The Gift of the Senses

Over the course of the last week and a half, I have been doing more research into the history of mediums and mediumship, ranging from the late 1890’s to the 1930’s. I have discovered a few more well-regarded mediums that received their information through automatic writing, trance, and even the Ouija board. These mediums, such as Gladys Osborne Leonard, Rosalie Thompson, and Hester Travers Smith, were researched for several years by the methodical scrutiny of the Society for Psychical Research (as well as others) and gained many supporters for the authenticity of their craft – both from researchers and the lay person alike (naturally, they also had their detractors – you can’t please everybody).

Some of the information I came across – the kind I’m always on the look-out for – was how these mediums “received” their information, particularly those in the trance state and automatic writing. This modus operandi was explained, according to the records, by the spirits coming through the mediums, and occasionally by the mediums receiving an impression within their consciousness. Now, one would think that with automatic writing (and even the Ouija) the entity takes either partial or full control of the medium (or the object being used as the indicator) and dictates the contents of the material as if slipping into a glove and moving the fingers without effort. Alas, that isn’t the case. As has been previously discussed in other blogs, it’s all about “impressing the mechanism.”

From the Thanksgiving blog, you’ll recall how I mentioned our five senses are part of the process in understanding our sixth sense. Many of these mediums, whether in trance or through writing, reported their information as coming through the process of mental imagery, inner dialogue (hearing), scent, touch, or inner feeling. “She is showing me an ‘S’, and the name sounds like ‘Sarah’” that sort of thing. Or “I’m feeling a hoarseness in my throat, and it’s burning. She had bad tonsillitis” or “She feels very antagonistic – she hated the guy.” Even those entities that tried to take control of the medium, particularly through automatic writing, reported that in the process of molding their energy with the medium’s, thoughts became harder to focus on and memory itself was sometimes affected. Several reported that the easiest way to convey their message was to pull from the context of the medium’s own memories – a somewhat obscure sense of alignment with the spirit’s intended message being clothed within the makeup of the medium’s mind.

At any rate, the method of reception was an impact on the medium’s five senses. Imagine my surprise when, in meditation last Monday, the message I received was “Too many people see the body as a hindrance to receiving spiritual communication; when in fact, communication into your realm wouldn’t be possible without it.”

We have been conditioned for centuries to believe that our bodies were akin to a prison; dirty; soiled; and not worth much when it came to spiritual awareness. Yet, my communications in this meditation made it quite the opposite.

It makes sense. We are all spiritual beings living a physical existence. That which is physical does rise out of – is birthed from – the spiritual realm. We oftentimes blame our physical bodies and curse them as being barriers between the seen and unseen; however, it is the senses couched within our bodies that are the exact pieces of communication equipment we need in order to access and dialogue with these other “unseen” realms.

“You are not separated from that which you cannot see,” I was told. “That which is unseen can be made manifest through the communicative equipment within the body – the five senses.” Every reality, they explained, is accessible through the very material that is dominant in the system. Realities are not “closed loop” systems; they do overlap and can be accessed to varying degrees. In other words “there are no barriers, and the pathway to accessing them can be found within every system, somewhere in its makeup” as everything is somehow interconnected. This access from an outer reality, when it comes in contact with dense physical matter (or rather you come into contact with it), is going to affect that matter through the mechanisms inherent in the individual’s perceptive qualities – namely the senses (if one is paying close enough attention).

The only way we register what’s happening around us is through our senses. The only way we can have access to any kind of information is going to be through such senses – information is going to require an observation of some kind in order to obtain it. Even an instantaneous knowing is going to require a type of observation – how else would you know? If you instantly know the name Sarah, how did you come to that? Did you hear ‘Sarah’? See it spelled out in front of you? Feel it inside your tissues? In any case, one or more of the senses would have to have been impressed and engaged, and your conscious mind got the answer.

Typically, our point of observation in using our senses is an “out there” perception within the dominant framework of dense physical matter. However, that observation can be turned “inward” to also have the same five senses look a bit “beyond” the dense atomic tapestry into other realities. Of course, the question becomes: is it a valid perception, or just a figment of the imagination? How do you distinguish between the two? That takes practice, time, trial and error. In some cases, you may get nothing for validation, and will either be forced to take the information received at face value, or toss it aside for lack of confirmation.

Through the process and continued practice, you can learn when something from a different reality impacts your senses to a varying degree. As you have learned to be keenly aware of what a bass note sounds like from treble note in music, you can distinguish with some clarity the impact of psychic phenomena from the mundane world, and what the message is that’s being transmitted.

This doesn’t mean there won’t be cloudy days. As previously stated, the merging of energies between your senses and that of a discarnate individual is not always a clear-cut proposition, especially if your reality observation extends to those on the Other Side. Sometimes there is “static” that affects the channel, and there could be any number of reasons for this: lack of practice on the discarnate’s side with impressing the medium; emotional frequencies on both parties making it difficult to concentrate; energetic interruption from other surrounding energies (such as expectations, extreme skepticism, etc.)

Still, our bodies have been granted the radio and television gear needed to keep communication lines open to these other realms. Some schools of thought suggest the sixth sense is actually the first; that our five senses are outgrowths of the intuitive, and that even though we may go blind or deaf later in life, the faculty itself within the context of intuition and psychic functioning would remain active (and perhaps even enhanced).

With enough determination, practice, and humbleness, we can attenuate our current senses to perform these additional functions. It is only because we have become so enraptured and hypnotized by the dense physical realm before us that we have made our observations habitual in that direction. But they don’t have to be. For sure, we cannot and should not deny the reality we are in – we are here on purpose for a reason – but that doesn’t mean you can’t sometimes connect and “call home” or perceive “trans-dimensional.” As I said, like anything, it takes practice, and we are all connected anyway, both to “here” and “there.”

But your body and its physical senses are not here to block or impede you. Your body is to help you maneuver and observe the universe – that is its functionality. Our predominant universe is dense matter … But it’s only predominant and not all-inclusive. And neither are the uses of our senses in that direction. The universe encompasses many great and wonderful things, and by extension, so do you, and you have been given the equipment to maneuver and observe such vastness.

As always, you are a perfect being. You have perfect senses. You just haven’t perfected using them yet … Or maybe you have (and just don’t realize it).

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving - What Are You Thankful For?

Thanksgiving is this week, and so I thought “What a wonderful blog this could be!” I did some research into the history of Thanksgiving … Finding stories of the European settlers and how they shared good bounty with the Native Americans; honoring the wealth of the harvest and the work achieved throughout the course of the year. It made me consider my own “harvest” and what I’ve achieved in the past 12 months.

But … this blog isn’t about me tooting my own horn (at least not all the time), so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I would like to turn the mirror around so it forces you to see yourself; to honor all that is about you and the grandeur of your life in a manner of thanksgiving. Stay with me for this – it’s more than what you think.

Have you looked at your reflection in the mirror today? If you have, then you have the wonderful gift of sight. Be thankful for it, as it gives you the ability to see such wondrous colors and forms – brilliant gardens and night skies, shades of red, yellow, blue ... It is also the adjunct to another form of sight you have – the third eye. Would you be able to understand the images that flash through this sense had you been born blind? I don’t know … But I am thankful to have my sight, as it has led to many epiphanies regarding images I see from sources outside the mundane (Okay, yes, I’m tooting my own horn again). Think of times that you have received a visual message – a hello, a warning, whatever – through that image in the mind, then ask yourself would it had been so possible without having the experience of normal sight? What a gift.

You could do this for hearing, too. What a dull, lifeless planet this would be if I could not hear the roar of the ocean … or the music of chimes in the wind, or the voice of my sweetheart. How would your world be if sound had no meaning and silence was your song? Without voice, could you talk to yourself? What would you hear inside your ethereal ears? How could you think words if you had never heard them to begin with? (Which, in some cases, doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.) Yet, thankfully, because of hearing, you are able to capture that voice which calls to you – not from the cellphone glued to your hip – but from that special voice when it tells you of danger, or congratulates you on a job well done.

Yes, we could apply thankfulness to all our senses. They do, in a way, guide us into understanding our own intuitive abilities. The psychic senses cannot be fully understood without first knowing our original five. When we begin to heighten our awareness of the normal senses, we can then become attuned with what our supernormal senses are telling us; we can have a better grasp of what colors, forms, shapes, tastes, smells, and feelings are telling us as they emerge from the void into the knowingness of our psychic beings. To that, the body is a wonderful instrument and teacher, and for that, I choose to stuff it with lots of food later this week! But seriously, we all too often take our five senses for granted, without realizing the huge role they play in not just our ordinary lives, but also our extra-ordinary talents and gifts.

More so than that, when the combination of these senses can be tuned to the betterment of others, that is truly something to be thankful for. It’s one thing to have abilities and use them to your own advantage, it’s another to use them in an act of service. To serve – to give of yourself – is an honor, and it is with enormous thanks and gratitude to the one desiring your service that such love flows. That friends, relatives, and sometimes complete strangers call upon your character, knowledge, and skills, is a testimony to something special about you within. And instead of it being a stroke of the ego, it really is a cause to be humble, for we all are great, powerful, wonderful beings. When someone requests of your skills, talents, and character, it is as if the greatness of God – for the person is an aspect of such glory – has chosen not to go within themselves for a solution, but instead has trusted you and garnered faith in you to help supply their needs. That is truly an awesome gift. Think of this when co-workers have asked you throughout the year to help them on projects, to brainstorm, to lend a helping hand. Think of this when customers have chosen to do business with you. Think of this when your significant other plants a warm kiss on your lips. They have given you the gift of their trust and faith – something so incredibly awesome, it is humbling to the spirit.

Then there’s also thanks to those that have helped in your own growth. As you have helped others, so too, others have given of their time, energy, and wisdom, and you have benefited. Would you have risen to the next level without others’ support? Would you have gained new knowledge, skills, and talents throughout the year without the efforts of someone else to guide you or inspire you? Professional speakers, trainers, authors, store clerks, friends and family … The people who put together that audio CD you listen to in the car that helps you curb negativism and think more positively … The list could be endless. Again, when you look at so many contributors to your life, you cannot help but be humbled. The “I am” of you could be perceived as the summation of various parts of others’ gifts that you have accepted into your being. To them, the vast contributors of such wealth and wisdom, I will toast a big glass of wine this holiday!

There is so much to be thankful for. When you begin to shine the lights of acknowledgement onto all those things that make your existence possible – the wonders of your body, being, the amazing knowledge, talents, and giving nature of others into your life – it exposes a map where the roads all lead: love. No, this isn’t romantic love, or possessive love, but it is expressive and most definitely expansive. Call it the love of the universe, the love of God, whatever suits you, but the reality is the same – the ability to gather unto your spirit all the necessities of forming a life worth living. It is joyous. It is stupendous. It is – by the very definition of the word – miraculous.

All this giving and receiving that we do amongst ourselves, both on a personal level and a social societal level, is a gift for this planet. Or at least, it can be (When we’re choosing not to blow each other up or limit another’s life experiences). So this week, on Thanksgiving, please take a moment to reflect upon everything and everyone that has contributed to the vast amount of air within your expanding balloon of conscious existence in the universe. You are beautiful because of all those that have given unto you, and additionally because of all you have given unto others.

Thank you for sharing your beauty with me in reading this blog.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!