Anne Germain, Spiritual Medium

I’d worked with Anne for a number of years; we were both HR Professionals in the same organisation.  Over time, we’d become close friends, but we really only saw each other at work or for coffee or drinks after work. 

            It was one of these evenings; we were sitting in a wine bar when Anne asked me what was bothering me.  Maybe it was because, or in spite of, the fact that I was feeling a bit low, that I decided to tell Anne something I didn’t tell very many people.  I told Anne that there were a few things that weren’t going well in my life at the time, and usually, at times like this, I would go to see a Tarot Reader or Psychic or something similar, but there was no-one at the time that I really trusted or felt inspired to go and see.  I’d met my fair share of charlatans over the years, and wasn’t eager to part with my money to another one.  I know it’s not a crime but most of my friends and family would have thought I was completely mad.  The few people I had told did think I was mad.

It was then that Anne made a little disclosure of her own – she told me that she had been gifted since childhood, and that she was a Spiritual Medium.  In her private life, she gave people readings.  When she offered to read for me, I jumped at the chance, so it was just as well that the conversation changed at that point – Anne told me that she didn’t want to know too many of my problems, in case the “worldly” knowledge interfered with the spiritual knowledge. 

            We arranged a mutually convenient time and date, and Anne did her first reading for me over the ‘phone.  She recorded it and sent me the recording.  Most of it was uncannily accurate, but where there were things I didn’t understand, Anne just said, “Hold it.  It may not make sense now, but it probably will later.”

            That was the first of a number of readings that Anne gave me, each one very accurate, even though I didn’t know it at the time.  I remember on one occasion, I was having a very difficult time at work, and actually thought that my career  in that employment was over. 

During a reading Anne said, “I see you as Penelope Pit-Stop, rushing around, and you are driving over a very rickety bridge.   It’s dangerous, but the bridge doesn’t break.  And when you get to the other side, you enter Metropolis.  There I see you as Lois Lane, from the Superman films.  You are much safer and much happier.”

I thought I knew what this all meant, but didn’t say anything at the time.  A few months later, when I spoke to Anne again, I told her that I had been having serious problems with my boss, and as a result had asked for an immediate transfer.  I was transferred back to our organisation’s headquarters, and things had settled down and I was much happier.  When I reminded Anne of the reading she laughed and said,

“Oh, of course, I should have realised.”

I was also having man trouble at the same time, and during the same reading Anne described my relationship.

“I see him as Superman, flying in and out of your life, in and out, in and out.”

Sadly, Anne ended that part of the reading with “out,” which was exactly the way that relationship went.  It ended soon after.  I hadn’t wanted to believe it when she gave me the reading, even though deep down I knew that she was right. 

I wasn’t the first to feel that way.  Anne had once told me about a woman for whom she’d done a reading.  The woman had telephoned her about six months after the reading, and told Anne that she had thought the reading had been useless.  She’d gone straight home and smashed the CD recording.  Anne had told this lady that her husband would leave her for another woman and she thought it was ridiculous.  Until six months later when he walked out, and that’s when she rang Anne.

As time went by, I accompanied Anne to one of her “Evenings of Clairvoyance,” where she attended a local hall and had an audience.  It was the usual affair of this kind, when the medium would get messages from those who had passed over, and be drawn to members of the audience to pass the message on.  I’d been to this type of event before, I’d even been given messages myself, so nothing came as much of a surprise.  What was interesting, however, was that, having been to so many of these events, I knew that many mediums just couldn’t sustain the message giving.  It would be one message and that would be it. 

In Anne’s case, however, in a session of a couple of hours, she only spoke to four or five different people, and the messages just kept coming in every case.  She kept telling the recipients various things that were of comfort to them, letting them know that whoever it was had passed over was still with them. 

At first she would say something like, “I’m getting a mother figure for the woman over there in the green jumper.  The mother figure is coughing and telling me that she was ill before she passed over, do you understand?”

Invariably, the person for whom the message was intended would understand and it would all make sense to them.  There were even families there, all of whom understood the messages.  Although people would be crying when they’d get the messages, it was easy to tell how relieved they felt to know that their loved ones were still with them. 

On another occasion, I went to stay with Anne for a weekend.  She picked me up from the station and said, “Well?”  

I pretended I didn’t know what she meant, until she told me that, in her own special, spiritual way, she could see me with a man on earth and she wanted to know all about him.  I had recently started seeing someone but hadn’t told Anne anything about him yet.  No secrets around here!

Anne had invited me to go to her Spiritual Mediumship class, as someone new for the students to work with.  Anne taught people how to develop their abilities to be able to connect with the spirits of those who had passed away.  Anne told me that I was to answer their questions with yes and no only, or to say that I understood but not to lead the students in any way.  It was fascinating to watch them work, each of them taking a turn, and how accurate they were too, even though they didn’t always realise it.  I could see that they would, in time, themselves become very effective mediums. 

 Sometime later, after Anne had given up her job in HR, she rang me to ask me if I fancied a trip to Portugal with her – she had been invited to make a television show.  Anne explained that she wanted me to go with her as company and help her out, but she also knew that I hadn’t had a holiday in a while, so it would serve as both. 

We flew out to Lisbon in February 2009, and were picked up at the airport by the women from the marketing company who had organised the whole thing, Monica and Isabel.  They had arranged accommodation for us in an apartment that had been loaned to us for the week that we were out there, in a lovely part of the city. 

It was a beautiful apartment, full of antique furniture, but something didn’t feel right.  It felt as though there was some sort of bad spirit in the apartment, but I didn’t say anything at all to Anne.  We went out for dinner with Monica and Isabel and went to bed as soon as we arrived back at the apartment as we had an early start the following day.  Anne and I shared a room with an en suite bathroom.

I slept badly that night; I dreamt that someone was sitting on my chest stabbing me through the heart.  When I got up the next morning, Anne asked me if I’d slept well as I was taking my pyjama top off.  I told her that I hadn’t slept at all well, as she asked me where the bruises on my chest and midriff had come from.  I looked in the mirror, and saw what she meant.  They hadn’t been there before, so I told her about my dream. 

Anne said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll deal with it.  There are lots of spirits here who don’t want me to be here.  They aren’t bad but they don’t really understand what I’m doing but I’ll explain it to them and everything will be fine.”

I hoped she would do it quickly; the place was really giving the creeps, particularly the kitchen.  I can’t say that anything bad happened but it felt really oppressive, no matter how much I tried to ignore my feelings.  I felt completely stupid. 

I walked Anne to the office where she was working then went shopping to get some food for breakfast and Anne’s lunches and to start having a look around the city.  When I got back to the apartment to drop off my shopping, it still felt uncomfortable, and I couldn’t wait to get out.  This was really unlike me, I don’t scare easily. 

I went for a walk in the city, and spent most of the day out, but when I went back to the apartment later, it was all very different.  The atmosphere was much clearer and lighter and I didn’t feel scared anymore.  Anne told me that she had spoken to the spirits and explained that she was no threat to them, and they eventually accepted it and said that they would leave us alone.  It was true, from there on in, although I went out and did a lot of sightseeing, I felt very comfortable in the apartment, and even spent one morning there, sitting out on the balcony doing some of the work I’d taken with me.

Anne’s television show was a great hit.  Anne didn’t speak Portuguese, so an interpreter explained what she was saying throughout the show.  As well as the usual interaction with the audience, the organisers had engaged a famous young Portuguese television actress.  Unbeknown to us, the actor who had played her boyfriend in the show had had a car accident and been killed a few years earlier.  Although Anne and I didn’t know who she was, the audience did and they all knew what had happened to the other young actor.  With the help of her spirit guides, Anne was able to tell Agnes exactly what had happened to her friend, and also some things that only the two of them had known.  Agnes was so impressed that she asked Anne for a private reading later in the week as a gift for her mother.

This was the start of a regular TV spot in Portugal, and then a regular show in Spain.  All was going well for about 18 months, but, as so often happens, even in spiritual circles, jealousy rears its ugly head.  Anne was subject to a hate campaign, where she was accused of being a fraud.  I could see how much it had upset Anne when she told me about it, particularly the threatening letters and e-mails.  Even now, a couple of years later, she still receives hate mail.  To add insult to injury, she is still owed money by a theatre production company. 

It is only people like me who know how good Anne really is, and who have been helped by her, that can tell the real story.  I’m fortunate that Anne is my friend, and although she is busy, she still makes time to read for me from time to time.  I just hope her career gets back on track after all this nastiness.