Medium Gets a Message

It had been a rough week at work last week, so I requested a day off for my own mental sanity. It was one of those weeks where, you know, you felt like everything was culminating inside you, stirring your guts round and round and also making your head spin. So I took a vacation day to let all that go.

And what a day that was.

In times of intense stress, one always wonders “Where is my guidance? Where are my spirit guides and why aren’t they helping me out here?” It’s a natural reaction. Chances are, they are ready, willing, and able to help if you would just shut your own mind up and get of out of the way. Of course, when you’re caught up in the whirlwind of life’s events, letting go is not the easiest thing to do. So I forced myself to take a vacation day with the intent of forcibly removing my body and mind from the environment that was making me spin wildly beyond mental/emotional legal limits.

At 11:30 a.m. I set out to go for a drive – but I had no destination in mind. Instead, I stated “Okay, spirit, you’re the driver. Well, actually, I’m the driver, but you’re going to lead me.”

I suspected I would be leaving the Mukilteo area where I live, so I started on my usual course – up the hill toward the Boeing freeway, heading out of town. Alas, spirit had other plans … The nearer I got to the Boeing freeway, the more the intense feeling and message came across my mind “Go to the cemetery.” Okay, I figured, it’s probably not out of the question for someone like me to have such a notion be impressed on my consciousness. So I whipped around and headed toward the tiny pioneer cemetery just on the edge of town, serenely overlooking the beach and lighthouse.

As my feet crept onto the peaceful lawn and my senses opened for whatever it was the guides had in mind for bringing me here, my eyes noticed a white headstone, brighter than most. There had been a new batch of flowers and other offerings set before it. As I drew nearer, I was stunned by the name and instantly knew why my teachers had chosen this location to start my day’s journey.

The name on the marker was Lenora.

This may not mean much to most people, but to me it was a 2x4 across the head, as it was the first name of the most researched medium in history, Lenora Piper (Her name, depending on sources, was spelled as either Lenora or Leonora). She was the one medium that William James declared his “white crow,” and who was responsible for converting several reputable and learned scientists of the Victorian era into believers in life after death and the possibility of mediumship – and also one my favorite mediums from ages past. This was my guides’ way of telling me “We’re here and you’re safe, and this symbolically represents who you are.” Maybe they were also telling me to keep on my course, not that I was waffling. But during my hectic week – as I’m sure many of you have experienced – you start wondering “I know this is not what I am supposed to be doing. Somebody help me!”

It was a surreal experience. My guides were able to take me from a frenetic pulling-hair-out-of-my-head mental and emotional rollercoaster week into a sudden moment of grounding and intense realization. It took the cacophony of the mundane rat-race-rumble-tumble world and stripped it bare to reveal a single essential beating heart within my consciousness that heralds a sense of purpose for my life – my work and development of psi functioning … A sometimes intermediary for those on the Other Side, devoid of Time and Space, and the people here in this world who seek to hear from them.

This meeting place of my living earth-bound presence in a graveyard of the dead staring at the tombstone bearing the name of the world’s first great scientifically studied medium went way beyond statistical chance. There was nothing else there that would have meant anything to me, in terms of meaningful spiritual connection for driving to this cemetery on a psychical impulse. Had I not come across this memorial – one that significantly stood out from the rest – I would’ve left scratching my head asking “Why did you send me here?” It’s always these moments that cast wide the realization of spiritual (do I dare say “interdimensional”?) communion. It shows we are not alone in the world; that those on the Other Side are there for us, and that they do care about our health and well-being.

My odyssey for the day didn’t end there. The guides knew how to grab my attention using the tombstone of Lenora, but it was only a first step in a multi-tiered level of informed communication. I sat at a bench overlooking the water as a ferry began its journey toward Whidbey. I closed my eyes to move inward, to start meditation. Another “thrust” passed through me, as their energy called up through my cells to “not meditate here, but down on the beach.” I approached the cemetery fence overlooking the lighthouse park. It wasn’t crowded. The air was mild, with little to no breeze. And the sensation of magnetism was indisputable – that’s where they wanted me to go. If they want me to go there, I reasoned, it was to have an experience, not just to receive a message – otherwise, they could deliver it right here.

As I scurried to my car to zip down to the park, I said a silent “thank you” to the pioneers buried in the cemetery, for playing their role in my guides’ message. I think I also said “sorry” for not sticking around to talk with a few of them, if they were hanging out.

At this point, I will cliff-hang this blog (the events on the beach would take up far too much room here in this entry). The point I wanted to make is how when we are willing to give up and trust spirit or guidance to come through, and be open to them, they will make themselves known. And you, too, will realize that you are valued and important in not just this world, but also the one beyond.

Ghosts Can Teach Us a Thing or Two

Ghosts … Hauntings … These conditions always challenge our notions of reality, and hence, our sense of security. It is easy to become frightened when it appears a being of the non-physical sort can impact this realm through sounds such as rapping, tapping, voices, even music. And, depending on the intensity, take it to the next level and influence physical matter to move – closing doors, opening cupboards, and stealing objects.

As a paranormal researcher, instead of getting frightened, I get curious. What does this behavior suggest about the nature of who and what we are, no matter whether we are alive or dead? First off, I do not believe ghosts are demons or some non-earthly entity; in fact, I have encountered many in my investigations who admitted through electronic voice phenomenon (EVPs) and other communicative methods (besides psychic) that they were once alive, died, and just never “moved on” for various reasons. That they can still influence the 3-dimensional world raises some interesting thoughts.

First off, it suggests that we as a form of consciousness are not confined by our dense physical bodies, even in the grossest sense. This is not to say a ghost doesn’t have a body, for indeed they might, it just might exist outside the frequency range of our own senses which can only perceive a very tiny amount of what’s really “out there.” Be that as it may, these astral bodies of the spirits still have some way of slowing down and breaking the sense barriers and impacting our world. We, too, then must realize that we can (or will eventually) have this same ability sometime in our existence, if not right now. Who knows - we may be affecting the astral plane from where we stand now, and just not realize it - in a sense, being a "ghost" in the spirit's world.

We know from scientific studies in consciousness research that Senders can affect many aspects of a Receiver’s physiology and mind: galvanic skin response, emotions, mental imagery, and (astonishingly) actions and behavior, to a certain degree. How does this relate to a ghost? Well, they are consciousness, with the ability to thrust intentions into the quantum structure of Space/Time from some sort of frequency range.

I have noticed in listening to EVPs, a second or two before the voice of a spirit is heard on the recording, a lot of the time there is an audible “pop,” like someone shooting a kid’s cap gun. Sometimes the pop is faint, sometimes it’s not. This suggests to me an action that could be similar to a jet breaking the sound barrier; it reaches a certain velocity and then “BANG.” In this case, a spirit is able to slow his or her energy in some way, reaching a threshold point and breaking a dimensional barrier, which then allows their voice to be captured on a recording device.

Is it really their voice, or just a mental imprint? How are they accomplishing this? We may never know. I have heard EVPs that have a rather electronic quality to them, like the voice of a robot in an old 1950s movie. Other EVPs are quite realistic – inflection, tone … I have a few EVPs from children when the Washington State Ghost Society investigated a former elementary school. How did the child know to get his voice on the recording? Maybe it was by sheer intention alone that his rather sad query made it to my ears through the headphones “Why aren’t you finding me?” Plus, it even sounded like a child – higher tone, youthful in its presentation.

Now, this pop hasn’t always been confined to the recording equipment and used in the same way. During one investigation, my brother Russell and I were in the basement of our client’s location. There, in the dark, we heard what sounded like something clang together, we didn’t know what. POP! At the time, we couldn’t find anything that banged together or dropped to the ground. When we got back home and listened to our recorders, at that moment where we heard a crash, the crash was gone and instead replaced by a woman’s voice “I am here.” What’s more, we had a night-vision camera recording at the same time. It, too, didn’t pick up the crash we heard with our ears, but the woman’s voice (a bit faint, but it was there and decipherable).

Could it be that electronic equipment is more sensitive than our ears? Did our less functional ears turn her voice into a CLAP while the recorders, because of their fine tuning, actually deciphered her words? Could this electronic sensitivity make it easier for spirits to influence – perhaps by sheer intention – the transformation of their voice or thoughts from one frequency to another?

Scientific studies have shown that we have the ability to affect random events with our minds. In 1989, Dean Radin, chief scientist for the Institute of Noetic Sciences, along with psychologist Diane Ferrari, scoured more than 50 years of research on dice-tossing experiments and found that the overall effect of psychokinesis, though small, still yielded statistical evidence, with the odds against change coming out to 1096 to 1 against chance. Meta-analysis of studies where people tried to mentally affect random number generators to specific outcomes demonstrated that people where accomplishing just that – of odds against chance of 35 trillion to 1 (Radin, 2006). Dr. Larry Farwell, a neuroscientist, performed and experiment which showed with conscious intention, people could speed up or slow down the rate of alpha particle emissions (Farwell, 1999). Could this intention-induced ability apply in sending disembodied voices out of the higher frequency range and into the lower?

What about tapping walls and moving objects? From our vantage point, it would seem impossible. Yet, if we can affect other seemingly random quantum processes (such as speeding up or slowing down alpha particle emissions), then what else can we do with atomic matter, perhaps at frequencies just beyond our own physical range? Is it possible to influence protons spinning around an atomic nucleus to go faster or slower? Is it possible to influence some other part of an atom in such a way that it forces it to vibrate into a frequency pattern that creates a coherency between other atoms and induces physical movement? Could the simple touch of an etheric ghostly body, in combination with intentioned thought, be the catalyst for such orchestration?

What I have come to understand is that it does take effort on a ghost’s part to make it happen. Their energy does get “drained” so to speak. I can only assume that this is because they are trying to pass through a “membrane” that provides minimal separation between here and there. Perhaps it isn’t a membrane at all, but they, like us, are somewhat restricted by frequency ranges in terms of what they can and cannot see in their perception of dimensional reality. So, like a psychic in this world, they must focus or restructure their energy in such a way to breach the frequency gap and hence make contact. For some ghosts, their energy may have a knack for doing that – perhaps even without them noticing it (That is, they are so agitated they inadvertently shake the dinner plates in the next room. They wouldn’t be aware of the plates, but the homeowners in this dimension would!).

Whatever the case may be, we must realize that it is a capability all of us have on some level. Think about that. Assuming that ghosts were “once people, too,” they are no different than you or me. Again, this ghostly behavior points toward the magical nature of our multidimensional selves. It says that we can go, in this case, beyond the properties of dense matter Space that we can see, hear, and feel. Yes, we can exist beyond it, but also “go back” and affect it. In combination with other scientific studies showing we can affect dice, alpha particle emissions, pass information between two individuals separated by vast distances, and perform studies that defy conventional Time, it gives us another glimpse of our incredible, magical beings.

Ghosts, though they can sometimes be frightening, can also be quite illuminating.

Remember, you are a PERFECT being. So perfect that we have experiences documenting that you can cross physical/non-physical barriers – even after you’ve died. Or at least, that’s what the experiences suggest (Hard-core scientists will probably never admit such a notion, only because their lab equipment can’t validate it definitively, nor are they really interested in researching something that defies the materialist paradigm. That’s okay. Similarly, in the past we knew lightning existed before lab gear could prove it).

Until next time --

Meditation ... For Psychic Communication

I don’t know what made me think of it, but it was the only thing that came to mind …

It sounded to me like a cornerstone of most people seeking “enlightenment” or better understanding of spirit to begin a rigorous training in meditation. Now, most people associate the discipline as one that clears the mind and to be still, prompting a sense of peace that opens one up to the eternal nature of Time and Space – to touch something that is intrinsically vast and yet formless.

However, it seemed to me that something much more could be inherent within that well of silence and stillness: psychic communication with whatever might exist “out there.”

It only stood to reason – if something exists outside the normal sense filters, then don’t use those filters. Shut them down and see if some other sense would activate.

Perhaps it was that simple logic, or perhaps it was intuition. Perhaps it was some kind of recollection from my youth of opening my eyes one night after having fallen into a deep catatonic state and suddenly seeing (literally) my spiritual teachers appearing around me, as if they had been waiting for me (and, yes, I know how that makes me sound). Whatever the case, when it came time to really look into my abilities and potential development back in 2000, the only way I knew how to make a possible connection was to try and bypass my egoic skeptical mind and attempt to enter the realm of subtle vibrations - the stillness where the physical body’s mechanisms “seem” to end, and the door to the Other Side opens. Meditation was the only tool I knew that might facilitate that.

Many people have problems in achieving the stillness that meditation can bring and thus its splendid results, both mentally and physiologically (those effects have been medically documented). Meditation, instead, turns into a chore, and never is it used for “communicating with spirits.” Yet it is precisely because of its relaxing, mind-cleansing stature that makes such communication much more available and likely to occur.

The big question is: how do you by-pass all your own mental chatter?

Even earlier this week, after being an experienced meditator for over a decade, I still have some challenge with this. If my mind is chatting, then any potential information that comes through becomes suspect, because it may be nothing more than an off-shoot of what my imagination was already squabbling over. There are layers to the mind, and I noticed during this particular day’s meditation, one layer was busy wondering what was going to happen at work, while another layer was simultaneously realizing that my focus on work was keeping me blocked from accessing the Ever Spacious Eternal All-ness.

I think this is the struggle most people have. When they realize they’re thinking about something, they begin to berate themselves: “I can’t shut myself up. Ugh. I’m not doing this right. I’m not going to break out of this box!” When this kind of internal bickering starts, a whole other feeling pervades your entire consciousness: resistance. Resistance to the idea of being free within that Eternal Moment heralded by a deep meditative state because you’re too busy struggling within yourself.

This happened to me during that meditation earlier in the week. But once I recognized the feeling of struggle and resistance, I gently told myself “Don’t resist. Accept it and see what happens. Don’t focus, just let it be.” Amazingly, as soon as I accepted and stopped dwelling on it (that is, I removed my sense of focus to it), it just simply disappeared.

Instead of grappling with trying to “squash out” or “erase” what my mind was thinking about (which is typically what we are want to do – declare WAR, thereby focusing more ON it), I simply let go of the feeling of struggle and resistance through the act of accepting it (“Okay. Here it is. That’s it, so you can stop focusing on it.”). Like I said, almost instantly, it vanished. It felt as if the sense of resistance and the thoughts that gave rise to the whole situation washed completely away. Instead of butting myself up against them, it seemed I went through them. Those thoughts and feelings left the center of my consciousness and instead were relegated to the outskirts, like water funneling along the sides of a tube rather than straight down the center, then fell away into an abyss. I could feel ripples of energy course through me, clearing them out like clouds after a big storm.

Then there was nothing left within me but the sense of expanded stillness. The meditative state. Here, all I do is remain still. Let the silence have lease. Just let it all be … And since everything changes, even this must change. But in this state, in allowing this condition to have the freedom to control, my mind has no expectations and no desires, therefore, the state is allowed to move in accordance to its whims, or rather, someone else other than me.

And there they were, as they always had been. The unmistakable presence of the teachers. Since my mind was still and filled with nothing, the changing of the state was at their discretion and not mine (though I freely have given them permission to do so). This is the value of letting go in the meditative condition. Knowing that I am eternal and can fill the vastness of the universe through the quantum stature of my consciousness, there is no fear in doing this. My ego, my presence, my personality, will always be intact, so there is no need to fear “what may be waiting” while I let it all go and just be.

The guides always announce themselves first by feel of their presence rather than by words in the mind (this may not be the same for you, but it is for me). Then, per usual, they gave their second announcement this morning, the typical “CRACK” of the bookcase or tapping on the wall (they often do this to further validate their presence to my usual skepticism, thereby appeasing that part of my leftist-analytical-skeptical brain/consciousness).

The subjects they touched this morning dealt with precisely one’s personal power in working through and dissolving “resistance,” and how in the future I will begin to develop some clairaudience (better hearing them) during my sittings – my experience through meditation will help play a part, they said “So keep letting go in meditation, as well as experimenting.” As always, they instructed not to focus on what you don’t want, but rather releasing any resistance with the intention to be open for what I do want; that’s pretty much how I got to them this morning in the first place.

As is my usual custom, when I came out of meditation I shuffled and then randomly drew three cards from my Angel deck. These seemingly random drawings always supplement and validate what my teachers tell me during the meditation. Today’s cards: Power, Meditation, and Intention, the exact subjects and in the same order as our conversation.

Instead of focusing on the thoughts bombarding you, simply let them go; go through them. Then you will be in the open space to communicate and learn from what lies “beyond.” Believe in yourself, believe you can and you will dialogue with teachers of all ages (from all epochs). Yes, this is possible, especially in quantum land where Time and Space have no meaning, and consciousness extends the bounds of Eternity.

Until next week …

Independence Day - Also for the Spirit

As we celebrate the July 4^th holiday and commemorate the independence of our nation, let us not also forget the independence of our own spirits. On the surface, this may seem contradictory, as everything is connected and One; we all effect one another and influence both Time and Space, so how can we be independent? Yes, indeed, we are all joined together in the dance of life, culminating in the Great Organizing Design (GOD), expressing that architecture through the lives we live, the choices and actions we make.

As your finger is part and parcel of your hand, we are like the fingers of the great life force, working in concert to either grasp our possibilities, or to pull away. The great thing about the independent spirit is – the choice is yours, and it is a fine choice either way.

Again, another contradictory notion, in terms of our usual sense of working in the world.

The independent spirit, however, isn’t necessarily interested in the “usual sense” of perception, because it is quite aware of the nature of its position – it is an eternal expression. Since Time and Space are but attributes for which to allow the coming forth of expression, the independent spirit can play joyously or choose to wallow in pity, and in either case, the expressions are beautiful. The independent spirit knows it exists across all bands of Time and Space in all possible conditions and is not bound by those conditions. Rather, conditions and states are simply expressions of creative energy of the Soul.

If we were not meant to feel and experience those moments, we would not have them to choose from.

And that’s the point: the right to choose. Creativity: Unbounded. Though we oftentimes feel at the mercy of our inner sensations, the fact of the matter is, nanoseconds before we feel anything, we choose to feel what that next feeling will be.

Now, it’s not always as simple as saying “yes” or “no” to what you are feeling (though you can train yourself to do that, as many expert psychologists and self-help gurus are revealing), but what these expressions do reveal are the invisible psychic structures that we, as individuals, are choosing to view the world from. These psychic structures are nothing more than ideas that one chooses to hold onto, like a lifeline, that we then term “beliefs.” And these we do choose (for whatever reason).

And you know what? Because beliefs and ideas are choices, they can be changed! We have numerous techniques to facilitate that: affirmations; physical exercises in accord with a new idea; repetitive “out of the norm” things that – due to the repetition – turn “out of the norm” into the norm. Expression and exposure … These turn idea-habits (beliefs) into something new, which will then turn your reality into something else.

As I say at all my group gatherings:

You can change from being less loving to more loving.

You can change from being in a state of illness to a state of health.

You can change from being in a state of lack to a state of abundance.

Each beginning part “You can change from ____________” reveals your current state. Your current state is an “angle of perception” as you view your life through that invisible network of psychic structures you’ve built up in your consciousness, like 2 x 4’s of a house. Once you start pulling out those beams and replacing them with new ones, reinforcing them with intentioned actions, you are well on your way to completing the second half of that phrase.

The choice is always there. You are eternal, existing beyond Space and Time, and are simply utilizing Space and Time for its benefits of funneling your energy into experiences of expression. Any one of those experiences can be considered “good” or “bad” by the ego, but when you’re eternal, cannot die, and exist in all places and all times simultaneously, you realize you are both a single finger and yet the other fingers on a whole hand and it is all simply acts of creation; one does not negate the other.

This is the grand realization of our unity. There is no separation. We are one force expressing Itself in all Its possibilities and expressions in a massive Eternal Moment of Creation.

This is also the ultimate benefit of your independence. You can create whatever you wish, whenever you wish (albeit it might take a little effort to change some mental 2 x 4’s). Your desire is the desire of the Great Organizing Design, for you are its energy in Space/Time reality, funneling that Organizing energy into the myriad expressions available for unbounded creative experience.

In quantum mechanics, there is a term called “superposition.” This relates the notion that a particle, say an electron, exists in all possible states until an observation is made. That is, it exists every-where doing every-thing (that an electron can do), and due to the nature of quantum mechanics, it also exists in every-time (Time breaks down in quantum states – no such thing as past or future, just an ever-spacious present). We, as seemingly independent people, are the superposition of the Great Organizing Design, existing as different people in different states and stages; different locations and ages. The Great Organizing Design is also the plants and other animals – the entire cosmos we inhabit (and we are rapidly learning how we are connected to that as well!). We are a macro version of the micro quantum world (Logically, we have to be – we’re made up of quantum particles!).

That we can all change and become all things at all times (and on some level feel that connection), is something to celebrate. So as we consider our freedom as a nation, let us also consider our freedom as living expressions of timeless and boundless creation.

Remember – you are a PERFECT being. You are a living Particle (Person) of the Great Organizing Design (GOD) participating in the orchestral chorus of Life in the Universal Theater.