Tag Archive: vibration


Spiritual Effects of Marijuana

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

People say that marijuana can lead to enlightening experiences, but I don’t think that’s the case. From my experience, it just seems like it messes up the senses and causes a lot of confusion. When I smoked it, my mind was separated from the physical world and I felt oblivious to what was happening around me. Am I validated in feeling this way? What are the spiritual effects of smoking marijuana?
– Ned

Dear Ned:

Please note that this article in no way encourages illegal activity of any kind; it’s purely a philosophical discussion.

The spiritual effects of marijuana use depend entirely on who you are, where you are in your journey, and your intention in using it. Drugs aside, people should be psychologically stable and healthy before exploring altered states of consciousness.

Most of our beliefs about illicit drugs stem from social conditioning and our observations of people who abuse them in order to avoid reality. When people who aren’t stable and competent in everyday life take recreational drugs, it’s like watching someone who just learned to drive climb into the cockpit of an airplane. By contrast, people who are ready for it and have a clear sense of where they want to go can fly to new dimensions of spiritual experience by employing various sacred tools and practices.

Many sincere seekers who embrace marijuana as a sacrament find it spiritually beneficial. Further, many times when people use marijuana for the first time, it opens them up to a whole new realm of possibilities because getting high focuses their attention inward, toward the realm of spirit. Pot alters our state of consciousness and increases alpha brain waves much like meditation and other trance work. In terms of its effects on the aura, it can create a lovely green color and open the heart chakra. So you’re right in saying that it loosens your awareness of the physical world, but isn’t that one aim of spiritual practice?

Perhaps the most dramatic spiritual effect of marijuana use can be seen in people who are strongly rooted in physical, rational, left-brain thinking. From birth we are programmed with what and how to think, which can become a mental straight jacket that prevents us from moving beyond ordinary levels of wisdom, consciousness and spiritual experience.

Through altered states of consciousness, we can escape from that mental conditioning and expand the scope of our inner horizons. When we get high, we often experience higher levels of love, peace and awareness. Before we experience something, we don’t even know that it’s possible, but after we’ve done it at least once, it’s easier to find our way back to it without aid of outside influences.

So just trying marijuana can awaken people who are uptight with social conditioning to new spiritual possibilities. Further, when their existing beliefs are shattered, they hopefully learn to question everything else they’ve assumed to be true, possible, right, good, etc. This blesses them with an open mind, which fosters further personal and spiritual growth.

Marijuana can also turn on parts of the brain that have remained dormant and free our consciousness to wander into new psychic territory. According to at least one very involved study, using marijuana can profoundly increase a person’s chances of having an out of body experience. Marijuana users are also far more likely to report experiences of ESP, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance and other psychic phenomena. In lab experiments, regular marijuana users have also scored significantly higher on psychic tests than non-users.

Similar studies have found a negative correlation between ESP scoring and alcohol use, and scientists have noted that marijuana affects the brain differently from drugs like alcohol, nicotine and cocaine. For example, marijuana seems to generate the growth of new brain cells and stimulate brain cells in ways that combat depression and other mood disorders, where the other drugs have an opposite effect.

Marijuana users also frequently report spiritual experiences, such as feeling connected to All That Is; contact with Divine beings like spirits, angels and guides; a deep sense of peace and contentment; a shift in their values away from materialism toward more spiritual interests and concerns, etc. Just meeting spiritual beings or having an out of body experience can spiritually transform people by opening them up to all sorts of new possibilities, allowing them to shed limiting fears, and launching them on a quest for new wisdom and experience.

Further, the term “to get high” accurately reflects marijuana’s spiritual effects. When most people smoke marijuana, they get fully present in the moment, drop all emotional resistance and sink into a wonderful state of appreciation. As a result, their vibration skyrockets. When our vibration is soaring, we’re more open to life and other people, which facilitates greater psychic and spiritual awareness. (Those who feel paranoid on marijuana should definitely avoid it, and might view this as a sign that they have a lot of repressed fears to be healed and released.)

Since marijuana doesn’t lower our vibration and it isn’t addictive, we don’t have to worry about lower astral entities as we do with other substances like alcohol. In fact, smudging with marijuana can dispel dark energies and cleanse the psychic atmosphere like sage does, for its energetic tone resonates with purification, liberation, peace and love.

All of this aside, please understand that I am just explaining why marijuana may have spiritually beneficial effects on some people. I am not in any way trying to convince you to change your mind about what is best for you personally, nor am I advocating the use of mind altering drugs for spiritual growth. Scientists have learned that the body produces its own psychedelic chemicals, so when we ingest a mind altering drug, we’re not introducing anything truly foreign into our bodies. This means we don’t NEED things like marijuana in order to attain the states of consciousness they induce.

I also believe that there is a point early on in every conscious spiritual journey when the use of mind altering substances becomes more limiting than beneficial. We might equate this with becoming an astronaut: when you can soar into the cosmos in a rocket, climbing into the cockpit of that airplane I mentioned earlier will prevent you from going as far and as high as you could without it.

Marijuana has been used as a spiritual tool for ages, and like any other tool, it can be used for destructive or constructive purposes. If spiritual seekers take a wise, mature approach, using marijuana may expand their consciousness and help them tap new psychic ability.

– Soul Arcanum

Anti-Depressants and Psychic Ability

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I was diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depression as well as Anxiety. I have read that taking medications will block your intuition and cloud your psychic ability. Since I don’t want that to happen, I no longer take any medications. I have also read that anxiety and depression are common in psychics and clairvoyants. Am I truly dampening my abilities if I take medication to treat the symptoms of depression and anxiety? I am blessed with special gifts that I want to further develop so I can continue to use them for the good of all, but sometimes I feel like if I don’t take medication to treat the symptoms of anxiety and depression, I’m not taking care of myself. If anxiety and depression are indeed common in psychics and clairvoyants, then what methods can I use to naturally treat them so as not to muddy my abilities? – Kim

Dear Kim:

I find it interesting that you’re focused on the relationship between medication and your psychic senses, and not the relationship between depression and your psychic abilities.

There is definitely a connection between depression and new spiritual growth or awakening. Major depression pushes us to ask some very deep questions about the meaning and purpose of life. Ultimately, emotional suffering forces us to reach for new spiritual understanding, which leads us to break down the ego in search of our true nature so we can connect with our spiritual source. The more we fear or resist this process, the harder this journey of personal transformation will seem.

Of course, simply asking these sorts of questions can unleash all sorts of repressed issues and energies on a soul level. Repressed anger, guilt and fear from this life and other lives may then cause depression until those energies are made conscious and healed.

Psychic development alone can cause depression for a number of reasons. For one thing, psychics are highly sensitive and can pick up other people’s feelings or tap into global psychic currents without realizing it. They may feel depressed when in fact they are just tuning in to someone else’s misery. Since they are psychically open, they may also be drained of energy by other people or astral entities.

Like depression, anxiety can also be picked up from other people or the atmosphere. Just being too psychically open can make us feel anxious, for our inner being will try to tell us that we are vulnerable to psychic influence by outside forces.

Given all of the above, further spiritual development is often the cure for depression. With wisdom and experience, psychics naturally gain more awareness of all that is affecting them on a subtle level. They also learn how to channel spiritual guidance and healing, how to control their own psychic boundaries, and how to set their own vibrational tone. When they learn about the law of attraction, they realize that they create their own realities, which frees them of the hopelessness and despair that drive depression. By accepting that we have created our own dis-comfort and dis-ease, we reclaim our personal power to create new well-being instead.

As I see it, there are two equally valid sides of this medication issue: on one hand, it would be great if you could trust that everything you experience has an ultimately positive aim so you can seek the deeper messages behind your depression and heal it on a causal level. If you can look at this as a process of spiritual rebirth and trust that though it may be uncomfortable, it is taking you somewhere positive, you won’t abort your spiritual journey or miss out on its blessings. (If medication makes you feel good, and that erases your motivation to reach for new understanding, you could cut short your own spiritual growth.)

On the other hand, anything you can do to raise your vibration (including taking medication) will empower you to create further positive change, and will facilitate psychic awareness of a higher order. If you tune in psychically from a position of depression, what you experience will tend to be very dark and heavy. If you can raise your vibration, you can connect with a higher level of spiritual experience, wisdom and healing.

Depression doesn’t always have deep spiritual meaning. Our modern lifestyle alone can cause anxiety and malaise; in fact, I believe that most depression could be cured by simply eating a high vibration diet of fresh natural foods and getting daily exercise, so this is definitely where I would start. Since it takes a lot of energy and willpower to break long-term patterns and create positive change, medication can help people through the challenging period when they’re in the process of developing healthy new habits.

The important thing is for YOU to decide what you really want and need. Given the severity of your suffering, I think healing the depression is more important than your psychic abilities right now. Besides, once you find a way to feel strong and empowered in yourself, you will be better able to successfully work with your psychic senses.

As for natural methods for healing depression, the possibilities are endless. Here are some things you might explore to raise your vibration, encourage psychic development and facilitate healing on every level of your being at the same time: regular meditation (both mindfulness and guided imagery); eating a light, healthy vegetarian diet; getting daily exercise; yoga (especially kundalini yoga, which opens the third eye); hypnotherapy and past life therapy; prayer; reading, studying and practicing psychic skills like strengthening your aura, raising energy, and mastering the control of your psychic boundaries; spending time in nature; clearing your world of physical clutter; cleansing your aura of astral influences, etc.

There are also online communities that can support you, and lots of information for you in books and on the internet. I recommend a book entitled The Stormy Search for Self by Christina and Stanislav Grof, M.D. In terms of websites, you might begin with the Spiritual Emergence Network.

As for your desire to help others with your psychic abilities, it’s important for you to realize that one of three things may happen whenever you psychically tune in to someone who is in a heavy emotional space: you may go into that heaviness with them; you may try to keep your distance by closing off your heart from them; or you may set a powerful healing tone and lift them up into that higher vibration with you.

In order to become a psychic healer (as opposed to a fortune teller), I had to develop faith that everyone is just where they need to be in order to learn whatever they need to learn. This allows me to truly love and care for people while not getting personally upset or anxious about their problems. For the sake of everyone involved, before you choose to use your psychic abilities to try to help others, I recommend that you similarly cultivate a deep faith that everything ultimately happens for the highest and best.

Please know that you are constantly healing and that everything you experience is designed to lead you to a higher level of experience. If you pray for Spirit to guide you to new peace, well-being, and personal fulfillment, I have faith that you will be led to heal in the perfect way for you.

– Soul Arcanum


Can She Help Grieving Mom Communicate with Departed Husband?

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

My mom lost her second husband almost a year ago, and she is having a hard time with this. I’ve asked her to seek grief counseling, but she won’t do it. Last summer my stepfather came to me in a dream. This is not unusual – I’ve had many spirits come to me. In the dream, I was at the foot of my mom’s bed, talking to her as she cried over his death. He entered the room and I was so happy to see him. I said to him, “Ron help her! Help my mom!” He sat at her bedside and wrapped his arms around her. Then he turned to me and said, “I can’t. She won’t let me.” When I asked why I could perceive him and she couldn’t, he said it was because of her sadness. He then explained that he doesn’t understand such feelings, for they are no longer a part of him. He said he feels no sadness, regret, anger or grief – he only feels the love they still have. He wanted me to tell her he is with her every day. Every time I’m with my mom, she asks why she can’t feel him. I have no real answers for her aside from what he told me. Can I help her to be more open to him?
– Susan

Dear Susan:

This is mainly a problem of vibration. Sadly, it’s often the people who most long for contact with a loved one in Spirit who have the hardest time. This is because the emotions of grief are of a very low vibration, and in order to consciously connect with spirits, we have to reach high toward their vibratory range.

This is also why spirit contact is a relatively rare experience: when someone we love dies, we are grieving during the time when they are trying the hardest to connect with us. Once our grief has subsided, our loved ones know we’re okay and they move on. So what your stepfather told you in that dream is right on.

I’m betting your mom isn’t big on remembering her dreams, for if she was, she would have had a dream about your stepfather already. As you are very psychic, you have a naturally high vibration and ready access to your dreams. I’m sure your stepfather came to you because he’s been trying very hard to get through to your mom without success.

In order to connect while awake, we must have a high vibration, unmitigated desire, and the belief that this is possible. Then if we can stay open and trust what we perceive, it’s pretty simple to draw spirits close with feelings of our love for them.

Here are some suggestions for anyone who is grieving and longing for contact with a loved one in Spirit:

First you must give yourself some time to heal, for as you do, your vibration will naturally rise. When you are at peace with your loved one’s passing, you will be in a better position to purposefully connect with their spirit.

In the mean time, you can try for contact via your dreams. Of course, for this to work, you must be able to remember them, so begin to keep a dream journal and study various techniques for remembering and working with your dreams. Each night before you go to sleep, think of your loved one with affection and ask them to visit you while you’re dreaming. You can also ask your spirit guides and angels to facilitate this experience.

Ask yourself if you have any fear about the whole idea of spirit communication. Many people think they want this but deep down the idea of it unnerves them. That fear can both make us block our own success, and make our loved ones in Spirit hold back because they don’t want to scare us.

Further, ask yourself if there are any inner conflicts or issues you have yet to resolve about your relationship with the loved one in Spirit you are seeking. If you’re carrying any conscious or subconscious feelings of guilt, anger or any other lower emotion, those feelings can lower your vibration and prevent contact. For example, if you feel guilty because you weren’t there when your loved one crossed over, you could subconsciously “protect” yourself from facing your loved one until you resolve those feelings.

Beliefs are very important here. The more you expect to be able to connect with spirits, the more that will tend to happen. It is therefore wise to read about others’ success. It can also help to have someone else make contact. (For example, you might ask your stepfather to come to you in another dream and give you some information you could not have known. This evidence will both convince your mom that he’s really trying to come through, and show her that it’s possible to ask for a dream and have it happen.)

Understand that the spirit world is all around us, but it’s not tangible like this realm. If you expect to be able to perceive spirits with nothing but your physical senses, you will be disappointed. Some people even call the spirit world the “subtle realm.” Our thoughts and feelings already exist in this subtle realm, which means that spirits naturally come to us via thoughts and feelings. To manifest success with spirit communication, we must learn to trust that our thoughts and feelings about spirits are “real.”

When you feel you’re ready to make contact, turn on all your senses, sit quietly, and open up to a ny impressions you get. It’s rare that we sit quietly with all our senses turned on and then reach out to Spirit from a high vibration, and yet that’s all we really need to do.

As you reach out with your heart from a high vibration, watch for signs of your loved one’s presence. You may feel awash with love, sense their presence, have their face pop into your mind, hear their voice in your head, or have some memory you strongly associate with them seep through from the background of your mind. (For example, whenever my grandmother is near, I begin to notice memories of her house popping through from the background of my conscious awareness. These may be mental snapshots of the street she lived on or of rooms in her house.)

When something like this happens, let your heart swell with love for this person. Don’t focus on feelings of loss and how they aren’t here anymore, for that will bring your vibration down. Instead, remember happy memories. It may also help to physically smile, close your eyes, and turn your face upward, like you’re basking in the light of the sun. Breathe deeply and evenly, and send thoughts of love to this spirit. Tell them that you’re not afraid and ask them to draw near so you can psychically embrace them. This can lead to some very moving experiences.

Mind you, all of this is metaphysical, so it’s happening on an auric level. Sometimes you may feel things in your aura like tingling, or like someone is faintly stroking your hair. The hair may stand up on the back of your neck, or you may get goose bumps. Afterward, your head may still have some doubts, but your heart will know that something real has occurred.

In closing, while I applaud your desire to help your mom, we each have to find our own spiritual path through life, and there is only so much we can do for others. I want to reassure you that your mom is being guided and will heal in her own way and time.

– Soul Arcanum

Will Spirit Communication Be Easier in the Age of Aquarius?

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I’ve been reading about a certain shift that may happen around 2012. Is this true? If it is, do you think we will then be able to communicate with our loved ones who have passed over more easily? It’s hard to believe that nature intended death’s sudden and total disconnection from those we love. Soul Arcanum, please give me any answers you may have. Thanks and love to you!
– Arsheya

Dear Arsheya:

First we must remember that life is an evolutionary journey – that all living beings are constantly growing more complex, more intelligent, and higher in spiritual vibration. This applies not only to the individual but to all life. Even the planet is evolving and rising in vibration: scientists have determined that the Earth’s base resonant frequency is increasing.

I do believe that there are turning points in this evolutionary process when a critical threshold is reached, after which global and perhaps universal shifts occur. This is often referred to as the 100th monkey effect, which has demonstrated that once a certain number of a population learns something new, that knowledge spreads throughout the rest of the population.

Further, Rupert Sheldrake’s research into morphic resonance has demonstrated that it’s easier for people to learn things that other people have already mastered. For example, average IQ rates have risen in the past few decades, which suggests that we are all building on the evolutionary progress of our forebears. This grows from the idea of non-locality in quantum physics, and how we all must be connected on a metaphysical level, since particles can be separated by great distances but still affect each other.

As for 2012, this date is found in the predictions of many ancient civilizations, but most notably those of the ancient Mayans, who were known for extraordinary astronomical achievements. In the ancient Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012, is a major turning point, for at this time, all numbers in the Mayan calendar reset to zero, and we enter a new age. Further, on this date the plane of our solar system will align with the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way, for the first time in 26,000 years, which indicates the end of a major cycle and the beginning of a new one. According to some astrologers (but certainly not all), this is the official start of the Age of Aquarius.

This transition into a new age is already well underway, of course, and is growing day by day. The awakening of humanity to a new level of consciousness has been evolving since the beginning of time. A major shift began in the 1960’s, however, and many say that it will continue to grow as we head toward 2012, at which time we will reach that critical number needed for global change. After that, a new level of spiritual consciousness will spread around the world and become the norm, and humanity will enjoy a spiritual renaissance.

It is said that this transition will lead humanity into higher spiritual awareness and the desire to make the world a better place for all its inhabitants. It will shift the Earth into a higher spiritual vibration, which will mean that we are closer to the vibration of the spirit planes, and spirit communication and related endeavors will indeed become easier and more universal.

I don’t believe that those of us who are living through this transition will experience anything sudden or dramatic, however. Perhaps when viewed in the context of all of human history on this planet, it may look like a dramatic shift, but for those of us who are going through it, it will seem gradual.

As for the merit in these ideas, I have really been struck by the number of people who are awakening to the truth that we create our own realities. In fact, I believe we are heading toward a time when everyone will know how to employ the law of attraction to make the world a better place.

We can also see the energy of Aquarius in the development of quantum theory and the incredible surge of technological innovation that has marked that past 100 years or so. There is also growing interest in the synthesis of science and mysticism, alternative health practices and other spiritual matters � all Aquarian interests.

As the energy of Aquarius takes over, I expect we will see more and more people thinking for themselves, which will lead to the further breakdown of traditional religion and a greater emphasis on personal spiritual paths. As was the trend in the 1960’s, people will question cultural norms, reject silly laws and codes of behavior, explore innovative alternatives, and strive for a sense of peace and brotherhood.

I also expect this will lead to big breakthroughs in scientific methods for exploring other dimensions. Aquarius is not about blind faith but open-minded, rational exploration of the unknown. This could mean we soon have reliable ways to communicate with spirit via technology like EVP. The use of mind-altering substances or new techniques to facilitate mystical states of consciousness is another strong possibility.

Further, as their vibrations rise, more and more people will naturally awaken to their psychic abilities, which will lead to more people having encounters with spirits and other metaphysical experiences. These initial encounters will open up belief systems and lead to more and more spiritual phenomena.

As for what nature intended, who could say? When I ask Spirit about this, I’m reminded of special camps and schools where parents and their children are not allowed to have any contact for the first two weeks or so. This is so that the kids can adjust to their new environments, learn to be independent, and make new friends. Otherwise, instead of focusing on where they are and what they are supposed to be doing, they’d be calling home all the time, begging their parents to come and get them, and not taking full advantage of their new learning environment.

Finally, doomsayers predict that life as we know it will end catastrophically on December 21, 2012, while visionaries herald the dawn of a glorious renaissance. I believe each individual will determine how this shift manifests for them. There are many parallel realities, and people who believe that 2012 will bring catastrophe will gravitate toward that reality. The more people talk about, write about and think about catastrophe, the more power that reality will gain, and the more people will be pulled into that orbit.

The same is true of utopian visions, of course, so it is very wise to focus on and believe in what we desire, and all the wonderful changes that our evolution toward higher consciousness could bring.

– Soul Arcanum

How Can We Communicate with Loved Ones in Spirit?

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

On Christmas Eve in 2003, my daughter (who was 25 years old) and my grandchildren (who were three and six years old) were murdered. I have been to Spiritualist churches and had my girls talk to me, so I know they have continued on in the afterlife. What I want to know is how I can do this myself. I talk to them all day and most of the night. I say my prayers and ask God to help me, but I never feel my girls around me. Please, do you think you could tell me what to do? Love to you!
– Elaine

Dear Elaine:

My heart goes out to you; I can’t imagine how it felt to lose your loved ones in this way. I do understand your disappointment with your attempts at spirit communication, however. Like you, my desire for spirit contact was born when someone I loved dearly passed. In my case, it was my first love who died at a young age, and I wanted nothing more than to connect with him again. It was thus very upsetting to me when I started to interact with other spirits, but not with him.

While I believe that with the right approach, spirit communication is possible for everyone, please keep in mind that even established mediums can’t always connect with particular spirits.

So why would the spirits we most desire to connect with elude us? There are a couple of reasons this often happens. First, in order to link with spirits, we must have a very high vibration, which means we must be in a state of great joy and peace. If someone we love more than life itself crosses over, it may be very hard to achieve that vibration when thinking of them. Grief is about as low in vibration as one can get, so to link with the people we love the most, we may have to spend a lot of time healing after their deaths before we’re able to think of them with love and joy. This is why a medium may be able to bring them through when we cannot.

Another thing that often happens with those we’ve loved dearly is that they are so close we don’t distinguish their energy as separate from our own. If they were a big “part of us” when they were alive, then this becomes even more true after they cross over. If a spouse is trying to communicate with us from beyond, it may seem like nothing more than our own thoughts coming through. If a stranger or an acquaintance reaches out from the other side, however, it may feel more like “someone else” is there.

This is similar to our ability to sense people’s presence when they’re living. Imagine you’re in the kitchen and your daughter is in the living room. In the back of your mind you know she is there even if you haven’t seen her there with your physical eyes. You may not be consciously thinking about where she is, but at an unconscious level, you can sense her presence. Now picture that a stranger is in your house, and you suddenly sense a change in the atmosphere. Even when a stranger is benevolent, our instincts will alert us when someone we don’t know is nearby.

By way of another example, unless you printed this out, your computer is on right now, and it’s making its normal electrical hum. Until I drew your attention to it, however, you were not conscious of this noise. It is there so often that you have learned to tune it out. If your computer started making a clinking noise – something you’re not used to – it would get your attention immediately.

This is the difference between the presence of the spirit of a loved one we were close to and other spirits. The loved ones may be there all the time, but because they are so familiar to us, we don’t take conscious note of it. We have to learn to listen with “new ears” to hear subtle sounds running in the background.

To complicate matters further, the non-physical is not accessed “out there somewhere,” but rather from within. When we look for spirits in our outer physical world or expect to hear or perceive them with our physical senses, we may be disappointed. It’s important for people who have never had conscious communication with spirits before to understand that this is a very subtle, internal experience. Have you ever been doing something and felt someone looking at you, then glanced up to find out your were right? This is how subtle this feeling is.

You described how you talk to your daughter and grandchildren all day. It sounds like you are very verbal/auditory, so you are probably trying to get answers clairaudiently. To me this is the hardest form of spirit communication because language is already a step removed from the heart of a message. It’s not universal the way that images and feelings are.

It’s my understanding that this is also the hardest way for spirits to communicate with us. The non-physical is a place of energy and mental telepathy, not spoken or written language. When we receive messages from spirits, we are the ones who usually translate the thought energy of the message into words; not the spirits. To get names and verbal answers is thus relatively very difficult.

It’s easiest for spirits to communicate in the language of emotion, which is pure energy. This is why we may feel a wash of love when a spirit is reaching out to us – there are no words for that sort of feeling. So if you’re just getting started with spirit communication, you might want to begin with basic instincts like those gut feelings that someone is there. Often people who are grieving do have these feelings tip them off to the presence of a loved one in Spirit, but they dismiss them as wishful thinking. The more you work with and trust those feelings, the more this form of awareness will grow.

If you’re having trouble even sensing a presence like this, try doing something that puts you in a very high vibration (a feeling of peace and joy) first, and then open up and “feel” for your loved ones. This may be something you simply love, or if you can, you might journal about the best times with your daughter and grandchildren, and get yourself into a state of profound happiness and appreciation for the wonderful memories you have. Then when your heart is swelling with love and joy, stop and close your eyes and ask to feel their presence.

If it is too hard for you to think about them and remain joyful, you might have to begin by asking for them to meet you in your dreams. Many people only have contact with loved ones in their dreams because that is the only time their vibration is high enough and their minds are open enough for this sort of thing to happen. If you begin to work with your dreams (and there are lots of books and articles on this subject) and you set a conscious intention every night of meeting up with them in your dreams, it will begin to happen.

Above all, you must both believe that you can do this and that the successes you achieve are REAL. Trust in your own experiences and be open to them taking whatever shape they want to take. You may be listening for a verbal answer, for example, when signs, feelings, mental images, or so-called “coincidences” are happening all around you. Don’t expect a marching band to ring your doorbell with a singing telegram; instead, listen carefully for whispers in your mind or subtle feelings throughout all of your being and trust them. If you FEEL it’s real, then it’s real.

Lucky for us all, spirit communication seems to be getting easier and easier as the human race evolves and the vibration of the planet rises. So what may have been hard for you yesterday could happen easily tomorrow. I wish you deeply healing, comforting, and undeniably real interactions with your loved ones, Elaine.

– Soul Arcanum


Can We Determine How the Food We Eat Will Affect Us?

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Dear Soul Arcanum: I had been eating organic chicken that is supposedly free of antibiotics and hormones, is able to run around happily, etc. But now I’m wondering, even with all its “good upbringing,” if the chicken is killed inhumanely (as they often are, according to what we’ve read in the news), would we absorb its fear vibrations into our systems when we eat it? How can we make sure we don’t pick up/absorb the animal’s fear, or is that just impossible? I contacted the company that packages the chicken, but I assume they will deny that their chickens are brutally slaughtered. What are your thoughts on this?
– Melissa

Dear Melissa:

As always, the following are just my own personal views. People get passionate about their beliefs, and vegetarianism (and the ethical treatment of animals) is a most provocative subject.

In a nutshell, YES – we can determine how the food we eat will affect us. I think that simply observing the different results people get from various diets demonstrates this. Someone can eat everything that is bad for you, smoke, drink, etc., and live to a ripe old age, while someone else can be super health-conscious and drop dead of a heart attack while out jogging one day.

At a metaphysical level, the difference between the two lies in their beliefs about health and diet, and the energy/emotions that those beliefs generate. I have observed a number of health nuts who were driven by fear of getting cancer or some other health problem develop exactly what they were afraid of. I have seen other people do whatever they wanted to do without one worry about how it would affect their health live to a ripe old age (and have a whole lot of fun doing it, too). We will manifest what we focus upon. Instead of worrying about how our food will affect our health/vibration, we’d be wiser to worry about our worrying! 😉

One who is fully aligned with well-being can do amazing things without suffering ill consequences. This is how fire walkers can walk across hot coals without getting burned; they fully align their energy with faith/well-being.

For example, doctors frequently point out how French people eat cheese and cream and drink wine all the time, yet they don’t have the health problems one would expect from this sort of diet. To me the reason for this is obvious: they eat with reverence and pleasure. They don’t worry about what they’re eating all the time, so they are free of guilt and fear. They approach eating very consciously; they put everything else aside, take their time, and really savor their food. They enter into eating with a high conscious intention of enjoying themselves on all levels, and thus regardless of what they eat, they are nourished. Americans, on the other hand, keep hearing how what they eat is going to create all these problems, and they keeping eating what they “shouldn’t” but obsessively worrying about it or feeling guilty.

Now, you might be wondering how all these health problems began in the first place if people didn’t use to worry about them. Basically, there ARE things that encourage health and things that challenge the body, and most folks tend to sleepwalk through life unaware of how their choices are creating their experiences. These are the folks who stumble into the hot coals and start jumping around screaming in pain. They run to their doctors and show them their burned feet, and then doctors urge the “surgeon general” to put out a warning: “Don’t walk on hot coals; you’ll get burned.”

So it is impractical to try to eat lower vibration foods on a regular basis if one desires a very high level of well-being, simply because it would take more conscious focus and intention than anyone I know would be capable of to override the natural vibration of those foods. (Imagine that instead of summoning the power to walk across hot coals once, you have to do this every time you eat something. It’s exhausting just thinking about it).

I don’t believe there is one diet that is right for all people. I do believe, however, that there is one approach to eating that will prove positive for everyone. It involves making a habit of eating foods that are easy for the body to usefully assimilate. This is like choosing a nice, smooth path in life, instead of hot coals. It also involves making a habit of approaching eating (and for that matter, everything in life) with an attitude of pleasure, reverence and gratitude. In this way, regardless of what one specifically chooses to eat, one’s vibration is aligned with well-being, and thus that is what one will experience. I can’t think of a single culture that historically has NOT had some prayer or ritual designed to consciously align with reverence and gratitude for the food about to be eaten. Sadly, in addition to surrounding us with highly processed, low vibration food, modern life has led us far from simple wisdom like this.

As for the controversial issue of vegetarianism, I feel that is also an individual decision. I honor your choice and I encourage everyone to listen to their bodies and their intuition in making their own choice as well. Personally I think Native Americans had the right balance. When they would kill an animal for food, they would offer a prayer of thanks to the animal’s spirit for giving its life so that they could live. The animal’s sacrifice was thus honored, and the act of eating was approached with reverence. By contrast, we have become totally disconnected from the source of our food. Instead of raising animals and slaughtering them ourselves, instead of watching the beauty and grace of a deer before we kill it for food, we go to the grocery store and buy plastic-wrapped packages of stuff that looks nothing like the animal it was a short time ago. It’s hard to feel reverence for an animal’s sacrifice when we’ve forgotten there was even an animal involved in our meal in the first place.

I recently heard a (vegetarian) Buddhist monk answer a question about eating meat, and he pointed out that for a vegetarian to refuse to eat meat based on principle is to dishonor the sacrifice the animal has made. The animal has died to become our food; if we refuse to eat it, then it has died for nothing. This seems even more poignant in the case of an animal that lived a miserable existence. He encouraged us all to choose with love and to remain flexible. After all, it is impossible to live without harming any living thing. We can’t even scratch an itch without obliterating microscopic organisms.

So in summary, there are food choices that are like smooth, easy paths for our bodies. The more whole, natural and fresh a food is, the more life force energy it contains, and the better it is for our health. I try to eat a lot of fresh raw fruits and vegetables and nuts. This is high vibration food, and thus it not only enhances physical health, but also spiritual growth. I limit or avoid sugar, white flour and other processed foods, beef, pork and alcohol. This does not mean I never eat them or that I never would. It does sadden me that animals are treated cruelly, and I am aware of the energy involved in eating those beings, so like you, I try to choose consciously.

Maintaining true health and well-being requires us to remain flexible and open and to constantly listen to our intuition, for when we become rigid and dogmatic in our beliefs, or when we worry and act from fear, we ultimately do more harm than we prevent.

Act with love. Eat with love. Give thanks for all that life sends your way. Listen to your body/intuition and honor your truth. Be humble and grateful. When you approach life this way, your vibration of well-being will override the energy of everything and everyone that enters your experience.

– Soul Arcanum

Kicking the Fear and Worry Habit

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I am having a hard time with negativity and fear. I can’t seem to feel anything else. How do I learn to vibrate at a higher level so that all the good things I know are out there will start to come to me, instead of all the things that I worry about? Where do you start?
– Michelle

Dear Michelle:

This is a great question, and one that I get in one form or another frequently. When we first wake up to the truth that our thoughts create our experiences and we begin to pay attention to our mental habits, it can be very unsettling, for suddenly, we realize just how much of our thoughts are negative.

This is actually a very good sign, however. It means that you’re moving out of harmony with this negative vibration. You’re no more negative than you ever were before; you’ve just become uncomfortable with that negativity. So right away, here is a plus for you to focus on: even though it may not feel like it, you’re making great progress already!

I remember my own awakening as a conscious creator. My head was constantly buzzing. Every other thought seemed negative or “dangerous” somehow, and I was constantly trying to “take back” or rework some negative thought. This is normal at this stage. The more you pay attention to your thoughts, the more you’ll develop the habit of thinking positively.

First, I recommend meditation. We all have a lot of old energies and issues that we’ve stuffed down, and these will keep running through the back of our minds until we heal or resolve them. They are sort of like mental clutter. We get busy doing this or that, and we don’t have time to really deal with “old stuff,” so we push much of it to the back and put new stuff in front of it, and there it sits, mucking up our vibration and experiences.

In the beginning, meditating is simply allowing mental clutter to rise up so we can let go of it. Many beginning meditators feel frustrated and inadequate because they can’t “quiet their minds.” Well, all that mental clutter has to be cleared first. There is usually a lifetime of it accumulated, so we can’t expect it all to just dissipate overnight. Just sit and allow whatever wants to come up to come up, and then just gently let it go. If it doesn’t want to go, just sit with it and ask it what it is trying to tell you that you need to do (and then do it). Over time, this approach will clear all the stuff you’ve been avoiding dealing with, and then you will have a nice clear inner space, and your meditation will deepen. By dealing with it this way, the negative thoughts won’t take you by surprise so much, and instead of pushing them back down, you’ll be able to release or transform them.

While you begin this meditation practice, I recommend you also surround yourself with positive influences. The simplest way to do this is at a physical level. While it may be hard to control our thoughts, it’s pretty easy to get rid of the junk cluttering up our lives. Clear out all the stuff in your environment that carries a negative vibration for you, especially anything that ties you to a past you’d like to leave behind. For example, if your closet is full of clothes you wore when you were three sizes larger, get rid of them! If your jewelry box still holds the engagement ring your first husband gave you, sell it or give it away while affirming that as you do so, you are making room in your life for new love and a new beginning.

While you’re at it, clean up your diet and exercise regimen. Our physical health has a huge impact on how we think and feel. Try to eat whole, natural, unprocessed foods, and try to make at least 50% of them raw. I’m talking about fresh fruits and vegetables here. Drink water, get rid of sugar and white flour, or just pay conscious attention to your body and feed it the things that will truly boost your energy and well-being. The more you take concrete action to create positive change, the more empowered and positive you will feel.

Obviously, if you are surrounded by negative people, it’s going to be harder for you to become a positive thinker. Start weeding the people who are downers out of your life, and begin to seek new, positive influences. If you pray for these positive people to come into your life, they will! Also, strive to be this kind of person to others. If what you’re thinking is negative, don’t say anything until you have found something positive to say.

While doing all the above, I recommend you read about five pages of a positive book every day. By reading a bit every morning and every night, focusing on positive ideas will become a habit. If you are meditating morning and night as well, you will be clearing negative “junk” and replacing it with these books’ positive ideas.

Some positive, empowering books you might begin with: The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and other works by Catherine Ponder, Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, The Game of Life and How to Play It and other books by Florence Scovel Shin, anything by Dr. Joseph Murphy, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, etc. These books will keep you mindful of the fact that you are constantly creating for better or worse via your thoughts. Additionally, try reading uplifting books in general. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series is a good example. Other favorites include The Little Prince, all books by Sark, Susan Jeffers, Alan Cohen, Norman Vincent Peale. Keep reading Soul Arcanum as well! There is an endless abundance of positive teaching available.

Be choosy about everything you mentally ingest. Skip the news – nothing will bring you down faster. Make sure the music you listen to is upbeat, like New Age music, big band, etc. Watching TV on a regular basis will keep you STUCK. Some movies, however, can boost your vibration. A few to try: My Shirley Valentine, ET, The Wizard of Oz, Patch Adams, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Pay It Forward, Powder, Phenomenon, the Harry Potter movies, Big Fish, School of Rock, Ghost, Enchanted April, The Whale Rider, Shrek 1 and 2, Big, The Terminal, Chocolat, Simon Birch, Under the Tuscan Sun, Secondhand Lions, etc.

These lists are just off the top of my head. Some people will say, “What? I thought ET was horribly sad. I have never gotten over Elliot crying his eyes out as ET went ‘home.'” This illustrates an important point: our interpretation of life will determine our experience of it. If you look for beauty, magic and wonder, you will find it. Everything can be seen in a negative light, but everything can also be seen in a positive light. You determine your experience when you choose which you will look for.

It does take tremendous mental effort to remain positive, even for people who have developed that habit of thought. Every time you find yourself focused on the negative, challenge yourself to find the positive. Spirit will help you with this; just close your eyes and mentally ask to be shown the situation in a spiritual light.

When this works, give thanks! Gratitude is the heart of positive thinking. Give thanks that you have been given the knowledge to create what you want in your life by changing what you think. Give thanks that I chose your question for publication. Give thanks that you’re already making progress. Give thanks that your eyes work, and you’ve been blessed with an education so you can read all of this. You’ll find endless things to be grateful for if you just look for them.

Finally, make a habit of uplifting others, for what you give is what you’ll get!

– Soul Arcanum


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


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

Whenever I speak with Mediums or read what they have to say about communicating with Spirit, they say you have to raise your vibration to Spirit’s level. How do you do this? After my father crossed over, I heard him say my name. This only happened once, and I really don’t know what I did differently at that time to receive this communication. Is there a way to practice raising your vibration? Thank you!
Chris

Dear Chris:

We all go through periods when we’re down and the whole world seems gloomy, and we all gone through periods when everything in the world seems beautiful, wonderful and full of unlimited potential. The difference is in our vibration. To feel “low” or “down” is to have a low vibration, and to feel “up” or “high” is to have a high vibration. When we’re feeling gloomy, we may have a hard time seeing any aspect of the divine, but when we’re soaring, the whole world glows with divine light. To consciously connect with Spirit, we have to be in this “higher” state.

Anything you do that induces “up” feelings such as reverence, appreciation, joy, hope, vitality, peace, love, etc., will raise your vibration. Conversely, anything you do that leads to “low” feelings like anger, sorrow, guilt, hatred, despair, fear, jealousy and frustration will lower your vibration. On a mental level, thoughts that are expansive, constructive, affirming and progressive will raise your vibration. Thoughts that are limiting, invalidating, destructive and regressive will lower your vibration. At a physical level, habits that increase the strength, health and balance of the body will raise your vibration, while habits that weaken, disrupt and imbalance the energy of the body will lower your vibration.

At a spiritual level, the more you embrace love, the more you raise your vibration. Fundamentally, this basic formula is also true at all the other levels, it’s just trickier to see how eating healthfully is loving the temple of your body, and how allowing yourself to stay in grief or sorrow is ultimately unloving of yourself. As we must be at a high vibration to connect with Spirit, most people experience spontaneous spirit communication not when they’re aching for it out of grief and sorrow, but when they’re remembering their loved one with profound affection and appreciation. This is the key you’re looking for. When we ache for communication, our vibration is generally too low to actually receive it.

Remember: what you do to raise your energy at one level will affect your energy overall, so there is always a way to shift gears and move higher, even when you’re stuck in some area of your life.

As for conscious spirit communication, most mediums’ lives are studies in maintaining a high vibration all the time. When it comes to spirit communication, they’ll have learned or developed their own personal techniques for shifting their consciousness and raising their energy even higher in order to “tune in” to this desired frequency. This usually involves some sort of prayer and/ or meditation, an example of which you’ll find below. First, however, I offer you a few of the endless simple ways you can build a high vibration into the foundation of your daily life:

  • Exercise! From running to yoga to rock climbing, exercise is will rev your energy up.
  • Cleaning, organizing, practicing feng shui, taking a shower or bath (don’t you always feel better after you bathe?)
  • Eating light, high vibration foods like fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Taking a nap/ sleeping (When we go to sleep, we shed the weight of resistance, and thus our vibration rises)
  • Praying, practicing creative visualization, using affirmations, reading uplifting books, practicing gratitude
  • Singing, especially with others, or listening to new age/ uplifting music
  • Breathwork/ yogic breathing
  • Going for a walk in nature or spending time near water
  • Surrounding ourselves with uplifting, positive people, or with a beautiful, peaceful or happy environment
  • Practicing forgiveness, giving and receiving healing, doing kind things for others
  • Practicing aromatherapy (great scents for prophecy include nutmeg, clove, clary sage, angelica root, verbena)
  • Practicing a guided meditation for raising our vibration, or surrounding ourselves with “white light” (there are some great ones in Soul Arcanum’s Spiritual Toolbox)
  • Endless others, such as watching a comedy, making love, holding a happy baby, spending time in the sun, asking Spirit to raise our vibration, accepting and blessing everything in our lives, giving gifts, being polite, playing with kids or friends or animals, etc.

As I mentioned above, the best way to open to communication from a specific loved one in Spirit is to simply remember them with love and joy. Wallow in happy memories of them, and with joy in your heart, invite them to visit you. The guided meditation below should get you into an ideal state of consciousness for either spirit communication with loved ones or accessing answers and information from guides. Shift into this higher gear, then turn on the love, and magic will happen!

Guided Meditation for Raising your Vibration:

First, relax. Make sure you’re comfortable, whether that means you’re sitting erect with your spine straight, or lying comfortably on your favorite sofa. Breathe deep into your belly, and take as long as you need to relax every muscle in your body. Don’t rush: you’ll get out of this what you put into it.

Now as you breathe, feel yourself expanding with each inhalation like a lovely, big balloon. You’re growing lighter and lighter, to the point where you’re just barely touching whatever is beneath you. One more breath in and poof! You’re airborne. Each breath now takes you a little higher. You’re floating up and up towards the clouds above you. It’s exhilarating! As you look around, you can see many kindred spirits, all doing the same thing: raising their vibration in prayer or in thanksgiving, consciously connecting with Spirit.

Up and up you go above the tree tops, and now you’re heading straight for the clouds. How soft and misty they are as you pass through them, how pure and white. Now suddenly you’re above the clouds, and it is so amazingly bright! It’s a whole new world up here in the warm, golden sun. Delighted, you realize that you can look down and see anything and anyone you desire below as the clouds float by. You can see the big picture so clearly now. It’s easy to see the best way to get from one place to another on Earth from up here. It’s all so simple. You can see how this frightened mother is going to run right into her lost little girl as she turns that next corner, and how that man who is walking sadly away from a failed marriage is heading straight for a beautiful new lover, one with long red hair. From up here, you deeply know that all is truly well. You smile at angels and spirit guides as they hustle about, whispering insights and intuitions and nudging people this way and that way, and these guides wave to you with delight at your ability to perceive them.

You are thrilled, for you know that you can ask anything you desire and get an answer! You know you can call out to anyone in Spirit, and someone will respond. It may not always be the one you’re seeking, but you always get an answer, and you trust it’s the answer that is perfect for you at that moment. Your heart is swelling with the wonder of it all. You feel so light, so free, so full of hope and peace and excitement for all the possibilities that are open to you when you’re soaring high above it all.

You’re now wonderfully connected and ready to ask whatever you desire for yourself and for anyone who needs your help. Your heart and spirit are soaring and ready for magic! Go on and ask whatever you desire, and know that as you ask, you shall receive.

(I’m working on a series of recordings designed to guide you in achieving the right state of mind and being for spirit communication, as obviously, it’s not quite as simple as the article above may intimate. By the time you come to read this article, it may already be available at Soul Arcanum.)

– Soul Arcanum


Effects of Alcohol on Spirit Communication

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I find, embarrassingly enough, that I feel closer to the spirits of dead loved ones after having a drink or two! I feel bad about this, but wonder if I should. In your opinion, can moderate use of alcohol increase psychic abilities or enhance spirit communication?

W.

Dear W.:

You are not the first person to experience this, and you should not feel bad about it any more than you should feel bad about getting rid of a headache by taking pain reliever or breaking out in hives when you have an allergic reaction to something. It’s actually a natural side effect of mild intoxication, and your embarrassment and puzzlement is probably more a reflection of your socialization than spiritual truth. A long time ago, Christians got it into their heads that “spirit” was good and “physical” was bad, and we’ve viewed the two as disjointed in the West ever since. In truth, the physical reflects and affects the spiritual, and vice versa. So what you ingest will naturally affect you spiritually, mentally, emotionally, etc.

While there are valid positive reasons to abstain from drugs and alcohol, we would all be wise to examine the beliefs we’ve developed about mind altering substances. In the West, most people have negative associations with drugs and alcohol (though that doesn’t stop us from using them). In other cultures, this is not the case. Throughout history around the world, many cultures have traditionally ingested something in order to commune with gods or the divine. From the wine and bread of communion to the trance-inducing peyote of South American shamans, this is an honored tradition seemingly as old as mankind. In fact, in shamanistic cultures, trance-inducing plants (drugs) are not considered destructive, but are honored and revered as gifts from the gods, left here to help us connect with higher planes. Drugs like peyote and ayahuasca are said to induce spirit communication, clairvoyance and healing abilities. So please remember that there is no one “right” answer to this question. If you asked a shaman, he may push your wine glass aside and offer you ‘shrooms instead.

Drugs and alcohol facilitate spirit communication because when you have a drink or two, you begin to relax. If you’re a very logical person who is always “in control,” then the only time you may experience freedom from your strict inner censor is when you’re sleeping, dreaming or under the influence of some mind altering chemical. Someone who has a lot of natural psychic or mediumship ability but who was raised in a family or culture that demonized or invalidated it would actually be predisposed to the sort of experience you’re having. Similarly, most people are very left-brained, and spirit communication and other psychic abilities are right brain functions. Various drugs and alcohol impair the left brain first and/or enhance right brain activity, so we are more likely to have mystical or psychic experiences while under the influence.

Despite all of this, I have never used any hallucinogenic drugs of any kind. I have studied with some of the best teachers of mediumship in the world, however, and since they’ve been right about everything else, I am happy to pass their advice on to you. The general consensus among these experts is that there are better ways to approach spirit communication.

First, initiating spirit communication while even mildly intoxicated is like driving under the influence. Both activities can be dangerous, so you need to have your wits about you and remain in control. As strange as this may at first sound, we don’t leave our addictions behind when we pass on. Many people who are of low spiritual vibration also have physical addictions, and when they depart this life, they end up in the lower astral, where they remain until they develop themselves beyond this level. When you open up to spirit communication and you have been drinking, it’s like throwing open the saloon door and yelling to a crowd of thirsty alcoholics, “Bar’s open and drinks are on (in) me!” Lower astral entities will race to experience alcohol vicariously through you. (I believe this is why alcohol is also called “spirits.”) As it is easier for spirits to influence you when you’re intoxicated, and these spirits tend to be “low lifes,” this is very unwise indeed. If an alcoholic in the astral attaches itself to you, you can also quickly become an “alcoholic” yourself. You’d then feel like you just couldn’t stop yourself, and you’d be right: someone else would be controlling you.

When it comes to reading for others, it’s even more important to be in the proper frame of mind. First, to give a good (accurate) reading, you need excellent integration of the right and left brain functions, so being intoxicated, which cripples the left brain, is not going to help! Interestingly enough, one of the the best ways to integrate right and left brain functions is by practicing meditation. (Sound familiar?)

In addition to skill, we must consider responsibility. I will never read if I’ve been drinking or even if I’m not feeling my best for the same reasons I don’t drink and drive. If I did, not only would I put myself in a compromised position, but someone else may get hurt. I know that I have tremendous influence over whoever I’m reading for. Most clients will hang on my every word as gospel, and emotionally invest so much in the messages I bring through both from loved ones in Spirit and higher intelligences that their long-term well-being could very well hinge on what I say. For some people, I am their last hope: they have tried everything else they could think of, and still not found the peace and healing their souls are starving for. It takes a tremendous extension of trust for someone to confide their deepest feelings and worries in me; the least I can do is honor that trust by being as responsible as I can be.

I am also very mindful of what I do, think, say and ingest even when I’m not “working,” for this is part of “the job.” Just as a professional athlete must train even when he’s not playing in a game, a spiritual counselor must remain in “peak spiritual condition.” As everyone is psychic and capable of spirit communication to various degrees, a key reason people actually pay me for my services instead of tuning in themselves is because they do not want to make all the sacrifices and undertake all the disciplines that would be required for them to develop their own skills to the same degree. To achieve spirit communication, one must maintain a very high vibration, which for most people means eating a healthy diet; regular physical conditioning (exercise), meditation and spiritual study; extraordinary dedication to personal growth and emotional mastery, which includes abstaining from negative thoughts and emotions and immoral or harmful acts; and abstaining from substances that can lower our vibration such as drugs, alcohol, junk food, cigarettes, etc.

Fortunately, you don’t really need the alcohol to achieve spirit communication. Your experience reflects the truth that in order to connect with Spirit, you just need to relax and shift your consciousness so that your left brain doesn’t filter out all that is real and yet often unperceived. While you’re free to choose the path of the shaman and the use of mind altering substances, I strongly advise you against doing so unless you have a very experienced and trustworthy mentor. Personally, I recommend the Spiritualist path of sound personal spiritual development including meditation and good old-fashioned clean living, for as is true of so much in life, when we try to take short-cuts, we often end up lost and wish we’d taken the safe, sure path in the first place.

– Soul Arcanum