Answer: If a deceased person is coming to you in your dream and showing you what really happened to them the day they passed away you should pay careful attention, as it could very well be true.

First you need to determine if you are really having communication with a deceased loved one.

Next, does their version seem plausible? If so, you’re probably get correct information.

Lastly, you may need to act on the information you get. Especially if the person was murdered or if there were extenuating circumstances. Sometimes spirits reveal they committed suicide when it really seemed like an accident. And sometimes the reverse is true.

Spirits who are not at rest or who have unfinished business or who are seeking justice will often send dreams to their loved ones in an attempt to notify them of the truth. So definitely pay attention and take those dreams seriously.

I’ve had several personal experiences and professional experiences where new information came through that turned out to be correct once tracked down and investigated. So it’s definitely possible, and in many cases, likely.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Did my deceased friend come to visit me in my dream or not?
2. Do the dead miss us?
3. Enhancing Dream Recall
4. Q&A on the Dead and the Afterlife
5. Can we learn new things in a lucid dream?
6. Can I enter a friend’s dream to help him?
7. Can Dead People Negatively Affect Your Life?

Answer: Dream sharing is a phenomenon where two people are having the same dream, at the same time, and both are aware of the presence of another dreamer in the dream.

It’s extremely rare to be able to enter someone else’s dream. When someone is dreaming, they are in a construct that is very internal to their own brain. In order for someone else to cut in on that, they would have to be able to get inside the original dreamer’s mind. I’d say that for the most part it’s nearly impossible to share a dream.

However, I’ve had three instances I can recall where I witnessed a dream that one of my friends was having, but I could not interact or affect the dream, and my friend was unaware of my presence. However, the next day I was able to tell him in exact detail what he dreamed. Was I in his dream or was I picking up on his thoughts psychically, or was I somehow able to tap into his dream remotely and see what was happening? I’m not sure. I think this is one for the scientists. All I know is that I saw the dream as it was happening and I was accurate in my report.

Now… there is another phenomenon that occurs which may be more likely what you’re experiencing. I’ve had a lot of experiences where friends and I shared a dream. Or so I thought. These were experiences where they were aware of me, I was aware of them, and we could interact with each other consciously during the experience, and share full recall the next morning. At first I thought we were dream sharing, but then I realized that every single time I experienced this phenomenon the content of the “dream” was paranormal in nature. In other words, we were being attacked by a low vibrational entity from the astral plane. We were not in a dream construct, we were more in an energetic construct that had form.

For example, in one experience I can recall, I was being chased by a horde of demonic creatures, let’s call them hell hounds just as a point of reference. I remember hiding under a staircase in an old castle. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and my boyfriend at the time appeared before me and said, “I chased them off. Let’s get out of here.” As we ran, we had a conversation. The next morning he told me he had a “dream” that he found me cowering under the stairs after chasing off a horde of nasties. He and I both remember the conversation we had during the experience. Was it a dream or something else? I’m going with something else. Probably something astral.

So I believe you can witness someone else’s dream, and I believe you can consciously meet on the astral plane, but I don’t think you can enter someone else’s dream and affect it. It’s too much a part of their brain. You can remote view it, but I don’t think you can affect it.

So I would say if you believe you are in your friend’s dream, take a moment to analyze whether it’s a dream or an astral experience, especially if running from nasties is involved.

Instead, to help your friend, I suggest you counsel him on overcoming his past issues and help him remove his blocks. I don’t think you need to be in his dreams to do it.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Astral Projection and Dreaming
2. Can we learn new things in a lucid dream?
3. Ask Erin: Can two people share a lucid dream?
4. Did my deceased friend come to visit me in my dream or not?
5. How To Pre-Program a Dream
6. Playing in the Dream World
7. Is there any way to bring a dream back?

Answer: If I had a dime for every strange symbol I saw on my walls, I’d have … a dollar.

I’ve had many experiences where I’ve seen something going on in my room after I wake up. Sometimes it’s a carryover from a dream experience I’ve just had, and sometimes it seems to be its own distinct disturbance.

It can be hard to tell where it’s coming from or what it means, but when it happens to me, I tend to not worry too much about the source and simply try to figure out if there’s a message and if it’s meaningful or not.

Sometimes I have determined it’s just a carryover from a dream and of no real consequence. But sometimes I have determined that it’s a message with great meaning.

Unfortunately there’s not much you can do except try to fathom the meaning of the message. Use your intuition to figure out why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. Does it feel dangerous? Conscious? Is it something that needs interpretation like a dream? Is it connected to something going on in your life? Is it contact from the other side? Is it a demonic threat?

In order to help you properly, I’d need to know what you were dreaming before it happened, your level of consciousness in the dream, who else or what else was in the dream with you, how many times you’ve had the experience, and whether your dream also contained these lights and symbols.

When I’m confused about something that’s happening to me I tell the universe, my guides, or the entity behind the phenomenon to find another way to get me the message. Usually they can.

Good luck!

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. The Lights of Christ
2. How To Interpret Your Dreams
3. How do I protect myself and my room when I astral project?
4. Is there any way to bring a dream back?
5. Are dreams about deceased loved ones real?
6. Ask Erin: Can you share some of your premonition experiences?
7. My Encounter with the Astral Vampire

Answer: Sometimes a dream is just a dream and sometimes dreaming of a deceased loved one is actual communication. There are three ways to tell if it’s a real visitation.

The deceased person appears in front of you or you pick up a ringing phone and they are on the line. If instead you’re dreaming they are surfing or in chemistry class with you, probably just a dream. When dead people want to communicate, they forgo the frippery of dream symbolism and just appear to talk.

You realize during the dream that you are dreaming AND that the person in front of you is dead. If you find yourself saying, “Wait aren’t you dead?” it’s probably a true visitation. If instead you’re in chemistry class with them and you’re arguing over a test, it’s probably a dream.

The dream feels intensely lucid, real, and you have conscious thought while you are talking to them. When you wake up if you swear they were really there and that you were really talking to them, it was probably a visitation. If you’re able to direct questions to them and have real conversations about current events in your life, it’s probably a visitation. If instead you wake up and remember you were dreaming about them in chemistry class and thought it was neat what they did to that beaker, probably a dream.

Bottom line, if it feels like you’re really talking to them, if it feels like they’re really there, and if you remember they are dead during the dream, it’s most likely a visitation.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Are dreams about deceased loved ones real?
2. Can I contact a deceased relative on my own?
3. Ask Erin: How do you wake up from a dream gone bad?
4. Is there any way to bring a dream back?
5. A Visit From Grandpa
6. Playing in the Dream World
7. Enhancing Dream Recall

Nothing in our conversation was scripted. You’re hearing the actual organic conversation we had. It’s not really interview style but it does lean in that direction. As such, we went all over the place with our topic as things came up. So in this podcast we talk about what I remember from before I was born, and we go into a discussion of astral projection, lucid dreaming, spirit guides, the future of our planet, and a lot more. We recorded this on his iphone so you’ll hear some shifting and some unusual audio sounds, but overall we felt the quality was good enough to share.

This is a free download. Just click on the link and the podcast should begin playing, or you can right click on it, save it, and play it using the media you prefer. It’s just over 27 minutes.

Podcast: What I Remember About the Ether by Erin Pavlina and Bron Johnson

Enjoy!

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Audio Podcast: Being Psychic
2. Lucid Dreaming Podcast
3. Embracing Your Passion Podcast
4. Placing Your Order with the Universe podcast
5. Welcome to Naptown
6. Imaginary Friends: Who are they really?
7. Remember To Give Thanks

This week’s question comes from Jen. The question is:
I have very repetitive, exhaustive dreams that leave me drained during the day. I have them every night and when I wake up I feel like I’ve been gone for a month. Do you have any advice on what I can do to fix this or at least understand why they happen?

Jen, here is your answer…

Here is a transcription of the video:

Hello everyone and welcome to the “Ask Erin Pavlina” YouTube series. Today’s question comes from Jen, and she writes: “I have very repetitive, exhaustive dreams that leave me drained during the day. I have them every night and when I wake up I feel like I’ve been gone for a month. Do you have any idea of what I can do to fix this or at least understand why this happens?”

Well, Jen, you are definitely not alone. I know there are a lot of people out there who have very intense dreams, and when they wake up in the morning they feel like they have been working or busy or running around active all night, including me. I’ll tell you why this happens. It could be one of a couple of reasons. At night our subconscious mind attempts to alert us and make us aware of things we may not be aware of consciously. So, most people would say, that if you’re having very intense dreams at night, it’s your subconsciousness’ way of trying to get your attention and alert you to something that’s going on in your life that you should be aware of and perhaps take action on. If you’re not aware of this during the day it’s going to come out in your dreams.

Now, there’s another explanation, which may or may not apply to you, I didn’t get a lot of information from your question, but let’s assume. Often I see this happen among people who are very intuitive and who are lightworkers. What’s happening is at night you are being instructed and trained by spirit guides or other helpers from the other side who are attempting to help you develop, learn, and remember what you’re supposed to remember so you can help other people while you’re awake. This is the sort of thing that happened to me when I was growing up. I would have dreams that my spirit guides would come to me and give me instruction, they would give me training. They would put me through lessons and tests, and it was very exhausting because you are expending a lot of energy. You’re expending a lot of your conscious energy. So, in the morning, you feel like you’ve gotten no sleep and you feel like you’ve been running around all night.

The solution is really the same. During the day is when you want to communicate with your subconscious and with your spirit guides so that they don’t have to pull you aside at night and hijack your regular dream situation and your restful sleep in order to teach you something.

So my recommendation: If you are in this situation, spend a little time each day in meditation. Either connecting with your subconscious mind or connecting with your spirit guides – depending on what’s going on with you and the reason that you’re having these intense dreams. So, if this is happening to you pay attention during the day to what the universe is trying to get your attention about. If you can take action on that sort of thing during the day, you’ll have more restful sleep at night. Also, you are allowed to tell the universe, the dream guides, your spirit guides that you need a little break, so before you go to bed, tell them “Look, I don’t want any training tonight. I don’t want any communication, just let me have regular, normal dreams and a restful night.” And they should listen. So if you’re listening during the day, they will leave you alone at night. Good luck.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Ask Erin: Does lucid dreaming interfere with waking life?
2. Does Lucid Dreaming Lead to Astral Projection?
3. Astral Projection and Dreaming
4. What is the spiritual meaning behind mass suffering?
5. Lucid Dreaming Podcast
6. Are dreams about deceased loved ones real?
7. Can real people appear in your dreams?

If you’re not familiar with lucid dreaming, it’s simply the act of becoming aware that  you are dreaming while you are still dreaming.  While lucid you can take control of your dream and change characters, setting, outcome, and lots more.  I’ve been lucid dreaming since I was a young teenager, and over time I’ve not only mastered having lucid dreams, I’ve mastered such things as picking up on a dream where I left off (even years later), communicating with spirit guides and other celestial beings consciously, and learning how to pre-program the dream I want to have.  Yes, these are advanced lucid dreaming skills, but anyone can master them if they put in the time.

If you want to learn the basics about lucid dreaming, read my articles on lucid dreaming in the Sleep and Dreams section of my blog.  Once you’ve got the gist of that, come back and read this article for tips and tricks on programming the dream you want to have.

There are two ways programming a dream will work.  The first is by commandeering a non-programmed dream and bending it to your will, and the second is to go into the dream from the get go with the programmed content ready.  Let’s discuss each in turn.

Most of the time that a lucid dream occurs is during a dream that’s already in progress.  Often nightmares will trigger a lucid dream and an urgent desire to wake up, but you can also become lucid during any normal dream.  Sometimes when the dream has a really odd element to it, a lucid dream is triggered, such as dreaming you lost all your teeth, or seeing yourself in a mirror with two heads, or something equally fantastical.  When you become lucid you must try to remain calm because getting too excited will trigger your mind to wake you and then it’s bye bye lucidity.  Once you are lucid you can snap your fingers or blink your eyes or use whatever method you want to start changing the content of your dream.  If you’ve got pre-programmed content ready to go, it’s like uploading it to the dream matrix and you’re off.  More on pre-programming content in a minute.

The other way to get a programmed dream is from the first moment you start dreaming.  What often happens to me is that I’ll pre-program my dream and, when I get to the dream, some or most of the elements I wanted are there but not all of them, so I have to do a little rearranging.  No big.  I just get to work, get my pieces in place, and run the program.  Sometimes I stay completely lucid during the dream, continuing to direct my “actors” into following the script, and sometimes I allow myself to play along with whatever wants to happen, giving my “actors” some free reign in determining their next move.  Yeah, I’m like a God in my dream world.  Fun fun.

So how do you program the content?  Lay down while you’re tired but make sure you can stay awake for at least 10 minutes or so before drifting off.  Now literally think and daydream the dream you want to have.  Let it play out in your mind.  For example, if you want to play superhero (one of my favorites) then create your character.  What powers will you have?  Who are your villains?  Team mates?  What is the setting?  High rise building?  Sewer?  The more details you can imagine, the greater your chance of getting what you order.  Then run the scene over in your mind as many times as you can before falling asleep. 

If you don’t know all the details, or you don’t want to program an entire scene, you can simply select the components you want to have there.  Certain celebrity you want to “date” in your dream?  Imagine them in as much detail as you can before you fall asleep.  Try to put yourself in the scene as much as possible.  Imagine dialogue and action.  You’re the writer and director of your own movie, and if you don’t know something, your mind will fill in the details.  One night I couldn’t decide if I wanted to spend time with Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves.  Voila, they both appeared in my dream.  One was a pirate-like villain and one was a King Arthurian knight.  It was fun playing with both. 

The more times you can let the scene play out in your mind before you fall asleep, the better.  It’s best to do this while you’re tired.  Keep thinking of the scene and characters as you fall asleep.  Don’t start thinking about your morning’s to do list or how you’re going to avoid that phone call from your in-law.  Just keep your conscious mind on the dream images you want to have. 

If you find yourself becoming lucid in a regular dream, just remember the dream you wanted to have and start shifting and changing the dreamscape.  If you find yourself in a reasonable facsimile of the programmed content, run with it.  Sometimes I’ll have a non-lucid dream related to programmed content, so even if things don’t go exactly as I’ve planned them, I still get most of what I wanted.

If you’re not convinced that lucid dreaming is the best thing since sliced bread, you may not have the imagination needed to make it worth your time to learn it.  But for those of you who are already lucid dreaming out there, try pre-programming some content and see how exciting THAT is!

Sweet and pleasant adventuring fellow oneironauts!

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Enhancing Dream Recall
2. Dream Continuity: Picking up where you left off
3. Can we learn new things in a lucid dream?
4. Playing in the Dream World
5. Is there any way to bring a dream back?
6. Ask Erin: How do you wake up from a dream gone bad?
7. Astral Projection and Dreaming

My higher self came to me in a dream last night.  She handed me a box filled with puzzle pieces and told me to put all the pieces together.  So I got busy working on that.  The pieces were in the shape of North American states and territories so I was able to know roughly how to put them together.  As I got close to finishing I said to her, “Oh I get it.  I see what’s happening here.”  She said, “No you’re not done.  Put all the pieces in place.  All you’re seeing is the small pictures on each piece and you’re assuming much.” 

So I kept going until every single piece was in place and then stepped back to see the big picture and was amazed by what I saw.  I understood it all so clearly.  The pieces lost their borders and all I saw was one big picture.  She said, “The details are important.  Every piece carries its own impact on the whole of the puzzle.  Every piece must be in the right place in order for you to see the big picture.”  I said, “This is awesome.  I can’t believe what I’m seeing here.  I’ve got to share this with everyone.”  She said, “No, this was only for you.  It’s part of your job to get all the pieces where they belong so that the big picture is revealed to everyone.”  I was feeling a little disappointed as it all seemed so easy. I just wanted to show everyone the big picture.  I knew they would all understand if they could just see what I was seeing.  She said, “Everyone needs to be a part of this puzzle.  Every piece must understand how integral it is to the Whole.  Everyone on Earth needs to understand how they fit into the big picture.” 

Reluctantly, I took apart the puzzle and put all the pieces back in the box.  I heard something jingling at the bottom of the box and pulled out a key ring with four keys on it.  She said, “Those are your tools.  You are to awaken people to their unique contribution to the puzzle.  You must help people understand how important they are to the Whole, that no piece is any greater than another, that everyone has a reason for being here.” 

So then I started asking questions about people I personally knew and asking what purpose they served in the Whole.  She gave me some specific answers.  I asked her how I was to go about doing all of this.  She said, “Keep doing what you’re doing.  Appreciate what you can do and your own unique contribution to the Whole.  The piece of the puzzle that is You is complete and whole; you need only share it with the world.”  She showed me images of myself doing a workshop.  It felt like I was teaching.

She said, “People cannot see the big picture when they try to be something they are not, when what they share with others is not their true self, when fear and fear of judgment cause people to alter their frequency and project something other than what they truly are.  This does not serve to show people the Whole.  It fragments the puzzle when a piece wears a mask hiding its true identity.  When this happens, the picture is fuzzy, muddled, and inaccurate and people react to the Whole with an inaccurate understanding of its true nature.  Remind people of their unique contribution to the Whole, help them find the courage to be who they truly are, and reconnect them with Love.”

The last thing she said to me was, “When you realize that all that is required of you is to be yourself, you will find your life flows easily and steadily.  You will merge with the Whole, and your place in the big picture will be revealed.  Do not try to be another piece. You are who you are for a very specific reason. Embrace it, use your talent and skill, and show people the unique contribution you make to the Whole.”

When I woke from this dream I immediately came to my computer to write it down so I wouldn’t forget it.  It was a powerful dream for me.  I felt humbled, charged, and hopeful for humanity.  Let’s get busy putting this puzzle together, people!  Show the world your piece!

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Why I Deplore the Death Penalty
2. How to Stop Being Jealous
3. Can we learn new things in a lucid dream?
4. Dreams and Predicting Future Events
5. Who’s Responsible?
6. Dream Sharing
7. Do dreams of death mean I am going to die?

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.

***

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!

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Quick Answers to Quick Questions Part 2
2. More Quick Questions and Answers
3. Quick Answers to Quick Questions Part 3
4. Ask Erin: Quick Answers to Quick Questions
5. Quick Q&A on the Readings
6. Submit Questions for Channeling Session
7. Are guides always wiser than us?

Answer:  Most of the characters in your dreams are going to be constructs of your own subconscious mind.  There will be no other consciousness in your dream except you, so anyone else you see there is just a manifestation of your subconscious.

However, dreams are an excellent place to meet up with other conscious beings including your higher self, your spirit guides, angels, ascended masters, celestial beings, and even deceased relatives. You could also meet up with your friends in a dream, but this is extraordinarily rare as it is extremely difficult to sync up your dreams and brainwaves, and most people lack the skills necessary to share dreams with other sleeping people.

In my own experience, I have met up with deceased relatives who have passed on some information to me.  I’ve met with my spirit guides and higher self.  And I’ve experienced a shared dream (where me and a friend were both having the same dream on the same night and seeing the dream from our own perspectives) a few times with a few select people under some very unusual circumstances.  Like I said, that’s really rare.

If you are not lucid in your dream, chances are excellent that anyone else in there is a construct of your subconscious mind.  If you’re not lucid and there is another conscious being in your dream, you’ll never know it.

On a few occasions my dreams have also been invaded by conscious entities that were not friendly.  I repeat, not friendly!  I got the heck out of there as fast as I could.  They were crafty and well versed in the art of energy siphoning. If this paragraph causes you to back up, freak out, or decide I’m nuts, then you haven’t been experimenting enough on the dream plane.  Not that you necessarily should, mind you, but for those in the advanced class I wanted to mention it.

The dream plane is an in-between place.  Think of it like a launching pad to go exploring in many different directions.  Be mindful of who is in there with you.

Now, all that said, some people report having intense conversations with me in their dreams and people want to know if it’s my higher self they’re having the conversation with.  That is possible.  You could be having a dream with your friend in it and you feel like they are really there, but if your friend doesn’t remember the experience then you were probably with their higher self.  It depends on the situation and the dream and how lucid you were and how conscious the other person seemed, but it is possible to communicate with the higher self of a friend of yours.

Bottom line is this:  If you’re in a dream and you’re communicating with someone, it’s either a product of your subconscious mind, or you’re really communicating with them but if so they’ll remember the same dream the next day, or it’s their higher self.  Without being in the dream with you it would be hard for me to say which of the three you’re experiencing.  The clarity of the dream and communication and your level of lucidity are the best indicators of the reality of the conscious mind in there with you.  The only reliable way to know if it was really a friend is if he tells you the same dream the next day.

In the meantime, dream responsibly.  Learn lucid dreaming.  Stay conscious.  Be alert.  And don’t let unfriendlies suck at your energy.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Are dreams about deceased loved ones real?
2. Can we learn new things in a lucid dream?
3. Dreams and Predicting Future Events
4. Ask Erin: Can two people share a lucid dream?
5. How To Interpret Your Dreams
6. Do dead people know what I’m thinking?
7. Do dreams of death mean I am going to die?

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.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Guided Meditation as a Tool for Speaking with Spirit Guides
2. How often and in what way should I meditate?
3. How Should You Communicate With Your Spirit Guides?
4. Can you give psychic readings to your family and friends without bias?
5. How To Find the Light When You’re Drowning in the Dark
6. The Cosmic Connection
7. Remember To Give Thanks

Answer:  No it doesn’t mean he’s going to die.  If dreaming about future death was a sure sign of impending doom I’d have been dead at 16, 18, 24, and 26, and the apocolypse would have happened 20 times by now.  I’m not saying death dreams couldn’t be prophetic, just that it’s not likely.  It may sometimes seem as if the universe has a sick sense of humor, but notifying people of their own demise is not something the universe messes around with.  That would be cruel.

It’s hard to tell a prophetic dream from a fear dream sometimes.  I’ve had dreams where I’ve received a warning about something negative that was going to happen to me and it did in fact come true.  And I’ve had tons of dreams about visiting the future or witnessing my own death or the death of a loved one that haven’t come true at all.  It is certainly unnerving when you dream something horrible and it feels like a premonition.

So why do these dreams come to us if they’re not premonitions?  I think there are several possibilities.  First, maybe you’re getting information about a possible future to warn you to take different action to avoid the outcome shown to you.  Or perhaps you’re seeing an alternate reality where you do in fact die the way the dream shows you that you did.  Maybe it’s just a fear dream.  Maybe it’s just symbolic and needs interpreting.  The trick is not to let a death dream cause you to fear death, because then you’re giving your power to something outside yourself that you have no control over, and that can send you into a tailspin where you never leave the house.

When Steve and I were in New York in 2007 I had a dream one night that my son, Kyle, was floating face down in our swimming pool and my parents, who were watching him while we were away, didn’t see him.  In the dream I was screaming to them to notice he was in trouble but they couldn’t hear me.  In the dream I was frantic trying to get to him to help him so he wouldn’t drown and die.  I woke from that dream with my heart pounding and total fear in my mind.  I felt like something bad was going to happen to Kyle.  It was 6am New York time so it was only 3am back home in Vegas.  I decided to call my father when it was closer to 8am his time and warn him to keep Kyle away from the swimming pool.  But once we got going for the day I forgot to call my dad.  Around noon New York time my father called me and said, “Erin, do you have a doctor nearby?  Kyle was injured at school and they called and asked me to pick him up immediately and take him to a doctor.”  I said, “Oh my God, what happened?”  He said, “The kids were playing on the merry-go-round and Kyle was running alongside it when he tripped, fell, and rolled under the merry-go-round while it basically trampled all over him.  By the time the teachers got to him it was too late.  He apparently has a big bump on his head and a cut.”  Kyle turned out to be okay and recovered pretty quickly.  So…  he didn’t drown, but he was injured.  Was the dream a premonition and if so, why didn’t it show me him next to a merry-go-round?  I don’t know.

You can play the doom game if you want, but ultimately you don’t want dreams to rob you of your power and authority over your own life.  So my advice is to take them with a grain of salt.  If you dream that at 2pm you’re going to electrocute yourself in the bathtub, don’t get in the bathtub at 2pm.  Why tempt fate?  But unless the universe is going to give you a signed, notarized, detailed account of your fate, don’t worry about your future.  Live in the present.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Dreams and Predicting Future Events
2. Are dreams about deceased loved ones real?
3. How To Interpret Your Dreams
4. The After-Death
5. Why I Deplore the Death Penalty
6. New York City Meet Up Details
7. Have you ever foreseen your sitter’s death in a reading?

Answer:  Great question.  When you dream, you are entering your own mind’s subconscious construct.  Think of it like a matrix-like reality inside your head and you’re the programmer.  As such, all the people, places, and things you see in a dream are created by your own subconscious mind.  During normal, non-lucid dreams, you forget that you are dreaming.  You act in accordance with whatever is going on in the dream.  Yes, even though your own mind created the dream world, you go along with whatever is happening, even if you’re being chopped into little pieces by Freddy Krueger.

Now, when you are lucid in a dream (which means you are aware that you are dreaming) you are still in your own mind’s dream construct.  So all the people, places, and things you see there were created by your subconscious mind.  The difference between a normal, non-lucid dream and the lucid dream is that once you are lucid you are able to alter your dreamscape to suit your whims and desires.  Thus, you can snap your fingers and now Freddy Krueger isn’t chopping you into little pieces, instead he’s sitting in an armchair with a cup of tea and a Dickens novel.  But everything in the lucid dream is still a subset of your own mind.  If you can imagine it, you can create it.

Can you fly?  Yes, you can fly like Superman or put wings on your back and fly the way you think you would fly if you had wings.  But we can’t really know if what we’re experiencing is how it would feel in reality.

So to use your examples, if you lucidly created a Japanese teacher to come teach you Japanese, you would get what sounds like Japanese to you, but which would probably not be real Japanese since your subconscious and conscious minds don’t know Japanese.  If you flew to another country you would see what you think would be there.  There might be enough similarity in what you think is there and what is actually there to convince you that you really saw that country, but it would be coincidence.

For the vast majority of people, everything experienced in a dream, lucid or not, is going to contain a subset of what the dreamer already knows or believes. There’s nothing new under the sun. 

All hope is not lost, however.  Lucid dreaming does open a doorway.  It alters your energetic frequency.   If  you’ve developed your psychic abilities enough and you know how to change your frequency to detect other energetic beings, you could use your lucid dream landscape to hold a meeting of sorts between you and these other beings.  These other beings could then give you information you didn’t previously know, which is the same thing that happens when a psychic is awake and using her conscious mind to tune in to beings outside her mind’s construct.  Does that make sense?  If a psychic person can tune in to an outside mind while she is awake and have a conversation with that being, you can do the same thing in a lucid dream.  You just have to escape the dream construct to do it.   You have to make sure you keep your frequency high and don’t fall back into a non-lucid state.

One of the reasons deceased spirits come to us in our dreams is because energetically we’re meeting them halfway.  It’s much easier for them to get into our dreams than our waking life.  When you’re in the dream state you already expect weird and unusual things to happen.  You accept them easily while you’re dreaming.  So deceased spirits or guides can use that as an opportunity to try to reach you with messages.  Initiating the conversation yourself works too.  You can “call” to them and hopefully they will come.  No guarantees.  But you’d have to be lucid at the very minimum in order to make this call, otherwise you’re just making the call inside your own subconscious mind.

In summary, your dreams are a product of your own mind.  Everything in your dream came from your imagination.  But if you’re lucid, and can raise your vibration, and break out of the dreamscape, you can communicate and have interactions with real energetic beings that are not a product of your own mind.  Or you can learn to do that while awake, which is sometimes easier.

Obtaining consciousness inside your dreams is an excellent first step to being able to go outside your own mind and into a higher frequency.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Ask Erin: Does lucid dreaming interfere with waking life?
2. Enhancing Dream Recall
3. Astral Projection and Dreaming
4. Ask Erin: Can two people share a lucid dream?
5. Does Lucid Dreaming Lead to Astral Projection?
6. Playing in the Dream World
7. Is there any way to bring a dream back?

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.

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Ask Erin: Quick Answers to Quick Questions
2. More Quick Questions and Answers
3. Ask Erin: Does lucid dreaming interfere with waking life?
4. Quick Q&A on the Readings
5. Ask Erin: Can two people share a lucid dream?
6. Astral Projection and Dreaming
7. Astral Projection: The Basics Explained

I’ve had some crazy dreams in the past.  For example, one time I dreamed I was Eddie Murphy’s penis.  Yep, you read that right, I hope you didn’t spit your coffee onto your monitor.  I seriously had a dream that I was Eddie Murphy’s penis (oh the search engine traffic I’m going to collect with that lovely phrase!).  I peaked my head out of his underwear and had a look around.  That was it, then I mercifully woke up.  Another crazy dream was when I dreamed I was a sentient hamburger (with all the fixings no less!).  Yep, I was sitting on a lazy Susan-type device while someone was setting up lighting for a photo shoot.  I just sat there, feeling every part of my layers (meat, lettuce, special sauce, etc.) and just waiting for someone to take photos of me.

Until recently the dream that took the cake for crazy was that one night I went to sleep and dreamed I had insomnia!  I literally dreamed I couldn’t fall asleep.  When I woke from that dream I was flummoxed, but when I went back to sleep the dream picked up where it left off!  In fact, I kept dreaming I couldn’t sleep and then I’d wake up and realize I must have been sleeping.  Finally at around 5am I realized I wasn’t going to get any real sleep, so the next time I fell asleep I dreamed that I took a walk around the neighborhood until sunrise.  When I finally got up for real that day I felt like I hadn’t slept all night.  Try analyzing that one!

But recently my dreams have gone to another level entirely.  It started when I dreamed an entire episode of the tv show Supernatural.  I watched a complete brand new episode of the show in my dream.  The plot was so interesting I thought it would be a great idea for an actual episode.  I wanted to submit it to Eric Kripke (show creator) but my cousin, who is in the industry, told me there was no way he’d be interested.  I’m a huge fan of the show, for obvious reasons, and I often program dreams that include the Winchester boys and I out solving a mystery or hunting down something scary.  But now… now… it’s all different!

A few months ago I had my Supernatural episode dream but this time it came with commercial breaks and scenes to next week’s episode!  What the hell?  Now I’ve got sponsors in my dream?  I don’t believe I’m getting paid to watch commercials in my dream!  And yet it continues.  Apparently I signed some astral contract and now I get fresh episodes of Supernatural in my dreams plus commercials.  So far the scenes to next week’s episode haven’t actually come to pass.  If they did I think I might commit myself or pitch a series idea to Eric Kripke or the CW.  Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy dreaming entire episodes, but maybe I need to install an astral Tivo so I can fast forward through the commercials.   If anyone reading this knows Eric Kripke can you please tell him I’ve got a season’s worth of new episodes in my head?

Another weird thing going on in my dreams is that I’m doing intuitive reading sessions for strangers.  Full readings.  My guides give me a name and I tune in and do a reading.  Sometimes I see the sitter there and sometimes I don’t.  These aren’t quickie, one question readings either, they’re a full 30 minutes (or it feels that way in the dream).  A lot of information comes through.  And not just one client either, but sometimes as many as three clients in one dream session.  When I wake up I wonder, and hope, that somewhere there is a real person who received the info through their dream, considering the effort that was put into it. 

There are nights when I just want to sleep and not be so, oh what’s the word, involved in my dreaming.  I think I need to program a dream trip to Hawaii so I can lounge on the beach and sip a drink with one of those cute umbrellas (because it’s not tropical without an umbrella or some fruit hanging off the rim) just so I can relax a little.  You think you’re overworked?  Try doing hours of work in your dreams too!

Now lest you think I’m kavetching or whining about my lucid dreaming abilities, I do really love my nightlife and look forward to it every day.  I am just trying to fathom what’s going to happen next.  Should I be worried or excited?  Where will the next level take me?

© 2006-2011 by Erin Pavlina.

Related posts:

1. Enhancing Dream Recall
2. Dream Continuity: Picking up where you left off
3. Is there any way to bring a dream back?
4. Ask Erin: Does lucid dreaming interfere with waking life?
5. Ask Erin: Can two people share a lucid dream?
6. Dream Sharing
7. Meeting John Edward: A Dream Come True