Lauren Nichols is a former paranormal investigator and psychic medium. In this episode get tips & tricks on everything from catching orbs & spirits in pictures to using a flashlight to talk to the spirit world. Plus Lauren shares about discovering own gifts as a medium and how Long Covid has helped her find her voice and become an Activist for real change. If you've ever been curious about paranormal investigations, spirit photography, orbs, spirit boxes, or spirit communications and wished you could talk to an insider, this episode is for you! 

Highlights, Takeaways and Timestamps! 👇🏼

How our spiritual journey can become clearer when we find our voice. 2:33 

What sparked Lauren's interest in the paranormal? 6:07 

How Lauren started to discern that the spirit world isn’t scary 12:51 

Everyone has the ability to connect with their own loved ones in the spirit world.16:47  

Paranormal Experiments. 26:57 

Haunted Hotels and when Lauren met Sally (the spirit of a woman who passed away) 29:41 

How do you know if it’s spirit or dust? Everything you need to know to get started with spirit photography (specific tips!) 38:55 

How to get started with photographing spirit people, forms and orbs 42:19 

What’s the science behind this? What is the intelligence behind it? 49:42  

Finding her voice in chronic illness, Lauren gets real about her experience 56:01 

What can we do to lend healing and support to those with healing gifts? 1:10:39 

What’s one pearl of wisdom that you wish you had had early on? 1:20:30

👉🏼Show notes:
Lauren Nichols: https://www.instagram.com/laurenthemedium/
https://linktr.ee/laurenthemedium
https://www.psychicmediumlauren.com

Lauren Nichols, Psychic Medium she/they
Paranormal Research Association of Boston,  multiple shows on tv
Spirit photography 
Govt work
Public figure
#LongCovid @nihgov + 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲↳𝕆ℕ𝕃𝕐 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕗𝕚𝕝𝕖:@uspto 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕟𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤☼ 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚌 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚞𝚖☮︎ 𝚐𝚘𝚟 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛࿊ 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝟸𝟺/𝟽

Winston Salem,  North Carolina. Old Winston Salem: https://www.oldsalem.org

  Brookstown Inn , North Carolina: https://brookstowninn.com

Cape Cod, Massachusetts. the Orleans: https://www.orleansinn.com

Arthur Findlay College:  https://www.arthurfindlaycollege.org

Get Joy's Free "Sign Magnet" 3 Day Mini Course HERE 

https://www.joyfulmedium.com/sign-magnet
Joy's Website: www.joyfulmedium.com
Instagram: @JoyfulMedium
TikTok: @JoyfulMedium
Facebook: @JoyfulMedium
Facebook Group: Joy's Soul Spa
YouTube: Psychic Medium Joy Giovanni

Hey beautiful soul Welcome to spirits speakeasy. I'm Joy Giovanni joyful medium. I'm a working psychic medium energy healer and spiritual gifts mentor. This podcast is like a seat at the table in a secret club, but with mediums, mystics and the spiritual luminaries of our time so come behind the velvet ropes with me and see inside my world is I chat insider style with profoundly different souls. We go deep share juicy stories laugh a lot and it wouldn't be a speakeasy without great insider secrets and tips. You might even learn that you have some gifts of your own. So step inside the spirit speakeasy. Hey, beautiful soul. This was such a fun conversation with my guests today, Lauren Nichols. Now you might know that I'm a psychic medium Lauren is as well. But she has this background in paranormal investigation and spirit photography. She actually worked with the Paranormal Research Association of Boston and had multiple television shows where she did paranormal explorations. So I asked a lot of questions about getting started with paranormal investigation. And she gives us the basic steps and what we need to know to start doing our own spirit photography, which sounds really fun, and how to start communicating with the spirit world with a flashlight, which is something really cool that she has done quite a bit and posts a lot of her videos about and trigger warning we get into towards the latter third of the conversation, her activism as a person who experiences long COVID. And it's something that is largely misunderstood. She goes into talking about, you know, how her experiences with the medical system and how, through this experience of long COVID She has found her voice and has really used this challenge this really difficult experience and has shared so publicly. You know, I have seen multiple posts over the last few years of her really just being vulnerably open with the details of her journey, and has really used her voice for activism. So we talk a little bit about that. And what I love is, you know, we're all on a spiritual journey of some degree, whether you're a medium or whether you are just a champion of the underdog, not just you know, but it's just so interesting that sometimes in the most unexpected ways, our next section of our path can become clearer, just because we feel like we can't be silent about something anymore, or we're experiencing something and we know other people are too and it's our nature to help so our soul is encouraging us to speak out so it's really incredible to hear how her journey was long COVID helped her find her voice and helped her step more fully into activism. So that's a really fascinating part of the conversation. You're not gonna want to miss this one just because there are so many juicy tips for us around you know, is it better to do paranormal photography inside or outside day or night? How do you know what's Dustin what's an order Borah? spirit person? So we I asked all the questions you're not gonna want to miss this one step inside the spirit speakeasy with me now and join this conversation with me and Lauren Nichols. I am Joy Giovanni joyful medium and this is spirit speakeasy. I'm really excited to tell you about our guests today. Lauren Nichols, you may know her. From her work with the Paranormal Research Association of Boston. She had multiple TV shows as a paranormal investigator. She's also really well known for her spirit photography, you should check it out on her Instagram. She's got just some amazing examples of communication with spirit. She is of course a psychic medium, and she's also a long COVID activist which we're going to talk about today. Now one of the things that you really need to know about Lauren is that she is a government worker by day but psychic medium all of the time because that's just a part of her so I'm so excited to have her share her journey with mediumship her investigation of the physical phenomena of mediumship as well as spirit photography and her activism work. You can check out her socials her website itself is psychic medium lauren.com But she's also got Instagram which is Lauren, the me Diem and she's got the most amazing link tree on there, which I'll link in the show notes so you can check her out as well as find her spirit photography and videography on her Instagram helped me welcome Lauren Nichols. Hey, Lauren.
Hi, Joy. It's so good to be on here. Thank you so much for having me
here. I'm so excited to I'm so excited to talk to you today.
It is mutual. I've been waiting for this.
I know, will you share a little bit with us about your journey and how you for me, I think the physical phenomena of mediumship and your spirit photography and your paranormal investigation. It's such an unusual thing for someone to get into who at the time when you started that didn't identify like self identify as a medium. And so it's so fascinating to me to consider that you were doing that when you didn't even think you we're a medium but you were still doing it from this perspective of No, it's all love. It's all light that it's not you know, you weren't going after that shock factor of you know, all the all the stuff that we already know what it is. So tell us all about that.
So for me, so my, my introduction to the spiritual really started at birth. I think the farthest back that we go is when I was three years old, I had a really unique imaginary friend that was a civil war naval captain named Captain Jack. Very odd for a three year old little girl, I would describe the you know, the buttons that he had on, had no, you know, no knowledge of the Civil War at the time, so started really early. And throughout childhood, like so many mediums, had visitations from loved ones, and so forth. So I kind of pushed it aside, as many of us do throughout our childhood and teenage years. And then as I got into my, my young adulthood in my 20s, I started having more and more experiences. And I definitely know that they were trying to get my attention. I was becoming more aware, much more open. And I really, for me, what what kind of sparked my, my interest in getting into the paranormal was really it was a need to validate my experiences, I really wanted to one prove that I wasn't crazy, prove that the experiences that I had in childhood were coming from beyond and weren't explainable by some physical source. And I also was really just fascinated with the prospect of being able to communicate with them, because it had always been a one way street where I was receiving. I was seeing them I was feeling them, but I wasn't, I didn't know how to communicate. So for me getting into the paranormal side was really my attempt at opening up that door for conversation. And which sounds so bizarre, because I think most people when they get into the paranormal, don't necessarily they're seeking that. But however, there is this negative fear aspect as you as you mentioned, and I think a lot of them don't necessarily want to have that contact, I was desperately seeking that contact, even, even if there were investigations where there was quote unquote, poltergeist activity, I wanted to talk to them, I wanted to know why they were throwing dishes, I wanted to know what upset them so much, and what what the person in the household was doing that triggered them to throw those dishes. So for me, it really was just one
that you came from, like, the sorry, I love that you came from this perspective of like, okay, something's happening. I need to do some like a almost like a scientific research or I want to do some investigation, some like evaluation and see what can i What can I know is true. I just think that makes so much sense to me.
Absolutely. And I think what drew me to it, too. And there were a lot of different investigation teams that were across New England, because as we know, there's a lot of activity up here. It's a paranormal teams are rampant. But I was very selective in the ones I chose, or the one I chose because this one was a science first paranormal team. So its entire goal was to ultimately just prove via science, the experiences that people were having. So for me it fit right into my my wheelhouse, because I was in a way trying to see if I could disprove what was happening. And the scientific tools, the scientific understanding about electricity. And what happens in those kinds of situations. When you have, you know, electrical issues within the home. What happens even in terms of our with, there's carbon monoxide, or our dioxide issues, you know, what happens to the brain, and how your senses are affected by that. So I was drawn to that because of that scientific aspect. And it ended up if anything, it led me more into the understanding just about how real and authentic the spiritual was. Because there were, I would say out of the God out of the 150 cases that I did, there were about 10 of them that had zero scientific explanation and the others were easily explainable, but the ones that Were not explainable really kept me going, and gave me more fuel towards investigating further and looking at it from a scientific lens and trying to understand what energy is what we are, and then it kind of snowballed from there.
So what kind of things were happening early on when you said it just started stirring your curiosity and almost like, compelling you forward to figure all of this out? Were there any specific things that were going on for you personally?
Yeah. So at the time, when I was doing the investigations, I was I was struggling. So I had moved up to Massachusetts, I have left behind my whole support system, family, friends, everything to be with an ex at the time, and I was in a very lonely state. And I think, for me, I was I was searching for more I was searching for connection of both beyond and locally. And what it really stood up for me, I think, when when I was so some of the experiences that I was having, was, for instance, one of one of the one of the investigations where we couldn't find a scientific reason for why why there was these anomalous activities within the home, these unexplainable events that were happening, dishes being thrown doors being slammed shut, all at the same time within the house, what I experienced during those events, while the rest of the team members were, or many of the team members were, were, for lack of a better word freaking out, I was honestly began feeling into why they would be doing that. And I was asking the questions within myself kind of intuitively knowing that there was an ability for me to just be able to speak with them, and to get a sense of who they were. And I began realizing that they too, were seeking connection that these two were just seeking someone to communicate with someone to share their story. So it really all became about connection both for me, and I realized that it was for them as well. And that's when for me it kind of that's when that snowball happened, because I realized that we were after the same thing, and that we both could help each other and that this was a mutually beneficial relationship. And that I wasn't crazy that there was external activities that were happening, that could validate the kind of internal feelings and events that have happened in my life and that I had been experiencing. And it was just a remarkable experience that was much more of a positive one much more love centered than one of this sort of fear centered discourse that I think a lot of people within the paranormal investigation world, unfortunately, speak to when they talk about the spirit world, it's, unfortunately, a lot of misunderstanding of them, because I think they are not as open to communicating and connecting as, as I wish that they would be.
Yeah, and I think I mean, you make a lot of really good points. I think some of what's difficult and we talked about this a lot here is because of the way that you know, the paranormal or the spirit world or our crossover loved ones are portrayed in you know, movies and dramatic other portrayals. It's, it's almost like we have this preconceived notion that Oh, some elements of this must be scary. And when things are happening, like dishes going across the room, or you know, lights on and off and and what happens is sometimes I think the people in the home can kind of feel the energy of the spirit person, but our humaneness reads it as don't understand outside of me different equals scary. Yep, emotions. And I think the place they go is panic. How did you start to discern, you know, having these experiences and realizing, oh, okay, I can actually feel that this isn't an energy that's threatening in any way. It's just someone wanting to communicate, how did that start to come into more form for you? Do you know?
So? Yeah, for me, I have question. No, but that's a it's a great question. And I think that's important because I would hope that that my answer might help others to be able to discern to so everyone is very different. But in my experience, I think part of the reason why I didn't jump straight into that I didn't let my humaneness take over and I didn't let the fear of the invisible of the unknown scare me I think part of the reason why that was the case for me was because my first experiences with the spirit world were with my family or with my departed loved ones when I was a child. So I really had no reason to believe that spirit was negative or dangerous because my introduction was a very gentle and soft one with my loved ones. And I think that I think that what I had experienced so as a child, I would have visitation dreams, and I would I would feel just I would feel the presence of my grandma right smell my my grandpa, and I would you know, have that that comfort. So when I went into other people's homes, I took that with me Because the way that I viewed it was, well, this is possibly someone's grandma who's in the house, and it's just trying to connect. So I didn't I just I made a mental decision to allow myself to give them the benefit of the doubt. And to say that this isn't some scary monster, that this is just another human being with a multifaceted personality with needs, with desires. And for me that that mindset allowed me to soften how I viewed them, and allowed me to approach them more with this mindset of acceptance as opposed to fear and judgment right off the bat. And I do believe it was because of my my younger experiences with with family members that I had. And I just said, Well, this is likely someone else's grandma. So why would I be scared of someone else's grandma? That was sort of my attitude with it. And I will say, I've never had a negative experience.
Oh, that's, that's so cool to know, from someone who's done, you know, this work in the field that, you know, maybe it's not their grandparent, maybe it's someone else, maybe it's someone you know, that has just interest in home, or whatever it might be. But I like how you explained a little bit more about your experiences just with your loved ones, I think often even that we sometimes because of lack of understanding or lack of, you know, talking about this culturally, we think it's going to be an apparition of grandma that's going to show up, you know, sitting there, and the rooms gonna get cold. And it's it's often I mean, that could happen, I guess, in rare occasions, but it's often like you said, it's just the smell of your grandpa or that feeling and, you know, memories coming in of grandma or the dreams, like, Thanks for explaining that a little bit more.
Absolutely. It is much more subtle.
Yeah, so much more subtle than I think often we think it's going to be and so I think people can discount those communications, because you and I know it's all about communication, like you were saying, and it's we can discount those communications thinking, Oh, maybe that was my mind, maybe I'm just wishing they were near me. You know, maybe that's not a strong enough. Hello, for example, with going into other people's homes, you know, obviously, those aren't your loved ones, then which I talked about this a lot. But I'll say it again, just for anyone who might be new listening. Everyone has abilities to connect with their own loved ones in the spirit world, which I know you believe as well. For me, the way I often explained it is the difference about being a medium is that we can also connect other people's loved ones besides our own. Not everyone wants to connect with other people's loved ones. But is that how when you started entering to other people's homes and started feeling similar feelings or having similar experiences? Did that cue you into thinking, Oh, wait, maybe all these other people that are on my team are freaking out, maybe I've got some different abilities here.
It's funny, because I pushed it aside, I did have those thoughts. But I rejected them. Because I didn't think I was worthy. I didn't one, I didn't quite understand it. And two, I had very significant competence issues at the time. And I didn't think that I thought that this was just for, you know, a select few. And that this was like the chosen people that there was some hierarchy, which we know that there's no real hierarchy when it comes to spirituality. So I had believe, I had believed some of some of what I had read in the spiritual circles at the time, and really just viewed myself as not worthy of being a medium, how could I be a medium. So what I did was instead, I called myself a psychic, because I knew that I could pick up on energy, I knew I could feel along before, you know, even getting into the paranormal side, I could feel people's emotions, I could feel what they were feeling. And I would, you know, have kind of pre cognition of certain events. So I viewed myself as a psychic, and that confirmed my being a psychic. However, it should have confirmed me being a medium, but I didn't let myself believe that because of these issues of self worth, so what happened for me, it was more that it just confirmed that I needed to go deeper. It needed it confirmed that I had to I needed to dive deeper into the spiritual sciences, and to really wrap my head around what mediumship was, what psychic and intuition was, and comprehend it because for me to accept it, I needed to deeply understand it in order to allow myself to even say, Yes, this is me, because there was a lot of validation seeking going on. I was doing at the time, especially so it did not happen in the moment, despite all the events and them hitting me over the head. It took it took a bit longer for a lot longer for me to finally accept it.
Well, I mean, it's something good to acknowledge because often, you know, sensitives are sensitive and we do tend to invalidate ourselves. Have a or have, you know histories where perhaps others have invalidated us. And we don't trust our gifts naturally some people do. But I think by and large, you know, if you were to split it into a percentage, a larger percentage of us early on tend to think like, oh, no, that's not that's not what this is. And I don't how could that be? Me? It's that I guess. Lately, the term is imposter syndrome, right? Of Oh, yeah. couldn't possibly have connection to the spirit world. But then as you dove in and really started understanding, you know, even just from even just from a physics standpoint, what energy is and how it works and the interconnection, and I'm wondering, does that then lead you to realizing, oh, none of us is more special than anyone else. And we have this energetic connection. Just, you know, from a quantum physics standpoint, by existing
the it totally so for me, I think one of one of the things that helped me in accepting there was a book called The holographic universe. And that book for me, it's a book really about quantum physics. So you hit the nail on the head, it really was the study of quantum physics. And me diving into that, that made me acknowledge that Oh, no, no, no, I'm not saying that I'm more worthy. I'm just saying that we're all capable. And I have every right to dive into this and accept this within myself. So you are spot on. And it's interesting, because it was the physical sciences, that actually brought me towards the spiritual sciences. And I think a lot of people assume that when you get into the spiritual that you are in spiritual service, that you're detached and distance from physical sciences, and that is the complete opposite. It is it just confirms it. And it helps you to better understand your own abilities. So it brings you closer to it, in my opinion, knowing the physical sciences brings you closer to the spiritual sciences, if you're just open, truly open to understanding,
yeah, well, and then there's this aspect to that it's whatever way any one individual person finds into this spiritual connection is the right way for them. We all have, you know, some veins of our story that are similar, but some for each medium I've ever met, that are so specific to our personality and the way we needed to, you know, come into these gifts in a more working understanding kind of a way. So it's great that it's such a, you know, maybe it's not the most common way to come in through the sciences, but I'm also one that likes to evaluate things that are going on and don't I know, it's a big part of both of our training to not just attribute every single thing that happens immediately to the spirit world or to, you know, woowoo or Hocus Pocus, sometimes, like, something just fell down. Or it's not always that spiritual, but not always. I have to know with one of the cases with the dishes flying what was the communication that was intended.
So what I had picked up on And mind you, this was before me really acknowledging that I was a medium. But the overarching, it was it was really it was clairaudience that I was hearing at the time, though, I wasn't acknowledging it, I was hearing thoughts, I was hearing things. And what I heard was, what I heard was that they were not liking what was done with the stairs. So they were doing renovations in this house. And it was this main it was a very old home back in Salem. And it was I think it was built in like the 1700s. And the stairways were getting renovated. And they were upset, it was like with the wood choices, they were getting away from the original wood, and there was an upset and what was happening in the home. And they were voicing their upset, and they were not being heard. So what they did was essentially result in just trying to get their attention in ways that they couldn't, what better way to get someone's attention than to throw a dish across the room. So this was their way of doing it simply because they weren't getting any progress with talking or with, you know, even shifting the bed. It was attributed to something else. So they were in a very, very dire way of just trying to get them to say, Listen, I'm not liking what you're doing. And mind you, the people continued with their renovations and it didn't really stop. But I don't know what happened in that house. I think that they you know, we didn't follow up beyond that. But it was just someone that was very upset with the situation of their home. Thing change.
While it's it's such an important piece of this to acknowledge a few things. One, I just want to explain for anyone that might be newer to this work or understanding their own gifts. When you're talking about the subjective clairaudience meaning you're hearing things it's not like, you know, a scary voice. It's almost like thoughts that are coming popping into your mind that aren't thoughts that you're creating yourself. It's through that connection with spirit and it's internal in your own Mind, like if a song just popped into your mind, except it's understanding about a person, you know, mediumistic Lee outside of yourself, we're doing a good job explaining your experience of that.
So it's so true. I mean, it is it's it's subtle. And the way that I heard it at the time was in my own voice. And it was really as if I was thinking it. And so I hadn't acknowledged my mediumship at the time. And I did stop myself and say, Why, why am I thinking this? And, but it kept coming. It kept coming multiple times throughout that night throughout the investigation, and this is really what they wanted to get through. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, Why am I so judgmental about the renovation? It was me. Oh, my gosh,
I love it. You thought it was it was at the time you thought it was your own thoughts? Absolutely. Did you through this communication and through understanding what the intention was behind it? And what the quote unquote, message if you will about work, hey, we're not digging? What's going on with these renovations? Did you discern that it was a former owner of the house and then go back and do some research and kind of fact check? Or how did that part work for you?
So at the time, I didn't do that, because I was still doubting myself. So I never really followed up with that. I never really dove deeper. Do I wish I did that? Absolutely. But I still was just not at that point of acceptance within my mediumship at all. I was thinking I was a psychic at the time. And even then I had no idea what a psychic was. So I just knew that there was something going on saying didn't follow up. I wish I did on all of those cases.
I mean, you really have continued to grow and expand. And one of the things that I want to touch into that I know that you're doing now is I mean, you're a medium and you enjoy this work. And it's it seems like you and I vibe, similarly where this curiosity just continues to kind of digest and we want to explore and do our own experiments and investigation. You recently hope it's okay that I talked about this. Because we're friends on Instagram. Yes, Ellie went on a little trip and did some of your own paranormal experimentation demonstration. Will you talk a little bit about that? Because it was just so amazing. And I want to make sure everyone gets to see it.
Absolutely. So yeah, this is so funny. So we went down to be with my family in Florida. And it was a road trip. And on the way back, my wonderful husband agreed to to allow us to stay overnight at places that were known as haunted locations. So you know, he put up with it, I brought my equipment with me. My equipment, my
EMF detectors tell us what the equipment is. So we know what it is. I've got an EMF
detector that can tell you when there's energy fluctuations within a room. So I have that with me. I had my flashlight. It's a twist on twist off flashlight, you get a CVS for five bucks, or wherever. And just battery operated, which allows them to use their energy to be able to to manipulate that flashlight to turn it on and off to answer yes or no questions to respond to answer no yes or no questions. And I also had a voice recorder in order to capture EMF or EVP. So electronic voice phenomenon, which is just being able to hear objectively, spirit voices. And there's different levels of EVPs as well, depending upon the scale of how clear it is. And so what we did was we took my equipment, and we stayed and I did a lot of research and advanced because that's the fun part. I mean, it's all fun, but we stayed at two specific locations. So we stayed at Winston Salem, New Hampshire, North Carolina. And there is an area called Old Winston Salem, which was a Moravian spiritual community or religious community dating back to at least the 1700s I think of it before. And there is a can I say the name of the ins that we had stayed at and that was
okay. I'll link it in the link in the show notes in case anyone's trying to take a road trip.
So it's been amazing. So the Brookstone Inn is the place that we stayed in New Hampshire and that place has a history of having there is a resident spirit there named Sally or they called her Sally. And she died tragically in the middle in the 1800s. It was a former a former flour mill. And so I of course being a medium and I wrote in the notes when I booked it on the medium please give me your most haunted broom. I think it's room 402. And of course when I came in, you know checked in I was I felt so awkward. I was like, Yeah, I'm that I'm that weirdo whistling in the room. So stayed there and that room was incredibly active. The minute I opened the door I saw I can't even explain to you what I saw. Just with my own eyes. I mean clairvoyantly not objectively my husband did not see it. There was a lot of activity in the room and I can go into detail if you want per for each experience, but we did capture some really, really interesting some. At first a little scary when you look at them images I have have a have a face that does look to have a brain exposed, it's missing its skull. And that was, that was me taking a picture of a window. And that was superimposed on top of my face. So I was a little I did have a moment of humaneness. And that moment, I did have a little bit of a fear response, which I got, right, it's only natural. And that evening, I had quite quite the spirit visitation in my dreams and got the backstory via via Sally, who was the spirit in the in the in, and her passing and her tragic passing. And it was a lot of misunderstandings. And it was a really beautiful experience, because I do feel that there was some healing that she experienced, I myself felt healed because I got to at least understand that the theory response that I had was unwarranted in that situation. And she showed me really while she was sharing that, and also experienced quite a lot within Gettysburg. So we stayed at Gettysburg, which is well known for being a paranormal hotspot, lots and lots of spirit activity. And we did, we did do some kind of, uh, maybe not so legal activities, we did go on the battle. And I can say this now because it's fine, because there's a whole story around that. But we went on the battlefield that night and had my husband actually had experienced, he experienced a spiritual encounter with me, which was just the most special
school because I know that's not his, oh, no, he
was never a believer, never a complete skeptic. And listening, watching him process what he had experienced was remarkable.
I bet it was a lot of fun. Wait, tell us why did Sally in the hotel in New Hampshire choose to show you that imagery like that in the spirit photography? Was that the most condensed way she could get the whole message across to you? What do you think the reason was?
So there were two images that one was by far the most disturbing for me at the moment. And there was another that I think was the probably the most symbolic and it really representative of mediumship. But there's if there's any picture I've ever taken, that's representative mediumship. It was this and it is in the same exact windowpane. So on the top floor of the fourth floor, me just taking a picture, right where the elevator shaft is, and she had passed away in the elevator shaft was an image of two women, me in the middle. So my face, you see me taking a picture and there is a woman above me, and then a woman below me. And I thought that was really interesting, because, one, there was a fight between two women in this situation, Sally and another woman had fought. And it was unique that I was in the middle because I felt as though they both are wanting to tell their side of the story just in that single capture that single picture that I took. And then that evening at night when I went to bed. So what I had experienced as a spirit visitation dream was the events that led up to Sally's passing. And what had happened that she wanted to articulate was that there was unfortunately, they were all called sisters at the time. And it was very I couldn't tell if this was her actual sister. But I later learned the Moravian community, they were all called Sisters. So this was one of her sisters that worked at the end, or that worked at the mill at the time, which is obviously now an end. And she was jealous of Sally's abilities on the job. She was jealous of how well like Sally was what a great worker she was. And she created this narrative that, you know, Sally was XYZ, just really negative things about her. She was making fun of her weight, just saying really horrible things just to get her to leave so that she didn't feel she didn't have this threat in her mill. And Sally confronted them a group of girls actually in the room. So in the room that I had stayed in, that was their dormitory, that's where they slept. And she had confronted them. And unfortunately, Sally was ganged up on and the takeaway message, and I experienced the moments just before her death and my dream. And the takeaway mentioned that I had experienced and it was really profound, and I actually woke up honestly on that I woke up both gasping and I woke up crying at the same time it was maybe one of the most profound dreams I've ever had from a spirit was that it wasn't the passing that had hurt her the most it was that the people that she loved and cared for and thought that she could trust had turned on her. And that was her last memory before that before she passed. And there was and I think that a lot of people when they visit the end, they do feel this overwhelming sense of sadness and uneasiness when they're on the top floor and when they stay in that room. And I think that that's what they're picking up on. It's not that she's some negative energy. It's not that she's out to hurt you. It's really that she's she was hurt. She was really profoundly hurt. And I do think that image of that kind of exposed brain I think, one she was showing and it's it's interesting because I swear there's a small smirk and that That photo when you look, there is a smirk. And that just was the thing that kind of scared me at first. But after I had that dream, I realized that she was just showing me one I'm here, this is how I died. I am Sally, this is, you know, this is what I look like when I hit the ground kind of situation. And also I'm okay. And in a way, it was almost like she was making light of it. Like, it was bad. The situation was bad. But I'm glad you're here and I'm ready to talk. It's kind of the impression that I got. So it was It wasn't so profound. I was scared going to bed that night, when I woke up, I was not scared anymore.
Oh, that's such a beautiful experience, and that she could communicate and clarify and share a little bit of her story and alleviate some of her own sadness, which as we know, that's one of the reasons that spirit people, loved ones come to communicate messages is for the healing of people still on this side in the living and for their own healings. That's Wow, that's so incredible. Okay, I have to ask for anyone who is curious, maybe asking for a friend. For anyone who's curious about spirit photography, give some tips, what how do we start? What's to like to know what to do what to don't do definitely don't, you know, use your phone, what's the what's the best way to start capturing? To be honest,
it doesn't matter what camera you use, it doesn't matter if it's i So on my trip, I use my iPhone. That's what I used, and I got a lot of full body apparitions. I have used everything from really nice Canon cameras, Nikon cameras, it doesn't matter. All that matters is the intent behind it on top of other technical needs. So first and foremost, when you get into spirit photography, you have to have an intent of wanting to see them. If you are scared, if you are taking pictures in the dark. And you're like, Please don't be there. Please don't be there. I don't want to see, I want to see anyone. Chances are they're not. I mean, you have to genuinely genuinely be open to seeing them. Because they don't want to scare you, for the most part. Do not want to scare you. Yeah. So the openness is key. Beyond that, once you have that openness, and you really genuinely have worked through that fear. And it's hard to do it. I mean, the excitement can feel like fear, too. So I just have to say that it's on the same spectrum, that nervousness and it's a good point. Yeah, exactly. So just knowing that it's coming from a positive place. That's what they want is that positive excitement, but not the negative fear. So once you've worked through that, the technology behind it doesn't really matter. iPhones work just fine. I'm sure androids do to a phone is a phone, a camera is a camera. So what I would recommend, though, to really get good shots, you want to make sure, first and foremost that your lens is clean, it doesn't matter what your camera is, make sure that your lens is clean, make sure that it is spotless, you do not want to have any sort of particles on there any sort of anything that can cause a blur or distortion of, of what you're taking a picture of. So that's key. Second, do you want to make sure that you have well, if it's outdoors, and you are taking pictures at night, you do need to have your flash on, you have to because I do believe that there is something to be said for the frame rate and how quickly the light is captured and how quickly you're able to get spirit energy in that moment. I think that there I don't none of us know the answer to it. But I have found that when I do take photographs with flash outside, versus when I don't, I do end up getting apparitions for I mean full body apparitions versus, you know when I don't because they're not, you know, the energy isn't show up as well. The other thing that I highly recommend is making sure that you don't have a lens strap in the way making sure that you're not in a room that is dusty, because I think a lot of people do view dust as orbs are spirit energy. And
I see that a lot. It's a lot where I'm like that's a dust. Exactly. And
there are some key ways to tell what's dust and what isn't. I will say that if there is a tell us that for sure. We need to know if there is a color to it or colors within it if it's rainbow like in any way it spirit unless the only exception is if you are taking a photograph in a room and it's sunny and it's dusty. Sometimes the light can refract and it can have that sort of rainbow look. So you just want to make sure that there's not much dust in your area. But but really if there is a if it's a filled out, circle filled out or or if there is a streak, so if there is a motion trail with it, and there's a clear motion trail. These are just some of the ways that you can tell if it's spirit energy versus an orb. If it's if it's a dust particle. It's going to be more contained round circles. If it's spirit energy, there's going to be movement because they are moving. They're not just standing there just waiting for you to take their picture. They're going about their business too. So you're going to see this trail and then the One thing that I would highly recommend is just make note if you're taking pictures outside of the sun, because a lot, oftentimes lens flares get mistaken for spirit energy too. And yeah, it's the sun. I
think we've all seen just the green circle that reflects in a lot of pictures if there's sunlight or too much light or so that's good to know. Because I do see a lot of the Spirit photography I see is, I'm like, I think that's dust, and I'm the best at discerning it either. So if I know it's dust. Now, do you feel like if someone's just like at home in their own space, and they're wanting to do it, should they have the intention of calling forward one of their own loved ones? Should they just do it and see if there's anyone around them in the space? How do they know if it's someone that's, you know, like, like, I live in a 30s, Spanish cottage? How do I know if it's someone that at one point resided here that has an interest in the space, there are a couple that hang out versus like, someone that I know that I love? Personally? It's a lot in one question. I know.
No excited about this? No, it's a great question. So I think there's two things I think my my, if you're not a medium, right, if you're just getting into it, and you are maybe not as comfortable with the thought of spirit people in your home, I would say maybe don't start with taking pictures in your home, because you might scare yourself into not falling asleep at night. You might you know, you might get some pictures of dust. Right? You might get some pictures of dust and be like up nope, nope, we've got we've got a poltergeist here. I'm not sleeping tonight. So you don't want to scare yourself too much. So what I actually recommend first, if you and this really was how I got started in spirit photography, I went to the cemetery. And it is a great place to be it's a kind of, it's a safe space, if you will to dabble in spirit photography, because, one, it's a neutral ground, it's not your home, unless you live right on top of the cemetery, in which case, it's still not your home, right, it's next to it. But it is a way for you to explore, you can do it in daylight, you will still get orbs, you will still get operations in daylight, there's a lot of activity in cemeteries a lot. And it's a very, if we can get outside of the fear mindset of oh my goodness, there's dead people here. They're very peaceful places, very peaceful energy, a lot of love in cemeteries as well. So my biggest recommendation actually be to start start at a cemetery. And just to, if you can just meditate or just feel into the desire to, to capture anyone, anyone that wants to say hi. And that's generally what I do is whoever is open to talking with me will or showing themselves to me, I'm open to seeing you. And if you're not well, then that's fine. I, you know, I'm not gonna force you. So it can't be forced anyway. But I invite anyone who would be willing, and then I just walk around, and I allow myself to almost do a walking meditation. When I do it. I look at the trees, I allow myself to be present. I allow myself to pick up on anything I'm feeling, am I feeling someone touching my shoulder and my feeling or hearing someone to maybe? Or am I just feeling this urge to look in a certain direction, and then all of a sudden, press that button and take that picture. That is what I would recommend for those just getting started. If you have experiences there, and more often than not you will in a cemetery, I would say from there, you can kind of level it up and say, All right, let's try in my house now. And then from there, if you have that comfort, what I would recommend doing is just as you said, sitting quietly, again, connecting and saying, anyone that's open doesn't have to be a loved one, just anyone who is here. Anyone who wants to make themselves known, I would love to be able to see you, I'd love for you to be in my presence, if you if you would like and then just do the same thing. Just allow yourself to be still allow yourself to just feel what the room is feeling, feel. Allow yourself to really get into your senses, and then just start taking pictures and you're gonna feel silly doing it, you're going to be like, Why am I taking pictures of this one corner of my room 50 times. But I promise you that the more you do that, the more you'll hone that ability and the more that you'll learn to trust, when and where to look. And you'll begin to feel into really them telling you when to take that picture, which is how it works for me. I think that I I am always open and I always am down to connect. And so I think for me, I'm just like, hey, you know, if you want me to be paparazzi for you, I'll happily just take a picture but just let me know. So I think for them they do. There's a feeling that I get and I think a lot of people who do spirit photography have said the same thing that there is this urge you get this urge to write that in there. Just take that picture. Just take it just make sure it's stable so and make sure that you get multiple shots as well because one shot is never enough. You want to make sure you take as many shots at once as possible so that you can discern If there's something else in that area that's possibly causing it.
I think that's a really important tip too, just to kind of when you have that feeling, you know that it is as someone grows and learns how to do this and maybe becomes a little more sensitized to what that feels like, you know, that nudge to like, click now or, which is really cool. And then yeah, I think too, just having fun with it, and not taking it too too seriously. And almost like, almost like, if you're gonna just start doing some nature photography, just that same kind of lightness and not putting so much pressure on it and, and not expecting it to all happen. You know, all of it the very first time it does take some time, just like anything to kind of feel it out, figure out, like you said, with that nudge for each individual person, what's that, you know, sensation of, okay, this corner versus that corner. So it is something that can be honed over time, it sounds like
it totally is. And it's something that so when I started out, I was not getting full body Apple, I wasn't getting full body operations consistently. I had started in a cemetery and I was getting very colorful orbs, and then it kind of leveled up over time over years to finally getting full body apparitions and Windows. And I think it's it's one of those things where because I became so open and accepting of it, and I, I wasn't fearful. I will tell you the first time that I got an operation on my camera, I remember looking at it. And I remember running to my car this is before I acknowledged I was in medium and just absolutely freaking out and being so scared in that moment. Because I was like, there was no one in this window. How could this be? And over time, I think that when I worked through that too, and as you said honed it is it is it is a it just like anything, it takes practice, and it's a skill, it's a hobby. And the more I did that, the more I got much more clear apparitions. And my trip to Gettysburg was just consistently like that. And I think that's because I it's taken a long time for me to really just hone that craft really?
Where did you get all the footage of the person who was communicating through the flashlight, I saw it on your Instagram, at Lauren, the medium. So I know it's still up there. Where were you when you were doing all that is that Gettysburg?
That was not Gettysburg. So that was actually this summer, my husband and I went away for a quick weekend on Cape Cod in Orleans, Massachusetts. And we stayed at the Orleans in which is a historic property as well. So again, everywhere I go, Oh, it was looking to to connect. And we stayed at the end. And I asked again for the boast spiritually active room. And this room was on Ghost Hunters as well. And I I'll save my comments for that show. But I was curious to see what my experience would be versus what I had seen years back. And because of my using the flashlight in my paranormal investigation days before acknowledging my mediumship I just decided to bring it just to see, I hadn't actually done that I hadn't used it in years. And I was just wanting to have fun with it and just see what would happen. So lo and behold, we brought it there, had it on a stable surface, got some fresh batteries in it. And I started asking away, but I did ask questions were so prior to asking the questions, I wanted to make sure that there was a scientific, you know, I wanted to make sure this is a scientific sort of process where I could validate that the answers that if they were saying yes, that these were answers that I could in fact validate. So I did a little bit of research on the end prior to going to the end, so I could really make sure that my questions were appropriate. And I would know if the the responses were accurate or not, or if there was some glitch with my flashlight. And it was very much not a glitch. There was a full on conversation. It went on two nights in a row 45 minutes or so. But it went on I condensed it into you know 10 minute little clips on Instagram because that's all it takes. Yeah, that it was 45 minutes of communication and they were responding with historically accurate answers to their property and that was in the summertime on Cape Cod. It's there are many places
amazing if you haven't Yeah, if you haven't seen it you you because it's video The Watcher the viewer can see that you're on one side of the room I think you're even in bed on Yeah, on some kind of like dresser or something that's clearly across the room. And you can see that there's no one around physically touching it not a person who's in a body anyway. And you can hear you asking the questions. I what I love about a lot of my friends who are mediums as we do tend to err on that side of what's the science behind this. What's the you know, do we have the control if you will set up enough so that you know we couldn't argue Oh no, that there's someone right next to that they're doing it or because having that skeptical mind as a part of this work, I feel like really helps to get the most pure data, if you will. I feel like we're all such secret nerds helps to get the most, you know what I mean? Like the most clear, okay, there's no, these are historically accurate answers. This is the information. Clearly you can see the way it's set up is in a way that it's so clear what's happening is pretty amazing. I was excited when you posted those. I was like, oh, what's Lauren up to now?
What we're thinking you're doing, and it's so true. So I intentionally so I just had my phone again, this was just recorded on my iPhone, I had it set up on a microwave, mirror so that you could see, this is where you know, and it's this flashlight, right. So this is where the flashlight is. And this is me sitting on the bed, my husband's on his phone, you know, at that point he did not have well, he was part of that experience. And he couldn't explain that away. But he hadn't had the experiences that we did in Gettysburg, which were just completely undeniable for him took took a few tries to get through. But But in those experiences, at the end at that particular end in Orleans, it was really special because as you said there was a control. And I think it's important whenever you're doing investigations, and especially for those that I think are just starting out with their mediumistic experiences, and they are dabbling in paranormal investigations, to be able to have something that they can validate in the responses that they get. So you know the history beforehand at the location so that what you're getting what you're receiving, you can yourself validate. I think that is so key. And I think it just as you said, I think we have to be to be a good I think in my opinion to be a good medium. You always have to make sure that you're ruling out everything else before you get to spirit. Not everything is attributable to spirit. And I think that you know when we say everything is spirit, the nothing is Spirit, and it cheapens it and it also it doesn't help us to really get their message and the power of their message across to and their existence across. So I do everything I can
intelligence there. So I think there's a lot of our work. You know, discerning No, this is an intelligence this is an intelligent answer. This is a question you can either research before or after, perhaps if you're just kind of wanting to see afterwards and it's so I love that perspective. Okay, sorry, keep going.
No, but you're spot on. It is about showing the intelligence because there's, you know, this isn't just it, you can see in the video, the flashlight responds. And it turns off when I asked it to turn off. And you know, there's the it's the it is the intelligence behind it that I think is so important to capture, because I think that's helpful for people who are also skeptical watching it for them to acknowledge that, oh, there's something more here. There's no There's no tricks. There's no nothing. This is just pure communication that's happening. And it's intelligent communication both ways. So spot on joy.
Yeah. Oh, well, I mean, it's, I have some pet peeves about, you know, a lot of things being attributed to spirit that I think are more sensationalized. Now, I want to come on to talking a little bit about the last few years of your life because things have changed quite a bit, right. In the beginning of 2022. In February of 2022, you and I had the opportunity to meet we got to know each other we were doing our own little after hours paranormal investigation at the Arthur Findlay College in the UK and Stansted, which is a college well known for studies of psychic and mediumistic sciences. And some of the world's best tutors are there. So we just so happened serendipitously to be on the same week taking a course together. And little did we know we had several paranormal experiences over that weekend. But what was going on in the world in the background at the time brewing was COVID-19. And you actually first contracted it and became ill as a part of that trip. Is that right?
It wasn't from that trip. It was it was immediately after that trip. Okay. Yeah. So for me, I remember you
were sick. When we got home. We were all checking and seeing how everyone was and I remember you were you were sick, and it was dicey. And
I was so that I was sick there travel. I don't believe that I had COVID at that time. I did end up getting it on March 10. So the day before it was declared a pandemic was the first day I really had COVID symptoms. I did have some other illness that come from that truck from that trip. But for me, I did get COVID Very, very early on about a month really, truly about a month after we got back and I still don't know where I got it. It was the wild type of COVID Obviously no vaccines at the time, and assume I got it on my way to work or at work. And I became very, very ill very quickly. And it was, it's, it's been a long journey. So I can go down that route. If you would like
any journey Yeah. And I would just like to share with everyone that you've always been an activist by nature, it's just a part of who you are. And you've done activism work before, but this has pulled you in a direction that's very personal, because you don't have the same effect that necessarily everyone has from COVID, you have a different experience of this, which I think is becoming more officially termed along COVID. At this point, is that the correct way? That's gonna dress it? And can you talk a little bit about your experience? And what you would want everyone to know about this?
Yeah, absolutely. So when I got sick with COVID, it was at a time when we were very unsure of what the outcomes were, the thought was, it was either death, or you're fine, you'll get recover in two weeks. And that was it. And when I got sick, that was not my experience, I actually started getting worse that around week three, I developed pneumonia. My experiences were also originally with COVID, not respiratory in nature. I had more gastrointestinal, neurological. So my experience right off the bat was like nothing that was being talked about within the news and via public health agencies. And so for me, I, I was in this middle path of this kind of limbo, if you will, what is happening to me, I didn't die. But I sure as anything was not recovering. And I very quickly realized that no one was talking about that. So prior to COVID, I did do a little bit of activism back in my college days with Disability Justice, I was, you know, part part of a committee for that. But I hadn't really done much. And I also hadn't really, we talked about people finding their voice, I definitely had not found my voice when I had COVID. And, and I was not the type of person to generally go to the media, I was much more insecure in my ear, lacking in confidence. And I talked about this before that self worth, right. So I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone, because I didn't want others to think that there was just these two outcomes, I wanted people to know that there was other symptoms that were not being discussed, and that there was this other middle path that we now know is called von COVID. So for me, I you know, I went to the news early on in March 2020. And I started advocating really, just to get people to understand that there was this middle risk that there was middle ground that wasn't being discussed, and that it was this, this route of chronic illness and disability. And I did not know it at the time, I was not knowledgeable about chronic illness, this was really my first this is my first experience with chronic illness. So I didn't know I really was gaslighting myself, there's something called ableism internalized ableism that I absolutely was harboring Kept thinking I was gonna get better that recovery, oh, it's just around the corner, oh, I'll get better tomorrow, I'll get better tomorrow. And I wasn't getting better. And so my experience just it's been a battle for the past close to three years now. And what I think has been really interesting throughout it, though, is that so I have experienced issues across I mean, long COVID is a stomach, it's a systemic, it's a multi system, full body attack, we know that COVID is a vascular disease. And we know that you know, our body, we run off of blood, wherever our blood is, there's potential for damage. And for me, my experience is I had a stroke, I had visually impaired in my left eye as a result. So a lot of really traumatic events that have happened to me, I won't go down that rabbit hole. But what I think my biggest takeaway that I hope that people know is that, that it really, you know, your future self is worth protecting. And ultimately, that's just what I need people to know. And I hope people know that because if I could go back, if I could have worn a mask back then and prevented myself from having a whole host of issues that I've been having, I would totally do it in a heartbeat, but it has it has been a very difficult chronic illness journey for me. And going back to the voice, the only, quote unquote silver lining is that I it did allow me to find my voice that because there were so many wrongs happening to myself and others I had to speak up. And spiritually, that was a really interesting experience with that whole process as well.
Thanks for being so open and sharing. And I know that you have shared so much of your journey on social media and you now have really stepped into this voice and into activism. And I mean, you have to tell me your feelings on this, but I feel like sometimes when something becomes so personal To us, it's almost like we're forced to step all the way out of our comfort zone and scream it from the mountaintops for you just to get the basic care and understanding that you need, which, based on your recent posts, it seems like still isn't happening for yourself and others that are experiencing this form of long COVID.
It's so true. And we, unfortunately, I think, you know, if more people, if more people were going outside of their comfort zone, who were experiencing this, and I think if more people were discussing this openly, and it's a very vulnerable thing to share such intimate details about your health, about your life, about your struggles, the mental health issues that are associated with chronic illness that nobody talks about the loneliness, the rejection, the fact that I mean, people mute you, when you're just trying to help them and trying to advocate for a better future for them. I think it's it is not for the faint of heart. And I think a lot of people do shy away from it. So unfortunately, because of that, I think there is this view that it's not really affecting that many people. Unfortunately, a lot of people are being affected by this, there's just a lot of stigma around, around talking about these types of things. A lot of people don't want to rock the boat. I think a lot of people are viewed as being complainers, or whatever it may be. But there's a lot of negativity that's ascribed to activism and advocacy. But in reality, activism, advocacy is one of the most empathetic things that you can do. It's about bettering the future bettering the lives of others, it's about compassion for others. And it's about from in my case, and especially, but really, this is really what advocacy is, it's about helping people to be better off than you have to not be in your shoes. And so for me, it was something that I was never comfortable talking openly about my deepest struggles. I mean, I didn't even confront them within myself over and over again, despite all the spiritual awakenings we go through, I still was like, we're not going to, we're going to sweep that under the rug. But for me, I didn't really have a choice because I knew that what I was experiencing, others were experiencing, and I knew that I had to just set aside my ego and set aside my own privacy needs and do what's, what's the best thing for humankind, which was to voice this, but still no answers, you know, still a little how we're still gaslit. Unfortunately, there's a lot of medical sexism and racism involved as well. But I've experienced the medical sexism like crazy, a lot of Cyclone psychology zation of this illness, but it's very physiological. And I think the finding the voice side of it was something that I did not expect to be part of my chronic illness journey. I think that, you know, previously I would have, in a perfect world, in a world that was more compassionate and empathetic, I would have just gone into my recovery cave, and just quietly, tried to get myself back to a state of healing. But because I knew that I, I one, it was not happening, because there was no treatment available. And too, I knew that there were so many others that were coming after me that were going to be experiencing what I was experiencing, I knew that I just had to swallow my pride with it and come forward. It was an is very difficult to do. It's a very misunderstood condition. It's a very misunderstood role to be an advocate. And I think a lot of people because of the political zation, and all of all of the litany of issues surrounding COVID. And on the challenges facing it, I think, unfortunately, a lot of people just tune out. And it's really sad because I think if they were just to listen to what US advocates say they would realize that we are going out of our way to educate others out of sheer love. That's what it is. That's all it is.
Which I know is your perspective and the way that you walk in the world. As a friend, it's been so beautiful to see you so vulnerably and openly share your journey. I mean, many times you've posted from inside hospital rooms or emergency rooms and have been just really direct and honest about that you're also coming from a perspective of privilege and how this I don't know lack of understanding lack of treatment lack of humanitarianism that people should be experiencing is even less among bipoc and otherwise marginalized people in our societies. So that's been just, I think, really powerful, to be able to use your platform to spread that message. Like you were saying, it's not always the most popular thing to be talking about. And it's been really polarizing in our society, but from inside, going through your own struggle and your own journey, and the ebb and flow and ups and downs that you've so publicly and just in a raw way, have shared so beautifully. I just wonder, how have you seen things change? If at all, do you feel like I mean, this must be a little grating for you, as a US government employee on the other side of it? But do you feel? Do you feel like you're seeing any positive forward movement? Or is there anything that you would encourage others to do to support, you know, the information cause, at least around all of this.
So I'd say from 2020, until now, there has been some progress, it hasn't been all lost hope, you know, there has been some progress, it is not where we need to be, especially with the scale of this pandemic, within a pandemic. And especially because this is human lives and futures, you know, nothing is ever enough. When it comes to that you need to be doing everything now, and, you know, putting putting all of your resources towards it. But that's unfortunately not happening. I think that where there is hope now is that people know the name, they know the term, they at least know that long COVID exist, whether or not they believe or fully comprehend what long COVID is, and the seriousness of it is a totally different story. And I think there's a lot of people that again, going back to fear, are fearful of the thought of chronic illness, because you can become chronically ill overnight. That's what happened to me. And oftentimes we are, and it makes us face our own mortality. And that's a very scary thing. So I think a lot of people who are, who do choose to tune out what we do know now what's in the news, I think some of it comes from this place of this fear of, oh, it can happen to me. So if I just don't acknowledge it, then I don't have to acknowledge that it's real. And I don't have to acknowledge that it's a risk to me. And I can just pretend like it's not, it's not going to happen to me, which is a scary place to be in because knowledge truly is power. And so there is change. Now, I think what what I would hope that people would do, though, I think my biggest hope with all of this, and with my advocacy is that you do not tune out what advocates are saying specific, I mean about everything, but especially with long COVID. Because long COVID is, unfortunately becoming more of a reality for so many people. And there are simple things that you can do to prevent it. And I just would, I think for me, my biggest hope is that education can save people. And you know what you do with that everyone has their free will, of course, but at the very least just allow yourself to be informed to make informed decisions. That's my hope here. But we are a ways out in terms of making progress. But we are, we are our advancements in the chronic illness world and postinfectious chronic illness have gone leaps and bounds and are going leaps and bounds from what it was prior to COVID. There's another condition called MECFS. That has been viewed as a psychological illness when it is identical to long COVID and very serious and very debilitating. So where the work that's being done towards on COVID is helping scores of people across the chronic illness community, because it's legitimizing these very real physiological conditions.
And it just reminds me, I mean, I have a background in wellness and natural medicine and massage therapy. And it just reminds me of a time when Fibromyalgia was gaslit, and was considered more of a psychological condition when Now, everyone knows that that's an actual physical, manifested in the body condition. And so I can't help but I guess it's a weird hope to have. But I can't help but hope that sooner than later, perhaps the spectrum that is long COVID Because it's not the same for everyone, as you point out on your posts, and you're so educational, and your social media, which is incredible. You're you've become this wonderful resource for all of us, but doesn't manifest the same in everyone. It doesn't look the same and everyone can kind of shape shift and appear to be other things. And it seems like doctors are still very confused about putting all the symptoms together. And I guess depending on perhaps, you know, the level of care that someone's receiving the part of the world that they're in. Sometimes things that are pretty critical symptoms in this type of diagnosis. I just learned this from you in a recent post. Sometimes these symptoms are not counted. or included in the list of symptoms, there is, oh, you're just complaining about that, or oh, that's unrelated, or that doesn't equal this, which I'm really hoping that very quickly, things move in a better direction for you and everyone else, all of us.
I hope so too. I really do. And you're spot on. I mean, Ms. Was is a great example to, or MS we now know is caused by Epstein Barr Virus, it's a post infectious illness, and it is a serious condition. And that was actually viewed as a cycle as a psychological condition
as well. Just Epstein Barr Virus itself was at one point, you know, not considered valid. So absolutely history, you know, thing that. So it's also fascinating, and I'm sorry that you're having to do a lot of your own legwork. And I'm so grateful to have you, as an activist for those listening that might have some healing gifts or abilities or sensitivities in that way. I know sometimes, we feel so helpless on the outside looking in or you know, even with people that we know, is there anything that we can be doing, to kind of lend healing and support in a general way, besides the activism that we need to all be doing?
I think, well, one, obviously mask wearing is great, easiest way to help people to not get longer, but yourself. It's, it's I think that's key, but I think from from a healing modality perspective, I have had myself I've had distance Reiki done for me, and I, you know, I've had acupuncture and so forth. But I will tell you that Reiki has been a phenomenal support. And I think that I think it's important for those within the the healing modalities to be empathetic with their clients to listen to the full scope of, of symptoms, to understand that it's systemic, and to just allow the your patients to allow the patients to essentially just to speak, to let you know what their symptoms are to listen compassionately. And then from there, you know, use use your abilities to help but I will tell you that Reiki has been so supportive for me, and especially when it comes to, to my mental health, I will tell you that it has had just for me personally, there are a lot of mental health challenges that come with long COVID. And every single time that I have had a Reiki session done. And for me, it's been distance Reiki, since I'm immunocompromised, I have felt truthfully, like the clouds have parted every single time. And it has helped me to forge on for weeks and months. And until you know, I have my next session and so forth. But I tell every patient that I speak to that they need to be open if they can be to Reiki that it is incredibly supportive and healing. And I think for practitioners to to welcome one COVID patients with open arms because I mean, beyond just the mental support. I mean, it obviously can get physical support, too. But for me, personally, I think for it was I think it's helped to keep me in this world. It's helped truly, to help me feel more balanced in me return sort of to how I felt mentally at least before COVID Before I got COVID
Wow, thanks for validating that because I just am such a fan of Reiki I practitioner and a teacher. And I just think that it's got a lot to offer. And I'm so happy that it's been beneficial for you and your healing journey as we know you're still in the midst of this journey, but hopefully in a more stable place right now. I don't have a super smooth transition. And I tend to be a little awkward, just in general. But I really want to get you to do this spirit speed round. I know I've kept you way over the time that I promised you. Are you up for a change of gear.
Oh yeah. Bring it on.
Okay, exciting. I'm super excited about this. I know snow. I just feel like through this journey and through this. You know these challenges you've grown so much as a person so I'm super excited to see your answers to these hard they are fun. Okay. Okay. Well, you share with us one thing that really shocked you or was unexpected about your mediumistic gifts yourself.
I think I think what shocked me the most about my mediumistic gifts for me, has been the fact that I think I know this is gonna sound really bizarre the fact that I can. How do I word this? But it can feel people's passings. I never thought when I it first got into mediumship that I would be able to experience someone's passing. And as someone that's always thought about, you know what's going to happen when I die? What's it going to feel like? It has actually given me so much peace with my own mortality and with my own passing because I have felt, you know, hundreds of other people's passings. And in a way, and it's almost it's almost not normalized it for me, but it has made me it is helped me to drop the fear of my own passing because I have in glimpses, as we know, through me through mediumship felt at least a tiny fraction of what it's like, and it has taken away a huge fear factor. So for me, that has been the most shocking experience. I never thought that mediumship would make me happy. Well, of course it would. I never thought it would make me be at peace with my own passing in the future.
I love that answer. I think it's, I think people, people don't often understand the gifts that the medium receives, you know, as a medium doing this work, and that's a really beautiful gift that we do receive is just a different understanding. I love that answer. Next question, if you got to spend a day in the spirit world, you got the full tour, you got to spend time with everyone you've ever known who's crossed over everyone you love, and it's almost time to return to your normal life. And your guide tells you you have one hour left and you can spend it with anyone who's on the other side. Who do you choose? And why
would I choose to spend it with? I think I would choose god there's so many people all but to be honest, now this is gonna be told you this question. This is not that kind of this is gonna be a weird this is gonna be a weird answer. So bear with me here. But I would ask to spend it with Jesus. And it's not because I'm a religious person. I am very much I believe in honestly all religions, I believe that there's truth in all religion. But I would specifically want to meet with Jesus to Prague for two different reasons. One, I just want to know if he was a medium because I do feel that there is a little bit of a if not, the whole Bible is a channeling exercise. So I would love to be able to connect with him. And just to learn from him and just get a sense of from a spiritual perspective, what he was like when he was in human form. Was he a Reiki healer, he was clearly a healer, you know, what were his healing abilities was he a medium, so I would love to be able to just discern that from him for my own validation, because that is just a belief that I have always held in to I would love to be able to get a sense of what he thinks about the worship that people have, how they worship him now. And you know, if it's if it's something that he feels that his teachings have have been changed in ways that aren't true to what he had wanted, if he views it as, as something that is embarrassing, you know, if this is something he never wanted to be worshipped, because he's a very humble human being and he was also quite the activist as well. And, and you know, stood up for, for those marks are those lesser or not lesser, but a more vulnerable and marginalized had an, you know, lesser positions in the community. So I think getting a sense from him as to really what his view is on the way that people talk about him speak to his teachings, and if they aligned with what he actually taught, for me would be fascinating. So I would, I would love that I would love to split the time with other people though, but he would be the ultimate.
Yeah. I would love to read a transcript of that conversation because I think those are all fascinating questions that we could all benefit from the answers from. Okay, even though we have spiritual gifts, we have very human lives. What is one quirky thing about you that people might be surprised to learn? Oh, God, there's so many. And I, I don't hide it very well. I do not hide it. But I think if there's one corner that's one of my favorite things.
I should hide it because I feel like people will be like, I probably have a lot more all I have anyway. I think that what is the quirkiest thing? I think the quirkiest thing of have to be
the quirkiness.
Okay, so one quick one. I guess what a quirk about me is that actually this is probably a really, it makes sense in the context of what we discussed. But I have cameras throughout the house including in our bedroom on top of our bed, which you know, most people would not do most, most partners would not be okay with either. But I have cameras all over the house to track the various spiritual activity in our home. Just because I feel the midnight I feel them tuck me in and I just want to show people how loving the spirit world is. So I have cameras of me, you know in my PJs with my crazy bedhead no makeup looking absolute mess As I share them with the world, because I want people to see just do I want people to see how gentle and how authentic and real they are, and that they're just people like us. But that's probably the most bizarre thing that people would not expect is that I'm someone that has cameras in my bedroom that I'm actually filming myself sleeping, that this isn't some creepy human that has like, yeah, fear and photog for the purpose of therapy.
Or security, but for exactly. Spirit experiment. I love that. And I think it's, you know, for those that don't, they don't follow you. Yeah, they're gonna watch you because you show a lot of this footage you do pretty regularly post clips of this that are unedited. So it's a lot of fun to get to see. And it kind of makes me wish I had cameras to watch spirits around the house can always add question. Yeah, hey, I might leave us with one pearl of wisdom. What's one piece of advice that you wish that you had had early in your understanding of your gifts?
There are many, but I think the one thing that I wish that I knew earlier on was that the spirit world is just a thought away. And that we in our humaneness, overcomplicate and some teachers as well over complicate spirit communication, that it is innate within us, we do not have to try that the more that we try, the harder it is for us. And I think that if I had known that if I just needed to relax, trust, and enjoy, that I would have better connections, I would be able to better articulate the stories of our loved ones. On the other side. If I had known that earlier on, I would have built up more trust in myself as well as spirit world. And I would have been more confident in myself as a medium, which would have propelled me further and helped me advance further. I think that for me, I keep every single time that I do a reading before I do reading, because I'm still developing, as we all are. And that's something that's important to note too is that we are never done developing and anyone who thinks that they're done developing, as far as I'm concerned, they need to go back to mediumship school, because they have a lot. There's always more to learn, always more to grow. But the acronym of RTE, I always tell myself go the route, so relaxed, trust and enjoy. And if I had known that very early on, and just did complicated mediumship for myself that way, and just trusted and allowed myself to relax into it, and most importantly, to enjoy the communications. I think it wouldn't have been such a struggle for me in terms of accepting this part of myself and, and allowing the communications to flow we get in our way. So much spirit world does not get in our way they give they're never wrong. They give us good information. It is a second guessing it's us doubting ourselves. That is, you know, where we get our nose and where we have our biggest hiccups in mediumship. And if we just allowed ourselves to go the route RTE, then I think that we we all would have a much better experience. And I think we all would, it would be a much smoother development process I would think
that is really great advice. Thank you for sharing that with us today. I love that pearl of wisdom. And thank you for not only talking to us about spirit photography and all of your I don't know all of your own journeys, but this new segment of your journey in the last few years with health and wellness and what that means for you as an individual and what that means for you as a teacher and a leader in this spiritual work. I really appreciate you sharing this time with us and it's one of my favorite things about being on your Instagram page is that you so openly and vulnerably share like this all the time and I'm just so grateful to have had this conversation. Thanks.
Oh enjoy. It is mutual. You know how much I absolutely love you and appreciate you and thank you so much for having the space in this community truly. You are filling a gap and helping so many people understand their own abilities and and to normalize this to which is so important. So thank you.
Thanks for sharing your light with us today. I hope you enjoy that conversation with psychic medium Lauren Nichols. I don't know which one of those I'm going to try first. I definitely am going to order myself. A little twist battery operated flashlight. The one I have I was talking to Lauren actually before we popped on. And the one I have it's right here. It's a push button. And she was saying no, you have to get the twist. And so I'm gonna get that I also I'm excited to try the spirit of photography. What You guys think are you going to try any of this? Does this feel a little outside your comfort zone? Is this something that you have played with and explored before and you have your own tips about, you know, like Lauren was talking about? How do we tell if something is dust? Or how do we know? You know that energy of where the Spirit is? Or when is the right moment to snap that photo? Do you have any tips yourself? Or have you tried some of this and you want to share your experience, I'd love to hear any of it either in the comments, or in my Facebook group, Joy soul spa, I pop on there all the time, and I am posting and answering questions there. If you're not already on Lauren's Instagram, you're gonna want to pop over there. It's obviously instagram.com. So at Lauren, the medium and it's lauren Liu, R E, N, just like it sounds, Lauren, the medium. And I'll also post all of this in the show notes as well as on my website, joyful medium.com/blog. You can find the full episode with the video too, if you want to see us and hear us at the same time, the transcripts, they're all the show notes, all the links for everything that we mentioned will be there. So you don't want to miss that if you're wanting to find out about the hotels that she mentioned. Or check out her pages her link tree, her activism with long COVID. And as you know, all of our voices matter now with legislation with the way things are moving forward with health care and everything else. So thank you so much for joining me for this conversation. I hope that you learned a little something I know I definitely did. I was so excited to try some of this and I'll be sharing what I try and what I find in the joy soul spa Facebook group. It's free to join. You're all welcome if you're not already there. And I look forward to talking more about this and hearing all of your experiences. Thanks for being with me today. Big hugs. Bye for now. I'll see you next time inside of the Spirit speakeasy