As I mentioned in my blog entry, Transformational Weekend, I had the opportunity to meet Lisa Williams, a very accomplished and popular clairvoyant and medium from the U.K. She has a new television show coming out on the Lifetime Network beginning October 27 at 11am (check local times). It will run for 5 days and then Lifetime is going to decide whether to pick up the show for a whole season. I thought it would be a fun treat to interview Lisa and get her views on some of the things we talk about here in my blog. Lisa is talented, warm, and she has an active blog of her own! 🙂 Here is our interview:
Erin: I’ve read many books written by psychic mediums and it seems as if all of us had psychic experiences or saw spirits as children, including yourself, which you discuss in your book, Life Among the Dead. Do you think this is an innate ability that manifests at a young age, or do you believe people in their 20’s, 30’s and beyond can develop these abilities even if they had no such experiences as children?
Lisa: Most of us have experienced this at some time in our life, and often we put these feelings down to intuition, fate, or coincidences. The thought that we know when the telephone is going to ring, and who it is, the feeling that we know someone needs our help, and also the feeling that we simply “know” someone is standing behind us. We get signs that they are around from many things, such as music, seeing pennies, angel feathers, etc.
I feel that as a child we are pure and that there is nothing stopping us from seeing these things. It’s normal in our child world, but society closes us, as we are taught different things. It’s when we are older that we are able to open ourselves up, because we are free to choose what we want.
Then after that we can develop this as much as we want. We are all psychic, but not all of us are mediums, and it’s very different.
Erin: Before you do a live show, or just when doing private readings, what do you do to prepare yourself to connect with spirit? And when you’re done working or doing a show, do you have a procedure to help you shut down so you don’t continue to receive?
Lisa: Before the show, I tend to meditate for about 30 minutes and allow spirit to come in and connect with me, but actually on the day of the show I wake up feeling connected. I take the messages down and then I read those out at the end of the show if those people haven’t come through on stage.
After the show I go in to the dressing room and imagine a lead door shutting over the top of my head, and then I jump up and down and stamp my feet and then stick my watch on… I don’t know why but putting my watch on grounds me. It brings me back to reality.
Erin: Some of my readers report being woken up in the middle of the night by spirits trying to get their attention. How can they stop this from happening if it’s not something they want to experience?
Lisa: It’s very common because you are closest to the spirit world at that time, and you are a free channel, so they will come and communicate with you. It’s like they say… “Look she has nothing going on… quick lets talk to her!” What I suggest to people is that they protect themselves by showering themselves in white light and perhaps sleep with an amethyst under your pillow, which is something I tend to do, and ask them to come to you at a decent hour. If you are going to do this, dedicate an hour to them a week or a day and do it, or they will start to bother you in your sleep again. They need to get a message to you for some reason, so allow them to do it.
Erin: Many of my readers are working on increasing their psychic abilities. Can you share an exercise or a tip with them to help them increase their connection with spirit?
Lisa: It can be really frustrating sometimes, but sadly we all have different gifts, I always wanted to do healing, but I realized I had to develop my own psychic and mediumship gifts before I could go on and do healing. You have to work at your own pace.
Don’t expect too much on your first attempt, but get a pen and pad and close your eyes and meditate, ask spirit to come forward by showing you signs or by giving you words that they are there. Write everything you get down on that paper. Ask them questions and trust your first thought or feeling. Start by asking simple questions like who they are and how long they have been in spirit. Then over the course of days or weeks, ask more in-depth questions. Over this time your abilities will get stronger and stronger.
Erin: When you and I were talking about our children I asked you if your son, Charlie, was showing signs of psychic or medium abilities and you said he definitely was. And we talked about how to raise children to understand their abilities and not be afraid of them. What advice can you give to parents who think their kids might be seeing spirits or having psychic experiences?
Lisa: Firstly it’s important for the parent to appreciate what the child is going through, in their world it’s normal, don’t brand them with an “overactive imagination.” Talk to them and be genuinely interested, and listen to them. Most of all tell them that it’s ok to see spirits, and allow them to talk about it when ever they wish.
I have a website that I designed with children in mind because some parents don’t know how to deal with it. It’s www.kidswithgifts.com and here the kids can also learn about different aspects of spirituality.
Erin: Another question I get asked a lot is how to tell the difference between other-wordly communication and your imagination. How can people tell the difference and know if what they’re hearing, seeing, and/or feeling is coming from inside them or from another source?
Lisa: Initially, it’s very hard, but you have to trust your instincts. I find that if it’s a thought, and I am not sure if I have generated that thought or it’s come from spirit, I ask. I ask, “Is that Spirit?” And generally if it is spirit, they answer me before I have even finished asking. That’s how I know! But it’s trust and knowing, and you start to understand the difference after a while.
Erin: In your new show on the Lifetime Network, Voices From the Other Side, you’ll be doing one-on-one readings in the studio and also doing readings for random people on the street. Have you ever walked up to someone to offer them a reading and they wanted no part of what you were offering? What do you think they were concerned about or afraid of?
Lisa: It’s happened many times. With the show, the thing that they don’t want is to be on TV, that’s a common problem, but they will be happy to hear what I say as long as they are not on camera. But I normally know who I need to speak to, and I would say 80% say yes and they are open to it.
As for the rest, they are probably scared or have had bad experiences, so they don’t want to be part of it. And of course then they could be very religious and believe that what I do is the work of devil, but that’s a whole different subject!
Erin: If your new show is picked up by Lifetime you’ll obviously be quite busy! What else are you working on these days? Is there another book in the works? Tours? And how can people find out where you’ll be appearing?
Lisa: I am currently on tour throughout the US, and I am working on another book about what happens when we die, and there are other projects in the works and these are to do with children… so watch this space!! To keep up to date with my life and what is happening, people can go to my website: www.lisawilliamsmedium.com
Erin: Thank you for the interview, Lisa. Your generosity of spirit really came through when I met you at the I Can Do It conference in Tampa, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to share your insights with my readers.
Lisa: Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to share this with you.
