Psychic Medium Hollister Rand brings hope to the bereaved through contact with their loved ones

For 15 years, Psychic Medium Hollister Rand has connected the bereaved with loved ones passed. Hollister meets individuals in person, by phone or in small groups to help them find peace and hope with messages from the other side. In addition to her private practice, she has teamed up with John Edward and other respected practitioners and researchers of the paranormal to launch InfiniteQuest.com.

Hollister's first message on InfiniteQuest presents an antidote to the anxiety and depression of grief with HOPE:

Help from the other side

Openness to receiving messages – our loved ones guide us in our life decisions

Personal Responsibility – knowing what you can and cannot do. "We can't take responsibility for another spirit's choices in life … or in death."

Eternal Perspective – Learning how Spirit works. Holli offers the example that asking for spirit to lead us to money is " like asking someone who lives in the Sahara Desert to bring you some snow." Spirit does work with the energy of abundance, she adds. Holli recommends we keep an attitude of gratitude for guidance and connection from our loved ones; to remain open to giving and receiving love; and most of all to have hope.

Holli provided me with clients willing to answer questions about their experience with the medium. I can think of no better way to demonstrate the benefits and accuracy of communicating with those who have left us. The interviews were conducted by telephone and each gave permission without hesitation to use their real first name in reporting their stories. Each wanted to deliver assurance that the information given by Hollister was too accurate and specific to be a sham.

Alfred, an executive from Moorpark, California was referred to Hollister by a friend who had received a reading with her. Though Alfred had been interested in spirit communication for some time, he had not actively pursued finding "one who can interpret spirits." He has now had numerous individual sessions and has participated in one small group "Spirit Circle."

With calm and professional ease, Alfred emphasized that Hollister's readings are precise and offer details no one else could possibly know. "One time my maternal grandmother came through, and on that side of the family I'm an only grandchild and pretty much spoiled. My grandmother used to make Portuguese sweet bread from scratch. She made some from little tiny molds that no one was allowed to eat but me. And, she was very religious. When she came through, Hollister said, 'Oh my gosh, this woman's very religious. She went to church every day?' Then she said, 'Maybe this will make sense to you. She made you special bread?'"

Both maternal grandparents, his mother and his father have come through in readings. Alfred has been amazed that Hollister sometimes provides details that have been forgotten. Such was the case when she said to him, "I keep seeing a sibling's energy around you."

Alfred said, "No, I have no siblings."

Hollister insisted, "Yes, it's a female energy. You are an only child?"

"I said yeah, and we went back and forth. Then she said, 'Wait a minute,' and she went silent for a minute, and then she said, 'Oh, your mother miscarried the child before you were born.' Chills just went through me. It was true. My mother had told me of course, and I knew it was a girl." Alfred was amazed to hear from Hollister that his sister's spirit has guided him all his life. "And, it's things like that, that are so specific that make me believe that she's truly sensitive to the spirit world."

I was about to wrap up the interview when Alfred remembered another story. Hollister once told Alfred that there is going to be a trip planned and that he must go. "Nothing can get in the way of you going!"

At the time he did not have plans for a trip, but a few months later, a work-related event was taking place in San Jose where Alfred's best friend lives. "I thought, okay, I'll just go up and stay with Tom."

Alfred arrived in San Jose a day before the conference, and he and Tom went to a shopping center. "Within two hours of me arriving, Tom had a massive heart attack right in front of me." Though Tom had passed out, when he came to, he told Alfred not to call 9-1-1."That ship had already sailed," Alfred said.

"Through a series of strange circumstances, paramedics were on the other side of the shopping center and reached us within 30 seconds. Tom had had a heart attack before. He's in excellent physical condition and he does not have the normal symptoms afterward. His heart seems to beat normally."

As Alfred expected, one paramedic said that Tom seemed fine now. "We can't find any problem." While Alfred insisted that his friend did not show normal signs of an attack, suddenly another paramedic said "I'm getting something now."

"It was when I was driving away, following them in my car that I realized, oh, this is the trip Hollister was talking about, and this is why I had to be here."

Sessions with Hollister have codified Alfred's faith. "It's just clarified for me a foundation of a belief that I've always had."

Before her reading, Kim, also from Southern California, was relentlessly skeptical despite signs and vivid dreams about her beloved friend who died the previous May. Kim received a lengthy reading during a presentation by Hollister at The Bodhi Tree metaphysical bookstore in Los Angeles. Afterward she sent Hollister the following message:

I just wanted to thank you. I was the girl in the front whom you did the first reading of the night for. I was amazed. I have always been interested in the work you do although I wasn't sure if it was real. You were so accurate it was amazing, you said things my husband didn't even know. The young man you brought through has been my dearest friend since we were 15. When he left us, my world was turned upside down. I wanted to believe he was still with me, but I didn't know if he really was. You confirmed that for me. I am so glad I decided to come as I was planning on not showing up. You were truly a blessing to me and God used you as an answer to my prayers. I prayed and begged God to just give me a sign that he was okay and still there. So thank you for your work, I am forever changed from that experience.

Grace and Peace,

Kim

Kim was eager to share details of her reading: "He (Michael) said you were not going to show up." Hollister told her. Kim had been so afraid that she would not hear from Michael that she would rather not go than be disappointed.

"And my sisters-in-law didn't know that I didn't want to come, so it couldn't be that they were talking about it before I got there." Kim said. "She brought up his sister's name, Anne, and his grandmother's name, Mary, and that she prays the rosary every day."

Kim said there were two things she and her family had to verify afterward: that their friend Josh has a gold tooth and that Michael's grandmother sleeps in one of his shirts – both are true. Kim said other particulars included that she had run a stop light earlier that day, "and he told me to drive careful."

Kim's husband was stunned; he hadn't known about the driving slip-up. The medium also told how he died and that he likes the picture Kim had enlarged of the two of them – the one her sister-in-law has on the wall in her home, and the one that her mother-in-law carries in her wallet. Hollister accurately correctly described Michael's personality and the way he looked at Kim.

As the reading progressed, Kim was crying, her husband teared up and even Hollister cried. "He wants me to tell you how much he loves you, but I just can't portray so much love he's showing for you."

Other minutiae convinced Kim's husband, her 2 sisters-in-law, her brother-in-law, and her mother-in-law of Michael's presence: He had wanted to have children; the little jokes between them; that they would play-fight when they hung out together; about hanging out at Taco Bell; and who had the messier car.

Since Michael's death, Kim has struggled with her faith. "He brought up that I'm not going to get all the answers that I want because we're not supposed to get them in this life. These are things no one else knows that are in my head, and, obviously, that he knows about."

"I left with a lot of peace. Since May, I spent a lot of time being angry with God. Angry that I don't have everything figured out and that I don't know what exactly happens when we die." Kim says now she can focus on her faith and stop being angry that God took him away. She can concentrate on growing her spirit.

Kim also reports that her husband is changed. He didn't think the dead are still around. Now he knows that we still have a bond.

Cecilia, from Toledo, Ohio, called Hollister for a joint reading with her son Robert on the extension. Cecilia's husband died in 1973. Her 30 year-old son, Jason, died in 2004. Cecilia's grief over the loss of her son kept her in bed for two years. Today, she is animated and friendly.

Hollister began the reading saying that she has a gentleman coming through, "I have your husband and a significant other. He's giving me J," she said. "Oh my gosh, he's so cute, and his smile …" Cecilia paused to tell me that her son was the most handsome man she had ever seen, and not just because he was her son.

Cecilia has studied numerology and astrology for some years. "My boyfriend is a 6, lifetimes past, and I am a 7, the spirit number 7. Well, when she [Hollister] started out, she brought in my grandmother and she says, 'Numerology focuses in with these readings. Your life has been with sixes and sevens the last couple of months.'" Cecilia explained that is because she and her boyfriend have been arguing.

"And when she brought my husband through, he was a 2, lifetimes past. I'm a 7, and also, he died at the age of 27, which pertains to both."

"Hollister described my son. She told stories. I had been to the store a couple of days prior to my reading, and I picked up 2 little garden statues of angels. I have no angels, no pictures of angels, nowhere in my house. I picked up these angels and put them in my car and cried. I said these are for you Jason. And 2 days later, Hollister says, 'Now what about these angels you just bought? Now, they pick up on the emotion and the intent.'"

"There are things that she told me that happened 15 minutes prior to my reading. I had gone to my neighbor Alicia's, who was gone on her honeymoon. Alicia had moved in way after Jason passed. I had gotten her a little wedding gift and I went up and put it on the doorstep for them to get when they come home. I ran back and 15 minutes later we had the reading. And Hollister says, 'Now who is Alicia?'"

Cecilia said that Robert took custody of his brother's two children when Jason died. Jason had custody before his passing. Bobby asked "Could you tell me if he can say anything about his kids?"

Hollister described both children, including that the older girl was particularly smart. He also warned that letting the children be around a friend who has a collection of guns is dangerous. "The guy gets kind of carried away when he's shooting them off," Cecilia said.

Cecilia has felt Jason's presence many times since his death. One night, she felt him hug her so tight that she pushed his arm away. She states that she had already known contact was true, but she feels that Hollister has proved it for her and for her son, Robert. The relief and pleasure shows in her voice as she says she is glad to have the shared experience with Robert. Those she has told have not believed in spirit communication. The reading also provides great comfort that her son will be there when her time comes.

Clients of Psychic Medium Hollister Rand are unequivocally certain their loved ones live on and that communication is possible and desired. Hollister answers many general questions about the spirit world and communications on her CD "Many Doors: An Introduction to Mediumship." She believes we all have the capacity to commune with our loved ones and presents affirmations, guided relaxation, conscious breathing exercises and music conducive to developing the skills to connect. Hollister writes for the periodical "Spirit Connections" and the bi-monthly magazine for the Awakenings Growth Center."

Diana deRegnier writes from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her articles appear in Web sites and print publications around the world. Interviews with Ben Stein; Jackie Speier; Edgar Mitchell; Mike Farrell; and John Tesh continue to draw readers years after they were first published. Contact Diana at spiritlinks@comcast.net © Copyright 2009 Diana deRegnier.