Becoming a Spiritual Medium: 10 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I First Started

In the spiritual medium world, things are mostly excellent, but sometimes, they’re HARD – especially in the beginning. And there are some things you just NEED to know that you don’t realize in the beginning.

Today I want to be totally transparent and get it all out in the open.  If you were my bestie and we were sitting on my couch drinking cappuccino, these are the things I’d tell you about mediumship development.

These are the things I wish someone had told me…the good, the bad, and the ugly.

1. You’re going to think you suck sometimes and want to quit

Some mornings, you are going to lay in bed and hope your clients will cancel.  Especially in the beginning, your confidence will probably be shaky.  When you first start out as a spiritual medium and someone can’t validate what you’re saying, you’ll want to crawl under the table and hide.

When you’re doing mediumistic work, there will be awkward moments during readings and sometimes, things will feel SUPER hard.

When you don’t feel like you’ve given a good reading, you’ll wish your gifts would just go away forever and you’ll wonder why you ever went down this path to begin with.

But those readings when you know you’ve helped someone – YES, that’s what keeps you going.  It’s like oh. my. gawd.  Maybe I can do this.  It felt amazing to help that person.  This is why I’m here.  This is my calling. 

FOLLOW THAT FEELING.  It’s the “spiritual medium” calling.  It’s what gets you out of bed the next morning to try again. 

• Afraid You’ll Give a Bad Reading? – 4 Ways to Shift from Insecure to Inspired
• The Question You Need to Ask ALL of Your Mediumship and Intuitive Clients

2. This whole Spiritual Medium “thing” is a journey

It’s not just about developing your clairs and you’re done.  That’s just the beginning.

Following this calling is a crazy, fun, utterly-amazing, so-hard-at-times-you-wanna-quit, delicious journey.

• You are going to discover things about yourself as a person that you would never have discovered if you hadn’t followed the path.

• You are going to meet people that will blow your mind and inspire you with their incredible stories.

• Spirit is going to blow your mind when they work their magic.

• You are going to become a more loving, understanding human being.

Read:  

• What if All of My Psychic Gifts Don’t Open?
• What to do When You Feel Jealous of Other Lightworkers

3. Once you realize it’s not about you, it gets easier

I had a mentor that used to tell me, “Get your ego out of the work”.  I didn’t think I was “all that and a bag of chips”, so I used to get frustrated when she said it.

Then one day, it clicked.

She didn’t mean ego as in “Oh, I’m so wonderful.”  She meant that the work wasn’t about ME.

Once you stop struggling and surrender, it gets easier.  What I mean is… look at things from a new perspective.  What is your job as a spiritual medium?  I define my job as giving a voice to those in Spirit.

You’ll learn that your job is to listen to Spirit and pass along their messages. 

So simple, yet not easy.

Our job is to trust and get out of the way.  Say what comes through from Spirit.  Don’t be afraid.

Read:  I Was an Intuitive Snob

4. You can’t give readings all day every day

I used to think that I could give six readings a day, five days a week.  I can’t.

If you try giving too many readings, you’ll get burnt out.  Remember, this is energy work.  Pace yourself.  Listen to your body.

5. It’s okay to set boundaries

When I first started working as a psychic medium, I thought I had to work with everyone and that if I did not, it made me a cruel, unloving person.

But just because you are working in the light does NOT mean you have to work with everyone.  Honor what you feel.

Honor you.  Honor yourself.  Learning to do that is part of the journey.

Read:  The Real Reason You Need Psychic Protection

6. Don’t worry about the skeptics

There will always be skeptics.  It’s all right, because we are each on our own path.  Don’t let the non-believers frighten you.  Focus on the light and the beauty and the healing.

Our job isn’t to convert skeptics into believers or argue with them.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve got more important work to do :)  That is, working with the people that respect and appreciate what I do.  Helping those folks heal and find comfort.  That is much more uplifting than arguing with a skeptic.

Read:  Coming Out of the Psychic Closet without Anxiety

7. Your real life is going to play a part in your work

A connection with your own soul/higher self is SO incredibly important when you work as a spiritual medium.

Bridgette, my awesome friend and assistant said to me one day, “I had no idea how important soul connection was when I first started doing this work”.

In 2014, my daughter was in the hospital for several months.  I was exhausted and knew in my heart that I couldn’t help anyone at that time.  My soul was telling me to take a break.

As difficult as it was, I had to cancel all of the mediumship readings I was scheduled to give for THREE months.

To me, nothing is more important than being fully present for the people I serve. 

And I wasn’t fully present at that time. I was tired and scared.

Sometimes, life stuff can affect your work.  It’s okay to step back when you need to.  Listening to your soul is another part of the journey.  If I hadn’t had that time away, I would have never started this blog.

8. Charging money does not make you less spiritual

Money is energy.  It’s supposed to flow.  Now I know it’s hard to think of money as energy when you only have $1.99 in your checking account, but it really is just energy.

Charging money does not make you a bad person or less spiritual or a lousy spiritual medium.

I did not charge money for the first 10 years I did this work.  Then one day a woman I had just given a free reading to said, “Love, I need to pay you.”

That woman was such a gift.  She taught me about energy exchange.  She felt uncomfortable NOT paying.  It’s another lesson we learn on our journey.

We live in a physical world.  Food to feed our physical bodies and clothing to cover up so we aren’t walking around naked, cost money.

Money is an energetic exchange for your time and service.

If you are feeling icky about money, I invite you to read these posts:

• 6 Reasons You Should Get Paid for Your Spiritual Gifts
• Should Twinkies be Free (written by my friend Dan Teck)

9. No spiritual medium is perfect

I know a lot of people idolize the “famous” psychic mediums, but we’re all just people who put our pants on one leg at a time.

Sometimes, I say things that my clients can’t validate right at that moment.  This used to shake me up, but now I know there are SO many reasons why someone might not be able to immediately validate what you are saying.  It happens to ALL spiritual mediums.

Learning to trust Spirit is part of the learning process.

Read:  When the Spirit You are Going to Connect with Didn’t Speak English

10. You’ll be a lot happier if you let YOU shine through

You are not Theresa Caputo.  You are uniquely, beautifully, wonderfully YOU.  And you should allow YOUR personality to shine through in your psychic medium readings.

Let your heart lead.

If you’re a touchy-feely person, take your clients hand when they cry.

If you’re lighthearted, smile.  You don’t have to be dramatic.

Be authentically YOU.

Your clients want that.  They want a REAL human connection.  They want to trust you.

When I started my first blog, I was afraid to be myself.  I was afraid to have fun and be lighthearted.  I thought if I did, other psychic mediums would think I was a joke.

Hiding my personality made me miserable.

Let your light shine and bring your personality into your spiritual medium readings.

When you stay true to YOU, the universe connects you with amazing clients and colleagues that you will absolutely adore.  And you will be honored to serve each of these beautiful souls.