"Today is a very important day. It is the birthday of a dear relative of mine," stated Reverend Pat Loughan a minister of the Metaphysical Chapel of South Florida. Reverend Pat was a medium in attendance at the very first Séance or sitting circle I had ever introduced at this Metaphysical Chapel.

As I sat in my chair, I shifted a little nervously. I wondered if I would be able to address this "birthday" with any accuracy. For me validating information appeared when spirit wanted to present it, not because I insisted it be provided.

Finally it was Reverend Pat's turn to be the sitter. "Sitter" is a term describing the person receiving the services of a medium. I gently ran my hand over a rough outline of the human form I had sketched, seeking any sort of energy emanations.

This is a technique used by mediums to explicitly identify deceased loved ones who want to come through for a sitter.

As soon as I did this, my hand was attracted to the area which identifies her maternal grandparents. There was so much energy at this location, my hand uncomfortably popped about. As I did this, I heard the words "maternal grandmother" whispered in my ear. I echoed them aloud.

Rev. Pat could not contain herself. She smiled and said excitedly, "Yes! Today is the birthday of my grandmother!"

I continued with a visual description. "I see her with short, soft wavy white hair. She is wearing a dress with a 'V' neck, a white background and blue flowers on it and an apron. I get the impression she liked to bake."

"Yes, my grandmother did love to bake, and she did have a dress similar to that. Her apron was a signature piece of clothing for her! " The rest of the description was confirmed.

Later Rev. Pat brought in a woman for me which was an exact description of my mother! And Kevin Lee brought in a man who was an exact description of my father! I was delighted!

A guest at the event proved how some souls are more assessable than others to come through to meet us.

I scanned her aura and found a deceased uncle on her mother's side of the family. As well, her deceased father was presenting himself to me. I tried to bring in her father, since she did not remember her uncle was deceased at first. Perhaps it had slipped her mind, because he was an uncle through marriage.

"The first thing I get is that your father has been gone for some time." She affirmed this was true. The energy coming from him was very weak.

"I am being shown a very broad and wide midsection of a man wearing a blue shirt tucked into blue jeans. I am hearing he was a blue collar type of worker. I hear he had a heart problem." Our sitter said her father was not heavy, nor was he blue collar. I would get one thing correct about her father, and then the next three to four things were disconfirmed. Finally she vaguely alluded to the fact this might have been her uncle and not her father, but we were still quite confused.

Rev. Pat continued as a medium describing a man who was quite similar and identifying him as the sitter's uncle. Our sitter agreed this was her uncle. Apparently her uncle was overshadowing the transmission of her father. The stronger energy wins out all the time.

Our sitter explained, her uncle had died about five months before. She had visited him while he was sick in the hospital, before he departed earth. Her uncle obviously had a stronger tie to her than she realized, perhaps since he was more recently deceased than her father.

When you are working with spirit it is important to be flexible, because the spirits on the other side have their agenda too. Certain spirits will want to come in and certain ones will either not want to come, or are simply not energetically matched to the medium. In other words, "You can't always get what you want!"

Séances are a good way to:

1. Assess the level and quality of the medium for any future session you might want to schedule with him or her.

2. See if the medium leading the circle is energetically matched to bring in your deceased loved one.

3. Find evidence of the continuity of life.

4. Receive healing over the loss of a loved one.

Séances are certainly real if they are conducted by ethical and legitimate mediums.