BY LAUREN MATTHEW
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Left, psychic medium Barbara Lee (r) works with Roberta Rubin, of North Brunswick, in an effort to make contact with a recently deceased cousin of Rubin’s during a demonstration Lee put together last week in Old Bridge. Center photo, Lisa Vieira, of Spotswood, becomes emotional after receiving word from Lee about a relative on “the other side.” Right, Mary Ann Connors, of Sayreville, waits for answers from her late mother through Lee, who also told Connors about other deceased family members and friends. OLD BRIDGE — A dozen people wait, many with photographs clutched in their hands, for a message from someone on the “other side,” courtesy of psychic medium Barbara Lee.
“You guys have some strong energy in here,” Lee tells the anxious crowd.
She explains briefly what she does, and that with 12 people in the room, readings could “jump” from person to person. No one present, she emphasized, has ever been read by her before.
“They give information about anything that’s going on,” Lee says of the dead. “Past, present, future.”
Lee works her way around the room, throwing out bits of information to her participants and asking for them to be validated. She urges those present to “think outside the box.”
“I could be off by the name,” she says of her abilities, “but not by the initial.”
“I’m tough,” Lee continues. “I know the other side gives the right information.”
Lee, 42, an Old Bridge resident since 1992, said in an interview that she has been psychic her entire life. But she did not know she had mediumship abilities until her mother, Gladys, died in August 2001.
Barbara Lee tells residents to relax as she gets ready to conduct a demonstration in Old Bridge last week. “The death of a loved one brings [medium abilities] out, if you have it,” she said.
The ability, Lee believes, is inherited — though no one in her family ever acknowledged such a talent in themselves.
“I was very aware as a child,” Lee said. “I noticed everything.”
Dreams, Lee said, have played a large part in her life. These dreams, which she calls “prophetic dreams,” come true later on, Lee said — noting as an example a dream about Sept. 11, before the two World Trade Center towers fell.
“Dreams are a big part of this,” Lee said.
In 1990, Lee said, she visited a psychic for the first time. The psychic told Lee she felt Lee was psychic, though Lee did not believe her.
Lee has since learned her craft by watching colleagues — people like Robert Brown, John Edward, James Van Praagh and Sylvia Browne — and learning by personal experience.
“I can’t explain it,” she said.
Lee said she is clairaudient, clairvoyant and clairsentient. Clairaudience, she explained, is mostly concerned with hearing, and is her dominant talent. Clairvoyance, she said, is similar to receiving mini-pictures. And clairsentience, she said, is concerned with physically feeling something.
Spirits, Lee said, make contact in a variety of ways.
“If someone was more verbal in life, they’re going to tell it to you,” she said.
But, Lee said, she does not see spirits all day. In fact, she said, spirits showing their full form is the least form of communication on their part; the appearance doesn’t cause us to feel or hear anything. Because of this, she said, clairvoyance is less accurate.
After dealing with 12 different readings at last week’s demonstration, Lee had a headache — something that usually happens, she said, when spirits try to connect. Her ears pop, too, she said.
The other side, Lee said, doesn’t concern itself with time. And information moves much faster than we can process it, she said.
“Nobody’s dead,” Lee said. “We’re actually dead. They’re alive.”
People can, and do, get signs from loved ones, Lee said. But we don’t pay enough attention, or we don’t know how to interpret those signs, she said.
“[Souls on the other side] know exactly what’s going on in our lives — past, present and future,” she said. “Nothing’s a coincidence.”
Interpretation, Lee said, is the reason why psychics are not always accurate. A clairvoyant, she said, might see an image of an apple; what an apple means to the individual varies.
During her demonstration last week at a local clubhouse, Lee asks a woman, during a reading, if her dog looked like a rat.
The woman shakes her head, then almost jumps out of her chair, as if a light bulb has gone on.
“My nickname is ‘mouse,’” the woman says.
At least three people are moved to tears during the reading. Lee tells one woman she is getting an image of flowers. Through shaky tears, the woman tells her that when she was younger, her mother would tell her there were roses on the clouds in heaven.
Lee conducts private sessions, phone readings and fund-raisers. Often, hundreds attend her events.
She said she does not need anything to connect to the other side, but pictures are a way to help focus on a specific person.
Readings can be done over the phone, she said, because they are all about energy. A person’s voice can connect with energy on the other side, she noted.
But, she said, everyone’s energy is different; readings can gather more or less information because people are different.
Lee recalled a specific reading where, she said, someone who had died during the World Trade Center attacks came through for his sister. A reference was made to a phone call, and the brother said, “It’s not my fault.”
The woman she was reading explained that she had received a phone call on 9/11 from her brother when the towers fell, and that she had told him to get out of the building. He never made it out, and she was mad at him for that, Lee said.
But from that reading, Lee explained, the sister learned that her brother had tried to get out, but couldn’t. Afterward, her entire attitude changed, and she managed to shake a depression she had been carrying since her brother’s death.
There are numerous instances of readings like this, Lee said.
Lee said she has been contacted by the Ellen DeGeneres show, and is currently working on a book about her life as a medium. She said she’s waiting to finish the book, however, because visions about her own life have yet to come true.
Lee also teaches, gives talks and demonstrations at the Learning Annex in New York City. Two or three times a year, she said, the Annex offers workshops about psychic ability.
On April 17, she will give a demonstration at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Piscataway. Random audience members will be chosen via raffle for a “mini-reading,” so participants are urged to bring one clear picture of a person they would like to hear from on “the other side.” Participants should arrive no later than 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 if preregistered, or $35 at the door. Seating is limited.
Lee said she faces skeptics every day of her life.
“Have an open mind,” she said, “because being skeptical is the easy way out.”
For more information about Lee or her upcoming appearances, visit her Web site at www.psychicmessages.com.