Dead Hooker's Bedroom Stay: The Experience of A Psychic Medium
The first time I visited Shaker’s was through Emily, who works as a medium and fellow tarot reader, and as soon as I crossed the street I felt a little presence by my side. A little boy. I told Emily, and she said, knowingly, “Of course, he’s very excited you’re here!” I thought to myself
“Oh no, what have I gotten myself into.”
As a reluctant medium and intuitive, I lean into the intellectual and the skeptical. And yet, whether it was traveling through Paris at night and feeling the spirits by the Seine, to a forest in the Sleepy Mountain of Kunming where past Buddhist monks brought peace to the land - there was always something extrasensory. Shaker’s is no exception, and of all the places that I have read tarot around the world - Shaker’s is something else.
Knowing the veil was thin in October, I came to read tarot and perform seances for the purveyors of cigars and libations. Some clients came in keen on connecting with a certain spirit, others saw something on a tour and they wanted to dig a little deeper. I invite all curious folks - skeptics and believers alike to engage in spiritual work. It is something that is rich in American history, the spiritualist movement gain legs here in the US.
For the scholars and history buffs that may be reading, I highly recommend the book “Occult America” by Mitch Horowitz. Needless to say, as soon as Emily invited me to the space a few years ago I immediately got to know individual spirits and energies. The shadow figure in the kitchen, the little girl in the bathroom, the murderers in the basement, and the weekends I was at Shaker’s I stayed in the Penthouse that was the most active with spirits for me, personally.
My first night alone I could hear steps, and creaks, old music and fear. How can you hear fear? It first comes as a sound and swells up as an emotion. For me, it rises up in my neck and up through my head. The fear moves down as a chill in my spine. I attempted to sleep after I placed salt in the corners of the bed and that was when I saw to the right side of the bed a charred and frightened Molly leaning over my bed. Call these projections or an imagination gone wild, but the sadness of this charred body was assaulting - and yet what she needed was to be seen in non-judgment.
This occurred again as a flash of blood came from the bathtub as I prepared for Sunday evening’s seances. Knowing the stories, the trauma, and making a pact with Molly that I will “see” her story can be quite a lot of energy. But after a while, energetically the spirits began to take care of me and my own inner healing. It was actually quite the beautiful (yet trauma bonding) experience. The spirits of Shaker’s have so much to share, and so much that want to be seen and acknowledged. I am very happy - even if energetically exhausting - that I could be the medium for them to talk to.
We see Hollywood mediums and psychics as provokers of spirits, however, most of my work is to allow for witnessing - even if it is of the most terrifying kind. In my seances, I encourage participants to connect with a divinatory tool. I bring pendulums, ouija boards, discuss automatic writing, and engage in group hypnosis to alter our states of consciousness and become more receptive to whatever needs to be received for all individuals sharing the space.
Thank you Shaker’s for hosting me - you have a tragically beautiful and rich with history space that I am always happy to visit and engage with.
-Isabelle Rizo
Psychic Medium & Tarot Reader
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