Mia’s World: An Extraordinary Gift. An Unforgettable Journey

Mia

‘I am going into the floater now. This will give me random images of things that have just happened or are just about to happen. The first things I see are wind chimes inside a door.’

Roz

I had brought a set of chimes back from Thailand – and for years now, they have been positioned inside my front door so that every time the door swings open, I can hear their sound.

Mia

‘You are organized but chaotic. You’re fiercely independent but, at the same time, you would give everything that you have away, given half a chance.’

Roz

It seemed that Mia was keying in, reading me. I began to see how people could give power to psychics. People often go for a reading when they have reached rock-bottom – they are distressed and their distress makes them vulnerable. Suddenly it can seem that a psychic has all the answers …

I made my face impassive.

Mia

‘I see a fridge-freezer with a wonky door. I see you in Wellington boots looking at chickens. I see you putting on walking boots and you will be buying a new computer. And in the next two and a half to three years, you are going to be a well-known novelist.’

Roz

Mia was not looking at me. She had moved her head to the right as if someone else was talking to her. After a few moments, she laughed.

Mia

‘Eric wants me to tell you that your characters have dreams and wishes as well as adversity. He says, “Let them win sometimes.”’

Roz

Every once in a while, something comes along that, perhaps, you can’t explain away. As a journalist, it was not a huge leap for Mia to assume that I had also written a novel, but how did she guess that my characters needed lightening up? My first two books had been called beautiful – but bleak. Only someone who knew my writing could have given me that advice. Had Mia read my book or did the information come from another source? The words were so pertinent, so right for me. I felt energized.

I looked around the hotel bedroom. The curtains – the table – looked sharper, clearer. If spirit guides really existed and could pass their wisdom to one human being to give to another, then perhaps there truly was a bigger picture.

Deep down, I knew I was not only testing Mia, but testing my own beliefs. I still wanted to know if the world I saw was the only one that existed or if there really was something more – something greater than us all. Suddenly there were a lot of possibilities.

Not everyone would be comfortable with the idea of sitting in a room with a woman who talked to a spirit from another dimension. But Mia made it seem so down to earth, so normal. The idea of Eric did not scare me. On the contrary, I was intrigued. I consulted my list of questions.

‘Could you teach anyone to be psychic?’

Mia

‘I could teach anyone to open up and be able to see. But I couldn’t guarantee how far they could develop. Everyone has the ability to awaken their sixth sense, but there are varying degrees of ability. A child can paint a picture of a tree with a brown stick and a green blob. But a trained artist would paint with depths and hues that would make the tree come alive. You would get more clarity and information from the artist’s picture. Similarly, some people would only be able to achieve a basic ability, while others could go on to full clairvoyance.’

Roz

As a journalist you have to follow your natural curiosity. And something about being with Mia was stirring me.

‘Could you teach me to be psychic?’

Mia

‘I just told you I could.’

Roz

‘Well – will you teach me?’

It seemed to come out of the blue, but I was serious. I wanted to see how far we could take it – how far Mia was prepared to put herself on the line. I’d never witnessed any unusual psychic phenomena and didn’t know if I believed in ghosts, but perhaps Mia could convince me.

I liked the idea of having a way to see into the future. Could I do it? But more than that, I wanted to know first hand – absolutely, no question – if there was more to life than what I could touch and see.

Mia

Would I teach her?

It is my belief – absolutely – that anyone can develop psychically, if you give them the tools. And if I could teach people to do it for themselves, then I could open them to receiving the understanding and comfort that clairvoyance gives me. It had always felt important that people could access that wisdom directly – with no middleman.

The truth was that for years I’d been nursing a dream of opening a psychic school. When I first became clairvoyant it was so scary and such a shock, that I feared I was losing my mind. So I wanted to create a place where people could go – a structured institution where they could learn that psychic ability was natural and they were not going mad.

Here I could teach people what it was all about and how to use the gift well; and then they could take classes to hone their new skills. I had spent hours imagining the curriculum: classes on how to receive information, others on how to interpret it. The most important thing would be that it was a non-denominational school – not attached to any religion, but somewhere that psychic skills were valued and taken seriously.

Developing psychic skills can benefit the world. The awareness that other people are feeling as strongly as you stops you living in the me-world. And from that, naturally, comes the desire to try to be of benefit. For that reason I have always wanted to bring psychic awareness to the forefront of society, to give it credibility.

In that moment, in an anonymous hotel room with Roz, I realized that I was being offered my first real opportunity along that path. She could be my first pupil, bringing the reality of the school that bit closer. I remembered my earlier trepidation about the interview. How differently things had turned out. My excitement grew. Looking at Roz’s eyes and the way she interacted, her sensitive side was obvious. And, crucially, she was open-minded. I knew she would give it a proper go.

‘The main reason people don’t use their extra sense is because we have been brainwashed into believing it doesn’t exist. Thousands of years ago, we would all have taken our sixth sense for granted, but we have now been programmed to ignore it. Animals still use their sixth sense: birds know when to migrate, salmon swim thousands of miles home but humans have sadly lost touch with their instincts. Today, it is research, facts and statistical evidence that are most highly prized.’

‘Young children often say they hear and see things, but most adults tell them they are being silly. This is the beginning of society pulling down the shutters. Teachers stop children from daydreaming, men tell women not to be ‘illogical’. It is time we started valuing our intuition – it’s our birthright and it’s here to help us. All too often we ignore our hunches, yet if we could only learn to listen more carefully to our inner voice, we could drastically improve our lives.’

‘Teaching you would take time and you would have to keep an open mind. If you learn with the thought that “it’s not real anyway” then we will never be able to start. One of the major keys to unlocking the sixth sense is belief. The word belief appears in every major religious text. Belief is a magic word.’

Roz

Belief. Magic. Sixth sense messages. Why was I suddenly considering something so crazy? I was a journalist – I liked concrete facts. But, inside, two bits of me – the stern adult and the excited child – were battling it out. Despite myself, I felt thrilled, tingly. Who doesn’t want to believe that magic exists?

‘How long will it take?’

Mia

‘Six months, from sceptic to psychic.’

Chapter 1 Love and Loss (#ulink_4e935409-8a04-5acf-b8eb-a7845276c2a4)

Mia

It took us a year to clear our diaries and find six months free for the training. I decided I didn’t want to teach from my home on the Isle of Sheppey because there was too much going on. I live with my mum and my daughter, Tanya, which makes for lively chaos. There are always members of our extended family gossiping at the kitchen table. And then there are the friends and friends of friends, who turn up at the door asking for advice or readings. There is always something happening, so many people who need my time and care, and the door is open to them. I can’t imagine living any other way, and I miss the bustle and the noise when I’m not there. But I needed a clear head and a place where I could devote myself totally to the business of teaching. I knew I needed to get away from home to find that peace and quiet.