Kelvin Cruickshank - Bridging the Gap: Channelling Spirit To Heal Hearts

Several years ago, well before Sensing Murder , when I was still living in Tauranga, I woke up one morning and was staggering around the kitchen making myself a coffee, when I heard a knock at the door. Actually, it was a very definite bang, bang, bang.

I shuffled over to the door thinking, Who can that be at this time of the morning? But when I opened the door, I got the surprise of my life. There wasnt just one person standing outside; there was a whole queue, waiting politely to see me. I put my head out the door, and the queue stretched down the path, onto the street, and around the corner. These were all people in spirit, desperately wanting to make contact with their loved ones still alive.

I said, Right, if you want me to help you, first you have to put those people who need help in front of me.

And that is what is happening with Sensing Murder , and with the readings and shows that I do. Every time, its the people who really need help who are put in front of me by their people in spirit. When you need help, your heart will tell you to come.

Over the years since that morning Ive done hundreds of readings, connecting the living with their loved ones who have passed on and are now in spirit. While the readings obviously have particular, special resonance for the person directly getting the message, many of them contain universal insights into the most fundamental questions of our earthly life forgiveness, spirituality, faith, life, death and the nature of love. The loss of a loved one brings all these questions about life right to the fore. Dealing with loss is a massive challenge, and I am so privileged to be able to help people give and receive their messages of love and reassurance.

It is very important to me, also, that the readings I do either privately, in my Soul Food shows or on Sensing Murder , enable people to understand that there is nothing to fear in death. Life and love are eternal, and there is another world waiting for us when we pass on from this earthly existence.

People sometimes tell me theyd like to be inside my mind. I think most people would find it a strange and disturbing place to be! For example, imagine youre trying to have a coffee with someone in a restaurant. However, the lady at the next table has 12 people in spirit standing with her. Youre trying really hard not to look at her, but the person youre with say its your girlfriend knows somethings up and is getting annoyed. Whats the matter, you cant even focus on me?

Honey, you say, there are 12 dead people with this lady, what am I supposed to do?

You can see the difficulty! And, out of respect, Im not allowed to say anything to that lady at the next table, unless she asks me.

The spirits standing around her are only there because I am. Theyre saying to me, You talk to my daughter and tell her Im okay; or I didnt say goodbye; or She didnt make it in time, whatever the case may be.

Meanwhile Im trying to have a cup of coffee and a normal, earthly chat. Things are always very busy in my world!

My life is such a spiritual adventure. If youve read my first book, Walking in Light , youll know that Ive had my ups and downs coming to terms with my spiritual gift. I now accept that Im created this way; its who I am. I talk to dead people. I just close my eyes and theyre there. What can I do about that? I cant push them away because if I do that Im not being true to myself.

Ive also had heaps of fun with my gift heaps of good times meeting so many cool people and being the link between them and their loved ones in the spirit world.

Things have happened to me that are so funny. Ive had people running down the street after me just like The Beatles, although it was Invercargill, and the crowd was probably a bit smaller! There was a mob of teenage guys and girls who shouted, Theres that fellow from Sensing Murder ! They came running down the street to talk to me, and when they got to me they took some photos and one of the girls said, Next time youre on TV, you mention my name and say hi to me.

I looked and her and laughed and said, If youre on my TV show darling, youre either dead or youre a criminal, and she went, Oh gosh, dont do it then. She went red with embarrassment.

I want to mention two wonderful experiences at the beginning of this book, because they both made me feel so incredibly blessed.

The first event happened when I was doing an evening charity event for an Auckland radio station, The Breeze, which Ive done for the last five years. Robert Rakete, one of their presenters who has a huge amount of mana and respect for people, came over to me just before the event started. Kia ora, Kelvin, he said. He had a kete with him a flax woven Maori bag. Before you begin tonight, I want to tell you a little story, he said. He went on to explain that he was an avid follower of Buddhism and that he had been to see the Dalai Lama when he was last in New Zealand. The Dalai Lama had presented him with something very special a silken cloth on which prayers were printed. It came with the special blessing of the Dalai Lama himself.

The funny thing was, Robert told me, the Dalai Lama gave me two of these blessings. And when I asked him why, he said to me, You will know the right person who needs the blessing, and you will give this to them.

And with that he took a beautiful white silk scarf from the kete and placed it around my neck. He gave me a hongi, the touching of the noses, the ultimate respect from Maori people. I was incredibly moved and humbled. The feeling as Robert placed the scarf around my neck was absolutely cleansing. That was very special and meaningful for me.

The second thing that happened was something that I would consider one of the pinnacles of my life so far. It happened during the five-day spiritual tour that I hosted in Rarotonga in September, 2009. As is usual on these trips, there were around 22 people, none of whom knew each other (apart from married couples and the occasional family group), or knew me. The format was that we did some spiritual activities together meditations and lots of spiritual discussions and I gave every person a private reading at some point during the stay.

On the last morning I suddenly got a very strong message from spirit: To set us free you need to honour us. And a picture came into my mind of all the people who were in the group throwing flowers into the ocean, in honour of our loved ones who have passed before us.

So, I put the word out, and at six oclock that evening we all met on the lovely beach. It was such an idyllic setting everyone had picked special flowers, and some people had woven them into beautiful wreaths.

Over the previous few days these people, who had never met before, had become close friends through our spirit talks and prayer gatherings, and also through spending time together, sharing their different stories.