Marietta is a clairvoyant, medium and teacher and has had 50 TV productions as a medium in 2004 and 2005 for Kyknet, called Die Ander Kant. Carol-ann Jamison chats to her about how she dealt and still deals with her gifts.

Last month I set up an interview with Marietta, after the interview I scheduled a private reading. It was time for me to test Mariette for myself. Before the reading she was confident yet a little nervous about giving me a reading. A little nervousness is certainly understandable considering she knew I was going to write about my experience. But, even more, it tells me something about the person behind the gift. To me, a little nervousness is a sign of humility, which I’ve found to be a positive quality in psychic mediums. Modesty makes a psychic medium approachable and fun. Mariette was all of these - confident, modest, approachable and fun.

What I really enjoyed about my reading with Mariette is that she is equally gifted as both a psychic and a medium. This means that she can obtain information about your health, your job/career, your relationships, your finances and even your future, which is the psychic part; and, with equal ability, she can also communicate with your deceased loved ones in spirit or spirit guides, which is the medium part. While this is impressive in itself, it’s also tremendously beneficial since we don’t always know what is more important to us - a psychic reading or spirit communication. With Mariette, you don’t have to choose.

When did you first discover you had this gift?
People always ask me that and I really don’t know because there wasn’t a specific time as such. Growing up you don’t think you’re different to other people, you don’t even realise that other people don’t see and feel and know what you know. My mother would receive post and ask, ‘Is this good news or bad news?’ or when the phone rang ‘who will that be?’ and I would tell her. Unknowingly she trained me really well in trusting me. My father too would take me along when he chose secondhand cars. I would sit in the car and I knew exactly what happened with that car. I was then four or five and he just somehow trusted my vision, although I didn’t know what it was. So for me it was not a gift more of a way of life.

Were you always able to use this gift freely?
Well no, I went to a convent which proved to be disempowering and my free spirit was squashed by severe and cruel punishment. For me the big turning point and awakening happened in my late 20s when my school sweetheart had a fatal car accident – this was my spiritual turning point. During that year a spiritual teacher visited Namibia and gave courses which gave me a hefty push into the esoteric field. Then my grandmother died and linked with me.

When a friend, a Dutch Reformed Church minister, became deeply disturbed by my interest in psychic matters and wanted to pray this gift away, I was brought to a crossroad. I chose to commit myself totally to the new direction my life had taken. It felt right and so I began to read avidly and to study the tarot, astrology, numerology, the runes, aura reading, chakras and healing on all levels. These skills have helped me in my dealings with clients/patients to either help or clear blockages or to confirm to the client what has already come through clairvoyantly. My journey included working with people like Denise Linn, Brandon Bays and John Kehoe. I furthered my practice to include past life regression therapy, journey work and the teachings of Native Americans and speaking and healing of animals.

Do you differentiate between souls or spirits?
Yes, I do differentiate. Just like the heart is part of the physical body, a soul is part of the spirit. You as a soul is a part of a much bigger you.

Do you think clairvoyance is a gift or do you think it’s something you can develop?
I don’t want to give a black or white answer, because I was amazed. I had 45 participants in my metaphysical school in Namibia over a period of one and a half years. Every one of them developed clear clairvoyance and one developed their existing psychic ability. Yet in the school here, not all of them developed clairvoyance but they developed into other directions. I think we all have an ability to develop our own intuition into something, but not necessarily clairvoyance. However with that being said I feel that to be a practicing clairvoyant it needs to be a calling. To constantly help others must really be your passion for life.

There is a certain power in someone saying they can see your future, your aura or your spirit guide. People can be in awe of that ability. Doesn’t what you’re doing in fact take away a person’s own power?
Yes, it can very much. I did a lot of Edgar Cayce’s work and astrology before I started doing this professionally. With this knowledge I was very aware of not taking away people’s own power. In my personal life, when it was closer to home, I would interfere with my psychic knowing as it just came naturally to me and would blurt out outcomes, but my children and family have taught me not to unless asked, so that they feel in charge of their own lives. I no longer give an unsolicited reading as I feel people have a right to their privacy, their lives, and their mistakes. It’s their journey, not mine. If  I’m just standing somewhere and I get a message, like three or four times, I will say, ‘Do you mind, I have a message here, I’d like to give it to you but if you don’t want to hear it I won’t.’

People are very vulnerable when they come for advice. I know exactly how much karma I can build up if I take away their right to make decisions or I choose the wrong words. I’m sure I’ve overstepped my limits, because I’m human. The whole communication part is very dangerous and often people hear what they want to hear.

Do you see spirits just like you see me?
Yes, I see them very clearly and they jump up. As a child I couldn’t differentiate but now I do. I just see it - I think it is the inner eye as they call it. I even supersede the mediumship into clairaudience to get the whole picture. It’s like a 3D image or a photo taken on top of another photo. You see that person standing there but you can kind of look through them.

Do you see visions and can you give an example of a time in your life where a vision has helped you or not?
I have more visions of other people than of myself. I have always been skeptical when it comes to my own visions. I doubt and often double check my info, often ignoring the message. For example before my second marriage I had this vision of looking at a bride in white. Then when she turned around I recognised myself, but saw my skull without any flesh on it. So in a way I knew that this was a warning but I still went ahead and got married, and divorced. Maybe we need to go through these things in life. I certainly thought so. When it comes to gut feelings this is something that I’ve developed only really for myself in the last few years.

What are you thoughts on the wrong predictions of American psychic Sylvia Browne in the case of Shawn Hornbeck, where she’s told the parents that the boy was dead and 4 years later he was found alive not far from the house, after being kidnapped?
This is a very volatile situation because I’ve done missing people and I’ve made my mistakes as well. A well-known South African guy went missing and I was phoned in New Zealand by his brother. He asked ‘What happened to my brother?’ and I said ‘The way I see him and the way he jumps into my face, is like somebody coming through who has passed on, or he’s drugged or in a coma.’ This is the way I pick up people. In the end he was found alive but drugged. I always make it clear that I can make a mistake especially on missing people. I don’t agree with Sylvia’s way of giving the blunt, as she believes, truth to people. She can still be wrong - she’s been wrong a lot. Maybe being in the commercial world she is more pressurised, I don’t know.

Being a psychic do you recognise different timelines?
Yes, if someone continues being the way they are they stay in that timeline and I can see the eventuality. If they shift they can move into another timeline and that’s often what I go into - I call it coaching. I offer them different directions and advise them on what to do. That’s why I haven’t stopped studying, especially when it comes to relationships. That’s one of the main areas where people want guidelines, because we don’t get taught at school how to run our marriages and our relationships.

From your experiences and your research, what can you say happens when we die?
That’s not a simple question. What I know is what I’ve experienced with a lot of people who come to me is that people will experience what they believe in, to a great extent. What I haven’t experienced a lot is that people automatically going into this tunnel and there’s a light at the end of it. I find mostly that when people die and cross over, suddenly a loved one is there to fetch them. As that seems to be what they can relate to at that moment. 

Then there are those who’ve been on heavy medication for a long time before they died and when they have come through to me, have  shown how long it took them to get rid of that medication. It really depends on how you die and under what circumstances. That’s why I want to take all those who have died, especially in my circle of friends, loved ones and close family who still come through often and talk to me, and bring that into my book because each one’s experience is so different.

You must come across a lot of skeptical people, both in your daily life, and with people coming to you for a session. How do you convince them that the messages you’re receiving are genuine?
I don’t as I feel that it is important for people to empower themselves in their process of evolving and becoming conscious, aware and taking responsibility for their lives. But it is their life and their lessons and I don’t feel the need to convince them of anything as this can be rather tiring, especially when they are not ready. I want to share my life lessons more keenly with compassion with other seeking people. I thrive on people giving me love and support - then I’m good.

How do you cope with those who are too sensitive and emotional?
I heal a lot via psychic energy. I give a lot of healing in my readings, so I’m prepared. If I am working as a medium then it is all about closure. That’s what I want them to get in an hour and they do.

Any final words?
As a medium, in facing and dealing with death and those we love, it is reassuring to know it is possible to make contact with those we have lost and to know that they are whole and, in fact, not lost at all. For me sharing the gift of this knowledge became part of my life’s work. As a psychic, helping people to connect with their own sixth sense and inner creativity to live more fulfilling lives is extremely satisfying. As I said for me it is a calling.