Step into the unseen realms with one oof Scotland’s top mediums, Karen Docherty, as we explore the Hidden reality of mediumship and what life is like as a medium. This episode invites you behind the veil to discover what it truly means to communicate with the spirit world.

Is it possible to feel the presence of loved ones who have crossed over? What does it actually take to be a medium, and how can you strengthen your own intuitive senses? Karen unpacks the realities of mediumship, sharing heartfelt stories and practical insights from her 25+ years of experience.
 

 

Here are three soul-nourishing takeaways waiting for you:

🔹 The True Nature of Spirit Connection: Karen Docherty reveals how sensing loved ones is often subtle and physical—sometimes a lingering scent, a fleeting glimpse, or a gentle knowing in the heart. Trusting these experiences, especially in moments of stillness, opens the door to profound healing and connection.

🔹 Healing Across Realms: Mediumship isn’t just about messages—it’s about healing for both the living and the departed. Through compassionate readings, Karen Docherty helps souls on both sides find peace, understanding, and the freedom to evolve.

🔹 The Power of Quietude: One of the most practical spiritual tools discussed is the art of quieting the mind. Just five minutes of intentional solitude can heighten your awareness and invite subtle signs from Spirit, encouraging you to nurture your relationship with the unseen.

Explore these illuminating topics with Karen Docherty and Linda Lang for a comforting and inspirational glimpse into what lies beyond life, and the beautiful bonds of love that continue to guide and reassure us all.

Transcript:

Karen Docherty:
When I used to go to bed, I would close my eyes and I used to hear 100 people speaking at one time, like all over each other. And I couldn’t make sense of anything that was being said, but it was just all of these voices.

Linda Lang:
What is the spirit world actually like? And what does it feel like to communicate with it? Today I’m joined by Karen Docherty. Karen is a psychic medium with over 25 years experience. We’re diving into what actually happens during a reading, what the spirit world is like, and the surprising ways that connection continues after death. If you’ve ever wondered how real this is or what happens when we cross over, this conversation will expand your perspective.

Announcer:
Welcome to Exploring the Mystical Side of Life with your host, Linda Lang.

Linda Lang:
Hi, this is Linda Lang from www.ThoughtChange.com. We are Exploring the Mystical Side of Life once again this week. Today we are stepping into the world of mediumship. I have evidential medium Karen Docherty with me. Welcome, Karen.

Karen Docherty:
Thank you for having me.

Linda Lang:
Karen, how long have you been a medium?

Karen Docherty:
That is the question. So I would say, how long have I known that I was a medium is about maybe 20 years. Before that, all through my childhood, I experienced things that I felt were normal, seeing spirit people and knowing they were from the other place, I used to call it. And it was very natural. It wasn’t all the time, it wasn’t like every week, but throughout my childhood, sporadically, it was always there. And then later on, maybe in my teens, that’s when I started to really recognize that other people don’t experience this the same way, or this is something different from my friends at the time and my peer groups. Then after that, I started to look into it and develop it and then recognized that I was a medium.

Linda Lang:
So when you saw spirit beings, were they like real people?

Karen Docherty:
Sometimes. Sometimes I would see them like solidly as if they were physical. And other times I would just like maybe catch glimpses or see someone’s face or catch a movement in the corner of my eye, but I always received messages. It was always like a tuning in to receive things, not knowingly, just hearing people talk. Or maybe I would say to a friend, “Your grandmother’s beside you. I can feel her and I can hear her.” And so it was always, even if I didn’t see physically all the time, I could feel things a lot of the time.

Linda Lang:
It almost sounds like they’re waiting on the other side for someone who has the ability to perceive them and share the messages that they want to bring.

Karen Docherty:
I think that’s a good way to put it because I do feel that when the spirit people know that you’re a medium, they know that you can pick up on them, let’s say, they are there. So the minute I open up to the spirit side of life, I can feel them. I always used to say to students of mine, “If your light’s on, they’re coming in.” And that’s the way it felt. It was almost like if I switch my light on, then I know that they’re coming in. They’re gonna, they’re gonna try and communicate. When I was a lot younger, when I didn’t know what it was really, say around teenage years, it became quite overwhelming. And it wasn’t that I was frightened of it, but I didn’t know what it was.

So at nighttime, particularly when I used to go to bed, I would close my eyes and I used to hear 100 people speaking at one time, like all over each other and I couldn’t make sense of anything that was being said, but it was just all of these voices. And it got to a point I was quite frightened of closing my eyes because I knew that it was something, but I didn’t know what. And then I spoke to a local medium about it because even looking back at that time, I was at the Spiritualist churches, I was following mediums, watching, reading. And so I was able to reach out to the local medium who had the church, and I told her and she said, “Because you’ve got to develop it.” And I said, “Develop what?” And she said, “You’re a medium.” At the time I thought, really? Because for me, mediumship was this amazing thing, and I used to watch mediums work, so I was just in awe of mediumship all the time. So when I recognized, and when she pointed that out, it was really a moment of, “I can’t do that” because it’s such a big responsibility and it’s such a massive thing. But at the same time, it felt like home.

Linda Lang:
I think you could probably say that about many of our spiritual goals, that they seem so far away and we put people on pedestals so easily.

Karen Docherty:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s a bit of not understanding that we have the power to do things. I feel definitely with me anyway, as a child and growing up, there was insecurities there. There was feeling different, not understanding what was going on. And my parents were going through divorce and things and It was quite a bumpy time in my life. So, really on top of that, then you’ve got this feeling that no one else understands. I could talk to my grandmother sometimes about it. I would say to her, “Oh, there’s a lady in the kitchen,” or, “I seen this man on the stairs,” and she used to say, “Oh, the dead don’t harm you.” And she was just very nonchalant, just very normal about it.

So, it meant that I could go to her and say things. But apart from her, it wasn’t really something that I could talk about. So you’re keeping all of that inside of you as well and not understanding it at the same time. So therefore, I think even when someone says to you, you can do this and this is what you’re meant to do, it does seem unattainable at the same time because you just, like you say, put people on a pedestal. The mediums I was watching at the time, I just thought they were amazing. So there’s no way I can do that. And until you have that belief and understand your own power, I don’t think you can get there. Yeah.

Linda Lang:
So you’ve obviously learned how to turn the voices off so you have your own space.

Karen Docherty:
Yeah, certainly. And I think that comes with development and understanding how it works, because at the time, of course, the spirit world were trying to get my attention. So, of course, they knew they can communicate and they’re trying to tell me this is what it is or get my attention to even look into it, because as soon as I started to develop it, everything quietened down. So much so that I remember saying to my teacher at the time, because we used to sit in a circle, a home circle, and develop. And I remember saying to her, “I don’t think I need to come anymore because I’m not hearing anything now. Maybe it was just a blip. Maybe, maybe this isn’t what I’m supposed to do”. And she said, “Oh no.”

She said, “You’re meant to be here.” She said, “But it’s quietened down because they’ve now got your attention. Now the work begins.” And really it was so true because from that moment on, it was about developing and understanding how they communicate and being able to have some form of control over that for my own life as well.

Linda Lang:
Do you always see spirit or hear spirit?

Karen Docherty:
No, not like in day-to-day life, unless I’m working or making a decision to work, then no. Because you do learn that you’re getting on with your own material life, you know, and you’ve got things to see to the kids and the shopping and whatever else. But like, if I sat for a moment and just decided I want to be in touch with the spirit world, then I just switch my awareness and I can feel them. So it is a very much in-between kind of place. You feel like you’re in between the two worlds sometimes.

Linda Lang:
And when you’re communicating with them for yourself, is it really just an open heart connection where you want to have that interaction, that presence? Or are you actually asking for maybe advice or guidance?

Karen Docherty:
So for my guides, if I was to sit with intentional meditation to speak to my guides and communicate, then it’s usually for some form of guidance or maybe just to feel plugged in, as I would say. Just, you need that as a medium. You do need to top yourself up a little bit because you do become very depleted of energy with what you’re dealing with and what you’re working with. And it actually takes from you physically. I think people underestimate because people seem to think that it’s of the mind and you’re working with the mind, which you are, but it’s a very physical process because the spirit world, when they come close to you and as you work with them, your own physical energy is being used as well. Your whole body is used through mediumship. So you do become very depleted. So if I feel depleted, I have a little “plug-in” with my guides and my team, just chat to them, feel them around, and that kind of rejuvenates me.

And with my own loved ones in the spirit world, well, I don’t get some sort of special pass to speak to them all the time just because I’m a medium. But I certainly can feel them around at times, or if I intentionally ask them to come. I don’t always feel them come in, but I will understand and know that they are there. So it means that I can openly talk to them.

Linda Lang:
I think a lot of people don’t realize how physical being a medium is, working with energy even. It can be exhausting. How do you look after your physical instrument so it can handle the vibration?

Karen Docherty:
That is a good question as well, because obviously you live life, right? You’re human, you live life, you do what everyone else does. Personally, I know that when I’m working, I have to hydrate, I have to be ready for channeling. When I do an event, for instance, I do a lot of events where there might be 100 or 200 people coming along on that day. I make sure to get my sleep the night before. I make sure I hydrate, and then I don’t really eat. I’ll eat light things maybe halfway through the day, but after that I don’t eat because I feel like, not that I want to be kind of empty, an empty vessel, but just that feeling of needing to let things work through me. So I wait until afterwards and then I’ll have my meal or whatever. But again, it’s like if you think about an athlete at the same time, like stretching and getting their body ready for whatever’s gonna happen, it’s the same thing.

Stretching and feeling loosened up because the spirit world will work through me as I work. So when I’m working, I might do things with my hands or move my body in a certain way, or they’re gonna let me know how they passed, and I’ll feel that somewhere within my body. So you’ve got to, you’ve got to keep yourself in a good position to be able to do that.

Linda Lang:
Do you think anybody could be a medium?

Karen Docherty:
I don’t. And I know that it’s a bit of a controversial thing to say because I think now what’s out there is we are all mediums, anyone can do mediumship. And whilst I understand what the connotation is behind that, which is we all have power, we are spirit in human form, so of course we can all tap into that. Every single one of us can. But I don’t feel that means everyone’s gonna be a medium and they’re gonna communicate with deceased loved ones and spirit guides and things. I think that’s like saying everyone can be a singer, everyone can be an opera singer. That’s not true.

We’ve all got a voice, but there’s no way that you’re gonna get me singing like an opera star. So I think that certain things can be developed, and like that, someone who has a voice can develop it to a certain level. It might not mean that they can be the opera star. So I think it’s much the same, and I think it’s really diluted what mediumship is now with All of these courses that are available. Everyone come here, get trained, 6 weeks’ time, you’ll have a certificate and you can go and do readings. And I think it’s damaged what mediumship is. I think that mediumship is very sacred, and when people come in to have a reading, if they’ve lost someone, it’s a really sacred experience for them. And I don’t feel that we should forget how special that is.

So by everyone signing up to become a medium, I think it takes away from actually what we’re dealing with. Now, on the flip side of that, yes, we can all tap into our spirit. We can all tap into our psychic senses, which are different. Psychic is… we all come here with psychic senses because that’s our 6th sense or our intuition or whatever you want to call it. We can all tap into that and we can all develop that for our own lives, even maybe for doing psychic readings for people. But mediumship is different than psychic. It’s working with loved ones that have crossed over. So it’s a different thing.

Linda Lang:
I would think it’s a special kind of person who would dedicate the time and energy to do that kind of work. But I think also that the rewards are very great when you are helping someone grieving to connect with a loved one.

Karen Docherty:
There’s nothing, for me anyway, better than that, knowing that you have helped someone, knowing that it’s promoted their healing in some way, because mediumship is about healing. And it’s about, yes, proving that there’s life after the physical life finishes, but really it’s about healing them, whatever wounds are left behind. And for the spirit person.

If someone crosses over, let’s say they cross over quickly or it’s unexpected, they’ve also got to come to terms with that on the spirit side. They know where they are, of course, but they’ve also then got to come to terms with the fact that they’re no longer physical, and they maybe had no knowledge of it until they got there. So, they’ve got to grieve as well, and they have to heal too. So when you connect them with their loved one, you can actually feel the healing that takes place. And at the end of the day, or at the end of an event or a reading, I always thank Spirit for allowing me to do this, because for me, I just fail to see what could be better than having that contact with that loved one to bring peace to the heart of the person that needs it.

Linda Lang:
Have the spirits that you’ve contacted, have any of them described what it’s like in spirit world or gave you an understanding of what lies ahead for us?

Karen Docherty:
Yes, in some ways. I’m well aware that there are different levels in the spirit side, so it’s almost like we evolve here, we develop ourselves here in this world, and we’re learning lessons all the time, and you’re trying to look at your shadow self and make that better and do your own development. And it’s the same on the spirit side of things. There are different levels where they will evolve and grow and change. But there’s other times where they’ve said to me, “This is what I do now.”

You know, I know that I remember speaking to one lad that he was only like 19 when he passed, and I was speaking to his mother and he said to her at the end, “I help other young ones cross over.” He was telling me that this is what my work is here. So it’s like he was telling me he worked in the spirit world to help other souls that have just crossed over understand or just give them that comfort. And I do think there’s things we can do over in the spiritual realms. I think there’s levels to a point where we become maybe guides and helpers and things like that, but the closer we get to that, the further away we are from the personality. It’s like we’re coming into the Light when we’re blending with a bigger light. So, there’s definitely different ways to look at it.

Linda Lang:
I’ve often heard in mediumship readings of loved ones that know what you’re doing, know what you’re experiencing in your life. And sometimes they actually give a sign that maybe you don’t know is a sign. Is that something that everyone gets? Does everyone?

Karen Docherty:
I think so. And I think that the problem is they are so subtle sometimes that we will miss them. And We live in a noisy world. It’s just noise. It’s just like everything’s busy. Our minds are taken up a lot of the time. We don’t give ourselves those quiet moments as much now, and that’s why meditation’s important. People talk about meditation and think automatically they have to have an hour where they’re sitting doing nothing apart from sitting in meditation.

It’s not like that. It could be a walk along the riverbank. It could be just going out and sitting in the garden for 10 minutes. Any time that you can get to quieten the mind is a good way for the spirit to connect. It connects you with your spirit, but it also then can connect you with the spirit world. But the more we train ourselves to do that, the more we will notice the subtle signs that the spirit world are bringing, rather than just living in this noisy, busy place all the time. So I do think we can look for the signs and receive the signs. The other problem is, of course, is that the mind will then tell you it’s not true because the mind is there to keep things logical.

So if the mind doesn’t understand something of the soul, which is of the Spirit, then it’s gonna tell you, “Oh, that’s not right. No, you just imagined that,” or “That’s a coincidence,” or “That wasn’t a sign,” or it’s gonna give you the logic behind it. And we have to learn to disregard that and say, “Nope, I felt it. It resonated with me so I know it’s a sign.”

Linda Lang:
Those signs can be very subtle, like just a whiff of a flower smell, or… I know myself, I used to see one of my cats in my peripheral vision and then gone, right?

Karen Docherty:
Absolutely. And it, it’s very quick, like you say, and it’s peripheral vision or whatever. So it really is where you have to trust it. And the only way that you’re gonna trust it is to remove the thoughts of the mind. And learn to trust what you’re feeling, ’cause everything of the Spirit is feeling. When people ask about how mediumship works, they talk about clairvoyance, which is seeing, clairaudience, which is hearing. And of course, those faculties are there in mediumship. That’s how we work.

But clairsentience, which is clear feeling, is the biggest one. You can’t be a medium unless you feel everything because that’s how it works. And so everyone can feel that. Everyone can develop that level of feeling, and then if it resonates, then just believe it and disregard the mind.

Linda Lang:
Sometimes when I go to sleep, I’ll see a face and then another face and another face, like that face morphs. I don’t know who those faces belong to, but they’re so realistic. Sometimes I can even see the texture of their skin or the glimmer in the eye.

Karen Docherty:
That’s your psychic senses. That’s you picking up on Spirit, but it’s also like you say, the glimmer in the eye or the texture of the skin, that’s because your senses are very heightened to that. And I remember, like, when I was a young child, I used to look at pictures, like art pictures on the wall or whatever, and I used to be able to feel what it felt like. I remember one, it was a person and their hand was up, and I remember feeling like I was touching their hand in real time. And it’s because your senses are very heightened and developed. So you’re gonna pick up on these faces, and again, it might be spirit trying to get your attention. “You can see us, so we’re gonna do this.” So it’s really just the development of that really that you’re looking at.

Linda Lang:
Have you ever come across a spirit that made you feel uncomfortable or you were afraid of?

Karen Docherty:
Not that I was afraid of, but definitely felt uncomfortable. And one that stands out to me, it’s happened a few times, but one that stands out to me is when this man came for a reading and his father came through. And I wasn’t comfortable with the man to begin with because I felt like there was a lot going on with him that was aggressive and things that had happened in his life. So I was a little bit wary about him anyway. And then his father came in and this man was very aggressive in the lifetime, very violent. There was a lot about him that wasn’t good behavior when he was here. And I could feel how oppressive he felt. Now, for about 3 days after that reading, I still felt him. And it’s not that he was attached to me.

You hear people talking about attachments. That’s not something I talk about, but he was present. And I really, 3 days later, sat down with my spirit team and said, “Please help me come away out of this energy,” because it felt uneasy. It felt like I was being watched. It felt heavy energy, darker energy. So that wasn’t nice, but I never felt in danger and I never felt frightened. I just knew that I had to come away from the energy of him, and that was his energy, and he’s allowed to have that energy if he wanted, but I didn’t want to be part of that. So again, it’s about understanding that as a medium, I have the power to do that.

Karen Docherty:
It’s not… I don’t need someone to rescue this spirit person and send him into the Light. He knows where he is. It’s just that I needed to come away from that energy of him.

Linda Lang:
So interesting to me why a spirit would choose to stay in that energy because, once they’ve left their physical body, it’s so much easier to be in the Light or to have a higher awareness. Not saying enlightened per se, but an understanding of things in your life, how you were, and what lessons you learned. So it’s really interesting to me that someone would choose not.

Karen Docherty:
It’s free will though. We come here with free will and we’re in the spirit world with free will, and it’s up to us whether we choose to evolve. I get asked the question all the time, what happens to murderers? What happens to people that haven’t been good on this earth? And I say there is no, like, heaven and hell. It’s not like, you know, we are taught. But there are different levels. And if that person crosses over, let’s say they had murdered someone, they’ve crossed over, they know what they’ve done in the physical. They get to see, we all have a life review. We all get to see what our impact was and how we were.

And we can then choose to acknowledge that and heal from that and acknowledge the conditioning behind it and the reasons behind it. Or we don’t. And some people… I mean, I’ve had a father through before that wasn’t particularly good to his family. And he was like, “I’m not sorry. That’s who I was and that’s the way it was.” And I have to pass that message through because that’s the truth of his spirit. But there’s other times that there’s been same situations and they’re like, “I’m so sorry. I want to heal this.

Karen Docherty:
I didn’t realize,” you know, so it really is a free will thing.

Linda Lang:
I had a medium. reading to bring my father in after he passed. And it was so interesting. He had a tumultuous relationship with one of his brothers, let’s say. And the thing I remember about that reading was he said, “It’s different here. There is no animosity.”

Karen Docherty:
That’s true. It’s not the same as this world. I think because we are so conditioned in this world and we get so caught up on the things that It’s not that they’re not important, because if you’re going through something with someone and it’s hurting you, it is important. It’s part of your learning somehow, right? And you might not always see that when you’re here, but in the spirit world, there isn’t the same animosity because they understand that was just an emotion. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not the be-all and end-all. So they do understand that, but if that spirit person chooses to acknowledge that, but still not evolved from that, then it’s the same thing. But most do. Most do.

But there’s nothing in the spirit world that they get attached to. Like, let’s say people get married twice, or, you know, and I’ve had that question, “When I go over, which husband is going to be there for me?” You know, and I’m like, “It’s not like that.” When you go to the spirit world, you’re connected by love. Whoever you’ve loved, it doesn’t mean you’re gonna be with them if it was like an ex-partner, but there’s not a jealousy thing. There’s not all of these human emotions that we get caught up with here.

Linda Lang:
Any talk of Source or Spirit with a capital S from the spirits that you contact?

Karen Docherty:
Like, I still say God, Source, whatever. Yeah, we are all connected through that. So for me, when I work with the mums and the dads and the cousins and whoever’s crossed over, that’s almost like you could picture it like they’re just next door, right? For me. So they’re next door. And then as, as you’re contacting the higher beings, Then they’re further up the ladder, if you like. But nevertheless, we are all part of that God energy. We are all part of Source. That’s what it is.

And even with nature in this world, trees and grass, and so we’re all connected through the same Source. So it’s the same. And funnily enough, I had someone say to me just 2 weeks ago, “But you don’t believe in God then?” And I said, “Why?” And she said, “Because you’re a spiritualist.” And I said, “Yeah, but God is Source. It’s one power that we are all connected.” We all call our gods many different things, but it’s one Source. We are all to the higher power. That’s what it is.

And she couldn’t understand it. She said, “I thought you weren’t allowed to say God.” And I said, “That’s just religion that teaches us that.” We are all very connected.

Linda Lang:
So I want to bring the angels in for some odd reason. So, the angels interact with spirits in the spirit world, or are they really more for our benefit while we’re here? Let’s say.

Karen Docherty:
I obviously believe in angels and believe that they’re the highest of beings. And I don’t believe that they interact with us as in, and this is going to be a bit controversial as well, because I know that I hear mediums saying, “Well, I’ve got Archangel Michael here with me today, and I’ve got…” And I can’t deny that because I can only go on my experience and it doesn’t mean that theirs is wrong. But in my mind, the way that I know that spirit works, I think the higher beings are doing higher being work.

So for me, they’re in amongst war-torn conditions and maybe people going through an accident. You, how many times have you heard of an accident happening and, and there was a random stranger there and then they disappeared, you know? That kind of thing I do believe happens. I believe that angels will be involved with bigger things, but I don’t feel personally, that as a medium, I can sit here with students or a circle or people and say, “I’m gonna ask Archangel Michael to come” because I think Archangel Michael’s busy. So I’m not gonna do that. So I think it just depends on your outlook.

It doesn’t mean the energy of an archangel isn’t there. It doesn’t mean that you can’t tap into that energy of that. But I can’t say that I see it that way. I think that the higher beings are there to do the higher work of the world, a universal thing.

Linda Lang:
That makes me wonder what the difference is between a person who channels and a medium.

Karen Docherty:
Personally, I feel it’s the same thing. When I speak to spirit, I’m channeling spirit. When I speak to my guides and helpers, I’m channeling the higher intelligence of spirit. So often when you see someone channeling, that’s what they’re doing. They’re tapping into the higher spirits. And I know that there’s seership. I know that some churches don’t like mediumship, but they don’t mind someone with prophecy. It’s the same thing.

It’s tapping into the same energy. But again, there’s no wrong way for this. Whatever you feel or however your religion is or whatever your belief is, there’s nothing wrong. It’s just that for me, it’s all the same. And I had a discussion with an auntie of mine who’s just recently passed away, and she was Catholic and that was her whole life. And I loved that because that was her faith and she helped people through that, and she’d done lots of good in the world with that, but she didn’t like mediumship. And her and I used to have conversations, and my grandmother that was mediumistic was her mother. And I used to say, “But Gran used to speak about spirit.”

And she’d say, “It doesn’t matter, I don’t like it, it’s the work of the devil.” And she just wouldn’t, she wouldn’t open her mind to it at all. My father, who was, that was his sister, he said a few times, “I don’t agree with the way that she’ll see that for you because that kind of takes away from what you do.” And I said, “It doesn’t, because we all have a path and we can all believe in something. And as long as we’re doing good with it, then what does it matter?” But it’s amazing how many different ways there are to look at things. And I just think that the biggest thing about spiritualism and being spiritual is that I’m not here to tell anybody what to believe. I’m only here to share what I do and whatever people take from that, it is good. But other ways of looking at it are very restricted and limited. “You’re not meant to do that and you’re not meant to do this.”

And I did have an experience when I was maybe 19, where a neighbor of mine knew that I could see things and pick up on things, and she came to me and said, “You’re not meant to be doing that. It’s the work of the devil. It’s wrong.” And it frightened me. And for about 4 months, I was upset about it, and I thought, “I’ve got to stop this. I don’t know what’s going on, why this is wrong.”

I believed her over me. And then eventually my grandmother came to me and said, “You know, you know what you’re doing and you know what this is and you’re gonna continue it.” She gave me a little bit of a talking to at the end of my bed one night, and I was like, “Yeah, this is right. I know this is right.” So I think that you’ve got to watch how you influence people, which is why I always say I’m not here to influence anyone. I’m just here to share and hope that it does good in the world. And I know that’s what the spirit world want.

Linda Lang:
Has your auntie come to visit you since she’s crossed over?

Karen Docherty:
Not yet. She crossed over a couple of weeks ago, and not that it matters, spirit can communicate with you the same day if they want to. But she hasn’t, but I fully expect her to. I did say to my dad, I know that she’s gonna come and she’s gonna talk to me and it’ll all be good. And in fact, I had a reading today with a lady who had said that she wanted to contact her loved ones, and her grandmother came through, and then her mother came in and she said to me, “No, my mum didn’t believe in this.” And I said, “But that doesn’t mean that she was not gonna communicate.” So as we got the evidence out, she was saying that that is my mum. And she said, “I’ll tell you a funny story.”

She said, “My mum knew about you,” like me, she knew about me. And she used to say, “I’m not going to her. I don’t believe that she’s real and she’s doing it.” So we had a laugh about it. And in the reading, her mum told me, “Oh, well, I know now. I know now that you’re real.” And it was lovely. I love it. It’s absolutely lovely. But yeah, people can get confused with it.

Linda Lang:
I love how you don’t take it personally.

Karen Docherty:
Never. Never. I mean, what would be the point? I’m here to serve spirits and there’s gonna always be people that will say, if they’re skeptics, they’re gonna say, “You’re fraudulent.” I’ve had all that. “You’re fraudulent,” or you’re this, you’re that. And I say, “That’s cool.” I don’t interact with that. I’ll just do my work.

And you know what? I’ll know when I get to the spirit world what it was all about, but I can only do my work just now. And I think that if someone is saying that to you, it’s more about their development. It’s more about them feeling the need to tell you. Yeah. And I just say, “Well, I wish you luck on your path, but we’re not gonna have that conversation.”

Linda Lang:
Now, for anyone who has lost someone that’s crossed over, do you have any tips to help them feel more connected?

Karen Docherty:
I would say definitely the quieting of the mind. I think that’s a big thing. And again, I’m not saying all the time because we don’t have a lifestyle that allows for that. So maybe at bedtime or maybe in the morning when you’re having your coffee or whatever it might be, just 5 minutes. Just to speak to them, just to say, and you won’t hear them talking back. I don’t say it so you hear them talking back, ’cause people will try that and then they’ll say, well, I didn’t get anything. And that’s not the point of it. The point of it is the more you speak to them and validate them and understand that they are listening, the more you’re heightening your own senses so that when they can step in and you can feel them, then you’re really gonna know that.

I think if you don’t even look at that side of it, then you’re always gonna miss it. Because you’re too busy and your mind’s too focused on other things. So the tip that I would say is do the quiet 5 minutes, even once a week, to say, I’m here. I want you to know I’m here. You can come and see me. You can talk to me, whatever it might be. And I think the more you build that up, the more you feel like you’re actually opening a door for that. And not forgetting, people are frightened as well, because I’ve had people saying, “Oh, I felt like my mum was there and I got a fright and I told her not to come back,” because people do get frightened of it. Yeah. And I say to them, “It’s okay, she’ll come back if you ask her to.”

Linda Lang:
Do you think that spirits are closer to us when we’re, say, at a crossroads or having some drama or trauma in our life?

Karen Docherty:
I think that’s when they can let us know that they’re there. Yes. I think that they have to let us know you’re not on your own. “We are listening. We are here.” But likewise, you know, I do believe that they pop in and out on a daily basis. It’s not like they can only come at the sad times or only come when we need them. I think that we look for them in those times, and that’s when we go to look for them, that’s when we think, are they there or are they not there?

Other times, I say good morning to my mother every day, and she’s in the spirit side, and I don’t hear her saying good morning back to me, but I know she can hear me, and that’s good enough for me. She knows I’m validating her. She knows that I miss her, so I’m gonna do that. And then occasionally I will get the feeling she’s there. I drove home from an event a few weeks ago, and as I got in the car and sat down, I wasn’t even thinking about my mum. I’d done my evening’s work. I was in the car. I always speak to Spirit afterwards to say thank you and hope that was okay.

And as I turned the engine of the car on and started to drive, my mum literally sat. I didn’t see her with my eyes. I could feel her presence in the front seat, and it was so overwhelming. And I said, “Mum, you’re here. I can feel you.” And then she chatted to me for about 10 minutes on the way down the road home. I could hear conversations taking place, and I was talking to her, and it was really beautiful. But I couldn’t see it. I just knew it. So I think that when these things happen, it’s amazing. And dreams are another one. You’ll get your visits through dreams because your mind is out of the way. So basically they can communicate a little bit easier. But for anyone listening that is trying this and getting frustrated or sad because they’re not feeling their loved ones, don’t give up on it. Just don’t give up.

They will communicate so many different ways. Lights flickering, music coming on, sensing perfume, flowers, anything like that. They will communicate that way. It won’t always be big and bold, but when you get the bold ones, it’s amazing. But they are very few and far between.

Linda Lang:
I totally agree. I’ve had a few bold ones and they are mind-blowing.

Karen Docherty:
I think that even as a medium, I get my mind blown with it. And again, an example I can share with you is when my mum passed away. We had bought her tickets to Barry Manilow because she loved Barry Manilow, and we’d taken her 2 years previous and she absolutely loved it. So when she became ill again, we’d bought these tickets for her Christmas and said, we’re going to go, and it’s in June. And she passed away in February, so she obviously didn’t get to come. So my sister and I were like, should we go? Should we not? Barry Manilow songs are sad anyway. Is it going to be too much? But we decided, no, we’re going to go for Mum. That’s what we’re doing.

So, when I got in the car in the morning and switched the engine on, the radio came on, and the DJ on the radio was saying, I’m going to be speaking to a very excited lady after the next song. And I turned to my partner at the time and said, this is a message from my mum. And he said, what? And I said, I’m telling you, this is going to be— I could feel. So, the song finished, and the DJ said, so, who am I talking to? And this lady said, Catherine. And that was my mum’s name. Wow. And he said, “And why are you so excited today, Catherine?” And she said, “Because I’m going to see Barry Manilow with my 2 daughters.” And it was a woman, a real woman in Glasgow where we were going, who was going to the concert.

But people would write that off as coincidence. I knew instantly my mum has influenced me to listen to the radio right at that moment in time. She can get her message through that lady to me. So it was absolutely mind-blowing. So when I told my sister, when we picked her up, She just couldn’t believe it. And it just made such a difference to the day.

Linda Lang:
I think you know on the inside when it’s a message.

Karen Docherty:
Absolutely. And again, it’s listening to that, but it’s feeling that and actually trusting that what you feel is very real.

Linda Lang:
If anyone is having experiences with spirits, let’s say in their home, and they really don’t want to have those spirits in there, is there anything they can do to kind of close down that portal?

Karen Docherty:
I think when it’s activity in your own place, in your own space, it’s usually your own people, right? So that’s the first thing I would say. I think that people think, “Oh, there was a lady that died in this house, so it must be her.” Spirit people don’t get connected to material things. Yes, they can come in visitation if they want, but it’s unlikely. It will usually be your own loved ones trying to get your attention. So what I would say in that element is just ask them not to do it. Just say, “It’s frightening me, I don’t like it, please don’t do it.” And usually that’s enough.

Usually that’s enough. Now, if it is where there’s somebody mediumistic in the home and they don’t know they are, they could be picking up because they’re mediums. Like when, when I was growing up, I would pick up everything, but that’s because I was a medium and I didn’t know. So usually for other people that aren’t mediumistic, it’s usually enough to say, “Please don’t do that.” There was a little boy that used to come to my house, a spirit boy. I didn’t know; my son was 3 at the time, and he said one day, “I don’t want to go to bed.” And I said, “Why?” And he said, “The magic boy’s on the stairs again.”

And this is the first I had heard of it. And I said, “Okay.” I said, “So where is the magic boy?” “Oh, he’s sitting up there.” And I said, “You know what? He’s just come to play with your toys.” I said, “Let’s sit down and tell him that he can only come when you are not here. When you’re at nursery, he can play with your toys.”

So I sat him down on the stairs and I said, “Let’s say this together.” So we’d done that and he never spoke of it again. And that was a real spirit he was seeing. It wasn’t an imaginary friend, it wasn’t any of that. But if you make it normal and just use the intelligence of spirit to say, “Please don’t do that, I don’t like that,” usually that’ll be enough.

Linda Lang:
Do you think it runs through genes perhaps?

Karen Docherty:
I do. I think there’s always somewhere in the lineage. It might be 3 generations ago. It doesn’t need to be the last generation, but always in the lineage. And when I look back, my grandmother was very mediumistic, but she didn’t actively work with her mediumship. Her sister, my aunt, my dad’s aunt, she did. She was a trance medium. She would speak in different languages, and so she worked with her trance mediumship a lot. So it’s definitely in my lineage, but it usually is. If anyone’s a medium, there’s usually someone else in the family.

Linda Lang:
So fascinating having you here, Karen, and giving us this glimpse into the spirit world.

Karen Docherty:
My pleasure.

Linda Lang:
Now, where can we send people who might like to know more?

Karen Docherty:
My website is karendocherty.com and everything’s on there, podcasts, information. Everything about my work is on there. Bookings are on there. So karendocherty.com is the best place to go.

Linda Lang:
Thank you for listening to this week’s edition of Exploring the Mystical Side of Life. If you enjoy our conversations, remember to subscribe, share with a friend, and consider becoming a member. Come visit me at ThoughtChange.com, pick up your copy of Learning to Listen, and we will see you again next time. Bye for now.