TERESA COLLINS WORKS as a psychic medium in Cork, communicating daily with loved ones who are dearly missed by her clients.
But she knows not everyone will believe that first sentence.
“Some people think it is crazy. And even some clients come with a challenging attitude,” she tells TheJournal.ie. “It is always important to give some evidence about the spirit. But it is also important that you bring a message through to validate that the person has not left them. Their spirit goes on.”
Collins will be talking more about mediumship, spirituality and the supernatural at Cork City’s 13th annual World Ghost Convention later this month.
“I will discuss the importance of mediumship,” she continues. “It serves a need for both the spirit and the human. Bereaved people feel abandoned but spiritualists believe the spirits go on forever. By bringing through a spirit to a loved one, there is proof that they go on.”
She mentions a recent reading where she was able to give a message to a lady that her sister told her to get a hair cut. The client did not pass on the information about her sister being a hairdresser or that she expected her to say something about “needing a trim”.
Collins says she discovered her skill when she started having “spontaneous” experiences. Her grandmother appeared to her one night, despite the fact that she had died 10 years before she was born.
“At funerals, I would see the spirit of the person if I was sitting next to the coffin,” she adds.
Communication comes in many forms, she explains. It can be through how she feels when she meets a person, a sudden shift in temperature, the energy she feels from a spirit with no physical form.
“If I meet a spirit who has passed away from lung cancer, I might find it hard to breathe,” she notes. “But the very big one is telepathy. You can’t necessarily speak to the person but you can hear them in your mind and understand what they are saying to you.”
During her talk on 25 October, Collins says she will “try to take away the mystery” of spirituality and explain the process of communicating with a spirit.
“Spirituality is a lot more universal that people think,” she concludes.
Collins will be joined by two other psychic mediums from the US for the convention at Cork City Gaol. Dr Margaret Humphreys, a professor from the Folklore and Ethnology Department at UCC, will also discuss a variety of paranormal sightings and experiences from a traditional and contemporary perspective.
Organiser Catherine Courtney says people from “all walks of life” attend the event each year, including believers and non-believers.
“It is a serious convention exploring spirituality and the supernatural,” she explains. “It provides information and practical guidance in a friendly and encouraging environment.
“People often share their own experiences of the supernatural during and after the talks, overcoming their nervousness or feelings of embarrassment.”
The gaol is an “ideal setting”, she adds, due to its own history of ghost sightings.
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