Connecting with
Spirit: Shifting
Your Awareness
Trying to explain how to connect with the spirit world is a little like trying to explain swimming to a nonswimmer: “You get in the water. You lie on your belly. You move your arms and legs in a coordinated fashion so that you can glide through the water.” But that’s not the essence of swimming. Fluidity in the water depends on intangibles, such as the affinity between swimmer and water, and the swimmer’s trust that the water will keep him or her buoyant. The same is true for mediumship.
When mediums connect with the spirit people, they are in an altered state of awareness. So if you want to connect with the spirit people, you will have to learn to shift your awareness out of your ordinary consciousness and into the mediumistic state of consciousness.
Begin by setting an intention that you are going to connect with the spirit world. After you have set your intention, envision flipping an invisible switch located at your temple that opens the door to the spiritual realms. Just switch it “on.” Start with an opening prayer to invoke the presence of the Great Mystery and ask for the presence of your spirit helpers and the spirit people. Once you have made your opening prayer, begin to take some deep, relaxing breaths. You should fully expect that a spirit person with something to say will come forward and present himself or herself to your spiritual senses (chapter 5, “The Spiritual Senses”).
Most mediums have a trigger that induces a shift in their awareness. For me, the opening prayer is the trigger, and as soon as I close my eyes and start to pray, I perceive a shift in the energy around me. The energy in the room suddenly feels thinner, brighter, and lighter. It feels as if there is a sparkle in the atmosphere that wasn’t there before. My personal concerns disappear. Whatever aches, pains, or worries I had before the opening prayer are suddenly gone as I sense the presence of the spirit people surrounding me.
At first I perceive the spirit people as just a faint impression. But as I begin to describe what I sense and feel from the spirit side of life, one spirit person after another comes into sharper focus, and I begin to receive an abundance of information from them through clairvoyance and clairsentience. The mediumistic state of consciousness is unmistakable.
For some mediums the opening prayer alone is not enough to achieve this state. I know several mediums who purposefully empty their minds and hearts of all of their own personal concerns before they can connect with the spirit people. Some people imagine a basket by the door and envision throwing all their earthly concerns into it. Others imagine handing their everyday preoccupations to the Great Mystery for caretaking. A number of my students have told me when they want to connect with the spirit people in my circles, they just “throw their awareness upward, toward the spirit world.” In the early days of my development, I often repeated my positive affirmations: “I am Spirit’s instrument. I am a conduit for Spirit’s love and light. I am open to the presence of the spirit people.”
When I give public mediumship demonstrations as part of a religious service, it is not appropriate for me to offer my own individual prayer in front of the congregation. In that case I use a different trigger: I imagine that I am stepping into a sacred circle. As soon as I step into that circle, the connection to the spirit world is there. One of my friends, a fellow medium, says that when he wants to connect with the spirit people in a public forum, he imagines stepping out of his physical body. As soon as he takes the first step, he becomes aware of the spirit people. Some mediums might rub their hands together as the trigger that induces their shift of awareness. Other mediums take a couple of deep, relaxing breaths. I also know mediums who issue a standard greeting to the congregation that helps them make the shift.
As your mediumship unfolds, you will discover your own trigger(s) that gets you to that sweet spot where spirit communication occurs. I suggest you keep your trigger simple. There is no need to invent an elaborate or complicated ritual, because eventually such an exercise would become cumbersome and get in the way of you enjoying your mediumship.
Becoming Aware of the Spirit World
The following practice will help you become aware of your own spirit. Repeat it regularly, because becoming familiar with your spirit will make it much easier for you to detect the presence of spirit people. In the long run it will also help you distinguish between information that comes from the spirit world and thoughts that are generated within your mind (chapter 8, “Is It Spirit Communication or Imagination?”).
Read through the entire practice twice, or perhaps create a voice recording of the process to help guide you into a relaxed and meditative state of mind during future sessions.
Practice: Becoming Aware of Your Own Spirit
Turn off the television and silence the telephone. Enter your sacred space and prepare yourself for meditation. Open with a simple prayer along the lines of: “Great Mystery, dear God, surround me with your love and light. Please assist me in becoming aware of and getting to know my own spirit. Thank you. Amen.” Close your eyes. Let your breath become deep and even. With each exhalation, release the concerns of your day.
When you are relaxed and peaceful, find the place in your heart where your divine spark resides. Let that divine spark ignite inside you into a beautiful flame. And let that flame burn away anything that is not true and pure. You are now in the presence of your own unique spirit. With each breath, become more aware of your spirit essence. With each breath, let your spirit fill your entire being, and notice how your spirit extends beyond the boundaries of your physical body. Your spirit is limitless, radiant, and infinitely powerful. Spend as much time in this state as you wish. Once your attention returns to the physical realm, say a prayer of gratitude. Record your experience in your journal.
Step 7: Extend Your Awareness Beyond Your Body
You might want to create a recording of the following process or ask a friend to read it out loud to you.
To begin the connecting process, enter your sacred space, assume your meditation posture, and begin to invoke the Divine Presence with an opening prayer. Seek your attunement with the Divine by following steps 1 through 6. Really pay attention to what you are receiving through your spiritual senses.
Imagine that you are an unlimited being who is not confined to the physical body. Extend your awareness to the edge of your physical body and feel your skin as the boundary of your physical being while continuing to breathe deeply. Next, extend your awareness into your energy field—about three to five feet beyond your physical body—in all directions. Notice how your energy field feels to you. You might feel a special tingle or an “electric charge.”
When you first begin to work with this step, you might not notice anything special. That’s okay. At the very least, this process will give you a good baseline awareness of your energy field and the physical space around you. With time and continued practice, this step will help you notice the presence of the spirit people in your energy field, in the physical space around you, and around other people.
Step 8: Send Love to the Spirit People
With your next exhalation, begin to send love from your heart into your energy field and into the room around you. Send love from your heart to the spirit people who have gathered, regardless of whether you are aware of their presence. Send your love to them anyway, as well as a greeting. You might want to quietly say “hello” and introduce yourself. Continue to send love and continue to breathe deeply.
Exercise: Playing Pretend
As children we had so much fun playing pretend. We pretended to be pirates, princesses, magicians, firefighters, detectives, wizards, and airplane pilots. The moment we decided to pretend, we actually began to impersonate the character we wanted to be. For the duration of the game, we were in an altered state of awareness; we were our favorite characters, and as we played, we forgot about our ordinary existence.
In this exercise, get together with a friend or a fellow medium whose deceased family members you know very little about. I want you to “pretend” that you are a medium, that you can connect with your friend’s spirit people, and that you can actually impersonate the spirit people. Invite your spirit helpers to help you with this. (You will learn more about your spirit helpers in the next chapter.) Invent each detail about the spirit person just as you would in a game. Just make it up, and have fun doing it. Initially you might not get everything right, but don’t worry about that. You are playing a game, and you are having fun. Believe me, it won’t take long before your spirit helpers catch on to the fact that when you are playing pretend, you are actually reaching out for the spirit world. Your spirit helpers will make sure there will never be a shortage of spirit people for you to connect with. Eventually, your playing pretend will become very real.
Disconnecting from the Spirit People
It is good practice to conclude each mediumship session with a closing prayer, regardless of whether you are meditating alone at home or participating in a home circle, development circle, or workshop. In the closing prayer, give thanks for your visit with the spirit people and everything they shared with you, even if you didn’t receive any impressions.
The closing prayer is the trigger to disconnect. After you have finished the closing prayer, imagine flipping the invisible switch that opens the door to the spirit world to “off.” Get up, blow out your candle, and open the windows to let in fresh air. Drinking a glass of water and having a bite to eat will help shift your awareness back into your physical body.
Questions & Answers
I don’t notice anything when I extend my awareness beyond my body.
It is okay to not notice anything. There might not be anything special for you to notice at this time. However, you need to know what it feels like when no spirit people are around so that you can actually perceive the very subtle difference when they are present. Also, you must remember that this is new to you and you don’t yet have an established frame of reference. Practice extending your awareness beyond the physical realm for at least four months, and you will see results.
It seems silly to play pretend. Isn’t it disrespectful to the spirit people?
The spirit world is a lighthearted place. Beginners often think that spirit communication needs to be a very solemn, if not morose, affair. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember, in order to connect with the spirit world you have to raise your vibration. In other words, you need to find that lighthearted, playful place inside your heart. Playing pretend helps you recover your playful inner child. It raises your energy, and it will help you connect.