father
Some Will Only Know Joy In The Afterlife
Shortly after my father’s death in 2005, I began sitting in a monthly mediumship circle with three friends. At our third gathering, my father began the first of many communications from the other side.
This experience was made even more special by the fact that one of the sitters was my father’s hospice nurse.
How fortunate I was during those last six months of my father’s life to not only have the wonderful support of this earth angel, but also to feel so connected to her through our interest in things of a psychic and spiritualist nature.
What a bonus then to have her as an additional link to him in our psychic circle.
At one point, however, my father stopped communicating during our sessions for a period of about three months. When his presence finally returned, I asked him where he had been, and he replied, “Learning about joy!”
This was very surprising to me because my father never really knew or showed much joy when he was in this world. Or maybe he never allowed himself to experience joy. The only times he seemed really happy or joyful was when he had what he called “several sherbets under his belt,” meaning he’d be pretty intoxicated!
I felt both sad and happy. Sad because he had never known joy as I knew it – just rolling around on the floor playing with my pets, sharing a joke with a friend, or being elated when a client came back to say that their life had taken a turn for the better. But I was happy that he was finally allowing himself to learn about and experience some joy.
How Long Until Their Soul Makes Contact?
I have been asked how long it typically takes for a soul who has recently crossed over to reconnect with us from the other side. This is a particular concern for those souls who leave violently or through sudden illness, often at a young age.
I’ve found that this timeline varies from soul to soul, depending on their original soul plan, life journey, and the circumstances of their passing. It also depends, in my experience, on the belief system of the person before they returned to spirit, especially if they had no spiritual beliefs whatsoever. If they didn’t believe in anything beyond this life, there is often a much longer period of ‘debriefing’ and ‘orientation’ to their new surroundings once they arrive at the proverbial ‘pearly gates’.
Sometimes people come to me for a reading hoping to connect with a loved one who has recently died, and they are disappointed when they don’t get clear, affirming messages from the person they were hoping to connect with. Fortunately, they are often relieved when another family member or friend who has been deceased for a longer period of time comes through for them, often with a comforting message about their recently deceased loved one.
Most psychics recommend waiting a period of time after the death of a loved one before attempting to communicate with their spirit through a reading. This recommendation varies from practitioner to practitioner. Many mediums suggest waiting at least three to six months after the death of a loved one. This period allows for the initial grieving process and gives both the spirit of the deceased time to adjust to the afterlife and the living time to process their grief.
The Hidden Wisdom In Our Traumatic Life Experiences
In the thousands of readings I have done over the years for people from all walks of life, I have repeatedly witnessed how the crucible of life’s trials and tribulations offers profound opportunities for spiritual growth and personal transformation.
It never ceases to amaze me how there is always a spark of wisdom or hidden blessing to be found in every life challenge or traumatic experience. Even in the worst-case scenarios, Spirit is always able to reveal the life lesson or karmic opportunity in these situations.
In a psychic reading, spirit in the form of our ancestors, spirit guides, angels and the divine can offer profound insight and guidance into our hardships and challenges.
With the akashic wisdom gathered through many generations, your higher self, ancestors, and members of your soul family can offer perspectives and experiences that shed light on your current life circumstances.
Their presence in a reading can provide a deep-rooted understanding of family patterns, ancestral karmic debts, and inherited gifts, allowing you to navigate life’s challenges with newfound clarity and resilience.
In addition, our spirit guides and angels serve as divine messengers, offering support and illumination on our journey through life. Their presence in a psychic reading brings messages of encouragement, protection and divine intervention.
The Calling Cards Of Spirit Whispers
When I was a teenager, my father said in a very serious tone, “I want to talk to you about something important.
My immediate thought was, I hope this is not going to be a cringe-worthy talk about the birds and the bees. Please let it not be!
But fortunately it was not about the facts of life. Instead, it was an enlightening conversation about spiritualism and the afterlife.
My father told me about his conversion from atheist to spiritualist about a decade earlier. Apparently, my mother had made a bet with him about something that he had lost. According to their agreement, if he lost, he had to accompany her to a spiritualist church to attend a service.
So they went to the Spiritualist church in London one Sunday night when Joseph Benjamin, a well-known medium at the time, was scheduled to demonstrate on the platform. Benjamin was a prominent Spiritualist medium whose mediumship was highly regarded in those days.
Although my father sat all they way in the back during the service, that didn’t stop Benjamin from locating my father in the assembled crowd and delivering a profound message from my late paternal grandfather.
The message stunned my father, especially when Benjamin told him how disappointed my grandfather was that the tools he’d left him were neglected and “rusting away in the shed. And so it was that my father became an avid believer.
The Empowering Wisdom Of Forgiveness
Although I consider myself a very spiritual person, forgiveness has not always been one of my strengths. In fact, I used to struggle with forgiving those who had hurt or wronged me.
Fortunately, as I matured in my spiritual evolution, I eventually realized that by not letting go of negative events and experiences in my past, I was only being haunted and held captive by them, which was not serving my highest good.
For several years, I was stuck in a downward cycle of replaying certain past events in my mind, reliving every excruciating detail and allowing the past to negatively influence the present and my future. Over time, it became clear that this issue was holding me back in more ways than I could have imagined.
To find some answers, I decided to shift the focus of my spiritual practice for a few months to consult my guides on this issue. During this time, spirit guided me as follows.
Letting Go
To truly forgive, we must let go of the past. There is no true forgiveness if we still somehow hold on to the smallest regret or resentment. Forgiveness is all, or nothing. There are no half measures or gray areas.
Forgiveness is more than just an emotional healing process, it is also an empowering metaphysical practice. If we do not release something completely, we continue to hold some level of negative energy that continues to affect our current vibration, which diminishes our quality of life and negatively affects our future happiness.
The Robin Outside My Window
Birdwatching has become a favorite pastime for me over the last year or two. This morning, I noticed a robin building a nest on one of the air conditioning units on a neighbor’s deck, directly opposite my window.
I was overjoyed! We’ve had very dry weather here in my state since mid-spring, causing robins to struggle finding nesting materials.
Some years ago, I found a newborn chick on a sidewalk while out for a walk. I could not tell for sure what species of bird it was, but it looked like it might be an American robin. I found no nest nearby to put it back into and had no idea what to do with it, but take it home. Sadly, it did not survive.
Since then, I’ve had some ‘robin guilt’ and wished I could have done more to save it. I suspect this stems from another robin incident, when I was growing up. Back then I also tried to care for older fledglings that ultimately didn’t make it. Should I have let nature take its course, instead of trying to take things into my own hands?
Last fall, after the breeding season ended, I purchased some mealworms and placed them by the forested ridge at the end of the complex where I live. The hungry robins were very appreciative, especially after the first frost. It warmed my heart! I plan to continue helping the robins around my apartment complex as the drought continues.
The deeper truth is that robins always remind me of my father. The Latin name for the American robin is turdus migratorius, because it is a migratory songbird that is free-roaming and very sensitive to environmental conditions. However, because they are highly adaptable, their migratory habits tend to be sporadic, even random.
Receiving Spiritual Guidance From Your Ancestors
The ancient tradition of ancestor worship is a powerful, yet often misunderstood spiritual practice. It is typically viewed as a form of idolatry, mainly because of the inaccurate use of the term ‘worship.’
In truth most cultures practicing such rites do not refer to it as ‘ancestor worship.’ The more appropriate terms to use is ‘ancestor reverence’ or ‘ancestor veneration,’ because it is about living descendants paying respect to and seeking the guidance of their loved ones in spirit.
It is a common practice among indigenous people and an integral component of most shamanic traditions. It is not the same as the worship of gods or deities.
In fact, as a spiritual practice it is not much different from looking at old pictures of departed loved ones and rememembering them fondly. We might even tell them how we miss them or share our problems with them. Some of us have even asked them to help us find solutions to problems, or pull a few strings on our behalf from the Other Side.
Although I cannot say I have any special reverence for my ancestors, I do respect them for all the trials and tribulations they experienced while they were in this life. In my ancestral lineage there were courageous prisoner-of-war experiences, the conquering of grievous setbacks and material harships, and even suicides, to mention but a few. Several of my predecessors had truly unique, and even exceptional life stories that still dwell in my cellular memories.
The ancestral technique I use in my spiritual practice is similar to that of the Yoruba people of West Africa. My greatest connection is with my father, and he is the one I communicate with daily in the Yoruba fashion. You can create an altar or sacred space in your home for this purpose.