Sue Nicholson, phychic investigator. Photo/supplied
ANSWERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE - TAURANGA (ON SALE NOW)
Tauranga Racecourse Function Centre
Saturday 12 August, 7pm - 9.30pm
Tickets: Eventfinda
It's a Monday morning and Sue Nicholson is allowing herself a rare day off.
It's her 63rd birthday, but this busy working mother of three and grandmother isn't slowing down.
Working as a psychic medium for the past 30 years, Nicholson is about to embark on her next tour of her popular show Answers from the Other Side, which includes a Tauranga stop next weekend.
She is hosting two Healing the Soul retreats in Bali later this year, and has recently self-published her latest book, Earth Life and Beyond.
The books have just arrived hot off the press, and she is looking forward to opening the packages with her team later in the day and her manager, her husband Steve.
She has not planned anything special for her day off, she says. It is going to be a busy week with her leaving on tour again on Wednesday. She has still got to pack her suitcase.
Is it a day off at all? She is happy to chat to me for an hour.
I'm armed with my pink crystal and not only my own questions, but some special requests for answers from the other side.
My 10-year-old daughter wants to know if the 'ghosts' that visit are scary, and if they walk through walls or the door.
A colleague wants me to ask her about a recent story about the popular TVNZ show Sensing Murder which pits psychics, including Nicholson, against unsolved cold cases.
The NZME story said "internal emails released through the Official Information Act revealing that not one show in the 39 episodes filmed over more than a decade had provided a single piece of useful information".
I planned to ask Nicholson that at the end of the interview. After all on her birthday, I didn't want to potentially upset her at the outset, I told my colleague.
He said if she is psychic she will predict the question anyway.
In fact, Nicholson brings up Sensing Murder herself.
She is not fazed by scepticism
"Sceptics? I call them septics. What matters to me is that I know what I do is real. There are lots of things I don't believe in, but I don't shout from a roof top. Sceptics have their right to an opinion but I am okay with who I am. If people don't like me I don't care.
"I go in there and do my work. I am not doing any worse than police ... they haven't solved it either, and isn't that their job."
While the programmes might have not solved any crimes, Nicholson feels over the 10 years she has been involved, she has helped families in the way she can.
Recently the show examined the cold case of 46-year-old Napier mother of five Chattrice Maihi-Carroll, who was found dead in 2008 in her home in a bloody scene which police believed to be a frenzied knife attack. No one has been convicted of her murder.
Nicholson said she spent a lot of time with the family "relaying messages to them from Maihi-Carroll from the other side".
"I spent time with them and we shared a lot of her memories. She had stuff for them they were surprised she knew about. She was there ... we don't know how her life tragically ended or by who, but I hope they did find some comfort in hearing from her."
Nicholson says the episodes do not show everything, with parts edited according to legal issues or other police reasons.
"There is stuff I might say, names, parts of evidence ... but then they cannot show it on the programme."
Psychic work to solve cold cases is just as hard as police work when there is scant information, she says.
Growing up it was 24/7. I was never alone as they were bombarding me ... now if it is not the right time I will tell them to come back later.
"I could be connecting with the dead person, but they might not know where they are either, for example if they had been, say, abducted and taken to the bush."
Nicholson recalls one of the very first Sensing Murder shows 10 years ago which involved the case of Tauranga woman Luana (Laverne) Williams who had mysteriously vanished from her Gate Pa home in 1986.
Police suspected she had been abducted and killed but despite lengthy investigations had been unable to solve the case.
In the programme Nicholson and other psychics home in on an area McLaren Falls.
Archaeologists investigated and found three skeletons lay there. They were too old to be Williams', but Nicholson notes how the psychics had sensed something.
"I liken it to being a switchboard operator, and am only as good as the person talking to me."
She understands the scepticism.
"Most of us work from our heads, whereas spirituality comes from the heart and soul. We are all born with clairsentience but as we age, we put our logical minds in. There is another world we don't know about, which is the world beyond the physical and that is the spiritual world. You don't have to be a psychic medium to access it, you can learn tools."
Nicholson is not sure if she will do another series of Sensing Murder. Not because of scepticism, because if the work helps victim's families she is keen to do it, but because of the impact the cold case work has on her.
"It can get very depressing. The parts you don't see is where I might spend all day and night with the dead victim talking and it is very emotional. There's the young nine-year-old boy, Peter, who was crying and told me he just wanted to go home. He told me the things that had been done to him and it was terrible what he endured. I stayed with him ... but it affected me. I have children and grandchildren. I never get over stories I have done, what I have seen. It does depress me, I had to go into counselling because I couldn't release it."
While she hasn't been able to solve cases, she says she has been able to bring families some peace in reconnecting with their loved ones, in her workshops or shows or one to one.
"The biggest thing I love about my job is I love empowering people. There is more beyond what people can see"
There to help
It is a work not driven by ego, money or power, but a simple desire to help people, she says. While most people know the public face of Nicholson fromTV or her shows, she also is a counsellor, working with grieving families, or "people who don't want to be here any more". She is involved in suicide prevention and awareness. Working with vulnerable people is a responsibility she takes very seriously.
"You have to be very sensitive - I feel emotions as well." Bringing spirits through is only one aspect of her work
"It is as much about teaching and giving people the tools for spirituality."
She doesn't shy away from talking about suicide or terminal illness, but says it is about bringing people hope.
A recent show prompted a young person to tell her mother in front of Nicholson about the way she was feeling.
"Wherever there is a negative there is a positive. It's not about denying people's pain or grief but I say, 'let's have a look at this in a different way'. You have a choice, you can rise up with this or let it drag you down. There is always a choice and I try to guide people to the positive."
She has done work with terminal cancer patients, recalling a man given just three weeks to live from a brain tumour. She spent time with him doing some healing work. "I couldn't save his life. I am not a doctor or God or a miracle worker. One night I woke up suddenly at 2am. I saw his face and he said, 'Tell them I have my hair, and I heard a song playing. Bring Him Home.' The next day I received a message from his family that he had passed.
I liken it to being a switchboard operator, and am only as good as the person talking to me.
I told his wife what I had seen. She said the last thing he joked, 'I hope when I get to the other side I have my hair', because his head was like a jigsaw puzzle. I told her he had his hair and what song he wanted at his funeral - Bring Him Home."
As well as connecting people to their loved ones who have passed, her work is very much about teaching the living "how to live".
People need spirituality now more than ever, she says.
"The world is a mess ... look at Trump, North Korea. It is all about power and money and people are frightened. People are looking for hope."
Her new book gives them some tools to find it.
"The book is for everyone. For anyone wondering about all those big questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What is the other side? What happens to us when we die?"
The book teaches people to connect to the world beyond the physical covering areas like karma, chakras, crystal and colour therapies, and healing.
"I tell people to see the energy, trust in it, there is a greater power. It is not about avoiding life ... bad things do happen. I have bad things happen, I don't see it coming. I know I have needed to learn lessons to walk in other people's shoes. I say to Spirit sometimes when I am tired, I have had enough shoes."
In others' shoes
She has walked in a lot of shoes.
She details how she has been seeing spirits at the end of her bed since she was four years old as a child in Birmingham, England. She believes it was her seeking of emotional connection that brought them to her.
"I was never afraid of them - there was an elderly gentleman who was very kind. I later learned he was my great grandfather who had passed many years before I was born ... there were lots of people who would come and talk to me, all ages. I did ask other kids, 'do you see people at the end of the bed' ... I learned I was different and I kept it quiet. I didn't have many friends ... my family ... well they don't speak to me now ... but without these spirits helping me, telling me I was okay, I was a special girl and they had things planned for me, then I don't think I would be here today."
Nicholson kept her secret for 30 years. Even when the spirits told her she would marry a man called Steven.
"I didn't seek out a Steve. We met by chance but on the second date I felt he was my soul mate."
Once married, the spirits told her she would move to a far off place called New Zealand.
"I didn't think much of it, but one day Steve came home saying he had applied for a job in New Zealand. He didn't think he would get it as there were more than 50 applicants and he had just finished his engineering apprenticeship. I knew he would get it and we'd go, but still didn't tell him."
They moved to New Zealand in 1979 and started a family. She says she always knew she would have three girls.
Nicholson eventually "came out of the closet" when she was 33.
"Steve accepted it completely, he said he always knew there was something."
She started to use her gift to help those around her and embarked on a full-time career as a psychic medium, catapulting to fame with Sensing Murder.
Then came more shows and tours.
Steve has given up his day job and is now her manager.
"I am his boss," she laughs.
Her three girls are now aged 39, 35 and 33 with children of their own. Nicholson says growing up she "taught" them how to use psychic powers.
"I believe they do have the ability, but they do not practise."
Steve, despite having a psychic wife, sometimes doesn't listen to her.
"Typical man."
She tells how some years ago he purchased a car and Nicholson told him to take it back, sensing there was something wrong with the front passenger wheel.
"He wouldn't listen, he was saying it was fine. I kept insisting. After five weeks he said, 'okay, I will get it checked'. He took it in at 8am. The motorway was chocka but something told him to pull off ... the whole wheel came off, he swerved into the pavement and crashed. Although the car was a write off, if he hadn't pulled off that wheel could have killed him and other people. When they did checks the bolts had not been tightened properly after a wheel change."
Never alone
There are less serious predictions. Nicholson is happy to have a joke about psychic powers.
Do the spirits ever cut her a break? It must feel like one is never alone with constant visitors at the end of the bed. She laughs.
"Growing up it was 24/7. I was never alone as they were bombarding me ... now if it is not the right time I will tell them to come back later." I ask my daughter's query about the ghosts.
"They do not use the door, they go through walls as they are not matter like us, they are spirits."
She 'ain't afraid of no ghosts'.
"Never. I am more afraid of the living than the dead."
In the little downtime she has, she enjoys movies. She is "annoying" to watch with, as she always predicts what's going to happen next.
Her other passion, she says is documentaries, and cold case dramas.
Thank you for opening up my heart to become the person I want to be. Good work surely, whether you're a die hard sceptic or believer.
Believers and sceptics
People are polarised by psychics - some strongly believing there is no scientific evidence and therefore must be untrue. Others strongly believe.
What does come across strongly with Nicholson, even though I am speaking on the phone, is she is down to earth (pardon the pun), warm-spirited (pardon again) and big hearted. Her desire to help people seems genuine. She seems open and friendly, not guarded at all, nor defensive about non-believers. I like her. And I like her pink hair. I ask her if she always knew pink hair was going to be in fashion in 2017, because she has had it for many years.
"It is not pink actually, it is blonde, with bits of copper."
Have I offended her? I tell her it is a compliment, I love the pink hair on the cover of the book.
She laughs again.
"No my hair on the cover is definitely blonde."
Perhaps this is the phenomenon where people see colours differently like the blue black dress?
"Or you are seeing a pink aura."
I realise that while chatting on the phone I have been turning my pink crystal in my hand. It's a crystal given to me by a friend. My daughter told me to bring it with me to do the interview. It seemed like the right thing to do.
I don't tell Nicholson about the crystal, as I worry she will think I am strange, but ask her why one would see a pink aura.
"Love, compassion, harmony, it is all good."
That morning on her birthday, Nicholson had received a message from someone who had been on one of her retreats.
"Thank you for opening up my heart to become the person I want to be." Good work surely, whether you're a die hard sceptic or believer.
I wish Nicholson a happy birthday. She has a unique way of farewelling.
"You will have a good day."
And I did.
Who is Sue Nicholson
*Sue describes herself as clairaudient, clairsentient and clairvoyant (hears, feels and sees spirits).
*She has worked full-time as a psychic medium for 30 years.
*In 2007 she published a biography, A Call From The Other Side and a series on meditation.
*She featured in the TV2 series Sensing Murder. It has aired in a number of countries.
*Her show Answers from the Other Side tours around New Zealand and Australia.
*She holds more intimate workshops which "teach people how to connect and realise their in-built senses" with a series of workshops from beginner to advanced.
*In 2013 she developed a set of Butterfly Oracle Cards and runs workshops on this subject.
*This October she is holding two six-day retreats in Seminyak, Bali.
the details
WHAT: Answers from the Other Side
WHERE: Tauranga Racecourse
WHEN: Saturday 12 August, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
HOW: Go online to purchase tickets at www.suenicholson.co.nz and also to order Sue's new book, Earth Life and Beyond, which is only available on the website.
'There’s a lot of traffic going through there and it’s a really sharp, ugly bend.'