FreeForm, formally ABC Family, not only has a brand new breakout show, but a contemporary and jaw-dropping reality icon making headlines, “Monica the Medium”. Airing Monday’s on the network, Monica is about to close out her 2nd season of the hit show, traveling through San Diego with a bevy of fresh clients, characters, plot lines, and shocking spiritual twists and revelations.
Without a doubt her life has been anything but ordinary as she shares with everyone, a modernistic and social media driven culture, her ability to communicate with those who have crossed over. Maintaining a balance between her own life and those connections which transform the lives of complete strangers is what makes her journey so special.
A proclaimed ‘old soul’, after realizing her talent and sense of prophetic knowledge and understanding, Monica decided to pursue a degree in PR/Communication at the highly-accredited Penn State University, where she continued learning how to channel the growth of her capabilities.
“Monica the Medium” was contacted by several established producers in the entertainment industry, quickly expanding her credibility and popularity, before her gut told her to go with this current opportunity on the west coast. Monica’s natural energy and presence on camera have made her an instant fan-favorite inspiring a community.
As the first and only original reality series on Freeform to get picked up for an intense second season, audiences from all over are invested in her powerful readings. New Theory Magazine gets an inside scoop on her rare gift.
NEW THEORY: How did you discover you had a gift for communicating with spirits?
I had always been intuitive and emphatic growing up, but didn’t start sensing Spirit around me until I was about 15 years old. It really started with me being around certain friends and acquaintances. They’d be telling a story about a loved one who had died and I would hear or see the next part of the story before they’d finish telling it! In addition, I’d also be feeling all these emotions and sensations that I couldn’t explain.
At the time I was still afraid of expressing what was happening…I didn’t want my peers to judge me and I also wondered if maybe it was all in my head and just a coincidence, or that I might even be crazy or sick with a brain tumor.
But once it started happening around strangers, I knew this wasn’t some “lucky guess” and that it was absolutely spirits communicating with me. I would share what I was hearing, seeing, feeling, and these people that I had never met before would start crying being like, “Wow, how’d you know all that about my loved one?” and as more and more people received the validation through the messages, I was receiving the validation that this connection to Spirit was in fact REAL and that it was a gift of healing I was meant to share.
NT: How did/do family, friends, or people in general react to your ability?
When I first came out of the “medium closet”, some of my friends were skeptical, but once they experienced it for themselves or witnessed someone else get a reading, they became full believers and have been incredibly supportive ever since!
I have three sisters and they all have pretty much been #TeamMedium since the start! LOL. My parents on the other hand, took a lot longer to come around. My mom comes from a very Catholic, conservative, Hispanic background and so she initially questioned if this was a gift from God or if it could be coming from something negative. With my dad, he works as an auditor and so he’s a very analytical thinker. Initially, he was not sure what to believe, and only just recently witnessed my gifts in person when he came to an event that I did in San Diego (which you see in episode 7 this season). He has always supported me, but I think after that event he’s now fully a believer!
I’ve noticed now that I’m living in San Diego, that people out here are a lot more open to what I do! So in general people react very positively when I tell them I’m a medium.
NT: How do your readings usually come to you? Are they clear images? Do you need help interpreting them? Etc.?
When I start to channel Spirit, I will often feel, hear, sense, and see things all at the same time that I then piece together in order to interpret the message for my client. Spirit will also show me signs and symbols that are part of my own “Spirit Dictionary” so I’ll already have a meaning for it. Communicating with the spirit world is not the same as communicating with people in the physical world. I see Spirit in my mind’s eye (like the way people will see images in a day dream) and I hear Spirit in my thought’s voice. Sometimes it’s as clear as an HD television screen or a radio tuned into the perfect frequency…and other times it can be a little fuzzier depending on the Spirit or personal factors (for example, if I’m running on no sleep or I’m 5 tequila shots deep the connection won’t be as strong LOL).
NT: How did you learn to channel translating these messages through the deceased and their loved ones?
It’s kind of like playing an instrument in that for some people it comes so naturally. For me it was as soon as I stopped suppressing it that my gift got much stronger and then with daily meditation and more and more experience giving readings, my connection developed really quickly.
NT: Do messages ever get mixed up, or perhaps no messages come through at all during a reading?
Sometimes things get mixed up, but not because messages aren’t coming through, but because it may be for someone else! A couple years ago I was giving a reading to a client at my home, and the girl brought her roommate who waited for her downstairs. So I’m bringing through the messages from Spirit and the client was not connecting to any of it!!! I was so confused because the Spirit I was communicating with was so strong and it was clearly for someone! Turns out every last detail and message connected to the client’s roommate who was waiting for her downstairs. Spirit comes through for who NEEDS it the most, not necessarily for who wants it the most or is just curious.
NT: Do you simply connect with spirits, revisit past experiences, or do you have more of a psychic aptitude?
I am simply a Spirit Medium who communicates with those who’ve crossed over. I’m not a psychic so I don’t predict the future or do any fortune telling. Occasionally, the loved ones in Spirit will talk about an upcoming event in your life if it’s already in motion. For example, I’ve had a Spirit come through in a reading and have me give the message, “Congratulations…you have a baby on the way!” and then I’ll get an email a week later from the client saying she just found out she’s pregnant!
NT: Many people come to you in hope for answers, or in search of closure, how often are you able to fill that void for them and what does it feel like?
Getting a reading will never make you stop missing your loved ones and it won’t completely fill that hole in your heart, but it absolutely brings so much healing and comfort. For a lot of people it even gives them their life back. Layers of grief are peeled away and they can start LIVING again, after years of allowing the pain to keep them from getting out of bed in the morning and continuing to find the joy in their everyday life. I honestly love that transformation that I cannot just see or hear as far as the feedback that comes from the client, but I can actually feel. It’s like they’re a different person by the end of a reading! I can feel that shift and change of energy, this lightness and this huge weight that’s been lifted off of them because of the feeling and peace that it’s brought them. Really that’s why I do this first and foremost, for the clients, providing them that peace and comfort and allowing them to know their loved ones are around them. They don’t have to be wondering if there’s nothing after life on earth. There is an afterlife and you will be reunited with your loved ones.
NT: The idea behind the nature of your gift can be a bit controversial- have you ever encountered non-believers, or worse, been accused of deception?
Yes, but that comes with the title. No matter who you are, how many years you’ve been doing this work, and how many readings you’ve given…if you talk to dead people you will ALWAYS have haters, skeptics, people who doubt you, not believe in you, etc.
I understand where the skeptics are coming from. If I wasn’t the one connecting to Spirits, day after day, I would be skeptical. People should question things! But some people are just so closed minded, and I think a lot of the skeptics just come from a place of fear. I don’t waste my energy on the negative people and online bullies nor am trying to force my beliefs onto anyone. I’d rather continue spending my time bringing healing to a mom whose lost a child, a young girl who lost her dad, etc.
NT: What do you want the younger generation to know, to take away, or be inspired by?
Through my show and the work that I do as a medium, I’ve really tried to break down the stereotypes—this idea that mediums are either creepy or weird and ‘witchy’ or that they are frauds and fakes. I feel like our society is going through a kind of spiritual awakening right now and are becoming more receptive, understanding and okay with the idea of mediums.
I get thousands of messages from younger people that have their own abilities. I hope they are inspired to be true to who they are and not be afraid of what people will think of them if they choose to explore their own connection to the Other Side and maybe even come out of the “medium closet” themselves!
NT: Is there anyone you are looking to reach? Are you personally on a quest or mission for something in particular?
‘Monica The Medium’ season finale airs on June 27th, 2016 on FreeForm.
