Voice of the Spirit

When we haven’t yet learned a lesson, we keep wondering what’s wrong with us and why we can’t seem to learn what we’re supposed to. We’ve all been there: two steps forward – then two steps backward — and it creates the nagging feeling of reoccurring frustration. But it isn’t just a matter of hoping that we can somehow, someday gain control of the situation and learn what we’re supposed to; from a spiritual perspective, it is much deeper than that….

We come into this lifetime with a certain nature; a tendency to want and do certain things and on the surface, we may just think of these things as merely our personality likes/dislikes, preferences and a matter of our traits. However, these tendencies are quite spiritually profound, as they deeply tie into our karma and our dharma in this lifetime.

As we know, karma always deals with what we’ve done before and the repercussions (both good and bad) for our past choices. Dharma, on the other hand, has nothing to do with what we’ve done before, but rather, deals with what our soul has chosen (taken on for the first time) to learn in this lifetime for our spiritual development.

The reason our personality tendencies are so important, is because they set up the struggle that is so necessary to be able to learn our karmic and dharmic lessons. If there was no attraction, draw, desire or pull toward something, then there’s nothing to let go of, to work through or overcome. If we could just take it or leave it, what would it matter? There needs to be attachment within us to set the stage for these lessons.

Since these lessons are not learned quickly, the attraction and attachment to whatever the lesson is becomes necessary on a spiritual level. Engaging the situation then sets up the lesson to be learned.

Cigarettes are a perfect example: If you have a spiritual lesson involving smoking cigarettes, you would need to have a desire to smoke in order to be able to facilitate the lesson that you agreed to on a soul level. If you didn’t like the taste, or the smell, then why would you smoke? If you didn’t have a desire to smoke, there would be no struggle, therefore, no lesson.

Alcohol is another example. With family genetics where alcoholism exists, being born into that family provides the predisposition to alcoholism. That would be chosen on a spiritual level before incarnating which sets the stage to be an alcoholic.

Think of it this way: If you have a lesson to learn of humility, you would spiritually architect a personality that has the tendency to be arrogant and egotistical. That sets up the struggle to facilitate and eventually learn what we need to spiritually learn.

If your lesson was to gain self esteem, you would set up a personality with low self worth. You may go through feeling terrible about yourself, then try move forward, then slip backward again, as this movement indicates the struggle.

These, as well as other scenarios represent the many examples of what we all go through here on earth as part of our spiritual growth and learning our lessons; yet we hardly think of this as a spiritual process when we’re in the throes of emotions. We sometimes shriek in frustration, “Why do I keep going through this?”

However, these struggles absolutely occur for everyone and don’t represent that we’re failing, but that we just haven’t learned the lesson yet. It’s just like someone who’s learning a new piece of music on the piano; of course there’ll be mistakes as they’re trying to master the piece. 

In addition, we have to address the negativity within us, face it for what it is and heal those issues. Just being “positive” is not enough to learn the lesson as we must also understand the negative mechanisms within us and how they contribute to the various ways our struggles occur in the situations we experience.

Manifestations of the struggle  

 We just don’t know any better

While working through this process, we sometimes truly don’t know what our lesson is at the time or what is going on in our lives from that perspective. We’re unclear as to what we’re supposed to be learning from a given situation and don’t have a clue as to why things are unfolding in a certain way. We have all thrown our hands up in the air and asked, “Why is this happening to me?”

It’s very much like watching a movie we’ve never seen before: we’re not sure of where the plotline is taking us; there are surprises as it unfolds, and we don’t know what the ending will be. 

However, through time, just as in a movie where the story eventually becomes clear and reaches its conclusion, we will see our lesson unfold and eventually come into a state of clarity regarding the situation.

Things are going on in a person’s life and these things indicate a pattern, which shows us the lesson that needs to be learned. Whether the pattern is in relationships, difficulties in a job, or in any situation, certain issues keep coming up again and again. We need to recognize just what the pattern is saying to us, so we can identify the lesson and then move forward to learn it.

Even though Miguel worked for himself, he kept attracting clients who wouldn’t pay him for his services. He always completed the work excellently, but kept finding himself in situations where he wasn’t being paid. He couldn’t understand why this kept happening till he realized that he had always felt unworthy of receiving money – especially for his services. So he kept attracting these types of clients, till he realized what the pattern was and he learned what he was supposed to.

Like Miguel, it is of crucial important that we are committed to finding the spiritual truth of a given situation and through our diligence to ask “why,” we eventually find out. The truth we are seeking is also seeking us.

However, once we begin to grasp the spiritual truth and begin to “know,” it’s easy to not want to deal with our lessons with a real commitment to growth, but instead, just gloss over the situation and only do minor, insignificant changes. It’s like the old adage of throwing a cup of water in the ocean.

Thinking we can do just a vanity change

Often times, instead of us not knowing what’s going on, we do know what the lesson is and what we’re supposed to be doing to learn it. However, the personality doesn’t want to really emotionally change the situation and truly learn the lesson.

When people don’t really want to substantively change a situation, they make minuscule changes that don’t address the heart of the matter. It would be like thinking of modifying your hair style every once in a while as a profound and meaningful long term spiritual change.

What we need to is to make a legitimate commitment to change and take on the issue with diligence, tenacity and consistency. The truth of the matter is the sooner we make a real commitment to change, the more quickly we can pursue the things that really fulfill us and make us happy.  

The comfort of old patterns

When we’ve gotten use to old, unhealthy behavioral patterns, we receive a sense of comfort and familiarity which gives us a negative payoff. It is just like drinking too much. We know we shouldn’t do it but since we get something out of it like numbing our emotional pain, we continue to stay with it. How about overeating, where we use food as a source of comfort, all the while knowing that excessively indulging in food is not good for us?

There are those who stay in negative and destructive relationships instead of working toward learning the lesson, so they wallow in the “comfort” and payoff of the old patterns. It becomes like hangin’ out with an old friend – the kind that got you into trouble by keeping you out all night long so that you didn’t get to work the next day.

These old patterns are tricky, because what we may feel comfortable with is not always good for us. Even if these tendencies that created the “old patterns” were originally there to facilitate the lesson, we must work toward legitimate growth through breaking those old, unhealthy patterns and not have them be an end in and of themselves.

Stubborn attachment to the past

Sometimes when we’re in the process of learning a lesson, we just don’t stay in old patterns, but rigidly attach to them with a stubborn fervor and resistance that is defiant. This is the stage where our defense mechanisms put up a brick wall which is designed to keep out anything that challenges the perpetuation of these old, negative patterns.

Again, the lesson is to be learned, not wallowed in, yet all of us have struggled with whatever we’re here to learn. Think of it like concrete: when it is first poured; it is mushy and you can splash in it. (That is initially like having a tendency toward something in the beginning, which at the time, sets up the lesson. You’re not yet rigidly attached to the situation.) With concrete, as it sits there for a while, it hardens to a point where there is no flexibility in it at all and becomes as hard as a rock.

It is the same with being stubbornly attached to the past: Those old feelings may have been initially necessary to bring about the lesson, but holding on to them makes them become like rock hard concrete. That makes it more difficult for us to learn the lesson as there is more rigidity within us that we have to break through.

As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall; meaning, the more resistant you are to learning the lesson, the more challenging it is to work through the attachment to the past and rise above the old patterns.

Survival

We have all experienced passages in life where we literally feel that our survival depends on us getting or having something, yet what we “must have” is not good for us. Oftentimes, this sense of survival is there to help set up our lessons; but not something that we should cling to for dear life. When what we want is so strong that we feel our lives depend on it, the struggle is clearly present.

This can be the most difficult energy to work through in learning a lesson because we literally feel as if we’re in a life or death struggle. It’s like someone has pulled a gun on us and we’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive; but it is merely our emotionally driven situation that we’re reacting to.

These situations can manifest in any number of ways: destructive romantic relationships, negative habits such as alcohol, drugs and overeating, exercising inappropriate power games over others, lying, manipulating, and cheating on our spouses, etc. When we feel our survival depends on engaging in these types of things, we cling to these situations obsessively – yet, we’re supposed to be working through and rising above these habits to learn the lesson.

We especially see this with people who attach themselves to a destructive romantic relationship so intensely that even the notion of walking away from it feels as if they’re being suffocated to death. It is literally experienced in the same way one would feel if someone lunged at them with a knife.

At this point, it is hard for the person to see things clearly, as they’re reacting to the kill-or-be-killed adrenaline rush we used to feel in the jungles when our lives were threatened regularly. Except now, that same feeling comes to us when our attachment to a relationship is threatened, or to anything, for that matter that we feel that way about!

Yet, we can’t just try and suppress or “snuff out” these survival mechanisms. We need to clearly work on replacing the old negative survival mechanism with new positive ones. Alcohol, again, is a perfect example. We drink to relax, deal with life, cope with and get through the day. That needs to be replaced with a new, healthy sense of self, which is being clean and sober, living in physical health, being responsible for our actions, being present to make right decisions and not risking other people’s safety through driving while intoxicated.

The dramatic aspect of our survival process forces us to call attention to the nature of the lesson, (whether we know that there are underlying and fundamental spiritual reasons for these mechanisms or not). It brings the situation to a dramatic crisis that is too intense to be ignored – and that is necessary for us to not avoid the lesson, as it absolutely needs to be learned.

The lesson is always learned

If we have negative karma to work off and karmic lessons to learn, it has to be done. It is not as if karma just goes away. It must be taken care of.

It is the same thing with dharma. Even though a dhramic lesson is happening in our journey for the very first time once we take it on, our soul needs that lesson for its spiritual growth. In the same way you have to pass the 6^th grade before you can get to the 7^th grade, we must learn our dharmic lessons as well.

You shouldn’t feel bad about yourself because you’re struggling, as that’s a part of the process of growth. It’s normal to vacillate back and forth as we’re trying to learn the lesson and does not mean that we are a failure. It’s easy to look at everyone else and say, “They have their lives together and I don’t,” but that is not true. All of us are engaged in the struggle of learning our lesson, regardless of how it appears on the surface.

However, in reality, we will “get it.” It doesn’t matter how hard the lesson feels to us or how much difficulty we’ve had struggling to learn it. When you’ve been frustrated for such a long time, you might think, “That sounds too pie in the sky! People fail all the time and I’m one of them!” However, that is from an emotional point of view. Just like we label situations in life as good or bad (when our feelings may or may not represent the spiritual truth), it is the same thing with our lessons. Sooner or later, they are always learned.

As we look at our karmic and dharmic lessons, it is important to feel invigorated by what we can do now. With each step out of the denial of our negativity and into the awareness of what we need to do to let go of the past attachments, release and replace old unhealthy patterns with new and positive ones, we ultimately heal our lives and learn the lesson. With that, we move toward completion. It is with that completion of learning our lesson that gives us a real, truthful and great sense of satisfaction; that we’ve advanced and have truly moved forward from a spiritual perspective: irrevocably and eternally.

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Why would you want to talk with someone’s angels?  Can that even be done?  Does it serve a higher spiritual purpose?  If so, what messages might you want communicated to a person by their angels?

First, as unusual as it may sound, we are truly able to talk with someone’s angels.  There is certainly a time and a place where doing so does indeed serve a spiritual purpose, and the reason for this is when that person is not living up to their potential; that they’re coming from a place of fear, arrogance, defensiveness and ego.

Sometimes we reach a point in a situation with someone where we are literally at our wit’s end.  We have struggled, suffered and tried everything we possibly can to reach them — but nothing works.  In frustration and despair, we don’t know where to turn to seek a resolution.  That is usually a very good time to have a talk with their angels.

Even though we may reach out to someone’s angels because we’re extremely frustrated, we should never try to make that person do something just because we want them to. That invalidates their free will and freedom of choice, which are essential for everyone’s spiritual evolution and growth. 

This isn’t about control.  By having an agenda, we could possibly get in the way of them learning the lessons they need to learn if we force them to act against their free will.  Even though we’re upset, it’s never a question of whether are motives are coming from what we perceive as the right place or even as being “positive.” 

No matter how difficult the situation is and regardless of what we subjectively want, it is still wrong when we interfere with anyone’s free will.  It’s like the old phrase, “The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions.”

However, when we talk with someone’s angels and call upon their help, they are able to reach the person’s higher self – their spiritual self.  An angel (because of their high level of evolution) can only act for someone’s greatest good.  So even if we tried to interfere with the process, a person’s angels will not let us control the situation.  This is such a good thing, as then, we are not in a position to create negative karma through soliciting the help of someone’s angels.

This is where talking with a person’s angels differs from spells and/or witchcraft, where you’re trying to bend someone’s free will and get them to act in the way you want.

ONE IMPORTANT POINT BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER:  Keep in mind that everyone has free will, and the angels can only help the person in question to the degree that they’re open to being helped.  It is not as if the angels can dictate whatever it is for the person to do and then, it will be done.  If the person refuses to listen to their angels, then they’re not open at this time to dealing with that part of their lesson; however, the angels will still work toward bringing about the highest good out of the situation to the degree that it can be done.

Write a letter

 One of the best ways to talk with someone’s angels is to literally write their angels a letter.  You can ask for what you feel is “right,” but again, the angels will only carry out whatever is for the highest spiritual good.  In that letter, you can call upon the person’s angels to heal the situation, bring peace between the two of you, and to provide guidance toward the spiritually correct resolution which is for the highest good of all concerned. 

This is exactly what Sonya finally decided to do after her husband Peter had been ruining their family for several years through his continuous angry outbursts and drinking.  Ready to leave the marriage, Sonya had no idea what to do, until a spiritual master suggested that she write her husband Peter’s angels a letter and ask for help. 

Feeling as if she had no options left, Sonya gave it a try when she wrote:  I now call upon the angels of my husband Peter, asking them to reach him to help heal his anger, negative emotions, drinking and guide him toward a path of healing, love and light.  I ask Peter’s angels to communicate with him all that he needs to do for his well-being, our family’s well-being and provide him with the strength he needs to grow.  I love him dearly and release this situation to its highest good.  I thank Peter’s angels for their help and divine intervention.  With gratitude, Sonya.  

After she wrote this letter, Sonya immediately noticed a change.  Peter was less prone to outbursts, and he was showing receptiveness to getting into AA and becoming sober.  Within weeks, Peter did indeed go to AA and completely stopped drinking.  With the counseling Peter received, he learned to deal with his anger, understanding that it originated from the abuse by his father when Peter was just a small child. 

Now, it is five years later and Peter has remained sober.  As a completely changed man, it is a tremendous blessing that the family remained intact and is happy today.  This all started with the heartfelt letter Sonya wrote to the angels of her then wounded husband, Peter.  As Sonya did, by writing a letter to someone’s angels, you’re also using the power of the written word, which is a wondrous spiritual and metaphysical tool.

Talk to their angels

Besides writing a letter, you can talk with someone’s angels – and yes, they will hear you!  Jerry, a client of mine, had a coworker named Lilly, who was vicious to him from the day she came into the workplace.  Mean, arrogant and demeaning, she repeatedly tried her best to get Jerry fired, yet he had absolutely no idea why.

One day, Lilly brought her twelve year old daughter named Meghan into work for a few hours, which Jerry though nothing of.  In fact, he only briefly said hello to Meghan and kept on working. 

Weeks later, Jerry received a call from the local police, who claimed that they were investigating an allegation that he had inappropriately touched Meghan that day in the workplace.  He almost went into a complete state of shock, as he had no idea how this could even be happening, as the only thing he truly did was briefly say hello to Meghan.  Because of this investigation, Jerry was forced to temporarily leave his job, which of course is what Lilly had wanted all along.

So as the weeks went on, the investigation kept building and it looked as if Jerry might have to actually face felony criminal charges.  Feeling terrified at the thought of becoming an imprisoned sexual offender, he reached out to me about the situation. 

I immediately felt that he needed to talk to the angels of this young girl Meghan and ask for their help.  To me, it really felt like the only thing he could do, as I didn’t sense that it would be a good idea for this to go to trial, even though he was innocent.    Jerry started communicating with Meghan’s angels daily by saying: I now ask Meghan’s angels to talk with her and get her to tell the police the total truth and to completely exonerate me of any wrongdoing regarding this situation.  Thank you, Jerry.  

Weeks went on and Jerry didn’t hear anything until one day, the police told him he needed to come in to speak with them.  With his heart racing faster than he had ever remembered, he sat down with the detectives.  They told him that Meghan had recanted her story and admitted that she made the whole thing up. 

In that moment, time literally stood still for Jerry — as now, this nightmare was officially over after three and a half long months.  Even though the police, Meghan or her mother Lilly never apologized for what they put him through and he never got his job back because of the controversy, Jerry was legally able to put this nightmare behind him. Finally feeling like a free man, Jerry thanked Meghan’s angels for assisting in getting her to tell the truth regarding this potentially disastrous situation which could have ruined the rest of his entire life.  Here, Jerry used the power of the spoken word and it certainly aided him. 

Ask the angels through prayer and meditation

If we prefer, we can reach someone’s angels through prayer and meditation.   We can send out a prayer to spiritually connect with a person’s angels directly. 

Here is an example of a prayer used by Susan who needed to make contact with her father’s angels because of her father’s refusal to speak with her due to a misunderstanding: I now pray that I am able to communicate directly with my father’s angels and reach them!  I ask God to connect my father’s angels with me so I can request their help in reconnecting my father and I.  Within a matter of days, Susan and her father were indeed reunited and the whole misunderstanding was quickly cleared up.

A prayer can help to spiritually bridge the gap between you (in the physical world) and the angels (who are on a higher plane of existence).  Through prayer, you can transcend time and space to make a direct connection with the angels of the person in question, just as Susan did.

Also, we can go into a meditative state and achieve the same thing by reaching our inner spirituality.  We may focus on the angels of the person in question and open our mind to connect with their angels.  In meditation, we will also raise the energy as we are guided toward the angels in order to achieve the connection we need.  From there, we can make the spiritual connection to be able to utilize their divine assistance through stating our requests to them to aid in the situation at hand.

Their angels are listening

Whether we write a letter, speak to them, pray or meditate, we are absolutely able to reach the angels of a person.  This is an open door which we may have not known of, or never thought to take advantage of.  However, when we do, we are able to bridge the gap between a person’s fears, ego, defensiveness and arrogance to their higher spiritual self. 

Remember, it is at the spiritual level that all of us act in a loving and kind way.  Our problems, negative karma and bad energy originate from our lower selves, which is where many people are centered.

As we reach a person’s angels, they can only act on our requests from the highest spiritual perspective; meaning, they always take the high road.  Why?  Again, because the angels are only capable of dealing with someone from the perspective of the absolute highest good and nothing less — ever!

The angels of a person have the ability to reach them in a way that no one or anything else can; visualizations, affirmations, witchcraft, spells and our own emotional desires all fall short in this regard.  But when we turn over the burden to the angels of that person, the necessary divine intervention that is required for any situation to be healed comes into play.  

Remember that when you state your request to someone’s angels (which is a wondrous spiritual petition), make sure to always reach out with simplicity, clarity and sincerity.  That is a huge part of making this connection as you need to do your part.  From there, the angels will take into consideration your request and try to help the other person, if it is for the highest good of everyone involved.

It is not as if any of us can just request something (no matter how intensely we feel) and the person’s angels will attempt to carry it out.  Your petition must be for the greatest good of everyone involved and when it isn’t, the angels won’t act on your request.  Also, if part of your request is spiritually valid, while another part isn’t, the angels will only attempt to bring about what is for the highest good. 

Never forget that no matter how much pain, heartache, confusion, frustration and hurt have occurred, a person’s angels are always there to try and assist in dealing with the situation at hand.  However it evolves from there, when a person’s angels are involved, what manifests will be right for all concerned!  Through calling upon the supreme Godlike power of someone’s angels, which clearly invokes the highest spiritual energy, only the absolute greatest spiritual good can come into being from your sincere and heartfelt request.

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As many of you have received messages in readings with me from your loved ones now in spirit, it clearly demonstrates that yes, they still do exist once they’ve permanently left their physical bodies.  What happens is that the personality survives death and continues on and we see that represented by “Mom” coming through in a reading, possessing many of the exact same qualities she had when she was once here as “Mom.”  It almost feels as if the only difference is that “Mom” isn’t here in a physical body; that’s all — but her energy and essence are how you’ve always known her to be.

Yes, we know that our loved ones are “there for us” and we do experience their presence in our earthly lives at various times and in many ways.  Even though we know that death is not a final ending, but rather, a transition where we do carry on (minus our physical bodies), it still begs several questions:  Where do we go, then?  What do we do?  Is it the same for all of us?

What happens after death is clearly not the same for all of us.  We often hear that everyone sees a tunnel of white light and as they go through it, they see their entire life flash in front of them while meeting with the most overwhelming feeling of unconditional love and peace that could be imagined.  However, that does not happen to everyone.

What does occur for everyone is that at the time of death, the etheric body (the life force) begins its process of disconnecting from the physical body, which takes about three days to complete.   In addition, we always attend our own funeral.  Yes, the one in the casket is standing there in the same room with the people who are mourning. 

Depending on our level of awareness is what dictates what we experience after we die.  There is no absolute reality once we’ve permanently left out physical bodies and what we experience and meet with is largely based on what we expect to happen – and there are countless variables within such expectations.

Those who are religious

Religious people see expectations of Jesus, heaven, hell, purgatory, and/or any form of God they worship, etc.  If one believes that they will meet with Jesus when dying, then that will be their experience.   

Upon passing, Mable, a devout, born again Christian, experienced a bearded Jesus sitting on a throne and looking down at her from high above.  In the distance, she could hear trumpets playing and the voices of angels singing.  Intermingling with the clouds, she saw angels flying who had white wings, while Jesus’ disciples took her by the hand and escorted her through the pearly gates into heaven.

Some will experience purgatory, where they’re not in heaven or hell, but in a murky place of penance so that they can eventually graduate into heaven.  John always believed that he hadn’t been good enough in his lifetime to make it into heaven when he would die, so he believed he would have to do penance in purgatory.  So when he left this world, he entered a place that was dimly lit where he witnessed multitudes on their knees with their heads bowed silently, praying continuously.  John joined in by taking his place beside them and began praying with his head bowed in silence in the same way.

If someone believes they’ll meet with the devil and be banished to hell, that will be their experience.  Brady had been a wild biker who had assaulted people many times throughout his life.  In fact, one time, he beat someone so badly that the person died, even though Brady was never brought to justice for the murder.  Brady would brag to his friends that he had a date with the devil and that when it was his time, he was going straight to hell with all the other sinners.  As he took another swig of Jack Daniels, he used to say that he was going to listen to loud rock n roll and burn in hell’s fire when it was his time to go.

So when he died in a motorcycle accident, he went into a frightening place where he experienced himself being continuously on fire.  He met with the devil and was with the worst of the worst: murderers, child molesters, and rapists who were all moaning and screaming.  Everyone was being tortured by demons, and Brady heard loud rock n roll music continually playing.

Our family and loved ones

Many of you have shared stories with me regarding a loved one who was very ill and near the end of their life, pointing around the room and speaking to people who have already died as if they’re right there with them.  “I see my husband over there,” Aunt Julie says out loud.  “He’s been dead for 30 years, but he’s talking to me right now,” she further asserts.  Doctors may write this off to the fact that Aunt Julie is on a lot of meds and maybe she just isn’t thinking straight.

However, the real reason Aunt Julie says these things are because they were indeed happening.  Loved ones in spirit often reveal themselves to the one who is ill and near the end of their earthy journey in order to make a connection with them and to help prepare them to leave their physical body and peacefully move into spirit.

Generally, family and loved ones are waiting on the other side for us.  When one has died, family and loved ones often do greet them with open arms, and help them to get acclimated to their new life in spirit.  When Aunt Julie finally passed on, it was her husband who was standing right there and greeted her.  Since she had deeply missed him because had been dead for 30 years, her death was a reunion with the only man she ever loved.

As it was for Julie, being greeted in death by those we love can be of great comfort, because we meet with familiar and friendly faces while feeling the reassurance and security that we are ok.  For many, there is the sense that meeting with those family and loved ones is their homecoming reunion.

Virtual reality

Reconnecting with our family and loved ones is an actual reality that many of us experience when we pass on.  However, there are those who decide to create their own virtual reality once they’ve died, where their fantasy literally becomes reality.  Both Mike and Julianna were on their second marriages when they wed in 1983.  Julianna ended up passing in 2002, several years before Mike did in 2005.  When she died, she reconnected with her first husband Paul who she had a wonderful marriage with.  He had been in spirit since 1978. 

Regarding Julianna’s marriage to Mike, it was quite unpleasant for her, even though Mike was just crazy about her.  So when Mike passed, Julianna was not truly there to meet him, but because Mike believed she would be, he created the fantasy that he was reunited with Julianna.  In fact, he lived out that fantasy as being real, where he created a virtual Juilianna who he saw and believed was actually her.  In that virtual reality created by Mike, he and Julianna were together again and blissfully happy. 

You might wonder, “So when does the fantasy actually end?”  That is entirely up to the individual who has created their virtual reality, and it concludes whenever they decide to let it go.  That could be now, or anytime later down the road.

Illness

In a medium reading, spirits often lead off with identifying the illness they died from.  Once in spirit, some shed their illness quickly, while others hold onto it and may not let go. 

Our spiritual teachers may put us to sleep indefinitely on the other side for an extended period of time to rejuvenate and recuperate, especially after a long illness and/or a difficult lifetime.  This helps us to permanently release from the egregious suffering we experienced on earth.  Since time doesn’t exist there in the way it does here on earth, the length of sleep isn’t thought of as hours, days, weeks, etc., but can be as long as is needed to help one release attachment to the illness and suffering of their past.

Theresa was a woman who had battled breast cancer for 10 long hard years and when she finally left this world at the age of 70, she went into an extended sleep cycle.  This rest helped her to disconnect from her past suffering, and prepare for her journey in the spirit.  Her spiritual teachers put her to sleep, watched over her, and were there for Theresa when she needed to awake.

What age are we there?

I’ve heard one psychic claim that everyone becomes 30 on the other side.  Clearly, that is not true.  However we project ourselves as spirits depends on one’s self identification and view of themselves.  It is often based on when we felt the most happy or comfortable in our life back on earth.  If we felt in our prime at age 45, we may decide to see ourselves that way, and therefore, appear and project just like we did at the age of 45, regardless of what age we were when we passed on.

That is how Joanne came through in a reading I gave to her daughter.  Even though Joanne passed at age 82, when she began offering messages to her daughter in our readings, she projected herself to me as a fairly young looking woman, about 45 years old.  She didn’t have grey hair, wasn’t feeble as she was when she died, and wore a flight attendant uniform.  What startled her daughter was that her mother was indeed a flight attendant around the age of 45 and those were the happiest times of her life.  So it made perfect sense that her mother would come through in that way.

Sometimes one of our physical attributes influences how we project ourselves after death  A woman’s grandmother had the most strikingly beautiful red hair on earth, and when she died, she came through in spiritual messages with the same lovely red hair again.

On earth, our age is thought of as being totally written in stone, as based on the linear physical calendar.  However, in spirit, we can choose our age and how we project based on our self identification and view.

Life review/Judgment Day

Most religions teach the concept of a life review or a day of judgment.  Like other religious beliefs, a life review and/or judgment day is something we may experience if we expect to.  If we believe we’ll die and meet with a huge judgment day where everyone is lined up as far as the eye could see with God pointing his finger and sentencing us to purgatory or eternal hell, that can be our experience.

However, a real life review/judgment day doesn’t happen until we are aware that we are in the spirit, as opposed to occurring when we’ve just died.  It is us who decide, along with our spirit guides, when we’re ready.  With a life review, we often go through the repercussions of all of our past thoughts, words, and actions, to see what negative karma we’ve burned off, additional negative karma we’ve created, good karma we’ve manifested and our overall spiritual report card. 

 This is largely based on the impact we have had on others through what we’ve thought, said and done and to what degree we have or haven’t fulfilled our spiritual contracts and missions.  In a real life review, our spiritual teachers will help us to look at things clearly and objectively, from a spiritual perspective.  This is designed to set the stage for our next incarnation and its goals.

Children who have died

When children die, they are well protected and watched our for, as they go to a special place of love and light where they are nurtured, taken care of and guided by spiritual masters and loved ones there.  It is common that through time, children in spirit progress and develop.  That may not occur in strict linear time (like a birthday every twelve months), but there is a definite progression and evolution.  Whenever I’ve channeled a child in a reading who has passed years or decades ago, they come through as older.  They often speak of what they’ve done, as in going to school, getting a degree, and having a purpose where they do work on the other side.

One of my clients had a grandson who passed when he was 13 years old.  When I started picking him up in our readings, it was almost 10 years later and he first came through as a young man about 20 years old.  He indicated that he has was in school studying science. To my client’s surprise, he stated in one of our readings that he had forgiven those who had cause his death, as it was based on a fire that was started through drug induced carelessness.  He was at peace, came through with joy, and had moved on with his life without regret.

What about sudden and unexpected death? 

Sometimes those who have died suddenly and unexpectedly have no idea what has just happened – and they don’t even know they’re dead.   They may perceive that they’re in a bad dream that they don’t know how to get out of or may not have any idea as to what is going on.  This often happens to victims of car crashes, plane crashes and accidents of any kind.  As the death is so sudden and out of the blue, they are often not prepared.  It often takes them being told that they have lost their physical life, to help them get them out of the haze of confusion they’re in and face what has occurred.  This way, they are hopefully able to move forward. 

I know a spiritual master who recalled being taken to a scene of a plane crash while asleep, to inform many there that they had just died.  It was a scene of chaos and confusion, but she was utilized by spirit to deliver these very important messages to those who had just lost their lives to assist in their transition into spirit.

Others who pass this way may be more prepared for transition both subconsciously and/or consciously, and therefore, they can adjust easier.  Some have a sense that they are going to be leaving this world, and in one way or another, they just know.  I had a young client in her early 20’s who was engaged to a man named Peter who told her months before his sudden accidental death, that he knew he was going to be leaving this world soon.

Those who are murdered

Being murdered can be a terribly difficult way to go, as it can be experienced as an unnatural and horrific way to leave this world.  There are those who once murdered, refuse to accept that this has actually happened to them, so they create whatever alternate reality they wish.  It can be as if they’re still in the physical world, driving their car and going to work — until they eventually accept what has occurred.

Some who know clearly that they were murdered feel a tremendous sense of rage and the desire for revenge, and are committed to coming back here and getting even with whoever did this to them.  Even though it is presumed that their spiritual teachers would counsel them to let go of such feelings and find forgiveness, they may or may not be willing to do so.  These grudges can be held onto for as long as one wants to and may actually motivate revengeful actions in future lifetimes.

Many who have died through murder carry a tremendous emotional fear with them in spirit, which they can try and work through over there, but often, it may take reincarnating here (potentially many times) to be able to heal such deep seated terror.   I knew someone who carried an unexplained fear of being murdered his entire life.  There was no plausible reason as to why he would feel this way: no one he knew had ever been murdered, and he had never been physically assaulted or threatened himself.  So he couldn’t figure out why he felt this way. 

When I did a reading for him, it came through from spirit that he had been beheaded in a former lifetime centuries ago, because he was a social outcast at the time.   In his current incarnation, this fear was present so he could spiritually get past it and move beyond this old energy.  Through the awareness that came through in the reading, he was able to understand the reason for his fear and forever put it behind him.

Being the victim of murder puts us in a difficult position of trying to deal with what has happened to us to come terms with that experience in order to move forward.  However, with those who commit heinous crimes such as murdering someone to even mass murderers, the negative karma they’ve created is so incalculable and will take an amount of time to resolve that we as humans can’t even grasp.  Their journey is about atonement versus about learning to cope with what has been done to them, as victims have to do.  This atonement must be completed to include every person who their actions have forever victimized.

What about mass murderers?

Often, those who have committed atrocities against humanity such as dictators and war criminal are restricted in spirit once they’ve died by the higher forces there.  After they’ve passed, they may be isolated and not have access to many others, almost as if they’re in prison.  In spirit, the lords of karma will review how this entity has spiritually evolved who had formerly committed such heinous acts.  This is to determine if it is yet time for them to be allowed back into the physical world, and if so, what portion of their karmic debt that they would bring into the next earthly lifetime.

Eventually, they will have to reincarnate back into the earth plane as we all do.  In their next incarnation, they’ll have the opportunity to begin working off the negative karma they’ve created prior, which could take an uncountable amount of lifetimes to resolve.  When they come back is similar to when someone incarcerated here on earth comes up for a probation hearing from time to time to see if he or she is ready to be released back into society.

Some who commit crimes against humanity get caught in darkness, because they are not at a vibrational state of consciousness to resonate with or be in a place of light and love.  This is based on their consciousness, level of understanding and what they’ve done.  They could expect to go to hell; therefore, they may, or stay earthbound, as they don’t want to move into the spirit world because of the fear of repercussion. 

Suicides

Those who have taken their own life have a very hard time spiritually moving forward, as they often get stuck.  As I’ve channeled many a spirit who has taken their own life, I would describe their reality as not being here (on earth) and also, not being there (in the spirit world).  It’s as if they’re nowhere.  Because of the disconnection they’ve felt, they get stuck in-between worlds. 

I had a client whose brother Sam committed suicide by taking drugs in order to kill himself while wandering through a New York alleyway.  When Sam came through in our readings, I had no idea how he had died, but the first thing I saw was a man drifting around a New York alleyway.  This was 15 years later yet Sam was still there.  He hadn’t progressed at all, because he, like many suicides, simply get stuck.  He was just as lost as he was 15 years prior, and of course, I tried to encourage him to move forward with his journey.

Eventually, those who’ve committed suicide might progress to some degree, but they have a hard time experiencing paradise or joy.  This is not because anyone is preventing them from doing so, but because of the level of consciousness they vibrate to.  Of course, they eventually continue their reincarnation cycle again, and as the Buddhists teach, for every suicide, there are seven lifetimes of atonement one must pay.  Never forget that praying for these spirits does offer them some light when they are ready to see it, which can only help them move forward.

Earthbound spirits

Earth bound spirits are those who for one reason or another, resist moving forward spiritually, because they’re still quite attached to their former earthly existence.  A perfect example of this is someone who was an alcoholic and is still quite attached to the experience of drinking.  In spirit, they may hang around bars on earth to suck and feed off the energy of those who are drinking.  These earthbound spirits attach to that alcohol experience to feel the vicarious thrill of drinking which continues to feed the addiction that they refuse to let go of. 

Some earth bound spirits are just stuck and stubborn.  A man I knew named Joey lived in the house his grandfather once built.  Once Joey’s grandfather passed on, he came back into the house and just stayed there as an earthbound spirit for many years.  Sometimes, granddad even materialized where Joey and his wife would see him.

Instead of moving on into the spirit world, grandpa stayed in this house because it was a place he was comfortable in when he was in the physical world and now that he was dead, he just continued to hang around.  Joey told him, “Grandpa, you don’t belong here anymore so you need to move on.  Go into the light where you belong.”  However, his grandfather refused to listen and just continued to hang around the house.

And just like people in the physical world often live in the past, Joey’s grandfather was doing the same thing once he died.  Regarding time, there is no limit as to how long one would stay earth bound as it can go on indefinitely until they’re ready and willing to move forward with their spiritual journey.

Do spirits help their loved ones here on earth or act as guides?

Yes, they often do.  As many of you can attest to through having readings with me, your loved ones are actively involved in assisting and guiding you from the spirit world.  Messages come through and the support is clearly there, as revealed in so many ways and times.  Guidance and protection for us is offered and it’s our job to receive such help and work with it, as it is truly a Godsend in our lives.

This can be motivated simply by the unconditional love they feel for us, and is demonstrated in the same way someone you love would help you out if they were here on earth.  Also, it can be spiritually motivated, as our loved ones on the other side can see that their support not only helps us to evolve, but helps them to spiritually grow as well.  Why?  Because when both parties benefit, it is truly a win-win situation.

Sometimes it is actually a matter of atonement, as our loved ones feel that they didn’t treat us right and may have even abused us on earth.  If they feel that they created negative karma with us, sometimes they feel compelled to work off bad karma through their efforts to help us in our earthly journey.  I have said to many clients that their loved ones will help them more from the spirit world then they ever would have done while they were here on earth.

Christy was a woman whose father Mack had sexually abused her and treated her badly in other ways, so when he passed in 1990, she was ambivalent about her feelings.  Then, in 2000, during a reading with me, her father came through with a tremendous sense of regret, grief and apology.  He didn’t defend his former actions, but rather, begged for forgiveness.  He promised to make it up to her by being committed to helping his daughter to manifest her dreams.  Christy didn’t hate him, however, she wasn’t sure if she could truly forgive him either, but she agreed to try.

In the years that followed, Mack came through with many startlingly accurate messages in our readings.  In one, he said to his daughter, “Don’t drive on a certain bridge to work tomorrow.”  The next day, a portion of the bridge collapsed at the time she would have been driving on it.  Christy was willing to heed the warning from her dad and simply stayed off the bridge, which may have saved her life.

Months later, Mack told his daughter, “Dump your boyfriend Jerry, as he’s married.  If you dump him now, you’ll meet the man you’re supposed to marry.”  Christy was stunned, but instead of reacting defensively, she looked up this information about Jerry to indeed see if it was true, as marriage is a matter of public record.  To her surprise, the found out that the man she thought was solely hers was indeed a married man.  Of course, she ended things with Jerry immediately, and within a year, she met the man she was supposed to be with.  They are happily married today.

It is more common than you may think for our family and loved ones on the other side to help us as a way of atoning for the hurt they caused us or the lack of support they provided while they were here on earth with us.  Regardless of whether the reasons are based on atonement, spiritual growth and/or unconditional love, it is of great help and reassurance for us to know that guidance, protection, messages, comfort and commitment to our dreams is ever present from our loved ones on the other side.

How long do we stay on the other side before we reincarnate?

There is no strict or absolute time frame between physical lifetimes and it completely varies situation by situation.  It is highly unlikely for one to reincarnate within years, or even a few decades.  There are several reasons why:  First, we must reincarnate with those we have karma and lessons that need to be worked out with.  Therefore, everyone involved would need to be on the other side where they can decide (along with the lords of karma) what the lessons, goals, plans and karma will be in a coming incarnation. 

Second, the circumstances in the physical plane must be able to facilitate whatever the lessons are and that is not easy to come by, as the earth plane changes so continuously and rapidly.  For example, if the karma and lessons for a group tied into the circumstances of a world war, the reincarnation could not occur if the world war was not going to be occurring.  In many instances, it can take multiple decades, to hundreds or even thousands of years before a new incarnation happens. 

Thirdly, it takes time for any of us to be internally ready to come back on earth, as the memories of suffering from our prior incarnation may still be with us and not yet sufficiently released from our consciousness.  If we incarnate again too soon, we are more likely to bring residues from our past lives back with us as fears, paranoias, and even obsessions. 

This process of letting go needs to happen so that we can come back to earth in such a way that we are ready and willing to accept the challenges ahead of us.  The time it takes for us to become prepared for the next incarnation between lifetimes is like an athlete who just had a long, grueling season and needs rest to be ready for the next season. 

The journey continues on…

After death, we know that the personality survives and continues on.  However, throughout time, that personality eventually erodes and fades away permanently.  This occurs as we get closer to our next earthly incarnation. 

Before we reenter the earth plane in our next physical lifetime, a new personality must be constructed which will be based on the coming lessons and karma that will occur in the next incarnation.  The new personality facilitates, as always, the endless and ever continuing journey of life on earth – one that unfolds forever…. And then, once again, after we pass on, we experience life after death.

If you are interested in having a private consultation with me, personally tailored to fit your questions, needs and concerns, click here.

Judge not, lest ye be judged – The Bible

The world of judgment

In the world we live in, we either judge others and/or experience it being done to us.  Everyone is more opinioned, outspoken, critical, condemning and judgmental of others than ever before.  In this age where everyone’s opinion matters, people are hardly shy about speaking up and letting the world know exactly what they think – and who they judge. 

 Just listen to the comments at work that people make about others, what your family and friends say, the opinions that are written in magazines, newspapers, and especially the information splashed all over the internet.  Judgment is everywhere. 

Take a look at cable television “news” shows were people hurl insults and condemn everyone from celebrities to politicians to ordinary folks ‘round the clock, satisfying the insatiable appetites of those who tune in.  Whether the audience disagrees and/or agrees with the pundits on the shows, it is the sense of judgment that largely brings everyone together.

Judgmental folks congregate to each other, just like the old adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.”  Whether it’s through a television “news” show or an organization such as a church where everyone is like minded, people feel strength in numbers, which further validates their viewpoint.  If everyone in a church worships Jesus, then they feel right about their beliefs and entitled to judge those who disagree.  It is tribal in nature just as it once was in the ancient jungles.  Those within the tribe (in this instance, a church) look down on and attack others who are different than them and in the most primitive sense, are from another tribe.

 And you’ll find that most people hardly ever apologize for their judgmentalness of others;  rather, they celebrate it and feel unabashedly empowered to do so!  It’s as if everyone feels entitled to express whatever their opinions are, regardless of how much they attack and hurt others.  So in the world of judgment, who is it that exactly that gets the finger pointed at them?  Is it everyone, or is that a selective process?

Who we judge

 In the world we live in where we look at things as either being right or wrong, we tend to judge those who we feel are “wrong” – and that term is not just limited to someone who commits a egregious crime such as a bank robbery.  It is as open ended as we choose to make it. While some of us have been looked down upon because of our social status, we also do the same to others.  This includes feeling superior to those with less money than us: “Oh, the neighbors don’t have nearly as much money as I do and aren’t financially together like me.  You can tell by looking at that awful car they just bought.  It’s used and at least ten years old.  It probably cost a grand total of a few hundred bucks, but hey, they just don’t have the same kind of money that I do.  It’s just a rusted out piece of junk,” a next door neighbor smugly says.

In addition, if any of you just stop and listen to what is said on television about “unattractive” or “overweight” celebrities, or what people say about their coworkers in the workplace, you’ll see just how much people who aren’t considered physically attractive are attacked and disrespected: “This guy who’s in the next cubicle over from me looks like such a dork.  I bet he hasn’t had a date in years.  No woman would ever touch him with a ten foot pole as he’s so friggin’ ugly.  I can’t stand to even look at him as it ruins my appetite for lunch,” a female coworker chuckles. 

Besides looks, there’s always the rat race in our society of who’s the most successful – and those who are considered less so are often on the receiving end of being criticized: “My brother John has not done well in his career at all, and it doesn’t look like he ever will because he just doesn’t have what it takes.  He just isn’t good enough, you know.  Thinking of it, John hasn’t even gotten one promotion in 12 years,” his brother Jason flatly states. 

On a more lofty level, we look down on people who don’t live up to our standards of morality, family, and behavior.  It’s as if we put ourselves in the role of being the judge and jury when it comes to other’s lifestyles and choices: “My daughter has never married and didn’t have kids.  What’s wrong with her as a woman?  Now it’s too late as she’s too old now.  I’m so disappointed in her,” a mother complains about her daughter. 

Sometimes the insults are far less restrained: “That guy is going straight to hell when he dies.  Not only is he a worthless drunk, but he almost killed a poor, innocent, teenage girl while driving home from a bar.  I hope he rots in prison and in hell!” a man proclaims about a drunk driver he saw on the local news.

Yet perhaps the most insidious and hard to detect form of judgment is when we verbally attack those who remind us of ourselves – of some part of us that we don’t like and that we’re hiding. 

Scott always had an aversion and revulsion of gay men and consistently condemned them.  Every time he’d see someone gay on television or in his neighborhood, the vicious insults would begin to fly: “That damn faggot is an aberration of everything that is natural – spreading disease, and corrupting innocent children.  God hates fags and I wish they would all die from AIDS!” Scott frequently yelled.  This type of attack may sound extreme and unlikely to occur in today’s world, but it’s far more common than you may think. 

Yet in Scott’s instance, it’s not just religious homophobia that is at the root of his hatred.  It’s that he himself is latently gay and has had tendencies to be sexually attracted to other men — and he hates this about himself with a passion.  So instead of facing his issues in whatever way is best for him on a personal level and coming to terms with how he feels, he turns the attack back on those who hold up a mirror to himself – those men who are openly gay.

Whether it’s a homophobic tirade by Scott, putting down someone at work for not being “hot enough,” or any in number of ways, it’s easy to look at instances of who gets judged.  Unfortunately, if we’re being honest, there are far too many endless examples to even begin to keep track of here.  With that being said, we need to look beyond just who we judge, and ask the questions of why and when we criticize and disparage others.

Why and when we judge others

It’s startling to listen to people who feel completely justified in casting judgment upon others  because they feel superior, better than, and somehow entitled to see others as “wrong.”  Whether these criticisms are said as seemingly casual comments, or blaringly loud exclamations as Scott did, it is the sense of egotism and arrogance that fuels this energy.

Yet this is nothing new, as we can trace judgment back through all of recorded history.  In the most extreme cases, people are run out of town and even put to death through being judged.  Even today, women in parts of the Middle East are stoned to death for cheating on their husbands, whether it’s provable infidelity or only an accusation.  Here, we see where finger pointing reaches a level that is quite hard to comprehend for most of us.  If you’re a woman, imagine that you could be stoned to death simply for being accused of cheating on your husband – right here, right now in today’s world!

The self righteousness becomes a smokescreen of hiding the flaws in the person or persons doing the judging.  In this instance, the sense of being “holier than thou” becomes a way of camouflaging the shortcomings that exist within all of us.  Think of it: Aren’t we all flawed, and haven’t we all made mistakes?

When criticizing others, it’s as if there is a “right” person (the one doing the judging), and a “wrong” person (the one who’s being judged).  But that energy shows an absolute absence of one of the very cornerstones we’re all here to spiritually learn, which is empathy and compassion.

Without empathy and compassion, we can sit in judgment of others day and night and never put ourselves in the shoes of those we’re looking negatively upon.  When empathy and compassion are missing, our sense of judgment has no boundaries and just continues, especially when our egos get involved in the process.  As we hurl this negativity into the ether and at people, we even sometimes alter the course of their lives in a terribly destructive way as what we say really does hurt them. This is exactly what happened to Patricia.

Patricia took a new job about a year ago, and her boss was named Tammy.  Patricia was a divorced single mother of two while Tammy was a married Evangelical Christian who strongly believed that divorce was a serious sin.  Therefore, she sat in judgment of Patricia.  Tammy immediately began putting Patricia down at work and spreading negative things about her to anyone within earshot.

She said things like, “Patricia just doesn’t seem to get the hang of this job at all.  She’s lazy and not a very good worker.”  Then she’d follow up with, “Oh my God, I am so worn out as I have to do Patricia’s work all the time, as she’s just not capable at all.  Jesus help me as I’m so sick of her!”  After months of this, people started to believe what Tammy was saying, and the backlash against Patricia began building.

However, none of what Tammy said was true as Patricia was in fact an excellent worker.  It was just that Tammy had a hard time with the fact that Patricia was a divorced woman, and in Tammy’s mind, that was dead wrong.

So after about six months of Tammy’s repeated verbal slurs, Patricia ended up being fired, all supposedly because of her inferior work performance.  Here we see how the judgment Tammy felt toward Patricia altered her life forever.  She lost her job and was out of work for six months, which caused her and her children to experience great financial hardship.

As with Tammy and Patricia, it’s so easy for any of us to get caught up in the flow of putting others down and unloading on them because we feel justified in how we view them.  Plus, we supposedly feel relieved by releasing these negative energies and by getting it all out.  We falsely assume that since we believe we’re superior to others, what we’ve done is absolutely ok!

 However, this is a complete illusion.  Instead of putting others down and making it righteous in our own minds, what we should doing is asking ourselves this most important question: “If I judge others, what happens to me in the process?”

To judge others is to judge ourselves

 To whatever degree you judge others, is the same degree that you judge yourself. – Jim1537

 When we judge others, the joke is really on us from a spiritual perspective.  First, we don’t feel good about ourselves if and when we condemn others because if we were at peace with ourselves, we wouldn’t find the need to attack others at all.  Judging others is reflective of our exact relationship with ourselves and the degree we judge and the way we do so clearly reveals exactly how we really feel who we are inside.  And the more we point out what’s wrong with others, the worse we feel within.  Think of it this way:  for every judgment you think or say is the same thing as putting a dose of poison in your bloodstream.

It’s not just an abstract concept that is lofty and in the clouds, but metaphysically quite clear and correct.  When we judge others, we attract judgment to ourselves, just as whatever we do comes back to us. 

Even if we don’t have it in our hearts to stop criticizing others based on empathy and compassion, we must end it if just for the sake of our physical health, general well being, and self preservation.  Of course, none of us like being judged, yet as long as we do so ourselves, we will continue to attract this awful energy back to us.

A perfect example of this happened to a musician named Colin who never had a good thing to say about any other artists he knew.  He condemned virtually every musician he was “friends” with, calling their work boring, predictable, uninteresting, and second rate. 

So when Colin did a performance of his own, the feedback came in quickly and swiftly:  “Boring, uninteresting, and predictable,” was what one critic stated.  Then, a different critic actually referred to Colin’s show as “Second rate.” 

However, did these jabs come from the people Colin had attacked himself?  Not at all.  The same words Colin said about others came back to him from completely different sources, and not those who Colin knew.  Because he sent out this energy into the universe, it was brought back to him, yet not from those who Colin had hurled his insults at.

From a deeper point of view, let’s look at a scenario much bigger and vaster than Colin’s.  When we judge others, we sometimes have to actually reincarnate in a future lifetime in the exact same shoes of those we’ve condemned before.  Why?  To experience firsthand what we did to them.  It may be the only way we can learn from what we’ve done through our judgment of others.

When Cindy was just a little girl, she began mocking other children in school right to their faces who had speech impediments.  She would mimic their sounds, exaggerate their speech problems, contort her face and just laugh all day long, thinking their issues were just hilarious.  As an adult, she never outgrew this practice and continued to verbally mock those who had speech impediments, as if she was performing a comedy routine.  Trying to mimic their every sound and chuckling all the way, she devoted her entire life to making fun of those who couldn’t speak properly and just thought it was a blast to do so.

Little did she realize that she was setting herself up for who and what she would reincarnate as in her next lifetime, because when she came back into this world, she was born with a lifelong speech impediment.  In this instance, she needed to experience what she had done to others and how she had hurt them, as it was the only way for her to spiritually grow past this and come to terms with what she did prior.

This is in no way to say that those who are born with a disability have done something before to “bring it on,” as there are many spiritual and karmic reasons as to why any of us reincarnate in a certain way.  It’s just that in certain instances, we literally do come back into this world in a future lifetime in the very same shoes of those we have judged before!   

Yet all of us have made mistakes and we have all looked down on others.  However, that doesn’t mean that there’s an indelible black mark on our souls which will lead to severe spiritual punishment now and/or in the future.  It means that we need to let go of the madness of judging others!  Yet as a culture, we’re so entrenched in judgment as a daily way of life, that how do we begin to do this?  Here are some great tips, insights, exercises and affirmations to achieve that very goal for you!

Instead of judging others, try blessing them instead

First, try this exercise for one to two days: Have a note pad and a pen/pencil and write down how many times you judge anyone else or hear others do the same.  In addition to what you think and say about others that is disparaging, include the words of coworkers, family, friends, and anything you hear on television or read in the media that criticizes someone else.  This could range from anything such as a cynical comment or a nasty remark about someone’s appearance, all the way to a declaration that someone deserves to die!  I bet you’ll be surprised how many times you judge or observe others doing so, all in a matter of a day or two.

Then, look at all of the judgments you’ve recorded, and realize that you shouldn’t be asking yourself if the criticisms are justified, right, or correct.  Keep in mind that you can always find fault in anyone if and when you want to.  It’s like the old cliché: If you’re looking for it, you’ll find it. 

Instead, ponder these questions: Who am I to judge anyone else?  Am I God?  If that doesn’t make you want to relinquish judgment, remember that from a spiritual perspective that all of us have committed the most horrific acts imaginable in one lifetime or another – and that includes murder.  Yes, we have all murdered, so who are we to look down on anyone else?

Remember that in the big scheme of things, you’re just like the person you’re judging.  It begs the question we should all ask ourselves, “Why are my actions any better than anyone else’s?”  With that in mind, it’s clear that we are all the same, so how could we disparage anyone else?  That just means that we’re attacking ourselves.

Even though we’ve committed the most primitive animalistic acts against others in prior lifetimes, we’re now at a point in our spiritual evolution where we’re supposed to be getting past such things.  And part of that growth means for us to learn to not judge others.  This process helps us to become humbled, and with humility, comes the freedom and power of not judging!

Yet, if you’re still feeling compelled to view others as wrong, never forget for a moment that to judge others is to judge ourselves – literally.  Even it’s merely for the sake of self preservation, it is far too costly to judge because of the way others will treat us in return. 

In addition, we can’t afford the penalty our body pays for being a part of such an ugly and dark energy, and the toll it takes on our finances helps to bring us into poverty as well.  Remember that projecting an ugly energy into the atmosphere brings it right back to us – and it can affect our lives in any number of ways.  Ultimately, we lose our connection to the love and light that is so necessary to bring in the blessings we divinely deserve when we harm others through judgment. 

Instead of judging others, the solution is to bless them, which releases not only them, but you, to the highest and greatest good.  This process also helps to heal your life.  Start with someone you judge who you don’t know, like a celebrity you’ve looked down upon.  (One recent example that comes to mind is how people in droves attacked singer/actress Jessica Simpson because she gained some weight.)  Whether it’s Jessica or someone else, think of a celebrity or someone you don’t know you’ve disparaged. 

Now, insert that person’s name in the blank space and say out loud: “I no longer judge ________.  I now bless them and release them to their highest good!  Say it repeatedly and feel it in your heart – and you’ll see how much lighter and happier you’ll become!  The reason I started with someone you don’t know or a celebrity, is because it’s not personal in nature, therefore, it’s easier to do.

Next, work toward blessing someone who has personally hurt you, whether it was being jilted by a lover, friend, coworker and/or family member.  Instead of judging them, bless them by affirming: I release all hurt, pain, and judgment toward _____________ and bless them with positive wishes for their complete happiness.  Through blessing them, you release however the former situation is holding you back from manifesting good things in your life today.

Last but not least, take a person who is publicly acknowledged as a horrible person.  This could be a serial killer, rapist, dictator, and/or child molester.  These people are so easy to condemn as they have caused an incalculable amount of hurt to others – and even to entire nations. 

However, instead of judging them, release them to their highest good and bless them by affirming: As it is not my place to judge anyone, I bless and release __________to their highest and greatest good!  Now, you’ll start feeling somewhat better and assume that you’re done.  After all, could it be harder to forgive someone other than a mass murderer?  “What could be possibly tougher than that?” you might ask. 

Yet, it can be even more difficult to no longer judge someone else – a person you may have never thought you had to stop judging – someone you may have long believed you were ok with…and that person is you.  The biggest challenge is to no longer judge yourself.  You may not think you’re doing it, but remember, if you judge others, you are also doing the same thing to yourself. 

So it’s finally time to view yourself, spiritually, in the correct way – with acceptance.  Stop and remember that you’re good enough right now, and that you have always been loveable as a person.  Whatever you’ve done before, let it go and lift a ton of weight off of your shoulders by affirming: I now release any and all burdens of judging myself into the eternal spirit of divine love, where I am unconditionally loved and perpetually accepted as I am.  I no longer judge myself and forever see myself as blameless and innocent!   By offering yourself this supreme gift, you will be surprised at how much better you will feel!

Then, here is a special day-by-day tip: Police yourself every day and make sure that you are replacing the old habits of judging others and yourself with blessing not only them, but also you. 

By not judging, you are free!

By not judging, we free ourselves: from personal attack, criticism, condemnation, and judgment, both internally within us and externally by others.  This greatly improves our physical, emotional, and spiritual health, mental state and finances as well. We will also attract others who accept us and appreciate us in every corner of life, even down to the strangers we encounter out in public.  By releasing judgment of others and ourselves, there is no longer that open door for others to enter our space and attack us.  We have closed that door, locked it, and thrown away the key.  We now become as free as the eagles soaring above the sky.

By judging, we’ve tried to play God, but in doing so, we show how little we really spiritually know.  We also tip our hands to our unabashed arrogance, as we are literally saying that we’re better or more qualified than God by condemning others.  

Our concept of God as some finger pointing, mean spirited, perfectionist, forever berating Supreme Being who sends us into hell’s inferno forever if we’ve been bad is simply not true.  That perception is based on our human distortion. 

Rather, a higher power should be thought of as the most unconditionally loving parent a child could ever want.  There is no judgment, criticism, intolerance, condemnation and punishment – there is only pure, unconditional love and acceptance for all of us, regardless of who we are and what we’ve done! 

It’s like having a parent who welcomes you with open arms and a warm hug, regardless of whatever has happened in your journey.  Think of those moments in your life when you may have felt that love: Opening a wondrous Christmas gift from your parents when you were a small child, feeling so utterly secure being carried to bed by a parent or loved one when you were a toddler, or being tucked into bed at night with a gentle kiss.  There was a feeling of compete safety, peace, security, and joy.  Now, if you can imagine that feeling magnified incalculably, that is how you are spiritually viewed and regarded by divine love, forever.

If we raise our perception and understanding to not only mentally grasp, but truly feel our concept of God as the eternal, everlasting and pure consciousness of unconditional love that simply is, how could we ever judge anyone or ourselves again?  Think if it: If a higher power doesn’t judge, then how and why could we?  It begs this simple truth: If all of us are good enough for God, so to speak, then we’re good enough for ourselves!

If you would like to have a private reading with me, personally tailored to fit your questions, needs and concerns, click here.

“Before a man can learn anything, he has to unlearn what he already knows.”  — Old Sufi proverb

In today’s short article, I would like to hopefully expound on this very profound old proverb.    

As adults, we pride ourselves on our knowledge, yet in some ways, spiritually, the knowledge that we’ve accumulated can hold us back and prevent us from growing.  We tend to think that knowledge expands our horizons, but in reality, the things that we know are often our biggest obstacles to our spiritual growth.

To think we know something is to limit it.  That “knowing” limits our understanding of what something actually is, what it could be, its importance to us and its effect on us in the future. Whether we’re a teenager or a senior citizen, we believe that we already know.  “With age comes wisdom,” is a statement that justifies that by merely getting older, we become enlightened.  In reality, age can make us more stubborn, set in our ways, inflexible to new ideas and how we look at things.

Most of us think that knowing indicates with absolute certainly that our perceptions, beliefs, and understandings of reality are indeed right.  But to think we know not only limits ourselves – it prevents us from truly learning.  With each day, our belief that we know only makes us that much more blocked, rigid, and stuck. 

 It stops us from seeing alternate explanations and new possibilities for the situations and problems in our lives.  In order to truly learn, we must unlearn what we already know – and that means our perceptions, beliefs, prejudices and current level of understanding must be let go of. 

We get into patterns that are based on our past experiences and conclusions which we perceive as irrevocable fact.  They may have worked before, but perhaps have outlived their purpose.  When you’re a child and are taught to never get into a car with a stranger, that is appropriate at a certain time.  However, if you were thirty years old and your car broke down, would you refuse to get into a tow truck with a stranger?  Some times the value of something we “know” has outlived its purpose and we need to be open to new knowledge.

“The world is bad,” someone says, because they feel that they’ve been hurt in the past.  But if they want to truly learn that the world can be seen in any number of ways, including that it is wonderful, they have to unlearn the point of view that the world is bad in order to grow.

How do we begin that process?  We start by letting go of subjective attachments, and opening our minds to be willing and able to be led.  Therefore, we truly begin to learn as pre existing assumptions and belief systems must be released.

Think of a gorgeous natural wooden table.  Thirty years ago, it was painted white, then it was painted lime green a few years later, followed by a heavy coat of varnish put on it two years ago, and one more coat of varnish was added this year.  Every layer of paint and varnish smothers and suffocates the beauty of the wood, which is like having a mind that is filled with things that clutter its space and stand in the way. 

So in the way someone would have to remove all the layers of varnish and paint to restore the wood to its natural beauty, it is the same with our ability to truly learn anything. We must always be able to look at a situation from a beginner‘s point of view and restore our mind to its natural state which releases all of the old acquired stuff that’s blocking and restricting our growth.

In Zen Buddhism the concept is taught of the “Beginner’s Mind.”  This is the ability to look at anything as though you are seeing it for the very first time.  This allows us to bypass all of our previous knowledge and experience and see things with a fresh outlook.

In a reading, a client said to me, “Jim, my soul mate is John and I just know that!”  However, in reality, that assumption is spiritually not accurate. When they hear from me that John isn’t the soul mate, if they refuse to let go of what they “know,” their energy can’t open up to allow the real soul mate to enter into their life.  Therefore, what they think they know with rigid certainty is exactly what is in the way of them getting what they want!

It is just like a simple door.  If it’s closed, how can anyone walk through it?  If the door is slammed shut or locked, no one is going to be walking through that doorway.  It is the same with the mind – it must be open for the divine universe to have an open channel to teach us.

Most people claim that they want to learn.  But in that quest, what are they willing to change in order to get there?  Remember, the divine universe needs a mind that is open at all times to be able to enlighten.

What about the arteries in your body?  How could your health function properly if the arteries were closed?  With blocked arteries, the blood couldn’t circulate correctly throughout your body which would lead to serious health issues and potentially, even death.  As our arteries must stay open always, so must our minds, if we really want to learn anything. 

A female client of mine had been through two bad marriages, so she believed that she knew that no one good would ever come into her life.  In her mind, she knew that was true.  But in reality, all she was doing was projecting her emotional reactions from her past experiences as fact.

When I told her that she was preventing anyone from coming into her life that could be good, she defended herself and said, “You don’t know what I’ve been through, and I know the kind of men that are out there and there’s no one good for me.  The good ones are all married already.”  So through her refusal to unlearn what she already knew to be true, the universe could not bring anyone good into her life.

Instead of our minds being as closed as a completely clogged artery in our bodies, we must begin letting go of the layers of our “knowing” that don’t serve us to get to a higher place.  Our minds need to be as open as the universe itself, and with that, we master the ability to unlearn what we already know in order to learn what far transcends all that we once believed to be true.

If you would like to have a private reading with me, personally tailored to fit your questions, needs and concerns, click here.

In the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, a man discovers a Coca-Cola bottle in the Kalahari Desert (which had merely been dropped by a passing pilot) and promptly has his life completely turned around by this “mystical object.”  In this setting, a Coca-Cola bottle is perceived to have literally come from God – as a “sign.”  This may sound absurd to us who think of a Coca-Cola bottle as nothing more than an inanimate object that contains soda, but is the premise of this comedy really as strange as it initially sounds? 

People have been claiming to have been witnessing “signs” directly from God for all of recorded history with recent examples ranging from a statue of the Virgin Mary weeping bloody tears to Jesus’ face appearing embedded in a piece of toast.  In fact, “signs” are everywhere and for some, they apparently come out of the blue while others ask, look and wait for them.  Whether seemingly by “accident” or deliberately sought out, signs can come to us in a variety of ways from prayers; visions; dreams; affirmations; intuition; a physical manifestation; the tarot; Rune Stones: the I-Ching; a psychic reading; to even what is perceived as a bona-fide “miracle.”

Many of us who have some type of spiritual belief strongly trust in signs and ask to receive them to help provide answers to our current situations and clues as to what the future may hold.  Sometimes, we even expect signs to come to us, while some take it even further and absolutely demand to know (through signs) what’s in store!

However, how truly spiritually valid are the signs we receive and moreover, how necessary are they in our lives?  The Bible says that we should never look to signs for answers or spiritual knowledge, but even evangelical Christians seek out signs, pray for them and believe fervently in their messages.

Of all of the aspects of our spirituality, “signs” is amongst the most deceptive, tricky to figure out and complicated to decipher.  Many times, what people would swear on their children’s lives are direct signs from God are not signs at all and the fervor of one’s belief in a sign doesn’t necessarily make it valid.  We are often quite fooled and duped by what we erroneously believe to be a sign from God when it actually isn’t.

There is indeed a place for signs in our spiritual life, but it is not as simple as to say that all signs are either completely valid omens from God, or complete hocus pocus.  Again, the validation of a sign can never be judged by the emotional reaction and intensity any of us feel when receiving one.  It is the goal of this writing to help sort out the fallacy from the reality of signs and provide the tools, techniques and understanding for you to be able to know the difference.

Looking for the signs we want and believing we’re getting them

I once knew a woman named Kristen whose career involved a great deal of daily driving up and down the highways as she was in sales.  Kristen was very much into signs and had a daily ritual in her pursuit for answers by starting her day with a question.  Then, she believed that the actual answers would reveal themselves through the various license plates on the vehicles that she would see while driving her car on the road.

After Kristen began dating a man in 1995, the majority of her questions that she wanted to be answered by signs through license plates would center on this relationship.  One that she typically asked was, “Is my boyfriend going to marry me and be with me forever?”  One day she saw a license plate that read “2B1720,” which she interpreted as “2B” meaning “to be,” and that “1720” was providing the date of “1-7-2000.”  In her mind, she was convinced that the answer to her question was that it was meant to be for them to be together and that it would happen on or by 1-7-2000.  Another plate she saw said “2BGO” which she interpreted as “to be go,” meaning the relationship was meant to be and would go forward.  Believe it or not, Kristen actually based her relationship with her boyfriend on these license plate “signs.”

In fact, she kept receiving what she firmly believed were signs from God that appeared on license plates, especially because they all seemed to be saying the same thing to her.  Therefore, in her own mind, everything that she wanted would ultimately come to pass as it was just a matter of time.

The year 2000 came and went and by mid 2001 he had not offered her a commitment of any kind as the relationship had not progressed at all.  Even though the writing was clearly on the wall by then, because of her unwillingness to give up, Kristen stayed with this man through the end of 2005 when it was actually he who left her for a younger woman.  For ten long years, she believed she was receiving divine signs about their future together when she wasn’t.

Here we see that not only were the “signs” she believed with all of her heart to be directly from God completely inaccurate, but the fact that she refused to look at this relationship realistically allowed Kristen to stay in it much longer than she would have had she just assessed it for what it was.  He was a man who never promised her anything, was inconsistent, and only saw her when it was convenient for him.

Instead, she let her emotions and ego lead the way using what she falsely misconstrued as signs, which allowed her desires to take her on a ten year ride – one that didn’t end at all the way she had convinced herself it would.  Here we see how Kristen believed in signs, sought them out and falsely allowed her emotions to believe whatever she wanted and one could easily say that the old phrase of “If you’re looking for it, you’ll find it” sums up her story in a nutshell.

Kristen’s story is certainly not the only way signs manifest in our individual journeys and as we explore further, we will look at the tremendously varying relationships and experiences many of us have with signs.  For better or worse, the consequences can range from destroying our lives to saving us from disaster and pointing us in the right direction.

Looking for signs where our emotions affect the answers and the outcome

John was a man who regularly practiced “dictionary divination” by first asking a question, closing his eyes, then flipping through the pages of the dictionary until his finger stopped, at which point he would open his eyes to discover the word he arrived at.  That word was the answer to his question and therefore, his “sign.”

In 2006, his regular question was whether he should sell his house, quit his job and relocate or not.  On certain days, he was emotionally open and neutral regarding selling his house and moving, knowing that if it was supposed to happen, it would and at the right time.  When he practiced his dictionary divination on those days, he would always end up with a word such as “patience,” “wait,” or “timing.”  He took that to mean that he should wait, as it would unfold as it was supposed to.

Then, on other days, he would feel restless and anxious about wanting to sell the house and compelled to move right away without a minute to spare.  When he was in that frame of mind and asked his question and went through the same process of arriving at a word through dictionary divination, John would always come up with a word such as “now,” “immediately,” and “hurry.”

This back and forth see-saw ride went on for about six months and during that time, John became more restless because he didn’t like his job and wanted to turn in his resignation and leave town!  So with each dictionary divination, the words he arrived such as “today,” “go,” and “move” kept reinforcing what his anxious emotions wanted. 

How could this happen?  Was it just some sort of a coincidence?  Of course it wasn’t, as John’s strong feelings actually interjected themselves into the dictionary divination process and legitimately affected the outcome of the words he arrived at because his emotional desires were so strong that they became the driving energetic force of the “signs” he received.

As he kept receiving the same exact type of words each time, (the ones he emotionally desired) he decided that he had the signs he needed and put his house on the market.  After all, he had received the same signs so many times that he felt that it had to be time to go!  It was his destiny! 

But was it really…?  To sell the house, he had to lower the price significantly which didn’t give him hardly enough money to be able to relocate.  When he did finally move, he went to a location where he couldn’t find a house in his price range and had to rent – something he hated doing.  To make matters worse, he couldn’t find a job nearly as good as the one he disliked from before. 

We see that John’s practice of dictionary divination gave him two completely opposite types of words as answers: one when he was calm and relaxed and another when he was anxious and restless.  Two things happened:  first, John received the right signs when he was open and not emotionally charged about his situation; words such as “wait” and “patience.”  He needed to wait this thing out and let it unfold as the right course of action would reveal itself through time down the road, but he didn’t listen.

Secondly, John received completely different “signs” when he was emotionally anxious and restless – words that reflected on those emotions and provided the wrong answers as witnessed by the tremendously negative outcome of his situation – one that was solely based on choices John made based on his belief in the words that instructed him to act right away. 

As we see how John’s emotions were life altering regarding the “answers” he received and acted on, we must always look for signs with an open mind and an unbiased point of view.  The more open we are, emotionally unattached and objective regarding our situations, the more likely that that we’ll receive and listen to the truthful signs offered to us – just like the ones John was given but refused to accept. 

Asking for signs and when arm twisting doesn’t work, the answers are discarded

Tasha had been receiving psychic readings with her personal reader Janet for a ten year period where the consultations she received were almost 100% accurate.  In 1990, Tasha asked her reader about a business opportunity where she would work for two friends who owned a business that entailed her moving to Denver Colorado, the place she had wanted to relocate to for many years.  She was definitely looking for a sign, so she immediately sought counsel as a decision needed to be made right away as her friends were pressuring her to relocate to Denver and work for them.

“What do you think?” Tasha asked her reader Janet.  “This seems to be everything that I’ve ever wanted: to work for friends, leave the area I’m in and live in Denver.”  However, what Janet felt was troublesome and told Tasha, “I do not get a good feeling on this situation.  Don’t make this move for at least a year.  Give yourself a year before making this decision as it will be clear at that time why.”  The most important part of Janet’s insight was to wait for a year, because she felt that in one year, everything Tasha needed to see would be revealed to her factually.

But Tasha didn’t like the answers she received, so she began trying to twist the arm of her reader by saying:  “What could possibly happen in a year that would make it different?  If you don’t know what it is now, how can I not go based on something that isn’t clear yet?  Maybe you’re wrong. You’ve been wrong in the past.”  However, Janet had never been wrong regarding anything of any real substance. 

Tasha even tried to pit her own “intuition” against Janet’s, as a way of being competitive, again to find a way to get what she wanted from any signs that were received.  “My intuition says that this would be a good thing,” Tasha stated.  Of course the psychic didn’t argue with Tasha as after all, it was her decision and her karma, not the reader’s.

So Tasha refused to listen to Janet this time, simply because the reading wasn’t what Tasha wanted to hear.  She asked for guidance and when the divine universe indeed gave it to her, she discarded it.  And of course, she had to make some lofty excuses as to why she wasn’t going to listen: from needing to trust her own inner truth, following her own path to believing and relying on herself. 

But none of us can do it all on our own, which is why we ask for guidance from a hopefully objective source in the first place – in this instance, the psychic who had never steered her wrong.  The answers were there in a positive way to protect Tasha, but she immediately upped and moved to Denver and began working for her two friends anyway.

What’s so telling about this story is the initial prediction of waiting it out for one year, because the business ended up closing in exactly one year, which completely explained the insights the reader received.  Through this one choice, Tasha’s life was irrevocably ruined: She had to file bankruptcy as her career collapsed, she was alone without the support of family and friends, her credit became ruined, she had no money and things didn’t end up working out at all for her in the long run either.

Like Tasha, many of us often disregard the signs we receive.  We look to an objective source to supposedly get truthful insight but then try to manipulate the signs when they don’t conform to what we want and ultimately, toss out life saving information.  But when we know that the source of our questions is objective, reputable, accurate and reliable, we must listen to the signs the divine universe offers us through that source to not end up like Tasha, whose life was permanently damaged by this one life altering choice.  Remember, God is not a trickster – the right information is offered – but we must not try to twist it into what we emotionally want it to be once we’ve received it…

Asking for signs where the answers are adaptable: the I Ching, Rune Stones, and the Tarot

Many of us ask for signs through such ancient systems as the I Ching, Rune Stones, and the Tarot.  These tools certainly do work, however there is a catch.  Their messages are not always literal and open to interpretation; therefore, we must make every attempt to read the signs we receive with an objective, open mind and heart.  It is highly dangerous to distort, twist, and maneuver what we receive through these ancient tools into being what we want.  Here, I would like to offer a little background on what the I Ching, Rune Stones and the Tarot are, what they can do for you and how to best handle these systems when asking for signs and answers:

I Ching:

With some portions dating back to 3000 years ago, the I Ching (pronounced Yee Jing) is one of the most ancient books we know of.  It is also known as The Chinese Book of Change and for centuries, it has been consulted by people of all walks of life from ordinary folks seeking guidance to the great Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.  In fact, the I Ching has even been utilized to answer questions of state and assisted leaders in making decisions regarding warfare throughout the ages.

As people, we would often like to think of our lives as stable and “set,” but the basis of the I Ching is that our life is quite the opposite.  According to the I Ching, our existences are in a constant state of change and we are always confronted by the unexpected.  This profound book of wisdom helps us to make sense and provide order to what often seems like merely at random chaos in our journeys.  Consulting the I Ching does not present us with yes/no black and white statements of a future already written in stone, but a future that is constant flux, much like the changing seasons that we interact with.

In searching for guidance, the best type of question to ask the I Ching is one that is simple, clear and direct as opposed to a question that is complex and multi layered.  Yet don’t expect one dimensional thumbs up or thumbs down responses.  One can compare consulting the I Ching to a conversation with someone who is rather wise and insightful, who might point out our options to us, suggest different pathways we may take, but who will always leave the choices up to us. 

This helps to inspire us and direct us toward a clear mindset regarding the problem or issue at hand.  Therefore, a consultation with the I Ching is more a way of helping to define, clarify and understand our actions and thought processes than a sedative for our various worries about what the future may hold in store.  We are helped by the awareness that we create our own future and that we must coexist peacefully and harmoniously with the world we live in.

Since the guidance we receive from the I Ching is very much open to interpretation, we must make every attempt to use the information received in a spiritually objective way and not an emotionally subjective way.  This is tricky, as almost all of our questions would have at least some emotionally charged element to them, as they tie into our lives and those we interact with on a deep personal level.

Rune Stones:

Runes are an oracle from which one seeks signs, advice, counsel and guidance.  Traditionally used for divination, magick and writing, Runes are actually an ancient Germanic alphabet.  The actual rune stones are stones (or they can be pieces of wood) with runes carved on them for the purpose of divination. As we understand that the word “rune” means mystery, secret or whisper, we begin to get a glimpse of what a rune stone reading entails.  Answers are not offered as absolute facts which indicate a predestined outcome but rather hint toward answers, with you having to figure out the details. 

Since each particular rune stone has esoteric meanings associated with it which are far deeper than mundane definitions or simple phonetic values, the guidance received is multi layered and requires interpretation and insight on your part.  Think of runes as providing a type of road map which points you in a direction, but how you navigate and view the journey is up to you.

The early peoples who used runes attached particular words and phrases to them which signify concepts that are important and relevant.  As each rune has its own specific unique story attached to it which represents the forces of nature and mind, each rune stone carries a secret meaning which is then encoded by you.

Throughout places such as northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland, runes were used from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E.  Challenging the historical premise that Columbus discovered America, ancient Runic inscriptions have even been found in North America, supporting claims that it was the Vikings who actually arrived there first.

Regarding questions, runes work best if you detail your current circumstances and then ask a specific question, but the answers may not be crystal clear as rune readings are sometimes vague.  Remember runic divination or “rune casting” is not a way of predicting the future in the sense that one actually sees what’s ahead in a fixed unalterable way.

Instead, runes give one a means of analyzing the path that one is on and a possible outcome as the future is not written in stone because it changes with our thoughts, words and choices.  This is why it is so important for the person casting the runes to be able to interpret what the reading is saying correctly. This not only entails listening to one’s intuition; it also involves not letting one’s ego, emotions and desires get in the way.

The Tarot:

The original purpose of the Tarot was to keep secret records of history, and the origin of the Tarot is ripe with allegory.  At the time of the Tarot’s creation, allegory was culturally prevalent as a form of expression and description to tell the story of the ever present and unfolding human drama and the Tarot easily personified these dynamics through its powerful, colorful and expressive images.

In modern times, the 78 card Tarot deck is quite often used as a spiritual tool for signs, divination, self-help, spiritual and psychic readings and development of intuition as well as internal growth.  Part of its power comes from the visual concepts the Tarot cards themselves provide.

Some believe that the pictures themselves work as a trigger – like a universal Jungian archetype symbol that opens up our own subconscious and super conscious powers to allow universal information to come through to guide us.  Others believe that the pictures can mean absolutely anything and that their respective meanings are personal in nature. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, which comes with as instructional booklet offers specific meanings for the cards.  Many believe that even if someone merely did a basic Celtic cross card spread and had no apparent psychic ability, they could follow the meanings of the cards as indicated in the included instructional book and receive an accurate reading.

No matter which of these belief systems one subscribes to, it is clear that the Tarot is open to interpretation.  Even if one follows the instructional booklet included with the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, one’s interpretation and intuition generally comes into play.  That’s where things get tricky.  If you’re doing a Tarot reading for yourself, it is presumed that you’re dealing with an emotionally charged issue, therefore, you may not interpret what the cards are saying in on objective way – but rather in a subjective way.

Of course it is easier and probably better to have an expert Tarot reader perform the reading for you.  Make sure this is a person who is ethical, spiritual and not out to manipulate you through playing on your emotions by telling you what you want to hear.  A truly ethical and evolved Tarot reader can help provide the signs and ultimately the answers you’re looking for.

Interestingly, one can read regular playing cards in the same way as the tarot as our modern decks of playing cards are derived from the tarot.  The 56 cards of the minor arcana of the tarot correspond to the 52 cards of the modern deck, with the page and knight of each suit blended into the jack in the modern deck.  As far as suits, pentacles, swords, wands and cups they correspond to diamonds, spades, clubs and hearts.  The joker in the modern deck corresponds to the fool of the major arcana.

As we see with the Tarot, one can literally see anything they want in the cards.  I have known people who completely reject any standard interpretation of the cards and just view them in the way they speak specifically and individually to them.

When we’re looking for signs using tools and systems that are quite adaptable such as The I Ching, Rune Stones and the Tarot, we should never assume that we’re being objective.  If they don’t let surgeons who have been rigidly trained for over a decade operate on family members because of emotional bias, we as people must have the humility to never be presumptive as to our emotional frame of mind when seeking signs.  We work a lifetime at trying to be objective, open, and willing to interpret what is given to us through signs, guidance and direction in a spiritually accurate way – and it is worth the effort as the benefits of our work to become clear minded can allow us to see the truth.

Looking for signs with an open mind and heart through receiving a legitimate psychic reading

We should always make every attempt to look for signs that get us in touch with our higher selves versus signs that validate what we want and we must always work toward seeing the real difference between the two.  It is never a good idea to want a reading only to confirm what we already feel or validate our own “intuition.”  Sure, a reading that confirms what you already feel seems accurate at the time because it’s a mirror of your mindset, but that type of reading is not necessarily helpful or accurate. 

It is important for us to not insist on our own opinions as the reading should offer an objective viewpoint and show us our higher possibilities and not parrot back to us where we’re already at in consciousness.  If one is truly doing his or her job, a capable reader is objective.  By seeking counsel with an open mind and heart through a legitimate psychic reading, we can find the signs, guidance and answers our higher selves are looking for. 

Constance was a woman who had been in an abusive marriage for ten years.  Even though she kept hoping and waiting for her husband to change for the better, the pain and torture she experienced firsthand in her marriage was pushing her to the edge of what she could handle.  At her wit’s end, Constance was truly looking for signs with an open mind and heart, so she sent out a prayer for the universe to connect her with the right reader; one who would help her with accurate and truthful information.

Here, Constance asked the divine universe to give her the information she truly needed — and she got it.  When she received her reading, the psychic clearly picked up the physical abuse, financially deception and cheating of her husband.  In addition, the reader asked Constance if there had been some unusual occurrences, such as her tires being slit and repeated hang up phone calls.  Constance confirmed that both of these things had been happening.  The psychic felt that it was the other woman who was doing this and that she wanted to physically hurt Constance. 

The reader clearly advised her to immediately file for divorce.  The timing felt important to the reader as things were coming to a head one way or another:  either the other woman would assault Constance along with her husband continuing to abuse her, or she would leave the marriage, but it had to be done now in order for Constance to be physically safe.

In this instance, Constance listened to the signs she asked for, promptly filed for divorce and moved on with her life.  Furthermore, the psychic also told her that if she worked on being at peace with herself and rebuilt her life, she would meet her truly right life partner in a year.  Constance also followed through with that aspect of the reading and in a little over a year, she met the man of her dreams and is happily remarried today.

One might think that it would seem obvious that anyone seeking signs, guidance and answers whether through a reading or in daily life would do so with an open mind and heart — although that is not always the case at all.  Our ego, emotions, desires, self deluded thinking and false beliefs allow many of us who are seeking signs, guidance and answers to only be willing to hear what they want to hear.

But there’s often an additional twist which is that some people actually pretend that they are not looking for a sign at all regarding a particular situation, but in reality, their internal desires are sending out a strong request for the sign they want loud and clear – and the universe will tend to grant that request, regardless of whether the request is right or wrong.  Remember, pretending we’re not looking for a sign makes the signs we receive (based on our inner hidden desires) seem that much more truthful and accurate even when they’re not.

Pretending we’re not looking for a sign when we actually are

Sherry was deeply interested in a married man named Fred who she worked with and couldn’t decide whether to enter into a sexual relationship with him or not.  She claimed she wasn’t asking for a sign at all regarding her decision when in actuality, she really was.  Her internal desires strongly sent out the request into the ether for a sign — one that would completely validate her emotional desires – and Sherry got one. 

A few days later, she just “happened” to turn on the television and Oprah was doing a show on married couples who met while one of them was still married to someone else.  As she watched the show, Sherry literally felt that God had directed her to this particular episode.  After all, what was the likelihood that she would just turn on this show, especially when she didn’t watch Oprah that much?  

Tears began flowing down her face as a woman named Jessica confessed how she initially felt so horrible dating a married man, but in the end, everything worked out as he divorced his wife and married Jessica.  Sitting side by side on the show holding hands, they claimed to be completely happy together and in love.  Other stories by various guests told the same story and Sherry believed that these people were speaking directly to her as a divine sign from God regarding her dilemma.

Right then and there, Sherry made her decision based on the “sign” she received and the next day, she entered into the sexual relationship with Fred, fully believing that this was meant to be – no questions asked.  After all, she received her sign.  Sherry believed he was going to fall in love with her, divorce his wife, propose marriage to her and that they would ride off into the sunset just as all of Oprah’s guests supposedly had. 

However, Fred just wanted to use Sherry for sex as she was quite attractive, younger and in great physical shape.  So they embarked on a sexual relationship with not much else involved for about a year until Fred’s wife found out, at which point Fred promptly dumped Sherry in order to save his marriage.  But it gets worse.  Fred’s wife attached a condition to staying married to him, which was that Sherry would have to go – as in being immediately fired from her job.  Fred indeed had the connections to do just that and he did so. 

Within a week of Sherry and Fred’s affair ending, she was fired and immediately escorted out of the building by security guards, never to return.  Devastated, broken hearted and without a job, her life was in shambles:  “How could this happen to me and why did God do this to me?  I wasn’t even looking for a sign and then I got one, a real one, and then this all happened?  There’s no way that this wasn’t meant to be.  Out of the blue, I was directed to this show on Oprah, a show I hardly ever watch and then, I feel like I was played,” Sherry screamed to her friend Sue!

But if we step back for just a moment, we see that Sherry is looking at this situation from a completely biased and self delusional point of view with several aspects of her thinking being off base: First, she claimed she wasn’t looking for a sign, but she actually was.  Second, the sign she received was based on her emotional desires so of course she got what she wanted, but it wasn’t a valid omen from God.  Third, she assumed that just because she didn’t usually watch Oprah and that the show she was “directed” to told her what she wanted to hear, that it had to ne truthful, but it wasn’t.  Fourth, she assumed God somehow duped her, but it was her choices and desires that set this whole thing up.  And that’s not to blame Sherry for what happened to her; it’s just that she made these choices and unfortunately, her life fell apart because of them.

Since desire is such a tremendously powerful force, it is the desires of Sherry and Fred that set up their relationship, not a divine sign.  But even if we’re not consciously or internally looking for a sign as Sherry was, it doesn’t mean that a “sign” we receive is necessarily truthful.

Not looking for signs but still getting the wrong answers

Katie is a young Evangelical Christian woman with a strong religious faith who believes that God sometimes speaks directly to certain people through visions and prophecy.  She had never been in the habit of looking for signs, but has always felt that if God ever wanted to give them to her, it would just happen.

One day, as Katie just got off the phone with her husband in the mid afternoon, she suddenly had a vision.  She couldn’t stop it or help it – she started seeing money falling from the sky, then she saw her husband, two daughters and herself moving to a large, luxurious home.  What followed were the words, “Have faith, move now, money is yours!”  She was taken aback by this vision, as she legitimately wasn’t looking for one.  What did this mean?  Should she actually put the house up for sale?  Was this their destiny; to live in a beautiful, luxurious home?  Where would the money come from?

After not being able to get it out of her mind for a few weeks, she decided that this vision had to be from God – after all, she wasn’t into psychic readings, wasn’t looking for a sign and hadn’t even thought of moving.

So she took a huge help of faith, as she convinced herself that she would not be living up to her faith in God if she didn’t’ adhere to the vision she received, which she now assumed had to be right.  Boldly, she put her house on the market and believed with all of her heart that somehow, the money would be there to move into their new luxury home she received in her vision.

The house did sell, and rather quickly.  This further convinced Katie that everything else would fall into place. However, the house was only a modest home and gave her a little under $70,000.  But she kept believing and took that money, cashed out her savings along with her 401K and went looking for her dream home with a total of $200,000 in her pocket.

When she entered a lovely home that looked just like the one she saw in her vision ( the one where she believed she was receiving divine signs), the price was $500,000.  Of course it was out of her price range, but could she turn back now, as “God must have been guiding her to this house?”  So she plunged in, put a $200,000 down payment on the home which all the money she and her husband had and assumed that the rest of the money would end up being there to pay off the mortgage.

But what happened was quite different then what she received in her initial vision.  The money never came, Katie and her family went into serious debt and ultimately, lost the house after two hard years of debilitating struggle.  Flat broke and with no other options, Katie was in complete despair over the “signs” and “vision” she received.  How could it be wrong? 

Katie ended up blaming herself, as if she must have just not had enough faith to complete God’s vision that was given to her  – therefore, in her mind, it was her fault.  So without much of anything, Katie and her family had to start from scratch after filing for bankruptcy and ended up with horrible credit in the process and back in a house about the size and value of the one they were originally in.

Ultimately, what Katie couldn’t wrap her mind around was the idea that something she felt she received from God was not real and since she wasn’t looking, it would have had to be right as it was “given to her” without her asking.  However, she, like any of us cannot make assumptions about signs.  Just because she wasn’t looking for one, doesn’t mean that what she believed to be direct communication from God actually was, as proven by the disaster her vision led Katie and her family to.

Assuming that this wasn’t a spiritual lesson that she had to go through but rather, a choice, it’s important to comment on some alternative ways Katie could have dealt with her vision.  Certainly, the Buddhist phrase of, “When in doubt, do nothing” applies to Katie’s situation.  There was no real reason that Katie had to put her house on the market, cash out her savings, 401K and purchase a home far beyond her and her husband’s means merely because of a “vision.”

Also, God is not in the business of fooling us.  It wasn’t as if Katie had to move, or that somehow she and her family were in danger where they lived.  We should not take anything we receive as being gospel truth, but instead, question anything we believe is a sign, a vision, or a direct communication from God.  Through that process, we filter out the real signs from the ones that are not divine, but an extension of some part of our inaccurate internal process.  False “signs” can even from many sources that are not of a higher nature, such as a physical medical or mental condition, and/or a negative spirit.  We must look at any signs from all possible angles, to make sure we don’t act on the wrong information as Katie did and pay such a heavy price.

Not looking for signs and getting the right answers

Lorraine was a woman whose intuition was often correct – however, she never believed that she was always right and questioned whatever she felt to always try and do the right thing.  Her ego was not involved into wanting to think she was talking to God, or receiving signs in ways that put her above others.  She maintained humility about whatever intuitively came to her.

One night she had quite a disturbing dream that woke her up from a sound sleep.  She saw her son John, who lived in New York, walking down the street to a business meeting that afternoon where someone was shooting a gun at someone else, but her son happened to be in the crossfire and was shot to death.  She saw this dream as clear as if it were happening right in front of her.

So she called her son to share this information with him.  John confirmed that he was to go to a business meeting that afternoon where he would be walking down the street, as the meeting was only three blocks away from his office.  When his mother told her son of the dream she had, John was startled, but willing to listen.  Even though he wasn’t particularly intuitive or into that type of thing, he was somewhat open-minded, so he decided to reschedule his meeting to the next day.  After all, there was really nothing to lose.

At five o’clock that afternoon he called his mother almost speechless, as there had been a shooting exactly where his mother saw that it would be.  Her dream was obviously a completely accurate sign and indeed saved her son’s life.  Here we see how there are times when signs are legitimately spiritually accurate and can be a life saver!  It is mind boggling to think of the potential difference in the conclusion of this story had John’s mother not received this sign, didn’t give it to him, or if John would have refused to listen.  And it should be humbling and encouraging for us to realize that the divine universe is trying to watch out for our best interests and protect us.  

Bad validation and good validation

We strongly want validation when receiving signs, guidance and answers, but in and of itself, is validation a catch all term that represents the truth?  Clearly, there is bad validation and there is good validation and it is incumbent upon us to draw the best possible clear line between the two.  Just because a sign validates and confirms things, does not mean that it is accurate, right or for our highest good at all.

Many people crave what I refer to as bad validation, because it feeds into their ego, emotions, desires, belief systems and current frame of reference.  Never think that just because you’ve said a prayer for a sign that the next one you receive has to be “the one.”  Don’t try and connect the dots to have a “sign” make sense. If you’re emotionally involved at all, be extra careful.

Good validation reflects the positive path one is on.  If a person is open, humble, unattached and as non subjective as possible regarding the entire process of signs, they will often receive good validation, as Lorraine did regarding her son John. 

But even then, all of us – yes, every one of us can still get fooled.  We must put into place the best possible tools and techniques to differentiate between bad validation and good validation – and that is not easy to do.  No matter how intuitive, enlightened or spiritually aware we are, we can never assume anything about the signs we receive, except that we will do our best to see the truth. 

Perhaps most importantly is to never forget that before acting on a sign, assess any risk factors involved:  The risk for Katie and her family selling their house was life altering, while the risk for John was merely that he would reschedule a meeting for the next day.  If there is high risk involved, it may not be a divine “sign.”  If there’s no emergency involved regarding a sign, wait it out if you’re not sure.  In time, it will become clear and make sense either way. 

As with anything the divine universe gives us, it cuts both ways and must be utilized correctly:  food can keep us healthy or make us overweight; physical beauty can give us self esteem or make us arrogant manipulators through our sexuality; money can provide us with the prosperity that frees us from lack and limitation or turn us into being greedy.  It is the same with signs – they can literally destroy our lives, or offer us the transformationally positive life altering information that protects us from danger, attack and harm, helps guide us and lead us to a life of miraculous dreams.

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