I get many letters inquiring into how to develop "psychic" abilities, or how to open to conscious spirit communication. I feel it's important to get clear about one's intentions in pursuing such development. I do believe that everyone is "psychic," and that we are all in constant communication with Spirit. The difference between mediums, psychics, and so-called "normal" people is simply the degree of consciousness each has of subtle energies.
It is possible for anyone to develop these abilities, but one's intentions determine one's experience. Someone who seeks psychic experience out of a sense of idle curiosity is likely to create rather meaningless experiences. Someone who seeks psychic ability out of a desire to feel "special" or better than others is likely to have experiences that are frightening, or involve suffering, pain and loneliness. Separateness is illusion, and the root of suffering in life. There is no true separateness. We are all of "God." We are holographic cells in the body of "God," and the degree to which we see ourselves as better or worse, greater or lesser than another is the degree to which we have strayed from Truth, and our perceptions are clouded.
It's been my experience that the energy one approaches Spirit from determines the experience. Truly, as Wiccans say, "What one sends out comes back threefold." If one uses energy or "black magic" in an effort to manipulate others, for example, one will find this negative energy in the outcome, and it will color one's own perceptions and experiences. One cannot create happiness through causing suffering, just as one cannot paint a barn green with black paint. When one works from love and a desire to heal, or to allow Spirit or "God" to work through them, then one experiences love, healing, and the beauty of "God" in their own lives.
I believe it is best to focus on Love, and act from a deep and sincere desire to find "Truth" (even though paradoxically there may be no one Truth to be found). A desire to know one's own soul, and to know the soul in everything and everyone, to know "God," Beauty, Truth, to expand in understanding of life and all there is leads to a spiritual expansion of which psychic development is a natural by-product.
So when considering undertaking psychic development, it is essential to determine our intentions. What is attracting us to spiritual development? What are we truly wanting to create by becoming "psychic?" Are we truly wanting to "open to Spirit?" The clearer we are in our intentions, the easier the manifestation.
I feel a great responsibility in working with Spirit, for when we work from the non-physical levels, our manifestations (what we create in our life experience) is more powerful and immediate. It can not be coincidental that the more one expands spiritually, the more one acts from love, and the more one takes responsibility for their own experiences and actions. It feels good to love! It feels good to uplift and empower others. This good feeling is Spirit saying, YES! You are on the right track!
If we find ourselves feeling drawn by our hearts to expand our spiritual perception, if we feel excitement and joy when we contemplate this opening, then we know that this path is in harmony with our soul's intentions. While psychic sensitivity develops naturally as one grows spiritually, there are practices and knowledge that go hand in hand with this growth.
The key to opening one's awareness to subtle energies lies in altering one's state of consciousness. (There is much about this in my chapter on the physics of psi perception.) The most recommended method of altering one's consciousness involves the practice of meditation, or quieting one's normal consciousness. We are in continual communication with "Spirit," but our minds spend so much time "talking" (thinking), that we are almost never listening. If we stop talking and listen (quiet the mind), then we open ourselves to hearing Spirit. We need not retreat to a cave in the mountains for a decade or so, however. We can practice listening and being fully present in each moment, whether we are sitting in meditation or moving through our daily lives.
I have read of many experiences of spiritual awakening through the mind-altering effects of drugs such as LSD and mushrooms. I've never experienced either, and the wisest people I've known have recommended against using drugs to expand one's conscious awareness, simply for the reason that it is an "unnatural" method. If one expands in love and "God" consciousness and as a result opens to spiritual experience, then the experiencer is in harmony with the experiences. It is a natural relationship. Taking drugs to open is sort of like being in eighth grade and enrolling in graduate school. One lacks the understanding or wisdom that natural spiritual growth develops. However, as with all things, I believe it is best to follow one's heart and do what feels right or good, no matter how radical others may perceive our choices to be.
Specific exercises and practical information on psychic development coming soon!
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