Inside the Medium

Wherever I go, I see dead people. Standing on the side of the road, on planes, in every aisle of the supermarket …they're everywhere, hanging out around their loved ones who are still in this life. I really do talk to dead people. What must it feel like for Kelvin Cruickshank to be surrounded by spirit all the time? How does he juggle fatherhood with his responsibilities as a medium, and what do his friends think of what he does for a living? What does he think of sceptics, and how does he look upon other mediums? And how does he cope with the grief and expectations of the living and spirit worlds alike? Delve deep into the mind of the medium in this tell-all account from Kelvin – the psychic medium himself. Extract "This is how it works Wherever I go, I see dead people. Standing on the side of the road, on planes, in every aisle of the supermarket . . . they're everywhere, hanging out around their loved ones who are still in this life. Spirit people show up wherever I go because they know I have the ability to see and hear them and they usually want me to pass on messages to their family and friends. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do this. It's not a skill I was given just so I could keep it to myself, it's something to be shared with others, to give them peace and to help them understand that death is not an ending – it is the beginning of the next phase of our journey along our spiritual path. When we pass, we go to the spirit world, or in other words, heaven. It's not some place up in the clouds, but is right here, less than an arm's length away. Because it exists on a different frequency to this world, however, many of us are completely unaware of it. But I'm like a giant radio receptor, able to easily tune into the frequency of this other world as well as our own. Everything emits a frequency or vibration, including people who have passed over, and being able to pick up on their vibration is a matter of changing our frequency, which can be achieved through meditation and prayer. I've written about this in my book Finding the Path. To talk with spirit I change my frequency and they change theirs – we kind of meet in the middle between this world and the spirit world (hence the name medium). Being able to do this comes naturally to me, although there was a time when I thought it was anything but natural. Until I was in my late twenties it scared the living daylights out of me and made me wonder if I was a complete nutter. It very nearly pushed me right over the edge. Since then I've come to terms with my ability and learned how to control it. While I feel blessed to have this gift, there are times when it gets a bit much. People in spirit see me coming and they must think, ‘Woo hoo – a messenger boy!’ They can be very pushy, bombarding me with messages, and it can do my head in. I've learned to switch off my ability, using prayer, so I can get on with normal, everyday life without being hassled by persistent spirit. Almost. As you will see later in the book, there are still times when spirit people get through, even when I've tried to turn them off. If I wasn't able to do that I wouldn't be able to function properly. They would be with me everywhere I go and I wouldn't get anything done. Imagine trying to get the grocery shopping done when there are dozens of dead people standing behind you at the deli counter, saying, ‘That's my boy, handing you the olives! Tell him I'm so proud of him!’ Or, ‘The lady in red buying salami is my wife – please let her know she needs to stop crying over the photo albums and get on with her life.’ I would be a headcase – and very nearly have been in the past. When I do ‘switch on’ and tune in to the energy of spirit, I say a prayer and ask my spirit guides for their help when I step into the white light, or spirit world. I believe we all have at least one spirit guide who watches over us our whole life. Often it is a family member who has passed, or a guide we didn't know in this life who has been assigned to us. When I tune in to the spirit world it is my spirit guides I meet first – in my case my nan and pop, and I also have an angel called Margaret who watches over me – and from there I go on to make connections with spirit I haven't met before. Giving readings is really exhausting because although making connections with spirit comes naturally to me, I still have to concentrate hard on the information I am being given and make sense of it. It is really important to me to get it right; although having said that, I can only tell people what I'm being told. When I get off stage after a Soul Food show I am absolutely drained, emotionally as well as physically. It's hard work, a lot harder than people imagine, but being able to bring people peace of mind with the messages I pass on is the best thing in the world. I can't imagine anything I would rather be doing."…