PSYCHIC MEDIUM BRANDIE CHRISMAN

Brandie Chrisman is an engaging, attractive young woman in her twenties and a single mom with two young children. www.brandiechrisman.com  She lives in a beautiful home about a thirty minute drive from my house.  We settled in her living room in two chairs facing each other about four feet apart with new age music playing softly in the background.  My first impression was a little doubtful because she was so young, but after reviewing our recorded session and reading my grandfather's obituary  I am very impressed with her accuracy. Well, shocked is a more accurate description. There is no way she could know things about my family (going back over 80 years).  Even if she did a google search to find out information about me she would not have found the things she talked about. And besides, I used my maiden name when I made an appointment with her which I haven't used in over 30 years.  So if she looked for anything about me online she wouldn't find a thing.  Brandie talked about things that no one could just guess about my mother or father or grandfather. She is definitely one of the best psychic mediums in Oklahoma, if not the best.  I am far more impressed with her than either James Van Pragh or Sylvia Brown. Brandie also attended the Arthur Findlay College for mediumship in Essex, England.

From the information she gave that I could verify, it appears that she was over 90 percent accurate with my reading (and that's a conservative estimate). I counted 44 details she gave that were accurate.  Five details that I don't know. (Although I don't remember if my father taught me how to ride a bike I don't know who else would have.)  Only one detail that was incorrect - my grandfather had no military connection.  Brandie stated that if he didn't have a military connection it could mean that he was very regimented.  I have no idea if he was or not, but I would guess he would have to be because of how successful he was and perserving through the depression.

Some of things she told me I couldn't verify until later and I thank God I recorded the reading.  Brandie gives so much information and I was so occupied trying to process everything there is no way I could have remembered everything she said.  I wrote out the entire session and that gave me a better picture of just how much information she gave me and how accurately she understood my family dynamics.  I have heard a medium on television remark that spirits have a story to tell and that does seem to be the case - especially with my mother.

In the second reading I had with Brandie she was just as accurate (see my post of 5/30/11 and the update in the post of 7/15/11).  Last March I took a friend to one of Brandie's galleries where she was lucky enough to receive a reading.  After listening to the recording and writing everything she told my friend, we counted 40 items Brandie had correct and just three we weren't sure of.  Brandie is consistently accurate.  I have written about my reading with Brandie so anyone can see exactly what I learned from my reading with her and get an idea of how she works.

Brandie began by telling me to answer just yes, no or maybe, and that if she needs clarification she will ask me a question.  I totally forgot about my recorder until about ten minutes into the session.  Like my first reading with a medium (see my post of 4/4/11) she had the sense of two males and a female.  I determined later that it was my grandfather who initially presented himself.  At first I had no clue who it was because she mentioned a banking connection and then she had a very good visual of him, tall, thin and balding.  [That's grandpa when he was older.] She saw that he was making a big deal about being strong, he was presenting himself with big biceps and thought he had a military background.  Neither of my grandfathers had a military background (that I knew of) but my maternal great grandfather did.  [I later learned from my grandfather's obituary that he was on the board of a bank.]

Brandi never gave me any initials or names in this reading, just information, but that was enough!  My mother came through next (grandfather came back later).  Brandie had a sense of her being educated, not with an advanced degree but more "book knowledge," she could hold a conversation.  [My mother never went to college, but all her siblings did.]

But then Brandie started talking about my mother's childhood, which I later realized she nailed, everything she told me was true.  Brandie said that during my mother's childhood things were very hard for her and her family, and:

1)   they lived in poverty;
2)   mother's parents were hard working;
3)   mom was one of many  [Brandie thought 5 but there were seven kids];
4)   she felt lost in the shuffle;
5)   they all did a level of work to make life work for as long as she could remember;
6)   depression and dust bowl era was significant to my mother;
7)   stressed that the family really went through hard times;
8)   Brandie saw blue collar and farm land - you have to really get out there and use your hands;
9)   education was stopped abruptly at a certain point;
10) college was a dream - Then Brandie said it was like my mother was shaking a finger at her and saying "but don't mistake that for being not being educated,"

[When I returned home I pulled out my genealogy records and found a family story written by a cousin about the life of our grandparents. During her childhood my mother was living in Wichita Falls,Texas and the family had been doing very well thanks to grandfather's investment in a few oil wells. Grandfather had made a million then lost it all when the depression hit and the banks called in the loans, and according to my cousin "there was nothing to do but hunker down and tough it out.  To eat, grandfather was forced back to subsistence farming (a form of farming in which nearly all of the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and his family, leaving little, if any, surplus for sale or trade."  He basically found a site in open prairie and moved in dilapidated oil-field houses that he stuck together for a home.  My mother's education abruptly stopped at that point and as a senior in high school I am not sure if she was able to graduate or not.   If she had not, she would never have told us!  All her siblings had been to college but being the youngest she never had the chance, so her education was abruptly stopped as Brandie said. The dust bowl era took its toll on them too and they survived on what grandmother could grow in her garden and a few hogs that they raised, and an occasional beef that one of the family could afford to butcher.]

Then Brandie goes into more personal areas for my mother.  She said that when mom was older it was very important to her to be very well "put together."  Brandie was taken back to the 50's era dress and gloves.  She said it was like prim and proper were very important to my mother. [A big yes on that!]  Brandie asked mom why she was bringing this up and determined that this was around the time she met my father and that was when she had felt the best in her life. [True, she had a good job and she found my dad.]

Amazingly, Brandie sensed that later my mother became very stressed and frazzeled, and had a sense of being overwhelmed. [Yes]  According to Brandie, my mother felt that things had to be a certain way to be right, but never quite were how she thought they should be. Brandie said I might not have known this about my mother, but my mother had a tendency to become frazzeled raising children. [Oh yes!]

[Wow, looking back now I realize Brandie is absolutely correct.  My mother came from a blue collar background and when she met my dad, (who had a Master's in Engineering from LSU and worked for an oil company) she must have felt very lucky to have made such a good catch!  She determined very early in their relationship that she would marry him.  Consequently, however, with my father's position came an elevation in social status that did cause her considerable concern for being proper and everything being just right.  I do remember my mother as being stressed a lot and I had more than my fair share of lectures about how to act or dress for "polite society."]  

Switching gears,  Brandie said my mother was now talking about my relationship with her, that there had been a distance between us, either a physical distance or at odds.  [Probably talking about the time I lived in Canada with my first husband. I don't recall being at odds any more than most teenagers/young adult.]  She went back to being frazzeled during my early childhood.  [I'm sure Brandie is correct about that because I was a surprise baby when my mother turned 40 and I remember her being "frazzeled" or nervous.  My mother would never play cards with me or board games because she claimed that it made her too nervous. At the time I didn't think that much about it because it was just what I thought was normal.]

What really shocked me was being told my mother acknowledged "things I wanted her to do that she didn't - like go to things, or do things and she didn't". [OMG]  Brandie said my mother apologized for not being more motivated and not measuring up.  My mother was at odds with herself.  It was stressed that there was a significant change in my mother due to fatigue from when she was younger.  My mother had an image of how life should be and she was sorry for not measuring up.  [Wow]

I was surprised when Brandie stated that my mother talked about having a lot of fatigue.  My mother told Brandie that everyone thought at the time it was depression, but it was not.  The fatigue was significant because it became worse which caused her to become unmotivated.  It continued to worsen until she let everything go and that she became ill before anyone else knew.  There is something significant about the immense fatigue.  [OMG]
[On the way home from my reading I realized how much that made sense because for years my siblings and I had thought our mother was depressed (or lazy).  Perhaps it was because she did seem so unmotivated - she had to have a housekeeper and after dinner our dishes went into the sink to "soak" so they would be easier for the housekeeper to clean.  Then it dawned on me; my mother snored horribly and I would bet a large amount of money that she had sleep apnea (like my sister).  The next day I recalled when I was a senior in high school and found my mother's prescriptions for both Dexadrine and Benzedrine - (which I admit I sampled so I could stay up and study for a test) and why on earth would she need bottles of both?  This was 1969 and I don't believe that doctors had even discovered sleep apnea yet. Sleep apnea can also cause strokes and my mother had her first one at 59.] 

Brandie said that the fatigue played into things not being the way my mother thought they should have been and she is sorry that she could not make it so.  She had some guilt that she could not provide the picture of what things should be like.  [I totally believe this is correct because it makes so much sense to me.]

Then who had to be my grandfather (my mother's dad) came through again as strong and again showing big biceps. Brandie stated that he was over emphasizing that he was not strong at the end of his life, but he feels strong now.  Brandie thought his death was chest related, maybe heart. [Had no clue until I came home and read his obit.] She felt he had a military back ground or he was very regimented; [Don't know.] and that he was a proud man - but not in a negative light, but that he holds himself with pride.  [My mother specifically told me this about my grandfather, that he was a proud man.]  

Brandie described him physically as having broad shoulders and tall [I don't know] and that he was blue collar; she saw him out on the land with the plaid shirt feel and an oil field connection. [The oil filed connection really surprised me - remember that during the depression he put together shacks from oil fields to make a home.  Before the depression he had invested in oil wells.]  Brandie stated that she felt that he had no college. [Correct, my grandfather left home at 13.]  She said that my grandfather indicated that he died when I was a small child { I was two]. 

Again Brandie was drawn to his lungs, she had a heavy lung feeling like a chronic lung issue, almost like a miner's lung.  She asked me if he smoked and I said he probably did. [When I read his obituary I discovered that he died of lung cancer, so Brandie nailed that one!]

My grandfather showed Brandie a farmhouse with a row of trees and indicated that there was something significant about those trees.  Brandie said they kind of looked like fruit trees and she was shown apple trees - which she said usually means a teaching connection.  [Two aunts were teachers and surprisingly my grandfather was on the school board.] Brandie saw apples being put in boxes that were then put in a truck. [?]  Brandie said he was again emphasizing a life of work and she thought he was trying to say that I had that same work ethic. [How sweet.]  There was something significant about his watch [?] and again Brandie felt a military connection.  [I have no idea if my grandfather was ever, even briefly in the military.  I have yet to find a WWI draft registration card for him because in the data base  on Ancestry.com there are hundreds of men with his name. My cousins have never mentioned anything about him being in the military either.  His father, however, was a captain in the civil war.]

My father came through next.  Brandie saw him as slender and tall, educated, soft spoken- not a yeller, very level headed, good at expressing love and older when he passed.  [All true.]  Brandie had an image of graduation and me and that my father was very proud because it was like a milestone had been passed.  [I was the first of his children to graduate from college, albeit a junior college.  Since it was clear that my other two siblings would never graduate from a college he was especially happy that at least one of his kids did.  I remember him telling me after graduation ceremonies that "I was the first kid to graduate from college."   Interesting that Brandie would see that.]

She said my father had a sense of humor, that he enjoyed telling jokes with his friends and he could do it his whole life.  She said he could make me laugh.  [True.  In fact there was a newspaper article about my dad and his three college friends when they all got together again for the last time in their lives because of their 60 year friendship.  When my father was asked what they liked to do together one of his comments was that they "liked to tell jokes, mainly filthy ones."

Brandie said my father handed her a picture of her grandfather and thought that meant that dad was a newspaper reader.  Brandie said her grandfather used to sit in his chair with his coffee and read the paper.  [Yes, my dad certainly read the paper and books every day in his chair by the window, but with bourbon, not coffee.]  She said there was a soft strength about him and that when he did talk you listened - he talked when there was meaning.  She felt I could go to him with anything and he was not judgmental. [Yes]  He liked to care for people. [Yes]  Then, surprisingly Brandie said that he played board games to bond with me.  [He would always play Parcheesi with me whenever I asked him to.]

Apparently my father enjoyed being outdoors, she thought the outside made him feel like meditating and he would go out to reflect. [I don't know about that, but I do know that he loved taking us to the mountains in Colorado - his favorite place in the world. At one point he had purchased a half acre lot in Estes Park, CO and intended to build a vacation home there.  Unfortunately my mother's first stroke a few years later caused him to rethink building in a small town where he was not confident in the medical facilities.]  


She said that when he gave me away at my wedding it was emotional for him and a significant memory for him.  [He was extremely happy with husband no. 2. and knew he would not have to worry about me.]


He also taught me to ride a bike, I am told. [I don't remember, but I don't know who else would have taught me, certainly not my mother.]  She said dad was a picture taker.  [Absolutely - that was a big hobby for him.]  Brandie told me that dad brought a lot of joy to my childhood. [Oh yes, especially when he bought me a horse!]


Brandie thought there was something significant about dad's wedding ring and I told her he didn't have one.  She said then it has to mean that he took commitment seriously, he would not make promises he could not keep and he tried to pass that down.  [Absolutely true.] 

Brandie saw that I had a brother and that dad was very loving toward him also. [True]  He was very proud of his success. [At that point I indicated to Brandie that my brother was not particularly successful but actually that was my reaction to my estrangement from him.  My brother is a hard worker and did provide reasonably well for his family so that actually is success.  I was thinking of success as having a great career and making a large amount of money.]  She said that dad was separating me and my brother and my dad indicated that "they get on each other's nerves." [OMG, how many times did I hear that phrase when i was growing up, that one sibling or the other got on someone's nerves - usually my mother's!]  Brandie saw that there was something going on with me and my brother that makes us be separate. [True, for the last 25 years.]  I was told to not shut the door on him.  [We have emailed each other over the past couple of years.]


Back to me and my dad, Brandie said we were the closest in the family and he enjoyed that [true] and that he enjoyed our conversations when I was older.  She saw that it was significant when I came to see him and check on him when he was alone.  [True, after mom died I went over every day].  He left me with gratitude because we always had each other with mom being sick and brother being brother.  [Mom was in the hospital for a month before she died and my brother was in Australia and didn't make it home until soon after her death.]


I am so amazed.  This was more than I expected.  I am still processing all of this.  My parents have been gone for 25 years and this reading took me back to memories I hadn't thought about in a very long time.  I don't know how on earth anyone could guess all of this.  Wow . . . . I never thought I would find a good medium this fast! 

You can read about my second session with Brandie in my post of 5/30/11 and an update on the second session in my post of 7/15/11.  Brandie was consistent with her amazing accuracy and grasp of my family dynamics.  In the update I have included information I learned after discussing the reading with a niece.