What Is a Blindfold Billet Reading?

After my dear friend Joyce Liechenstein learned of Danny’s passing, she spoke to me about a man who she described as an amazing medium. She explained that he resided in Florida but that he made occasional trips to NYC and that when he did, she would let me know. I knew this could only be good for me, because Joyce is very knowledgeable and she has led me to some incredible people!

Danny passed on July 1, 2008. It was almost a year later when Joyce informed me that this medium would be coming to town. For the purpose of this article and until I can clear it with the man himself, I am going to refer to him as Medium X. I’d much rather tell you his name, however, he has requested to stay anonymous. At first, I didn’t understand this at all. From my perspective Medium X’s work is beyond reproach; an excellent verification of life after death and something I want to expose to the world but certainly to all my bereaved parents. However when I learned of a stand-up comic who does an entire routine making fun of billet readers, I began to understand his concern. Whatever his personal reasons are, I respect his wishes and he will remain anonymous.

I do, however, want to add one additional footnote before I go into the story. Shortly after Dan passed, my son Aaron, Dan’s older brother was told in a session with the medium Glenn Dove that Dan would be playing around with electricity and not to be surprised if he experienced lights blinking on and off around him etc. Well, to this day, almost 2 years later, this is a common occurrence around Aaron.

Back to the story: I went downtown with Aaron and my daughter Jessica with no idea of what to expect. I had never heard of a blindfold billet reading before, but because the recommendation came from Joyce, I was filled with excitement.

As I arrived at the church it was filling up rapidly. There were approximately 125 people there. Soon a handsome, well-groomed gentleman arrived who I was told was Medium X. Joyce showed up shortly after with a close friend of hers. Aaron Jess and I had seats together across the aisle from Joyce, 5 rows back from where the medium stood, approximately 6ft away from him. Medium X opened the evening by welcoming us and telling us a little bit about his work schedule and some upcoming events. Then everyone was given a small piece of paper called a billet and instructions were given on how to fill them out.

First we wrote down the names of 3 deceased people that we would like to connect up with. Across from each name we wrote down the relationship that the person had to us. Then we wrote down one question and after that we wrote our own names. Aaron’s billet looked like this:

Daniel Migdol---brother

Herman Perl---grandfather

John Oxfeld---great grandfather

When the lights go on and off, are you doing it?

Aaron Migdol

We then folded the billets in half and a basket was brought around in which everyone placed their billets. I watched a woman take the basket from person to person until all the billets were collected. Then she mixed them up so that they were in no particular order and fastened the basket to the podium where the medium stood. At the time, all I could imagine was that the medium would pick up each billet, read the names on them and try to connect with those people. The medium then asked us to sing a few versus of “Cumbaya”, (which my kids were really balking at) when to my amazement, the medium taped his eyes shut and then applied a blindfold over that. Shortly after that Medium X reached into the basket and took out the first billet. Holding the little piece of paper up to the back of his head, Medium X started to speak. “Is there a Sarah Moriarity in the room? Madame Adolini Antinelli has a message for you.” Of course there was a Sarah in the room. As a matter of fact the medium did not call out one name that wasn’t recognized and this was a billet reading of 125 people! I sat there astounded: first names, last names, complicated names right down to the last detail were spoken with complete accuracy. Still you cannot imagine our surprise when after about the 25th reading we heard this:

Medium X: I have an Aaron here, Migdol.

Aaron: Yes, that’s me.

Medium X: He came very quickly. He came very quickly. Of course Danny was speaking to you.

Aaron: Yeah.

Medium X: And Herman is speaking to you. They’re saying, “When the lights go on and off, we ‘re doing it. We want you to know we’re there.”

Aaron: That’s amazing.

Medium X: They want you to know they’re there. Someone is walking around saying, “I have nothing to do with this.” His name is John, “I had nothing to do with this” but a brother and a grandfather definitely had a lot to do with it.

Aaron: That’s incredible!

It truly was incredible and my heart lifted to be reminded that Dan was so close. I have since been to numerous blindfold billet readings and have met 3 other mediums who work in this way.

Until I attended a billet reading I used say that in big group sessions, the name of the game is “Which spirit shouts the loudest.” I have been in moderate size group sessions in which some of the people did not receive any messages. I once went to a session with the medium Rebecca Rosen in which there were approximately 40 people present and yet, every time Dan started to come through, another spirit took her attention in another direction. It was very frustrating for me. One of the things I love about billets is that everyone who fills out a billet gets a reading. And I think that for the medium it allows for a semblance of order, like the old Jewish delicatessens: take a number, wait your turn! What I found extremely interesting was that after Medium X finished Aaron’s reading, he reached into the basket to take out his next billet but Danny would not let him move on until he had delivered answers to Jessica and myself. At one point the medium got angry at Dan and said: “What are you kidding me? What are you? Daniel stop this, you’re throwing one after another at me!” The Medium then paused for a moment and said, “Oh, bless you,” and he went on to deliver my reading. I could imagine Danny saying, "But that's my sister and my mother!"

I was higher than a kite when I left the church that night. I am usually greatly uplifted from any kind of connecting up but this evening felt evidential beyond belief. We were there for almost 3 hours because it was an unusually large group, but I was fascinated and riveted to my seat. I laughed and cried for myself, and many others, but I felt the validity of the continued existence of every soul that graced our session with their presence that evening.

If you have the opportunity to take part in a blindfold billet reading, I do recommend it.