Karen Harrison has an excellent book on activating your psychic gifts. Which I believe everyone has access to and this book most assuredly is a great way to explore our inner gifts. Getting into this subject is always fascinating and I hope you enjoy this interview. Presenting.
1. What was your prime motivation in creating the book The Everyday Psychic A Practical Guide to Activating Your Psychic Gifts?
I use my psychic gifts every day to help me make better decisions, to understand the underlying reasons that something is happening or has occurred and more. My husband and I own Isis Books, Gifts and Healing Oasis in the Denver, Colorado area which is a metaphysical store open since 1980. There is not a day that goes by that I don't meet someone who is interested in knowing more about psychic subjects but more times than not, they don’t think that they have the ability themselves. They believe that they need to consult a professional psychic to get the answers they are seeking. Of course, sometimes a person does need that outside, objective psychic session to get the clearest answers, but the majority of the time, if a person will simply go inward a bit and consult their own “inner voice” they will get the information that they need. Everyone is psychic—it just needs to be reawakened when a person hasn't used it or paid attention to their own intuitive hunches for a long time.
2. Could you share some ways to activate our psychic gifts with us?
One of the easiest ways to begin is to mentally “unplug” yourself for a short interval at different times during the day with the focused intention of listening to your inner intuitive voice. Turn off your cell phone, get off of the computer, shut off the television or radio. Quit distracting yourself and move your mind into a quieter, more introspective space. Ask yourself a question—it could be a question regarding a decision you need to make or it could be something more general like “what is the biggest challenge to my success?” Then simply stay in that quiet mode for a few minutes and allow your subconscious mind (which is where your psychic abilities reside) to give you the answer. You might get your answer right away while you are in that quiet space, you might receive your answer that night in a dream or it may come to you in a day or two when you are doing something mindless like weeding the garden. The point is to ask the question and stay receptive to the fact that you will receive your answer. Start doing this on a regular basis to open the dialogue with your psychic subconscious mind and you will find that, through use, you are strengthening your psychic inner voice and making a very positive difference in your life.
3. Do you think everyone has psychic abilities and that they can be awakened?
Absolutely. Just as we have our 5 basic physical senses, we were all born with psychic senses. Think about the things you have already experienced that involved one or more of your psychic senses. Every moment of your life, since the time you were an infant, you have used your more sensitive (although outwardly unacknowledged by most of the world) senses as you accessed situations and determined how you wanted to react to them. How did you know that that innocuous looking person at the bus stop was potentially dangerous? They may have appeared to look perfectly normal and calm at initial sight. But you might have unconsciously noted a certain look in their eye or felt a butterfly sensation in your stomach as you approached them. This unconscious (psychic) response alerted you to the fact that you needed to keep a closer eye on them or even keep on walking to stay away from the energy that they were transmitting and potential danger they might exhibit.
Why did you instinctually pause at the green light, even though your eyes did not at first detect the car hurtling around the corner to run the red light? Because you sensed a quickly shifting energy pattern and were fast enough to react to it on an unconscious (psychic) level. Your eyes could not detect the accelerating car because it was out of your line of sight around the corner but your psychic senses were on alert and aware on your behalf transmitting the unconscious information to your brain that you should not move forward.
We have all felt a slight prickling sensation at the back of our heads and turned around to see someone staring at us. We felt the energy of their focus on us and this subtle feeling prickled our conscious awareness and senses. These are all natural yet unconscious assessments of energy patterns that we encounter every day as we go about our mundane business. The trick is to use your more sensitive senses in a conscious way, acknowledging them and acting on them when they occur so that you can strengthen these senses by their use. In that way you can employ all of your senses, physical and subtle, to know what is going on around you at all times. Yes, some people are born with more active psychic gifts, just as some of us can sit down and play a piano without a lot of instruction. But with use, practice and deliberate exercising of our natural intuition and in-born psychic tools, all of us can utilize our psychic talents and abilities to enhance our lives. Being psychic is not extra-ordinary or mysterious—it is a natural state of being for everyone.
4. Would you get into contacting spirit and angel guides and share some of your wisdom on that?
A Spirit Guide is a teacher, healer or counselor who is in energy or spirit form. They are there simply to guide, not as an entity to whom you give your decision making power over to. A true Spirit Guide never tries to take control over or run the life of the person with whom they are connected. You always retain your free will to act or not act upon the guidance. A Guide cannot force you to do anything that you don’t want to do and in no way will try to dominate, intimidate or control you. Working with a Guide does not free you from the responsibility of your decisions and actions and the Guide is not the responsible party if you make the wrong decision—you determine what actions you will take as your steer your way through your life. Guides will help to lead you in the right direction but ultimately the decision still lies with you. If a Spirit Guide has a negative influence on your behavior or if you feel that they try to compel you to follow their directives, then the chances are good that it's not a Spirit Guide at all but what is called a “lower astral entity form.” Guides are there to offer you help, protect you, watch over you and guide you in your life’s path, not control or manipulate you.
Angelic Guides are another form of Guide and are particularly prevalent in the western world with its rich history of Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious traditions. Guides will come to people in the form that the individual who is being guided will respond to the most openly and for the people who follow those spiritual paths, the Guides come in the form of Angels. Some people call an Angel Guide their Guardian Angel. The word Angel comes from the Greek word angelos, meaning messenger; envoy or announcer. In Hebrew the name for Angel is mal’ach, meaning messenger. Angels are a benevolent celestial energy being who acts as an intermediary or messenger between Divine Spirit, the heavens, the universe and the earth and those physical beings (plants, animals, humans) who populate the earth. They also interact with the elements of the earth—water, air, fire, soil in an effect to keep all things balanced. The concept of angelic messages, protection and intervention is an ancient one and has been noted widely within the liturgy of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Angels, their messages and their help are an important source of wisdom, guidance and comfort.
While Angels tend to be depicted in western art in the image of a human figure with a halo and wings, this image is a human representation of the angelic energy form for the convenience of the human mind. When interacting with an Angel, you may see him or her in this traditional humanized western form—and seeing an angel as a him or her is a human construct, too—angels do not really have a gender identity. But there are several other ways that the angelic presence can be presented to you as you experience the angelic contact. You may perceive a vision of coalescing swirling light which is a visual manifestation of the energy of their form; you may see a simple human figure; you may perceive a human form with wings and a halo or you may see a radiating orb of light which is suspended in the air. The form that the Angel takes will depend on what form the Angelic presence thinks that you will respond the most easily to—the form it believes you will be able to relate to the best.
People experience this angelic presence as a guardian spirit or a guiding influence. Like any other Guide, they cannot compel you to do anything. They will give you advice, healing, signs to convey their presence, protection and direction, but as with all Guides, you always use your own free will when you decide to utilize their guidance or not. In contacting a Guide, the first step is to simply ask for guidance and then remain quiet and focused in order to receive the help that you need.
5. What about Psychic dreaming? I like barely ever remember any of my dreams it seems like or don't have any at all sometimes it feels like. Why do you think that is?
A couple of things you might try to help you remember your dreams would be to avoid alcohol in the evening and to take 25 to 100mg of zinc daily. Alcohol dulls the subconscious mind just as it dulls the conscious mind and can make your sleep time fitful. You might not be able to go deeply enough into the sleep state to have any dreams. Zinc helps brain neural function and enhances memory both during sleep and while awake. When you go to bed, you should also tell yourself with intention that you will remember your dreams the next morning, then, before you get up and start getting ready for the day, lay in a relaxed state in bed for a few minutes and let any memories float up to the surface of your mind. Stay relaxed, don't try to force it or you will get in your own way.
Developing your skills in remembering your dreams and in dream interpretation can help you to discover the hidden messages that you receive as you sleep, giving you insight and guidance into what is happening within you and your soul at deeper levels. Remembering your dreams and interpreting the events and symbols that you experience within them will help you to comprehend the psychic nudges you are privy to in your sleep and give you information about things within yourself that you may want to change or pay particular attention to as you work to make events in your life better or to enhance the opportunities that are waiting at your doorstep.
6. How would you go about accessing your past lives exactly? I think I have some pretty odd ones.
You could visit a hypnotherapist for a past life regression, but you can do it yourself as well. One simple method that I like I call the Past Life Mirror Technique. You want to do this in a semi-darkened room using a light dimmer-switch to set the light levels or using candles for subdued light. Set up a table that is large enough that you can sit at it in a chair and with enough surface area to set a mirror on a stand plus a journal and writing utensil or a tape recorder. Set the standing mirror in the center of the table at enough distance from you so you can look into the mirror easily while keeping your body relaxed. If you use candles, they should be to the sides of the mirror and a few inches behind it so that they do not reflect into the mirror. Place your journal within reach or if you are using a tape recorder, make sure that the tape is positioned to record and set it on pause.
Now gazing at your face in the mirror, let your eyes un-focus slightly, placing their gaze in the center of your face's reflection in the mirror but not concentrating on any one facial feature. After a very short while (so long as you stay mentally and physically relaxed) you will find that the face in the mirror begins to morph, to change sometimes just slightly, sometimes dramatically. You may notice the hair around the face is different as well or has a hat, garland or crown on it. You may also notice that the new face in the mirror is a different gender, culture or age than you are currently.
As you see your face changing do not allow yourself to shock your consciousness back to a normal beta-state of consciousness by being surprised. Just relax into the changes and ask yourself, either silently or out loud, “what is the name?” Continue asking questions regarding place, time, relatives, the karmic lesson to be learned from this life, etc. You may find that during one session your face may change several times or it may stay with just the first change. If you have several changes, with each change, ask the questions to get information about the identity, place and time of each face. When the face in the mirror changes back to the one you have in this life or you become tired, begin writing down all of your impressions and the answers to your questions if your are journaling to record the experience.
7. What can you share with us about automatic writing? I definitely have experienced automatic writing of sorts when writing poetry. Is this the same as channeling?
Yes, to me automatic writing uses the same process as channeling. I would guess that most people who write (or draw, paint or compose music) sometimes have the experience of being guided while they create.
Automatic writing (also known as psychography) is a form of mediumship whereby writings are produced while the practitioner is a light trance state, having deliberately set aside their conscious, linear mind. Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer, but from a deeper source within or a spiritual source outside of the individual.
There are varying opinions about how this process takes place. Some people feel that automatic writing comes out of the subconscious mind of the writer as they purposeflly allow their their Higher Self to communicate freely without the ‘critic’ in the conscious mind impeding the process. Other people explain the experience of automatic writing as a process in which the writing comes from a spiritual source such as a Spirit Guide, a person who has passed away or an angelic presence.without the conscious awareness or interference by the writer. In my experience it can be both. Automatic writing can be done with the assistance of Spirit to receive messages, information and inspiration, but can also often be used to directly access the subconsicous mind of an individual to retreive answers and memorias from deep within. If you have done any writing, drawing or music composition, you have likely experienced this process when you have allowed yourself to move into the flow of creative energy and let the information, images or sequence of musical notes give voice to themselves through the medium of your hands and your subsconsious mind. Your fingers fly over the computer keyboard, the paper or the musical instrument under their own volision and you find yourself astonished at the craft of your work.
8. What about psychic energy in objects and why would you want to access this energy?
Whenever we physically interact with anything by wearing it, writing with it, carrying it with us or using the thing to help us accomplish any work or creative project, we leave a bit of psychic energy residue behind within the energy of that thing. Objects within a home are infused with the owner’s energy, too—furniture, art objects, kitchen utensils. It is the continued use, being in the presence of a person or the wearing of an object that imprints energy patterns within the auric field of the object. The analysis of the psychometric energy flavors in a psychic reading acts as an aid to the psychic, helping him or her tune into their client more clearly by creating a smooth energy link while utilizing the thing as an “object link.” This type of reading is called “psychometry.” While a psychic may choose to simply receive random information while handling the object that is connected with an individual or place, specific questions can be asked during a psychometric session as well, and the energy impressions picked up by the psychic will give information and answers to those questions. These questions can be simple “yes” or “no” questions or be broader in scope.
9. How about animal communication and animal psychic energy. Do you have any stories or experiences to share with that with us as examples?
Being able to psychically communicate with animals is a useful skill. You may wish to find out why your animal friend is engaging in annoying behavioral issues and what those issues are linked to. You may wish to understand their health problems and the underlying cause and foundation of the illness. Maybe a pet is very sick or badly injured, and a decision has to be made to decide whether to have it euthanized or if medical treatment should be employed to bring the animal back to health. Sometimes when working with an older animal who has been sick for a long time, we need to know what they would like us to do—let them continue working on healing their illness with the help of a trusted vet while they are still in body? Or do they actually want our help to make a gentle passing out of the compromised body their soul is currently residing within?
One story involving an animal that I worked with psychically is about Maxine, a decidedly eccentric seal-point Siamese cat. I was the only person she seemed to like or put up with, and she was quite cantankerous, but we were very close for the 19 years we lived together. In the last year of Max’s life, she developed a tumor in her nasal passage under one eye, but until the end, she continued to eat well, continued to saunter to the different places in the house that she liked to perch and was her prickly, yet affectionate self. The last few months of that year, however, as the tumor grew and she became less comfortable, I consulted with her psychically regarding her quality of life. I wanted to know how she felt about staying on in her body - did she just want to face each day gradually losing her strength until she passed, or did she prefer to just move on out of her failing body now?
At first she was willing to just take her daily life more slowly, sleeping more and being less agile, but during the weeks before she let me know it was time for her to pass, she became blind in the eye above the tumor and even though she was still eating well, she was really just hair, skin and bones. One afternoon as I sat with Maxine in my lap, grooming her and giving her little tidbit treats, she looked up at me and held my gaze intently. She then closed her eyes in a very deliberate fashion and as she laid her head down in my lap, I knew that she was telling me that she was ready to go and it was time.
I made an appointment for the next day with her veterinarian to have her euthanized. When the morning came, Max was waiting by the cat carrier for her trip and, very unusual for her previous trips to the vet, she made no protest when I put her in the carrier.
Before that morning, any experiences with the cat carrier involved yowling protests and lots of claws, but not this day. When we arrived at the vet’s office, I held her in my arms for a few minutes, talking to her and sending her mental images of a warm, open meadow where she could enjoy chasing birds, mice and butterflies. The vet came in quietly and, massaging the scruff of her neck to find a vein, he injected her with a drug to put her to sleep, forever. Her right paw contracted on my hand as she squeezed me in thanks, then all of her muscles relaxed. With a long, deep sigh, Maxine left her body. I could feel her relief and knew we had done the right thing. Over the next few years, Maxine would periodically come to visit and I would see her out of the corner of my eye, or hear her yowl from another room in the house. She was letting me know that she was ok and still feeling connected to me. It was very comforting.
10. Could you share an exercise from your book with us to help us activate our psychic abilities? Also what is on the horizon next for you book or project wise and any links you would like to share? Thank you.
A key ingredient to using psychic awareness is being able to get into a focused, introspective state. Starting a simple daily meditation practice is the foundation to psychic work. Try this easy 5 Minute Meditation Exercise: sit or lie in a comfortable position. Begin by focusing your attention solely on your breath. Pay attention to your breath as you inhale. Feel the air entering your body, filling your lungs and let your body begin to relax. Then focus on your breath as you exhale that air. Feel it leaving your lungs and your body relaxing even further. Now, breathing in slowly through your nose, hold your breath softly for four counts. Breathe out slowly through your mouth. Hold your breath for four counts, then slowly breathe in again. Do this simple exercise for five minutes (I’d suggest putting on a timer so that you don’t keep looking at your watch, thereby un-focusing yourself). If you succeed in paying attention only to your breath, you have just meditated for five minutes. Do this exercise twice a day for two days. You don’t need to make a big production out of it, but you do need to meditate on your breath at least twice a day. After you have done this exercise a few times a day for a week, you will know in your body what it feels like to be relaxed, you will know how it feels to be relaxed in your mind and you will have the ability as you begin a focused breath to instantaneously enter a state of psychic awareness. From this point forward you can play with any type of psychic awareness that appeals to you—psychic dreaming, contacting a Spirit Guide, past life recall, whatever.
I am working on several projects right now. A book on using the Tarot; one designed for entrepreneurs and business owners who want to use psychic techniques to bring success and prosperity to their businesses and a book I’m tentatively calling The Sacred Earth Path. As always, I also enjoy working with the wonderful folks who visit me at my store, Isis. Among the many things I do there is create magickal blends in the form of incense and blended essential oils, a passion of mine. People are always welcome to visit Isis on the web at www.isisbooks.com if they don't live in the Denver area. We have a great website where you can get books and other things for your own practice as well as read lots of informative free articles. Folks can also go to www.karen-harrison.com where I blog semi-regularly.
Published and can be purchased at Weiser Books.
Jeffery Pritchett is the host of The Church Of Mabus Show bringing you high strange stories from professionals in the carousel of fields surrounding the paranormal.
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