Today I’ve got an interview with world-famous clairvoyant Lisa Williams and after asking people what I could ask her, let’s say, I’ve got some mixed reactions…

Whilst many people find solace in sitting down and listening to someone who claims to be able to speak to the dead, the question has to be asked whether or not people who claim to have this sixth sense are just clever, money-making machines who play on the vulnerable?

I’ve got to admit, over the past couple of weeks I’ve gone to the local spiritualist church with my friend to see what it’s all about, and as much as I truly want to believe that my Grandad is talking to me from beyond the grave, what the mediums say to me and the other people in the room seems like complete guesswork and saying “I’ve got a grey-haired old man in the room with me” can apply to just about anyone who has lost a grandfather or a father.

What’s more, the people at the church go to these classes which teach you to be a medium, I mean come on, teaching clairvoyance, is it just me or was that supposed to be ‘a gift?’

And even worse that giving courses on this subject, the students are allowed to stand up in ‘open’ circle where they practice on the congregation, and they go through the rigmarole of a) stating who’s here, b) giving evidence that can only fit to the message recipient, c) explaining why this dead person is ‘here’ and d) giving something nice to the message recipient… so – parts a & b are usually just guesswork… I mean lets be honest, if you’ve got an old person in the room, you can usually ‘prove’ it’s a persons relative by picking out a name from the such as Frank or Mary and the gift is always flowers, chocolate or a rosary bead? I mean if they were really leaving me with a gift, shouldn’t it be something that would mean something to me and that person?

Nevertheless though, I was willing to give the church another go, so I went to one of their ‘trance demonstrations’ in which this bloke claimed to go into a trance and have the dead take over his vocal chords and deliver a message… okay,. So the first message almost sent me to sleep, but his voice did change, he spoke in a different accent and I was like… ooh, could this be real?

Unfortunately for the trance man though, the next four people who came through also spoke in this posh accent, so as for the ‘taking over the vocal chords claim’ – I don’t think so.

But the real thing that pi**ed me off, was that the trance man (or the people who were coming through) spoke about being a medium throughout the who demonstration… he didn’t talk about how my grandad is loving smoking his pipe now that he’s not got cancer to worry about, or that the bloke who turned his son’s life support will be okay. No, he talked about how these people – who had all passed their mediumship ‘foundation course’ should go on to do more clairvoyance. Bear in mind you have to pay for each course.

I don’t want to sound like a total moaning Minnie though, because I do believe that there could be something more, but as programmes like The Mentalist and Psych begin to claim that clairvoyants are just hyper observant people who can read small facial expressions and moods, could it all just be a con?

The thing is, for me to be convinced, I really need to hear something that noone else could no, something that will strike a chord and make sense, rather than just being educated guesswork. And if there are some honest mediums out there who speak to the dead and not a load of rubbish, then please, drop me a line… I WANT TO BE PROVEN WRONG!

I know this isn’t my usual light-hearted type of blog, but please share your thoughts with me!

Ruth xx