Religious Fears

I receive about 3 - 5 emails each week asking me the same question:  How can I be religious and psychic at the same time?  Doesn't the bible say that mediums are evil?

I always try to take my time responding to these emails because I, too, grappled with the same questions.  Does the bible warn people away from "sorcerers" and their ilk?  Yes, of course it does. And for good reason too.  First, the church authorities wanted people coming to them for advice and help, not some lady who also claimed to be a healer.  Second, they wanted to protect their flock.  Not all people who claimed to talk to the dead and see the future were of the light.  There are still thousands of frauds, fakes and charlatans out there.  And in those early years after Christ died when the books of the bible were being put together, people were so superstitious, so ready to believe, that it would have been very dangerous indeed to encourage that behavior.

None of us follows everything in the bible.  Most of us can't even follow the 10 Commandments.  I lie all the time.  My husband just spent an afternoon installing a hideous new LED light fixture in our kitchen.  It's so bright, my daughters are pretending our kitchen is a pretend stage.  But did I tell him how much I hated it?  No.  I didn't want to hurt his feelings or discourage him from finishing everything else on the "Honey Do" list.  So I lied.  "It looks great.  Thanks for fixing that!"

I covet things all the time.  My neighbor just bought an amazingly gorgeous new car, and I totally covet that thing.  My friend is always wearing the latest, coolest, newest trend and I definitely covet her wardrobe and get a lot of good ideas from her too!

Read Leviticus.  We break rules in the bible all the time.  Men shave, we eat pork, we don't stone people anymore.  Learn your bible, study your history before taking giant leaps in judgement out of fear.

When I spoke to our former priest about what I did, all he asked me was this: "Are you keeping God at the center of your work?"

And I said, "Yes!  God's the only reason I'm doing this work."

My priest said, "Then you're okay."

I pray in and I pray out of each reading always asking God to guide my words, acts, thoughts and deeds.

Is this work dangerous?  Potentially.  Every work is dangerous though.  I was more scared teaching most days than I ever am when talking to spirits :)

If you're negative, if you let your ego take over, if you make this work all about you, if you're mean and enjoy the power of "knowing" things that aren't any of your business, if you gossip about things you intuit, if you take advantage by charging exorbitant fees, if you talk about your clients to other people, then yes, this work can be dangerous because that negative energy would attract negative spirits.

But if you're a lightworker, if you always keep this work about God and not you, if you honor this work, maintain strict confidentiality and never take pride in the messages, then you'll be safe.  Like I said, "Pray in and pray out."

Neighborly Ghosts

A couple of weeks ago, I came home and discovered my answering machine blinking with a message.  When I pressed it, all I heard was static for a moment and then a scary voice yelled, "HELP!"  Then nothing.  Click.

Last week as my husband and I were about to fall asleep, we heard a loud noise coming from the living room as though someone were playing a computer game.  We rushed toward the direction of the sound and finally found my children's laptop which had been pushed under a chair in the living room.  The cord was unplugged and wrapped around it.  When my husband unwound the cord and opened the laptop, we turned the loud computer game off and pressed the power off button.  Spooky.

I told my next door neighbor about this, and she said, "That's weird.  The other night my husband and I had just gone to bed and we have a ceiling fan above our bed.  The fan works, but the lights never have.  This night, just as we turned out the lights to go to bed, the ceiling fan lights turn on. It was weird."

I said, "What night was this?"

She said, "Thursday."

"That's when our computer went off.  It happened just after midnight."

She said, "I don't know what time it was.  I'll ask my husband."

The next day, we were all outside watching our kids play, and she asked her husband what time the weird thing with the lights happened and he said, "Midnight.  I remember looking at the clock just as the lights went on."

Double spooky.

When my clients email me with similar tales and ask me who it was, I always have the same reply.  "Close your eyes.  Who's the first person who comes to mind?" Usually, people will think of their deceased grandmother, an uncle who just passed, a friend they haven't thought in awhile who's on the other side.  And I'll tell them, "It's just their way of saying hello."  But this time, when I closed my eyes and tried to focus on who this was, I saw nothing.

Who knows?  Maybe the veil that gets thinner right around Halloween is already thinning out.  All I know, is I'm putting up extra protection of white light around my family, me and my home.  Oh, and my neighbors too!

Manifesting Through Action

I received an email from a woman who's been unemployed for over a year.  She said she's been applying all the principles of manifesting and trying to use the law of attraction to attract a new job, but no job.  This is a frustrating experience, but the woman said she's only applying for jobs that are similar in compensation to her previous job.  This is limited thinking.  If you put out limited thinking, you're going to get limited thinking in return.

This is a crappy economy, but it doesn't mean the law of attraction can't work for you.  When I finished school, I remember my dad said, "Send out 100 resumes."  I said, "But there aren't 100 teaching jobs out there in this whole state."  But he explained that if I put the energy out there to one and all, I'd receive a job.  And he was right!  I received two job offers that summer.

When I moved to a different state, however, the situation wasn't as positive, and teaching jobs were very difficult to come by.  So I wrote for our city's newspaper and waitressed at my sister's restaurant at night.  Within a year, I had the teaching job I'd always wanted.

On summers off, if I couldn't find a job, I'd create one.  One summer, I baked cookies for local coffee shops.  I printed out business cards that read The Cookie Lady, received approval from the health department, and baked up boxes of cookies for area coffee shops to try.  Within a week, I had contracts with three coffee shops.  Another summer, I tutored students and did freelance writing.  One summer I assisted a real estate magazine editor.

Ask a teacher about summer jobs, and you'll get a lot of funny stories.  One of my friends had the grand job of gluing bows on bras at a local factory.  Another teacher friend of mine sewed costumes for pets.  Where there's a will, there's a way.  Put the energy out there and it will come back to you.

The law of attraction works like karma.  Whatever you put out -- in thought, act or deed -- comes back to you threefold.  If you're always complaining, gossiping and whining, guess what you're going to receive?  If you believe the economy will keep you from making more money, you're sending out a literal instruction to the universe that reads: I'm not ready to receive.

If you want a job, a relationship, a new health regimen, take actions in that direction.  And throughout, don't forget to give abundantly and with confidence in little and small ways.  Soon, you'll be receiving that job or relationship of your dreams.

Here's what 20th century mystic Flower Newhouse had to say about the law of attraction:

"Supply is related to giving.  We give something -- labor, time, unselfish love, or moral assistance -- and the great law of compensation repays us with the Good we have earned and we must give more of ourselves to the world's need.  To master unemployment, we should examine ourselves to see where in the past we have worked grudgingly.  Steadiness of work shall be ours to the degree that we give service willingly and in love of God."

And since today is the feast day of St. Therese the Little Flower, it's fitting to mention that we can give back in small ways such as a smile to a stranger, returning a cart we find left in the parking lot, calling a friend who's having a tough week and just listening, giving a nice waitperson an extra tip.  Be creative and discover the small and large ways you can give to the circle of abundance.  Before you know it, you'll be receiving not only a job but a better appreciation for your life.