Karen W.

A 42 year-old, divorced woman, suffering from severe tension headaches, called for an appointment for bodywork. She said she believed her headaches were the result of a very high pressure job as an in the aerospace industry. Her executive position required her to travel to Washington D.C. regularly for meetings with government representatives and military personnel. On top of her stressful career responsibilities she was in a dramatic legal battle, with her ex-husband, for the custody of her two young boys. Her husband believed their boys should attend the fundamental Christian school were he was an acting bishop. His corporal punishment philosophy of child rearing was the source of her emotional pain. Her boys were ordered, by the judge, to be evaluated by a child psychologist. She had received the first report of many to come.

My primary intention was to relieve her headaches and to see what came up during our first session. Using massage, Reiki and acupressure techniques her pain was easily relieved. What came up during that first session was more than I expected.

My bodywork office is kept dark, lit by candles and the only sounds in the room are from a small water fountain, soft ethereal music and my voice. Using guided imagery, I talked her through a series of relaxation exercises to get her head out of the courtroom and boardroom and into the present experience. She followed easily.

Halfway through her session I recognized a presence in the room with us. I continued working on her tension points while observing the spirit at the foot of the massage table.

When someone comes in for bodywork, I rarely discuss the other work I do. But, in this case, I decided it was something I should try to bring to her attention, without freaking her out. I trust that if a spirit shows up, the client is usually ready to hear the information and as it turned out, Karen was open and willing to hear it all.

I described the energy I was seeing. As I’ve shared before, I am clairvoyant. I see images and get information telepathically. After describing the female spirit at the end of the table, Karen said, “That’s my mother. She died 12 years ago.” Her mother had been agitated when she first appeared but as soon as her daughter recognized her presence, she relaxed with a smile. I don’t recall the details of that first session with Karen and her mother but I do remember that when Karen left my office she was radiant. Her headache was gone; she said she felt relaxed and hopeful.

During the following weeks and months Karen and her mother continued their weekly sessions with me. I learned that Karen had met a man in Washington D.C. she was falling in love with but her divorce had left her feeling unsure and distrusting. The relationship was loving yet she felt unable to move forward considering the geographic distance, the issue of her boys and her unrelenting fear of another commitment. She was troubled about what to do with this new relationship. Should she break it off or grit her teeth and move forward?


During the fourth session, Karen’s mother appeared wearing a black scarf over her head and face, as if she was in mourning. That is not how she appeared in our past sessions as she was normally a happy energy. She told me that she wanted to talk about her death. I asked Karen about that. She told me that her mother had had an accident. She died from an accidental fall down some stairs in her home. While she told me the facts her father had told her, Karen’s mother was vehemently shaking her head, “NO”. Her father had said her mother had been up late and sometime after he had gone to sleep she must have tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs. He said he discovered her body when he woke the next morning.

The story Karen’s mother showed me was slightly different. She showed me the entire incident. Her father and mother were at the top of the stairs arguing. She had been drinking and was pointing her finger at him. He pushed her away from him and she tumbled backwards and down the stairs. He ran down after her. She was still breathing, but unconscious. He was afraid of what had happened and how it would look to the authorities. He didn’t’ know what to do. He paced back and forth trying to decide what to do. He chose to wait until she stopped breathing. It took a bit of time but by 4 am she was gone. At sunrise he called the police.

I watched the story unfold as Mother was showing me. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Karen what I was seeing but, I believe if I’m being shown something, there is a reason. I very slowly suggested that dad’s story may not have been the whole truth.

Karen said, “That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Dad’s behavior after Mom died was very strange. He has not moved a thing of hers from the house. Everything is exactly as it was the day she died. Her clothes are still in the closets, her art on the walls, and all of her furniture is still in the same place. The first couple of years after her death he would go to the cemetery, to her grave site, and take pictures of himself there and send copies to all three of his daughters.

I asked her if she wanted to know what her mother was showing me. She didn’t hesitate to answer. She wanted to know everything.

After I finished telling her what I was being shown, she said that she had suspected as much all along. She also said it was unnecessary to share that information with anyone else. Her father had been suffering with grief and guilt for all these years and bringing it up now would do only harm. She was able to forgive her father immediately. She explained that her parent’s relationship had suffered through the years because of her mother’s drinking. Every night her father would go to bed at 10, alone, and mother would stay up reading and drinking. That scenario had been the source of many arguments. Her mother nodded in agreement and didn’t seem to need any more than the truth to be told to Karen.

Weeks passed and we continued our sessions. Massage and Intuitive Healing went hand in hand. One day Mother showed up during our session and she had with her a box. She told me its contents were extremely important. The box looked like a sewing basket with a hinged lid. The top of the box had fabric on it. When her mother opened the box she did not show me what was inside but conveyed the urgency for Karen to find it.

Again, I described the box and the message. I told her I wasn’t able to see the contents but that her mother seemed to be insistent about its importance. Karen said that she didn’t know of such a box but that if it mother had anything like I described, it would still be in her father’s home in Georgia. As it turned out, she was flying back for a visit the following day. She said she would ask her father about it.

Three days later I received a long distance call from Karen. She was in a state of emotional gratitude. She told me that she and her father looked in every closet and cupboard for the box I described. They searched every room including the attic. They went down to the basement and back in a corner, under the fabric I described, was the box. Inside of it were letters and notes in her mother’s handwriting. She had written poems and had jotted down notes from services at her church. She wrote about love and trust and faith. She wrote about commitment, communion and God. In those notes and letters were the answers to the questions that Karen was struggling with, in regard to her new relationship and her fear of moving forward with her life and her love.

A month later I received a package in the mail with a personal note from Karen. She said finding those letters and notes of her mother's was an enormous gift for her, her sisters and entire family. It was the healing they were all waiting for. Karen had put all of her mothers writings in a bound book and sent copies to her sisters and friends of her mother’s and one to me. Our sessions came to an end shortly thereafter.

Karen won her custody case and decided to follow her mother’s written advice to trust and to love. She married Bob and moved to Washington. Her mother’s poetry was read at their wedding ceremony. She no longer suffers from headaches. It truly was a miraculous experience.

I don't know if what I see are spiritual apparitions or energy held in the consciousness of my clients. Whatever I am seeing, whether from this dimension or another, it is healing for all involved, including myself.

James Van Praagh is a psychic/medium. He is well known in the field of paranormal talents. He wrote the book, "Talking To Heaven" and is the producer of the television show, "Ghost Whisperer". I'm flying to Mount Shasta in two weeks to meet him for a retreat on "Mediumship and Healing With Spirit". I am very excited to be able to talk to other healers and mediums who understand what I do. You can be sure I will write all about it when I return.