Dear Julia:

I have always wanted to explore EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) but I've always been too afraid of what could happen to actually do it. Do you think that EVP is dangerous? What should I know before giving it a try?
- Brian

Dear Brian:

In my view, EVP work is no more dangerous than driving a car or walking out your front door or even getting up in the morning. That doesn't mean that it can't expose you to undesirable paranormal experiences; it means that no matter what you do in life, you are wise to remain mindful that you create your own reality. If you approach anything with fear or worry, you'll tend to have bad experiences, while if you approach the same thing with faith and love, you'll tend to have good experiences.

When it comes to EVP work, some people do attract dark or frightening entities, while others attract uplifting encounters with wonderful beings in other dimensions. For the most part, those who have great experiences have great attitudes. Simply being grounded and fear-free seems to be enough: I have never heard of a scientist involved in EVP work having a really hard time, and I imagine this is because most scientists are psychologically stable, intellectually discerning, and largely immune to emotional manipulation.

Highly spiritual people are also impervious to the dark side, not because they are difficult to influence but because they radiate a loving, faithful vibration, so they manifest a high level of experience. By contrast, anyone who dabbles in these waters because it gives them a thrill (meaning it scares them in a way that they find exciting), and anyone who is emotionally or psychologically unstable may have some problems. Years of group spiritual practice have taught me that we should only begin to explore the paranormal when we've mastered the normal. Anyone who can't manage to control their emotions, take care of their physical needs, or cope with everyday life should focus on those basics first.

Though EVP may seem easy to control since you can always pull the plug and walk away, engaging in any psi experimentation tends to open us up to all sorts of other phenomena. This is true both because we create our own realities and what we focus upon expands, and because when we begin to listen for faint whispers and look for subtle energies, our psychic abilities naturally grow stronger.

When it comes to paranormal investigation, spiritual folks tend to have more positive experiences and manifest more dramatic phenomea than logical, scientific types for a number of reasons. For example, spirits use the energy of our emotions to affect physical reality, so someone radiating love would offer these spirits a lot of energy to use, where a character like Mr. Spock from Star Trek would be so emotionally flat that spirits would have nothing to work with. As a result, believers tend to get lots of results, where intellectual skeptics tend to see nothing much occur in their own experiments.

Because spirits use our emotional energy, people who are really anxious or afraid may manifest big phenomena too, but it will tend to be of a frightening nature. This only makes sense since a low vibration will attract lower spirits. Also, spirits use life force energy to produce physical phenomena, so experimenters manifest phenomena that mirrors their own energy. This doesn't mean that they are the only source of phenomena (though that is a possibility that can't be entirely dismissed) - it means that we all have the power to control the quality of spirits we attract by controlling our own vibration. The more we reach out to Spirit with loving desire, the more we fuel loving inter-dimensional interactions.

Spiritual people also fare better because it is empowering to have knowledge and understanding of spirit worlds. For example, it's important to remember that spirits are just like people: There are good, bad, ugly, beautiful, helpful and deceptive people, and the same types exist in other dimensions. Intelligent entities in the lower astral often misrepresent themselves. Picture a "bad guy" in the physical world who lures in children by offering them candy or tells them that their mother has sent him to pick them up. The lower astral is populated by devious characters who are quick to lie to us to try to get what they want. Just as we must trust our instincts with people, we must be discerning with spirits.

People who are psychically sensitive will naturally judge the spirits they interact with based on how they feel. Often earthbound spirits just want to talk to someone who can hear them, for they feel lost, lonely and isolated in the lower astral. As a result, they may tell us that they are a departed loved one just so they can keep us on the line. Psychic ability is also a great asset in EVP work because if the technology fails, spirits can telepathically guide psychic experimenters to adjust their instruments in order to facilitate clearer communication.

If you consider yourself to be radiantly spiritual and you somehow attract a distraught, disturbed or angry spirit, don't assume that you're in denial about your own true nature, for it may be that this spirit has been drawn to your light. Doctors and nurses who work in a mental hospital don't encounter crazy people because they are crazy themselves; they meet because they are able to help them. If you can maintain a high vibration when faced with lost or dark entities, you probably have the makings of a great spiritual healer, and you will naturally attract people and spirits who need your help.

Given all of the above, it's wise to approach spiritual work (and everything in life) with the right energy and attitude, so stay light and centered in your personal power. Should anything try to scare you, remember that it's doing so because it's powerless, and it's trying to get a reaction in order to get some energy from you. Don't battle or engage it; instead, laugh it off and shift your attention to something of a higher nature to prevent it from plugging into your energy. Remember: your thoughts and feelings are energy, and you want to focus that energy on what you desire, not what you fear.

Taking immediate action to shift away from undesired energies is important, as some researchers believe that just listening to EVP's can allow non-physical entities to get a foothold on this dimension. This is especially true of listening to particular voices over and over again, as most researchers do in an attempt to make out distorted EVP messages. It's like an entity plants a seed in this dimension, and every time we give the energy of our attention to it, we water that seed and enable it to take root and grow here. So if you do get any negative EVP's, promptly delete and ignore them, then unplug yourself from EVP work until you are recentered in a higher vibration.

To prepare yourself for EVP work, start by clearing your heart and mind of any earthly concerns, raising your vibration, and aligning with the love and light of God. Make sure you know what you want to get from this experience, and state your intention clearly, preferably out loud. Ask for a positive, beneficial experience radiant with divine love and wisdom. Ask your guides and angels to watch over you and facilitate the highest experience possible. State very clearly that only honest, sincere, benevolent energies will be allowed in. Then go ahead with your work and expect everything to go beautifully, for the more you expect the best and relax into a high vibration, the smoother your journey will be.

- Julia