It’s not everyday I wake up to a text message from a friend stating that last night, while in bed, there was a spirit sitting next to him flailing his arms around everywhere. My first reaction is holy shit, that is nuts, but the healer in me responds calmly. “I’m sure you are exhausted, you had over 20 readings today and we just got done chatting for hours about your real life ghost stories.” His humor doesn’t skip a beat and refuses any sort of pity, “You best believe I got the f*ck out of there lol!” This is real life for Billy Tyler, psychic/medium and healer. Billy’s life resembles something out of American Horror Story but with lots of humor and sarcasm added to all of the madness.
Ghosts are not scary they are just friends I have not made yet.
Billy’s awakening started at the age of 33. Like a light switch, his gift of seeing, hearing, physical and emotional feeling of spirit turned on and is now a regular thing. For Billy, seeing spirits happened at times during childhood and as a young adult, but was never something he was aware of nor thought twice about.
Billy was a creative child growing up, he enjoyed human touch and giving hugs. He struggled with grades in school and had a difficult time paying attention. He was put on different medications and has been labeled many different things. Later in life he experimented with drugs and alcohol and always found himself searching for something. He was interested in bigger things but didn’t necessarily know what that was. He was empathic for other people, meaning he is able to feel and know what someone is experiencing.
After graduation he moved to Chicago thinking “out there” he would find himself. He lived there for 7 years before he moved back home to Cleveland, Ohio, just before his life took a turn. Billy lost his aunt who was like a mother to him. The trauma of losing his aunt left Billy in a dark state. He spent years feeling depressed and at times did not want to live.
Even when I didn’t believe, I always wanted to believe.
He spent most of his adult life running bars and restaurants and did not necessarily think twice about ghosts or even believed in such things. Until one day something started to change, his awareness to touch, smell, hearing and anxiety increased. During a visit at his moms, he encountered his first experience with spirits. This is Billy’s awakening.
The Awakening
Billy heard someone outside the bedroom door. Not really thinking twice about it, he continued to rest. He then heard footsteps walking into the room. He felt someone sit down on the bed, which caused him to roll over and notice that no one was there. A little spooked, he stood up and walked through what looked like bugs swarming to leave the house. (Now he knows that it was a spirit manifesting.) As he was driving home, he felt his head hurt in a different way like ever felt before. He describes it as someone taking a drill into the middle of his forehead and pouring warm water through it. This made him extremely tired and pulled over multiple times to rest. To him his rational mind believes he is having a stroke or brain aneurism.
He makes it home and sits on his couch to rest. He turns on the tv and hears something that sounds like a man grumbling coming from the basement. As he mutes the TV, he hears a man scream from the basement. (Not in a help me sort of scream, but more like F you scream!) Billy’s reaction was to check out what was happening, thinking someone was possibly breaking in. He walked down the stairs and heard someone yell at him from the bottom of the basement. Scared as shit, he turns to run back up the stairs and hears someone running behind him with what sounded like chains clanking or something jingling in his pocket. The foot steps gain on him faster than is humanly possible. Almost as if they are right on his back. Billy runs into his bedroom and slams the door to call for help.
At this point, he still isn’t sure if this is someone real breaking in or if he is having a stroke. He looks up from his phone and his bedroom door opens to no one standing there. He looks down and looks up again, a women is standing there in a white gown with long black hair. (Think the ring..seriously??? I know!!!) A tall man who looks like a farmer, wearing high brown pants, walks in and put his arm around the lady. Billy is panicked and convinced there is something medically wrong with him and needs assistance. Just as he is about to dial 911, he feels a hand on his arm, his fear calms and he hears his aunts voice saying that he can help them.
In his mind he references Jennifer Love Hewlett from Ghost Whisperer and asks himself what would she do? Something we all see often, he asks, “What do you want and why are you here?” The lady showed him a piece of paper with writing on it. Billy can not read the writing and still does not know what they want. Two elderly people walk in, children appear playing in the corner and a short man appears who is mad and yelling about something. Billy watches the elderly women move his planter that is in his bedroom, as if she does not like its current position and it’s her room. Overwhelmed, Billy screams too much too much and slams the bedroom door shut. Billy with the comfort of his animals and his partner sleeping next to him, hides under his covers in fear and eventually falls asleep.
The min you look down the alley and make contact with a spirit, it texts all of its buddy’s and is like, hey guys, new guy in town. You become a beacon of light in a dark alley.
He wakes up still questioning if everything he remembers from the night before was real or a dream. Billy gets up to get ready to drive his partner at the time to work. He looks down the stairs and sees the tall man standing at the bottom of the steps.
The next 4 days were like a neon sign had turned on and Billy was open for business. He saw spirits e-v-e-r-y-where he went. He decided to talk to his family about what he was experiencing who recommended seeing a doctor. He was not on any medication nor was taking any recreational drugs. The doctors did not find anything medically wrong and suggested seeing a psychiatrist. Billy could feel the spirits sadness and it was overwhelming and scary for him. His family felt he might be suicidal and Billy agreed he needed psychiatric help.
Billy was sitting home trying to enjoy his last night before he was about to sign himself over. He saw a cat in his living room that appeared to be see through. He took a picture and to Billy’s surprise, the cat showed up! In an effort for any hope that he was not going crazy, he sent the picture to his family. His family, astounded, replied with, “WTF, who are those people in the pic!!!” They circled 8 other faces in the photo that billy had not even noticed. Billy looked up and his living room was full of spirits looking at him. He ran outside and sat on his porch sobbing. His family realized it wasn’t a doctor that could help but suggested possibly seeing a priest.
Everything sounds dramatic and it was for Billy, but every time he was about to seriously break and lose it, something lured him in suggesting he can help them. As billy was crying on his porch a little boy appeared. The boy jumped over the fence and ran up to Billy waving and pointing at his neighbors house. Billy remembered that his neighbor lost a child. Billy felt as if the boy wanted to say hi and that he was ok.
Trying to ignore everything and as an effort to drown out what he was experiencing, he went back into the house to turn up the tv in the living room. A little girl showed up standing in front of the tv. Billy took out his phone to get more pics. Every time she really formed, Billy felt his as if he was about to pass out. And every time he pulled back to take a pic, he felt more powerful. He realized the girl was using his energy to manifest. It felt like a power struggle.
Billy was desperate for help. Thinking to himself, “Who you gonna call…ghostbusters…”, he called his local paranormal society hotline. (Every city has a paranormal society fyi.) They connected him with a Medium in NY who asked Billy to call him at 8pm that night. Billy felt anxious about calling and almost talked himself out of it. He called and she immediately stated that, “Everything is going to be ok. Whatever happens right now, it will be ok and it will pass. The spirits don’t want you to talk to me and I’m about to give you the power.”
She told him every single spirit’s name that was in his house and who they were. Not only did she tell him details about what was happening, she told him details about Billy’s past. She validated everything to Billy. He asked, “Why is this happening?” She told him that he has had this gift his whole life and it was being suppressed. “Why now?” She responded, “You lost her five years ago, your aunt is standing here and is pulling the veil off your eyes. She is letting you know that you need to start helping people. She doesn’t want you to be sad anymore, she wants you to be happy. The next time you meet a healer, help them. The little girl you took pics of? She just died, she passed down the street. She found you and wanted to say one last good bye. You made her soul happy because you got to see her with her hair back and wanted a pic taken.”
Billy tried to ignore what was happening for as long as he could. He learned that they will do everything they can to get your attention. The next year was a serious struggle for Billy, adjusting to his new norm. He talked with many psychics and mediums for support, trying to gain some sort of wisdom on how to get past the spirits.
Billy has been working on his craft for over 5 years now. He has finally come to a place where has has found some sort of balance. Billy now helps people heal by providing messages from their loved ones who have passed. Some people have been in pain for years and can now breath again after hearing a message from their loved one. After experiencing the good he can provide, Billy made a promise to do this work forever.
Not all psychic/mediums experience this extreme of an awakening. Billy has all spiritual clairs. He believes he was scared to almost death in order to get over his ego. The spirit world had to compete with his arrogance to break him down and reframe his beliefs. Billy continued to see doctors and psychologists who all have no answers. It was deemed that there are some things you can not explain.
I don’t know Billy very well and I have never been on his side of town, but it only takes a min to scroll through his Instagram to get a feel for the bitchy and witchy healer he is. He is kind, yet funny. He is humble and honest. Yes, he does carry around a bag of emergency herbs and crystals. He is a soul mate to many and if you ever do get the chance to be in his presence, consider yourself lucky. Billy’s Instagram and Facebook is always updated with exciting ghostly experiences. You can see Billy this February at the Vintage Market, LLC. Check his Facebook or Instagram for more opportunities to get in touch.
Managing your Energy
Billy describes seeing spirits like going to a mall with lots of people around. “You pass lots of people, but when you leave you don’t really remember who was there. Spirits can look clear as day, sometimes they are see through. They can come in visions. Sometimes I replay someones life as a guest star. People try to put rules on the spirit world where there are none. Everybody experiences spirit differently and interprets it differently.”
In the beginning it was chaotic for Billy, people were standing in his bedroom. They were loud and obnoxious. Billy stresses how important it is to set boundaries. “You can ask them to leave you alone. That is protecting your own energy. To always be of service and want to help everybody will drain your energy. The minute you get cocky, spirit will feed off of it and spirit activity will increase. Consciously controlling your energy will help balance things. Learn to focus your energy within yourself. It is like a muscle and gets easier with time.”
Billy has learned how important it is to remain disconnected to the messages he receives. “Being emotionally invested can burn yourself out and pull you into their emotions that can lead to a dark place. When you have bad psychic dreams, do not tell people your dreams. Most of the time they are fucked up from random spirits. People think they have power and can change things, but you can’t.” Billy smudges to clear energy. To relax, he lights candles and incense and listens to meditation music.
Billy still gets scared. There are things that catch him off guard. “One night I was feeding my dog in the kitchen and turned around to see my grandpa who passed sitting on the couch whistling. I screamed from being so caught off guard.” An important message he would like to share is if you are in an emotional state and you feel like you are going to harm yourself or someone else. Breath. A psychic opening can feel the same as an emotional breakdown. Reach out and contact someone of importance for support.
