The Psychic in You: Understand and Harness Your Natural Psychic Power

The Psychic in You: Understand and Harness Your Natural Psychic Power
By Jeffrey A. Wands
Publisher: Atria Books (February 2004)
Pages: 272 – Price: $24.00

Ghostvillage.com Author Interview

Jeffrey Wands has been a practicing psychic since his college days at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. He made his first psychic connection when he was six years old and was visited by his great-grandmother, who had been dead for 23 years. Now, Wands has been earning a living as a psychic intuitive almost his entire adult life. He currently runs his practice in Port Washington, New York, where clients wait up to a year for a reading. He took a few minutes to talk to Ghostvillage.com about his new book, The Psychic in You: Understand and Harness Your Natural Psychic Power.

Can you define the turning point in your psychic career when you knew that this is what you had to do full-time? 

Jeffrey Wands: I would say that when I did The Maury Show, I proved to myself on national TV that I can handle it. That was my turning point. It was 2002. 

Who is the book for? 

JW: The book is for somebody who really has never had any experiences in this field. We live in a time now where anything can change in a sudden moment, and I think it’s important to learn how to be able to connect and see signs and be close to relatives that you’ve lost, and also to learn how to trust your own intuition. It’s a combination of things. 

The book is very autobiographical. Did you find it difficult to bare yourself? 

JW: Yes, very much so. But everything I said in there was stuff that I really meant — it was very genuine — it was definitely how I felt. To me, I think it was the right way to handle it. 
I try to make the psychic experience very simple — which was my whole point in doing this. Unfortunately, in a lot of these cases, with these types of books, you get lost in the fluff. And I made sure that I didn’t. 

When you write about some of your very emotionally taxing cases, such as the young boy who committed suicide in Long Island, do you find yourself reliving the pain again, even years after the original event? 

JW: Yes, because I felt like maybe if I would have seen them sooner, I might have been able to prevent it. All of those things go through your mind. 

Do you need to rid yourself of that pain every time? 

JW: Yes. It took me a long time to learn how do it, but I realized I wasn’t responsible. I think water is a great vehicle for cleansing the pain. 

9-11 was prominent in parts of your book. Being so close to New York City, you had some victims’ families coming to you. When is the right time to seek the help of a psychic after a tragedy? 

JW: It was very traumatic and the emotional part of it was very difficult, but I’ll tell you that the bond from that side was so strong, and these people were able to get messages and connections so quickly right after 9-11. Which was the amazing part — I had people getting stuff two or three days after. 

I tell people about the three stages of death: you go through the anger phase, the denial phase, and the acceptance phase. Some people go through denial first, some people go through anger first, and other people go through acceptance. Usually the acceptance is the last part of the equation, and I tell people in most cases you’ve got to make sure that you go see a grief therapist. I look at myself as the last person on the food chain. You definitely need to first go to somebody who will help you deal with the initial trauma of this. 

Can everyone develop their psychic ability? 

JW: I think so. I think it’s intuition, and I think it happens every day. Police officers have it every day, the common everyday person…imagine using it on Wall Street? It’s just really taking the time to take three or four minutes a day and have quiet time. Which most people, of course, never do. 

Can it be developed even to the level of your ability?

JW: I really believe it’s part of the brain. I don’t have scientific evidence of this, but I would say most definitely that everybody has the ability to make that kind of connection. Granted, I’m very sensitive, and I’ve been doing this a long time, but I think that as you get better with it and you start to open up to it, then you’re really going to start to have answers. 

Can you tell me about the picture on the cover?

JW: Jim DeCaro is my Web guy, and I had discussed the idea with him of being able to take pictures of spirits and how to go about it. I pushed him to do it, and we do a whole chapter on this spirit photography. And I think for the common folk out there, this is a good example of the fact that if you want to make a connection with the other side, it’s very easy to do. And look at Jimmy — Jimmy having no experience in this — look how easy it was for him to do it. 

Your book is noticeably pretty religiously neutral. Do you feel mediumship and psychics have a place in mainstream religions today? 

JW: I’m not looking to sway people from churches or synagogues, because I think it plays a role, and I think that religious belief in my eyes is a very personal issue. And I don’t go there for a reason, because I think that, you know the expression: “Death and taxes, church and politics”…You don’t mess with that, and that’s something a person needs to find within themselves. 

Psychics definitely have a place in mainstream religions, but I think it’s in how it’s done. I think there is a danger with people — with anyone who claims to be a prophet. I made my peace with it, and I think that it really is up to the individual. But it does upset me when people say, “Oh, don’t go to psychics, it’s against the religion,” I think that’s hogwash. 

That’s why I stay away from that. I think the problem with a lot of these types of books is they get too much into trying to sway you to their belief system. And I’m not trying to do that. If I can get everybody to just open their mind for three or four minutes a day, then I’m doing my job. 
I think what happens with a lot of people is they get so turned off by the term “religious.” To me being spiritual is a lot more important than being religious. So we’re not looking to get the Catholic Church pissed off or the Jewish faith, we’re looking to find a mainstream avenue and find a way of dealing with this in a positive manner. 

What do you want people to walk away with after reading this book? 

JW: For people to open their mind and say that this is not all garbage and that this definitely has a place in society. Intuition and psychics have been around for thousands of years; it’s just that people are afraid of things they don’t understand. If anything, I want to simplify the topic. That was my real whole point doing this. I think what happens, and I’m not taking a shot at at some of the other psychics, but I think they get way too out on a limb with a lot of their belief systems, and then you’re opening yourself up to be attacked. 

I really want to make it simple.

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