Meet Carol Cottrell

Hi Carol, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I often wonder if we each know our purpose from a very early age, but our fears, or other people’s beliefs, tend to draw us away from it. I remember, as a very young girl, I was asked what I wanted to do when I grow up. My immediate response was, “I want to work with ghosts.” I had been obsessed with reading and learning about spirits, probably from the time I started to read. I would beg my mother to take me to the library so I could get more and more books on the subject. But as soon as I gave my response, the adult who asked me, chuckled a bit and quickly replied, “There is no such job. You’ll have to choose something else.” In that moment, my knowing of what I was meant to do, was buried by someone else’s limited knowledge of the options available to me. As I grew up, I followed a traditional path. I completed college with a bachelor’s degree in English and went on to build a career in marketing. Looking back, it was my reliance on my intuition that helped me achieve my success in that career, both in my time at ad agencies and as a corporate marketing executive. I never felt fulfilled though. I had been suffering with depression since my teen years, and as hard as I tried to be, and look happy, the depression was always lingering. Sometimes, leading to suicidal thoughts, and the belief that I had no purpose.

In 2010, I left my corporate job with the intention of becoming a marketing consultant. I hoped giving my family more of my time and attention would lift my spirits, and theirs, but I sank deeper into a funk. About 10 months later, my family went on a vacation in the Georgia mountains. Early one morning, while we were there, I was sitting alone on the porch of the cabin when I had an unexpected visit from a bear. Yes, a real bear. When the bear noticed me, we locked gazes and just sat staring at one another. The interaction felt very peaceful, as if he was there to give me some sort of message. When he left, I somehow had an understanding I needed to make a choice to heal and take action to move my life forward; that I wasn’t here to suffer from depression. I had something more to do.

About a week later, during a massage, the therapist asked me if I was suffering with depression. I was caught off guard. “How would you know that?” I asked. She told me she could feel it in my muscles and asked if I had ever had Reiki. I had never even heard the word before, so she gave me a business card for a local Reiki Master and suggested I try it out.

By then, I had been on different anti-depressant medications for many years and had seen more than a handful of therapists over the decades. Nothing had helped. So I figured, at this point, I had nothing to lose. I made an appointment, and while I was really apprehensive, wondering how someone could help me by waving their hands over me, I was able to settle my thoughts about ten minutes into the session. It was as if I slipped into another realm and discovered so much about myself in that 60 minutes. When we were done, the Reiki Master asked if I knew I was a medium. I laughed and said, “Oh, I wouldn’t call it that. I just see and know things sometimes.” She urged me to find an intuitive coach who could help me begin my emotional healing process, and my interest in learning about my abilities suddenly became my passion…again.

At the time, I was not aware of any mediumship teachers in the Charleston Area, so I did a lot of research to find some of the most respected mediumship mentors in the world. I realized if I wanted to develop, I needed to invest in myself. That investment was more than money for travel and great tudors, it was also an extensive investment of my time. Time devoted to healing, constant practice to expand my abilities and an ongoing commitment to being the best vessel of connection to the spirit world that I could be. The work was hard. Very hard, and continues to be demanding, but my passion for it has kept me going. I recognized very early in my commitment to the work, that I was no longer carrying that constant depression that had been so prevalent most of my life. It was as if finding the faith to follow this path, lifted the weight of the world from me. That’s how I knew, with certainty, I had rediscovered my purpose. The purpose, that even as a child, I intuitively knew I was meant to fulfill.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
As an intuitive medium, I help people connect with their loved ones in spirit for the purpose of healing. Often, during those connections, passed loved ones give evidence of their continued presence, and offer comfort through their apologies, acknowledgements, wisdom, guidance and more. Many clients are referred to my work by respected therapists who recognize the extensive healing that can happen when people have a better understanding of the life and love that continues to exist. In addition to helping clients connect with their passed loved ones, I also offer psychic readings for those who are feeling loss, or confusion about life. When working with the intention of offering guidance for the client’s highest good, psychic readings can be very healing, as many of life’s experiences deal with loss and painful changes. Ie: loss of a relationship, loss of a job, loss of a sense of self, and so on. The sense of clarity and empowerment that a psychic reading can offer, can help provide understanding of the purpose of the experiences and get us on track and moving forward.

Note: There is a difference between a psychic reading and a mediumistic reading. When working psychically, the information the psychic receives is coming directly from the energy of the client and often pertains to the past, present and future of the client. When working mediumistically, the information is coming from someone in the spirit world and being passed on by the medium to the client.

An important part of my purpose is to offer readings that can help people in their healing process. Another essential aspect of my work is to help people understand what mediumship is…and what it’s not. For years, media and society have painted a picture of mediumship that is false, creating fear and judgement about it. I see mediumship as a means to provide peace and understanding through the demonstration of the continuum of love and healing that happens beyond this physical life.

My efforts to share the reality of mediumship lives in my work as a speaker, a teacher and a mentor. I’ve created courses that help others understand, trust and use the intuition each of us has. They also allow participants to recognize, explore and develop their own psychic and mediumistic abilities.

In 2015, I developed a course called Awaken Your Ability. An Introduction to Mediumship. Since its inceptions, people from all over the country have participated, most describing it as “life-changing”. I’ve been offering Awaken Your Ability in my Charleston studio, and during COVID, I offered it online. Recently, I started traveling to offer the weekend course in other markets where there is interest. In 2019, I developed follow-up courses, known as Expanding Your Ability, for those who are interested in diving even deeper into their own abilities, and for students who want to work one-on-one with me, I offer a mentorship program.

In the fall of 2023, I’m hosting Nurturing Our Connections – a retreat experience I was guided to create and offer in Ireland. My plan is to offer additional retreat experiences in 2024.

If you are interested in inviting me to speak, or to come to your area to teach Awaken Your Ability, you can contact me at carol@ccottrell.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
There are so many qualities that are integral when developing psychic or mediumship abilities, but if I had to name three off the top of my head, I would say patience, practice and perseverance. Many people believe that if you are a psychic or a medium, you were just born that way; no work needed. That belief is absolutely false. Building the skills to be a professional psychic medium takes a lot of practice, as well as conditioning of the mental, emotional and physical body. I often compare it to being a professional athlete. We might be born with a natural ability, but that ability has to be understood, nurtured and developed. A soccer player doesn’t just show up at a professional game and expect to be put on the field if they haven’t spent years and years of developing their natural ability. Their progression comes from consistent practice, as well as the motivation to care for their body with the right foods, stretching and cross training. Additionally, that athlete has learned focus, determination and mental sharpness. The same is true for the psychic medium. We must consistently practice, practice, practice to learn to understand and trust the soul-to-soul connections we are making. That takes a great deal of patience. It’s not an ability that is developed over night, but comes with years of training and commitment. Some people want it to be as easy as taking a weekend course. That’s not how it works.

My Awaken Your Ability course helps people learn the fundamentals and how the connections to our own intuitive, psychic or mediumistic abilities can occur, but training to be a professional psychic or mediums takes much more work, commitment and perseverance.

Most professional mediums I know have wanted to quit on multiple occasions. The commitment to our own healing work, the difficult lessons along the way, and the energetic requirements to be a clear vessel of the connections can be really challenging. I’ve found, however, that those whose purpose is to do this work, will always be drawn back to the commitment. Those who aren’t as passionate about consistent practice, putting the effort into their own healing work and taking care of their own physical and mental bodies, typically come to understand that, while psychic mediumship may be really interesting to them, it’s not their soul’s desire. Each of us has a reason for being here, and each person’s purpose is significant, so I encourage students to acknowledge their level of passion and commitment, and honor where their soul is guiding them. After all, life is much more enjoyable when we follow the flow to our own purpose instead of battling a current that isn’t right for us.

As a medium and mentor, I can teach techniques and tips that help students in the development of their mediumistic abilities, but I’ve come to recognize that our abilities will never fully mature to what we are capable of, if we aren’t doing our own healing work along the way. If you are someone interested in following this path, my advice is to recognize the areas within yourself that could use some love and healing and dig deep to understand and care for those spaces. It may be work around self worth, recovery from addiction, boundary setting, forgiveness, anger, recognizing the fears that hold us back or cloud our judgement, the need to control… The list goes on and on. The great thing is, as we start the work to develop our abilities, our experiences will show exactly what healing work needs to be done. Even better, no matter how long we are serving in this capacity, we’ll be continuously shown where there is even more healing to do. It’s an ongoing cycle that allows us to continue to grow, reminding us there is no such thing as a fully developed medium.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
When people ask me what book helped me the most on my mediumship journey, they are often shocked by my answer. It’s a book that has nothing to do with being a psychic or medium. At least not in an obvious way. Following this path was not an easy choice. Not just because of how much work it would require, but also because of the ever-present judgement and misunderstanding that lingers around it. It was scary, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be vulnerable enough to set myself up as a target of that judgement and ridicule. I was haunted by the constant thought, “What will others think of me?” And my logical mind wanted more explanation and proof of how I knew the things I knew. “What if it’s all just a coincidence” “There’s no way to prove any of this, so what if it’s not real? ” I tried to talk myself off the path many times, but it felt like I kept getting pushed back to it. I would beg God, “If you really want me to do this, give me a sign”. The sign would come, almost instantly, and I would ask for another, and another and another. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to rely on the faith I had been raised with; the faith that there is something greater than any of us, and while we may not be able to see or explain it, it’s still there.

Reading some of Brené Brown’s books early on in my mediumship journey, including Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection, gave me the courage to recognize I had to be vulnerable if I was going to live my purpose, and I would have to be brave if I was going to live a life that felt meaningful to me. Many of her quotes felt like messages directly from the Universe, such as, “When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make.” Reading that quote helped me understand that the decades I had spent avoiding this ability was a huge reason for my depression. And then, there were the profound words of Teddy Roosevelt, shared by Brené in Daring Greatly. Words that struck my soul with a momentum that wouldn’t permit me to turn back. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again… who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

As I mentioned earlier, the path of mediumship requires a lot of self work. Brené Brown’s writings were a huge catalyst for my healing, allowing my abilities to flourish.