Peering Back, Looking Forward

2011 is history! What an amazing year filled with accomplishments, education, and more work to look forward to. The year began with the publication of my first book “Your Magical Soul: How Science and Psychic Phenomena Paint a New Picture of the Self and Reality.” This, of course, was a huge milestone, as it took over two years to complete – from writing, editing, getting permissions, to finally seeing it printed. It opened some doors in learning how to talk on radio, both broadcast and internet. It also taught me about the pitfalls to marketing and PR when you are not represented by a huge publishing house who can handle copyright legalities. Fortunately, my second book will not need to deal with such hurdles and will be a better opportunity to explore the possibilities of promotion without having to pay so close attention to the permissions granted by rights’ holders.

“Your Magical Soul” really gave me an opportunity to get myself more out into the public. I really love talking to crowds – especially if the audience can walk away with something about themselves or the nature of consciousness they may not have considered before walking in. This desire to ignite the curiosity surrounding consciousness and spirituality morphed later in the year to “Ghosts – What Have We Learned?” In this presentation, I teamed up with current Washington State Ghost Society president, Dave King, as we took a wide angle view of the nature of spirit activity from our years of investigations and contrasted it with what the public has been force-fed on television and in Hollywood movies (which has also become a blueprint for emerging paranormal groups, which may or may not be the most beneficial way to obtain results in an investigation). As we move forward in 2012, Dave and I will continue to give this presentation throughout the area – so be sure to check out the Events tab for dates and locations.

It’s also been a year filled with education, on both the paranormal and mediumship fronts. We are learning from spirits on investigations more about what life is like as an earth-bound entity; how they can manipulate their energy to affect detectors; how they view those of us in Time and Space while they are outside of it; and just what the heck is an orb?? These are questions that we are getting some very good answers to directly from the spirits through the combination of EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) and the Society’s mediums. It will take years more research with plenty more questions and tests to reach conclusive answers, but we have learned the spirits are definitely willing to communicate and give us points-of-view.

On the mediumship side, I finally received some formal training, lots of practice, and am growing at a decent pace. In August, my wife and I took a week long course with internationally renowned medium and bestselling author James Van Praagh, who told me I was already a talented medium and just needed to own it and go do the work. Easier said than done, of course, but I have been moving in that direction. I will be seeing James again in February for even more instruction, as he is giving the class here in Seattle. In the meantime, a friend introduced me to a UK medium, Martin Twycross. His 12 DVD instructional course has been such a fantastic eye-opener – I wish I had it 12 years ago when I got started.

The upside to all this learning has been the creation of a weekly Development Circle which has turned into my spiritual family. Made up of a combination of wonderful people Heidi and I met at the Van Praagh course, coupled with other developing mediums in our circle of friends, this weekly gathering has given us amazing tools, allowed us to express our fears, our doubts, but above all – grow and become better at honing our talents. Without the Circle, I’d still be shuffling my feet to get out the door!

Of course, the other wonderful addition that came along this year was teaming up with Carol Geiler to do the “Explorers of Consciousness” radio show! We have a whole load of people to thank for bringing that together. When Carol and I would get together to talk about consciousness and psychic abilities, anybody else in the room (my wife, for certain) always found the banter entertaining, and so the suggestion for a radio show came up. And since I was already working to get myself more out into the public and Carol has been emerging with her psychic gifts, it was a natural fit and we haven’t looked back since! Additionally, we also want to be available in-person, and so in 2012 we will be holding monthly psychic/spiritual support groups – one in Everett at VisionQuest and another in Bellevue at Friends, Philosophy & Tea (see Events tab for details).

Yes, it’s been an amazing year – and 2012 is going to be even better! In this next year, I will be doing public mediumship demonstrations (known as “platform demonstrations.”) The first one is being held at the Venus Moon on February 4th. This one I am considering an “experiment” as it has been several years since I’ve done readings using this type of format. But once I’ve gone through the process, expect that there will be many more to follow throughout the region.

Additionally, later in 2012 you will see the release of my second book, which will be Volume I of a two volume set regarding what life is like on the Other Side, as based on a series of replicated sittings done over the course of 14 months. No medium has ever done this type of research or reporting before in this manner (at least, none that I know of), so naturally, I am really excited to share it with everybody. It’s another one of those things that has been life-changing for me. There’s also the possibility of meditation CDs coming out later in the year (recording is already completed).

So … I hope you will come and share this journey with me in the New Year. You can hear me on-air twice a month with Carol on the “Explorers of Consciousness” radio show; you can catch us monthly in-person in Everett and Bellevue (depending on where you live); watch out for me and Dave as we talk about our experiences with ghosts; and please come experience the possibilities of communicating with loved ones and friends on the Other Side at any of my demonstrations.

Oh – and if you’re curious about 2012 predictions/viewpoints, then come out to Friends, Philosophy & Tea next Friday, January 6 at 7 p.m.

Thank you to everyone who has been in my life throughout 2011.

Happy New Year!

From the Heart

One of the most elusive psychic functions for me is clairaudience – this is where you hear the information being spoken to you, not unlike hearing the words of a song in your mind. Those who have attended my group readings or who have had a private sitting know that I am mainly clairvoyant and clairsentient – visual and feeling – so to be able to hear information is sporadic and not the norm for me.

Several weeks ago, I came across the story of a well-known British medium, Gordon Higginson, who was renowned in his mediumship for astounding clairaudience. He would call out first and last names, complete addresses, even telephone numbers that were being relayed to him audibly from Spirit. The story goes that, when Gordon was a youngster, his mother would place cotton or other substance in his ears to drown out the sounds of the room and force him to listen for the words of spirit. By age 12 he was already doing platform demonstrations and he went on to serve spirit until he died at age 75. He was the longest running president of the Spiritualists Nationalists Union, presiding over that post for 23 years.

Well, since I have been working to further develop clairaudience, I bought a pair of earplugs and eye-covers to try my own meditations in bringing out this faculty. I have been doing this for over a week now, and though I can’t say whether or not my clairaudience has improved, my sense of purpose, value, and dignity has shot through the roof.

Why?

My heartbeat. When I put the earplugs in, the sound of my heartbeat became amplified. Not only that, I could hear the blood rushing through my veins (probably just through the ear canal). Then factor in the rhythm of breathing – in, out, in, out. It was an intriguing opportunity to listen to all this from the aspect of a meditating observer.

When one focuses on the heartbeat, it takes perception out of the monkey mind (which is usually chatting up a storm) and places it on that which keeps our body functioning day in and day out. THUMP-THUMP … THUMP THUMP. To sit back and observe the sound of the heartbeat, the sound of blood flowing, the sound of the breath, it is quite an amazing moment. We usually take it all for granted.

For 30 minutes I bathed in that union. I was floored. I had a sense of gratitude for my body and being that I never had before. When you listen to your heart beat – steady, strong – THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP – and realize it beats like that not just for the 30 minutes that you’re listening to it, but for the length of your whole life … Well, it really spoke to me on a spiritual level. It shouted “You are here on purpose! You are meant to be here! You are worthy! If you weren’t, I would not be beating for so long, keeping you alive, no matter what stress you were creating in your mind!”

Listening to my own heartbeat was like listening to the voice of God, declaring my life’s mission; that I wasn’t here as a random happenstance, nor was I just fluttering about completely oblivious to what I should be doing. Something inside that sound and the automatic pumping – THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP – said to me that when I didn’t know what to do or when confusion clouded my mind, just stick in the earplugs and listen. Let its cadence seduce my curiosity, for somehow it knew what my mind did not.

There are many people who meditate using a mantra – repeating the same phrase or sound over and over. Through this repetition, it silences the mind and places one in a deep meditative state, which can then be opened up to various spiritual energies or dimensions. It can be quite effective. We come with our own organic built-in mantra – THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP. To me, it far exceeds any other phrase or sound we might adopt. It is also highly life-affirming – something you’d hope your mantra would be.

The beating of the heart is currently being attributed to how the body communicates with itself. Though the brain does play a significant role, the beating of the heart creates a pulsing magnetic field which transmits information to the body’s systems. THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP. There is truth to the belief of living a better life if one comes from the heart rather than the mind. The mind may inform the heart, but it is the heart which informs the body -- or at least, that is what some of the current research is suggesting.

THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP.

I encourage you to put some earplugs in and just focus on your heartbeat, your blood flow, and the sound of your breath. Be an observer. Notice it happens without any assistance from your mind. And then consider this has gone on for decades and will continue to go on until you pass into spirit.

You are here on purpose. You are worthwhile. You are a spiritual being manifested from the heart-center of life. THUMP THUMP … THUMP THUMP.

Something tells me this is why the ancient Egyptians left the heart intact in the mummies and instead removed the brain.

They knew the heart was the true seat of wisdom.


Oh – has my clairaudience improved? Only time will tell. I have heard some things come through in-between beats and had a very successful time catching a few names in my Development Circle last week. Was that a result of listening to my heartbeat or the realization of intention? I don’t know.

But I will continue to listen to my heart for answers.

Why Is That Ghost Haunting Me?

Are you experiencing phenomena that is unsettling, disturbing, and sometimes frightening? Are you hearing strange noises? Seeing lights? Appliances turning on and off? Objects moving? The sense of being touched?

When we are confronted with things that are “out of the ordinary,” we are often filled with a sense of dread. The mysterious invites a multitude of questions, colored with the emotions we are experiencing in the face of such strange occurrences. When we automatically react in fear to something we do not know or understand, it can wreak havoc on our bodies and imaginations. “Am I losing my mind?” “Is there something in my house besides me and my family?” “Is something out to get me?” The terror points to our most basic need: safety. The fear can be mild to severe – scattered nerves, losing several nights of sleep and becoming physically ill, to driving one completely out of the house.

Thanks to Hollywood and the slough of “ghost hunting” shows on television, not to mention the times in our youth of listening to spooky stories around the campfire, we have been taught that strange occurrences are to be met with nothing more than fear. Yet after having been investigating ghosts for several years, I have come to realize the “strange” isn’t meant to be fearful – nor are the spirits really trying to scare you.

When it comes to ghosts, dramatic re-enactments have created an illusion about just what the nature of the supernatural is like and “what they’re up to.” It goes like this: If you hear a strange noise but cannot find what is creating it and it defies explanation – something unseen is trying to torment you. If you see strange balls of lightning when there should be no atmospheric disturbance – something unseen is trying to alarm you. If electrical appliances are experiencing strange anomalies (and you’re sure it’s not the wiring) – then something unseen is trying to toy with you. If objects are moving of their own accord – something unseen is definitely trying to scare the bejeezus out of you.

Well, actually no – not necessarily. Something (or rather someone) may definitely be interested in getting your attention, but may not have any motive whatsoever in trying to make you scream.

What ghost stories and Hollywood forget is that a ghost is still a person. That is, they still have a mind, emotions, desires, and even their own fears (Yes, ghosts have fears, too). In performing all the unusual acts, they may be trying to tell you something that has nothing to do with the dreaded demand “Get out!” And if conditions are persisting, chances are they are feeling that their message isn’t being heard or understood. Maybe because the fear you’re experiencing is getting in the way.

In succumbing to fear, we keep ourselves imprisoned and unable to move through such emotion to discover what is truly waiting on the other side of it. Unfortunately, we also have this notion that what is on the other side might not be so pleasant, especially when it comes to ghosts. This is why I remind everyone that ghosts are still people -- and should be honored and respected AS people, and treated with the same type of courtesy and respect as a neighbor.

Let’s face it, most people in the act of communication are not doing it from a standpoint of tormenting, scaring, or playing practical jokes. They have something important to say – and when it comes to energetic barriers between the “spirit world” and the “earthly realm,” the amount of energy consumed by a ghost to push a message from there to here is actually quite draining. Why waste it to scare someone? In the majority of cases I’ve investigated, the spirit had no intention whatsoever of frightening anybody, but had everything to do with some other type of conversation. Unfortunately, when fear and panic become the standard mode of response, we block any ability to determine what the message is really about.

Also, it’s not an “us versus them” communication – another great take-away from good campfire ghost stories and Hollywood horror fests. The majority of haunting phenomena is not meant to pit the living against the dead (or even the dead against the living), but rather is an attempt to initiate communication for the purpose of passing some kind of relevant information. Repeated occurrences reveals that the message is not being clearly received, and so the spirit feels it has to make several attempts (and in different ways) until what it needs to say can be properly understood.

Most people feel they are powerless in the face of an invisible adversary – who apparently can do things without advanced notice that leave one frightened. What we must realize is that a ghost is not an adversary, it is a person who wants to say something, but knows some kind of barrier exists to where its voice is not being heard. Indeed, in that moment of seeing lights, hearing something strange, or seeing something move, there is an initial reaction of surprise and fear … But then we should realize: we don’t really know what the motive was for such an event.

At this point, I would invite you to let go of the fear and get curious. Chalk the event off as a need to get your attention – but your attention to what?

Instead of frightening you, a ghost may have these motives:

* Asking for your help. You may have displayed certain knowledge, wisdom, or other skills that the spirit feels can help them through their own dilemmas. Yes, spirits do have personal problems, just like everyone else. Instead of running away in fear, ask “Is there something I can do to help you?” There are many ways to initiate a “yes/no” type of communication to find answers (such as knocks, spinning rods, or certain EMF meters). Sometimes, spirits aren’t aware they have died, only that something about them has changed – and they might be trying to ask you for help in figuring things out.

* Trying to help you. If you are new to the house/dwelling, as “uncool” and “unfrightening” as it sounds, a ghost may be trying to warn you of danger with the structure. Bad wiring, bad pipes, watch your foot at the end of the stairs … We have been schooled to think that ghosts want to harm us, yet they sometimes are concerned with the exact opposite – they want to keep us safe and help us, too.

* Trying to tell you they are angry and don’t like what you’re doing. Yes, sometimes the phenomena is because the spirits are angry. This happens typically as a result of remodeling an old home. During the construction process, the energy of the environment is being radically changed; and a spirit is more keenly aware of subtle energy vibrations than we are. Reassuring them that even though the structure is changing, the changes are not meant to adversely affect them or drive them out and that they will be all right can make a big difference. Not only are you acknowledging their feelings about what’s happening, you’re also telling them they will still be okay. Moreover, you’re also remaining in your own power by telling them the house is now under your ownership. You’re not bowing down to them or letting them think they can push you around – but you are being sensitive to their own dislikes and potential fears in kindness (they may not know what the new energy configuration of the remodeling might mean to them and how it affects their energy).

* Misunderstanding what’s really happening (and in some cases, you haven’t cleared things up yet.) What do I mean? I had a frightened young lady tell me she had the spirit of a young girl attached to her who kept calling her “mommy.” I asked if she had explained to the ghost that she wasn’t really her mommy and it was a case of mistaken identity, and she said “no.” Sometimes spirits DO make mistakes and if we’re not willing to let them know it, we cannot expect them to change their behavior. Like anybody, a spirit may have the wrong perception of what is happening around them and you may need to clear things up.

The life of an earthbound spirit can be confusing. Just because someone has died does not give them special knowledge about what has happened to them or the nature of the universe (In fact, their perceptions about the universe may be even more mixed up than before they passed). This can leave them groping for help, answers, and some kind of assistance.

Why do they remain behind? Here is a short list:

* They haven’t realized they’ve died, but are aware that something is different.

* They are too afraid to move on, for fear of being judged.

* They are too emotionally attached to an environment, object, or person. (This attachment may be joyful or painful).

* They confuse an attachment to something in the present with something they were attached to in the past, without realizing they are not one and the same.

Whatever the case, a ghost is still a person, who – like most of us – is trying to live each day to the best of their ability in the only ways they know how (in what may be a confusing and chaotic environment). They have varying beliefs, emotions, and attitudes like the rest of us. And just like the rest of us, they are mostly interested in meaningful communication with heartfelt purpose – not the kind to send you vacating the property with more gray hairs than what you came in with.

Unless the spirits are doing things to deliberately hurt you, such as pushing you down the stairs, lighting things on fire, or other things that are clearly meant to harm your person or put your life in jeopardy – do not assume they are out to frighten you. Assume they are people, and then figure out on a person-to-person level what it is they are really trying to say. If you’re willing to pay attention and get passed the fear, you might be amazed by what you will learn. Your ability to assist and communicate with another human being may go way beyond what you thought was possible. *********

The Spirits of Healers

For those of you who are regular readers, you know that I am always on the look-out for new situations where I may be able to work on my psychic/mediumship development and discern for myself “just what is possible.” What a wonderful and fortuitous event to be asked to observe a handful of healers as they practiced Reiki and other energy healing modalities a few weeks ago!

With a massage table set up in the area where I also hold my weekly Development Circle groups, the healers remarked how “charged” the environment was. That was exciting, as not all the ladies considered themselves psychic, but each could feel how the energy of the space was unique in comparison to other areas of the house. It was a great confirmation to what myself and others in my Circle feel when we get together and open up the room for Spirit.

On this particular evening, the group of energy practitioners began with an opening prayer, at which point I flipped my psychic senses on and could see a beautiful field of light envelope the table and everyone standing around it. They each took turns being a recipient on the table while the others placed their hands over them; sometimes touching, sometimes not. No matter what the case, I could occasionally see waveform patterns emanating from the practitioners’ hands or see an energy field undulate like water around the recipient. This was incredibly exciting, because I don’t usually “see” things like that while working!

As the night progressed, I circled the healers as they worked and was amazed to receive quite a bit of information – stuff I don’t feel I normally perceive, such as spirit guides. On several different occasions, I could detect the presence of higher energies connecting up with the healers as they worked. In one instance, I saw a spiritual helper standing behind one of the ladies, and this helper kept moving his left arm in a crooked fashion. I first thought, “Are you trying to tell me you have an arm problem?” He shook his head “no.” Then I mentally asked “Are you telling me the healer has an arm problem?” Again, no. And then it happened – the healer moved her arm in the same crooked motion the helper had shown me to reposition her hands elsewhere on the recipient’s body. In other words, the spirit helper was relaying to me how he was assisting the healer in directing position and energy.

The more I watched, the more intriguing it became to see and feel multiple spirit guides connecting with the workers and guiding them through the energy. It was also interesting to note that when people switched positions – going from healer to recipient – how different the energy shifted. This, of course, is quite logical as each person would have need of a different type of healing in comparison to another. But it’s one thing to left-brain analyze that notion and another to feel that energy as it happened. What a trip!

Of course, the night wasn’t all about spirit guides. With the type of energy being expressed (I think of it kind of like candy), and since it was also in the same location as my Development Circles, there were those deceased friends and relatives who wished to take advantage of the energetic space to get their messages across from the Other Side. At one point, all of the ladies’ grandfathers entered at once, so I went around the group like a merry-go-round, as each grandfather relayed a past historical memory demonstrating the survival of their consciousness with an overall group message of love and support. Mini-readings occurred throughout the evening, eventually making the room feel very crowded – literally stuffed with spirits. There were guides, past loved ones, and even other spirits who could use the healing energy. The most vivid imagery was when the ladies were “billowing” the healing energy across the recipient. In one case, I clearly saw several hands reach in from surrounding spirits and obtain a dose of that spectacular power. I can only surmise that not only does the healing energy interact with the body/aura of the recipient, but also with surrounding souls who might like a taste of it themselves. It didn’t seem like they were stealing anything, but rather taking advantage of any excess.

All-in-all, the psychic senses had a great workout and it provided the healers with validations from their guides and relatives, which on some level they could already feel, but had not (to my knowledge) been directly told.

I am incredibly grateful for the experience and I look forward to observing future healing gatherings. For those of you who have never had a Reiki or other type of healing-energy session, I highly recommend it, just from what I have observed. Of course, I was placed in the role of recipient and could feel the energy waves ride over and through my body while lying on the table, but I wasn’t psychically open to anything else (I wanted to enjoy the moment instead of receiving messages). Nevertheless – if you’re working on developing your intuition, psychic senses, or just wanting to feel energy, it’s definitely worth hanging around healers. You’re guaranteed to experience something magical!

Elevators Revisited!

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned how I use the elevators at City Hall as a way of working my precognitive abilities. I visit this location every day and am always carrying correspondence that requires me to travel to an upper floor. The elevator bay has three doors and it is always a test for me to determine which one will open, more often before I press the call button. In the past, I used to receive the precognitive answer in my mind’s eye or feeling it somewhere on my body. Eventually, I had “mastered” the ability to where I could predict which door would open before arriving at the building!

Eventually, the elevator tests began exhibiting what scientists studying ESP have called “the decline effect.” This is when the participant has done so many trials that their scores start to diminish. This is because the test had become too “routine,” the novelty had worn off, or somewhere in the person’s consciousness they felt they had “done it enough.” Indeed, when my scores started to decline, I noticed I was confused. I wondered if whatever I was seeing and feeling was simply my consciousness recalling results from the past and hoping to superimpose them on the present. Trust in my psychic ability became less and less in determining which elevator door would spring open, so I simply put the tests aside.

But “seeing” and “feeling” for psychic information aren’t the only routes to gaining knowledge. As I stood in front of the bays a few weeks ago, it dawned on me that I could use them to help me develop another form of psychic ability: clairaudience. This is when you “hear” your answer, instead of seeing it and feeling it. So I tried it. I completely ignored my visual and feeling centers and paid close attention to what I was hearing inside. I distinctly heard a hard “T” sound, which I interpreted as “Two.” Lo and behold, Door 2 opened. On my next trial, I heard an “Nnnnnn” sound, which to me is the dominant phonetic sound in “One.” Swoosh! Door 1 opened.

On that particular day, I had three different floors for a total of four trials (three floors, plus the ride back down). This equates to twelve possible outcomes, with only four being correct. I’m not a mathematician, so I have no idea what the odds really are, but I decided to log my hits and misses nonetheless. I figured if I were getting more hits than misses over the long-run, then that would show statistical evidence for precognitive functionality.

So far, my log covers ten days for a total of 39 trials. Out of those trials, I have correctly received the elevator door 25 times. When I divide my outcome with the trials, my percentage rate is 64% - an excellent score scientifically for saying that I have gone beyond chance average – at least for 10 days. Ultimately, hundreds to thousands of trials would be needed to justifiably validate the phenomena for real scientific scrutiny. Like I said, I am not a mathematician, so my scoring could be potentially higher or lower, considering each trial needs to account for all the possible doors available and I am just simply counting hits and misses for one event – either I got the door or I didn’t.

When it comes to the misses, I have noticed that some have been the result of distraction. The upper floor offices have windows that look out onto the elevator bay, so it’s hard for me to relax and receive information if I think someone is watching from their cubicle. I can’t imagine how goofy it would be to see some guy staring at the elevator doors for a minute or two before punching the call car button, cocking his head and darting his eyes to hear that inner voice. (Keep in mind, less than a handful of people at my job know I am a psychic medium. And none of them work at City Hall). On a few occasions, even though my clairaudience was inaccurate, my clairvoyance was spot on. That is, I might have thought I heard my clairaudience telling me “three” for door three, yet my clairvoyance clearly showed me Door 1 and was correct. In those cases, I jotted my score as a miss, as I am specifically working on clairaudience.

The other thing I have discovered in this process is that trying to “precog” which elevator door will open really has no bearing on my skills as a medium, per se. In mediumship, the spirit connected to the sitter supplies you with the information; in precogging an elevator, I am not in touch with spirit, but rather my own consciousness reaching out through Time. I think there are some related factors – such as being present in the Now moment and paying attention to what is coming through your awareness – but I have noticed a huge difference in functionality. When spirit communicates, the spirit is actively trying to engage my consciousness, and likewise, I am engaging theirs, and so the information transfer has the combined effort and intention of us both. Precogging an elevator door does not. The only intention, the only energy being given to the exercise is my own; I am not receiving help from spirit – there is no other consciousness helping to shape the outcome. This is a huge difference (and no wonder why I have so many misses compared to the hits! It’s so much better when spirit is actively engaged).

One might be compelled to say “Why not ask spirit to give you the answer for which elevator door?” There are really two reasons. 1) I prefer to engage spirit when I have a sitter present, as my left-brain prefers the identification process to be validated; only a sitter can assist with that; and 2) Without connecting to spirit, I can still learn to develop the inner senses and feel proud of these accomplishments – they are a testament to learning more about interaction with my own soul and my capacity to become better aware of my eternal nature through Time and Space.

Time to go stand in front of some elevators …

Native American Blessings from the Gorge

A few weeks ago, my wife and I took a visit to see my parents in the lower Columbia Gorge. This is quite the magical place, as it used to be the home for Native American commerce and villages for generations – spanning 10,000 years. Today there are only scarce remnants, mainly petroglyphs and tales from Lewis and Clark’s journey, as a good portion of the Native areas are now under water due to the many dams placed along the river’s course. However, there are a few places which still radiate with the majesty of sacredness throughout the centuries. One of these spots is Horsethief Butte, a megalithic outcropping of basalt stone rising hundreds of feet above the river. An excellent place for rock climbing, the Butte is actually more of a horse-shoe shape, where you can hike into its interior and be surrounded by the essence of the centuries. There a few places marked for their prehistoric value, as the faint lines of ancient ochre breach the stone where artists had painted homage to the sacred so many moons ago.

It was the perfect place for the blessing of some new stones.

My wife, Heidi, has just recently taken up study in shamanism – but has always been an avid collector of stones and their metaphysical meanings. We brought a new batch to the Butte to baptize them in the holiness of site, and to hopefully catch a glimpse of the spirits that no doubt once called the Butte “home.”

Heidi began the opening prayer by addressing the four winds and their respective totem animals, while I stood alongside snapping photos and opening up to see what would happen. As she called out the invocation, I could suddenly sense the presence of being watched. In no time at all, my senses picked up on several Native American spirits looking down on the ceremony from high atop the Butte’s upper edges. I spotted a chief, a shaman, a warrior, and an elderly woman, but was also aware of others.

As Heidi lit the sage and waved the smoke over the stones, the spirits joined in a circle about her and I saw them encase the bowl with light from their bodies. They were, in essence, dowsing the rocks with the sacredness of their own spiritual energy, giving more to the stones than what Heidi had originally intended -- She had wanted to capture the eternal essence of the space and connect these new stones through a ritual of entanglement with the location and received so much more than that – an honorary blessing from spirits who had walked upon the great land through the course of history.

After she had closed the prayer, she asked me what I had picked up, mentioning that even she felt a “thickness” surrounding her. I told her about the people I saw, but then she inquired of any totem animals. Surprisingly, I did sense one, and the closer I examined the energy, it revealed itself as being a cougar. When Heidi researched the meaning this totem, it was amazingly appropriate and an excellent source of validation not only for what I was picking up, but for the accompaniment of all the spirits that had appeared.

“The cougar teaches decisiveness in the use of personal power … The cougar can teach you how to bring out your power and fill your heart with it in a manner that will enable you to take charge of your life.” – From Ted Andrews Animal Speak

The nod from these Native American spirits and the gift of their energy permeated the entire Butte as we climbed to the top of the basalt towers and marveled at the majesty of the river. Days later while we sat in our Development Circle at home in meditation, I was visited by the Chief who stood watch over the ceremony that weekend in the Gorge. He blessed me with some encouraging news regarding our work as spirit messengers. I didn’t know it at the time, but Heidi had prayed that someone from the Butte would show up during the Circle.

If you ever get the chance, take a trip to Columbia Hills State Park and trek out to Horsethief Butte. You don’t need to be psychic to encounter the sacredness of this location which hosted generations of Native dwellers for nearly 10,000 years. With respect, ask and the spirits will appear.

The Draw of Earth from Spirits

When paranormal investigators enter a location, it is usually with the idea that if the place is truly haunted, the ghosts must have either died there or are stuck. It conjures up the image of a person locked in a prison cell, and because of the nature of this incarceration they are acting out in anger or frustration, thus the haunting activity.

A place isn’t haunted necessarily because a spirit is “stuck.” When I have gone on investigations with the Washington State Ghost Society, I have discovered that some spirits so enjoyed certain locations, they have chosen to remain behind at will. And since they are no longer affected by Time, is it not possible that the energy of certain locations can become saturated with the vitality and joy “spread out through Time” yet concentrated in potency from the hub of eternity that locations can become “hot spots” for spirits?

I think so.

When we have investigated old theaters and pubs, we usually discover a high concentration of spirit activity. That is, it’s not usually just one or two spirits hanging around, it can be several dozen. We’ll capture their voices in EVPs, potential images as strange lights or orbs in photographs, and no doubt someone always walks away with a personal experience of either being touched or hearing something – such as knocking or footsteps. Upon interviewing these souls, the spirits reveal that they had such fond memories and good times at the place, they just love to hang out in the location.

It is a common perception that if a spirit is tethered to a locale that they have not traveled through the light and really made it to the “Other Side.” This, too, may actually be a misnomer. This last weekend, my wife and I were hiking a trail up at Mt. Baker when I heard the jingling of what sounded like jewelry. I thought it might be someone following behind us, just around the bend. But no one ever showed up. A few moments later, another pack of hikers crossed paths with us, going the other direction. As I knelt down to snap a photo of the scenery, I keenly felt a presence behind me and heard the scraping of gravel. I instinctively peeked to see if it might have been a person from this other party. It wasn’t, for they were already a good three or four yards behind us – much too far to have heard those feet or felt that presence. When I stood up and continued down the path, I knew I was being followed by a spirit.

When I told my wife about it, she asked who it was. I had wondered if it was a Native American, but when I asked, I clearly got “No,” and was shown the image of a park ranger. He showed me his brown fatigues and told me he used to work here; that he really cherished the environment of the mountain and loved to view it often. When I passed this information on to Heidi, she wondered if he had died there or if he had made it to the Other Side. The answer the spirit told me was that he had fully crossed, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t come back and visit. Which may be exactly what is happening at other haunted locations.

Modern day research into remote viewing has demonstrated the capacity of the human mind to transcend the body and go anywhere around the world. Those who have had out-of-body experiences share the same ideology – they can go anywhere by thinking and feeling about a location. Why would it not be possible for someone who has already shed the physical body to transcend dimensional barriers in a similar fashion? In some ways, I think it would be easier.

Since spirits aren’t confined to a particular Time, it appears they can choose to occupy a particular Place, if they wish. And even though we might think such occupancy would hinder any chance or opportunities for growth (or otherwise make us feel isolated), what we have failed to consider are the emotions attached to the spirit’s consciousness – the whole reason they are there at all. Trapped? Hardly. Joy? In some cases, definitely.

I would also postulate that because a spirit is not confined to Time, the potency of an environment may be vastly more enjoyable from a non-Time symmetry than a single linear moment point. Using the Mt. Baker trail as an example, imagine eighty or so years of people saturating that trail with positive emotions from their travels along its paths. From a linear perspective, that energy impresses the environmental field only for the amount of time the people are participating; however, from a non-time perspective, that energy and feeling is eternal. In other words, it’s permanently “recorded” in the environment. And when you compound years of energy and emotions onto a single location without the construct of Time – WOW! Imagine what that must feel like … Eighty years of joy and happiness from hikers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts – soaked up like a sponge and fully accessible to the non-Time eternal consciousness. The draw of such locations must be awesome.

No wonder spirits like old theaters and bars.

And maybe sometimes a house.

Compounded energy of joy would certainly compel me to visit a location back here on earth – even if I have already Crossed Over. And I think the more we study and speak to our friends in spirit, the more we are realizing that just because they have died and gone to the Other Side doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed the choice of a Visit.

(If you’ve ever visited an old Cathedral or Holy Site, you can get a glimpse of what that compounded energy somewhat feels like. I wonder what those places feel like to a spirit, as they would have much better “access” at the energy level than the filtering system of our physical bodies.)

Oh – and the jingling I heard, I think it was from the ball-bearing in the ranger’s whistle that he used to wear while he worked.

By contrast, is it possible that some places harbor a compounded history of negativity that it might attract “lower” spirits? Could compounded negativity also be an attractor for eternal beings? I think so, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. I’d rather consider the draw of such places as the Great Pyramid or a luscious waterfall.

Til next time!

Nature as a Form of Developmental Awareness

When I come out of meditation every morning, I pull a series of three oracle cards as a way to augment whatever messages might have come through the meditative session. Typically, these cards will say exactly – verbatim – bits of information that I had received, providing another level of validation for the communication that had taken place. On some occasions, I will end up either pulling the same card or the same message will be delivered by both my guides and the cards multiple days in a row. Obviously, this is a big hint to “pay attention and do what we are telling you.” For months, I kept pulling the “nature” card, and had been told by my guides (as well as other people) you need to spend more time outside with the trees and plants. So a few weeks ago, I started doing just that.

When I made the effort and deliberately stepped out into my forested back yard, I announced I was doing it in accord with what “they” and the cards had been telling me to do, and that I was very curious as to what was going to come out of it. Immediately, I was being asked to notice how much higher the vibration of energy the plants and trees were exuding and how it saturated the air, versus how the inside of the house felt. They said, “This is nature, and because it does not have the same mental blocks that constrict its passage of life through reality as humans do, they can be considered a higher vibrational energy and aid in your development to raise your own vibration, which you do when you communicate with the Other Side.” As we’ve all heard before, in mediumship, the medium has to raise their vibrational energy, the spirits need to slow theirs, and the two meet in the middle for information transfer.

So being the overly curious guy that I am, I figured if I had to connect better with nature, I had better do more than just simply soak in the feeling of the air. So I started touching the plants. I would hold the leaves of the shrubs, touch the wood of the tree bark, and really try to be aware of what I was feeling. When I touched the foliage, I really thought about how I was touching the hand of another living being and not some inanimate object. In bringing the notion of the plant kingdom to the status of sentience in my consciousness, I quickly noticed how different plant species gave off different “personalities.” Some felt giddy, others content, others more “weighty” in acknowledging issues with the soil or surrounding vegetation. It was a wonderful experience, standing there holding the “hand” of another species and feeling the energy of personality – and occasionally some messages. (Naturally, you can’t help but think to yourself, “If people saw me standing here ‘talking to plants,’ they would put me in the nuthouse.”)

At one point, I decided to experiment other than my back yard and went to a secluded location elsewhere in town. There was a small patch of older trees of different varieties at the spot. I touched one and it showed me “having twins.” I was like, “Having twins, what do you mean?” It gave me the feeling of “look up.” So I looked up, and sure enough, two of its upper branches were incredibly thick, like trunks themselves, and they paralleled each other in their reach for the sun. They were identical in size, shape, and orientation.

Then I decided to touch the next tree, which was about 8 to 10 feet away. When I soaked up its energy, I was astonished to feel that it was complaining about the tree I had just talked to. I thought this was remarkably strange – first, because I had never considered trees or shrubs to dislike one another, and second, there was another tree that was less than a foot away, yet he wasn’t complaining about that one. So in my own way – and this sounds completely nutty – I asked, “Why are you upset at this other tree that’s way over there?” The response was, “Its roots are crowding mine.” Logically, I thought, if he was complaining about that, certainly he must be completely furious at the other tree right beside him. When I mentioned that, he said “No, this one respects my space. Look up – you will see he has no branches on the side that is facing me.” I was blown away. When I looked over, sure enough, the side of the other tree was bare until the very top, confirming what the tree had said.

Then, just for fun, I touched a holly plant. The energy of that bush was so vastly different from the trees. It was like it was having a party about itself! Very frenetic.

A few days later, I took the opportunity to visit a park in North Everett. As I was walking along a path, I came across a wonderful patch of rose hips. I figured, “This has got to have some interesting energy.” So I touched one of its leaves and allowed its presence to soak into me. Immediately, it started saying “There are three of me.” I looked rather strangely at it, as I couldn’t see anything more than the patch I was standing at. But it was insistent. Instead of arguing, I let go and continued on my walk. Sure enough, less than 20 feet away, there was a break in the path, followed by two more big patches of rose hips.

So now when I go walking outside, I make a point of touching as many plants and trees as possible. Given enough time (and privacy so it doesn’t look so goofy), I’ve discovered that not only do we have the ability to sense each different personality a species radiates, the plants can also impress us with what they are thinking and “speak” to us in their own ways. In a couple of cases, some of the shrubs have told me about their history and how they felt about what happened to them, which I have been able to confirm – at least in terms of the events they described.

There were also a couple instances that when I tried to pull away, the branch I had been gently grasping moved to keep connection with my hand. That was wild!

Being outside and communing with nature has definitely opened me up to greater possibilities. It has certainly expanded my sense of awareness. And this is what my guides said it would do.

What time is it? I think it’s time to go outside and play!

A Multidimensional Being with an Interdimensional Tool Box

Earlier this week I got thinking about the notion of being a multidimensional being. By “multidimensional” I mean that we exist beyond the three dimensional realm, traversing Time and Space in ways we usually don’t subscribe to. At first, the idea of multidimensionality seems like just a flight of fancy or science fiction, but when we begin to factor in all the evidence of consciousness transcending this “everyday” world, we must accept that we – on some level – do go beyond our body and its five senses.

When remote viewer Pat Price described the Palo Alto city pool during a remote viewing trial, not only did he correctly describe the location of the pool and adjacent structures, he went on to describe what he thought were two other storage tanks on the property. He also mentioned that the site might be a water purification plant. He even added rotating machinery. When the target team returned, they confirmed the pools and several other items, but not the towers or machinery. This, they thought, were simply errors on Price’s part. 22 years later, Russell Targ, co-founder of SRI doing the remote viewing trials, received a different answer. On March 16, 1995, he received the Annual report of the City of Palo Alto, celebrating its centennial year. The report read “In 1913 a new municipal waterworks was built on the site of the present Rinconada Park.” The accompanying photograph showed the two water tanks exactly where Price had drawn them! This showed that Pat was able to remote view a location as it had existed in the past!

In going the other direction, how many people have been able to forecast future events from their dreams? After the tragedy of 9/11, the Rhine Research Institute – a parapsychological foundation - was flooded with phone calls of people declaring they had prophetic dreams of the attack several days to weeks before it actually occurred. They described events such as seeing planes flying into buildings, the pentagon being bombarded, and people running through the streets in panic. The data from the Global Consciousness Project from that fateful day showed that Random Number Generators were affected by the disaster four hours before the first plane hit the first tower, essentially predicting what was to come later that morning.

What these types of findings reveal is that we as beings are really energetic fields that are able to interact and access the dimension of Time. In the past, you’ve heard me talk about the simultaneous nature of Time, but I think it’s important to stop and consider that access to this “environment” is available to each and every one of us and that it is not necessarily a straight arrow shooting in one direction. Because we can “dip into” the past or the future, see it, and in some cases interact with it (as some scientific experiments have shown), this reveals that we have been born with a magical talent – another mode of interacting with reality – much like our standard five senses. But unlike the tools of our basic five (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste), this ability is interdimensional. That is, our five basic senses are designed to interact with this realm and dimension; yet we have been equipped with other tools – other “senses” (if you wish to call them that) which not only works in this dimension, but gives us access to a wider range of information processing.

Okay. Enough about Time, but what about Space?

Experiments in remote healing have been going on for decades. The results from these are quite exciting, revealing that patients who have been a part of focused long-distance healing prayers/thoughts/meditations do benefit from the experience in comparison to their control group counterparts. Additionally, people in crisis situations have been able to mentally reach out to close family members through empathetic telepathy – where a relative thousands of miles away can feel and know that Uncle Joey is in trouble, to a remarkable degree of accuracy (“I knew he was in a car accident”). In some cases, people actually saw a physical phantasm of their relative, even though he or she may have been a thousand miles away. Moreover, we’ve heard stories about the psychic bonds between twins for years, and some excellent articles and other documentation has been written to support it. My favorite are the twins who were separated at birth, yet they ended up marrying women with the same first names, getting the same type of dog, naming the dog the same name, and having the same type of injuries in their youth, and then met each other for the first time. In a more alarming series of experiments, Russian parapsychologist L.L. Vasiliev had demonstrated as early as the 1930s the ability to mentally put patients into a hypnotic sleep from a distance of over a thousand miles!

What these examples reveal is our ability to also transcend Space. Again, like our ability to be interdimensional with Time, we can also be interdimensional with Space. We don’t know how this works or even why, just that we can do it. The best that can be gleamed from the decades of research into these studies is that the power of intention plays a part. It’s what we are wanting or intending to see and connect with that jump-starts the process. The ability to go “interdimensional” at times may seem to occur by sheer happenstance, but some amount of energy is being manipulated by our inner selves in order to engage our consciousness to enter into these other realms and environments. That portion of our beings which turns the key in the ignition may not necessarily be our everyday ego minds, but it is a choice made on some level of our consciousness to “go beyond” – and thus, we do.

That we have these abilities is a huge directional sign that says we are equipped with much more functionality than we realized. It’s kind of like getting a new computer and not checking out any of the additionally installed software programs. For eons. Imagine that. The functionality has been there all along, we have just never really stopped to consider it, understand it, nor fully utilize it. We still don’t have the answers to many of these questions … We haven’t “played” enough with the software of our consciousness.

Nonetheless, we are still multidimensional beings with interdimensional functionality. What an amazing form of life we are!

It’s time to go outside (the box) and play. Stay tuned …

For more information on scientific studies regarding multidimensional capacities, check out my book, Your Magical Soul: How Science and Psychic Phenomena Paint a New Picture of the Self and Reality.

Also check out these fascinating titles:

Entangled Minds by Dean Radin

The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart

Mind-Reach by Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff

Distant Mental Influence by William Braud

Experiments in Suggestion by L.L. Vasiliev

My Week With James Van Praagh

For everyone who knows me, I am always on the look-out for new styles and techniques when it comes to working with mediumship in an effort to become better and more valuable to my clients. It was for this reason that my wife and I signed up for James Van Praagh’s week long “Mastering Mediumship” course in Laguna Beach, California, which we attended last week. Going in, I had no idea what was going to come out of it, just that I would get to hear and pick the brain of one of the world’s most renowned mediums.

The course far exceeded expectations. On day one, we were already being asked to partner up with strangers and do basic telepathy tests. By Friday, participants were performing demonstrations of mediumship with the group. Imagine standing in front of a crowd of about 100 people and being asked to receive information from a person’s deceased friend or relative, without knowing off-hand who that would be. It was amazing to watch people make such miraculous connections! “He died at 57; His name was John.” Information like that came through from people who, when starting the class on Monday, had no idea they could pull it off come Friday. (Yes, I did my own group demonstration, too. At first I was extremely nervous, but when things started to flow, I just did what I have taught myself to do – go for it. James commented with a smile “You’ve done this before.”)

Another reason I attended was to find out for myself just where I stood in terms of ability with my mediumship skills. I received such warm and wonderful compliments by several participants, as well as James himself. It was definitely a shot in the arm with great encouragement to continue.

There were several exercises that challenged everyone to discover how to communicate with spirit. Since everybody has different styles, the exercises addressed multiple different ways of dealing with the energy in the hopes of understanding its qualities and the messages that would come through. I certainly learned more about my own style – what works and what doesn’t.

My wife and I also met other fabulous mediums who had come to help James during the week. Marilyn Whall and Michael Wheeler are considered a pair of Australia’s best mediums. They were so kind, gracious, and uplifting. I was talking with Marilyn on Monday about how long I had been developing and she encouraged me to do the group demonstration later in the week (and how she never dreamed she would be where she was today just 3 or 4 years ago, telling me what the possibilities were). I got to see her in action during an exercise with a development circle – she was absolutely incredible. And then Michael did his own group demonstration that was equally impressive. To receive such encouragement and praise from seasoned and recognized professionals has been an amazing blessing.

Of course, being part of a large group and interacting with so many different people (especially within the subject matter of mediumship) creates an amazing bond between all who participated. For one week, my wife and I were part of an incredible spiritual family that witnessed miracles between so many. We have been so honored to have been asked to remain in contact with several of them.

Spending a week in devotion to spirit and seeing several spirits come through so astonishingly is an incredible wake-up call to what’s possible with this work - and life in general.

When we finally arrived back in Seattle last Saturday, our hearts literally sank. We weren’t ready to return to “normal” life (at least as normal as we get). James really opened everyone’s eyes to what living daily in the presence of spirit can accomplish.

Of course, he gave several mediumship demonstrations himself, inspiring us all to our possibilities. He said it so eloquently when he told us as mediums we were all “Ambassadors of Spirit.” He revealed that the ability to serve humanity from working with the realm of spirit and living fully in communion with it was not just wishful thinking, it could become a reality (with enough practice and commitment).

As a final exercise on Friday, he chose people from the audience to sit in the center of the room with a blindfold on, then grabbed another participant from the group to come and stand behind them. The blindfolded participant needed to use their psychic abilities to describe whoever was standing behind them. For me, that was the scariest exercise to do in front of the group. I felt like young Anakin Skywalker being tested by the Jedi council. I mean, here you are in front of a hundred people, blindfolded – completely in the dark visually – being asked to describe someone standing behind you … Male or female, a few physical characteristics, personality, whatever came up. All I had to go on was what my inner senses told me. As I always say, no psychic is ever 100% accurate – but what a relief when James revealed I was 98% correct! Whew!

The week was truly amazing. It revealed, without a doubt, that everybody has psychic abilities to one degree or another, and with practice can become very adept at using them. There were many smiles and many tears, as we were all touched by the loving realms of spirit.

‘Til next time

Loving Yourself

How often have you paused to consider just how magnificent you are? And in that moment devour yourself with a sense of gratitude and love for all that swirls about your soul which gives rise to your experiences here on planet earth? Remember, you are a soul come here to this plain for living experiences and expression. You couldn’t fully accomplish all that without the cooperation of millions of cells and organs of your body. They work tirelessly to sustain you, as they have a vested interest in your evolution, and you in theirs. It’s one huge cooperative effort – keeping you here in this dimension for the soul’s life and expression. So love the cells and organs in your body.

Take a moment, and just sit. Sit and feel your body. You can feel it, even on the inside, because it weighs at least 100 lbs. How can you not feel it? And while feeling it, love it. Pass love from that nexus area where your soul meets with the physical inner workings of your body. You may not consciously know where this nexus is, so just imagine it. In imagining it, you may feel it. Tell your body how much you love it, and appreciate it, and are grateful for its continuing efforts in keeping you alive, healthy, and mobile. Your body will respond. It will love you back. You can build a rapport, a trust, between your soul and your body. You may actually be able to use the rapport as a guide to loving and trusting your own outer relationships with other friends, co-workers, and mates. If you can learn to trust your body, you can also learn to love someone else.

Your body, like your environment outside of you, is a manifestation – and a highly cooperative one – of your expression of being. You know you create your body, but in cooperation with the creative forces of molecules and atoms, coming together to create the intricate workings of this vehicle. You provide the impetus, the energy, the power to magnetize and become a cohesive unit. Maybe you didn’t know this before. Perhaps you believed the body was provided for you to inhabit. Like all things, thought comes first and then physical expression. You thought about coming alive here in this Space and Time before your birth, and the desire was so strong that your energy was able to vibrate all the particulars into place to grow the body you now inhabit. This may at first sound quite absurd, but it is the metaphysical truth. Your body would not have come into existence without your desire to be here. Scientists are discovering that you are so intimately connected between body and soul that your very thoughts can heal yourself of any number of diseases (we’ve all heard stories of people curing themselves of cancer). The communication between molecules directly mirrors your most intimate thoughts about yourself. Let’s face it: your body is the most intimate connection between your spirit and this dimension. Your energy drives it! Therefore, your energy affects it.

Love your body, and you’ll love yourself. You will no doubt glow. Also, make friends with your ego. The two of you are here to work hand-in-hand. Just don’t let the ego become the god-force of your life. You two, your ego and soul, need to become best friends, who care and nurture each other, understanding that this life is a journey of evolution, expression, and expansion. If you start to hate and distrust your ego, you’ll start to hate and distrust yourself. Ego is not bad. It is part of who you are, and a part of your personality. Ego can sometimes tell you when you’re being taken advantage of, when you’re being abused. It can also tell you when things are not as they should be. It’s a flashlight that likes to highlight signs on the street of life. You must have a balance with it, so balance it with the wisdom and sense of the spirit. Teach your ego to say “I don’t like this. I think we should have this -- WHAT DO YOU THINK?” To which you check out the spiritual side, your soul mind and heart, for the answer. Work together. In tandem. Don’t deny yourself or your life will suffer for it. Though we talk of the ego as being somehow separate or its own entity, it really is not; it’s as much a part of you as a finger or toe, and yet we can also talk about the finger or toe as a separate part of a unified body.

Love deeply, and how deeply you will be loved.

The Value of Patience

Come next month, August 2011, I will have been doing mediumship work for 12 years. When I started back in 2000, it was with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and an overwhelming desire to figure out just what the heck the universe was wishing me to do that compelled me to move forward and explore this part of my consciousness.

It’s been an interesting ride – and like any trip, it’s had both its highs and lows.

One of the big lessons I’ve learned is that it’s not so much about acquiring more skills or styles to one’s repertoire, but rather letting go of the blocks you are holding inside that keep the ability from really being “honed.” In order to serve spirit and help others heal, personal biases and prejudices must be examined which might introduce “interference” or “disruption” to the process. Unfortunately, such judgments may not be so easily discovered, especially if they are buried quite deep.

This is why it is so important to have patience. No matter what goals we are trying to achieve, having patience with ourselves and the process is going to allow opportunities to present themselves before our eyes – versus being impatient, inconsolable, and frenetic.

When we are impatient, our minds run at a dizzying pace – usually trying to figure out a way to “attack, attack, attack” a problem. “Hi-ho, Silver! Charge!” That’s the kind of attitude I most often take, which probably gets me into the most trouble. So much energy and emotion gets expended in the accompanying sense of frustration that the frustration ends up becoming the focus. It is then that we get caught in the unforgiving loop impatience creates. This continuous whirlpool ultimately closes one’s self off to the possibilities which the genuine act of patience provides.

In many cases, when we cry “Hi-ho, Silver!” we really have no idea how best to solve the issue that is bothering us – we’re just going to attack it at every angle and hope that eventually some kind of tactic will work. You know – if you fail, get back up and try again (just do it a little bit differently). That’s good solid advice, as we know it’s foolish to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. However, our own ignorance as to the nature of a problem really doesn’t give us a clue as to what different method might produce a positive result. It is at this junction we must accept that we DO NOT KNOW and LET GO of the fight. Instead of trying to control the problem and force a solution, we must come to realize we cannot force or control anything that we do not fully comprehend or understand.

Here comes that line I always dread to hear (because it forces me to relinquish my own control – which isn’t working, by the way – and also my own power): Let the universe provide the answer.

The only way to successfully allow the universe a moment to get a word in edge-wise is to be patient. When we allow ourselves to be in a patient frame of being and LET GO, we no longer allow our minds and bodies to be filled with frenetic energy and stress; we don’t run our brains on the rollercoaster of confusion. In turn, we become more open and observant. When we are at peace with patience, the universe – that all-encompassing sphere of eternal time/space and knowledge – can then find a way to provide the answers you seek. Surely, as they say, if the universe can figure out how to make planets orbit the sun and create all the particulars for life to grow (and for us to make things such as Styrofoam), then indeed it has the answers to your dilemma. But you won’t get them without being open to receive them.

And that’s what it’s really about -- being open to receive. You can’t receive when you are distracted by anxiety, frustration, and worry. If you don’t know what the next step is, then don’t try taking a next step; instead, step back and be open to the vast knowledge that created the cosmos to give you a clue. Maybe (just maybe) all it takes is getting out of your own way.

In this overly fast-paced world where we can pretty much get whatever we want by the click of a button, it does become easy to get frustrated when it seems our wishes are not coming to fruition immediately (in accordance with how fast “everything else” can get done). When this is happening, we must recognize that perhaps we might be lacking key information and should take some time to step back, regroup, and perhaps let the “impossible” become possible. That is, the world doesn’t always work in the way our logical minds would like it to, and by stepping back we then invite the universe be the harbinger of miracles. Miracles don’t have to be pie-in-the-sky major huge events; they can be small, simple, yet capable of moving us in ways our logical selves could never fathom. By being patient, we transform our energy from chaotic into harmony – or at least, closer to harmony than what it used to be. And when we are in a state of harmony, the universe opens doors and we are open enough to see them, and clear enough consciously to walk through them.

If you feel you are running up against a brick wall, that brick wall may not be anything more than your own self. In order to get passed it, LET GO. And in letting go, be PATIENT and allow the universe to light the way. So long as your intentions are still in your consciousness, the course of your experience will still be driven by those intentions. But at least you won’t be swerving around like a drunken driver trying to find the correct turn on the road ahead getting there. Instead, give yourself a brake (pun intended) and look for the signs. Then step on the gas and go with a real sense of direction.

Just be patient and breathe …

The Inner Landscape

Hello, again, everyone! This week’s blog is a mixture of information received during a meditation and the culmination of some research into the psychic “landscape.” We are always curious about where and how psychic information is perceived and received, and while on vacation I chanced upon a book written by a well-respected and researched medium from the 1930’s – 1960’s. She talked about how she was compelled to follow the “inner landscape” which gave her the psychic information she was receiving. Her description of the environment was inspiring and matched often what I have felt when receiving psychic information. So, for the last few weeks, I have focused on the concept “inner landscape” and received some messages about our interaction with it. Hopefully this entry will inspire you to check it out for yourself! Have a great week!

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(The details were taken from a meditation and have been re-written in the third person for ease of narrative.)

The ego-mind is engaged mainly in the “upper” portion of perceiving reality, and it’s usually focused on the external part of our experiences – what’s out in front of us in the physical environment – utilizing the standard five senses. The physical body, however, can perceive greater vistas and is not confined to the “beam” of external sights “outside.” In that sense, the inner senses of the physical organism can provide a more holistic and encompassing perception than strictly the ego-mind can, as the ego-mind sifts what it takes in – keeping what it wants and discarding the rest, based on one’s personal beliefs and attitudes.

We have labeled the body’s perceptions and information – that deep inner voice and landscape – as the “subconscious” or “unconscious.” Whether this is actually part of the body or that it is merely accessible by the body’s inner senses, it doesn’t much matter; but we are given a chance to enter into union with this locale. Such designations of “subconscious” or “unconscious” make us think and feel that access to the domain are hidden or somehow “not in view” of our normal conscious minds and requires a great amount of work, mystery, and thus distrust (and dare I say, suspicion?).

This is actually not the case.

It’s not that this inner consciousness is “sub” (meaning below or less-than), or even “un” (meaning “not,” as in “not- conscious” and hence inaccessible); rather, this inner ocean is just the “ignored consciousness.” It is flowing right there in full view, vigor, and splendor – we have just lost touch with acknowledging and honoring it. What’s worse, with the aforementioned designations, we are telling ourselves that it’s really not easily seen, heard, much less understood, so we build up beliefs which amount to barriers that need to be addressed and removed from the ego-mind before coming into its full embrace and receive its wisdom. Well, when you ignore something for so long, that happens …

As mentioned earlier, in the past few weeks I have focused on going deeper into this landscape. What I am discovering is that this inner environment is highly intelligent and detail oriented. That is, I am beginning to believe that it can communicate in finer detail than we do in normal consciousness – it’s not confined by the limitations of language. The work comes in taking time to learn its unique linguistics: the sights, sounds, symbols and feelings it utilizes in presenting information. And since it is holistic, it takes into account an infinite amount of variables that our normal conscious “up there” brain filters out.

This inner landscape is part and parcel of a pervading consciousness field that all life shares – meaning, it is the larger field of knowledge and information that is eternal and all-encompassing in nature. Our personalities burst from this field in the course of a lifetime, and unfortunately, we unwittingly lose sight of it and ignore it for modes of thinking in the “external” world, of which we forget were seeded and birthed from this field in the first place.

This is where information perceived as “psychic” resides. The term “psychic” is again a term that we as a species have created (obviously – we write our own language). At one point in our several hundred thousand year history, the abilities perceived as “mystical, psychic experiences” were a normal part of our everyday lives. We would not have grown out of the Stone Age without them, as they were used to foresee eminent dangers to individual and tribe; to “remote view” where the good hunting grounds were located; to communicate with deceased ancestors for wisdom and guidance. But eventually we turned away from acknowledging and utilizing this inner field and its information in lieu of defining the “out there” experience as being somehow separate and divisible from us, by virtue of its physical appearance and how, at times, it appears to come “at” us rather than “from” us. I guess this could be perceived as the Fall from Grace. Those who remained conscious of the “unconscious” could perceive events as being seeded and grown from this primal well of all creation, but as more and more people took to adopting a new way of thinking and relating to the outside world, the more the inner landscape lost its light, its luster, grew “out-of-focus” until it was finally relegated to being a “sub” portion of our being, instead of the very base of all we are and do. So now, when this inner portion is accessed and its typical information brought forth, it “appears” mysterious, miraculous, or somehow “not normal” (when in fact, it really should be), and hence we have applied the term “psychic” with all its other-worldly connotations.

Nevertheless, this inner landscape is a vital part of everyone. We just have to learn to look within, and upon that glance, dip our toe into the water and decide whether or not we really wish to remain upon the shore or dive in and swim.

‘til next time!

Creative Living Isn't Necessarily Logical

Hello again, fellow spiritual travelers! My wife and I just got back from taking a wonderful two week vacation down the Oregon Coast and into the redwoods of Northern California. As is typical when we go on these journeys, we don’t find much time to relax – we fill every waking moment with exploration. It seems our souls are insatiable at consuming what we can about the areas we travel to; what fun sites to see, how do people live in the area, etc. Literally at the crack of dawn we pull ourselves out of bed, grab a bite, and then are out the door. Naturally, this takes a hit on my usual routine of meditating, but that doesn’t mean I completely neglect it!

About a week before leaving for the trip, I asked my guides what they thought about where we were headed. We go to the Oregon Coast annually, so I didn’t expect much of a response. They did give me a prediction for one of the areas we were visiting that was so out of the norm, I was a bit startled when it actually happened. That seems to be my relationship with them: they tell me something, I scoff (“Yeah, right. How’s that going to happen?”), then their prediction comes true and I tell myself “You can’t argue with the guides.” Oh, well, it happens. I’m grateful they still put up with my skepticism after so many years.

One of things they did tell me was that the trip would give me a whole new objective outlook on myself. I did get the opportunity to meditate three times, and indeed received some very poignant (and personal) information that is going to guide me down some paths I haven’t traveled before, but which will nonetheless hopefully lead me to further insights that will enrich and expand my life.

During one of the meditations, information about conscious creation came up. Specifically, the guides wanted to address the use of logic. I’ll preface this by saying they were talking to how I use logic – so this is a personal assessment – and perhaps does not apply to everyone. However, I would like to share what they said. You see, when I plan and hope for the future, I always try to deduce or estimate what “the logical path” is in order to be successful. I’m one of those people that imagines, “If I take ‘A’ and add it to ‘B’, the outcome has to be ‘C’.” Of course, how many times have we thought that and things turned out in no way to be what we had planned!

Well, it appears there may be several reasons why. I could write a whole other blog on those reasons, but that’s not my mission here. Instead, the guides informed me that 1) life is usually not logical, and 2) “logic” may actually be limiting.

Let me explain.

After the meditation, I wrote down everything I could remember. At the end of the session, they gave me an affirmation to focus on, and that was “How can I ‘creatively’ ________?”

“Logic is only two-dimensional,” they told me. “To think logically invites a ‘closed’ pathway, or rather only one path. To ask ‘creatively’ engages all the senses, all the dimensions, and opens creative wells for other opportunities ‘logic’ blocks out.”

“Be happy for disappointments and setbacks, because they hint at and/or sometimes reveal the correct map.” They were showing me a car navigation system here, where you sometimes go off-course, and when you look at the map, there is a sense of relief because it reveals where you are and where you need to be. “When the map is chosen,” they continued, referencing when you can see on the navigation system the correct position and various routes on getting there, “leave the setback and disappointment – the memory of the event and its subsequent emotion – in the past in order to focus or strive toward the new light directed by its opposite.” In this case, they asked “Do you still beat yourself up at having gotten lost once the navigation map shows you where to go? Do you keep your consciousness locked onto the road you are incorrectly on – going in circles – or do you focus where the map shows you to go?” This is what they meant by letting go of the disappointment. Acknowledge it, as you would acknowledge being lost in your car, but once the map comes up that shows the possibilities of getting back on track, move your consciousness there and don’t keep it spinning on the same road of error.

Then they tried to butter me up, but what they said applies to everyone: “You are light and grand, no matter what you do or what time you exist. That light shows all possibilities and engages them. This is the act of your Soul. Thoughts and beliefs inform your relationships.”

“Relationships” was the key here. They explained that, “Happiness is a relationship between your mind and experiences. Everything is experienced inside you – thoughts, emotions, etc. Nothing is outside. It’s your inner relationships of mind (what you think you are worthy and capable of) to that of what you are going through; but how you feel is dictated through these inner channels. You define the relationship – whether consciously or unconsciously, it doesn’t matter. YOU are the one who applies the definition. It’s all inside and a relationship.”

“Instead of asking, ‘How do I logically go from ‘A’ to ‘B’?’ you could ask ‘How do I CREATIVELY go …?’ Logic has very little to play in making things multidimensional.” That was a heavy hitter, and so true when looking at things in retrospect. “Logic can’t predict others’ behavior or thoughts. Logic is a cog-and-wheel ‘cause-and-effect’ linear way of thinking, but cannot rationally predict the behaviors of others – which you need in the march to success – so LOGIC cannot LOGICALLY get you anywhere,” at least when it comes to me, I feel they were saying. “Instead of LOGIC, asking for CREATIVELY walking the path DOES take into account eccentricities, synchronicities, and possibilities of other variables and can include them in the final makeup of success.”

“Creativity goes beyond logic, because it can use the magnificence of ILLOGICAL events to bring about change and new realities.”

“Sadness, disappointments, setbacks, can be used as CREATIVE TOOLS to point to what other things might work and move you in those directions.”

“Logic uses sadness, disappointments, setbacks, as a way of labeling an event and keeping those emotions anchored in consciousness as potential deterrents to future actions.” In other words, if it didn’t logically work out the first time, why bother trying it the same way again?

In terms of how I use logic, they gave me further details.

“Logic is a tool for reverse-engineering events. It is creative in that aspect, and can give you tips and clues on what didn’t work in that particular example and why things might not possibly work the next time. (However, ‘possibly’ does not equate to ‘definitely’.) For instance, one person saying ‘no’ to a request doesn’t mean everyone will say ‘no.’ Someone could still say ‘yes.’ Extreme holders to logic would not be open to the ‘yes’ alternative,” – which I must admit, that’s me, “because they obsess over the ‘no’ reply and label it as ‘logical’ and ASSUME all others would reply in same. This is the bane of creative evolution and event causation.”

“Logic, then, can at times create boundaries when it comes to creating events and changes. To use the expression and feeling of ‘creatively’ approaching a task or goal does not. Logic oftentimes creates limiting ideas via social class (‘because I do not belong to this group, I cannot do …’), education (‘because I did not go to this school or do not have this degree …’), age (‘because I am too old or not old enough …’) and health (‘because I have this condition or symptom …’).

“’Creatively,’ on the other hand, does not allow those boundaries to exist. Creativity, because it can engage so many different levels and possibilities, can bypass those limits – but only in so much as you accept that possibility and leave ‘logic’ out of the equation.”

“Creativity, of course, can induce logic in the causal process, but it will seem like a ‘spontaneous logic’ – as an example: because this is hot, it might burn me. That would logical and correct, therefore, logic does have its place and its benefits. However, logic cannot ALWAYS predict future variables in terms of an outcome. You oftentimes try to use logic to do that, then get frustrated when such ‘personal logic’ fails.”

So one of the things I need to work on is to not limit creative possibilities simply to what I think is the logical route. Instead of asking “How do I logically achieve …” and try to predict the ‘logical’ path, they suggested the better question for me to ask would be “How do I ‘creatively’ (insert goal/task here)” and remain focused on the outcome, then pay attention to thoughts, ideas, and feelings that come up spontaneously which provide a gentle ‘nudge’ forward. Of course, this may not work for everybody, and my guides know how skeptical I am, so things will most likely proceed at a slow pace, but I felt their perception on how I use logic versus creative thinking might be useful to other left-brainers out there like myself.

Life isn’t always logical. As I oftentimes fall back to – quantum mechanics – when scientists first got into that tiny world (and still even today) they couldn’t figure out how it ‘logically’ worked. So why should we be surprised when life’s events oftentimes don’t logically fall into place as WE would like to have imagined them?

Because logic isn’t necessarily wholly CREATIVE. We are multidimensional beings, and we create using multidimensional means. Logic, it seems (at least in terms of how I use logic) is perhaps too limiting when it comes to addressing event creation. Perhaps the limitations of logic also prevent us from experiencing some greater meaning or awareness that could come out of an event, hence the reason why sometimes our events happen in illogical and spontaneous ways – our Souls know better than our left-brain minds. Just a thought.

At least, it sounds logical … heh, heh.

Until next time,