Tag Archive: synchronicity


Can We Try TOO Hard to Communicate with Spirit Guides?

on communicating with Spirit and/or spirit guides
Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

In your experience, do you think that in trying to consciously connect with Spirit or our Spirit Guides, one can try TOO hard and miss the mark totally? I ask this because I make what I feel are real attempts to open myself up to Spirit, and don’t feel that I ever really do. Thank you for your insights!
Desma

Dear Desma:

Absolutely! We (including YOU) are actually in communication with Spirit all the time, but few of us are consciously aware of it. When we act on “impulses,” where do those impulses come from? When we have a “bad feeling” or a “hunch” about something or someone, where does that come from? Sometimes it is from our own intuition and inner knowing, but often it is from a source beyond ourselves.

If we “try too hard,” not only do we block ourselves from receiving what we desire, but we lock ourselves into our conscious, logical minds, which deafens us to our intuitive faculties. Psychic perception is about receiving, not about attaining. A radio does not have to try hard to receive a signal; it just needs to be turned on and tuned in.

If you think about it, you’ll realize that every psychic exercise begins with the same step: relaxation. This is because in order to perceive anything psychically, we have to alter our state of consciousness so that we’re in a day-dreamy “alpha state.” While this may not be wise if we’re driving a car or chopping vegetables, it’s ideal if we’re seeking communication with non-physical entities.

Further, when we “try too hard,” it’s like we’re at war with our goal. Instead of trying to conquer this challenge, we are wise to make love to it, play with it, experiment! If you’re hard on yourself, you’ll only lower your vibration, which will effectively prevent you from reaching that higher state wherein spirit communication is possible. Try to embrace a sense of anticipation, joy and gratitude about all the magic in the universe, the amazing things humans are capable of, how wonderful beings like guides and angels are weaving in and out of our experience every day. Try to get out of your head and open your heart and soul to Spirit. You can not logically find your way to what you desire here; you must let your heart lead you. While your head plays a key role in interpreting what you receive and in discerning fact from fantasy, you have to be willing to take an initial leap of faith and BELIEVE in order to receive the kind of proof logic demands.

Connecting with Spirit is a psychic ability, and psychic perception is not a science: it’s an art form. Like any creative process, you have to be willing to “mess up” – to be experimental in your approach.

Be light about it. You might begin by manifesting signs from Spirit that you’re on the right track, or that you’re capable of doing what you desire. Decide what your sign will be, ask with all your heart for Spirit to send you validation, and then begin to look for that sign wherever you go. Let’s say you decide you want your sign to be a “thumbs up.” As you’re flipping through the television channels, your attention may be caught by a basketball player giving a “thumbs up” to someone in the stands, or while driving you may see a “thumbs up” on a billboard, or a coworker may walk by and just give you a “thumbs up” to communicate that you’re doing a good job. These are proof that you are already dialoguing with the Universe. When you determine the form of the sign/communication, it’s much easier to spot. The more you acknowledge such experiences as meaningful, the more Spirit will say, “Hey, we’ve got her attention, send more, send more!”

I believe that many “coincidences” are not necessarily meaningful in and of themselves; they’re simply little wake-up calls to pay attention. For example, the other night when I left karate class with my husband, this total stranger struck up a conversation with us, and ended up massaging my neck and shoulders right there on the sidewalk. (He was showing my husband some great techniques). We walked on and several blocks and turns later, my husband introduced me to an old friend who was standing outside her store. In the five minutes we spoke to her, she mentioned that she used to be a massage therapist, but that now, “there is a guy doing massage on every street corner.” Zing!

The next day I was again at karate, talking with a friend about the power blackout last summer, and I thought to myself, “I’d better stop talking about this, or else the power will go out again.” An hour later my husband stopped by as I was leaving class to let me know that our power was out. The rest of the city was fine, mind you; only our neighborhood was out. Now, I don’t think I “caused” the power to go out. I think that I was nudged to think about the power outage before it happened. I realized then that I had been running my usual hectic pace through life on auto-pilot, and that Spirit had been trying to get me to stop and pay attention.

In addition to seeking signs like this, you might try just “making stuff up.” If you COULD connect with a spirit guide, what might he/she be like? Draw a picture or write a description and conversation with this spirit guide. It’s all based on what he/she MIGHT be like “IF” you could communicate with him/her. Honor whatever comes to you as VALID FOR YOU, even if you think you’re making it all up. (Even if you ARE making it up, it’s coming from SOMEWHERE. Just like dreams, it’s all meaningful and valid for you personally.)

The more you communicate with these deeper/other parts of yourself, the more your awareness will expand.There is a whole lot of clutter in our subconscious, waiting for our conscious awareness. This is why meditation is so powerful. It’s something you begin to do like cleaning your house: when your mind is all cluttered and crammed with stuff, it’s time to clear it out so you can see everything in your inner environment clearly again.

Begin to honor your hunches, impulses and intuitions. If someone pops into your mind, give that person a call or look around for them. I will know I’m going to see someone in an unlikely place because as I’m going along, that person will just pop into my mind. You often hear people say, “Oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you!” Begin to pay attention to your state of mind when things like this happen. I’m sure you’ll notice that you aren’t “trying hard,” but rather, are just going along in your life, probably doing something that allows your mind to “wander.” This is the state of mind you need to recreate to purposefully connect.

When you do try to consciously connect with Spirit, set your intention with your heart, not your mind. You can’t force your mind to do it, but you can wish with all your heart and succeed. Feel the desire to communicate with spirit burning in your heart, and allow the calm certainty of your faith to keep it in balance. You can RELAX while wanting if you believe you’re going to get what you want. That is the perfect state of mind and heart for receiving Divine guidance.

Above all, remember that if you don’t feel good about yourself, you’re going to lower your vibration right out of the psychic range. Frustration will only block you. The more gratitude and love you’re flowing, the higher your vibration, and the easier it will be to connect. Raise your vibration via meditation, prayer, a healthy diet, exercise, positive thinking, affirmations, etc., and it will be much easier for you to connect with Spirit.

– Soul Arcanum


How to Dialogue with Spirit

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have many times heard the term “dialogue with Spirit.” This notion feels very appealing to me even though I’m not sure exactly what it means. Can you explain a bit about how to dialogue with Spirit and what we can gain from doing so?

Evelyn

Dear Evelyn:

This is a favorite subject of mine, for when we make a habit of dialoguing with Spirit, we receive helpful signs and experience amazing synchronicities. By “dialogue with Spirit,” I mean asking to be guided and then watching for meaningful events, signs and messages as well as listening within for answers.

By way of example, I’ll relate a recent experience in which I asked Spirit a question and got a clear, immediate response. I had been visiting some young people I’m very fond of who are avowed atheists and also incredibly bright. The more time I spent with them, the more I started to question my own views even though they are soundly founded on direct personal experiences.

As I was flying home from this visit, I was reading a book about synchronicity, which reminded me to ask Spirit for a sign or message about whether I was right to be questioning my beliefs. (In my view, our beliefs should always be open to revision, so questioning them is a good thing.) I took a moment and focused on the question in my mind and heart, and asked Spirit to send me a sign either confirming my existing views or validating the need for me to question them.

No sooner had I sent this request out to the Universe than the man sitting beside me on the plane pulled out an e-book and started reading. I noted with some interest that he was reading the Bible; I found this interesting since I was also reading spiritual material but of a much different nature. As I pondered this, I got an intuitive “nudge” to surreptitiously read over his shoulder. When I did so, I discovered the following passage from Galatians:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

While I’m certainly not in harmony with the whole “curse” element of this passage, to me the message was crystal clear: don’t question the beliefs you have already built upon a sound foundation of personal experience (direct revelation). When I reflected upon this further, I realized that I was succumbing to my old nemesis: worrying that people I love and respect will think I’m crazy for believing the things I believe. I have for years had to overcome this concern in order to put my relationship with Spirit first regardless of what other people may think of me.

When we are congruent with receiving a sign from Spirit, by which I mean we believe this is possible and wholly expect it to happen, and are high enough in vibration to manifest fulfillment, the signs we request can come to us this quickly and clearly.

Dialoguing with Spirit is very simple. Basically, you just have to consciously ask for signs, messages, and other forms of guidance, and then pay attention to what happens next. This is an internal process that is more than mental; you have to ask with your whole being. You can ask with your mind and heart, or you can write down your request and place it in a special box or on your meditation altar.

For this to work, you have to be above ego so you can be objective; otherwise you will tend to see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear. It’s also important to be open to signs coming to you in unusual or unexpected ways. For example, you will greatly limit your experience if you say something like: “If I am meant to go forward with my plan to adopt a child, then my boss will walk in my office in the next five minutes and somehow work the word adoption into the conversation.” While it’s not impossible for things like this to happen (I’ve had some amazing signs from Spirit over the years), it is far easier for Spirit to deliver the answers we’re looking for if we allow Spirit to work out the details. A better request would be to ask for the subject of adoption to come up frequently for us over the next three days, and to evaluate those specific instances for guidance on whether or not we should move forward.

You can set up your own rules. Many people ask Spirit to deliver signs in threes so they know they aren’t creating self-fulfilling prophecies. Personally, I just listen to and trust my intuition. Signs have a special feeling to them; they get your attention and make you wonder if something meaningful is happening. Seemingly remarkable experiences can be mere coincidences if they don’t carry this special feeling, while ordinary events may be signs if they nudge us to pay attention.

You can also set up personal symbols and omens of a permanent or temporary nature. For example, a friend of mine has asked the Universe to show her gifts or presents when she is going to get what she thinks she wants. When she then receives gifts or notices others giving and receiving gifts, she knows that what she wants is on its way to her. Back when I was dating my firefighter husband and wondering about our future together, I told Spirit to send me firetrucks if my sense that we would one day be married was accurate. For weeks, I saw fire trucks everywhere I went.

The more you ask for guidance from Spirit in this way, the more will come to you. Further, the more open your beliefs and expectations, the more this will tend to happen in amazing, unmistakable ways. Making a habit of dialoguing with Spirit is a powerful way to navigate through the endless challenges and opportunities life sends our way.

Often when we’re lost and confused, we forget to simply ask Spirit for answers. We don’t have to wait until we’re desperate; we can ask at any time. If you begin to dialogue with Spirit in your own way, you’ll receive helpful guidance for improving your life, and your everyday reality will begin to grow more magical and meaningful in delightful, inspiring ways.

Soul Arcanum


Determining the Meaning of Psychic Symbols

 

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I’ve been searching for a site that offers interpretations for visions. Sometimes a slide show will dominate my field of vision. Usually my eyes are momentarily closed when this happens, like when I’m brushing my teeth or showering. This has happened a handful of times in my life, and my most recent experience is puzzling. It was a cup and saucer, and a pot poured the cup full of black coffee. It looked like a commercial. In trying to figure out what coffee means, I’ve guessed that it’s a stimulant. Coffee isn’t my cup of tea, but I do drink it away from home. My late father was an avid coffee drinker. I’m stumped as to what this vision might be showing to me, and searched for a site that lists the meanings of certain symbols. I’ve visited a local psychic and her interpretations are often strange to me. Are psychic symbols personal or universal? Can this be taught? I read your article on developing your ability to have visions and found it very helpful. Thank you.

Eileen

Dear Eileen:

The intellectual interpretation of psychic visions is more complex than one might assume because we are in constant interaction with all sorts of subtle influences on an unconscious level. It’s therefore wise to finely develop our intuitive faculties, but more on that in a moment.

The meanings of symbols in dreams and psychic visions are indeed ultimately personal. This is confusing because there are some symbols that are nearly universal and many that are natural given our cultural conditioning. For example, nearly everyone would interpret a smiling face to represent happiness and a frowning face to represent displeasure. In the U.S., most people would interpret a green traffic light to mean ‘go.’

In this article, I’ll refer to the model of the psyche developed by Carl Jung because his terms are so well known. Imagine that our minds are composed of three different aspects: the conscious (that which we are aware of), the personal unconscious (that which we have personally experienced but are not currently conscious of), and the collective unconscious, which is like the personal unconscious expanded to include all of humanity throughout time. I would expand this further to include all that is, has been and ever could be. Having a psychic vision is like the conscious mind receiving a message from the personal or collective unconscious.

To determine the meaning of a dream or psychic vision, I believe in beginning with the personal, for this usually eliminates a lot of fishing around. Thus the first things I would ask someone having your vision is what associations they have with coffee, and what feelings this vision evokes for them.

You have already done this and come up with your father, which explains why he may use this particular image to try to get your attention. Someone else may associate coffee with waking up, in which case such a vision could be a prompt from Spirit to ‘wake up and pay attention.’ Yet another person could be hunting for a job and see this image because they’re being guided to apply at a company related to the coffee industry, or perhaps they’ve been praying to find a soul mate, and this is a sign that they’ll meet the one they’re looking for in a coffee shop.

Once you’ve identified your own personal associations with a vision, ask yourself how it makes you feel. There is always some emotional charge to a psychic vision, so if it feels utterly flat, it may not be a meaningful psychic vision at all. Even when such visions have a strong emotional kick to them, there may not be a meaningful purpose behind them for you. This is where we get into the subtle influences that can complicate the whole matter.

One of the first things to rule out when you’re spontaneously hit with a psychic impression is the possibility that you’ve simply wandered into a thought form. Two of the most common places I always encounter thought forms is on bridges and airplanes. I will be about to cross a bridge when suddenly I have visions of the car going over the side accompanied by a wave of fear. Similarly, I’ll be taking off in an airplane when I’m suddenly hit by thoughts of crashing.

These are not my own phobias. For one thing, I never give these matters a second thought when I’m not in those situations, and for another, once I remind myself that these aren’t my own thoughts and feelings and I disengage from them, they completely disappear.

Just as houses have a certain feeling to them, so do places and things like air planes. When we approach a bridge, we have to travel through a space that is full of the fearful thoughts and energies of all the people who have traveled there before us who are afraid of going over the side. Similarly, air planes carry lots of fearful thought forms and energies. People who are sensitive naturally pick up on these, where others remain unaffected.

It’s also possible that you’re picking up on another person’s desire for coffee. You mentioned that you usually have this vision while you’re showering or brushing your teeth. If your spouse or another person you’re close to is craving his first cup of coffee or even drinking it downstairs in the kitchen, you could pick up on it, especially if they really love their coffee, for this would give the idea lots of energy.

I believe we can even pick up TV and radio transmissions, so the fact that this vision looks like a commercial is interesting. It’s possible that you’re tuning in to a certain commercial showing on TV even when your TV is off or tuned to a different station. Many people have had the experience of hearing a certain song in their heads only to turn the radio on and discover that song is playing.

So given all of these possibilities, how do you determine what this vision means for you? Since you associate the coffee with your father and he is in the Spirit world, I would assume that this is a nudge to try to get your attention. It’s probably not a message in and of itself, but more like a spirit calling card. To determine what he’s trying to tell you, you’ll have to wake up and start paying attention on a subtle psychic level when you receive this prompt.

To confirm that this is him, you can also ask for him to nudge you in a different but particular way. For example, I always know that my grandmother is trying to get my attention when I notice images of her house and yard running through the back of my mind. You can pick something that you strongly associate with your father and mentally ask that he use that image to get your attention.

Once you’ve been nudged, you’ll have to step things up in terms of using your psychic faculties to determine the message coming your way. It’s also important to realize that there may not be any grand message, for often spirits just want us to know that they are sending us love from beyond. To open up to deeper messages, you might meditate and open your heart to hear whatever spirit is trying to tell you, or journal on the vision and see where that leads you.

To move beyond the level of brief, cryptic, spontaneous visions, further psychic development is essential. By developing a strong relationship with your spirit guides and controlled use of all your psychic senses, you can cultivate the power to shift into a state of consciousness where all you have to do is ask for more information and it will come to you. To begin this journey, I recommend you find a local Spiritualist Church where you can join a development circle or ask the minister for other local resources.

Soul Arcanum

 

 

Could She be Getting Messages Through Soul Arcanum?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum::

I always enjoy reading your column. Do you think it’s possible that I’m getting spiritual messages through your website? I’ve noticed that when an issue arises in my life or I’m thinking about different spiritual matters or questions, the next issue of Soul Arcanum will have an article with the answers I need. For example, I signed a contract for my house at 11:11 p.m., and said to my girlfriend that there are so many experiences of 11:11 in my life, then the next Monday there was an article in Soul Arcanum about the spiritual meaning of 11:11. Another time my dog got sick and the next thing I saw in your magazine was an article on how to meditate with your dog. I could give you a lot more examples. Soul Arcanum definitely plays an important role in my life! What do you think – am I really getting messages this way? Thank you!

– Ellen

Dear Ellen:

You are not imagining things; everything in the Universe is interrelated, and the more conscious we become of that truth, the more we notice connections like those you describe.

The common term for what you’re experiencing is “synchronicity.” It was a favorite topic of Carl Jung’s, who noticed that many so-called coincidences are statistically inexplicable. For example, one of his most famous experiences of synchronicity occurred as he was listening to a patient describe a dream she’d had about a golden scarab beetle. As he listened to her, he heard a tapping noise at the window behind him, and when he turned around to investigate, he saw a beetle at the window. When he opened the window, the beetle flew in, and it looked just like the beetle his patient was describing in her dream. We might say that this experience “blew his mind,” and launched him on a journey of exploration into the nature of synchronicity.

We’ve all had experiences like this that strike us as highly improbable. They’re usually laced with a sense of meaning; something deep inside of us makes us sit up, take notice and wonder at what is happening. Since there is no obvious rational explanation, many people’s minds just shut down and they brush the experience off as a coincidence. Those who are more mystically inclined, however, are able to use their intuition to bridge the gap between common reality and the subtler realities beneath the surface. In this way, we find meaning in synchronistic experiences where others do not.

So how does synchronicity work? Sometimes there are intelligent forces like spirits using such means to communicate with us, but more often, we are simply answering our own desires and questions via the unified field beyond the dimension of time and space. Our conscious minds are tuned into three-dimensional, physical reality, but there are other aspects of our minds that abide in what we might call more expansive dimensions. When we become more spiritually aware, we begin to link our conscious mind with these other aspects of ourselves, and they begin to work together more adeptly because they are more “in synch.”

At a quantum level, the universe appears to be a “magical” place. Things can move from one place to another without traveling the distance in between. Time collapses at this level of experience. This is basically what is behind the experience of synchronicity – when we are vibrationally in harmony with something (such as an answer or an idea) it will come to us or we will be led to it. For example, perhaps you needed the information in that article about 11:11 BEFORE you began noticing those numbers popping up in your experience, and that is WHY you began noticing them.

When we begin to look for signs, we open up a vast new realm of potential ways that we can receive them. If we set an intention of having certain dream experiences or accessing certain information in our dreams, our dream life will blossom. If we look for signs in the spoken conversations of others, or in random books, or any other way, those avenues begin to expand for us.

This leads me to why I am so in love with the internet. The internet is as close as we come in the physical dimension to that vast unified field wherein everything is connected. Nothing tangible actually “exists” on the internet, and it is not an actual “place,” yet we can all visit it and have very real experiences there. We can quickly access whatever we need to know or connect with whomever we desire, even if they are on the other side of the planet! Just as we can access information and understanding by mentally “dipping into” other realms, the same is true of the ‘net. As it is a half step above the level of space/time, the internet is a very powerful channel for synchronicity.

I’m suggesting that you had a certain need or desire that led you to Soul Arcanum in the first place, and that you subsequently defined Soul Arcanum as a great avenue for finding the answers you’re looking for. In this way, Soul Arcanum became a key channel through which you receive synchronous “answers” to your questions.

Now you’re probably wondering how your questions could be answered as opposed to the questions of all the other seekers out there. Here’s where things get very complex but also very interesting. Practically speaking, you probably read a lot at Soul Arcanum that doesn’t “grab you,” and you naturally latch on to those articles that have special meaning for you. Your eyes may glide ride past anything you don’t need and go right to what you’re most interested in.

At the same time, however, it’s natural for you to resonate with most of what you find here. From a higher perspective, those of us who read and appreciate Soul Arcanum are a virtual spiritual community based on our shared interests and experiences. Along what we might call “the spiritual path,” everyone passes through the same territory. It’s like driving from L.A. to Las Vegas: While a few people will get lost or wander off the beaten trail, most people will follow the same basic route, and along the way, there will be various landmarks that EVERYONE passes. (Some will notice some things more than others, of course.) Now imagine that Soul Arcanum is like a travel guide devoted to this journey from L.A. to Vegas, and you’ll see why when you’re reading it, you often think, “Hey! I just noticed that myself!”

Further, since we are in the same virtual “community,” we are in communication at a subconscious, energetic level. The articles I choose to run are thus being influenced by your needs and desires. In fact, long ago I set the intention of choosing articles and topics intuitively; I just go with whatever feels right. So if you’re sending a strong signal, I may just receive it. At the same time, YOU may be picking up on what I’m doing. I work about a week ahead, so it makes sense that articles would either appear shortly after you sent that signal, or you might develop a sudden interest in the topics I’m working on at that time.

It’s exciting to know that the more we look for synchronicities, the more we’ll find. When we clearly define what we want to know or experience and then watch for signs and synchronicities, we weave magic into our lives.

If you’d like to experience even more of this magic (and who wouldn’t?), begin to focus on it and ask for it. Try manifesting answers through other specific sources and see what happens, or try writing down some theme, question or subject you’d like to explore further. Tape it to the wall behind your desk or carry it in your wallet or pocket. Then just watch for something related to this subject to grab your attention, and instead of brushing this experience off as a coincidence, celebrate it as validation that through synchronicity, the Universe can work for us in wonderful, mysterious ways.

– Soul Arcanum