Some said she died of heart failure; others said she died of a broken heart. She would appear to have loved but lost. She was determined but was defeated. She had been the last person standing, head high in hope, in confidence and courage. She called the media and the police frequently, and even supported vigils and rallies. The sensation of her 16-year-old daughter’s kidnapping had now died down. Law enforcements agents had no more leads. The story was not in the headlines anymore. The press had moved on to something more freshly burning. It was already more than a year since the beloved daughter, Amanda Berry, had disappeared. She could observe the widely distributed missing person’s posters of her girl now defaced and in decline; they were all peeling off the neighborhood buildings and trees. In their places were new posters of missing cats and dogs with prizes for anyone who could find them. The poor mother wondered why the reward offer from authorities had not increased for any information which might lead to the recovery of her missing child. Ultimately, in her desperation for some lead of sort, she jumped at the opportunity to consult a psychic.
It was on The Montel Williams television show on an autumn day in 2004 that the psychic, Sylvia Browne, proclaimed solemnly with the strange air of the esoteric, that Amanda Berry was dead. Those who knew Louwana Miller said the wind went out of her sail that day. After the show she was quoted as saying, “I want to have hope but . . . what else is there?” Her singular hope would seem to have slipped down the slope. She died less than two years later in March 2006 reportedly of a heart failure, a broken-hearted and devastated woman. About 10 years after the disappearance, precisely on May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry was found and rescued alive along with a 6-year-old daughter whom she bore in captivity, and two other women.
It came to light that the psychic had also been wrong on at least two other previous cases where she declared dead missing individuals who later turned up alive. Joined later to explain her wrong reading, she was reported to have said, “Only God is right all the time” and that she’s been more right than wrong. The turn of events would appear to have humbled the psychic to now acknowledge the all-knowing God Whom she purported to play when she declared without any allowance for doubt that the missing persons were dead and no longer coming home. She would later explain further that she had seen an image of Amanda Berry being held down under water which she interpreted as meaning death.
It is known in enlightened circle that people who become deeply absorbed spiritually are presented with inspirations which they are unable to recognize clearly. The inability to ‘recognize clearly’ will already distort the quality of the transmission which can only be compounded by an inaccurate interpretation forced by the scheming intellect. The psychic in this case might have been gifted in seeing things which ordinary eyes could not see, but she overstretched her “gift” in also attempting to interpret the images. Incidentally, the limited scrutiny and lack of mainstream focus might also mean that such practice would continue with little or no regulations. Collaborative efforts are often imperative among well practiced and highly trained people of mediumistic abilities.
Images revealed to us in dreams may be better interpreted by those who are known to interpret dreams. Some are gifted with the ability to see and are called seers; others have special calling to interpret visions revealed to the seers. Even in everyday life, a storyteller is often not able to tell the full import and ramifications of his story. A surgeon does not carry out a major operation from end to end without the collaborative intervention of a radiologist, an anesthetist and other specialists as may be necessary, each contributing his respective expertise to achieve the desired success. This is a reflection of the natural procedure that cannot be circumvented in all things. No one, it is said, has a monopoly of wisdom.
Truly gifted psychics might find themselves constantly under public pressure to give answers they don’t have to troubling questions. It is no difference from the pressure endured by other people from all works of life who are pushed and tempted to go beyond the obvious extent of their relevance. Individual character traits come to fore, it becomes a question of personal integrity, the honesty to admit one’s limitations and the humbleness to recognize and accept one’s smallness.
