The Telegraph - interview:

"What do you see about me?"

Psychic Medium Barbara Bandel gives Spirit guide readings.

Barbara sits relaxed on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands and says that the first thing people often ask when she says she is a psychic and a medium is: "What do you see about me?"

People react curiously but also skeptically, she says. "For many people, it's elusive if you say you can communicate with the deceased, while it feels like breathing for me."

Barbara was three years old when she had her first paranormal experience. She found out that not everyone had the same experiences when she was seven years old at the police station. Together with a friend, she had to identify a flasher based on photos. In the pictures, she saw what those men did with small children. When Barbara asked her girlfriend if she saw and felt the same with the photos, she didn't understand what Barbara was talking about.

In her childhood, Barbara found it challenging to connect with other children. That felt lonely sometimes. She never intended to turn her 6th sense into her profession. "That went very gradually." She worked as a secretary, but she was not satisfied with it. People asked her their life questions more and more often, and she found that it was very fulfilling to be able to answer them and to help. Through word of mouth, more and more people wanted to ask her questions, so the step to practicing it professionally was a logical consequence.

Who is your spirit guide?

"The nice thing is that it doesn't feel like work," she says enthusiastically. "Doing something that gives you deep inner fulfillment makes you happy." In addition to her readings, she also gives personal guide readings. "I use a photo to tune into the person's energy and make contact with their main guide. Your main guide is someone you have shared a past life or past lives whom you had a strong and very close relationship with. It's a very old soul that will not incarnate", she explains. "The main spirit guide tells me what stage of life someone is in. What tasks does someone wants to take on in this life, and what does someone want to achieve. Where are the challenges, and where is the opportunity for growth? What was the connection with the main guide in past lives? Why did you choose this life? Why are you here? This is a very extensive reading that provides a lot of insight. It's about the blueprint of your soul. All information will be given in a clear and down-to-earth manner."

Discover, experience, feel and act on your own

Because of the prejudices about psychics, Barbara often felt obliged to defend herself. She has stopped doing that, she says firmly. She understands that people are skeptical. Being skeptical is good. What touches her is when people don't value her and already judge her in advance, simply because of what she does. "Experience a psychic reading first and then judge, not the other way around," she says. "If you want to visit a psychic, let the psychic speak. If a psychic is going to ask questions or come up with generalities, you have to be on guard. Only give your first name, nothing more." Barbara points out that people shouldn't visit a medium or psychic more often than twice a year. "The danger is that people tend to live their lives according to what they have been told. People must discover, experience, feel and act on their own. That space must always continue to exist. It's never the intention you become dependent on anyone: you are and remain responsible for your own life - captain of your ship. Take the psychic's information with you in the back of your mind but let your inner guidance be your strongest advisor. Your own intuition is gold."