Recently I had the pleasure of being introduced to Australia’s leading dream interpreter and dream alchemist, Jane Teresa Anderson from Dream Sight. Jane Teresa spent an hour with me working through recurring themes I’d had in dreams over the past few months, helping me to release them and move on.

Jane Teresa confirmed for me many of the symbols and information I had intuitively interpreted from the dreams. Gaining someone else’s perspective on things certainly added a greater depth of understanding as to why certain people kept frequenting my dreams and what these repetitive messages meant.

What I loved most about the session with Jane Teresa was the time spent on ‘dream alchemy’. This was a very powerful and healing aspect to the consultation and has already brought about great healing and releasing for me. Through a series of visualisations, Jane Teresa helped me remove the blocks associated with the symbols in my dreams. I’ve been practising the visualisation repeatedly since our session about two week ago and have felt major personal changes as a result.

Jane Teresa was also kind enough to send me through a copy of one of her books, The Shape of Things to Come, which I will no doubt blog about when I’ve completed it. For anyone wanting to better understand their dreams and make real progress because of it, I can’t recommend Jane Teresa more! Be sure to check out her site at www.dream.net.au.

Hi Helen,

I just wanted to email you to thank you for our session last night. You were truly amazing and you definately have a special gift, Thank-you for sharing it with us.

I feel more at easy and comforted to know that Dad is watching over me, still very hard for me to deal with but hopefully it is something that time will heal. I have definately taken on board everything you said to me and look forward to this year.

Here’s what Sally had to say:

Hi Helen 

Thank you so much for that! You were 100% spot on with everything and exactly the same re the man with the younger man attached for a future relationship as other readers tell me. I am already a published author and have been told I will write more, however I have lost my way in that regard at the moment. You are exactly right about the spiritual books and I have read a large number of them in the past few years because I am trying to move past old hurts and waiting for some sort of penny to drop so I can move forward. You are also correct about the visions and I sometimes do readings for other people but the ‘ability’ is sporadic and I can’t control it properly, which is also why I was reading the books to try to help me understand it. The portfolio lifestyle and farm life I know to be right because I can ‘hear’ that as well down the track. I wish my psychic abilities would develop themselves to the same level as yours, but no matter how hard I try or practice, they just don’t seem to come in properly.

Thank you again for reading for me, I really appreciate it! I have been drawn to Reiki and that type of healing before, so I will definitely try it now.

This has happened to me on several occasions. The most recent was just last week. A client and friend came for a reading and brought with her a copy of a book she’d mentioned to me when I saw her at the Boutique Markets the week before. The book was Sonia Choquette’s Ask Your Guides: Connecting to Your Divine Support System.  It’s a great book which introduces the range of guides available to you and how they can help. Sonia provides information about guardian angels as well, describing the difference between them and our spirit guides. I’d recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about their guides and how to communicate with them. There was a great chapter on automatic writing too, which I have found to be the best way to receive information for yourself. This booked turned up to remind me to I have more than one guide available to help me and that there is a world of support available if I just ask.

Two other occasions come to mind when I think of how certain books make their way to you in unusual ways and I want to share them with you here.

The first happened about four or five years ago. It was Christmas and my family was sitting around the tree ready to share gifts. I could see one of my sisters had bought me a book, which is not unusual as I love to read. As she handed it to me to unwrap, she relayed the story of how she had chosen the book. She was in the bookstore standing in the self-help/new age section by herself. She knew she wanted to pick the perfect book but was having trouble knowing which one to choose. She thought to herself, “I have no idea which book to buy for Helen.”

A gentleman who hadn’t been in the aisle previously was now by my sister’s side. He reached forward taking a book off the shelf and handed it to her, saying: “Try this one, she’ll enjoy this.” Startled, Liz took the book and looked at it, front and back. By the time she looked up again to thank him, he’d disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived.

Intrigued to see what the book was, I unwrapped the gift to reveal a book by Debra Lynne Katz called You Are Psychic. It was the first book I received on how to control and manage the images and information I’d been receiving for a while but didn’t know how to handle. The stranger was right, I did really enjoy that book and I’ve built up quite a collection of similar books since.

The second story I’d like to share is about another book which made its way into my personal library through a ‘strange’ recommendation. A good friend of mine had been attending Buddhist meditation classes for a while and he had often invited me to attend. After a few times of his asking and my declining, I finally gave in. Not doing things by halves, I signed up to a six week introductory course on Buddhist meditation. That in itself was an important decision because it opened me to the practice of meditation, which in turn further enhanced my psychic abilities. However, it was what happened in the break during that first class which was more interesting to me.

Not knowing anyone else in the class and with my friend distracted by other students asking questions of him in the break, I sat at the back of the room by myself, happily observing everyone else. A gentleman from the other side of the room wandered over and sat in the spare seat beside me. He struck up a conversation, asking me what brought me along to the class. I told him it was my friend who was leading the meditation. I also explained that I found Buddhist principles interesting and I thought learning more about them and meditation might help me find more calm in my life. I told him I worked in a job where I was under a lot of pressure with deadlines and demands although I never actually told him I worked in communications. He said he knew just the book for me. He took off, back across the room to where he’d originally come from, to the library of Buddhist texts. He came back and handed me a book called Buddhism for Busy People: Finding Happiness in an uncertain world by David Michie. To be honest, my initial reaction when he first handed me the book was the thought that he was trying to ‘convert’ me, or convince me to keep coming along to the classes. Nonetheless, I thanked him for the book and he got up to join the queue for the tea.

Class finished that night around 9pm. I’d had a long day in the office prior to that, but when I got home I wasn’t tired enough to sleep. I settled onto my couch and flicked through the book and read its synopsis: “David Michie thought he had achieved his life’s goals – the high-level job, the expensive city apartment, the luxury car, great holidays – but a small voice was telling him he wasn’t really happy.”

Although I may not have reached the same level of achievements as David, I could certainly relate. I ended up staying on the couch for the remainder of the evening and devoured the book. It turns out David Michie also was working in the pressure-ridden world of PR and communications and had found Buddhism as a way to help him cope. The book made a lot of sense to me and helped me in finding the calm I was looking for. It was also reassuring to me that someone else had experienced what I was currently feeling and that things could turn around. I felt better immediately and in the days that followed I began to make some important and life changing decisions.

When I went back to class the following week, I returned the book to the library and wanted to thank the gentleman who had suggested it to me, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I have since bought that book and it too is in my personal library.

These are some of the subtle ways our guides try to get our attention to answer the questions we often ask in our lives. I have no doubt You Are Psychic turned up in my life when I was ready to learn more about my abilities and how to manage them. Similarly, Buddhism for Busy People turned up at a point when I was looking for meaning in my job and lifestyle which both felt they were no longer for me. Pay attention to those things which come to you seemingly out of nowhere, because more often than not, they are trying to give you the advice or direction you are looking for.

Let me know if this, or anything like this, has happened to you!

(Post Script: I wrote this entry this morning and before being able to post it, I have given two readings - not surprisingly, both people pulled out this card!)

The playfulness card is a reminder to not take our lives or ourselves too seriously, that it is important to be playful. Kids are wonderful examples of this. They are forever playing and doing what makes them feel good in any given moment. They aren’t afraid to try something new and, if they change their mind, they simply go on to the next thing which makes them happy without a second thought.

When we face pressing issues or problems, or are trying to make or resist changes in our lives, we tend to put having fun aside. We think we can’t have fun until we sought out the problem or come up with a solution or find a way to manage the change. What my guides tell me is that it’s far more useful to invest that time and energy into making ourselves feel good, to allow our inner child to be playful. In doing so, we will actually be better able to tackle our situation. However, we’re programmed to think we have to work harder, to do more and to push further. If you find that’s not working for you, at least give this a go. After all, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!

Being playful forces us out of our heads and dims the ‘mind chatter’ – that constant barrage of thoughts which are no doubt turning molehills into insurmountable mountains of problems. Being playful helps us feel lighter, makes us laugh, helps us take ourselves less seriously and also helps restore our energy. It is usually when we stop thinking about our problems and turn our attention to something else that we actually open ourselves up to receiving the ideas or inspiration we’ve been looking for.

While the cards indicate the type of information to relay to the client, it’s unusual for the same card to have the exact same meaning for two different people. This is where my guides help me during a reading. If you’re using the cards at home, this is where your own intuition comes into play.

I use Doreen Virtue’s Angel Cards during my readings. I’ve since bought other decks of hers but I always come back to these. My interpretation of the cards has always been based on intuition and opening to my Guides. In November last year I completed Doreen Virtue’s Angel Intuitive workshop, which means I am now also ‘qualified’ to give angel readings. It still works exactly the same way for me.

For anyone using the cards at home, here’s a quick run-down.

1. Sit quietly and try and quiet your mind. If you’re inclined to meditate, it’s useful to do so beforehand. If not, just sit still, focus on your breath for a few minutes until you feel a sense of calm come over you.
2. Ask your guides to help give you whatever information you need to know. You can ask a specific question or you can simply see what comes up. However you do it, it is important to ask!
3. Shuffle the cards. When you feel ready, select cards from the deck. I usually like to pick three cards at random when reading for myself and usually feel guided as to which ones to choose. It’s up to you how many you’d like to choose. Also pay attention to any cards which ‘jump’ out from the deck. I find these usually hold a more pressing issue to be aware of.
4. If you have an accompanying booklet, refer to the notes. Whatever jumps out at you is usually what is most important. You may find something draws your attention in the artwork on the card. You may just get a sense of what the card is trying to tell you. This may come from a thought, a feeling, a picture you see and so on. If it doesn’t make sense to you, ask your guides for further clarification and draw another card.
5. Write down and date your observations against the question you asked. It’s useful to go back later and see whether your intuition played out the way you thought.

Although the workshop covers a range of topics and techniques to help you open your intuition and communication with your spirit guides, one of the key things which I took out of the weekend was the element of trust which is involved.

It’s important, especially when starting out, to trust the information you receive. This means initially trusting that you DO have the ability to pick up on this kind of information and then trusting that what you receive is there to help guide you. Following your intuition can be riddled with fear for many, as there is no ‘real’ or ‘logical’ explanation for wanting to follow a particular path.

A great way to build that trust in yourself is to record everything you receive. By writing down everything – from a simple hunch through to specific guidance you may receive – you can begin to notice your own accuracy, which over time gives you more and more confidence in the information you are receiving.

Try writing down what information you receive and the way in which you receive it. Information can be received in any number of ways – through clairvoyance (images), clairaudience (sounds), clairsentience (feeling or sensing),claircogniance (‘just knowing’), clairgustiance (taste) and clairaliance (smell). (I talk about these some more in this post).

For example, you could jot down whether you saw a flash of a picture, or heard a specific name, date or place, perhaps you felt a certain way, either good or bad, or just knew something to be true. Sometimes the information comes in a number of ways at once. For example, you might see a picture of a person you know, know that you need to contact them and feel like the reason is a positive one. Write down what this felt like so you can recognise it next time around.

Overtime, you will start to develop a guidebook to help you decipher the signs and symbols you receive and what it means, so it’s easier for you to follow your own intuition.

…I just had to tell you I’m completely amazed by something you told me in our reading in October. You said one of the celebrations about to happen was a baby for someone close to me, like my sister. I just dismissed it as my sister is quite a bit older and finished her family with teenage kids now, but you still thought it was one of the celebrations. Today I found out she’s pregnant – I can’t believe you were right, well I can but you know what I mean!

I actually worked out another weird thing….you told me the number 5 was important…in regards to 5 days/weeks/months/ etc. And you know what I got this news EXACTLY 5 weeks after I saw you to the day. Thanks again Helen.