Do Dead People Watch You Shower? by Concetta Bertoldi

around the client is hazy. Then, as the reading progresses, the energy is used up and it gradually clears or gets more focused.
    If I’m doing a show with a lot of people, sometimes during a particular reading I will hum a few notes. This isn’t any special song, I’m not calling up my spirit guides or anything; it’s random. All I am doing is trying to block out sound around me. This puts me back in a subconscious state.
    Every now and then I take a very strong short intake of breath. A lot of people ask me about this because it sounds strange and obviously they think it has something to do with my being able to let a message come through. Actually, all I’m doing is breathing! When I’m listening so intently to what they are saying to me, it’s like I’m thinking, talking, and breathing almost through the top of my head. Of course, you can’t breathe through the top of your head, so what’s actually happening is that I’m not breathing. All of a sudden I realize I need air and I take a breath that is almost a gasp because I’m just grabbing it so fast.
    Another thing I do is I hold my fingers pinched together. I don’t really know why, but this somehow helps me to hold energy in, to conserve it in some way. Often you’ll see pictures of spiritual Masters or even just an ordinary person meditating and they are holding their fingers like this. It must be something that I just picked up instinctively, because it’s not anything I was told.
    All mediums experience the dead differently. They won’t be drastically different in the larger experience or the messages. However, some mostly see the dead—those are called clairvoyants . Some mostly hear the dead—they are clairaudient . Some get an overall impression—they’re called clairsentient . The dead are energy and there’s a lot of room there for different experiences and interpretation.

Do mediums receive messages through tarot cards?
     
    A true medium who uses tarot cards is not really getting a message from the cards themselves. When I first went public I used the cards just to have something to focus on because I was nervous and, to be honest, I probably looked like I was going to have a seizure. I put the cards between me and the client and told the client I was using them to tap into the energy of their loved one. But really I was listening, not even looking, and sometimes I’d be staring up into space and talking with the cards all spread out in front of me and the client would say, “Whadderya looking up there for?” After a while I realized it was better just to sit there and talk with them without the set dressing.

Have you ever used a Ouija board?
     
    I never want to be associated with Ouija boards. That is a dangerous game. You are opening a window and unless you know how to protect yourself you can call an evil soul who can haunt you and interfere with your life. When I do a reading, I always ask that God protect me and my home, and to let only those who walk in the Light come to me. I’m like Joan Crawford with her wire hangers: No—Ouija—boards! EVER!

How do you actually get the messages you receive during a reading?
     
    They come in bits and pieces. Really, it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I try to gather up the pieces and then the client has to put the picture together. Of course, if I think I know where a piece goes, I tell them.
    First I try to identify the person on the Other Side who’s talking—one person—stick with him, and let him introduce me to others. It’s kind of like walking into a party and starting to talk with someone, and then he gradually brings you into the mix. I’ll ask the spokesperson (mentally, usually not aloud), “Please step forward, do you have a message? Can you help me?” He does the heavy lifting.
    In identifying himself, he might tell me his name outright. Or I might get just a first letter. When it’s the latter, I tell the client, but I might also suggest possible names