Lady of Death
Are you curious about death, dying, and the funeral industry in Australia?
Join us as we chat and learn from experts from funeral directors, to embalmers, from those who create floral arrangements to photo presentations and so many more. We will gain insights and have open and important conversations about this topic that is so often shrouded in mystery.
Hopefully you will come away enlightened and have a deeper understanding of this essential part of life!
Lady of Death
Beyond the Veil: A Conversation with Psychic Medium Sharon Lee
Have you ever wondered what happens after we die? For Sharon Lee, psychic medium with over 50 years of experience, the answer is crystal clear – our souls continue on a never-ending journey while our physical bodies do not. Sharon takes us deep into her world of spiritual communication, revealing the profound differences between being a psychic and a medium. While psychics read your energy field offering guidance about life's path, mediums like Sharon create a direct connection with those who have passed on.
Whether you're a believer, a skeptic with an open mind, or simply curious about what might await us all, Sharon's insights offer a compelling perspective on death not as an ending, but as a transition to another state of being.
Contact Sharon: https://sharonleepsychicmedium.com.au/
Rosslyn Sanctuary: https://www.facebook.com/RosslynAnamCara
Subscribe now to explore more conversations about death and dying with professionals who walk this path daily.
Have questions about death, dying or the funeral industry? Email ask@ladyofdeath.com.au to have them answered in a future episode.
So, Sharon, welcome.
Sharon:Thank you, Robyn. Thanks for inviting me in today.
Robyn:Tell me about yourself. Who do you live with? What do you? I know that you've got a puppy dog.
Sharon:I do and he's a very boisterous, nearly three-year-old Aussie bulldog and he weighs nearly 50k (50k!). So you could imagine, just have the vision of me being pulled along the footpath trying to control this little man. But, he's a beautiful, beautiful dog. And I have two boys, one's 40, Michael and Jackson, he's nearly 25. And I'm happily married to my husband, Glenn.
Robyn:Awesome! Okay, how did you come to work in this space and tell us about your journey since starting, okay?
Sharon:So I was born into a family of spiritualists. Both my parents were mediums, so it's always been very natural for me to be aware of the other world, the spirit world. From the age of seven I was involved in the practices that Mum and Dad did. They sort of eased me into it and you know it's been a really interesting journey. The spirit world have been my greatest teachers. You know I've had a beautiful mentor along the way who is now passed away, but other than that you know my, my learnings and my inspirations and my understandings and intuitions are all helped by the spirit world.
Robyn:Yeah so we actually met through a circle that we sat in together.
Sharon:We did, yes, that was a long time ago.
Robyn:I know, I don't think I want to think about it.
Sharon:No, not really but, but you know, and sometimes that you know we're put together very you know, uniquely, aren't we? You know our paths cross and there's always a real purpose for that and and then you know, uniquely, aren't we? A nd then you know, here we are all these years later sitting in the podcast together.
Robyn:I think it's wonderful. It's weird, isn't it, how things happen like that? So share with us about how people react when you tell them what you do for a living.
Sharon:Sometimes people are fascinated, sometimes oh, "oh, goodness me medium. What does that mean?" And and a lot of people don't understand exactly what a medium is as opposed to a psychic, because they're two different modalities, they're two different ways of working. You have to be a very strong psychic to do mediumship well. So psychics will read the energy field of the client sitting before them. They may use cards, tarot cards, oracle cards, crystal balls, but that's very predictive. So it's more of a life guidance experience with a psychic. So you know they will talk about your past, your present, your future.
Sharon:I think if you walk away from a psychic reading, feeling inspired, uplifted, you know, and you have hope and feeling pretty good about yourself, I think they've done a good job. But when we work mediumistically it's different. It's a shift of focus for me, a little bit like the magic eye pictures. You know it's all messy and you shift your gaze and then you can actually see a whole picture. So it's a focus really, when I step into that focus it's an altered state, but I'm with you. Then I sense the spirit world.
Sharon:Now there will be people who have passed over. My client will be sitting with me. A father may present who has crossed over and wishes to communicate with their loved one. So predominantly, that's how I work and it is quite an interesting process. There's a lot of people that come to see me that have never had this experience before and are quite shocked.
Sharon:As soon as we start the session, I may say "well, I have your father here and we will give them information about that person. The father will tell me about his life, who he was, his personality is exactly as it was when he left the earth, as they would remember them. So there's that sense of presence that is brought into the room as well as information, and it's that presence which touches us, touches our soul, and it's a feeling that we get. Yes, I can feel my father here in the room because I know that life is a never-ending journey. Like we have, our soul is eternal, the body isn't, and we go on to another place, and our loved ones in the spirit world only want us to know that they're okay and that they love us, and one day we will all be reunited again so so explain to people who are listening about the different ways that some mediums work like.
Robyn:Some will see, some will hear
Sharon:Oh, that's right. Some people will actually, you know, we call them the clairs. So you have, you know, many clairs, clairvoyants, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairgustience, you know it's just French for clear hearing. Hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling. So I can understand from my own personal experiences. But my clairaudience is quite good, so I can literally hear spirit.
Sharon:Now, when I say I hear them, and that's when they give me information, I actually hear them in my mind. So it's almost like I'm observing a thought, (right), but I also can hear what they want to say. Sometimes it's very physical. I can actually hear them, like I can hear you in the physical world, physical world. Then there's that um, clairvoyance, where in my mind I can actually see them. S o I can describe them and they present themselves as they were in the physical, you know, you know, six foot ten, dark hair, uh, big belly, and they will, they will show themselves to me in that way. Some mediums, like we don't always use all the clairs when we're working, we only use some, and some mediums, use a few clairs predominantly. Yeah, (right), that's how they work, whereas other mediums may use different clairs in the way they work. So and know, there's that claire sentient, where we just know, we just know that that information as we're speaking is correct. We're not hearing it from that person, we just know.
Robyn:That's where, t hat's where I am and I think that's where the hard part is, because you go, is it actually that or is it my mind or is it you know that it's just that gut feeling, you know, and I often kind of think I wish I could hear them or see them. That would actually give me evidence other than feeling, but it's really hard if that's all you've got.
Sharon:Absolutely. And when I teach and I mentor students, you know that's one of the biggest hurdles to get over and that is the trust.
Robyn:Oh absolutely, it's huge, it's absolutely huge.
Sharon:So you know, I say to them you just have to trust. You know, when you're learning and you're a fledgling, you know, yes, you're going to get things wrong. Of course you are, that's just part of the journey. If everybody was going to do it flawless, there'd be no growth, would there really? You know, it's just so (true). So, yeah, and I feel too that, and it's like when people say to me I don't feel my loved ones with me, and I explain to them well, that's got more to do with your awareness and your grief. (Right), because grief is like a fog. And having lost nearly eight family members, you know, over the last just over two years now, having worked with grieving people and bringing their loved ones forward to them, bringing them comfort and healing when it's your own, it's another level. Yes, and I grieve like everybody else. I remember when my father was dying and I remember thinking I'm okay, I've got this. You know, we were preparing for him going.
Sharon:But I think the brain is an amazing organ. (Yes), and what the brain does is. It places us in that buffer of shock and it doesn't matter whether we are expecting the passing or it's a shock. We're in that buffer of shock where we feel very groundless. We're just, we're, we're just trying to function. It's like cotton wool, head and um, but that eases us into the rawness of the loss. And then I find that we end up in this space. It's a little bit like no man's land, isn't it? You know, everybody has been there to support us through the passing of our loved one. Then suddenly they go back to their own life and you think, well, hang on a minute, that's right, my loved one is, has died, the world hasn't stopped. But that is normal, that is what should happen. And then we have to find a find our way. So we're in a space where we are acclimatising to the newness of our life and that is them not being here on the earth with us.
Sharon:And when we're in that space, it is hard for us to be aware of them. I t is that fog, it's our emotional state that will stop us from feeling or sensing at times, but that does lift a little bit in time and that's when we get the dreams of them, and they are spirit visitations, (right). That's when, um, you get a sense of them with you. There's just a sense. Now, if somebody put a blindfold on me right now and walk my mother into the room and asked me who is this, I would know straight away. Not because I'm a medium, because in my opinion, we're all really mediums in our own right. We can all say the spirit. I would know it was my mum. Not because I'm a medium, because I'm a daughter, (right), and you know, and also, too, don't look for signs, guys, because if you look for signs, your beautiful logical brain is going to say hang on a minute, Shaz, you were looking for that, that's your imagination. Again, lack of trust, yes. So what I suggest to people is if to just you know surrender to, to it and allow spirit to bring their signs to you, because if a sign comes to you out of left field without you looking for it, it's going to touch your soul and you will feel them with you, and that is, that can be absolutely life-changing.
Robyn:Oh absolutely and, going back to what you're talking about before, about, you know, realising that the world goes on when you're in that grief bubble. I remember when my daughter died I was walking through the park on the way up to, I just had to get out of the house for a while. I was staying at my mum's and we walked up to the florist to organise the flowers. And when we were walking through the park there was a young couple there and the guy was pushing the girl on the swing and she was laughing and I wanted to go up and throw her off and say how dare you do that? My baby has just died. How dare you be happy?
Robyn:And it wasn't until I got up to the little place where the florist was, which was a little shopping centre where I actually did my hairdressing apprenticeship when I left school. So I was well known in the place, and I walked past people and they were going "hi, Jack, how are you going? And I realised that while my world had changed, theirs hadn't.
Sharon:That's exactly right.
Robyn:And that was really hard. That was a really hard lesson, because up until then I'd only been at home, I hadn't seen other people around just talking normally. And I distinctly recall once when somebody told me that their new car had arrived and they were devastated because it was the wrong colour. And here I am, my daughter's just died and I'm like what? What? Everything you're talking about.
Sharon:First world problem
Robyn:Exactly! And I kind of like went WHAT? You know, I don't even want to know about that! Now, many, many, many years later, I realise that they had saved up for a very long time and picked that particular colour because it was meaningful to them, (yes), and they were disappointed, but at the time I kind of like went on earth? What claptrap is this going on about? You know, and I think it's that protection thing of our, what I call the grief brain, which is that fog of protecting you. And they say with a baby, that there's about 40 people directly affected. Now other people might hear about it and, like we do about any sort of death, we hear about it and we say, you know, "oh, such and such mum's just died" and you go, oh, that's really sad. But then you move on to something else, right, and it's gone. It's not giving that person....
Sharon:It's not validating it for them,
Robyn:No
Sharon:And I think too, you know, I feel that what we need to do more and I feel we are uncomfortable a lot of people are uncomfortable doing this and that is to talk about the deceased person with their loved one. Bring them up, you know, like, yes, talk about them and and because a lot of people are too frightened to bring up the subject, because they won't be able to handle their emotions you see.
Robyn:That's right, that's right.
Sharon:So it's really important, I feel to, it's like honour their memory, keep their memory alive, and you know they were a person that walked on this earth. They, you know they need to be remembered, and it's that beautiful validation. Yes, your loved one was here and I have not forgotten them,
Robyn:And that's the thing like people go, I don't want to upset them. (Exactly), and yet as a funeral celebrant I often say in my services use their name. You know, don't think if you're going to bring tears, the tears were there anyway, all you help do is release them, and releasing tears is really good.
Sharon:And it's a form of support. (That's right.) It's a positive support for them,
Robyn:Yeah, and we just, we don't do death well in Australia at all.
Sharon:We don't.
Robyn:I always ask people what is your why? Why do you do what you do?
Sharon:Okay, so for me it's when I was younger and look, I've been doing sittings, readings for people for 50 years. I started when I was 16, and that was more of a psychic side of it. You know where I was doing palm readings and, that sort of thing, and I even did cards back then. I don't use tools now, that's not how I work, but nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I do. But for me it's about bringing comfort, like mediumship should be healing and comforting. It should bring some healing to people and a comfort. It's for me, it's about bringing an awareness to people that they they're not here on the earth, but they are still with you. And if you can actually give a person the evidence of their person and you know like a father might come through and tell me all about his work, life and the private conversation that they had before he died, and that is a real validation to that person. Well, hang on a minute, how would she know that?
Sharon:Now some people would say, "oh, she's reading that psychically". No, because the presence of that father is there. And not only that, they will tell me things that my client doesn't know. Right, it's not even in their sight, right? So they have to go away. I call this this the third intelligence proving it's there, okay, so they will give you some information in a sitting and you have to go away and ask questions, validate it, research it, and it turns out to be true, because the way I work, I have a doorkeeper, my bookings lady, and I don't know anybody. The only thing I know about people that come to see me is their Christian name. That's it. That's how I like to work, right? So if I don't know who they are and that person didn't know that information where has that information come from?
Sharon:(That's right) The third intelligence and the their loved ones will give them something like that to prove to them, it has come from me, I am still very much alive and involved in your life, living a purposeful life in the spirit world, and I am not suffering. And that is the biggest question I get asked "Are they okay? Yes, they do not have a physical body. They have an ethereal body and the illness just as soon as they take that last breath, that's done and dusted Right, they are fine. So they they will put something like that in a private reading, just to prove to their loved one that they are with them and they will be reunited one day when it's their turn to go home, and that in itself is a comfort and a healing.
Sharon:So no medium can't remove your grief. That's impossible. Where there is love, there will always be grief. But they can give you a comfort in that journey if you know, yes, it's not finished, we will be together one day. And when people come to me, it opens their mind to it as well. Yes, yes, and things start to happen for them, which is really wonderful.
Robyn:The very first reading I ever had. My son was eight at the time. My son was eight at the time and I went to this amazing lady, but I was like I was Mrs Skeptical, you know, like I was just like what, if you you know, I'm not giving her anything, not because I had I had, uh, listened to a reading that my mother had received from somebody, and literally this woman my mother fed her, so she wasn't a great medium or anything else. So I go in and I'm like 'I'm not telling you anything and I'm not going to do anything!' And this woman sat there and she said to me "I have a lady coming forward and she's wearing a tartan skirt with a pleat in it and a twin set and she's got pearls on. And I'm like, oh, that's a bit kind of like you know and I'm like okay, you know.
Robyn:She said "she wears, uh, very thick glasses. And I'm like this, this is getting way too much now. And she said and she has her hair coming down in waves and she has a bobby pin in each side. And I went, oh my Lord, I know that's my auntie. I just knew that she described her exactly and I'm like thinking she only knew my first name. How on earth could she know this about my auntie, who had died 10 years before?
Sharon:Oh, my goodness, that's wonderful.
Robyn:And I was just like 'this is amazing!' And then I went to her again and had another reading from her at a later stage and I asked her. I said, tell me how that happened?" And she described it to me like a television set
Sharon:Of course yeah.
Robyn:And she said I was watching this woman and I'm like going, 'wow, there's something more to this', (Absolutely) And that was kind of, you know, when my interest was piqued. And I mean, my son at that stage was 8. He's now 44. So you know, it was a long time ago. But I was like I'm just not going to give you anything and then had somebody read my palm and she looked at my palm and the first thing she said to me was "I see two long marriages. And she said and I see that you're going to be married again by the time you're 55. And I was 53 at the time. I've been on my own for five years and I said to her well, that means I'm going to die at 54 because it will be over my dead body. I was married again by 55. The problem was I didn't listen to anything else she said because I just went that's bunkum, it's never going to happen and I just turned myself off.
Robyn:And it turned out to be this amazing thing, and I would love to find her now and say "what else did you see?
Robyn:She was obviously, you know, those two people that I saw were, very gifted, (yeah), and I've seen some not so gifted people, and there's people who don't ,
Sharon:As in any field isn't it?
Sharon:so I think that gets me though it's funny, I find, find this really quite remarkable is there's a lot of people out there that will say "you know, the spirit world aren't ready to communicate. You've got to give them time, they've got to acclimatise to the spirit world. I've never found that. And I'll give you an example.
Sharon:I was doing a Zoom actually with this lady and just as I tuned in, I felt this very strong ethnic lady I think she was Greek, you know, and she was a real powerful Greek woman, you know, and she gave me this really weird name like Anathena or something. I'd never heard of it before. I said she's telling me she's an aunt figure. And she went very quickly. It's like she's flicking a light switch, she goes lights out and I haven't been in spirit very long and she went very quickly, and she sort of mentioned a lot of other things and this woman's there, she says "it's not my aunt, it's my husband's. I went okay and she said and they turned off her life support at 8.30 this morning. (Wow) This reading was at 10.30. (Wow), and I have had many experiences like that over 50 years of reading, where they will come through very, very quickly. The only time it's too soon is if it's for my sitter, because they are in that space of shock still. Yes, you know yes, and they're not in that emotional state to appreciate what's happening and spirit will actually protect them, then by not.
Sharon:So it happened to me a few years ago, when a little girl came to see me. It took her about three months to get her to see me and two weeks before she got into my room her father dropped dead. She was 26. Now he came through loud and clear, but she was not in a good space. Yes, so there's got to be also, you know, you've got to be very ethical responsibility and there is a responsibility.
Sharon:So I closed the reading. Of course I didn't take any money from her. I said "look, you're not ready. Your father is there but you are not ready. You need to give yourself at least 12 months to process what's happened here. So you know, spirit are ready to go as soon as they, if they choose to.
Robyn:If they choose to, (yeah, absolutely), if they choose to
Robyn:Have you found that people's attitudes towards you has changed over the years that you've been doing it?
Sharon:In what way?
Robyn:In as much as you know, have you been? Do people/a re people more validating of you? (Oh, yes), this being not that witchy.
Sharon:Yes, and I am very, very mindful of that, of not misrepresenting spirit, not putting them in that cheesy, you know, and I find that disrespectful. Yes, you know, for me they are human beings who have passed to spirit. They are still people who are loved, respected and missed here on, you know, from the earth plane. We have to have that respect for them. I feel, and I feel sometimes that this sort of work can be misrepresented, you know, with the way it is put forward. But for me I don't speak for the way I work, I'm very, very grounded with that. For me it is about, I like reconnecting mothers, daughters, husbands, sons I'm a family medium okay bringing them back together, giving them that evidence of survival and the presence of their loved ones within that session, and most people leave uplifted.
Sharon:Yes, there are tears, of course there are. Yes, it's emotional. But you know what? We get very emotional in those moments why? Because their loved ones are drawing exceptionally close to them for the session and they are feeling overwhelmed with their love. So that's why we do get quite emotional in that situation. Yeah, absolutely, it's very normal. I've got shares in Klenex, so I'm doing that.
Robyn:That's what I say to people. They go, in fact, I just saw a family as a funeral celebrant. I'm doing a service tomorrow and I saw the family the other day and they said to me you know, I "we didn't know, kind of what to expect. We thought this was going to be really hard and and I said but but what's hard about sitting there talking about the person? that you love? Y you ou and they kind of like went and I said "it's cathartic to be able to sit there and remember all the funny stories. And there were some beautiful stories that came out. One of them I'm going to share with you and I'm sure that they won't mind. But this lady got pulled up by the highway patrol for speeding and the policeman said why are you speeding? And she said well, what did you pull me up for? And they said because you were speeding. And she said but you can't do that. You're Highway Patrol and this is not a highway. She still got the fine, oh my goodness. But it was, you know, and everybody was laughing and you know, i It's really a cathartic experience to to feel free to talk about anything, good and bad about the person.
Sharon:That's right. That is how it should come through.
Robyn:When you have a private sitting with a medium, do you think when people come to you after someone has died, what do you think that they, what do you think they are looking for, what do you think they're kind of, you know, over the years, what have you observed have been kind of the most common questions that they've come with?
Sharon:The most common one is, like I expressed before, the most common ones is "are they okay, right? So if they have painful cancer, they're no longer? Did they suffer, you know, before that train hit them? You know it's all of those questions because that is what they are left with. Yes, and sometimes when people pass sometimes they don't pass peacefully, it can be quite a traumatic passing. Yes, and some people they're witnessing this. (Yes).
Sharon:So the biggest question is "are they okay, right For me? And that gives them a comfort when the loved one will come through and say "I'm fine, this is how I passed. But the funny thing is you're talking about the service and the funerals. Many times spirit have come through and said she buried me without my shoes on, she put my slippers on oh my god, and that is really evidential. Or she put the, the Russian flag in my casket. You, you know, it's just really lovely and that gives them a real comfort because thank you for doing that, because that meant a lot to me.
Robyn:That's funny that you said that because my husband's best friend died and his wife, who is Vietnamese, put him in his beautiful suit, absolutely beautiful suit, and in a reading that she got he said "why did you dress me in the suit? Exactly, you know I would have preferred the tracksuit and t-shirt that I normally lived in
Sharon:You knew it was him, though! When my mother passed away, I put her in a beautiful suit that we bought her to wear to my father's funeral He'd only died not 12 months before her and I bought her these shoes, and they were so uncomfortable and so she didn't like wearing them. She never wore them, and she would always wear her slippers, so we put slippers on her.
Sharon:But my mother loved hot chips (oh she did). mum. My mom being British, she loved her chips. And before she was cremated in this shop, there was a little plastic novelty toy and it was a bucket of chips. Oh, yes, um, yeah, it looked like a little McDonald's bucket of chips, so I bought it and put it in with her because I knew she would (Right) that. Right, yeah, so I was actually at a demonstration. You know the spiritualist churches, you know they do the mediums will get up and do a platform which is just like to come to you. You've got a father here in the spirit world for those that don't know what that , um, a lady came to me and she and she didn't really know me, she knew nothing about my history, which I like and she said your mother's here and she's saying thanks for the chips. So you know, yeah, it's, and that's comforting. It made me laugh, but it's a real comfort snippets when we get snippets of that (Oh spirit absolutely) we think well, they're okay, we know they're okay and they are.
Robyn:So do you think this has changed your own perception of death and dying? Like? How do you feel about death and dying?
Sharon:For myself. Yes, yeah, I'm not fearful about where I'm going. I know where I'm going, to my own point of understanding of the spirit. I feel my loved ones with me, so I know that they will be there to walk me home when I go. I think the only thing that would bother me is I don't think we're ever ready to go.
Sharon:Yes, you know like, for me, I'd be leaving my husband behind my grandchildren, and for me, I'd be thinking, oh, there's more I want to do with this work. You know I'm not ready. Yes, so no, I'm not fearful of going, because 110% I know what's in front of me, but my regret would be to leave my loved ones behind. And that's the hardest thing People hang on when they're sick isn't it. You know they hang on for their loved ones.
Robyn:Yeah.
Sharon:You know. But then they come to that point, in the point of dying, where some of them actually start to see their loved ones that have crossed over before them. They're waiting for them (yeah) . There is always a welcoming party.
Sharon:Nobody goes home alone and I don't care if you go to bed and you're on your own and you die in your sleep, in your bed, there is always someone to collect you and there is a joyous reunion. And it reminds me of that movie, Love Actually, and I think they put it so beautifully in the beginning they're all at the airport. This is what love is. The arrivals door opens, "yay, they're here, welcome home. And then the departure. We're crying, they're going right.
Robyn:It's pretty much sums it up for me it's a, it's a bit like that reading uh, the Henry vanDyke, I think it is where the ship goes and while we're, you know, the last speck is seen there, somebody else is on the other side going. 'She's coming, she's coming'.
Sharon:Absolutely, you know, and that is Look, I felt that in the room with my mother when she was dying. She died in my arms and you know, I felt everybody there wanting to collect her, and not because I'm a medium, because they were my relatives too, you know.
Robyn:Yes, yes, yeah, I'm not at all worried about what's going to happen afterwards. No, what I'm concerned about is how I'm going to die.
Sharon:Oh, that's another thing thing I don't want to die painful death, but that's right, that's right.
Sharon:I feel that you know, however, we're going to leave this earth. I feel we already is predestined. Anyway, it's in our story. Yeah, so um, and I used to say my mother, this is interesting, you asked me this question. I said said to my mum, and she was 90 when she passed. You know, I asked her this when she was 90 and she was into her Alzheimer's, but she remembered me. I said, "Mum, do you ever worry about dying? And she looked at me and she said why would I worry about something I have no control over? Well, that's very wise words.
Robyn:She was a wise lady. That's very wise words. She was a gorgeous lady.
Sharon:That's very wise words.
Robyn:I love it. So what's the strangest request you think you've ever had?
Sharon:Is there one request as in? I don't know, I really can't think.
Robyn:No that's okay,
Sharon:I don't. People don't, people grieve, look grief touches many different areas in our lives, so it can. It isn't just about people that die. Can be about losing our pets, it can be losing um a job, it can be (separation?) separation so grief kind of touches many, many areas of our life.
Sharon:But unusual requests, no, I think most people I can honestly say most people that come to me are wanting to have that connection, (yep), wanting to know that their loved one is okay. Yes, I do psychic work as well but, um, you know, generally that's how spirit, likes to me to work and that is my main source of work. Mediumship, yeah so it's quite uh.
Robyn:What I think people don't appreciate is it's quite taxing on you.
Sharon:It can be, and it depends too. I find the most taxing readings are the ones where they've lost children.
Robyn:Right.
Sharon:You know grown children. You know that because I have children. (Yes), you know, but if you're a good trained medium, you have that discipline. You can do that, but it still affects us, doesn't it?
Robyn:Yes and so how do you remain resilient? How do you deal with that stuff that's left with you?
Sharon:I talk about it, you know, to my colleagues, people that work in the field, my husband, I sit and I talk to spirit. You know they do my debriefing right after, um, a day of sittings., I will sit in what we call the power, sit quietly with spirit and I say to them what could I do, could have done better?
Sharon:How was that? H elp me with this? You know, so it's about, it's not about keeping it to yourself. I've got my husband might come home and I might, he won't know what I'm talking about, but I will debrief with him also, you know. So, yeah. A nd my son, my eldest son, he's, he's like his, his mama. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, so he is actually doing readings also (oh), he's training, yeah and he's very, very good.
Sharon:He's grown up with it too (that's right, t hat's right) and you know, you don't have to grow up with mediumship to be a medium. It doesn't have to be in your family. But that's my story, you know.
Robyn:My mother was extremely gifted but very, very scared and worried about it because people used to call her a witch and so you know, in those days it was a very negative sort of area.
Robyn:And so she was always very fearful of it. And yet, before she died, often I would go to have a reading with someone and they would say I feel like your mother's not on the other side, but she is, and that was her way of communicating with me about that. This is okay. (Yeah), that I. I do have this, (yes), but I can't talk to you about it because it's just something I've grown up so, so fearful about.
Sharon:And there's a lot of nonsense out there about the spirit. Well, the spirit will never hurt you. It's the living you've got to look out for. That's the truth.
Robyn:Yes, you know yes, um it's like being near a dead body, oh you know.
Sharon:I've had that experience over the last three years. You know I can talk to the dead, but finding your friend deceased, you know, at home? Well, that's a whole new level.
Robyn:That's right. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. What do you wish more people understood about what you do.
Sharon:I feel that people I really respect the people that don't believe that have an open mind. You know, like, 'okay, I've never done this before, I'm not sure I don't think it's real, but I'm open' and I have a lot of respect for people like that, the hardcore skeptics, I love ( right), because you know you can give some fabulous information, bring people through for them, and you know they won't be able to explain how that's happened, but they'll walk away and start dissecting it and no, that could like they won't believe. So we're not here to convert anybody. (Yes), right, mediums aren't here to convert anyone. What they're here for is to maybe open their minds a little bit to the possibility, in their mind, that life is eternal and that will go on.
Robyn:Right, yeah, right, okay uh, I'm just looking at to see whether I've missed anything or not.
Robyn:Is there anything that you would like to add about what you do? And, uh, the sorts of people that come to you, you know, are they, you know, are they typically women? Are they?
Sharon:Majority of women, I do have men, but people from all walks of life come to see me, and even counsellors recommend me to their people as well, and then they come to see me. So, look, I have doctors, nurses, teachers, brickies, bikies, people from all walks of life I've had experiences with in all the years that I've worked, and everybody has that one thing in common. They've all lost some (Right), yeah, and we're all the same on that level, aren't we?
Robyn:We are. Yeah, it's an absolute leveller.
Sharon:It is a leveller,
Robyn:Yes, yeah, and we don't talk about death, it's not a subject you know, I've started saying to people that you know, just like, talking about sex won't get you pregnant, you know, talking about death won't make you die either.
Sharon:That's exactly right.
Robyn:And I think that we need to open up that conversation and we need to, you know, have that whole conversation around death. And you know, and I mean I've been a spiritualist probably in the last 25 years is when I became interested in it and I've had a couple of experiences and kind of like went well, "this is a bit spooky. I think I have to learn about this, because it was frightening. It frightened me the first time and I was kind of like 'oh you know, I don't know about this', but I think it's fortunately through a few good people it's gained some credibility. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of people out there that aren't that true medium type thing.
Sharon:And I think that actually comes down to the correct training, because you know people that are training the people that aren't, you know, aren't that great, haven't had great training themselves.
Sharon:(Yes), you know what I mean, so I'm not demonising anybody, but I see it a lot, you know, and a lot of people think they're getting mediumship, but they're actually getting psychic. So they're reading the field or the person's aura and reading their story. So, you know, and it's kind of it can be, you know, presented as mediumship and sometimes the reader doesn't even realise it's not mediumship. You know, sure, and it comes down to their understanding, (sure).
Robyn:You know, Sure, and it comes down to their understanding and their training, and yeah
Robyn:So many years ago you rang me and you said "I've got this idea about creating a centre. What do you think? So tell us a little bit about Roslyn.
Sharon:Yes, well, I was just pre-COVID, wasn't it? Yes, and I was quite sick. I was in bed. I was high on endone, I'd been in hospital, if you remember. And I think sometimes when we have those drugs that kind of put us into that altered state, sometimes we get this crazy, we're so open and we get this crazy inspiration and I thought to myself 'I need to create something, a place where people can come and you know, if they're interested in the spirit world. It doesn't have to be a church, it's not religious, it's just an even platform for people that are interested to see where the spirits are real'. What can I find out? So within three days I had found a venue, all the flyers had been designed by my web designer and all the socials had been made and Rosslyn Sanctuary was born. And I thought to myself 'okay, now I've got to find other mediums to work with me'.
Sharon:You know, I mean I could do it all on my own, but that gets a bit boring every month. So it is a monthly meeting, um, where other beautiful mediums and lovely speakers like yourself will come along and address people, um and talk about things that you know that are interesting, and then we do um what we call platform work. So it's a bit like that, John Edwards, you know, when he's in front of a lot of people and he'll like to come to you 'I've got a father here in the spirit world'. So that's what our mediums do they give proof of survival and hopefully they can feel that presence of their loved one in a public space.
Sharon:We don't get too personal because you know there are some things that don't need to be addressed in front of everybody. We don't do everybody's laundry in public, but it's a beautiful space and you've been many times, Robyn, you know what it's like and it's absolutely grown. It's blown my mind, actually, as to how many people we get. I think we did our Christmas show last November. That was our last one and we had like 150 people and you know I only advertise on Facebook, (right), right. So it has really developed a really lovely following.
Robyn:It has.
Sharon:You know and you know the energy. There is beautiful, (beautiful), we play beautiful music. There isn't a boy in the corner playing kumbya on a guitar. We play pretty groovy music and it's a beautiful, happy environment and people just love it. And we are now running it from a new place, a new place in February, B ayswater, (that's in Melbourne) yes, in Melbourne, um the Knox Arts Community Centre, and it's actually a theatre, so we're going to be on the stage and it holds a lot more people, so hopefully that's going to be um, that's going to be a very smooth transition for us.
Robyn:And still on the fourth Thursday
Sharon:The last Thursday of the month, but there is a Facebook page for Rosslyn Sanctuary. Um, are you putting all the links? (Yes), thank you, um, and if you join that, then you will see, when we're on and who's on, because I usually advertise it two weeks before and you'll know who will be working. So it's just a beautiful, beautiful community, and it's a community, it is.
Robyn:It's lovely, absolutely lovely.
Robyn:Okay, to wrap up our session, as a big fan of the Actors Studio, I'm going to take a leaf from their book and ask a series of questions to each of our guests. So there's seven questions, and the first question is what is your favourite word and why?
Sharon:Favourite word? Hmm, I've got a lot. Peace, peace, peace. I love peace, not a piece of cake. P e a c e as in peace.
Robyn:I love it. What is the thing you are most grateful for in your life?
Sharon:Oh look, I'm grateful for the whole journey, the semi-negative experiences I've had. They've made me grow as a person and I'm just so grateful for my family and all the beautiful people like yourself in my life. I'm just very blessed, yeah.
Robyn:If you could work in any other role rather than what you do now, what would it be?
Sharon:Well, I've worn many hats in my life and I used to work in social housing, community housing actually, and I really enjoyed that and that's just helping people who, you know, couldn't afford rent community housing, cooperative housing. Actually that gave me a lot of satisfaction, seeing people in a home that they know they couldn't be thrown out of and they had some security and, yeah, and again, peace of mind.
Robyn:What is the sound that you love the most?
Sharon:The sound that I love the most. Wow Again, so many. I don't know. I don't know actually. Do you know? Actually I do. I do know my grandchildren. They tell me they love me, oh yeah.
Robyn:That's the best, isn't it? That's the best, yeah.
Robyn:If you could have dinner with one person living or dead who would it be?
Sharon:There's too many. Aside from my family members, I would love to sit down again with my beautiful mentor, Mavis Petilla Ah yes, who had such an impact on my life.
Robyn:Why am I not surprised to hear that
Sharon:She was just an amazing, amazing ambassador for spirit.
Robyn:What do you think is the most important lesson you've learned in your life so far?
Sharon:We have no control. We have no control over how people are going to react, what people do. I feel we just need to not disconnect but just, and not even detach but just surrender to the fact that we can't control other people's journeys.
Robyn:Yes, and directly from the Actors Studio. If there is a heaven, what would you want God to say to you when he met you at the pearly gates?
Sharon:Well done, girl.
Robyn:Well done, awesome. Thank you so much for your time. Sharon Lee, what can I call you? The messenger as we wrap up this podcast? If you have a question you would like to ask or any other related occupation you'd like to learn about, please drop an email to ask@ ladyofdeath. com. au and we'll look at possibly doing a podcast of the questions you've always wanted to know but never knew or game enough to ask.
Robyn:This is Robyn O'Connell, the Lady of Death, whose philosophy is organising your final farewell is not about wanting to die. It's about wanting to reflect who you really are in your goodbye.
Robyn:Thanks, talk to you next time.