Email Interview with Spiritualist Medium, Ladyhawk

By The Night Watchman

THE BEGINNING: My father worked at Dornback Furnace Company. He was a repairman and welder. We rented the house next door to Dornback. There were no other neighbors anywhere nearby.

Old man Dornback had taken a trip to Alaska and he came back with a timberwolf. The little guy's name was King. He was so beautiful.

But, old man Dornback treated King like a dog. When King wouldn't submit, the old man would beat him unmercifully. My father was at the old man's house doing repair work when one of these beatings occurred and my dad stepped in and stopped it.

When King was a year old or so, the old man really wailed on him badly, but then, the old man made a mistake. He turned his back on King and King took the opportunity to bite the old man in the butt. Old man Dornback had to get 70 stitches in his butt. Why he didn't have King shot, I'll never know. Maybe the old man knew it was a payback. Instead of shooting him, they built a very large cage at Dornback's for King to live out the rest of his life in. It also had an indoor box that came in the factory.

Everyone said that King was insane. If anyone came within 50 feet of the enclosure, King went into a rampage, lunging at the fence and snarling with all the hair standing up on his back.

One night, my dad was working over in the factory, and I was with him. He told me to come over and see King. I was four years old at the time and I was afraid of the big bad wolf. But, I trusted my dad, so I went over. King just stared at me. My dad had his arm behind his back and when he brought it out there was a bag of tootsie rolls. My dad unwrapped one and gave it to King right out of his hand. Then, I came over and gave him one. He was as gentle as could be.

My dad explained how King had been treated and what King needed was someone to love him and someone he could trust. King and I became fast friends.

I would crawl through the door on the outside that they slipped his water bucket in through. We would play for hours, but if I got out of hand and King's patience wore thin, he would let me know when he'd had enough.

One day, I had been trying to ride King like a horse. He kept dumping me on the ground. Finally, he turned around, knocked me down and put his big paw in the center of my chest and his muzzle to my neck. He let out a long low growl as if to say, "knock it off, kid". Then, he licked my face and wagged his tail. I learned my lesson.

My mother hated King. She kept telling my dad that one of these days he was going to kill me. Four years later, we were still together and I had learned to howl very well. This did not please my mother at all. She said I was turning into an animal and we had to move. It didn't matter to her that King had killed a large dock rat that nearly bit me. King taught me a lot about wolf language. He treated my father and I as if we were part of his pack.

We moved away and I didn't see King again for nearly eight years. When we pulled into the parking lot, King did his "killer routine". Then, he heard my voice and started wagging his whole body. He was blind and old, but far from stupid. I pulled out the bag of tootsie rolls for him. I gave him the whole bag, kissed him through the fence and left. I wanted so badly to take him with me, but I knew that he couldn't adapt.

Years later, a Lakota Sioux told me that my animal totem was a wolf and I told him I knew that and that his name was King.

Many years later, the Doberman Pinscher next door broke his chain and attacked a three year old boy. I got between the boy and the Dobie, ready to fight, but I swear I heard King howling. The Dobie backed away from me and I managed to get the little boy out of the yard and his mother came and grabbed him from me. I believe with all my heart that King had come from across the other side and was with me that day.

This story is dedicated to my father who passed in 1982, and to King.

The Night Watchman:  What is your definition of a Spiritualist Medium? How does it differ from other psychic gifts? Also, could you describe when you first became aware of your gifts?

Ladyhawk:  Spiritualism is a belief system. A religion. As I believe in the doctrine of the spiritualist religion, so I am a spiritualist medium. One of our principles is that communication with the so called dead is a fact. Departing from religion, a spiritualist is a person that communicates with the spiritual world. So, whether you say spiritualist or medium, they are one and the same. Saying that one is a spiritualist medium identifies your religious beliefs.

Not all psychics are mediums, but all mediums have some type of psychic abilities. In my case, I believe that my spiritual guides convey any psychic information to me. Whereas, with my mediumship, I mostly have direct contact with the spiritual world.

When I was very young, four or five, we lived in a rural area where there were no family close by. But, I always had "friends" to play with. I couldn't tell the difference between the living and the spirits. I thought that everyone saw and heard them.

Before starting kindergarten, my mother was always telling me to keep my mouth shut at school about "my friends" and not talk to them or people would think I was crazy. I believe that my mother thought I had some type of mental illness.

My father, who was half Native American Cree, told me that I was a "seer". That among the Cree people, a seer held a place of honor and respect. He told me that his grandmother was a seer. He explained to me why I shouldn't talk to the spirits at school. He also told me not to talk about them around my mother because it scared her.

Thank God that children today, born with special abilities, are more excepted into society. Having a supportive family is a wonderful thing.

The Night Watchman:  Are you able to choose when, or maybe a better word, control the circumstances of the contact with a spirit or spirits? Also, curious about your Cree background, have you done any research about Cree beliefs?

Ladyhawk:  This is a complicated question that I cannot give an easy answer to because it depends on so many variables. My mood, where I am, the drugs I have or have not taken. Let me explain about the drugs. I take a lot of medication to manage my symptoms and for pain. It would seem that the pain meds (Vicoden and Darvocet) impair my abilities. When I know I have to give readings or other work, I cut back drastically to try to find a happy medium. Also, the type of people I am around, whether positive or negative, as well as my focus. It also depends on the spirits. Some are poor communicators, while other ones come on strong. This seems not to have anything to do with how long they have been crossed over, but more to do with soul age.

My father's mother was Cree, First Nation, near Manitoba, Canada. She died when I was a baby.

I have tried to find out more about her people's religious beliefs without much success. So, what I know comes down from my dad.

We spent a lot of time alone, away from my mother, as she didn't like him teaching me "heathen ways". So, my father and I spent much time in the woods of Pennsylvania. He taught me to track, hunt, and fish. He taught me what plants were safe to eat and which weren't. He knew much about the native herbs and plants. He said the Earth was given to us by the Creator and it gave us everything we needed to live. We must take care of it.

He was a hunter, but only killed what he was going to eat. He said killing for a trophy was a waste and a crime against nature. When he killed, say a deer, he always said a small prayer to the Creator and to the spirit of the deer. Apparently, the Cree people have or had a belief in a type of reincarnation, but it seems it wasn't for everyone. But, my dad said that they came back to the same family.

He would burn cedar and sage as his mother had done to cleanse the house which my mother said stunk up the house.

My parents divorced when I was nine or ten. A few years later, dad married a woman who was half Cherokee and he seemed a lot happier.

After writing this, it brought back a memory. When I was little, my father had a pet name for me. I can't remember it now as it was in the Cree language. I asked him what it meant and he said, "fearless mouse".

The Night Watchman:  In your experiences as a Spiritualist Medium, have you discovered any answers regarding the afterlife, or other side, as some people refer to it? For example, do you know if spirits are reincarnated, or are new spirits "born", for lack of a better term? In other words, have your experiences given you a better understanding of  what's on the other side?

Ladyhawk:  Boy, you can ask some tough questions, but here are some of the answers.

I do believe in reincarnation. This belief has been with me since before I knew there was a name for it. It was one of those things I thought everyone knew. This comes from a recurring dream of my death as a little girl. Also my kinship with the Scottish Highlands.

Many years ago, a friend of mine gave me a book to read that answered so many questions for me. This book was "Messages from Michael" by Chelsea Quinn Yarlboro (Not "More Messages from Michael").

As for what I do know, that came from two spirits, is that life on the other side isn't sitting around playing harps and polishing halos. Spirits that cross over that are well adjusted to their new life on the other side have places to go and things to do. I believe this adjustment stems from the fact that they are old or mature souls.

Their souls or spirits stay here a month or so to make sure their loved ones will be all right. Then, they move forward to their new life. It seems these souls don't come back. But, there doesn't seem to be a hard, fast rule as to how long they can stay here. The two spirits that let me know this were in a hurry to get on with their new life. In fact, they welcomed it. They also let me know that it was up to them when they go.

A word to the grieving. It's good to hold those who have passed in your heart. Just don't "hang on" to them. You must move on with your life, and they must move on in theirs.

The Night Watchman:  In your story about your father and King, you indicated that they both taught you a lot about love and trust. How about spirits? Do they go through a "trusting" process before they become a cooperative part of a spiritualist medium? Or is trust not a factor with them?

Ladyhawk:  I have never thought about them trusting me. I was always worried about trusting them. As in my story for this month where I tell about being attacked three times, they definitely weren't Casper.

But, the more I work with an individual spirit, over time the communication becomes easier. I think this is trust on both of our parts. If it's the spirit of someone I knew in life, the communication is easier because I knew them. Spirits of children are easier for me. Young people and I, in general, get along well.

The Night Watchman:  People are always looking for answers about the spirit world. Some, with gifts like you have, know it's out there. Others have a great deal of faith. Do you have any advice or thoughts for people who have want to believe, but lack the ability, or faith, to believe in spirits?

Ladyhawk:  I searched for some great words of wisdom to give to this question. Something inspirational, beautiful and poignant, but I couldn't find anything that seemed to cover it.

I have a 126 IQ in the field of science. I love science, all different kind of science. I have subscriptions of Science Digest, Omni and Discover magazines. I can't get enough. If I can't see it, feel it, hear it, or understand the process of whatever, I have a hard time believing it.

But, I can and have seen spirits. I have heard spirits. I have been touched by spirits. If it weren't for this fact, I wouldn't believe it either. Because, let's be honest. It is a lot to swallow or to take on faith.

Can I or anyone explain the process? No. Is it a miracle? For this time period in mankind's history, I guess you could call it that. Is it a miracle that water can change from a solid to a liquid to a gas? No. The process can be explained. It can be broken down right to its atoms. Is an MRI, or a catscan a miracle? No. But, 200 years ago, it would have seemed so to the people then because they couldn't have explained the process.

In Einstein's theory of general relativity, he says that energy cannot be created or destroyed - only transformed. In human bodies, there is an electrical current. What happens to it when this human shell stops functioning? Is it part of the human soul? I don't know. I cannot give you all the answers as much as I would like to. But, I know this for certain. Spirits and the spiritual world do exist. There is an existence after the body dies.

To steal a quote from Michael, from "Messages from Michael", "Belief is not necessary."

I hope that this gives comfort to those of you searching.

Long days and pleasant nights,

Ladyhawk

LADYHAWK'S STORY ABOUT SPIRITS

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