Dear Julia:

I'm a college student who has recently been learning psychic/holistic healing and developing my ability to see auras with my physical eyes. I have been doing a few exercises and meditations that are working really well and allow me to see the first few levels of the aura very clearly. My "problem" is I have also been starting to see my spirit guides as well. This has caused a dilemma for me, because if I can see my guides, then I can also perceive negative thoughtforms and malevolent spirits such as ghosts. Obviously, this isn't something I want to expose myself to. I have been an active Wiccan for many years, and am very accomplished in shielding, so I'm not actually worried about harm from these beings, but I don't want to be disturbed by them either. I've looked everywhere in books and online and everybody seems to focus only on positive spirits, when without question, developing your psychic vision also opens you to negative spirits or influences. What I really want to know is if there is a way of controlling psychic ability so it's not on all the time, so one can go about daily life without being bombarded by information or open to negative energies/spirits. I would welcome any guidance you might be able to give to me and other people who might be in my situation. Thank you very much.
- B.

Dear B.:

First I recommend you relax some of your beliefs about what is possible, as well as your assumptions about what will happen as you develop your psychic abilities. From what you've written, it sounds like you've had nothing but positive experiences so far. Why assume that will change?

We create our own realities/experiences via our beliefs, desires and expectations, and this is especially true of non-physical phenomena. In the non-physical, our thoughts and overall vibration manifest experiences very quickly. Thus with the proper beliefs, expectations and vibration, we can manifest a wholly positive course of experience.

That said, let's back up for a moment while I explain what I've learned about how to deal with dark or negative entities. Back when I first began opening psychically, I did have some dark, scary experiences. Mind you, I was not trying to develop psychically, and had no idea what was going on. It's my understanding that my psychic doors blew open during my first pregnancy as a result of a surge in kundalini. This surge may have occurred because my son's vibration was much higher than my own, and carrying him may have had the same effect on me that being in the presence of a "guru" is said to have on spiritual seekers. On the other hand, perhaps simply being pregnant is enough to spark sudden kundalini release, given the root chakra nature of conceiving and carrying new life.

In any case, suddenly I was seeing things others couldn't see and having all sorts of other psychic experiences. The first things I saw were terrifying. In particular, there was a "demon" - a big, hulking, sinewy black monster that looked like it was all muscles without skin. It would crouch in corners and sit on my chest when I was sleeping. (I later discovered images that were very close to this demon in old paintings of demons and incubi, as well as age old accounts of creatures like this sitting on sleepers' chests.) I had never heard of any of this at the time of my own experiences, however, and had never really given the notion of demons a second thought.

There was also a skinny, naked little old man that would scurry around my bed and peer at me. Again, later I discovered descriptions of "djinn" that seemed to match this creature. Needless to say, this was all really frightening. I began to have night terrors and sleep paralysis, which usually involved being mentally awake but physically paralyzed and sensing a very dark, heavy, ominous presence near me or sitting upon me.

For a while I believed I was "losing my mind," and as I was pregnant, I was afraid to tell anyone for fear they would take my baby from me as soon as he was born. At the same time, however, I was also having valid psychic experiences. I would think of someone and a moment later, they would call on the phone. When someone was talking about someone I'd never met, I could see them clearly in my mind, and then when I would later meet them, I would realize my visualization of them was REAL. This made me think that perhaps I wasn't crazy - that something else was going on. Via research, I discovered that people throughout history and in various cultures around the world had experienced similar things, and it led me to view my experiences in a more spiritual way.

After my son was born, I feared the demon would harm him, though I don't know if this was a valid fear or not. There is nothing like the primal power of a mother's protective instincts. One day when I was home alone with my son, I saw the demon in my peripheral vision and sort of snapped. The next thing I knew, I was yelling at the demon to "bring it on." I was no longer afraid; I was fed up and ready for battle. At that moment, the demon disappeared, and I've not had a frightening encounter with a dark entity since.

I'm telling you all of this for a good reason. Some years later I met a very wise, experienced medium, and when I told her this story, she smiled knowingly and said, "Ah, so you met the gatekeeper." She then went on to explain that until we are "ready," we will be warned away from spiritual realms by frightening entities like this demon. We prove ourselves ready to explore other realms by conquering our fear. While I was coming up to speed with what we might call a "psychic" vibration and very scared by all my strange experiences, my fear effectively kept me from getting in over my head with astral entities.

As soon as I was ready, the gatekeeper held no power over me. Please note that despite how terrified I was, I was never harmed by this perceived demon. As I look back now, it seems to me that in a way, I was protected by it, as it prevented me from going where I shouldn't go.

As I stated above, the most important thing to understand about this subject is that LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE, and does so more directly in non-physical realms. So I both attracted dark entities because I was already afraid, and was afraid because I was meeting dark entities. I had to change before my course of experience would change.

Now back to you and my advice to revise your belief system. When you understand more about this new world of experience you're exploring and have cultivated faith in the benevolence of the Universe and your ultimate safety, then you will be free to explore spiritual realms without worry. Further, should you somehow stumble into dark corners, you will know how to instantly lift your own vibration and shine your own inner light to dispel those shadows.

I have not had a dark or frightening experience with non-physical entities for some 15 years, and I work with spirits all the time. As for developing the ability to turn your psychic perceptions on and off at will, I recommend Spiritualist development circles or schools like the one I attended in Lily Dale, New York, which is called the School of Spiritual Healing and Prophecy.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt so wisely said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Be not afraid, my friend, for faith and courage are like an armor of divine light that will chase away shadows wherever you go.

- Julia

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