“AN INTUITIVE INTERVIEW”
An interview conducted with Intuitive, Carolyn Tate
Conducted and Written by Shannon Seiver
I had only seen her picture and profile on a friend’s MySpace page and wondered if she could possibly be for real. She had a gloriously kind smile and sparkling eyes and even through her picture, I could just feel goodness and light. But, as with anything of this sort, there was a lingering doubt and worry in the back of my mind. Her site said she conducted most readings over the phone for what I felt was a fairly minimal charge, especially if she was the real deal. She even said if, at any point during the call, you felt you were not getting what you expected, that she’d promptly refund your money. Dion and her psychic friends never made that offer…trust me, I know. But I truly wanted the real thing and didn’t want to be suckered in and let down yet again.
You see, I had always been fascinated by the realm of spirituality, psychics, tarot, astrology, etc.…and had so many times been, or I should say, allowed myself to be the victim of false prophets. The sad fact of the matter is that there are many more counterfeits in this business than truly gifted individuals. And when I stumbled upon her, I had been through the roughest 3 years of my life. I felt disconnected from God, myself, and everyone around me. I was dark and cold and just not me. And I was simply tired of life in general. I wondered if I was on the right track, if I’d eventually find myself and lightheartedness again, if my decisions would haunt me. I prayed to God each night for answers or signs, but very rarely felt regarded or answered. I found myself so low and spinning in my own misery that something had to change.
So there she was, right there, where all I had to do was reach out and seek the answers I needed so badly to move forward and leave the past behind. Could she be the key or at least the channel I sought?
I remember how nervous I was even typing the email to her- a million thoughts rolling through my head and an anxiousness welling up within me. A date and time was arranged for a few days later on a Friday afternoon. With each day, my anticipation grew and by Friday, I was a bundle of nervous energy. I sat and watched the clock until the moment it was time and feverishly dialed the number with shaking hands. A soothing, bubbly voice with a noticeable Southern twang answered with an acknowledgement of my name and very quickly the conversation swung into action. Before I could say anything, she began to tell me so many things and all I could utter were repetitive ‘”Oh my God’s”. I was shocked at how in depth this women knew me and how she could spell out events of past in such detail. I began to cry several times, thanking God for my “answer”. In an hour and half, she helped me understand so much and gave me such comfort in knowing things I had questioned for too long. I hated for the conversation to end, but she was quite drained from the flurry of messages passed from “THE spirit” into “MY spirit” through her. So with many, many thanks, I said my goodbyes and we departed.
Almost instantly, I felt changed. A weight was lifted and a brighter, more clear direction was now visible, and I felt forgiven and forgiveness. I knew I was blessed to have found her and been given the opportunity to “know”, be shown, and let go. The moment you “get it” and you allow yourself to be who you are and really hear what you need to hear is spectacular.
My brief talk with her truly affected me and I hope to have her in my life as long possible. But beyond the gift she carries, the story of her is one that is rarely told. Although I was paying her to talk about me, I so longed to ask her so many questions about her life and her experiences. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like being given such a gift that is amazing and yet likely has its moments of darkness and pain. I spent days imagining what it must be like to possess such a gift. I wondered what her life had been like; all she had seen and heard; how SHE felt about life and her journey.
But I also wanted to share my newfound treasure with the world as well so that everyone could know the joy to which she could lead an open mind and soul.
Luckily an outlet such as The Sun exists…
Carolyn Tate is a gifted woman of many talents currently residing in Arkansas. Although her earthly age is 51, she is an old soul with a youthful and exuberant heart. She conducts most of her business over the phone, via her website, and is available for readings most days and times. She has done many different things in her life, including owning and running her own business, but realized her true calling and has followed that path since with a little “help from above”. She has been kind enough to allow me into her world so that I might share the life of an intuitive with others. The following conversation was conducted both over the phone and via email so we could be sure all aspects were captured accurately. She is an absolute joy to speak with.
Seiver: So Carolyn, why don’t we begin with a little preface…although most people know or have their own idea of what an intuitive or psychic is, how would YOU describe your gift? What is it you do specifically?
Tate: Merriam-Webster’s defines psychic as “sensitive to non-physical or supernatural forces and influences: marked by extraordinary or mysterious sensitivity, perception, or understanding”.
If I were in a conversation with Mr. Merriam or Mr. Webster, I might say that should they ever walk in my overly sensitive shoes they would find that the “supernatural forces and influences” may be the more natural of anything physical and that while I do feel, indeed, at times “marked” by what may seem “extraordinary or mysterious” to others, to me this sensitivity comes from a place of what seems more ordinary because of it’s clarity and simplicity. There’s nothing quite mysterious about the sensitivity, perception…and most certainly not the understanding. The mystery lies in why everyone is not allowing themselves to be open to being sensitive, perceptive and most of all…understanding. If what is described as “extraordinary” was to become common, the world might not feel so chaotic and scattered and we might all find a peaceful bliss in being sublimely sensitive to others, perceptive of how our own actions impact the “all” and, most certainly, how empowering the gift of “understanding” is Universally.
However, I must concede that given much of the Earth’s choice to stay cloaked in the fear that being sensitive to the all; perceptive to the connection of spirit and how our actions cause a chain reaction spiritually; and last, but certainly not least in effect, to keep understanding at a level that only allows for self-righteous empowerment…I suppose the people that, for what ever reason, aren’t as protected by sensitivity fences had to have a name. That extraordinary sensitivity definitely is psychologically impacting and chic, depending on the era you are researching. So, “psychic” it is. (SMILE)
I prefer “intuitive” because that is how it feels, as if I’m intuiting the information passing between your higher God consciousness and your Earthly self. I feel that I am a conduit to affirming your own intuition through my clarity. I can have this clarity because I do not have an ego based fear of your issues, nor judgment.
I often explain to people that it is similar to the “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” theology. The “Father” (what I refer to as God) is our higher selves…our soul. If you believe in God (by any name) you might consider that the soul is a part of God, ergo always with God at a higher level. The “Son” (what is considered Jesus to many) is metaphorically us on Earth…our bodies and ego which are attached and experiencing at an Earthly level. We are spirits having an experience in body, not a body having a spiritual experience. Just as the story of Jesus relates to his being “of body” on Earth, so are we. The “Holy Ghost” is our spirit and how we communicate between our soul (of God) and our body (of Earth). Our spirit is also “the truth”. Ergo, when we momentarily lose touch with our spirit; we lose our ability to communicate with our soul…our higher selves.
In clouded and muddled moments where we lose touch with the truth of our spirit and the love of our soul we can feel disconnected and alone. I often believe when people feel they are “missing something” in their lives…it is in truth themselves they are missing. They’ve lost that feeling of connection between who they are on Earth and who they are within the truth of their spirit and the love of their soul. This disconnect is always related to fear. Fear is always ego based. We all disconnect at times, but the level of that can be larger at one time than others. This can cause great angst and the more angst we are in the more clouded we become.
Within this disconnection, a person might seek help in reconnecting to their higher selves, which holds only love and the truth of love. There is no fear coming from ego there. They want to feel “safe” again. That’s where I can be of service. When a person is surrounded and overwhelmed by the chaos and clutter, this disconnect envelops their life and they often will feel they need help with reconnecting to their own truth. I am like a conduit that is able to be that connection for them and intuit their truth back to their consciousness. I am quite sure that I am not normally telling them things that they are not able to know themselves, but fear has shut them down and altered their connection.
If the electrical socket is God (your higher self) and you are the lamp (a person needing to relight their truth), then I am the cord in-between that is plugging in for the person and allowing the connection to take place so the lamp can light up (be enlightened) and shine again. That’s probably a bit simplistic, but it does portray what happens within a “reading”.
I’m “reading” what your spirit is communicating and that, through your fear, you have lost the ability to hear on your own. I often tell people that it’s as if another’s spirit has agreed with my spirit to let me act as “interpreter” for a bit, so that the person can know through that interpretation that they are, indeed, still connected to their own spirit. Your soul (higher God consciousness or God) never disconnects from you, nor does your spirit, but fear based emotions (ego) can cloud the issues and interrupt the connection…making you feel disconnected. People are getting “static” on their line and I’m helping repair the line. (SMILE)
People often ask me how it “works”. They mean to ask, “How does the process happen?” For me, it simply does. When someone asks for my help that is the way they are allowing their spirit permission to link with mine. My spirit is agreeable to do this without fear. Suddenly, the Light of truth can come through and eradicate the static and allow the communication to flow.
I do not desire to become a spiritual crutch to anyone. I simply am a tool to allow someone to re-learn how to walk within the truth of their own spirit. I want them to be able to walk on their own, because I cannot be there constantly to help them and do not desire crippling them by allowing them to become dependent on my help. I merely serve as messenger and guide, so that they know they can do this on their own and find their own truth again. The information I deliver, along with serving for clarity (which is very important in truth), allows the person affirmation that they are, indeed, connecting through their own spirit or I wouldn’t “know what I know”. But, I am only helping repair their own line with that communication. Just as you’d call in a telephone repair service to repair your connection, I am able to help repair your connection with your own spirit. I suppose I have the tools needed and the knowledge to guide you through the process!
I intuitively know by what each individual spirit tells me what is needed to help give a person in need their answers for clarity in different situations that ultimately can get them back on track by releasing their fears through knowledge and understanding…again, clarity. That clarity is always related to the truth of their own spirit.
Seiver: When did you first realize what your gift was and how did you find out? Was it gradual or an abrupt awakening one day?
Tate: I became aware of the voice inside me that was outside my own thought process when I was three (3) and about to turn four (4). My two years older sister came running up to me and asked, “Do you know how old you’re going to be next week?” I was about to hold up four fingers when “that voice” said, “Hold up three fingers and let her tell you that you’re going to be four. It will make her happy to tell you.” So, I held up three fingers and took great joy at the smile on her face when she corrected me. That is my first memory of that inner voice above my own.
When I was five (5) I was in the back yard playing. I had an experience that spiritually shaped the rest of my life. I lived in a family where God was present, but where God was not allowed to live. I had the concept of moral turpitude through discipline and training, but it was not given through compassion and love. We prayed at every meal, but my father’s rapid repeating of the dinner prayer didn’t even allow for understanding the words, and certainly did not allow for meaningful reverence behind the sentiment. I understood that there was God, but I had not concept of the truth of that in any defined way.
Then, I had this experience where I felt God’s presence all around me and looked up and into the eyes of God. I was flooded with a feeling of such overwhelming unconditional love and understanding that it is impossible to put it into words. Within the experience God spoke to me and told me that I would be alone most of my life, but to remember that God was with me…I was never alone. I won’t go into the all of the experience, but I had the true understanding of the amazing love of God.
I went outside the next day seeking this feeling, again. But, “the angels” didn’t seem to want to come out to play. I had literally seen and felt angels around me the day before. At the age of five, I thought this was perfectly normal. I found no angels, but to my great angst I found a bee buzzing around. We had been taught to fear bees, as my older brother was so allergic that he could literally die from the sting. I stomped my little sandaled foot firmly on the bee. Then, I started to lean down to see assuredly that the bee was no longer a threat.
My inner voice immediately directed me to not touch the bee, as it could still sting me…which I promptly dismissed and proceeded to pick up the bee. The bee stung me. Tears were running down my eyes from the pain. The voice calmly said, “From now on when you hear this voice, know that you should listen or you’ll get stung.”
Bee stings are not prone to leave scars, but on my right thumb’s knuckle is a little round white scar the size of the sting. Whenever I look at it I remember to “listen to that voice or I’ll get stung”.
Because it was as a child that I first understood the importance of that inner voice, it never occurred to me to question its significance. It simply “was”. It is simply a part of who I was and am. During my childhood, as my parents’ anger reflected annoyance in my “truth telling” and my friends called me “spook”, the sad thing was that I was so unaware that my acceptance of this additional knowledge might be special or different, that it took years for me to understand that it was ME that was different, not THEM who were “odd" because they thought it was “weird”. LOL I used to think that something was simply wrong with me that so many loved me and hated me at the same time. It was a very disconcerting way to grow up.
That all changed when I was twenty-nine. Yes! It took me twenty-nine years to understand that I WAS really “weird”…different. Luckily, those terms would eventually change within my heart and my world to the words “specially gifted”.
In my position as a Human Resources Director at a mid-sized corporation, I had a secretary. She always seemed in angst about this or that. One day she came in and was very disheveled looking and depressed. Hardly glancing up from the work on my desk, I said, “You need to quit seeing “John Doe”. He’s married and he’s never going to leave his wife. And, by the way, if John Doe does not quit his career in undercover police work he’s going to get shot and killed within two years. You don’t need to be in his life with all that happening.” I’m sure I said that bit of information as I often do…as if I were simply telling her that I would be having macaroni and cheese for dinner.
I heard a thump. When I looked up from my desk my secretary was on the floor. She had fainted. You see, she had not ever told me she was dating anyone. Certainly, she had not told me his name. And John Doe’s undercover work was, indeed, undercover and no one knew about it. When she came to, she told me she now knew that I was the “psychic friend” that a psychic she had previously had a reading with had told her about. She also told me I had come into her reading as “The Queen of Hearts” and she knew that went with my nature. I laughed and told her that I was NOT psychic.
For the first time in my life someone sat down and questioned how I “knew”. In fact, it was more like an interrogation. She wouldn’t let up on me either as I tried to dismiss away the facts and how I knew them by simply saying, “I could see it all over her face.” As she continued to show me that I could not have known these facts in any logical way and to insist that others did NOT see things like that “written all over someone’s face”, the light bulb came on over my head and my life passed before me.
I now understood why so many friends had gotten angry when I had told them something that came true about a boyfriend or situation. I understood why my family treated me like I had the plague. I understood why teachers had always treated ME more like teacher than student. It was ME that was different…people really didn’t “understand” things as I did.
It was one of the most enlightening moments of my life and in some ways the saddest. In that moment I also had clarity that people don’t always want you to “know” things about themselves that they don’t want you to know and that many don’t want the “truth”. That was when I first understood in a much larger way how important discernment was going to be to me from that day forward.
My gift has always been a part of me, but to answer your question, awakening to the truth of my “gift” was both gradual and abrupt.
Seiver: Did it scare you in the beginning?
Tate: The only thing that was ever scary in a real frightening way was that when I was little, until about ten years of age. I would “see people” that no one else saw, especially in the calm of the night…which made my nights not very calm. I asked God to take that very disconcerting part away. Now I “see” people from within by feeling and understanding…sort of like John Edward, who also does not like “seeing dead people” in the realm of reality.
Being intuitive can be frustrating and a bit scary in the information you get…the gift itself is not scary to me. Everyone has intuition. We would not know to place our feet upon the floor in the mornings if this was not true. Just like the fact that we can all sing, yet we simply don’t all sing well, that is the truth with the ability of my intuition. I simply “sing” with more ability of harmony and tone than others. My skill is higher and more in tune.
Seiver: Does anyone else in your family have the gift as well?
Tate: My oldest brother is very sensitive and does see deeper, but does not consider himself an intuitive. However, he’s definitely sensitive to the world and picks up things on a larger scale than many do. He’s very aware. My grandmother, on my father’s side, used to heal ailments with the children over the phone. My mother didn’t like her, but she would call her to get our earaches cured, etc. It worked, too! I was only thirteen when my grandmother died. She was very ill for a long time and institutionalized, so I only knew her until I was ten and didn’t understand until I was older that she and I probably both had “the gift” in some way.
Seiver: Why do you think God chose you?
Tate: I have asked that question myself when I was younger and it’s become very clear to me over the years. The answer is that I have an unusual lack of ego. That does not mean I do not have vanity and like to look cute or that I do not like people to find me likeable or attractive. It means I take very little personally. I take everything into account, but hardly anything personally.
While unusual in a person, I have learned that this is necessary within a true intuitive, because being intuitive and helping others within that intuition means you have to be able to almost completely set yourself and your own agendas aside. That is the only way to receive and give the truth of another’s truth.
Once, I was actually a bit annoyed at feeling that I was supposed to tell someone something that I knew would not be well received. I actually sort of “complained” to God in that “Why me?” fashion. After all, I am human. (Laughs)
God answered, “You’re always saying that only about five percent of the world seem to be or truly desire in a real way to be aware. And out of that 5%, only about 1.7% actually are not only willing to hear, but are willing to “listen”. If I am going to ask someone to help another, who do you think I’m going to ask? I’m going to ask the one not only aware, but willing to listen.”
God can make me feel pretty stupid at times…especially when He turns my own philosophical words around on me.
Seiver (Laughing): We all hate it when our words get thrown back at us, but it must be particularly humbling when God himself does it!
But what about everyday life experiences, has it been hard to maintain jobs and friendships due to being able to sense so much about others?
Tate: It has been both amazingly helpful and excruciatingly painful in both career and friendships.
I opened a business on faith and knowledge that what seemed “crazy and impossible” to others was going to happen, because God had told me it was going to happen. It did!! It did not mean I did not have to work hard and persevere, but the actual knowledge that it was going to happen was what helped me take the leap of faith. On the other hand, within that experience, it meant opening up my life to many people and circumstances that would wear on my intuition and test my spirit. Most career opportunities have revealed themselves to me and have always had a greater purpose. However, because of the fact that I am often put into spiritual conflict, this is always difficult and draining. I’m blessed with being balanced on my right and left brain factors and my intellect helps me work with my intuition to get through all of that.
As God told me at five years of age, this would be my truth...I have lived a very alone life, but oddly, that has always been amongst a crowd. When in angst about that aloneness I think of other lives lived that way…Jesus, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, etc., and, while I do not consider myself anywhere near their level, I understand that I am in the same company of messengers that lived a life surrounded by people, but alone in their understanding and life’s path. I take ease in the fact that I’m “in good company”. (Smiles) I’ve had to learn to live in complete non-expectation. This enables me to have a lesser pain in friendships or relationships in general.
Being me means that I’m going to be sent many who I will love, because I “see through God’s eyes” those that I meet. Seeing them through God’s eyes means I see them with unconditional love so that I may be of service. And, this means that often people mistake that love as “about them” or “about us” when it is truly simply a part of who I am. Ergo, there is much jealousy in relationships because they want all that unconditional love to themselves and they cannot understand that it is a love that I have plenty of, but that each and every person or relationship I have also has a very unique special kind of love or place in my life. It’s hard, but I’ve been blessed to have some that do understand and that have chosen to love me with understanding and compassion for my life.
It is especially hard in dating. Dating is actually a process of relationships being built on “perceptions”. Then, as time reveals the truth of those perceptions, you are able to discern what is the truth and what is a lie. After you’ve learned that, people make what can be a subconscious or conscious decision of how much of that lie or truth they want to accept or reject and still proceed with allowing the relationship to ensue.
With me, I often go past the perceptions and into the truth stage…even while I probably will not mention it to the other person. If you’ve already gone past perceptions, you’ve pretty much ruled out the “dating stage” and only the truth is left. It’s not a very romantic prospect, even though I am a very romantic person. For me romance has to be a verb. (Laughs) It’s funny how so many people say what they really want is “truth within a relationship”, yet when they meet someone that sees the truth of their spirit (even without judgment) this is quite disconcerting. It seems to be that people actually want others to see the truth of them as THEY want the others to see.
I’m told I have an unusual amount of ability to see my own future. Most intuitive people are not always so intuitive about their own life’s circumstances. Of course, I am NOT God, so I do not see all. In fact, I’ve learned that God will actually blind me to some things to enable me to carry out something that needs to be done for a greater good or the lesson of another. Most certainly, I’ve had and continue to have my own lessons to learn. But, in general, I’ve found that when people are revealed to me, I just need to believe it.
It is not my right to judge another person, but it is my right to discern how their truth in life fits with my own truth within my life and apply that knowledge accordingly. I have found that many people confuse judgment and discernment. They are very different. Judgment of others is not productive and clouds the truth of the issue. Discernment sheds light to your own course and allows the truth to walk freely along your path.
In all relationships I trust me to trust that I can trust myself, but that means that I, again, am going to have a lot of alone time. I have accepted this as a part of my path. While I have known and experienced more people than most ever know or experience, I have learned to love without attachment and to be open to relationships of any kind without expectation.
Seiver: Are you able to turn it on & off like a switch or is it always “humming in the background”?
Tate: The closest I can come to explaining how my spiritual zone is comes from a recent trip to Sedona, AZ. I was led to go there and it turned out it was to help save a life. While I was there it was very odd (as my life often is) that strangers would stop me and say, “You don’t feel the vibe here do you?” I would say, “No, I don’t.” Apparently, many people feel some sort of vibration from the mountainous area of Sedona. They would say, “That’s because you are that vibe.”
Often, all of my life, people will tell me that I make them feel “high” or something similar to that. I, again, do not feel that. When I question this, they say…”It’s because it IS you.”
Actually, I agree and disagree. I think it’s because that I have always lived within that realm of spirituality that feels the constant direct connection to God consciousness. That does not mean that I am of perfect moral reflection or that I do not make mistakes or err in judgment. It means that I have always felt the intent of heart from that place of that God consciousness.
When people are getting a message from me or sometimes simply in my presence, they are feeling their OWN direct connection to God through me. It’s sort of an indirect direct connection. LOL We all have the ability to connect to that, of course!! But, fear keeps most people from feeling the direct connection of that God consciousness. When they are around me or connecting through me, that fear is not as prevalent because I am helping take the fear away merely by not being afraid myself. Some people call me “The Direct Connect”…LOL Again, we are ALL directly connected. I simply have lived in the feeling of that so long that I don’t know how to feel differently.
A woman in Ybor City, FL, a psychic, told me that I could not understand the vibrations of those in the situation I was asking about because their spiritual vibrations were so low and that mine was (and she held her hand higher and higher) woo Woo WOO!! (Laughs)
I believe that enough individuals have told me of this “feeling” around me that it must have some truth, but I do not feel it myself because, as they pointed out in Sedona, I am “it”. To me it always seems odd when someone says that, no matter how many times they do say it. I have grown to understand that this is simply me walking with that spiritual consciousness, as opposed to simply inviting it in when convenient or when I am in angst. I openly accept it when it is telling me good or bad. It simply “is” an innate part of my being. I do not know how to be without it.
Ergo, I feel no buzzing or high…I simply feel the same and can discern the difference in my own voice and that coming from a Higher Source. It’s like someone being fluent in both French and English. They know when they are speaking in one or the other, yet they can switch and think in French or English with ease and without interruption to thought process. When giving someone else a message I simply understand if it’s live or if it’s Memorex.
I hope that all makes sense…
Seiver: I can attest to that buzzed feeling. Every time we’ve spoken I begin feeling the sensation of a subtle vibration within me and the high after a reading lasts for days for me. It’s really a cool feeling.
Now let’s go a bit deeper here…you’ve told me that you’ve seen heaven…is it the same for everyone or vary from person to person?
Tate: Actually, I have to correct you a bit. I’ve told you I’ve been to Heaven in the presence of God.
My experience has not been about Heaven as a place, but a consciousness that God has pulled me into within his presence in a larger way, where I understand I am no longer with the Earth’s encumbering weight and I can feel the difference. It’s a wonderful experience in how it feels to feel that overwhelming love wash through you and over you without Earthly obstacles. I’ve had this experience five times in my life and all five times were very specific to a message I needed for myself and my own life’s path. It’s a phenomenal feeling that is indescribable and written words do not do the experience justice.
Now…for your question on Heaven being different from one person to the next…I feel that it is, indeed, different for one and another. For example: I never see my relatives on the other side or go through tunnels of light. I feel the presence of Jesus and he takes my hand and sort of (very quickly) “escorts” me to Heaven and before God. I don’t see God as a face or person, but I understand by what I feel where I am and what is happening.
Many people see Heaven with the people they love there or as beautiful colors. There is a movie, “WHAT DREAMS MAY COME”, that theorizes that a person’s Heaven is what they perceive as Heaven. I believe that’s very close to the truth. What I know is true is that the love we all have is what goes with us.
Seiver (Laughing): I LOVE that movie! One of my all-time favorites.
Tate: When I was five and “saw God” in the sky of my backyard, I understand that God needed me to have a “face” to gaze upon because I was a child and would not have understood the presence without the projection. Since that time I’ve only had the understanding and overwhelming feeling of His direct presence. I have understood what was happening because I was an adult and did not need the projection to understand the presence.
There are many others than myself that have been what I call “in the presence of God” and even that is relative to the person and the experience. What is common is that whether a near death experience or a “pulling to Heaven” (as I have) most people find the experience indescribable, often life changing, and more than anything life affirming.
I, myself, am only in the moment of the message and the Presence and am not overly conscious of the interior design of Heaven. I’m sure given my creative side that my “Heaven” will be well decorated. (Both laughing)
Seiver: This will sound like a question derived from too many episodes of “Ghost Whisperer”, but do you know or think that the spirits of those who have passed on are given a choice of whether to “cross over” or to stay on earth?
Tate: Oh my!! You are REALLY asking some about some deep issues here. (Laughing.)
When I was four (4) I had pneumonia and was close to death. My temperature had actually descended below ninety-five degrees. I remember being above my gurney and watching my parents and the doctors and simply accepting this; smiling at the chaos below. And yet, I was at peace and merely had an understanding to “stay” and with that understanding I was back in body.
When I was forty (40) I had Ovarian Cancer. I was not expected to live. A week before cancer surgery (after three and a half years of illness) I had one of those “transported to be in the presence of God” moments. Within that moment, God basically allowed that I could die soon, but in a very affable way asked that I consider helping a few people He had needing my help. He showed me who those were. I was very annoyed, as I was VERY ready to move off the Earthly plain and onto the one I felt much more comfort with. So, I told Him that I would have to be completely cured, as I had no one to take care of me and was having a very difficult time of things within my illness. He agreed to this and stated further that when I came out of surgery that the doctor would tell me that a mistake had been made and that there was not cancer after all. (Yes…I had run a low grade fever, thrown my guts up constantly, had a bloated weight, and had cancer cells in my cervix…for three and a half years, but it was a “mistake”.) He told me that he would cure something else so that I would know I was not “crazy” and that this had all happened. I came “back” already feeling better and within a week I felt like my old self (pre-cancer self) again!
I came out of surgery that week and the doctor, indeed, said that there must have been an error in diagnosis. There was no cancer. Then…the TRUE miracle was realized a few months later. You see, all of my life, since early childhood, I had a kidney problem that constantly kept me in infections and near renal failure. Early on, our family doctor had said that I would possibly need a kidney transplant within adulthood if I did not improve. When I was thirty-five I had my kidneys get so bad that I was only peeing blood, had lost fifteen pounds and was jaundice and was almost in renal failure. I was treated constantly for infections and my life was plagued with these infections and the illness surrounding them. But, since that time in front of God and His telling me that He would “cure something else so that I would know I wasn’t crazy”, I have not had a kidney infection of any kind and have been quite healthy in that organ area! It’s been amazing.
Oh…and all of those people God showed me…they all have showed up and I was glad to help them.
How that all pertains to your question is this: I felt I truly could have chosen to go on. However, it was my decision to do the deeds that I was asked to do for God over my own desire to stay with God that sent me back. I have no doubt I could have stayed, but of course, I have no proof of that. (LAUGHS)
I've heard Sharon Stone tell a similar story regarding her aneurism and near death experience. It was as if God simply gave her understanding that her son could use her still on Earth and gave her a choice as to whether to put her own desires to stay above the truth of her son’s needing her on Earth. So, she stayed.
Ergo, within my own experience and listening to Ms. Stone’s and others like her, I feel that there is some decision making about staying or crossing over. However, I believe that also has to do with awareness, understanding and giving up fear to understanding. We have to allow ourselves to connect to that decision and it’s outcome.
I can only believe that the truth is that there are spirits that have disconnected from their higher selves and while they were in that disconnect their body died and they had nothing to attach to on Earth. It now sends communication from nowhere linked to nothing because it has no base and is disconnected from it’s station. Ergo, their spirit is not quite of Earth because it has nothing to live within on Earth to contain it, yet it has disconnected from it’s soul (higher self) and is not sure how to reattach or is so bound by the Earthly ego (fear) that it does not know how to desire leaving that state and to become one again with their higher self…their soul. Perhaps that is why some psychics or “ghost whisperers” find that a spirit feels angry. Anger is merely an emotion representing a high level of frustration. I can’t imagine that it would not horribly frustrating to find yourself stuck between here and there with nowhere to grow. Bless their spirits and their souls.
I believe that is why we can help someone cross over or who have crossed over, but are on a lower spiritual vibration level, by our sending good thoughts for their higher self. If I’m correct, I believe that the religion of Catholicism believes in praying for the crossed over soul to help them within their spiritual journey. Many religions hold that as a belief in one way or another. I believe the intent of that belief is very positive.
I cannot know the extent of fact to whether we have choice or not in crossing over. I only know that my experience has been to choose the will of God over my own a few times about crossing over. Since I have heard many other similar stories, it would seem to be an acceptable knowledge that we do have some part in that decision making process.
Seiver: Do you feel like you had a normal childhood or does it feel like you had to grow up quickly?
Tate: I had to grow up quickly for many reasons, but definitely, like the experience I had at three years of age to give my six year old sister the joy of telling me that I was to be four years old on my near birthday, instead of allowing my ego to let her know that I did, in fact, know the truth of my impending age change…well, that’s a pretty grown up thing to do and understand. I don’t remember not being able to think like that.
I remember actually having to try to remember to be a child and to act as a child. That did not mean I did not do make the same childish or childlike mistakes that others do. I’ve done many things that have taught me child-to-adult lessons. However, it did not seem odd until I was actually an adult that women that were in their twenties and thirties were speaking to me at my age of thirteen about their marriages and lives and taking my advise! That was simply my life! It took my growing older to see how odd that was.
I was especially appalled, as an adult, when I realized that at the age of eleven I had been “babysitting” a ten year old…without question as to the oddity of that! I helped a neighbor with her four children, some from their birth, from the time I was eleven until I was twenty-one. I can’t imagine my thirteen year old nephew babysitting anyone! (Laughs) When I see eleven year olds now, I have to shake my head in wonder at my own “youth”.
Oddly, in direct contrast, I have a very youthful heart and nature that younger and older people comment on. I believe that is because the more enlightened you are, the more you lighten up!
Seiver: What are some of your other talents or interests?
Tate: I am very talented in many facets of human resources. I am an accomplished interior decorator. I’m a great cook and I enjoy that, especially for others. I do some painting, but it is normally of furniture, which is hard to explain. I love to read, read, read…I enjoy travel a great deal. I love art. I’m an accomplished floral design artist. I am an avid music lover and have actually helped in managing a very successful singer. I love to write and hope to have a novel I have written published…although those that have read it keep telling me it needs to be a movie…(Laughs) I write colorfully, I suppose. I even dream in color! I am the most normal abnormal person I know!! I love to dance and in my time was an accomplished dancer. I’ve done many things and have enjoyed life!
Seiver: Wow! Talk about multi-talented! I think we, who are open to this sort of thing, always imagine a psychic’s life and I’m sure we are all WAY off. I find it comforting to know how normally abnormal you are!
But, have you ever wished you didn’t have this particular gift?
Tate: Yes, absolutely!
However, I’ve had an experience where I was SURE that I “knew” the “why” of the situation, but the person involved had lied to me skewing the truth of what I was being told by the Higher Source. It was so confusing and I just couldn’t understand what was going on because, of course, I can be wrong and I had believed him over what I was feeling and seeing. For a few days I felt that I didn’t “have a clue” and it was very disconcerting!! I realized in that moment that (even while I turned out to have been correct in what I had seen) that most people live like that every day…sort of without a clue.
Seiver: Goodness knows I feel like that a lot of the time!
Tate: In fact, I’ve noticed that most people don’t even desire having a clue! This was eye opening and I realized that given that I was born with this “gift” in the way I was particularly born with it, that taking it away would feel like amputating a part of me. I would have to relearn to function properly without it!
It’s a hard road to travel, for sure. Knowing when someone you love is going to die, or that a disaster is about to happen that has no way of being deflected, or perhaps to know a romance to one will not be embraced by the other, that the guy telling you that he thinks you look great is actually quite disappointed in you, knowing that a job someone’s been counting on is not going to happen…those kind of things are extremely difficult to live with at times. However, when I see a life or spirit saved or changed through my ability to re-connect a person to their own God consciousness (no matter what they call God) it is worth any of the time I’ve spent in angst.
Seiver: I can’t even imagine the things you’ve had to face or be shown that had to break your heart. In one of our conversations, I remember asking you why I can’t hear God without you…you were absolutely right…I don’t think I’d be able to handle the kinds of images, thoughts, and truths that you are able to. I find myself on one hand feeling sorrow for all you’ve had to go through, but at the same time, I can see that it hasn’t affected you the way it would anyone else and that’s a relief.
Seiver: So you sometimes can see death or disaster approaching? But you never reveal that to someone you are reading? Have you foreseen deaths of those you love?
Tate: On my website I disclose that even if I know the date of a death or knowledge of an impending death that this is one thing I will not reveal. It’s just not healthy and not a good use of energy to spend time with another in angst of the impending death, instead of within the moment of the truth of their living. When a person is in a terminally ill situation it is important to look at each day you have with them as an individual miracle. It is my belief that we should live every day as if those we love are terminally ill and may be the last day on Earth we have with them. That way we do not have to ever worry about things left undone. It is not good to live in the darkness of a possible future pain and miss the light of the truth of our present.
However, many times, unfortunately for my own psychological health, I will know when someone is going to die. I have even known the exact date of a death. I have known many times about those I love, but will tell one story that relates to another about that subject.
For several months at the end of the year of 2001, I would “see myself” dressed in black standing in front of a coffin and “knew” that it was the date of March 19th. I could not see who was in the coffin. The year 2002 came in and this vision did not go away. I was brushing my teeth once and looked in the mirror to see that image. It was quite disconcerting. I mentioned this fact, specifically, to some people that were friends of mine at a local interior lamp shop that also used some of my floral designs within their shop.
A mutual friend of ours who was only thirty-three at the time, had disappeared for several months and we wondered if he had gotten back on the drugs that were plaguing his ability to live a healthy happy life. Before he had disappeared, he and his best friend, who worked at the shop with him, were telling me how desperately they wanted to change their lives. I had offered a place for them to stay and had, very future tellingly, told the friend that later disappeared, “If you do not take this opportunity to change your life, I’m afraid you will die.”
He had looked at me rather horrified (as did his best friend) because it was such an odd thing to say to him, especially given his sober state at the time. Again, six months later he had disappeared and at the time we found him he had been missing for eight months. I kept having that vision, but had not related it to being him that died because of his youth and because of the occasional good report of his working here and there in Texas. Plus, I think God does protect me from some horrors of my own.
On March 17th of 2002 his friend from the lamp shop called me to say that they had found our mutual friend in a hotel room in Denton, Texas, where he had had a heart attack and was now dead. He said he wasn’t sure when the funeral would be because his father had gone to fetch his body. I solemnly said, “His funeral will be March 19th. It’s his coffin I kept seeing myself standing next to.” My friend on the phone gasped, because he remembered my mentioning to him and the others in the shop my constantly seeing this for so many months. That was a difficult realization. My handsome dear friend was buried on March 19th.
Then, in 2008 this story had a connection to another friend of mine. One of my best friends was much older than I…in her early eighties. She was crippled, but although she couldn’t go anywhere, I enjoyed our easy banter and her lively personality and wisdom. We had been friends for over sixteen years. She understood my intuitive abilities and was intuitive herself in different ways. She had many health problems and was in many ways ready to cross over. When she was seventy-nine she told me she was sure she would cross over at the age of eighty-two. I hesitated momentarily, then told her I could not lie and felt this was truth, as well. With her, it was not a frightening thing…it merely was a truth.
Three years later she had developed congestive heart failure and was beginning to go down hill health wise, although she continued to live by herself and function. In 2008 she seemed to be getting sicker, although she would not allow herself to be hospitalized. In February of 2008 I was climbing the steps to my house when I became aware of my friend that had been buried on March 19th of 2002 sitting on the front porch in one of my wicker chairs. I actually stopped and stood on the steps looking at the chair and softly called his name. I’m sure if my neighbors saw me they were looking at me wondering what I was doing. He was more like a hologram and I couldn’t see him in body as much as understood it was him and what he looked like sitting there. It’s hard to explain. He smiled at me and said he had come to prepare my heart, as my lady friend was going to cross over on the date of his burial, March 19th. I did not, of course, disclose that to my lady friend.
On March 19th of 2008, my dear friend crossed over. She woke me that morning in spirit to tell me good-bye. When I asked her time of death, it was exactly when I felt her awaken me and tell me good-bye. It was sad and beautiful at the same time.
Three years ago a friend was going through angst within her marriage. I gave her understanding and helped her get through the rough patch and she decided to stay married. While speaking to me during that time, she asked if I knew if she and her husband would be together always. I stopped and thought about my answer, because as she opened up that question to the Universe the knowledge came pouring through me that he would die or have the disease that would take him at the age of sixty-two. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer a month ago. He will be sixty-two in July, 2009. Instead of lying to her, I simply had said, “I can say for sure that you’ll be with him when he dies.” She remembered that conversation when he was diagnosed and knew then what I had “seen” three years earlier. She is so glad that she stayed in the marriage and is, indeed, with him now. The good thing is, though, is that she is with him out of love, not out of the fear she may have had three years ago if I had told her he was going to die. POST NOTE: (He died in November, 2009 at the age of 62.)
It’s not easy to carry that kind of knowledge, but I suppose it goes with the job. My heart has been heavy many times with that kind of knowledge about someone I love. I do not find it a knowledge that would be beneficial to share very often.
Seiver: I recall you mentioning that you sometimes physically see spirits from the other side…Is that frightening? What do they look like? Do they harbor anger or do they appear peaceful?
Tate: As I said previously, in my childhood I did see spirits in form, but that’s been years ago. I did see my dear friend, Ted, who has crossed over twenty years past when I was on stage with my singer about six years ago. I was coming off stage and there Ted was laughing so hard at what had just transpired on stage. It really took me aback! However, it was not frightening…just kind of disconcerting. (Laughs) He simply looked like Ted would look for the event! I had an amazing experience three years later that affirmed this had happened, as I actually questioned myself about it having happened!! It was really wonderful!
In general, I simply feel what people look like. It’s as if I simply understand what they are like in personality or even in looks. Sometimes God shows me the person is “like” someone I know or something like that. Actually, it’s no different than as if your Aunt Martha walked into the room for real and you introduced me. I would simply “understand” that this is Aunt Martha and that she looks like she looks and is like she is.
Seiver: But I don’t have an Aunt Martha…(Laughing)…Just kidding…sorry… Go on…
Tate: (Chuckles.) Maybe you have an Aunt Martha on the other side that you’re not aware of.
I’ve never felt anger from a spirit. It’s more as if I understand if they had anger issues here. They still retain their personalities that they had on Earth or I could not have understanding of who they are. They would all seem the same. I know one from the other because they are different. Again…since I’m connecting the person to whom I’m giving the message to their own God consciousness…it’s as if I’m seeing the memories of that person. Sometimes those memories are of the past, but they can also be of the future or the present. That includes past loved ones, so I see them as the person saw them.
I don’t see crossed over spirits in mutilated state, but I may glean an understanding that they were in an accident and that their head was injured. I may not see them while ill with cancer, but I may be given the memory of their having cancer and understand that. Sometimes I will literally feel the situation within myself…as if I am sick or dying.
The best way I can describe it is to have you do an exercise where you see a particular part of your life…like high school. You see…you see that as one thing in one blip, but it is filled with many particles of different things within the entirety of the memory. That’s similar to how I pick up on people and events. I see their messages through these past/present/future memories as one blip and then I am able to discern what particles to pull out to be a part of the “message”. Whether I’m seeing memory of a person or an event, it is the same process.
Seiver: Can someone requesting a reading pray hard enough to “call” a departed loved one to them or do they just show up whenever they want? Or does it just happen if God feels it needs to?
Tate: I always ask people to ask God (or their version of their higher source) to reveal to me the things needed to be revealed. I’m a rare intuitive, not a psychic medium. (Laughs.) Seriously, I do not do purposeful medium work, as much as within some readings a person’s crossed over relative or friend, will come to participate in the reading. I do believe that the energy of the person I’m reading for is the one pulling that in. Remember, I’m just conducting that energy, not orchestrating it. (Smiles.) So, if the person getting the reading finds having a chat with a crossed over someone something they desire either consciously or subconsciously, I am an agreeable willing spirit in helping those energies connect.
When your father came to your own reading, you were shocked at his actually showing up, yet it was you who desired him being there. You had actually prayed about him coming in. YOU brought him in…I was merely making it clear that he was there by giving you information, like the name of your step brother that he wanted to acknowledge, as a way to give you certainty that it was, indeed, your father. The clarity of information is yours to understand…it is just a name to me. I, again, simply understood a man’s energy was with me and that it was your father. Only you could confirm that by what he told me.
I believe it is an agreement between one person’s spirit who’s asked another’s spirit to show up. If the crossed over individual’s spirit agrees, then mine is willing to intuit the energy of that so that the other person here knows the energy of that crossed over spirit is, indeed, with us in the moment. Then, my own belief, is that it takes God agreeing to the alliance of the all of that for it to actually happen. God’s energy is protecting the event and only allowing what is good for the all…including, me, the conductor. (Smiles.)
Seiver: What are you most afraid of?
Tate: The only thing I ever fear is that within my own Earthly realm of pride, ego and encumberment that I will misinterpret the true intent of God’s message to another or even to myself. I take the responsibility of being given messages for others very seriously and my greatest fear is missing the message in the way God intends it to be delivered. I don’t live in this fear as much as I pray for guidance, truth and CLARITY in all ways, so that any fear I have may not be realized. I have to understand that I am human and fallible, yet keep my intentions clear and proper.
Seiver: Does God truly offer forgiveness to anyone willing to accept it and allow themselves to be forgiven?
Tate: A beautiful thing about the truth of forgiveness…true forgiveness is forgiving before the act for which giving forgiveness is needed is even conceived.
The hardest thing to do concerning forgiveness is to forgive someone who does not feel the need to be forgiven. The second hardest thing to do is to know you need forgiveness and then to be open enough within your contrition to receive the forgiveness.
God does not have to offer forgiveness, it has already been given. It is up to us to be open to receiving the forgiveness that has already been given. In a way, we are simply forgiving ourselves through receiving the forgiveness that God’s already given us.
Knowing and accepting that fact is a wonderfully freeing thing.
Seiver: Does hell truly exist or is it a state of mind?
Tate: Wow! Why don’t you ask me something hard? (Laughs)
Seiver: What can I say? I can’t just ask what your favorite color is!! (Laughs)
Tate: The way that I understand higher spiritual attainment seems to present the possibilities of levels in Heaven. Now, that doesn’t mean that one is the “more of” than anyone else. You would not condemn a kindergartener for not yet being a college graduate. You would simply see them as two individuals in different stages of life. That’s how it “feels” to me…as if we are on different levels of learning and we are all in the chain of how one spirit is helping another gain and retain knowledge.
Earth is seemingly a school for helping to obtain that spiritual knowledge and for achieving our goal of becoming our highest God consciousness. Some may leave Earth still seemingly in kindergarten and some may graduate here with a Masters Degree of spiritual awareness. I’m not sure how it is exactly…but, again, from what I’m told by those on the other side and from what God reveals to me, we continue within this learning process on the level we are able to endure and comprehend.
Seiver: It’s so funny to me that you say that! My mom & I were both raised very hard-core Catholic, but both found some of the lessons and teachings to be a bit “off” for us, so neither of us are active church-goers and believe that our God is just fine with us praying on our own time. But the funny part is that she & I have both come to that very same conclusion! That we are here to learn what we need to learn in order to reach our highest potential and be ready to…the only way I can say it is join God in Heaven. I like that we got at least one part of life right! (Laughs)
Tate: Our goal is to become a part of God in a way that does not interrupt the energy of purity that is the love that this energy is made up of. It’s all very complicatedly simple and would be a novel to write, but within all of that I’m not so sure there is a “hell” per say.
It seems to me that people create hell within themselves by how they condemn their own being. I’ve noticed ego (greed, spite, jealousy, hate, revenge, etc.) oriented actions are quite hellish spiritually to the one aspiring to ego above all else. In a way, it is not God condemning us, but us condemning ourselves through our intent of heart. We all make mistakes, but what is our intent of heart? Does it come from fear (ego) or love (spirit)? That is how hell within is created. Letting go of ego allows the TRUTH of love to flow through and that, indeed, feels “heavenly”.
My life has been fraught with tragedy and miracles. People who know the truth of my Earthly life wonder at my still even being alive. I have many times said that even within my Earthly darkness (the problems Earth has presented) I am at peace and happy in Spirit. This is my truth.
People think that spiritual understanding and living in the Light is only going to bring joy, but they believe that joy will come from without, as well as from within. Sometimes it does. But, sometimes it may mean that the moths of darkness are going to be attracted to the light of your spiritual flame and that you will spend a lot of time trying to kill the moths to keep your flame glowing.
When I see things like “The Secret”, I worry that people think of spiritually thinking proper thoughts as being like a magic wand to having good things manifest. The truth is that the better paths are often fraught with the highest mountains to climb. Not to say there is not power in positive thinking. There is! But, again, what is our intent of those thoughts. Is it to become a better you so that there can be a better all? Or is it to become a better you so that you can “look” better to the all?
Seiver: Wait, what is “The Secret”?
Tate: It’s an Oprah popularized book and movie by Rhonda Byrne that is basically about the power of positive thinking and manifestation through that process. I have nothing against it, I simply feel that some reading it do not get it on a level that is conducive to higher understanding or connection with their higher self.
Seiver: Ahh, I see. Just wanted to clarify… so back to the question of hell…
Tate: Whenever I feel as if there is too much anxiety in my life, I often think of those like Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, etc…who have walked this narrow path of doing what is right for the whole above self and how hard their lives were on Earth. That is why so few choose the path of “right for the all”. But, would they give up the path of good for the all forever for a moment of a less obstacle filled path of self gratification for the sake of self within this short moment on Earth? I do not think they would. Neither would I.
My point is…the most well intended paths in history that were walked with complete altruism and purity of intent were paved with hellish happenings and horrific obstacles. But, what was the truth? Were those walking the right path in hell because of their angst on Earth or were the people inflicting the pain and suffering onto those paths the ones truly creating their own hell?
Those walking the path of right for the all were at peace within their heavenly intent. Those that inflicted the pain lived in angst of their own hellish intent. That is my belief.
In a way, we are creating our heaven and our hell right here on Earth. On the other side I believe the truth of our intent is revealed by the spiritual level we find ourselves on. And even if we are in kindergarten, we are being helped and loved by those that are more spiritually able to nurture and teach.
I believe that the darkness recedes into its own blindness and ceases to exist when it has seen all it can see and has still chosen to remain blind. There is not a “hell” in heaven for there is not a place for anything that is not love based…even if that level of love needs to grow to a higher place.
I’m not sure that answered you in the way you had hoped…but, again, that is a lot of “splanin’ to do, Lucy”. (smiles)
Seiver: I think that’s a fair answer. This kind of thing is never really a situation with a finite kind of answer anyway. But I think everyone can remember a time when they’ve created their own “hell on earth” during their lives. I know I can.
Seiver: Obviously each reading for different individuals will differ, but let’s talk about the experience of an actual reading from your side…what do you feel during a reading and how do you feel after?
Tate: It depends on who the person is on the other end of the reading. Sometimes I’m filled with the joy of feeling them release their anxieties…of letting go. Ergo, in feeling that joy, I am joyful. Sometimes I may feel the fact they are choosing to remain in their fear state and that is draining and sad for me. In those moments, I have to bless the reading and move on. I have learned that I am not the savior…I am merely the messenger. I have to give all readings with unconditional love and good intent, but without expectation or need of my own.
Sometimes I actually pass out for awhile after a reading. I’ve had readings that will make me physically ill. But, then, again, I have some that fill me with joy and happiness. That makes the other repercussions a bit easier to take.
I always ask God to allow for those that truly need ME, specifically, in readings. Since I am not “fluffy” in my readings and tend to be very blunt and honest, I may not be what everyone wants. Some people do not want the truth, they want the “truth as they’d like to believe it”. I do not impose my personal philosophies on anyone, but I have to give the truth of what Spirit is sending me or I could not do this and truly be of help to those who need it.
Seiver: Do you tell those who just don’t seem to be “getting it” that very thing…that they aren’t “getting it”? Do you feel like you have to say something to them or just end the reading and pray for them?
Tate: Yes, in a way I do tell them when I feel they are not getting the truth of the message. I am terribly blunt at times. However, I am patient and do try to re-language or state the message in the best way I can to help them “get it”. Some people are always going to want to hear, but are never going to listen. Once I feel that I have delivered the message to the best of my ability, I do bless it and go on. I have been given complete understanding that I am not “savior”, I am “messenger”.
I can give a person hope, but I cannot give them faith. That is up to them and not mine to judge. That is why it takes putting ego aside in intuitive readings. You can have your own truth, but you have to release your desire for your truth to become another’s truth. If you let that go you can allow for the reading to have clarity for the one being read and have more absoluteness that your own ideological view of something is not interfering with that person’s message of truth.
If it was up to me I would tell everyone exactly what they happily want to hear. However, that is not my appointment in life. It’s not up to me or about me. I am to tell what I’m getting from the Higher Source and relay that with pure intention and to the best of my ability. What I have found is that often what the person thinks they want is not at all what they truly need.
(Laughs.) You were one of those readings, my dear Shannon. Much of your reading was the opposite of what you thought you wanted, but it turned out to be exactly what you needed.
Seiver: Do you find more skeptics than believers?
Tate: Mine is an interesting journey about skepticism or belief. I think my being both business and creative…just very normal, allows for those that are “skeptics” to be more open. I find I normally am sent somewhat skeptical people. Often I get people who are getting a “first reading”. I’ve never had anyone not be more “open” after they've received their message than when they came. I often even get other people who consider themselves professional psychics. That’s always been interesting, because often you will find no one more skeptical of a psychic than a psychic. (Laughs)
I had a business person who is not a “believer” in psychics say to another person (in front of me), I still don’t believe in psychics, but I believe in Carolyn’s ability. I don’t even like being called “psychic” because it is not how I picture what I do. The name has had so many bad raps with false prophets only out for profit and “Miss Cleo” commercials sending out bad signals that it was difficult to allow this to become a part of my professional life.
When God first laid upon my heart that He wanted me to do this in a more expansive way and charge for it, He might as well had been telling me to become a stripper at fifty. (Both laugh loudly) It was very disconcerting because of the stigma. As usual, when I have listened and followed what was not exactly where I thought I should be going, but was being clearly directed, it has allowed for so many miracles. I have, shockingly, found that people do not necessarily want you delivering a message that they have not asked for, but those who pay for it and ergo are “asking for it” are more open to the truth and possibilities held within the message given.
Seiver: Ahh, I hadn’t ever thought about it that way. When someone is willing to give AND receive, I suppose they would be more open.
Tate: But I’ve also come to understand that while this is a God given gift, so are all of our talents. This just happens to be an “out of the box” gift that I have been given. It still has value to others, just like my interior decorating has or my human resource experience. Perhaps it even has more value.
Those who “aren’t sure” seem a little more sure after speaking with me. That is most definitely a gift to me!! I’ve definitely had skeptics, yet I believe God sends to me those who are in need of my particular kind of truth. Again, there’s not a lot of fluffiness with me, as you know. I read it as I see it!
Seiver: Oh, yes, I definitely know. (Laughs) But, you know, I found that’s not a bad thing. Even when there were things I didn’t expect or necessarily like a whole lot, your personality and sense of calm make those things so much more bearable. And I, personally, have enjoyed every encounter you & I have had.
I really want to thank you, Carolyn, for opening up your world to me and any others who may be intrigued and fascinated by intuitives, psychics, and all that goes with that. I now feel like I’ve been allowed into the corners of a special and sacred realm completely unknown to me and appreciate you all that much more!
Tate: Thank you, Shannon, for your kind interest!!
