Medium Income
 

From her web site:

"Due to the high number of requests I receive for readings, my waiting list currently has over 350 people with some who have been waiting over a year and a half. New people added to the list may likely have to wait up to two years.

The cost of a reading is $200."

Now, this $70,000 of potential income may not be "fortune," but it is not to be sniffed at since it is in addition to what she makes in personal appearances.

Then there are her "monthly webinars" at $25 per session, and who knows how many people are signed up.

Among her future bookings this year are:

Mediumship Class - Tacoma, WA $250 per person, 50 student limit. ($12,500)

Afterlife Communications Symposium (Workshop) - Phoenix, AZ $40 per person, limit 400 people. ($16,000)

Mediumship Class - Salt Lake City, UT $222 per person, 50 limit. ($11,100)

Adventures in Consciousness - Carbonville, CO - $25 per person, limit not given. (?)

That's about $100,000 (figuring that not every meeting fills up) plus the webinar income and income from the ten books she has written.

Of course this is "gravy" on top of the retirement income and benefits she receives as a Navy Commander, and her husband receives as a Navy Captain.

The meetings listed are just through the end of September 2017. She has bookings though November of 2018.

This is not an attack on the lady's entrepreneurship. It is to point out to Barefoot that the practice of being a Medium can be lucrative.

The medium business sounds like a winner to me - and I have yet to be struck by lightning!

Set your own schedule, no scholastic preparation/degree/certification required. Cash income. Where do I sign up?

I would like to talk to a bunch of people who have been to a medium and see what they think. I watch that tv show that is on now.....can't think of the name of it.....Tyler is the guy's name and he reads famous Hollywood people. They act like there is no way he could have known the things he comes up with because they said it things that have never been published or they have never talked about to anyone. But if you haven't gone through it yourself, how you to say for sure if it is real or not. There are a lot of things we don't understand even though we have scientists, so maybe this is one of those things that could be real. And then again even if it is real there are always people who will pretend to be a medium just to get money. How many of you have been to a medium?

OK, so I was trained as a scientist so I will respond. Typically, if the results cannot be reproduced by others then there is a significant doubt. Also, without peer review, any results are suspect. I am not saying that new phenomenon cannot be discovered. It is just that the probability is remote without corroboration. As I stated before, there is a difference between faith and fact. Mediums fall into the category of faith. Scientists deal with facts.

In other words, those that believe are most likely tricking themselves into believing the absurd.

Probably. I choose that word carefully as I deal with probabilities because we don't know what new knowledge tomorrow will bring. However, if it brings them comfort then I don't see an issue - sort of like religion which is faith based (if case you are wondering I was raised Catholic). Just don't try to convince me without proof. But to someone who is hurting, what I, or anyone else thinks, doesn't really matter.

I logically will doubt other things the believers say as truthful.

The Word of God is clear on the sorcery, divination, fortune telling, mediums.

See this chapter in the Book of Acts:

Acts 16 NABRE - Chapter 16 - Paul in Lycaonia: Timothy. - Bible Gateway


.

I very much agree with your scientific, yet caring take on this.

Showtime Video
 

Penn & Teller, famous for their career as magicians or illusionists, are very impatient with "Mediums."

It is their view that Mediums are frauds who manipulate their audiences' emotions and vulnerabilities. This outrages them, and has led them to make several disclosures regarding how the fraud is perpetuated.

One of these disclosures was made on a Showtime special, whose title I cannot write on this message board due to the filter for gross language.

NOTE also that Penn uses a lot of gross expletives in the video. If you find this offensive, you might want to skip the video. However, Penn explains that he does this partly for legal purposes. He says that if he calls a Medium a "liar" he will probably end up in court, so instead he calls the Medium an obscene name, which we are given to understand means that the Medium is a liar.

The video contains some tape of one case where "pre-show" contact is made between the Medium and her small audience in which critical information is obtained that will be used in the show. In another, after making a series of wrong guesses, the Medium totally reverses course.

If you watch this tape you will understand the basic techniques of "cold readings" as well as "hot readings."

In one case a man who is reduced to tears during the "contact" with his mother, begins suspecting he has been deceived as he drives home from the meeting.

Watching this video is worth your time.

Penn & Teller Bull****! - (1-01) - Talking to the Dead on Vimeo

Carl in Tampa wrote
"The cost of a reading is $200."
"Now, this $70,000 of potential income may not be a fortune . . ."

From her website Suzanne Giesemann | Messenger of Hope one can read all about her.

"EACH YEAR SUZANNE DONATES INCOME FROM HER READINGS TO CHARITY IN MEMORY OF HER STEP-DAUGHTER, SERGEANT SUSAN MARIE GIESEMANN "

Answering the subject of the thread.
 

The title of this thread asks the question, " Can people really contact dead people's spirits?"

Penn & Teller, the professional magicians and illusionists, say No.

On youtube you can find their Showtime special in which they express this very forcibly. They use lots of obscenities to give emphasis to their position.

Embarrassment of Riches
 

........... which does wonders to offset the taxes in the tax bracket which she (retired Navy Commander) and her husband (retired Navy Captain) find themselves.

It does not say ALL income from her readings.

You neglected the additional income from person appearances, monthly webinars, and the ten books she has published.

Again, I don't criticize her entrepreneurship, I'm just pointing out that being a Medium can be very lucrative.

It must be a great talent to tell the fraudulent mediums from the authentic ones. It is an even greater talent to choose the book that identifies the proper authorities than can do it.

The real fraudulent medium identifiers vs. The fake medium identifiers.

Barefoot. She sounds like the real deal. I will probably never have any desire to talk to a medium. Have not yet and probably never will. But this lady sounds sincere and not someone just out to make a buck.

My first reaction is that it is extremely easy to tell the difference----there are no authentic mediums.

However, let me just throw a bizarre theory out here from left field. According to Stephen Hawking, "information" cannot be destroyed. Based on quantum mechanics, string theory and the mathematics of what happens at the event horizon of a singularity, he states that all information is recorded as a 2 dimensional "map" on the inside of a sphere that is the boundary of our universe. Every event, every person, every thought ever is recorded there. I have no idea how it is possible, but he has "proven" it mathematically, and his proof is accepted by other astrophysicists. Now, this "sphere" is located about 15-20 BILLION light years from the center of the universe, so you can't get there by golf cart. How it is recorded and how it can be read, I have no idea.

We just don't know much about how the universe works, but the nature of space-time suggests that even 20 billion light years can be just inches away. We also don't know much about how a human brain works. So.....what if there are some unique individuals who can somehow tap into that "encyclopedia" of knowledge? We might call them "psychics", "clairvoyants", or "mediums", but they just have a book that you don't. They could tell you things that they would have no way of knowing. Personally, I just want to know how the pyramids were built and who shot JFK.

Esoteric enough for everyone????:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

So if a butterfly farts in the Villages it is recorded 20 billion light years away on the inside of this expanding sphere?

According to Hawking, and the physicists who agree with his proof---YES.
But the bigger question: Do butterflies fart?????:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Actually, your thoughts about a butterfly farting are recorded there as well

The easiest way to determine if the dead can see something has been studied numerous times. People dying on the operating room table and then being brought back to life. They often speak of seeing the light but real scientific studies have shown they haven't had that out-of-body experience they claim. Sometimes messages, words, playing cards have been put on the top of lockers, cabinets, etc and as far as I know, none of the dead out of body people have been able to say what was written or shown above. They say they can look down upon themselves as they lay dead on the table, but can't really prove it.

Establishing death is another issue. Close to death, heart stoppage, loss of reactions, lack of brain activity...all things that are often said to be death, aren't.

Having brought back dozens, if not a hundred or so back to life, I'd say the only definitive definition of death is: You're dead and you stay dead.

BTW, most of those people told me they didn't remember anything, or they thought they just dozed off for a few minutes. But then again, they weren't really dead

My friend Tom Snow was dead for a few minutes but he did not remember anything. Or was scared to say.

I want more than just a medium who can channel the deceased. I am a mess and need the whole package, aura cleansing, chakra balancing, a karma reset, and I would like a couple of hexes removed, especially the one that makes me think I can still hit an 8 iron 155 yards. My wife thinks I also need a filter tune up. She wishes we could make my inner child shut up. She is particularly frustrated that it renders me incapable of containing my amusement when I see a bad toupee and is worried that I might have PTSD, Progressive Tourette Syndrome Disorder, but I say **** that noise. My cousin keeps trying to convince me that veganism would solve all my problems and she may be right but we are on a fixed income and have you seen the price of air fresheners? My wife just peeked over my shoulder and asked me why I am letting my inner child post stuff on a public forum so I guess I better get to stepping and try to find my center with a some three count breathing, stop sign visualization, and a little mantra affirmation thrown in for good measure.

If you can't even hit an 8 iron 155, you need a golf pro, not a medium:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

If you can find a golf pro who can make me not be a 72 year old man with the knees of a 100 year old man, sign me up.

maybe a medium could find one........:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Being someone who is about ten years younger, but has knees 10 years older than the poster you addressed, I don't think a 'medium' would work for me...I need a 'large.' :D


As for... ..I would bet that 98%+ of golfers here (even us single digit ones)...cannot consistently hit an 8 iron 155 yards. :shrug:

In fact, here are the 'averages' for the pros.

http://golftips.golfweek.com/average...fer-20585.html

My one and only (to date :D) hole-in-one was an 8 iron @ 161 yards (memorialized by a plaque from the course, due to a tournament)... but was also 15 years ago and was totally flushed and at the upper limit of that club. Even then my 'average' for that club was about 150 yards.

And yes, I realize there are those rare individuals that can hit a golf ball a long ways...all through the bag.

After all, how else could the old adage that "the woods are full of big hitters"... ever have come about? :1rotfl: :1rotfl:

Answers
 

I didn't say $70,000 per year. I said that a waiting list of 350 people at $200 each was a potential income of $70,000. (She says that some have been waiting over a year and a half.)

I arrived at the $100,000 per year by adding up some of her scheduled events admission costs, and estimating the unknowable amounts that she gets from her monthly webinars, and her book profits.

In another post you resent me calling her an entrepreneur. That is not a term of disparagement. Look up the definition. "A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so."

Generally, Americans admire entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

But this is off topic. I only responded because you questioned my figures.

I too had an event memorialized by a plaque attached to a tree on a course I used to play frequently in Germany.

It reads, "Rapscallion St Croix's putter died at the hands of its master on this tree on 7 July 1997." It doesn't really say RSC, but you get the picture. True story.

Oh, I can certainly believe it.

Are you by any chance left-handed and did you play Strawberry Farms in Irvine, CA back in 2004 sometime? :D

The Ranger said it had been there a few days and each group through pretty much just took a photo of it...and left it as is. :1rotfl:

Video
 

Now, we are back on topic. "Can people really contact dead people's spirits?"

Yes, as I said, Penn & Teller are illusionists (magicians) who have been working the trade for about a half a century.

Among the things that they are familiar with are what is called in the illusion trade, "Mentalists." There is a very direct correlation between the acts of Mentalists and the demonstrations of Psychics. It is this correlation that appears to motivate Penn to condemn the Psychics who do not acknowledge that they are deceiving their audience.

I attempted once to post the link to Penn's video. It didn't work out because of objectionable words in the title. Let's try this:

Type the following into your browser with no spaces.

https://vimeo. com/18590 9801

It's educational.