Allison DuBois - Don't Kiss Them Good-bye

I told her that he asked her if she’d be the godmother of his child.

Chris was very quiet and asked me to repeat what I had just said. I obliged. That was, in fact, her brother’s last question to her. My focus was right on. Working in the University of Arizona Human Energy Systems laboratory has really made me comfortable with answering questions like this. Sometimes in pushing yourself to the limit you can exceed your own expectations.

The second gift to Chris from her brother was his sign. He said she would know that he was around her when she sees a shooting star.

Later I received an e-mail from Chris. She was awestruck. She told me that when I told her the sign was a shooting star she didn’t know what to think. She had never seen a shooting star and she couldn’t imagine when the heck she’d see one.

She went on to describe what had happened over Thanksgiving. Chris was sitting in the living room playing with her niece/goddaughter. The little girl was playing with a magic wand that had a star at the end of it. She looked at her aunt and was preparing to throw it to her.

“Aunt Chris,” she called, “look at the shooting star!”

Chris immediately remembered what her brother had said: “When you see the shooting star, think of me and I’ll be there.”

I found this greatly symbolic because her brother sent the message through his daughter, who is a part of him, a part that Chris can still hold. She knows that her brother was spending that day with his family and that he will always be close by.

Take the time to think about the little things that mean the most to you. What do you really treasure about those that you love? If you ever need to be reminded that there’s life after death, revisit this chapter and know that there is more to life than what we see on the surface.

I am asked all the time what it is like to see dead people. I have decided to address this in my book so that others can understand my life and other psychics’ lives a little better. First of all, let me say that being a psychic-medium is truly a gift. It is part of me and I would not relinquish the ability if I could. I try to have fun with it. I have a T-shirt that I sometimes wear to group sessions: “I see dead people” it reads. My clients appreciate my humor.

On the flip side, being a psychic is no easy life. Like anything else, it has pros and cons. I hate the stereotypes associated with it, and the image many people have of a frizzy-haired, talon-fingered, incense-burning weirdo. Being a medium is both a blessing and a challenge.

Imagine if everything that ever happened in your life was under a microscope. Most people will never know what it feels like to be called the Antichrist or to be judged before you are ever met. And then there is the assumption that people like me should always be ready to help or entertain.

Like those in other professions, we don’t always want to talk shop or be asked for advice when we are out having a good time. We love to go to social engagements and simply be guests like everyone else. I enjoy occasions when I can just blend in and be normal. You want help? Call me on Monday.

As for the calling I have, even when I was young I asked what was so amazing out there that I was being drawn to. I could not define it, but I could see it, feel it, and hear it. I’ve read that other mediums have had similar experiences in childhood. It comforts me to know that there are at least a few others out there who know how I feel.

Since my parents were divorced, I saw my dad every Saturday. He would pick me up and take me to a movie and lunch. I enjoyed our time together. I am sure that I saw every movie made from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. I was always curious about ghosts and loved movies about the other side.

Unfortunately, I could not relate to the psychics that in most movies. They seemed too odd or New Age (no offense to New Agers; I just couldn’t relate). I didn’t see anyone who seemed like me. Were there lots of young people with the gift, or was it like a driver’s license, so that you had to be a certain age to get it? I needed more information about the other side.

It was seldom that I saw a movie about kids with the gift. There was an occasional film involving kids who could see a spirit, but they were never defined as gifted. They were in an isolated situation, and after the wronged spirit received closure, it was implied that the sightings ceased. With that kind of portrayal, seeing ghosts seemed more like a fluke than a gift.

When I was a child my favorite spirit flick was a Disney Sunday Night Movie about a glass doll in an attic and a little girl’s spirit that needed closure. The premise was that living children were trying to find out what had happened to a little girl who had died many years before. They were trying to bring her closure through their communication with her and to uncover the circumstances surrounding her death. The children could both see and hear the little girl on the other side, and to me this made sense.

The best part of the movie was that the kids who could see the girl’s spirit were normal kids, not portrayed as nuts or weirdos. The movie was haunting, and it made me excited about interacting with the other side. I loved it. And I was continually being introduced to scenarios that would one day be commonplace for me. My spirit was being fueled to connect with the other side.

I also found myself drawn to study the criminal mind throughout my childhood. Although I didn’t realize what I was doing until I was an adult, I watched anything and everything on TV that covered actual homicides. My mind would receive information that filled in gaps surrounding murders, such as pictures of the perpetrator, weapons, names, places, and motives. Later in life, I would learn that I have a knack for profiling criminals. My specialty is tapping into the human mind for this purpose. More specifically, I can determine what a particular person’s motive is, his emotion or lack of emotion, and the result of his impulses.

The idea of the unknown is an easy target for people who would rather believe that when we die we become worm food. Believing this relieves you of any spiritual or personal reflection, which can be painful. Also, people with this mind-set tend to not be very worried about the ramifications of the way they treat others, and they’re comfortable with this. I was on a show once and I had a well-known moron (who shall remain nameless) say to me, “Well, I believe that there are spirits, but I sure as hell can’t hear them or talk to them!”

My response was “Well, duh! That’s because you’re not a medium.”

Is that such a hard concept for people to grasp? If we could all hear and see spirits, we’d all be mediums. To me it’s no different from being born with some other significant gift. No matter how many singing lessons I have I will never sound like Celine Dion; not even close. No matter how hard I study I will never have the mind of Albert Einstein. No matter how hard some people try, they will never see or talk to spirits. That’s okay; that’s what makes the world so interesting.

To help people to better understand mediums, I’m addressing some misconceptions about us. Sometimes a medium might appear cold or aloof. Mediums often find themselves withdrawing emotionally in a reading, to ensure that they can deliver all the information from the other side and bring closure to their client. For me, it’s sometimes a struggle to keep from getting pulled into the emotion of a reading. But I know that once I start getting emotional my concentration is gone, and this can weaken the clarity of my connection to the other side.