I am not 90% Stoked and only 10% choked about our up-coming transition.  I am 100% positive this is going to be a good move for us, Sweetie is openly celebrating.  There will be a *lot more* available to her as an artist and an academic than there is here, and leaving the rural west coast is something we’ve discussed previously in order to give her more opportunity, and for me as a psychic and a hospital employee, well, I’ll be just fine and there will be a lot of opportunity for advancement within my healthcare organization in Victoria.

We.  Will.  Be.  Fine.

I was watching a livestream camera in the Johnstone Straight yesterday, which is where many resident orcas travel to in the spring, because the salmon bottle-neck through the straight to access their spawning grounds and the orcas – well, they just swim around with their mouths open.  This area attracts the mighty transient orcas too, who hunt the sea lions who eat the salmon.  There is *so much food* for the orcas right now, they spend a lot of their time rubbing their butts against the floor of the shallow beaches.  (If you had only a month each year to scratch your butt, wouldn’t you enjoy it too???)

Here’s the highlight reel of the stream I was watching:

 

I realized while watching this that I will *not* be leaving my favourite mammal behind when we move to Victoria.  In fact, just a few months ago we *literally saw the exact same pod of orcas in Victoria as we saw in Tofino.*

I realize now, that event could also have been foreshadowing our upcoming move.  Life is really cool when you start noticing these messages, even in hindsight.

I feel a lot better about moving to Victoria when I remember that I am actually not leaving what I love about the west coast behind.  It’s not like we’re going back to Toronto.  There are still orcas and eagles in Victoria.  We are not that far from bears.  Wolves and cougars are not that close, but it’s so incredibly rare for me to see them anywhere, and I’ve been lucky to see some in my lifetime.  Maybe I’ll see more, but it’s wonderful that I’ve seen them at all during my 10 years here.  I’m already so lucky.

And Victoria will be a place of amazing growth for us both!

I’ll admit there is still a small part of me that needs to process the frustration of working as hard as we have, and being unable to stay in the Tofino / Ucluelet area, but I’ll let that go when I’m done with it.  I think that 10% might actually be helping me to separate from this area that I have loved so deeply.  Yes it’s amazing, beautiful, energetically healing – but it’s impossible for us to do well here.  In all honesty, we’ve considered leaving a few times, not just for Sweetie’s sake, but because the housing situation has never been stable for us.  I will be *so unbelievably happy* when we finally own a little place of our own, and I say that with humility and gratitude, because that would not even be a possibility without this whole psychic adventure.  Blessings, I count them.

Anyway, this transition will be the big theme of this year, and I’ll keep you updated, but I want to make sure I’m actually talking about *psychic stuff*.  Our house is still getting shown to people once or twice a week, indicating there isn’t even an accepted offer in yet, so we have at least 90 days from today, possibly longer.  I’m hoping I can get a job that’s a “step up” from what I do at the local hospital here, I’ve gotten some resume advice from colleagues and a former boss, some advice on contacting managers, and I have a few calls to make in terms of networking with some folks I’ve had a friendly working relationship with over the years in the organization.  All this will take a while.

So for the time-being, I want to go back to talking about Freddie Mercury!

This fellow is just *exploding* right now, thanks to the Oscar-winning performance of Rami Malek in the hugely successful movie Bohemian Rhapsody.  Sweetie and I just saw it for the first time at our friend’s house – she has a brilliant big-screen tv, it was like watching it in a theatre, except there were dogs mooching our snacks!  (Which for me is better than a theatre.)

Freddie of course *shows up* while we’re watching the movie and added a bit of commentary, including a complement of my friend’s cat who he called a “lovely pussy”, and a comment about how Elton John wants to produce his own bio-pic while he’s still alive because he is a solo act, and Freddie is lucky enough to have his own character in Bohemian Rhapsody be heavily influenced by his band family and friends who genuinely knew him.  It wasn’t a comment against Elton at all, just an acknowledgement that Elton has endured a lot of loss in his life, and will be met by many of the people who love him best when it’s his turn to go.  Freddie’s communication was an appreciation of how many people who loved him in life are still alive and still care about his legacy.

I had a conversation with Dr. Lana a while back about mediums communicating with famous people in the afterlife, and how we know that:

1) we aren’t just making it all up to inflate our own egos and

2) what makes us “special” enough to talk to them in the first place?

Here’s my thought on that, which I’ve returned to multiple times over writing this blog.

1)  The nice thing about talking to famous people in the afterlife when you know very little about them, is that confirmation is *everywhere*. You’re never going to get a “clean reading” on a celebrity the way you would with a client because a celebrity’s influence is so pervasive in our culture, we all know things we don’t think we know about them – so just let go of that idea, and instead be in the moment with the conversation.  A lot of good usually comes out of it.  It’s up to us as individuals to keep our own egos out of it, to not be possessive of the people we talk to, nor critical of other mediums talking to the same folks.  Which brings me to point two:

2)  You don’t have to be “special” to have these encounters or conversations with a celebrity in spirit. These folks spent their lives working to reach *millions* all over the globe.  Why on earth would they stop reaching out in the afterlife?  That’s why they *are* so easy to talk to, they practically do all the work for us, and all we have to do is stumble upon them!

I had a client ask me if she was crazy for feeling so close to Freddie in spirit – of course you’re not crazy!  The whole point of his art, of his life’s work, was to reach out to people exactly like us!  Of course, with this movie in particular, he’s *incredibly engaged* with the people who love Queen’s work, and love him!  This is exactly the way it’s supposed to me, in my humble opinion.

Just remember to check yourself, make sure that your friendship with people in spirit does not imbalance your life as an incarnate being.  Have incarnated friends.  Have a healthy outlook on life.  Participate in life, create things for yourself, be free with your enthusiasm, wise with your energy, respectful of other people’s choices and beliefs.  Let spirituality be an enrichment to your life, and keep your brain and common sense plugged in.  And if you’re asking yourself the above two questions, that’s actually a good sign you’re keeping grounded.

Here’s Freddie to talk more about the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody.

F:  Wearing a white spandex uni-tard with white feathered football shoulder pads and a long crepe-y material hanging from the back of the shoulder pads in a sheer, flowing cape.  At first I think he’s wearing a tall white crown like the ice queen from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but then I see it’s his energy pouring from his head upwards in a crown that is like a hologram transitioning to rising smoke.

It’s my Angel Look, darling, and aren’t you marvellous?

He immediately welcomes me into his space, which is unusual, as my own awareness tends to stay in my body as I type, but instead my awareness is welcomed up out of my body and into Freddie’s world, where I feel tall, ephemeral, and I don’t seem to have legs – I’m more of a genie in a bottle, my skin shimmers in warm gold, pink gold, white gold shades like a hologram, and I’m wearing something that seems to change as I look at it, sheer, flowy, shiny, feathered, (no birds killed for fashion here my dear!) and my body is pretty neutral, neither masculine nor feminine, the clothing feels comfortable, fun and fancy all at the same time. 

 Do you mind if I get personal first, my friend?  (Of course I don’t.)  Your name is not Kate, that word does not embody all who you are.  You need additional names, if you insist on using Kate, as I used Freddie my whole life.  It was the “Mercury” which connected me with the ethereal.

K:  What about the Sitka?  (Sitka, for those who don’t know, is not my legal name, but the name I use in my psychic practice.)

F:  NOT GOOD ENOUGH!  Not powerful enough!  How modest of you turning to the elements, the trees, the flowers, the birds, but you ask others to dismiss you, look past you, take you for granted with that name!  Embrace your place among the stars!  Let your name be your touchstone, the combination of sounds which forever reminds you of who YOU are!

Aside:  Okay, I’ve been thinking of legally changing my name recently, not in the immediate future but after we have this whole housing thing sorted out (I don’t need a name change in the middle of all that legality.)  But once we’re all settled, I’m going to change my legal name, which is something I’ve really wanted to do since I was a teen – and not just the last name, all of it.  This is what Freddie has picked up on, and why he’s chiming in, and I really do appreciate it, because I think I was thinking “small”.  I actually did have a middle name in mind which literally means “star” and is connected to memories of riding horses, which is a great energy I’d like to carry with me through my life.  Without realizing it though, I did intentionally keep my name considerations “small” and acceptable.  Regardless of what I choose, I will always be Kate here on the blog, and in my real life.

K:  Thank you for the naming advice –

F:  And don’t hide your beauty and power in middle names.  Announce yourself.  (He says this with a slight upward jerk of his chin, and slightly purses his lips, like this naming power is a sexy secret.  He suggests I take a completely different last name.)

K:  I may.  I will think about it seriously for another year.

F:  That’s all I ask!  And how about that *fucking fantastic* piece of work (the movie) my friends assembled?

K:  Do you have any additions, context, corrections?

F:  YES!  They were FAR too easy on me!  (Shows me he did a lot more cocaine than they implied in the movie, how it affected his personality, and how much his bandmates and friends put up with.)  I was a DIVA, but they were kind about it.  They implied that point without DRIVING it home!  (He playfully did a hip-thrust with his half-mic stand.)

K:  Well, of course your friends are going to want to protect you.  They wouldn’t want to show too much of your vulnerability, because they would want the work you all produced together to be what people focus upon.

F:  Oh there was much discussion on how much to show.  Sadly, they had to be concerned with the (management, network?)’s opinions on what the public would accept.  Out of kindness, but also concern that the movie and the backlash would reject all of our work retroactively, they ended up stepping away from much of the suffering and indignities of the procession of AIDS through one’s bodily systems, as well as tipping the hat to my addictions and my lifestyle rather than throwing the curtain completely open to the bright light of day.

(Freddie and I had a quick discussion about “lifestyle” because, as a gay person myself, I’ve had people tell me they don’t agree with my “lifestyle”, which… what the heck would you say to that?  It’s not up to anyone to “agree” with my life.   Freddie clarifies that in his time, it was very much a lifestyle, and for him, a promiscuous one he fully-embraced for many years.  Jim (Hutton) was the man who got Freddie out of the lifestyle, and into more of life that he needed.)

K:  Did Jim do anything different to get you out of the lifestyle than what they showed in the movie?

F:  Oh, he shined a light.  You should read his book.  (Second time he said this to me – I will I promise!)  He never criticised me – oh correction, he DID criticize me for being an asshole, for conducting myself below a certain standard of behaviour which he reflected back to me – an unbecoming reflection which was not at all me, never mind what I felt at the time.  He got through to me, and they showed that in the film.  (Love for how they represented Jim.)

K:  So did the production team decide to tone down the gay, to avoid – what?  A backlash?

F:  You know that President Trump played our song at his hateful rallies?  He’s been doing that for years, the band only recently found out.

K:  Oh yeah I did read about that.  Here’s a couple of articles for those who want more context:  first one, second one.

F:  Oh yes, they have a PR firm advising them on this situation, and the film.  They are well aware this movie, if handled incorrectly, could have caused further divisions.  I am not at all critical of the choices they made – I simply wish to make additions for the right audience (flirty wink!)

K:  And some of these additions are that they could have been harder on your character?

F:  They could never be as hard on my character in the film as I was on myself, in real life.  They did hint upon the darker times where I felt abandoned, angry and alone.  All the “A”s, painful.  It all came around though, when I knew I was dying and surrounded myself with the people I knew truly loved me.  I was the luckiest man on earth at that concert.  (Live Aid).  I was the luckiest man on earth to be protected and fiercely loved for exactly who I was in the last year of my life.  I do not wish illness or suffering on anyone, but I do wish that fierce love and acceptance for us all.  Vulnerability, humility, is necessary to receive love.

K:  Yeah, I agree.  Is that all for now?

F:  We’ll chat later, darling!  (Dons dark cat-eye sunglasses and sweeps away!)

I just love Freddie.  If you have questions for Freddie, about the movie or otherwise, please leave them below!

(original image here.)