Following My Intuition
My metaphysical and intuitive journey first started with Phillis. It was she who first showed me an intuitive state, encouraged me to explore crystals and energy and The Law of Attraction. Most people hear “psychic” and they think of either Miss Cleo or Dionne Warwick and the Psychic Friends Network.
While I had always vaguely believed there were those with intuitive abilities, I had never experienced any first hand. Until I met Phillis.
I was sitting at the bar in the Fall with my boyfriend at the time, at the end because I was on crutches and I could prop them out of the way at that vantage point. No one knew HOW I had broken my heel and ankle, but plenty had their suspicions. A woman I had never met or seen before walked in with your group, stopped at me, touched my arm and in a slight southern drawl, said, “you’re gonna be just fine, and you’re going to leave him in January.” She then walked away from me and sat down at a table with her group. I turned to the bartender and said, “who the hell was that?” and the bartender chuckled and said, “That’s Phillis, she’s psychic and if she approached you, you better go talk to her.”
I sat there for a minute, stunned, wondering how this woman I had never met could have possibly known my situation and what my plans were. How could she have known that I was planning on leaving him as soon as I can walk out on my own 2 feet, which is estimated to be in late December or early January? I grabbed my crutches, made my way to her table sat down and said “Um, hi, my name is Mandy.” She introduced herself and told me to sit for a minute. She told me that she was a psychic and she knew when she walked in that she needed to talk to me, introduce herself and assure me that I would be OK. She told me she came to the bar often, and to feel free to stop and talk to her whenever I felt the need. I did that often and then lost track of her.
Fast forward a few months, after I had indeed left him, and I would continue to see Phillis off and on at the bar. We never exchanged numbers, so I would only have the chance to talk to her if I ran into her; this was before the days of Facebook becoming everyone’s virtual address book.
One summer evening, I was having dinner with one of my sweet friends, Tiffany, who had just told me that had just been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She was in her early 20’s so naturally, she was scared at both the word CANCER as well as the type, as she was single, wanted to be a mother someday, etc.… I assured her as best I could and drove us down to the same bar where I had met Phillis, to bury our scares in beer.
The whole time I was driving us down the road I kept thinking to myself, “I wish I could find Phillis. Where is Phillis? How do I not have Phillis’ phone number? I really wish I could talk to Phillis right now and she could tell us the Tiffany is going to be OK.” This repeated in my head for the entire 10-minute drive.
Tiffany and I got to the bar, put our purses down and got situated and then promptly walked back outside to have a smoke. As I turned out the door to walk up the ramp, there standing at the top of the ramp was Phillis! I said “oh my gosh Phillis where have you been?! I haven’t seen you in months, but I’ve been needing you and I’ve been asking for you for the last 10 minutes!” She looked at me and said, “why do you think I’m here? I was up the road with Randy shooting pool and I looked at him and said, ‘I’m leaving, Mandy needs me’ and I came here. What’s going on?”
We spent the rest of the evening talking to Phillis, who also made sure she gave me her cell phone number so I wouldn’t interrupt her plans next time I needed her. 😊 She assured us that Tiffany was going to be OK and, in fact, I’m very happy to report that Tiffany has two beautiful little girls.
Fast forward a few years, as Phillis and I were talking about one of my favorite books, The Secret. I was lamenting my failed relationships and terrible one-time date fiasco’s when Phillis told me to write down a brief summary of my perfect partner, write the date on it and put it in my copy of the Secret. I did so, and a month later, I met Doug. My intuition was on fire the moment he walked in and I knew this guy needed to be in my life. The first night Doug and I went out, a day after I famously picked him up in a bar, I texted my girlfriend Smurf and said, “Holy shit, I’m gonna marry this guy!” so I knew from Day One, Doug was going to become my husband.
About six months into our relationship where we felt and acted like an old married couple, I was getting ready to head to Alaska for a visit with my college BFF Erynn and had told Phillis about the trip. Her message to me was “let me know what you see when you touch the totem.” Oh Lord.
Erynn and I went all over Anchorage during my visit. The Alaska State Fair, the Anchorage Zoo, various landmarks. Never did I see, let alone touch, a totem pole. I had decided that Phillis finally had her “off” moment. Erynn dropped me at the airport and after I got checked in, my friend Justine texted me, begging for an Alaska shot glass. I thought to myself, “oh come on, now I have to be THAT tourist and get a shot glass…how corny.” But still, as I came off the escalator, I saw the gift shop, so I figured, “what the hell.”
As I approached the entrance of the store, I stopped, laughing. There right in front of the store was a glass shelf, full of miniature totems. I texted Phillis and said, “You know, I figured you just had an off moment because I haven’t seen a freaking totem this entire time and now Justy wants a shot glass, I’m in an airport gift shop and this is where I see a shelf FULL of totems?!” She replied, “yup, let me know what your vision is.”
One totem in particular caught my eye, as it was a frog. I had been a fan of frogs (princes, specifically), ever since my divorce in 2003 when my mother had given me a frog prince ornament and a card that said, “sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.” I put my stuff down and picked up the frog totem. I immediately had a vision of me propping a baby girl on my hip. The little girl was a chunky one, with long dark hair and blue eyes like mine. I bought the totem, I bought the shot glass, and I headed to my gate. I immediately texted Phillis to tell her about my vision she said, “yup, that was your daughter! I can’t wait to meet her!”
Fast forward a couple years. Our first daughter Samantha was1 ½, with light brown hair and hazel eyes like Doug. I was pregnant again, and sitting genetic counselor talking about the testing we would conduct since I was “advanced maternal age.” She asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby and I said, “well, yes, you can confirm for me that it’s a girl, but this is my last child so I already know it’s a girl, and she’s going to have dark hair and blue eyes because I had a vision a couple years ago and our first-born does not match the description of my vision.” The counselor took it all in stride and did have a nice laugh when she called me a couple weeks later to confirm, I was pregnant with a girl. Sure enough, Emma has long dark hair and blue eyes like mine.
Phillis and my astrologist, Sherri, of Clearview Astrology, would tell me all the time that I had some sort of intuitive ability. Phillis is the woman who introduced me to crystals and nurtured my fascination with energy work – crystals and tarot cards, and later pendulums and dowsing rods thanks to my friend Brian. Throughout the years, I’ve randomly studied and tried to learn and experience more and more, relying as needed on Phillis for clarity and direction.
I am so blessed to have had such a great mentor as I started down my metaphysical path. Hearing Phillis’ stories is like reading The Secret – it’s magical, it’s soothing, uplifting and amazing with some sass for additional flavor.