Dear Julia:

I have always been a strong empath with a particular talent for tarot reading. After a deep discussion with a family member about what I should do with my life in terms of a career, I asked my guides bluntly, "What do YOU guys think?" I awoke the next morning with the answer that I have a gift that will be very useful to others - all I have to do is develop it. So I am currently taking a psychic development course, but I am struggling to complete it. I do not seem to have any talent for psychometry, yet I am being told to hand in detailed reports of psychometric tests that I must perform. I am determined to make this course work for me and to gain the knowledge I need from it. What do you advise? Thank you very, very, much for your time!

- Allison

Dear Allison:

I understand your dismay about the emphasis on psychometry here. It's an unusual approach for your teacher to take in a general psychic development class, yet I feel that it is very "workable." If psychometry is not really your strong suit, you can rely on whatever psychic mode of perception works best for YOU to successfully complete these tests.

For those who are not familiar, psychometry is the ability to perceive the history of an object by holding it in your hands. A psychometrist may receive information about any of the owners of the object. He or she may even be able to relate the object's entire history, from raw materials to creation to sale or purchase, and from one owner to another and another, and finally to the psychometrist's own hands. This of course sounds incredible, but it's nevertheless true and even scientifically explainable.

The underlying principle of psychometry is that everything that ever happens leaves an etheric trail or imprint. Some objects are considered to "take a charge" and to "hold a charge" more readily than others. Stones and metals are particularly conducive to charging. This may sound really farfetched until you remember that everything in the universe is simply empty space with patterns of energy moving through it, and that energy definitely and readily affects other energy.

Of course, dramatic events leave stronger imprints. Thus, a murder weapon will carry a very strong charge of its act of violence. Wedding rings, having been consciously charged with a certain spiritual purpose, similarly carry strong imprints. Wedding bands are also very easy to read because they are worn so constantly. The object is "charged" by the energy of the person who wears it, so the more often it is worn, the clearer and stronger the charge.

Do set yourself up for success by working with objects that are easy to read. Some good objects to practice with include rings and other jewelry, keys, watches, photographs, wallets, eyeglasses, stones and crystals. Some objects you may want to skip include food, clothing or other objects that are frequently washed or cleansed, items that are communally owned such as furniture and other household objects, and anything alive. The energy of plants, animals and people is dynamic. Instead of simply holding energetic imprints, they radiate their own energy, which is ever changing.

Some people say that you must hold an object in your "receptive" hand, which would usually be your non-dominant hand. This is so you don't taint it with your own energy, thus confusing everything, and so that you can better receive impressions. You can determine which hand is receptive fairly easily. Simply hold your hands with your palms facing each other, and then move your right hand while holding the left still. Imagine energy coming from your right palm and flowing toward your left. Take note of how this feels. Now try it the other way around, moving your left palm, and holding the right still, and imagining energy flowing from your left palm to the right. You will notice much more energy coming from one than the other. That is your "sending" hand. The other hand is your receptive hand, the one you want to hold objects in for psychometry. For most people, the left hand will be the receptive hand. I am left-handed, however, and my right hand is my receptive hand. Of course, you can also just hold the object in whichever hand feels "right" to you (which is what I would do!)

Set the object near you, and then do whatever you need to do to get into a relaxed, dreamy, "alpha" state. Once you're good and mellow, take note of how you feel, and THEN pick up the object. Now immediately take stock of your energy again. Do you feel different? How?

Holding the object, close your eyes and look to the inner screen of your mind and simply note anything that appears there. If you're not very visual, you may instead have words "come to mind," or if you're kinesthetic, you may have feelings such as pain, sorrow, love, happiness, peace, etc. If you do see images, they will either repeat over and over again until you accept them and communicate or record them, or they'll run like a movie. If you're reading for someone, just begin to communicate what you're shown, or what you hear or what you feel. If you're doing an exercise alone, you might tape record your work, and simply verbally state for the record what you're perceiving.

The absolute key is to trust whatever you get. Many assume that if what they see doesn't make sense to THEM, it's just mental garbage or fantasy. Yet if you communicate what you receive to the owner of the object, amazing things can come to light. For example, some objects that you might expect to carry positive vibrations can bring the opposite. If someone hands you a wedding band, instead of love and devotion, you may pick up grief and sorrow if the spouse has recently passed over, or anger and betrayal if he or she took off with a lover and never looked back. Accept whatever comes to you. Don't analyze it. If it makes no sense to you, that's often a very good sign that you're not assuming anything - that you're not trying to "read" the object with logic instead of intuition.

I once was handed a simple wooden ruler, such as many of us used in grade school. It was a dingy, blonde wood with a thin metal strip on the side. It looked innocent enough, but when I held it, I got a lot of anger and pain and shame, and when I asked Spirit for more information, I was shown a girl in a uniform being smacked on the hands with it, and smacked on her bare legs. I went out on a limb and communicated what I'd received to the woman before me, and her eyes immediately welled up in tears. She had recently discovered the ruler in a box of possessions from her childhood, and it had brought up a flood of painful memories of being beating physically at Catholic school when she was a child, just as I described. She was actively trying to find forgiveness for a certain teacher who had since passed into Spirit, and working through her complicated feelings about Catholicism, so she'd brought the ruler with her. (She also thought it would be a very tricky thing to read). This led to a very healing, cathartic "conversation" with the spirit of the teacher. Trust what you get!

I know that you can work your way through this particular class, but if you find it difficult, donĘt let it discourage you. I believe a general psychic development class should accommodate the strengths of each student instead of expecting everyone to adopt the same primary mode of perception, but I also believe you can allow this challenge to lead you to even greater development than you may attain in an "easier" format. There are infinite ways to develop the foundational psychic abilities of clairvoyance, clairaudience and clairsentience, which is what you're really aiming for anyway. Have faith in your own strengths to see you through this, know that you're up for the challenge, and trust that Spirit will help you all the way.

- Julia