What Unconditional Love from the Other Side Reveals ...

I oftentimes compare and contrast what we learn from direct spirit communication and interaction (whether it be in readings or spirit research with the Washington State Ghost Society) to what was written in ancient biblical texts, and to what organized religion says about the nature of man and how it equates to the notion of God's love for us (FYI, I prefer the term "Great Creative Force" over the term "God").  I find myself often at odds with the notion that the Great Creative Force perceives us as "fallen," or "broken" or "off-the-mark."  Indeed, those in the spirit world tell us how much we are loved, that judgment is nothing like what has been told to us, and that we were actually born perfect.  

"Perfect?  Really?"  I can hear you saying.   

Actually, yes.  

Those in spirit are telling us that we were born perfect, for the simple fact that we have the ability to express and experience all outcomes (good and bad) so that we may have access to all roads of learning and expression.  "Perfection" is not an "end state" of static being, but rather the functionality inherent within our design.  Only love would grant the ability to potentially experience all possible states, positive or negative.  Those on the Other Side tell us that If we did not have access to all these different avenues, then we would be stunted; we would not fully learn; we would be held back in whatever was needed for us to become the greatest expression and reflection of the Great Spirit that we can be.  Without this perfection of experiencing all probabilities and states, spirituality would be more like a prison, rather than the unconditional love that is given us to experience All There Is. 

So as we march forward to that day of love this month, take a moment to reflect on just how much you are loved from those on the Other Side -- it is truly unconditional.  All paths to learning, to spirituality, to the Great Creative Force are already being lived by you and through you.  If you weren't loved, then such capabilities would not even exist.

Tips for a Happier Holiday Season

December has arrived!  Though many talk about the joy that comes with the holidays (and indeed, there is), I feel it is also important to acknowledge that for many, it is also one of the most stressful times of year.   The American Psychological Association Holiday stress statistics show that up to 69 percent of people are stressed about having a “lack of time,” 69 percent also are stressed by feeling a “lack of money” and 51% are stressed out about the “pressure to give and get gifts.”  

According to allonehealth.com, the stress and anxiety of the holiday season can manifest in symptoms such as headaches, sleep disturbances, fatigue, exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, short temper, upset stomach, low job satisfaction and morale, aching muscles (including lower back pain), loss of appetite, changes in behavior while at work, and a decline in productivity and work performance.  

We are also facing the “end time” of the year – a sense of finality for which we look back on the last 12 months and critique the outcome.  Since we are usually our own worst critics, guess which way that observation goes?   It can be an incredibly “heavy” and “burdensome” time of year to many.   Also, we witness nature going into hibernation, we reference the trees and plants “dying” which can also affect us psychologically.

What can we do spiritually to help us get through?  Here’s a few simple things.  

First, try to stay grounded and remember to cleanse yourself energetically.  With all the stress, along with the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers, our auras (as well as our minds) are being bombarded with frenetic and tense energy not normally displayed by most people at other times of the year.  We may observing with our eyes, but we typically ABSORB things into our energies and emotions, so it becomes imperative that we do things that will help cleanse ourselves of this abnormal energy we are diving into and swimming around in.  

If you shower in the morning, use the power of visualization to allow the water its energetic capacity to take hold of that unwanted energy and send it right down the drain.  Additionally, wash your hands a few more times throughout the day (this is not meant to become an OCD thing).  This will not only protect you from potential germs on your hands and keeping you from getting physically sick, when you wash your hands under the faucet for more than 45 seconds, that extra time can again help to draw out negative energy collecting within your field (which might later transmute into physical maladies).

Another way to combat stress – and this works anytime throughout the year – is to meditate.  Sit down for about 15 minutes minimum and just let go.  Focus on nothing but your breath and allow that focus to realign your system and clear you.  Release your need to do anything or be anything, and just be STILL.  Meditation will clear both your energy systems as well as your mind.  The monkey mind goes extra crazy this time of year, so it’s important to do what we can to calm it.  

Conversely, instead of calming yourself, go out and do something that makes you crazy with happiness!  Whatever the activity is – a few hours gathering with friends, solitude with a paintbrush, turning up the music full blast and dancing – whatever it is that can interrupt the state of holiday frenzies.   Call it a “time out” if you will … and schedule as many of them as you need in order to get through the season.  Heck, be an inspiration for others to create their own seasonal “time outs.”  Sweat-inducing exercise can also help here - as well as assisting in keeping off those extra pounds from the yummy holidays feasts!

Keep in mind, as energetic beings we not only absorb, we transmit.  If we can find that stillness or ability to wash ourselves clean of the holiday stress, we can then help others do the same.  How much more joyful would that make this time of year?

So know that in closing, I most sincerely wish you –

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

A Month of Thanksgiving!

The month of Thanksgiving is here!  I say “month” because there really is so much to be thankful for that not all of it can fit into a single day.  Starting right off, the month begins with All Souls Day.  Though classically this observance is tied to the religiously faithful, the meaning behind it is still beautiful and poignant even if you’re not religious.   The day was set aside to offer prayers for the deceased (In the religious context, it was intended to offer prayers for those who had died being faithful to doctrine).  To me, whether one was religious or not, All Souls Day is an opportunity to honor and give thanks to our loved ones whose spirits gave us so much while alive, and lets them know they are not forgotten while they continue their journeys in the worlds of Spirit.

Next comes Veterans Day, November 11, in honor of what our men and women in the military have endured throughout the history of our country and their work throughout the world.  How many have given the ultimate sacrifice for freedom?  I’m sure all of us would agree the death of just one person would be “too much.”  Thus, the incredible importance of this date in honoring the lives of all our military, both living and sacrificed. 

Another reason to hold this day deep within our hearts is due to its origin … November 11, 1918.  Such bloodshed and traumatic loss had not been so profoundly experienced before during World War I, at least not in the memories of those who were going through it.  Destruction and loss of life appeared on a massive scale, using technology developed during the burgeoning industrial revolution.  World War I was nicknamed “The Great War,” and for good reason … nearly 38 million casualties, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.  The war officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”   Perhaps if we could remember that point, someday it might come true.   So be sure to take time on Wednesday, November 11^th, to be thankful for everyone in our military, past, present, and future, for all they go through – the fears, the turmoil, the sacrifices.  Many of us, myself included, could never be so brave.

Of course, like a bow to tie off a package, there’s the national holiday of Thanksgiving.  Family, friends, and lots of great FOOD --to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for throughout the year.  To me, it’s similar to All Souls Day, except that the focus for me is on living people rather than the deceased.  Why?  Because it is so important to honor all our connections.  When we pass from this life, we can’t take anything with us – all we have are the bonds of our relationships.  We take with us the love and memories of the people in our lives, and that’s it.  Yes, we’ll take with us lessons we’ve learned from our earthly journey, but it’s our bonds to others that sustain us.  In mediumship, we often deal with clients (both living and on the Other Side) who discovered those bonds were unfortunately taken for granted, in which death has forced to bring to light.  For this reason, it’s important to reflect on our bonds now – Thanksgiving for the relationships we have – so we don’t feel regret when the inevitable happens.

Ultimately, November is about LOVE.  Love for those who have gone before us; who have made the ultimate sacrifice and faced the ultimate terrors; and for those whose love continues to nurture and sustain us -- a month truly about all the lives for which there can be nothing but Thanksgiving.

So let me say, I am thankful to all of you for allowing me to be of service.  It has truly been an honor.  I look forward to being of service in the years to come.  Happy Thanksgiving!

A Response to Futility

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a lovely lady on Facebook, who was having a hard time reconciling the meaning of her life when faced with the inevitable outcome of death.  She feared that if her loved ones were to pass away before her, then wouldn’t the bonds of those relationships lose their meaning?  That is, why do we care so much for others when inevitably our relationships would be ruined by the spectre of death?  It admittedly made her very anxious and concerned that life – in the grand scheme – didn’t have much meaning when it would eventually come to that inevitable end. 

I can understand her dilemma.  In a universe that we’re being told all happened by “chance” or “accident” and that when it’s all over we just rot in the ground, then life does take on a sense of futility.  What’s the point of such love when it all will vanish and disappear and was only by “luck” in the first place?  Or – perhaps even more torturous – our loved ones die, move on to another dimension, and yet we are here left alone?   What does all this mean and why do we do it?

Having been working with the spirit world for over fifteen years (and with spirit events stretching as far back as my early childhood), the best I can do is assert that, first, we do not die and therefore there isn’t an “end”; and two, we can still communicate with our loved ones after they have passed.  Of course, the next natural question is “how?”

The way I explained it to my friend was that our loved ones in spirit are really only a thought away (you might have heard John Holland use this phrase).   Granted, to me that sounds like a somewhat “pat answer,” but it is literally the spiritual truth.  When you can make yourself available to your loved ones in spirit as a vessel of love, they will return the favor – through thoughts, dreams, and occasional “calling cards” of physical events in your everyday life which demonstrates they are still bonded with you and care about you.  We’ve all heard stories about the coins which mysteriously show up after a loved one has passed.  Or – a story I heard more recently (and the photo to prove it) – of a butterfly that landed on the memorial program then alighted to the mother’s hand during the memorial service … with butterflies being the deceased’s favorite token for collectibles ... Spirit will find a way to make themselves known, so long as we are open to them.

But it is natural to fret over our time apart.  My grandmother did this with the loss of my grandfather.  To me, it is normal to feel this type of grief as the years grow longer in the empty space left from our loss.   However, as I explained to my friend, do not worry about the time of “physically being apart” for that is only the result of our vibration in the physical world, and Time is only relative.  That is, the energy of our beings only allows for certain wavelengths of energetic frequencies to be filtered by the physical body’s senses.  Our loved ones in spirit vibrate a bit too fast for our physical senses to typically register them, but they are still there, and with practice, you can alter your mental awareness to become somewhat “in tune” with them, for the mind is not bound by the confines of the body, time or space.  This is what mediums do in order to make that link to the spirit world for their clients.  Granted, the context of the relationship has been altered due to the “veil” created by the dissonance in frequencies that the body is somewhat stunted in fully receiving from the domain of Spirit, but that does not mean the relationship itself is severed and that our loved ones have disappeared from our lives, nor that the relationship was meaningless.  That hasn’t happened at all.  To declare the relationship “dead” “over” and “meaningless” would negate not only every emotion and action taken with our loved ones while they were alive, but also theirs towards us.  The truth is, they have not left us – so we should not leave them.       

Of course, this does lead to some of the deepest questions we ask about life:  Why are we here?  Why do we go through this journey (if our relationships and loves are to be separated from us by death)?

These are questions I have pondered for years.  Fortunately, again my work with spirits – both in sittings and ghost research – has helped pull out some possible answers.  What I have learned from the spirits is that why we need to be here (as well as transition to the Other Side) is because each place offers opportunities for expression and growth of the Self and the God-force within us.  Spirits have told us that the purpose of life is to experience the magnitude of our probabilities – to unfold the nature of our unique, individual spirits.  Each dimension of existence offers a multitude of avenues in doing this, to unfold and realize our innate sense of “value fulfillment” (a term coined by “Seth” through Jane Roberts, early 1980's).  “Value Fulfillment”, upon closer inspection, makes a lot of sense to me in regards to the evolution of our spiritual lives.  It offers life meaning.  That life has purpose and meaning is made manifest by the complexity of a single cell and its cooperation with all other cells to ignite gestalt mechanisms for the expression of a soul’s intentions.  That is, the complexity of cellular structure to create tissue, bones, organs, intake and excrete waste (both at the micro and macro levels), transmit data between cells and organs, heal, and move us simply by the expression of our spirit’s willpower – without our real conscious left-brain understanding of it – demonstrates that we are multidimensional, filled with the power and vitality of divinity and purpose; able to create equally with love, compassion, and joy as we do with hate, jealousy, and destruction.

So many people think that their purpose must be “one thing” and one thing only, such as “I am supposed to be a mother; or a nurse; or a lawyer.”  Those are just occupations.  Your purpose is to express your divinity.  What you choose, in order to do that, is boundless, and you are not at all confined to one single avenue or occupation.  Consciousness (spirit) is unlimited, and so are your options; you need only choose which one you wish to experience and begin moving your intentions, emotions, and beliefs into its actualization. 

Let us never forget that we were first born of Spirit, and then came into flesh (so you can leave behind all that nonsense of being born “sinful” or “less than perfect,” as you are a spark of the Great Spirit, and it all depends on what you choose to focus on for your divine expression).  It is by our very design that we are eternal, everlasting, and ultimately loving – even beyond Space and Time.

So live in the beauty of your Light.  Your Spirit.  Have a Spirited day!

What About Evil Spirits?

The bulk of my work as a medium is about connecting spirits back to their friends and loved ones here on earth; to help in the healing process and to demonstrate the eternal nature of our loved ones on the Other Side, as well as our own immortal souls.  Additionally, I also employ this gift in paranormal research – exploring haunted locations and businesses in order to better understand why some spirits choose to remain earth-bound or visit certain places over and over again, or to uncover the history of a particular geographical location. 

From time-to-time, I will occasionally get requests from people who express that they are experiencing negative events with spirits.  The descriptions can range from the mild sense of a heavy presence, to full-blown physical attack and the sense of a spirit trying to possess them.  These are quite frightening and harrowing experiences, to be sure, so how to deal with them? 

Typically, if the interaction is severe, I would recommend handing it off to a team of experienced and knowledgeable paranormal researchers, who can perform the right kind of interview with the client and analysis on the environment to better uncover the many possible factors which can contribute to the type of events.  I think these things require more consideration than a medium “simply” coming in, linking with the negative energies, and convincing them to leave.  There are usually factors hidden with the client that need to be examined and addressed, as there are no coincidences in life, and things of a spiritual nature are never by “happenstance.”  It becomes even more complex when a client believes they are at the mercy of many evil spirits (not just one) – as if they have been targeted by a legion of demonic forces bent on ruining their life and trying to take over their body.  It’s a tall order to ask anyone to address the situation, especially a single medium who may be walking into an extremely complex environment of energies, expectations, and beliefs. 

I recently received a request along these lines, where the client felt they were surrounded by a host of evil spirits and that these forces were trying to possess her.  Instead of forwarding her situation onto a paranormal organization outright, I contemplated what other alternatives might exist.  At a loss within my own mind, I turned to my spiritual guides and asked for their opinion.  What came through was incredibly profound.  I shared it with a few of my colleagues and they felt it was so important that I should post it in my blog and also my website.  I do believe every paranormal case is unique, yet I also feel there may be some generalities common to most experiences, and I believe this is what my guides were pointing to, and how to address them.  

I started writing as soon as the information came in.  Here is what they said:

“One must recognize that though negative spirits exist, even more equally and en mass are those spirits who are loving, protective, and nurturing.  These are even greater in number than those considered as ‘negative’ or ‘evil’ and they often exist within the same spaces.  Unfortunately, thought and power is directed more toward what is negative – which evokes the law of attraction – what we focus on expands.  In order to break the cycle, one must lift one’s mind to the higher frequencies.  Start focusing equally on the reality of love and nourishment, and those forces and spirits are equally within your space and in reach.   Until you ‘make room’ inside your consciousness for them, you will unfortunately not become aware of them; you are giving too much belief in their opposite.  (Personal note:  However, if you have a general distrust of spirits or spirit interaction, reaching out to higher spirits could be problematic, based on your beliefs).  

"Also, become aware of your views on the nature of your experience in your daily life.  Are you feeling and telling yourself such thoughts as ‘bad things always happen to me’ or ‘it feels like the world is out to get me’ and ‘I am an outcast and don’t feel I belong.’  Such thinking also invites events and circumstances which reinforce those beliefs, as if you are victim of all things bad.  These are limiting and incorrect beliefs which create quite negative and unhealthy experiences.  Again, you must switch your focus and look in the opposite direction.  Results will follow, but only if you accept within yourself the validity of goodness and your own ability to grasp such goodness.  Wonderful spirits are here for you, and you must allow them in through the same belief processes as you have the bad, for until you recognize such possibility, you will not see it in your experience no matter how hard the good spirits themselves try to make themselves known.  (Again, if you distrust spirits as a base belief, this will be problematic).

“Also, and even more important, you must understand the vitality and validity of your own spiritual being.  No spirit, loving, evil, or otherwise, has any direct power or control over your experience unless you give it that power.  This is the law, as every spirit is a spark of autonomous divinity within the great cosmic ocean of God’s being.  That is, your soul carries the same light, life, and vitality as any of the spirits surrounding you.  Claim that power which is yours by birthright and heritage.  You exist beyond Time and Space, yet you place divisions upon your consciousness which deny that reality and begin to create experiences and circumstances to mirror your limited perspectives.  Accept and give yourself the permission to experience the love, compassion, and good things in life which are equally yours.  Do not tell yourself the world is saying “no” to you, for the world is saying no such thing.  Start telling (and feeling) life and the world saying “yes” to you, for that is really the case.  If it weren't, you would not have been born into it in the first place.  Realize your negative thoughts and expectations are about reality, but are not of reality; they are merely a filter of one’s focus, like sunglasses altering the light of the sun. However, what you focus on expands – whether that focus is right or wrong, true or false.  Start moving your focus to the goodness in your life and the life in the world, and you will see it come rushing back into your reality.

“In matters of spiritual possession, it is equally important to realize that no spirit can control or take over your body.  Your body is specifically tuned to the frequency and vibration of your own indelible and unique spirit.  Contrary to Hollywood and tales of possession, a spirit cannot break the bonds which your soul connects the body with.  This is not to say you cannot feel spirits affect your aura, or even telepathically your mind, but they cannot remove you from the body and take it over, for (despite what most believe) the body is not a glove or shell that easily comes on or off; it is an intimate outgrowth of the spirit made flesh.  The best any spirit can do is blend into your aura, which can have some physical results, but they cannot take over the body in the way most people believe.  It would only be in the presence of your own fear that your mind would say “this spirit is taking me over and I am powerless to stop it” and so you acquiesce your mental and spiritual strength to the energies of the spirit.  However, you equally have the mental and spiritual strength of a superhero, as well as a posse of loving, nurturing protectors in those higher spirits also surrounding you.  Again, accept and move your awareness to their goodness, more importantly be open to it within yourself, and you will find the mists of evil quickly dissipate in the light of the angelic sun.

“One can seek out help, such as a shaman or other person to come and ‘cleanse’ the space or perform some ritual to take the spirits away.  This can work.  But unless you recognize and claim the validity of your own soul and the power of your own conscious spiritual being and your connection to those positive forces that equally surround you, you will not necessarily remain free from experiencing such events again in the future – and in fact may remain fearful that they could happen again.  It is only in realizing your own sacred divinity, power, and strength, will you be assured 100% that you are immune to such forces.

“To begin, all you need to do is affirm that goodness exists within your experience, in the world, and that you can grasp it in the air before you, both from yourself and from those positive forces of spirit.”

Hopefully, the words of my guides can help when it comes to negative and evil spirits.  Again, every situation is unique, but personal empowerment will always outrank someone coming in and taking care of things for you.  I have been dealing with spirits for decades, and since adopting my own awareness as a divine spark of creation, I have never had any problems with negative spirits.  When you account for your own divinity and being in touch with those spirits who are positive and are around, negative spirits cannot touch you.  I’ve had a few try, but they quickly back away when they realize they don’t have my express permission -- or any of my fear.  

The Thermostat of Self

The long dark days of winter are at last receding as the sun climbs back toward the northern hemisphere.  Like most people, the march into autumn and the journey through winter is an opportunity to travel within and perhaps discover roads that you might otherwise miss were it not for the chance to hibernate with the season.  For me, I used it as an opportunity to learn more about myself, to understand better who I am and why I do what I do; a type of self-inventory.  It wasn’t my intention to cover more ideas or learn new ways of linking and connecting with spirit and my intuition – I wanted instead to address my “normal” everyday existence. 

 

However, what I discovered is that we cannot parcel ourselves out.  Let’s face it, we are holistic beings -- and everything we do is somehow interconnected with everything else about us.  As I worked to better understand myself, I ended up gaining a greater insight to that side of me which engages in spirit communication and the nature of myself as a multidimensional expression.  And as anybody who follows this blog knows, I am always looking to better understand that process.

When I set out to do this inner work, my goal was to understand my fears and limitations – why do I have them?  What are they?  What are the limiting beliefs behind them?  Though my work as a medium included some of the things I was examining, it wasn’t the full breadth or reason behind my inquiry.  You see, I view each of us like an iceberg – what we are seeing is really only the tip; what is below (or inside) may be huge, massive, and incredible, but we cannot engage it without first understanding the part of us we are already familiar with, which holds the keys to unlock the doors of the inner sanctum. 

 

The discovery I made was that the doors we keep locked to this greater self … are doors we built up throughout our lives.  In fact, I am starting to believe that when we were birthed into the world, there were very few (if any) doors we had to deal with.  But as we grew up – through indoctrinated training in childhood, to peer pressures and societal culturalism in adolescence and adulthood – we created our own closed doors and a hallway from which we remain pacing back-and-forth through most of our existence.  We see the closed doors we’ve built up and ASSUME they were put before us by someone else and we are powerless to open them, or lack the key to unlock what may be hiding behind them.  This corridor, this architecture, we allow to define our strengths and weaknesses, our joys and sorrows. 

 

It takes time and a willingness to face the Gatekeeper. 

 

When I encountered my own “closed door” I asked myself “Why can I not open this?”  The answer startled me.  It wasn’t that a voice came back and said “You can’t.”  Instead, that voice came back and said “You aren’t worth it.”  In fact, at each closed door I placed myself in front of, I heard the same rhetoric -- even to the point of this negative voice saying “Even if you were to open it, someday you will be gone and forgotten.  It won’t have made a difference or even mattered.”  To reflect back on this inner voice is indeed saddening, but it has been – in the end – a gift.  Because I knew on some level I created it; I instilled the demon; and if I created him, I could also excommunicate him and replace him. 

 

As anyone who has seen a hypnotist or studied hypnotherapy knows, the mind is malleable and thoughts – if given enough permission by an individual – can be altered and changed very very quickly, which inevitably creates new ways of thinking and being.  This has been my journey these last several months.  Though I have not seen a hypnotist, I have been working with similar tools – relaxation to calm the monkey mind, visualizations, affirmations, in combination with constant reminders of my own past successes.  Psychologists know that changing a habit takes anywhere from 21 to 30 days of repeating the newfound behavior, as it will also create new neural pathways. 

 

So where am I going with all of this? 

 

Well, if we are constantly telling ourselves such negative thoughts about who we are – why we cannot open closed doors – then we must admit that this same voice is going to sabotage us when it comes to our ultimate success.  This negative voice we have allowed to DEFINE our SELF-IMAGE.  And one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my journey is that the self-image acts like a thermostat – if things go too well and you have a negative voice like mine used to be, sabotage is certain to return things to status-quo normal.  In all areas.

 

Including one’s innate psychic or mediumship abilities. 

 

Think about it.  If you are always second-guessing yourself or knocking yourself down in other areas of your life, why would it be any different in something you are trying to excel at?  It wouldn’t.  The beliefs heralded by the Self-Image would not allow it, for it would force the Self-Image to be something it really can’t perceive itself as being … In other words – you cannot become what deep down you do not believe you can be, because you lack the Self-Image capable of making it happen. 

 

It is vitally important to examine your inner demons, face them, and understand where you are limiting yourself.  Then understand you are dealing with habits of thought … and begin to change them.  Start visualizing, affirming, and believing you can be the person you wish to be.  Try it for at least 21 to 30 days, taking only 5 to 10 minutes a day to do the visualizations and affirmations (try it as an experiment).  And really put your heart into it.  This isn’t about getting material stuff – like using the law of attraction in order to buy a new car – this is much greater: it’s about breaking an erroneous Self-Image which will only allow you to go so far in life, no matter what you do. 

 

Our negative messages we instilled in this exact way: one day, we started to tell ourselves something bad … then we repeated it … added some visualization to back it up … and then let it grow naturally into the door we keep locked before us. 

 

The same thing can happen in reverse.     

 

Now, you might be asking: how does this apply to intuition, psychic functioning, or mediumship?

 

Simply put, it’s one thing to believe the ability exists, it’s another to believe whether it exists or will work FOR YOU, based on your Self-Image.  And then you have to ask if you believe it can work PROPERLY and CLEARLY for you, as dictated by that same perception of Self.  Do you feel on some level you are CAPABLE?  WORTHY?  DESERVING?  Until this last winter, I believed in the ability and that I had it to a certain degree and could help others with it.  However, my Self-Image kept me from accepting that I was worthy or deserving of it fully.  Despite thousands of readings demonstrating a clarity to link with spirits, it has always been an inner battle if I could do it each and every time I sat with a client or stood in front of an audience.  Why this inner struggle with myself? 

 

Because a deep inner voice – without my real inspection – was getting away with the message “You can’t do it.  You’re not worthy.”

 

Since discovering and since ALTERING that, not only has my Self-Image changed, virtually everything else has, too.  My days are bright, I accept “fun” into my existence (I didn’t even give myself permission to have FUN), and my mediumship … I now trust.

 

And that’s what it’s all about.  Trust.  The Self-Image determines your magnitude of Trust.  When it comes to working with Spirit, the axiom is to Trust Spirit.  However, the foundation also has to be “Trust Thyself.”  If you cannot trust yourself, you will have an even harder time trusting spirit … And your development – as well as other parts of your life – will suffer for it. 

 

It’s only habits of thought … Give it 21 to 30 days, and habits can change.  Along with your life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resurrecting Leonora Piper - A Book Review

I have never done a book review before, but just had to do it for a tome I finished two weeks ago.  As many of my friends know, one of my hobbies is studying the history of parapsychology – in particular, Victorian-era psychical research and the mediums that were investigated.  My favorite medium from the period is Leonora Piper (1857-1950).  She came to prominence in the 1880’s – a demure Boston housewife who unwittingly became a trance medium quite accidentally after visiting a medium herself.  While in the presence of the medium, she lost complete consciousness, only to find out later she had been taken over by spirit.  Her mediumship was something which baffled her and she relented to tests most people would run away from in order to understand it and further the cause of psychical research.  Some of the things she had to deal with from researchers ranged from being followed by private investigators to see if she was gathering information about potential sitters fraudulently; she was denied sitter’s real names and instead introduced by pseudonyms; she was even harassed by some investigators who – while in trance – pricked her skin and scorched her tongue with acid.

The book “Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife” by Mark Tymn took on Piper’s mediumship from the standpoint of a lawyer arguing a case in court.  Now, I’ve read quite a bit on Piper’s work, but what made this book really stand out was that Tymn no doubt did his research.  He quoted the actual transcripts from various cases, as if we were right there in the room during the communication.  He then followed up with how the sitters responded and cross-examined the data points allegedly brought through by the spirits.  Through this lens, the author effectively argued against the typical accusations charged against Piper’s authenticity.  By careful consideration, Tymn was able to show that the supernormal information she received was not a form of ESP with her client, or SuperPsi (information from a cosmic mind) or anything representing fraud.  He followed her career from when she first began, utilizing a spirit control named Phinuit, then through the years of the Imperator regime, moving between trance mediumship and automatism -- allowing the reader to be a part of Piper’s evolution as a medium.  Other authors have outlined this same evolution, however it has usually been a dry and academic description, whereas Tymn brings a sense of humanity; a person who developed as a result of her condition and the demands of spirit.   

The other thing which really made this book stand out was that the author went into far more detail about cases already known about Piper’s mediumship, such as George Pellew and the Cross Correspondences, yet he didn’t stop there (as most pro-mediumship authors do).  He found several other noteworthy cases in the transcripts and cited them to again demonstrate the likelihood of spirit interaction as being the best evidence for the information she had received. 

But like any good lawyer, he was aware that not every sitting Piper conducted was a success.  As a practicing medium myself, the gem of the book came when the transcripts revealed the spirits explaining why communication wasn’t always easy – and why it sometimes out-and-out failed.  First, the information was introduced through George Pellew, a man that as a reader, we only knew was an acquaintance of Richard Hodgson, Piper’s investigator who researched her for 18 years.   Yet when Hodgson unexpectedly died and starting coming through Leonora a week after his passing, we began to see what the stumbling blocks for spirit communication were and still are today – plus, we are emotionally tied to Hodgson, having direct knowledge of his work with Piper.  As Hodgson’s spirit gained more ability and thus more confidence in communication, he was able to explain the difficulty from the spirit’s point-of-view.  This has helped me in understanding the two-way street that we as mediums drive on when linking with spirits.

The finale for spirit survival was when Tymn talked about (if only briefly) the Cross Correspondences.  This has got to be the most ignored or covered up piece of psychical research in history that – for most of the scientists who studied it – was scientific proof for life after death, based on the evidence.  Here, we have several cases where three (or more) mediums located thousands of miles apart from around the world (separated by oceans) received cryptic messages from the same spirit (or spirits, depending on the case) that only made sense once all the fragments were combined.  It is considered highly suggestive, if not definitive proof of intelligence surviving death.  In one case, the investigator requested the spirit of psychical researcher FWH Myers to draw a particular symbol when coming through the other mediums involved in the correspondence – which the spirit of Myers did accomplish.  

After reading this book, I am so amazed that the information is not more widely known.  The mediumship of Mrs. Piper turned many a skeptical inquirer -- physicists, psychologists, and lay-persons alike -- into believers.  William James, arguably considered one of the pioneers of modern psychology, considered her his “White Crow,” meaning that it only takes one white crow to prove not all crows are black – demonstrating that psychic and mediumship abilities can exist within the human condition.  Tymn convincingly demonstrates that there was no other explanation for the details and personalities that came through Piper other than spirit communication.  For me, Piper demonstrated details to a much greater extent than some of today’s most accurate and notable mediums and it baffles me that we still wrestle with the question of “Is it real”? 

Resurrecting Leonora Piper, if presented in a court of law, clearly answers that question in the affirmative.   

232 Pages

White Crow Publishing

Available at Amazon.com

Information Processing and Retrieval

How do you receive the information from spirit?  This has been a recurring question over the years from those who have had private readings or watched mediumship being demonstrated on a public platform (whether the medium was myself or somebody else).  It’s a question which I – being the left-brained analytical kind of guy – have given a lot of examination to.  This post isn’t going to answer with the standard “It’s in the ‘clairs’ – clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience” – though those do play a part.  My goal has always been to understand it from a larger perspective, to which the “clairs” then break it down.  As with anything, this is an ongoing process, a continuous journey, and no doubt perceptions will change as new information is brought to light.  Here’s what I have learned so far.  Though this may sound simple (which it is), there’s still a lot to it.

 Intuition is the process for which messages come into the context of one’s consciousness.  By paying attention to the inner sensations brought about by intuition, one can become “in tune” with energies and information not perceived outside in the objective world, nor rationalized by the logical mind. 

Historically, the mind has been where most confusion and inner struggle has been fought when it comes to spiritual communication.  It is a losing battle.  On some level, the desire to receive clear messages from the Other Side speaks to the brain being able to decode the packets of information sent by those in spirit.  Though this is a true statement, the error is in perceiving the mind as having the primary functionality within this process.  In reality, the mind is not the one in charge; rather, it is subordinate to the intuitive self.   

Indeed, the mind does unravel the images, sounds, and feelings which are piped through the intuitive self, but it is not in the focus of the mind where these ingredients originate.  Intuition goes much further than the brain and encompasses the aura and subtle bodies – something quite outside the scope of the physical matter lodged inside our skulls. 

When approaching readings, one needs to “get out of the head” for it is “in the head” where he or she most likely spends the bulk of one’s time navigating the jungles of time and space in the here and now objective world.  Thus, normal everyday “in the head” focus must, to a certain degree, be abandoned in order to “tune in” to other energies.  The shift is to move out of reliance on the brain and onto the reliance of the intuitive self. 

Intuition requires an entirely different set of faculties to be engaged than simply thinking and wandering around inside the mind.  Intuition connects you with the environment; it reaches out into the subtle vibrations and energies coursing around and through you.  And when one can focus their awareness into their intuition, the door to these other realities can be cracked open and engaged.

“What does my intuition tell me?” is an excellent way to move your mind out of its role of supremacy and into an act of service.  “What does my intuition tell me?” moves your awareness off your physical senses and onto the many senses inherent within the complexity of the intuitive self.  “What does my intuition tell me?” drives your observation off the chatter of the physical mind and into the eternal abode of cosmic consciousness.

It is incredibly difficult to rationalize psychic occurrences because they originate from intuition – a form of perception and communication not well understood by anyone in the 21^st century.  We may discover that we can never pin it down or understand it from a left-brained perspective, for the simple fact that it may be inherently much greater than what logic can comprehend.  The brain loves to use logic like a microscope so as to have a better understanding of things – for if we have a better understanding we can have better odds at controlling whatever it is we are examining.   Unfortunately, intuition may be much larger than what the left-brain can comprehend, thus the notion of control is too far out of reach.  Nay, it may be completely impossible.   

But just because we do not understand it does not mean it isn’t real or that it doesn’t have value.  What we do know is that information outside the normal channels of perception happens – this has been documented time and again.  We know it’s not coming from the jello inside our heads, but from sources outside coming in or by us going outside the body to bring the information back – again, leaving the physical brain behind.  As psychics and mediums, we recognize intuition as being much larger than our minds, though we must trust our minds to be able to process it to the best of our abilities so that our normal consciousness can gain some sort of comprehension. 

But it all starts with intuition. 

And not the brain.

Communicating with Spirits, Part 2

The Greater Picture, The Larger Act of Awareness

Two weeks ago I talked about how, when we take into account 7 billion people on the planet, and how many of those people right now are receiving information from the deceased friends and relatives in spirit, as well as spirit guides, demonstrates that spirit communication is a natural and normal part of our existence in the physical world.

So what does this all mean in the bigger picture?

By the very nature of these interactions, spirits are demonstrating that they desire to communicate with us; that we are not alone and we do not need to fall prey to the limited visions of material existence.  Their messages, unanimously, all speak to the same meaning:  we as spirits are here, we love you, and we can help you – provided that it doesn’t derail you from your own purposes being alive on the earth.  This is in sharp contrast to what we have been told traditionally from fearful ideologies.

The point to all this is simple:  Spirits are co-existing with us.  Granted, while our focus is here in the material world, theirs is focused in the spiritual.  Nevertheless, they interpenetrate this realm all the time, based on the statistics of people interacting and encountering them.  And chances are likely, we interpenetrate their realm, too, if given the proper belief system, knowledge, and conditions.  It is not “foreign” nor is it “wrong” or “against nature.”  It is actually part of nature’s design.  We co-exist with many dimensions – this is a scientific fact. 

Are we supposed to be communicating between the “veils”?  Actually … Yes.  In fact, it’s vitally important that we do.  We are here to experience the breadth of our souls, and part of that magnificence is our ability to transcend the physicality of what we are experiencing in the material world.  In order to learn our lessons, as well as help others learn theirs, we are given the capabilities to engage in this communication to bring forth the guidance and information we sometimes cannot get from the observable, material world.  Especially in a world where love is in lack – it is spirit’s greatest goal to show us that no such lack exists; that the universe is primarily a loving universe, and through love – positivity – we will prevail through our lessons and continue to heighten our souls to our greatest possibilities and potentials.  After all, we were spirit first, and then human … Not the other way around.

The spirits will not harm us; nor will they take over our lives.  On the contrary, they are wanting to help us live better, happier lives ourselves, fulfilled in the knowledge that the greater we become at being a loving, creative spiritual expression, the more it benefits others and combines to create healing and success to so many people, transforming the earthly experience to be a grand state of livelihood in comparison to what it has been in the past.

Historically, such communication was seen to have dire consequences by various superstitious ideologies – repudiation, ridicule, and ultimate death as a “witch.”  So long as the facts remain of people’s own personal experiences with receiving communications (no matter how sparse) from deceased loved ones or angels, then it cannot be denied that such forces are indeed interacting with us, and that we have the ability to receive and understand their communications, given proper conditions.  In addition, so long as traditional books refer to “prophets” or other types of religious people receiving “inspiration” or other angelic visitations (and many of these people were considered “normal” people having a divine experience), then the notion of conversing with “the devil” must be tossed aside as rickety architecture of fear.  Again, spirit isn’t trying to control us or our reality (that would take up too much time and energy and deny the purpose of their own existence), they simply want to help us – as no doubt, we would want to help our loved ones once we have traversed the bridge of death and realized communication back to earth was possible. 

It is time to wash away those belief systems and ways of thinking that deny this.  It is time to ignore and toss out belief systems that say “It isn’t natural.”  Nonsense -- utter nonsense.  It is natural; it is normal -- It was meant-to-be.

Tell yourself – remind yourself often – that you communicate easily with spirit; that it was meant to be from the beginning of humanity’s emergence into the physical realm; it is a part of our core being and heritage.  Don’t ask of yourself “Why cannot I communicate?”  Instead you should be asking “How could I not communicate?  It was meant to be!”  Again we are spirit first and then human.  It’s all about where we choose to place our focus, and hence our energy, creating an environment that makes communication conducive and expectant. 

When it comes to linking with spirit, all you have to do is ask and then BE AWARE.  Trust your senses (which is sometimes easier said than done, I know).  When the time is RIGHT, when the energy and conditions are appropriate, spirit will be there with the messages they wish to convey.  It is what they have been doing for centuries.  No doubt, we will be doing the same thing when we hit the Other Side – reaching back and sending messages to our loved ones still on earth.  It’s going on all over the place RIGHT NOW across this planet.  Accept it and embrace it.  Become a part of it.

Communicating with Spirits - It's Natural! Part 1

There is a belief system out there – maybe it’s one you’ve had or you know of someone who has it – that says “if spirits are real, isn’t it unnatural for them to be interacting with us?”  In other words, if there is a spirit realm and an earth realm, doesn’t it stand to reason that because they are separate places of existence that one should not be able to effectively interact with the other?  Almost like some kind of rule that says if you live in environment “A” you should not be able to communicate with environment “B”? 

It’s a belief system that has been passed down to us through the generations.  On one hand, we ask for God or angels or some other heavenly beings to impress the earthly environment to help us out when we pray, but on the other hand, we also hear “talking to spirits is not right.”  In the past (and even today) it is sometimes viewed as witchcraft or leaving one’s self open to communing with Satan if one wishes to “talk to dead people.”  Here, we get the usual sound-bites “You’re not talking to a deceased person – it’s the devil in disguise.”  What I find interesting is that those who usually make that declaration hardly have the qualitative knowledge to know such things, as they lack any experience or breadth of study in spirit communication since their own belief system keeps them totally isolated and sterilized from it. 

Nevertheless, to say that because one is living in environment “A” and should not be allowed to communicate with someone in environment “B” is like saying you can’t have two people in two different rooms of a house talk to each through an open doorway or some other intercom system … or even through the wall itself.  When we really take a closer look at it, living environments are for the expression and expansion of experience, but that doesn’t negate the ability to communicate with others in different rooms.  In fact, as I hope to demonstrate through this first of two posts, it is not only common, it is natural for communication to take place – and quite possibly, was meant to happen.

Let’s face it, when looking through the annals of history -- with stories of divine intervention, ghosts, portents revealed by deceased relatives (and these are by sane, normal, rational people) -- it is clear that spirits interpenetrate the physical realm all the time.  Quite frankly, this functionality has been a part of reality since the beginning and is considered a natural part of existence in many indigenous cultures. 

We must recall that we are spirits having a human experience.  Due to a bit of effort (intention), we have brought our awareness into this physical dimension, yet our home is really the spiritual realm.  We condition our awareness to be present in this earthly domain for the purposes it yields, in terms of growth and expansion.  Yet this does not negate that we still have parts of our soul in connection to our homeland, and are therefore co-existent with that original dimension.  This grants us continued access to it; the functionality needed to engage in cross-dimensional communication.

When we incarnate into the earthly sphere, we have asked several of our friends left in spirit to help us along in our intentions for being here.  These helpers are spirit guides, angels, whatever you would like to call them.  That we have asked them to assist goes to show that they have the ability to interpenetrate into this realm in order to do their requested tasks – otherwise, our requests for their help would be useless.  In “testing” these helpers (as many of us who are on this type of spiritual path have done), they have demonstrated that they 1) Can communicate via the mind with verification occurring in the objective world outside imagination; 2) Can orchestrate physical events that work in sending a message; 3) Can protect us from harm by either mental instruction or actual physical intervention.  This demonstrates the ability that spirit is meant to be able to interpenetrate – it is not “abnormal” or otherwise “illegal.”  Let’s face it, if they weren’t meant to, they wouldn’t be able to, nor would we ask for their assistance to interpenetrate on our behalf.  On some level, we know this interaction is capable of occurring – and that it is all right.    

Now, this interpenetration is not 24/7 for each individual, for we are here in the flesh for a reason and they are simply here to assist – not to live their lives focused in this world, nor doing our personal bidding.  (If they were to be so focused, they would have incarnated themselves and given us a chain to hold them with).  This does not mean they do not spend chunks of time interacting or that they are not meant to have the ability to interact – or that we are not meant to have the same interaction back into their realm with them. 

When you factor in the notion that everyone has at least 1 or 2 spirit helpers (and usually quite a few more), and that when people are aware of them, greater communication commences … this becomes a loud roar that signals spirit having the right and ability to interpenetrate naturally and organically into the environment.  Though I may not be getting messages from my spirit helpers at this very moment (it isn’t necessary), that doesn’t mean spirit isn’t acting on somebody else’s benefit right now.  On a planet with 7 billion people, guaranteed, millions of spirits are right now sending thoughts, messages, and doing work to orchestrate their alliance with people living here.  And these are just the spirit guides!  But imagine that interaction happening right now … All over the planet …

Now, let’s take into account those friends and relatives who have died -- another level of spiritual “populace” in conjunction with guides and angels.  Many people often feel their lost loved ones nearby after they have passed.  Many claim to talk to them in dreams or receive psychic communication from them.  Moreover, in many cases, these deceased loved ones have demonstrated interpenetration by apporting objects and also making complex events happen in the objective “out-there” world to the benefit of people still here.  Now, add that to the work being done by people’s spirit guides and helpers across the planet at this very moment … Millions of people are getting messages from their lost loved ones in so many different ways … Millions are getting inspiration and messages from their spirit guides, too.  Cross-dimensional communication and interpenetration is happening all the time.

Spirit is interacting with us constantly.  Naturally.  It is not paranormal, it is normal.

This is all supposed to be happening.  It is a natural part of existence and reality. 

Part Two: The Greater Picture, The Larger Act of Awareness

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,

Ghosts Are People Too

Last weekend I participated in an overnight investigation in a grand old theater that had been built in 1928. The Washington State Ghost Society had been there once before and recorded several EVPs (electronic voice phenomena). Members also reported having personal experiences, such as seeing shadows and feeling a sense of presence, and the theater owners talked of hearing voices and seeing objects move. We decided to head back and see what else we could uncover.

On the drive down, I carpooled with the Society president, Dave K. and we got talking about how interacting with spirits had become so normal and commonplace in our lives, that we had forgotten it was not a typical pastime for everyone else. It had occurred to us, rather humorously, that we take for granted our ability to dive into locations where most people fear to tread. To us, our experiences have shown that ghosts are not something to be feared, and that such encounters are really to be embraced. So we asked the question: why are people afraid?

The answer seemed quite simple, but it was worth examining. We started with the usual – Hollywood. The movie industry has done a fantastic job coloring our perception of what spirits can and can’t do. For the entertainment crowd, moviemakers would love to have us believe spirits can do ANYTHING! And that they are always out to FRIGHTEN US! This is actually further from the truth. Naturally, the other culprit in making us fear so much about ghosts is that spectre referred to as “the unknown.” Because we do not fully understand the nature of the phenomena, the missing puzzle pieces could – could (gasp!) – represent something nefarious. At least, I think that is what we sometimes tell ourselves. We as humans have this tendency to apply fear to things we do not fully understand because we assume our lack of knowledge just might lead to our downfall in connection with it. In other words, it’s hard to look out for Number One – personal self-interest – when you do not fully comprehend what you might be going up against. It’s a logical conclusion, but life rarely ever turns out to be so clean-cut.

The realizations Dave and I (and many of our investigator friends) have discovered over the years of coming face-to-face with the spirits of those who have remained behind stands in stark contrast to what we’ve been taught as a civilization over the centuries. It is in direct contradiction to what Hollywood would have you believe – and in many cases, counter to what a lot of the paranormal “investigation” television shows air. (Let’s face it, when you’re dealing with T.V., you’re dealing with RATINGS, competition, etc.). So in this blog, I would like to clear up a few things about ghosts and hauntings that I’ve learned over the years, to hopefully give people the sense that it is okay to actually NOT be afraid when you encounter a spirit.

1) Ghosts are there to frighten you. Nonsense. Only on very rare occasions are ghosts trying to deliberately scare the bejeezus out of you. 9 times out of 10, they are just trying to get your attention (and in some cases, may not even be aware of you or that their actions are affecting you). There may be any number of reasons why a ghost might want to make contact (and all of them non-threatening) – The ghost might be a relative of yours that is trying to tell you they are okay; It might be a former owner of the house you just moved into, letting you know you are welcome and watch out for the occasional leaky faucet; and believe it or not, the spirit might be trying to get your attention to warn you of danger, such as a loose floor board on the staircase. Yes, sometimes they might be wanting to make contact to see if you can help them get free of where they are at, or provide some kind of closure to their lives, or just have fun because they think you are such a cool person. Sometimes they might NOT LIKE how you’ve position a piece of furniture and are wanting to tell you that – but that doesn’t make them evil. Sometimes they just want the honorable acknowledgement. Are they really hanging out in the corner asking themselves “How can I torment this person?” No.

2) Ghosts can do anything. No, they can’t. Yes, they can move objects – but then again, so can you. But they don’t move them nearly as often and to the magnitude Hollywood shows you. The amount of energy a spirit has to gather in order to move something as light as a pencil can be quite draining. The opening of cabinet doors, the rolling of a ball, tapping you on the head, all can take place. But they can’t take place in a non-stop every-moment-of-the-day fashion. They will only happen sporadically, and at the expense of the ghost’s energy. Once they have opened that cabinet, it’s going to be a few minutes to several hours before they can do anything like that again. They certainly don’t have the energy to levitate your entire house and consume it in a ball of fire over the graveyard your home was unwittingly built over. We may not know everything about what spirits can do, but this much we can more or less agree on.

3) Because we don’t fully understand the phenomena, it could be dangerous. Yes, the phenomena could be, but that doesn’t mean it will be. I have interacted with spirits for decades, and the more I talk to them, and the more my Society investigators interact with them, the more we have come to realize they are actually more benign than they are malevolent. To me, this knee-jerk reaction of fear has got to be a result of cultural conditioning – starting from the summer campfire tales of restless spirits designed to frighten children, to the Hollywood hit designed to startle you and hopefully curl you up into a fetal position in the chair.

What most of us have forgotten is that ghosts were at one time people too. They got up in the morning, put on socks, went to a job, ate dinner, stubbed their toes, and occasionally had indigestion, then keeled over and “died”. This does not make them demonic entities bent on making your life a living hell. As ghosts, they are still those same people, albeit with a form we typically can’t see, with some occasional enhancements we in the slow-moving atomic suit don’t have. But this doesn’t make them evil, suspect, or worthy of fear. And in my experience, it isn’t the need to create fear in an unsuspecting person’s life that drives them to be ghosts. They, like us, are still searching, expressing, and living life in their own way, from the perception of their own environment. And we on occasion have moments of sharing that with them in an apparent bridge-gap between the world of spirit and the world of flesh and bone.

When it comes to interacting with spirits, we should take the same attitude and ethics as we would with our fellow neighbor: Honor and respect them. After all, that is what they are: fellow neighbors from a different time that have moved on from the physical world. If they have a message, through honor and respect, they will deliver it in a way that will not be frightening. It might startle you – only for the fact that it’s not “normal” to receive information from ghosts (The startle-effect pretty much goes away after doing it for several years though). Through honor and respect, ghosts will take an interest in answering your questions sincerely, versus an adversarial relationship oftentimes created by other ghost investigators who choose to harass – and then wonder why they walk away with little to no evidence, or a real reason to be scared. Through honor and respect, the ghosts will reciprocate your humbleness and sincerity. There have been a few occasions where I have encountered a “negative” spirit, but when I tell them I honor and respect them and are not there to “fight” or “combat” them, they will relax and a real dialogue will open up. Either that, or they simply leave me alone because they know I at least acknowledge them and won’t be frightened by them.

Honoring and respecting the spirits goes a long way, because they usually honor and respect you back. Why? Because as I said, they were once (and still are) people too.

Encountering spirits, to me and my brethren, has been an opportunity to learn more about the continuity of life. What can we expect when we leave the body? What are some the circumstances and dramas that can continue for our existence once we shed the mortal coil? These questions can’t be answered in a state of fear, they can only be addressed through genuine curiosity and honest inquiry. And to date, our answers have been astounding.

Ghost investigating isn’t about confronting demons and things that frighten people; it isn’t about going in and kicking something out and hoping to get a thrill in the process. It’s about learning more of who and what we are and gaining a better understanding of the human condition – inside and outside the body. It’s about answering questions of life, joining the hands of those that have left the body before us, and who have made their presence known to us here. And one of the questions we’ve answered in our travels is: Ghosts really aren’t scary. They’re just people. Honor and respect them as such.

P.S., And if you think you are not being respected or are otherwise harassed, give the Washington State Ghost Society a call, and we’ll try to find out why. Check us out on Facebook