Tag Archive: faith


Learning to Trust Your Psychic Abilities

Filed Under: Intuitive Development, Psychic Ability, Spirit Communication by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Learning to Trust Your Psychic Abilities


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC, 2011. All rights reserved.  
All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have had psychic abilities over the years and have been able to predict the future for myself and a very close friend about 80 percent of the time. I usually only read for myself and her.(She is psychic but can’t read for herself at times.) I have trouble reading for others as I doubt my abilities due to insecurity. I have often missed opportunities for myself because I did not trust my ability. How can I get more faith in myself and the Universe? I know Spirit tries to get through to guide me but I feel I block it. Do you have any advice for me on all of this?

Karan

Dear Karan:

Trust plays a huge role in psychic ability. The problem is that this is something of a Catch-22: you have to trust your intuition for it to give you reason to trust it!

When I was in training to become a Spiritualist minister, trust was the biggest stumbling block for most of the students. At the school I attended, two main specialties were taught: energy healing and mediumship. Out of a class of about 30 people, only two of us were there to focus on spirit communication; everyone else wanted to be a healer. We had to learn both skill sets as part of the program, and the healers suffered all sorts of anguish over this because being a medium involves tremendous pressure to perform. Instead of channeling intangible energy, we have to produce verifiable information.

The two of us who wanted to be mediums differed from the others mainly in this matter of trust. We had already had a number of amazing experiences of spirit communication, which had convinced us that spirit communication is possible and that we were personally capable of succeeding at it. The main challenge our instructors faced in teaching the healers how to bring through information from Spirit was getting them to relax, let go of their fear of being wrong, and trust whatever came through.

There are four main aspects to successfully accessing psychic information. First, you must get into the right state of consciousness. Second, you must set a clear intention. Third, you must trust whatever comes through. Finally, you must be adept at translating clairvoyant, clairaudient, and clairsentient impressions into the answers being sought.

Many new psychics struggle because they aren’t even aware of the first step of getting into the right state of consciousness. They think that they can just mentally ask a question and receive an answer. This is a bit like randomly dialing a phone number and asking whoever answers what you are hoping to find out: to receive reliable information, you have to ask the right source. This is where good training can prove invaluable. In fact, when I am careful to shift my state of consciousness and get into a high vibration before tuning in, I always receive answers, and they always prove valuable and reliable.

Once you know you’re tuned in and you’ve set a clear, high intention, you have to trust what you receive. I’m sure every medium has had the experience of relaying something that seemed totally off the wall, only to have that information prove to be incredibly powerful and accurate. Following is one of the first experiences that cemented for me how important it is to trust what we receive.

I was reading for a woman who was grieving for her departed husband, James. I brought through lots of information about how he had passed and such, but the surprise came when I reached out for James and the spirit who stepped forward and answered my questions ended with the following: “Tell her that Jack sent the butterfly.” This seemed so “off” that I almost didn’t relay that part to her. I could hear my instructors telling me to trust, however, so I went out on a limb, wrote it down, and sent the email reading off to her with a hope and a prayer.

In her letter back to me, she described how she broke down sobbing when she got to that line, for she was sure that I was indeed in contact with her departed husband. Though his name had been James, his friends and family had always called him Jack. On the day of his funeral, she was calling out to him in her heart and mind and staring out the window at the bleak November morning when a huge butterfly appeared and hovered just on the other side of the glass. She thought this very unusual for November, and she had been wondering if this was somehow the spirit of her departed husband trying to give her a sign. I was so glad that I decided to trust what I was getting and pass it on!

Once you are in the right state of consciousness and your heart is centered on a high, pure intention, you are connected to a source of wisdom and information that is very reliable. Of course, sometimes you will receive intuitive impressions when you’re going about your everyday life and you’re not in this special state. When that happens, you can always check on their accuracy by shifting into this state of consciousness and then exploring them further.

You can also exercise your intuitive senses in small ways throughout the day. First you must be adept at controlling your state of consciousness so that you can quickly shift state and “tune in.” It’s also wise and powerful to program yourself to live an intuitive life. If you work with the law of attraction to manifest powerful psychic experiences and you program your subconscious mind to deliver psychic insights to you on a regular basis, you will begin to have all sorts of amazing psychic experiences. The more you cultivate your abilities in this way, the more your intuition will break through at seemingly random moments to deliver helpful information to you.

One powerful way to do this is to meditate each morning and set a psychic intention for the day. You can ask for a general level of experience or something specific. For example, you might ask your higher self and spirit guides to help you align with a smooth journey and a productive day, and to send you insights, intuitions and experiences in support of this aim. You could also ask for something more specific, such being led to the answer to a question or the solution to a problem. One thing I often ask is, “What do I most need to know right now?” Ask for insights and intuitions to come to you throughout the day to lead you to what you are seeking. The more important this is to you, the more powerful experiences will come your way in answer to your prayers.

To find out if your impressions are accurate, you have to trust them enough to act on them and then pay attention to what happens next. Sometimes you won’t see the evidence you’re looking for because too much of it is hidden behind the scenes. For example, you may sense that someone is upset, but when you question them, they may deny it. This doesn’t necessarily mean you were wrong. You may receive a nudge to take a different route home and never know why. You have to be okay with the fact that you may never know why you received a certain impression, and assume that somehow it was designed to help you.

Finally, if you are too hung up on being right or accurate, you will block yourself. Part of being in the right frame of mind is being beyond ego and in a light, easy, relaxed state of being. Instead of putting pressure on yourself, pray for what you desire and then relax and allow it to come to you.

– Soul Arcanum

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Conquering Fear with Faith

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Energy/Vibration, Law of Attraction, Manifesting, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Conquering Fear with Faith

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. :)
 

I want to be less fearful. I have big fears of the unknown, such as if this bill can get paid, if I can make enough to pay for what we need and so on. These fears take me over at times. I want to work with the law of attraction to create what I want in my life, and I know that fear is a big stumbling block for me. I keep telling myself I am okay and this seems to help. Do you have any advice for me?
-T.

Dear T.:

On a practical level, there is a lot you can do to align a smooth, carefree journey through life. There are some key differences between folks who always seem to be stressed and those who are usually calm and carefree. For example, people who rarely get anxious tend to plan ahead, stay organized, and create cushions in their lives so they don’t have to worry.

Financially, a cushion may be a savings account or a sum of money in your checking account that you only dip into when there’s an emergency. If you regularly have to meet work or school deadlines, you can develop the habit of moving them up on yourself so if something comes up, you won’t have to stress because you’ll have a buffer period to handle whatever has to be done. The more you create cushions throughout your life, the easier everything will seem.

Spiritually speaking, faith is something that each person must develop on their own. However, I can tell you how I changed from being just as anxiety-ridden as you are to having unshakable faith, and I can point you toward some metaphysical habits that will help you to conquer your own fears.

Some twenty years ago when my psychic doors blew open with my first pregnancy, I was a metaphysical mess! I was depressed, disempowered and riddled with anxieties. I was so anxious I developed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

My vibration was very low because I was so miserable and anxious, so when my psychic senses suddenly turned on, I attracted encounters with low level astral entities, which naturally just scared me even more. I’ve since learned that everyone who has a low vibration due to fear, anger or other negative emotions is a magnet for low level astral entities; most just don’t know it because they’re not psychically sensitive enough to perceive them.

Needless to say, I was very motivated to find a way to “protect” myself and leave those dark experiences behind. That’s when I learned about the power and wisdom of turning up our inner light. This is the first step in shifting to a higher level of experience whether we want to escape something scary or painful or we want to empower ourselves to manifest positive changes in our lives.

To turn up your inner light, you have to focus upon, cultivate and exude the qualities of your higher self. This will lift you above the fears and desires of the ego and connect you with a sense of faith and peace. You have to make a conscious choice to foster feelings of love, peace, compassion and understanding, and to flow those feelings out to other beings in this world and beyond.

When we do this, our bright inner light erases any shadows around us just like the darkness in a room disappears when we flip on a light switch. This is the ultimate in terms of psychic protection, personal healing and empowerment, for once we have a high vibration, we naturally attract people and situations of a higher nature, and can manifest whatever we want in our lives with relative ease.

As my vibration rose, my energy became a match for learning about the law of attraction, and from there things just got better and better. In studying the law of attraction and consciously experimenting with it, I received all sorts of signs, synchronicities and other evidence that we do indeed create our own realities.

This knowing is hugely comforting, for it means that we are not at the mercy of the whims of fate: we have control over what we manifest! Further, since what we focus upon expands in our lives, worrying about the future is foolish and counter-productive. This is a huge key to conquering fear with faith. Once you realize you have control, you just need to exercise it.

It’s also natural to become less anxious as we learn and grow, for with experience comes wisdom. If you look back on your own past, some truths should leap out at you. First, even though some bad things happened, given enough time they always worked out. No matter what you went through, you did eventually figure it out, make it happen, handle it, find a way through, heal, forgive, get over it, survive, go on to something better, etc. Guess what? That isn’t going to change – things will keep working out in the future just as they did in the past. Time will continue to heal all wounds.

Second, you’ll realize how self-defeating it is to worry about what might happen in the future because you desire to be happy, for in choosing to worry right now about what may or may not happen later, you are sacrificing your happiness up front. Further, you’re disempowering yourself from creating what you want in your life.

I know that understanding this doesn’t mean it will be easy to shed an entrenched worry habit, but part of our spiritual journey includes developing the wisdom and self-discipline to control our thoughts. Worrying is like poking a stick in an open wound: it hurts you in the moment and creates more pain and problems the more you do it. You may have a long standing habit of unconsciously poking at that wound, but the only way to change your course of experience is to get more conscious of your habits and summon the resolve to CHANGE.

Since what we focus upon expands in our lives, it doesn’t do any good to focus on quitting something or giving it up, so I’m going to offer you things you can do INSTEAD of worrying. Whenever you feel anxiety creeping in, get this list out and get busy!

*First, take whatever practical steps you can to align with what you want, especially creating those cushions I mentioned above.

*Read spiritual books and articles. Reading about the law of attraction will remind you of your personal power to create what you want in your life and shift you into a higher vibration. A few pages every day can make a huge difference. Also, put what you learn to good use by experimenting, for the more amazing things you manifest, the deeper your faith will be in your own power to create what you desire.

*Reading about other spiritual subjects like near-death experiences and reincarnation will reinforce your understanding that everything happens for a good reason. It will also soften your worst fears. For example, most likely the worst thing you can imagine is your own death or the death of a loved one. When you truly know and believe that death isn’t terrible at all – that it’s just a temporal change of state – your anxiety will dissipate.

*Resolve to surround yourself with positive people, experiences and energies. Create a soothing environment for yourself. If someone or something makes you anxious, distance yourself and focus on situations that feel good. Seek out uplifting people, positive films and TV shows, beautiful art, uplifting stories, etc.

The more you consciously cultivate faith, the better your life will get, for your vibration will rise and empower you to manifest all sorts of wonderful blessings, changes and opportunities.

 

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Learning to Trust: the Ultimate Spiritual Challenge

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Healing, Relationships by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Learning to Trust: the Ultimate Spiritual Challenge

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
Dear Soul Arcanum:

In a recent column, you wrote that we have no need to hide or protect ourselves or our secrets from other people out of a desire to be loved and accepted. While I want to believe you, I keep thinking that not everyone is going to respond in a loving way. Don’t you know that people can be petty and indiscreet? It would be wonderful if everyone was loving and spiritual, but that hasn’t been my experience. I think it’s normal for us to put on a facade in order to protect ourselves from people who may not be kind and compassionate. Am I missing something here? Keep up the good work, dear Soul Arcanum! – Liz

Dear Liz:

There are two ways to view the question of whether or not we can trust other people. One is from the perspective of the ego, which is separate and mortal, and the other is from the perspective of the higher self, which is universal and immortal.

What you’re struggling with is something everyone has to work through, for it’s at the heart of the human journey. Life in the physical would not be the powerful, dramatic learning experience it is if it were not for the ego. We seem to have a limited amount of time and resources here, and are unable to remember the spiritual life we knew before incarnating. Since it seems like this life is all we have, we are naturally very fearful about anything that could threaten our well-being or happiness. This is why physical life is the perfect situation in which to learn to rise above fear and grow into beings of greater faith and compassion.

I think learning to trust (have faith) is the ultimate spiritual challenge. This issue comes up for everyone as they shift from unconsciously interacting with life primarily through the lower chakras to consciously processing their experiences through the heart and upper chakras.

This shift occurs naturally as we gain self-awareness, realize why we do the things we do, and then try to make better choices. In emotional relationships with other people, everyone longs for more love: no matter how wonderful our childhoods were or how blessed we may be now, we’ve all had many experiences in which we hungered for more love and acceptance than we got.

This is because the experience we are really longing for is the perfect feeling of divine love and wholeness. On some level, we remember what it felt like before we separated from Source, and are constantly yearning to feel that sense of completeness again.

Since most of us don’t consciously recognize that our endless dissatisfaction arises from an unconscious memory of the divine, we go through life looking to other people to give us the love, approval and acceptance we think we need. As long as we look to other people to fulfill a longing that can only be truly satiated by the divine, of course, we will remain dissatisfied.

When begin to awaken in self-awareness, we not only realize why we react to experiences as we do, we learn that it’s silly to take the things that others say and do personally. We see that others are caught up in their own issues, and how they view us has very little to do with us and everything to do with their own past experiences, life lessons, and current mental and emotional state.

At this point we stop comparing ourselves and competing with others and begin to feel compassion for everyone, for we see that they are just like us: though they may go about it in some unskillful ways, what they want is to be happy, loved and accepted too. We then shift from seeking love and approval from others to offering them the same, and then our fear of judgment/rejection falls away.

Of course, this is not as easy or simple as I’m making it sound. No matter how spiritually evolved we may become, we’re still physical beings with very powerful survival instincts. When your intuition is trying to warn you about something or someone, you are wise to honor it. On an inner/emotional level, however, nothing and no one can truly harm you.

We all struggle to stay spiritually centered, to love and accept ourselves, to heal our fears and keep our hearts open, to trust that all is and will be well. In fact, a good amount of the time, I’m running the same social programs you describe in your question. Rising above the ego is an exhausting, demanding, endless challenge, but it helps to realize that we don’t really have any other good alternative – not if we want to feel at peace.

You see, I don’t think we can ever trust another person completely, at least not if we define trust as knowing that they would never do anything that we would consider to be hurtful. Fortunately, once we learn to trust in the benevolent nature of life itself and understand that nothing and no one can ultimately harm us, I don’t believe we need to trust other people. The feeling of divine love and contentment we’re really after can’t be found in temporal relationships anyway – it only be accessed through communion with the divine.

To cultivate trust in life’s benevolence, we must also remember the law of attraction, and how what we experience with other people is always a reflection of our own vibration. What we look for, we find; what we fear, we attract; what we desire, we flow toward.

When we’re afraid of being rejected or criticized, we tend to manifest those very experiences until we heal the inner wounds that make us fear we are not good enough somehow. When we accept who we really are, others accept us too. Have you ever met someone who was unapologetically scandalous or outrageous and just loved them for it even though you would never dare act that way yourself? You love them because they love themselves. Similarly, it’s the things we reject about ourselves that we fear others will reject about us too.

It’s thus wise and powerful to ponder how we feel about certain people and what we believe about relationships in general in order to become conscious of what we’re supposed to be learning.

For example, I tend to be a perfectionistic, hyper-responsible workaholic. As a result, I notice whenever people are lazy or irresponsible, and this sets off all sorts of ego-based judgments and fearful feelings for me. Instead of trying to make others become more responsible or trying to get everyone I deem to be irresponsible out of my experience (which would never work), my job is to work through my own fears surrounding issues of responsibility. (If my faith that all is and will be well was perfectly sound, I wouldn’t worry about a thing.) Once I have learned what I need to learn about this issue, I won’t attract or notice it anymore.

Your experiences in relationships truly are designed for your benefit, and if you view them as reflections of your own inner nature, they can be powerful tools for new spiritual growth. So while I encourage you to be gentle with yourself and remember that your struggle with trust is something we all go through, when you feel ready, please know that it is safe for you to greet others with an open heart.

It’s also totally worth it, for when we reach out to people on a soul level, all sorts of wonderful things begin to happen. For one thing, when we come from our souls instead of our egos, we tend to bring out others’ higher natures, which can transform ordinary situations into life-changing spiritual experiences.

– Soul Arcanum

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She’s Nervous about a Psychic Who Knows Her Embarassing Secrets

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Psychic Readings by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on She’s Nervous about a Psychic Who Knows Her Embarassing Secrets

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I visited a local psychic about three times, so naturally she got to know all my personal problems. I was very surprised when I saw her at the gym that I attend, and it made me feel uneasy. Then in the locker room she had the audacity to ask me outright if my son is still doing drugs, along with some other personal questions. I felt disgusted because in my opinion, she should not discuss the matters from my readings somewhere else. I motioned for her to shut her mouth, and she replied “Not to worry.” I have also noticed that when she talks to me, she stands very close, fixes her eyes on me, and asks personal questions. I think she’s reading me, and I feel uneasy every time I see her. I have made it clear that I no longer desire her services, and I’m no longer friendly with her. Can she harm me in any way? How do I prevent her from reading me?
– Liz

Dear Liz:

A dear friend of mine is a popular local psychologist, and I’ve had other friends react with similar nervousness when they realize I know him. While some worry that he’ll share their secrets with me, for the most part, they’re uneasy because who they are in public is so different from who they are when they’re in his office and getting “real,” so they don’t know how to act around him in a different setting. Since he would never betray their confidence, the real problem is the chasm between who these people really are and who they like to pretend to be in “polite society.”

Psychologists are trained and required by law to maintain strict confidentiality, and while psychics should follow the same protocol, there is no official training or laws governing this sort of work, so it’s natural for clients to worry. I maintain strict confidentiality for my clients and would never disclose that someone had even asked me for a reading, much less what we had discussed. This is especially important when someone else may know my client, or my client is a well-known celebrity or other public figure. So I certainly agree that this psychic is not handling herself in a professional manner! (I’m also doubtful of her psychic sensitivity, for she should be able to sense your uneasiness and respond accordingly.)

At the same time, I have to say that I don’t pick up any malice from her. Like so many psychics, she is probably just socially quirky. Psychics tend to be extraordinarily open and honest because so much that escapes others’ awareness is quite plain to us. While many people ONLY get emotionally naked in very private settings, we see through people’s social masks all the time.

Just the other day my son complained, “Having a psychic for a mom is so not fair! Not only do I get in trouble for the things I say, I get in trouble for the things I DON’T say!” He was referring to both my ability to sense his true thoughts and feelings, and my habit of insisting on bringing the truth to light.

I do this because I believe it’s a waste of time and disrespectful of everyone involved to be anything but real. Further, whenever we are false, we disconnect from our personal power to create positive change. In addition, on some level everyone knows the truth – they may not know it consciously, but they still know. When we use words to hide the truth or twist it around, we’re just playing games.

Life is not a competition to see who can keep their act together more than anyone else, it’s an experiment through which we all cultivate new wisdom and understanding. Everything we feel and experience happens for a good reason. We are all divine spirits living out big dramas here on Earth, and we’re in this together. So if someone is being false with me by lying, avoiding, denying, etc., I will usually communicate what I feel is really happening because I see no reason for anyone to hide. (As you might imagine, I have often been told that I’m very intense and honest to a fault!)

Given all of this, I see no need for you to block yourself from being read. Instead, I recommend you heal yourself of the fear of being exposed for who you really are, and the belief that if people knew the real you, they would find you somehow unworthy of their love and respect.

If you are honest with yourself, you’ll realize that the reason you want to keep your secrets hidden is because deep down, you’re ashamed of yourself for some reason. You’re afraid that somehow you’re not as good as other people, or your children aren’t as good as they “should” be, which must be your fault. If you recognize that everyone struggles with all sorts of problems just as big as yours, hopefully you’ll realize that there is no reason for you to feel bad about yourself.

It’s easy for psychics to forget that not everyone is like us. For example, we hear everyone’s most scandalous secrets, greatest fears and deepest regrets, and if we’re coming from a higher vibration as we should be, we don’t judge anyone for their problems and decisions. From Spirit’s perspective, there is nothing to feel ashamed about and therefore nothing to hide because you’ve not done anything wrong! There is only compassion for you and all you’re going through.

This is one of the qualities that makes great therapists true healers: they see you as divinely perfect just the way you are, and they help you to see your own divine perfection as well. In this way, you make peace with yourself and your life.

If I were you, I would thank this woman for showing you that she cares, and gently explain that you’d rather not talk about these things when you’re at the gym, for you’re not mentally prepared to deal with them then, and just want to get in a good workout.

Then instead of keeping all those skeletons buried in the back of some metaphorical closet, I encourage you to work on finding compassion for yourself. Whenever you feel the urge to cover something up or pretend to be someone you’re not, recognize that your ego is kicking in, and try to relax and let go of needing others’ acceptance. Remember that gaining others’ approval by pretending to be someone you’re not is pretty silly, and it will just fill your life with all sorts of meaningless, hollow relationships and interactions.

Remember too that getting emotionally vulnerable takes love and faith in yourself, and if you open up about what you’re really going through, it will encourage the people you talk with to do the same. Trust me – everyone feels the way you do – we all want to look good in others’ eyes. So instead of worrying about impressing others, try to give them what you’d like to receive: acceptance and understanding for who they really are and all they’re really going through.

If you do this, you will end up in some powerful, meaningful relationships wherein you know you can truly be yourself and be accepted for who you really are. Ironically, this approach will also bring you the respect and admiration of some wonderful kindred spirits.

 

– Soul Arcanum

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Are Some People Incapable of Having Paranormal Experiences?

Filed Under: Intuitive Development, Psychic Ability, Strange Phenomena by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Are Some People Incapable of Having Paranormal Experiences?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have always been interested in the paranormal, but in my own life I have never encountered anything abnormal. (I’m now 66 years old.) Am I just dense or not sensitive enough? Sometimes I even doubt the existence of an afterlife. As Omar Khayyum once wrote, “Strange is it not, that of all those that before us have gone, not one returns to tell us of what lies beyond?”
– Dr. A.

Dear Dr. A:

Your interest in the paranormal is a good starting point, but it’s not enough to evoke a paranormal experience. For that, you need sincere yearning of the heart and soul and the ability to suspend disbelief. Are you willing to potentially believe something false – at least temporarily – if it means you make a new discovery?

The most important issue to ponder here is how the law of attraction comes into play. I believe we are all creating our own realities based on the thoughts we think, the things we give our attention to, what we believe and what we expect to happen. This means that people who “believe in” the paranormal will tend to create experiences that match their beliefs and expectations. Further, their own unique spin on such beliefs will influence how they experience the paranormal.

For example, two people may believe in the paranormal, with one tending toward fear of it and the other toward wonder and fascination. The first would probably manifest frightening experiences with earthbound spirits and demons, while the second may only encounter fairies and angels.

Similarly, people who don’t believe in such matters or who never think about them would probably never have any experience with them. In fact, if they approached the paranormal with disbelief or the desire to disprove something, they would tend to manifest experiences that fulfilled their negative expectations.

I vividly remember reading about psychic experiments in which this was actually proven. In these experiments, psychic tests were administered to people who had filled out questionnaires about their views on such matters. Those who believed in psychic ability performed statistically much better than chance on the tests, while those who disbelieved in psychic matters did statistically much worse than chance on the tests – which means they were actually USING their psychic ability to perform poorly!

Regarding the quote you offered about no one returning from the afterlife to tell us what it’s like on the other side, first, we all know that is just not how life is designed. It’s a bit like asking why, if love exists, it never stands up and announces its presence in some tangible way. (If you say that you are also skeptical about the existence of love, then it’s no wonder you’ve never had a spiritual experience, my friend!)

Second, people DO return from the other side and tell us what it’s like – in fact, they do it all the time! If you study the stories of near death experiencers, you’ll discover a very convincing body of evidence, for regardless of cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, etc., there are definite patterns in these accounts of what happens when we die. Many NDE’ers were skeptics or atheists who woke up on the other side and realized that there really is a whole world beyond what we can perceive in the physical.

Of course, I don’t blame you for not believing if you haven’t had any reason to – heck, I was the same way. It’s a classic catch-22: until we have an amazing encounter with the supernatural, most of us remain closed to paranormal experiences.

Often the experience that first opens people up to such matters is a sign or visit from a departed loved one. This was the case with me: so many inexplicable things happened surrounding the death of my first love that I suddenly realized there was far more to life (and death) than I had ever considered. Even after that, however, it was not until I was pregnant with my first child that I awakened psychically. (Not much of paranormal interest happened in between).

As it would be foolish to summon an NDE or the death of a loved one in order to invite amazing experiences into our lives, spiritual practice/development is our best bet. You mentioned sensitivity, and you’re right: people who are highly sensitive tend to have lots of spiritual experiences because they are able to perceive more than the average person can. Some people seem to be born sensitive, but sensitivity can be cultivated. Getting internally quiet is one way to listen for subtle stimuli, which is why meditation is so central to spiritual development.

To begin to perceive more, we can also look at everything in a fresh way. Instead of focusing on objects, we might begin to focus on the so-called empty space around objects. Instead of listening to what someone is saying, we can begin to listen for what they are NOT saying. Instead of constantly chattering to ourselves in our own minds, we can begin to listen for our inner being (or another being) to speak to us within.

There is also a lot to be said for adopting an offbeat, creative approach to life. Not long ago, I met two very psychic friends for breakfast, and was struck by the fact that all three of us were eating with our left hands – we’re all left-handed! It’s no accident that many psychics and mystics are left-handed, for spiritual experience arises from the right brain. By thinking like a creative, offbeat leftie, you too may begin to see the world in a new way.

Besides, when we’re too scientific in our approach to the paranormal, it’s like trying to capture a rainbow in a jar. The “magic” in spiritual experiences arises from being in the right place at the right time and feeling intuitively inspired to pay attention at just the right moment. (Further, doubting the existence of the afterlife is like assuming that rainbows don’t exist because our jar is empty.)

A sense of open, childlike wonder can also be invaluable. All sorts of psychic experiments have proven that children are far better at learning psychic skills than adults, most likely because they don’t doubt they can succeed. If we can find the courage to live in a “fantasy world” where every idea that comes to us is as possible as any other, we stand a much better chance of manifesting extraordinary experiences.

Of course, going back to the law of attraction, the more we look for Spirit, the more we’ll find it. Like anyone else, I sometimes get caught up in mundane concerns, and during those times, I generally stop seeing auras and encountering spirits. Spiritual experiences come and go depending on my own focus and vibration.

Finally, try living on the edge: explore new places, new ideas, and new people. Set some big goals and take some risks. Living like this engages our survival instincts, which are intuitively-based.

Also, please note that I’m not trying to convince you or anyone else of anything, for I believe that people adopt whatever truth is best for them at that point in their lives. I just try to help folks following in my psychic footsteps to make sense of the strange things they are experiencing so they know they are neither crazy nor alone.

I can tell you this: I have had so many mind-blowing experiences that I have absolutely no doubt that we continue on after death, and that there is a whole lot of magic beyond what we can see of the Universe. Like you, I once wondered and questioned, but now I know. I truly believe if you pray for amazing spiritual experiences with a sincere heart and begin to watch for signs, you too will be guided to profound new faith and understanding.

– Soul Arcanum

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Is this the year we MUST wake up spiritually or else?

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Energy/Vibration, Healing, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Is this the year we MUST wake up spiritually or else?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I value your opinions greatly! Everything you have written resonates with me completely. I work at a friend’s spiritual shop, and recently, I asked her about something I have been noticing. Some people around me are receiving wake-up calls now, and I’m not sure they’re listening. My sister may have cancer, and my ex-husband (the father of my son) was just told he has RSD (curling of the hand) for life. He’ll have to have surgery every seven years. A lost friend of mine was told she has a rare blood disorder that may cause organ failure, and another friend’s husband has a rare blood disorder that needs to be checked weekly. My question is why is this happening to these folks, and all around the same time? My friend said it seems these people are not awake, and that this is “the year” that will make or break ALL OF US. Those who are awake and facing their issues head-on will continue on in their spiritual evolution, while those who are not awake or not facing their personal issues will have things happen that force them to wake up. Have you heard about this year being “the” year? If so, what are your thoughts about this happening? How can I best teach and guide my son in light of all of this? He’s only five years old now; is this something I need to start soon? Thank you!
– Maggie

Dear Maggie:

Yes! I have heard that this is “the” year that we must either wake up and get it right spiritually or suffer various horrible consequences. Of course, I’ve heard this same thing EVERY year for as long as I can remember. Supposedly, the world is also going to end any minute now; we’re way overdue.

I’m kidding with you, of course. I’m actually really glad you asked about this, because if we don’t stop all those “spiritual people” spreading fear far and wide with their gloomy predictions of earth changes and other scary stuff soon, the planet is going to implode. Okay, I’m kidding again. I can’t seem to help myself!

All joking aside, when we first start to awaken into the upper range of spiritual awareness for this dimension, life on Earth begins to feel a bit uncomfortable. We used to be like most people – oblivious to how our choices and actions create not only our own realities, but also affect the Whole. Now, however, we not only “get it,” but must deal with the double-edged sword of compassion. As we become more sensitive to others’ feelings, we begin to feel their pain. It’s this compassion that motivates “spiritual people” to become helpers and healers, or to just try to make a difference.

I feel this is basically where you’re coming from. You’ve attained a new level of spiritual awareness, and are seeing a lot of contrast in everyone who hasn’t yet joined you. You’re sensitive to others’ suffering, and very much wish for them all the good things you now know come with being “awake.” In caring more than ever before, you’ve opened a whole new can of worms, and along with the blessings, there are some big fears in there.

As we have the power to consciously manifest what we want in our lives, all these health problems must stem at some level from a lack of conscious awareness – that is true. The more we try to avoid dealing with our own personal lessons and issues, the more pain we tend to experience. I’d like to suggest, however, that you’ve gotten into the habit of looking for potential disaster around every corner; if there is a health problem anywhere in the vicinity, you will be sure to hone in on it.

I recommend you examine your habit of focus. While the problems of those closest to us will naturally come into our awareness, if they touch off some deep fears of our own, we may start watching out for more of the same. This is when “lost friends” and the husbands of friends, and friends of friends of friends – anyone with any possible health issue – will leap up and grab our attention.

This is what I feel happened here. Fear gripped you when you got the news about your sister. It really socked you in the gut when your ex-husband then came down with this rare disorder. This made your own vibration plummet, which made you vulnerable to the fears of mass consciousness, the greatest of which is that the world is somehow going to end. This is how you went from concern about the people you’re close to, to fear of Armageddon.

As you ran around in a panic, trying to figure out if the sky really was falling this time, your mind scrambled to make sense of all of this by comparing these two individuals. At some level, you believed that if you could figure out what else these two have in common, you could determine what “causes” this sort of thing. Then at the very least, you could make sure you and your son would be okay. When you saw that neither of these two people are what you consider spiritually “awake,” you deduced this as the cause.

What I’m trying to do is illuminate how for all of us, allowing little fears to run wild can lead to general, pervasive anxiety. When something scares us, powerful primal instincts put us on alert for more signs of danger – and what we look for, we tend to find.

Since we’re all creating our own experiences of life based on our habit of focus, instead of looking for unawake people with health problems, I recommend you start looking for all the wellness in your world. If you just look for it, you will see wellness EVERYWHERE. For every one person you know who has an extraordinary health problem, you know hundreds who sail through every day without a second thought about their physical well-being, and most of those people are not what you would consider to be “awake.”

Also, when you encounter someone who basically says the sky is falling, beware. You don’t want to get caught up in the powerful fears of mass consciousness, nor do you want to contribute to them. Whenever you feel tempted, just remember that throughout recorded history, nothing like this has ever happened despite innumerable prophecies of doom and gloom.

This may sound radical coming from me, but I don’t think fear itself is a bad thing. The Universe would be a big blank nothing if not for the opposing forces of light and darkness, good and evil, creation and destruction, faith and fear. We should no more strive to eradicate all fear than to change nighttime into day.

To be happy, instead of trying to avoid or conquer anything, we must try to make peace with all we encounter. We can, however, choose to sleep at night and live our lives in the sunshine, where it’s warm and easy to find our way around. We can choose faith over fear, and contribute to that which we personally find to be right and true at a spiritual level. This is both the best way to be a positive role model for your son, and to also manifest a life of peace, joy and well-being. As you continue to evolve, you’ll naturally grow more and more into a deep inner knowing that there is a natural divine order at work in the Universe, and that in the big scheme of things, all is well.

I expect that for the rest of my life, I will continue to hear that this is the year we will either “wake up” or suffer catastrophic consequences. I don’t believe it, because it isn’t supported by anything I’ve learned or experienced in life. Instead, I believe the more we’re centered in faith, the more we dwell in knowing that all is truly well.

Those who are asleep will continue to lose themselves in both lovely and frightening illusions – in the great dramas of life – while those who are awake will learn to relax more and more with trust that everything is going to be just fine. I figure since there is no true end to our spiritual journeys, and thus no need to rush, we might as well quit worrying and try to enjoy the ride.

– Soul Arcanum

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What Made You a Believer in Spirit?

Filed Under: Spirit Communication, Spirits, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on What Made You a Believer in Spirit?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I read that you’re a Spiritualist minister, and also read your theory that to experience Spirit, we have to believe it is possible. How does that happen in the first place? Were you raised Spiritualist? If not, what made you a believer? Did something happen that convinced you? Have you always been psychic and able to communicate with spirits? Do you still have new and different experiences of Spirit that deepen your convictions?
– Robert

Dear Robert:

I was not raised Spiritualist, nor have I always had psychic experiences or been able to communicate with Spirits. While my family was officially Episcopalian, we did not attend church regularly. Like many people who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, religion was not a big part of my upbringing. In a way, that probably helped me, because I had no limiting beliefs about the supernatural being evil or dangerous. My mind was pretty open.

The first experience to blow my mind about what is possible came when I was 17 and first my first love died suddenly. I don’t have space to relay the whole story here, but basically, though his death was totally unexpected, somehow the last time we saw each other, we both knew that we wouldn’t see each other again. Many strange messages and events surrounded his death. Somehow at some level, we both knew he was going to die. He even arranged for messages to be delivered to me AFTER his death. While “losing” him to the other side was deeply traumatic, these amazing spiritual experiences rocked my entire worldview. It was then that I started to become interested in the deeper nature of life and death.

At that time I was very busy with finishing high school and going on to college, so I didn’t really start reading spiritual material until a few years later. When I was 20 I became pregnant with my son, and that is when my psychic doors blew open. Nick is what many would call a very old soul, and is extraordinarily psychic himself. As soon as he was able to talk, he began saying the most amazing things. He “remembered” God and what he was doing before he was born, for example. I believe that his spiritual vibration was far higher than mine, and that when I conceived him, his energy blasted my own vibration upwards. This led to a very powerful, intense, accelerated journey of spiritual awakening.

At that time I began to see, hear and otherwise perceive things that others could not. Some of these things seemed innocuous enough: I would know that the phone was about to ring and who would be calling, for example. I would have intuitions about situations that would prove true. At the same time, however, I began to see auras and “balls of energy,” and also to perceive frightening entities in my peripheral vision. As soon as I would turn to look at them, they would disappear. (This is very common when one’s third eye is beginning to open.) Many of these encounters were terrifying. I write that here so that those who are having similar experiences will know that this is “normal.”

These scary things happened because I was living in a constant state of fear. I wasn’t sharing these experiences with anyone because I feared that I was crazy, and if anyone found out, they would take my baby from me. As my vibration was full of fear, I naturally attracted frightening energies/entities. Fearing that I was schizophrenic, I began to research what I was experiencing from a psychological angle. This reading referenced spiritual explanations, and as I began to read more about mystical experiences through history and around the world, I was relieved to learn that many people had experienced what I was experiencing, and that it was part of an early spiritual awakening process.

As my fear dissolved, my vibration rose, and I began to have more positive experiences. I also learned how to deal with dark forces: by shining the light of love on them. At this time, I began to spontaneously experience communication from spirits.

If someone I was with began to talk about someone who had crossed over with love, that spirit might appear behind them as a big ball of misty energy. (Usually it was a deep purple color, but it was sometimes golden and sometimes colorless, like heat waves coming off of pavement.) The spirit would communicate with me mentally and ask me to relay messages to the person I was talking to. They would give me “evidence” such as their name, occupation, or other identifying details. When I would find the courage to tell the person what I was experiencing, time and time again, the message from Spirit was not only accepted and validated, but it would have a profound healing effect on its recipient. That is when I began to believe that what I was experiencing was not only very real, but also very valuable.

When I saw the healing power of these messages, I decided to devote my life to this work. At that time, Spirit sort of took over. I was guided in incredible ways to the teachers, books and opportunities I needed to master spirit communication. I have been supported by Spirit every step of the way since then, and have had countless experiences validate my beliefs. These have included (but have not been limited to) amazing astral experiences, incredible manifestations of whatever I needed, thousands of readings that were validated as accurate and evidential, personal guidance from Spirit that proved accurate and evidential, countless instances of synchronicity sparked by me honoring an impulse or intuition, etc.

After all of this, I DO still have experiences that move me and deepen my faith. For example, recently I had a very profound astral encounter. My grandparents passed over some 15 years ago, and since then, my grandmother has remained close. In fact, she was one of the first spirits to ever appear to me, and it is very easy for me to connect with her mentally. My grandfather, however, has only touched in now and then, and I can never seem to reach him of my own volition. This has somewhat saddened me, but I had come to accept it.

A couple of weeks ago, I met with my grandfather in the astral. First I believed myself to be dreaming, but then suddenly I looked up and saw him there, and I became so excited. I basically said, “It’s YOU!” I flew to him and embraced him, and he felt so REAL. I was struck by how seeing him, feeling him, and smelling him refreshed my memory of him. It was the difference between remembering someone in your mind, and then actually SEEING them for real. We had a wonderful conversation about where he has been since he “died,” and he assured me that he has been close despite the fact that I’d had trouble connecting with him.

My alarm clock then went off, and I couldn’t “get back” into my body at first. When I was finally able to speak, I croaked to my husband that I needed “help, because I can’t get back.” He touched me, which helped me to move back into my body fully. I spent the whole morning weeping, not because I was sad, but because I was so moved by this experience, and so grateful.

So to answer the question behind all your questions, you don’t have to believe to begin to experience such things, but you do have to be open to believing. If you want to start experiencing things that will help you to believe, I recommend you begin meditating regularly and spending time with highly spiritual people. Pray for Spirit to give you “paranormal” experiences, act on your intuitions, and immerse yourself in spiritual study. Experience by experience, your belief will deepen, and as that happens, bigger and more amazing experiences will follow.

– Soul Arcanum

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Protecting Yourself from Fear and Negative Thinking

Filed Under: Energy/Vibration, Law of Attraction, Manifesting, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Protecting Yourself from Fear and Negative Thinking

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

There has been a lot of discussion about economic trends for the past several years. I have heard quite a bit about an impending huge economic crash, and that it is unavoidable. The national debt, wars, etc., have thrown our world out of balance, and we will have to go through some dire times to regain balance. Maybe this is true – maybe not. Others believe that the economy is turning around. I truly believe we create our own realities, but how do you work within the realm of global thought? I believe even in dire times that beautiful things can happen, but how do you protect yourself from succumbing to fear? It feels as if global events are out of an individual’s realm of control, but is this really true? How much impact does each individual have on the unfoldment of harmony in our world?
– P.

Dear P.:

Personally, I’m more concerned about the global love market. I read that the world supply of love has been dwindling for the past decade, and that by 2010, we will be facing a crisis unlike anything humankind has known before unless we do something quick! Of course this report set off quite a panic, and love experts are now warning us that the more we hoard love, the worse things are going to get.

While I’m obviously being facetious, money IS just a tangible representation of energy, and just like love, the universe is alive and overflowing with energy. Money/ love/ abundance is everywhere, and it responds to the energy of our minds and hearts.

Our prosperity consciousness is not measured by how much wealth we have attained, but rather by the amount of wealth/blessings we are able to ENJOY. A rich man may be very poor in prosperity consciousness if he lives in fear of losing what he has, and a relatively poor man may be very rich in prosperity consciousness if he is happy with his blessings. As prosperity is a state of mind, you are wise to be asking how to be positive/ happy despite what is happening around you.

Everyone who is reading this is an extraordinary creator, including you. I know this, because one does not consciously encounter knowledge/wisdom until one is vibrationally in harmony with it and able to work with it. Thus, those who are consciously aware that we create our own realities are those who have awakened their power to do so consciously. These people also tend to have certain other traits, one of which is high sensitivity (which is what led them to conscious awareness of this subtle truth in the first place).

So you’re sensitive and you’re obviously still paying attention to “the news” – it’s no wonder you’re struggling to remain positive! I do not watch the news, for I am one of those hyper sensitive souls who can be upset for DAYS by something that happened to someone I will never meet. I empathize with people, which means I put myself in their shoes and imagine how I would feel if what happened to them happened to me or someone I love.

Being highly sensitive may be challenging, but it can also be a blessing. While we’re easily “upset,” we also blissfully cry at weddings and shed tears of joy when babies are born because we’re so good at stepping into others’ vibrations. So to answer your last question, some sensitive, powerful creators are going to have more power than most to consciously affect (for better OR worse) their own realities and the world around them. This is all a reflection of the basic truth that we are responsible (via natural spiritual law) for the knowledge/wisdom we attain.

Faith is another key element to include here, for it is through the power of believing that we work magic in our lives. When we have faith that everything happens for a good reason and that life is a learning journey, then we won’t want to wave our magic wands and make the global economy perfect for everyone. What fun would a life without any challenge or contrast be? It’s not our job to save the world, but rather to evolve through our own fears into a lighter, brighter expression of divine creation.

So while you’ve asked how we work within the realm of global thought, my answer is we DON’T. We make our own reality bright by shining our light, and surrender everyone else’s reality with faith that they are experiencing just what they most need to experience to learn what they need to learn. What folks need most is not a better economy, but the truth, power and wisdom to consciously create what they want in their own lives. So don’t worry about what is happening in other places to strangers. Worrying will not help them anyway. And instead of feeling guilty when you’re prospering and others are struggling, look upon manifesting abundance and happiness as being a good role model, which is the highest and best way to be of service.

To maintain a high vibration despite all the negativity of “global thought,” drop the notion that you have to protect yourself from fear. You can’t, for the very notion of protection is fear-based. Instead of trying to get rid of fear, we have to cultivate faith and positive expectation instead. Here are a few ideas designed to help you with that:

  • First, only watch, read and listen to things that feel good. The only TV show I watch is “Whose Line is it Anyway?” (This article was written in 2004.)This comedy improvisation always makes me laugh and marvel at how quickly some people can take whatever life sends their way and spin it into something delightful through the sheer power of their creativity. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to consciously choose your “input,” including the music you’re mindlessly absorbing as you drive in the car, which is programming your mind at a subconscious level. It’s like a hypnosis/self-help tape, except it’s often far from helpful. If “Love Stinks” is playing in the background of your life, turn the radio off! Similarly, carefully choose the people you associate with. The more sensitive (powerful) you are, the more important this becomes.
  • Don’t just cut out negative influences – add IN positive influences as well. Read uplifting and empowering books. Seek out positive shows, music and movies. Always focus on what you want. Every time you hear some negative story or prediction, make a point of seeking out a success story or some other uplifting and encouraging input to boost your faith, power and magic! Avoiding anything is impossible, for in just thinking about it/giving your attention to it, you are attracting it. It’s therefore wise to purposefully replace all negativity with empowering thoughts/energies. If you pull all the weeds from a garden, it will just be a lot of dirt unless you also plant flowers and luscious fruits and vegetables and then cultivate them.
  • Own your power! Money is just a tangible form of energy. Your thoughts and feelings are also energy. Visualize energy flowing through your life, and then visualize energy as money flowing through your life. It’s all just energy. Money is not some magical, scarce resource; it’s just pretty paper. It DOES grow on trees!
  • Study the Law of Attraction and actually work with all the (endless) exercises available. From writing affirmations to listening to self-hypnosis tapes to creating visual collages of your dreams, there are innumerable powerful tools to choose from, but you have to USE them.
  • Above all, follow your bliss and count your blessings. If you’re happy, you naturally feel blessed. This not only attracts more blessings, it’s downright satisfying in and of itself!

– Soul Arcanum

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