By Katie Beecher, MS, LPC
Intuition and communication with spirit, energy healing, and even mediumship communication aren’t limited to just people who do that type of work for a living or who have had special, expensive training. We are all capable of it.
Do you want to connect to your intuition? Are you trying to develop mediumship abilities or just want to have a closer relationship with spirit? These are common requests from people I hear from and work with. They tell me that they feel blocked and frustrated, ready to give up because they don’t have “special abilities” as I do. However, contrary to popular belief, learning to connect with one’s intuition is a skill that must be practiced, just like learning an instrument or starting an exercise routine.
Intuitive work isn’t one size fits all
What is successful for one person may not work for you, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have the capability to connect. Don’t give up. It is like the concept of learning styles, which are different for everyone. You may be a visual learner, remembering and absorbing information best through seeing it. You may be an auditory learner, more successful after hearing information. You could also be kinesthetic (learning through using touch) or learn more effectively by doing, using body memory. Most people have a combination of learning styles. Traditional education can be challenging for people who don’t sit still well and who tune out when listening or writing. They may have an easier time with careers using their hands or that encourage physical activity. Learning styles have nothing to do with intelligence or capability. It can be helpful to learn more about your personal learning style, as it might influence the way you most easily receive intuitive information.
There are many options for receiving intuitive information
Over the last 30 years, I have been working as a medical and spiritual intuitive and licensed counselor. I have had a lot of practice. I’ve been honing my abilities and learning about them since I was a young child but did not truly accept them until much later in adulthood. It hasn’t been easy, mostly because I let fear and lack of confidence get in the way. I can receive intuitive and psychic information using words that appear in my head, scenes, physical and emotional symptoms, just “knowing,” or even through smells that seem to come out of nowhere.
As I receive information from my guides, I try my best not to question or interpret what they say and instead write down the exact words I hear. I just allow the information to flow as it comes, without judgment. My favorite way of receiving information is through symbolism, including art, movement, music, dreams, psychometry (receiving intuitive information from objects), or signs that appear, such as animals, numbers, or songs.
Before I meet with a client, I create a symbolic soul painting along with a detailed written report knowing only their name and age. People love them and are amazed at what the paintings reveal. My guides give me a color to start with, and then I just start painting. I never know what the finished product will look like. They often take the form of some sort of figure, animal, or plant, but I have also painted fire trucks and buildings. This symbolic information flows more freely than words because I am not immediately worried about making a mistake, needing to interpret it, or blocking it with fear immediately. In fact, although I was a professional watercolor artist years ago, anyone can create a symbolic soul painting regardless of their artistic skills. During the meeting with clients, my guides and I interpret the paintings, and I ask the client for their impressions as well.
I have learned to allow the information I receive without judgment or interpretation. That can be challenging. A great example is hearing “tooth enamel” from a 12-year-old girl I was working with. My human assumption would have been something negative, that she likely had a lot of cavities, but from experience, I have learned just to write what I hear. I was happy that I did because when her mother read the information, she said that her daughter had extraordinarily strong tooth enamel and never had a cavity!
Sometimes I pick up information for family members, for people who have passed, or for another client I am reading that same day. That doesn’t mean that what I hear is incorrect. Clients have even told me that they do not resonate with a piece of information, only to discover later what it means after processing the information.
Discovering your unique ways of receiving intuitive information.
Answer these questions to help you identify your intuitive and psychic strengths. There are no wrong answers.
1. When you meet someone for the first time or are told about a person you have never met, do you:
A. Get an overall feeling
B. See words in your head about the person
C. Hear words in your head about the person
D. Get a physical feeling
E. Not get any intuitive information until you touch the person
2. When you are in or near an old place, what happens?
A. Nothing
B. I receive intuitive or psychic information about the place or events that happened there
C. I receive information about people who were once there
D. I have an overall positive or negative feeling
E. I smell or physically feel things about the area
3. Can you visually see spirits?
4. Can you hear the words of spirits in your head or out loud?
5. Have you seen shadows or other indications of spirit activity?
6. Do you often know that something is going to happen before it does? Have you had premonition dreams? Have you had warning feelings that changed your plans?
7. Can you pick up the moods of other people? Are you easily impacted by negative people or being in crowds?
8. When you look at numbers or hear dates, do you see colors or hear music?
9. Do you gain weight easily or have trouble losing it? When something is bothering you, do you develop aches and pains, headaches, or stomach issues, possibly before even realizing what you are emotionally feeling?
10. Do you pick up physical symptoms others are feeling?
11. If you do massage, acupuncture, or other hands-on bodywork, are you spiritually directed to where the body needs help?
There are names for the various ways of picking up psychic and intuitive information, such as psychometry, when you learn information about an object by touching it. The names are not really important. You may resonate with all of these. Most people have multiple modalities for picking up intuitive, mediumship-related, or psychic information. Learning about your specific skill set can help you strengthen your abilities and identify areas you may need or want more training in.
Sometimes intuition is blocked
Learning what might block your intuition is also important. These are a few possibilities:
- Attempting to control the message you receive.
- Self-doubt and overthinking.
- Asking questions about the future, especially about things that have yet to be determined.
- Believing that you must act on what you learn immediately.
- Believing that if you haven’t had a “mystical experience”, you are doing it wrong.
- Believing that you aren’t intuitive.
- General anxiety, trauma, or anything that prevents you from being in the present moment.
- Blocking out feelings.
- Not being connected to the body.
- Lack of sleep.
- Fear of connecting with negative or evil forces.
Many of these obstacles are fear-based due to a lack of confidence, not wanting to make a mistake or be wrong, and not enough practice. If you understand how you most easily connect with intuition and the other side, you can start with these techniques and build on them, rather than being discouraged from trying to connect using abilities you don’t have (yet). When I started, I wasn’t able to use all of the skills I have now. The more I practiced, the more modalities I developed.
Practice is the key
Remember that practicing is exactly that. You aren’t supposed to be able to master something as soon as you begin. You will make mistakes, and you will learn from them. You will recognize the difference between intuition and fear, with the first helping you feel more settled rather than anxious. Start with people you feel comfortable with and with others who are learning, perhaps at a mediumship circle through a Spiritualist church or at a class. I still get nervous before beginning an intuitive report because I care so much about the person I am helping, and I want to provide the most accurate, useful information possible. I never want to take my accuracy or abilities for granted.
Connecting with intuition, spirit, and even the other side isn’t an unattainable goal, restricted to only a chosen few. We do it every day, often without even realizing it. As long as you are able to keep practicing and developing your relationship with your intuition and are willing to listen to it and make difficult changes in your life, I feel confident you will be able to progress.
