Introduction to Spirits: Level Two

In Introduction to Spirits: Level 1 we laid a foundation and now it's time to build on it. Let's start with learning how to talk to Spirits.

I wish this were straightforward and 100% foolproof, but it's just not. I wish I had a good explanation for why it's especially challenging, but I just have lots of theories about how I think it all works. Maybe you have theories, too. We don't know what we don't know. One day we are all sure to find out, that much is a certainty. But today I'm OK not having all the answers. We can focus instead on what works when it comes to communicating with Spirits and less so on the how of it.

There's definitely an element of trial and error when it comes to what works and what doesn't. And there's no good rhyme or reason. Spirit communication works differently for each person, and even each Spirit. Sometimes what works today isn't what works next week or even tomorrow. Patience and perseverance are key.

You might be one of the lucky ones who is already sensitive to Spirits or has developed this part of your Spiritual practice. Seeing, hearing or otherwise sensing Spirits might come easily to you. Perhaps you sense them when you do divination. Maybe they speak to you through cards, runes, or a scrying mirror. Others might receive messages or converse with Spirts in dream space, astral space, or when meditating or journeying. If you already have had success with a particular method, keep using it and build that connection until you feel ready to try something new. It's always OK to experiment and add new skills to your practice.

In the next several lessons, we're going to explore many ways Spirits communicate with us and ways we communicate with them. Are you ready?

But First…

Divination is a clear winner when it comes to sussing out answers and information to Spiritual matters. There's so many kinds to choose from, I mean, this is real kid in a candy store energy!! Divination comes through when you aren't quite sure of what your intuition is saying, when you don't feel ready to fully rely on your psychic abilities, or when you are just plain second-guessing yourself.

If you haven't taken the time to learn or practice at least one kind of divination, I urge you to start. It's totally worth it. I promise. Yes, it's work and takes practice. Divination is a life-long journey that you continue getting better at and learning from. It's magickal, exciting and did I mention all the choices you have??!

When I teach divination, I teach that the information largely comes directly from you- not some outside force like a Spirit. THIS is one of the exceptions, though.

The fundamentals are basically the same. When we ask, 'Is there anyone here with me right now?' and we draw a card that has a message for us, that, in my belief, it's not the Spirit controlling our thoughts or hands or even the cards. It's that the Spirit is communicating with our subconscious or Higher Self (whatever way you prefer to think of it) directly, and our subconscious translates that information in a way that we can sense or understand by directing our body to choose the card or move the pendulum or 'see' in the shiny surface what is being conveyed.

One benefit of using divination for Spirit communication is it has built-in checks and balances. If you receive a Spirit's message but have doubts about what you think you heard or received, you can check in with your divination method, like your Tarot cards, for example, for accuracy or confirmation.

With most tools, all that is required for you to communicate through them is to ask the Spirit in question to contact you via that tool. Ask if they are willing to communicate with you that way and then cast your divination. If what turns up doesn't make sense or is a solid “no” then try another method.

So which tools are best for Spirit communication?

Tarot

Tarot and Oracle cards are a great way to get insight into your subconscious and higher self.

This kind of divination uses the subconscious / higher self language of symbolism and archetypes which makes it ideal for both simple and complex questions and storytelling. They can also allow information to come through that we have filtered out or blocked.

Tarot can be used to answer very basic 'yes' and 'no' questions, but I rarely think this is the most effective or reliable way to use the Tarot.

When you want a Spirit to engage with you and speak through the language of the cards, you might find it easier to speak to a familiar Spirit, like an Ancestor or Guide. That's because the symbolism and language Tarot and Oracles rely on is very personal to you. The associations and biases you have would be familiar to most any Spirit with whom you worked closely and had a strong relationship.

An unfamiliar Spirit or a Spirit you just started working with would not yet know that short hand or inner dictionary, and wouldn't communicate in a way that made sense using Tarot.

Take any two Tarot readers with identical Tarot decks and they will each have a different interpretation for each card. They each draw on their own symbol dictionary and archetypal library to read. One reader may read a red card as passion, lust, and sex, while the other may say it's about rage, violence or death. They are certainly both true! Imagine a Spirit trying to communicate through symbols and archetypes when they may be using different definitions and associations than you. Think of how much might get lost in translation. Again, ironically, our familiar Spirits that we already work with can actually serve as mediators and go-betweens when a new Spirit enters the picture, helping translate and ensure we take away the correct message.

Pendulums

I advocate for every Witch to master using the Pendulum if they can help it. It's possibly the easiest and most direct form of divination in the toolbox. Its instant gratification and quick learning curve makes it a favorite among Witches, especially new ones. Pendulums are known for their to-the-point yes, no, maybe answers, but they are capable of more complex readings.

Like many forms of divination, the real skill in getting dependable, solid answers is the quality of the questions being asked and mindset of the user.

I feel like In my opinion, the Pendulum is one of the worst tools you can use to communicate with a new Spirit. Far too much is depending on your ability to stay objective and discerning.

Unless you have mastered self-control and mindfulness, you are just not going to get consistent, truthful or meaningful answers. I can't say how often someone comes to me scared and needing advice because they used a pendulum to ask a Spirit's name and the name was something like S-A-T-A-N. I would laugh in their face if I didn't se they were really, truly afraid they were being targeted by the devil. If you have even a small amount of fear, insecurity, or nervousness, or if you have preconceptions about this or any Spirit, the Pendulum will fail you and give you false reads as a tool for Spirit contact.

Scrying

If you tend to be a visual diviner, scrying may be a good way to see or communicate with a Spirit. Just like in our tarot, symbols play a big role in scrying where the images you receive are not always literal. You'll need to know your way around the scrying tool being used to have the skill to decipher what you see.

If you scare easily, this is also not the tool for you. Some images can be frightening or confusing when scrying even without the presence of a Spiritual entity trying to chat you up.

SPIRIT BOARDS / OUIJA BOARDS

Spirit boards and Ouija boards are one and the same. Spirit boards are not different, though they may be designed slightly differently than your traditional ouija board. Both use the same techniques and both work equally well.

I will not use this space to address all the absurd myths out there about this tool. Don't believe all that hyped up mess, Powerful Ones. Suffice it to say that it is my position that Spirit boards are not even a little bit 'evil', don't attract 'demons' or 'evil Spirits', and are by my standards, completely safe, or at least no more dangerous than Tarot, crystal grids or tea leaf reading.

I have used them many, many times, and I have never accidentally opened a portal to Hell in my living room. Think of a Spirit board as an advanced form of the Pendulum. The Spirit board gets a bad rap, having suffered (and survived!) through the Satanic Panic and an aggressive smear-campaign of misinformation brought by Evangelical Christians and New Agers alike. I'm really not here for it.

Just like with all divination tools, your state of mind, expectations and preconceptions all play a role in the reliability and quality of your answers. If you go into it afraid and assuming the worst will happen, you are going to project that outcome. This is where paranoia and delusions can creep in, even for the well-intentioned.

Advice on Using a Spirit Board

1. First rule of Spirit Board use- know who TF you want to speak to. Remember when you were a kid and opened the phone book and randomly dialed someone and they answered? Yeah... Don't do that.

Sooo. Don't crank call folks you don't know. That's 1.

2. Second, when you leave it to chance on who's going to pick up that Spirit phone, it's most likely going to be like when you're home bored and calling all your friends but no one's picking up because they're all out having a good time, and you get to the bottom of the list where all the least fun people are and one of them picks up, and now you are stuck talking to them on your Friday night, and it's gone be real awkward for everybody present.

3. Three, basic Spiritual protocol requires you set up a boundary for that Spiritual energy. If you like circles, set one up beforehand and cleanse afterwards. Alternately you can set up protective wards or Spirit traps for anyone who wants to linger or challenge your boundaries. I promise the majority of Spirits are happy to leave when asked.

4. Spiritual etiquette should be maintained if you do make contact. Treat it like meeting a stranger on the internet- keep your private details private. The Spirit doesn't need to know your government name or your Spiritual/Magickal name if you use one. Not when you first meet. The Spirit doesn't need to know the names and DOB of all your family members, where you went to high school, what your mother's maiden name is... you get it.

5. Spirit boards can be fun, and they can be awesome tools for establishing a point of contact, but they also can be painfully tedious if you are trying to have a real, in-depth conversation with a Spirit this way. Keep it short and use it like you might a singles chat- quick introduction, what brings you here, agree to try to connect again later (or not). I have personally found Spirits do not use complete sentences or fully spelled words. It's like reading a teen's text message and it takes a little decoding to work through.

Suggested questions to ask a new Spirit:

1. Do you have a name? / How do you spell it? / What would you like me to call you?

2. Do you have a message for me? / Is there information you want to share with me?

When you have asked a couple questions or if the communication stops, don't get too greedy. Thank them and release them. Write down your results. I recommend holding space just for one Spirit presence or contact per attempt. Less is more.

Of course you can direct dial familiar Spirits using a Spirit board and have great success, however the reality of the slow way of communication letter by freaking letter is its own frustration and barrier. For this reason, my experience is that Spirit boards are most suitable for quick check-ins, establishing contact, or very short communications. Use other methods and tools for lengthier or more complex conversations.

Also, since Spirits seem to prefer language that is more symbolic than literary, you might find even some familiar Spirits simply will not come through the Spirit board, even if you regularly visit with them without the board.

Psychic Abilities

PSYCHIC SENSES & ABILITIES

I listed several ways to communicate with Spirits using divination. Not all are ideal for all types of Spirits or stypes of Spirit communication, but they can certainly get the job done.

Psychic senses are another way to detect a Spiritual presence and communicate with them.

This works well for anyone who already has a well developed psychic talent. The good news is that everyone has psychic abilities and you can improve them over time.

Just like with divination, there are multiple kinds of psychic ability. Not all are well suited for Spirit work so I'll focus primarily on the ones that are.

When you mention the word Spirit, you probably get an immediate mental image of what a Spirit looks like. Most people think Spirits will just materialize as soon as they are summoned and they will be visually evident in some way. While you might expect to see or hear a Spirit, the reality is you are more likely to detect them with your internal psychic senses.

In the beginning of Spirit work, it will be natural to question yourself and wonder if what you are sensing or seeing is all in your head. This questioning really never goes away, and I consider this to be necessary, healthy skepticism. If we can't at least admit to ourselves that it all might be our imagination, we're doomed. As Witches, discernment is a vital skill to possess. Learning to distinguish reality from fantasy is part of the magickal journey, and a Witch's psychic skills includes learning to distinguish between what is psychic information in the mind's eye, and what are independent thoughts and images. Never stop that process of evaluating and adjusting to keep yourself grounded in what's real.

Many of us have one or two psychic abilities we come by naturally. Perhaps we were born that way, or maybe we were exposed to just the right environment, experiences or stimuli as children that helped us develop those skills unintentionally.

If you already know you're good at something, start with that and build on it. If you aren't sure, check out the list below and see if any of those resonate for you.

'I don't think I have any psychic ability'. I know it may seem like that for some of you, but I promise it's not true. We all have psychic ability, including all the ones listed below, but our brains filter it out and if we aren't looking for it or know how to develop it, we may not realize it's there. All you need is practice.

Clairvoyance "Clear Seeing"

You may see things actually manifest physically. Most, however, just see images in their head almost like a movie playing in their mind.

This is when visions past, present and future flash through our mind's eye, or third eye, much like a daydream. Many of us are highly visual and able to understand an idea best when we see it written or sketched out as an image on a computer screen or on a canvas.

• How to develop clairvoyance:

Be on the lookout for images that pop into your mind out of the blue—they may be intuitive messages. My clairaudience was once my strongest psychic ability early on, and clairvoyance only came along years later. So be patient: Your intuition can grow dramatically over time.

Claircognizant "Clear Knowing"

You just have a knowing about things. For many strong in this gift it feels like knowledge pours into the top of their heads.

This is when we have knowledge of people or events that we would not normally have knowledge about. Spirit impresses us with truths that simply pop into our minds from out of nowhere. An example of this would be a premonition: a forewarning of something that will happen in the future. Claircognizance requires tremendous trust in Spirit because there's often no practical explanation for why we suddenly "know" something.

• How to develop claircognizance:

The next time you are trying to figure something out and your logical brain is stumped—whether it’s your boss’ motivations or the quickest way to get your afternoon errands accomplished—silently ask your intuition to give you the answer through claircognizance.

Your intuition is always listening and could have some amazing answers for you. However, as with all psychic information we receive, proceed with caution- rash decisions are rarely to your benefit. Maybe your psychic answer said your boss was not being genuine- how does that affect you? What does that change for you? What steps can you take to corroborate that information without burning bridges or causing problems for yourself? I suggest laying down your own rules to follow, like a rule of 3- if you can confirm the information you received psychically with 2 or 3 other credible, non-related sources, you can add it to your accurate or confirmed column and possibly act on it.

Clairaudience "Clear Hearing"

You will hear them either audibly or inside your head almost like it's your own voice.

This is when we hear words, sounds or music in our own mind's voice. On rare occasions, Spirit may be able to create audible sound, though this takes a tremendous amount of focused energy. Some of us best retain and comprehend information when we hear it spoken aloud.

• How to develop clairaudience:

Close your eyes and relax. Set the intention to strengthen your intuitive hearing. Tune in and focus on the little sounds that you don’t normally pay attention to... What do you hear?

Try this exercise in several locations; the more you can stretch your hearing, the better. What do you hear on your right? Your left? All around you?

Clairsentient "Clear Feeling"

These are the feelers, the empaths.

This entails feeling a person's or Spirit's emotions or feeling another's physical pain. Many of us are clairsentient without consciously being aware of it. When we get a strong "gut" feeling, positive or negative, about someone we just met or when we get the "chills" for no apparent reason, we may be tuning into the emotional energy of a person or a Spirit around us. When we are highly sensitive and are in tune with not only our own feelings, but also the feelings of others, this makes us natural healers and caregivers.

• How to develop clairsentience:

Whenever you get a strong intuitive feeling about something, write it down in a journal. Over the next weeks or months, you will realize how many clairsentient messages you get from your intuition. Beginning to recognize these messages will help you pick up on more of them. Take it further by fact-checking your messages! Which ones panned out, which ones didn't? How accurate were they? Keep going and over time see if these numbers improve.

Pick one and start a regular meditation or practice of 5 minutes every day. Give it a full 30 days. If after that you decide that's not a good one for you, that's OK, you can move on and choose another. Rinse and repeat. It takes time not just to know what we're good at or what resonates for us, but also what doesn't. Stay patient and don't give up. You will see results after a while and if you keep a journal it will be easier to see how you progress on your journey.

When we talk about working with Spirits, we are talking about mediumship. Channeling on the other hand is the notion that a Spirit briefly takes possession of your body so they can more easily access and take advantage of your senses and use those to interact with this plane of existence. Since this places our Spirit, Soul or Body in the position of submission, giving up our agency, our sovereignty, vulnerable to manipulation, control and abuse, I refuse to buy into such an enormously disempowering belief system.

On top of that, virtually all channeled information is subjective, mystical and completely unverifiable (as are many medium-derived messages delivered by a third party, such as a professional 'psychic' or medium who has zero relationship with the Spirit they are passing along messages from - more on that later my pretties), often including themes of universal love, messages from God, cosmic unity, and so on. Channeling is a very New Age concept and ya'll KNOW how I feel about those biznitches.

I believe most if not all people who claim to be channels are frauds in that they are not actually being possessed by an entity. I also believe some channels sincerely believe that is what is happening to them and are not intentionally defrauding others. I suspect what is really goin on is they have manifested a self-delusion or automatism — automatic behavior over which a person denies any personal control, and it's a more extreme form of dissociation.

You have to decide for yourself what is true and what isn't. I'm making my position and bias known up front so you understand why I'm not even going to dignify channeling as a valid or legitimate type of Spirit work in my course.

This topic deserves its own chapter but since I don't want to make the whole course about this, I'm going to briefly touch on it.

I believe in psychic abilities and Spirits. I also believe it's possible that they aren't real and it's all in my imagination. This is why I always make sure that whatever information I receive from a psychic or Spiritual source is tempered with other checks and balances.

I might have forewarning/knowledge about something via psychic senses or Spirit contact and sometimes I can act on it, like if I get a vision or bad feeling about my kids, I can call and ask how they are. I don't necessarily need to reveal why I am worried or explain, I just need to check in. Maybe they are going through something, maybe they needed to talk, maybe something did happen. Either way, no harm done (unless I obsess over it) if I act on the psychic info by just calling.

Other kinds of information need to be more heavily scrutinized and tested before actions should be taken.

If, for example, I receive information that I'm going to soon come into a lot of money, here's what's not going to happen...

• I don't consider this information a forgone conclusion.

• I don't go out and spend the money I currently have with the assurance that more will be coming soon.

• I don't quit my job.

• I don't make plans with the new money.

• I don't tell people I'll soon be rollin' in the dough.

• I don't start dreaming or fantasizing about all the things I would like to spend the money on.

• Not splurge or make any rash decisions.

• I don't put the cart before the horse.

• I don't count my blessings before they hatch.

Here's what I am going to do...

• I'm going to keep showing up to work

• I'm going to keep paying my bills, on time

• I'm going to still spend within my budget and live within my means

• I'm going to act today like I acted yesterday because nothing has changed

• I'm going to keep this information to my damn self

• I'm going to read my cards or bones or seek out another trusted Spiritual ally to corroborate and test the information, and clarify with follow-up questions

• I'm going to look at areas of my life where this opportunity may be manifesting (A promotion at work? Is that realistic? Am I on that track?... A lottery win? Did I already purchase a ticket?...)

• I'm going to keep my travel plans as they are, cheap hotel and the worst seats on the plane, and not 'upgrade' believing this money is going to show up in time

• I'm going to possibly do some abundance or money-drawing work *just in case*

No matter how much I believe the thing is true, I don't act on it or consider it true or done until or unless it actually materializes on this physical plane.

Psychic Frauds are a blight on the Spiritual community. Cold Reading techniques are evident to anyone who knows about them, and trust me when I say, when you know about them, you can't miss them.

The thing that most folks don't realize is while your grandmother may have taught you to 'read this way' (and her mother before her, etc.) that doesn't mean you aren't using cold reading. Cold reading is not always intentional, but it is always fraudulent, meaning the information you are gleaning is not spiritual in nature as advertised, rather, it's information the person receiving the reading is giving you, albeit often very subtly. Cold reading and fraudulent readings can be accurate, too! 25% of the time even guessing will yield the right answer.

If you'll be patient with me, I'd like to deviate for a minute to share a personal story that relates to this...

I used to LOVE watching TV psychics do their work. I was such a believer. SUCH. I was all in and trusted what they said. I watched as they would tell total strangers in their live-studio-audience details no one could possibly know and how it often brought people to tears. That was genuine stuff! I loved it so hard. This was in my teens and twenties, mind you, but famous psychics were my jam back then.

Fast forward college and a husband and four kids and traveling and careers and a decade or two later I flipped on the TV and to my delight a famous psychic TV show was on. I'd been out of the country for several years and was a bit out of the loop on pop culture, TV shows and celebrities in the US for a short time after returning. This was a new psychic I never heard about before. I had not watched much TV in a long time, and I was excited to see what happened. This time was different, though. I wasn't so easily convinced and noticed little discrepancies here and there. I brushed them off, after all, this was a real psychic (the TV said so), and people getting the readings seemed convinced, so I must be wrong.

Later I decided to look up old episodes of other psychics I use to love. Those episodes also set off some new red flags I'd never had before. Even episodes I distinctly remember being crazy accurate were no longer registering as true or real to me. Looking back I know these red flags were popping up for me because I was further in my Spiritual path, I was more mature, more discerning, more skeptical and wise to the world. I wasn't so easily fooled.

Fast forward many more years, more moves, grandkids... and a new marriage. I got introduced to a book called, The Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading: The definitive guide to how cold reading is used in the psychic industry in a book club. My husband (a practicing Pagan) and I read it together and were blown away. Understand, this is not a 'how-to' for people looking to scam others by pretending to be a psychic. It goes in depth on the techniques frauds use in a way that teaches you how to spot these techniques when they are used. To test what we learned, the book club watched a few episodes of the 'Long Island Medium', a show I had watched a few episodes of the year prior, so I was familiar with it and secretly hoped she would stand up to the test. I mean, ya'll, even then, I still wanted it to be real. I can't properly describe the experience of having watched these kinds of shows without the skills I learned in the book versus after. My jaw dropped as nearly every one of the cold reading techniques were employed during each episode our book club watched together. And it was obvious, unmistakable.

If you are a strong believer like I used to be, and feel resistant to challenging the validity, legitimacy or realness of any type of psychic, please, do yourself the best favor you could do, and get this book, read it, and then test it.

Seances

Most years my husband and I hold a séance with a small group of people. We come together not to perform Spirit communication, but to collectively speak with our Beloved Dead in a similar way as if we were inviting each other to a family reunion. No one person is the authority or medium. Most everyone present receives messages usually meant for someone else in the circle. The messages are accurate, most of us are in tears at some point, and usually each person has a message only for one or two other people, it's never any one person getting all the messages. Also, some messages come through multiple people at the same time, allowing the message to be corroborated.

But if we were all there paying a medium to deliver messages on everyone's behalf, or if one person 'led' and did all the communicating, I would be suspect. I generally view these types of mediumship as entertainment, not reliable sources of Spirit contact.

When you work with Spirits, let it be a personal journey and practice for you, not a profession in stage craft or a party game. When Spirit work becomes a performance or theatre, I believe it corrupts the process and undermines everyone who is sincerely doing this work. When you work as a professional medium or psychic, there's pressure to get it right for others or deliver a message that's meaningful or has a big impact. But most honest Spirit work isn't fancy or glamorous or produces visible results. Clients don't pay when there's no message, and if they do, they don't come back. And that is why everyone should be suspicious of anyone who claims they have an easier time communicating with your deceased loved ones than you do. We are not Catholics and we generally don't need a go-between or middle person to communicate with Spirits, Ancestors or Deities. That power is and always has been within your ability.