Dear Soul Arcanum:
I studied to become a medium, became a medium, and went on to become a Reiki Master. I have been doing this for almost three years now. I love to heal for others, and am very comfortable with that work. What I am not quite sure about is how I receive information when doing a reading for someone. While I used to get lots of images, which I could translate easily enough, my reading work has now become more like a “mental conversation” I’m having – with myself. (?) I often wonder if receiving information has just become easier for me, or if I’m “flavoring” what I receive with my own conscious thoughts. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Paul
Dear Paul:
Thanks for a great question! I have met a number of mediums who were powerful channels in their early years, but who have so much spiritual counseling experience behind them that they often blur the line between channeling Spirit and offering their own advice without realizing it, so you’re wise to remain conscious of your process. I feel, however, that you’re naturally evolving into a more natural/subtle connection with Spirit.
As tuning in has become easier for you, the process has come to require less conscious effort on your part. It’s akin to learning to drive. When we’re very new drivers, we have to consciously think hard about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. As we become more and more adept at driving, we still go through the same processes, but they become unconscious. We no longer have to think hard about every step in order to successfully navigate where we desire to go. If the quality of your work remains unchanged and you’re able to access all the information you want and need to for your clients, then don’t worry about it.
I’m betting, however, that in addition to becoming less conscious of your process, you’ve begun to pull through deeper guidance. It is relatively easy to tap into dramatic psychic information such as warnings of danger; in fact, most people have such intuitive experiences. As we develop psychically, we learn how to glean information about the past, present and future as relates to worldly concerns about relationships, financial matters, health problems, etc. Further spiritual development will allow us to access even higher guidance regarding matters of personal and spiritual growth. This “higher” information does not come through symbolically like the “lower” information does; it must flow in a stream of consciousness way.
For example, if a client is in line to receive a desired job, we may tune in and be visually shown a green light. Symbols like this can’t capture deeper messages, such as, “You are already receiving many signs from Spirit in answer to your requests, but you are not trusting them. Every time you ask for and receive a sign, you light up, but then begin to feel unworthy of such ‘special treatment’ from Spirit, and disregard the experience as a fluke.” That sort of message must be received in the form of a “mental conversation” of sorts, just as you describe.
While this sort of guidance may be more complex, it’s also subtler. The symbolic information you used to receive had to be deciphered, so it didn’t feel like it was coming from within you. Similarly, loved ones in Spirit come through with distinct personalities and personal messages, and they may also offer verifiable memories and details about their lives on earth to prove their presence, which we certainly can’t fabricate. Profound spiritual guidance, however, comes through in a form very much like our own thoughts, and often without the distinctive mark of a personality, because it comes through our higher selves or spirit guides. As spirit guides have been “talking to us” from inside our heads all our lives, many of us confuse their guidance to our own intuition.
Some people seem to seek and meet distinct guides like a Native American Indian Chief or some other character, but my guides have never personified themselves in this way. Perhaps if I wanted and needed them to, they would. As I believe that the non-physical is a place of direct energetic perception where names and faces are superfluous, I’m quite comfortable with my “anonymous” guides. I identify them by the way they feel, and my sense is that there is a group who is answering me at once.
So how do we know if we are having conversations with ourselves, with our higher selves or with “Spirit?” If the guidance we deliver is wiser and deeper than what we can offer when we’re not tuned in, then we’re obviously bringing through something higher than our own personal opinions. Regardless of where it comes from, however, the important thing is how helpful and useful our guidance proves to be.
To determine the best process for you, everything depends on your aim: Do you want to offer practical guidance on worldly concerns; do you want to bring through evidential messages from loved ones in Spirit; or do you want to help your clients work through the inner issues at the heart of their spiritual growth? If you’re like me, you want to be able to do it all, but if you’re not, that’s fine. Only you can determine the best use of your abilities.
It’s also natural and perfectly acceptable for your aim as a medium to change over time. As mediums evolve and come to know that death is not an end, and that the details we tend to stress about will not really matter in the ultimate scheme of things, they tend to lose touch with the emotional suffering that leads people to seek their help. They may then start to offer what they personally value, instead of what their clients may be after. While looking for the bigger, deeper picture is always wise, we still live here on this glorious earth, where we sometimes need answers to questions that can’t be ignored or denied. When my client is being hounded by bill collectors, her spouse has run off with her best friend, and her teenage son has started a secret gardening project in his closet ;), she needs more than assurance that there are great spiritual lessons in this experience for her; she needs to know what she can do to get from where she is in her “real life” to where she wants to be. I think it would be insensitive of me to offer nothing more than spiritual platitudes and assurance that somehow, everything will be okay.
Mediums must also appreciate the needs of the grieving. Unfortunately, the more experience we have with spirit communication, the less we tend to need and value verifiable messages from beyond. After the excitement wears off, many experienced mediums move on from evidential spirit communication because they forget that other people are still yearning for proof that their loved ones continue to exist and are doing just fine. This is of course perfectly fine, however, for the medium must also allow himself to evolve and grow and explore whatever is calling him as he moves forward on his path.
In summary, I suggest you evaluate your reading work for its practical value, healing power and accuracy. Ponder the range and limits of your abilities, and if they support your conscious aim. If you’re already delivering all the helpful, accurate information you desire to, then don’t worry about your source. If you’ve lost something over the years, however, and can no longer access the powerful details you were once privy to, then I encourage you to go back, retrieve the processes that worked for you before, and add them back into your repertoire. If that doesn’t feel right to you (and my sense is that it may not), then I encourage you to allow yourself to redefine the nature of your work and to flow in a new direction with it.
May your wonderful self-awareness lead you to greater power and success in all you do!
– Soul Arcanum