"So when did you know you were psychic?" is the most frequently asked question of Gibsons author Natasha Rosewood, whose own reluctant awakening as a psychic is the subject of her recent, self-published book Aaagh! I Think I'm Psychic (And You Can Be Too). Here she speaks with Coast Reporter:Natasha Rosewood: When I use the word psychic, I'm talking about the mind. It's about understanding how the whole mind works. When we know that, we know a lot of our future. We do have the answer in our subconscious, in our souls, and when I do a reading I always urge people to listen to themselves because I could be wrong. I'm helping them form a bridge between their ego state and their soul and subconscious. Coast Reporter: Is that what you do in your psychic development workshops?
NR: Yes, and what's interesting is that I'm getting all kinds of people coming who are already psychic. Or people who are healers: reiki, social workers, psychologists, healing touch. Or people who are interested in it because they suspect they have ability. CR: How do you do readings? NR: I tune in to the person's energy to see what's going on in the present in and around them. Then I'll read their palm and see what they've been doing in their past, sometimes their past lives. Sometimes, I've seen into future lives.
CR: But how can you know that or prove that?
NR: It's amazing, because I do feel that everything we've experienced in this lifetime is imprinted, I believe, in the cells, in our cellular memory, and also in the subconscious. When I say to someone, 'You've been a witch who was burned at the stake,' for example, they say, 'Oh my god, that makes so much sense. I'm terrified by fire and I always think if I say something out loud I'll be persecuted.' It resonates.
CR: But they can't know what's going to happen in their future. NR: They can't. But when I sit down and start 'reading' a person, most people will know if I'm clued into who they are. Sometimes, I'll see things that will happen two, ten years from now and they look at me blankly and say, 'You're out to lunch, Natasha.' Those people will often call me two or five years later and say, 'I played the tape and everything you said came true.'
CR: Do you enjoy having that effect on people?
NR: I enjoy it. You have to have fun with it. This higher power has a wicked sense of humour, sometimes ironic, sometimes Monty Python. I try and bring humour and lightness into my readings because I think that's what enlightenment is about, lightening up. If there were a lot more laughter on the planet, a lot more compassion for ourselves, more forgiveness and open mindedness, it would be healthier all around. CR: In the book, you describe a serious experience in Oregon when you were visited by a higher intelligence who let you know that there would be an earthquake in Vancouver on July 11 of a future year. What do you say to people who think this visitation was wacko?
NR: I'd say they're entitled to believe what they want to believe. It's real for me. Why would you not believe that there's a higher power that's in and around us? When I do a reading, people will argue and say 'No, Natasha, there's absolutely no way I'd move to Calgary.' I tell them that I know it will happen. At the time of the visitation, I knew I wasn't really crazy, but it was pretty far out. I didn't want to have the responsibility of these visions. What was I supposed to do with them? Every time July 11 comes around, I put a white light over Vancouver and I pray like crazy.
CR: Does this mean these events, such as the earthquake, are all preordained?
NR: A lot of it is I think we can rise above our destinies that are negative by becoming extremely aware and having compassion for ourselves. CR: Is psychic ability a burden or a gift?
NR: I used to call it a curse. I think it carries a huge responsibility, but at the same time, I see it as a gift. I feel very blessed in many ways when I see people leaving here feeling so much better.
CR: Is that what you're doing in the workshops? Not so much psychic development but counselling? NR: Yes, there's a healing that takes place - and a clearing. Often, people who come to the workshop are stuck, and through the exercises, they work though it. We do psychometry - tuning into an object such as a ring, keys or jewellery, or tuning into another person at the workshop. One of the biggest things from the workshop is the validation. What I feel is real, what I see is real, I'm not making this up, and I'm not crazy. CR: Your book is a very personal story. Why did you decide to write it? NR: I feel that a lot of psychics I've met have developed their ability because they have gone though something in their childhood; they've been abused sexually, physically or verbally and there's been one incident that has catapulted them into that other world where they can find a safe place. I wrote the book because I encountered other women who had wicked mothers like myself. Everything (in the book) is 100 per cent open and true. I've changed the names, obviously. CR: You talk about seeing spirits as a child. Tell me about that. NR: It seemed natural to see spirits as a child. All children are psychic to varying degrees. We grow out of it or we're told to. My father laughed when he told me that I had an invisible friend. I was told it was my imagination or I was being ridiculous, as my mother said. I deal with a lot of people who have had that part of them shut down, that creative, psychic side of them, by their parents, teachers, principals. It's tragic. What I'm doing is reawakening that aspect in people - their creativity and their psychic, intuitive self because I feel it's such a large part - it's really about our essence and who we truly are. CR: You give readings, hold workshops, now a book tour. This is your life, isn't it?
NR: Yes, I'm working on the second book with the working title of Aaagh! I See Dead People and You Can Too. It's a collection of stories about the wildest and wackiest of my readings, with permission from the clients. Psychic development workshops will be offered on Sept. 11, Oct. 16 and Nov. 6. For information, call 604-886-5718 or email [email protected].
