“When convention and science offer us no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?” – David Duchovny as Fox Mulder (The X-Files, “Pilot”)

I think one of the most misunderstood things about the paranormal is that it may be normal. Things we don’t understand and perhaps simply don’t possess the technology yet to be able to fully understand the phenomena out there. If we did, wouldn’t those paranormal investigators be out of a job? Their area of study would just be “normal investigation”, nothing “para” about it. Nevertheless, their work must be done as the modern and mainstream accepted sciences want no part of it for the time being. Whatever is happening across the world, regarding all types of paranormal events and phenomena, it’s pretty clear something is going on. Unless the entire planet is in varying states of hallucination and hysteria, and let’s hope we find out if that’s true if it’s indeed happening…

I present another look at the strange happenings in our world. Perhaps, only the fantastic can be proven by the fantastic. Our world’s ecosystems are interconnected through the efforts of plants, animals, and the world around them to keep the circle of life moving. The paranormal maybe connected in the same way. Connected, both in it’s own separate existence from us, and with us moving in concert with our known ecosystems and life cycles. So, in my approach to this large area of the paranormal, I try to think of ways to connect the dots of the paranormal in such a way that they don’t contradict something else already existing, either in the world as we know it or maybe something that exists to us only in folklore.

To knock a few off the top, the existence of UFOs does not contradict whether the Loch Ness Monster exists or not. Both could co-exist at the same time. Likewise prophets and their prophecies don’t contradict the existance of ghosts. The cryptozoology field itself has a natural basis for everything in it to be true, just undiscovered. In another direction the idea of enhanced consciousness and levels of spirituality naturally contradict nothing in the psychical world. Science is moving in leaps and bounds in certain aspects of this area and it may one day be proven, but for now, telekenesis, telepathy and other mind powers remain in the paranormal category. No “mind power” contradicts any of the above either, it too can exist at the same time. To change directions again, Scottish legends of Little People could fall in a number of categories. It could simply be cryptozoology being a race of pygmies in different areas of the Earth.

It all must be approached with a healthy bit of skepicism of course. There are hoaxed tales and hoaxed evidence to all of the above subjects I listed. The thing to remember is that we’ve got tens of thousands of years of folklore, stories, legends and our modern sights to draw on for information. I believe all the pieces are there to solve some of the puzzle. We just don’t know what the big picture is supposed to look like. The vast majority of this field makes the average person take a leap of faith too far for them most of the time, but if enough people don’t do it, how are we ever to going to the bottom of our planet’s mysteries?

     When I was first finding out and researching metaphysical ’stuff’,  I went to a Chakra healer and Past-Life Regressionist.    I found out that I was the very young wife (probably 19 or 20)of a banker or accountant, one who had a lot of money.  As he had so much money, he liked to have the best of everything, and that’s what I was— a trophy wife.  Young, beautiful and of course submissive and obedient. 

     It was 1911, December,  and I could see from the Brownstone house I was in in Chicago,  that indeed alof of money was spent.  A huge Christmas tree, expensive furniture, famous paintings, servants.    But most of all what I noticed (besides the very tight corset I was wearing and couldn’t breathe)  was that it was very quiet.  No pets, no children, no noise.  It had the atmosphere of a funeral home.  I could tell I wasn’t happy. 

     The regressionist decided she would not take me to my death in that incarnation, so I have been looking at regressing myself to find out more info not only on that life, but on many others.  In this life, I found out that I met one of my husband’s friends or coworkers, and he treated me nicely.  We had an affair, and I became pregnant.   Of course my husband found out, and he strangled me or I think maybe he smothered me with a pillow. 

     The way I lived in THAT life made me look at the way I am in THIS one.   And alot fo things I do and think make sense to me now.  I have never cared much for fashion, or having things just because everyone else had it.  I had pre conceived notions of what rich people are like (they are wrong of course, now)  and of course (lol)  I am a little overweight, I dont like wearing things that are too tight and keep me from breathing.  And I like people who are real, who tell you the truth no matter what, and dont pretend to like you because you have money or power or something else they want. 

     Well, that is story number one, The Lives and Times of Me…….

The end…..for now…..

     I know that all this means is there is something better for me just around the corner.  In the meantime, I continue to write, and check out the want ads and the online job sites.

     I know this isn’t really to be considered a ‘rant’ per se.   Just my feelings about all this.  I know it is hard to get a job these days.   But I am optimistic.  I know there is something that is perfect just for me, and that all this learning and everything I am doing at this point in time….will prepare me for the main goal I have in my life, owning my own metaphysical shop,  where I and my daughter will help people discover themselves, guide meditations, practice holistic health and energy healing, plus offer yoga, crystals and angel card readings.

     So for anyone looking for employment, I offer this suggestion.  This is part of the Law of Attraction.  All you do is get a notebook, write down everything you would like in a job.  Be specific!  (this also works for cars, homes, and relationships – pretty much anything you would like).   Good luck and stay positive!

The very best description of what auras look like, along with artistic depictions, is given in “Thought Forms” by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. Seeing auras is no different from seeing anything else. If the vibrations can be registered by the eye, then the brain receives the signal and forms a picture.

Most of the time being able to see auras is simply about remembering to notice them. They are there all the time, but there are certain times that they are easier to see than others. For instance, it is usually easier to see a person’s aura when the are, at least, several feet away and standing in front a plain, light-colored background.

Part of the reason people don’t see auras as much as they might otherwise is that we are conditioned to look people in the eyes as they speak to us. In order to see a person’s aura, you have to be looking a few inches off to the side of their head or shoulders when they’re speaking to you.

Another very good time to notice auras is when you see someone for the first time. The auric field may especially noticeable if they are ten or twelve feet away from you.

Learning to see auric fields is very helpful. You can tell a lot about a person by the colors in their fields. If you are engaged in an intellectual conversation with someone you may notice a yellow, rainbow-like color around the person’s head. If you see parents holding their children, you may notice a similar, iridescent pink field between them.

You will be warned about the nature of a person whenever you see a dark grey or black field around them. These are people to be avoided because just as their auric fields indicate they have “dark intentions”. In fact, this may be the origin of that expression.

You will also learn to spot very nice people. For example, there was a lady who volunteered to read to the elderly and whenever she was seen at a distance an iridescent violet hue could be seen around her head.

Seeing auras takes some practice at first. The main thing is to remember to look for them. After you practice doing this for a while, you will begin to notice them without thinking about it. It is also a good exercise to practice seeing auras with a friend who is open-minded.

Have a plan. Decide how long you would like to devote to your meditation.

When you first begin meditating, choose shorter meditation times rather than longer ones.

If you are particularly nervous or anxious, commit yourself to as little as 5 or 10 minutes in the beginning.

Commit to meditating at the same time in the same place on a daily or weekly basis. Whatever you do, make it a regular schedule. It will become easier as you do this.

As you become more comfortable with meditation, incrementally lengthen the amount of time you spend meditating.

Prepare an alarm to be set for that amount of time.

Decide if your meditation is going to be about completely clearing your mind or meditating on a particular concept. For example, you may decide to meditate on world peace, healing or expanding your intuition.

Meditate with or without music. Personally, I meditate better without music, but everyone is different.

To begin your meditation, place your candle at a place that will be at eye level with where you plan to be sitting. Make sure it is secure and stable.

Then, carefully light your candle. Don’t burn your fingers or anything else

Then lower the lights.

Take your position. Get completely comfortable.

Set your alarm.

Now focus your eyes on the candle flame and only on the flame to the exclusion of everything else in the room.

Do not take your focus from the flame until the allotted time has passed.

When the alarm goes off, snuff out the candle flame. (Using a snuffer is safer than blowing the candle out.)

Turn the lights back on and you should be feeling considerably more relaxed.

Congratulate yourself!

Dream hypnosis allows you to re-enter a specific dream or recall a specific memory deep within your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind being your inner memory bank that always communicates to you when you sleep, through your dreams.

It is here within the subconscious that all your memories, secrets, fears, happy and sad times are held, but it is only when you sleep that your mind becomes free of restrictions, such as our ego based thoughts or feelings that your subconscious begins to process, replay and evaluate your daily activities, learned knowledge and past memories etc.

This occurs naturally, in order for you to find a solution, be guided or advised or forewarned about a future problem or event at an unconscious level.

You consciously have no control over this process, because it occurs when you enter a light to medium sleep state and your conscious mind (logical thinking side) automatically becomes dormant allowing your subconscious to take over.

Dream hypnosis is a similar process to sleeping, because both occur during (REM) Rapid Eye Movement sleep state. The only real difference is when you sleep you lose conscious awareness, but when you enter dream hypnosis your focus and attention increases. 

Hence, sleep makes you lose your attention and hypnosis increases your attention.

Hypnosis makes it easier for a dreamer to access their dream, due to both dreams and hypnosis being controlled by the subconscious mind. The same mind being where all your memories and dreams are kept.

Dreams are therefore the language of our subconscious and have three common factors; images, emotions and bodily sensations whereas, your conscious mind speaks via words and thinks more linearly, making it harder to deal with your emotions and images.

The main secret to understanding and interpreting your dreams is by learning to translate your subconscious (images, emotions and sensations) into conscious understanding, by associating your dream with a particular situation in your waking life, or by breaking it down layer by layer, separating the symbols, emotions or feelings and decoding it step by step.

You can do this by writing down your dream in detail by describing your feelings during the dream and after waking, making notes about how you feel, what was happening, the characters in the dream, where they noticeable colours or smells; every detail no matter how minor means something.

This becomes clearer when you begin to associate your dream with any ideas, thoughts, memories or insights you may think it may relate too, in a past, present or future life experience or situation.

It is important to list all the main characters and their reactions, because sometimes characters may represent a real person or symbolize a part of your own personality or someone else’s, often characters are distorted and can contain more than one person behaviour or characteristic.

Re-entering Dream Procedure

There are two ways to re-enter dream hypnosis. Via an hypnotist / therapist or via Self-hypnosis. Either way results in the same benefits being achieved. However, if you are relatively new to dream interpretation then it is advised to contact a hypnotist / therapist.

The role of the hypnotherapist during dream-hypnosis is only to guide the dreamer during hypnotic state, allowing the dreamer to understand and interpret their own dream; a hypnotist will not interpret the dream for you. (The entire dream is started, developed and completed by the dreamer)

During a session with a hypnotherapist, the dreamer will choose whether they wish to dream in silence or speak their dream out load.  Either way does not matter, because during the de-briefing the dream will be discussed in depth, especially if the hidden message is still not clear and the dreamer requires closer.

Following this, the session begins with a relaxation followed by a technique called dream incubation, this is when the dreamer focus’s intensively upon their specific dream they have chosen to uncover.

What happens at this point is very much down to the dreamer, because the more the dreamer focus’s upon their specific dream the more they will remember and the clearer the dream will become, until, eventually the dreamer will be able to run the dream over and over within their mind, similar to action replay.

This prepares the mind, by programming the subconscious mind with the specific dream choice, hence, the dream takes over and induced sleep state (hypnosis) occurs naturally.

In this sleep state, dreamers have reported that they feel comfortable to deeply relaxed, sleeping but not quite sleeping, aware of their external surroundings, but feel comfortable with what they are experiencing internally.

Alongside this, the hypnotherapist continues to guide the dreamer, by asking related questions.  For instance: Tell me about your dream? What is the hidden message? What does the dream teach you? The hypnotherapist will also prompt you to notice every detail, colour, smell and feeling. Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? What time of day is it?

No matter how trivial or unimportant it may seem at the time, all images, symbols, thoughts or feelings must be remembered and recorded.  As everything means something, after all it is your subconscious thoughts and life experiences that create your dreams.

And it is only when a dreamer begins to understand their dream and themselves that reframing within the mind can take place. Hence, by the dreamer understanding their dream, it becomes easier to understand themselves, resulting in healing, understanding and complete wholeness taking place.

The value of this process is invaluable to a dreamer on waking, especially if the dreamer suffers from low self-esteem or confidence issues, having problems with recurring dreams or nightmares or relationship problems.

Remembering and recalling dreams

Dreams play a major role in our waking lives, more than you might think. Dreams not only guide and warn us but they also give us solutions to problems in our waking lives.

Remembering dreams on waking is generally common place amongst those people who suffer with stressful lives or are going through a worrying time; this is due to the dreamer being highly emotionally charged during this period in their life and their conscious and subconscious mind working desperately to find a solution to their waking problem.

Remembering your dreams is not a complicated procedure. All it really needs is a positive attitude and a willingness to succeed. Everybody dreams regardless of whether you remember them on waking are not.

The first step to learning to remember your dream is your intent to do so, followed by writing them down in a dream journal or recording them onto a tape recorder. (This is the best way to start to enhance your memory recall).

The second step is to make sure you are getting enough sleep, because the more sleep during the night, the more opportunity you will have to awaken from your dream, remember, recall and record them.

Waking in the morning and trying to recall a dream, is not enough, as sometimes you will dream many times through the night and will not be able to remember all of them in detail on waking.

That is why it is important to repeatedly say to yourself, before sleeping ‘I will remember my dreams’ because this programmes your subconscious mind to awaken you after each dream, in order for you to record your dreams separately.

If you struggle to remember or recall anything, and are insistent you will not dream, then you will probably find that you will not recall or remember your dreams, as you are already instructing your subconscious mind that you will not be able to do it and it will follow your thought train.

To succeed in remembering and recalling your dreams, all depends on your willingness to succeed and your intent.

Intent before going to sleep is the best method to recalling and remembering your dreams, as this prepares your conscious and subconscious mind and over time allows you more control over your dreams.

Your mind is very powerful which is why you need to be determined to remember and recall your dreams. Even though you may be under the belief that you lose control during sleeping, this is not actually the case, you have choices during sleeping, very similar to those in waking but it is not until you can remember your dreams that you will be able to take control of your dreams.

Dreaming is a natural everyday process just like breathing, but it is not until you fully understand the images and symbols you may see hear or feel during sleep state, that you will be able to truly understand the hidden message behind the dream.

Therefore dream hypnosis is an ideal solution to anyone wishing to understand their dreams or themselves in more depth, overcome nightmares or find out why you are having recurring dreams,  plus many more benefits that can only be revealed, by entering your own subconscious and discovering your own hidden secrets deep within your own internal memory bank.

One date led to another and then another and, over time, I fell deeply in love with him.  As is often the case in relationships, however, we had our ups and downs.  One of the biggest deterrents was the fact that he was very afraid of even the thought of  a commitment.  It wasn’t that he wanted to see other women, only that he was very apprehensive about making a commitment.  Other than that, it turned into a beautifully loving relationship that I became more and more attached to.  I wanted more but didn’t know how to break his barrier of fear so I went on line and started looking through some websites that dealt with relationships; how to make them better, what to do and what not to do, how to conquer the problems that have a way of arising over time, how to get and keep things running smoothly.  They all proved fruitless to me because I had tried everything that I read dozens of times before.

All I could think was I’ve tried all the conventional physical methods with no success; maybe it was time to try something “metaphysical” and see how that worked out.  I came across a site run by a New Orleans Voodoo.  The difference between New Orleans voodoo and Haitian voodoo, Vodou, was that there are no animal sacrifices to be made as offerings to the Lwa (which, in essence, are the equivalents of the saints in Catholicism) so this was right up my alley, so to speak.  I could never hurt, let alone kill an animal.  After thoroughly reading through the introduction to New Orleans voodoo and the product list on the site, I decided to try it.  The transformation that came about in my relationship, as the result of harnessing the forces of nature to help me, were truly phenomenal!  I learned so much, all of it making a very positive impact on my life and on our relationship which blossomed.  I learned true faith, patience, perseverance, tolerance and the will to manifest what I wanted over time.  In my book, Voodoo or Voodon’t  (http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=1598007971) step by step, I tell the details of of my Voodoo journey.

Suffice it to say that because of my deep, pure love for the man I fell in love with  and through my relentless faith, patience and determination I was led on a magical journey; a journey with results that will certainly warm even the most doubtful heart.

What does it mean to accept others for who they are? It means we do not judge who someone is or look down upon them. It means no expectations because when we place expectations on someone then we are either judging who they are or hoping that they will be more. It means accepting each person for who they are at any given moment.

By accepting others for who they are at any moment we are offering a form of spiritual unconditional love. Does this mean that we must love every person that we meet? Yes and no. We do not need to love every person in a physical or emotional way but we do need to love them in a spiritual way.

Now just because we accept people for who they are, this does not mean that they will do the same for us. Not everyone has learned how to do this yet and not everyone is able to do it yet. This too we must accept.

You might be saying something like, “What about people who are cruel, mean, or hurtful to us?” These folks will test us the most. We still must accept who they are. We only have control over ourselves and our actions and reactions. No matter what we do, we cannot change others.

So herein lies the choice. With each person that we meet we need to see them for who they are. Once we have this information we have to choose. Do we become and/or remain angry at people for the way they are? Do we try to change others to fit what we would like them to be or who we think they should be? Or… Do we accept people for who they are? As you can see accepting others for who they are is not only in their best interests but in our own best interest as well. We are able to release the need to stay angry or hurt and in doing so keep illnesses caused by negative emotion away.

Accepting others does not mean that we must continuously subject ourselves to unhealthy situations. If a person is cruel or mean, we can accept that and release them if necessary. Accepting others is not about being a doormat or allowing ourselves to be abused. It’s about seeing reality and dropping perceptions that are unrealistic.

And when we accept others for who they really are, we allow them the ability to share “their” truth with us. We give them the freedom to be themselves with us. We also give ourselves the freedom to be our authentic self and in doing so we allow ourselves the room to disover more of the true self.

Over the coming weeks we will discuss more about acceptance, unconditional love, releasing negative people, and the authentic self. I feel these are all core issues in living a spiritual life and learning emotional maturity.

The concept of holistic medicine has been around for quite some time now, with inroads being made by Western medicine’s acceptance of practices such as yoga, physical and massage therapies, and chiropractic services as effective complementary choices. Perhaps it’s due to the “dawning of the age of Aquarius” — you know, where harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abound — that the field of law is now awakening, as well, to a new way of doing things. As with medicine, holistic law is about helping people beyond their immediate legal needs, by looking at the broader context of their lives to see how it is impacting on their legal issues.

A holistic lawyer would then address her clients’ legal issues in a way that benefits them in mind, body, and spirit. In support of such lawyers, there is even an International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers.

Some holistic lawyers emphasize mediation for their clients as opposed to fueling the conflict with opposing parties; some view the rule of law as a means to end strife in the world; while others, offer means of becoming centered and transformed, to their clients. Another indication from popular culture that the time ripe for holistic lawyers, is the advent of the television show Eli Stone. It is about a corporate lawyer who sees visions about what types of cases he should undertake, and due to his epiphany, acts with integrity toward the other parties, while still serving the needs of his clients. What a novel concept. In medicine, the show Private Practice also epitomizes the concept of a holistic team approach to meeting their clients’ medical needs. A holistic lawyer does the same through the use of a multi-disciplinary approach for her clients’ immediate needs, but examines the spiritual, mental, and emotional conditions that caused their legal challenges or dilemmas to arise.

In applying the holistic/metaphysical legal approach to a famous — shall we say infamous — person that we all know, let us examine Britney Spears’ situation (if ever there was an example of someone needing a comprehensive approach to her legal and life challenges it would be Britney Spears). For example, a traditional lawyer in going forward with the case, would focus primarily on Britney’s child custody battle and counsel her client to behave more discretely. Said attorney might then seek to strategize and minimize any negative effects of her clients past “bad” behavior. Indeed, such a traditional lawyer may gather together a team of medical experts and psychiatrists to demonstrate that her client’s behavior was due to post partum depression or some other treatable or temporary condition. The attorney would then argue that custody of Britney’s children should be permanently awarded to her after she has completed the treatment.

A metaphysical or holistic lawyer might take all those steps as well, but would go the extra distance in a way that genuinely benefits her client (and perhaps her parents, children and generations to come), by addressing the spiritual (not religious), energetic, karmic, and emotional context in which her client’s crisis arose. Obviously, there are issues between Britney and her parents, and now some of those dysfunctions threaten to affect another generation of that family. That’s where karmic healing can come in to address and heal individual and generational karma, in order to provide individuals freedom from the vicious cycles keeping them bound. It is also apparent that Britney is emotionally troubled and that her energy, though creative, is chaotic, to say the least. That’s where Reiki and other forms of energy healing can come in very handy to help an individual become, without the help of prescription drugs or alcohol (and to the extent that the individual is open and receptive), calmer, stabilized (grounded) and happier. This is not an overnight process, but with repeated sessions, remarkable strides can be made in months, as opposed to the many years it normally takes a psychotherapist, acting alone to be effective.

The quicker such a client is put in touch with her soul’s true nature, the sooner her personal, familial, and legal concerns would be resolved and restored to harmony. While it is easy to see how someone like Britney Spears might benefit from a holistic approach to her legal and other life challenges, this approach would be just as beneficial for the average person. We all have challenges in life to deal with or handle, it’s just a matter of how well we do so, and whether we learn our lessons the first time so as not to keep repeating them over and over in the same grade.

This kind of approach can be a way of life for: anyone who wants to decrease the amount of stress in his/her life; insomniacs who want to sleep more soundly at night; anyone who wants to lose weight but his/her emotional, karmic, or spiritual blockages are preventing them from doing so; anyone who is preparing for surgery; a parent experiencing conflict with a teenager, etc.; people in toxic romantic relationships who want to transform or end them; people with resentment against their parents, a co-worker, boss, sibling, former spouse, or friend; people who are grieving the loss of a loved one; people who have a serious illness; or people who have had it with being in the same old financial rut and are now ready to break out of it into a new and more prosperous, not to mention successful, life. This is the new paradigm for approaching the legal and other issues confronting people — and dare I say — the most effective one as well.

Many omens are found in the natural world. The ancients would observe the behavior of animals, the movements of the clouds during the day and the positions of the stars at night and draw conclusions. Natural Disasters such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes were thought to be omens of divine discontent with humanity. The ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians were especially interested in omens and almost anything that happened was taken as a sign of good or bad fortune.

Omens could also be precognitive dreams and the appearance of banshees, spirits, ghosts, spectral animals, phantom ships and visions. The English Civil War, for example, was predicted by numerous people who claimed to have seen visions of armies battling in the sky.