Karen Baldwin is a medium - this means she connects to your loved ones in the spirit world to provide evidence of the eternal life of the soul, as well as to provide healing and messages from the spirit world.

Karen has been working as a professional medium since 2014, however she was aware of her abilities to communicate with those in spirit since she was a child. Admittedly, she didn't understand what she was experiencing at the time and was at times frightened by this phenomena.

Like many children, Karen had imaginary friends - some where simply that…a person whom she created using the faculty of her imagination.

However, there was one imaginary friend in particular whom Karen had a long relationship with - his name was George.

Karen could describe how George looked, the clothes he wore and George was a great support and adviser to Karen (particularly through her primary school years), George would often talk to Karen (mainly as a voice in her head), he would give her advice and support especially when she was going through some difficult times. Karen would often catch glimpses of George out of the corner of her eye, but more often she was simply aware of his presence.

Karen wasn’t frightened of George, there was no reason to be! Karen believed that George was a figment of her imagination and therefore didn’t really exist.

Karen only realised that George might have been a real person when she was shown a photo of her paternal grandfather - he had died a couple of years before she was born. This grandfather was called George(!) and he was dressed very much like the imaginary friend she grew up with(!!). Karen’s logical teenager brain decided it was simply a huge coincidence (even with this evidence) and didn't think too much more about it.

As Karen grew into a (rebellious, single-minded) young woman (determined to have as much fun and get up to as much mischief as possible) she remained aware of her imaginary friend, George who helped her out of a few scrapes and dangerous situations. By this time Karen knew that she was sensitive to the presence of spirit, that she could feel the emotions of those around her as well as became aware of her intuition.

Karen wanted to explore her psychic abilities but had nowhere to go to learn and she was unaware that spiritualist churches often offer development opportunities through “home circles”. All Karen had heard of spiritualist churches was that was where “people went to talk to the dead” - Spiritualism is very popular in New Zealand (where Karen grew up) and there are many churches in Karen’s home town of Auckland.

However, Karen had seen horror films and was terrified by the very idea! Images of alters, sacrifices, blood-soaked rituals and “devil worship” were conjured up and that was enough for her to want to avoid these groups at all costs.

Of course, the reality is vastly different and Karen discovered the wonderful, healing atmosphere of the spiritualist church when she attended a service with a friend of hers in Canberra.

Karen also experienced the wonder of mediumship when she received a contact from her father, whom she was still grieving the loss of years after his passing. It was at this precise moment that Karen truly believed that there was such thing as “life after death” and was overwhelmed by the power of the spirit world and irrefutable evidence the medium provided.

This experience changed her life and set her on a path which would eventually lead her to unlock her own potential and unfold her own abilities.

Fast-forward a few years which see Karen graduate from university with a Bachelor of Economics, buy a home, start a new career and meet her (now ex) husband.

Karen was invited by a friend of hers to join his psychic development group - he needed her to make up numbers and Karen was interested in having a go. She never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would have any abilities whatsoever - she went out of curiosity and for something fun and interesting to do.

 It was only through this group that she identified that the imaginary friend, the 'knowingness', the visions in her head, the voices and everything else she had put down to coincidence, mental health issues and her imagination or just silliness was actually her own psychic and medium abilities.   

It was from this moment that she knew that she had to work as a medium, that she had found the missing piece of the puzzle - she knew that she had a calling but didn't know what it was…until now. Karen started demonstrating publicly as a medium almost immediately - her enthusiasm and passion was hard to contain.

Whilst Karen now recognises that this haste meant that her quality and understanding of mediumship was not adequate, it did give her the means and industry contacts to recognise the benefits of training with the most respected teachers.

Karen has been fortunate to train with some of the finest, most respected mediums in the world including:

• Tony Stockwell

• Simone Key

• Lynn Probert

• Natalie Walker

• Christine Morgan

• Chris Drew

• Paul Jacobs

• Biagio Tropeano

• Sarah Jeffery

Whilst every teacher she has trained with is excellent and has unfolded a new facet to Karen’s abilities, Paul Jacobs is Karen’s ‘favourite’. He is considered to be one of the finest mediums in the world, as well as a teacher of the highest calibre. Karen actively seeks out as many opportunities to train with Paul as she can manage, she holds Paul in the highest esteem and is grateful to have found a teacher who offers the encouragement, challenge, discipline and high standards she seeks in herself.

Paul has a way of bringing out the very best in Karen and it was after her first time training with him that she realised that she needed to review her own understanding of her abilities, how the spirit world ‘works’ and philosophical aspect of spiritualism . Karen elected to take a ‘leave of absence’ from the public for nearly a year to work on her development - it turned out to be a valuable investment of time and effort, her mediumship has progressed exponentially and she now has a greater respect and appreciation for her role as an ambassador of the spirit world.

Karen has trained with Paul many times here in Australia as well as at his school, the House of Spirit in Hannover, Germany and at the Arthur Findlay College in Stansted, England. Karen continues to train with Paul as often as possible - we never stop learning and developing, we need to give our soul as well as our guides and helpers the opportunity to grow and develop in their own time and pace.

Karen offers her service to the spirit world in many ways - she volunteers at the local Spirituality and Spiritualist churches (as a medium and as a healer), she is a member of a spiritualist healing development circle hosted by Julian Glover and she has donated her time for fundraising activities. One notable fundraising event was the “Support for Stasia” event (which Karen organised and hosted), raising over $1,200 for the Canberra Soup Kitchen in 2017.

Karen was the Secretary of the Canberra Spiritualist Association from 2019 to 2022 and continues to be an active member, including as a demonstrating medium and healer.

Karen also offers a range of services which include:

• Private sittings/readings (face-to-face, Skype)

• Group readings

• Public demonstrations of mediumship