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HOLDING the key-ring in his hand, Daren Stephens closes his
eyes. Without pausing to think, he's off.
"I'm getting some kind of fire. A fire extinguisher.
There's pain in the wrist. A dispute with your brother and
the name Paul."
Daren's confidence is breath-taking. He's the star pupil
at this psychic circle run by TV's Craig Hamilton-Parker.
On Sunday night, I joined them in a village hall in Southampton,
to see if I could be psychic, too.
"You have a nice healing energy about you," says
Craig as we shake hands, which is a good start.
He and his wife Jane were actually united by the spirit world.
Britain's most famous medium, Doris Stokes, once told Craig
he would meet his future wife on March 6 and that her name
was Jane Wallis. Nine years later, on the appointed date,
Craig met Jane Willis at a psychic show.
They have been married 14 years and Craig, who starred in
the recent BBC2 series, Mediums: Talking To The Dead, chucked
in his advertising business to concentrate on the supernatural.
"Everyone has natural psychic abilities," he promises
me. "They work on gut feeling and we teach people to
listen to their intuition."
Sounds simple enough, so I join the circle as Craig dims
the lights. There are six regulars and all seem reassuringly
normal - like Christine Harding, from Portsmouth, who works
in marketing.
"My husband laughs at me," she admits. "Tonight,
when I was leaving, he said: 'Don't forget your wand.'"
S HE first contacted a medium seven years ago after suffering
a miscarriage.
"I saw different mediums and, each time, my grandmother
and grandfather came across - that gave me comfort."
Her friend Christine Forster tells me that the first time
she came to the group three years ago, one member told her
she was pregnant before she knew it herself.
"I came here because I had a lot of spiritual activity
at home. My kids would talk about other people in the room..."
We all start by meditating to calm our minds. We then focus
on tonight's guinea-pig, 25-year-old Carley Richards. None
of the trainee psychics has met her before.
"Try to get a picture of what makes Carley tick,"
Craig says. Everyone scribbles in their notebooks before announcing
their findings. "I'm getting a grandmother on the spirit
side. Mary. Or an M name." "It's a grandfather link."
"I have a connection with the countryside."
"There are lots of horses."
"I've been brought up with horses," Carley confirms.
"My granddad used to have them."
I get nothing apart from the fact that Carley looks like
she'd probably go out with someone named Darren. But I keep
this to myself because it sounds daft.
Then the other Daren - the one in our group - amazes everyone
when he announces, correctly, that Carley has a butterfly
tattoo and that her grandfather used to carry a walking stick.
Daren is 27 and works for Southern Electric. He's been psychic
since he was a kid. "As a child, I'd speak to a gentleman
in my room who my mum and dad couldn't see," he tells
me.
"As I grew older, I started hearing voices and seeing
people around me. I saw Carley's grandad briefly over her
left shoulder. But it was just a glimpse and then, when
you try to focus, he's gone."
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Daren has three spirit guides who help him see things.
Do they help him pick lottery numbers, I wonder? "I'm
not interested in that," he insists. "I want to
help people."
The circle now moves on to psychometery. Carley passes us
her keyring and we try to read the vibrations from it.
"You might not get anything at first but go past that,"
says Craig. He must be psychic because, when it's my turn,
my mind is blank.
"You're resisting because your logical mind tells you
this isn't possible," says Craig. "Say the first
thing that comes into your head."
"Andrew!" I blurt at random.
"More!" Craig shouts. Incredibly, in my head I
do see something - like a holiday snapshot of a guy with short,
light-brown hair, sitting on a stone wall. I don't recognise
him. Neither does Carley.
"Describe her house," orders Craig. "What's
the front door like?"
"It's white UPVC," I say.
"What's the hall carpet like?"
"There isn't any."
Carley nods. "My dad's front door is UPVC. And he doesn't
have carpet. He has tiles."
Success at last! But my wild guess that the house number
was 29 is way off. He lives at No.45.
Then Carley passes over a piece of jewellery. Craig tells
me to describe her mother, so I say the first thing that pops
into my head.
"She's a bit argumentative, more outgoing after a drink.
She did typing at school, she hasn't travelled much. She's
had three children, can cook and takes a size-five shoe. "I
feel like I'm making it up," I I protest.
"Just let it come," Craig reassures me. "The
important thing is not to censor it."
I'm right about not travelling and the three children but
Carley's mum doesn't drink and is a terrible cook. Her shoe
size was wrong, too.
"Give me three names that connect with her!" orders
Craig.
"Patricia, Susan and Dominic," I say. Carley blurts
out: "That's my mum's name - Sue!" Everyone is impressed.
Getting a name is the Holy Grail of mediums.
For the last exercise, everyone tries to contact Carley's
grandmother in the spirit world. Carley has brought a photo.
Christine Forster goes first and immediately her hands start
shaking.
"Did she have tremors?" she asks and Carley nods,
amazed.
I'm picking up nothing from granny but contacting the dead
is a bit of a tall order for a beginner. So instead I try
to predict who the photo will be passed to next.
I get a 100 per cent success rate as the photo goes to Christine
Harding - "My legs are shaking, too!".
Afterwards, I'm disappointed I didn't do better but Carley's
impressed with what she heard tonight. "Craig told me
a lot of things that were true," she says. "For
instance, he said my boyfriend could be possessive - and Darren,
my ex, was very jealous."
I don't say anything but the news that Carley really did
have a boyfriend named Darren sends a little shiver down my
spine.
Perhaps I really am more psychic than I think
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