There has been a lot of talk recently (on facebook of course!) about which holistic and spiritual practitioners to use and what medium/tarot readers to go to.
I would whole heartedly 100% advocate seeking out holistic therapies. When I was 16 I became very ill and was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and Proctitis...not pleasant at any age but horrendous as a teenager. I struggled with it for years under various doctors and specialists and on any number of medications all of which were steroid based and came with their own horrible side effects including depression and mood swings for which I was given even more medication.
Then about 15 years ago I happened upon a reflexologist advertising help for digestive problems ... so I went...and practically floated home from the first session. Several intense sessions later I was weaned from half the medications and a few months later I was not only completely medication free my UC was much, much better. I continued to have regular reflexology sessions but also tested out EFT (emotional freedom technique) and Kinesiology along with being food intolerance tested. All of these holistic therapies have led me to be UC free for about 6 years now, I still have to be careful with food and I have the odd bad day when it 'niggles' but nothing like the attacks I used to have. In fact when I had my last hospital check up 3 years ago they declared me fully in remission.
This was mostly with thanks to reflexology and holistic treatments helped along the way by my own spiritual journey with witchcraft.
There are a huge amount of holistic therapists now offering all sorts of lovely treatments, I was inspired to train myself with Reiki and am a Reiki Master Teacher and also a certified Crystal Healer (although I don't practice as a professional).
How do you find the right therapist though?
My advice would be to trust your intuition, go to the Mind Body Spirit fairs and try some of the taster sessions or get recommendations from friends. But go with your gut, if you make a connection with the therapist then excellent but if anything makes you feel even slightly wary...go somewhere else.
As for charging? There are healers who don't charge at all but most of the therapists are professionals who have taken a lot of time and effort to train (and spent a lot of money in doing so) and are certified, this also means that they will be insured as well. I am not saying don't get treatments for free - some therapists will also work a barter system, but make sure that the person treating you is qualified and experienced. These people will be working with your personal energies and whilst the aim is to work some healing magic and sort the energies out for you, they can if not properly trained or inexperienced cause damage - again, go with your instinct about how you feel about the person doing the treatment. Personally I believe there should be some kind of 'energy exchange', if the healer is doing it for a living then money is a good exchange for the benefit you will receive but don't pay over the odds...just because someone is charging £100 an hour it does not mean they are better than the person charging £40.
I have also had some lovely treatments at healing shares, so keep an eye out for those.
The same applies for mediumship and tarot readings. They can be extremely helpful if you need guidance or support in a decision. And there are a lot of readers out there too. There aren't the same sort of 'qualifications' for readers, there are some certificated courses but I have had fantastic readings from people that have been self taught as well. Again with this go with your instinct, get a taster reading at a MBS fair if you can or go by recomendation. Don't be put off if the person is offering free readings because they are learning - I have had some good readings from people who were practising. Again don't pay over the odds...same rules apply...just because someone offers a reading for £65 (I have seen this price advertised, personally I wouldn't pay that much) it doesn't make them any better than someone charging £20. I usually do readings for donations, but then I don't work as a professional tarot reader.
There are ethics with readings too - no reader should ever tell you that you will drop dead within the week, neither should they tell you that your wife is having an affair with the milkman. There are ways of wording things to prompt you as the client to be wary or get health check ups - no one should come away from a reading in floods of tears with a cloud of doom hanging over them.
I have had a lot of very good readings over the years - mediumship, tarot, oracle card and shamanic journeys, I have also had some average readings and on one occasion a totally awful one and that was with a professional medium/tarot reader who does it for a living, not only was the reading total hooey (apparently I should now be working in a hedgehog hospital??) but the reader also threw in some very strong accusations about my marriage. Thankfully I was sensible enough to know the whole reading was total garbage, but if I had gone to seek guidance and support I would have come out of there totally devastated and misled. So choose wisely and go with your instinct.
Bear in mind as well that all readings predicting the future are only possible outcomes and not definite and that the information given is for guidance only and not set in stone.
And again the same applies for spiritual teachers - all of the above counts, go with your instinct, seek out recommendation from friends or ask to be put in touch with other students who can talk to you about the teachers and the course itself. Some teachers with do courses for free, most will charge some kind of energy exchange. I have seen courses that run to thousands of pounds per year, personally I would not pay that much but it's your call...remember that with teaching and courses a lot of work, time and effort will have (hopefully!) gone into the preparation, planning and writing of the course and then the follow up, make sure you will be supported along your journey throughout the course itself. Again check the qualifications and experience of the teacher and that the course is their own actual work, I have seen one or two courses where the information is just copied and pasted from the internet...you can get that for free yourself!
Not every person will 'match' with every reader, therapist or teacher. We are all different and all unique.
There are a lot of people to choose from, most of them are lovely - just be guided by your intuition.
