by: Felicia Grant Certified International Medium
This blog is inspired being a natural medium (mediumship) retreat I attended last week in Muskoka Ontario. A first for me to actually attend a retreat which is funny since I’ve created and led women’s retreats since 2010. I’m glad I did because it was a life-changing experience for me.
The retreat was created and led by english medium Andy Byng. Andy has been doing mediumship for the past 20 years and is one of the respected tutors at world renowned Arthur Findlay Collage of Spiritualism and psychic sciences at Stansted Hall in Stansted Essex, England. He was joined by two other tutors from Arthur Findlay college, John Johnson (a scot by birth) and Donna Barker from Essex UK.
When I signed up for this retreat I only knew Andy since I had taken a few online courses with him over the past few years; it seemed like a great place to go, relax and meet other professional mediums. I had no expectations about what this week held or would offer. I asked a good friend from England and was told be ready for “mediumship bootcamp” LOL!
We arrived to a very smoky Canada with lots of rain in the forecast so I realized very quickly that forgetting my bathing suit was not going to be a problem. A great week for being inside convening with the spirit world.
After a warm greeting to each person from Andy we were placed in 3 different groups depending on experience, need of development and Andy’s intuitive sense of “which tutor” best suited our own different personalities. Later that night I was told I was in John Johnson’s group which was really no surprise to me since I had watched a video of him online a weeks fews earlier speaking about “the natural medium” and I instantly knew I “zinged” with him! Zing is a phrase from Hotel Transylvania Movie when you find “the one!”
We quickly went to work that first night and after 5 minutes of being in this group of 14 women + John I knew I was home!!
Each morning we gathered as a group to sit in power and connect with self. This was such an amazing feeling to have 50 people all connecting to source at the same time. What a great way to center and start each day!!
During our smaller group sessions with John we learned to connect with our own natural abilities as a medium. I wrote endless notes as it felt like I had waited years and years to hear these words “You’re not a medium but a human with the ability to be a medium.” The mechanics of mediumship are the easy part; self love, intention and looking deep within are the hard parts! Here are some of the nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from this week:
- We’re not here to prove anything but enjoy the experience
- a reading is 80% heart 20%head
- When you doubt yourself you distrust and attack the spirit world
- Allow the spirit communicator to lead the narrative (it’s not an interview but a dialog)
- The opposite to control is SURRENDER
- The more you surrender the deeper the blend (with spirit)
- You can’t hide behind your mediumship
- Forget proving anything…just give an your experience
- Know nothing but be prepared for everything
- Mediumship is bringing you home
After a week of 12 hour days, practice, patience, spirit connection, and few drinks and laughs at the bar it was time to leave this safe supportive group of (new) life long friends and connections that will continue long after this week came to and end.
These are not my words but words from another medium but they echo my experience in Muskoka. “
This is John Johnson, “The Natural Medium.”
He is my tutor, my mentor, and my friend.
He is also one of the most influential, generous teachers I’ve had the good fortune to work with on the path of my self-development journey.
John has helped me fine-tune my intuitive nature with his insightful, pragmatic philosophy on the Spirit World. He has led me to question all aspects of myself that were roadblocks to my own truth, which in turn unlocked the healing power of the naturalness of my own mediumship.
John teaches that, for the Medium, “Mediumship is life, and life is mediumship.” That’s not to say that we, as mediums, live for what we do: but rather, what we “do” is simply the essence of who we are.
As human beings we don’t need to alter our inherent nature to fit our mediumship practice–– instead, we have to understand, embrace and accept our way of being so that it translates into a more truthful and purposeful practice of mediumship.
With intellect, good humor, a dash of sarcasm, and a healthy dose of raw honesty, John’s intention is always to lead his students to discover who they are on the deepest level––and not to fear, but to embrace all of it!
This icing on the cake for this week was I got to spend time with two dear friends as well. One is Matina The Medium from St. Louis, a dear friend that I met in 2015 while mentoring with Lisa Williams. The other total shock was Gurdeep Boghal from Marblehead MA. Gurdeep and I met via Tony Stockwell’s online trance classes over 4 years ago! We’ve sat each monday in Trance until last year together for almost 3 1/2 years!! We finally met in person ♥ it was like two souls finally coming together after many many years! I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in life!!
Thank you Andy Byng for creating this amazing, magical, safe space filled with love for the spirit world, passion for what we do and love for one another as we all live this life of service. I will be forever grateful and can’t wait until next year!
Felicia Grant is a Certified Medium and Holy Fire® Reiki Master in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Certified by International Psychic Medium Lisa Williams & International British Medium Tony Stockwell
Zoom online sessions offered as Felicia has clients all over the world.
Contact Felicia
Email: felicia@feliciagrant.com
Wilmington, NC