessed. I had nightmares and imagined these voices I heard, surely would not be good.
In most of my adult life, now that I think of it, even in the time of adolescence, I woke up often to having visitors in my room. It is just the strangest feeling to explain to people. It begins with my body, sensing something in the room before I am even awake. I wake to feeling that adrenaline growing in me and the clammy feeling much like what many of us women feel as a hot flash or maybe what many may feel as an anxiety attack. I realize that, okay, something is in the room and I am a little scared to open my eyes. I lay there for a moment with my eyes shut and feel like