The Medium & The Message

October 14, 2010 marked eleven years since my mother crossed over, and it felt as if that time never went by. Over the course of the past decade, I have opened myself to receiving her guidance in the only way I know how: as a medium. I have always listened carefully and long enough to allow signs to unfold into a single message. I do that for my clients, but it is never so easy to do that for myself. I was determined, though, and remained positive that opening myself and trusting that it was right to do so, would reward me with a special communication with my mother. I wasn’t disappointed.

So often, people move through life missing the signs that create dialog between themselves and their loved ones on the other side. Some never receive the messages they long for, simply because they didn’t take time to relax and listen. With some people it is a matter of faith, and the loss of it. The only way to become aware of those signs and know how to receive them is through the act of faith. My acronym for faith (which I love so much that it is on one of the cards on my Hope Deck) is: Freely Acting In True Harmony. That is what true faith is. To have faith is to have a belief system that there is a Divine source of light (goodness) that inspires you from afar and is there with answers to the questions and emotions you experience while on this earth plane.

I’m sharing a snippet of a scene of the now-canceled Ghost Whisperer with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I used to record the show and see it on the DVR later. This is the opening scene, but before you watch it, allow me to direct those who don’t know me personally, to the signs that make up this particular “message” from Mom.



Jennifer and her husband are helping their son to bury his turtle.Turtle is my animal totem as it is a reference to both my grandmothers: one we called Mertle The Turtle to tease her, and the other (psychic one) actually OWNED a huge turtle that she had on a leash!

I am Italian. The reference is that the turtle is, too.

Turtle’s name is Giovanni – which means John (my late uncle from California)

Palm tree- California.

Good listener: Mom

Finally, my mother’s name: Frances!

This is just one example of how signs are delivered to create a message. I hope it gives you some insight into the messages that are waiting to be delivered to you.

Angels In The Office

Angels surround us. They fill a lot of space that we think is “empty.” You don’t have to believe in angels to be surrounded by them, but if you do believe, then it’s important to remember to request help, rather than to simply expect help, from the angels. Here is a personal story to illustrate this Divine connection!

In 1996, after years of reading at my home, other peoples’ homes, and psychic fairs that took me to various hotels, I decided to rent an office of my own. I’m not a living-out-of-the-suitcase kind of person, and that is how it begins to feel after sitting in the energy of so many different venues! Each time, I would have to get used to the new space, find a comfy seating arrangement, and spiritually prepare myself, and the room I’d be working in, for the readings to come. This was a good move, and what better person to look for the rental space than my own mother?

“Feels ok,” I heard Mom say, as the landlord escorted us up the stairs to the offices.

He opened the door to an outer office and into a reception area. Inside were three other offices; one already occupied by an attorney who only used the place a couple of days a week. I would have the third floor to myself most of the time, a free waiting room, and a private entrance for my clients.

“Is this place secure?” Mom was still asking questions.

“We have an alarm system that calls to the police, and I will give you the little key to activate it,” he said. “You can’t get in and out of this building without the alarm key.”

That Saturday evening, we stopped by the new space with a coffeemaker and three gold painted angel figurines that belonged to my mother’s late sister. I set up the coffee maker and positioned the three angels across the desk.

“I’ll be sitting in the waiting room if you need me,” Mom said.

A short while later, I turned out the light and slid the doorknob to the lock position. I locked the door, and, before I even realized it, I could “see” the keys still on the desk inside the room! . It was one of those realizations that make you cringe.

“Please tell me you didn’t just leave the keys inside!” Mom rolled her eyes. “Use the spare--.”

“We have no spare and we’re locked in from the outside, and locked out from the inside office.”

“Try your cell phone.” I could sense the tenseness in her voice as it cracked the words.

“We’re in a dead zone and I can’t get a signal.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?” she was now panicking.
“Who would I call, anyway?” I continued. “ I have no number for the landlord and it’s Saturday and no one is working at this hour.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to start praying, Mom. We both talk about the power of prayer and how we call on the angels for help. Well, now is as good a time as any to have that faith.”

“Angels, please help us.”

“Please open the door for us.” Mom said sweetly. I turned to her and together we said a prayer and waited.

I went over to the door again and gave it a turn. Nothing. I moved back from the door and shrugged. A few minutes passed, and we both heard a click as the door softly swung open! As it did, the tears in my eyes began to spill down to my cheeks. “

"Oh my God! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

It was at that single moment that Mom and I mutually came upon the profound awareness that we are not alone; that our angels, too, are watching over us.

Maximizing My Crystal Experience

As many of you know, we hosted Max, the Crystal Skull, at our metaphysical center in the beginning of June, almost eight years after hosting him the first time. Being surrounded by the vibration of such a peaceful, ancient energy only served to remind me that, though the path to peace has been an arduous one, it is still attainable. I also learned that no matter how much we think we know about something, we really only scratch the surface of knowledge. Life is a lesson, after all, and having the rare experience of touching a “wonder of the world” is something that provides a lesson in understanding what peace and love are truly all about. The lesson is simple: by exposing yourself to positive energy you can achieve all that you really desire. This wonderful pre-Mayan artifact provided a well of peace that was worth the experience. I put together this little video to share our collective experiences with you. It was a very powerful weekend and we look forward to next year’s visit!

Click here for the Max video:

A Personal Feature by ©2009 Erica Welner

You’re looking for a dream catcher, a beaded curtain, a crystal ball in a window—any indicator, really, that the intended destination is near. Driving down Route 22, you are on the alert for a schmaltzy storefront or, failing that, an overpowering whiff of incense that will point you in the direction of this storefront. You are searching for Linda Lauren’s Embracing the Universe Metaphysical Center, and if your eyes are open for a hole-in-the wall abode, you may well pass it by.

Psychic Medium Linda Lauren runs her business from the Smith Williams House on Route 22, a red brick building that appears small beside the modern Asian restaurant constructed along that same stretch of road. The historic house looks as though it should contain a collection of doctors’ offices or law firms and is as unlike a tumbledown New-Age shack as anything you can imagine.

Within its walls, Lauren says, she uses her gifts to advise clients in the areas of “romance and finance,” among others, as well as to contact the dead. Minutes into speaking with her—perhaps after she has correctly intuited your significant other’s birthday or provided you with a detailed, spot-on description of your own personality after 10 seconds—it becomes apparent that Lauren is as far from a stereotypical, phony “psychic” as the Smith Williams House is from a fortune-telling booth on the boardwalk.

Lauren claims to possess psychic and clairvoyant abilities. While many people may wonder, “What would I do if I were psychic?” most never have to definitively answer the question. Lauren, on the other hand, says she does, and she has decided to use her gifts to bring positivity into the lives of those who seek her guidance. Helping others, Lauren asserts, is what she likes most about her job.

“I can teach people how to create a better world for themselves, how they can reach their goals, how they can talk to the other side,” she says. She has had quite a few years to contemplate how to apply her insight: Lauren is fourth-generation, aware of her abilities since childhood when, according to her website, Lauren’s imaginary friends turned out to be deceased relatives making contact from the world beyond. As far as intuitive gifts go, Lauren has hit the jackpot: She says she can discern information about the past, present and future as well as communicate with individuals who have passed on. Such is the benefit of being both a psychic and a medium.
“It’s a way of helping [people] to see guidance they might not see,” she says of sharing her foresight with others. “I’ll give them the tools of meditation, certain ways to be, certain practices that would help them,” Lauren elaborates. “And then I’ll tell them what I see in their future, or in their present that could help their future.

“As for ‘medium,’” she says, “That’s strictly talking to the other side.” For Lauren, mediumship is not a matter of electing to contact the dead—the dead find her, although this reality is not nearly as ominous as it sounds.
“[Mediums] do not see [dead people] like you see them in “The Sixth Sense,” no matter what anybody tells you,” she says. “It is my experience that the dead are “normal people who just want to talk to you. They want to come in and talk. Do you actually think that one of your relatives who passed away…is going to come back as an axe murderer because somebody’s in their house? No!”

That being said, the constant presence of spirits can overwhelm at times.
“As I’m passing down the hallway, I have to be distracted,” Lauren admits, referring to the corridors of her father’s nursing home where she is sure to encounter the deceased. “But nine out of 10 times, I’ll happen to look…and I’ll see the same little old lady that I waved to in a wheelchair, and right behind her is a man standing with his hand on her shoulder.” Lauren says that she will know this man to be the woman’s late husband.

“But I can’t give her a message. I can’t say to her, ‘Oh by the way, Tom’s standing behind you, and he really loves you and he wants you to know everything’s okay.’ I can’t say that.”

However, frequently it is appropriate for Lauren to relay messages from her supernatural sources. Spirits make contact for a variety of reasons and on occasion this psychic medium will get an especially helpful heads-up. She recounts how once, during an audience reading, the spirit of a man came through to give lottery numbers to his sister. She won.

A well-timed psychic vision can likewise change a person’s life, or prevent that life from coming to an abrupt end. Lauren says that, in one early demonstration of psychic ability, she dreamed of a plane crash before it occurred.

“I saw the [flight] number—everything—and I woke up screaming,” she says. Yet the young Lauren dismissed the nightmare, provoking her mother to respond, “‘Linda, nothing in this family is just a dream.’” Lauren remembers that her grandmother had been scheduled to take the flight but canceled her plans in response to her granddaughter’s prophecy. Later, when the aircraft crashed, Lauren’s grandmother was fortunate enough not to be among the fatalities.

A person hoping to similarly keep one step ahead of fate might be interested to know that when he or she sits down with Lauren, the psychic medium may be taking in more than the individual’s checkered pants or daring AstroTurf handbag. Lauren says she sees color emanating from a client’s person. More specifically, she says she tends to see the “panic” within the color, which she later helps to soothe.

“Purple might tell me that you are…trying to work with stress, but by the same token you are in a place where you are open to receiving help,” Lauren explains, leaning forward in her chair. “I might see red, and red would tell me…that you are looking to move on, but that you are having trouble doing it.

“Green might be that you need healing,” she says, adding that this hue could also mean a client’s financial future is looking sunny.

Color, however, is only one of two unusual qualities that Lauren claims to intuit upon meeting someone new. She says the second quality is energy.

“Energy is a vibration. It’s something that you feel,” she describes. When sensing an individual’s energy, Lauren explains, she may momentarily take on that person’s emotional baggage or physical aches and pains. These sensations “don’t stay long,” she says. Nevertheless, be sure to check any flimsy persona you had planned on presenting at the door. Lauren cautions that she can pick up on states of mind “immediately. People can’t hide that from me.”

The psychic medium says that those not born with supernatural abilities still feel the effects of energy: Energy is the uneasy feeling that has you hightailing it out of a seedy club, or the friendly vibe that draws you to a certain store. According to Lauren, seemingly five-sensory individuals can be taught to focus in on positive energies and to avoid negative vibrations.

“Everything has energy, and you have to use it to your advantage,” she says.
Who, exactly, is “you”? Does Lauren have a prototypical client? “Don’t laugh,” she begins, smiling. “I’m going to say it this way, and it is with a sense of humor, okay? A lot of my clients are antsy.

“Finance and romance,” she chuckles. “So that would be the biggest thing—finance and romance—in terms of the guidance aspect.”

Lauren pauses, then notes that since 9/11 requests for contact with the other side have increased. Popular areas of inquiry aside, it’s a grab bag when it comes to the actual clientele. An equal number of men and women seek her counsel, no one age group drops by most often, and a businessman is as likely to pop in as a college student. To anyone expecting a disproportionate number of billowy scarves in the waiting room: Let it be known that you will be disappointed.

Max, The Crystal Skull is back!

Max The Crystal Skull, will be at Linda Lauren’s Embracing The Universe in Mountainside, NJ - June 11-13, 2010.

908-518-9001 –for information or to book your session.


Sessions with Max:
Private session for 1 person for 30 minutes is $60.00.
Private session with 2-3 people for 30 minutes $40.00 per person.*
*by appointment and availability.

Saturday, June 12, 2010 – 7-9pm
Lecture and Meditation with Max & JoAnn, facilitated by Linda Lauren
$25.00 per person

*Lecture, meditation and group participation to touch Max or have your photo taken with him.



MAX & JoAnn Parks:

Back in December 2002, we had the pleasure to host Max and JoAnn from our home office. Now, over 7 years later, I felt the need to have Max come back and share with us his healing vibration and positive energy of spirit.

Max is one of the thirteen-original crystal skulls known in the world at this time. Authenticated by the British Museum, Max is at least 10,000 years old and weighs 16lbs. Max was found in a tomb in St. Augustine, Guatemala, between 1924 and 1926 and was used by Mayan Priests for healing and prayer.

Norbu Chen studied to be a powerful healer of the Tibetan sect of Red Hat Lamas, and also in Guatemala with Mayan priests, where he came into the presence of Max. Norbu was given this precious skull when he left the Mayans to continue on his path as a healer. His travels took him to Houston, Texas, where he started a healing foundation. The crystal skull sat on his altar as a healing and spiritual tool.

It was during this time that JoAnn and Carl Parks met Norbu Chen through their family medical doctor when their twelve-year-old daughter, Diana, was dying of bone cancer. JoAnn ended up working for the Norbu and the foundation for many years. Before he died, he gave Max to the Parks with no explanation except that someday when the time was right, they would know what the crystal skull was all about.

After many years, communication from the skull told JoAnn of his name and his desire to assist humanity by direct experience. Now JoAnn travels with MAX across the country and around the world, providing this experience to all who are called. Many who have been in the presence of Max and the other original crystal skulls feel a profound sense of healing and awareness.

An ancient legend tells of thirteen life-size crystal skulls. According to the ancient teaching, one day all of the true ancient crystal skulls will be re-discovered and brought together for their collective wisdom to be made available, but the human race must first be sufficiently evolved, both morally and spiritually, so as not to abuse this great power and knowledge. No one knows if this ancient legend is true. However, one-day mankind may find out.

Max the crystal skull, is known nationally and internationally. In 1996, Max was researched by the British Museum in conjunction with the BBC Network and Everyman Productions, where a documentary ‘Skull Trek: The Journey of the Crystal Skulls’ was produced based on the authentication process of Max and other crystal skulls. This aired on the A&E Network, and the Discovery Channel. Max has been seen in movies including ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. He was featured on the Travel Channel on a show called "Top 10 Mysteries" and a national show called "Strange Universe". He has done a documentary for Japan and the Spanish Channel, and has been featured in the news, many newspaper articles, books, and videos world wide.

For a private session with Max or to attend the Saturday night lecture, please call 908-518-9001.

Photo credits: Max The Crystal Skull - (c)2002 Linda Lauren

A Visit To Houdini's Grave - Was I pushed? You decide!

Houdini, Harry (1874–1926), U.S. magician and escape artist; born in Hungary; born Erik Weiss. In the early 1900s, he became known for his ability to escape from all kinds of bonds and containers, from prison cells to aerially suspended straitjackets.

I have long had a fascination with Houdini as an entertainer, and later, as a man who (rightfully) debunked some very famous so-called “mediums” in the days when spiritualism was all the rage in the parlors of the United States and Europe. I championed him for unmasking so many of those that preyed on the loss and misfortunes of others. And I felt sad for him as I followed his plight to communicate and receive a message from his own mother on the side.

Over the years, I have collected memorabilia and read a great deal about his life, and one thing I always wanted to do was to visit Houdini’s grave. Not because I’m a medium, as I usually stay clear of cemeteries because I know the dead are not there. (But that is another story for another blog). I wanted to go because it held the spiritual energy of another time and place. The Society of Magicians had a beautiful emblem made, along with a statue bust of Houdini to mount on top of it. Just like Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris, the bust has been stolen by zealous (or jealous) fans a couple of times and not replaced.


Houdini and his entire family are buried in MachPelah Cemetery in Jamaica Queens, a desolate area of blocks and blocks of cemeteries. This one has been closed down for over 20 years and it is certainly not a place I would go to alone, not as a medium or a woman. I didn’t know anyone else who was shared my passion. Then along came my friend, Steve. It was during a reading with me that Steve mentioned his own long fascination with the great escape artist. We were amazed to have known each other fourteen years and never once had either of us mentioned Houdini. I told him Houdini was an Aries, like me. We laughed and Steve offered to take me on the visit to Queens.

There were several signs from spirit once we were on our way, one was especially attention getting. In the middle of the ride, the keys literally flew out of the ignition while we were driving and landed between my feet on the passenger’s seat. The vehicle, btw, was still moving!

As we neared the rows of cemeteries with stones that spread out for miles, I could feel myself getting a little queasy, nervous, and excited. We had to pull off of the main street and into a carriage port circa 1800s and I was begging Steve to stop his pick up truck and turn around. It was overwhelming and unnerving and I could feel my head spin. I began to walk around with the video camera too soon. As you will see in the video, Steve comes around to help me. I am talking and trying to make light of how frightened I am by the energy I’m experiencing. As we move into the gravesite, Steve notices Houdini’s mother’s plaque. Not only was Houdini, my sign, but also it turns out that Steve discovered something about himself and Houdini’s mother!

I draw in for a close up with the camera so I can show all of you what Steve and I discovered and all of a sudden I have no control of the camera. As you will see, just before the end of the video clip, I am asking what is going on. Right after that moment, I felt people whispering all round me, close to my ears, and I felt a hand both push and pull me just before I took a nosedive into the monument steps. My fall was almost in slow motion.

I was lucky to escape serious injury and had to see the doctor to make sure. When I look back on the incident, I believe Houdini’s mother was trying to make her presence known to the first medium to visit there in a long time. Much of that cemetery has spirit lingering and it came as no surprise to me that she would reach out. Perhaps what I experienced is the residual energy of a mother who, even long after she is reunited with her son on the other side, still attempts to communicate with him.

Creating A Positive Vibe With Your Energy

Linda Lauren’s Energy Art™ is a reading of the colors of energy of people, places and objects, as it relates to the aura. When certain colors are intuitively combined together with intention, they create a specific energy for a desired result, like healing, harmony or money. Think of an aura photo and its array of colors. Now imagine those colors have a movement and a purpose that is designed to create an uplifting mood. Do you want prosperity? Romance? Good health? Harmony? Peace? You can do that via the vibration and translation of colors that, as a Medium, I read for you and visually express for you.

I have discovered a unique process of breathing life into spirit by way of this new artwork. Each picture is accompanied by a translation to explain what the colors mean to you, as well as the purpose they serve.

Invite prosperity and abundance
Reduce stress
Stimulate creativity
Encourage love and cooperation
Enhance your own energy, and the energy of those around you.
Heal body, mind and spirit
Promote harmony
Stimulate dreaming
Enjoy restful sleep
Embrace peace and love.

Let Color Therapy work for you through my reading of your colors. Call me to learn more about this treat for the spirit!

Note: the artwork above hangs in my Reading Room at our Center in Mountainside, NJ. It is called Making The Connection and it represents my communication with what is above (the other side ) with what is below (this side and the living.) The blue that runs across it denotes communication and the purple and white represent my mission and my work. This piece holds a very spiritual feel when seen up close, in person.