Buckle Up: What Happens When A Skeptic Tries To Trick A Medium

At the start of every reading when I feel a skeptic on the other side of the table I say the same thing to Spirit. Buckle up. Let's show them how this is done.

Because Spirit does not need a client to believe. Spirit does not need the right name on a Zoom invite. Spirit does not need a husband to put down his guard before showing up with the most specific details of that man's entire childhood.

Spirit just shows up. And Spirit is always ten steps ahead.

In this episode I am sharing three real stories of clients who walked in with a game plan to catch me out. And what Spirit did about it every single time.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Seriously Dead. I'm Jenny Shanks, a spiritual medium, and I talk to dead people for a little bit. This podcast is your beyond the grave look at what your loved ones in spirit actually want you to know. And spoiler alert, after 10 years of doing this work, here's the truth. Your spirit family wants you to know they're okay and you are too. How do I know? Because the dead are a lot of things, but one thing they're not is quiet. So get comfortable before you press play because we're getting seriously dead with your loved ones in spirit right now. I want to let you in on something that I do at the start of every reading when I feel a skeptic walk in. Whether we're in person or virtual, I immediately say to Spirit, all right, buckle up, let's show them how it's done. Because here's what I've come to know Spirit doesn't need a client to bleed. Spirit doesn't need the right name on a Zoom invitation to come through. Spirit doesn't need a husband to put his arms down and open his mind before showing up with the most specific details of that man's entire childhood. Spirit just shows up, and spirit is always 10 steps ahead of us. I promise by the end of this episode, even the most skeptical person listening is gonna have a hard time explaining what's happened in these sessions. So this session happened so many years ago, but I will never forget it because it was the first time I recall having a skeptical client. And really, what happens in the moments that I do remember details about sessions, it's often what I experience as a human that reminds me of these stories. And this one was one I will not forget. The client had booked a virtual reading with me, signed up with a name, and then showed up on Zoom with a completely different name. Now, some mediums might have caught that before the session and said something, but the reality is I only look at the names right before we start. And I don't try to ask Spirit about you. I prefer to go into session knowing nothing about you because that's really the only way this work has integrity. So I open with a prayer and I ask spirit to come through. And right in the middle of the opening, the client stops me. Now, the way that I work through this is I will often say, okay, so we have Brian here today, and I usually will ask Brian how he's doing, and that's just opening an energetic portal. Then from there, in my own mind, I will say, okay, great, spirit. And I say my opening prayer, please welcome any loved ones that want to connect with Brian. And so I had started that process, and this client stops me and she says, Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's actually not our names. So there were two people on this session. It was a virtual session, and both of them had different names than apparently what their real names were. So I want you to notice something about that moment. Spirit didn't wait for the right name. Spirit didn't get confused by the fake name on the screen. Spirit already knew who was in the room before the client even finished deciding whether to come clean or not. Because spirit doesn't need a name. Spirit doesn't need an introduction. Spirit knows exactly who is sitting in that chair and exactly what that person needs to hear. And when that client interrupted me to correct her right name, she was worried that I was gonna call in somebody that wasn't there for her. The client thought that the name on Zoom was gonna be a test, but the reality is spirit had already passed it before the test even started. That's the thing about trying to trick a medium. You're not really testing the medium, you're trying to test spirit, and spirit finds that a little funny. The reading went on, and once that client stopped trying to control what spirit could not access, once the wall came down just a little, the connection opened up in a way that would not have been possible if she had spent the whole session holding her breath, waiting to call me out. Skepticism closes the channel, curiosity opens it, and there's a big difference between the two. This session really came forward in such a beautiful way. It was a loving sister trying to book an appointment for her sister who she knew needed to connect with spirit. But here's the difference. They both didn't show up to the reading that day, just the sister receiving this gift. So the sister who made the appointment, put her name on the invite, sent the email confirmation, while in her mind she was doing something thoughtful for the one she loved, something unexpected happened. Her sister arrived. As always, I opened the session and someone came through almost immediately. However, it wasn't for the sister sitting across from me. It was for the sister who booked the appointment and wasn't there. The sister sitting across from me went quiet and then confused, and she said, That's my sister's friend. I don't know why he'd come through for me. In that moment, it became very clear for me. The sister who booked the reading set an energetic intention when she made that appointment, whether she realizes it or not. She put her name on it, she put her energy on it, and while her love and intention behind the space was for her sister, the reality is spirit took her invitation and came forward for her. Now, here's what I want you to understand about how spirit works. Spirit did not get confused by that. Spirit does not show up at the wrong address or the wrong session. Spirit followed the energetic thread all the way back to the person who set the intention in the first place. Which was the sister who booked the appointment, the one who used her email and her name to come through. The sister who walked into that session that day, not understanding why this guy came through. Well, that's because spirit had other ideas. Because that's the thing about intention. When you set it, spirit hears it. So what really happened here was Sister One set the intention by booking it, paying for it, putting her name on it, putting her email address on it. And Spirit grabbed that intention and was ready to start doing the work. While really the human version of that sister was trying to do something loving for her other sister. So this wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a detour. This was spirit following the path that was intentionally set from the beginning. What was beautiful is once that spirit came through, set his peace, and moved on, we really welcomed in people who were there for that sister. The sister understood why he came through, but also called in her loved ones through that. The confusion that started the session became much quieter and much more clear as the session went on. So here's the deal: when you book a session for someone, trying to trick the medium or spirit doesn't really actually work. You can't trick with spirit with logistics. Spirit doesn't care about logistics. Spirit follows the energy, and the energy of love and intention will always lead spirit exactly where it needs to go. Now, this might be one of my favorites because here's the deal. When a client books a session and brings someone with them, and that person coming with them immediately comes in with skeptical energy or blocked energy or energy of I'm just here to support, I'm not here for messages. Well, that's not really how spirit works. It's an open can of worms if you're coming into the session with someone. I can't control who comes through. And so I just honor what comes forward. So in this session, this client brought her husband to the rating. And this husband had a look on his face from the moment he sat down. A look that I know very well. Arms closed, jaw set, energetic wall put up between him and I. The look of a man who has agreed to be there as a favor to his wife, but Hardy doesn't believe in what's going to happen. I love that look, quite honestly, because Spirit loves a good challenge. And who came forward first? His grandma. Before I could even finish sharing what was being brought through from Spirit, the husband goes, Yeah, doesn't everyone have a grandma who knits named Mary? I mean, I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, because on the surface, that totally sounds like the kind of generic detail a skeptic would point out. A knitting grandmother named Mary. Could be anyone, right? But Spirit was not done. His grandma came back, she described her morning routine, specifically the exact order of what she did before she sat down to knit every day. The sounds, the details, the particular quality of the mornings that only someone who had been there would know. And then she started sharing memories, not general memories, but specific ones, moments from this childhood that had nothing to do with knitting, and everything to do with who that boy was and what his grandmother saw in him when nobody else was paying attention. I watched something happen in that man right there, right in front of me, his jaw unclinched, the arms softened, not dramatically and not all at once, but that armor, that barrier, that wall he had created started coming off piece by piece with every detail that his grandmother shared in that room. And by the end of the session, he was not the same person who had walked in with that look on his face. Here's what I want to say about skeptics. I don't take it personally when someone sits across from me with their guard up. Skepticism makes sense. This work sounds impossible until you watch it happen in front of you. And I understand why a person would want to protect themselves from something that feels, well, too good to be true. But here's what I know. The more a person comes in with skeptic energy, the more reserved spirit will be. Not because spirit can't get through, but because spirit doesn't want to waste their time any more than I do when it comes to a skeptic client. Well, and honestly, any more than the skeptic clients wants their time wasted. While I feel that energy in the room, I don't get rattled. I turn to spirit and I say, buckle up. Let's show them how it's done. And spirit never lets me down. If you are a skeptic listening to this right now, I want to say something directly to you. You do not have to trick a medium to protect yourself. You do not have to come in with a fake name or book for someone else, or sitting with your arms crossed, waiting to call something out. Spirit is not going to be fooled by any of that. And honestly, spirit finds it, well, a little exhausting. And so do I. Here's what I want you to try instead. Come curious, not convinced, not open to everything, but just curious, willing to sit with something you can't fully explain and see what happens. Because here's the truth about skepticism that most people don't realize. A skeptic who walks away from a reading, still skeptical, is one thing. A skeptic who walks away from a reading with someone they cannot explain, a detail so specific, a memory so precise, a moment so undeniably their person, that is a completely different experience. And the second experience is available to every skeptic who walks through my door, but only if the skepticism doesn't close the channel before spirit gets a chance to speak. Spirit does not need you to believe before showing up. Spirit just needs you to be present enough to receive what's coming through. The grandmother knitting, the morning routine, the childhood memories did not need that husband to believe in mediumship before she arrived. She just needed him to stay in the chair long enough to hear what she had to say. And he did. And something in that room changed because of it. That is what spirit does when a skeptic tries to trick a medium. Spirit doesn't argue. Spirit doesn't defend. Spirit just shows up with the details and lets the truth do the work. If you walk away from this episode with one thing, let it be this. Spirit does not need your cooperation to show up. Spirit does not need the right name on Zoom. Spirit doesn't need a booking confirmation or a believing husband or a client who walks in with a game plan to try to catch you or call you out. Spirit just needs you in the chair. And if you walk in skeptical, if you walk in with your guard up and arms crossed and a list of tests you're planning to run, spirit's not offended. Spirit's not deterred. Spirit looks at that and says, buckle up and let's show them how it's done. You can't out trick spirit. And honestly, why would you want to? What is waiting on the other side of that wall is worth so much more than being right about a medium being wrong. Let's not keep this one in the spirit bowl. Share it with your skeptic in your life who needs to hear that spirit really is on the other side waiting to share a message with you. I'd love to hear from you. Jump over to Instagram, DM me, tag me over there, leave me a review wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you have a topic you'd like me to share on this podcast, head to the show notes and drop me a text or voice note. I'd love to hear from you. And if you're ready to start hearing from your loved one in spirit, grab my free guided meditation dropped in the show notes below. This meditation helps you understand the difference between your ego and your intuition because the channel with our intuition is the channel that spirit speaks to us. I'll be back next week with another episode of Seriously Dead. And until then, stay open, stay curious. And remember, the dead are not quiet. You just have to learn to listen to you.