Could it also indicate that the person is living in such a house right now? Of course it could! Such is the ambiguity of psychic symbolism. Because of this ambiguity, it’s best for the new psychic reader to merely report what arises, unless the imagery is accompanied by a distinct sense of inner certainty (and even then, the wise speaker says tentatively, “I feel” or “I get a sense”).
It’s also possible that the symbols you see and sense are not part of your inventory at all and instead mean something to the listener, since it’s his or her reading. In both cases, it’s best to allow the story to emerge, image by image, until the meaning is clear.
If the listener has no idea of the meaning and you suspect that you do, share what you know. Couch it as, “This is what I feel/suspect/guess is the meaning.” Perhaps your insights are correct or will stir comprehension in the listener.
Paying attention to your dreams will better acquaint you with your symbol system. When a minister friend of mine shows up in a dream, I know the dream refers to my spiritual life. Similarly, the appearance of the color green, coupled with pictures of outdoor scenes and a tingling feeling in my palms, tells me that the recipient of the reading is a healer (the tingling in my hands indicates that idea) or a gardener, farmer, or landscaper who works outdoors in some way.
How you give a psychic reading is entirely your own choice. As in everything else, you will learn from your mistakes. I prefer to report—at least early in the reading—only what I see, hear, feel, and even taste, touch, and smell without giving any interpretation until other images tell the full story. I might say to the listener: “I see the color green and my hands are tingling, so I sense that you either work outdoors or are a healer. Let me see what else I can get about this . . . .” Then I will be quiet again while receiving the next few clarifying images, which will explain what the reading is about and what it means. (But that’s my way!) Follow your own path, which you will discover with every step forward.
Distinguishing Ego from Soul
Psychic information typically comes with some degree of inner certainty: the vision, voice, feeling, or inner knowing wells up on its own, and we feel the truth of it. Even with this validation, the new psychic may doubt the source of his or her guidance and wonder if it’s coming from the voice of the ego or the voice of the soul.
To discern the difference, simply go back into your psychic state to evaluate the message. Use your clairsentience to check the validity of the information. It’s always wise to do this same reality-check on intuitive guidance received from others as well.
If the guidance you receive tells you what to think or what actions to take, the ego is definitely involved, as the soul never impinges on our free will. The transcendent soul is unemotional (it never worries), and it never dictates a course of action. The soul leaves choices to the heart, mind, and body, since it is only through our choices—and the wisdom of experience—that we grow.
The intuitive soul evokes feelings of peace, comfort, and spaciousness while presenting information that provides context for decisions. It encourages us by pointing out our goodness and potential. It never sets us apart or makes us feel superior to others. Only the ego plays that role.
To distinguish the two voices, ask this simple question: “Does this psychic voice, vision, feeling, or inner knowing stir sensations of panic and uncertainty or spaciousness and promise?”
The ego’s monkey-mind feeds on worry, dread, and fear. The Spirit comforts, loves, and encourages us. These are two very different movements: one urges us to spiral downward, and the other urges us to spiral upward. Each indicates the fundamental nature of its consciousness.
The Role of Resonance in Readings
Because I love the question “why,” my readings tend to paint an overall picture that reveals the person’s life story, purpose, destiny, and how to attain soul growth. Psychics who are hypervigilant might pick up threats to the recipient of the reading. It’s all about resonance: what’s in you determines the type of information you tune in to as well as the content of your readings.
Here’s a good example of resonance. Professional intuitive, Mary Roach, guided the audience at a psychic training conference through a psychometry exercise directed to a past life that would relate in some meaningful way to the person’s present life. I was paired up with a woman named Gail. She held my Southwestern-style necklace and saw a past life in which I was a nurse or doctor in the Old West and was surrounded by people who wanted and needed healing. She intuited that my stress relief in that life was to ride off into the sunset on a horse with a dog at our heels.
While holding Gail’s necklace, I saw a quick image of a small gold cross that gave way to a cinematic vision of her wearing a saloon-gal’s outfit of bright red satin and black lace and singing and dancing with considerable talent. Singing and dancing were her diversion from the family she loved, as shown in a quick image of a filigreed piece of jewelry kept in a round jewelry box.
Both of our readings proved accurate. I am indeed surrounded in this life by people who need healing, and I was grateful for Gail’s closing comment that I no longer need to spend most of my time healing other people. I have always felt drawn to horses, although horses don’t seem to like me at all. Gail’s connection with a Christian group (the small gold cross) led her to singing and dancing, at which she is very talented. She owns a piece of jewelry and a jewelry box similar to what I described, which she received from her loving family.
The point of this example is resonance. Gail and I could easily get on each other’s “wavelength” for the readings because we shared similar interests. I saw her singing and dancing because I love to sing and dance. She saw me as a healer because she is a healer.
Did we actually have past lives in the Old West? Who knows? Something much more important came out of the psychometry exercise. In talking with Gail over the lunch break, I learned that she lives on the northeast coast of Scotland at the Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual intentional community that is one of my favorite places on earth. This discovery led us to still another resonance. I wanted a personal story of a kundalini awakening for this book, and Gail has had a kundalini awakening of major proportions. You will find her story in the chapter titled “The Light of Consciousness.”
The imagery you obtain in a reading will usually emanate from your resonance with the listener. Resonance explains why you will pick up, out of the entire content of the listener’s soul, a particular piece of information. It happens because it means something to both of you!
Resonance also provides an inner certainty of higher awareness by “striking a chord” of truth in the reader and/or listener. If the reading or guidance in meditation, dream interpretation, and inspired writing does not feel true to you, accept what did make sense, and leave the rest behind.
Here’s an example of how resonance works—and does not. A professional and highly reputable psychic once gave me a lengthy reading about my upcoming move to Tacoma, Washington, and how I, with my companion (a beautiful red setter), would explore wooded mountains near the sea in what would prove to be the pinnacle of my life. I loved the idea, as this terrain is similar to that of Scotland, and living in that kind of landscape has always been my dream.
What she predicted just did not ring true, and several months later, I learned that she had moved to Tacoma, Washington! She displaced, as it’s called in remote-viewing research, to a probability that did not manifest, because what resonated the most was in her future rather than in mine.
This curious situation is worth a closer look, as it involves two of the five known reasons why intuitive predictions fail: she missed the mark, and my direction changed.
Potential