ANDY CHAPLIN explains how his first psychic reading experience helped him discover his own ability to be a medium…
It was the year 2000 and after the fun and joy of celebrating the dawning of a new Millennium (goodness, that was a LONG way back now), I found myself rather sad.
My little black and white cat, James, had disappeared for a few weeks, and after much searching and not much hope in finding him, I decided to do something I never thought I would ever do, I decided to see a psychic to try and locate his whereabouts.
Although I always had a keen interest in the paranormal, actually going for a pyschic reading wasn’t really something that particularly appealed to me for some reason.
However, there I was stepping through the door of a quaint little house in leafy Epping of a lovely little psychic lady called Shelley
My psychic reading with Shelley
Shelley was ever so sweet and reminded me very much of Mumsie from the Crystal Maze (now that’s going back even further!). She made me a cup of tea and there we sat at her kitchen table with me feeling a mixture of nerves, slight trepidation and wondering what she might pick up on. She was pretty much everything I imagined a psychic lady would be like – flowing clothes, wind chimes, jangly jewellery, Tarot cards and an air of mystique.
So what did she pick up?
Shelley began by telling me a few things about my life, my work and even described our two cats. I hadn’t told her anything about myself but she was pretty spot on, I was impressed by the accuracy of a lot of things. Some of these things have slipped from memory but many still stick.
She described how he was annoyed at being put outside and was almost in a huff at the time of going missing. This was true, it was cold and I put him outside which he didn’t like, but the idea was for him to get some exercise and go to the toilet before letting him back in, but sadly he never came back.
There were several other details about the situation and other aspects of my life which she hit the nail on the head during the psychic reading. She felt he was hurt in some way, but then became slightly unsure about something. She said she could see him coming back, but looked really confused. I later found out why.
Lookalike James the Cat comes home
About a month later a black and white cat started showing up at my house. He was the same shape, size, coloration and even had a very distinct small black patch under his chin, just like James. He looked almost exactly like James. I could’ve sworn it was him and after a few attempts, managed to grab hold of this cat and compare him to the photo I had of my own puss. There were a few subtle differences, in the end it turned out it was not him – but my gosh did he have very similar markings which made it quite bizarre, especially the chin marking. I believe this is why Shelley was a bit confused and I don’t blame her! This other random cat was so strikingly identical, he even had me fooled and not just out of wishful thinking. The timing of this random cat’s appearance was interesting as well, all very strange.
In the end, sadly after a lot of enquiries I had a phone call from a neighbour further down saying that a similar cat to the photo of my missing cat on the posters I’d plastered everywhere was found hit by a car at the side of the road. Someone had taken him to the vets, dead, who I then found out actually cremated him. He wasn’t chipped so they couldn’t find the owner and it was highly likely my James. Chip your cats folks!
A sad ending indeed, but it certainly perked my interest – and soon after this I found myself attending all sort of mediumship demos, Spiritualist circles and psychic workshops. From there, I began doing my own private psychic readings and still continue to this day.
ANDY CHAPLIN, from Tuned In Events, conducts private 121 psychic readings, group party bookings, Skype sessions and demos throughout the South East of the UK. For more information, please call 07788 142 920 or email a_chaplin@hotmail.com for a no-obligation informal chat about what you might be looking for.
