Quite honestly I can’t blame the parents for this overblown vampire connection, but I do blame the media.  The second the word “vampire” got thrown into the mix “cult” got attached to it pretty quickly and since then it’s all been a big speculation as to whether or not she ran away or was taken away into a “vampire cult”.  The girl’s mother said on Nancy Grace’s show several nights ago that she knew her daughter had an account on VampireFreaks.com and that, while banned from using the site at home she assumed Shelby was getting access to the site at school and at friends houses.  Apparently Shelby left for school on the bus on day with about $160 and never came back.  The mother claimed that Shelby had a boyfriend presumably from the VampireFreaks website who she had talked to the day she disappeared.  While she continued to say that she thought that Shelby’s activity on the VampireFreaks site was likely connected to her disappearance she did say several times that she didn’t know anything about a vampire cult and she didn’t seem to be the one generating that connection.

Things just seemed to spiral a bit out of control and things got weirder when a week after Shelby went missing a 15 year old friend of hers, also assumed to be involved in some “Gothic double life”, as this is being billed, also went missing, and then shortly after a third girl disappeared.  Those two girls were found and all was well but Shelby was still missing until today when she was found in Lakewood, Washington.  Shelby had apparently, of her own volition, taken a bus to the town to stay with someone who she may have met online.  Since the last website she apparently visited on her computer was VampireFreaks according to one article, this is part of why the assumption of a “vampire cult” may have come more strongly into play.

The thing that makes me a little annoyed about this whole story is that even news outlets like CNN/CNN HLN are quick to jump the gun on why this girl ran away when she hasn’t made a single contact with her family since the say she left and she hasn’t talked to anyone (at least that the media has reported) but yet these frantic assumptions about vampires and cults because of her interest in “the dark side of life”, as they’re all calling it, is getting a heap of attention.  There’s certainly nothing saying that this isn’t a possibility but I would have to say that it’s probably more likely than not that she met a boy on the website and decided to take off and meet him.  For all we know she got stranded there and couldn’t afford to get back home or, who knows, she might have just liked it there and wanted to stay.

Why does it have to be able vampires, drinking blood, and being Goth?  She could have just as easily met some clean cut football playing kid from Washington and decided to take off just the same.  Would a football cult have been to blame?  Probably not.  And what if that nice boy had been a Christian and she met him on a Christian social networking site?  Would it have been a Christian cult to blame?  Maybe but most likely no.  Had these been the case then it would have just been a crazy teenager “acting out” and it wouldn’t have become such a huge issue making headlines with the every lovely Nancy Grace.

I’ll be very interested to hear what she has to say about why she left.  Instead of blaming their daughter’s interest in an alternative lifestyle that is constantly getting the shaft from an uneducated media community and her involvement in what is nothing more than a social networking site for Goth kids, how about the parents take a little of the blame here and let’s hear what it is that they did or didn’t do that would make their 16 year old child think it was a good and safe idea to take off to the other side of the country.  Someone was kind enough to post a clip from HLN today after she’d been found where Michelle Belanger made the attempt to quell some of these fears about Goths and vampires but, no surprise, she got about 30 seconds of speaking in and that was about it.  The newscaster covering the story was more interested in making the connection with the fact that the Twilight stories, which are about vampires, take place in Washington state and Shelby ran away to Washington state and therefore there’s a possible Twilight connection.  Really??!!  That’s just sad.

Not sure what to think about the Goth thing?  Check out these links:
What is Goth?
The Goth Culture on ReligiousTolerance.org
GothicSubculture.com

So that’s what’s happening over there.  Check it out and feel free to add your thoughts and comments in the blog over there.  And don’t forget, you can also follow “Within the Sacred Mists” through NetworkedBlogs on Facebook, so click the badge over there and follow my posts there as well.

One of the first things that you need to do before seeing a reader of any kind is let go of you expectations and the things that you think you know about getting a reading. By going into the experience expecting something specific, whether it’s expecting a specific answer to your questions or expecting a specific type of reading experience, you are likely to find yourself disappointed. Even if you’ve had readings in the past, it’s important to remember that every reader and every reading experience is going to be different, so approach your session with an open mind and open heart.

While a reader might be psychic remember that being psychic is not the same as being a mind reader. When you go to see your reader you’re likely going to find that your reader will ask a few questions, things like your name, your date of birth and what you’re looking to have a reading or session about. Do not expect that you’re going to sit down in front of your reader and they are going to instantly know what you want to ask, knowing everything about you while they just start rambling on. Often if this happens you’re more likely than not going to find you’re dealing with a “cold reader” (someone that is giving readings based off information they are inferring about you from how you’re dressed, things you might do or say, etc, not real psychic impressions). But, at the same time, there is a point where you can give too much information. A good reader will tell you when you’re giving too little or too much away.

A reader needs something to focus on in a session and this is why many readers will ask for you to have a specific question or at least a topic in mind. While readers can certainly give what are often known as “general readings”, a sort of grab bag of psychic information, these are not always as satisfying and can often leave you confused and many times with lots of questions that will go unanswered. These can also be readings that can be tough for the reader since there is no real focus and information can be jumbled and quite all over the place. Some readers will use names or birthdates alone and others will ask for questions. I personally always ask for names and sometimes date of birth. The reason for this is that if you tell me that you want to know “his” feelings about you, for example, I need to know who “he” is otherwise the “he” I pick up on could be your father, your next door neighbor or the mailman. A name helps give a focus on the energy to be reading.

When it comes to a question, being clear about what you want to know helps to ensure that you’re going to get the information that you’re really after. For example, if you have a relationship question and your question is really that you want to know if your current partner is cheating on you ask that question, not how he feels about you. Your boyfriend may very well care about you or still be in love with you but he may also find himself with feelings for another person who he happens to be having an affair with. Knowing that he loves you isn’t going to really tell you if he’s cheating, so don’t be afraid to ask your true question. Asking questions that you hope will lead to or reveal information that you really want to know about often doesn’t work, so to get the most from your session ask your questions clearly and upfront. Remember, you’re not giving leading information if you’re just asking your question.

Be prepared to hear what your reader has to say to you. If you don’t really want to know if your partner is cheating because you aren’t ready to deal with the situation, then you shouldn’t even be going to see a reader about your relationship if you feel this is what is going on. But if you’re ready and you ask the question don’t be upset when you hear the answer you didn’t want to hear. Most readers are going to be understanding of difficult situations, we are human after all, and will be somewhat gentle but firm in delivering hard to hear news. A poor reader is one that either be overly blunt or harsh or one that doesn’t give you the true messages and just tells you what will make you feel good. You’ll know the difference when you get the message from them. Understand that the reader is just the messenger and is giving you the information from Spirit that you need for your highest good to improve your life and situation. Sometimes you need to hear the bad and experience the negative to move on in your life and make changes to get to where you are truly meant to be.

Participate in your session with your reader by interacting with them. If you feel that something your reader is telling you is completely off base, don’t feel bad telling them so. If you’re session starts off in the first few minutes with information that is not even close to connecting for you, not telling them means you could run the risk of sitting there through a whole session of information that means nothing for you. Telling a reader that you can’t relate to their information as they are giving it, because you truly can’t relate, not because it isn’t want you want to hear, will help to keep the session on track. Remember the session is about you, not the reader, so don’t feel that you have to blindly accept everything they say but know that there is a difference between not liking what they are telling you and not being able to validate what they tell you.

And lastly, but most importantly, remember that nothing is set in stone. If you don’t like the information that comes to you in a reading or you don’t like the outcome that a reader gives you, either use that as a signpost on where to make some changes in your life or, if you’re uncertain on what to do to make changes, as for psychic and spiritual advice from your reader. Free will exists even in the psychic world, so no reading is ever 100% guaranteed. Think of your reading as a road map to your goals; if you go from point A via one route (the reader’s information) to get to point B then you know what you’re going to encounter on the way to that point. If you want to change or avoid something on the route that the reader has given you then you might need to veer off their mapped out route to get to point B; this is where you’re free will comes in and you make the decision to change course and change the outcome of your journey. In the end remember that no psychic is ever 100% accurate 100% of the time and the decisions and end results, no matter what they are, are yours and yours alone.

When all is said and done a good reading experience should have you leaving feeling like you have answers, hope and some control over your issue or concern that you went for a reading about. You might not always leave with the answers you were hoping for but you should be able to use the information from the reading to lay out a road map for you to reach you goals.