She Saw Spirits for Years Before Knowing She Was a Medium -Tammy Tocheniuk
In this episode, Sarah and Jane sit down with the psychic medium and animal communicator who built an extraordinary practice almost entirely on her own terms, with zero formal training and zero apologies for it.
Tammy shares how her gifts unfolded in layers, from reading the energy of adults in a room as a child, to waking up in her twenties with multiple spirits standing at the foot of her bed, to accidentally launching her mediumship career by helping a grieving coworker connect with a friend who had been murdered. She talks honestly about what it cost her, including adrenal fatigue, flashbacks from criminal cases, and a full year off from all things spiritual, and about why pivoting to animal communication changed everything.
This conversation goes deep into what it actually feels like to communicate with animals in spirit versus animals who are still alive, why animals have a profoundly different relationship with death than humans do, how Tammy navigates one of the hardest conversations a pet owner can have (is it time?), and the reading that brought a husband to tears when his dog remembered the engagement ring around his neck.
Tammy also gets candid about normalizing her gifts for her three sons, keeping a regular day job as a cover story, and why doing it her own way, without the usual cookie-cutter mediumship school training, turned out to be exactly right for her.
Key Takeaways
Psychic and mediumship gifts often emerge naturally over time rather than all at once. For many intuitives, the abilities unfold in layers across childhood, young adulthood, and beyond, whether you're actively seeking them out or not.
Sometimes the most validating moment in a medium's journey isn't a dramatic reading. It's simply hearing the right word, the right label, and feeling something click into place like a remembering.
Intense mediumship work, especially around trauma, crime, or grief, can lead to real physical and emotional exhaustion. Burnout is real, and stepping back, even for an extended period, is not giving up. It's part of the practice.
Setting boundaries around the kind of work you take on is not a limitation on your gifts. It's how you sustain them. Knowing what you're willing to do and what you're not is part of developing as a medium.
Not having formal training has both gifts and costs. Your voice stays your own, but mentorship and community matter, especially when it comes to protecting your energy and knowing when to ask for support.
Animal communication and psychic work tend to require less energetic output than evidential mediumship. If you're feeling drained, exploring these modalities might offer a gentler on-ramp or a much-needed reset.
Animals can be powerful messengers in readings, even when the session is focused on a person in spirit. Don't be surprised when they show up and steal the show.
When communicating with animals around end-of-life decisions, the most important thing you can offer a grieving pet owner is peace, not a verdict. Meeting people where they are matters as much as the message itself.
Animals have a profoundly different relationship with death than humans do. Their acceptance and presence can be a gift not just to their owners, but to the mediums and communicators who work with them.
Normalizing your gifts in your everyday life, with your family, your kids, your language, helps create an environment where intuition is treated as natural rather than strange or scary.
"I would wake up at night and there would be a spirit in my bedroom. Sometimes two, three, four of them at one time. And I call it seeing 3D. I was seeing them like a piece of furniture."
"I rarely have an animal that's not accepting of death. It's very different than people. They seem to understand intuitively that this is a transition."
"Their messages are fairly simple and straightforward. A lot of times, people just want to know: are they still there, and do they remember me?"
If This Episode Resonated…Share it with a friend who’s been feeling the shift too.
Or send it to someone who needs the reminder: You’re doing it perfectly! You are the LIGHT!✨
Tammy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammytochintuitive/
Tammy’s Website: https://www.tammytoch.com/
Tammy’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feathersandsmudge1?
Website: https://www.mediumcurious.com
Explore the Intuition & Mediumship Course: https://www.mediumcurious.com
Book a reading with Jane Morgan https://www.janemorganmedium.com/
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