A Rising Star: An interview with acclaimed Medium and Psychic Lisa Williams

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Last of a two-part series

Lisa Williams, an internationally acclaimed medium and clairvoyant who has an amazing ability to communicate with loved ones and friends who have passed on to the "other side" – former host of Lifetime TV’s "Life Among the Dead" and author of a memoir of the same title – will return to the Twin Cities on Friday, Oct. 10, for an Edge Life presentation at Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, Minn.

For one night only, she will present a special one-hour V.I.P. "Intimate Conversation with Lisa Williams" from 6:30-7:30 p.m, during which guests will enjoy an extra hour with Lisa before they join her in exclusive front seating during her Main Event from 8-10 p.m. V.I.P. tickets are $119 for three hours with Lisa Williams. Main Event tickets are $33 and $59, all available online at Edgelife.net/tickets or toll-free 1.888.810.2065. For those who wish lodging near the event, Edge Life has negotiated a flat $79 rate for single or double rooms at the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel. Call 763.566.8000 [toll-free hotel reservations 1.800.593.5708] and ask for the Edge Life Group rate.

Lisa, who now lives in Southern California with her husband Kevin and young son Charlie, enjoys a close relationship with her audience. She keeps them informed almost daily on her blog, featured on her website www.lisawilliamsmedium.com. Here are some random samplings from her blog:

• 1:11 a.m. on August 21: "Sometimes we get so busy in life and we miss the beauty that is surrounding us. It’s natural and free and there for us all to enjoy; it just takes is a moment to stop and notice and appreciate what is around us. So today take a moment to appreciate the beauty around you, the cloud formations and the sky, life is amazing and the earth is something we should enjoy – it’s there for us all."

• 10:55 p.m. on August 15: "…Everyone deals with grief differently. We all have to appreciate it, and deal with it in the way we need to. But it does get easier to cope, it never goes away but it gets easier and days get easier…. Never beat yourself up about taking the time that you need to deal with situations, everyone is different…I know at Natasha’s memorial tomorrow I will find it hard, but we have to accept that it was their pathway and we still have a life to lead…."

• 11:20 p.m. on August 14: "It’s lovely to have a day of doing nothing and just relaxing… we all work hard so it’s important to rest, take time to recharge the batteries because we will be much better for it when we have to start all over again. Take time for you and catch up with friends and family when you can. They keep you grounded. Being grounded is so important and it’s something we have to do spiritually and physically…so don’t forget, do something normal and fun for a change and relax…your body, mind and soul are telling you to relax!"

Lisa Williams was kind enough to speak by phone with us from her home in California about her upcoming event in the Twin Cities…and about life in general.

I’ve interviewed other psychics who have said that around the teen years, when you’re trying to fit in with other friends, that it was typical for them to suppress their psychic abilities. What was your experience during that time?
Lisa Williams:
Oh, absolutely! I just didn’t want to accept it, didn’t want to believe it in my early teens. In England, we do what is called A levels and we can finish school at the age of 16. That’s when we choose whether to go on for higher education. Some people go off to college, some people stay at school. I opted to stay at school between the age of 16 and 18. Around that time, I just thought, "You know what? I am different, so who cares?" And I then decided to embrace it.

I had some freakish looks for a little while. And then an instance happened at school that no one could explain. I actually wasn’t in the room at the time, and I came in and said, "What happened?" And then I proceeded to describe the whole instance of what had happened in front of them. From then on, they couldn’t dismiss it. It was quite funny, because then I had this little secret party trick which was good and everyone loved me for it.

When did you choose to help others full time with your abilities?
LW:
That was a really hard transition. I finally thought about going into it full time about seven years ago. Prior to that I was doing it just a little bit in the evenings as a second job, just to help out with finances.

I was reading your blog, and you had written once, from Des Moines, where actually you could not help a woman with closure – and that in itself was a learning experience for everybody at that event.
LW:
Oh, completely. And you can’t help everyone. This woman wanted so much to find the closure after 18 years, but sometimes it just doesn’t come. It’s a case in which we have to learn, "OK, it’s time for me to move on." It doesn’t happen overnight and it is a big lesson for us all.

You’ve indicated that you can see spirits sometimes pretty clearly. When you’re on stage at an event, do they actually walk around with you on stage?
LW:
They are. They’re walking around on stage and you’ll often see me looking over to the right into the wings, because they’re normally around that vicinity – or will come to the right of me. They haven’t got a lot of time, only an hour or two, to show up. They can come and use as much energy as they wish and physically show themselves to me. Sometimes I will see them like that or I’ll just hear them.

So, during the course of a two hour show you’re going to have a lot of people coming and going in that space, right?
LW:
It will be a bit busy up there.

I was thinking when I was reading your blog that the most challenging part probably is just the demanding travel.
LW:
In that sense, I think it is. But I think really the hardest part –
not of being a medium, but of my life – is being away from my family. I’m very
lucky at the moment where my parents have got Charlie. He’s in Spain for a month.
He comes back in a week’s time, and I’ve been able to travel with my husband,
and that’s been fabulous. But when Charlie comes back, then I have to say good-bye
to him. My husband has to stay at home and look after Charlie and make sure that
he has his routine, and then I’m the one who has to go away and leave the dog,
leave Charlie, leave Kevin and travel. And I love traveling on my own, that’s
not the hardest part. Leaving my family is the hardest.

What do you think of the popular TV shows related to your field, namely "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium"?
LW:
I think I’ve seen only part of an episode of "Ghost Whisperer." I try not to watch those sort of things, because it’s like me watching someone doing my job. When I switch on the TV, I don’t want to watch my job, you know? That’s it. Of the parts of "Ghost Whisperer" I have seen, I liked it. It’s funny, because I have chatted with James Van Praagh and said, "So, tell me, is this exactly how the person you based your show on really is?" He said, "It is Hollywood, but this is really what she does." I’ve met Allison DuBois, who Medium is based on, and she claims the show is very true to her life, and I think it’s great. I think what they’ve done is portray it in a very unique way.

Do you have a sense of what percentage of the public now believes that life continues on after death?
LW:
No matter what, we’re always going to have skeptics, but I do believe that we are probably going into the majority of people now. I think as many as 60 percent are a little more spiritual, a little bit more open.

What do you say to people who are skeptical?
LW:
I look at them and say, "You know, my dad’s skeptical. I understand you." And they’re quite surprised at that. And then I say to them, "I’m skeptical, too." Because I am.

Because I’ve been brought up with a skeptical nature, because of my father, it makes me work so much harder in getting the clarity and the details and the facts to the skeptics. And I say, "You know what? Just come and see my show. If you don’t get anything out of it, if you just think I am just a complete fraud, then fine, you’ll still have a lot of fun."

I just recently read for a skeptic in one of my shows, and he stood there and said, "Where would you come up with a calcium deficiency for my mother?"

I said, "I don’t know."

He said, "She just got diagnosed with a calcium deficiency today." He was blown away with the information that I said.

How has your dad responded to you being on television and everything?
LW:
I’m on television so he’s proud of me, because he sees me doing something I enjoy, but he just doesn’t understand it. It was only early on this year, in April, that he finally came to some of my shows. He had never been to see anything about what I did. He didn’t want to talk about it. So finally he actually accepted the fact that I do it. He said, "I can’t understand it. I don’t want to understand it, but what I do know is that you help so many people and I know you’re not a liar, so I know that obviously this goes further."

How is your book tour going? How did the reaction to your book go?
LW:
The reaction to the book was great. It’s just been sold into various different countries now, so it’s actually going out to the world.

Why did you write your book?
LW:
I wrote the book because so many people were asking me the question, "Have you always had this gift?" and many other questions about my life. I just need to get this information out there into the mainstream so that people really know what I’ve been through and that life isn’t always easy, and how we do have to learn and grow, and there’s a lot of growth that we all have to achieve. The book helps people understand my story. I’ve had so many letters saying that my book was inspirational to them to finally pick up the talent that they have as a medium or a psychic or a healer.

How did writing the book change you?
LW:
It was weird. It made me look at aspects of my life that I really didn’t want to look at, and it made me delve into the past again. We all want to keep the past the past. It made me grow as a complete person. It made me grow within my family, as well. It made it possible for me to understand myself better and understand my gift better. It made me understand my family more, and hence, we’ve just become a closer unit.

So, not only did readers see who you are, but you got to see a bigger picture of who you are.
LW:
There are those things that you don’t want to face again, you know, like cancer and everything else. You don’t want to face those moments in your life again.

One aspect that people may not know is that you do healing. Did that just come to you naturally or did you study?
LW:
It was a natural thing that I did. I didn’t really understand it. I had no idea why I was taking people’s pain away. Then I decided to study Reiki, because that would give me more of an understanding. I’m glad I did that. Now, I combine Reiki and spiritual healing, and the results are amazing.

Is there an awful lot of demand on your time for things like that, in terms of healing requests?
LW:
I actually do a weekly healing list where people can submit their name to the weekly healing list, and I’ll do the healing on them. A lot of people have said, "It’s amazing. I always know when the healing’s coming." And I always send the healing weekly, plus some folks twice a week.

I don’t get a lot of personal demands, except from my friends – and I’ve found that you can’t always help someone. Recently I found that you can’t always save someone’s life through healing. You can help them with the transition into the other world, which just recently happened.

What messages have you received about what we’re to experience in the near future?
LW:
I do feel the change in the energy of the world, of the Universe, is completely changing. As we head towards 2012, which is the end of the Mayan calendar, I do think there will be a lot of natural changes in the earth and the actual Universe, but I don’t know what they are. I wish I did.

Is there any overall message you would like to share with our readers right now?
LW:
So many people want to try to find or speak to their loved ones. But sometimes it’s not healthy to speak to mediums. We can become very obsessed by trying to get the answers and the closure that we need, when actually we can find it within ourselves. You only have to look around and you’ll find signs. Ask your loved ones to give you a sign, and you’ll find that the sign will come along. I really think that people should start looking within themselves for the answers and not seeking the answers. That’s not a good advertisement for what I do, but I think really there is so much emphasis on getting a reading that really, you just have to look for the answers yourself.

Finally, what is your bigger dream of things that you haven’t done yet? What would you like to do?
LW:
I always joke with people and say, "I want to be the Oprah of the spirit world!" Really, I’m being deadly serious. I just feel that I want to be the person to bring a lot of subjects and topics out into the forefront, just like Oprah has done, and try and bring it out in a normal way. I want to let people understand these things by being normal with it. I want people to understand that you don’t have to be all on cloud coo-coo land and you don’t have to be a tie-dye psychic to appreciate the spiritual gift that we all have in life. I really think that that’s my main purpose for being here on this earth.

It sounds like maybe your new show will be the beginning of that.
LW:
Yeah, well maybe!

Visit Lisa Williams’ website and blog at www.lisawilliamsmedium.com.

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Tim Miejan
Tim Miejan is a writer who served as former editor and publisher of The Edge for twenty-five years. Contact him at [email protected].

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