You Married Your Sister?

While standing at the counter of our local bank today, I saw a woman I hadn't seen in four months.  She said, "Suzanne, you're home!"  I replied, "Yes, just for five days."  She said, "You're all dressed up," and I replied, "Yes, I just married my sister."  In perfect unison the four bank tellers turned their heads in surprise as I quickly added, "That is ... I performed the ceremony!"






What an honor to preside over the marriage of
my sister Janice as today she became Mrs. Steve Gray.  Such happiness to share this special occasion with our mother, Ruthie, my brother, Brent, sister-in-law, Cheryl, and friends Don and Jude.  Alas, Ty was sadly missed as he stayed with the pups in New Hampshire, but he was certainly with us in spirit.


The other member of our family who was not with us physically was our father, Bill.  Dad passed to
the other side in 2008 at Cornerstone Hospice in The Villages.  The building lies within sight of the beautiful lakeside park where we held our ceremony today.  After Dad passed, my mentor Janet Nohavec told us that he would make his presence known through cardinals (She had no way of knowing that Dad loved birds).  Later, when Brent and Cheryl returned to the hospice to show my niece Michelle the brick in Dad's honor, a cardinal landed on the roof of the very room where Dad made his transition.  That beautiful red bird stood and watched them to make sure they noticed.  Today, Janice brought a ceramic cardinal to the ceremony as a stand-in for Dad.  It seems he wanted to make his presence known in a more obvious way earlier, however, when Janice, Mom, and I left the house to drive to the ceremony ...


The car was parked in our driveway with the doors open.  As we approached it, a giant Monarch butterfly flew towards the car and began to hover over it.  I stopped in my tracks, noting the strange motions of the butterfly as it began to circle the car.  My step-daughter Susan had  sent us little yellow butterflies after she passed, but this wasn't a sign from Susan.  No, when that big old butterfly this morning flew right inside the car and made itself at home, I knew it was a message from our dad that he wouldn't miss this special day for anything.  After making sure the car was good to go, the butterfly exited the back seat, gave a final circle around the vehicle, did a touch-and-go on the hood, and fluttered off. 


When I stopped by our photographer Paula's house later to thank her, she was in the middle of telling her husband about the amazing butterfly.  I want to note for the record that the photos here are screen shots of a video, quickly grabbed to post this story.  The professional photos will come later to remind us of this memorable, love-filled day.  Janice and Steve, we are so happy for you and wish you good health and joy in the years ahead.

Gratitude is one of the best ways to open one's heart, which explains why mine is overflowing right now.  I am grateful for so many things, especially that we were able to share this day with my mother, who turns 88 tomorrow.  And I am grateful that we can share our mutual birthday in person yet again.  She says I was her birthday gift on the day I was born, but her love is a gift I treasure every day.

Love abounds.

Love at the Center

Some of you may not know that I have an alternate website address.  I use it for those who hear me on radio interviews and find it much easier to remember www.LoveAtTheCenter.com vs. www.SuzanneGiesemann.com.  I decided to direct the "LoveAtTheCenter" URL to a unique landing page vs. my home page so that new visitors would immediately discover what I consider to be the most important thing in our lives:  Love.  The page gets straight to the point of our purpose in this life and how to live life on purpose.  I hope it speaks straight to your heart.  xxoo

Decisions, Decisions.

Need a psychic?  You may think you do, but I just had the opportunity to share a valuable tool with a woman looking for answers.  She emailed me because she is facing one of those big, life-changing decisions we all face from time to time.  Not so long ago I gave her a reading and connected her with a loved one on the other side.  She was hoping I could give her another reading and ask that loved one for his guidance on the issue she's facing.  She didn't know where else to turn because her meditations haven't given her clear answers.

I replied, "I'm going to be honest with you ... Spirit has made it very, very clear to me that we all learn by the choices we make.  Your destiny truly is your own, and a question as important as this needs to come from your heart, not a psychic-medium, not a loved one on the other side, not a counselor, not a friend.  You get the picture.  If you haven't gotten answers yet, it's because your guides are also withholding the answer so you can find it in your heart.

"Getting this kind of guidance is actually quite simple.  Your soul already knows the answer.  Imagine yourself in the situation you described, having made one decision.  Then tune in very, very carefully to your body, especially your heart and your gut.  How do they feel? Are they completely relaxed or tensed at all?  Then imagine yourself in the same situation having made the opposite decision.  Check again:  tensed or relaxed?  There's your answer.  And if your heart/gut are tense or even the slightest bit uncomfortable in both situations, it's not time to make a decision.  In that case, you just keep living in the moment, allowing life to unfold, until you can make a clear decision based upon what your soul is telling you via your body."

The woman replied immediately, thrilled and relieved with this answer.  I'm so glad that I've learned  I don't need to say yes to every request for a reading.  I just need to practice what I teach and tune in to higher consciousness or my own body for the right answer.  I felt nudged to share this in my blog, because many times we forget that the answers we seek are right there, within.  May these words empower you to make the highest possible choices for yourself from moment to moment. 

My Heart Runneth Over

I had a lesson in balance today that has left me in awe.  I just completed an unforgettable, love-filled weekend of sharing with 82 beautiful souls at Unity Village.  Normally, after giving one 3 hour workshop, I am drained the next day.  This weekend I gave a 3 hour workshop Friday evening, a 3 hour and then a 2 hour workshop Saturday, followed by a channeling session with Sanaya Saturday evening, and a 3 hour workshop this morning.  I had planned to go into seclusion this afternoon and tomorrow to recharge, yet I feel astoundingly good.  Yes, I'm tired, but not wiped out or emotionally fragile as I usually am after a workshop.  What made the difference?  I took the advice that Sanaya gave me this morning.  I had planned to conclude the retreat with a special labyrinth ceremony in which each of us symbolically left a dead twig (representing a part of us we no longer chose to carry around) in a fire pit at the center.  I was looking forward to hugging each participant, but Sanaya said, "No. It is too draining. There is a better way." 

Before the ceremony began, I passed along Sanaya's recommendation:  I asked the participants that as they departed the labyrinth, they would join hands one by one with me.  I told them that I would look each one in the eye, connect with their soul, and send them love.  Most important, I asked that they do the same and send love flowing back to me.  In last night's channeling session, Sanaya explained how energy goes back and forth.  It flows round and round.  This giving and receiving of love is all about balance. 

The way I feel now is a huge "Aha!" moment for me.  After workshops I am usually frazzled.  There's a reason we call such a state "unbalanced."  We concluded this weekend with a give-and-take of pure, divine love.  It came straight from the heart, as you can see below in this sampling of beautiful, "love-sharing" photos taken by Ty that I will treasure forever.  Yes, my heart runneth over, but what goes around comes around, and so I am filled ... filled with love, yes, and most certainly with gratitude.  Lessons abound.

Speaking Up

How much should a sitter say in a reading with a medium?  Hard-core skeptics might be tempted to give no feedback at all.  This, I have learned, will lessen the experience for all concerned.  Mediumship is all about energy.  A reading is a three-way connection between those on the other side, the medium, and the sitter.  If the sitter decides to block that flow by not saying anything, their silence is akin to erecting an energetic wall to what can be very subtle communication.

As an evidence-based medium, I want those on the other side to tell me as much about themselves as they can.   That evidence provides validation that consciousness continues beyond the transition we call death.   “Evidence” consist of any information the spirit can convey through words, sensations, feelings, and images about their life or others in their life that the medium could not have known.  The challenge is that the connection is not always as clear as a phone call or a Skype video session.  The information received may be sketchy and it can be either literal or symbolic.  This is where clarification from the sitter adds greatly to a reading.

This week I did an unscheduled session for Carol, a woman who had emailed me about the recent loss of her husband, the love of her life.  She admitted to being somewhat skeptical about mediumship, but she was aching for validation that her husband, John, was still with her in spirit.  I am well familiar with that ache and agreed to do the reading right away.  Thank goodness this sitter decided to keep the flow going with her helpful comments.

I immediately sensed a male presence standing where I normally feel a husband or partner.  The first thing he did was show me himself dancing with his wife.  Carol told me that dancing was significant.  It turned out to be so significant that John ended the session by bringing up dancing again.  Why do so twice?  I learned later that of the many affirmative prayers John had written in his life, his most popular one is entitled, “I Dance in the Miracle.”  Carol had it printed on cards and gave it out each year on his birthday.  At his Celebration of Life service, pale blue ribbons were given to each person with the title inscribed.  Yes, dancing was more than meaningful to John and his wife.

John was able to show me a major illness from which he suffered, but that didn’t jibe with the repeated twitching I felt just above my left ankle.  I had never before experienced such an odd sensation, which told me that someone on the other side was intentionally sending my brain a signal.  Sure enough, Carol confirmed that the site of this unusual twitch was the exact location of the only pain that John endured throughout his physical ordeal.  She told me that John’s pain in that spot was excruciating, but was in no way connected to or caused by the illness that took his life.  Had she sat silently and not confirmed these important details, the three of us would have missed out on that joyous moment of knowing that John’s spirit was fully present—enough for me to objectively feel a remnant of his physical symptoms.

“We didn’t quite make it to 40” John said, and Carol confirmed that I heard him correctly.  They would have celebrated their 40^th anniversary this Fall.  

He then showed me a large yellow flower.  The image was so fleeting that I wasn’t sure if it was a sunflower, a daisy, or some other unusually large specimen, but he made it clear that the flower was some kind of sign from him.  Carol knew that flower.  It was a large hibiscus, shown here, that bloomed outside the location of John’s Celebration of Life for the first time ever on that particular morning.  That was a month ago.  Hibiscus blooms only last one day. This past Sunday, the day before her reading, Carol noticed a fresh yellow bloom and took the photo you see here.   There was only one large bloom on each occasion. How appropriate that John would mention it during this oh-so-special reunion with his wife.

There were many more pieces of evidence that Carol claims were “spot on,” including the fact that John had served in the Navy.  His specialty as a “yeoman” came through loud and clear.  One detail of the many he shared with us stands out to me.  It was one of those images that I see from time to time in a reading that is so ordinary I almost hesitate to mention it.  In this case, John showed me a hot dog.  You can’t get much more commonplace than that, so why bring it up?  Perhaps, I reasoned, he was trying to show me something about the difference in his and Carol’s eating habits, because immediately after showing me the hot dog, I saw two hands brushing through the air accompanied by the thought, “No way!” as the hands then pointed at Carol.

Happily, Carol didn’t sit there silently.  No longer the skeptic, she informed me that John was indeed a big hot dog fan—so much so that he had considered buying a hot dog stand.  Carol confirmed that she is not an avid hot dog consumer, but the hot dog and the “No way!” gesture turned out to be far more significant than alluding to their dietary preferences.  It seems that the first time Carol spoke with John on the phone, he had called to make arrangements for their (blind) date.  Her initial reaction upon hearing his voice was that he sounded “like a New Jersey hot dog,” and there was “NO WAY” she was going out with him.  Carol loved to tell that story, and had told it in exactly that way countless times over the ensuing forty years.  John loved the story because it turned out so well after all.

How grateful I am that Carol spoke up and confirmed this beautiful validation of John’s presence.  I am also grateful that Carol agreed to share these details publicly.  I have changed this dear couple’s names at Carol’s request.  Her grief is still raw as she adjusts to her new “normal,” but she was willing to pass along this gift to others in hopes of providing the healing that evidence from across the veil brings.

I know that John is grateful.  A few hours after the reading I sat to meditate to the new “Making the Connection” meditation that I recorded last month with Jim Oliver.  As the waves of ethereal music washed over me, suddenly a man’s face appeared before my mind’s eye.  He stepped close and gave me a hug.  I was stunned.  I regularly see gestures such as John’s “No way!” but never until now had I seen a spirit’s face.  “Who are you?” I asked the man silently.  “I’m the one you just brought through in your reading today,” he answered as he gave me a hug of thanks.  I gazed at that same face half an hour later on my computer screen when Carol responded to my urgent request to send me a photo of John for verification.  Thank you, John, for the gift that is you.  Thank you, Spirit.  

I know now why I was nudged so clearly to do this reading as soon as possible.  I learned that in the past two or three weeks of his life John was adamant about sharing with everyone around him—nurses, aides, doctors, friends, family—the three messages that he, Carol, and I find of utmost importance to understand and apply in this life:  (1)  We are all ONE, regardless of any apparent differences, (2) It’s important to think with your head, but far, far more important to think with your heart, and (3) All that matters is LOVE. 
May we all follow John and Carol’s lead and Dance in the Miracle of love everlasting.