Namibian-born clairvoyant, Marietta Theunissen, says she has a hotline to heaven and that she wants to make a positive contribution to the world through her “light work”. New Era caught up with her to talk about “the other side”. By Catherine Sasman WINDHOEK On a crackling car radio, the voice of Marietta Theunissen comes through in a very soft but firm manner. A young woman has phoned in and wants to know if there is any chance that her current romantic relationship will work. Theunissen immediately zooms in on the problem. “I can see that you go through a lot of pain,” she tells the caller. “I can see that you experience a lot of anguish in your relationship.” Then she tells the young woman that she should perhaps move on to free herself for a better relationship. “But it is hard,” says the young lady over the telephone. “No, it is not hard, but it’s a choice you have to make.” She tells another caller that her father might have to go in for an operation, and loosely identifies the part of the body that will be operated on. “But that’s a good thing,” she declares, saying that the operation will take away the elderly man’s physical stress and lift his spirits. This promotional radio appearance came in the wake of her popular show, Die Ander Kant (The Other Side), that she is again taking to audiences in Windhoek and Swakopmund. Theunissen is a clairvoyant, healer, animal whisperer, medical psychic and medium psychic. The show trades under the name of her equally popular television show that appeared on the DsTV channel, KykNet, broadcast from South Africa in 2004 and 2005. The 50 productions on television were largely fashioned after the show of well-known American clairvoyant, John Edwards. She is said to be correct more than 90 percent of the time. “It is very strange if I am not correct,” she says flatly. She sees people who have “passed on”, can predict with great accuracy when people will die (“Many people ask me to predict when their parents are going to die so that they can plan their lives around that”), she has worked on more than 200 murder cases in South Africa, and has crossed over to the other side to communicate with people who have committed suicide (“…ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ often for closure for families”), and to send negative energy away. She emphasizes, however, that she no longer works on murder cases, because it is a “too dark place” to go to. “When I tune into your energy, I can see your life passing by me like a movie. I can look into the past and I can see what decisions you ought to make in future. As a medical clairvoyant, I can also scan the body and warn of possible illnesses.” She does not have to physically see a client to do her work. Consultations are often telephonic. “I work a lot with what I call shape-shifting,” she says from the hotel lounge where she stays in Windhoek. “If you ask me now what your mother is doing, I can tell you. I go into my mind and I go where she is.” She also started a School of Metaphysics where she teaches groups of people, over a period of six months, self-awareness, how to become aware of energies, and how to develop their own intuition with tools such as tarots, numerology, reading of auras, dream interpretation and meditation. “Meditation is the basis to develop intuition and to become really conscious of who you are,” she advises. “Meditation needs focus; it is not relaxation.” The students at the School of Metaphysics, she says, should develop to a level where they can be intuitive practitioners. “It involves developing your sixth sense and the students will be able to start reading people and be more aware of what is happening.” It is also anticipated that the students can develop healing methods, such as hands-on healing, psychic and crystal healing, aura and chakra healing. “I also teach the group to be more empowering in their word choice by, for example, not saying ‘I’m worried’ but rather ‘I’m concerned’, or instead of saying ‘I don’t have money’ rather say ‘I’m low of cash flow’.” She believes people write their own scripts. If it is negative, expect a negative outcome, and vice versa. “If you live in alignment with God and live with the flow, things will all fall into place. If you resist, you will have suffering and pain,” she advises. She reports on being able to see fairies, gnomes and silfs. Fairies, she says, are translucent, winged beings of about 10 centimetres big and are often seen around flowers and water. Gnomes, she continues, live to be about 800 to 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 years old. The silfs are wind and nature elements. “I have always been able to see fairies and gnomes. I always knew gnomes were in gardens and, as a child, I would tell my mother where to plant what.” With the messages that she gets from gnomes, she is able to advise nurseries and farmers what to plant. Angels, she reports, are usually three to five metres tall and are “very beautiful”. “I see angels when I have tribulations and challenges. When I ask my angels for things I always get them. I have never been disappointed.” Theunissen, who returned to live in South Africa after a long stint in New Zealand, came under some heavy criticism from skeptics. A 2005 article entitled ‘The dead can’t talk’ on MediaÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 24.com, for example, charges that she is a “fraudster” who has returned to the shores of South Africa, and that she is “cashing in on people’s vulnerability”. But she hits back: “I have never harmed a person. I can say that with honesty. I’ve helped many people through very, very difficult times and when I see people walking away with a clearer vision, no confusion and hope, I’ve done something that is not evil.” She bases her work on her strong faith in the divine spirit – or God. “I’ve got this hotline to heaven,” she says. “I am very aware of the power that I have, and misuse of power is very easy in my field because black magic is easier than white magic.” White magic she describes as the foundation of faith in God and prayer for positive thoughts and for a positive world. “Black magic is putting out curses and negativity. It is not compassionate and is selfish and evil.” And she calls herself a “light worker”. “Light workers work for the light and they all have faith.” She reports that she started early on in her career to guard against any negative thoughts. “The more one knows of what your thoughts and spoken word can do, the more one has to watch what you think and say. When I channel, it is like a 100-Watt bulb that goes on. I know that my mind is very powerful. I know exactly that it has repercussions for me and other people, so I really believe that I’m not here for an ‘eye for an eye’. I believe that justice rules the world and, although life can be unfair and tough, I believe God has a divine plan.” Where it all began From an early age of between two and three years, Theunissen was aware of other beings. At a tender age, she once told her mother that she had seen family members and her first teenage love that had passed on. Her creative and intuitive mother had also in a way taught her to use her abilities. “She would always say: ‘I’ve misplaced my glasses; where are they?’ I would always tell her where to find them.” Her father was also very intuitive and a good musician. But the parents did not quite understand what their daughter was experiencing. They were both very pragmatic and logical people “like the Germans are”. “My mother was the one who threw a lot of questions at me throughout my life. She was the one who wanted to understand me best,” Theunissen says. Her mother collected and read as many books on the occult as she could manage. A sickly child diagnosed with leukemia, Theunissen was sheltered by her family. The family moved from Windhoek to Swakopmund where she had a better chance to get better for four years. When the family returned to Windhoek, Theunissen continued her schooling at the Windhoek High School. There, she awed her school friends by always correctly predicting examination papers. But she didn’t trust her own predictions, and never took a chance. But she found herself catapulted into the esoteric world. “I had no choice but to embrace it. I felt there was no turning around for me.” After leaving school, she went to study medicine in Germany for some semesters, but decided to return to southern Africa where she continued her studies at the University of Stellenbosch. While there, the leukemia went into sudden remission. She was miraculously cured. Living in Namibia and New Zealand, she had mentors who helped her on her way, and in 1987 she started to work professionally as a clairvoyant. After having conducted innumerable individual sessions, she is now shifting her focus to teaching people more empowering tools through her School of Metaphysics. “I believe that in the next 20 years people will have to be strong for themselves; they cannot rely on other people,” she says. She has a lot of visions for the future. She has seen Cape Town covered in water when she was five years old. For Namibia, she predicts a turbulent year, with a lot of things happening in the next two to three years. “I see rain during the wrong time of the year and a lot of floods. There will be a lot of challenges in the environment and the economy of the country. I believe there will be a lot of stress. I also do not see that Namibia wants to go the way of Zimbabwe but rather still rely a lot on what is happening in South Africa.” Theunissen will be in Swakopmund until May 23. Group sessions will be hosted today, May 22, at 10h00 and 18h00 at the Swakopmund Hotel & Entertainment Centre. She will be in Windhoek from May 25 to 27.