021: Becoming the Fire // with Erica Barretto

In this episode, we got to chat with Erica Barretto, evidential psychic medium, intuitive development teacher, and spiritual life coach. She explains her dramatic shift from the structured world of law enforcement to the spiritual path of mediumship. Erica's personal odyssey is not just about the leap into the unknown, but also about the courage it takes to pursue one's authentic self, transforming professional disillusionment into a powerful tool for guiding others through their own metamorphoses.

Amid the challenges of a toxic work environment and the demands of motherhood, Erica discovered a profound connection to the spirit world.  Her story stands as a beacon, illuminating the possibilities that arise when we harness our inherent gifts and confront our deepest fears.

Erica's insights into the development of intuition and the balance required in spiritual growth serve as a guide for anyone on a path of self-awareness. Her approach, which underscores balance over extremism in both life and spirituality, is a refreshing perspective that encourages joy and fulfillment.

To find an intuitive development class, book a reading, or follow Erica on social media, click here!

Transcript

Lauren: 0:06

Wayfeather media presents Clairv oyaging what's going on? Hey everyone, welcome to another fantastic episode of Claire voyaging. Welcome, we're happy to have you here today, frank. Yes, are you okay?

Frank: 0:29

I'm great why.

Lauren: 0:30

Okay, cool no.

Frank: 0:32

Because you are sleepy. I'm sleepy, I have a little cold, we're fine.

Lauren: 0:36

We're fine Kids on spring break. We're good. We're good, everything is fine, everyone is good, everything is fine, everyone is good.

Frank: 0:43

The germs are supposed to stay at school, not here with me.

Lauren: 0:47

That's just how it goes. They are supposed to stay at school and they don't. Guys, if you don't know, last week we had our 20th episode, which was a recap and reflection episode, so if you missed that, have a listen.

Frank: 1:02

Get recapped, get reflected.

Lauren: 1:03

Yeah, it was cool to hear all the amazing information that we've gathered and learned from our guests funneled into one place. I relearned some things.

Frank: 1:16

It was funny to take a minute to think about everything that we've put together.

Lauren: 1:19

Yeah.

Frank: 1:20

And distill it as much as we can.

Lauren: 1:22

There's a lot of takeaways, a lot of takeaways. In case you missed it In case you missed it Go, have a listen. Have a listen to all of them in case you missed all of them.

Frank: 1:31

Oh yeah, it starts at number one and you go through all of it. I highly recommend it.

Lauren: 1:36

Yeah, oh, hey, guess what else? I just had my second client, true client, at the acupuncture clinic that I'm working from today, and it was really cool.

Frank: 1:48

Lauren went in brick and mortar style. Had someone come in, she laid hands on this, this woman.

Lauren: 1:58

She was so kind and she had just received acupuncture, so she was already laying on the table and I did like a 30 minute add-on session. I'm at AIM Wellness Clinic in Westlake, california, so if you're in the area, come see me.

Frank: 2:13

If you're feeling bad, lauren will make you feel good, and if you're feeling good, lauren's gonna get you to groovy.

Lauren: 2:17

You know what she said? She said I felt pain leaving my body and I didn't even realize how much pain I had. And this woman has like been through chemotherapy recently. So, man, it just was really cool to hear and this is part of this journey Like I didn't even do Reiki before this podcast started. So I feel like it's kind of hand in hand and our listeners are with us on this journey. So I like to share updates when they come.

Frank: 2:45

Sometimes people are like I feel pain leaving my body, but it's usually when I'm walking out of the room, not into it.

Lauren: 2:50

Oh, is that because you are the pain?

Frank: 2:53

Yeah.

Lauren: 2:54

Okay, what was it? That was, that was all right, are you okay, frank?

Frank: 3:00

tell me about our episode today.

Lauren: 3:02

Frank is unwell, just in a lot of ways today. So today's episode she's such a cool guest, Erica Barretto. Erica Barretto, she's an evidential psychic medium, an intuitive tarot reader, certified spiritual life coach, intuitive development teacher and so much more. Her backstory is amazing, so just hold on to your hats.

Frank: 3:28

Hold on to those hats, and she's got classes that you're going to want to take.

Lauren: 3:31

Yeah, she's kind and she's funny. Ladies and gentlemen, here is our conversation with Erica Barretto. Please enjoy. Erica Barretto, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Um, can you just, just starting off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the work that you're doing now?

Erica: 4:00

absolutely so. Um, the work that I do now I am okay, many, many things, um, I'm an evidential psychic medium. That's what I started off with doing, um, but then it unraveled into different things my, my, um social platforms. I dedicate it to teaching others how to do this as well, right their intuition, guiding them in a way that helps them understand that we can all do this right. So I do mediumship, intuition development, intuitive tarot reader, also like a spiritual life coach.

Erica: 4:40

What led me down this path, which, believe it or not, is quite strange. I think everybody has a strange story, right, I love it. I was very sensitive, since I was a child, very sensitive, so I've always seen things. I've had imaginary friends. I had a awkward life growing up I mean growing up in a rough setting, you know, dealt with a lot of things as a child, which kind of, I think, made me a little bit more hyper, aware of my surroundings. And I also, you know, as we grow up, we tend to forget, right, we live our life experiences. We don't really pick up on it.

Erica: 5:21

But I ended up getting a career in law enforcement. So I was working in law enforcement for 13 years. Yeah, I was working in corrections. I was a supervisor when I left here in New York and I always just had this extra sense of knowing when things were kind of not going to go in the way that it needed to, or just kind of picking up on the sensitivity of a situation. So it saved me a lot. So I just knew I was like I'm going to use my spidey senses. How is this going to go today? I know something's going to happen here, but overall I want to say like my spiritual awakening happened for me when my first son was born.

Erica: 6:03

After he was born, that's where I think everything kind of started to open up for me, where I was just like there has to be something more. And I mean I went through anybody who goes through spiritual awakening. You really start to experiment in different things. Right, you want to know. I went down the religious path and just it just didn't fit for me and I was like something's not right here for me. I, I need to know more. So just kept doing like, think like anybody else, the rabbit holes, going through different things. We're there right now, going through all the different rabbit holes and understanding the truth. I want to say right, because we start to see things and seeing it for what it is can be a little bit traumatizing once you, once you see it and you're like, no, this can't be true.

Erica: 6:52

But my and I want to say what really jump started me into this path was a health scare For me. I had a major brain surgery, oh my God, and I was fearing death. That's what it was for me. I feared death and this is what really opened up the portal to see what happens after this. What is this Like? There has to be more.

Erica: 7:18

And after my brain surgery, I was very I mean almost super sensitive. Where I was seeing spirit, I was hearing it more so, and I felt like I was losing my mind. I thought I was in the midst of psychosis. I thought something was wrong. So, of course, anybody who's going through that would seek therapy. And I was looking for all kinds of therapists and, you know, doctors to help me understand what was happening. But you know, just like any doctors, they'll push any type of medications and send you on their way.

Erica: 7:53

And I just knew that wasn't it. I was like, no, there's something more, there's something more here, and it just really unraveled and then the fear of death took me down the rabbit hole of mediumship and then, for mediumship, it became more of me tuning into my intuition how do I get to know me better? What can I do? And it just really unraveled that way and it brought me to the path that I'm in now and it's just really my passion to really just help others understand that they are capable of doing the same exact things. It's just like we have to go through this tornado of emotions and different reality shifts in order for us to understand, like wow, there is another way of perceiving this life, you know. So yeah, that's how I got here.

Frank: 8:43

That's fascinating. That's a very unique story. Could you do me a favor and tell me what was the point where you actually started taking clients? Was that a slow growth thing? Or was that something that you were doing, like you know, for friends? And then you're like wait a minute, I should be doing this?

Erica: 8:57

So, because I was a very natural, intuitive, very natural at picking these things up, I did like I took classes, I did a lot of development, but my teacher, she, my mentor, she was like you know, like you're really, you can start taking clients, you know, and after just taking so much development because that's one, that's one thing that's very important um, in work right, because you can run into a whole bunch of different type of people who do things and it might not be the way you want it to be done, right, there's an ethical way of doing this work and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to make sure I was going into it, I was being ethical, I was doing the things to help the people not put them in a worse place than what it is when they found me doing the things to help the people not put them in a worse place than what it is when they found me. So, she, it was just repetitive readings that were the accuracy is what that is right, the accuracy of being able to pick up certain information and just being able to do it consistently and feeling comfortable and confident in myself and my ability, and I felt good, I don't know, it was just something that just told me okay, now's the time. And she told me go ahead, do your website, do this, do that. So I was like, here we go.

Erica: 10:12

I just started doing it and it just kind of went to its own thing, you know, and it was gradual and I realized, okay, I'm not only just somebody who's here to help others and read for them, but I'm also here to teach them and to teach them that they can do this right. And that's just really where my passion lies, besides doing readings and things for people. But it's the empowerment, and I think the teaching of just knowing like this is not like something that only certain people are born with. We all have this ability. It is innate in all of us. It's just a matter of understanding it to be your truth right, because a lot of people like to think that things happen and it's just coincidences. But I don't believe in coincidences. I think that happened the way it's supposed to.

Frank: 11:03

Okay, I've known a couple of people who have worked in corrections and the thing that I'm completely stunned by right now is that I know to be in that line of work. There's a certain manner in which you have to hold yourself. You know it's a very authoritative position. Making the switch from being in that authoritative position where people must respect you in a space to opening yourself up and and like working as a medium, like how did you make that transition internally? I I'm having a hard time squaring that right now.

Erica: 11:37

It was not easy because vulnerability is not my um. It's not easy. It's not easy for me at all and it was a very big transition and I have to say, like I had two children, so after my second child is where that really shifted.

Lauren: 11:54

And.

Erica: 11:54

I took a year off from work to focus on my child, you know, being able to be home with him, and I just noticed, I mean, and I want to say that I always never felt like I quite fit in, if that makes sense. I never felt like I could be the same as some people would. They would call me soft, they would call me, they would say you need to be more you know, but I just believe in treating people the way you want to be treated.

Erica: 12:27

And I could go out in the street and be OK with running into former inmates because I know that they'd be like well, she treated me right in there and it's happened. It's happened where I've been in the middle of nowhere with my family and a man will go. He went up to my husband and shook his hand and said you have a really good woman on your hand. She was very respectful. She treated me good while we were in there. I had no idea who this guy was. I was like, well, I think, well, it's about me, it's about meeting. I always believe in doing right. Right, you do what you expect in return. I've always been a giver, without the um then, without wanting to receive right, I just give to and just whatever happens happens, and I've always been like that and that was the attitude I had when I was in there. So, yeah, I had to be stern. It did change me, it hardened me, but after my second child I wasn't the same and I just kept telling myself there's something here and I'm being pulled away from this. And I, when I tell you, everything that could have went wrong went wrong. Everything like I was. Just I wasn't. It's like I was. It was like oil and vinegar.

Erica: 13:35

I wasn't really meshing well um with my position because I had just become a supervisor and it was just a whole different level of responsibility. It was just a lot for me. It became overwhelming. I didn't feel connected to that position anymore. It didn't feel like that's who I was. I'm not this person. It was just a very negative and toxic environment and my spirit could not sit there and be happy. I was just not happy. I was. This is where I started to get very anxious, depressed, I mean everything you name it. It felt like my world was spiraling and right before I found out I was sick because I was going to quit. I was just going to leave, I was just going to resign. I didn't care. But the universe has a plan for us, always, right. This is what happened with me and I ended up getting sick. But what happened with me is I ended up being able to retire with a particular pension where I'm still, you know, I just got it earlier than having to wait till my 20th year which is what.

Erica: 14:42

I got in my regular pension but I I was able to retire in the sense of me not being at work because I would be considered a liability there with you know some of the um, the issues that I deal with now, which is like balance and stuff but um, it just it was hard. It was the hardest transition I ever had to meet him make in my life. And, um, it was hard, it was the hardest transition I ever had to make in my life and it was a lot of crying, a lot of crying, a lot of um trying to be my authentic self. I had to find her again because I her in the midst of working within those, you know, those walls, um, learning to be a nurturer, a mother, because it was just so hard, like I was, I was hardened. I was hardened by that environment and it really softened me up to just really come back to me, be myself, understanding that okay, I am, I am not this, I'm not this uniform. Like I had to go through a whole cycle of getting rid of that identity because you become that person. It's hard.

Erica: 15:49

If you know anybody who's, it's almost like you. Some people get like ptsd from working in those environments. It happened to me for, like I couldn't hear certain noises Cause I would think like, oh God, there's something going on, or like it was a while for me to shake it off. I want to say it was like a two year transition. After that it got a little bit easier and that's when I found my mediumship and that's where everything just started to click and I was like this is me, this is who I am, and just really stepping into that myself.

Erica: 16:22

Right, it just became so much easier to be this person and not care what, what anybody else thinks, because then I had to go through that home. What is people going to think about me? They're gonna think you know all these kinds of things and I had to go through that. So it's like layers of evolving and now I can say I'm comfortable with who I am, I'm comfortable with what I do. I don't care if people don't agree with what I do, because I know where it's coming from and it's coming from a place of my heart to be able to help others, and that's just really what it's about. You know, that's what this work is.

Frank: 16:58

Yeah.

Lauren: 16:58

So I'm so interested to think about, like, just thinking about, like your coworkers watching you make that shift into like oh, I'm a professional medium now, Was there judgment or was there some like can you do a reading for me, or you know what I mean? Like, how was it the like a huge range.

Erica: 17:22

I so because I was kind of awkward already at work. I didn't have many friends. Yeah, I'm very sensitive to really picking up on people's energies. Yes, I did have that I communicated with for a little bit. I did leave with two very good friends that I still communicate with now and, um, yeah, I did. I have read for some of my co-workers who did find me on social media and they were like, oh my goodness, I knew you were special because I would never go to like work parties. I wouldn't go to nothing, nobody knew nothing about me, like I would go to work and go home, go to work and go home. So, very private. I didn't like to give my energy because it was always like I had to walk around with this bubble because I just felt like I can't. I was very empathic too, so it was just a lot, so it would overwhelm me. So the less interactions I would have, the better. It was for me. So, and of course, just having two people that I can communicate with and trust was just enough.

Frank: 18:21

Yeah, erica, I'm not as practiced as you are in your abilities, but I've been overwhelmed in like a cubicle farm and I can't imagine the environment and the intensity that you were dealing with on a daily basis, like that's so wild for me to imagine.

Lauren: 18:36

Was your mediumship on like re unlocked at that point? Were you seeing and hearing like spirits, or was that? Had that not happened yet?

Erica: 18:48

When I was at work I would see okay. So there was this area in the in the jail, and when I became a supervisor, this area was considered like haunted right, yeah, and I never knew that. I never knew that. It was just like I heard it after my experience. So I was walking on a midnight shift and all the inmates are sleeping and I walked in and you know my officer would walk with me and I remember walking up on the top tier just to check the cells but nobody was upstairs. Everybody was downstairs, but you know it's part of my duty to make sure I'm checking everything.

Erica: 19:25

So as I'm walking, I saw somebody and I was like why is there an inmate on the top tier? Like who is she, when we have somebody down here? So my officer was like what do you mean? I was like there's somebody up there. You don't see her standing there. And she's like no, I was like you're lying and that's there. I thought it was mine. I was like what the hell did? I just see, yeah, and I looked again and surely there was nobody there. But I saw the person, yeah, and then after that incident she told me look, there's a ghost here.

Erica: 19:59

People talk about it all the time, but I've never saw it. But you just did. I was like holy crap, and it had to be with a. It was a female inmate who had thrown herself off of the top tier. Oh, my God, way back when, yeah, and it was a little story that circulated know, um, and I just I never heard of it until that day and I had an actual experience.

Erica: 20:22

But you know that was that, was that one like seeing a ghost there? But, um, you know, like I would always kind of see things in my peripheral vision, I would, um, and just sensing feeling. It's a big one with, you know, being sensitive is feeling. Feeling is key to opening up everything and I would just feel when something was wrong. But as far as my mediumship, going online at work, no, it did not, because I was so hyper focused on surviving. I couldn't, I couldn't. There's no way of tapping in. And the only reason why I think that happened on the midnight, like that, is because it's quiet, all the inmates are sleeping, it's just like you. You're in a very tranquil zone. I'm not in, you know, fight or flight mode, because everybody's sleeping Right, so I'm able to just walk around and just, you know, calmly, look through things, but that was my. Yeah, that was my weird experience at work, but it was, um, it was interesting, to say the least.

Frank: 21:19

You know that makes sense too, because, like when I think about the old jobs that I've had, where I've had, you know, a psycho boss or something, I spent so much of my time turning myself off to that and putting up barriers, of course that would happen to you when everyone was sleeping and you were just like cruising by yourself. Yeah, I'm very much in a phase right now of kind of exploring this one particular question. But how long did you work in corrections?

Erica: 21:42

13 years 13 years.

Frank: 21:44

All the time that you spent there Were there cues that you feel like you maybe should have picked up on sooner, that maybe this wasn't the right environment for you, or do you feel like you really needed to like have the experience of like working in that environment so that you knew that there was something else other than that? I feel like there's a more eloquent way of stating that question. Let's go with that.

Erica: 22:08

Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying and I have to say that my first it was never something I wanted to do. So I went to college for forensic psychology. That's what I wanted to do. That is where my passions lied and you know, I just I didn't finish because I didn't want to go into corrections. I wanted to go into being a cop because I wanted to be a detective, a homicide detective at that, and it's a a funny story.

Erica: 22:36

But a lot of my mediumship readings tend to be like a missing part. You know, it kind of relates wow, my background. But I I felt it in my stomach and I just knew this wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. But I had to do it to get to where I'm at now and that I wholeheartedly believe. Um, but yeah, there were always instances where I didn't. I was always highly anxious, and then it's like there's this bridge that goes over before you get onto the, into the jails, and the anxiety that I would get just going over that bridge, and then, the minute that I would cross over, it's like I was shut down.

Frank: 23:17

I can feel that Wow, mask on so symbolic too.

Erica: 23:23

And I'm like mask on, let's go. Cause it's like that was one of the things that they would teach you in the academy, like if you're scared, you better hide it, you better put you, better look yourself in the mirror and say we're going to be a boss today. So it was like training that we would have to do to mentally block any and all feelings, right. So I was good at turning off my feelings real quick and I would just walk in there like, ok, I could do this, and once you're there, you're there, you're good, it's no problem, it's getting there. That was the problem, right. And I just feel like it didn't hit me more. So until after I had my children, where things just weren't, it just wasn't right, I was like this doesn't feel right, I'm not feeling comfortable here. My stomach would be. I was getting physically ill. That's what was happening. It started to now take form in my body like I was a 26 year old, with my body feeling like I was 80. And that's from the stress. Yeah, I read on like that for years. I mean, I didn't even realize this isn't normal, right. I just I was able to deal with the pain and I still deal with it now. It's like almost, it's like the body just keeps record of this. Oh yeah, you know, even though I'm in a way better, like mental, physical state, I still there's still. It's still there. I don't know how to explain it, but you know I.

Erica: 24:45

But I did know, like I said, after I had my children, that was it for me, because there was just this shift in my perspective with nurturing and caring, and also caring for myself and not really seeing the way that they try to train you to be this very careless. You know, don't attach feelings to this. This is not where we. You're here to do the job, the job's done and that's it. We don't care about you know what happens here. It was just so, so negative, that's all I have to say. And it just I knew it wasn't for me. I've always been different, I've always been different and I've always just been like I don't want to say a goody, two shoes, but I, I did what I was supposed to do, I did my job and sometimes go overboard, right, like, but I just um, I don don't know, it just didn't fit. It didn't fit, it wasn't.

Lauren: 25:38

That's like two different lives, so not aligned with, like motherhood, and then just like, don't care about these people.

Frank: 25:46

That you're, you know like well, becoming a parent like, also makes you need to officially like, live into your authenticity a little bit. You're, you're, you're raising a person that's going to be based off of, like your version of you, know how you present reality to them and you don't want to. You can't be two things in that, in that environment. Right, that's tough, it's tough on them.

Lauren: 26:07

Yeah, and bringing home all of those as an empath and like sensitive person, bringing all of that home and then, like you can't just leave that at the door, like it is with you, it's like were you able to shed some of that energy.

Erica: 26:22

I was just thinking, a memory just flashed and flooded my brain Like I would leave the Island and I would scream in my car.

Erica: 26:31

Oh, my God, I would scream and sometimes boo, and know that I would have to come back and do it hours later because there was a lot of overtime and it would be so much, it would be so, so much and I would park in my driveway and just sit in the car like numb before I would get out and just go straight to bed. And sometimes it was just like a vicious cycle and there was a point where I wasn't even seeing my son because I was coming home while he was sleeping and I was leaving while he was sleeping and I would. It would just be like that. Thank God for my mom. You know my mom lives with me, so she helped me a lot, especially when I'm going through my awakening process.

Erica: 27:12

It was rough.

Erica: 27:13

I mean it was rough for me, um, and yeah, it was just it was rough.

Erica: 27:16

I mean it was rough for me and yeah, it was just, it was like coming out of the grave again is what that felt like? A real transition, rebirth is what that felt like when I left that place and just really stepped into my authentic self and it just it really I want to say like it felt like it destroyed my character and my personality of who I was then, because it was like you don't know who you are, like I would look at myself in the mirror and I'm like who are you Like, why, why? And for me to even say that and question myself in that time, that's alarming, you know. And that's alarming, you know, and I'm just glad to have made it out, because some people, you know, they, they don't health wise, and I'm just grateful, you know, I, I tell my husband all the time like I'm grateful that I got sick, I'm grateful that I had to go through the things that I had to go through, because I wouldn't be here right now.

Frank: 28:15

So the experiences I definitely feel like were needed to be here it's also super interesting to me that, like your emotional journey feels very similar to mine, I'm sure you kind of feel it too, that like fish out of water feeling and like trying to yeah, you know you turned off like your wants and needs for very long for the sake of survival, but then, yeah, but then at having that turning point of needing to like all right now it's time to like stop doing this and do the thing I'm supposed to do.

Lauren: 28:43

Yeah, like your, your story is such it's it's so big, but it's so it's also I mean for me on a smaller scale, like relatable.

Frank: 28:54

Yeah, and for me, on a smaller scale, like relatable yeah, let's be clear, erica is stronger and braver than anybody in this room right now, and the only people in this room are me and Lauren.

Lauren: 29:01

Yeah, yeah, I mean good Lord, like incredible.

Frank: 29:04

Yeah.

Lauren: 29:05

But I can so relate to the feeling of like just that robotic going through the motions of something that I don't want to be doing and not knowing how to stop it and like knowing like this deeper, gnawing, sickening feeling. That's like this isn't what you're supposed to do, but why are you still doing it? And yeah, like finally, sometimes it's like your body is like bro, if you're not going to stop you, I'm going to stop you.

Frank: 29:41

This brings up another point. I'm sorry we wrote a whole bunch of questions here, but I'm kind of going with the flow right now.

Lauren: 29:45

Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't. I didn't know her background. What an incredible story.

Frank: 29:51

Something that Lauren and I have been exploring a little bit in the last couple of weeks is the concept of using your trauma as a guide, and we've been using the term of alchemizing your trauma into something that I say, like you can, yeah, you can alchemize your trauma into wisdom so that you can help support others, which is exactly what you're doing, like.

Lauren: 30:14

Sometimes, living through these experiences helps you. You either go down the path of like victimhood or you turn it into. I have to do something with this. So how? Maybe I can help you because I lived through it.

Erica: 30:29

Yeah, so mediumship is funny. Actually, there's a way that spirit will communicate, the universe will communicate with you, the things that need to be worked on, and the way that comes up is in the readings. So I might do a reading for somebody, but it's also triggering me because of an experience that I had. And if it's triggering me it's because it's something that I have to work on within myself. That's how I take it. Oh OK, this is popping up because I need to work on that. Clearly, that's funny it. Oh okay, this is popping up because I need to work on that. Clearly it's bothering, making me upset, but I mean with my client.

Erica: 31:04

I'm there for them that time is solely on what I'm focusing on them. But I'm taking the mental notes I'm like okay, I get what you're saying.

Lauren: 31:07

Okay, check, come back to that one.

Erica: 31:12

So of course I mean as somebody who comes into this work, that is what we're here for. We use our traumas to help others Right, and we the healing never stops. That's one thing. That is just a constant. The perspective changes each and every time with, for example, like why it was young. My dad left when I was a young child, so I had to deal with that trauma of feeling abandoned. So that constantly comes up, but it comes up in different perspectives and I've conquered the dad wound, you know.

Erica: 31:48

So now it'll come up in another way with whether it's like oh, I'm feeling abandoned because I'm not. I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, so I'm abandoning myself. But there's different ways of viewing that. But using that trauma and being able to look at it in a way where now you can talk about it without being triggered or being sensitive, in a way where it makes you feel some kind of way, you can now talk about it. You know that you have conquered some part of that to be able to bring that out to help somebody else with your experience. That's what mediumship does. So it's beautiful how it happens.

Erica: 32:26

And again, like I said, I don't believe in the coincidences. Because of how I am aligned with the clients. I don't really advertise myself as a medium. I mean, you'll see it in my profile, but you won't see me posting up videos like oh, this is me, like. I don't do that.

Erica: 32:42

I'm more focused on teaching people on how to become more in tune with themselves. But if they find me, I believe that spirit and the universe brought them to me for that reason, because there is a spiritual alignment there. That's why I don't really and that's my, my take on why I don't really push myself out there like that. Yeah, but because it always happens that way and everybody that spirit brings into this and you know, to book with me there's always something there that I can help them with, because it's based off of my experiences that I've had in my life that I can bring forth to help, you know, and allow spirit to give me whatever it is that's needing to be said to the client at the time. So our traumas do have a lot to do with us helping others and healing ourselves but at the same time bringing that forward to help others that need that extra lifting or that extra little push that they need to to get on their track.

Frank: 33:42

So I believe in that wholeheartedly. That's been a big part of my journey. Real quick, I have a question Can you give me a quick definition of evidential mediumship? And then I have, then I have a follow-up.

Erica: 33:52

So evidential mediumship is being able to connect with the loved one of what we would call a sitter, the person that I'm reading for. You know maybe a special way that they would wear their hair, or a particular perfume scent that they would wear, or specific memories, but they're specific, it's specifics, that's what it is, specific information that there is no denying that this is connected to the person that is communicating with me, the spirit, the soul that's communicating with me, and the person sitting in front of me will say wow, that's everything, that's what they look like, that's what they wore, that's what they smelled like, or sometimes I will get names right. So when I meet a client, don't tell me nothing. I don't want to know nothing. Don't feed me any information. All I need is for you to give me a yes, no, maybe, or more information, and as I'm doing that and I'll bring through what we call the essence of spirit, which is their personality, of who they were when they were here, and sometimes you know it could be that they had it depends like they could have had mental health issues. Maybe they had addictions, maybe they could have had mental health issues. Maybe they had addictions, maybe they just had a blood condition.

Erica: 35:20

There are certain things that come through, and it comes through feeling, right. So the feeling triggers the things with in our intuition, where we pick it up with our clairs, which is whether we can smell it, taste it, hear it, see it or feel it. And those are the specifics. Like I can feel a certain way, a spirit passed over, you know, depending on how it happened for them, I may feel like I have pressure on my chest. That indicates for me that's a heart attack or something with the lungs, or my legs feel heavy. So therefore it feels like in life they weren't able to walk, there was some swelling, there was some type of circulation issue, or my head will hurt. That leads to me thinking they had a brain injury or something going on with the brain stroke, aneurysm, something of that sense. But it comes through feeling.

Lauren: 36:08

So, and it's very specific to the person that I'm reading for, Is that your strongest sense, like the feeling, or do you see also, or like here?

Erica: 36:22

so for me it's all of them, and I think with mediums, we have to be very in tune with all the senses, because that is how spirit communicates. They communicate with those senses. And it's the same way even for us to pick up on things going on around us, whether it's through people we meet and it's through the clairs. That's why I love to teach about the clairs, because this is so important. It's vital for us in this lifetime. It's our inner compass, it helps us, it's our GPS and with mediumship it's just that's the way they communicate. It's our GPS and with mediumship it's just that's the way they communicate. It's through feeling. Feeling is the big one. It comes through feeling, through our heart space, through the solar plexus and just really being able to get visions. I don't know. For me it's just everything. It comes, everything comes online. I get the feeling first, because I want to feel how this person was. And when I say feeling, in my mind there's a Rolodex kind of going through, sifting through information, and it's like playing charades with spirit. So they're throwing me pictures, they're throwing me flowers, they'll throw me the month of May, the number 14. It's so strange how it happens, but it comes little little pictures and then the pictures will okay. Well, let me let me understand that spirit. How, what does this month mean? Is it a birthday, is it an anniversary? Is it a day of passing? And then I'll feel into that and when I do that, they may make me feel how they crossed over or they'll show me something and for me, like I'll work through symbols. So if I'm seeing flowers being given, that's an anniversary. If I'm being shown a headstone or like a cremation jar, that is a day of passing. If they show me a birthday cake, that is a day of a birthday.

Erica: 38:13

So there's certain things that they'll show me that I know in connection, to be able to translate the message for the person that I'm reading for, and it's through feeling. You know, evidential mediumship is about bringing forth the evidence. There's no way that I could, you know, understand certain things, because it's ungoogleable information, like, how can I know that you have a piece of jewelry in your drawer that your grandma left you? Like, how can I know that you have a piece of jewelry in your drawer that your grandma left you? That's, you know, it's just certain things that come up in a reading that there's no denying the existence of spirit on the other side, which is what makes us so beautiful, right To understand that there is nothing to fear, and because when I communicate, it comes from a place of love, it comes from my heart space.

Erica: 38:55

Sometimes I'll have my hand on my heart as I'm doing a reading, but it's just it, the love that comes through. Sometimes it's just so much like it makes me emotional, but, um, it's just undeniable and that's just really why I do the work, because there's no fear when it comes to to death and what's on the other side. It shouldn't be, but we've been taught to fear. We've been taught to, you know, be afraid and and just all the scary, spooky things. But it's not. It's not what it is, you know, it's not what it is. Hollywood paints a picture of the paranormal. It's definitely not true.

Frank: 39:34

So since we've been exploring all this stuff, I have found myself, like you know, without, without even really trying to, I've shed my my fear of death and my a certain amount of my sadness when other people die, and I'm very worried that I'm coming across as a sociopath, because no one else operates that way. It's supposed to be the worst thing that's ever happened, when it's like just the next part of what's what our lives are, everybody who's listening. I'm not a sociopath, it's just. This is a new thing for me. I'm trying to work it out. Is evidential mediumship something that is its own particular skill, or is this because of your former training and the way that your brain operates that you like to point out the things that are solid pieces of evidence?

Erica: 40:19

So it is a form of training and you know, everybody is different. You have different ways of learning how to do mediumship. Some people don't go through any training at all, right. Some people just say, hey, it is what it is. We don't really have an umbrella or a corporation that oversees psychics here. It's not the UK. In the UK they do, though, you know.

Frank: 40:43

Wait, hold on, wait. In the UK there's a psychic Pope.

Erica: 40:47

There is an umbrella of people that watch over medium psychics and any type of like, remote viewing, anything that works under that umbrella of psychic work. It's very big over there. They have schools, they have psychic schools and you get fined according to what I you know what I've been told, like if you are told that you're doing work and it's not for the highest good of the individual, like there's repercussions for that.

Frank: 41:16

Hold on a second, Erica. I don't want to. I don't want to. If there's people who get fined, I mean, what else is there? A psychic jail Cause. There's a job for you, yeah, Right.

Erica: 41:27

That would be awesome. I don't know exactly how that would work over there, but I do know there definitely are repercussions for that like this is news to me yeah, yeah, you've got to go and you know it's.

Erica: 41:42

it's really like the spiritualist church over there, which is a really big deal, and that's really how mediumship started, like the spiritualists, and this goes back to the pioneers of mediumship. I mean, if you really want to go down the rabbit hole of looking up where it started, you can look up the Fox sisters. They lived here in the United States.

Frank: 42:01

And this is where.

Erica: 42:02

Yeah, so they're. They're one we have. Leonora Piper. She was an amazing transmedium, and it's just so many different pioneers who really paved the way for us to be here today, to be able to do this work, what's like the main kind of recurring thing that you teach, or like a first jumping off point for intuition development? Understanding the clairs, really looking like looking them up for yourself. Right, and I always recommend people dive into books, read some books upon intuition, because knowledge is power, right that's what I always say.

Frank: 42:42

I always say read a book loser when someone's like hey, how do you, how do you do this? Yeah, reading reading a book is so important.

Erica: 42:51

Do you have a favorite book? I do? The Intuitive Way by Penny Pierce, amazing book on intuition, and that's one that I highly recommend to people just starting and just really trying to get an idea of it. But sitting in the silence, sitting in meditation, if you're not a meditator and I hear it all the time I have ADHD. I can't close my mind. It's always running. I don't know how to stop it. You're not trying to stop the mind, you're just trying to slow down the thoughts. You're trying to acknowledge them and move them, let them pass like clouds, but acknowledging the thought, but not becoming the thought. Right, that's what we. It's the power of the now as well, but it's about just really being able to sit, acknowledge and guided meditations is probably one of the best ways to start. Guided 15, 25 minutes I don't recommend anything longer for beginners because it's just it's impossible. You work your way up with the time. You can start with 15 minutes and then work your way up to 20, 25. But making the time you can start with 15 minutes and then work your way up to 20 25, but making the time to sit with yourself, keeping, keeping, because it's you know.

Erica: 44:01

I always say, intuition development is very important, but you need to understand that I teach my students intuition development and personal development go hand in hand. This is like a there's something that happens here, because when you're developing your abilities now, things start to resurface from your past, so there's a unraveling that happens that you need to work on, and this is what this is why people stop. They don't want to continue, because it's painful, depending on the traumas that they went through, their experiences. Sometimes it's too much and they don't. They don't move forward. But there's a part where it's like a nagging thing. It just keeps coming at you and then it's like you know what? You fall. I call them tower moments. You just fall and now you gotta rebuild back up is that a tarot reference?

Erica: 44:44

it is, it is, I'm learning.

Lauren: 44:46

She's a tarot reader.

Erica: 44:49

Yeah, so you kind of rebuild from the ground up. So things must fall to get rebuilt again. So definitely recommend reading up on some books, understanding each and every Claire, what they do, and when you do that you'll have so many aha moments Like, wait a second, I've been using that the whole time. I've always, I've always dreamt of things I did smell. Using that the whole time. I've always, I've always dreamt of things. I did smell, things that nobody else smell or, oh my God, I knew that person wasn't good for me. Long story down the line, they just, you know, betrayed me. I always knew that was the potential, but I didn't trust it. You know, there's things that wake up and there's realizations that are made, but society doesn't teach us to trust ourselves. They want us to trust outside sources. They don't teach us to trust ourselves, because that's really what it is Right.

Lauren: 45:38

And that starts with, like as a kid, like how often do you hear people saying you know to kids, like no, no, no, like that didn't happen, or like don't worry about that, or even conversations that you're having where you're like it's not, you know, like it's, like you're always pushing down, or or as a kid being pushed down, like don't, don't trust that feeling, and then we just keep like perpetuating that idea.

Erica: 46:06

Yeah, that's the unraveling Right.

Erica: 46:10

And then we get to the point where we go through our spiritual awakenings and you have no choice but to really sit there with those feelings and realize like, wow, I do have the answers inside. I don't have to listen to anybody else, because I know what I have to do. If I just listened, if I just paid attention to how I felt, you know you get your own voice back. You get to learn how to speak up for yourself, because maybe you were taught to not speak up for yourself. You know, you get to see the world through a different set of eyes is what I like to say. When you are going through your spiritual awakening, you open up a new set of eyes to see that the leaves on the trees are actually greener than what you saw them before.

Erica: 46:52

So there's just this separation of ego as well. That happens, because that, that's really what it is right, because the ego teaches us to to kind of live a certain way, and it's almost like the ego is always beating me up. It's always telling me bad things. Yeah, it's the same thing. So how do we change that? Right, we press pause, we kind of stop and we become the observer of the thought rather than becoming the thought.

Frank: 47:17

So that's the, that's the whole concept of duality, that.

Lauren: 47:22

I always talk about from like Buddhism. Yeah.

Frank: 47:25

That taught me a lot. I didn't practice it for that long because, you know, I was young, I wanted a party, but, like it did teach me a lot about myself.

Lauren: 47:35

I've only recently learned that what my ego has led me to believe, and like I've recently learned Reiki and like I'm I'm on this whole like healing journey and stuff Cause I'm like I want to develop my intuition, but I know, like you were saying, like you kind of have to go go in inward first and I'm like I want to develop my intuition, and I'm experiencing that right now, a lot of like. Let me dive back into that childhood trauma and all that.

Frank: 48:02

I mean, I've been noticing very slowly that that this podcast was made to explore the world of psychics and mediumship and stuff and just talk to people like you and it's very slowly growing into like a self-help thing, because it's almost impossible to separate the two.

Erica: 48:18

Yeah, yeah, that's why it's like it's so important. I mean I can't, I can't tell you enough, like. So one of the things that I started with on my journey was gratitude. Gratitude was a big thing for me because I was, I wasn't like, and I had a hard time. Like I'm like, what am I grateful for? Like I hate life, and that that was like me becoming my thoughts being in this sadness of nothing going right. But I just didn't realize everything was going right. Right, I was here. That's the number one thing of why I'm grateful. So I had started off with like a few things and then those few things grew into more things and that was the going within being grateful for the now, because I had so much anxiety that I learned later that when you practice gratitude, anxiety don't have no room there, because it comes from the same place of the brain. When you're practicing gratitude, there's no room for anxiety because you're constantly focusing on the now, what I'm grateful for now.

Lauren: 49:21

Oh, I love that. Yeah, I haven't thought about like gratitude replacing anxiety. Frank's like make a giant note about this.

Erica: 49:32

Yeah, so I had started. I have notebooks upon notebooks upon notebooks, like I just started in, like a composition book, one of my child's old like speech books he had laying around and didn't have nothing in it. I just started writing. I'm grateful for waking up this morning and that's how I start every single day. And I actually created a journal. Yeah, I put it on on. Well, I want to say spirit helped me create the journal because I didn't know what the hell.

Erica: 49:56

I was doing and I just came to me one day. I was like, okay, this is how we do this, great, great, great, and it kind of lined up and it just I pushed it out there.

Lauren: 50:05

But it's called. It starts with gratitude.

Erica: 50:08

And it's such an important part of my journey, yeah, and it really helped me get to know me with practicing gratitude and really just being present with myself. That's what we forget to do because we're so worried about tomorrow and yesterday, but it's now is is what matters, it's now that we have. So I try to stay here and, like my therapist who I had for years because, you know, I was in corrections, I need a therapist he would tell me don't take the trip to the Bronx. Well, you know it's just a joke, but it's like stay here right now, don't take the trip there, because if you take the trip there, then you're going to be living in anxiety and fear.

Lauren: 50:51

Yeah, time traveling, yeah, we create it.

Erica: 50:53

We create our own suffering and it's crazy. We do it to ourselves because we're so used to it. We've been trained to do this since we were little. So to unpack that is quite an adventure. And you know, I don't know.

Erica: 51:11

I mean mean, I'm sure people who consider them like you know, the monks and the buddhas they would reach enlightenment. But they would tell you, and if you look at the the, just the idea of enlightenment, you know some people would think, oh, it's somebody that's walking with all these lights and everything behind them. They, they're walking on water and whatever, but it's just a man sitting under a tree. You know what I mean, like you become. The whole point of enlightenment is to not look at the fire and say, wow, it's hot. It's to become the fire, to know that you too are that fire, right to become one. So, yeah, it's just a big, it's just a beautiful journey when you, just when you take those steps and just really just dive into it and just knowing that there's so much more. And that's that's like. That's my purpose to help people unravel that. Wow, I really just had like an aha moment like an epiphany, because we're human, we're kind of like well, why am I doing this?

Erica: 52:11

What am I doing this for? But we know why we're doing this. We're doing this because we want to help the next person, and that's what it's about. That's what I tell my students. I'm helping you and sometimes I help a lot of people like for free, like I meet with people all the time. She was just I'm not in this for the money. I'm in this because I really want to help people. So I do a lot of free practice circles, I do a lot of free stuff.

Lauren: 52:33

That's nice of you.

Erica: 52:35

Yeah, I do it because I want to be able to show people they can spread the seed the same way, and that's how I learned with one of my good friends now. She held free practice circles and it's almost like she gave me the torch and now I'm passing the torch to somebody else to hope that they do the same and pass on the knowledge to other people to teach and help them grow. So that's what it's about you spread the seed, the flower grows and then you just keep planting all seeds all over the place I just I just told someone yesterday on reddit that was like having a I don't know.

Lauren: 53:09

I just responded. Responded because I was like this is a cool story and she was just talking about how, like she doesn't know if she has psychic abilities and like she's had all these stories, and I was like no, I'm pretty sure you do. We've been talking to all these mediums. Some of them have free development things, so I'm going to post again and be like also, here's Erica's practice circle. But so where can people find you? Where can, where can we get a course or class or reading?

Frank: 53:42

Give us all your plugs.

Erica: 53:44

I definitely have a website. Everything is like in my profiles. I'm on all social media platforms, my profiles. I'm on all social media platforms. I'm all over the place. But I do have my link tree and it's love and light, l? U, v, n, l I t e? Um at link tree and everything is there and I have my profiles. Everything's on my website for my free practice circles.

Lauren: 54:03

We'll link it all too yeah look in the description we'll have. We'll have her, her links notes and your journal Where's, where's your gratitude journal?

Erica: 54:12

That's Amazon. You can find that. Yeah, you can find that on Amazon. I don't have one here. I actually write in them myself. Right, I write in my own journal.

Frank: 54:22

That's awesome.

Erica: 54:22

Great, I can't believe in it. Yeah, I created an ESP intuition deck.

Erica: 54:33

I uh, I created an esp intuition deck. I don't even know where I have that like a card, but yeah it is. It's like an intuition development deck that I created at the beginning of my journey. I I had a problem because I was like I was using tarot cards to try to teach people how to really pick up on the information through their you know, extra sensory perception, however the information comes in. But I was like I can't find a deck that has animals and cards and the regular ESP Zen are shaped.

Frank: 54:56

Yeah.

Erica: 54:57

So I created my own and I was like all right, let's do this. And I just put it out there and I just recently gave a bulk of them with like for my students for my intuition development course, which is probably something I do a lot different than other mentors teachers. I send each student a package of the tools that we're going to be utilizing in the class oh, that's fun yeah, I mean, it's everything I mean because I want to teach you how to read cards.

Erica: 55:24

Um, I want to teach you how to read a pendulum, right to how to utilize one. I teach them how to exercise each and every single Claire, so they come out of the class knowing what that feels like. Because some people will be like, well, you know what? I never smelled anything, or I don't hear spirit, or I've never saw images in my mind. So I'm like, well, by the end of this class, you will, and I promise you, you will, and I walk them through, every single Claire. I break them down within six classes and they leave like, wow, I didn't even know that was possible.

Erica: 56:00

And it's just, we can do it, anybody can do it. It's a developed skill. You can develop into medium even if you've never had experiences when you were a kid, if you've never had experiences when you were a kid, if you've never had any paranormal experiences. But now, all of a sudden, you want to wake up to being a medium. You can do that. You don't need prior experiences. It just may become a little bit more easier for that person who is having more of a natural way of sensing spirit. But anybody can do it. That's the whole thing. We can all do it.

Frank: 56:33

Erica, I'm so impressed by how practical you've made this.

Lauren: 56:37

Yeah, because there's a lot of straightforward. It feels like it.

Frank: 56:40

Yeah, I mean, we've spoken to a lot of people and there's a lot of different ways to go about this. Yours seems like the most like. Hey, dummies, like you can, you can too.

Erica: 56:54

You know I, I separate like you can. You can too. You know I I separate like. There's people who come in who are a little bit seasoned with their mediumship and I put them in you know, breakout rooms to practice. But the people who are new, I like to sit with them, pick my brain, ask me questions. What do you want to know? Do you want to know how to help? I can help you with this, this and this, but that's what the space is for it, it's for me to help, and it just really lights up my heart to be able to do that for other people because they have a deeper understanding.

Erica: 57:18

And the one that really gets me is when people come to me and they've had experiences with their mental health and they may have been in and out of psych wards and they feel like they've been told they were crazy their whole life. Yeah, and they feel like they've been told they were crazy their whole life, yeah, but then realize they've been super sensitive their entire life. Wow, and come to this realization and somebody telling them like you're not crazy, your experiences are valid, they are, and that's what they need to hear. But I also tell them if you are taking medications. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that either.

Erica: 57:50

You know, it is what it is. That's our life, that's what we have to do, because it's the quality of life that we are that we have in order for us to really open up into our ability. So if you're suffering with an anxiety issue and you have to take anxiety meds, that's not going to stop you from being intuitive or tuning into spirit. It's not. It's the overall quality of your life. If you need this to function, that's what we look for functionality, being able to be, you know, feeling somewhat normal and and being able to dive into these, um, you know, experiences and I just like to. I love that, because people leave and they're like I wasn't crazy this whole time. Yeah, oh, that's so beautiful.

Frank: 58:35

So it's, it's a beautiful thing as a as a prozac boy myself. I'm happy to hear that, because I'm always just like, oh man, am I turning something off that I shouldn't?

Lauren: 58:45

and I struggle with that sometimes do you just I've heard a lot about like, don't drink too much caffeine, don't like, don't eat this, don't like drink alcohol, all these things? Do you have a specific diet or regimen or like anything where you're like keep the body?

Erica: 59:02

at temple? No, absolutely not. I'm gonna eat what the hell I want to eat. If I go out with my husband, I'm gonna have a drink and a steak. Like that doesn't stop. I might even get even more psychic at that point. My grandma's here and she's telling you to stop.

Erica: 59:19

Stop your crap you know, like I just um, oh my god, no, absolutely not. That's not true, I mean, and that's just. That's that toxic spiritualism, that toxic positivity. There's one thing that people need to learn there is that duality. We do have to have the shadow and the light. We have to embrace both. Without the shadow, you wouldn't be able to see the light. Without the light, you wouldn't be able to shine the light on the shadow. It's balance important.

Erica: 59:49

Don't overdo your spirituality. Don't overdo your spirituality. Don't overdo your development. Make sure you're taking the time to experience your life and do the things that you love to do. That's one thing that I've learned, and I had to learn the hard way a few times, but I finally got it.

Erica: 1:00:03

So I feel like I need a break. I pay attention, I get straight into my grounding, I go, go. I have a tree, I go to my tree, I sit on my tree, journal, I stretch, I yoga, I exercise. That's what I do for me, but that's me. You know, I don't do it every day. I do it when I feel like, okay, it's time. I need to jump back into this. But for me, my structure is I journal in the morning, I do my gratitude, I because I journal in the morning, I do my gratitude, I have my coffee and I just do whatever the hell I want to do. I eat what I want. I don't let that limit me. That's all.

Erica: 1:00:37

That's all belief systems. You don't need crystals and you're. You know I love crystals. They're beautiful, but you don't need to put this on your third eye to say I'm activated. You know you don't need that. You don't need to carry them in your pockets or in your bra to feel like you're protected. It's all a mind state. You know I love crystals. You use them. There is energy. I've been using them since the beginning, you know, because of the energetic properties and how you can use them in practices. So yeah, but it's all belief system, right? I might believe that somebody else don't. That doesn't make them better or me worse or whatever. It doesn't matter right, you're my kind of gal.

Lauren: 1:01:15

This is so. I feel so relieved I'm not doing it right.

Erica: 1:01:21

There's just so many different beliefs that really I think it blocks people from just doing it. It's just about release, surrender. Let go do the personal work and just go with the flow. That's the best advice I can give you. Don't fight it. It's going to come back harder, Like that's. That's a lesson that I've learned repetitively over time. Anytime I was like, you know I need a break, but I keep pushing. Oh, I need a break. I keep pushing. What happens? I get sick, I'm done for two weeks, I can't even come back. So I'm like, nope, I'm not doing that, no more. And since I'm listening and doing what I'm supposed to do, just going with the flow, I've been fine, it's been balanced and that's all you can do. Balance is key Because people, people will think well, how do I prevent psychic attacks or how do I prevent attachments?

Erica: 1:02:15

It's about the perception, it's about your belief. Right, it's about understanding your energy versus somebody else's energy, because, yeah, we can carry other people's pain suffering and and, and you know, we do it. When we watch movies, we, we do it when we see Tik TOKs and you see somebody in motion. You feel the pain, but it's understanding that that's not your pain, cause five seconds ago you were laughing at the cat that just jumped off the wall. You know what I mean.

Erica: 1:02:42

So it's the energy that you're feeling. It's not much of anything but that. So to understand your energy versus somebody else's, that's where you sit in silence so you can understand your energy. Understand that if you came, if you went outside to a store, you were feeling good before that, but now you're back home and you're feeling very, you know, short tempered or something's bothering you because you probably passed by somebody who was going through something tough and now you just kind of picked up on that residual energy. Yeah, now my practices for that is I just say you know what, it's not mine, I let it go, I call my energy back.

Erica: 1:03:20

It's mine, I don't want it, you know whatever's not mine, I spend it back and I send it back with love. So I do that and for me it mentally clears me. It's all about you know, just saying it and believing it and that's it so and I do that. What do you say? You take baths, spiritual baths, like I'll, just in the suds, kind of washing away any negative energy, or I will. Psychic scissors is what I call them cutting the psychic, psychic threat, cutting the energetic threats that don't belong to me, from whether it was conversation with somebody I had in in passing, I cut the energetic cords with psychic scissors.

Lauren: 1:04:04

You just literally, physically, put the scissors around your head. The scissors around your head, no, no.

Erica: 1:04:11

I imagine a set of scissors and I sit there with my eyes closed and I imagine the scissors just kind of cutting any strings around me. And I kind of learned that from James Van Praagh. He taught going through one of his courses he taught the psychic scissors exercise. So that's something I put into my practice. It works.

Lauren: 1:04:29

It works for me. That's really cool.

Frank: 1:04:31

I think that would be a good one to pass on to our niece, Gwen. Erica, do you have any final thoughts for us or anything?

Erica: 1:04:38

No, I mean my only thought. I mean the only thing I have to say for anybody that is starting their spiritual awakening or they're wanting to dive a little bit deeper into their psychic abilities, mediumship, whatever it is Just have patience with yourself. Know that not everybody is going to be starting at the same spot or end up at the same spot. We're all developing different, and to know that each and every one of us has a unique gift. It might be similar to somebody else's, but there's something unique there and that is where you find your purpose and you just go with it. Just allow yourself to surrender and be true to you. Don't be afraid.

Frank: 1:05:18

I think we're going to talk again soon.

Lauren: 1:05:20

Yeah, you are a delight Thanks so much for having me.

Erica: 1:05:25

I enjoyed this. Thank you so much, erica, thank you, okay, bye, bye.

Frank: 1:05:37

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