A Welcome to Your Spirit this Spring

Spring in the Pacific Northwest is just right around the corner for us.  Already, some of the trees are starting to flower and I am seeing new flowers sprout from the soil.  If you’re like me, you are getting excited.  It’s time to wake up from the cold dark winter and welcome back the light!

This time of year always harkens to a sense of rejuvenation.  In a way, it is not much different than what happens to our loved ones when they leave their body to transition into the afterlife.  One could easily make the case that while we are alive on planet earth, our senses become dull to the fullness of our multidimensional selves and we have entered into a type of focus that mimics a sense of hibernation inside the vastness of our souls.  Indeed, those in spirit report back that when they look at us from their vantage point, we oftentimes appear asleep in terms of our awareness.  Some spirits report that we look “dark and shadowy” – not much different than nature looking dark and barren during the winter.   

This changes when we leave this environment at death.  It is not so much because we are leaving the limited body behind (that is part of it), but also because we are stepping out of the entire space/time framework the world works in.  This departure gives the newfound spirit an entirely new perspective on the life and world just left behind.  It’s as if we have been living like a two-dimensional painting on canvass, then suddenly peeling ourselves off and seeing not only the canvass, but that we are really three-dimensional with properties and aspects of being we never knew we had!    

This has got to feel like waking up from a cold winter and finding yourself being greeted by a warm and luscious new Spring.  The Other Side has oftentimes affectionately been referred to as “the Summer Land.”  No doubt, at the moment of earthly departure, we move into the Spring time of new spiritual life and then dance into the Summer.

As we begin to re-awaken from our winter slumber, take some time to go within and re-awaken your spirit.  If you have spent much of the winter indoors, head out to welcome the new life growing all around you.  Reconnect with it.  Feel its vibrancy re-emerging and allow it to inspire a re-emergence within you.   You are a vital, beautiful, loving spirit!  Let your light shine with the new light of Spring!  Stretch out your arms, take in a big gulp of air, then feel your energy skyrocket to every corner of creation.  Know that our loved ones in spirit see this, feel it, and send it back to us.

It’s all about the cycle of life and its eternal nature.  Let’s embrace the coming seasons … or rather, let the coming seasons embrace us. 

Remember, you were born a perfect spirit.  So be sure to have a spirited day!

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.  

Summer Fun!

The summer is here!  Spring has come and gone, and the blog has been pretty silent.  It’s been quite an active time for me – 1-on-1 readings, some private home groups, a lot of personal development (falling down and getting back up) but most of all – training from halfway around the world! 

Arthur Findlay College

I spent two weeks in June at the fabulous Arthur Findlay College of mediumship and psychic studies in Stansted, England.  When I first signed up, I was told by other mediums who had previously attended the college that two weeks was too much; that the tutors were going to put me through boot camp (to the point I would question whether or not I had any mediumistic ability or wonder why I got into mediumship in the first place).  After having gone through the experience, the rumors – for me – were only half-true.  Indeed -- two weeks was too much.  By the second week, my cup had overflowed from the first week – I had still yet to process all of it!  Nevertheless, I pushed through week two and came out at the end fulfilled, happy, and with a real sense of accomplishment – not only for myself, but also for my classmates.  Yes, the tutors do work you hard, but that’s the point of being there; to learn and stretch yourself.  I walked away having a much clearer sense of my abilities, my strengths and weaknesses, and a whole wonderful group of new amazing and fantastic mediumistic friends from around the world.  (Thanks to my Japanese friends, I am starting to take Japanese language courses, with the intent to travel to Tokyo in the next few years and hopefully be able to do some readings there).

New Friends from Around the World

The other half of this amazing trip was touring London.  My wife joined me after my time at the college and we spent nearly two weeks visiting castles, monuments, and museums.  I swear, the entire history of the world is right there in London, when you factor in all the sensational museums!  (The real Rosetta Stone is at the British Museum – how cool is that?). 

Hampton Court

A few of the highlights were visiting Hampton Court (home of King Henry VIII -- and so much other incredible history, including the commencement of the King James Bible) and the Tower of London.  Why the tower?  If you check out my blog entries from August/September 2010 (you can find those on the right-side bar), you’ll read about my experiment to link with the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII.  The trip to the tower brought additional confirmation from that reading, demonstrating the validity of the link. (In that reading, Anne had shown me the face of the church where they had interred her body.  I was stunned when I suddenly realized I was looking right at, with a plaque commemorating her burial.  Additionally, I purchased a fantastic book ‘The Lady in the Tower’ which chronicled her time at the tower and her execution, which brought further validations from that reading). 

Memorial showing Anne's execution at the Tower, May 1536

While at the site, I opened up and asked Anne to come forward, which she did, giving me a few more bits of data which I’ve been able to confirm, thanks to the Lady in the Tower book.  (I will be returning again next year, and will be doing some specific work connecting with Anne and these locations.  I can’t wait to see wait unfolds). 

Outside the Chapel where Anne is Interred

London is an amazing city; a definite hub for cultures from around the world.  8 million people crowd the metropolis.  Thankfully, their transit system is top notch!  The underground tube stations are incredibly easy to understand, making travel to various destinations pretty much hassle-free, in terms of logistics, so you can avoid on-street traffic (which is a nightmare).  

High Rise Apartments 

With history going back to Roman times, the architecture of ancient buildings smack down in the middle of modern city blocks makes walking the town a real treasure for the senses.  For this Pacific Northwest native, everywhere I looked, I just wanted to gasp “Wow ...”  I love history, and in some way, the city’s past was evident on nearly every street.

Old Church Among Modernity

Now that I’m home, I’m following through with what all my assessment tutors from the college (and several mediumistic students) had told me I need to do, as given to them in their readings of spirit for me.  That is, to finish writing Volume II of the Afterlife Interviews; I’m almost done typing the first draft now.  (Actually, they didn’t say Afterlife Interviews specifically – though a few them were spot on as to the book’s nature and content design.  In addition, it was said that there will be a few more books relating to spirit which I will write, and that the information will go much deeper than what is typically presented in the mainstream).  The other thing that consistently came up from spirit – and I found this absolutely fascinating – was to “write that screenplay.”  No one knew I had a background in screenwriting (that was my first love of writing, and I’ve actually had the privilege to pitch to Hollywood producers in the past).  I’ve had an idea for a script the last six months, and it came up consistently from spirit in many of the readings to “get to work on it.”  So I’m currently in “research mode” to gather the data for the storyline.  Right now, the working title is “Chasing Echoes.”  And, yes, it deals with mediumship and working with spirit (that’s all I’m going to say about it for now J).  Naturally, I am also continuing to hone and develop my mediumship skills, taking all that I have learned from the college and stretching myself with it.  That, in combination with all the writing – I’m definitely working for spirit! 

As summer turns into Fall and Winter, don’t hesitate to contact me for your own personal reading, or to set up a private home group.  Spirit wants to communicate!  I am honored and blessed to help make that connection. 

Have a great summer everyone!

With much love,

Jeffrey

 

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

The Inner Landscape

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

_______________________________________________________

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

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

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

This is actually not the case.

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

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

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

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

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

‘til next time!