spiritual counseling
The Life Calling Of The Death Doula
The first time I heard of a doula, I had no idea what it meant. I soon discovered that it is a person trained to provide guidance, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and after childbirth.
But little did I know at the time that a doula can also be someone who is of service to dying. So, a doula may assist us coming into the physical world, as well as leave the physical world. What a wonderful profession to be called to assist in the miracles of birth and death.
As a psychic medium, talking to loved ones who have crossed over, I have come to understand that some people definitely prefer to be alone at the time of death. My own dad was such a person. He made it clear to us this was his dying wish.
Several people kept vigil at his bedside for three weeks, but the moment we all were away to change clothes or eat, was his opportunity to ‘check out.’ As in life so be it in death, my dad was a very private person.
His hospice room was right across from the elevator. When my mother and I stepped off the elevator, I heard my dad take his last breath and I sensed and felt his spirit exit the building. But I also know he was not ‘alone,’ because his loved ones, guides and angels came to greet him.
So, how does an end-of-life doula help with this process? A doula is there to help the family as much as the person passing. It is my belief that it is a deep honor to be present at a birth or a death. I have had the privilege to be present at all three of my granddaughter’s births. I have also been present at several deaths.
Both are times when emotions are running very high. At a birth everyone is anxious until they hear baby’s first cry. They are on edge waiting to hear baby and mother are both fine. A doula can help explain what is going on and answer questions about the birth process.
The Fierce Journey To The Heart Of The Goddess
There are many divine beings around us throughout our lifetime. When I do a reading, a variety of angels, spirit guides, ascended masters, and goddess archetypes may show up to lend their wisdom, love, and guidance to my clients, for whatever situation they are going through.
Not only do we have guardian angels constantly with us, but we also have various ‘inner band’ and ‘outer band’ spirit guides who interchange through different periods and cycles in our lifetime. We also have deities or higher-level beings with us during certain times.
Recently I have had many encounters with the goddess Kuan Yinin during readings. She is the Buddhist bodhisattva associated with compassion and was first known as the ‘goddess of mercy’ among Jesuit missionaries in China. Guanyin, Guan Yin or Kuan Yin, is short for Kuan-shi Yin, meaning she who ‘observes the cries of humanity.’
She is a popular goddess in Chinese folk religion and worshipped in many communities and cultures all over the world. In the mid-17th century outlawed Christians in Japan created statues of the Catholic Virgin Mary disguised as Kuan Yin, known as the ‘Maria Kannon.’
I have always associated her with compassion, kindness, and forgiveness, but I was recently reminded that Kuan Yin rides a dragon! This makes a lot of sense to me, now that I have examined her legend more closely.
Kuan Yin is teaching us by example. To arrive at a place of compassion and kindness, we must first piece through some uncomfortable feelings of anger, sadness, and fear, to arrive at the ‘heart of the goddess.’ Kuan Yin rides her dragon of fierce bravery through stormy waters and scorching fires. She follows through with the journey to a place of completion and does not avoid the challenges that confront her along the way.
True Love Requires Action
My spirit guides have been pointing out as imperative for me to both address and bring to awareness a common theme that I have been noticing in my readings lately. It concerns love, romance and the Law of Attraction, and the importance of taking action when we are on a path towards manifesting a desired relationship.
For example, X wants a relationship with Y. They’ve been talking frequently over several months and have also been on several dates. They really seem to be hitting it off! However, rather than talking directly to Y about how she feels, X calls me for guidance.
But typically the angelic guides will return the responsibility to X in such a reading. Archangel Gabrielle, the Archangel of Communication, will come forward and gently nudge her towards taking personal responsibility by taking action. She will most likely be encouraged to communicate directly with Y herself, and to tell him how she feels about him.
Meanwhile, here I am, caught in the middle. I totally understand the logic of calling a psychic to ‘get a feel’ for what’s energetically going on with the other person, because it is usually scary to be vulnerable, put yourself out there, and have the courage to take that first step in moving a relationship forward.
But I also know that spiritual guidance can only take us so far in life. We also have to take action ourselves and accept personal responsibility for manifesting our desires.
So, my advice from both a spiritual realm and physical world perspective is to never underestimate the power of the mundane! Having a simple and honest conversation to voice your feelings, opinions or concerns can sometimes be the most powerful way to create and attract what you desire in your life.
Make The Most Of Your First Psychic Reading
First-time clients calling me at Psychic Access do not always know what they should ask or how to prepare for a call, especially if it their first time getting a psychic reading. After many years of helping people all over the world, I can offer the following tips and guidelines to make the most of your first reading.
Choose The Best Psychic
Psychics are not all the same and they have different abilities, skills and styles of reading. Psychics tend to also specialize in different types of readings. So, it is important to not just choose someone for your first reading based on the photo, name or other superficial information.
Take some time to study the profiles, watch the introductory videos, and read their testimonials. It is not so much about finding the ‘best’ psychic on the site, because on a reputable site like PsychicAccess.com everybody is good at what they do. Instead, your aim should rather be to find the best psychic for you.
First get some clarity about exactly what you want to focus on. Do you need a reading regarding your departed love ones, love and relationships, career or business, your pets, and so on. Look for someone who seems to best match your needs and personality.
Throwing The Bones
Before studying various Western disciplines of healing and divination, I trained to become a sangoma some 30 years ago, on the borders of Mozambique and Kwazulu-Natal in Southern Africa, where I learned among other things the divination method known as ‘throwing the bones.’
A ‘sangoma’ casting the bones is the African equivalent of the Native American shaman, the Old Norse rune reader, or the European Tarot reader. To uninformed Westerners, indigenous African methods of divination are often thought of as ‘witchcraft,’ but just like there is good and bad in all cultures and professions, the true calling of the African diviner or shaman is a spiritual one of seeking advice through the wise ancestors. In the same way modern Western diviners rely on spirit guides, angels or the ascended masters for divine guidance, so the African diviner relies upon the ancestors.
My training came about after I consulted another sangoma and was told it was my calling to become sangoma myself. She also cautioned me that until I took up this calling, I would repetitively become ill – and how right she was!
Eventually I heeded the ‘calling’, as unusual as it was at the time for a young English woman to enter the mysterious realm of African mysticism in the country in those days. Training was harsh and intense with my mentor and included coaching in various disciplines, such as divination, dream interpretation, ritual, indigenous medicines, and herbalism over a two and a half year period.
One of the divination methods I was taught is known as ‘throwing the bones’. Since the beginning of recorded history the notion of throwing tokens, casting the dice or drawing lots to interpret the divine will of spirit and the ancestors has been viewed as symbolically linking the diviner to his or her mission. Casting or throwing the bones is an ancient practice native to many regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, and North America. In Southern Africa it is a long-standing ritual among the sangomas of the Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa and Ndebele tribes.
Each bone or token used for casting is part of a kit the sangoma carefully selects with the guidance of spirit, initially with the help of a mentor. Spirit and the ancestors instruct the seeker as to the symbolism and meaning of each sacred item in the collection, and precisely shows the student where to find it and which one to use in a divination. In Southern Africa, a mentor assists the thwasa (trainee sangoma) in the process of learning to receive information from the bones, and in reading the patterns in which the bones are likely to fall.
Think Twice Before You Act
I often meditate to cleanse myself of residual psychic energy accumulated after a challenging week or two, or even after a long day of doing many psychic readings. When a psychic reads for someone they are not only reading for that one person, but also for everyone involved in a particular situation or in the client’s thought process. Thus, after doing several readings a day you can imagine the energy build-up!
During these cleansing sessions I tend to contemplate the highlights and low points of the day. The same questions usually come up for me. Why do some choose not to listen? Why do some people insist on only hearing what they wish to hear? Why do some folks ask for guidance when they don’t truly care about what Spirit has to say? Why does someone choose to get a reading, only to hear what they want to hear and not truly listen to what the psychic or medium is conveying to them? I have yet to receive the answers to these questions, either from Spirit or from any living person.
Sadly, this lack of openness to spiritual messages even goes as far as the client trying to lead the reader into answering very private questions about another person they hardly even know. They may have just met this person or they may have crossed paths for one brief instant. Why wouldn’t they allow that magic to just develop naturally, as opposed to prying into a person’s personal life to try and find out all about them? You lose something inherently personal when you do this: your mind!
If Spirit recommends that you allow a little time to pass, before contacting the new person in your life, why would your immediately begin to text or direct message that person? I’m not sure why anyone would do this to themselves? I’ve seen so many instances of people impatiently doing what they shouldn’t be doing, thereby bringing suspicion or tension into a romance that has barely had any time to grow or bloom – much less take root.
The Lotus Flower Reading
I recently attended an online psychic development workshop. In one of the tasks, we had to partner with another student and do a ‘flower reading.’ I know touching an object using psychometry works well in readings, but this is something else.
Our teacher paired us up and we didn’t know in advance with whom. We also had to intuitively pick a flower for our partner beforehand. At the beginning of the session, we had to show the other person the actual flower or a color photo of the flower we had chosen for them on our shared screens.
In preparation for this, I placed many pieces of paper, each with the name of a different flower on it, into a bag, shook it up, and drew one. Spirit guided me to select the Indian lotus flower or nelumbo nucifera.
When it was my turn to read for my classmate, I relaxed and observed the image of the lovely white lotus in front of me. The depth of information that came forth in the reading about her past, how her life was now, and what lay ahead, was truly amazing!
The reading revealed that she was going to be blossoming soon like the lotus, because she currently finds herself in a strong development stage. I later learned that she’d been through some dark times, almost giving up on herself. She had recently begun doing deep shadow work, as well as exploring her psychic development.
She is also recovering from a recent trauma and the lotus is traditionally known for being the ideal gift for someone recovering from any traumatic experience or physical injury. Many years ago, I attended a Yoga class during which the challenges of the lotus position was discussed in-depth. The teacher said that through proper breathwork and becoming more flexible, one’s body will allow you to achieve this pose.
I was only 19 years old at the time and not very supple. I saw no hope of achieving that position for quite some time. However, only a few classes later, we did a session during which a lot of emphasis was placed on our breathing. And to my amazement, I was able to easily get into the lotus position!