CHRISTIANA McMAHON: Working
Christiana McMahon does not peer into a crystal ball or wear a scarf around her head, but she does hear, see, and feel what others cannot, she said, and shares the information via Skype and cellphone with an international client base. Ms. McMahon, who lives in Southampton, has had telepathic skills, including the ability to channel the spirits of those who have died, since she was born, she said, and has been using them full time as a professional intuitive consultant and medium for 10 years.
Her clients are often wealthy, sometimes famous, and always grateful for the enlightenment she offers on various personal and business matters. She will share her skills at house parties and has been called to houses whose owners believe they are haunted. Her hourly rate is less than that of other psychic mediums who receive more media attention with a comparable accuracy level, she said.
Although she can “read” those on “the other side,” she “loves to help those on planet Earth” get down to the nitty gritty, whether it’s regarding a personal, relationship, family, or career matter. During a conference on Monday with a client who had a health concern, Ms. McMahon immediately identified it and offered insight as to its cause. “You need to alkalize,” she told the client, “lots of greens. Sugar is not your friend.”
“She doesn’t hold back,” said her boyfriend, Osman Ozcan of Water Mill, who said he is known as “the Turk.” He has gotten used to constant interruptions whenever and wherever the couple go out, and even when Ms. McMahon is sleeping. She awakens with messages, and has told him things like, “Your father is in the room.” He said he doesn’t mind the interruptions or recognition. “People are intrigued,” he said, and sometimes it is Ms. McMahon herself that feels the urge to approach a stranger.
“What I do helps people,” she said before a reading on Monday. “I have a strong sense about stuff. . . . I don’t tell people what to do . . . I give my spin.” She sometimes uses tarot cards or other tools, depending on the person she’s dealing with. When her client asked a question Monday, she shuffled the deck, looked into the distance, and returned with an answer. Asked later about being wrong, she said, “I am human, and things can change.” When she doesn’t know, she doesn’t pretend to. She believes that there is information that is not meant or not ready to be known, and that skeptics are harder to read.
Since moving permanently to the South Fork about five years ago, she has been in demand, primarily via the Internet, and has clients around the world. She had a column in The Southampton Press and is heard on a weekly public radio show on 88.3 FM, on which callers can ask questions on the air for no charge.
Her year-round business is steady and every day is different, she said. She notices a dip in calls prior to the winter holiday season, but they pick up again after, and sometimes during, the holidays.
She hasn’t been called on to assist in any local police matters, but she did help find a kidnapped child in Houston, where she was born, she said.
Ms. McMahon remembers having “the gift” as a child, but neither she nor her mother understood it. An accomplished equestrian, she began to “communicate” with horses as a teenager, and was later employed as a trainer at the Royal Stables of His Excellency, for the late king of the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. She said she could hear the horses’ conversations with each other.
Having her astrological chart analyzed by an astrologer revealed that she was supposed to use her sixth sense as a career. In exploration, she used a great deal of her savings to see “what was out there,” and found a lot of fraud, which made her want to lend credibility to those who truly have the gift.
With a television program in the works, Ms. McMahon hopes to move further toward that goal, and to share her approach with a larger audience. Asked what she specializes in, she said, “It is the person who I am reading, and what they need.”