Inward Vision

A couple months ago I shared about my experience reconnecting to mediumship.
There are many beginnings to this story, one of which is told here, but another beginning starts with completing my second level of Reiki training. I was fortunate that I connected with a great teacher who was willing to personalize the experience, and bring her own unique applications to training. One of them, is her own experiences encountering displaced spirits in places that she visited and how she used reiki when this happened. The reiki symbols that you learn in level two allow for more specific movements of energy, in the form of building and releasing. This piece is necessary as you explore reiki over time and distance. The physical body has its own natural process of discharging energy that can be prompted consciously, whereas the emotional and unconscious levels require more of an energetic release. One of the Reiki symbols can also be used to help spirits transition to the next realm. She told several stories of going to rentals or visiting homes of friends and encountering spirits/energies that made themselves apparent and requested assistance moving through those layers of energy.

The transition from being embodied to unembodied can be a challenging one. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a good text for exploring one perspective on how the living can help. Particularly for those who are not yet ready to transition, parts of their energy can stick around the physical plane causing discomfort and suffering for all involved. If you have watched or read stories relating to classical Near Death Experiences (when the heart has actually stopped for a period of time), you’ll often hear a narrative that they experience being greeted or met by someone from the other side, often a loved one who has died, who helps comfort them and orient them to what’s happening. Or sometimes the person even directs them back to the physical plane saying it isn’t time.

But there are many occasions where either a death is sudden or traumatic and this transition doesn’t complete fully, or the person dying is holding on to the physical plane due to unresolved matters. In spite of more than a few truly creepy spirit encounters, I do believe that most “wayward spirits” are mainly just confused, disoriented, or in pain. They’re not here to haunt you or be mischievous, they’re just trying to get your attention. And sometimes, just as in life, they are so consumed by their pain that it’s affecting the whole space around them and they may not even be aware of it.
On the surface level of pop culture tv shows about paranormal activity, when there’s a spirit stuck in the physical plane the host will say “we need to get a reiki master in here!” And that’s because with mastery of moving energy, it is possible to offer a valuable service to those spirits in need, creating a physical anchor of energy to help them move across.

In my initial training, the perspective shared was basically to just zap them across upon contact. One of the things I love about reiki is how deeply consent-based it is as a practice. So this was surprising to hear and I thought, kinda rude to just eject someone from a space because you think they “don’t belong there” or they scared you. Not long after completing my level 2 training I started having regular encounters, often in dreamtime or the middle of the night with spirits. The first couple were quite unwelcome. It was made more difficult by not having a lot of people in my life who I felt comfortable sharing this with. They were an important moments of teaching, which was that while— yes, those who approach from a more harmful position, it is in your right to say “you can’t stay here, not around me,” and execute that boundary, it is also necessary to actually dialogue and get a sense of why they are there.  

There’s nuance. We can establish healthy energetic boundaries for ourselves while respecting any sentient being’s right to exist. If we are being harmed we can defend ourselves, but sometimes that’s not actually necessary. Sometimes the assistance needed is related to a matter relevant to this plane, and it is more respectful and helpful to assist with that and let them transition when they are ready.  Sometimes it’s the living, and their distress or grief that is creating strong energetic ties; unfinished business can be a preoccupation that makes it difficult to let go. And sometimes we simply need to identify the spirits and vibrant ancestors on the other side who can help and bring them together.

I call this Energetic Mediumship. Using energy movement as a form of assistance between the spirit world and the physical plane. I do feel this is a responsibility that comes with a certain level of skill in Energywork. The energy work is not only for you (us), or for humans, or personal and individual goals. This work can be tiring so boundaries are important, but there’s a meaningful exchange that takes place. Enough people ask me about this when I teach Reiki that I have to believe it’s fairly common to be approached this way after training.

These encounters continued happening more regularly and have continued often for me since then. It has been a loooooong learning curve. I haven’t found many teachers or books who could offer direct and practical guidance. But like this first teacher, I did find one or two who could offer foundational concepts that I could work with and develop my own method. The fact is that this sort of thing scares people. Which I get, because it scared me!! I guess I’ve watched too many horror movies. There’s this idea that this work is super heavy, and toxic.
Ok sometimes it is pretty heavy, and occasionally it is a bit hazardous. But mostly it is deeply fulfilling, heartwarming, meaningful, and illuminating.

Last summer I found that my skill level, my awareness, my personal healing, my boundaries, and my willingness progressed to a high enough level that this started to naturally come up in my client work with others. Some of you reading this who have participating in clearing and release sessions know that mediumship can come up, and it is such a relief on all sides when harmful cords of energy between the living and the dead are better resolved. So much of the work is not only focused on personal trauma of this life, but grief and ancestral trauma. And sometimes when people are grieving, it’s more of their sense of holding on that needs attention rather than an intrusion from the other side.

I have also increasingly found myself working with folks who are facing their own possible death as they move through serious or terminal illness. And sometimes they are struggling to make peace with the fact that they are not ready, and yet their time to transition is approaching. Holding on does not stop this process, but it certainly can cause a lot of suffering (and perhaps create a feeling of control). Similarly acceptance does not speed the process, but it does allow for a more harmonious experience of one’s energy- some peace, if you will. Reiki can offer a balm that allows for gentle expansion and enlivens the energetic field with great therapeutic benefits.

I channeled a set of meditations on this topic last month and quietly put them online. I’ve now decided to specifically highlight this work as a session offering: Energetic Mediumship for Grief & End of Life.

Sometimes talking and verbal exploration is what’s needed to make sense of something you’re struggling with, sometimes we need to go deep into the body and the liminal to allow things to start recalibrating. I believe that evidential mediumship, and often trance mediumship is ideal when someone needs to speak with the other side. And when the difficulties are energetic, it’s more helpful to approach on that level.

I’m thinking about the many Reiki 2s reading here, do you experience spirit encounters, or what you think might be spirit encounters? What’s that been like for you? How do you approach?

Maybe some of you have had such encounters during ancestral healing practices. What do you see as your role in that process? How does one approach the ancestral patterns that may be living energetically on this place as well?