Melissa Cynova 
If you know me at all, you know that I’ve always been fascinated by psychics who grow up in a family of psychics. From me, to my friend, Terry Iacuzzo and her siblings, there seems to be a theme in the upbringing of gifted kids. We’re a little weird, we’re a little isolationist, and we carry that weirdness into adulthood.
I’ve recently found an exception to this rule. Michael Bodine was raised with two psychic siblings and a mother who read tarot cards and took him to psychic camp. He would rather have played football and hung out with his friends. Being a normal kid in a weird world is a switch, but he’s such an interesting person, I can’t say that it didn’t work out well.
I first read about Michael in the book, “Psychics, Healers, & Mediums by Jen Weigel”. Michael and his sisters Echo and Nikki are some of the psychics mentioned by Weigel, and the earnest feel of their story (and Michael’s inherent silliness) made me want to get to know him better.
The gifts in his family became active when he was around 7 years old. His cousin was downstairs playing the drums (poorly) when the banging became music. Good music. He ran upstairs and said he was possessed by the spirit of a drummer. This started a series of odd events – things moving in the house, lights going on and off, lots of weird shit that kept getting worse. Michael’s mom went to a Baptist minister for answers and was sent to a gynecologist (of course). When that didn’t work, she was sent to a shrink. She finally found a lady, Mrs. Olson, who took the onus off of mom and predicted that three of her four children were psychic. This began a series of new adventures for the family that included psychic camp, meetings with groups of mediums and psychics and the beginning of a life dedicated to honing their gifts.
Michael didn’t like it. There were weird people in the house, he saw ghosts all the time and they scared him when he was younger. For Michael, it was work – he had to learn how to read. He also had to figure out how to get through school – it became pedestrian to learn math and science when he was doing professional readings in bars and restaurants. He started to get famous for it and had to get over his fear of ghosts to start ghost hunting and exorcisms. One of my favorite parts of our conversation was when Michael said, “I mean, walls bleed all the time. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s boring”.
Michael had to read for ten years before he was allowed to read professionally, and after a while, he got a little cocky. He was on a radio show, and suddenly, every single thing that he said was wrong. He took his gift for granted and just like that – it was gone. For a year. He learned the lesson that you are not the gift -the gift comes through you.
Luckily, it came back, and Michael has been working ever since as a reader and as a ghost hunter. The biggest frustration that he runs into is when he gives a client a reading and can already tell they’re not going to listen. As a reader, I understand this frustration. Michael has a book that you can find on Amazon, and has another book coming out soon. He’s also putting together a tv show, so keep an eye out for that as well.
I found Michael (and his book) funny, grounded and smart. I rarely hit it off so quickly with someone, but honestly, having someone who isn’t into (in his words) the “My 3rd eye is bigger than your 3rd eye” competitiveness in this community is just fantastic.
You can find Michael here.
Xo!
Lis