How to Talk to Spirits

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**How to Talk to Spirits **

**The Beginners Guide for Reuniting With Your Loved Ones on the Other Side**

**_”I believe there are two sides to the phenomenon known as death, this side where we live, and the other side where we shall continue to live. Eternity does not start with death. We are in eternity now.” -“_**
_– Norman Vincent Peale_

**Forward: **

This is my second book about psychics, spirits and the extraordinary experiences that ordinary people have everyday beyond the veil.

In my first book – When Spirit Speaks, I began the book with what some thought was a strange confession.

I described my reluctance in writing a book about that odd divide we call death.

Because, as the brilliant Norman Vincent Peale quote above relates – I don’t really believe in death.

I believe in life.

A constant, continuous and ever evolving creative consciousness that infuses each of our experiences with magic, mystery and meaning.

It doesn’t begin with birth.

And it’s not destroyed at death.

Eternity doesn’t begin when we die.

We are IN eternity, right now.

The journey just continues.

There is no “starting again” or new beginnings in the simplest sense of the word.

It’s a journey of a thousand and one spiritual steps….and you are on it, right now, as you read these words.

So too are the loved ones you have lost.

The reality is, they really haven’t gone anywhere at all.

They might not feel like they’re here – but they always are.

They are still going, growing and flowing……learning and improving and evolving.

As are you and I.

Just with a harder shell.

It still feels odd writing these words.

Coming from someone who was as far away as possible from the light and airy world of spiritual exploration, and metaphysical contemplation, just a decade and change ago.

All it takes is ONE wild, wonderful and extraordinary experience to change that forever.

I had that experience.

Quite spontaneously, and completely unexpectedly.

Looking back at it now, it was less than a minute in length, but it changed the direction of my life forever.

**This short book is an invitation for YOU to have that extraordinary experience.

Starting with one simple step.

Believing it’s possible.

And knowing that if it is, if you can experience that for yourself, you’ll never need another book or another talk show host or some famous face on TV to convince you of the reality that life, and LOVE, continues on.

In this world.

And the next.

Opinions are a bad substitute for personal experience.

So I challenge you, whether you are true blue believer, curious but NOT yet convinced, or even an open minded skeptic, to seek OUT that experience for yourself.

The tools, tips and techniques described below have been instrumental and inspirational in my own journey.

I share them with the hope that they offer the same bright and beautiful light of discovery for you.

** **

**January 2016**
**Michael Martin, NYC**

**Editor, Author, Empath**
HYPERLINK “http://famouspsychicmediums.com/”http://famouspsychicmediums.com

**Welcome! (And What You Should Expect From The Pages That Follow)**

**For easy reading, we’ve broken this book down into 3 simple parts. **

**First, I’m going to dispel some of the most common myths and misconceptions about spirit communication. **

This is important for empowering you to know that ordinary people have extraordinary encounters with spirit each and every day.

You don’t need to be born special, or be a gifted medium, to have incredible, inspiring and uplifting visits from the other side.

**Next, we’re going to cover some super simple preparatory concepts. **

I’m going to give you a very simple series of short steps for opening a wide window into the wonderful world of what awaits us all.

This should help you begin to have your own extraordinary experiences with spirit.

My hope is, you can lean on and trust these techniques for the rest of your life.

Lastly?

I’ll describe, document and DETAIL some very specific tips, tools and techniques, including meditations that have worked WONDERFULLY well for both myself, and tens of thousands of our readers, and hundreds of my own personal clients.

You can try them all from the comfort, convenience and privacy of your own home.

All are 100% free.

No expensive tapes or recordings are required.

Remember, personal proof is what you ought require if you are serious about spiritual growth.

No celebrity psychic can offer you what is already available to you right now.

I hope this inspires you to begin the process of the adventure of a lifetime, and reaching across the divide to connect with those you’ve loved and “lost”, starting today.

**Here is my promise – **

I am always available to help.

If you are stuck on a step, or skeptical of another, my personal email address, and my contact information via our popular psychic and spiritual community site, is published in numerous places on these pages.

I don’t do “psychic” readings. But I can help you discover your TRUE passion, purpose and “karmic” connection to what will infuse your life with magic, mystery and wonder.

That is MY passion.

If you are a sincere seeker with an open mind and an curious spirit, when you are done reading this short book, you’ll have a very different idea on how AUTHENTIC communication with “the other side” takes place.

More importantly?

I hope you’ll recognize how to optimize your energy, and your ability, for magical, magnificent and incredibly meaningful experiences with spirit.

Both your own. And the spirit that lies beneath the wild, weird and wonderful invisible world around us all.

You will have more information, in the next few hours, than most people who will spend a lifetime waiting, wanting or wondering if spirit communication is possible, or if it’s all spiritual silliness and new age nonsense.

**A quick warning: this is NOT like most of the other spiritual books you’ll read this year :-)**

First of all, this is not going to be a 400 page manuscript on spirit communication techniques, or a long biography full of boring details on my own personal journey from a random, average skeptical person, to someone who regularly and routinely has amazing experiences I once believed impossible.

This is not going to be a bunch of esoteric, exotic ideas that won’t apply to the average person.

I’m not going to waste 20 pages telling you how gifted I am, or how special I am, or how I’ve been seeing spirit since I was a child. (I’m not…and i haven’t!)

I’m also not going to tell you that anything that is true for me, is going to be 100% true for you.

The spirit world is FLEXIBLE.

It’s fascinating.

And it’s not the same for everyone.

People experience things differently. We feel it differently.

We see or sense it differently, and no two perspectives, especially from THIS side of the divide, ever seem to be completely the same.

Why?

Because while we ARE all spiritual beings having a very human experience. (to quote Teilhard De Chardin)

We all DO have human bodies,and brains and unique and individual sense organs that perceive the world in unique ways.

You and I could come across the very same situation in the real world, and “feel” it very differently. We may see, or sense or intuit information that is diatmetrically different, even though we saw the same scene.

There are countless qualities that each of us has, that are molded and made by the lifetime of experiences we’ve had along the way.

This is the gift of the human experience. And the amazing opportunity to live this life as an individual.

**That applies to the spirit world as well.**

In my own experience, there are many different levels of energy, and access to it.

The act of dying does not, in of itself, offer those who have crossed some permanent treasure trove of all of the wisdom of the world at once.

In other words, different people, even in spirit, experience different things.

It’s not one uniform world of one singular scene. So much of this, in my own experience, is contingent on the consciousness that you cultivate in THIS life.

This is why I’m so passionate about the idea of cultivating a consciousness of kindness, compassion, connection, community and surrendering to spiritual service.

It matters more later, than it does now. (and looking at the dynfunctional, divided and divisive world around us, I think we can ALL agree it matters a lot now, too!)

The quality of your consciousness, in my view, plays a large role in what you experience after you cross.

This accounts for the HUGE variety of transmissions that come from the next world.

If you read a lot of books on the “afterlife” as I do, it can be difficult to discern what is fact, what is fiction, and what is outright fantasy.

With so many different thoughts, ideas and opinions about what awaits, it’s often hard to determine if there IS one univeral truth. (and if not…..WHY not)

This also gives the skeptics and cynics and debunkers more material to laugh off any and all spiritual experiences.

They’ll say, “Hey, if THIS spirit said X, and this spirit said Y , and they are completely different perspectives on that next world….how can either be true? It must ALL be B.S.!”

Of course, that’s not true.

For thousands of years, spiritual traditions have told us that how we live, on some very concrete level, determines how we die, where we “go” thereafter.

Not in a heavenly or hellish sort of sense in the “conventional” way religion teaches us about those realms, but more so in the sense that you occupy an energetic neighborhood that is more closely aligned with how you lived in life.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, for example, speaks beatifully of the various realms that are available to us after death, and how the consciousness that we cultivate NOW, is paramount to our progress.

It’s cliche…and trite, but true.

At our core, we’re all in some sort of incredible, ongoing school.

Our curriculum?

To learn lessons both obvious and obscure. To choose how we act, react, grow and flow.

And every step, and every piece of the puzzle we pick up along the way, is part of that process.

And this continues.

Not only after we die, but my guess is, for as long as we remain awake, aware and “alive” as energy, with emotion and attachment and all of the things that go with being us.

(and that MAY be forever)

**The reason I go to such great length to point all of this out?**

I don’t have all of the answers.

I only have my own experiences to guide me and offer me truth.

And If there is one thing that drives me nuts, or turns me off when reading a spiritual guidebook or text, it’s the transmission of TRUTHS that are set in stone and stated with such incredible certainty that the author sounds like the only authority in the world on the matter.

They know with 100% certainty.

And they’ll tell you exactly how THIS is, or THAT is, and state these things as capital ’T” truth facts of the first order.

Or, that everything you’ve read previously must be wrong.

Why?

Because it doesn’t apply to that specific psychic or medium or teacher’s spiritual belief system.

I don’t buy any of that, nor do I approach expression of my own experience in a similar manner.

Why?

Because if there is one thing that makes me suspicious of an author or teacher in the psychic or spiritual space, it’s someone who claims to have all the answers.

No one does.

It’s worth repeating.

I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands of psychics, mediums, authors, spiritual coaches, and teachers across the globe.

Many are wonderful people with incredible intuitive instincts and great gifts who I like, trust and admire.

There are also many others who may mean well, but whose intuitive instincts, behind the scenes when no one is looking?

Not so much 🙂

As one of the editors of a large online psychic community, I could tell you some very funny stories, about some very wacky experiences with some pretty well known people in this space.

But I won’t 🙂

The point is, keep an open mind. But don’t let your brains fall out. Pursue PROOF, and evidence. And above all, experience.

I have learned that there IS magic, in the mystery.

What we don’t know is built into the firm foundation of the spiritual soil we seed when we seek out these otherworldly experiences.

I don’t know all the answers – of that i’m certain.

But I’ve asked a lot of good questions 🙂

And has afforded me the opportunity to have many life changing experiences as a result…..that I know many people reading this would love to have.

So I’m going to empower you, I hope……to have the same basic spiritual system for widening that window into the next world that I use…..some of which I teach privately, and that has transformed my own life, and what I believe about life, death and everything that happens in between.

I don’t ask you to believe anything on blind faith.

Instead, I challenge you.

If you are serious about discovering what happens when YOU die, and where the loved ones you’ve lost may be right NOW, try and apply many of these simple methods and meditations to being your own metaphysical journey.

**Who this book is For (Important)**

When I first started writing articles and blogs and books a few years ago, I actually took a class on writing the perfect essay or article or book.

The best lesson I took from that class was the idea that the BEST books were always writing with someone specific in mind.

When you write something or teach something or share something sacred, you are supposed to have ONE reader in mind.

The idea is, you don’t want to appeal to everyone.

Just the type of people specifically interested in what you have to teach or transmit.

I usually think that’s great advice.

But for this book, and THIS topic, I decided to take a different track.

**I want to expand my audience. **

I want to include as many people who are open to this experience as possible.

Why?

Simply because there is no better gift (and I’m writing this right smack dab in the middle of the holiday season) that to teach people through experience that life doesn’t end at death.

That your loved ones, their creativity, their consciousness, their sense of self and karmic connection to you REMAINS, and runs far deeper than the death of our physical bodies.

**So this small book is written for a BIG audience. Anyone who struggles with life and loss, I hope can benefit a little bit from these words.

**Who are You?**

Maybe You are already a believer.

OR a beginner.

Maybe you are an open minded skeptic a cynic who would like to believe in something bigger, bolder and more beautiful than life as we know it here.

Or, like I suspect of many of my readers…..you are curious but not yet convinced.

**The only people this book is NOT for?**

2 groups who have much more in common than they realize.

1 – If you are a closed minded skeptic who believes that all spiritual experiences, especially those that deal with the possibility that life and consciousness CONTINUES after the death of the body are BUNK and new age nonsense, this book is probably not for you.

If you believe that the tens of millions of people who have seen apparitions, or who have had vivid and transformative after death communications, or who have had extraordinary adventures like Near Death Experiences, or the thousands of hospice nurses who have have watched patients die and report witnessing something incredibly special – and spiritual and sacred – if you believe all of these people are nuts, or gullible or just making it all up, this book is not for you.

2. And, if you believe that only ONE version of God or religion matters (yours) and that everyone else is wrong and on our way to eternal damnation for not sharing your specific spiritual sensibilities……..this book is probably not something you’ll enjoy.

Or, if you are SO convinced that you know exactly how the spirit world operates, you may not appreciate what follows.

If you are 100% SURE you know what happens when and why, AND that there are hard and fast rules that YOU know and others don’t, and are 100% sure that your version of spirituality if the only real way to “get to the afterlife”, these pages are not going to be a fantastic fit.

Everyone else in the middle?

Welcome! 🙂

The vast majority of people ARE in the middle.

And 1 thing is for sure.

This stuff is important with a CAPITAL “I”.

We’re all going to die.

Our physical bodies at least, aren’t going to last forever.

The more you prepare yourself for the fate that awaits us all, and the more comfortable, and confident you become that death is NOT the end, the easier that transition will become.

This I know is true.

Not only for you.

But for your loved ones as well.

**The 3 big myths ABOUT SPIRIT COMMUNICATION**

MYTH #1: You have to be a medium

That you need a psychic or a medium or “special” to connect you to the other side.

The erroneous notion that ONLY mediums see ghosts and apparitions.

And ordinary people don’t.

The truth?

The OVERWHELMING majority of all spirit communication experiences happen to average people who have no special gifts.

Often, they don’t even BELIEVE in spirits when they see one. (as was the case with me)

The facts are simple:

Millions of people will have spontaneous experiences with apparitions, ghosts, and seeing, sensing or feeling the spirit of loved ones who have crossed, every year.

The vast majority of these people seek no fame or fortune, and rarely tell their stories to anyone outside of immediate family. (many are hesitant to even do that)

Spontaneous, unplanned, and totally surprising experiences like ADC’s (after death communications) represent the vast majority of all spirit communication.

As a matter of fact, many people will turn TO a medium after having an experience like this, as they want to have another.

Or, they need a sanity check, and want to make sure they aren’t crazy, or are just so mystified by the experience that they want validation or confirmation from a “professional”

In truth, if you read my first book WHEN SPIRIT SPEAKS, you’ll know that this is exactly what happened to me, and what propelled me into this wild, weird, wacky and wonderful world of psychic phenomena in the first place.

A quick recap:

I was an agnostic, and totally disinterested in spiritual matters of any kind.

When I had what is referred to as a “crisis apparition” where a friend of mine, a co-worker who lived and worked more than 2000 miles away and in a different US time zone, appeared to me, in my bedroom, in the middle of the night to say goodbye.

We didn’t speak.

But telepathically, I understood with crystal clear clarity that he was letting me know that he had to go.

Of course, I did my best to try to convince myself it was the strangest dream of my life .

I might have even succeeded, if it wasn’t for the fact that, when I went to work the next day, I discovered this close friend and coworker and confidence had unexpectedly perished in the middle of the night, at or about the same time as my experience.

I won’t retell the whole story here (it’s in my last book and our blog) but the experience was so out of my comfort zone, so incredibly odd, unsettling, unexpected, exciting, inspiring and even a bit spooky as well, that it precipitated a series of HUGE life changes.

It led led me to re-think everything I believed about life, death, karma, connection, spirituality and the overarching purpose that each of us is given.

An experience with a well known medium thereafter, as I searched for answers, was a very important piece of my own puzzle, and spiritual progress, and was certainly helpful.

But the medium wasn’t nearly as life changing as my OWN intimate experience with spirit.

THAT was personal. And I knew in my blood and my bones….it was REAL.

No medium could give me more than what I experience on my own.

Personal, intimate, direct proof that there IS in fact something that persists after our physical body dies. (or, that there is something MORE than the body that at least for a moment, can “project” itself thousands of miles away at the point of death)

I also learned that this experience, called a crisis apparition is very, very common.

And that there are hundreds of books that describe thousands of experiences JUST like mine that cut across many cultures, countries and even centuries of human history.

It was an exciting epiphany that filled my life with passion and purpose and a child like sense of wonder that had never been there before.

It was truly like being born again, and seeing LIFE clearly for the very first time.

The same experiences are available to you. Some happen spontenously. Other take effort.

And if you’ve lost a loved one, I promise.

A medium is NOT necessary to discover the same truth for yourself.

*Also note: Many mediums don’t see spirit in a traditional way as I described above, either.

They connect in ways that are unique and quite individual to their own skills, strengths, abilities and experience.

Some see.

Some hear.

Some get symbols.

After Death Communcation can come in all shapes and sizes,much like those we look to connect with.

I have friends who have never seen a spirit, but who, when using some of the practices I describe in detail below, will smell the distinct perfume of a mother.

Or, hear the beautiful sound from the piano that their father loved to play with crystal clarity, even though the piano is long gone as well.

Rooms can fill up with sounds, smells, colors, hot, cold, a rush of wind is a very common feeling that many people report BOTH during an ADC, as well as when losing a loved one as well.

(sometimes this rush of wind is described by multiple people in multiple places, ALL at the moment of death)

The key takeaway?

There is a certainty, a confidence and an extraordinary knowing that takes place when you have an authentic communication with spirit.

You continue to build on that experience over time.

While it’s nice for future validation, you certainly do NOT need to be a medium to discover that for yourself.

**MYTH #2: Spirit communication is silly and unscientific, and has no basis in ordinary reality. In other words, if you see a ghost? K eep it to yourself.**

I’m going to say something a bit odd here. Communication with a spirit is NOT paranormal.

It’s actually quite normal.

It’s only paranormal because the people who get to decide what is “normal” tell us that spirits can’t exist.

Think of it this way:

When MILLIONS of people have the same experience after the death of someone they love, and when that experience is shared by folks from different cultures, different continents, and different centuries of human history and looks the SAME when reported back, i think it’s safe to say, that is the DEFINITION of normality.

It’s NORMAL to have an experience with a loved one. Not paranormal.

Ask a hospice nurse.

Or ask an emergency room physician working in the cardiac care unit.

Some studies show that 70+% of parents who lose a child will have an after death communication.

Other studies show that 50% of spouses will have a visitation experience.

RECENT surveys done reflect that more than 60% of HOSPICE nurses and professional end of life care givers have or witness exceptional, end of life experiences with patients.

The truth is, those that work on a daily basis with the dying, commonly witness profound and transformative experiences.

Often, these are death bed visions, where patients, days, or hours or even minutes from death, are having incredible, lucid and vivid encounters with loved ones on the other side who have come to greet them.

This is very similar to what is described by people who have had a near death experience, and have reported what it felt like to cross the threshold between both worlds.

There are thousands of these cases on record, many witnessed by doctors, nurses, family members, and more….and often where details provided by the loved ones about to cross were unknown to them and yet 100% true.

And yet, when we talk about these topics of universal import, and with literally millions of people around the globe at any given point having had one of these encounters?

We’re told it can’t happen.

To keep quiet.

Becuase it’s “PARANORMAL”. And who wants to feel NOT normal when it comes to matters of sanity?

You want to know what’s funny?

They tell us it’s okay to be clinically depressed after a loved one dies, because THAT is to be expected, because it’s “normal”.

Yet, to have an experience with that loved one after they’re gone, which MILLIONS of otherwise perfectly sane people have each and every year is called a “hallucination”, or “unhinged”, simply because those same doctors and pharmaceutical companies tell us it’s not 🙂

It’s ironic of course, that one of the very BEST (and obvious) ways to overcome the depression that follows losing someone you’ve lost is to have an experience that suggests that they are still with you.

And accessible.

That you CAN (and will) be able to see them again, even NOW if you choose.

When THAT happens, we are told to keep quiet and stay sad. Because it’s better to be depressed and “normal” than nuts!

I find that funny, and a bit sad.

Simply because a little bit of awareness, and experience and personal proof, can help change.

The truth is, in MY view, our job as caretakers for our communities is to reduce the suffering we see in the world.

To help people, heal people, and to offer up our authentic, experience in ways that makes the world a better place.

So that is what I hope to do here.

The path you are on right now is going to help you discover that for yourself.

MYTH #3: That spirit communication has no benefit

As we touched on above, it has incredible benefits.

I’ve talked with, and worked with hundreds of people who have spent years clinically depressed after losing a loved one.

Not being able to eat, sleep, work, live, love and exist in the world as they once did….especially in the case of a sudden passing, a child’s death or extraordinary circumstances like suicide.

Yet, ONE medium reading, with an evidential medium who is really GOOD, or better yet, having an authentic experience of their own, can transform that grief into gratitude, and provide INSTANT healing and hope that can last a lifetime.

Every time I hear people attack those of us who work in this field – or who believe in the healing value of working with afterlife encounters – exploring these areas with an OPEN mind and a curious spirit, I am reminded of how many people I’ve seen transformed from these amazing experiences.

**Are there people out there who are “bad” mediums or who will sell snake oil to the grieving in an attempt to provide false help to the helpless?**

Of course there are.

But there are bad lawyers, bad bakers and bad candlestick makers as well.

More people have been forever changed by beautiful experiences with spirit than have ever been “snookered” by a fake medium or by a fortune teller with an eye on taking advantage.

As I write these words,someone, somewhere is having some sort of incredible, unexpected and completely life changing spiritual experience of one kind or another.

By the time I finish the next sentence, so too will another.

To write off an an entire domain of human experience, and perhaps the most beautiful and meaningful one at that as silly or superficial, in my view, is just ridiculously wrong.

It’s also a big reason why there is such a stigma about GENUINE spirituality in our culture.

And such despair about dying as well.

**Exploring this field of human experience WILL change your life. **

Of that I am certain.

It’s healing and hopeful and the most amazing and life changing paradigm shifting and perspective busting experience you can have.

It FREES you to be authentically you.

To live without fear.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a talk I heard Anita Moorjani give, a few years ago. Anita had one of the most remarkable NDE experiences and is a bright and beautiful light of hope and inspiration.

But the single sentence she gleaned from her own NDE, was the most profound part of her experience for me.

She heard, before she was “sent” back:

“Now that you know the truth, go back and live your life fearlessly”

How would you live differently if you knew, without any shadow of a doubt, that there was more to your personal identity than the “box” we are born in?

What would a fearless life look like for you? This is the simple, profound freedom that comes from this path.

The freedom to be ourselves, fully and freely and fully embracing our frailties and transcending our fears.

This is the most magnificent, magical and mysterious experience we can have as human beings.

Toreconsider, at our core, what it means to be ALIVE and awake and fully ourselves!

**Why Personal Proof Matters Most**

Because no matter how much you enjoy these words, and how inspired or encouraged or comforted you may be from reading MY experience, nothing is close to having your own.

There is no substitute for “knowing” in the very fabric of your being, at your very core.

Having something so incredible and inspiring happen that offers you a real, first hand perspective that offers proof is will change your life.

Period.

I personally believe that this whole field of knowledge, these incredibly inspiring experiences with spirit, not only destroys the fear of dying, but they radically reduce another even MORE important fear that many of us live with every day.

The fear of LIVING.

Living with fullness and passion and purpose and with the joy and juice of TRULY enjoying being alive.

After all….

If you are certain that there is no death, how much differently would you react when someone you loved loses the use of their physical body?

How much would YOU fear risk? How many more adventures would you take in the pursuit of PASSION and purpose?

How many more opportunities would you find to discover a sense of inspired excitement at the challenges that every day offers?

When you truly come to know that consciousness, or the REAL you – is not your body, it’s BEHYOND your body, something changes.

Not in a small way. In an earth shattering and exciting way.

All of these experiences give us the evidence, and the ammunition to know that our lives DO matter.

Your LOVES do matter.

How you treat people counts.

And the consciousness that you cultivate is truly the best indicator of not only the joy and juice you’ll get out of THIS life, but out of what follows as well.

You get the afterlife you most richly deserve.

What you cultivate, with your consciousness, and your kindness and creativity, and your connection to your community and the lives you touch with care and compassion, is what waits for us all.

That’s what ALL of these experiences teach us. Not just the ones we’re talking about in this book. But everything from NDE’S, to past life memories, to deep spiritual experiences of oneness and connection, to deathbed visions, to messages from mediums and so much more.

And that’s why it matters so much to learn them why we can.

Setting the Stage for Spirit

Invitation, Intention and Meditation

I am going to simplify this section as much as possible, completely intentionally. I don’t want to start talking about chakras, or archangels or odd or esoteric invocations that the average person will NEVER try, apply or approach.

Instead, I’m going to give you a series of one word concepts that are super simple, incredibly powerful, and distill much of the mumbo jumbo spirit speak into bite sized steps and strategies you can really use.

(and then can be used together, to build upon and “stack” for even quicker access to extraordinary experience)

**First, let’s look at the 3 basic elements of what I call “setting the stage” for spirit.**

These are the 3 fundamental steps to spirit communication that I truly believe all skillful communicators use.

Whether you are a medium, someone who travels in serious spiritual circles or someone who just wants to reach out and connect with your own loved ones like I expect most of my readers are, these are the basic sequence of steps I have found to be most productive for beginners and “expert” communicators alike.

**INVITATION (some call this an Invocation)**

Step 1: Identify exactly who it is that you want to connect with, and invite them.

Ask them to appear, in whatever way they are able. (more on this later)

**INTENTION**

Step 2: State the reason why you want them to appear. Gratitude, love and loneliness in their absence is always a good reason. But so too can be forgiveness, and the releasing of feelings of anger, resentment or emotions that were not cleared or claimed prior to their passing.

Stating your reason why can be an amazing way of facilitating spirit and clearing channels that may be blocked, both in your mind and body as well as their energetic equivalent as well.

(verbalize your vows)

Another piece of intention could be a small prayer.

Or what I call “verbalizing your vows” , which is often an offering, that asks for help if you need it to move forward with this process. Let’s be honest. This can be awkward at the beginning, and we can all use help getting validation that it’s worth doing.

Offer help if you have it to give your loved one in spirit. At minimum, this gives you something else to powerfully put forth into the universe to ask for help in a vibrational way. (through voice)

**MEDITATION**

“**Enlightenment is an accident**. **Meditation makes you accident prone**.” ― Roshi Richard Baker.

Meditation is the KEY spiritual component to all that will follow.

Spirit communication may often HAPPEN like an accident, but when you practice, try and apply the techniques and simple concepts we’re covering here, you become VERY accident prone with regard to opening a wild and wacky and wonderful window into the bright and beautiful spirit world as well.

If you do nothing else I recommend in this book, and are sincere about communicating with your loved ones, or having eye opening experiences with spirit, begin to mediate.

Period.

Meditation allows that part of your mind, both the biological parts of the brain, and the extended and expanded awareness of creative consciousness, to access information, energy and insight that ordinary awareness doesn’t allow.

Said differently?

These practices outlined below, especially the meditative ones, are much more likely to facilitate spontaneous (or surprise) spirit visitations even if you don’t have direct experience while engaged in the exercises below. (repetition is key – the more you meditate – the more “spirit” prone you become!)

(NOTE: Believe it or not, there has been a lot of recent scientific interest in what is happening in the “mind” when a medium believes he or she is in contact with spirit. Recent papers and research by major universities, or sponsored by the Windbridge Institute for applied science – as well as more “pop” culture science done by media personalities like Dr. Oz, have seemed to show that there are significant changes in the actual brain activity of those in the throes of deep spiritual experience.

Some people believe that the meditative process quiets the mind and shuts down the “ego” centers that cause us to feel separate from the outside world.

This would include the spirit….and this is, to simplify things a bit for a general audience, what I tend to believe from personal experience well. When the conscious mind gets quiet and distraction disappear, the amount of information, or bandwidth that is available from other channels, seems to increase in proportion to how deeply one is able to enter an altered state.

Others however, believe that mediation actually “activates” certain parts of the brain that allow for spiritual experience. To me it matters not.

The most important thing is that it WORKS.

Meditation is truly like widening a window into the next world, and getting a glimmer or glimpse of all sorts of information that our ordinary awareness seems to block out.

The primary ways you will actually EXPERIENCE spirit

Attention (Applying your awareness in a structured way)
Location (where You and spirit meet. Can be a felt sense in your body, or beyond)
Sensation (how it feels when you connect)
Visualization (what appears)

**And of course……**

Repetition (keep practicing until it happens!)

I learned these very simple meditation techniques from a very simple, yet direct teacher, and they really do work wonderfully well.

As a quick aside, I can’t stress how important these simple ideas are. Almost ALL spirit communication, whether it’s being done by a well coiffed TV psychic medium or whether it’s happening spontaneously in your own home, has 3 these elements at their core.

For example?

Some of us may SMELL or sense spirit, while others, even having the same encounter, may see or FEEL them instead.

One may have sensations in the body, and another may feel nothing, but SEE spirit as solidly and structurally as looking at another human being.

These are all sensations.

How they arise, appear and manifest differently in different people based on factors well outside of the scope of this book, but are really important to explore.

The mediations below, especially those that deal with visualization, are a great way to transmute “feeling” sensations to SEEING sensations, which is something that can be developed with practice.

(and is really the type of experience many of us truly wish to have when we’ve lost someone we love)

Another quick note, before we being trying and applying some of the specific exercises and techniques below.

I’m going to start by outlining some meditative exercises that work very well, .and then we’ll move on to some more conventional spiritual tools and techniques that you may want to try instead, or in addition to, or even together if you are spiritually ambitious.

In the interest of not repeating the same basic mediation instructions over and over (I did include them once or twice below) the general way I like to enter an altered state, using the breathe – is a follows.

You are going to start each mediation, with your PHYSICAL EYES closed, by counting backwards from 10.

Breathing in and out deeply and fully, begin counting silently as follows.

Breath IN on 10
Exhale OUT on 10
Breathe IN on 9
Exhale outbreath on 9
Breathe IN on 8
Exhale OUT on 8
Breathe IN on 7
Exhale outbreath on 7
Breathe IN on 6
Exhale outbreath on 6
Breathe IN on 5
Exhale outbreath on 5

Continue to you get to 1
Breathe IN on 1
Exhale outbreath 1

Some of you, will begin to feel the initial “tingles” and sensations of feeling light and deeply relaxed….with an open and awake awareness, in as little as 10 good, deep breaths.

When you exhale on 1, with your physical eyes closed, I want you to open your “ethereal eyes” or imagine, on the last exhale, opening your inner eyes wide, bright and crystal clear.

Get acclimated to what you see around you, and continue the exercise from there.

Remember, it’s most effective to keep your physical eyes shut, and yet, simultaneously, to allow your “ethereal eyes” or your sense of spiritual vision to be active, alert and involved in each exercise.

Don’t forget to enjoy! Done properly, these meditation techniques are a fun, fantastic and FREE way to explore the edges of your awareness and seek a spiritual center that is bigger than your body. So have fun! (I know I always do 🙂

**The Beginner Spirit Communication Exercises:**

**Gratitude and Forgiveness: **

Cleaning and clearing conflict is a great way of inviting spirit by actively engaging and forgiveness.

Many people want to communicate with their loved ones who have crossed, but simultaneously feel a sense of anger or resentment or hurt about a loss.

All crisis is a gift.

All conflict is a gift. Every opportunity someone gives you to go, grow and flow to develop as a spiritual being, to be a better person, is a favor.

You can look at every stress and mess in your life as an opportunity.

More specifically?

Those that are borne out of loving family relationships can be visualized as a karmic challenge for BOTH parties, or in an extended karmic crisis, for ALL parties. (many families face these extended conficts that transcend 2 people)

Resolving them, for the benefit of all beings involved, is without question a critical key to spiritual growth.

Releasing negative feelings, and verbalizing this, is a great way to invite spirit in.

It’s also a great way to allow spirit the space to go in the direction of their own destiny as well.

(something you’ll hear a lot from people who talk about stuck spirits, or trapped souls and that sort of thing. It’s not something we’re going to cover a lot here, and I don’t believe it’s all even true per se, but suffice it to say, forgiveness and offering gratitude is a great way of allowing this energy to expand)

This exercise says:

“I forgive you – I love you – and I am deeply grateful for ALL of the gifts you have given me – even the ones I thought of with anger when they were offered.”

You can use your own words of course, but this is uniquely suited for those of you who have unfinished conflicts with loved ones who have crossed.

**The loving kindness meditation for spirit communication**

Step 1: Set the invitation (identify the specific spirit you want to connect with)
Step 2: Create the intention of creating mutual healing, connection after crisis or confusion and offering (and asking for ) forgiveness
Step 3: dThe Meditation (counting backward from 10 to 1 with deep, full breaths)
Step 4: Open Your Inner (ethereal) Eyes (with physical eyes closed)
Step 5 (verbalize your vows – see below)

Visualize your body as a great, airy ball of light.

Start by visualizing light traveling through the whole of your body….starting slowly from the soles of your feet and gently caressing and touching every part of your body as it works its’ way up

Allow yourself to immerse yourself in the sensation of love and light.
You are now in a world of light.
There is no you – and no not you.
Just bright and beautiful light.
Look into the light.
Picture your loved one slowly appearing from the light – you see them smiling – looking beautiful and blissful

Really see their smile
Just visualize their smile
Feel the warmth of this light..
Feel them step forward – you are deeply relaxed, open and aware.
They are close now – you recognize their step – their smile – their unmistakable sense of self is around you – and you feel their warmth – and forgiveness and love.

You feel blissful.

**Now verbalize your vows**

I sit in front of you and wish you to be happy
I miss you and forgive you
I wish you a great safe journey
I always hold you close
I know I will see you again
You are missed.
And I love you.

Again, your own words are the piece of this you need to do yourself. But remembering a time you felt great love, comfort and connection with someone who has crossed, and simply amplifying that sensation, is really amazingly effective. (even if the last months, moments or even years were difficult)

Remember, go back to a time of great happiness, and great love. See them smile. Feel the love. Hold that gold. Energize all of the empathy and emotional connection you can. And then release.

**Creating a space for spirit **

**I*It’s important to find a sacred space for spirit. This is often a location both in the real world……and in the spirit world, AND in the mutual world you shared together in life.

For example?

A special place in your house may be where you do your meditation, and you may visualize a meeting place in a world of light when doing some of these exercises, OR you may visualize a place that was sacred, or special to both of you together in the past.

Creating these sacred spaces is critically important.

They provide anchors and create a comfort zone that can really ramp up and dramatically increase the speed at which you have some extraordinary experiences.

If there is a place that was very special to both of you in life, this sacred space can often be the very BEST way to facilitate an experience when they’ve crossed into the next as well.

Don’t over think it – just allow what unfolds to unfold.

You CAN also use this physical space FOR the non physical meeting as well if you’d like.

If you have a special park or place in nature that you both loved in life, you can go to this space physically, and “invite” your loved one to meet you there in the non physical space as well.

Let’s do the exercise:

**State the Invitation**
**Express Your Intention**
**Begin the Meditation**

Count down from 10 to 1
Breathe in at one
Allow yourself to be in your sacred space
notice what you notice
feel the beauty, bliss, and sensations of safety

Imagine you are INVITING your authentic self – the purest, most beautiful and blissful part of you – the real you that never dies – the light outside of your safe space
Allow the spirit – the spark to approach
Allow your higher self say hi
Allow your higher self to invite your loved one
Find a really safe place
Picture your sacred space in it’s more beautiful moment
Go there and sit – be by yourself
Invite your loved one in spirit
After invision they are coming.
You see them at a distance.
Wave and welcome.
Understand that this moment is going to be short and sweet and there is going to be healing done
Extend loving kindness – care – compassion – understanding and connection to your love one
understand that while you may not understand it all – you are connected – soulmates – part of a sacred spiritual family and eternally grateful to each other
Allow yourself to be overcome with feelings of love, light, compassion and connection
Notice what you notice
Allow yourself to be overwhelmed with sensation
Or allow yourself to just be
Allow the experience to unfold and end on it’s own
Don’t force it
Just feel it
And when it feels over…..allow the sensation of completeness, and connection and gratitude, say goodbye….and let it go.

Count 1 to 5 and come out of the mediation

Expanding Awareness Exercise (allow yourself to grow flow and in the direction of your intuition)

God is a Verb

One of the first books I read when I began my own spiritual journey was the excellent memoir by David A. Cooper titled “God is a Verb”.

The key lesson I learned, and something that totally transformed my own ability to begin to tap into my expanded awareness, was the idea that there is SO much going on around us, all of the time that we almost consciously filter out.

Right now…as you read these words and are focused on this page or pixel, there are things happening or events you can observe that are right in your field of active awareness, but you have simply blocked out.

Take a moment and just become aware of more.

What is happening around you right now?

What is available in your extended awareness that you don’t even need to shift in your seat to instantly see?

Maybe a fan is humming in the background that you sort of filtered out of your moment to moment consciousness.

Maybe your kids are playing, or there is a neighbor mowing his lawn outside a window not far from your seat.

Maybe you are at the beach and there is an avalanche of activity for as far as eye can see.

Some may be right smack in front of you, but that’s not all that you can taste, touch, and feel with your inutitive awareness.

When you slowly allow your awareness in the fullness of where it naturally goes and flows when you allow it to grow.

This is an excellent illustration, both literally and figuratively, of what psychic ability, and spiritual awareness is truly all about.

There are wonderful worlds of amazing energy and activity around you right now…..that you can tap into when you allow your awareness to expand.

Letting what you notice extend beyond what you can see

The following is a wonderful exercise for beginning the process of exploring your own extended awareness, and the out of body state, which can lead to all sorts of amazing and incredible experiences.

Many types of spirit communication come from a perspective OUTSIDE of your physical form, and people will report seeing all kinds of cool things – and being able to see, speak to and communicate with energies by telepathy, esp or thought alone.

From my perspective?

This is your energetic body.

Your subtle spiritual body.

Your dream body as some call it, and in my view, your TRUE, authentic and eternal self.

It is in this body you will find communicating with loved ones in spirits…as well as many other types of spiritual beings – much easier than while “rooted” in the heaviness and density of our everyday physical shell.

Let’s begin again:

**Start with the invitation**
**Set your intention**
**Enter meditation**

Count slowly backwards from 10 to 1 inhaling and exhaling on each number

At 1, feel your energy body vibrating
It may feel like you are on train and going over a bumpy part of the track
you’ll feel a sense of increased energy in the body
Allow yourself to slowly expand your active awareness
With eyes closed, but your ethereal eyes OPEN, imagine yourself as a small dot of light getting up from your seat…and exploring areas outside of your current space or location
Begin to look around your house
Look very specifically at items, things, really focus your attention on details
What do you see?
Who do you see?
Leave your safe space…and begin to explore – leave your home and enter your street – your neighborhood…or go UP and beyond
Notice what you notice
if you begin to see energies, balls of light, spirit bodies, look for your loved ones
Concentrate, and visualize those that you love
Stay focused….
Reset the invitation and intention for your loved one to appear
Don’t be afraid
This is your natural, spiritual state and you are safe
Look for loved ones
You are happy, and light and free
Allow yourself to explore and experience
Continue to notice what you notice

The above meditation can work WONDERFULLY well in conjunction with specific sound technologies which are very conducive for out of body states and astral projection.

Hemi Sync technology is very effective for inducing these experiences. (but a bit pricey)

(Robert Monroe, the the late founder of the Monroe Institute in Virginia and creator of Hemi Sync, taught tens of THOUSANDS of people to communicate with their loved ones through sound based meditations and out of body states, and the Monroe Institute continues to this very day, to be one of the most innovative spiritual communities in the world)

Binaural beats and other similar sound technology tools can often be downloaded for free, check out YOUTUBE for some good free examples, or drop me a note and I’ll send some I like and recommend.

##Mirror Meditations:

This is a very powerful, timeless tool for communicating with the dead through using a mirror gazing technique – used by just about every culture, country and century of human history.

Gazing into crystal, or a still body of water or even a blackened mirror (scrying) has been done for hundreds of years, and is still an amazing way of offering a sacred space for spirit to appear in our ordinary lives.

Did you know, for example that Dr Raymond Moody, the pioneer into modern study of the Near Death Experience (he actually coined the phrase) has written a little known book called _Reunions_. on using a psychomanteum, or a form of mirror mediation for communicating with the dead?

Dr. Moody collected over 300 accounts of people who had personal encounters with their loved ones, and often INSTANT hope and healing from grief, after these visitation experiences that take place in these special rooms.

(look for a great interview with Dr. Arthur Hastings on his studies of Pschomenateums for spiritual communication and healing – in the resources section at the end of the book)

###Mirror

Step 1 – Sit down and get comfortable
Step 2 – Light Candles – or set an ambiance that is conducive to both comfort and an altered state
Step 3 – Do your Invitation/invocation
Step 4 – Set your Intention
Step 5 – Begin your meditation

Sit about 6 or 7 feet away from a mirror
Relax
Stare at a fixed point on your face.
Just look gently at your nose or chin or the spot between your eyebrows
Just be an open space of awareness and try not to identify with what you see
Don’t stress or strain or get overly intense
Allow your lids to go where they choose, but keep your focus fixed on your face
you will find yourself entering an altered state

You may find yourself no longer identifying with the face in the mirror
You may find yourself not sure of where YOU begin……and where you end.
This is a good thing….and is a sign that you consciousness is shifting into an altered state
You may begin to see colors, and shapes in the mirror
Many people begin to see forms appear in the mirror after 15 or 20 minutes of careful, continuous concentration
Don’t get excited, or scared or too intense
Notice what you notice with calm and clarity
Allow what comes through to come through.
If you need to reset your invitation – or intention – feel free to do so, preferably internally.

(not out loud)

Note – if you find yourself growing uncomfortable or even a bit frightened, change up the lighting, remove the candle, and do this exercise in ordinary light.

And of course, if ANYTHING I describe on these pages makes you uncomfortable, put down the book, grab a drink and watch some really bad reality TV 🙂 Don’t do any of these exercises if they don’t feel like something that you truly enjoy exploring.

Back to the mirror meditation:)

It’s really a hard meditation to describe, but one of the most powerful ways to have a visitation experience in your very own home, without much practice or persistence.

This is a great beginners exercise for emulating mirror gazing/scrying or the idea of a psychomanteum – something that has been done with lots of success for hundreds of years….by many thousands of people.

It CAN be a bit “spooky’ – but that’s only because we are conditioned to think that – due to scary movies – and the odd experience of staring at oneself for a long time can be unsettling, or that something scary is going to be “pop” out of the mirror.

It won’t.

Don’t let this dissuade you.

This can actually also be a GREAT meditative technique for discovering something profound about the true nature of YOUR spiritual self.

How so?

When you see yourself in the mirror and realize that the YOU that you see is not really your authentic self, but rather an image, or a reflection of what we THINK is “ourselves” – watching that image from a distance is profound.

It can lead to some pretty interesting insights about the pure energy of consciousness, which is what I believe we ALL are at our core, and where the “I” that we think we are, TRULY can be found.

_Embracing altered states_

Altered states, such as they hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep can be the most powerful place by which to get psychic messages, or to have a spirit visitation experience.

A little psychic and spirit history?

The late Louisa Rhine – the highly respected psychic researcher and wife of famed researcher and scientist JB Rhine (founder of the Rhine Institute at Duke University, which still studies psychic phenomena to this very day) found that the vast majority of her case studies of spirit communication occurred during the hypnagogic state.

Everything from daydreaming, to drowsiness, to intense periods of creativity, to even prolonged periods of single minded focus (like a long car ride, at the wheel……by yourself) seems to loosen “ego” awareness enough to allow the rational mind to drop its guard.

Interestingly, there are some GREAT case studies of after death communication where the spirit of a loved one shows up in the passenger seat, on a long trip.

Dream journaling

_Embracing altered states for direct experience of spirit_

Altered states, such as they hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep can be the most powerful place by which to get psychic messages, or to have a spirit visitation experience.

A little psychic and spirit history?

The late Louisa Rhine – the highly respected psychic researcher and wife of famed researcher and scientist JB Rhine (founder of the Rhine Institute at Duke University, which still studies psychic phenomena to this very day) found that the vast majority of her case studies of spirit communication occurred during the hypnagogic state.

Everything from daydreaming, to drowsiness, to intense periods of creativity, to even prolonged periods of single minded focus (like a long car ride, at the wheel……by yourself) seems to loosen “ego” awareness enough to allow the rational mind to drop its guard.

Interestingly, there are some GREAT case studies of after death communication where the spirit of a loved one shows up in the passenger seat, on a long trip.

If you are new to all of this and find the meditations to be a bit daunting or overwhelming, beginning your spirit communication exercises in the dream domain is a great place to begin.

Why?

Because they happen here regularly.

And whether you actually intend for them or not.

The good news is, much like setting intention and invitation through mediations, you can do the same thing before you fall asleep and have powerful, and even life changing experiences with loved ones who have crossed.

Features of dream visitations that are different from normal dreams of loved ones that you have lost?

1 – There tends to be a hyper lucidity to them. They feel REALER than real.
2 – Veridical or evidential information is conveyed. (something that validates the visit was real)
3 – They often have a precognitive or future oriented advice element to them. (where spirit will offer you something informationally that later comes true)
4 – Dream visitations experiences are often remembered in INCREDIBLE detail for weeks, months or even years thereafter…in the exact, minute details in which they occurred. compared to other dreams, even those that are meaningful – are often remembered in fragments that grow fuzzy over time. (even those that have loved ones within them)

Apply INTENTION and dedication to the space between waking and sleeping…….or sleeping and waking.

To begin this exercise, all you really need to do is follow the same basic steps we’ve covered above, and then DO what you ordinarily do at the end of each day. (go to sleep! 🙂

Invitation/Invocation
Set the intention.
Use the breath to enter a light altered state before sleep.
Breathing in deeply, imagine your loved one appearing in a specific location in the room.
Breathing out, imagine safety, serenity and feelings of anticipation and expectation in their visit
As you begin to feel lighter and closer to sleep……picture your room being a sacred spiritual space that the both of you share

Try identify a sensation that you will look for as a sign that spirit is here – either a smell – or a sound – or a bodily tingling that an energy in the air has shifted. (many people report a gust of wind during dream visitation experiences, which precedes the appearance of your loved one in spirit)

Keeping a journal is often very helpful – even though people tend to remember these experiences hin hyper detail, having the ability to write down exactly what happened – after it happens, is a great way of reassuring yourself it was real, and having the written record to look back on for a long time to come. (especially when you are asking for, and getting evidential information – or precognitive information – or advice or opinion from spirit on a big life event or decision)

Also:

Remember not to over think it, or push too hard or feel too much pressure.

The truth is, you may have your first experience with a dream visitation on the very FIRST night you try and apply the techniques we’re talking about, or it could take days, weeks or even longer to appear.

Many times, the simple mental preparations and energetic directions will naturally allow and expedite what probably WOULD happen on it’s own either way.

(as more than 50% of people who have lost a loved one report a dream division at some point – some more powerful and persuasive than others)

The more you do these exercises, the more powerful and persuasive YOUR experiences will become.

**Listen with your skin**

One of the first things people will report are senses of spirit – they may not see – or hear spirit….but in a way that is hard to define, quantify or capture, we FEEL spirit in such a strong way as to know that they are there.

Your WHOLE integrated body – or higher self – or whatever you want to call it – is the “self” that is dominant during spiritual experience.

This is especially true when doing the exercises that are meditative in nature.

We all THINK that we “think” with our heads.

Or that our awareness is trapped in our head, behind our eyes.

But the truth is, you can see, sense, smell and hear with your full self. Your expanded self. And when you do, you allow these experiences to touch and TRANSFORM you in part of your body that you don’t necessarily associate with specific senses.

There is a well known Buddhist meditation instruction that goes something like this:

In the hearing, only the hearing.
In the seeing, only the seeing.
In the smelling, only the smelling.
In the tasting, only the tasting.

This is the experience of immersing oneself in the sensation of a single action, and as silly as it sounds, it is the most beautiful, blissful and spiritual experience one can have.

For simplicity?

I call this listening with your skin as a simple metaphor. Your whole body will be immersed in the experience, until you have no body left to feel. (it’s just YOU and the energy of aliveness that is underneath it all and all distance disappears)

Just allow yourself to be immersed and absorbed in the experience when it happens.

One of my first OBE experiences I literally found my whole ‘body” felt like a tingling, nerve of amazing sensation…….and I could hear with what felt like my spiritual skin.

I think you’ll find the idea of listening with your skin really powerful when trying some of the ideas and approaches below, especially the ones that are visualization and meditative in nature.

**Automatic Writing & Spirit Boards**

Automatic is the direct channeling or transmission of messages from spirit, through your creative consciousness (some would argue the SUBCONSCIOUS) and manifests through the physical body, in the form of written communication.

Spirit boards can represent a wide variety of items used to channel messages from spirit…..but for our purposes, and to keep it simple, we’ll simply discuss the most popular example – the OUIJA board.

Both approaches are simple, inexpensive, easy to do, and can be a great way for feeling connected to your loved ones in a very structured way.

The funny thing is, many spirits seem to enjoy structure in the next world, as much as they enjoyed it here.

In my own experiences, I have found that both of these approaches are great for “spirits on a schedule” 🙂

People who were creative, highly organized and very structured in their earthly lives, tend to be the very BEST types of candidates for appearing through automatic writing exercises, and through the regular use of a spirit board. (especially if you use the board at a certain time and place every day – getting regular communication is actually relatively easy)

Whether the messages come from a supernatural, a spiritual or even a subconscious source, the one thing that can’t be argued, is that incredible messages DO come through…..often baffling even the most hard core skeptics.

It’s funny, my first “spiritual” experience was using a ouija board in college with an old friend, at the end of a late night of cramming for exams and having a little bit too much energy left over.

We picked up an old HASBRO ouija board and began to goof around with it, not expecting anything interesting to arise.

After only a few minutes….the planchette was moving around the board vigorously on it’s own, offering specific answers to very pointed questions…….with barely our fingers touching the tops of it’s smooth surface.

It continued like this for several hours…..and was truly an incredible thing to witness, let alone participate in.

My friend had a loved one who had recently died – and was 100% convinced that we were in contact with his dead uncle. (I remember him calling his parents at 5 or 6 AM – startling them awake, and sharing what he believed were messages for his parents that only his Uncle could know)

It was a odd, exciting and very strange experience.

It opened me up to the wide world of spirit,.and yet, as one does with strange experiences in our teenage years, I filed it away and over time, and as the memory faded.

Like most practical and pragmatic people, I came to believe that we were probably influencing it on our own, using some variation of wishful thinking, tiredness and the ideomotor effect. (a subconscious process skeptics like to use to “disprove” spiritual experiences like ouija, channeled creativity, automatic writing and more)

Looking back on it now, knowing what I now know and having seen and experienced what I’ve now experienced, I’m pretty confident that this WAS a genuine spiritual experience.

I can’t be sure if it WAS my friends uncle of course, but short shrift scientific theories about “wishful thinking” or unconscious muscle movements no longer make so much sense. (with hundreds of similar personal experiences now to compare it to…and hundreds more I’ve had described to me by credible people from all walks of life)

As a quick side note, and synchronicity, at a time in my own life when I was rediscovering my own spiritual path, and exploring my innate intuitive abilities? Here is a quick story that was interesting.

I rented a vacation home for a few weeks for the purposes of trying to meditate, write about my experience with my friend who had appeared to me that strange night, and try to wrap my head around the idea that there was more to life than meets the eye and that I was meant to explore what that was.

The home I rented was really nothing more than a small shack – a sparsely furnished one bedroom cottage just outside the Florida, Keys.

There was only one book in the entire cottage – a huge book of poetry.

Or, as I soon discovered – one REALLY, really LONG poem.

I’m also not a big fan of reading poetry, but it was sitting there, so I picked it up.

And for the first few nights, considering I had nothing else of my own to read that wasn’t electronic, I would lie in bed and pore through the pages until I fell asleep.

**The book was called – “The Changing Light of Sandover”**

It was written by Pulitzer Prize winning poet – James Merrill. (someone I had never heard of at the time, and have never read anything else from, since)

This book is considered his grand achievement.

The crown jewel of his collection.

It is also, I learned, a book of channeled messages.

560 pages of communications from beyond, transcribed my Merrill and his life partner, over the course of 10 years in their Key West home, directly from a ouija board.

He takes no credit for any of the passages.

Instead, he claims the entire thing was written by spirits he came to know and love, and who, by virtue of giving him an epic book he is remembered for more than any other – apparently loved him back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Changing\_Light\_at\_Sandover

And for me?

That was my sign it was time to start.

** Quick notes on Automatic Writing:**

Set aside a time and sacred space to do this exercise everyday

Try to avoid caffeine, alcohol or doing this while stressed or overly anxious

A detached mind is ideal

Use a pen or pencil and NOT a keyboard for automatic writing

2 forms of communication we’ll discuss here are:

Getting answers from spirit (asking for answers)
Getting validation from spirit (proof that they’re around)

The primary difference between the approaches is simply the intention you set when you begin.

**For answers** – you would ask spirit to advise you – or your loved one – this is often used in cases of family stress, strife or internal struggle, when one of the family matriarchs and patriarchs have recently died. (in a family business for example)

Asking for Validation is a more of becoming an empty space – you aren’t looking for anything specific in the message itself, just validation that they are there, and around and can authenticate that by communication through your physical body.

**Invitation or invocation**
**Set the Intention (be it for specific guidance, or simply an appearance) **

Your basic responsibility is simple.

Allow yourself to become an instrument for spirit.

Touch the tip of the pen to the paper and lightly graze it without making words…….moving only your elbow if possible, until an altered state arises.

You are doing this only to begin the process of writing, and to expedite the process of allowing the energy work through you.

(this is the same thing for OUIJA, gently moving the planchette in a circular motion around the board, while setting both your invitation and intention is a great way of speeding up the process by which spirit can come forth – maybe – by speeding up the energetic vibration in the body)

YOu may feel a buzzing, or a vibration in your body, particularly on the side of your body that you use to write.

The key is to keep your detachment and not to not overthink it.

When you feel words spilling out….don’t read them.
Don’t think about them.
Let the message spill through you
Don’t edit
Don’t sensor
Don’t speculate
Just write

The central idea is simple.

**Allow yourself to be an instrument for spirit.**

One approach to automatic writing is this:

Have a list of questions prepared for your loved ones in spirit
Follow the steps above
Step back and simply prepare yourself to be infused with answers
And then allow the process to unfold as it will

When you feel the pen or pencil stop moving……it’s done.

There have been MANY many channeled texts over the years that have used this exact method – from a Course in Miracles to the SETH books and many, many other great pieces of art, music, literature and more.

Sometimes people have exceptional experiences with automatic writing and then wonder afterward, no matter how real it felt – if it was them doing the writing.

The answer is simple.

Of course it WAS you.

It’s always a cooperative effort.

Your body is always the instrument, and that should never detract from the magic, and the mystery of the experience.

If meaningful messages come through that resonate, that FEEL right and reveal something sacred and special about your loved ones, that should be all you need to embrace the magic and the mystery of these amazing experiences.

**Spirit Board/Ouija**
** **
Invitation
Intention
Preparatory Words (some people like to say a little prayer)
Begin asking questions.

Continuing to offer a verbal invitation, and continue setting and restating your intention for speaking with specific spirits.

Don’t just sit there and wait.
Be proactive
Ask questions
Sometimes “strange” spirits or messages will come through
Don’t judge.
Go with it.
You may have several “drop in” spirits come through before your loved ones, or those you want to connect with are able to step forward

NOTE: I’m NOT a big believer in protection prayers and belief in negative energies while using OUIJA. I simply have never had a negative experience of my own.

However, if you feel nervous or are getting messages you aren’t comfortable with, simply thank them, and the board and say goodbye.

Any board will do.

The key to ouija is NOT the power of the board.

Instead? It’s your ability to allow yourself to be used as an instrument of spirit.

To allow energy to flow to and through you and affect the planchette in a purposeful way

Having questions in advance is helpful as you get started, and becomes less important with each subsequent session

Remember, any type of ouija board will work, from something antique or exotic, to something you buy in Walmart, to a Ouija board you construct on your own.

(I wasted hundreds of dollars buying “speciality” boards when I first started doing this with others)

The magic is NOT in the board itself, but rather….in that strange and sacred space we don’t quite understand that allows the interaction of energy, emotions and information between windows….and worlds.

**Sidebar:** I DO personally prefer to use an old, antique board with a lot of history, simply because it “feels” right and it sets the mood in the room for something extraordinary to come through.

Often, especially if you are doing this in a small group and there are skeptics and cynics in the room, using a cardboard OUIJA from your local department store may be more likely to draw groans and objections from the participants.

That aside, the board is just a conduit for connection.

It’s the energy in the room, and the excitement, and the EMOTIONS of the primary players that play a huge role in what, or who comes through.

So the best argument for getting a “genuine” spirit board rather than a game, is that the people participating may FEEL more positive about the experience – and their energies, emotions, intentions and general psychic state of mind may be much more aligned with those in spirit.

If there is one thing that science and spirituality agree on, it is that this DOES, without a question, play a role in ALL psychic and spiritual experiences.

Even in scientific lab settings where psychic phenomena are studied, INTENTION and belief and a certain amount of positive predisposition to the possibility of spiritual experience IS in fact a factor in how much information, or evidence comes through.

The truth is, impartial scientists who study psychic phenomena, and communications from spirit through mediums and other channels find that those who believe, as a rule, tend to have much better EMPIRICAL experiences in a lab setting, than those who think all of this is new age nonsense. The same applies for YOU at home.

Lastly –

More people is always better than one, but you CAN use the ouija board yourself, even though you’ll read otherwise, elsewhere.

I’ve had many incredible, inspirational and enlightening experiences with a spirit board on my own….and have never had a negative or scary experience.

**EVP (how to do it)**

EVP might be the easiest, hands off way to have a direct, personal, ONGOING and interactive conversation with spirit that there is.

EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena, and is the process of recording “voices” from spirit, using digital devices like a hand held voice recorder, or a small computer work station.

A quick disclaimer – I DON’T do EVP myself – and have never personally recorded an anomalous voice….simply because, with so many choices, it’s not my prefered choice for interacting with spirit.

I do however, have good friends and spiritual explorers who not only LOVE EVP, but who really have gone from being skeptical or agnostic about the spirit world, to true blue believers….all based on the amazing, inexcusable and often crystal clear messages they’ve captured unexpectedly – and often in the most mundane circumstances.

(such as – in a random suburban home on a Tuesday afternoon – or overnight in a local strip mall convenience store – places NOT typically thought of as haunted, or overcome with apparitions!)

A few years ago, I had some good friends set up a $50 dollar digital voice recorder while we were experimenting with a new spirit board…..and while the spirit board session was entirely UNEVENTFUL…….later that night, and then the next morning, I got excited and amazed emails about a few of the voices that had come through while we were goofing around.

Having been in the room at the time – and listening to the recordings the next day – the voices were so incredibly clear – although none that I recognized – and certainly NO ONE in the room at the time – it was impossible to not be at least somewhat impressed with the notion that we had a few extra visitors sitting around the table that night, in a spare bedroom in the house I was living in at the time.

There is also a vibrant, enthusiastic and very active EVP enthusiast community online….and if it’s something you want to explore, there are more tutorials, tips and techniques available for free, than you could possibly ever want, or need to know.

Here is the best resource and community for both beginners, and those who are passionately committed to the art (and science) of EVP.

HYPERLINK “http://atransc.org/index.htm”http://atransc.org/index.htm

How to start?

The good news?

It’s CHEAP, and easy and doesn’t require a whole lot of technical experience….or even a lot of time to commit to the process. (although once you start getting messages..especially if you think they are coming from your loved ones, you may find you want to spend ALL of your time doing nothing but)

Invest in an affordable voice activated digital recorder
Set aside a very specific period of day to record (you don’t even need to be there – but scheduling a structured time for “spirit” seems to be a smart strategy amongst those that do this well)

Do set an intention and invocation/invitation as normal.

If you want to speak to someone specific, ask them to appear.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with engaging an “imaginary” conversation with a loved one, or a spirit you’d like to show up during an EVP session in advance of the session, but i do recommend, especially if you are just beginning to set and forget the recorder thereafter, see what you see….hear what you hear, and notice what you notice. (without actively engaging in the Q and A process while the first few EVP session are taking place)

**Some of the different types of recordings you may hear?**

Without getting overly technical (and understanding that this is not my own area of expertise, plenty others have far more to say on this matter than I do) there are generally 3 different types of “results” you can expect./

1 – What are referred to as Class A recordings – where the specific messages are clear, and generally easy to understand and interpret by all objective parties. (e.g. – everyone who is listening to the messages can hear what comes through)

**Here is what Sarah Estep – founder of the AA-EVP and designer of the widely used Estep EVP classification system says about Class A communications.**

_”A clear and distinct voice or sound that is universally accepted and undisputed, because it must be understood by anyone with normal hearing and without being told or prompted to what is being said or heard. It can be heard without the use of headphones.”_

**2 – Where are referred to as Class B recordings**

A message or a voice is identified – has good volume and such – but it’s clarity or communication is not 100% clear. People may disagree about what is being said – and quite often, those who agree about the contents of the communication may need to be told in advance what is thought to be said….PRIOR to hearing the same thing.

**here is the official EVP classification for type B communications:**

_“A voice or sound that is distinct and fairly loud. This class of voice is more common and can be heard by most people after being told what to listen for. It is usually audible to experienced persons who have learned the skill of listening to EVP. It can sometimes be heard without the use of headphones.”_

**3 – What are referred to as Class C communications:**

The recording is hard to decipher in both volume and clarity. It may be completely incoherent and unintelligible….but, retains some paranormal characteristics and seems to be of an unknown origin. Often these recordings are dismissed by serious investigators, or simply added to a larger pile of evidence or paranormal experiences in a given location.

**Here is the official EVP classification for Type C’s:**

_”A faint and whispery voice or sound that can barely be heard and is sometimes indecipherable and unintelligible. It may have paranormal characteristics, such as a mechanical sound. Most investigators would apply objectivity and disregard it, but may save it for reference purposes”_

Is EVP for people who want to simply communicate with our OWN loved ones that we desperately miss?

This is a good question!

EVP is something that is typically associated with ultra committed or “professional” spirit communicators rather than those of you who may simply want to reach out and have your first contact with your own loved ones on the other side.

That said, it CAN be a great way to have your first seminal personal experience with spirit…and lead to incredible insights and encounters thereafter!

If you really want to use EVP as a way to augment or supplement your own efforts, I recommend checking out some of the other resources mentioned at the end of the book, on our website and doing your own searches. (again – as above, there is a passionate and very active EVP community online, and you can often find people in your own community who are “teaching” EVP and demonstrating them via psychic and spiritual MEETUPS and similar local groups.

Seeing a medium for the first time

Okay, so you are excited about exploring some of the many ideas we’ve discussed (and some of the techniques in the endnotes) but you want to talk to a medium as well, right?

There is nothing like instant gratification for some people, and the idea of waiting days, weeks or even months to learn how to communicate with spirit is exciting but off putting if you need advice or evidence right NOW.

I want to give you some simple advice if you’ve got plans to see a medium in the near future, or are considering making an appointment.

I know this is going to sound a bit harsh, but it amazes me how people seek out the advice of a medium and quite literally, ruin the reading before it even begins.

Let me explain how.

For example – take a look at THIS post on our psychic community.

HYPERLINK “http://famouspsychicmediums.com/2013/06/long-island-medium-appointments-how-to-get-a-private-reading-with-theresa-caputo/”http://famouspsychicmediums.com/2013/06/long-island-medium-appointments-how-to-get-a-private-reading-with-theresa-caputo/

It is a simple post on information regarding contacting Theresa Caputo – the Long Island Medium.

A lot of our web traffic for this particular site was from people who were looking to speak to her privately, ESPECIALLY on the nights her show would air. (some nights we’d get thousands of people coming to OUR site to make an appointment with her, even though that’s NOT something we can help with at all)

Now, remember- we aren’t affiliated with Theresa – this site is just a social community for folks looking for more information about psychic and spiritual experiences, and reviews of some of the better mediums in the industry.

But what would happen is – and this is somewhat heart wrenching to see – is that people would simply stop by the blog – see her picture, and simply assume that sharing ALL sorts of personal (and painful) information about their loves and losses was the best way to make an appointment or get the attention of this particular well known medium.

And herein lies the problem we see with so MANY people when they are seeking out spiritual advice in the first place.

They share WAY too much information up front. And that poisons the process, before the reading even begins.

Almost ALL of the comments we’ve gotten on that article and other blog posts – and in almost all of the many hundreds of direct emails we’ve received – people say WHO they’ve lost – HOW they’ve lost them – how LONG ago they crossed…and all of the reasons why it’s so important than they reconnect with them now.

The truth?

I get it. People who are in pain…and are reaching out to make an appointment with ANY medium, often want to tell the back story to create a better chance of getting a reply, and persuatding the medium to accomodate their need. (especially if they perceive that medium is busy – or has a long waiting list – or may be too expensive and they want to make a persuasive case for why they should go to the front of the line)

This is a BIG mistake – on a number of levels.

First of all, NO good reading begins with the client sharing specific information about who they’ve lost, how they’ve lost them and when they crossed.

You are far better off, from an evidentiary standpoint – going to see a local medium who you tell NOTHING, and let them start from scratch, then seeing someone famous or well known and feeling the need, or having to reveal lots of details about who it is that you want to connect with upfront.

A good medium doesn’t WANT this – as it can interfere with elements of a genuine reading – and can poison the way that many authentic channelers, healers and spirit mediums need to work to do their BEST work.

and of course, a BAD medium – or a FAKE medium…..DOES want this, as the more information you offer up front, the less heavy lifting they’re going to need to have to do to impress you that they are authentic.

For example – I had a friend in the industry tell me a few months ago that a well known medium, someone we both know and respect quite a bit, now has people fill out a little slip on their way into a large group session with the names of people they’d like to connect with if they’re called upon, while in an audience of several hundred.

The mediums reasons for this, and he’s only recently started doing this in the last few years, is that it helps him filter down the chorus of communicators from the other side to a more narrow channel.

Whether that’s true or not….I don’t pretend to know.

What I DO know however, is it’s a TERRIBLE idea.

It gives me an unsettled feeling about his authenticity….EVEN as someone who knows this particular psychic professionally a little bit and have had positive experiences in a small group setting that have been quite impressive.

And I’m speaking as someone who would be considered 100% biased in his FAVOR.

Those that are skeptical, or cynical or think that all mediums are fake? Or that spirit communication in general is fraudulent?

They need only to hear something like this to CONVINCE them, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this type of mediumship is fake…and merely a circus sideshow that doesn’t deserve serious study.

The truth is, if you WERE one of those people called upon from the audience, and you DID have an amazing amount of evidential information come through, even if you truly believed that the medium couldn’t possibly have learned so much about you in a short time with the benefit of your name, and who you wanted to connect with, you’d never know for sure.

You’d be plagued with persistent doubts……and the truly life transforming effect of the experience would be dulled, dimmed and diminished as a result.

**Rule #1 is Less is ALWAYS more.**

Never share more than you must….and if you must share a lot to get the reading, choose another medium where you won’t.

**Rule #2: If you are seeing a medium in person, become a blank slate.**

Dress casually, wear minimal jewelry or makeup, and if you are a BIG personality in dress, mannerism and charisma…..I like to recommend that people err on the side of toning down their persona in general as much as possible.

**Rule #3: DO prepare yourself for the reading. **

This means, writing down a list of questions in advance can be a very powerful and helpful aid. I can’t tell you how many times people will tell me that they WISH they asked that “one” BIG question that they really wanted to know….but forgot, or froze in the moment or simply were so overwhelmed by the reading, that they never got to ask.

Having a short list of questions can be the difference between really getting some much needed comfort, certainty and closure…and walking away with a positive experience, but not one that changes you, and your expectation (or evidence) for the afterlife, as much as you hope.

**Rule #4: Ask for Evidence in Advance (From Spirit)**

One of the best ways to get validation from a medium is to ask for evidence in ADVANCE…..from the person, or persons you seek out in spirit. Ask for a sign. A smell. A symbol, signal or SYNCHRONICITY that validates their presence. Will it always come in the way that you want?

Of course not. The spirit world operates in ways that we simply can’t understand, predict or control….and more often than not, that one specific sign you ask for will not come through.

But I’ve seen countless cases, and have been witness to amazing, inspiring and totally transformative experiences when they DO. Strange synchronicities that are impossible to explain away. Super specific signs and symbols that a medium will inexplicably share….often out of left field, sometimes in mid sentence -seemingly befuddling THEM as to the significance of what was just said.

But when THAT happens – YOU know. And for you…..it can truly be the most unforgettable experience of a lifetime, and the sort of one off piece of instant evidence that validates and fuels your faith for the rest of this lifetime.

More Resources:

Here are some of our favorite resources for those of you who are READY to dive in and experience some of this stuff and get personal PROOF all of this is possible…and available to YOU.

1 – Reach out to me directly! I don’t do “readings” but I do work with people who want to personally explore some of these amazing experiences on their own, as well as what I call “karmic clearing” and helping folks find their PASSION, purpose and personal power through spiritual growth.

2 – Feel free to contact ME directly at HYPERLINK “mailto:SuddenlyPsychic@Gmail.com”SuddenlyPsychic@Gmail.com. If you are struggling with issues related to spiritual growth, discovering your purpose, or overcoming loss, I have very specific strategies that many find incredibly helpful, hopeful and healing, especially while dealing with a spiritual crisis. If I can’t work with you, I can probably point you to someone who can.

2 – http://ThePsychicJunkie.Com.

This is our weekly newsletter for psychic junkies who are addicted to spiritual growth! A great resource for those of you who want to connect with our community, attend events, get readings, improve your intuition, and transform your life in profound and personal ways.

4 – http://NDERF.ORG

A great and inspiring collection of many of the most inspiring Near Death Experience stories and Spiritually Transformative Experiences around the web, and the world. Very inspiring stuff!

5 – DREAMS

HYPERLINK “http://www.annereith.com/8-characteristics-of-visitation-dreams/”http://www.annereith.com/8-characteristics-of-visitation-dreams/

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6 – Self Guided Afterlife Connections (Free Process)

[http://selfguided.spiritualunderstanding.org/]

Thank you SO much for reading these words.

I am honored, humbled and appreciative for the support of every single one of you.

Have questions? I’d love to hear them! Don’t hesitate to say HI!

If you’ve enjoyed this book, share it with someone!

[Better yet….review it on Amazon HERE! ]

The more people who have access to this material – the happier, healthier and more hopeful our world will become! (at least that’s MY belief, and I’m hoping….if you’ve read this far, so TOO do YOU!)

– Michael Martin

http://thepsychicjunkie.com
http://facebook.com/famouspsychicmediums

_“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”_

_- John Lennon_