Goop: Are you intuit?

Goopers try to focus their psychic abilities in Episode 6, “Are You Intuit?”Photographer: Adam Rose/Netflix

​This past week, Goop (founded by Gwyneth Paltrow) launched a Netflix series where they explore topics that are controversial. One of the episodes explored energy healing. The other episode Scott and I watched tackled intuition. They brought in renowned psychic medium, Laura Lynn Jackson, who not only read for several Goop employees, but also taught them how to open themselves up intuitively. She’s clearly very good at channeling and I liked watching the way she worked. I could relate to how the messages came in for her. 
 
As we watched the episode, I felt happy to see the topic covered but also sad that intuition still feels so stereotypically 'woo woo'.  Even the way Gwyneth and Elise Loehnen, the Chief Content Officer for Goop, talked to Laura felt different from how they discussed energy work with John Amaral in the first episode we watched. Both praised Laura for their incredibly spot on readings; however, Scott and I both felt they were more skeptical with Laura than John.
 
There was less skepticism in the energy healing episode even though the topic was about invisible energy. Is it because the energy doc didn’t give off the woo woo vibe? Is it because, unlike mediumship, energy healing is physical? The hosts listened without judgement when he spoke about moving energy around while Goop staffers writhed on massage tables. Mediumship is working with energy, too, just in a different way. 
 
As a late-in-life medium who didn’t ask for what happened to me when I suddenly started channeling messages from kids in spirit, you might be surprised to know that the woo woo world freaked me out when I was looking for answers to what was happening to me. Truth be told, it still does in many ways. I just don’t connect with it.
 
Now, let me explain what I mean by woo woo. The stereotype of a gypsy-like psychic medium is very much alive and, in my opinion, not doing the topic of intuition any favors in the mainstream world. To be fair, I know and love a few mediums whose personal style of dress and speak fits the stereotype. I love them for who they are—and they are incredible healers and channelers—but in the beginning of my exploration of intuition, I avoided anything and anyone that felt too out there.  Growing up, I didn’t know anything about the world of intuition so naturally, I sought guidance from those who felt and looked more like me. Now, when I tell folks that I discovered (at the age of 36) that I could channel messages, they always say the same thing: “But you’re so normal.” 
 
Nothing about what I endured when I was coming to grips with my heightened intuition was normal but I get what they mean. I look like the average Jane. And to be honest, I thought every bit of my awakening was crazy until I started getting validation from parents and detectives. In a nutshell, I was a skeptic until I was being hit over the head with stuff I couldn’t explain. 
 
But you know what, intuition IS normal—and we all have it—but it still predominately lives in the land of woo woo. 
 
To its credit, Goop stepped out on the ledge to produce a series about out of bounds topics. I'm sure they are getting gutted in the press. I personally think they did a good job of boosting credibility by including Dr. Julie Beischel, a researcher who is studying life after death and finding scientific ways to prove that mediumship is real. But even still, I don’t think there’s enough info out there about how it all works. Intuition is not one size fits all. 
 
For example, I would fail Dr. Beischel test miserably and not because I’m not good at channeling, but simply because it doesn’t work that way for me. I do not read for people—I simply share messages that come to me. For me, there is no sitter next to me wanting to hear from a loved one. I simply channel kids (and sometimes adults) in spirit who have messages to pass. Mostly, I pass messages to families and trusted law enforcement officers that involve sexual abuse. You see, I’m a sexual abuse survivor, too. I’m a safe place for these kids to come because I’ve lived it. It seems to be what I’m here to channel. For the most part, I channel children I don’t know who were murdered, died tragically, and/or endured sexual abuse in their lifetimes. 

I'm the first to admit I don't know exactly how it works. I just don't and I've accepted that. 
 
It’s not light, happy work but it’s something I chose not to ignore. And believe me, I had a choice to ignore it. I have successfully ignored my intuition to my detriment many times in my life. In this case, after realizing that what was happening was indeed real, I knew I had to pass the messages even though it was/is scary, heart wrenching, and not something I sought out. 
 
I hope, over the next ten years, we see more programs like Goop’s series, but I also hope that all of us out there who are doing this work (in all of our various ways) can move the mainstream needle a bit. I know plenty of people who are highly intuitive who are scared to talk about it. I don't blame them. If we can change the perception of what it means to be intuitive, people might just start trusting their inner compass more. And, people like me, won't feel like we have to dive into the deep end of woo woo to understand what it means to be intuitive. 

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