Akiane Kramarik - Spiritual Young Artist

How's this for channeling?

An Announcement

Well, I can't say as how I've been Miss Johnny on the Spot with posting entries to this blog on a fairly regular basis, but I would like to announce that I have finally decided to write a book about learning how to channel. Interestingly, it was the guides who helped me out with the idea. And, because it is appropriate I figured I'd relay the story here.

I've been in the dumps for some time now. I know that I can likely do something constructive to get out of them, but I have this character trait that tends to like to wallow for awhile. So, this explains being in the dumps. A little anyway.

There are health concerns. Some not feeling well because of my diabetes that frightened me. Some news about early stage cataracts in both of my eyes. Some work related issues. I keep reaching down the throats of the people I work with and trying to rip out their tonsils. At least, it seems that way. I'm not having any luck at it, but I keep trying. Money concerns, but who doesn't have those? Menopause is driving me nuts. And, last but not least: I'm fat and ugly. If that's not enough to depress anybody I don't know what is. So, that was the scenario.

It was the news about the cataracts that tipped the balance of wallowing in depression and despair to actually doing something constructive and fun.

Anyway, I was driving home from work recently and Seth said, "Why don't you write a book about channeling? You can have it done by your birthday." I almost had an accident. Not that hearing from my guides while I'm driving home is anything new. It was what he said. It struck every chord in my being just right. Life was fun again. Just with those few words. So, I've been mulling it over ever since.

And, that's my announcement. By September 1, 2008 I hope to be able to offer a book for sale about Learning How To Channel.

I started writing this morning. I've got 1,300 words done and it isn't even 7:30 in the morning. I talked about the process yesterday evening over on The Spirit Moved Me and Look What Happened. I figure I could find a little gizmo widget sort of thing to track my progress. That would be fun. Sort of like weighing myself every day. I'm not a skinny person so I do that. I feel comfortable with it.

Much of what has been written in this blog will be fodder for the grist mill of writing. I tend to not reuse things, so if you've been reading the entries of this particular blog you won't be re-reading anything when you purchase the book. It will all be new material.

What About My Wife?

Here's an email I got today:

I've enjoyed reading your sites. But I am curious if your husband supports your efforts of channeling? I am interested in doing the same, but I think my wife would think I'm nuts or something. I've been reading and reading about the subject but have not really shared my interest with my wife. She is more religious than I am and I'm afraid that I would offend her all the while feeling like she would think I'm nuts or something. Just curious of your view point?

Here's my answer: By all means tell your wife what you want to do and why. Try to include her in what you are doing. And, you do want her support.

The road to channeling of reading and meditation and thoughtful introspective thinking can help everyone whether they actually channel or not. It's the idea of getting more in tune with your inner self, having more confidence in what you do and in what you think that are the benefits that come from the path to channeling. Also, there is the desire to be more on your own path of spiritual development.

And, then there are the nuts.

What also happens is that people have expectations of what channeling is and that's where the nutty ideas come in. I can certainly see how a spouse, especially one who is religious would be alarmed at what her husband was doing.

If you think that the channeling will not take away from anybody's, yours or your spouse's faith and can convince her of it too then I would think things would be okay.

It's in the early days of channeling where the odd things happen. That's when I advise people to sort of keep their mouths shut and try real hard to keep one foot on the curb of rational thought. That's when God comes to you to say there is a fantastic sale down at the local hardware store and if you jump in the car RIGHT THEN you will be able to have the buy of the century. Those are just the early warped days of channeling. It's not true. It is your guide speaking to you, but it is also you with a whole boat load of preconceived expectations and ideas of what the channeling process SHOULD be. It's once you get accustomed to the new energies, to the new talking, address your own psychological growth issues (and everybody, absolutely everybody has them) then, things begin to settle down.

But, it's not just a simple thing of, "This week I'm going to learn how to channel". It's a life changing experience. And, you could alienate your wife in the process. You do not want that to happen. Once you make contact with Spirit there is no going back and unmaking contact with your guide.

There's also a stage (and I went through this too) of where you get all sorts of helpful advice from the guides for everybody and you feel you must share. Folks tend to not like that. You'll learn caution and when to keep your mouth shut. This cautionary note would hold for anybody whether they are married or not. Can you imagine going to your boss to say, "You know, my guides said if you were to stop dragging your dog around the lake with you every time you go out to jog the dog would be a lot happier." Right. See what I mean?

I wouldn't say the various religions are so keen on having parishioners going about channeling. That's what the priests, ministers and rabbis are there for: to interpret God's laws. Not you. They just don't seem to like it. There is a place for it, but I haven't tried real hard to find it. (One of the guides just said that's when you go make your own church.) I did know a priest once who I told about my channeling experience. As he and I talked over time I remember once he said to me that I sounded like his spiritual advisor. That's as close as I've come to any sort of acceptance by a member of the clergy. It was brief and now I've lost touch with that priest. I've never sought out another one. But, that brief interchange did much to give my confidence a boost.

My husband is supportive of my efforts now. He was a little anxious in the beginning. There was a real tense moment once early on when he said I had to chose between him or my guide. I stood my ground and said I was going to have them both. Even then I realized that there was no way I could unmake the connection to Spirit and there was no way I could live the rest of my married life under a cover of silence from Spirit.

So, I learned a little discretionary caution. Everybody is going to have a different experience. It's been 15 years that I've been channeling. Even though it was strange trying to find a place for the new me in my married life I did. And, I'm glad for it. I'm more outgoing now. I'm a little bolder. I've had to do my own psychological work, which, by the way does not stop. You work on it a little...a year or so goes by and then you work on it some more. This is an absolute must for anybody doing channeling. You don't want to end up like some nut mowing down innocent civilians in a misguided effort to save the world. So, your own psychological health is an area of constant observation. My relationship with my husband is solid. It weathered my journey into channeling. It wasn't always easy, but we came out the other end of it even happier together, more accepting of each other than before.

What you could do, if after all that I've told you if you decide the upheaval in your marriage isn't worth the trouble of learning how to channel move into the introspective writing mode where you begin to meditate a bit, where you pray, where you balance your life with useful and healthy activities (jogging, gardening, exercise, yoga maybe, stuff like that), where you begin keeping a journal for writing whatever you want to write about and where you do a self evaluation to see if there is anything along the lines of psychological healthy making things you can do to help yourself, including your wife in these activities too. Check out Byron Katie. Google her and you will see her website and books, "Loving What Is". Terrific book. Absolutely terrific. It's not channeling. It's supporting spiritual and healthy life for yourself and your wife. I hope this helps.

How to Develop Your Psychic Self - Vision

Pretend. I know it doesn’t sound very grown up, but pretending is actually a good tool to use in whatever endeavor you are undertaking. You envision something enough, it gets burned into your brain cells and then the actual doing of the thing is easier the next time you do it. Works with dancing and golf swings. Why wouldn’t it work with psychic stuff?

So, what could you envision? Well, envision vision. Close your eyes and imagine that you are seeing a flower. A daisy with white petals. Don’t see it? Get a real one or a picture of a daisy and have it in front of you. Actually, anything would work. Use your coffee cup if that’s handy. Or a pen or whatever is in front of you. In the kitchen? Use the toaster. Anything. Stare at the object for a few seconds. Close your eyes and picture it in your mind’s eye.

I actually have a hard time with this exercise. When I close my eyes I just see red, the light filtering in through my closed lids. But, there’s a difference between just closing your eyes and moving into the psychic seeing part of your mind where you can picture things. For me, it’s sort of like closing my eyes and moving into a meditative sort of state. Well, semi-meditative.

This was actually one of the first exercises to do when I was learning how to channel. I sucked at it then and I suck at it now. But, doing it was important. And, even though I’ve never quite gotten the knack of it I have experienced psychic sight. For me it’s easier if my guide holds the object in question. As he moves in my mind’s eye I see him and I see the object he is holding. It’s a really quick flash of vision that doesn’t last more than a second or two. Maybe with time I’ll get better at it. But, for now that’s mostly what works for me.

Also what’s important for me to imagine seeing things psychically is that meditative state of mind. I do have to close my eyes to get there. I do need a relatively quiet area to work in. I really don’t need people talking to me. And, how I do it is that I envision the person I’m interested in doing a psychic reading for. I might not be able to see them in the flesh. I might only have had an email from them asking me some question. But, that slight contact is enough for me to reach out psychically and make a connection with that individual.

The information that comes to me about that individual comes in several different ways. I experience a knowingness about the situation. I can see spots on their body. Like I might see a dark circle on a knee or on their mid-section. Sometimes it is a word that sort of floats out of nowhere that I hear. Betrayal. Confusion. Anxiety. Stuff like that. Sometimes I am transported to some place. Like once I was focusing in on a missing girl presumed to be dead. Zam…I’m off seeing a dirt floor and a bunch of tumbleweeds. Where that was I have no idea other than I think it was where she died.

Many times the information does not make sense to me at all. I just report what I am seeing or hearing to the person. Lots of times it doesn’t make sense to them. But, later on maybe it might.

I think I do my best work, though, through my guides. I surrender to the moment and allow what they have to say to come through me. Seeing as how I’m a channel that’s the best way I work. Anyway, I’m sort of sucky lately at verbal channeling, but I’m better at the typewritten channeling. I just let it flow and they talk.

If I’m not too anxious or worried about stuff their information comes through in a clearer manner. If I’m off balance about something some times they come up with some really off the wall stuff. Like if suddenly in the middle of a channeling session somebody starts talking about the Marx brothers or Tarzan or something that has absolutely nothing to do with the point of whatever we were talking about then I know I need to settle down and do a little bit of psychological work to center myself again.

And how do I re-tune myself psychologically you might ask? Well, I close my eyes, go into that semi-meditative state of mind and ask myself the question, “What’s bothering me right now?” I allow whatever is foremost on my mind to float up and be there. I’ll sort of zero in on the idea of whatever it is and make a connection with whatever it is and my inner child. Something somewhere back when I was a little girl didn’t get done right and now it’s risen its ugly head to bother me as a 52 year old woman. So, I deal with it. Takes 10 minutes and I’m good to go until the next weird thing happens.

Like if I close my eyes now and do the same thing it has to do with me as a little girl not expressing myself as much as I’d like to have done. Quiet little girl. Invisible little girl. Needs to shout and run and play and have fun. So, in my mind’s eye I encourage that little girl to do all of those things. For a few seconds I see her skipping and running. Hell, I see her do cart wheels. I never, ever did things like that when I was a girl. Ah, she’s caught a ball. I couldn’t do that either. Just a really active little girl. Moving. Running. Skipping. Fast. And happy. Very, very happy to be doing all of those things. I think I’m done.

And, somehow doing this started with closing my eyes and trying to see a flower.

Hair Cut

As a note before you begin reading this post, it is a very mundane example of a conversation the guides and I had. It's not earth shaking revelations. It's just me and the guides. This one about hair cuts. I've put their parts in italics.

I just love Saturday mornings. One thing about the guides is they are always there with handy suggestions and this morning is no exception. I’ve been dithering around about getting my hair cut for some time. I have yet to find somebody who I really, really want to return to for a second cut. I’ve been to Nancy where I work several times and haven’t ever been all that happy with the cuts I get there. She’s nice and asks about DeeDude who does get his hair cut with her, but if her assistant is the one to do the cutting she tends to do what she wants and not what I talked to her about. The last time I was there I was absolutely shocked at how short my hair got. Nancy even said examining the cut with a critical eye, “I think it is a bit too short”. Whether her assistant is there any longer is up for grabs, but I think I’ll steer clear of her place.

The next place is a chain operation down at South Shore Plaza in Alameda. I’ve gotten cuts there twice and they were both okay. Not fabulous, but I suppose what you’re working with has to be pretty good too. My orange hennaed hair has mostly grown out. I’m no longer brown, but a mix of black and white. DeeDude said to me, “It’s gray”. So, that place is a possibility. It’s just that I’d like to combine it with another errand because it is a bit of a jog down there. Not far, but I am using gas and gas hereabouts is going for $3.55 a gallon.

The third place is across the street. Somewhere I have the lady’s card. And, I suppose the telling point in all of this is that the last time I got my hair cut I did like what she’d done. However, after a bit it tended to stick out all over the place. I’m not accustomed to getting a cut every month, so I want something that is going to last.

Dear, if we might interject here?

Sure.

When you opt for a shorter hair style the very idea of having it be short and styled is that you maintain it. And, you have to do that every month or 6 weeks. It just grows out and that was the every which way you spoke of.

Oh.

Well, it does appear to be one of those “no-brainer” sorts of situations as you refer to them, but you are unaccustomed, as you said, to shorter styles. Longer hair does not require as much maintenance as a shorter style.

The question is do you wish to maintain a shorter style for awhile? If you do just settle on getting it cut more often. The woman across the street is convenient. You do not need to spend money on gasoline and she could use the business. And, by your own admission you cannot do as good a job cutting your own hair when it is short.

The idea is to take care of yourself. Having a fabulous hair cut is not going to change the fact that you have health issues and that your back hurts. What it will do is to boost your spirits somewhat and that in combination with the other things you do to ensure better all around health will only serve to create a rosier picture of your own creation.

PS---I ended up getting a nice haircut from a place I hadn't been to before just a few doors away from where I go to Curves. I'll probably go back there for my next one. And, that's a load off of my mind.

Be Persistent

Part of learning how to channel involves both faith and that motivational technique of imagining yourself already doing something. Because, otherwise, it just doesn’t seem like much can possibly be happening a lot of the time.

One thing about the guides is if it is not appropriate they don’t say much. They can be there. In fact, everybody has a guide. And that guide is in very close contact with you. So, if you were to direct your thoughts toward that guide that’s a good thing. It’s like praying though. God doesn’t always answer out loud. So, don’t expect your guide to either. Just know that your guide is there and you can talk to him or her. In your head and heart is sufficient. It doesn’t have to be out loud.

The other thing that is helpful is when you have been doing this for 3 years and nothing has happened as far as concrete communications from your guide is that you don’t give up.

Figure, too, that the vessel might not be ready and there are other things you need to do. That’s why I think middle aged adults are able to do this more easily than younger folk. They’ve been around a while longer and have just flat out done more things.

Do what amuses you. Want to learn Italian? Don’t think it has anything to do with talking to your guide? Think again. Learn Italian.

Somehow when you take the focus of your attentions away from the contact guide quest for a brief period it actually begins happening. It’s sort of the same technique for manifestation. You want and want and want something to be so badly. Then, you release the want to the universe and it happens.

In the Wee Hours of Night

So, it’s the middle of the night. I couldn’t sleep. Or, rather, I awakened and then, it wasn’t easy to get back to sleep. I decided to pray for “my” folks. These are people I know who aren’t doing so well. These are folks who’ve visited my sites. Anybody who needs it, I guess.

I’ve come to think of the folks I say prayers for as a group. I might not think of them individually, but sometimes images of them cross my mind. Sometimes these aren’t always folks who are still in body, but have already passed on. In the old days I wouldn’t really have thought to pray for somebody who’d passed on. I guess I figured they were done with the race and didn’t need a rooting section any longer. But, now-a-days that doesn’t really seem to apply anymore.

I don’t know why I pray other than I feel I should. I’m drawn to it. And, the praying for me isn’t like it was when I was growing up. It isn’t a pleading, whining sort of prayer. Please, please, please. And, if you do I promise. That sort of praying. At least, not tonight it wasn’t.

This night’s prayer was more a wanting to send healing towards those who could use it. I am in need of it too, so I figured I’d pray for all of us. And, so, as I flailed around wanting to do that I got some advice from the guides.

I’m a second level Reiki practitioner, except, I haven’t really done it in awhile. I had a sort of a basic disagreement (although it works on me well enough) with the whole idea of secret, secret, secret as it was presented to me when I learned how. Maybe that has changed since then. I don’t know. I’ve always been more attracted to the idea of healing energies present everywhere and that pretty much anybody can open to them. That just feels more right to me than any other sort of view. What I couldn’t seem to reconcile was how it sometimes worked for me and other times it was like I was kicking a closed door.

So, as we talked tonight I wasn’t all that sure if what I was doing for myself and for anybody else was working or a mostly wasted effort. And, that’s when the guides talked:

In this, we are happy to be here tonight. Now, not as it was with you in your dreamy semi-meditative state of half an hour ago. Our blessings to you and to all who happen upon this entry. The “rule” as it were is that to successfully utilize healing energies one might be sensitive enough and open enough to accept them. Compare a similar situation where a person is standing out in the rain. If they are wearing their rain gear and carrying an umbrella the likelihood of them getting wet is less than were they to be walking around in the all together. Think of the rain as if it were healing energies and think of the rain gear you wear as all your defenses.

Defenses are there to protect you. Logically created in a moment of need you decide the best way to handle a particular situation is to always respond by doing “X”. “X” might happen to be eating. “X” would be, then, what you do to protect yourself from your fears. Think about them. Get to the root of them and you can begin to strip away the onion skin that covers you. It is many layered.

It is the same with love. Open more fully to yourself, to who you are, to the love inside of you and you can open more fully to other people.

In fact, think of healing energy as if it were air. It is always there. You are not always aware of air, but you breathe all the time. When the wind blows your conscious awareness is drawn to it. But, normally most do not notice.

Think of healing energy as all around you. All the time. What does it look like? Sort of pink at times. Depends on what you are most in need of. This is why colored stones are sometimes effective. The energy and vibrations given off by the stones, the heart of the earth and made of the same stuff you are made of begin to resonate together.

But, for now we speak of general healing energy. Say a short prayer, a declarative statement to yourself. This is for you, for your higher self, for the angels who are watching, for your guides, for your mother who roots for you even to this day as she lives in Heaven, all of these entities, all the same. All rolled into one. This, your declarative statement:

I say I am ready to heal. I would be open to healing in whatever way will best support my lessons on earth. I ask that you help me in whatever way is appropriate to move closer to a place where I am able to see more clearly, to understand and to open easily to the love and healing energies all around me.

Love never went away. Healing never went away. It is one. Our blessings.

Psychics

Have you ever gone to see a psychic? Are you too afraid of what they might say to you? Do you think they can see into your heart and know your most awful secret?

I’ll tell you what I see if that will make you feel any better.

I know we are all connected on a different level. It’s invisible. It’s something you can imagine. It’s close to Heaven. All of us emanate from Source and we’re all made of star stuff. My soul sees your soul on an equal footing. No language barriers. No age barriers. No cultural differences.

I pretend to go to that place. I just close my eyes, take a deeper breath and I’m with you. If it helps you I can say that I sense just how much you want to make a difference in the lives of those you care about and I can say that you do. I can tell you the things we worry about just don’t amount to a hill of beans. It’s going to rain eventually. Why keep looking for clouds when you might be enjoying the sunny skies? It's interesting, but many times whatever a psychic sees for you is exactly what you know already.

Just for fun go to a psychic. You don’t have to spend a whole lot. It's been my experience that a reading could go anywhere from $35 to $75. It’s sort of like playing the slots. You’re probably going to lose your money, but hey, wasn’t it interesting? Every year for my birthday I pick a psychic at random. Mostly, I trust my own guidance and just sort of let my fingers do the walking on the internet. I've met some nice people that way and gotten some interesting insights into what I do.

Rule 1: Remember the psychic is human just like you are. This person is going to interpret whatever they see for you using what they know of life. In fact, what they might interpret as a really intense and creative portion of your life you might view as a very difficult or tense time.

Rule 2: If the psychic starts saying things like, “You should” or “You must” change their choice of words in your mind to, “You might consider” .

Rule 3: The future is totally in your hands. Whatever anybody sees for you is not what the future has to be. If I see you as a train wreck waiting to happen you could also turn that train wreck into a good thing. Many times people have to hit rock bottom for them to make changes in their lives.

Rule 4: If the psychic tells you that you need to have more consultations with them, spending more money each time or if they say anything about a curse walk away.

Rule 5: Do it yourself. Go buy yourself a deck of Tarot cards. Look online for free tutorials. Get a Tarot reading to see how a psychic does it and learn to do readings for yourself. Or, go buy a bag of runes and do the same thing.

How to Develop Your Psychic Self

One of the things you can do to encourage psychic instances in your life is to, first of all, recognize they are happening.

Many times a psychic hit, as I call it, doesn’t always announce itself with a grand entrance. It doesn’t happen that you will hear a voice that says, “Okay, Binky: This is a psychic hit. Pay attention.” No, mostly they are pretty quiet. Many times when I have a psychic hit I don’t realize that it has happened until after the thing it announced is over. Generally, I say to myself then: “Oh, crap. Why didn’t I pay attention?”

I think most people are afraid they might be causing something to happen by having a premonition of the event. Like you dream of a plane crash and three days later there is one. Then, the person feels awful thinking there might have been something they could have done to prevent it from happening.

Be calm about the whole idea of having a premonition. Because we are all different we all put our own personal stamp on our interpretation of life, but when you are tense or fearful you will more dramatically color the information coming through. It’s like the difference between two psychics. One tells you to pack up and move to another city because your life is going to be miserable. The other psychic says that you are going to be having some pretty intense lessons coming up, but with patience and fortitude you will get through them. The information presented to each psychic was the same. What was different was how it was presented.

My own next step with my psychic impressions is to honor the fact that I’m getting them at all. So, even if you find yourself looking backward to say, “Oh, man, that must have been a psychic hit.” Feel good that you had one. I think this will encourage more to happen.

I guess what might be helpful here is to define a psychic hit. With me it is that small feeling that comes over me as I am just ready to do something that says, “This just does not feel right.” But, I do it anyway. And, whatever it is that I was doing gets messed up. It is a very, very quiet feeling. It’s a stillness that happens in the middle of a riot. Maybe it is different for other people, but for me that’s what it is like.

You don’t have to tell people about whatever it is. I think you have to have a lot of them before you can start saying with certainty, “I don’t think we want to hire this person because I’m having a weird feeling about them.” Try not to base your really important decisions on your psychic hits until you are pretty certain they are mostly all spot-on.

We all have intuitive feelings. The psychic hit is just an intuitive feeling taken up to the next level.

Spirit Moved Me

I’m thinking about what folks mean when they say, “The Spirit moved me.” I suppose it means different things for different people. (Please note, further down in this entry Spirit moved in. I put their parts in green. )

You might think that Spirit means something holy, a bit of Heaven, God, representative of good and what’s right. You might think Spirit is of the paranormal, ghosties or of energies left behind after horrific events have taken place. You might think of Spirit as the collective unconscious. In any case, Spirit is mysterious, unknown, not given to eloquent conversation and somewhat forbidding.

And, if Spirit moved you it might mean you did something that you normally would not do in any given set of circumstances, meaning that whatever you did came out of left field and you can’t claim responsibility, therefore Spirit must have moved you. It’s like there’s you as a distinctive and individual part of the universe and then there’s Spirit who stands apart from you.

I would ask you to take a moment and to think in terms, just for the few moments it takes to read this, that you and Spirit are one. That there is not a discernable boundary between where you end and where Spirit begins. You don’t have to feel this. Just for a moment pretend that it is really true.

Now, if that were true why would you ever be afraid of Spirit?

You know about you. You know what your favorite color is. You know what you like to eat. You know what you like to read. You know what your favorite season is. What do you know about Spirit? Well, you’re pretending that you and Spirit are one. If you’re as comfortable in your own skin with your own stuff why wouldn’t you be as comfortable with Spirit?

What exactly is Spirit? Well, we were sort of discussing that above. It is different things for different people. Okay, so if we are to presume that Spirit is the holy part of us, the God part, the heavenly part, then the other extreme might mean that we, the human part is bad, evil, wicked, nasty and prosperous during the Depression. Right. Get serious here. You are one and the same. Okay, I sense Spirit moving more in this essay.

Yes, you got it Binky.

Hey, I’m trying to be serious here.

We noticed.

Okay, since you’re here would you like to say something?

We were here before. There is no turning Spirit off. Think of it as waves. The more you surrender, the more you open, the more you welcome the idea of Spirit into your life, the more obvious we might be.

I think people wait for something different to happen to them and when it doesn’t they think that they haven’t done it right. Like if you pray hard enough and good enough your prayers will be answered and if they are not answered then you didn’t do something right.

Well, we understand this happens. We might ask you why you want anything different than what is already happening to happen?

Oh, God.

Dear. Really, think about it.

Okay. What will be will be. God isn’t there punishing anybody. Shit happens sort of things.

Well, yes. But, you can make the choice of being bothered by it or not. You can’t make anybody else alter the way they feel about what goes on in life. Think of it this way: If you are bothered by something this is an indication that you can concentrate on whatever it was that bothered you, get to the root of the problem and heal it for yourself. Then, the next time that “something” happens you can gauge the extent of your progress by seeing that you are no longer bothered by it the way you were bothered the first time. Being human isn’t something to escape. Being human is the best way to express yourself right now. Rejoice.

Sticks and Stones

Nobody likes to be laughed at. They also don’t like to be chastised. Yet, it happens all the time; perhaps not blatantly, but certainly in unobtrusive ways. What do you do? Well, you could be embarrassed. Or, you could be angry or afraid. Or, you could just let it not bother you.

The question is how do you get to the point where things like that would not bother you? Nobody likes to be rejected, but it happens all the time.

Okay, here’s where I ask for a guide’s help. I’m figuring I’ve got too much psychological stuff going on to be able to give a nice clear and welcome answer to this question. (The channeled parts are in green.)

Good morning.

Good morning.

What is it you’d like to know about?

Well, I just said it up there.

Yes, it was rather disjointed. Could you be a bit more succinct?

Right. (Eyes narrowing wondering what is going on, but is willing to play along)…How can a person not be bothered by the stuff other people say about them?

If the “stuff” people say is framed in terms of constructive criticism then you might consider the advice. If what is being said is merely hurtful or slanderous you could allow it to not bother you.

Yes, but that’s the point. How do you get it to not bother you? For me those things hurt a lot. And, it really doesn’t help now because I get an instant hot flash with it. That really points out to me something just happened I don’t like and I really have to fight to come back to normal.

Ah, so now we are talking about you instead of people in general.

Well, yes. It did cross my mind, but I figured other people had the same problem so I was going to talk about it like it wasn’t me.

Why?

Well, I’m supposed to be the psychic. I should be above stuff like that.

Why?

Just because I figure I ought to.

I see.

You’re not being very helpful here.

If you read back through the discourse you will see that we are waiting for you to come to the realization that you are the one who controls how you feel not the other person.

Okay. So give me a hint about what to do about this. Please.

Nice never hurts.

Thank you.

When you recognize that you are having a reaction to something somebody says whether to you, about you or just within your hearing, that is the time to take the time to look inside and ask yourself what it is about that particular interchange that hurt you and why. If you are at work you can excuse yourself to go to the lady’s room, sit in a stall in relative quiet, have your rolled up sweater at hand in case you need to stuff it into your mouth if you happen to gasp or cry out. Or, if you are at home go lie down on your bed.

Sit quietly. Take a deep breath and think this intention in your mind: I want to know why I got upset just now. Then, you promise yourself that you will pay attention to whatever comes forward out of your subconscious demanding a bit of your attention. Whatever this is can come as a suddenly remembered incident from your childhood, a spoken word or two or as a vision. This procedure does not need to take a long time at all. Two minutes works fine. A dump would take longer.

Maybe for you.

Well, do you think this will work?

I think it’s good advice. Yes, I think it will work fine. Thank you.

You are quite welcome.

Email about Ouija Board

Here's a terrific email I got this morning:

I have been studying the metaphysical side of life for many years now. I've read Edgar Cayce books, Jane Roberts book with Seth as well as other books. I have made great progress. A few months ago I bought a ouija board. It took several tries with my teenage children to get the board to work for us. Now we have it done perfectly and have some wonderful, positive experiences. My concern is for my teenage daughter. I don't want her to be doing this on a weekly basis with me as I'm afraid that some of her traditional religious friends will find out and begin judging her in a negative way causing her to lose her friendships.

So, I've begun to try to use the board myself. I haven't had much luck, and the spirits I have talked to about this say, I have too many doubts, and I need to relax. I asked one spirit if I should meditate more, and he said as long as I "don't fall asleep". I had to chuckle at that one, because the day before I was trying to really meditate, and felt myself falling asleep as my hands were on the planchette!!

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Yes, I always open the gate with positive prayer, prayer for protection and call upon those spirits who are within God's light and love to communicate with me. We haven't had any problems with so called "evil" spirits.

And, my answer:

When I decided to work the Ouija board by myself it took longer than 6 months to get it to happen. My problem, too, was that I needed to relax. So, good advice from Spirit.

One suggestion would be to, in the beginning anyway, speak only with your guide. You are like an open window and no matter how hard you pray you are the lady standing at an open window hollering out into Spirit Land, "Come talk to me! I want to talk to you!" Anybody could drop by and, evil or not, they can sometimes be distracting, confusing or obscene. Even your own guide when they crank up the energy level can come through in a distorted manner. When I say, "crank up the energy level" I mean it. It's like your guide is speaking with a five year old in the beginning. "Let's take it easy on her." Suddenly, you got promoted to the 10th grade. They take off the kid gloves and start talking organic chemistry and algebra to you. You gotta be prepared for that. So, when they say, "A,B,C" to you at the 5 year old level that's what you hear: A,B,C. But, when the energy level gets hiked up and they start saying, "When in the course of human events...." you start hearing, "Hey, Bro, take a few minutes to chill and we'll talk to you about a bunch of dudes fighting a war a long time ago." Different.

Also, because the folks in Spirit Land are invisible you really don't know if you are speaking with your guide or with somebody who says they are your guide. You've just got to have faith that it is your guide, no matter how weird they might sound. You state the intention: "I am only speaking with my guide now" and that's it. If your guide tells you that he is really Santa Claus in disguise then you go, "Okay." and don't believe it, know that you are a raw newbie and Spirit has an odd sense of humor sometimes and move forward. It will eventually even out. Just state the intention: "I am going to speak with my guide". (or guides). This is good advice for the first year or so while you are getting used to it. After that you can talk to anybody.

Also, part of what's going on is that your beingness as a human being is distorting what you are hearing. There is no way you are going to get around that. Also, it takes time to become accustomed to speaking with Folk in Spirit. I ball park it with a year's time. Generally, people who channel settle down into nice solid channeling about a year after they start. That first year is La La Land. It was during that time that my guide said to me: "There will come a time when human beings will not need to eat." Right. I bought into it. Until I spoke with a friend who is also a psychotherapist who told me, "Pauline, you have an eating disorder. Listen to what your guide just told you. This is not right. You are filtering stuff through your issues with food."

Also, talking to Spirit is not a one way street. You gotta give something up. And, what that "something" is becomes your nice safe, stable psychological standing in life. They pull the pins out and you begin dealing with your piled up psychological issues. Don't tell me you don't have any. Everybody does. Usually we deal with them quietly when we're ready to deal with them and life goes along smoothly enough. When you're talking to Spirit you step onto the fast track and you, because you are in a position now to help others, can strive to be in the best psychological shape you can be. Being willing to deal with psychological crappiness as it arises in your life makes you a better channel, because that's what you are doing when you talk to Spirit. How do you know you've got psychological issues to deal with? That's when what you're channeling goes south and starts sounding really weird. Or, you attract every crappy driver in town every time you get in a car. Or, stuff just starts bothering you. Or, you start having nightmares. Just deal with it and you'll be a better channel.

Also, people have "issues" that are not healed completely the minute they decide to tackle tough psychological issues. Just be willing to do a bit of work on them. Deal with as much as you can now. Figure that you'll be a happy camper for 2 or 3 years and then you will be stronger and better able to deal with the next stage of whatever issue is there for you. And, that's not just for folks who are channeling. That's advice for everybody. Just deal with what's in front of you until your life settles down and is good again. But, don't figure that it has gone totally away. It's good for now and when you decide (higher self and sub-conscious self) the time is right then you can deal with some more. You don't have to do this, but I feel that it just becomes a better channeling experience if you are willing to do something about your "stuff".


Beyond being able to relax, I'm thinking you can release some of the fear you've got about the whole experience. I'm talking about the prayers, and the protection, and your reference to evil spirits. Just think about it some. Your guide will help too. You are the lady standing at the open window into spirit land. There are axe murderers out there just waiting to talk to you. And, there's nothing you can do to stop it other than to take your hands off the board. And, even then it might be too late, because the board is the first step in channeling, especially if you are wanting to handle it on your own without others to help. The next level is telepathic and it is very difficult to turn that off. So, are you going to be frantically emailing me as to how to shake an axe murderer spirit who wants to get friendly with you? No. That's 5 year old stuff. You've got to morph into the adult and mature person who can look an axe murderer in the eye (so to speak) and say, "Hey, what's life like now for you?" and not be afraid.


It all has to do with getting a new perspective on life. I know. I had to do the same thing.

I agree that it's not such a good idea to have your daughter fiddeling around with the board right now, especially with your views as to being safe and only attracting the "best" spirits to speak with. She's just not mature enough.

I had to laugh about going to sleep when meditating. I do that too. My husband calls them power naps.

Talking to Spirit Dogs

This is an email I got today: I would appreciate if you can tell me if it would be possible to get in touch with the spirit of my dog who passed away, and how – doesn’t matter how long and hard this road would be – I would be prepared to take this journey.


My Answer: People (including me at one time) think that being able to communicate with Spirit is hard. It's actually not that hard if you are willing to sort of change what your expectations are of what the experience is going to be like. If you think the hair on the back of your neck is going to rise and crackle in the wind, if you think that you're going to be hearing ghostly sounds, cupboard doors slamming in the kitchen, lights turning on and off mysteriously, it won't happen. That eerie stuff is the Hollywood part of what communicating with Spirit is. The real part of communicating with Spirit is quiet.

However, there are a few levels of intensity to it.

Basic level One that anybody can do is to just talk to Spirit. In your head, silently in your heart, mumbling quietly, or shouting into a canyon; however you want to phrase the communication, Spirit can hear you. Also, animals who have passed are as much Spirit as your great-grandfather who has passed on. It was one of the amazing things that I learned when I "broke through" to channeling was that animals can communicate with us in our own tongue and folks who lived as a person speaking a language different from our own can talk to us just fine. It's like we have so many different languages and ways of communicating while we are human, but when we are Spirit there is just one way. Anyway, whoever you want to speak with in Spirit can hear you fine. If you want to sit quietly and get into a meditative state of mind that's fine. If you want to talk while standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in your car at a stop light, that's fine too. Now, the difficult part of this communicating with Spirit is that you can't hear them. That's the part that might take longer. Actually, the guides are saying it's only difficult if you choose it so. That's guide talk. If you can be content knowing that your dog can hear you, that your relatives who've passed on can hear you and you're okay with not being able to hear them, that's fine.

Level Two has to do with opening to Spirit, being willing not to bend Spirit to our ways, to your expectations. If Spirit is going to communicate with you in a non verbal way then the hawk who circled around your house this morning was Spirit saying, "Hey". Spirit can also communicate via tools of divination: a deck of tarot cards or a pendulum.

A really good way to communicate with Spirit is by writing. Have in mind who it is that you want to speak with and begin writing. You write your part of the conversation and then you relax and pretend and begin writing the other side of the conversation. This is where you need to lift all the rules and just allow the experience to flow. No judgments. No being frightened. You walked into this. You want to communicate with somebody on the other side. Release your expectations of what is going to happen and just let it flow. If you're in a really good space just let your hand go limp on the pencil or pen and "help" things along by roughly drawing a circle. Just doodle. Less than doodling. Just scrawl out circles and see what will happen. And be patient.

Anyway, with more control on the writing instrument you could just "trust" for a few moments that the answers you receive to your questions are going to be Spirit speaking with you. Animals can do this fine too.

Communication with Spirit can also occur during your dreamtime. Just be open to the idea that dreams are a terrific place for Folks in Spirit to come and visit. Many times my pets who have passed on come to me in my dreams. I'm not always aware of them right then, but in the morning when I awaken I remember that they had come to be with me in my dream and every time it is special. If you can possible learn how to dream lucidly and have a dream where Spirit can be with you then, that would be the primo of all wonderful dreams. But, a normal dream is much more usual and is certainly special.

Also, my understanding of the process is that Folks in Spirit are not in pain anymore. They aren't upset, or angry, or vengeful. One of the guides once said dying was like waking up from a dream. They said everybody suddenly understands everyone else. There is no hate anymore.

Mostly, what works is being playful with the process. Trying different things to see what you're comfortable doing and what appeals to you. It's like phones. They all work, but there sure are a lot of different models.

Questions About Ouija Board

This is an email I got today: I was interested in using a oiuja board, but after reading stories of evil spirits coming through, I am afraid. How do you protect yourself when you are using it?

And, my answer: Part of having a satisfactory experience using the Ouija board is to examine your reasons for wanting to use it. If it is just for play and for fooling around that shows the spirits that you are not serious and then you could very well get a roller coaster ride when you go talk with them.

It also depends on how mature you are. Key to this is to ask if you are afraid of the experience. It could very well happen that you would in the beginning get hold of a "live wire" sort of spirit who would joke with you or say bad words or things along those lines. Then, if you ignore all of that and keep insisting that you want to talk to your guide, who we all assume won't act that way toward you and I mean a big assume on that one because our guides will sometimes treat us as if we were children and when we get serious about the whole thing then they act serious towards us. It's a sort of a mirror almost.

Anyway, if you are afraid and think the devil is involved I would say do not use a ouija board. Being new at it some of the things that will happen will be wierd. But, it really is not the devil or satan or evil. It's just you being new and not knowing how to be polite in the spirit world. For instance, a long time ago my guide said to me, "I am not a Nickelodeon" meaning that I could not force him to answer my questions. That's when I learned that if it doesn't interfere with my life plans or somebody else's life plans than, maybe the guides will answer it. Like they've never told me when I'm going to die. I've asked, but that's like a no-no area.

There are people who will say do this or do that for protection while using the board. I don't believe there's much to do other than have a positive attitude, treat everybody respectfully, don't be afraid and be prepared for wierd things to be said to you in the beginnning. Also, it's very important not to go blabbing about what they say to you especially in the beginning. I can guarantee you will be embarrassed. Like you might hear something along the lines of a warning that if your best friend goes to work today they are going to die or some other horrible thing. Do not buy into that. That is the newbie silliness going on. Nobody is going to die. You are not responsible for telling the entire countryside that it is time to evacuate because a mud slide is imminent. Stuff like that. So, don't be afraid if you hear wierd stuff like that. Just keep saying, "Okay, thank you. Now, I would like to talk to my guide."

If it gets to be too wierd just put the board away and don't use it anymore. Not good to get hooked on it...you might end up like me. And, I really only recommend that adults use the board. I know that kids can but I don't feel they are mature enough to handle it. Need to get some living under their belts before they go out into the wide world to talk to Elvis.

You'll be Sorry

One of the things that’s rather cool about talking to Spirit is that they will sometimes help me out with the more mundane things that go on in my life. They don’t help with everything, but sometimes they do. When I first started channeling I sort of expected them to help me with everything, but as Seth said to me once, “I am not a nickelodeon.” meaning he wasn’t for hire and I couldn’t make him do a damned thing.

Anyway, over time I sort of stopped expecting them to help me. If they offer that’s wonderful, but if they don’t say anything about some situation, then I’m not meant to know.

However, when they start in with the warning shit, the ominous stuff, the things like they just said to me regarding a post I did on one of the blogs, “You’ll be sorry.” It’s that particular phrase that immediately tightens my gut. The logical side of me knows that I’ve got something going on and they are just sort of echoing my unease. This is why I’ve always maintained that anybody who wants to learn to channel needs to be relatively psychologically balanced, at least enough to know what to do when the weird stuff starts happening. Like, when suddenly every asshole driver in the world seems to be attracted to your rear bumper. Psychologically you’ve got something going on that will take all of 10 minutes to fix. You sit quietly, by yourself and say, “Okay, what’s up with that?” And just allow whatever it is that is currently bothering you to rise to the surface of your mind so you can examine it, react to it and, hopefully, take care of it. For now. Later, guaranteed, there will be more, but the important thing is that you saw the warning signal of asshole drivers on the horizon and reacted to it by doing your own psychological fine tuning.

So, for me, my own personal signal is some guide saying, “You’ll be sooooorrrrrryyyy.” Right. I love it. The problem, is that they really could be warning me of something but, more than likely it will be my own crap I need to pay attention to.

I need to go sit for a few minutes.

Walk This Way

I have a tendency to make things harder than they really need to be. I don’t know why I do this, but I do. So, I’ve puzzled over what I’d like to have in this section of the newsletter for some time. I wrote my first article last week. That one was okay. But, this one, something to do with learning to channel, just had me stumped. And, a part of it was that I’d already talked so much about learning to channel that I just could not think of anything new to say.

That’s where I started making a simple thing difficult.

I realized this morning that people have themes that run through their lives. I might approach a project in the same manner that I did when I was 20. Sort of eating around the edges and then finally taking a big bite. Or, in other words, worrying the ding donged thing to death before I finally screw up my courage and just get it over with and do it, whatever it is.

So, I’ve been worrying about this section of the newsletter for over a week. And, this morning I thought of themes that course through a person’s life. And, I thought of how people who paint will be fascinated with one particular thing and paint that one single thing over and over again, with each time they paint pushing themselves farther and farther into the heart of whatever it is that fascinates them. I thought of writers who delight in telling love stories; this way, that way, another way. The same love theme but just another story.

And, I thought again of how very simple things can be if you allow them to be.

Channeling is sort of like that too. If I were to pick one particular “rule” to remember it would be that pretend is very important in opening the channel, in widening the street that exists between your conscious mind and what your guides have to say.

I know that we all want something to be true. We don’t go around deliberately deluding ourselves about things. We know that it’s not right to pretend that you’re rich when you’re not. We know that it’s not right to cheat on school papers. But, I ask you to remember back to when you were a child and you played house or firemen. You were in your pretend mode. That’s where I want you to go for a little bit.

Just pretend that you are channeling.

You don’t have to announce it to all and sundry. You don’t have to go telling your neighbor what you are doing. That’s a sure fire way of getting somebody to look at you incredulously and say, “For God’s sake, get a clue. You’re nuts.” Things along those lines. That will gum up the works in no time flat. So, just be private.

Sit there quietly. Put some headphones on and listen to some sort of soft, ambient music, bells, birds, waves, something soothing. My favorite is Dr. Jeffrey Thompson’s Brainwave Suite. Dip down, however you imagine it to be, into a meditative state. Quiet, not fighting the random thoughts that begin coursing through your head. Put a pad of paper and a pencil beside you and promise yourself that you’ll write down the real important things you don’t want to forget. Once written that particular thought will float away. Out of iceberg lettuce? Need to buy it the next time you go to the store? Thought won’t stop? Write down lettuce. Not a full sentence. Just the word, “lettuce”. See if you can’t dip again into that meditative state of mind.

I know that your mind, like mine, will frantically try to keep you on track and not in that peaceful space of meditation. I usually either want a cigarette or get really hungry. Go figure. But, my mind isn’t any different from anybody else’s and I have trouble getting into a meditative state of mind. But, I don’t stop trying.

When the thoughts you have sort of stop bamming against the inside of your head think of something, like a rose or a book or some object. It might help to have that object sitting on your desk in front of you. Open your eyes, look at it, close your eyes and try to picture what you just saw. Do that a couple of times.

Relax some more. Imagine that you are on a path. Doesn’t matter what path. A path. Paved with cobblestones, or gravel. Dirt path. A sidewalk. This is your path. Just be on the path.

Now, start walking. Sort of look around you with your eyes closed while you’re walking on this path and notice what’s going on next to it. Are there plants growing? Flowers? Grass? What’s going on right beside the path? Look a little ways away from the path. Do you notice anything else?

You might find your way blocked by something in your path. Try to get around it. Over it. Under it. I once found a huge boulder in my path. I walked around it. Sometimes people blast them up. That’s what I should have done. I think I wouldn’t weigh so much right now had I blown up my own personal boulder. But, that’s neither here nor there. Somehow, if you find an obstacle in your path get around it and continue walking.

Now, notice that your path sort of rises up. It’s on an incline and you’re going uphill.

Notice off in the distance that you’re making your way toward a place. It’s a big hill. It might even be a cave. There’s some sort of doorway or natural opening that you’re going towards. Keep walking.

You might find yourself magically right there. Get to the doorway or gate or whatever it is in your mind’s eye.

It might be closed. Push on it. Knock on it. Look over the gate if that is what it is. On the other side there are some guides. They are gathered around a fire. They are talking amongst themselves. They notice you. They turn around and notice you. One of them leaves the group and comes toward you. This is your guide.

Say hey. Or, smile. Or wait for him or her to say something to you. This is where you get to put a face to your guide, so that as you learn to channel you will know what your guide looks like. My guide smiled at me when I met him. Somehow it made the rest of the process of learning how to channel go a little bit quicker.

"Bon Chance" is what one of the guides just said. I think that must mean good luck.

Doodling Toward Spirit

My mind is on ruts and ways to extricate myself from them these days. I am especially interested in thinking ruts. This is where my whole world seems sort of blah or tense and where I am not especially enjoying myself. I also regret not being as “psychic” as I might be.

Writers write. Psychics are psychic. A writer can still write in their head when all is otherwise not in a writing mode around them. Like you’re at the grocery store and your mind is not totally on the groceries you are purchasing or the dinner you plan on making that night. Your mind is on the people around you, the mother and son in the freezer isle arguing over something behind the glass. You wonder why there is a problem for them. This has nothing to do with your own purchases. These are people you are noticing. It could only be for writing. You’re not nosy, are you? No. So, then, by default it must be for the purpose of utilizing their disagreement for an interaction between characters. To show love where, seemingly, none is being demonstrated. But, care is there. Why else would a mother not acquiesce to her child’s request and yearning for some frozen food product unless there be a reason not to get it? That reason could be there is not enough money, or room in the freezer or it is not a healthy item to ingest. You would not even consider that the refusal stems from a perverse sense of meanness. But, it could, could it not? Yes, spite and meanness could be a reason not to honor a child’s yearning for a food.

Okay, this exercise today, this morning before the sun has even come up, is a demonstration where I move from one mode to another; where I move from where it is just me writing to where I am channeling. I felt it happen. I closed my eyes and relaxed, surrendered to what they were saying. I just gave over. And, I’ve been doing this long enough that I could feel it happen. I can also tell because the words the Folk in Spirit use with me are not what I would normally choose; words like, “ingest” and a turn of phrase like, “unless there be a reason”. I put the guidespeak part in the paragraph above in green.

Now, what you can do as the person wanting to learn how to channel is to deliberately say to yourself, “From this point forward I will consider my words to be coming from my guide.” Who cares if they sound like they are coming from you. This is the exercise and that is the condition. From this point forward is guide speak. You keep doing it over and over again and eventually it does actually begin to sound a little different.

It’s like using an affirmation. “I am slender.” Over and over again. Many times over and over again, until finally, your own perverse mind begins to accept that you are slender. And, slowly you begin to think of carrot sticks as an interesting thing to munch upon.

I wouldn’t go around blabbing to everybody that you are channeling. That’s the best way to mess up your progress. Just keep a notebook and record your thoughts. Or, speak into a microphone.

Here’s what I would do:

• Choose a quiet time where you will not be disturbed for awhile.
• Say, “I am going to channel and it will be my guide I will be talking to.”
• Put a pair of headphones on and listen to some quiet music, nice, smooth flowing music. Ocean sounds are good. My personal choice is Dr. Jeffrey Thompson’s Brainwave Suite.
• Know that you are safe. Know that you are in complete control of your body. Know that your guide will keep you safe. Know that you can break away and come back to the “present” anytime you want to.
• And, just give over.

With a notebook in front of you begin to doodle. Not necessarily words, just squiggles. Circles, lines, swooping up and over and down and around. Movement with your pen. Just play with it for a few minutes. Then, stop. That was the exercise.

Did anything get done? Did you channel? Well, you said you did. So, you must have. A guide helped you make a squiggle? How weird is that? Hey, you’re pretending. That was the exercise. To state plainly, whether you did out loud or not, that for the next 5 minutes you were going to channel.

Next time you do it, the same way, go a little deeper into a meditative and calm sort of mindset.

As your hand forms the circle on the paper close your eyes and move deeper into the music you are listening to. Try not to grip the pen you are holding as you would normally. Loosen your grip on it so that your hand feels very light, so loose that you think the pen could even just slip out easily if you weren’t careful. Doodle away. Maybe now just write something. You’ll use up a lot of paper. It’s helpful to use a felt tip that flows nicely.

The words you write might get written one over the other. You might not even be able to read them. Don’t worry about it. Next time you’ll have a little more control. The idea is to allow Spirit to flow, to find a channel in your willingness to open to them. These aren’t folks who are going to tell you how to live your life. These aren’t folks who are going to give you the secrets of the universe. This is like sitting in your garden enjoying nature around you, participating in life. This is adding another dimension to your life. This is Spirit.

Podcast - Learn to Channel #1

My first podcast where I talk about learning to channel. It's pretty quick, just 5 minutes. Thanks to Audacity for the free program to do this and thanks to Magnatune for the royalty free music. The artist is