What if Death Wasn’t the End? Healing Through Mediumship with Karen Docherty

What if death wasn’t the end of the conversation?

In this episode of Grief and Light, Nina Rodriguez sits down with psychic medium and mentor Karen Docherty to explore how mediumship can become a powerful source of comfort, connection, and healing after loss. With warmth and clarity, Karen shares her own journey of discovering and embracing her calling, and how she now supports both the grieving and the departed through spirit communication.

Together, they unpack what mediumship really is (and isn’t), why discernment matters when seeking a practitioner, and how the messages that come through can transform grief into moments of peace, reassurance, and even joy. Karen also opens the door to the idea that intuitive and spiritual connection isn’t just for a select few — but something we all have the capacity to cultivate.

This heartfelt conversation invites you to look at grief, love, and connection in a new light — one where bonds endure, guidance continues, and healing stretches beyond the veil.

3 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

1. How mediumship brings healing — and why it can ease the ache of grief by affirming our continued bonds with loved ones.
2. What to know before seeking a medium — including how to spot integrity and avoid common misconceptions.
3. Why intuition belongs to all of us — and simple ways to begin trusting your own inner connection.

Key Takeaways:

• Mediumship as a bridge – How mediumship connects the living and the spirit world, offering not only evidence of an afterlife but also profound comfort for the grieving.
• Karen’s path to her calling – From her earliest experiences with Spirit to becoming a trusted mentor, Karen shares how she came to embrace her gifts and the responsibility that comes with them.
• The importance of discernment – Karen emphasizes the value of seeking out practitioners who lead with integrity, compassion, and clarity.
• Healing through continued connection – Messages from loved ones can affirm that our bonds don’t end with death, helping us find peace, reassurance, and even moments of joy.
• The role of spirit guides – Karen offers insight into how guides support us, reminding us that while they walk alongside us, we still hold the power of free will.
• Clearing up misconceptions – Together, we explore common myths about mediumship and what genuine spirit communication really looks like.
• Awakening our own intuition – Karen encourages listeners to explore their own connection to Spirit, showing how tuning in can support both personal growth and a deeper sense of guidance in everyday life.

Guest: Karen Docherty

• Medium & Mentor
• karendocherty.com
• Facebook
• @karendochertyspiritmedium

Hosted by: Nina Rodriguez

• Creator of Grief and Light, Grief Guide
• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

Grief Support Resources for the Road:

• Grief Tending Toolkit
• Access our online community

Chapters

• 0:00 Preview & Intro Song
• 1:06 Karen Docherty discovers her mediumship gifts
• 5:13 Understanding Mediumship vs. Psychic Abilities
• 9:34 The Purpose of Spirit Communication
• 12:17 Misconceptions About Spirit Connection
• 16:58 The Role of Spirit Guides and Free Will
• 19:01 Accessing Your Spiritual Connection
• 22:07 Healing on Both Sides of the Veil
• 23:41 Exploring Reincarnation and Past Lives
• 27:48 Lessons from Mediumship Experiences
• 32:12 Exploring the Power of Prayer as Protection
• 36:26 The Concept of Soul Contracts
• 39:34 Mediumship: How It Works
• 44:33 Connecting with Animals in Spirit
• 46:09 How to Work with Karen
• 47:52 Connecting with Your Higher Self

Transcript

We are all spirit and by that what I mean is we all have that power and that energy and the link to the higher part of us. And I think that we forget that sometimes because of the path that we walk or decisions or situations in life that sometimes are difficult. And I think people that are listening to this, if they're listening to this, just through curiosity of the spiritual side of things or through grief and loss.

Please remember that if you can learn to connect with your higher self, which every one of us can do, then you will be even closer to connecting with your loved one. And I don't mean that all of a sudden they will appear in front of you and give you direct communication. What I mean by that is learning to sense the presence of your own spirit and in that you will then be able to sense the presence of the spirit people, the ones that you have lost.

You just lost your loved one. Now what? Welcome to the Grief in Life podcast where we explore this new reality through grief-colored lenses. Openly, authentically, I'm your host, Nina Rodriguez. Let's get started. Can connection through mediumship help us heal after loss? Hello and welcome back to the Grief in Life podcast. My name is Nina Rodriguez and today I'm so excited to be joined by Karen Doherty.

a psychic medium, mentor, and deeply compassionate guide who offers a bridge between this world and the next. Today we're talking about the healing power of mediumship, what it truly means to be a psychic medium, and why the conversation doesn't have to end when someone we love dies. Karen brings a contemporary lens to an ancient practice grounded in love, integrity, and a deep reverence for what she calls the word of spirit. We'll also explore the intuitive

capacities that live within each of us and how she mentors others accessing their own gifts. Whether you've been curious about mediumship or seeking connection after loss, this episode is an invitation for you to consider that connection, healing, and conversation may still be possible just in a different way. Karen, welcome to the Grief in Life podcast.

Thank you so much for having me today.

It's an absolute honor. This topic is so fascinating to me. And I was commenting before that it's actually one of the topics that helped me early on in my own grief, just that curiosity about how can we connect to our loved ones in spirit? What does that mean? What does that look like? But before we delve into that, we'd love to share with our audience about you and how you discovered your gifts. When did you discover your gifts and how did you realize this is more of a life calling than anything else?

Yeah, that's a really good question because people are curious. How do you do something like this or is it something you can just decide? But for me, it definitely started in childhood and it was more like a knowing in childhood. wasn't a feel, like I didn't have knowledge of what it was. I just knew that I was feeling things and seeing people and feeling presence of spirit. So for me growing up.

It was something that felt natural to me and something that I used to speak to my grandmother about it and say, there's a lady in the kitchen or there's a man through there. And she used to just say, the dead don't harm you. And she just kind of kept all very low key, very natural. So for me, although it was different than maybe what other children experienced or other people my age would have experienced, it was normal and natural.

I didn't think anything of it. And it was until maybe my teenage years that continued like that. And then as I became into teenage years, maybe later teenage years, it became much more intense. It was more noticeable. It was maybe a feeling of being able to pick up on friends, family that I've crossed over or, you know, see people standing behind someone and things like that and receiving messages. So it just kind of intensified to a point where I started to question.

you know, what is this and why am I receiving this? And funnily enough, I had always followed mediumship from an early age as well. So from the age of nine or 10, I can remember reading books on mediums and anything that I could get about mediumship, I was very drawn to. So it all kind of went hand in hand. And by the time I had the realization that actually this is what I'm supposed to do, this is me, I was probably in my late teens by that point. And it all kind of

came to a point where I spoke to a medium about it because I couldn't really, not handle, but I couldn't understand why this was continually happening. And I went to her and asked her about it and she said, well, that's because you know, you're a medium. And I said, well, no, I'm not a medium. I just couldn't believe that she thought that I was. And I think it was more about the responsibility that that brings and the feeling of

not pressure, but just a feeling of being responsible for other people and how do I harness this? What do I do with this? And these questions all came up. But the minute I did accept it, it just felt like home. It felt like I knew that was my purpose and I knew that was where I was supposed to be.

That's beautiful. a lot of people, especially nowadays, that are opening up to their talents and their gifts, call themselves an intuitive or a medium or this. Where's the discernment in somebody who has the gifts and has, like you said, accepted the calling and done the work to embrace what that means, to do it with care, to do it with good intention for others and everything that that entails, because there seems to be this

flourishing, which I'm not sure if it's good or bad. don't want to label it either way. But there's a lot of people claiming that they have these gifts and how can somebody, let's say in grief, discern who is really there to help versus who's there to market something that perhaps it's not ill-intended, but it's not as useful or helpful to the person.

Yeah, you know, there is a lot of people out there, like you say, social media, I think, has been good in some respects in bringing knowledge about mediumship and healing and even the psychic side of things really. But unfortunately, that also brings in the other side of it, which is, everyone's doing it or it's the most popular thing. So everyone kind of jumps on the bandwagon with it. And for people that are in grief, that can be very damaging because

There is a difference between psychic and mediumship and psychic or intuition, intuitive. We all have that. We all have that to varying degrees. So when we are born here from the spirit world, we still keep that intact. That's our sixth sense. That's the psychic pad in us that we use to communicate on the other side. So we all have that where we might say, I have an intuition about something or I have a hunch about something or my gut instinct tells me such and such.

Some people can develop that more and work as psychics, which is more about connecting with people in this world. It's about telling people, giving them guidance, telling them about their own path, their own soul's journey. And that's a psychic reader, which is still very helpful in this day and age as well, helping people with guidance. But mediumship is different. Mediumship is where the medium channels and connects with the loved one who is deceased.

And that is a very different thing. And I think that mediums who are doing this work genuinely are born to do this. And I feel it's a purpose for them. I think it's something that they are born with. And I know that some people may disagree with that and this can only be my opinion of it or what I know of spirit. But for me, it is a calling, is a vocation, it is something that, I mean, I just wouldn't think that I could do anything else, meaning...

If that was suddenly taken away, I don't know who I would be because this is who I am. So it's a different thing. And when you are reading for people that are in grief or helping them, talking to them, it should be a healing process. should be coming from, you know, the medium's heart and soul. Everything should feel like connection. Whereas I think sometimes everything is so fast in this world at times and people just want answers and they want, you know, they want to go on social media and ask the question about

someone in spirit and get all the answers and it takes the sacredness away from it for me. So I prefer to keep it sacred, keep it for what it is, which is an amazing, amazing power and energy between this world and the other world.

Thank you for that clarification because we hear often, everybody has these gifts if you just learn to tap into them, right? And I'm a little bit more hesitant to embrace that everybody has gifts. I believe that, like you said, we all have that ability to connect with our intuition, with our inner knowing, sure. But.

I have seen this at play through conversations, through personal experience, and there are people who truly have a gift and are definitely more connected. And so it's important to have discernment. I know as grievers, especially those early days and those early years, we want connection. We are desperate to find where did our person go? Are they okay? Do they see me? We hear often, they're always with you. They're all around you.

Which side note, I personally found that so disturbing because I wanted my brother to just be happy and move on to whatever's next in his spirit life. And so when people say, he's all around you, it was slightly terrifying to me. So we're all different in how we process this. But what would you say in your experience that spirit wants us to know when they cross over? Why do they communicate? What is the point of that?

The of it is to bring the evidence that there is an afterlife after this physical life. The point of it is to reassure us that they aren't leaving us as such. The connection will be there. They will see us again when we move over to the spirit side. And really the purpose of mediumship is to heal. So that is about healing the wounds of that grief at the same time. Now, a medium can't take away grief. We can't take it away. It's something that we all go through when we have loss.

And it's something that we need to go through. It's not a nice process. It's not something that anybody wants, but unfortunately that is what has to happen. It's about our own understanding and love really. I mean, you wouldn't grieve for someone unless you loved them and you would want the love in your life. So, you know, it's just the balance of things, unfortunately, and we all have to go through that. I think evidential mediumship is what's important when you're working with a medium. You know, evidence of that person. Like you say, I've heard

thousands upon thousands of times, know, mediums saying, I've got your mother here in the spirit side and she's saying that you are going to be fine and she's saying that you will move on and she's saying you will buy a new house. Well, none of that's evidential about the mother. None of that proves that that medium has the mother. The evidence comes in the detail of the mother. I have your mother here and she passed when she was 55 and she passed with

X, Y and Z and she has three children and she's seen you two days before she passed and that's evidence of that being from the mother. But on top of that, the evidence that she lives on would be an example as in she was with you yesterday when you looked at your wedding dress or she was there two weeks ago when you had the birthday party because that proves that she's still here now and it's not things that happened before she passed, it's things that have happened after she passed.

And the purpose of that is truly to let you know that they are still here. And I agree with you, you said about your brother, you didn't want to feel that your brother was kind of lingering about and having to stay with you or your family here and he should go on and he absolutely would go on. The spirit world do move on and evolve, but at the same time, the minute we think of them, they will hear those thoughts and they will bring us their presence in some way. They're not always connected to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Thank you for that because for a while as I was understanding this and I've had dreams with him and connection with him and all these things, but beneath that there was this fear of is this person, is this spirit stuck? know, like is my connection with this loved one's energy keeping them stuck? So what would you say to somebody who has that?

Yeah, never get stuck. They never do get stuck. Now sometimes if someone passes away very quickly or unexpectedly, it can take them time, even though they will know they are in the spirit world. They will know what has happened. But they still need that little bit of realization that that is what's happened. So sometimes it can take them a little bit of time. But we are the ones with time on our side of things. There is no actual time in the spirit world. So even if that is the case,

they're still okay, they're still in the right place, they're still going to move forward and evolve. But it could just be the emotional link. It could be that it happened so quickly they never got to say goodbye or the situation surrounding their passing maybe is in question. So it might take a little bit more time, but they're never really stuck. And certainly by us remembering them or talking to them on a daily basis, if you would like, it's not going to keep them here. It's not going to keep them...

in the earth is still going to let them move on in some way.

definitely something that lingered. And, you know, I'm using myself as an example because people who listen to this podcast are familiar with the story and they understand this point of connection. But I do remember the first dream that I connected with him. said, how can I come back? I didn't mean to leave. And it's interesting you talk about the sudden passing because that's how it happened. And I remember saying in the dream, you can't, I'm so sorry, you have to go. And we were both crying and everything. So

Many, I would say a couple of years after that, I had this dream where he said, he gave me a succulent plant. And he says, I have to go and I won't be back for a while. And then that was the dream. And when I looked up the meaning of succulent plant, it was like eternal love. And so I understood that there's these ways of connecting, but it's definitely accessible. thank you for that gift of that understanding. so.

Speaking of misconceptions, what are other misconceptions that you hear about connecting with spirit that you would like to clarify about how it actually works?

Yeah, you know, I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there, probably too many to mention individually at times. And that's just par for the course, you know, you're going to have that when there's such a mixture of views on things. And as a medium, I try to keep it as low key as possible and sensible as possible. I think that sometimes this kind of work gets quite sensationalized and really

what happens when I connect with Spirit is I am the channel, I am the part in between. If it was you and your brother as an example, I would be the part in between that was able to feel and hear and sense your brother and everything that he was passing to me would come to you. So I'm just really the channel for the two of you. And the healing would take place on both sides. But I think from things that I hear, know, mediums or psychics putting things out there like your loved one is stuck.

or they're earthbound or they can't move on, they don't want to move on or they're with you all the time, they're watching everything you're doing and so many times they get asked the question, I'm not sure I want my mum seeing everything that I'm doing. And it just kind of puts a little bit of, like it takes away the logic of it, right? So in the spirit world, we are pure form, we are ourselves, we are spirit.

And we have high intelligence, very high intelligence, and the spirit worlds are not really that bothered about the day-to-day life of human beings. They're not that fussed about it. What the connection is, is connection of love, it's connection of care, it's connection of guidance. And your loved ones, another one I hear is your loved ones, let's say it's a grandmother, she passed over and she's your guide now, she's going to be your spirit guide. Well, that can't happen either. Our guides are never...

people that have been with us in this lifetime, but they become our guardians. They do look out for us, but they can't influence us. And sometimes people will ask me questions, you know, I want my mum to tell me X, Y and Z about a certain decision. And I said, well, your mum can't do that because although she can bring guidance about what she would feel about something, it's up to you to make your life decisions. So there's lots of different things, I think, that people come for answers. And I understand why, because people

really source a medium or psychic when they're lost themselves or when they need that guidance. But if you are going to a medium and it is about the spirit world, then let the spirit world do the talking and let them bring the evidence forward. Let the medium do their work.

mention spirit guides there. So for somebody who's perhaps hearing this for the first time, could you briefly explain what is a spirit guide and the role of free will in all of this?

Yeah, so spirit guides, we all have them. Again, the talk in the kind of spiritual communities, whether you're mediumistic or just love that kind of work, it's always about guides and getting to know your guides. that was another thing that I always felt when I started teaching, I would say to students, don't worry about your guides. You will get to know your guides. So each one of us have a spirit team of guides. There's not one specific guide. You might have one main guide that works with you, but there's a few different ones. And it's much like

When you go to school in year one, you'll get a year one teacher. In year five, you'll get a year five teacher. So it's the same kind of thing. And they'll come in and out depending on what you need. Now, you're not going to know all your guides. You're not supposed to. But sometimes if you're meditating and developing in some way, whether it's personal development, spiritual development, or mediumistic, you might become aware of who is there with you and who works with you. And you might get to build a little relationship up with them.

And I think if you are mediumistic and you're doing this work, then most people have done that. Most people kind of know one or two of their guides or maybe even more. So it's a beautiful thing, but it's not just for mediums. We all have that. We all have guides assigned to us when we come here to help us through our life. But again, they cannot step in and make our decisions for us. And the free will aspect of it is we all have that. We can all make decisions and mostly

your gut instinct, your psychic side of yourself will tell you the right decisions and you will probably ignore them most of the time because the ego comes in and it wants what it wants. So I'm sure many of your listeners have felt, I knew I shouldn't have done that or I knew that wasn't the right thing. And it's usually because you haven't listened to your higher self, which is part of your guidance from there too.

Definitely. And how can we access that connection? How can we demystify this for somebody who's perhaps trying to reach out? I'll give you an example. I talked to a lot of people who all they know about the spirit world is through religion. So this is new to them and this is strange and it feels perhaps even uncomfortable to talk about because of what they've been conditioned to think. So what would you say to somebody who's curious about connection, about perhaps

cracking the door open a little bit just to see what's there and how to connect with Spirit on their own time.

Yeah, the first thing I would say is realizing that you are spirit in human form. Now, the religious side of it, should say, often kind of dictates the way that you can think about a certain thing, you know, or somebody has a certain God or believes in a certain God. What I would say is if we leave that to the side, if you're trying to develop it yourself, and I'm not talking about mediumship, I'm talking about developing that connection, like you say, to your God or yourself.

The first thing you need to realize is you are spirit in human form and really what you're looking to do is create that link, create that space within yourself to start to understand that. And a good way to do that is really by creating a quiet space. So people can call it meditation, it could be a walk in the park or in nature, it could be sitting by the water side, it could just be sitting in your own home with a bit of background music on, whatever way makes you feel relaxed or

in that quiet place that you need to go. Meditation can be hard for some people. A lot of people will say to me, I just can't do it. I can't quiet in my mind. And I say, you're not supposed to. Your mind will always think there's thoughts that are going to always be there. But it's more about practicing the skill of letting those thoughts come and go rather than focusing upon them when they do come in. And if you can learn to do that and learn to breathe, breath work is an amazing way to take you to that place.

If you truly do some breath work like deep breaths, inhale, exhale, you will find that you will reach a quiet place where the world seems to fade away a little bit. And if you can find that place, that's where I would say you start to make your connection with yourself, your higher self, that spiritual part of you. And as you do that and as you practice that, then it will just keep expanding, it will get stronger.

You will be less aware of your surroundings in this world when you're in that space and more aware of your inner voice, your higher self. And really making an effort to get to know you first will then increase that connection to the spirit, to your higher guides, to your guardians, to the people that you've got there. It will create that if you can learn to do it for yourself first.

Beautiful. I believe like anything in life, would imagine it takes practice. So it's an ongoing thing. You don't just close your eyes and, there it is. Or maybe for some people it is, it's understanding and trusting what's coming through and just being open with curiosity more than judgment, I believe. So that's beautiful. You talk about healing both sides of the veil. So what do you mean by that?

When I do a communication for someone in the spirit world, I think we tend to think as humans that it's about healing the person here. So if a grieving daughter came to me and it was her father in the spirit world, I think really the point of view is that the daughter needs something to help her, which is true, right? So the daughter needs that connection. She needs that to hear from her father. She needs to know that her father's okay and that in turn will heal.

some of the wound that is there left behind. But actually what happens is it heals both sides because the father in the spirit world also is emotional about his daughter, also emotional about leaving his family behind here. Even though he knows where he is, even though he knows that he is perfectly safe and in the right place and will go on and will be with his family at some point, he still has that love for them. He still has that need to let them know that he is okay.

So when the communication takes place and there's evidential mediumship, the father in the spirit world feels far more relieved that he got to speak, he got his words out, he got that connection. And the daughter here would also feel the relief of knowing that her father was okay. So the healing actually does take place on both sides.

That's so beautiful. It's like you needed to hear that. You needed that point of connection. It validates something perhaps that we've been wondering in our grief for some time and it's very, very powerful. So let's talk about the concept of reincarnation. I'm less concerned about whether or not that's a real thing. I'm more concerned about trying to understand that perhaps the person who passed is one facet of a bigger picture that is spirit. So what's your take on that?

how does this all work to the best of your knowledge? Because I think ultimately we find out when we find out, but with what you know here, how does it all work?

Yeah, I completely agree with you as well. think that sometimes when I'm doing teaching and speaking to people, I say to myself, yeah, I hope you're right about that. You're not going to know really until you're there. But I think that's a nice place to be when you're humble like that about anything. But yeah, reincarnation is a huge subject and it is something again that gets spoken about a lot and past lives get spoken about a lot. I've noticed a lot more people now talk about past lives than they want. They have this

urge to get to know who they were in a past life. And sometimes I think that that's not a great thing. I kind of feel like someone can live this life and be more concerned about what they did in a past life and how that's affected them in this life. And it kind of gives them reasons for things. Whereas I always say you're here for this incarnation, you're meant to enjoy this incarnation. And if you were supposed to remember your past life, then you would.

So don't get obsessional about it. But I understand it's an intriguing thing for people to know, but for reincarnation, it is one facet of a diamond. for instance, my incarnation here is Karen, and I'm doing the work that I do, and I'm living the life that I live, and doing my best to understand it. So when I pass away and go over to the spirit world, Karen won't be coming back here to incarnate again, but another part of my spirit may.

incarnate again and do more lessons or more evolving and it's almost like a diamond where there's many different facets of a diamond and the emanations come from different facets so the emanation would be the soul's incarnation if you like. So this time I am here as me and when I go over to the spirit world I will return to my complete self, my higher self which is my spirit and then another part of my spirit may incarnate as someone else and have a different life but it wouldn't be me.

because I can only be here this once. So I think that that's why, you know, people get confused about it. And that's why I always say, don't obsess about the past and the past lives because yes, there were past lives of you, meaning your spirit, but it's not of you in the here and now. really our time here is very, very short. And you hear people saying that all the time. You never know when it's your turn to go and you should enjoy what's here. And usually

People do only realize that when they are at the end of their life, which is a shame, we are here to be present.

I really appreciate your perspective and having humility when approaching the subject because you've experienced things that probably the majority of us have not. And you have a deeper insight into the inner workings of spirit and the afterlife. And yet we have to be aware enough that we don't know until we know. And I really appreciate that because I find a lot of people talk with such certainty about, nope, this is the way it works. And this is one step one, two, three, and this is what this thing is called.

And while I appreciate their perspective, I'm also aware that we won't know until we know. And at the end of the day, the perspective that is the most present for us is this spirit in human form. And I found it very tempting to be immersed in all things spirit. I remember the first year I wanted to be asleep all the time because that's when I had the most dreams. And I was like, I just want to be asleep always and just have these beautiful experiences. And yet that's not why I'm here.

I'm here for something different and I'm here to embody this existence. So if anybody listening or watching has felt this and resonates with what Karen says, I invite you to keep that open mind and that open heart when it comes to these subjects.

Yeah, and you know what I can add on as well that it's about learning. know, even as whatever area you work in, or you feel like you have some expertise and knowledge about something, you have to be open as well to still learning more and maybe changing your views. I mean, there are things that have happened in my mediumship journey where I thought, I was

kind of sure that that wasn't the case or I didn't think that would happen. And then through experience of maybe a reading or listening to spirit or doing meditation, I've been given different information. And I think that as a medium, you have to be open to that. You can only share your views and your skill and what you've learned as far as you've learned it, but that can always change. And I think people, especially mediums, need to be open to that too.

Absolutely. And speaking of messages and these confirmations that you've received, is there something in particular that you can share that has stayed with you? Like maybe an experience or a particular message that really has stayed with you over the years that came through from Spirit?

think there's so many. Again, when I get asked that, think my mind goes into this, which one? Because there have been many, but the biggest thing for me is the knowing of the enormity of what's around us. And I think that's came in in many different ways. Like I had a car accident a couple of years ago and it was a terrible accident and I was lucky to kind of walk away from that. But I knew.

on the lead up to it that something was going to happen. Now people will say, well, that's because you're a medium, but mediums don't always, we don't get forward information about things. We have to live the human life and things can happen. And we don't get special privileges because we are mediums. It's just something that we have to go through. But in the lead up to it that day, as I was driving, I kept hearing the same thing like, now what would you do if you were trapped in a car? How would you get out? And all of these thoughts were coming and going. I kept

pushing them away, like, why am I thinking that? You know, just, you're fine. And I was fine until I reached my friend's house and then we had our talk and chat and catch up. And then on the way back, I was about five minutes away from home and my car went into a full skid on the road. There was loose gravel on the road and it went into a full skid and I had no control over the car at all. And at that point in time, I just remember feeling like...

just take your hands off the wheel and you're just going to have to take what happens. That was my feeling, just take the consequences of this because there was nothing I could do. But in the same moment, I felt so protected. I felt complete love. I felt like everything slowed down. was like it took, actually after I looked at the timeline of it, by the time the car came to a halt and I phoned the emergency services and it was only like a minute and a half. And I felt like I was in that car for 10 minutes at least.

And so the time was all misconstrued and whatever, but in that time I felt such peace. And I think it was a piece of, if I don't survive this physically, then I don't. It was an acceptance. was the strangest, strangest feeling because of course I would want to survive it. And of course I wouldn't want to be thinking anything else, but knowing that the car was headed straight for a tree, I was like, I'm just, I don't know. But the feeling of peace that it

brought me to know that I was surrounded was amazing. And after it anyway, and when I spoke to people about it, I kept saying, I think this is, it's bigger than me. Like this, wasn't about me. was about the message of, could call it angels, you could call it higher beings. People call it many different things, but we are very protected. And that doesn't mean accidents don't happen. That doesn't mean people don't pass away. you know, that, that's life. That, that does happen. And it doesn't mean that I...

was protected in a way somebody else wouldn't be, nothing like that. All I mean is the feeling of that intense connection was quite amazing and I can tell people about that in the knowledge that no matter what happens, like even if that had been a different outcome for me, I was still very protected in that moment and I was still very connected. And I think passing that message out there and letting people know that Spirit do connect with us and do protect us and they are there for us, I think it can empower people a lot.

Well, first of all, I'm glad you're okay. And thank you for sharing that experience. That's very powerful. And it actually raises one question that a lot of people believe in the power of prayer as protection. I've also heard stories where people prayed and the person still passed anyway. And so what's your take on the power of prayer and these outcomes that may not be what we wanted?

I believe in the power of prayer too. I say my prayers every day, I speak to Spirit every day and I'm not talking about when I'm working, just in general about my own life and things going on. So I absolutely believe in the power of prayer and I know that our prayers are heard. My feeling on it is that the Spirit world, God or the Spirit world, the universe, whatever way you would word that, can't stop human things happening. So let's say an illness, for instance, if someone has an illness, my mum passed away.

nine years ago and her illness, I mean, she was the most positive person you could ever meet and she was so like determined to beat the cancer and she was, she didn't even want to consider any other outcome of that. And we all prayed hard and she still passed away. And that is because biologically things go wrong in the human body. The spirit world cannot step in and fix everything. They can't change certain things. I feel like because you hear a few stories that might

show that actually that was a miracle. Like we hear the miraculous stories and then you're like, well, why does that happen for one person and not the next? I just feel like it is what it is at the time. The spirit world can help or they can delay things or they can bring healing and power to something. They will do that, but they can't do that for everything that goes on in this world because we are human. Our human bodies can go wrong, break, accidents happen that nobody has any control over. If they saved everyone.

then no one would pass. the human cycle, if you like, the part of us that's living now and we are here to have this human experience, we have to go home. And I remember saying to my mum when she was getting close to passing away, I was the only one that sat with her. My sisters by that time, they were getting too upset and they felt that my mum was hanging on because they were there. So they left the room and I sat for a few hours with her and I kept saying to her,

It's okay, just make the jump. I kept saying make the jump, I don't know why, but I kept saying make the jump, just go for it, mum, you're going to be fine. And I kept reassuring her because really it's them getting to the next level. When we go home to the spirit side, it's a whole different dynamic for us. This human part in us and what we live here in the human way probably is the hardest part. You hear people saying that, you know, this is the hard journey, if you like.

we get to go home, we get to then move on and do other things. And I remember a medium called Doris Stokes. She was an English medium, a wonderful medium. And I listened to her from the age of six years old. And she used to say, he had to get cancer to let him go home. And I used to love the way that she used to say that because for me, was like, that's a wonderful way to say things.

or they had to do whatever. It doesn't minimize what happened and it doesn't take away the grief. But for the person that's passed away, it's like they've went through something to get the glory, to get to the good part. And I think sometimes if you can think of it that way, it frees you up a little bit. It takes you away from the grief a little bit.

Thank you for that perspective. And that's something that maybe if you're in your early days of grief could sound a little bit jarring, but over time, these understandings shift and we have the capacity to see things from a different perspective. So if that perspective is helpful, it was helpful to me definitely. It's not to say, everything happens for a reason and this person deserves this. We're still human. We still suffer. There's still the pain of the loss and people who experience cancer as the person witnessing the other person.

deteriorating in front of their eyes. That's a very traumatic experience that my heart goes out to you as well. But these perspectives help us reframe the bigger picture and that could be very healing. And on this topic, I'm curious. Some people believe that we either choose consciously or unconsciously exit points that there's something called the soul contract and it is predetermined or that it just happens and it was an accident. what's your take on that?

Yeah, soul contracts is a big subject, I think, as well. And when I was early in my development, the teacher that I had at the time would talk about these soul contracts. And it didn't make sense to me at that point in time when I was first starting out, because I had asked her a question about someone that my family knew that had been murdered. And I had said, well, are you saying that that was meant to happen? Because my brain wouldn't allow me

to feel that. It wouldn't allow me to think that, that someone would decide that that horrific way of passing was a choice. And my teacher at the time had said to me, yes, that was a soul contract before she came here. She said that she would sacrifice her life and come back. And I just thought that just doesn't make sense to me and it didn't and it still doesn't. So for me at that point in time, when I was early in my learning, I was like, I'm going to have to

sit with this. That's not for me, that answer. So as the years progressed in my own development of mediumship, I felt more like it's a human world that we're in. Our bodies will break, we will make choices, accidents will happen. For me, I don't see that that's a meant thing at any point in time. I feel like that's just something that happened at that point that no one could have prevented.

I guess what I'm saying is there are a few occasions that I've heard where people have been passing away and I think, wow, they've lived their whole life, you know, and they've made a huge impact in this world and then they've gone and people have said, maybe they've done everything they came here to do. At this moment in time, and I say at this moment in time, because like I say, things can change, but at this moment in time, it's not something that I fully am on board with. I feel that we come here to be here as long as we possibly can.

depending on what happens, our body, our health, our accidents, such like, that can change it. And I just think that that's a free will thing as well. It's just something that happens. It would be my answer.

Thank you so much. And I too struggle with, you know, whether I fully embrace that thought or not, because on one hand, it could be very comforting to some people. And on the other hand, like you said, in the case of very jarring losses, or somebody who had to suffer above and beyond traumatic way, that doesn't sound good at all. And that's almost, you know, disrespectful to that person, that family who's listening to that. So it depends on

where you stand on the matter. You know, let's say your person had a very gentle, loving passing, then, oh, it was time to go and that's it. And if that thought helps you, that's wonderful. And also understand that that thought could actually be very hurtful to somebody who's experienced physical abuse, hunger, starvation, or just very, very taxing life experiences. That could be a very jarring concept. So thank you so much. And pivoting to your style of mediumship, what can people expect?

out of a mediumship reading. feel like people have very tight preconceived notions. And so how does it actually work in practice?

Yeah, so there are many different ways, like you've said, and for me it works in all different ways. So I can see, hear, feel, Clear cognizance is another one. It's like clear knowing where you're just, where I don't know the information's coming from, I just know it to be true. And it can work in all of the above ways. So it's not like one way for each person. It depends on how the spirit person can communicate too, because they too have to learn to communicate through the medium.

So if I have a father in the spirit world, it might be easier for him to let me hear him. I might be able to hear him more than any other faculty. Whereas I might have a lady in the spirit world and she's, I'm feeling her, I'm seeing her, she's showing me symbols that I need to interpret. It just works in different ways. And I've had many experiences where someone has come through showing me things and letting me feel them and bringing the evidence that way. And then all of a sudden they speak Italian and I can hear the Italian and I'm like,

Like now your mum's speaking Italian and the person's like, yes, she was Italian, but I'm still receiving all of the evidence anyway, even if she didn't speak, I don't understand Italian, I've never spoken Italian. So it's quite an amazing thing, the way that the work and usually I call it my spirit ears, my spirit eyes, you know, just to let people understand. It's not that I'm seeing them with my physical eyes or physical ears, hearing them, it's all within me. So I'm picking up that way through my senses.

Sometimes I was doing an event last week and as I was doing my usual work, which I do, it's an audience gathering, I was speaking and all of a sudden I could just start to see with my physical eyes auras around people, lots of colour around the person I was going to be speaking to and that didn't usually happen in my demonstrations. So it was amazing and I was like, wow, this is new thing for me. And again, mediums.

need to be aware that their work will change at times or new things can be added in and things can be taken away. And it's just having that kind of fluid attitude about it of, right, okay, I always say to spirit, just work with me. I'm the vessel, I'm your channel, work with me in whatever capacity you want. Use my senses, every sense that I have, I'm all of service to you. And that's usually the way that I start my work.

I love that you said that they also have to know how to communicate through you. So it's like a, it's a two way thing. That's actually fascinating. And you said you work with audiences. So what is that experience like? You mentioned seeing the auras, but is this something that let's say you're walking down the street and it all shows up without your consent? Or is this something that you tap into at will? How does it work from your perspective?

Yeah, it is something that you kind of tap into when you're ready to work. if I was kind of, you might call it switched on all the time, it would be too much. It would be where I was aware of Spirit all the time because they are there all the time for a medium. You can tap into anywhere you go, you're going to tap into Spirit. So I can't do that all the time when I'm trying to do other things, seeing to the kids, doing my shopping. You know, you're just not switched on in that way. life. Yeah, living life.

But when I do switch my awareness to the spirit, then absolutely they are there, you know, and they're going to be and maybe not in a one-to-one way all the time. Like I can't just meet somebody and go, hang on a minute, let me see who you've got. That would take a little bit of time and building up that rapport to make that happen. But sometimes when you are out and about, there's been occasions where I have felt spirit coming in and I'm like,

You're here and you can't give a message to someone. You can't just tap on someone's shoulder and kind of say, I've got your dad here. Because it's not ethical to do that. You don't know what that person's beliefs are. You don't know what stage of grief they're at. You don't know anything. You just can't do that or you shouldn't do that in my opinion. It should be where someone has given their consent. And in an audience, I do a lot of audience readings and gatherings, which I absolutely love because it brings everyone into it. So.

If there's 20 people there, it's fine. If there's 50 people there, if there's 100 people, we're all kind of on the same page and it's kind of including everyone, even though only a few will get the communication, but it's about the presence of spirit. And when that happens, it's just an amazing energy and it really lifts the whole room. And that's what it's about as well. Mediumship is about telling people and helping people understand that this is a powerful

energy that we are all connected to and it's not just about the reading. I think that's important too.

Thank you for your perspective on that. feel like people want their mother or father or whoever their loved one to come through in a very specific way. And to my understanding, that's not guaranteed. I'm curious, do you communicate with animals at all? I ask that because a lot of people, especially lately, have been coming to me with pet grief. And it's very real. And I'm curious what your take on that is.

Yeah, animals definitely still come in. They don't communicate in the same way. usually the way it would happen if I'm speaking to someone and have their loved ones there, whoever that may be, and I'm giving the evidential mediumship that way and then all of a sudden I'll be like, the dogs just came in or the dogs here or your cat's here or whatever it might be. And it won't be that I communicate then with the dog the same way I would communicate with the father that's in the spirit side, but it's an acknowledgement that that pet is there and that they are still very connected.

I will be able to pick up how they passed or their character or how they were in life. I will definitely be able to feel the energy of them, but they don't communicate in the same way. They're not vocal in the same way. So the father might be talking to me and telling me things where the dog isn't going to do that, but the dog is definitely going to let me know that he's there and maybe blend with me in a way that I can feel the energy of him. So I know, he thought he was a human. He had a very funny character.

you had to make the decision for him to go and that was hard for you and he knew that you were there. So I'll still get that kind of communication, but certainly not as in-depth as it would be from a human that been here.

It's just understandable. It's just that acknowledgement of their present is very helpful and healing when we're grieving our loved ones and our pets. And how can people work with you if they wanted to reach out either one-on-one or one of your public events? Where can they find more information about your work?

So if they go to carrandockerty.com, so it's D-O-C-H-E-R-T-Y, carrandockerty.com, everything's on there. There's readings on there, mentorships, you know, there's a new small teaching course that I've just launched on there as well that will be quite accessible to a lot of people, for people that are interested in.

just learning about the spiritual connection as well. But all my podcasts are on there too, like this will go on there. And it's really, and it doesn't cost anything. It's just something that's accessible for people to go on and listen to if they are needing to know more about the connection and how it all works. And they can also contact me there too. It is me that runs my website. So if anyone has questions or wants to reach out, it will be me that's answering.

And of course that will be in the show notes, so all the links will be clickable and accessible. So if you're listening or watching, this is an invitation. This is an invitation to open your heart, open your mind with curiosity and see what shows up for you. Don't be afraid. It's a point of connection. And I often say that if it feels like a point of connection, brings you hope, healing and love. That's good enough. We don't need to know the details of the inner working. We'll find out someday. And if you are somebody looking to explore mediumship as

a way forward, then please reach out to Karen, visit her website and see where all that takes you. And we're getting to the end here, but I want to give you some time and space to share whatever you'd like that maybe we haven't covered in conversation or anything that's coming up for you right now. is your floor is yours.

Yeah, I think that the biggest thing that I like to leave people with that are listening is that we are all spirit. And by that, what I mean is we all have that power and that energy and the link to the higher part of us. And I think that we forget that sometimes because of the path that we walk or decisions or situations in life that sometimes are difficult. And I think people that are listening to this, if they're listening to this, just through curiosity of spiritual side of things or through grief and loss.

Please remember that if you can learn to connect with your higher self, which every one of us can do, then you will be even closer to connecting with your loved one. And I don't mean that all of a sudden they will appear in front of you and give you direct communication. What I mean by that is learning to sense the presence of your own spirit and in that you will then be able to sense the presence of the spirit people, the ones that you have lost.

And we're all very, very capable of doing that. And the first place to start with that is you, is learning about you and your presence of spirit.

I will leave it right there. That was perfectly stated. Thank you so much, Karen, for your generosity of time and for being you. Thank you for the gift of these messages. Thank you. That's it for today's episode. Be sure to subscribe to the grief and light podcast I'd also love to connect with you and hear your thoughts and your stories Feel free to share them with me via my Instagram page at grief and light Or you can also visit grief and light comm for more information and updates

Thank you so much for being here, for being you, and always remember, you are not alone.