By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

I often view my faith and open-mindedness to the world as a positive thing, for the very reason that it allows me the freedom to try new things and meet new people without judgement.

However, this blind faith often runs contradictory to my emerging career as a professional journalist, where it’s penciled into the general job description to be a skeptic and question nearly everything. To be sure, I certainly do but in some rare and exciting instances, suspending disbelief may yield better results than remaining preoccupied with skepticism. 

This is how I recently felt when I had the opportunity to profile Landenberg resident and reiki master as well as receive a reiki and mediumship reading from her. Julie Garey, who has been practicing reiki and mediumship for five years, started The Reiki Medium four years ago in her Landenberg home and currently practices at The Three Peaces in Wilmington. Although her business is still relatively new, Garey explained to me that she has always had “feelings” of other energies when she was young, and that she would sometimes hear guiding messages.

“I was always interested in mediumship, but I was always too scared to really look into it,” Garey said.

Although guided by her strong sense of intuition, it wasn’t until she received a medium reading for her 40th birthday five years ago that she decided to pursue the practice. Garey visited a local medium who during their session spoke about Garey’s grandfather, telling Garey that her grandfather would visit her youngest son and play trains with him. After the session, Garey showed her son a photograph of her grandfather and asked if he recognized the man.

“I said, ‘Do you know who that is?’ and he said, ‘Yeah. He plays trains with me.’ My son has never met my grandfather in his entire life.”

This experience gave Garey the motivation she needed to start developing her own skills as a medium that began by attending meditation and reiki classes where she realized she could hear messages like she used to when she was younger. It has led to additional education that has included classes on mediumship and healing touch.

(Translated, “Reiki” is an energy healing practice where the practitioner places their hands just above the body of the receiver in order clear out stagnant and negative energy and move in positive and healing energy. “Mediumship” is the practice of connecting with spirit guides and deceased loved ones to communicate messages they may have from the other side.)

Garey gave me the full attention of those skills in a session that combined reiki healing with messages and a medium reading. Suddenly, my original intention to write a profile about Julie Garey became in part, a profile about me.

As I got comfortable on the table, Garey played music that set a serene vibe for the session. To get started, she began by moving a pendulum over my chakras -- the energetic points of the body residing at the crown (top of head), third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root (bottom of spine). Each chakra has its own purpose and rules over different spiritual, emotional, and even physical functions. 

Early in the session, Garey determined that my throat and sacral were blocked, meaning, she said, that I had concerns in communication and health and wellness, respectively. As soon as Garey said she was going to check for blockages in the chakras, I took a mental bet on it being the exact two she said it was.

“Kind of funny, because you’re a reporter,” Garey said. For someone who has chosen a career in writing and communication, I do have a surprising number of communication problems.

Garey moved her hands in the space above my body and I questioned whether I could feel it. When she covered my third eye, I felt an ache form between my eyes that wanted to move up, like it was being pulled out of skull by her hands. I suddenly felt my throat become sore and the same upwards drag, and when she moved her hands over my heart, I noticed that my breathing had shifted into my chest rather than in my stomach. 

I questioned whether this was the healing energy working or if my focus had merely shifted to each spot as she worked her way down. I felt relaxed and comfortable, and I chose to trust the process.

Trust, as it turns out, is a key factor in the energy work Garey performs. If a reiki patient chooses resistance, there is a likely chance that they will not experience any of the benefits of the practice.

“It’s like having a three-way conversation,” Garey said. “If the person getting the reading is open, it’s going to go so much easier. If people refuse and don’t want to be read, I can’t read them.”

A bongo-playing spirit guide

Lucky for me, I am quite open which Garey confirms by checking my crown and third eye chakras, dealing with spiritual connection and intuition respectively. Having read tarot for six years, collected crystals, and studied my astrological birth chart so much you’d think I was getting my degree on it -- I was all in on the experience. While I didn’t always believe what I learned from those hobbies, I won’t ever refute the comfort, fun, and even the accuracies I found in them. Who am I to deny myself or anyone else those simple pleasures in an otherwise complicated reality?

I wander somewhere between waking and sleep while Garey finished the rest of the reiki session. Having worked through all the chakras, she then walked me through all the psychic and medium messages she gathered during the session. I apparently have an eccentric, bongo-playing spirit guide that was coming through for these messages.

“Your crown chakra was nice and open,” Garey told me. “They were telling me you were very adventurous and open when it comes to spiritualism.” 

I’ll say this magazine profile is a testament to that.

Garey informed me that my heart chakra was open and free, and that my solar plexus indicated that I was a member of a close family with a mom, dad, and sister who were all connected to my root chakra, meaning that I most likely live with them.

She also explained the blockages previously in my throat and sacral chakras.

“You’re very good at speaking for other people through journalism and other things but sometimes you hold back for yourself,” she said. “The sacral blockage showed health concerns the cchakras wanted me to acknowledge.”

Garey clarified that reiki is not a diagnosis and does not replace traditional medicine. In fact, in addition to her energy healing work, Garey also works full time as a dietician and diabetes educator for ChristianaCare, and for her, healing doesn’t stop at the physical level.

“Healthy eating is healthy for the body, but reiki is really good for health of the mind,” Garey said.

We then moved into the medium portion of the session. Garey took a deep breath, centering herself as I similarly tried to keep myself in the right, open-minded mental space.

“In addition to the guide, there’s also been a dog who’s bouncing around,” Garey told me.

I gasp. This was immediately better than I was expecting.

Garey admits that pets are not frequently what comes through first, but this dog did, and that was when she began to describe my old dog Orry in appearance and personality: medium sized, brown, energetic, cuddly, and described as “lucky.” She saw me around the age of 10 with him which is how old I was when we rescued him. He acknowledged me for my kindness and special connection to him, which I was happy to hear.

The other spirit to come through was an old woman -- most likely a great grandmother -- although it wasn’t exactly clear what her relation was to me.

“They always come for a reason,” Garey said before telling me that this spirit shared with her that I was the creative one in the family (agreed) and encouraged me to travel but not without saving up first. Other messages included avoiding any possible drama that may come my way – all sage advice regardless of whether it’s coming from the living or the dead. A man also came forward to stand beside the woman but he didn’t have much to say.

I’ve been fortunate to not know many people who have died so I often don’t feel compelled or entitled to a mediumship reading, though I have had one prior to this. I recognize that for those struggling with loss, mediumship could understandably provide a great deal of comfort.

Evolving consciousness as a humanity

As our session ended, Garey and I continued to talk more about her practice, and while she admitted that at first, she was reluctant to be the subject of a profile because of the possible skepticism and judgement of nonbelievers, her husband encouraged her to move forward with the story. Garey shared that although spiritual work may be easy to dismiss, it is a growing movement and earning more recognition; in fact, ChristianaCare offers classes on healing touch, which she describes as a form of reiki, showing how even traditional medicine is being influenced by these holistic practices as well. She said that she feels reiki is moving more and more to the mainstream.

“Our consciences are continuing to expand and because of that you’re going to see more healers coming out,” she said.

In our fast-paced and ever-changing world, I can see why people turn to things less tangible in order to cultivate faith and find comfort, and why practitioners like Garey continue to practice for good and positivity. I ask any skeptic, “why not open yourself up, not just to spiritualism but to anything? As long as critical thinking, respect, and kindness are still centered in your life and daily practices, why not suspend disbelief and see what comes in?” 

Who knows what you may find?

To learn more about Julie Garey and The Reiki Medium, visit www.thereikimedium.com.