Sean Paradis

Mediums, clairvoyants, and sensitives; what do these all have in common? They are all classifications under the umbrella of being “psychic.” Each has a unique bond with Spirits. I feel the word psychic is spread around the paranormal field by those who do not truly know the different types of psychics. Now, there is nothing wrong with the word psychic. I personally feel that it is a term that is to be used until someone finds their niche in the paranormal field, or as a universal term when in public or the media. The niches of being psychic are mediums, clairvoyants, and sensitives.  The question becomes; what are the differences between mediums, clairvoants and pshycics?

A medium is a person that has contact, whether it is audio, visual, sensory, or any other form with spirits. These are the people that become telephones to spirits. Some may only be able to make calls, others may only receive calls. Or, they both receive and make calls to spirits. What truly defines a medium, is when the call is made both the medium and the spirit are aware of the connection. These are the types of psychics that spirits will want to go to when they have a message to be passed on to the living. The next niche is clairvoyants, which is slightly different than a medium.

The major difference between a clairvoyant and a medium is that the conversation is not a two-way conversation. Essentially, it is like a mother and a child in separate rooms with a baby monitor in each room. In this situation, the spirit is the child, and the clairvoyant is the mother. The clairvoyant can sense the spirit, but is unable to send messages through the monitor. they can only receive messages.

Another fantastic example of this is watching TV. The spirit is making the image appear on the screen. You can tell the actors advice as much as you want, hit the screen or anything else, but the actors in the show will not hear you. The show will continue the same way as if the clairvoyant is not even there. All that is left to do is talk to your friends in the break-room the next day about how Mary should have left Paul for cheating on her. Clairvoyants are able to receive messages and pass them on to the living. That is normally as in-depth as the connection will go. When the message is passed on, the connection is normally closed. The third and final niche is sensitives.

The major difference between mediums, clairvoyants, and sensitives is where information from spirits is received. Mediums and clairvoyants are able to receive information from spirits wherever and whenever a spirit wants to send information. Sensitives are normally only able to receive information when in haunted locations, or a place spirits visit. A sensitive may be able to make two-way or one one-way conversation but only in certain locations.

In my opinion, sensitives are the luckiest of the niches. They are able to help spirits, but they do not have to be burdened by spirits 24/7. I know that this may sound bad, but I am sure that any therapist or any other job that helps the living would agree with me when I say that helping others can mentally drain you. They love to help their patients, but when it takes over their life it becomes a mental strain. Mediums and clairvoyants have communication with spirits that is more difficult to turn off. Sensitives only have open communication when in a haunted location.

In the beginning of this article, I stated the term psychic should be used only if someone does not know which niche they fit into to, or in the public and media.  Currently the banner to my website states “Sean Paradis: The Psychic Paranormal Investigator.” I am a Sensitive. If I were to put “The Sensitive Paranormal Investigator,” or “Medium Paranormal Investigator,” there would be way too many interpretations of what “sensitive” and “Medium” meant. Some would know I meant sensitive as in able to perceive spirits. Other would assume I meant sensitive as in my personality. Psychic is a term that everyone knows. Medium presents the same conflicts. Some may assume I meant medium as in medium-quality. Therefore, “psychic” is a term best used in the public and media to create as little confusion as possible.

Now, I have noticed that everyone’s interpretation of these niches is different. These are my own personal interpretations. If your interpretation varies, please leave comments about what you agree, or disagree with. The only way to move forward in the paranormal field is to pool everyone’s knowledge together.

When visiting a popular location, it becomes difficult to keep an open mind while investigating. Generally, the top three things that happen in people’s minds at locations that are well known is that they either think every noise is paranormal, they are waiting for something epic to happen because of the locations reputation, or they are in such awe about the location they miss everything.

Generally, when a person believes every noise to be paranormal, it is often because they have heard stories about the place they are visiting, and want to see something so much that they create evidence in their mind. A creaking floor board will be evidence to them, and it is difficult to convince them otherwise. This can happen to anyone. A simple way to experience similar phenomena for yourself is to sit for a minute, and start to think you have a headache. Imagine actually feeling it. A lot of times, the pain of a phantom headache will develop.

This is what happens on an investigation. People hear the stories of the place they are walking through, and they want to see something so bad, they take a normal noise, and believe it is paranormal. They will see fake shadows, or think they are hearing things. The other side of this is when a person discredits everything anticipating larger evidence.

If the stories are of a grand scale, including full body apparitions and hearing voices right next to you, they may be so excited to experience the stories, that they brush off smaller evidence like cold spots, gentle taps on the walls, or footsteps. They may blame someone in the other room making the noise, or blame the cold spot on a draft. Granted, these may be the cause, but not always. Most times they will not even consider it to be paranormal. The third most common thing to happen is for a person to be completely unaware of any evidence.

A person is in such awe about the stories that a majority of their consciousness is focused on the story, trying to wrap their brain around it, and the fact that they are actually there in the location. The best way that I can describe this, is when you are driving and listening to the radio. When you get to your destination, think about what happened during the drive. A lot of times, I do not remember any details except the major ones. This is what happens a lot at investigations. The major portion of their attention is on the story, that evidence that may happen becomes the minor details that they will forget in the end.

The best way to have a balance between looking for evidence, and being able to tell the difference between what is real and what is not, is a few days before the investigation, put the stories away. Do something else that does not involve the location. A highly effective method is to meditate each night and morning for a few days prior to the investigation. This helps to filter and balance out your mind, and will make it easier to investigate without judging evidence too quickly.

The Fenestra Tarot deck by Chatriya is a deck that I personally don’t like that much. The images in my opinion sit flat in my mind. When I use the deck, I can get the general meaning of the card for a brief reading, but I can’t gather enough detail to give a full reading.

This is more of a deck for a person who does a lot of quick readings, gathers the major details from cards, and then relies on their personal instinct and gut feelings for the rest of the reading. I’m more of a reader who likes to look at the cards more while doing readings.

Like all other decks that I review, I recommend looking at the deck on Google images, and see what you can read from looking at the cards online. This is the easiest way to see how well you can read the cards without having to buy the deck.

The Universal Waite Tarot deck, re-colored by Mary Hanson-Roberts is based off of the Original Waite Tarot Deck. I haven’t used to Original deck, but I have used the Universal deck. However, I have Googled images of the two decks, and I prefer the look of the Universal Deck. The images seem to be more vibrant, and more energetic.

The Universal Waite Tarot Deck is a great deck to buy as a first deck. The cards have enough images to give a general meaning with enough detail to allow you to interpret more. However, the cards aren’t so detailed that they become overwhelming to look at for the first time. Now, whether you will prefer the Original or Universal Rider Waite, I can’t say. The best advice I can give readers is to Google images of both decks, and see which you prefer.

Now there are a few packages of this deck you can buy. I have seen the deck sold by itself, and a package with both the deck and a book written by Arthur Edward Waite, and a tarot spread sheet. I haven’t used the spread sheet much, and the book I haven’t read at all really. The beginning of the book is a history about Tarot, and the rest of the book is about the meanings of all the cards.

I would only suggest getting the deck by itself. It will save you the money of buying the complete set. The deck comes with a small 35 page book that gives the meaning of all the cards. The additional book is more for readers who want a history of tarot. However, just to warn you, it is a little bit of dry reading.

The Mystic Dreamer Tarot by Barbara Moore is a wonderfully drawn and colored deck. The images on the cards deliver clear meanings to me, and they many layers of depth to them. When I read cards, I look at the foreground, gathering the meaning of the whole card. Then I look at images further into the background, and tie them in with the entire meaning.

The Moore has done a phenomenal job designing the cards to allow readers to do this. The cards contain a clear general meaning, and enough detail in the background to give the important details needed to make the entire message clear. However, there aren’t too many details in the background to where the entire card blurs together.

The deck also comes with a book, called The Dreamer’s Journal, which has plenty of useful information. Like many other books included with tarot decks, the book discusses all of the cards, and their general meanings. However, this book includes more. It also includes a few brief sections on how to read tarot cards, keeping a tarot journal, tarot spreads to use, and a small section on dream work, and using the cards to do so.

Overall, this is a phenomenal deck. What I recommend to do, just like with all tarot decks, is to Google images of the cards, and see how well you can read them. If you feel drawn to the cards, look more into this deck. I personally adore this deck. The combination of the fantastic artwork of the cards, and the accompanied book is a great tool for psychics and non-psychics alike to develop their skills, or practice using tarot cards.

I find the Medieval Scrapini tarot deck by Luigi Scrapini to be a confusing when reading the spreads. The cards are lusciously colored in gold, copper, and many other metallic colors. There are natural colors like blues and reds, but many of the backgrounds are compiled of the metallic ones. For me, this makes it difficult to read the images in a tarot spread. Will this happen to everyone? No. if someone was to be drawn to those colors more often this deck would be perfect for them.

For me, the colors just create confusion. What happens in my mind is that the background and the foreground blend together, and I can’t read the card with three dimensions, which is how I personally read tarot cards. What I recommend to do is to Google this deck online and look at the images of the cards. If the colors don’t seem to distract you, look further into buying the cards. However, if you’re like me, and the colors seem to be too much to look at at one time, I would recommend looking at another deck.

When choosing a tarot deck to purchase, it can seem intimidating to choose the right deck for you. It can be simple, even more so if you are at a physical store and can hold the decks, opposed to shopping online. However, both can be done in a way that will provide you with a proper deck. The best way to choose a deck is to pick the tarot deck that jumps out to you, not by the decks popularity.

One of the most popular tarot decks is the Rider Waite tarot deck. Often times, when choosing tarot decks, many people buy this deck due to its popularity. The problem is with this, not every deck works for everyone. The best way to choose one is by your gut instinct.

When you approach the shelf of tarot cards, or the internet page with them, choose the deck that appeals the most to you. The best metaphor that I can use to describe this is pulling into an empty parking lot, drive past empty spots, and pull into one.  It’s as if your subconscious picks one spot, and draws you to it. This is what you’re going to be looking for when picking a deck.

To be sure the deck you have chosen is the right one for you, look at the cover image. If you find yourself seeing the picture, but not being able to interpret it, the deck you chose initially may not be the right deck for you. Instead, pick another deck, and try to interpret the new picture. When you find the right deck, you will know. The images may begin to form layers to them, and you will pick out the major details of the picture, than smaller ones in the background. Your mind may start to form a story, and you may feel emotions from the image.

The reason I say “may,” is because it varies from person to person. Everyone reads cards differently. But generally, it doesn’t vary too much from what I listed. If you have any questions about choosing a deck, please email me at Sean@SeanParadis.com

The question “do you have to be born psychic” pops up a lot in the psychic and paranormal field. Many will assume that the answer to this is yes. Contrary to this assumption, the answer is no! Personally, I believe everyone is a born with a degree of sensitivity. Some realize that they are sensitive early on in their lifetime. Others realize it in their later years. The best time to realize it is when you are younger, simply because it gives you more time to fine tune your gift, and learn what situations make you more sensitive than others. People can still do this later on in their lifetime. However, it can be a major advantage to learn when you are younger.

I did not know that I was psychic until I turned eighteen. Once I realized I was psychic, it was like turning on a light switch. I could read tarot cards without having to refer to the book, and have the visions that I receive in haunted locations. This is not common for everyone. Most often, those who learn they are psychic start off with small, and their ability grows over time. Just because you were not born with a higher psychic ability, does not mean you do not have the ability to be. The truth is everyone is psychic. It just depends on how sensitive you are, and whether or not you work on increasing your sensitivity.

The easiest way to test how sensitive you are is to sit down with a family member or friend, and see if you can read their emotion or moods. The most common sensation to happen when doing this is to have random flashes of thoughts, emotions, or pictures travel through your mind. If this happens, ask the person you are sitting with is having the emotions, thoughts, or images in their mind. Do not be afraid of being wrong, or shy to ask. There is no harm in being wrong. If you ask, and are wrong, try again. If after a little while you have not been getting solid results, take a break. Not everyone is able to pick up on other’s mood or thoughts.

 A second test is to take a deck of tarot cards, flip through the deck looking at the pictures, and interpret the images. If you are new to reading tarot cards, I highly recommend the Universal Waite Tarot deck. You should start by looking at the main person or object of the card. Once you have interpreted that, start to examine the background and relate it to the main image. When you are reading tarot cards, try to turn each card into a story. Try and feel the emotion of the card. If you know someone who can read tarot cards, discuss your interpretations with them.  Than, give them a reading. See if you are able to pick up events in their life by using each card as a representation of the person. The cards will become a story of the person you are reading.

Another way to increase your sensitivity is to visit haunted locations. Try and find places where there have been reports of the highest activity. When I have a vision, it is similar to having a memory. You do not see them through your eyes. Ninety nine percent of the time the images are in your mind. I will see a person in my mind, and once I focus on them, I can pick up events from their past. When you are visiting your chosen locations, if something random pops into your mind, do not pass it off as your mind making things up. Start to allow impressions to flow into your mind.

One of the biggest signs that I am having a vision, and not just my mind making things up, is that I can remember everything that I am seeing, even weeks after visiting the location. It is like their memories will be stored permanently in my mind until I research them and find out more about the spirits life. When you start to have images, write them down in a notebook, or use a voice recorder. When you get home, look up the names, dates, and other facts online, or bring them to a genealogist to try and prove your images were real.

The most important thing to remember is that you have to want to be psychic. If you do not keep your mind set on that, it becomes harder to focus. The second most important thing is to keep an open mind, and always be relaxed when you are trying to receive impressions, whether you are doing a tarot reading, visiting a haunted site, or sitting with a friend. The last thing to remember, but not the least, is always have fun when you are doing this. It should never feel like a chore. When you enjoy broadening your psychic talents, it will be always be more worthwhile, and more effective.