RAISING OUR SPIRITS

Kate met Alison Stead, a spiritual medium, and had plenty of questions to ask about the spirit world

JOKING ASIDE ABOUT how she must have known what I was about to ask, I had a very interesting conversation recently with Alison Stead, a spiritual medium who lives and works in Oakham. Whatever your views are on life after death, spirits and ghosts, it’s fascinating to hear the experiences of someone directly in the industry, so to speak. Alison is a very bubbly, friendly and straightforward woman who took care to base her answers purely on her own experience and knowledge. There are apparently many trains of thought in mediumship and mediums can have di eren es of opinion! iously my first uestion as hat exactly is a spiritual medium? According to Alison, ‘a medium is someone who is able to connect with those in the spirit world; someone who is able to pass on messages from people’s loved ones during a reading.’ his immediately egged the uestion of hat is the spirit orld t s a di erent energetic space,’ Alison says. ‘We are all energy so when we die our physical body ceases to work but our consciousness survives and that is held within our spirit which becomes part of the spirit world.’

Does this last forever then? According to Alison, energy is energy and can never die but it changes state from physical into etherical and the connection will always be there. As she says: ‘You can’t feel air but you know it’s there, it’s not tangible but it’s accessible. It’s the same with spiritual energy.’

I wondered if she believes in reincarnation? ‘Yes I do,’ she says. ‘I believe e ha e di erent lifetimes and in ea h life e must experien e and learn di erent things which we take back to spirit so our whole consciousness becomes a more rounded energy. I don’t think someone ould ome a as a y or a dog ut e may have another lifetime as a human being and in that life we may have connections with people we have had in this lifetime but in a di erent ay he purpose of that is to help ea h other learn di erent lessons and perspectives.’

I’m very open minded and for right or wrong, I feel (and hope) there may be some form of life after death, but I imagine Alison encounters sceptics all the time. How does she cope with someone who is much less inclined to believe her?

‘I don’t ever attempt to change anyone’s thoughts or belief. We all have free will and we’re entitled to believe what we want. But what tends to happen is that people come to me who don’t believe and sit with their arms rossed and an e uite testing ut hen do connect with someone they know their whole stance softens and if they go away with a nugget of thought they didn’t have before and then mull it all over, then that’s good. I’m pleased.’ TUNING IN

So what exactly happens during a reading? The mission is for the medium to connect with a loved one to facilitate communication with the client or sitter. It’s a three-way connection process; the medium is the piggy in the middle and, as Alison explains, ‘if you imagine an old style radio where you tune in to get the right fre uen y it an sound a it fuzzy. The spirit has to be able to blend with the medium who in turn has to blend with the person having the reading. If it’s not the right time for them to have the reading for some reason, the connection may not be right, or maybe that medium is not the right one for that person at the time.’

One medium may have a regular client who usually hears from one particular relative but they may go to another medium who doesn’t bring that particular person through as their energy is di erent hat an be due to life experiences and knowledge of di erent ultures for example he spirit know what the medium knows and tap into that. ometimes people ha e a ery fixed mind on who they want to hear from,’ says Alison, or they ant a spe ifi pie e of e iden e ut (and other mediums) can never guarantee to do that because people in the spirit world also have free will. If you phone up and want to speak to Aunt Hilda and she’s out in the garden, Uncle Fred may pick up and speak to you. It’s the same with the spirit world. But it will always be the spirit person who is best able to give you the support and guidance and information you need at the time. However, that may not be the information you think you need.’

It sounds a fascinating way to spend your working day and I wondered if there was a typical client? Stereotypically people think it’s mainly women who would seek a reading but Alison sees approximately 60% women and 40% men. ‘They come for guidance; sometimes they feel a bit unsure of where they’re going in life; they may come around the time of an anniversary of their loved one, hoping to hear from them. If people are feeling uite lonely it s ni e to ha e the knowledge we’re not, in fact, alone. On the other hand, I’ve had people looking for spe ifi s li e here a ill is ept

‘Others come with a ‘I don’t believe, what can you do’ kind of attitude. But most come to be comforted and to know their connection with their loved one is still going. My job is to bring peace of mind from the other side, to share the whisperings of spirit. People usually come on their own but they may bring someone else for reassurance. A reading would normally last an hour but I can do half an hour. It’s not set in stone so I ouldn t stop dead on the lo ! ediums an or in di erent ays Apparently a connecting spirit may work ith ea h of our fi e senses ometimes Alison will get sensations of taste and smell, but mainly she works clairsentiently which means she feels di erent to herself ill feel how the spirit person felt when they ere here so my hair ill feel di erent ll feel li e am a di erent height or uild or earing di erent lothes that s ho uild up a picture of what that spirit person is like. I’m also given physical sensations that they would have felt while alive either through illness or life experience. Sometimes I’ll hold my hands in a di erent ay or on t e a le to use my arm or my fa e ill feel di erent that often happens with people who have had a stroke. I may get a sensation within my heart area and I’ve learnt to distinguish whether it’s palpitations, angina or a heart attack. I love it when people with false teeth come forward because I feel like my teeth can move in my mouth and it’s a very funny experience.’ hat sounded uite alarming to me ut Alison has a contract with those in the spirit

world whereby she sets out her expectations on how she works with them. At the end of the reading she lets the feelings go. ‘They’re not my feelings or experiences. They belong to the spirit person, and much as a trained counsellor learns not to take on the issues or di ulties of their lients neither do trained as a counsellor years ago which helps with the boundaries.’ ondered if she d e er felt s ared or threatened o ut ha e had spirit people ho ha e ome through ho ha e een really uite angry f someone as cantankerous in life and came through as ery lo ing and mild the lient may not re ognise them! don t e ome angry myself ut feel the anger of the spirit person t may be because they were an angry person, or it may e e ause they feel angry o er a situation or on ehalf of the lient t an actually be a way of showing their support for their lo ed ones a h reading is uni ue spirits gi e their point of ie rather than o er ad i e t an e fun if they re ery strong personalities and some can be really shy, because they were in real life or because they didn’t elie e in spirit hen they ere do n here That’s a fun spirit to work with. Sometimes they just need a bit of encouragement.

‘Some people worry what skeletons are going to come out of the closet or what sort of reception they’ll get from the spirit. But when people go to spirit they often carry on learning and ill ha e gained a deeper understanding of hy a lient may ha e certain thoughts or feelings towards them and the di ulties they may ha e aused The spirit can then acknowledge that things ould ha e een di erent t s usually someone the lient no s ut Alison has had experiences of people who are researching their family tree and someone further a ho they ha e ne er met comes through. pirits do not gi e ad ne s a ording to lison t s not ethi al or the ay spirit or and they ould ne er diagnose hey are not allowed to stalk you or watch you while you re in the athroom! ut they may ha e an awareness of something not being well which they would put across in a gentle way. They wouldn’t say you’re going to die next Wednesday, but they may say something like e re a are you e een putting o going to the doctor which may make the person think. ‘ DON’T FEED THE MEDIUM

ondered if lison gets the impression her lients ear plain lothes or ta e o their wedding rings to appear more of a blank an as ou mean they don t feed the medium! don t loo for lues don t or psychically, my job is to be a channel for spirit.'

Psychics work with the energy of the person in front of them, mediumship is working with the discarnate spirit and their energy sy hi or is on a di erent i rational le el using things li e tarot cards and psychometry which is reading from an object. eryone is psy hi to some degree and e eryone potentially is mediumisti it ust depends on their le el of sensiti ity and whether they want to do anything with it. oung hildren are ery open to the spirit orld and often ha e imaginary friends which are, most likely, spirit children.’

As a young child Alison had imaginary friends far longer than anyone else she ne he told me d tal to people ho weren’t there and got quite badly bullied for it. The knowledge of the spirit world was al ays ith me ut didn t no hat it as hen hen as a friend in ited me to go to a spiritualist hur h in ettering didn’t know what a medium or spiritualism was but the medium at the meeting spoke for 10-15 minutes and during that time so many of my questions were answered. erything made sense to me fter that found out a out the utland piritual o iety in a ham here learned a it more a out hat it meant didn t set out to e ome a medium ut here am ta e spirit ery seriously ut don t ta e myself in that spirit seriously. e spent a lot of time learning ho to or ith the spirit orld e e ti ely and in an ethical way. A lot of my work comes from word of mouth. The proof is in the pudding. run a ir le and run ourses and or shops in a ham and online o er Zoom, Facebook messenger and WhatsApp.’

Alison is running a public demonstration of mediumship at Oakham museum on 14 to er i ets are a aila le through egotti ets om e ent t is a fundraiser for Peppers - a safe space. Fundraising for community groups has always been important to Alison and she raises funds for a di erent harity e ery year. y o is to gi e the right message to the right person on the night. Sometimes the spirit can be quite cheeky and there may be a few people coming through with the same olour hair hen ha e to or ery hard to get the right recipient. Equally if the re ipient isn t ery omforta le ith hearing from the spirit person, it’s up to me to politely than the spirit person for oming find this ery sad as the spirit has spent all that time and energy to make contact. an t do a reading for myself ut ha e a ery strong sense of intuition hi h is my inner spirit being informed by spirit. Some things m not intuiti e a out e ause e all ha e to learn or example don t no the results of the lottery ish! ut ent through a phase of inning ompetitions helped y spirit on a i e on the radio after being asked a geography uestion hi h despite not ha ing a lue it suddenly came to me what the answer was. hen pi ed up the i e it as purple and it said "Spirit" on it!’ one to one hour reading is half an hour is ift ou hers are a aila le and lison urrently o ers free meditation sessions or if you take two readings you get the second reading half price.