Just tell the story and let the audience decide

A few weeks ago Michelle Vooght, a spiritual healer, coach and teacher, sat down opposite me at Manhattan Suites Hotel in Century City.  Gifted with the ability to pick up concealed emotions and able to see and hear guidance from the Spirit World, Michelle was ready to go public with her gifts by hosting a Crossing Over event (read the finer details in the article below) at Ratanga Junction on 29 September.

I have known Michelle for nearly two years - we are both members of the Xtraordinary Women's Network (XWN) and I have attended the XWN Holistic chapter of which she is the chapter leader. I had also been privileged to win an Angel Reading with her and can testify that both the practical (the part that wants specific examples and real-life feedback) and spiritual side of me left that session satisfied, appeased and feeling a lot lighter in general. 

But sitting opposite her at that hotel, I knew that telling her story would be the easy part. But how to get South Africans, who at best still live in a very traditional society, to open their minds to her gifts or even the possibility of a spirit realm which we could actually engage with and draw on for guidance? That was another story all together.  

In writing MIchelle's story, I spoke to various friends - some of them with unrelenting faith that the universe, God and the Heavens would always provide for them; others deeply religious; and some more prone to trusting facts and figures than what they cannot see, touch or feel. 

In the end, as I sat down to review the story that I had penned on Michelle's life journey before sending the press-ready document to her, the words of one of my journalism lecturers came to mind: "Tell the story, share the facts, figures and opinions and let the audience decide."

​Here's Michelle's story...I will let you decide. 

“A direct line to the angels”

She’s been called a medium, a spiritual healer and coach, while one client has fondly dubbed her the Barefoot Healer and others claim she has a direct line to the angels, yet if you asked  Michelle Vooght which of these would best describe her, it’s her passion to help people lead the lives they were predestined to live that stands out the most.

One of Michelle’s clients, Rose McClement, is a successful interior
designer with 25 years experience under her belt designing and decorating hospitality, residential and retail spaces. Her design and decor advice has been shared with Home, Good Housekeeping, Visi, and Sunday Times’ Home Weekly readers through feature articles and Q and As, while her interiors have been photographed and published in five editions of Home in 2016 alone.

It’s obvious when you meet her that Rose is passionate about creating attention-grabbing spaces, yet the woman who walked into Michelle’s healing room in Melkbos for a Reiki session in 2010 was far from the confident designer she is today.

“I was in a very awkward space at the time,” explains Rose. “I had undergone a business partnership split that disrupted and dismantled my business life as I had known it.  My dreams and hopes had been shattered and I was floundering around grasping at straws. During 2011 I felt incredibly ‘stuck’ making little or no progress within myself or my business.  That was when I decided to try Reiki with Michelle.”

“I had absolutely no clue as to what to expect, but those four treatment sessions became a life altering and healing experience for me. It not only shifted my blocked energy, but opened the door to a spiritual world about which I knew so little.”

Soon after her Reiki treatment, Rose started attending Michelle’s Group Angel Reading sessions, which are offered every second Thursday. While her mother had passed during this time, Rose admits she was not there to connect with her mom. Instead, she was curious to learn more about the readings.

“My mom revealed her presence by showing Michelle a pair of ‘nurse’s shoes’.  As soon as Michelle said the words ‘nurses’ shoes’ I knew my mom was present. Knowing that she was still present was a huge comfort to me.”

Asked about whether these group sessions could lead to dependency for those desperate to be in constant contact with their loved ones, Rose says:  “I have been the recipient of consistent and continued forward moving blessings that come from being taught and guided by Heaven itself. It is uplifting, empowering, life changing, comforting and loving. However, Michelle’s work is done on an energy level and therefore her channel of influence is upon the energy within your body and once that has been changed, she leaves it to work out in your life.”

With so many different viewpoints and assumptions on the authenticity of connecting with departed loved ones, Michelle is not surprised when asked about the authenticity of her gift.

“Yes it is true – there are many people who have been misled in the past.  Even I have had clients who came to me precisely because they were taken advantage of by people who claim to be spiritual guides and coaches. I don’t use spiritual language when I consult with my clients or use concepts and principles that feel out of reach to them. So while I channel messages, I always try to bring it back to the real world and give clients practical examples.”

One of those clients who have been misled in the past is educator Giuseppe Peluso. With 25 years experience as a teacher, head of department and principal, he now runs Learning Centres, a Cape Town-based organisation that offers children the opportunity to study in a structured, home-school environment.

“I had consulted with various other "spiritual guides" and "mediums" in the past as I felt as though I wasn’t going anywhere or achieving anything in my life. A friend of mine suggested I attend one of Michelle’s Angel Readings. I must admit that I was sceptical at first, only because of my prior experience,” says Peluso.
 
Of his session with her, he says: “I believe that teachers have the gift of intuition. After that first meeting with Michelle I knew that she was sincere and certainly not a phony. I left that first meeting enthusiastic and motivated to change my life. There was a spiritual awakening within me and I just knew that things were going to change. Everything Michelle suggested – such as following the guidance being offered to me and making different decisions about my life – helped me to manifest what I needed in my life.”

Michelle is clairsentient, which means she can feel and pick up on concealed emotions; a clairaudient and thus able to hear sounds or words from the spirit world; as well as a clairvoyant, a person who is able to see people and angels in the spirit world. She is also a qualified human resources practitioner who over the last 20 years has specialised in organisational and individual performance, worked as an HR manager in the private sector and is often called upon to develop employee training manuals for large corporates in South Africa.

In 2003, while visiting the library with her son and browsing through the fiction section in search of a romantic novel, a book on Reiki fell off the shelf. She had never heard about this energy healing technique before, but curiosity got the better of her and she took the book home to read. A few months later, against the advice of a well-meaning friend who cautioned her against reading the book, she completed a Reiki 1 and 2 course as well as a masters course with her Spiritual Mentors and Reiki Teachers, Michael and Fay Jeffrey, from The Grange on the East Rand. For two years, she studied with them and applied their teachings on healing and living a spirit-filled life in her own life and those she assisted. For the next four years, she would further her training by completing an Ayurvedic Healing System and Massage therapy course, which would teach her how to use a specific technique to mobilise and eliminate toxins in the body, and be mentored by a well-known Johannesburg-based psychic, who hails from a long lineage of psychics who have passed their knowledge from one generation to the next.

“For a long time I offered Ayurvedic healing treatments, Reiki and crystal therapy services and also did Angel Card readings, but I never told anyone publicly that I was psychic,” says Michelle.  “Unlike many other psychics, I also did not know about my abilities as a child. While I was always very intuitive, I only developed my abilities and saw it become stronger later in the life. It reached the point where I could see the human body with my naked eye in much the same way that we can see bodies on an X-ray.”

Twelve years later Michelle has assisted individuals, professionals within the corporate world, business owners and those who are terminally ill with authentic guidance regarding various questions they have had about their lives. She has helped these clients understand why, in spite of exploring various avenue in their life, they still keep butting their heads against the same wall; what their purpose in life is and how to practically realise it; how to release the heaviness they carry from past experience and hurts; how to identify destructive patterns in their life or business and change it; and to understand why certain things have happened to them specifically.

She is currently preparing for her first public Crossing Over event which will take place on 29 September at Century City. Three hundred guests will be able to communicate and receive messages from their loved ones, healing from the angels and meet their guides and angels by joining in the conversation and asking questions about things that have been troubling them.

“Often when people think of crossing over, they think of the American medium John Edwards, but this experience is slightly different. While I will provide a space for people to communicate with their loved ones should they wish to do so, the evening will start off with channelled teachings from Angels and Guides on topics that is relevant to the audience such us fear, moving forward, clearing lack and so forth. I will also share wisdom in the moment as these messages come through, while at the same time explaining the difference between the various archangels and the role they play in our lives. It will be an event where the audience can experience their presence, love and guidance.”

“We also need to understand that one has to be open to receiving messages from those who have passed on and that we also have free will. If we are not ready to hear what is being said or we do not want to receive a message or we have not asked, Divine Beings will not bother us at all,” adds Michelle.

The daughter of a pastor, she is well aware that the work she does may not be well received amongst some religions, yet many of her clients, are also devoted practitioners of their own faiths. 

“I believe that all people have an Inner Divine Wisdom working within in them. We all have the intuition and gifts to be able to tap into Higher Resources if you will, but we doubt or fear it and in so doing we sometimes just need a sounding board.  For me, it is very important to work in the Light and with Love, Integrity and Respect as it is a gift to teach, heal and help others.  I don’t go where I don’t have permission to go. Interestingly, the first time I started tapping into my intuition was on a church camp when I was 13 years old.”

Considering the scrutiny she has already undergone, is Michelle ready to share her skills on such a public platform?

“You know, it took me a long time to stand up (publicly) and say I am a psychic medium. Over the years, while serving many people and seeing the freedom and release they have experienced and seeing those miracles in my own life, I have learnt to completely trust God and the Angels working through and with me and know that my path is directed and guided even during times of harsh judgement. If there is healing that needs to happen, if people need to experience love and be free to grow spiritually and live a life of purpose and abundance and I have been called to step up and show up to do that, then so it is.”

​*On 29 September, Michelle will host a Crossing Over event at Ratanga Junction. Tickets range between R250 and R800 and depending on your ticket choice, include VIP seating, a one-on-one session with Michelle, attendance of the main event and dinner. Visit www.michellevooght.com/events to book your seat.  
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