THIS week I found out I have my own ‘spirit guide’ and that my best mate will be married within the year.
These are among the revelations from my first session with psychic medium Gerry Cannon.
The 83-year-old British expat can sense my nerves, as he steps into my office to arrange my first ever contact with ‘the other side’.
Ouija board and Holy Bible in hand, he proceeds to rope off an area around two chairs – according to him, ‘to keep out bad spirits’.
He then produces a candle from his Tardis-like briefcase, lights it and says a prayer.
“I’ve never done this in an office before,” he tells me, “so hopefully we’ll get some kind of reaction.
“It can end in tears if you don’t do it properly.”
My pulse is really racing now and my palms sweaty, but Gerry assures me calmly, ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of’.
With the lights down low and the two of us suitably prepared, we get stuck into the first item on tonight’s agenda – table tilting.
This form of spirit communication dates back to the 18th century and requires participants to lightly place their fingers on the edge of a table.
With enough energy in the room, the table should then begin to tip, with each tap of its leg on the floor representing a number or letter of the alphabet.
After five minutes with our palms on the wooden surface, Gerry begins to mutter, calling out to the spirit world.
Looking around at the office computers, business cards and photocopier, I am highly sceptical about whether this is the right setting in which to contact the spirit world.
But then something happens, I can feel the table vibrating.
Gerry promises me he isn’t moving it before it tips towards me.
A few taps and the table spells out the name of my spirit guide.
“Afiido,” he says, “that’s the name of your spirit guide, they are neither male or female.”
So the spirit world is quite progressive then.
Before I have time to think, we move onto the ouija board.
This is where Gerry – or rather Afiido – comes into his (or its) own.
By holding a little ring down on top of the board – the type of which I have only seen before in horror films – we reach out to Afiido.
We both place our fingers on the metal object, as Gerry again tells me ‘it isn’t him moving it’ as it begins to slide over the surface.
“Do you know a Tommy?” he asks me as the ring hovers over the letter ‘T’.
“Actually yes I do,” I reply. “Several, in fact”.
With that, Gerry – through my spirit guide – proceeds to tell me how my best mate Tommy will be married to his girlfriend by Christmas and will have two children by the end of 2020.
All that is quite a lot to take in and I can’t imagine how I’ll let Tommy know.
After I run out of questions to ask Afiido, Gerry moves us on to the last part of my session – automatic writing.
This involves shutting my eyes with a pen in my hand and letting the spirits do the rest.
I loosen my grip and let my hand wander, using the spirits to guide me.
Gerry is definitely not controlling this bit.
My hand actually moves off the paper and scrawls on the table, which I don’t think is what’s supposed to happen.
I’m tired now and I open my eyes to see my uncontrolled masterpiece – a scribbled biro mess.
“That’s not bad for a first attempt,” Gerry says, “and you can carry on when you get home.
“Light a candle, get a bible, say a prayer, put a rope around yourself, hold a pen and see what happens.
“It can take time.”
I bet it can, I think, as I put the lights on and wonder what just happened.
Just another day at the office I guess.
Originally from London, Gerry Cannon lives in Duquesa Village on the Costa del Sol. As well as mediumship, he has written extensively about his work in Egypt and the country’s ‘second Sphinx’. Gerry conducts house calls between Sotogrande and San Pedro, offering demonstrations in ouija boards, table tilting and automatic writing. Half of all Gerry’s fees go to charity. Look out for more on Gerry in future issues of the Olive Press and on theolivepress.es Or email Gerry on gcmedium@yahoo.com or ring +34 952891080 or +34 690017237.