Read My Life As a Medium Online
Authors: Betty Shine
One of the radio presenters also became a close friend. His name is Peter Quinn and, at the time, he was producing a programme called
The Eleventh Hour
on Southern Sound. There was a tremendous rapport between us from our very first meeting, and the first programme was so successful that Peter asked me if I would appear on alternate weeks. The phenomena we experienced during the following year were unbelievable, and I included one of the stories in
Mind Magic.
It was during this period, after I had confided in Peter that the sheer volume of requests for help had left me feeling inadequate, that he suggested that I make self-help tapes, which he would produce. There was no suggestion of money changing hands because his offer came from the heart. By this time he had also met my daughter Janet, who was, at that time, a ‘Wheel of Yoga’ teacher. He persuaded her to make her radio debut on
The Eleventh Hour,
and this was such a success that she was able to take over when I left. Later, he persuaded her to make her ‘Mantra’
tapes. Peter has produced all of our tapes over the years, and they, in turn, have given others the strength and knowledge to help themselves, or have complemented the absent healing they were receiving.
If I had been amazed by the number of letters I had received when the hardback was published, nothing prepared me for the onslaught when the paperback was distributed world-wide. I was now receiving letters from the farthest corners of the earth, and every one had to be answered. It was a daunting task and threatened to overwhelm, and finally bury me, beneath mountains of paper. I worried constantly that someone who had written might be dying alone, and had reached out to another human being for a sign that someone cared, and that my answer would be too late. Eventually, of course, common sense prevailed. I knew in my heart that I could not save the world, but as I had fought for the lives of my patients before, I knew that I would help as many people as was humanly possible. I discussed this with Janet, and she agreed to work with me every day to this end, but the task was so monumental that I had to take on another helper. Eventually, Janet gave up her teaching to work with me full-time, and it is a credit to her that my absent healing service became so successful.
In between my appointments, I sat and read each individual letter. Then I mentally placed the name, address and problem into the healing network. The letter was answered by my writing a reply on the envelope, which Janet would then copy on to a printed letter. This was the only way I could read
every letter I received. It proved so successful that we have kept the same method, with slight variations, to the present day. Inevitably, there were those who believed that their letter had never been read, and that the lists of books and tapes they received were only a means of exacting money. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. If I had wanted to make money I would surely have found an easier way to do it, for I am not bereft of talent.
There was also the added problem of postage. A first letter is rarely accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope, so we were faced with the phenomenal cost of postage, especially as it entailed sending letters all over the world. Although a request for return postage was enclosed in my reply, it was only by having the request printed in the second book that some of this burden was lifted. But to this day I still receive letters without a stamped addressed envelope, and the cost of a reply is still my responsibility.
I hope that explaining these procedures will give an insight – to all those who have asked for help over the years – into the way myself and my team work. We do care, about everyone, and if we sometimes fail to make this clear, be assured that your requests will never be ignored. I think it would help if you could feel the love and understanding that abounds when we are dealing with your mail. Many times a letter has reduced us to tears, and left us all feeling like wet blankets for the rest of the day. It is only the knowledge that there is an incredible spirit team helping that enables us to keep going. With your help and
understanding, I hope we will be able to do so for many years to come.
With the publication of
Mind to Mind
came a completely unexpected phenomenon. The events recorded in the letters were various, but were caused by one and the same thing, and that was my photograph on the cover of the book. People were being drawn to the book in the stores, and, whether or not they had had any prior interest in the paranormal, they bought the book. There were those who were healed just by looking at my photograph, and others who claimed that by holding the book they were able to put themselves into an hypnotic state whilst applying self-healing. Still more saw my face changing as they looked at the photograph, and gave me a detailed description of people who had been seen to overshadow me whilst I was healing. I remember one letter in particular, written by a man who had been unable to work for fourteen years because of a chronic back condition. He told me that he propped the book up on the kitchen windowsill whilst he washed the dishes because my picture made him feel peaceful; except for one day, when something gave him a terrific blow in the middle of his spine. He screamed out in pain and crumpled onto the floor. Minutes passed before he made the effort to get to his feet, and when he did, he found that he had been completely healed. For the first time in years he was free of pain. He waited six weeks before writing to me, in case the pain returned. Two years later he was still free from pain, and was working again. This story was the forerunner of
hundreds of similar situations and healings. There were people who had been bedridden and were able to walk again, after simply holding the book, and many who saw their late friends or relatives superimposing their features over my face. The stories were endless. Critics may say that they were all from gullible people; they would be wrong. The letters came from men and women from every walk of life, and of every nationality.
At first, I was rather stunned by this, and didn’t quite know what to make of it. But, as soon as I had accepted that it was actually happening, I was faced with yet another phenomenon. Apparently, my readers were having their own psychic experiences whilst actually reading the book. These were as varied as the other stories. Some felt as though they were levitating, while others could feel tingling throughout their bodies, and a tremendous sense of wellbeing. Everyone mentioned the total peace that they felt as they held
Mind to Mind
in their hands, and the majority wrote that reading the book had been a spiritual experience they would never forget. The miracles brought about by my first book appeared to be infinite, and I wondered how it would end.
I am sure of one thing, and that is that it had all been brought about by spiritual intervention.
Throughout my life I had always been a very private person. This may have been because, as a child, I had felt unable to share my psychic experiences, and also because my dream world had always seemed to be more real than reality. However, I have always had good friends of long standing with whom I could share my life, and whom I have been able to trust. Since I had moved from Sutton circumstances had prevented us from meeting often, but we were nonetheless always there for one another.
In the aftermath of the publication of
Mind to Mind,
it seemed that my life was being taken over by others and my friends were beginning to fade into the background. This caused me great concern, until eventually I spoke to them about the dilemma, and we all agreed that no matter what happened in our lives, we would never lose contact.
Now it seemed that my privacy had been lost forever. I found that I was sharing my home with a team of helpers, patients, children, cats and dogs, and the spirits.
It was not what I had visualized at all – and it had all happened so quickly.
In the middle of all this activity, I was trying to write my second book,
Mind Magic.
The idea had evolved from all the different comments and requests I had received in the post over the past two years. It was to be a teaching book, one where readers could try the self-help routines for themselves.
Something else was worrying me at this time – my own health. I had been experiencing bouts of palpitations, breathlessness, tachycardia, and numerous other small but nonetheless unpleasant symptoms. Because of some emotional and financial problems, I thought these symptoms were due to stress, until one day, during a medical check, I was told that I had a heart murmur. As I had been given a clean bill of health only two years previously, I was unable to accept the diagnosis. However, when I visited my own doctor and asked him to give me a medical, he confirmed the diagnosis, and told me that I should see a specialist at once.
I still could not bring myself to believe that I had anything wrong with me. I asked myself why? Why had it happened to me? I had been a vitamin and mineral therapist for thirty-five years, had never smoked, only drank alcohol on special occasions and very little even then, as I actually did not like it very much. What had happened to affect my heart in this way? Perhaps it was the butter and cream I had consumed in my younger days. No matter how many times the thoughts whirled around in my mind, I
could not ignore the fact that something was wrong, especially as I had been putting on weight in a rather alarming manner over the past three years. I was no different from hundreds of other people in these circumstances; I had simply refused to face the fact that I was ill, because I was so busy.
I checked out several heart specialists in London and chose one who was highly recommended by his own profession. We met, and I was given a medical check and X-rayed. The specialist told me that I had been born with only two cusps to my aortic valve, instead of three. That cleared up the mystery of why, even though I had been an opera singer, I had always found hillwalking difficult. He also explained that, although the condition was life-threatening, I would probably be able to live quite well for some time. I can’t remember how I got home that day, but I do remember thinking that it was ‘sod’s law’. I had looked after my body and mind all my life, and I had been born with a genetic defect!
Then I was given a medical book that had been borrowed from a hospital. On turning to the page explaining the cusps, I read that having only two cusps meant that they would calcify. This in turn could lead to a sudden death between the ages of forty-five and sixty. As I was fifty-nine years old at this point, you can imagine how I felt! I felt really chuffed! Naturally, my family was very shocked. For the first time in our history, no one had anything to say.
I decided not to burden others with my problems,
as most of the people I knew, friends and patients alike, had enough of their own. Patients were waiting; letters had to be answered, absent healing had to be given, and I had a book to write. I was not brave, I was frightened – not of dying, but of the way in which I was going to die. But there was nothing I could do about it, and although I had healed so many people, and seen so many miracles, I knew that the problem I had could not be dealt with by spirits. Or could it?
During this period, whenever I gave survival evidence, I wondered how long it would be before I joined my friends in the spirit world. My family had often joked that they would never be rid of me, even after my death, because I would haunt them. Thinking about my situation, I felt that it might not be too long before they found out!
Thank God for my work. It kept me busy and left me with little time to brood. Also, the most extraordinary things were happening through healing and manifestations, and I was delighted when the spirit children turned up in force, an obvious show of support. The overwhelming happiness that these children gave to their parents by way of survival evidence was a total joy. Some of them had only died in the past year, and two teenage boys returned with positive evidence before they had even been buried.
My healing room had taken on a life of its own. It was a different colour every time I entered the room, and I could see misty figures floating around. Children could also see them, and one little boy I was treating described them in detail to his parents. Animals too
paid me a visit. But in spite of all the activity, the atmosphere was serene, and it was in this room, at the end of the day, that I found the peace I needed to fill my soul and write my second book.
Remembering all the important issues that had been raised by the letters we received, I tried to give my readers the necessary back-up they required. Again, whilst working on my project, I was given invaluable help from my spirit friends, and the months and years that I had forgotten appeared on the paper for a split second. The knowledge that I had this kind of back-up gave me tremendous strength. Out of this came the ability to link into a spiritual source, which provided the inspiration.
Writing a book is rather like being pregnant, with nine months of discipline and a rather solitary existence, followed by birth, and a feeling of total exhaustion.
Before the publication of
Mind Magic,
I hoped and prayed that I had written a book that would inspire others to seek a future, and give them the ability to heal themselves and their friends.
When
Mind Magic
was launched, everything had been arranged for television, radio and journalist interviews, along with public appearances. We were all ready to go, when one interview after another was cancelled. This was because of the Gulf War; there was no space for any other kind of publicity at that point, which was understandable and right. Families scanned the news on television and in the papers for information about their loved ones. I thought the
book would be buried. Then I received a call from my publisher:
Mind Magic
had gone straight to number one on the bestseller list. I could not believe it, and, to be honest, I don’t think my publisher could either. My spirit team had been ‘at it’ again.
I was thrilled when, throughout that long sad winter, I received hundreds of letters from families who had gained strength from reading my book. It seemed that it had been published at just the right time.
The following year saw the launch of the paperback version, which had only been around for six months when I began receiving letters from people telling me that, with the help of the book, they had been able to start healing groups of their own, which had turned out to be very successful. I was thrilled. This was exactly what I had wished would happen when I was writing it. I felt very strongly that the healing touch and words of love had, in many families, taken a back seat, causing many family units to break down. The local postmen delivered the mail in sacks, and there were times when I thought my helpers and I would disappear for ever under the mounds of paper.
This should have been a very happy time, but my health was deteriorating rapidly, and it was becoming more and more difficult to hide the fact.
I was, at this time, giving fortnightly workshops, which invariably went on for five hours. The only way I was able to carry on was by putting my own exercises into practice, which enabled me to give the impression that I was fighting fit. Alas, when I got home in the evening, I would collapse. I was very sad
when I had eventually to put an end to these meetings, as requests for tickets came in every day, and I felt I was letting people down. I know many of my readers could not understand why it wasn’t possible for me to continue, and that is why I am putting the record straight here. I was not about to make anyone feel negative, after having produced two positive books, and, by public request, I was about to write another.
The title of my third book was
Mind Waves.
It had proved an impossible task to answer all the questions that were put to me, so I structured this book in a way that I hoped would shed light on the whole of the paranormal. My discovery and study of mind energy had convinced me that the mind controlled the whole, and it was during the writing of this book that I was given the incredible phenomena that put the seal on that conviction. The following stories are extracts from
Mind Waves.
In June 1990 I decided to take two weeks’ holiday in Spain. The first night in the rented villa I was feeling very ill. Because I was worried that I would not be able to finish
Mind Waves,
I looked up at the ceiling and said, to any unseen spirit that might be lurking around, ‘If you want me to carry on with this work, do something.’ When I woke in the morning I accidentally touched my body on the left side just below the heart. It was extremely painful. When I investigated the source of the pain, I found a red scar the length of my forefinger, with seventeen stitch
marks. And around the scars were seventeen clamp marks. I recognized them instantly, from previous operations that I had undergone. For a moment, all I could do was stare in disbelief.Over the years my patients have reported the manifestation of scars after I had performed psychic operations on them – but not, to my knowledge, with stitch and clamp marks. As I had been alone all night, they could only have been made by a spirit surgeon. Obviously, I could not show the scar to everyone, but my family and one or two friends saw it. My symptoms disappeared completely, but the scar was still faintly visible six months later.
It was a great relief to me as I was able to continue to heal over the next few months, as well as writing the book, and it was during this time that I visited some crop circles.
In 1991 I was invited to visit some crop circles in Wiltshire, where most of them seem to occur. I took my tape recorder with me as, over the years, many strange noises had been taped whilst I was giving healing. I wondered whether there might be any unusual energies in the circles, and if so, whether they would be healing energies. I had no preconceived ideas about the nature of these circles; I had a completely open mind.
I had travelled with friends, and when we were nearing our destination, we saw a most beautiful
crop circle formation which had appeared the previous night. It was in an inaccessible position, but as it was carved out of the wheat on the slope of a steep hill, it could easily be seen from the road. To our surprise, other new circles had also appeared in the same vicinity.The first two circles we entered were extremely interesting, one small new one having been formed overnight beside an old one. It was almost as though it had given birth! However, because the circle was so new there were a lot of other visitors about, so we didn’t stay long.
We then made our way to some circles which had been formed the previous week. Leaving the car, we waded through the wheat and eventually sat down in one of the circles. I put the tape recorder down beside me and switched it on. My friends did the same with their recorders. I closed my eyes and relaxed.
I had a feeling of absolute peace and harmony, and had a vision of lights, almost like searchlights, being beamed down on to the ground. I do not know whether these lights had anything to do with the formation of the circle. Ten minutes later, I rewound the tape and played it back. The noise it produced was unbelievable, rather like the hammering of a road drill. My friends had nothing at all on their recorders, and thought mine must be faulty. One of them asked if she could record on my machine, and I agreed, but suggested that as I was a medium it should
be placed by my side. This she did. When she played it back five minutes later, it produced the same noise, which we had by now nicknamed the woodpecker – admittedly rather a loud noisy one. It was then suggested that the three tape recorders should be placed in a pile to see if the sound could be transferred. This time none of the recorders had any sound on them.The tape recorder I had used was practically new, so I was almost certain that there was nothing wrong with it. But I was prepared to keep an open mind on the subject.
For years I have recorded my healing sessions, as the energy produces a sound like rushing water and this fascinated my patients. A week after visiting the crop circles, I put a new tape into my recorder during a healing session. When I played it back, there was the woodpecker hammering away. Thinking now that the machine was indeed faulty, I decided to record without actually carrying out any contact healing. I played the tape back a few minutes later and the woodpecker had gone, leaving only the normal energy sound. I suggested to my patient that I did a further five minutes’ contact healing, which I recorded. The woodpecker returned.
I decided to speak into the recorder, simply saying, ‘I am not healing now,’ because I felt there was an intelligence involved. On replay, the woodpecker had gone. Then I spoke into the recorder and said, ‘I am now healing.’ It
returned. My patient and I were so fascinated that we continued in this fashion for over two hours. At one time I tried to trick it by saying that I was healing when I wasn’t. But there was no response from the woodpecker, proving that there really was an intelligence behind it.This phenomenon stayed with me for three years.