It seems that twice a week, Kobo is emailing me with lists of new books being published in the psychic arena. Every psychic is trying to distinguish her or himself in the field, and publishing a book often legitimizes a psychic’s presence in the community, and jump-starts the promotional process; radio shows, book tours, etc. It’s an interesting business model, actually.

If you’re imagining a better life for yourself as an animal communicator or a psychic, I don’t want to bust your bubble or anything, I just want you to ask exactly why you want to be psychic. It’s a skill, but it’s not something that anyone does alone – it’s a fragile, tenuous, fleeting gift at times. For me, it requires a lot of prayer and devotion. It’s a way of life, a spiritual practice, a gift; not a career move. Well, not for me.

Having said that, I believe that everyone can attune themselves to at least a base-line psychic awareness. I believe it’s our birthright, as children of heaven, to phone home every once in a while.

Perhaps, one day, no one will need to call up a psychic to book a reading.

So, in the last “how to be psychic” entry we covered:

– Self-control. As the Buddhists say, “He who is the master of his own mind, is the master of his world.” Begin with basic skills including grounding, psychic protection and meditation.

– Support. Set up a safe environment and connect with the teachers, angels and colleagues you need to feel safe.

– Awareness. Information can be conveyed in so many ways. When you have your baseline established through meditation, you can begin to feel the difference between your own thoughts and feelings, and information coming from somewhere else

– Protection & Boundaries: unless you want to be working all the time, I suggest you establish a consistent ritual before you talk to spirit. For me, I smudge the room with sage, and the feather I feel is appropriate, or I may ring a bell or strike a match. I often light a candle and say a prayer. I set the intention to facilitate love and healing. At the end of a session, I’ll thank the spirits for coming, thank my spirit friends for helping, and I’ll extinguish the candle.

Which brings me to the next topic: Interpretation.

As information can and does come in a variety and a combination of ways, you need to develop your own intuitive language through trial and error. Yes my friends, you just need to start doing readings. As Theresa Caputo says in her show, and I agree, Spirit never tells us anything wrong – it’s our interpretation that can muddle the message.

My first tip is just say exactly what you’re experiencing. Crazy things I’ve blurted out include:

– My pinky finger is numb

– There are fish scales in my mouth

– He is poking things in the sink

– She had trouble pooping

– She was alcoholic, her hands are shaking

– There is a black fog in the bone of his ankle

When I go out on a limb with something really weird like this, sometimes the client says, “Oh my god!” and it was a huge moment of confirmation for them. Sometimes, they just stare at me blankly or tell me with certainty that I was damn dead wrong. Occasionally, I’ll have a client call me up a few days later and tell me they remembered or got some confirmation about something that didn’t make sense to them at the time, and that’s always amazing and gratifying… but there’s nothing more uncomfortable than getting information that doesn’t seem to have a home.

And that’s just part of the work, folks.

If you’re gonna be psychic, you’ve gotta be brave.

Most psychics and mediums will, through a lot of experience, develop a system of symbols for communications. For example, my symbol for mental illness is a broken mirror. When someone asks me, “Why did so n’ so die?” and I see a broken mirror, I know a mental illness was a factor.

Theresa Caputo and John Edwards work quite openly with symbols. John will say something like, “He’s holding a bunch of roses which means he’s expressing love, but the roses have thorns which means he did not express love or had difficulty expressing love when he was alive, is that true?”

Theresa and I both use the same symbol for a quick death – a snap of the fingers.

Sometimes I’ll sit in meditation and actively build my symbol vocabulary. I’ll ask my teachers for help. They’ll say, “Give me a symbol for, ___” Could be anything. Lost love, trauma, relieved of suffering. A symbol will pop into my head and it gets filed away. I can’t recall a lot of those symbols right now, but when I’m in “medium mode” and they pop up during readings, I remember in that moment exactly what it means.

Theresa, John and I must be visual people, because we work with a lot of visual symbols. A friend of mine was saying she wishes she could see things visually, and yet her psychic gift is intuitive “knowing” – this ability to receive a huge download of information and integrate it immediately and effortlessly. For her, the chances of mis-interpreting is a lot smaller than deciphering a series of charade-like symbols. This is something I have difficulty with, so you’ve got to work within the set of skills you naturally have. Just remember, the name of the game is correct interpretation and everyone, even famous TV psychics, is still learning.

Another powerful tool for tapping into your intuitive and psychic abilities is doing something physical that will help you get into that altered state. For this blog, I often use automatic writing. I find the act of typing or writing by hand can get me into a trance. Most of the conversations I post on here I don’t remember having, just like a reading for another person, by intellectual brain isn’t completely engaged.

Musicians often find themselves channeling when they write songs, and visual artists experience this state too. I used to lose whole days if I was working on a painting.

However you’re doing it, make sure it’s something you enjoy. It could be as simple as going for a walk and having a conversation out loud, hearing the reply answer back in your head as you walk. These are all things I’ve done, and all things that have worked for me. There are many paths to take.

As you experiment, try and notice little things you might do, little habits of being tuned in: for me, I often tilt my head, stare at the ground, tug the hair at the back of my head. If I’m having difficulty reaching a particular spirit, or if it’s coming through fuzzily, sometimes remembering to do these things brings the message in with more clarity. I don’t know why it works for me. I recently noticed that I sneeze as I prepare to talk to spirit. I figure blood vessels in my body (and nose) must be dilating as I measure my breathing, slow my heart rate and lower my blood pressure.

Well, if this was a class, at this point I’d ask who had any questions. Any questions?