In this chapter I set out some guidelines that will facilitate your work in the Records. These are meant to help you prepare for the most enlightening experiences possible. They encourage kindness and respect in communication, responsible use of time, and appropriate ways of combining the Records with other spiritual systems. The guidelines also provide suggestions for formulating your questions before a reading, and they describe the kinds of information you might receive, as well as how you might receive it.
I’ve compiled these guidelines from a few different sources, including Mary Parker; my own Akashic Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones; and my experiences while teaching others to read the Records. Through the years I have found that there are ways of working in the Records that support more accurate, effective readings, and I pass this information to you so that you can be successful in your practice.
The way you choose to live your life has no bearing on your ability to access the Akashic Records. However, deciding the best way to approach an Akashic Records reading is a conscious and deliberate matter that requires conscious and deliberate choices. The following guidelines will help you make choices that allow you to work responsibly in the Records. They will facilitate your shift into the Akashic field of consciousness and support you in receiving information as clearly and strongly as possible. Although I strictly follow these guidelines as a way to prepare for readings, I am in no way asking you to alter your personal lifestyle and follow the guidelines daily. If you like to drink alcohol, for example, that is totally your choice. I’m merely instructing you to abstain from alcohol twenty-four hours before giving a reading. The first guideline below will explain why this is important.
1. Do not consume recreational drugs or alcohol for twenty-four hours before opening the Records.
The general understanding about drugs is this: If you are taking a prescription drug that your body needs for balance and healing, that drug will not interfere with your ability to read the Records. However, recreational drugs or alcohol will work against you in a reading because they’ll compromise your energy field and make its edges “wobbly” or shaky—and that will distort your perception. (Think about what happens when you view yourself in a fun house mirror: you don’t see an accurate image of yourself because the mirror distorts your perception.) Though a distorted perception of reality may be acceptable in certain environments, it’s neither appropriate nor responsible during an Akashic Records reading, where the goal of the reader is to reveal the truth.
2. Use your current legal name when opening your Records.
Every name has a unique energetic vibration. Using the vibration of your current legal name is what allows you access to your Records. And using your full name—Suzette Joann Bailey, rather than Suzy Bailey, Suzy Jo Bailey, or Suzy J. Bailey—allows for a deeper, richer reading. When you change your name legally (as in the case of marriage or divorce, for example), you change your vibration in the Akashic Records, as well as the direction your life can take. So use the name that is on your legal documents, even if it’s not the name you use every day. If there’s any confusion about this, ask yourself the question “How does the IRS know me?” This guideline also applies when you read the Akashic Records for others.
3. Be responsible for your time in the Records.
Especially when you’re first getting used to being in the Records, it’s important to spend enough time during a reading to allow your consciousness to fully shift. This shift will allow you to get firmly “entrenched” in the Akashic field and receive information as clearly as possible. Between fifteen minutes and an hour in the Records is an appropriate amount of time to spend. Anything less than fifteen minutes will feel less like an Akashic reading and more like a quick-fix oracle in the realm of a yes-or no question. (See section entitled “What Kinds of Questions Work Best in the Akashic Records?” for the kinds of questions that work best during Akashic readings—and for an explanation of why yes-or-no questions are not as effective as how-and-why questions.)
4. Ground yourself after each reading.
As you transition out of, or “close,” the Akashic Records, your consciousness shifts back to your human perspective. To prevent yourself from feeling disoriented after this shift, do something to ground yourself: Drink a glass of water. Wash your face. Have a bite to eat. Go outside and hug a tree. Walk around barefoot—whatever works best for you and fits your immediate circumstances. The reason for grounding yourself is to bring your awareness back to the present moment and make yourself fully aware of your surroundings. Two grounding techniques that work well for me are taking my dog for a walk and taking out the trash. Both of these methods require me to let go of the reading and be present to what I am doing.
5. When combining the Akashic Records with any other system, always honor both methods.
And conversely, if the guidelines and procedures for a particular system conflict with the guidelines for reading the Akashic Records, don’t use the two systems together. Here’s an example: You’re considering opening your Records while partaking in Ritual Z, which requires you to eat hallucinogenic mushrooms. But you know that you must abstain from alcohol and drugs for twenty four hours before opening your Records. Since Ritual Z’s procedures conflict with these guidelines, practice these systems separately. In this way, you can honor each system’s methods and keep each system pure and effective.
1. Before opening a person’s Records, obtain his or her permission.
Open someone’s Records only when he or she asks you to do so. Always be aware that Akashic readings are “by invitation only,” so don’t tell people that they need readings or coerce them into consenting when they’re uncomfortable with the idea. Know that it’s up to each person to decide whether or not to have a reading. Even when it appears that a person’s soul or Higher Self is longing for a reading, if that human being cannot or will not ask for a reading, then the timing is not right—and doing a reading would not be right either.
2. Maintain the strictest confidentiality.
If you are interested in doing Akashic readings for other people, you probably already possess a natural sensitivity to their needs—especially the need for privacy. So of course you will honor the confidential nature of this work and will not discuss other people’s readings. As in all things, the Golden Rule applies here: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you’re ever on the receiving end of a reading, you will especially appreciate this guideline.
3. Present all the information you get as positively, kindly, and respectfully as possible.
The goal of every reading is to dignify and elevate the person being read—to reveal that person’s true self and potential. Gently and respectfully share everything that a person’s Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones reveal—even if it makes you uncomfortable, it seems insignificant, or it doesn’t make sense to you. Sometimes the thing that you hold back from saying is exactly what a person most needs to hear.
4. Do not open the Records of individuals younger than eighteen years of age.
Each culture has its own definition of when a child becomes an adult. In the United States, adulthood is generally recognized as eighteen years of age. The Pathway Prayer Process honors the cultural norms of the United States because it’s the place of origin of this system. Until children reach the age of eighteen, they are the legal responsibility of their parents or guardians and are not allowed to make choices for themselves. Since having an Akashic reading requires individuals to take responsibility for their own actions (and karma), children must wait until they’re eighteen to have a reading. This does not mean, however, that parents can’t open their own Records and ask questions about raising their children. Valuable information is available regarding why our children are in our lives, how we can best support their growth, and what lessons we can learn from our relationships with them. (I am sometimes asked if it’s okay to open the Records of a “mature” seventeen-and-a-half-year-old. My answer is always the same: if those children are truly mature, they’ll understand why it’s important to wait until they turn eighteen.)
Once you make a conscious commitment to learn the Pathway Prayer Process, your initiation period begins, and you enter a “transitional thirty-day grace period.” So if you simply open this book, read the prayer, and start to use it, you may not get the immediate results you desire. However, if you take the time to read the entire book and decide to work within its guidelines and ground rules, you will surely enter the zone of grace that will lend energetic support to your endeavor.
After you read the guidelines and ground rules, you may decide you’re not ready just yet to open your Akashic Records. That’s okay. The thirty-day transition begins when you decide to give the Records a fair try. You know what “fair try” means for you, and it’s your decision, so you get to be the one who says what’s fair. If something happens in your life that requires your full attention, and you can’t work in the Records for a while, don’t worry. Just let the Records go until you are ready to start anew. Your thirty-day grace period will also begin again. During that time, the Lords of the Records will gently guide you as you make your way in this exciting new spiritual realm.
During those early days, as you begin to read for others, the following guidelines will help ease your anxiety.
1. Do offer Akashic readings to others.
Once you learn to access the Akashic Records, the quickest way to get comfortable giving readings is to practice as much as you can. Therefore, it’s permissible during this thirty-day period only to offer people readings instead of waiting to be asked. Tell people that you just learned to read the Records, and ask if you can practice on them. If they agree to have a reading, terrific. If they hesitate or say no, take that as your cue: Stop. Leave them alone. Ask somebody else.
2. Do not collect money for your Akashic readings.
Offering free readings for the first thirty days will allow for the fact you that you’re still learning, and your readings may not be perfect. This approach will give you latitude to stretch and grow, and it will ease any “pressure to perform.” When you do begin to charge for your readings, be sure to ask your Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones what fee is appropriate for you.
3. Do not mix your readings with other systems or disciplines.
Before you start mixing your Akashic work with any other systems, it’s important to know what the Records are, as well as what they do. Otherwise, you may not be able to tell which practice is creating which result. (As I like to say, “Before you mix a drink, you need to know what’s in each bottle.”)
One of the most important keys to conducting an accurate and powerful reading is knowing what kinds of questions to ask. Some questions will yield lots of information from the Records, while others will yield little or no information—or they won’t yield the kind of information you’re seeking. So as you begin to formulate your questions, here are three guidelines to follow.
1. Avoid questions that start with when.
Time does not matter in the Records because the Records are eternal. They exist everywhere, all at once, and always in the here and now. Therefore your Akashic Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones are neither bound by nor to the parameters of earthly space and time. So asking them a predictive question about when something will happen will not give you the answer you want—and you may even end up feeling frustrated, as in the following question posed by the fictional “Mary Margaret.”
Of course, the answer Mary Margaret wants and expects is something measurable and definitive, such as, “You will find the love of your life within the next three months.” However, since the Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones don’t deal in earthly time, they won’t give her a measurable, definitive answer. Instead, they might respond like this:
But Mary Margaret is not happy with that answer at all!
You get the idea: time-related, predictive questions don’t work well in the Akashic Records—especially when the issue in question could take more than one lifetime to resolve!
2. Avoid questions with yes-or-no responses.
Questions requiring yes-or-no answers don’t work well in the Records either because the outcome is ultimately up to you; it’s determined by your choices and life circumstances. Here is another example, this time with the fictional “Thomas.”
Thomas now expects a simple one-word answer: yes or no. However, the Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones have a different answer in mind. It is based on their knowing that in order for Thomas to be truly satisfied, the decision must be his, not theirs. Thomas must look inside to determine who he is, as well as what kind of work he likes and does best. Then he must consider the advantages and disadvantages inherent in both his current job and the new prospect. Next he must decide which job best suits his goals and needs. After carefully considering all those factors, Thomas will finally have his answer—and at that point, he won’t need any outside help in knowing what to do. So instead of hearing yes or no from his Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones, Thomas might hear something like this:
That’s a lot more words than yes or no. Again, though, you get the idea: yes-or-no questions don’t work well in the Records. They diminish people’s power by put ting the decision-making process—and ultimately, the outcome—in someone else’s hands. But the Akashic Records give people power by helping them examine a situation, see what’s true, and then decide for themselves what feels right. In other words, there are no shoulds in the Records. Your Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones will broaden your perspective and will help you weigh your options, but they will not make your decisions for you or tell you what you should do. As always, they leave responsibility where it belongs—with you.
Our challenge as human beings on this planet is to live in the present moment as much as we possibly can. When we’re focused on some point in the future or are letting someone else tell us how things should go, we’re neither present in a particular moment nor responsible for ourselves. But when we seek the perspective of the Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones, they help us empower ourselves to be who we need to be in any given moment. Providing truth, information, and support is the role of the Akashic Records. So if you really need a time-related answer, there are oracles such as clairvoyants, card readers, and astrologers who can help. And if you need a yes-or-no answer, a pendulum works especially well.
3. Stick with questions that answer what, why, or how.
The questions that work best in the Records usually begin with what, why, or how. For example, instead of asking, “When will my soul mate appear?” or “Should I stay with my partner?” try one or more of the following questions:
No two people have the same experience when opening their Records for the first time, so it’s best to go into your experience with as few expectations as possible. Now, having said that, let me tell you about a few things you can expect!
The first thing that will happen while you’re accessing your Records is that while you speak the Opening Prayer, you’ll shift out of your ordinary human consciousness and into the Divine universal consciousness. When you open your Records for the first time, you may or may not sense this shift in any way. Rest assured, however, that by the time you’ve finished the prayer, the shift will have occurred. As I wrote in the Preface, this shift will not be dramatic, and it will not involve strange or sensational phenomena: no talking in funny voices, no eyes rolling back in the head, no entity coming in and taking over, no leaving yourself in the process. It will just be you, as you always are, speaking as you always do. The only difference will be in what you say, because you’ll be receiving information from the Akashic field, which is a different energetic dimension.
At this point, you may be wondering if any “negative” energy or “dark” entities can enter your consciousness or attach to you while you’re in the Akashic Records. My answer to you is no—unequivocally, unmistakably no. As you will come to understand when I explain the prayer, you are calling upon only the forces of Light and are inviting only the Holy Spirit of God. So it is the power of that Divine Light and Holy Spirit that will uphold and protect you from anything that is not strictly of the Light. Will you feel the Light? Maybe, maybe not. But again, rest assured that you are being held firmly in its accelerated and rarified frequency, and you have absolutely nothing to fear.
When people access the Akashic Records, they get all kinds of information. Yet in one important way, it’s always the same: it always elevates the person being read. In the section about questions beginning on See section entitled “What Kinds of Questions Work Best in the Akashic Records?”, I explained the kinds of answers you will not get from the Records. I’d like to add to that here by saying that neither will you get information that makes fun of you, belittles you, or judges you in any way. If you begin to sense judgment while you’re in the Records, know that it’s coming from you, and ask the Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones for help in showing you your soul’s true essence as a Divine spiritual being.
As to how you might get information, you may find that when you first begin opening your Records, you receive information in only one way. You may only see colors or hear words, for example. Yet after being in the Records repeatedly, your ability to hold steady in the Light will increase, and you could receive information in any of the following ways:
By now you have a good overview of guidelines and ground rules for opening the Akashic Records, as well as some information about the ways in which you might receive information from them. Now we will move ahead to Chapter 3, which contains a thorough explanation of the Pathway Prayer Process to Access the Heart of the Akashic Records. It also contains more information about what to expect when you open your Records for the first time. But before you begin reading the chapter, please take a few moments to consider what you’ve read so far, and decide whether this work is for you.
If you decide that working in the Records will never be right for you, please pass this book to someone else who would like to explore the Records. If you would like to work in the Records someday but feel that this isn’t the right time, then set the book aside until you’re ready to begin again. If you feel ready to work in the Records right now, I invite you to continue reading with an open heart and an open mind. As I’ve mentioned, working in the Records is an entirely personal decision. Only you know what kinds of practices will best support your spiritual growth and authority and when you are ready for them. The Lords of the Records understand this perfectly, and they honor your decisions.