Monstrous
Monstrous People => The Psi Zone => Topic started by: Shapeshifter on August 18, 2005, 01:15:40 PM
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10 Minutes with Sylvia
An interview with psychic Sylvia Browne
by Cathy Smith & Rita Rosenberg
of The EDGE staff
Sylvia Browne says she is truly on a mission for God. As she writes on her website [www.Sylvia.org], she is determined to show the world that the soul survives death. In addition, she wants to emphasize that God, both Father and Mother God, are infinitely loving Beings, not full of wrath and hate as represented by many of today's religions.
A frequent guest on the Montel Williams Show, Leeza and Larry King Live, among others, Sylvia feels that all people can reach God by knowledge and reason, rather than relying upon faith alone. For any question your mind can raise, God will provide an answer; the trick is being able to understand that answer -- which Sylvia does on a daily basis, and it gets stronger and stronger with each person she counsels.
In light of her coming appearances in Milwaukee on July 10 and in Minneapolis on July 12, two EDGE staff members dusted off their unpublished notes from a brief encounter with Sylvia Browne one year ago when she appeared in St. Paul, Minn.
Cathy Smith: Do you mind if I just take some pictures? There's no flash on it.
Sylvia Browne: Oh, Honey, I don't care. I don't care if there is.
Rita Rosenberg: By any chance, is the reason you gave us this interview because we set it up before we came to this planet to meet you?
Browne: Oh, absolutely. There's nothing by coincidence.
Rosenberg: So this is why it was so easy to do.
Browne: Everything is by design.
Rosenberg: OK. Thank you. Do you talk to people from the other side, like Judy Garland, that type of people?
Browne: Not that much.
Rosenberg: You're not interested.
Browne: No, no. I mean, celebrities are OK, but I'd much rather talk to somebody like your grandma, you see what I'm saying, than Clark Gable or somebody. I mean, what are they going to tell me?
Rosenberg: That's my next question I had. Is my grandmother in this room?
Browne: Yeah. That's why I mentioned her.
Rosenberg: That's what I thought. My mom's going to die. Is there anything you want to tell me about how she's doing, like is she happy, my grandmother?
Browne: Oh, yeah, because she made it. She wasn't really thrilled about going, but she made it. But she was a stubborn old girl. She wanted to hang in there.
Rosenberg: Yes. She was a Christian Scientist.
Browne: Yes. And very, very religious.
Rosenberg: Very. And at the same time a real nut.
Browne: Well, she was eccentric. Yeah, I believe that.
Smith: How did you come up with the name Francine (Sylvia's spirit guide), because I know that wasn't actually her real name.
Browne: I don't know how we did it. I mean, her name's Iena, but I don't know how it...I mean I was so young when I heard her. I even asked my father before he died because they were all aware of it, and we don't know how we got it. I think I just didn't like Iena, so I think I renamed her.
Smith: OK, so you just renamed her. It was something that you could say easier.
Browne: Yeah, I think Iena sounded funny to me as a child.
Smith: When you read different books, a lot of people will say that we have several spirit guides, that we have a spirit group, that we have a soul group, that type of thing. Tell me about that.
Browne: Well, you usually have one guide, maybe two, but usually it's one. What happens is, you have your grandmother around, you have your grandfather around, you have people around that have been with you in past life, you have angels around, so I mean, you really do walk around in a group.
Smith: OK, so these are in addition to your main spirit guide, whose job it is to take care of you.
Rosenberg: So when I keep hearing the word "we" all the time, and I'm going, who are we?
Browne: You know when Edgar Cayce did his trances he always said, we have the body. He always said we.
Rosenberg: OK. What I'd like to ask you is: If you did something after your grandmother died, something bad that you want forgiveness for, and just ask her for forgiveness even though she's dead, can she...did my grandmother forgive me?
Browne: Oh, yes. See, there's no such thing as not forgiving you over there.
Rosenberg: I didn't know I was even going to ask that.
Browne: There's no such thing as not forgiving you there, because if they didn't, they'd be stomping around over there, and mean, and cranky and upset, you know.
Rosenberg: Are you going to be making a movie about your life?
Browne: Yes, I am.
Rosenberg: Ohhhhhhhhhh!
Browne: Paramount's talking to me.
Rosenberg: Can I put that in the story?
Browne: You certainly can. It's going to be all over.
Rosenberg: Oh, my gosh. And who's going to play you?
Browne: We don't know yet.
Rosenberg: What will it be called?
Browne: It will be called "Adventures of a Psychic."
Rosenberg: Are you going to be in it? A cameo possibly?
Browne: I probably will be in it, they tell me, at the end.
Rosenberg: You're playing yourself.
Browne: Maybe.
Smith: Oh, how fun.
Rosenberg: Are we running out of time?
Smith: The other thing we were wondering, too, in addition to the movie, with all of the John Edward shows and things like that coming out, were you thinking of getting your own show, or do you just plan to continue with Montel (Williams)?
Browne: I don't want to do that. I mean, at my age, even if I was his age, I don't want to do that. Oh God, when I go to Montel and I do four shows at a time. Plus, he doesn't lecture like I do. He doesn't do 15-20 readings a day. See he doesn't. I can't afford to do that, to tell you the truth, because I support too many people.
Smith: Yeah. And that's got to be hard on your energy.
Browne: Well, and then I'd have to go home and do readings, because every day that I do a reading, I do it to pay the telephone bill, for the payroll. He doesn't have 150 people. I have a huge organization, with churches, and ministers, and staff, and he just has him.
Rosenberg: So what's it like being famous, being Sylvia Browne, with people wanting to meet you.
Browne: You can ask him (Sylvia's assistant, Michael). I never think about it.
Rosenberg: You don't think about it? My God!
Browne: You can ask him. He's known me for 35 years.
Michael: Probably the most un-celebrity person there is.
Smith: I get that feeling too. Even through the books, you sound down to earth.
Michael: She's just not taking off with the ego.
Browne: No, I never had that, thank God. Thank God!
Smith: You're one of the special celebrities, because a lot of them do get that.
Rosenberg: Do you ever get mad at God, still?
Browne: Everybody does, I think. I've said to him, what, are you on vacation or...
Rosenberg: I read your books and they're so comforting, but why did I want to make it so painful, or why do people want things so painful?
Browne: Because you want to learn. The more painful it is, tragically, the more you do learn, though, that's the good part. The people who have it easy, they're not getting their M.A. and their Ph.D. They're really not.
Smith: Sylvia, how do you see karma? Do you see karma as a punishment? Or a balance?
Browne: I see it as an experience. You know, I get so aggravated with psychics. They try to get rid of hell, and then they give us all karma. And we're never done with it. You're afraid to say anything and do anything. People are afraid to say "s**t." You know, if you look up karma in the dictionary, I swear to you, it says experiencing for your soul.
Smith: Whether good or bad.
Browne: Exactly. Now if I do something mean to you out of malice, I'm going to get it back.
Smith: It will come back one way or the other.
Browne: But, I mean, people don't walk around like that.
Rosenberg: Do you have a church here?
Browne: Speak to... they'll tell you. I've got them in Greece, I've got them in Hong Kong, I've got them in Egypt, I've got them everywhere.
Rosenberg: Do you have any in Ireland?
Browne: I don't know. We were just over there, everybody knows me. I don't know how they know me, but they do.
Rosenberg: You know the Irish. I'm Irish, and she's Irish, too.
Browne: He's Irish (pointing to her assistant, Michael).
Rosenberg: He's Irish, too? Way to go! Top o' the mornin' to ya.
Rosenberg: Thank you so much. Let's get a picture of us with Michael....
Smith: Thank you so much, thank you.
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A Cautionary Word About Sylvia Brown
The cult of personality surrounding many psychics/mediums is revolting, and this piece is not intended by any means as a booster for Sylvia Brown. It is presented simply as one of the most intriguing and astonishing ghost stories with evidence and considered worthy of attention. Sylvia's particular intuitive sensitivities should not be confused with authoritative spirituality. It should be noted that Sylvia Brown appears to be the typical 'media-medium' and TV showman as are so many others like her, from John Edwards to Uri Gheller. Like many pop-psychics (she appears regularly on Montel Williams' program, dispensing perpetually positive 'good news' reports from the other side to grieving, often traumatized mourners of the recent dearly departed) she may use both excellent intuition and the honed skill of 'cold reading' to accomplish much of her so-called psychic performances.
A skeptical upper hand is always best in analyzing such extraordinary powers. Brown, like other psychics in the media, regularly inundate the field with so many predictions that some are bound to come true. She then lays claim to those while ignoring the flops... like Al Gore would be elected President. She is as well known for her misses as she is for her hits.
In all fairness, are we to expect psychics to be perfect in all their predictions? Of course not. A psychic is not a prophet. It is, after all, an intuitive art. But some just seem to really push the boundaries of good taste and tolerability, and almost put themselves out there as gurus -- Sylvia seems to be one of them. Watching the glassy-eyed adherents to all-things Sylvia on Montel (which strangely feels a lot like watching a typical Oprah show) should strike any thinking person with certain nausea, especially when she appears so incredibly bored with the whole process, clicking her long fake fingernails, looking like she's verging on sudden sleep and suggesting to everyone who asks that they will indeed be utterly successful in all their pursuits. The constant positive stroking is a bit much. One woman stood to ask Sylvia if she would be successful in getting her book published, and Sylvia rapidly shot back, "Yes, honey, absolutely. Big success." The woman asking could barely form a cohesive sentence with proper tenses.
And not unlike spiritualist John Edwards (Crossing Over), when speaking of the dead, Sylvia will quite often orbit around the most common names beginning with a particular letter, jumping from one vowel or consonant to another until she hits one that the poor sap in the audience responds to with a facial expression or audible gasp. It's sort of pathetic to watch this, to be honest. Painful, considering most of these people are suffering the loss of a loved one and are emotionally vulnerable. It's often even more ridiculous when the psychic/medium can't get the name of the deceased person, but can cough up plenty of dramatized and detailed information about the terrible illness which felled them.
Now, it could very well be that she has true psychic abilities and tapped into the spirit (or call it what you will) of this Yonny Johnson and everything is perfectly legit. It could also be that she thoroughly researched the location ahead of time, which is quite often the method used. It's not that hard to do.
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meaning?
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It's not that hard to understand. Shapeshifter posted an interview with self proclaimed psychic, Sylvia Brown. Voo posted how Sylvia Brown and John Edwards aren't the most reliable people and may or may not be using simple tricks to fool audiences world wide. Tell me, did you actually make any effort to read through the posts at all?