Kingsport Times News

July 7, 1974

By BETTY BENKEY Times-News Women's Editor 

The skeptic's hoax. The fearful's sorcery, and the adventurer's unexplored path. But to Ruby Harrison, her uncanny power is a natural sensitivity, available to everyone for the development. "In a semi-trance state, you have access to this side and the other side. There is an actual separation of the phyical and astral body, and a loud noise, telephone ringing, or someone grabs you, can cause such a jolt that you become physically ill, nauseated. It's like sticking your finger into an electrical outlet." "My husband told me: 'You can have your spirits, but keep them out of my territory, the kitchen and the bedroom.' We respect each other's beliefs. He feels he's closer to God in his way, whereas I feel I am a part of God while doing psychic work." "I would never, absolutely never, try to influence other people's behavior. This would separate the spiritual and the psychic. Caution and advise, yes, but never use my free will over their free will." "When meditating, one must think of something pleasant -clouds, a happy time -- and avoid flighty thoughts. It is virtually impossible to make the mind blank as some people believe you must do to meditate." "Prayer is talking to God; meditation is listening to Him." Ruby Harrison simply relates whatever comes through to her. Psychic. Spirit communication. Medium. Natural sensitive. The unknown. Unexplainable and unacceptable. Terms that evoke various reactions -- awe. skepticism, disdain, ridicule, and frequently, fear. "And some people even think I'm nuts, a kook who should have her head examined, when I tell them I'm a psychic," laughs Mrs. Ruby Harrison. Well, the U. S. Government didn't think so. They asked her to help in the search for a U. S. Senator who was missing in a plane crash. Doctors and psychiatrists apparently believe this "kook" has something going for her, and they've called her in to help with the diagnosis of difficult cases. This attractive "kook" is no different from any other 36-year-old wife, mother and homemakcr. She's a Cub Scout den mother, school clinic volunteer. She can't stretch the budget with her psychic "powers," or change the prices at the supermarket. She's a woman who has her share of doubts, fears, concerns and "negative emotions." Psychic ability manifested early, and she isn't a fortune teller, so don't ask her to tell your fortune. Ruby is a "natural sensitive," whose preternatural ability "manifested itself at a very early age." An ability which she has developed over the years. As a child, she "always knew things" before they happened. This frightened her, so she denied the "psychic part of myself." Then, when she was 11 years old, "the spiritual manifestation of an entity -- a woman who had lived in my parents house many, many years ago," changed her life. After a year the periodic appearances ceased, but the ghostly visitor had provided the proof of what Ruby had "always been taught and accepted without question." . "She was proof there were guardian angels -or guides, or whatever you want to call them -on the other side," Mrs. Harrison explains. "She was evidence that a part of the body survives after death." Finally, Ruby was able to accept " that part of me that was different." and began trying "to bring it all into focus," by developing her natural sensitivity. During those early years, the ability to "see into other people's minds" occurred more and more frequently. At times this was most dis- concerling to Ruby, especially during the four years she worked as a legal secretary. "I had been brought up to be a law - abiding person, to respect these people," she recalled. "And many times when I heard the lawyers talking lo a client, I would have to bite my tongue to keep from saying, 'You are not good, not honest. You're lying, not doing this for the good of the people." "Realizing that people are not always what you want them to be, and learning to accept them for what they are, has been one of the most difficult things for me to do." Mrs. Harrison explains that a psychic must learn to "seal off" other people's vibrations. "You can't go around picking up people's thoughts, experiencing their worries, feeling their illnesses, 24 hours a day. You'd go out of your ever lovin' mind." During her studies at the Miami, Fla. Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship and participation in annual SFF conferences and workshops, it became apparent that Mrs. Harrison excelled in psychometry and spirit communication. Psychometry, she explains, is the ability to divine facts about a person through the vibrations emitted by an object belonging to that person. According to Mrs. Harrison, psychometry isn't an exclusive gift of a few. but an undeveloped ability in all people. Psychometry and spirit contact. During the years she and her husband lived in Miami, Mrs. Harrison was asked frequently to give lectures and demonstrations of psychometry and spirit communication at ESP and astrology classes, and for numerous organizations. She and professional astrologers have conducted experiments for the correlation of astrology and psychometry. She served as psychic consultant for the Miami area through the SFF and other organizations, and has assisted medical doctors and psychiatrists in diagnosis. "Although it isn't commonly known, at least one-half of the physicians and psychiatrists use psychometry in diagnosis of difficult cases," she says. Mrs. Harrison can "pick up vibrations" without the aid of an object, and remembers one case in which a psychiatrist had asked her to sit in the waiting room and psychometrize one of his patients who was waiting . She jotted down the information she received from his vibrations and turned the notes over to the doctor. Mrs. Harrison's notes contained background facts which the patient had not revealed. The information enabled the psychiatrist to help his patient much quicker -- and cheaper. While in Florida, she assisted local, state and out-of-town police in missing persons and criminal investigations. She also has been engaged by the U.S. Government to assist with cases. One of the most signifigant was that of a US Senator who had disappeared in a plane accident. Shortly after she was contacted by a government official, a large manila envelope, marked "classified materials," was flown by private plane from Washington to the office of a Florida congressman who had been instructed to "personally deliver"  the envelope lo Mrs. Harrison. Inside were maps of the area in which it was believed the senator had disappeared, confidential papers and personal objects, Including a bow tie and cuff links, of the senator's. With these items, Mrs. Harrison was asked to use her skills to pinpoint the exact area where the plane went down, and to "contact and obtain what information the senator could provide." Blindfolded, she knelt on the floor where her husband placed each differently scaled map, one at a time before her. With her fingertips, she "searched for a warm spot." On each map, the "warm spot" appeared in the same general area. Ruby Harrison's psychic activities have been "rather restricted" since moving from Florida to their  208 Rosemont home last August. Each of the few "readings" which she had given here has been followed by a request from the person that their name not be revealed. "It has been very difficult for me to accept how underground everything is here concerning the psychic field," she admits. "In Miami , everything was out in the open, but here everything is clothed in secrecy. The people in this area completely separate the psychic from the spiritual. "You don't have to be psychic to be spiritual or spiritual to be psychic. But when you can merge the two, it's the most beautiful thing in the world. Then you realize that God is all that is  living, that every individual is a part of God. Trying to survive, in two worlds,  she understands the need for anonymity in a society where most people are skeptics when it concerns the unknown . She's aware of the fact many people consider her either a crackpot or a curiosity, but she refuses to hide or deny any part of her psychic self. Even Shiram, the Egyptian "guide who acts as a medium between Ihis world and the other side." Mrs. Harrison talks as unassumingly about spirit communication as she does a long distant telephone call. She explains, without embarrassment or fear of ridicule, that  Shiram's "sole purpose in becoming my guide four years ago, is for my self development and protection in the event I encounter negative vibrations when doing a reading or meditating." When people comment, often with admiration , on Mrs. Harrison's deep faith in God and in herself, she quickly explains that there are times when "my  faith weakens and doubts play havoc  with my emotions." Developing the psychic self does not provide an immunity to anxiety and negative emotions, she says. Instead, these emotions are intensified "as you develop." She confesses to being "an extremely nervous" person who must "exert a great deal of self control." Being a sensitive is a contributing factor, but the major difficulty is " trying to survive and live in two worlds." Sensitives must "balance their lives to exist in and comprehend to their best ability, both worlds." Above all, Ruby Harrison would like people to accept her as an ordinary person with an unusual talent. A person who enjoys "good music, dancing, good movies, watching children play, having a cup of coffee with a friend." Psychics don't know all the answers, she points out. '"There are so many why's for which we continually seek answers. Why aren't all people psychic? Why are some allowed to communicate with "the other side" and others not? Ruby Harrison's answer is to "never stop searching for answers, never say 'this is as far as I can go.' Always strive for a finer degree of accuracy of her psychic self and a greater development of her spiritual self."