The Illusion of the "Guru"…

For a long time, I thought I knew what mediumship was. I was trained by someone I thought was wonderful, a person who became my "guru". We partnered up and began hosting public events together. But as I stood alongside him, a deep, uncomfortable reality began to set in.

His work was entirely generic. It was a copy of that low-standard, television-style theater where a practitioner throws a vague, blanket guess into a crowd and relies on a vulnerable, grieving audience member to step forward and fill in the blanks. It felt lazy, and it felt profoundly disrespectful to the people sitting in the room.

Then, everything shattered. I witnessed a world-class, authentic evidential medium step onto a stage. There were no theatrical guessing games, no dramatic circus antics, and no flowery folklore. There was only a calm, unwavering delivery of unique, highly specific, undeniable facts.

I looked at my mother and said, "That. I want to do THAT."

I asked that medium where I needed to go if I wanted to learn how to deliver that level of unshakeable evidence. She gave me one name: Paul Jacobs.

The Surrender of Ego & The British Lineage

To learn from the best, you have to completely surrender your ego. Paul Jacobs is recognized globally as a master of evidential mediumship and a man whose life purpose is to uphold the uncompromisingly high standards set by his own mentor, the legendary Gordon Higginson.

Training under Paul wasn't an easy, comfortable weekend course. The path of a true medium is demanding, halted by intense discipline, internal conflicts, and the constant friction of trying to balance an extraordinary skill with the desire to live a "normal" life.

Paul taught me to see through the people wearing "spiritual overcoats" - the ego-driven practitioners who manipulate vulnerable clients by pretending to be the exclusive gatekeepers to enlightenment. Most importantly, he taught me that this work is a sacred, miraculous privilege. It requires zero performance, zero pretense, and absolute integrity.

Standing Tall Through the Fire

Choosing this uncompromising path didn't come without a cost. My deepest challenges didn't happen in a training room; they happened in my real life.

My former husband actively belittled my development, attempting to make a mockery of my dedication and calling me a fraud. But I had seen a glimpse of what was genuinely possible when you honor the spirit world with discipline, and I refused to walk away from it.

Then came the challenge of "outing myself" within my corporate, analytical career in the Australian Public Service. I faced ignorance, quiet ridicule, and the standard, cynical sneers from people making jokes about why I hadn't used my abilities to "win the lottery."

I respected the boundaries of those whose religious or cultural practices made them uncomfortable. But as for the insults? I simply stopped tolerating them. I learned to stand tall in my love for this work. You do not need to apologize for a high-integrity standard just because it isn't someone else's cup of tea.

The Value of an Everyday Life

People often ask me why I don't try to live a permanently detached, "enlightened" existence. The answer is simple: because if you spend your entire life floating in a spiritual bubble, you become completely useless to the real people who seek out your help.

Paul Jacobs always encouraged us to embrace the mundane, everyday routines of the real world. Mediumship grows and evolves through our actual human experiences. I am a regular, normal person who works a demanding job, handles real-world accountability, and is completely, soft-heartedly besotted with my dog, Gavin.

Living a completely grounded baseline life is exactly what keeps my integrity intact. I don't sit in "the power" all day. I switch the focus entirely on when it is time to work for the spirit world, and I switch it completely off when the session ends.

The Karen Baldwin Standard

I built my brand because I refuse to participate in the low-standard, theatrical circus that has plagued this industry for decades.

When you sit in my reading room for a private sitting, or when you walk into my Evening of Mediumship events, you are not entering a talk-show performance. You are entering a structured, safe, and logical space where your intelligence is respected.

I am not here to perform emotional cartwheels or convince cynics. I am here to step into the blend, deliver a clean evidence check, and let you - the independent observer - evaluate the facts for yourself.

Observed. Not Believed. ~ Karen Baldwin