Take action! Getting rid of doubt & fear.

As we all know, we each experience times when we feel our growth is blocked or stalled. Here are some more ways to get the juices flowing and clear your connection to Spirit:

• 1. Write to Archangel Michael: Working with the Archangels is a powerful way to get the energy and drive you need to move forward. Get ready to connect with Spirit directly! Find a quiet space and time where you can be undisturbed. Light a candle and get a pen and paper or opens a word document on our computer.

Start with a simple question: Archangel Michael, please work with me now. What do I need to release in order to be fully on my path and purpose?

Then, just let yourself write. It may take a second to get going, but your hand will begin to move. Try not to engage your mind too much in this process. Trust that what is coming out needs to come out. Let Archangel Michael guide you to identify issues, situations people, places, things, and events that need to be released from your energy in order to move forward. Often when we are experiencing doubt or fear, we are coming up against old issues or blocks that our personalities have held onto. These fears block us from a clear connection to our own Spirits, and a clear connection to other Spirits as well. Automatic writing under the guidance and protection of Archangel Michael is a great way to get direct guidance on what you need to release. Write until you are finished then review it. You will be surprised by what comes through! Then take the paper and burn it or immerse it in water. By doing this, you change the energetic state of the paper and the information it contains so can be fully released.

• 2. Work with Archangel Raziel. Archangel Raziel is the Archangel that oversees past life information and access. Set aside some time for meditation. Get into a comfortable position (I like to stand, but some people, sit or lie down). Clear your mind, get a pen and paper and ask Archangel Raziel to guide you to any past life experiences that you need to release in order to be fully in your power now. Allow yourself to experience and move through whatever sensations, emotions, images, sounds-anything that comes up. Try to let your self be open to whatever happens. If you feel this meditation didn't really get there, try again the next day. There is no right or wrong with this, the important thing is to set the intention and open yourself to that part of you that Archangel Raziel wants to show you now. The key to success in this exercise is to realize that you hold all the knowledge of your past life experiences within you and you can access them. You can of course work with a regressionist, as well, but don’t underestimate your ability to find and access the information you most need now. You may find that you see or experience information easier than you imagined. Don't discard or judge what you experience - let it flow. Sometimes this can be emotional and it may take more than one time to clear your energy. Let yourself be guided in this process. There are many, many guided past life meditations out there. Explore and find one that works for you.
• 3. Clear out negativity by taking an Epsom salts bath. Surprise! Sometimes the blocks you feel aren’t coming from you! You may be picking up on other people’s energies. Maybe a friend, spouse, child or other person close to you is having a rough time and you are picking up on it. Maybe you spent soem time in a store, office or house that had some not so great energy in it. If you re working on opening your psychic abilities and your connection to Spirit, chances are you are opening up to and picking up on more than your realize. It’s time to clear all of that other people’s stuff out of you! Use as much salt as you want  as the salts serve to clear your aura and help to release any stuck or caught energy. You can also add a couple of drops of Peppermint oil  - this is a great addition to a cleansing bath and helps to dispel any negative energy released.
• 4. Call upon your joy guide. We all have a joy guide or two given to us just to help us find levity in our lives. Feeling like you need some laughter and lightheartedness? Call upon your joy guide to arrange this for you. You may come across a new comedy, a new book, a friend that makes you laugh may unexpectedly show up or if you are a parent your child may do some things that crack you up. The best way to quickly release negativity is to raise your vibration and laughter is a quick way to do that.
• 5. Do something creative. Write, paint, dance, draw, sing! Expressing your feelings can do a lot to release them. When you approach any creative act with the intention of letting it be your link to your Spirit, you create a clear avenue or channel of light from your heart outwards. I find that entering into a creative act not only gets my mind focused on something positive, it also becomes a de facto outlet for my feelings and helps me to let them go and enter into a higher state of being. In fact, the creative state can be another avenue for opening to Spirit communication. Many artists enter into a channel state when creating. (More on this in another post!) For now, focus on putting your hand, mind and body into a creative act and let the feelings flow out. Even if you don;t fancy yourself a “creative” person  - do yourself a favor and try something to let your feelings flow out.

Releasing fears and doubts is a continual process. As you reach new levels of Spiritual knowingness and communication, you also reach new depths within yourself. You can encounter things you have done a great deal of work during your life to push down, ignore or forget. Encountering these things is not so fun, but you can take heart in knowing that they are big road signs that show you are in fact on the right path!

What works to clear doubt and fear for you at one point, may not be what you need at another point. Trust your inner guidance and know that wherever your healing leads you, it is the perfect place for you right now. Doubts and fears only serve to separate you from the Divine-the Divine that exists both within you and in the Spirit world, which is always all around you.

When you feel doubt crop up, don't panic, just recognize it is a normal part of Spiritual growth and will pass as you take action to release it and reconnect with Spirit. You will find that the more times you go through this process, the more trust you will have that these ups and downs serve a greater purpose by challenging you to strengthen and commit to your journey. When you find that easy clarity with Spirit again, it will be stronger, higher and more integrated into your entire self.

As always, if you want help identifying any blocks, issues or want more specific information from your Guides, Angles and Loved Ones we can work together in a reading or coaching session!

With love,

Ashley

Transforming fear & doubt

Are you all too familiar with the doubt and fear that can come with Spiritual growth? Me too. So, what can we do to break out of a low cycle?

1. Use the tools of the trade. When I feel it’s difficult for me to receive direct guidance for myself from Spirit because I am feeling overly emotional, murky or unclear, I go to my oracle cards. Cards and Divination tools are alternative ways you can use to connect with your Spiritual supporters. If you don’t read cards, then use a tool that resonates with you: pendulums, tarot or oracle cards, rune stones and the I Ching are examples of Divination tools. I encourage you to experiment and find what resonates with you. Divination tools are simply ways to find a connection with Spirit . Tools can be helpful when:

• You feel trapped in your own emotions
• When connection to Spirit feels unclear
• When you are having trouble seeing/feeling Signs from Spirit
• Tools can be useful things to employ to help break the doubt/fear pattern and can be great ways to forge or strengthen your connection to Spirit. If you feel you aren’t hearing your Guides and Angels clearly, using a tool can help you reconnect and gain confidence and clarity in your communication. If you are looking for a Divination tool, I suggest going to a metaphysical bookstore and looking at the tools they have available. Look over the selection they have and pick out whatever tool appeals to you. Be sure to follow the guidebook or instructions on how to begin using the tool, clear your mind and use your tools to connect to Spirit. The only thing I believe is not useful is the ouija board, because there is no sacred space on a ouija board and any Spirit that’s hanging around can jump into the action. You don’t need or want this, as you only work with Spirits in the Light. So, choose something that works in alignment with your Higher intentions like the tools mentioned above.

I find that the more specific you can be in your questions, the more fruitful the outcome will be. Remember that Guides and Angels have a high, birds-eye view of what is happening in your life and they have an enormous amount of information to impart to you. Ask them exactly what you want to know. This can be challenging, as it forces you to really articulate what you want guidance on. I believe when asking from Guidance from Spirit they don’t want to just give the answers, they want to empower you to find the answers as well. So, the more you do to understand the issues you are inquiring about, by narrowing down exactly what the issue is you have questions about, the more specific and usable the guidance will be when you receive it.

2. Use affirmations. My Guides and Angles emphasize that the power of affirmations can really work to your advantage. Think about it: every thought you have creates your reality. The more you spend time thinking about something, the more you see it or experience it in your physical reality. So, use the power of thought to your advantage and re-program yourself. There are many, many people in Spirituality who emphasize the power of affirmations, and this is because they work. I work on saying affirmations whenever I catch my mind wandering, or even when I have the urge to aimlessly look at my phone or email. I say these affirmations walking down the street. The more you create a positive, loving interior space the more you will be receive to the Higher vibrations coming at you from Spirit.

These are some I use to increase my connection to Spirit:

• I am profoundly clairvoyant
• I am completely connected to Spirit
• I ask for and receive guidance
• I am in perfect alignment with my soul’s plan for this lifetime
• It is easy for me to feel, see and hear Spirit.

The last thing before you go to bed tonight, pick one of these to say for a couple of minutes before you go to sleep.

3. Raise your vibration You don’t fight fire with fire – you fight fire with water. So, when you feel you are trapped in your mind or ego, don’t try to think your way out of it – do the opposite. The law of attraction says like attract like, so the more you are feeling negatively, the more you attract that down energy. So, create the opposite. Become the energy you want to be. How? Laugh, laugh laugh. This is the fastest and easiest way to get out of your head and into your Spirit. You can also listen to music, read, watch a movie, go for a walk, work outside and get your hands in the dirt. Just accept how you feel, don’t criticize your self for feeling disconnected and put your focus elsewhere. Ruminating, judging and resenting your own state of being in low moments do not help. In fact, those self-critical actions and thoughts only serve to perpetuate the low vibrations you are already feeling. So fight fire with water – bring in fun to lift your Spirit!

4. Get a reading or a healing. Sometimes you need to unpack fear in order to release it. Healings and clearing your energy are ways of uncovering where the fear is located within you. You can then pull it out and shine light upon it. Light shining on fear dissolves it. Connect with a medium, a Reiki healer, a shaman, a crystal healer, a past life regressionist or other intuitive professional to help you identify your issues and identify ways to release them. Maybe you have something hanging on from a past life that is rearing its head. Maybe you have cords pulling at you that you need to cut. Maybe you need some clearing work. Sometimes you may need help, and that’s totally fine. That’s what all of psychics, intuitive practitioners and us mediums are here for. We are here to help you and your Spiritual well being on your growth path.

4. Practice self-love and validation. As strong as the urge is, do not criticize yourself for feeling disconnected. Trust that what you are experiencing is showing you where you need to heal most. Love yourself. What Spirit continually shows me when I am experiencing the challenge of feeling low or stuck or disconnected and like my growth has stalled is that self-validation is first and foremost. This means believe yourself with the signs appearing around you and recognize that many times if you are not feeling or seeing them, that what is separating you from seeing clearly is only fear and fear is showing you the very place within yourself where you need to love yourself more.

Let yourself believe and trust that things are as good as you think they may/could be and realize that anything holding you back from that greatness is fear and that is an illusion.

Any thought or feeling that makes you feel “less than” in any way is fear. And that is showing you the every place within you that is asking for more Light and love. I learn this through dancing as well – where I feel pain and disconnection in my body are the very places that need my love and attention. This is the same for what is happening within you as you grow Spiritually. Sending love and light to the places in yourself where you feel the most resistance to growth is to practice self love and self acceptance – it is bringing the Divine into the places where there is separation from it. Simply recognizing the places where you feel fear and sending love to them is the first and most fundamental step in healing. Self love and self-validation and trust are the basis for complete integration with your Higher self and all Spiritual growth.

Challenge transformed

Recognize that if you are experiencing the same challenge/obstacle over and over again in many different circumstances or relationships then it likely is one of the lessons that your soul has chosen for this lifetime. It could be self-doubt, giving/receiving love, leadership, self-expression, etc. By choosing to keep working to move beyond it until you can release it, your greatest challenge also can become your greatest strength, and the very thing you will be able to teach others how to overcome.

With love,

Ashley

Why does the connection to Spirit gets cloudy at times and your growth seem to slow down?

This is something I struggle with and I have asked Spirit for guidance on why this is and what to do about it.

This is what they have told me:

Opening to Spirit changes everything. As you grow Spiritually and connect with Spirit more often and more deeply, you begin to spend more time in true presence of your Higher self which allows you to separate from your lower self – your ego. As you connect with your own Spirit and with your Guides, Angels and Loved Ones, you separate from the worldview you have always identified with and you begin to separate from the patterns and programs that you have grown up with. As you open to your Spiritual pathway, you begin to pull away from the patterns, pain and thought forms in your ego that you have created and taken on in your personality as a result of being a human being living a physical life. As you open to Spirit you begin to open to a wider, higher perspective of your life and purpose. Spiritual growth and connection to Spirit is the opposite of the self created pain “problems” created by your ego ; connection to Spirit is connection to your own Divine truth within and the truth that there is much more to your existence than only day to day challenges. You begin to see that life is eternal and not a finite birth to death journey. You begin to know the truth that lies above and beyond the here and now of physical life. You begin to open to the world that exists unseen but alongside of the physical world.

This realization that you are connected to and a part of a larger and eternal flow of life is a life changing awakening. It shakes the very foundation of every perspective, relationship and understanding that you have developed up to this point in your life. This is big and it has big effects on you.

As I have mentioned in other posts, Spiritual growth ebbs and flows which means you fluctuate between your new expanded growth state and the patterns you are progressively leaving behind. When you take in more light and rise to a new and higher perspective through your increasing connection to Spirit, you feel better and better. Your vibration rises and you spend more time in the higher vibrations. But, your ego fights this. Your patterns of thinking are ingrained in you and they don’t want to let go. So, things, people and events may trigger your patterns. You may have an issue with a friend, or an argument with your mom or spouse or something that just takes you off your clear and high vibration and you begin to feel the doubt and fear creep in and old patterns of emotions and thought reassert themselves and before you know it you are feeling pretty disconnected and low.

Old vs. New. Now, because you have been on high, working to raise and clear your energy and connecting to vibrations higher than yours, when you feel that drop back into the ego it feels even lower than before. Before you even did any Spiritual work, you operated at a lower vibrational level, but you didn’t know any better. It was just the norm. When you begin re-patterning yourself and bringing in the higher wisdom and vibrations from Spirit you rise out of that lower state of being that is dominated by your ego and your own programs and patterns of the mind. So, low feels even lower than it did before.

But I assure you – all is still well. You haven’t lost anything and in fact you are gaining even more perspective and tools as you compassionately and lovingly bring yourself back to your new normal – high and clear. When you are feeling low, you are only just noticing all of the great work you have done by experiencing the vast difference between your new normal high vibrational state accomplished through the beautiful clear vibrations you have brought into your life through connecting to Spirit and the old you – the lower vibrational state you were in before connecting to Spirit.

Accept and validate. The first step in in pulling out of a Spiritual growth slump is to understand why you are experiencing it and to accept it. So, congratulate yourself for all of the hard work you have done and have compassion for yourself as you integrate all of the high vibrations you are now bringing into your life with all of the old patterns you are releasing. This takes time. Trust your self and your growth and know that whatever hardship you are moving though right now will only serve to strengthen and deepen your connection to Spirit as you move through and transcend it. Trust that the lows only serve as reminders of where you have been and what you are leaving behind. Trust that integrating Spirit into your life is a process that does not happen overnight and honor yourself as you commit to this self evolution.

Look for my next post with actions to take to pull yourself out of the slump and back into a high and clear connection to Spirit!

With love,

Ashley

The ebb and flow of Spiritual growth

Q: I have made so much progress, why do I now feel it has stalled?

This is something I have heard from many others on a spiritual path and it is a question I have asked myself at times. Why can you feel so clear and open and connected to Spirit and then go through periods of doubt and fear, where the connection feels distant and it seems difficult to feel the same confidence and openness you felt even a day or so ago? You have experienced the clarity of connecting with Spirit, and all of a sudden it feels like your growth is stalled. I have gone through periods of time when I feel really clear: I ask for and receive signs, I feel very connected to Guides and Angels and when I connect with deceased Loved Ones it's almost like they are sitting next to me, having coffee. Then there are other times when I have felt trapped in myself, unsure, murky, like it’s difficult to connect. When I experience this feeling I always wonder why I am going through this again and what am I doing wrong? What can I do to release this isolated feeling and once again feel united, clear and centered?

What is going on?

Well, something is going on and I guarantee you it has nothing to do with your psychic abilities or your ability to connect with Spirit. I have discovered that spiritual growth and opening to Spirit is a process that ebbs and flows. Your pathway of opening to your abilities is always and continually unfolding. This means that it evolves in a circular and holistic way; it is not straight line but rather a winding beautiful road leading up a mountain. Sometimes you can’t see what lies ahead, and then sometimes you go through a tunnel. But there is one important thing to remember: you are still on the road.

Think of your growth like waves in the ocean, a big set rolls in and it’s beautiful wave after wave. You have the time of your life surfing those beautiful waves. Each one perfect and unique and helping you surf higher and longer. You get used to riding high and think that’s what the ocean is – perfect wave after perfect wave. Then, things quiet down. The big set is over and the sea gets kind of, well, flat. It’s quiet and still. You have wait for the next set to roll in.

This is how opening to your abilities can be at times and this is actually part of how nature works - it’s the rhythm of life. Things are always changing; ebbing and flowing. Right now as I write this we are at the every end of summer. The light is already different and the leaves are starting to hint at changing. Spiritual growth works this way too. If we were at full blast all the time, we wouldn’t have the time or space to integrate all of the amazing changes we have just discovered and made.

It's about Light

So, it is a big awakening, a big change when you start to recognize yourself as Spirit, when you begin to let in the Divine light. It’s a really powerful and fundamental change you make at the most basic level of your self – to realize you are a Spirit and have the ability to connect to other Spirits – Guides, Angels and Loved Ones. It’s a really big thing when you begin to open to Divine light. The light is a real thing. It is of the highest and purest vibrations of pure love. The more you release pain and fear, the more you work from the inside out healing yourself, the more you connect with Guides and Angels, the more you live by the truth of your heart and spirit; the more Divine light you bring into yourself. This causes change. Real change. Change you can feel, but not necessarily pinpoint. Change that sometimes makes you feel off kilter.  

I asked my Guides to explain to me why the process of opening to Spirit and opening to psychic abilities can be a roller coaster ride at times.

This is what they told me:

My guides showed me a series of interconnected rooms, like in a museum where you walk from gallery to gallery. When you open the doors of one of the rooms, light floods in. You open the next door and the light flows into that room, and on & on. The process of opening to Spirit is about opening all the doors that lie within you and letting the light flow in. Spiritual growth, connecting to Spirit and opening your abilities is all about bringing the Divine light into every room in your house. Some rooms have light in them already, some are dimly lit and some have been closed off, locked and ignored for years. These are the rooms where we have put things too painful to integrate or process. We all have them. The process of connecting to Spirit brings light into all of these spaces. It is not possible to just let light into some and not others. Opening your abilities and growing spiritually brings light into all of those dark places within. The light brings with it love and the opportunity to understand, heal and release pain and fear that is keeping you from embracing your true powerful self.

Here are some things you can do to help yourself through this:

Have compassion for yourself. Congratulate yourself on all of the changes and work you have done so far. Read this article, or something else that tells you it OK to feel this way. Check out another great article about this from medium Amanda Linette Meder:

Your growth has not stopped. As a matter of fact, reaching these tough moments is indication that you are beginning to do really deep work of integrating your newfound spirituality with your entire being.

• Look at your validation journals. These are moments when you can fall back on all of the times things were super clear and you were getting sign after sign and feeling really connected with Spirit. Read and reread about all of those little things you saw and felt and remind yourself that this is a process. If you don’t have a validation journal yet – start one!
• Share your feelings. Talk to someone else on a spiritual path. I guarantee you no matter who you talk to if they are being honest, they will share times they too have felt doubt and fear.
• Understand that this will pass. It is often darkest before dawn. Most times, actually every time I have gone through difficult phases of doubt and fear, I have emerged with powerful insight-and a deeper and better connection with Spirit.
• Keep asking for signs. Keep meditating. Keep connecting with your Guides and Angels. These are the times when you are really building that foundation of trust with them. Ask them to help you through this. See how they come through for you.

Above all, trust your self and your process. Learning to trust the strength and wisdom within is at the core of what Spiritual growth and connecting with Spirit is all about. The more you can learn to release doubt and fear in these tough moments and the more you learn to trust yourself, the more you are living your true path and purpose. Remember: you hold the key to the power within.

With love and light on your journey,

Ashley