Answer:  Often people tell relatives, “If you make it to the other side, I’ll know you’re really there if you come through a medium with this code word.” It’s a nice idea, and in theory it should work.  I personally have never received a code word from a deceased person while doing an intuitive reading, but nor has anyone asked me to see if I could get one. 

As a psychic medium, receiving information psychically is not as easy as listening to someone on the other end of the phone just talking to you.  It’s not like we hear someone say, “Hey Erin, my name is Joe Smith and I’m happy to be talking with you today from the other side.  Could you please tell my son that the will is in the top left drawer of my study and the password for my computer is Ulysses.”  It just doesn’t come through that clearly most of the time. 

Psychics receive information energetically, on a frequency I couldn’t even begin to fathom as I’m not a psychic linguist or quantum physicist.  It’s like being immersed in a language you don’t know, and after years you eventually pick up on what certain sounds mean.  Only in the case of a psychic, no one is teaching you how to translate the energy, you just have to learn through trial and error and practice.  Eventually your connection gets stronger and your ability to fathom the meaning of the energetic signals gets clearer.  The more you work with your guides, the more you develop a shorthand way of communication, with them using certain symbols to mean certain things.  For example, when my guides show me a diamond symbol over a person’s chakra I know it’s their symbol for the fact that this client has professional level abilities related to that chakra.  So if I see a diamond over their third eye I know the person is capable of being a professional intuitive or already is one.  If I see a diamond over their throat chakra I know they are a professional singer or speaker or writer (or some other form of communication).

I am clairaudient, which means I do hear the guides talking to me, and sometimes I do hear things word for word.  I’ve had guides and deceased relatives come to me with a phrase so specific it feels like it took all of their energy to fine tune the beam in order for me to receive the transmission in its most pristine and unsullied form.  I am then able to pass it along easily as it’s already come to me pre-translated.  Yes, this makes my job easier and I love it when it happens, but for most of a reading I’m receiving impressions that I must translate. 

Spirits do not speak in man-made languages.  It’s not like you’ve got people over there speaking Chinese or English or whatever.  They communicate with energy.  So let’s say you’re recently deceased and your son goes to a medium.  Desperate to get a message to him that you’re alright, you try to form the code word but hey, you don’t have a mouth or vocal cords.  How are you going to get the message to the medium in a way she’ll understand?  You could push an image into her mind and if she’s clairvoyant she might get it.  You could send a sound wave and hope you’ve formed it correctly so that the medium interprets it correctly and it doesn’t come through garbled or like static.  You could try sending a feeling (how do you send “Ulysses” as a feeling?) and hope the medium is clairsentient.  Do you think it’s easy for a deceased person to communicate with a medium?  It’s not!  Often times the spirit guides have to bring messages through because the deceased person is incapable of expressing themselves using the language of energy.  There have been many readings I’ve done where I’m getting messages from spirit guides that are being relayed for the deceased person.  In some readings I’m communicating with the deceased person directly.  I never know what I’m going to get until I tune in.

I personally think a code word is a great idea.  But make it something easy for a medium to receive and for your relative on the other side to send.  If your word is, “serendipitous” come on!  Give us a break.  That’s never going to make it through the system.  Think of something that could be easily sent visually, that has a simple sound to it, or that could be felt, smelled, or tasted.  Some ideas would be a rose, a cat, a hat, a cat in a hat (just kidding), but you get the idea.  Simple sound, simple visual.  Then when you’re having a reading with a medium be on the lookout for the code word.  She might not know she’s receiving a code word; it might come to her in a way she thinks is metaphorical.  If your code word is rose, for example, and she says, “Your mom keeps handing me red flowers and they smell divine,” she could be picking up on the coded message even though she isn’t saying the word “rose.”  Maybe she’s seeing rosy cheeks.  Or the medium might say, “She’s saying you view the world through rose-colored glasses.”  We could simply be misinterpreting the nature of the communication.  So you’re going to have to be on the lookout.  It’s not like the spirit is going to say, “Hey Erin, can you please tell my daughter the code word is blue.  I’d sure appreciate it.”

When a medium is working, he or she should be able to relay information to you that validates the presence of the deceased relative in a way that you will find confirming.  For all we know, spirits aren’t allowed to pass on a code word.  Maybe it violates their prime directive.  I know that when I’m working I’m not able to extract information from a guide or spirit.  I have to let them do the talking and be patient as they choose how to answer the questions they’re given. 

Bottom line … I think a code word is a valid covenant to make.  I’ll probably set one up with my own parents just to see what happens.  But I wouldn’t hold your breath on receiving it during a reading.  Stay open to what the spirit wants to communicate, look for and expect validation on the part of the medium, and if the medium is close let them know.  We might make it look easy, but it’s not.  Tuning in, especially to deceased relatives, is difficult and takes a lot of practice to be able to pass on messages accurately.  It would be awesome if someone could invent a translator that would accurately translate energy into English.  Until then, we have to decrypt the energy the best way we can.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

You go to a cheap psychic, the kind that charge like $5 or $10.  You think, “What the heck?  It’s only a few bucks.”  You listen as the psychic tells you astoundingly accurate things about yourself.  But at the end of the reading, this con artist tells you that there is a dark energy around you, that you are cursed, or that something terrible is about to befall you, but for $200 they can remove this dark energy/curse and heal you.  Frightened, you pony up the money, the “psychic” performs a flashy ritual (chanting, candles, arm waving, etc.) and tells you that you’re cured.  Or she might tell you to check in with her in a week to see if the energy is clear.  If you actually do go back to her, at the next meeting you’ll be told the negative energy is much stronger than she thought and it’s going to cost $3,000 to clear it.  It’s at this point that I hope you have a moment of clarity and call the police on her, but sadly some people do fall for this scam.

The people who write to me say, “But she was so accurate.  She told me all kinds of things about my life that were true, so why wouldn’t I trust her that I was cursed?”  And that’s why this scam works.  Sometimes the con artist is actually a gifted psychic but is simply a darkworker, using her real abilities to scam people out of their money because it’s easier and faster than giving a real reading one time to a client she may never see again.  In other cases, the person isn’t using intuitive abilities at all but is instead using cold reading techniques to fish for information and make claims that are pretty much true for everyone.  You must be on guard for this.

I was telling someone on our discussion forums recently that in the more than 1500 professional readings I’ve done for people, I’ve encountered perhaps a dozen or less people who were actually being “haunted” by a negative energy or had a negative entity attachment.  In all cases, I taught those clients how to clear the situation on their own and had them check in with me in a week to make sure it was gone, all at no extra charge.  For those who couldn’t clear it on their own, I cleared it for them at no charge.  If someone is actually being haunted, it’s best if they use their own power to clear it, otherwise they’re giving their power away to the psychic or the thing haunting them.  I empower people to raise their vibration so negative energy sloughs off of them.

You may be thinking, “I would never fall for something like that.  I wouldn’t go to a cheap psychic.”  Watch out for the freebie too.  Sometimes these con artists will go up to people in a crowd like at a mall or grocery store, selecting people they believe to be gullible or low in personal power.  They’ll say something like “The spirits are telling me you’re having a rough time in life right now and I just wanted to tell you that things are going to get much better soon.”  The mark, sensing no scam in progress because no money has changed hands says, “Why  yes, I am feeling challenged.  Life is so hard.  It’s all out of control.”  The con artist reels you in with more generic information designed to get you to trust them (after all, they’re not getting paid) and at the end tells you that your big problem is this curse or dark entity attachment and that they feel sorry for you.  You say, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t know.  Is that something you can help me with?”  The con hedges a little and says, “Um, well, yes sure.  I mean I could clear that up for you in a few minutes, but I charge $200 for that service.”  You eagerly fork over the cash and you’re done, conned hook, line, and sinker.  You tell your friends what happened and they tell you that you got scammed.  You protest, saying, “No, he didn’t ask me for any money, he just gave me a free reading and I was the one who asked him to clear the curse for me.”  It’s too late.

A reputable psychic empowers her clients and conveys honest information during a reading.  An ethical psychic does not use fear to control her client into spending more and more money with them for false rituals, charms, and curse removal.  Be cautious and aware out there.  Reputable psychics will charge a fair price for their service based on skill and demand; not a super low price designed to get you on the hook for more expensive services.  Get referrals to a great psychic from people that you trust.  Read testimonials to help determine if a psychic is legitimate. 

As in any industry, there are real professionals with real skills out there using their abilities for nefarious purposes.  Be on guard so you don’t fall victim to this common psychic scam.  In the process, don’t assume all psychics are frauds, charlatans, and scam artists.  Find a psychic aligned with the light, who seeks to empower you to make good decisions that will benefit you and humanity.   

This has been a public service announcement from your friendly,  neighborhood psychic.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

What is one book or other source you would highly recommend for a complete beginner interested in becoming an intuitive counselor?

You’ll want to develop a very clear connection with your guides, specifically your conduit guide.  And you’ll want to be proficient in counseling.  So I would study the “How To” information of other intuitive counselors such as myself, Colette Baron-Reid, and Sonia Choquette.  Read their books or their blogs, attend their seminars, teleconferences, and workshops.  Or arrange a consult to get detailed answers to the questions that pertain to you in your individual situation.

What do colors in dreams represent?  Aura or chakra colors?  I have had two dreams in a row where the same shade of the colors green and orange have featured prominently in wedding scenes but in different contexts.

Green is the heart chakra color related to compassion, empathy, love, and connection with others.  Orange is the sacral chakra color related to relationships and emotions.  It’s no wonder you saw them at a wedding.  I’d have to know how you felt in the dream to help you better understand why these colors are coming up for you.

In times of personal woe, a lot of people have trouble connecting spiritually. How would you suggest they find comfort if they feel cut off in that way?

In times of woe is definitely when you most need your spiritual connections.  Read my free ebook: 10 Ways To Raise Your Vibration in Under 10 Minutes, which you can get instantly when you sign up for my newsletter.  Everything in there will help you reconnect with yourself and your spiritual posse on the other side very quickly.  Nothing helps me reconnect faster than sitting down to a nice virtual cup of hot chocolate and a hug from my higher self, who is a constant reminder that this too shall pass, that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and that you can always choose love.  For long term reconnection, I highly recommend meditation and the practice of feeling blessed by keeping a gratitude log.

Do you have any thoughts about whether the use of antidepressants inhibits a person’s intuitive abilities and/or psychic development?

I’ve never been on antidepressants nor have I known someone who has tried to utilize their intuitive abilities while on antidepressants, so I could only hazard a guess.  Anything that impairs your vibration or ability to connect with your guides is going to impair or inhibit your intuitive abilities and your psychic development, whether that’s alcohol, drugs, shame, fear, anger, anxiety, guilt, etc.  To effectively utilize your psychic faculties you’ll want to be as clear as you can.

What are the top two or three inspiring books you read in 2009?

Most of the books I read in 2009 were related to health and relationships, but I wouldn’t say any of them were particularly inspiring; rather I would say they were informative.  One of my goals in 2010 is to catch up and brush up on the spiritual books out there.  First up is Conversations with God, which I’ve never read, but now feel called to read.  I’m just going to pop by the Hay House website and see what they’ve got on tap.

How do you deal with a deceased person who keeps coming into your dreams and insists she is not dead?

Whoa.  Talk about violation of personal space!  If it were me, I would show them the door, which in this case is the light.  Help them crossover by gently suggesting they are in fact dead, and I would ask the angels to guide them to the other side.  I encountered a fellow many years ago who didn’t know he was dead.  It took me 5 tries to convince him he was dead.  If they won’t go, find out if there is unfinished business they’d like you to help them tie up.  That might be enough to get them to cross over peacefully. 

And what’s your take on crystal healing?

I don’t have a lot of experience with crystal healing.  I recall when I was a teenager trying to use crystals to heal myself when I was ill or in pain.  It never seemed to work, so either it doesn’t work or I was doing it wrong.  My jury is still out on crystals.  I haven’t worked with them enough to tout their benefits just yet.

In order to heal deep emotional wounds do we need people or life situations to open up (trigger) those wounds in order for us to heal them?

No I don’t believe so.  You are capable of deciding how you want to feel about the past, the present, and the future.  It isn’t always easy to hold a loving energy towards a situation, event or person, but it’s always possible.  I find that asking the pain why it’s there is important, and learning the lesson is important too.  Pain and difficulty come when we resist what is, when our expectations are violated, when we feel victimized.  I have found that accepting responsibility for my thoughts, feelings, and actions is very helpful in healing old wounds, as is asking myself how I’d like to feel about the situation.

Does hanging around people with a lower vibration lower my vibrational frequency? And do I have the capacity to become immune?

If you are in a high vibrational state like love, peace, or gratitude and you hang around with someone in a lower vibrational state like anger, for example, then either your vibration will drop or theirs will be raised, or you can both maintain your vibrations if that is your desire.  It is not automatic that yours will lower or theirs will raise.  Guarding against those whose energy lowers ours, though, is something I highly recommend.  Learn how to maintain your higher vibrational state when you are around those who might pull you down.  Be an example for them.  I think we all have the capacity to choose the frequency at which we want to vibrate, but I haven’t personally met anyone yet who doesn’t occasionally drop into a lower vibration.

What is the most empowering lesson that you’ve learned so far from your recent separation? (I hope it’s not too personal or too soon to ask) I just think more people need to see that you can find personal power in “negative” situations. I believe you have a good perspective on life and can get that message across.

Great question.  Most empowering lesson is that I’m learning to rely on myself.  Expressing my own power and authority.  It feels great.  A little scary, but ultimately awesome!  I kill my own spiders, open my own jars, set up my own electronics, I’m a rockstar!    My relationship with Steve is like energy, it was not destroyed in our separation, it merely changed form.  And I’m enjoying getting reacquainted with parts of me that were buried in the relationship.  I’m remembering the power of my own message and am looking forward to sharing it more often and more deeply with my readers.

I have been working on my ability to tune into various energies, such as my guides, angels, and environment. However I am not exactly sure specifically how to tune myself in, outside of guided meditations and visualization. Besides simply concentrating and focusing on that which I want to tune into, can you describe in detail the general “tuning in” process? Sometimes it feels as if I cannot locate my station changing knob.

Tuning in is usually the easy part.  The hard part is trusting that you are tuned in to the being you’re trying to communicate with, being able to interpret and understand what you’re receiving, and having the confidence to act upon it.  Unfortunately it’s beyond the scope of this article to go into the kind of detail we’d need to go into, but I would say to continue to have long conversations with your guides (the longer you go the more tuned in you will be), write down what they’re telling you or showing you, act on it, and see what results you get.  You can also ask your guides to help you tune in better, then get out of your own way (and your own logic) and let them show you how to hear them best.

How can you distinguish the voices of your higher self/spirit guides from those of your ego or mind chatter?

Read this article I wrote on this subject: How To Tell the Difference Between Your Ego, Logic, Spirit Guides and Intuition.

How can you learn to control your visions/premonitions/clarsentience, such as recurring ones happening only when touching a certain person/animal, that will fade when you ask questions instead of giving answers?

If you’re getting repeated visions or premonitions there’s obviously a strong warning in that.  If something you’re seeing is going to come to pass you can either try to prevent it or you can get ready to deal with it.  If you no longer want to receive the premonitions you’ll have to shut down your psychic radio and stop tuning in.  That’s sometimes easier said than done, but maintaining control of when you get information and when you don’t is important.  I had to learn how to stop receiving communication from my guides and deceased people when I wasn’t officially working.  Now my guides can reach me in case of emergency or urgency or when I’m working.  It takes a strong spirit to get my attention when I’m not working.  It does happen but it’s rare now.  Work with your guides.  Tell them what you want and need.  Sometimes I get a metaphor for someone that I just don’t understand and I ask the guides to give it to me again a different way.  This is a two way street.  Let them know what you want and what you can handle and ask them to ease off if you don’t like the kind of communication you’re getting.

Do you have a perspective on ‘protection’ – i.e. managing your field and energy both during sessions and when at parties or out and about like new year’s eve?

Great question.  I was recently at a casino in the evening (rare for me) as I was going to a club to hear a comedian.  I immediately realized I was way too open to be there comfortably.  So many people walking around in a state of arousal, excitement, debauchery, alcohol … many of who had nefarious intentions.  Just a lot of low vibration people (not to say everyone there was that way!  Heaven’s no, but definitely a bunch of energies I don’t normally enjoy being around).  So I had to close my “door” so to speak so I wouldn’t be affected by their energy.  First, I closed up my chakras to be tighter in my body.  So the size of an orange instead of the usual size of a basketball I’m used to.  Then I had to close off my energy by erecting an energy shield around me.  You know the kind I’m talking about, the one that says, “leave me alone” or “I’m not the droid you’re looking for. Move along.”  With practice you can do this too.

When I’m working, it’s the opposite.  I open my chakras very wide and connect them with the infinite divine.  I only do this under the protection of my work environment – my White Room – and in the presence of my conduit guide, Bob.  Managing energy is very important in life.  If you’re too open in a room full of lower vibrational people, you can easily pick up on their energy and take it home with you, much like when I’m in a casino and come home wreaking of smoke even though I never touched a cigarette.

If someone is interested in becoming a psychic medium/intuitive counselor, what should they do on a daily/regular basis to achieve that goal? (besides meditate)

Connect with your conduit guide.  Practice giving readings to friends and family.  Get feedback on your methods.  Then practice on total strangers.  Keep refining your process until you’re very confident in your ability to tune in for anyone.  Let your guides teach you as well.  Raise your vibration and keep it high when you are working.  Don’t be afraid of making mistakes; they will happen.  Don’t be afraid of failure.  Just keep working at it until you are comfortable with the results.

Do you have any new year’s resolutions? 

No.  Not sure I like the whole New Year’s Resolution thing, but I do like writing out my goals for the year, so I’ve already done some work on that.  This year will be all about creating products, teleconferences, more videos, and maybe a workshop or two.

When you give a reading, has anyone ever had and shared a psychic hit on you?  What is the etiquette for that sort of happening?

Do you mean that while I’m giving a reading someone gets information for me?  Yes that has happened a few times.  I do read for a lot of other psychics and mediums, some of them in training and some of them relatively famous.  I also read for clients who are just really intuitive.  And on occasion someone will tell me, usually at the end of the reading, some information they’re getting about me.  I don’t mind receiving it, so I’m happy when that happens.  I’ve also had very intuitive friends and colleagues send me impromptu information they’re getting about me.  I like that too.

The other morning, not quite awake, I heard a woman’s voice call my name very distinct accent, I’m sure it was my spirit guide. How do I hear more, like answers to questions?

The time between sleeping and becoming awake is often a time when we pick up on snatches of conversation at another frequency.  It could have been a spirit guide, or it could have been an auditory hallucination, or a hypnogogic hallucination.  It’s a hard time to get answers to questions.  I would work on lucid dreaming if you want to use your sleep time to communicate with your guides.

Could you ask your guides about free will? Say if you wanted to pray for the protection of someone or if you wanted to perform distance healing, would the angels/guides be limited in helping those people because the request doesn’t come from them directly?

Curses and prayers get through with equal effectiveness.  They either bounce off someone’s aura or they impact.  Whether it happens or not depends on the vibration and intention of the person receiving the curse or prayer or healing for that matter.  You can accept or reject either “gift.” 

If you have a reading that states a possibility for your future, but then a decision you make changes the ending, will the universe bring you back on track somehow?

Depends on whether you want it to or not and if you’re a vibrational match for the path you desire.  Like you’ve correctly presupposed, you can change your future, it is not set in stone.  If, during a reading, a psychic tells you something is likely to happen, you can take steps to alter that outcome.  Just change course.  If, however, you change course but you’re still a vibrational match for that thing happening, you could easily slip back into your old trajectory.  At all times and in all ways you are responsible for the outcome of your decisions.  So always think carefully as you move along the path. 

Do you believe in Jesus?

Depends on your definition.  I believe there is a highly conscious being (one of many actually) who incarnated on Earth to help remind us of who we really are.  I’m not sure when he lived or how many times he’s been back since.  I’ve encountered an energy on the other side that felt like the Christ energy to me, and it was quite humbling.  When I think of Jesus, I think of the highly ascended consciousness.  We are all One, so if you believe in Jesus I hope you look in the mirror and see him staring back at you.  You have access to all of his wisdom and power.

Can psychic powers be gained with yoga and your views on Yogic siddhis?

Psychic powers could be accessed while you’re doing yoga, sure.  Anything that puts you in a higher vibration or balances your mind, body or spirit will help you in the development of your psychic faculties.  I don’t know what a Yogic Siddhi is, so I’ll defer to those who know more on that subject.

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If you want to discuss any of these answers, there’s a forum thread for this blog entry.  Head on over and let’s hear what you’ve got to say!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Think of intuition as a guide, someone who is familiar with the path ahead and can warn you of upcoming pitfalls.  Like a scout, your intuition goes on ahead and reports back to you with information you can use to make informed decisions.  Tuning in to your intuition can even save your life.  Wouldn’t you like to be on a first name basis with such a creature?

So how do you recognize intuition?  Intuition is an energetic wave that contains information that you must receive.  The way you tune in and receive intuition depends on your personal dominant psychic modality: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, or claircognizance (or any combination if you are skilled in multiple modalities).   Here are some phrases and their associated modalities that will help you determine which is YOUR dominant modality.  Have you ever heard yourself say any of the following phrases?

I Saw This Coming a Mile Away
People with clairvoyance (clear seeing) will often receive intuition as a visual download.  Let’s say your friend says, “Dude, I’m gonna jump my motorcycle over those 5 trash cans.  Watch.”  You get an instant flash in your mind’s eye showing your friend crashing into the 4th can and going down in a heap of grinding metal.   You say, “Don’t do it, man.  You’re not gonna make it.”  He jumps, he crashes, and you say, “Dude, I saw that coming a mile away.”  With clairvoyance, your intuition will often play out like a scene in your mind, sometimes over and over again as it tries to get your attention.   If clairvoyance is your dominant psychic modality, tune in visually when you’re about to do something major and see if you’re getting a scene that shows the outcome.

That Little Voice Said…
People who are predominantly clairaudient (clear hearing) will receive intuition as a voice in their head.  An example of clairaudient intuition in action would be, “Anna, that guy you met at the party the other night is in the news.  Turns out he’s a serial rapist!  You almost went home with him.  What stopped you?”  And your friend says, “I don’t know.  There was just this little voice in the back of my mind that said ‘Danger’ so I just walked away from him.  I’m so glad I listened!”  With clairaudience, intuition will sound like a voice in your mind, the same voice you use when you talk to yourself in your head, only the voice will give you information you probably couldn’t glean from logic alone.  If clairaudience is your dominant psychic modality, tune in to that voice when you’re about to make a major decision and see if it has anything to say.

I Just Got This Sinking Feeling
People who are predominantly clairsentient (clear feeling) will receive intuition as a gut feeling, literally in your stomach area.  Has your significant other ever said these words to you, “Honey, we need to talk” and you get a sinking feeling in your gut?  You can literally feel something falling inside you and landing with a thud in your root chakra.  Your security is threatened.  Your emotions are about to be stepped on.  Your stomach is in knots.  Fear wells up inside you.  You are receiving an intuitive flash clairsentiently.  You don’t even know what the other person is going to say, but you know it’s going to hurt or be quite challenging to deal with.  If clairsentience is your dominant psychic modality then let your gut guide you.  If you’re about to do something and you get that sinking feeling in your gut, your intuition is trying to warn you.  You might say, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” and that’s clairsentience too.  Your body chemistry will feel altered.  Pay attention when you feel that and think carefully before making your next move.

I Knew It
People who are predominantly claircognizant (clear knowing) will receive intuition as an instant download of information that needs no processing or interpretation.  You’ll hear them say, “Oh man I knew when you told me you were buying that stock that it was a bad idea.”  “How did you know?”  “I don’t know, I just knew it.”  It comes with great certainty but not a lot of logic.  In fact, claircognizant intuition often flies in the face of logic, and can be one of the hardest types of intuition to act on.  Can you remember a time when you did something and you instantly knew it was a mistake even before the actual results were in?  Maybe you heard yourself say, “Shoot, I think I just made a terrible mistake.  Why didn’t I listen to my intuition?” and then later you find out you definitely made a big mistake.

***

Once you become aware of your dominant modality, use it consciously to access your intuition.  If you’re about to take a step on your path that you’re uncertain about, tune in and see if you’re getting an intuitive hit on it.  If you’re clairvoyant, allow a scene to unfold in your mind’s eye showing you the outcome of your decision.  If you’re clairaudient, listen to that little voice in the back of your mind.  What is it saying?  If you’re clairsentient, check in with your gut.  Do you have a sinking feeling or do you feel strong and stable?  If you’re claircognizant ask yourself what’s going to happen and without thinking about it too much just let the answer come, yes or no, good or bad, etc. 

Learning to be aware of when you’re receiving an intuitive flash is something that needs to be worked on consciously in order for you to get better at it.  To make your intuition stronger, just keep acting on it and taking note of the outcome.  Was your intuition right or wrong?  Did you misinterpret it or get it right?  The more you work with it, the stronger it becomes, and the more you can rely on it to help you in life.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Answer:  Clairvoyance means clear-seeing.  It is the psychic faculty that goes through the third eye chakra located between your eyebrows.  With clairvoyance you see images in your mind’s eye, the same place you see dreams at night with your physical eyes closed.  It’s the same place you go when you daydream or remember an event from your past.  We all have the ability to see in our mind’s eye.

When you use this ability to do psychic readings, something a little different is happening.   You’re opening your mind to receiving information that will help you or help someone else.  In other words, you’re receiving an energetic download from the universe, guides, Source, angels, etc. which you must interpret so that you can help others, as in a psychic reading, or get greater clarity on your own path.

So if you’re already able to tune in to these images, how do you discern which are from “out there” and which are just fear, logic, or ego-driven?  How do you get to a place where you know for sure when you are receiving an energetic download from spirit or when you are just thinking with your own mind? 

Get High
Not on drugs!  On vibration.  You need to get to a high vibration before opening yourself up to receiving clairvoyant images.  Do this with meditation, deep breathing, or putting yourself in a state of love, joy, and gratitude.  If you do this work in a low vibrational state such as anger, fear, depression, or guilt, you may not connect with the beings who have your highest interest at heart.  It doesn’t have to be a permanent state, just get yourself to a high vibration before you start.  My free ebook, 10 Ways to Raise Your Vibration in Under 10 Minutes will help you with this.

Boot Up Your Chakras
Your chakras are the energy centers in your body.  They’re like the batteries of your soul.  When was the last time you replaced the batteries or made sure they were working?  Read my article on chakras and boot them up before you tune in.  Clearing and opening your chakras will clear away any negative emotional residue that might be clinging to you.  And it’s also a signal to your guides that you’re tuning in.  Think of opening your chakras like extending your antenna.

Climb to Greater Heights
Along with raising your vibration, you need to raise your energetic frequency.  This means sloughing off the daily worries and focusing your mind on connecting with the beings who are going to send you the information you need to help you on your path.  So once you’ve gotten to a deep meditative place and opened your chakras, raise your frequency.  I do this by climbing a staircase in my mind.  I count as I go and continue to do deep breathing.  Counting keeps you from thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner, the bills you need to pay, and the other flotsam and jetsam that invade your mind when you meditate.

Find Your Guides
You don’t want information from just anyone.  That would be dangerous.  If you’re using clairvoyance to do a reading for someone else, you’ll want to connect with your conduit guide (mine is named Bob), so he or she can help you tune in to other people’s spirit guides.  If you’re using your clairvoyance to get information about your own path, just connect with your own spirit guides.  If you haven’t done that yet, get on it.  It’s really important to connect with higher vibrational beings before you open yourself to receiving an energetic download that could affect your life.

Learn to Interpret the Information
Receiving images isn’t that difficult, relatively speaking.  You’ve been using your mind’s eye for years.  Interpreting what you get is what’s difficult.  We’re always receiving information; from other people, from fear, from guides, from expectations and memory.  When you’re receiving information from a spirit guide or other high vibrational being, sometimes they send metaphors.  Symbols.  You have to figure out what they mean, just like you would in a dream.  This takes practice, but it’s critical if you want to get accurate information for yourself or others.

Practice
If you’re planning to use your clairvoyance to do readings for others, nothing takes the place of practice.  I did more than 100 readings with people to make sure I was interpreting the energetic downloads properly.  It wasn’t until I recognized the difference between my own stuff and stuff coming from the guides that I went professional.  Keep practicing until you’re sure when you’re connecting and when you’re not. 

If you’re using clairvoyance for yourself, you still need to practice.  Apply the information you get and see if it worked out the way you expected.  In other words, test the information on yourself.  If you got it wrong, it could be a problem receiving the info or a problem interpreting it. Keep practicing.

Trust
I can’t stress this enough.  You must learn to trust your guides and the information coming through.  I can’t tell you how many times in the beginning I got information that didn’t make any sense to me, but which made perfect sense to the person I was reading for.  One time during a reading I got an image of a woman putting out a place setting (plate, fork, knife, napkin, glass, etc.) but in the image she put the knife and fork on the wrong sides and her boss yelled at her.  So I’m getting ready to interpret the image and she tells me it doesn’t need interpretation.  Turns out she was a set decorator and just a few days prior to the reading she actually did set a place and put the knife and fork on the wrong sides and her boss yelled at her. 

In another reading I saw my client as a 6-year-old girl on a bicycle and she ran into a tree, knocked her tooth out and brought it home to show her mom.  Again I thought it was a metaphor, but she told me that really did happen to her when she was 6.  So I learned that sometimes the images I get are not metaphors at all.  It takes time and experience to know the difference.

***

We all have psychic abilities.  Not everyone develops them.  Although the discussion above dealt with clairvoyance, it’s very similar with clairaudience, clairsentience, and claircognizance, or really any psychic tool.  Give your abilities the time and attention they deserve, and before you know it, you’ll have an excellent tool you can use to make your life and the lives of others even better!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Developing Psychic Abilities – An Interview with Erin and Steve Pavlina

This was my first filmed interview, and we had a lot of fun doing it.  I’ve been wanting to foray into more speaking and interviews, so between this interview and the radio show I did a few days ago, plus the workshop coming up in Vegas, I’m manifesting my goal nicely.  I can be a lot more expressive and connected with my audience by doing interviews and workshops, so that’s something I want to do continue doing.

Hope you enjoy!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Distracting thoughts during meditation are extremely common.  If you want to reach a higher vibration so that you can have a chat with your guides you’ll need to learn how to tune out distractions and tune in to the higher frequencies.  So how do you do that?  There are several ways.

Get it all out first
Make a list of all the things you need to do so you won’t forget them.  Tune in to what you need to do that day and get it all down on paper.  Take your time and do it right.  Then trust that everything you need to remember is on that list.  Set it aside and prepare for meditation.

Turn on some relaxation music
Meditation music is wonderful.  There are so many CDs out there that you really can’t go wrong.  I love R. Brian Caldwell’s music and I use it to tune in during readings and meditation.  It gives me an aural focal point to help my mind from becoming distracted.  Play it softly in the background.

Create a sacred space for meditation
Some people find it helpful to have a special place they use solely for meditation.  Some pillows on the floor, a yoga mat, a certain chair in the house.  Selecting one single place where you always meditate will help you create an anchor so that when you sit there,  your mind automatically goes into meditation mode.  Don’t do anything else in this spot like talking on the phone, journaling, etc.  Just save the space for meditation.

Concentrate on your breathing
Breathing is an important component of meditation.  Typically you want to breathe in through your nose for a certain count, like 4 or 6, and then breathe out slowly through your mouth for a few beats longer than that.  I personally am not a big fan of controlled meditative breathing as I actually find it distracting to try to keep the count.  So what I do is take three deep breaths to center myself then I just breathe deeply and deliberately without trying to hold my breath for any certain length of time.  You can concentrate on breathing without making it an exercise in holding your breath.  During your meditation just keep breathing through your nose and out through your mouth.  If your nasal passages are blocked it’s okay to just breathe through your mouth, and if you suffer from dry mouth it’s also okay to breathe in and out through your nose.  There’s really no wrong way to breathe during meditation.  As long as you keep breathing, you’re good!

Count
One thing I do count is stairs.  When you meditate, you have the option of putting yourself in a quiet, centered, peaceful state with the intention of just being in the present moment.  If that’s your goal, you won’t need to count; just breathe.  But usually when I meditate, it’s with the goal of connecting with spirit guides, my higher self, angels, Source, or a deceased person.  In that case I have to raise my frequency, or my vibration.  To do that, I select a metaphorical way of climbing: stairs, an escalator, or an elevator if I’m in a hurry.  I prefer the stairs though.  So while I’m doing my meditative deep breathing, I am counting the stairs as I go up them.  This keeps my mind from wandering as I have to focus on the count to get it right.  If I’m in an elevator I watch the buttons light up from 1 to 100 and keep count of them as I go.  It accomplishes the same thing.  When I use an escalator I count to 10 while I’m on the escalator and then stop off of that one and onto another one that takes me still higher for another count of 10.  It all accomplishes the same goal and keeps my mind from wandering.

Guided meditation
Another way to keep your mind on your meditation is to listen to a guided meditation program.  In these programs someone else is telling you where you are, what you see, what you hear and feel, etc.  As you listen and concentrate on what they’re saying, you won’t have time for distractions.  Guided meditations are great when you’re just starting out and aren’t sure where to go in your mind.  Later you can create your own meditation ritual with your own locales, scenes, and sounds.

Acknowledge the thoughts and let them go
Even with a lot of practice you can still end up with the random thought passing through your mind while trying to meditate.  That’s okay.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Let the thought come, acknowledge it, and then let it go.  Get right back to what you were doing, you don’t need to start over.  If you try too hard to prevent thoughts from coming in, you won’t be relaxed enough to meditate or reach a higher vibration. 

***

Meditation is a wonderful tool you can use to bring peace to your life or to connect with your spirit guides, higher self, angels, and even Source.  Don’t let distracting thoughts stop you from learning to meditate.  Just learn how to handle them when they appear.  With practice you’ll find yourself getting less and less distracted and more and more in tune.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Receiving communication from the other side is a gift, in my opinion, however you must be the one who decides when that communication takes place.  Being too open is like leaving your front door unlocked and ajar; the deceased are going to push their energy at you whenever they see you can get a message to a living loved one. 

When I first started my work as a medium, I was open all the time.  Once I was chatting with the check out girl at a clothing store and her deceased grandmother started going on about how her granddaughter was going to give birth to a girl and name it after her.   At dinner one night with a couple, I saw the woman’s deceased father standing behind her and he had a lot to say about his death and his children.  Back then I blurted out everything as it came to me.  But one day I got information for a woman who didn’t want to hear from her deceased abusive husband.  I realized that not everyone is open to this sort of communication, so I stopped doing “drive by” readings.

The way I stopped receiving unwanted communication when I wasn’t working was thanks to my conduit guide Bob.  Bob is the guide who acts like a bouncer.  The only way a spirit can communicate with me now is if Bob lets him through.  On some occasions a strong and powerful spirit will get my attention when I’m not working, but it’s usually pretty important or urgent or Bob wouldn’t have let them through. 

If you don’t have a conduit guide, and I highly suggest you have one if you are a medium, then you’ll need to work on tuning out the constant influx of information.  You’ve got to turn off the psychic radio when you’re not working or wanting the information.  You can do this by pulling your chakras in tighter.  One of the reasons you’re getting so much information all the time is probably because your chakras are open too wide.  Your energy is brushing up against people’s auras and you’re getting an instant download about that person’s life.  Keeping your chakras open that wide can have unwanted side effects, as you can inadvertently take on the negative emotions of another person.

Also, stop using your psychic radio like a police scanner.  Most people new to psychic abilities scan every channel all the time.  They do this unconsciously.  This is one reason why negative and lower vibrational beings can bug you; you’re tuned in to their channel.  You’re allowing your “radio dial” to be pulled to a lower channel just because something is being broadcast.  Learn to be discerning. 

Learn to tune in only when asked or when the situation is urgent or important.  Get with a conduit guide who will agree to filter out the riff raff so you get communication when you want with who you want.  Pull in your chakras so you’re not empathically detecting every little issue with people you pass on the street.

If you do receive communication you feel is really important, you’ll have to learn to be very sensitive to how you pass on the information.  Some people think mediums work for the Devil, so if you blurt out your information, instead of being grateful you may get someone making the sign of the cross at you. If I’m with someone who knows I’m a medium, I will usually say, “Oh I seem to be in contact with someone who would really like to pass on a message to you.  Would you like to hear it?”  I’ve actually had people politely decline, but most of the time they are eager to hear the information.  If I’m with someone who does not know me and does not know I’m a medium, I usually keep my mouth shut, plus these situations don’t come up so much now that I have Bob standing guard.

Psychic work can be energetically draining, and mediumship more so.  You’ve got to guard your own energy.  To the other side, you’re walking around with a little light above your head that conveys, “I’m on and I can hear you.”  The deceased will flock to you if you you’re not careful so that you will pass on messages to their living loved ones.  You must be the one who decides what information gets through.  If you don’t control the information and when it comes through, it can overwhelm  you and cause you to become very unbalanced.   When this happens a lot of psychics try to turn off their abilities.  Instead I simply recommend becoming the commander in chief of your ability.  Take responsibility for the gift, and learn how to use it properly.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Answer:  When I was a teenager a lot of scary beings used to visit me.  I was able to take control of the situation and open up a can of astral whoop ass on them, but I don’t recommend that approach for most people.

In my twenties I shut down my psychic abilities as best I could so I could get away from that life.  That worked pretty well for a while.  When I met Steve, though, he encouraged me to reopen that part of myself and continue exploring.  I found that when I opened up to the psychic realm as an adult, it wasn’t scary anymore.  This was due in large part to the fact that my vibration had changed.  I was no longer susceptible to fear.  I was vibrating a lot closer to love, so those darker entities just didn’t bother me.  We were not on the same channel anymore.

But like you, I was always afraid that ghosts or spirits would try to get my attention by appearing in my bedroom at night, in the dark, and scare me.  I could easily see having a heart attack if that happened!  When I started to see I had an ability that could help others, though, I knew I had to somehow get over my fear.

That’s when the tv show, Ghost Whisperer, came to my rescue.  In this show the main character, Melinda Gordon, is a medium who regularly sees and talks to spirits.  When they appear to her, they almost always startle her, but she is never afraid of them.  That’s when I realized that being startled is different than being afraid.  I decided that if I had to, I could live with being startled.  So I made a deal with my guides, telling them I would open myself back up to these psychic abilities I’d had practically my whole life, as long as they knew I didn’t want to see dead people in my room in the middle of the night.  And I told them if seeing the spirits in my room at night was the only way to help them, I would learn to deal with it.

As it turns out, I needn’t have worried.  I have a conduit guide named Bob that prevents spirits from presenting to me unless I’m working.  Only three times in the last three years have I had a spirit present to me when I wasn’t officially working.  All three came in very gently with me though, and all three came at night.  When you think about it, why would they want to scare me?  If I’m scared, I’m not going to be able to help them.

I did do a reading once where a spirit appeared to me in my White Room (the mental construct I go to when I do readings) and she nearly gave me a heart attack.  She had shot herself in the face and showed me the whole image.  And she was standing right over me.  It took me a moment to collect myself and I was quite startled.  She wasn’t trying to frighten me, she was just in an intense situation and probably didn’t know that I would react so strongly to her grisly visage. 

So my advice is to get a clear connection with your guides and tell them what you are and are not willing to tolerate.  Also, make sure you vibrate at a reasonably high frequency normally.  If you’re depressed, angry, sad, ashamed, or guilty you might attract lower vibrational beings when you open yourself up.  And lastly, decide in advance that if a spirit does show up, you’ll only be startled and not afraid.  They aren’t there to hurt you.   They’re there to reach out for your help.  If you have this gift, think of all the good you can do with it.  Don’t let a little fear stop you.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Answer:  I get this question periodically so I figured it was a good time to answer it publicly. 

I discourage couples from getting a reading together where they are on the phone at the same time.  Experience has shown me that when spirit guides want to bring up something related to the marriage that sometimes the couple clams up their energy because they are afraid the guides are about to reveal something they don’t want their partner to know.  It can get uncomfortable real fast.  And when a person chokes off their energy like that, I can sometimes lose the connection to their guides.

Even when people don’t think there is a relationship problem, sometimes the guides need to tell you something that you need to know about the relationship or the partner, etc.  Imagine what would happen if you had a controlling guy in a relationship with a submissive woman and they were both on the phone.  The guides may need to talk to the woman about developing her personal power so she can get up the nerve to leave the guy or make serious changes in the relationship, but if the guides bring that up while the controlling guy is on the phone, she’s going to be in real trouble when the call is ended.

Or what happens if one partner is hiding debt from the other and the guides want to provide counsel on how to get out of debt?

The other issue that comes up is personal privacy.  Sometimes the guides will bring up issues from a person’s past, such as sexual abuse, because they need to talk to the sitter about it.  It’s possible the sitter’s spouse isn’t even aware of their partner’s previous sexual abuse.  How fun would that be for it to come out during a reading?  Because I am an intuitive counselor, personal issues do come up in readings sometimes, but the guides only bring them up if it will have a direct bearing on the challenges my sitter is facing, and where the resolution of those challenges will help them on their life path.

On rare occasions I will let a couple split their 30 minute reading into 2 15-minute readings, but that doesn’t really give us enough time to cover all aspects of a person’s life, and it doesn’t leave time for many follow up questions.  It’s sort of like asking a doctor to open you up, remove half your tumor, and then sew you up again.  While I’ve got you “open” so to speak, I want to finish up in there before I sew you back up.

Most people take notes during their reading, or record their reading with me, and then share what they want to share with their partner later.  It allows them to choose what they will share and what they want to keep private.  Readings are very personal and often times emotional, so think long and hard before you bring your partner in with you.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

First of all, not all things want to be found.  What do I mean by that?  Sometimes there is a lesson in loss.  Why did you lose your Blackberry?  Are you spending too much time connecting with technology instead of with people in person?  Why did you lose your diamond wedding ring?  Is it symbolic of what’s happening in your marriage?  Pretend you’re in a dream and your dream self lost this item.  How would you interpret the dream?  How do you feel about the loss?  Do you feel irresponsible?  Victimized?  Forlorn or bereft?  What does the loss mean to you?

Second, is this an item you keep losing?  Maybe you’re not supposed to find it or have it in your life.  Consider that before you tear up the house or your plumbing.

I know what you’re thinking.  “Screw that symbolic sign crap, Erin, please just help me find my cell phone!”  Okay, fine fine.  Hold your horses.  If the item is meant to come back to you then there is a way to use psychic abilities to find it.

First you have to understand that there are many ways to find lost items using intuitive abilities.  If one way doesn’t work, try another one.

Pendulum Technique
Get a pendulum.  You can buy one online or from a new age store, or you can make a simple one using some thread and a bolt so that the bolt is hanging at the end of the thread.   Tell the universe what direction  you want to be “yes” and what direction will be “no.”  You can choose clockwise or counter clockwise, or you can do horizontal vs. vertical lines.  Sit quietly, put your elbow on the table to steady your arm, hold the top of the pendulum, and start asking “yes-no” questions.  “Is my cell phone in the house?”  “Is it in my bedroom.”  Keep playing until you find it.  If your subconscious mind doesn’t know where the item is, you probably won’t find it using a pendulum.

Use Clairsentience
If your primary psychic modality is clairsentience, which means clear-feeling, start walking around the area where you think you probably lost your precious item and try to feel a tug in your midsection pulling you in the direction of your lost item.  Or you might feel a hot or cold sensation telling you if you’re near or far, respectively.  You might feel a tingling sensation in your hands when you get close.  Don’t use your logic.  Feel for the tugging, temperature, or tingle.  If the item is in the area you’re searching, you could easily find it using this technique.

Use Clairaudience
If your primary psychic modality is clairaudience, which means clear-hearing, sit quietly, get meditative, and say in your mind, “Cell phone, where are you?”  Listen for the answer.  Again, you’re going to have to push your logic away.  If you could have found it with logic, you wouldn’t need to find it with intuition.

Use Clairvoyance
If your primary psychic modality is clairvoyance, which means clear-seeing, sit quietly, get meditative, and ask your item where it is.  Then allow an image to form in your mind’s eye.  Maybe you’ll see a movie play out in your mind.  Maybe you’ll just see it lying inside your couch cushion.  Maybe you’ll get a symbol or metaphor that must be figured out.

Use Claircognizance
If your primary psychic modality is claircognizance, which means clear-knowing, then turn off your rational mind completely and simply walk to where your item is, with confidence and assurance.  Don’t even think about it, just go there.  Yep, this one’s hard if you’re not a gifted claircognizant.

Ask Your Guides
If you’ve learned how to communicate with your guides, then get meditative and go talk to them.  Ask them where your item is.  They might tell you outright, or they might tell you why you lost it, and they might tell you that you’ll never see it again because finding it is not in your best interest.  I hope you’ve sent some gratitude to your guides recently.  Maybe they’re holding your Blackberry hostage.

Ask the Dream Master
Ask the guy who lives in your ceiling and sends you those lovely Angelina/Brad dreams if he’d be willing to show you where you lost your item.  He’s often more accommodating than the guides.  If you’re not good at remembering your dreams, this probably won’t work too well for you.

Ask Your Future Self
You’ve got a past self – he’s the dumb-dumb who lost the item in the first place – so why not ask your future self where you ended up finding it.  I love this technique.  Sit quietly and get meditative.  Meet your future self in your mind’s eye and have a conversation with him.  He might say, “Oh that?  Yeah we finally remembered we loaned it to Cathy and forgot to get it back.”  Or he might say, “Oh that?  Yeah, we put the ring on the side of the counter and it fell right into the sink.  Took us an hour to fish it out and the plumber charged us $100.  And by the way, don’t drink so much next Saturday, that’s gonna be one hell of a hangover!”

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try Try Again
This takes practice and skill.  If you’re not used to divining locations out of thin air, cut yourself some slack if you fail to find your object the first time.  Keep working at it.  You will get better over time.  If you’re too emotionally attached to finding this object, that alone can block your success. 

Call a Professional
If all of these methods fail, call the professionals.  You can book a reading with a psychic, just be sure he or she is good at locating missing objects.  That is not my forte so do not book a reading with me to find your ring.  More than likely your guides will tell you something about it that you don’t want to know.

The Moral of the Story
Keep your precious items where they belong, or put a locator chip on them (or in them as the case may be.)  And try not to be a loser in the first place.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

We’re going to have to use an analogy to understand this best.  The stork drops you off in a forest and you get to wander around the forest for the rest of your life.  Before you were born, you decided you wanted to see certain sites around the forest, but when you are born, you forget what they were.  So in comes your spirit guides.  Imagine they are floating above the forest.  They always know where you are and so they know where you’ve been.  They can also see where you’re going, up to a point.

Let’s say you’re on the path that leads to a big lake.  You go see a psychic who can communicate with your guides and you ask, “Am I ever going to find a lake?”  The guides report to the psychic, “Yes, she is really close.  She turns the next bend and it will be right in front of her, but she can’t see it from where she’s standing.”  So the psychic says, “Yes, it looks like you’re going to find that big lake.  Just keep doing what you’re doing and keep going the way you’ve been going.  You can’t miss it.” 

But let’s say you ask, “Am I ever going to find a lake?” and the guides tell the psychic, “There’s definitely a lake there, but she’s about 30 miles away.  In order for her to get to the lake she’s going to need to take a right, then a left, then two more rights, and a final left.  But between her and that lake are some things she’ll have to deal with, like a hungry jaguar, a pit with spikes in it, and a tree that’s laying across the path.”  So the psychic tells the sitter, “I do see that as an option however it’s not clear whether you will actually reach the lake.  There are going to be some challenges along the way, and you may make decisions that veer you away from reaching the lake.”  The sitter is annoyed.  “Do you see me at the lake or not?  It’s a simple question?”  To which the psychic, if she is honest and ethical, must reply, “You are capable, you have the ability, but you are not close enough to this goal for them to say for certain that you will arrive there.  We’ll have to see.  To increase your chances, however, you should probably invest in a hunting rifle, a big wooden plank, and a chainsaw.”  And that is the benefit in getting a reading with someone who can communicate with the guides hovering above your forest, to prepare you to face what’s around the corner, and to inform you of what you’ll need to safely navigate the road ahead.

I’ve learned something interesting after doing more than 1400 readings and getting a lot of feedback as to how things turned out for people afterwards.   I can tell when something is definitely going to happen and when something is so far off in the distance that one single choice you make along the way can derail you.  I liken these two options to shooting a gun, or spraying silly string.  When you shoot a gun, that bullet is going out with such force and trajectory that nothing is going to stop it and it’s going to hit its mark.  When you spray a can of silly string, the force is weak and the trajectory is almost impossible to calculate.  So when people ask me a question about their future, I can tell by whether I feel the gun or the silly string how likely or how close they are to achieving this desire.

Imagine being in your forest and there was only one path, and all you had to do was follow it to reach the other side of the forest.   You weren’t allowed to veer off the path, explore deeper territory, or even back track and try another path.  Why bother living?  What would be the point?  In reality, we are dropped off in this forest and we’re allowed to explore at our own discretion.  As a youngster, we follow our parents who make decisions about where we’re going, but as we get older, we are asked to take the lead and go off and find our own path. 

When I read for people I sometimes see people latch on to others in the forest and follow them on their path.  You’re allowed to do this, but make sure you get the opportunity to explore the parts of the forest that appeal to you too.  It’s not healthy to just follow someone else your whole life.

Also, you will meet people in the forest who are coming from the same place you’re planning to go.  Ask them what the path ahead of you looks like.  They might say, “Well there’s a jaguar loose on the path that way, be careful” or “You are really close to a beautiful lake.  Take the next right and you’ll be practically sitting on top of it.  You can’t miss it.”

Sometimes people ask me, “What is the name of my future husband and where and what exact day will he and I meet?”  Unless that’s going to happen tomorrow, do you understand now why a psychic cannot tell you with 100% accuracy the answer to that question?  However, if you ask, “Do you see love approaching on my path?  Is a relationship coming?” that I can definitely get an answer to.  When the guides look down on the path they can see other people who are about to interact with you.  If you’re standing close to a good potential partner, we can give you the nudge you need to “run into him.” 

Some psychics are loathe to sound anything less than omniscient.  They do a disservice to the craft though when they tell you something is a definite when in fact there are 10 ways for you to be sidetracked from your goal.  So if you ask them, “Where and when will I meet my future husband?” and they say, “10am on June 18th 2 years from now at the Starbucks on the corner” you’re like, “Oh wow, that’s incredible!”  Yeah, check back in two years and you’ll realize it probably didn’t happen and that psychic is nowhere to be found.  And in the meantime, maybe your prince charming ran into you a year earlier and you ignored him because the psychic told you it wasn’t going to happen until June 18th two years from then.

You must also understand that the guides may know something that is about to happen to you but can’t tell you because it will rob you of your power or derail something important.  A man wrote to me recently to tell me that about a month after his reading with me his wife was in a car accident and hurt her neck very badly.  He wanted to know why the guides didn’t warn him.  First, it’s not the responsibility of our guides to warn us about every pitfall life has to offer.  We wouldn’t grow if we could magically avoid all hardship.  Second, maybe she wasn’t headed for a car accident at the time of the reading, but chose a path afterward that led her to this accident.  Third, what if she was tooling along properly on her path and someone else on another path made a decision that suddenly and without warning impacted her path?  Accidents do happen.  The guides can see but they can’t move people around like pieces on a chess board and sometimes collisions happen.  And lastly, what would have happened if the guides had actually said to this man, “Tell your wife to be careful while driving, she’s due to have a terrible accident.”  Would she have driven at all?  Or would she have been so freaked out that she decided to take the bus?  And for how long?  A day, a month, a year?  Telling someone that something terrible is about to happen to them can send someone to bed, hiding under the covers forever. 

Does that mean the guides can’t warn us if something terrible is about to befall us?  I have often received warnings for people, but that happens when the danger or problem is right around the corner or when it’s already happening and the sitter just isn’t aware of it yet.  For example, this has happened when someone was being stalked and her stalker found her but she didn’t know it yet.  It’s happened when a guy was about to be fired but didn’t know it.  And it’s happened when someone had a life threatening illness but wasn’t aware of it yet.  In those cases, the guides can see and report on something that is already in the process of happening.  That’s another good reason to get a reading.

Will a spirit guide always warn you about something bad in these cases?  They’ll only tell you if it will help you on your path.  Guides are concerned about your growth, and not necessarily about your comfort.  What if getting fired is the best thing for you and warning you would give you the opportunity to prevent it?  What if the next beating you get from your abusive boyfriend is the beating that causes you to leave the guy?  Would they want to prevent that?  Would they say, “Be careful not to burn the eggs or he’s going to bust your nose?” or would they allow it to happen because it’s for your own good?  It’s not for me to say or judge what information a guide gives me to pass along.  I’m just the conduit.

I know you want definitive answers from a reading, but that sometimes comes with a price and it’s usually powerlessness.  I read for a woman once and the guides told me she was in dire straits financially, and suggested she start looking for a job.  The woman confirmed for me that she was unemployed and had no intention of looking for a job even though her bills were piling up and she was in deep trouble.  So I had to ask her, “Why are you avoiding getting a job and taking care of yourself?”  To which she replied, “A psychic in California told me I was going to win the lottery and a prince from Europe was going to marry me, so why should I bother with getting a job?”  Even if this was true, (and it most certainly was not!), she gave all her power up to this “vision” of her future, deciding to just sit back and wait for it to happen.  What if the supposed prince was supposed to find her working at a job and instead she’s sitting at home waiting for him to call? 

The guides do not want to strip you of your power.  Sometimes knowing too much about your future causes you to stop taking the very actions that will ensure it.  So the guides have to be careful about what information they tell you and how it’s phrased.  Guides won’t lie to you, but it’s probable they aren’t telling you the whole story either as that would ruin your adventure.  What if you’re supposed to run into that jaguar because it teaches you courage.  If they tell you about the jaguar and you avoid it, they’ll just have to coerce a lion to attack you instead. 

So, what’s going to happen to you?  That’s your choice.  What does the path look like just ahead of you?   What tools do you need to better prepare yourself to meet what’s on your path?  What aren’t you aware of that could be negatively impacting your path?   Are you currently on a path that has the capability of leading to a desired goal or are you going entirely in the wrong direction?  All good questions to ask your guides.

Your guides are here to help you navigate your way through the forest of life, not to fight your battles or make your decisions for you.  They are the map, but you are the explorer.  Be prepared, stay sharp, and consult your map every once in a while to make sure you are where you think you are and are going where you think you’re going.  Life is easier when you consult the map.  But even that’s a choice.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Answer:  It takes time, practice, and discernment to know when you’re in contact with your higher self or just your imagination, or even another entity masquerading, as you say, as your higher self.  Until you have a solid grasp on your higher self’s energy and can instantly connect with and recognize it, you’re going to have to go through a process to ensure you’re making a proper connection.  Here are some ways you can make sure you’re connecting with your higher self and not somebody else.  The same is true for your spirit guides as well.

Raise your vibration
What state are you in?  Are you feeling loved, blessed, joyful, and grateful?  Good.  That’s where you want to be ideally when you commune with your higher self.  If you’re feeling fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, shame or guilt, it’s going to be harder to reach the frequency you need to be on to accurately connect with and hear your higher self communicating with you.  You don’t want to end up on a low frequency.  So before you begin, raise your vibration.  Watch a funny movie, tell someone you love them, give a homeless guy some money, go hug your kids, etc.  You don’t have to stay in this state forever, just get there before you connect.

Open your chakras
I really can’t stress enough how important it is to get your energetic body pumping and buzzing with balanced chakral energy.  Without opening your chakras, talking to your higher self is going to be like turning on a radio but pressing the mute button, and wondering why you can’t hear anything.  Boost the volume.  Open and spin your chakras from your root to your crown.  Feel the energy in those areas.  You can still connect with your higher self without opening your chakras, but it’s much harder and you have to listen that much more intently.  Give yourself a fighting chance and open those suckers up.

Find your sacred space
Next you want to create a sacred space where you and your higher self can meet without interruption.  In your mind, imagine going up into space either by climbing a long staircase, going up an escalator, flying, or taking a spaceship.  Doesn’t matter, just feel yourself climbing, going up as high as you can.  I like to walk up a staircase and breathe deeply while doing so.  Count while you climb.  When you feel like you’re high enough (this is you raising your frequency), create a space where you and your higher self can be alone.  It could be a garden, a white room, a living room, a temple, a cloud, etc.  Just enclose it in protective white light and indicate to all who are around that this is a private space for just you and your higher self (or guides).

Practice communicating
Now ask your higher self to come to you in this sacred, private space.  Your higher self will probably appear to look like you but that’s not always the case.  They are just energy – a frequency – and will present to you in a way that will make you most comfortable.  Start with the small stuff.  Offer your higher self a cookie and some tea, make small talk about the weather, just get a feel for each other.  Then ask your higher self what he or she most wants you to know.  Or ask him or her questions.  Have a conversation.  Try not to filter or evaluate the conversation while you’re having it.  Just have it.  You can always run it past your logic later.  The longer you talk the stronger the communication will become.  If you start questioning if you’re really talking to your higher self it might knock you out of this wonderful vibrational state you’ve gotten yourself into; it’s akin to accidentally pulling out the plug on your radio.  Connection over.  So just stay with it until you’ve got the information you want.

When you’re done communicating, thank your higher self, give him or her some love, and exit the sacred space.  Go back down into your body and close your chakras to a nice comfortable level.

Check the results
If you connected with something masquerading as your higher self you’re going to get information that will just feel wrong.  Entities who try to screw with you are seeking to put you in a state of fear so they can feed off of you.  They’ll tell you what to do, how to do it, when to do it and whom to do it with.  They will try to strip you of your power. 

If you’re really communicating with your higher self you’ll get encouragement and advice, and you’ll be challenged to make your own decisions.  You’ll also feel like you’re talking to your true self.  There will be love, not judgment.  There will be compassion and empathy, not anger. 

See what happens when you commune with your higher self.  If you like the results and are feeling more and more empowered, you’re on the right track.

Keep going back
Once you’ve connected with your higher self’s energy, it will be easier to find it again.  Keep going to that sacred space.  There will also come a point where you can access your higher self’s energy even if you’re feeling sad or scared because you’ll know what he or she feels like and can discern their true energy from others masquerading as your higher self.  You’ll get to a point where you can talk to your higher self in line at the grocery store, on a date, or on the phone with your mother. 

Your higher self wants to be known to you.  He or she is there to help guide you and keep you on track.  Your higher self is your heart, mind, and moral compass.  Get to know him or her and you’ll know yourself much better. 

Here’s to the beginning of a beautiful, empowering relationship!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Question: What do you think about Indigo children?
Answer:  I’m not big on the whole label thing.  Crystal, indigo, purple, polka dots, plaid, it’s all the same to me.  Some children are pre-wired to be more aware and connected to their higher selves, and some aren’t.  Some kids are incarnating with specific missions and specific purposes that will have a global impact.  But you know what?  They’ve been doing that for eons.  Now we have a pretty label.  If you need to categorize your child, that’s your choice. 

Question:  Do you believe in astrology or horoscopes?
Answer:  I am not an expert at astrology and I haven’t investigated it enough to comment on whether I think it is real or not.  I suggest you talk to astrology experts and get their take on astrology.  I’m a Cancer with Libra rising and a Virgo moon, though.  If anyone knows what that means, contact me.

Question:  If I have to have an abortion to save my life, is that a sin?
Answer:  No.

Question:  Is levitation possible?  If so, do you know how I can do it or who I can learn from?  Have you ever done it?
Answer:  I have never levitated.  Like you I’ve heard tales of this ability.  I would start with the people who claim to be able to do it and go from there.  Report back when you find out something.

Question:  How can I use the law of attraction and the law of detachment at the same time without canceling each other out?
Answer:  With the law of attraction you want to get clear on your intention and become a vibrational match for it.  The law of detachment is about not being attached to a certain outcome.  Think of the story of the man in the flood who is sitting on his roof waiting to be rescued.  He wants to be rescued and thinks God is going to save him.  People come in a boat and helicopter to save him but he resists their attempts and says, “No no, it’s okay.  God will save me.”  When he gets to Heaven he complains and God says, “I sent you a boat and a helicopter.  What more did you want?”  The man was a vibrational match for being rescued but he was attached to that manifesting a certain way (e.g. the mighty hand of God).  Cast your intention out upon the water and let the universe decide how best to manifest the details.  You might be getting what you asked for and not even be noticing it.

Question:  Do you think climate change will be a huge problem people have to deal with in the future?
Answer:  Sure.  Climates change, people adapt.  If you want to know more about this, consult a professional in the field.

Question:  Are we ever going to be finished incarnating?  When does it stop?
Answer:  When you no longer choose to “play the game” it stops.  Every incarnation is your choice.  Every time you come here, you learn.

Question:  Can spirit guides or angels contact you in “human” form?
Answer:  I have never experienced this so I can’t say for sure, but I think that in a severe situation an angel can take human form, but not a spirit guide.  I think it’s more likely, however, that they urge and nudge an already incarnated human to help you out when you’re in trouble.  Read Spirit Guides at Starbucks.

Question:  If I know something bad is going to happen to someone but they won’t listen to me, and it happens, am I somehow responsible?
Answer:  You are not responsible for anyone’s life.  Divest yourself of the idea that you can cause anyone to do anything.  People make their own choices.  Some may choose to listen to you and some won’t.  Having foreknowledge of an event means you can help them, but if they don’t want to listen, there’s nothing you can do.  Try not to feel guilty.  You did the best you could.

Question:  Can you affect physical reality while in a lucid dream?  Like turning on a television in a dream causes it to turn on in real life?
Answer:  No.  When you are lucid dreaming you are in the dream plane, the dream construct, which is inside your mind.  However, if you were astral instead of just in a lucid dream, then yes you could affect physical reality here on our plane.  Difficult but definitely possible.  Astral project responsibly, young man!

Question:  How can I get an astral sword like the one you made when you were younger and kicking demon butt?
Answer:  Visit my astral store.  Due to high demand we’ve just started stocking astral swords.  Just teasing.   Truthfully, you create your astral sword as an extension of your energy and intent.  You’ll need to use willpower and some of your astral essence to form it. 

Question:  Is it possible to recognize someone in this life as someone you knew in a past life?
Answer:  Absolutely.  Souls can recognize each other.  It’s a beautiful thing really.  How will you know?  You’ll just know.  You may not know who they were to you but that’s not as important as recognizing them.  Er, unless you’ve got some karma to work out with them and then you should watch your back.

Question:  What is my higher self doing while I’m in this incarnation?
Answer:  Watching, guiding, helping, and maybe chortling a little bit.

Question:  How can you claim to be psychic when everyone knows all psychics are frauds?
Answer:  You again?  I thought I got rid of you in my last Quick Answers to Quick Questions.

Question:  I need to contact my deceased father.  Can you help?
Answer:  Yes, book a reading.
Question:  Is my mom okay?  She died recently.
Answer:  I’m sure she’s fine, but if you want to communicate with her through me you can book a reading.
Question:  Can you tell my dad on the other side I love him?
Answer:  You can tell him yourself.  He will hear you more strongly than me because of your connection with him.
Question:  My dog recently crossed over.  Did he make it?
Answer:  I’m sure he’s fine but if you want you can book a reading with me and we’ll find out together.
Question:  If I book a reading with you, will you be able to connect me with my deceased (mother, father, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, pet?)
Answer:  I’ll try.  No guarantee they will come through.  But we’ll give it a shot.

Question:  Do you need my birth date and the location where I was born to do my reading?
Answer:  Not remotely.  I don’t even need to know your name.  I just need your voice and a photo (or to be in person with you).  I connect through the energy of your voice or body.  During a reading you can ask about other family members and I do not need their photo or their voice as I will already be connected to YOUR guides.  But photos help me tune in and you’ll get a lot more information if you send me a photo of everyone you want to ask about.

Question:  Can you tell during a reading if my spouse is cheating on me?
Answer:  I’ve noticed the guides have a tendency to not want to reveal concealed information.  It’s there for a reason.  You may need to take action to discover it on your own.  But often they will tell my sitters if they have good reason to suspect something like that is going on.

Question:  I don’t want to have kids.  Is that alright?
Answer:  Yes.  Knowing what you want in life is really important.  If you don’t want children you shouldn’t have any.  You’re not broken.

Question:  I really want to talk to my deceased mother.  How would I go about doing that and knowing it’s real?
Answer:  When we know the person it can be hard to get validation.  That’s why mediumship is so great.  If you go to a medium and they are able to tell you something they couldn’t possibly have known, you get your validation.  When we’re trying to tune in to our own deceased relatives, that’s much harder.  You are the only one who can determine if the energy you’re feeling is really them or not.  For me, I rely on “the dreams.”  These are the ones where you just know their consciousness is really there communicating with you.

Question:  I don’t believe in lucid dreaming.  It just doesn’t seem possible to be awake in a dream.  Can you prove it’s real?
Answer:  I find this question so odd I don’t even know how to answer it.  It’s like asking me if peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are real.  Go have one for yourself and you’ll have your answer.  Until then, I wouldn’t go around telling people you don’t believe in lucid dreaming.  It just makes you look dumb.

Question:  Can you tell me who the spirit is who is throwing stuff at me in my trailer?
Answer:  Book a reading.

Question:  Is there a reason psychics tend to work independently of each other?  Is it jealousy?
Answer:  Another odd question.  That’s like asking why three surgeons aren’t performing your appendectomy at the same time.  You only need one psychic if they’re good.  Remember that different psychics have different specialties, though, so find one that specializes in the way you need.  Just like you wouldn’t ask your podiatrist to perform heart surgery, so too you shouldn’t go to a medium if you want career advice, and you shouldn’t go to an astrologer if you want to communicate with your deceased mother.

Question:  Why do you charge so much for readings?  You can still make a good living if you charged only 30% as much as you currently do.
Answer:  My prices are based on value and demand.  If I cut the reading price to 30% of what it is now, my waiting list would seriously be a year long.  Can you imagine needing a reading today and having to wait a year to get it?  The most popular psychic mediums have waiting lists that span 3-5 years!  There are plenty of psychics in the sea.  Find one in your price range.  If you feel a specific psychic is what you want, pay them their asking price.  If they’re able to charge so much and still get tons of business, chances are they’re worth their price.  You get what you pay for and quality counts.

Question:  Is Bigfoot real?
Answer:   I have no knowledge in this area.  But if you see him, let me know.

Question:  Will my boyfriend marry me and will my family be well off financially?
Answer:  Book a reading.  The short answer, though, is that if you want something you’re responsible for making it happen.

Question:  Can you help me find my missing Ipod, camera, wedding ring, cat, etc…?
Answer:  First you need to know why it got lost in the first place.  What lesson are you being taught?  Or you need to learn how to keep track of your things better.  Seriously, I don’t find missing objects.  But there are psychics who specialize in this area.  If it were me, I’d start with logic, then move on to intuition, and then prayer.  One of them will probably work.

Question:  Do you believe in aliens, abductions, UFO’s and all that sort of thing?
Answer:  I want to answer this question very badly but the time is not right and there’s a chip in my head preventing me.  Someone help me.

Question:  How do I know if my loved one crossed over?
Answer:  Book a reading.  Most of the deceased people I’ve been in contact with are fully crossed over, but I do sometimes encounter someone who is resisting that.  Usually in the case of suicide.  If I can get them “on the line” so to speak then we’ll know for sure.

Question:  My soul mate died recently and I have not felt her energy since she crossed over.  I am so sad over her loss and was expecting to feel her around me a lot since I’m very open to that sort of thing.  Where is she?  Is she lost?
Answer:  When we cross over we aren’t automatically able to project our energy back to this physical frequency so easily.  It takes skill, time, and patience.  I’ve seen guides bring through recently deceased people because they can’t come through on their own just yet.  And I’ve also encountered extremely strong spirits who can easily communicate with me shortly after they’ve died.  Give it some time.  Send her love energy.  She’s not likely lost.

Well that’s it for now folks.  Feels good to clear out some of those questions!  If you have a question that hasn’t already been answered, feel free to submit it.  Remember that Ask Erin questions are answered publicly, not privately, and there’s no guarantee your question will be chosen.  The best way to get an answer is to send a short question whose answer will benefit many.  If you really need to hear from me directly, use my Contact Form or book a reading.  Current wait times are 3-5 weeks.

Be at peace.  Be kind.  Express love.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

First, I announced on my blog that I was developing my psychic abilities to a point where I could actually begin doing readings for people.  I blogged about my awakening and my experience on the Criss Angel MindFreak show.  I was off and running, I was happy, congruent, and really proud of myself.  At the same time this was happening, I was still running my online magazine, VegFamily.  I was also doing web consulting and programming, and I had an independent publishing company.  I announced on VegFamily that I was a psychic medium and that if anyone wanted a reading, to go to my new site.  This was the beginning of the end of my naiveté.

I immediately got a bunch of nasty emails from readers who told me I was doing the devil’s work, and that the Bible expressly prohibited them from interacting with me in any way, shape, or form.  They told me they were going to stop reading the magazine, even though they’d been loyal readers for years and found the information great.  That surprised me. 

Then I got an email from a woman who had contributed several articles to the site over the years – a  woman I had exchanged many pleasant emails with – who asked me to remove all of her articles from the site because I was going against the Lord and working for Satan.  I wrote back to her for clarification since I had no awareness of what she was talking about.  She sent back a lot of quoted scripture and there is indeed a passage in the Bible that says you’re not supposed to truck with mediums and you should stone them on sight.  I’m glad she lived in another state.   I got into it with her for a few exchanges because I wanted to sincerely understand how she could be my friend one day and the next want to shun me. For her, what it came down to was that she was a devout follower of the Bible and the Bible expressly stated to her that she could not have any contact with me.  I wished her well in her life and we parted ways permanently.  I think what shocked me most was that I felt I was being unfairly and harshly judged by vegans, who were no strangers to harsh judgment from family, friends, and society.   Shouldn’t they have known better?

Next, a couple of my web clients stopped doing business with me because I was a psychic.  And some members of the vegan community with whom I’d been doing business suddenly stopped responding to my emails.  None of them called me devil-spawn, they just drifted away or gave me the cold shoulder.  So coming out publicly as a psychic negatively impacted my businesses and to some extent my income. 

Then there were the friends.  I don’t have many religious friends so I wasn’t expecting any kind of negative response from them regarding my new profession.  I was wrong though.  There was a new problem to contend with.  It took me a while to figure out why some of my friends and acquaintances were treating me so coldly.  I found out quite by accident that they were wondering why I’d turned to a life of crime.  Yes, crime!  Apparently, and I’m not sure you’re aware of this, all psychics are frauds, charlatans, and criminals who prey on people who are gullible enough to think that psychic abilities and talking to dead people is even possible.  Yes, that’s right.  These people thought I was actually, and quite deliberately, turning to a life of crime.  I can’t blame them for not wanting to associate with a criminal, except for one problem, I wasn’t a criminal!  This actually hurt me a lot more than the religious issue.  I’m used to some religious people turning a blind eye to their own intuition in favor of what’s fed to them via holy scripture.  I’m not used to being thought of as a criminal though.  That took some time for me to digest.  Rather than try to understand how I was developing my psychic abilities, they found it much more believable that I had simply decided to rip people off.  Some friends, right?  I recall one day asking one of my friends if he thought I was fraudulently ripping people off and he said, “I know you believe you’re psychic, and I know you’re not trying to rip people off, but everyone knows psychic abilities aren’t real so I think you’re probably deluded but not intentionally trying to hurt anyone.”  Gee, thanks.  Over the years he’s really come around, though, and thinks I just have an uncanny ability to accurately name people’s dead relatives and tell people what they do for a living without them telling me first.  He uses words like “lucky guess” and “coincidence” a lot.

I started to have concerns about even calling myself a psychic because of all the negative connotations built into the group.  To be fair, there really are a lot of frauds, charlatans, and criminals in this industry, and that’s a real shame, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.  Not everyone who claims to be psychic is a criminal or fraud.  It reminds me of when I joined a sorority and my non-sorority friends thought that all sorority girls were vapid sluts only interested in hair, make-up and the size of frat boy bulges.  Lordy, people. 

So, long story short, I lost a lot of friends and apparently credibility when I came out as a psychic.  It wasn’t all bad though.  There were some unexpected positives.

My family has been incredibly supportive and proud of my work as a psychic medium.  My dad is so cute, he tells everyone about his psychic daughter.  He carries my cards around with him and gives them to everyone: the dental hygienist, the mail carrier, his business contacts, and friends.  In fact, my mom had to tell him to tone it down a bit as they came to find what I found, that some of these people thought I was a criminal too.  I think my dad was just as surprised to find this out as I was.  They started having uncomfortable situations with their own friends when my name was brought up. 

My sister has run into this problem too when she tells her friends that she has a psychic sister.  They all want to know why I haven’t won the lottery yet.  So for some, it’s just purely the fact that they know nothing about how psychic abilities work that cause them to suspect I am being less than honest.  I think the fact that my family has known about my psychic gifts for my entire life has helped them see that becoming a professional psychic was a natural progression for me.  They know I’m not a criminal or fraud and it’s hard for them understand why others think I am.

My aunt and cousin are also exceptionally supportive of me.  Sometimes when I’m in Los Angeles I do my in-person readings in their home.  Steve’s family has also been supportive.  I was concerned as they are very religious, but apparently their priest told them it was okay as I am using my gift to help others and because I believe my gift comes from God/Source, as I wrote about in my blog entry, But Where’s the Love?

I told Steve at one point that coming out publicly as a psychic medium must be somewhat similar to how homosexuals feel when they come out publicly.  You have to deal with and accept the fact that some people will shun you because of their beliefs about your “group.”  I have great compassion and respect for people who proudly share their real selves with the world, knowing it will probably create a disconnect with some people in their lives.  But it is only by fully sharing who we really are that we can begin to bring down the walls of preconception and challenge people to get to know us before deciding what we are.

If you are a fellow psychic, what has been your experience of coming out publicly?  Or do you only tell certain people?  What reactions have you received, and how have you dealt with any negative judgment?  If you’ve come out as a homosexual or anything that is sometimes perceived as an abomination or against the Bible or social norms, what has been your experience?  What words of wisdom can you share with others who are considering coming out?

All I can say is that coming out of my own closet was really eye-opening for me.  I discovered that even intelligent people can make assumptions that are not based on personal observation but just on preconceived ideas about a group.  This is wrong.  It’s wrong for all of us.  Guard against this at all costs as it’s very damaging to society as a whole.

To the budding young psychics out there who are considering becoming a professional psychic, know going into this that you may lose some friends, that some people who claim to love you may disconnect from you.  But if your heart is aligned with this truth you have nothing to be ashamed of.  Let people have their reactions, let them walk their own path, but don’t hide who you are.  We can’t change people’s beliefs about psychics by staying hidden or underground.  Be honest and forthright in all your dealings.  Perhaps in time we can repair our damaged reputation, and help people see we are truly aligned with love.  Even with all the negativity, the loss of friends, the damaged relationships, the harsh and critical emails from total strangers, I wouldn’t trade my path for anything.  It’s been an incredibly rich and rewarding journey, really a dream come true.

Now where did I put that broom?  I’ve got some flying to do.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.