Dear Julia:

My best friend died last winter, and since then, my grief has only grown stronger. I would love to make contact with him, but at this point, I am afraid to do that. Every night when I get up to use the bathroom, I am filled with fear that he may suddenly appear to me. I have always feared that a spiritual being could appear to me and scare me to death.

About 20 years ago when I was a fundamental Christian, I remember waking up one night and having a very strange feeling that someone was in the room. I became overwhelmed with fear, and all of a sudden a little ugly being entered my room. It was screaming and started jumping around on my body and scaring me. It felt very real, but maybe it was just a dream. I am afraid that something like this could happen again, but as I very much want to connect with my friend in Spirit, I would appreciate your advice.

- Frank

Dear Frank:

First I want to assure you that there is nothing about spirit communication to fear. I must be honest with you, however: the ugly being that scared you that night was not "just a dream" - it was real in some dimension.

It sounds very much like a being I saw when I was first awakening psychically. At that time, I was lying in bed about to go to sleep when a naked, bald little "man" scurried into my bedroom, ran up the side of my bed and peered up at me. Needless to say, this scared the heck out of me! At that time I was having lots of psychic experiences for the first time, and was worried that I was losing my mind. Because I was so wrapped up in fear, most of my early experiences were of a frightening nature.

These sorts of creatures are most commonly labeled "djinn" or "jinn," and they are one of the types of spirits that may be encountered in the astral plane. If you search for "djinn" online, you'll find lots of information on them. For our purposes here, it's best to simply understand that you had an encounter with a lower astral being.

The main point to take from this article is the fact that like attracts like, so if we are fearful while exploring new spiritual territory, we will tend to have frightening experiences, and if we are faithful, we will tend to have uplifting, positive experiences. When it comes to psychic matters, it is absolutely true that the only thing to fear is fear itself.

It sounds to me like you were in a period of intense spiritual focus when you saw this creature. You say you were a fundamental Christian, which would have opened you up spiritually. Since fundamental Christianity tends to carry a low, fearful vibration, however, you would naturally have attracted frightening experiences. Lots of fundamental Christians encounter demons, devils and other scary stuff because they are constantly being told to fear them. Further, they feel spiritually disempowered in general because they are taught to rely totally on God and what God can do for them instead of using the divine gifts they've been given to manifest what they want in their lives.

You don't have to be a fundamentalist to have scary initial encounters with astral entities, however. In fact, most people are pretty freaked out when they start to perceive things that other people can't, and because they are afraid, those experiences tend to be of a lower, frightening nature. Some spiritual teachers even suggest that negative encounters are serving a good and natural spiritual purpose, for they tend to keep people who aren't yet prepared from wandering too far into psychic territory and getting in "over their heads."

I have known and heard from many people over the years who share your inner conflict of both deeply desiring encounters with loved ones in Spirit, guides and angels, and yet at the same time feel very afraid of the idea of "spirits" in general. Like you, most of these folks had a frightening psychic experience, after which they "shut down" their psychic senses. Usually, they have felt deep fear and fascination with the occult ever since.

I believe that their fascination is trying to guide them to overcome their fears - that's why their interest in such matters remains keen. I also believe this is natural with all matters of personal growth. We tend to be afraid of the unknown and of trying new things, and we also fear failure when it comes to the endeavors most dear to us. Of course, it certainly doesn't help that books, horror movies and television shows have misrepresented "evil forces" and programmed us to feel terror in relationship to such matters.

I can assure you that you are not in physical danger here. Lower astral entities exist on a non-physical plane or dimension, so the only danger they present is to your state of mind. Yes, they can frighten you, and if you are weak-willed or unaware, they may even be able to influence your thoughts and hence your actions, but they can't physically harm you. The remedy is simply facing your fear, for when you do that, you will discover that your fear was illusionary. It's like being afraid of performing or speaking in public; when you face your fear and do it anyway, you realize that it wasn't so bad after all.

You will also learn that you are not at any astral being's mercy. In any battle between "good" and "evil," the one with the faith always wins! So if you are afraid, you may at first attract negative entities, but the more you have such experiences, the more you will realize that they can't hurt you. You will then reclaim your personal strength and power and develop new faith, which will shift you into a higher vibration, where you will begin to naturally attract a higher level of experience.

It's not like you have a good alternative to facing your fears. When people choose to shut down their awareness of metaphysical beings, it's like they are just covering their eyes and pretending that there is nothing there - it doesn't mean that there really is nothing there. It seems to me that this is far more foolish than facing metaphysical reality, because when we are in denial about what's happening on an astral level, lower beings can influence us without our awareness.

When you can maintain a high vibration in the face of a frightening entity, it will naturally go away. This is like turning on a bright light in a dark room - the shadows just disappear. The only way to maintain a high vibration when faced with a lower astral that I've personally found effective is to send them love and compassion. Think about how miserable it would be to BE that entity and dwell in that land of shadows, and send it love and prayers that it find its way to a more pleasant place. Once I learned how to do this, I was never plagued by frightening psychic experiences again.

I also encourage you to further your knowledge and understanding of such matters by studying near death experiences and other positive spiritual teachings related to spirits and spirit communication. I am sure that if you overcome your fears and learn how to approach psychic territory with a high vibration, you too will have ever more positive, wondrous spiritual experiences, and find a way to communicate with your friend and other spirits of love and light.

- Julia