Wattsburg-area psychic writes about her life, insights on death


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By TIM HAHN

Staff writer

Natalie Smith-Blakeslee remembers a light of white-hot intensity. A light so powerful that it warmed her cold, sick body. It was warm, she recalls, like a blanket taken out of the microwave.

Eleven years after she faced it, Smith-Blakeslee believes the light was the gateway to heaven. But she was pushed away. It wasn't her time.

The Venango Township resident was left with a near-death experience that she said has changed her life in profound ways.

Though Smith-Blakeslee said she first encountered "visitations" from unknown individuals who had passed on when she was 6 years old, it wasn't until she nearly died of a lengthy illness at age 29 in 1989 that those visitations became more "pronounced" and "profound."

She's used that ability since the early 1990s to work as a medium and psychic, offering individual consultations and chatting to larger audiences through such venues as a monthly appearance on Erie radio and a variety of speaking engagements worldwide.

But more than just a proclaimed communicator with the dead and a forecaster of the future, Smith-Blakeslee said she's using her gift as teacher and student. She's working to help others understand that death, as she sees it, is not something to fear. She's also working to understand how her gift has affected her, along with others who've had similar experiences.

Awaiting the future

Some time this summer, Smith-Blakeslee expects to complete a booklet on the subject of death. It's designed to help people who are "actively passing," she said, and to help their families cope during the transition. She's also writing a book, which she hopes to have published next year, that talks of her own experiences and offers insights into death and beyond.

Dying is a frightening thing to experience, and a frightening thing to watch. But it needn't be, she said.

"Love doesn't die because they have," Smith-Blakeslee said. "Some people have questions. A lot of people are frightened. They need comfort to go someplace else."

The idea of the publications came in part from Smith-Blakeslee's involvement with Hospice, in which she works with her husband, Terry Blakeslee. The stress that families experience during these times can be almost unbearable, she said, no matter how much outside aid is provided. But she wants people to believe when their loved ones pass on, they move to a realm where they're loved, taken care of and happy.

Smith-Blakeslee credits her grandmother with helping develop her gift. Smith-Blakeslee remembers watching, at age 13, her grandmother die. But they met again years later, she said, when her grandmother kept her from remaining in the light.

Smith-Blakeslee, married and with young children at the time, had come down with an illness in 1989 that put her in a Pittsburgh hospital for 21/2 months. Her brain had shrunk, she said, her kidneys were failing and she had gone into cardiac arrest. It was while she was in the hospital that she remembers entering the light, and spending what seemed like a very long time with her grandmother.

During that time, she said, she learned about the happiness heaven provides. She learned that her grandmother and the other souls were in a better place, and she wanted to stay with them. But she's convinced her grandmother and God pushed her back.

"I was mad at her, at God, at whoever wouldn't let me stay," she remembered. "I wanted to know the reasons why I was coming back. It took a lot of time to adjust."

Shortly after a year-long recovery from the illness, she said, she again became sick and again took a long time to recover. Her first marriage then ended, leading her to question why she returned to face so much hardship. The answer, she said, was in her ability to communicate - even though she and her family members questioned her mental state.

"Finding out that I was indeed seeing those and hearing those who had passed on, I decided to help those who were grieving a loss with the God-given talent I had been given," she said.

Experiencing the past

Smith-Blakeslee said the visitations she experienced at a young age came sporadically. She was frightened, she said, not knowing what they wanted. But following her illness, when the communications became more clear and vivid, she said she realized that the near-death experience made her a vehicle for those who passed on and yet wanted to connect with the living.

She realizes the skepticism in what she does. But she stresses connecting with the other side doesn't, as she sees it, run contrary to religious belief.

"It has nothing to do with religion," she said. "We still have one God."

"I believe our loved ones love us enough to come back to see what's going on," she continued. "They'll often come back and say that the family is getting bigger."

Smith-Blakeslee admits there are some less-than-credible people posing as psychics, and some real scams that have cost people a lot of money. She said she makes herself accountable by recording all of her sessions for her clients, and by providing specific information.

"And I won't give readings unless I'm pushed from the other side," she said.

Smith-Blakeslee, who formerly worked as a talk show guest on radio station WLKK-AM and hosted a show there, appears monthly on the Warvel and McBride morning radio show on WRTS-FM/Star 104. She recently landed the gig after some initial skepticism from the hosts. They had several psychics on before, Sherri McBride said, and, while they were always popular features, they noticed that the psychics were very general in their information and almost seemed to be giving advice.

"We got a call from one of Natalie's friends asking if we would have her on, and we thought, what would it hurt?" said McBride, who considers herself "curious" and co-host Craig Warvel a "nonbeliever." "We had her on one morning and, I'm telling you, when she read people you got goosebumps. She named names, she was very specific and she seemed very genuine. People really responded to her."

It's not always easy communicating with the deceased, Smith-Blakeslee said. There are times when more than one spirit wants to communicate. And there are times when they want to talk a lot, which is why she tells those who she's consulting to refrain from asking questions until the spirit is done.

"They're all excited," she said. "They have so much they want to say."

It's also not easy to live with a psychic sometimes, says her husband. Natalie may, at times, be able to predict a lottery number for someone else, but she can't do it for her family, Terry said. She has also provided information that he said he didn't want to hear.

There was the time, for instance, that she tried to talk Terry out of letting his son borrow his car, because she said he was going to wreck it. Terry let the car out anyway, and, when he and Natalie returned from a trip to Pittsburgh, he found the car in their driveway with its front end smashed in.

On another occasion, she wouldn't let one of their three daughters, now grown, go to a party. They found out the next day that the police had raided the party, and all of its participants had spent the night in jail for underage drinking. "You don't always want to believe everything she tells you, but every time it turns out that way," Terry said.

Understanding the present

Friends and family tell Smith-Blakeslee that she changes every time she communicates with the other side. She becomes a "ball of energy," said her friend, Kathie Jendrasiak, full of adrenaline and hard to keep up with. But there are times when the experiences also drain her, Terry said, which is why he insists she limit her readings to five a day.

There are after-effects to near-death experiences, Smith-Blakeslee said. Her once-high blood pressure is now extremely low. She said there's electricity about her that makes it impossible for her to wear a watch, that has disconnected telephone conversations and that Terry believes is the cause of several headlights blowing out in her Ford Probe.

Then there is the illness that nearly claimed her life, which Smith-Blakeslee is uncomfortable talking about. She wonders how it is that she's living a healthy life now, and what role the near-death experience played in that.

In February, she undertook a study to try and find out. Called "The Light Project," it asks others with similar experiences questions about their health before and after, whether or not they've developed any serious illnesses and family health history.

"I hope to be able to come up with conclusions on whether near-death experiences help the immune system or hinder it," said Smith-Blakeslee, who is still collecting data for her study. "Some people come up with a life-threatening illness like cancer since a near-death experience, but they're still around."

05/28/2000

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