Halloween: What About Evil Spirits?

Halloween has arrived and I thought it would be an excellent time to talk about something that I get asked about every so often: What about evil spirits?

Yes, indeed, there are those spirits or entities who would like to do some people harm. However, when it comes to the word “evil,” we must realize that such a term is relative to the observer. In many cases, there’s a fine line between evil and good. We all know the term “one person’s good is another person’s evil.”

“Well, when you have a ghost throwing things at you, hitting you upside the head, or trying to gain possession of your body, is that not an evil spirit – or worse yet – a demon?”

It is certainly frightening and harrowing to the person being harassed, and in line with traditional thinking and storytelling, we would want to label such an entity as “evil.” In fact, anyone (dead or alive) wishing to harm another could truly fall under such a designation. There are certainly bad people in every walk of life, so why shouldn’t there be bad spirits?

The trick lies in the label “evil” or “demon.” We have created an entire industry around such titles and descriptions (thank you, Hollywood), and it has really done a disservice to our wiser selves and how to handle such entities if they are encountered.

“Evil,” as alluded to earlier, is assigned based on the ego-value systems we have set up. In other words, if the person being harassed were a fine upstanding citizen, we would say the spirit was “evil.” However, if the victim were to have just committed adultery, theft, or something much worse, others might argue he was getting his just rewards at the whims of a righteous angel. In this case, we’re just talking semantics, but in the end, what about those entities that do seem to instill utter dread, fear, and seemingly attack the living? Do they not reveal the truth of evil in the universe?

No, they reveal the truth of what evil is only a messenger of: Ignorance.

Spirits or entities that engage in behaviors designed to be destructive, divisive, or otherwise steal another person’s power from him/her and are meant to invoke fear are displaying an effect labeled “evil,” however this effect clearly highlights the real problem with such forces – the entity’s ignorance of everything being connected and One Being. This is the Spirit’s ignorance, that It fails to recognize the interconnectedness of all things and would rather play upon the illusion of separation. The thrust of anger, hate, or whatever negative things the spirit is engaged in directly relates to how the entity thinks and feels about Itself in relation to the universe, and is thus acting out in these manners, in my opinion.

In metaphysical terms, things in the spiritual realm (to which we are an outgrowth of) are not seen in terms of good or evil, but rather knowledge or ignorance. If someone is knowledgeable, they are aware of the divinity and interconnectedness within all life; if someone is ignorant, they do not, and indeed their behaviors reflect such lack of wisdom. Evil spirits and demons are the embodiment of this ignorance.

The other end to this spectrum falls upon the person in the role of “victim.” Here’s where “evil spirits” make their play – if someone is in the right vibration to be effected by their deeds. If the victim, too, is ignorant of their own divinity and validity throughout the multidimensional universe and attributes themselves to being “separate from” or “cut off” from the “forces of good” and also believes themselves to have “lesser power” than forces unseen, and worse yet, believes somewhere within themselves that they simply “are prone to bad luck” … You can see how an ignorant spirit could play havoc with such a person harboring this kind of psychology.

It could also fall to ignorance woven within a bad belief system. For instance, if a person believes in a hierarchical system where humanity is at the bottom, and then angels and demons above (in terms of abilities, strengths, etc.), instead of realizing it’s all wrapped up and interconnected, again we have the perfect mix for an ignorant spirit to display his foolishness through wicked means.

I’m not saying wicked spirits don’t exist or that things they do can’t scare the holy bejeezus out of you. I’m just saying the nature of the behavior reflects the level of knowledge they have regarding the nature of Being in the universe. Such spirits delight in tormenting only those they know will respond in the manner they are seeking. That is, if they were to try and attack someone who IS knowledgeable about interconnectedness and the validity of their own individual self in the universe in combination with everything else – the “evil” spirit would lose, hands down.

Put simply, if someone is knowledgeable of their divinity, their immortality, their interconnectedness to all life, then they know at any given nanosecond they are At One With All Life Everywhere, are Eternal, and Can Never be Limited. This person, in essence, accepts the ignorant entity and its existence, and instead of reeling against it in defiance, actually calls it in to themselves to dissolve it within the vastness of the entire cosmos – of which the enlightened individual is part and parcel of, and a gateway to; there is no separation, no division.

Or, if the individual isn’t interested in “dissolving” but is still looking for a form of personal protection, can still “link up” to the vastness of the multidimensional universe (they already are anyway) and simply say to the evil spirit “There’s one of you, but now I’ve called my brothers and sisters – and look how HUGE we are. You wanna play?” I believe this is what’s happening in those instances where (if the situation is legitimate and not mental) an exorcist calls upon Christ to dispel an evil spirit. At that moment, the priest is connecting himself to that which he perceives as the greater spirit of the universe, and thus gains the interconnectedness and vastness of power great enough to frighten an ignorant entity away. There are tales going back thousands of years prior to the gospels where evil spirits were dispelled by calling upon the name of the chosen god, be it Ra, Zeus, Zarathustra, what-have-you. It isn’t that these gods or saviors are really dispelling the entities themselves, it’s what they represent within the minds of both the person making the call and the evil spirit doing the deeds. It becomes a drama of beliefs, energies, and vibrations.

Evil spirits and demons are strictly the ignorant aspects of unwise individuals who still have much to learn about his/her nature, divinity, and connection to all else in the universe. And as is the golden rule, in hurting others, you are only hurting yourself.

It will, indeed, take them a long time to grow – but they will, as all life moves through stages of evolution. The good thing about ignorance is that it can be completely wiped out through education; ignorance can (and will) eventually be transmuted into knowledge. Unfortunately, for some, they will still do heinous acts that reflect stupidity in the face of a much larger, grander, and connected cosmos, and their education may proceed at a slow crawl ...

… At least to those who live in a universe bound in Time, hierarchies, and believed-of separation.

Until next time …

P.S. In many poltergeist cases, researchers have discovered that the ghostly activity may actually not be the result of an angry spirit, but rather the undeveloped aspect of a living person’s psychokinetic abilities. Fascinating!

Dreams, Forgiveness, and the Power of Attachments

It’s been over a week-and-a-half since I followed through on inspiration, and it has been truly enlightening. An immense weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I am exploring new ideas in regards to how we enmesh ourselves into the identity of our personal experiences.

For my close friends, this has been a truly remarkable occurrence, in terms of my actions. Astonishingly, it took me over a year and a half to do it. Not so surprisingly, we all are engaged in it throughout many areas of our lives. What am I talking about? Holding onto attachments and allowing them to control us, define us, be us – in ways we may never have imagined.

My own personal attachment was to the angst, pain, suspicion, and just downright bigotry and distaste (I won’t say “hate,” because I don’t think I ever reached that pinnacle) towards one of my co-workers at my job. Let’s just say, over the course of these past few years (close to two years) we always dreaded coming to work – mainly because of the other person. I hated having to come in and “deal with her,” while likewise she hated to come in and “deal with him.” Our defense shields were always up; I was wondering when she would go on the next offensive, and I believe she always felt the same way. Oh, we could work together and be civil, but it was obvious we were just “tolerating” one another, and always had a general suspicion of what the other was doing. It has always been a thorn in my side. Why is it I could get along with everyone except her? We have all heard the saying “there’s one person who always throws off the balance of the group.” I wasn’t the only one who had misgivings about her either. But it was a huge struggle for me, especially since I believe everyone is a divine perfect being; yet I eternally battled trying to reconcile that fact with what I was dealing with in my egoic perceptions and emotion surrounding her.

At any rate, she was just coming back from a week-long vacation and I was beginning to feel stressed the night before her return. The week she was gone – I’ll be completely honest – was wonderful. No stress. I could relax and do my job in peace. So when that last day came to a close, my inside was tossing on the record of dread. And I was so tired of listening to it.

This sense of anguish must have triggered something deep inside me, for that night I went into a deep lucid dreaming state. In the final episode of the night’s drama, I met with my co-worker outside the office and did what I thought would have been impossible: I apologized and asked her forgiveness. In this dreamstate, I listed a whole range of reasons why I felt we were different and at odds with each other, and explained that none of that mattered; that we needed to heal the rift; that our differences simply weren’t worth the weight of anxiety, the dread, the negativity that we were assaulting our bodies with. In this dream, by performing this action, the angst and pain completely washed away and a whole new day dawned for the both of us. We could then talk, laugh together, and honor the uniqueness of our individuality as opposed to using it as a focus of dis-ease and distrust.

When I awoke, I knew I had to do this in real life. Yes, scientific experiments have shown that you can affect others just by the nature of your own consciousness, but I wasn’t willing to simply leave it at that. I needed her to know that she could take down her guard and feel safe, as I was willing to be vulnerable enough to take down mine. In other words, I was finally willing to let go of it all. It didn’t matter who was right and who was wrong; it was a matter of mental, emotional, and physical health for the both of us.

Two opportunities came up right away that morning, where we were left alone in the cubicle room. I took this to be a sign that, yes, it was right. Plus, I was aching to get it out. The dream was so inspiring, I couldn’t wait for the possibility of having the pain be gone and replaced with some sense of relief and – to my hope – joy.

11:50 am. I knew there would be a good amount of time; circumstances had poised us to be alone without much interruption for at least 15 to 20 minutes. So I called her over to my desk. I didn’t waste a single moment. I mirrored my memory of the dream as best I could, starting out with “I need to apologize and ask for your forgiveness.”

She was admittedly confused and asked “About what?” I responded, “For the rift that has come between us.” From there, I launched into everything that I said in the dream. I talked about how we were different personality types – she’s an extrovert, I’m an introvert – but in the end, it wasn’t worth the angst and pain we were carrying from month-to-month. Our work, let’s face it, doesn’t require the breadth of concentration or mental capacity of trying to land a man on the moon or save someone’s life, so what we were hanging onto just wasn’t worth it.

As an aside, she could have completely shot me down – called me every name in the book – and I was open to having that happen. Being willing to let go of all the angst meant that she might have needed to unload onto me everything the she had been feeling, and I was willing to allow that. Incidentally, it didn’t come to that.

And things haven’t been the same since. As it happened in the dream, the pain, angst, suspicion, was instantly transmuted into peace … and laughter. We talk everyday now; we honor the other’s differences, rather than downgrade them; we help each other in projects we do, versus letting the other go it alone. Before, she walked around with a dark cloud – one of the things I always complained about – now, her eyes are bright and there’s light behind her. And the interesting thing is, all it took was the act of forgiveness. She said at the end of that first day “It was such a relief to have that conversation.”

Yes, it certainly was.

I started to realize, once all that anxiety and pain had gone away just how much I had identified with it elsewhere in my life. It was a vibration, a feeling, a perception that not only dominated my working life, but also found its way in things I did outside of my job. I had become so used to feeling in my consciousness some form of the angst and pain that started with my co-worker, imagine my surprise when I noticed the transmutation exceeded beyond the workspace. I didn’t fret about projects at home; I felt like I could relax more with my time and myself. Somehow, in some way, holding onto that pain for so long allowed it to ooze into other portions of my being. What a wake-up call!

It made me wonder about all the other attachments we hold onto. We may think certain feelings and thoughts are confined only to certain places and things, but based on this experience, I would have to say “Not necessarily.” Those same feelings can also creep in to other areas of your life, and you may not be aware of it.

When my co-worker and I let go of all that had been staining us, light came in and blossomed into our beings. I felt lighter, freer, and an overall sense of greater happiness – not just at work, but in other areas. This also led to a major spiritual/psychic event that would take too long to speak about here.

Since that dream and that coming together, I have experienced the true power of forgiveness; how it can transmute energy, emotion, and consciousness. Indeed, it’s not just simply forgiving the other person, it’s also about forgiving yourself – to acknowledge what you’ve held onto, and instead of berating yourself for it, coming to the conclusion that it really doesn’t serve you, that it is not you, and simply letting it go. The excuses you may have had to hold onto such negativity were simply that – excuses – no matter how logical they might have seemed. In hindsight, it was a process – I had to go through stages – until finally saying “I’ve had enough. I am willing to do anything not to feel this anymore.” In that declaration, the only thing I hadn’t tried yet was (you guessed it) forgiveness.

It’s also made me keenly aware of how we identify the nature of our existence with the lenses that we choose to perceive reality through; that what we identify as our experience is often a choice; it is an attachment to a perception we have about ourselves or about the nature of a condition – an attachment that we can easily let go of, if we choose to take that out-of-our-comfort-zone leap of faith. In my own sense, I am beginning to realize that who I think I am may be completely invalid; that my thoughts regarding myself and my feelings are simply just attachments that my consciousness has grafted itself to. What were I to become or be like if I were not to identify with my chosen attachments? It’s an interesting thought. Something inside of me says “You’ll be free. You’re much larger and greater than your attachments.” I don’t know, but it sure is interesting. It’s a common universal phrase we hear in spiritual teachings. I think too often we identify ourselves with our attachments, instead realizing our attachments are just expressions of us that are things we have total control over in changing.

One thing I do know: if there’s something that doesn’t feel right, I can forgive myself for aligning with it and move on. And indeed, that is freedom. At that point, there is no attachment – there is no prison cell to confine yourself inside. It just requires the desire to leap beyond the pain, hold onto the inspiration, and have faith.

Until next time …

P.S. In this process, I also noticed how much of a creature of habit I am. It took two or three days to remind myself NOT to feel the angst and anxiety. Parts of me almost tried to forget my co-worker and I had actually had that conversation, as my body was so used to automatically going into that reactionary mode of feeling the pain. Indeed, there was a sense of awkwardness, as it wasn’t “normal” or customary not to feel such energy. My guides instructed me “don’t feel like you need to go out and replace her with something else, just to deal with the same stuff all over again. Keep the message of the lesson in your being.”

Telepathy, Super-Psi, or Talking to the Dead?

It’s a question that has confounded researchers studying mediums since the late 1880’s. During the hey-day of spiritualism and the Society of Psychical Research, the cross-correspondence phenomenon of the early 1900’s convinced many of the SPR scientists the validity of human survival after death. The cross-correspondences consisted of at least three mediums (to as many as five), living many miles apart – in some cases, separated by the Atlantic Ocean – receiving a string of messages purported to come from a deceased personality that, when placed together, created a single meaning (for more info and examples too large to post here, check out http://www.prairieghosts.com/cross_corr.html). In one case, an SPR scientist requested of the spirit to sign a future correspondence with a second medium in a particular way: using a drawn symbol. What was unique about this request was that he asked it in Latin, a language the medium didn’t know. And, as requested, another of the SPR mediums thousands of miles away did draw the requested symbol at the end of one of her sittings.

Now, most of these early mediums were automatic writers, where today’s mediums are considered “mental mediums”; that is, they receive information through the mind and bodily senses and then report it to the sitters. Automatic writers usually pay no attention to what’s going on in their heads and simply let the pen do the talking. Regardless of the style, whether written or mental, detailed and accurate information comes through, and usually quite specific in nature. For instance, when the name or initial of a person is mentioned in a sitting, as in this case from my last 1-on-1:

“Who is the ‘R’ name or sound connected with your father?”

“He had two sons, Robert and Raymond.”

“I also see an ‘A’, so let’s start with Raymond … He’s mentioning a creek, about going down to the creek.”

In this case, my client revealed when she was younger, she was trying to traverse a creek, fell in, and nearly drowned had her brother, Ray, not pulled her out.

Now, this kind of communication coupled with the cross correspondence communication is clearly suggestive of something anomalous happening. The big question with the scientists has been: Is it really talking to the dead?

Some other theories to counter the idea of post-mortem message exchanges are quite plausible: If we can accept the notion of telepathy – which many parapsychologists believe is nearly irrefutable – then what we have here is that the medium plucked out of the sitter’s head both the name and the incident most closely related to the individual. Another explanation is clairvoyance through the quantum holographic model. In this scenario, scientists believe every action and information is recorded at a quantum level and it is simply the medium accessing this information and not necessarily a deceased personality. Another explanation – and one that has been used as an alternative explanation to the cross correspondences – is super-psi, an extension of the original telepathy notion. Here, we have the idea that a medium is really just picking up on the thoughts and ideas of several people at once instead of from the dead. In the cross-correspondence cases, it was thought that the mediums were simply picking up on the thoughts and ideas from the other mediums involved in the experiments – a truly astounding feat if that were the case!

Now, aside from the fact that most mainstream scientists wholly dispute regular ESP and telepathy between a single individual to another, to assign the super-psi answer – though it sounds logical and plausible – is even more incredible. Let’s face it, if we deny regular telepathy, then how could we ever accept a “super” version of it? But then again, that’s if you deny telepathic abilities, which in my case, I don’t. But then, how do you answer the cross correspondence or other mediumistic messages? If scientists deny telepathy on a basic level, then they must also, by default, deny it on a super-psi level. However, if that is the case, that still leaves the question of where the information is coming from. If scientists cannot accept the answer of “the dead,” nor can they accept ESP, then what else is there?

Whatever the truth is, it does point to an amazing potential within the human condition to access information. (On a personal note, I find it humorous that before these other alternative explanations came about, such as the quantum holographic model, if scientists didn’t believe it was the dead, then they considered it telepathy; yet if other scientists didn’t believe in telepathy, then why couldn’t they believe it came from the dead? To me, it’s like – you can’t deny both – you have to admit something, and these are your options. I suppose saying “I do not know” is okay, in order to save face).

Now, what I find really interesting about all this research is – no one has ever asked what the medium thinks or feels. Why do they feel it’s from the dead? Perhaps in some cases, the mediums do not know; it is an assumption. Perhaps it is some kind of scientific protocol not to get the medium’s opinion or perception, that it might somehow taint the evidence or screw with the hypothesis. In either case, there is a missing element in the work that I believe should be included – What does the medium think and why.

My answer to why I think the information is from the deceased: The anomaly of where the spirit is felt standing in the room at the time of communication. To my knowledge, it has never been considered. I find it interesting that science is on the quest of trying to figure out where the information is coming from, but has yet to investigate that sense of occupied physical space. Nowhere in the literature have I read that anyone has mentioned feeling the presence in the room and that the information is flowing from that location. “It’s the sitter’s mind; it’s the holographic model; it’s multiple people’s minds …” Am I the only one who feels the presence in the room and where he/she is standing? I highly doubt it. And to me, that plays a huge part in the experience of conducting a successful sitting. Plus, I think there are many scientific ways of trying to validate that presence, using meters and other devices that might be sensitive to picking up minute environmental changes. We have several success stories in ghost research using detectors and such, and that could be a good place to start.

To me, this feeling of an occupying presence is a defining characteristic to many of the sittings I do. I can feel the personality standing (or in some cases hovering) within a specific area of the environment. I have relatives who appear on different sides of the sitter’s body – I can feel and oftentimes see energy in those places. I have received information from a sitter’s deceased friends (non-blood relatives) who approach from behind me. And sometimes they move – they don’t always remain stationary. These are definite cognitive impressions that suggest to me I am not in my sitter’s mind and could potentially be validated using sensitive technical gear.

Right now, since I can sense and feel a presence, I have to honestly “scratch” the telepathy hypothesis.

Additionally, in cases where I have two or more sitters, again, I feel a presence in the room distinct from either of my clients, and in several cases, some of the information that comes through wasn’t in any of the people’s thoughts at the time I mentioned it. To me, that says “scratch” to super-psi (if my clients weren’t thinking it, then how did I get it?).

There have been many studies over the course of nearly 80 years where people have tried to send information through the means of ESP to a percipient. These tests show that it takes a lot of repetition and concentration to get good statistical results. Most clients in a mediumistic setting, I’ll guess, probably have little to no experience in working with psychic phenomenon and being a sender of ESP paraphernalia, so I would have a hard time believing they were somehow responsible for the information that is relayed, much less the notion that perhaps they would also be supplying the feeling of an additional presence and its location in the room.

Finally, in this short laundry list of alternative explanations lands the quantum holographic recording model. Could I just be accessing the quantum archival network and not talking to dead people? Could the presence I am feeling simply be a recording of that person from the hologram?

Yes, that is acceptable … until the content of the messages come through.

In several cases, the deceased will acknowledge events and happenings that have occurred to the sitter since the deceased had been dead – someone got married, a new child was born into the family, what have you. Quantum holographic recording isn’t adequate enough to explain why the person I feel standing off to my left would be bringing up such information. Moreover, sometimes a deceased person will predict a future event. For instance, I mentioned to a client to watch out for a pair of birds, that’s how her deceased loved one would present himself. Not long after, she received a mysterious photograph of two birds on her cell phone. When she asked the caller why he sent it, he responded “I don’t know … I just felt I needed to.”

To me, though I may be seeing a precognitive event, that it was given to me from the standpoint of where I felt somebody occupying space and in a type of “voice,” I cannot ascribe it coming from the quantum holographic model. Let’s face it – there is meaning behind the action; a purpose for the prediction: a way for the deceased to notify the sitter “I’m all right and will give you the message.” That goes deeper than simply plucking something from a holographic recording, whether that recording has ties into the future or not.

Right now, parapsychologists studying mediums still have yet to say “They’re talking with the dead,” instead they have coined the term AIRS (Anomalous Information Retrieval System).

Yes, for scientists, the information is anomalous because there really is no definitive physical proof or modus operandi that fits within our standard physical model for how the information is received (and since we’re dealing with something essentially non-physical, how weird is it we are not finding physical evidence or clues, right?). The truth is, we may never achieve the level of proof physical scientists are looking for, simply because of the very nature of the phenomenon itself lies beyond the standard “markers” of the physical universe we live in.

But speaking as a medium – when I can see an energy presence and feel its distinctiveness and receive the kinds of information that comes from the direction of where I am sensing it – another possibility is revealed regarding the nature of this situation: I may be (statistically speaking) communicating not through telepathy with the living or some quantum recording field, but to a real person – the dead.

Until next time …

A Ghost of a Chance

Two weeks ago I participated in the paranormal investigation of a private home in northern Snohomish County. The Washington State Ghost Society (I am a member), had been to the location a couple of times prior and the homeowners were gracious enough to allow us to come back to gather more data. Obviously, if the Society is going back several times, it’s a “hot spot.”

As is typical on an investigation, you’re always asking the ghosts you encounter “Why are you here? Did you see a tunnel of light? Why did you not go into it?” Usually, such responses by wandering spirits range from “I was too afraid of being judged by God” to “I just like it here and don’t want to leave.” This weekend, however, I got the most unusual response that I simply had to share.

I was picking up the impressions of a male; it was as if he was just swooping in to see what all the commotion was about (we were having quite the interactive experience that evening). When I posed the questions, he responded with:

“Since I know I have eternity, I’ll go into the light when I’m ready. Until then, I’m still learning about things on earth.” Then he gave me quick visuals of himself popping in and out of various places across the globe, as he was on a quest of exploration. The message was clear: he wasn’t ready to leave until he had satisfied his curiosity about certain aspects of living, types of experience, and energy vortices existent around the planet. It was as if he was a scientist and now – in death – was able to put earth under a different type of microscope and get at some very intriguing mysteries.

The other thing that made this so interesting was that he was so casual about it. It felt as if he knew (or at least had an idea) what would happen upon entering the light and it just didn’t interest him, at least not yet. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the light. It was something he knew he would eventually get to, but wasn’t going to waste time dwelling on. There were more probing questions about planet earth to this wandering soul that compelled him to explore – and since he was no longer confined by the crunching maw of time, by golly, he was going to explore them! “I’ll get to the light when I’m ready. I have all the time in the universe.”

What a refreshing response to a condition we most usually come across as being a result of fear, misinterpretation, or simple ignorance. But in this spirit’s case, he didn’t want to lose moments of precious experience that could be robbed from him were he to go into the light and out of this dimension. His impulse to continue learning – and learning from direct contact – was fuel to keep him here. And since time was no longer a factor in existence, why not? He wasn’t motivated to remain because of unfinished business, attachment to a location, or any of that. Instead, he had ideas or thoughts about earthly existence that he could now investigate from the framework of discarnate infinity – and that was an opportunity he wasn’t going to squander!

Here was somebody that definitely gave himself permission to live life on his own FREE time and by his own desires.

In some ways, we almost feel obligated at death to enter the light and “move on,” yet is it completely out of the question to explore other facets of earthly reality before actually doing so? Is there really a law that states “You must enter the light”? In this gentleman’s case, the answer was clearly “no” and he would go into the light eventually, but it would be at a time of his choosing. In the meantime, his mind was ripe for more learning.

I got the distinct feeling you wouldn’t find this guy knocking things over in your house or manipulating the hot/cold switches in the air to get your attention. Nope. In fact, I bet, you wouldn’t even know he was around. He’s not interested in haunting or doing all those things “dead people do” to connect back to the living. If anything, the world opened up more to him in death than it ever did in life, and he was going to take advantage of it. The earth, it seems, has charisma and faculties even from a non-physical perspective which are just as fascinating as what we can see and experience within the narrow bandwidth of our ordinary bodily senses. Chances for mind expansion – a better understanding of life from this unique perspective (and not groveling to the living about disappointments surrounding the past as some ghosts haunt to do) – was far too alluring and provocative to simply leave behind for the exploration of another universe.

Besides, when you shed the mortal coil and have all eternity, why not stick around and take another whiff of the roses and perchance learn more than what you did before? It’s not like the light is going to go away and leave you stranded.

Death, for this spirit, literally gave him “A ghost of a chance …”

Until next time ---

A Perspective on Fear

When it comes to doing things psychic or otherwise considered “paranormal” or “unordinary,” there’s always a possibility of encountering that essence inside that leaves one crying out “Noooo!” A lot of people experience this when they are forced with public speaking (not necessarily paranormal, but outside a perceived comfort zone), or also having to address an emotional issue with a partner, etc. In technical terms, we call it Fear. And as I alluded to in the latter sentence, it is a form of rallying against going outside your comfort zone.

In this case, fear is not something that is necessarily life threatening, but can be life altering. In being a psychic , the fear always stems from whether or not a decent connection can be made; will images and impressions be understood; will I as the psychic be perceived as legitimate, or simply fooling myself (or worse yet, my clients). If carried to the extreme – if the fear were to be real-ized – indeed it could be life altering. I could get shamed, rejected, and not-so-flattering rumors started that could make me a veritable pariah.

In a nutshell, this type of fear is directly related to the Ego. You know, that personal sense of who you think you are. I have met many psychics and healers who are often troubled by this same fear for the reasons outlined above, and many others that (in my opinion) should be concerned about not having such notions.

But then, this does make you wonder about faith. Do you not have faith in your own abilities? Are you selling yourself short?

I have been very cautious and slow to open up about my abilities during my progression. I have been a practicing medium for over a decade, but it has only been in the last 2 or 3 years that I’ve been brave enough to reveal it to a wider audience and try new things in settings that I would typically have NEVER spoke up in (like a courtroom during jury selection, which I did last week).

I have had several people tell me I have a gift, and if they could do what I can, they would be doing a whole lot more and going a whole lot further with it. That’s great praise for which I am so humbly thankful for, but that doesn’t necessarily curb the fear and overcome the boundaries of the personal Ego.

What does all this mean to you as a reader of this blog? I guess it means that, in these types of cases where we are doing something we consider “out of our comfort zone,” the fear is really pointing to our egos. That’s it. And you know what? We are more than just our egos. Much, much more. Our egos oftentimes love to look at what could be the worst-case-scenario (and even bring up past memories to provide a realistic foundation), but never the most positive, which can rob you of that positive potential future. But the only way we can grow and become All That We Can Be is to occasionally move beyond the comfort zone and grasp that which reveals our sacred sense of our larger beings and to GROW.

How do you do that? One way is to give yourself a foundation of positive past results that the ego (or left-brain, if that is where your ego resides) can’t argue with. I have a list of over 60 validated psychic hits that left me going “wow” over the course of my time, and whenever I get really nervous, I just pull that out and review them.

It came in handy when I entered that courtroom. It was jury selection time, with 30 other potential jurors sitting around me, with the superior court judge at his bench and both lawyers (along with the defendant) facing us. The judge asked us collectively “Is there anything about the case that would make any of you think you couldn’t be an impartial juror?” I had to raise my hand. And because the judge was hard of hearing, I had to say it into a microphone that boomed over the courtroom. I explained that I would not make a good juror because I could potentially receive information about the case before I entered the courtroom that could contradict what the lawyers would present (I prefaced it by saying “You’re all going to think I’m crazy, but –“). For me, if another’s person’s fate was in my hands and I received psychic information that produced such a quandary – yeah, I think it could affect me. Was I nervous? You bet. But you know what the judge said? “Thank you for your candor.” Whether or not he believed my abilities, I don’t know. He could have scoffed and tried ridiculing me, along with the lawyers and everybody else in the room – yet none of that happened. (Incidentally, they released me from my duties). If anything, I stayed true to my integrity, and I had a list of over 60 amazing hits that showed I have some kind of ability that could produce data that I couldn’t just ignore or toss out if I felt such information were forthcoming in a trial. I stretched my comfort zone and did myself, plus also a courtroom defendant, some good.

Lately, when it comes to readings, I’ve been twisting my brain a little, too. Again, this is all ego, and there are some creative ways to get around yourself.

One of my greatest joys is to read about all the science surrounding parapsychology, psi research, and consciousness studies. Whenever I get ready to do a reading, these days I admit to myself that I am really in a fantastic position to diving in and potentially discovering something about those fields. In other words, for me to give a reading is an opportunity for me to expand my awareness and consciousness about the functionality and potential purposes and meaning of psi-related phenomenon. Maybe, in some minute way, I can contribute to this information in the world (one of the reasons I started this blog), and so that gives me great impetus to sit longer and “test” the field of energy as I work within it.

I guess in this sense, I don’t consider myself a standard “psychic” providing a service to the public, but rather an explorer in psi-functioning which has an after-effect of helping my clients. And because I’m exploring the phenomenon, I also feel I may gain something more for the client in the process. Such thinking helps to lessen my ego’s fear and the need to retreat. How much further can I go? I don’t know. I totally believe in baby-steps (and there have been a few who would prefer to shove me). Yes, this means I do have an ego - a self-protective mechanism. And that’s okay.

But in order to really grow, you do have to go beyond yourself. And that’s the challenge – and it can come with fantastic rewards, but sometimes you don’t know until you get there.

You don’t have to sell yourself short, just stretch yourself a little bit longer … It can help you, it can help your clients, it can even help strangers – such as a defendant in a courtroom.

Sort of feel like this blog has been a ramble, but there you have it …

Remember, you are a perfect being.

Until next time!