Annette Wakulenko, creator of the Triadic Tarot and author of The Tarot: A Strange and Wondrous Thing, offers techniques for using any Tarot deck, insight into the history and meaning of Marseilles-style Tarot decks, and the unique creation and use of her Triadic Tarot deck. 

Annette did not have direct experience of experiencing the spirit world at a young age.  Rather, she just had a sense of knowingness.  She has been drawn to the Marseilles style Tarot deck after seeing an image of one of the cards.

A Marseilles Tarot deck is “block printed” and the colors are stenciled over the print.  The “pip” cards of a Marseilles deck are non-scenic.  Marseilles pip cards have literal drawings (five wands, four cups, etc.) rather than scenes with people and backgrounds on them.  Pip cards are the Ace through 10 of each suit.

We don’t really know when the first Marseilles deck was created.   There were Tarot decks created for the Italian nobility in the 1400s.  The earliest documented deck is from 1440. 

When Annette first saw her first Marseilles deck, it felt very familiar to her and she has been drawn to it ever since.  The Marseilles deck inspires a more intuitive way of reading.

Annette created the Triadic Tarot deck.  The cards are square in shape, creating four different ways a card can be read (in contrast to most other Tarot decks with rectangular cards that are read in two ways, “upright” and “reversed”). 

Annette’s book, The Tarot: A Strange and Wondrous Thing, was written to help others read Tarot de Marseilles decks as there are not many resources available to Tarot readers.  It also contains MANY intuitive techniques of reading  Tarot that can be used with any Tarot deck, making it invaluable even if someone does not read a Marseilles style deck. 

Annette also has a little booklet that is available free to anyone who sends her a self-addressed stamped envelope (with 2 stamps on it) that explains how to read pip cards that have no scenic illustrations on the cards. 

One way of reading Ace through 10 cards that are non-scenic (cards that only have literally 6 cups on them or 3 swords on them):  The first three cards of any suit (Ace, Two, Three) would be the commencement triad or beginning of an undertaking in the realm of that suit.  Cards Four, Five, and Six of any suit comprise the opposition triad – all the problems you run into once you take on that project.  Cards Seven, Eight, and Nine comprise the equilibrium triad, designating a project that is maturing or has matured and is functioning.  Card 10 represents integration – you have integrated the experience and the learning that resulted from it.

Spread Analysis is another technique that can be used with any Tarot deck.  Notice the expression of the figures, the gesture of the figure, what the figure is gazing at in the nearby card.

Annette is a firm believer in allowing the meaning of a card or spread to jump out at you rather than referring to a book or resource.

The earliest Marseilles decks included two shades of blue color, one or two shades of green, one shade of red, and a single shade of yellow.  During the Industrial Revolution the number of colors on Marseilles-style decks was reduced for economic and production reasons.  The Triadic Tarot re-incorporates these colors that were lost to give the reader a stronger sense and connection to nature. 

When beginning with Tarot, look at each card and jot down what that card evokes in you as a way of getting to know the meaning of each card.  When looking at cards in a spread, look at how the cards relate to each other – where they are looking, how the cards might interact with each other, etc. 

Visit Annette Wakulenko’s website at  www.arcanapress.net for information about Annette’s unique Triadic Tarot Deck, her book The Tarot: A Strainge and Wondrous Thing, and to receive a copy of her free “little tan book” with Tarot techniques.

Annette Wakulenko’s website:  www.arcanapress.net.  She can also be reached at PO Box 244, Genoa, OH 43430

Host Dan Johnson’s websites: www.vibrationalintelligence.com and www.performancemastery.com 

​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Managing Your Energy and Mental Health During COVID-19 with Rebecca Lepoff

Rebecca first started noticing the energy of those around her while doing community mental health work.  One particular client was so negative that she felt his negativity and the negativity stayed with her even after meeting with that client.

According to Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person, some Common characteristics of people who are sensitive to energy around them (such as empaths) include:

• People around you tell you that you are “too sensitive”
• You have a rich inner life
• Bright lights or strong smells affect you more easily that others
• You tend to avoid violent TV shows and movies

The benefits of being a highly sensitive person:

• You can be aware of your surroundings and others which lets you have more empathy and compassion
• You have the capacity for high emotional intelligence, which can help you be a more effective leader in the workplace

For Rebecca, one of the rewards for working in the mental health field is seeing people’s lives change for the better.

Ways to stay grounded, especially during COVID-19 pandemic:

• Change your focus or thoughts about things that drain your energy to a focus or thought on something that uplifts you. 
• Observe your self-talk and deliberately change your self-talk so you talk more positively to yourself. 
• See yourself and/or your life in a more positive light.  This can have a very positive impact on that person’s mood and happiness level.

To get the most out of working with a mental health professional, a client has to WANT to change his or her life and the client has to be comfortable with the mental health professional.

To maintain your mental health during something like the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Limit your exposure to news media to once a day
• Deliberately spend time in activities (and with people) that you enjoy

Tools to keep you grounded, especially if you are highly sensitive to the energy of others:

• Check in with yourself and determine what is your own energy and what is the energy of another person.  This takes practice but can be very helpful in the long run.
• Meditate, or participate in a guided meditation, daily.
• Focus on what you can control (not what you cannot control)

Depression is having a hard time feeling motivated; feeling sad; sometimes feeling angry at ourselves or the world; feeling blah or having no emotions

A lot of our anxiety comes from worrying about “What if . . .” and thinking of the worst-case scenario.

Tips for easing anxiety and depression:

• Sometimes forcing yourself to do what you know will be good for you rather than waiting to feel motivated to do it.  For example, if you have been working from home for a few days, you might have to “push” yourself to go outside for a walk, after which you will feel better.  The same is often true when it comes to exercise!
• Do more positive self-talk rather than fighting against your anxiety.  Dr. David Carbonell wrote a book called The Worry Trick in which he talks about not fighting anxiety.  When we say to ourselves “Don’t be anxious,” all our minds hear is “Be anxious.” 
• Distract your mind by deliberately shifting your focus.
• Do a “body scan” meditation where you focus on your feet and gradually move up and focus on other parts of your body.  This will help you “get out of your mind” and more into your body.
• Work with a competent mental health professional to help you with your anxiety and/or depression
• Look into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with a licensed professional

There is less and less of a stigma about ensuring your mental health today than there was 20 years ago.  So many people feel alone in their anxiety and depression and sometimes that stigma of seeing a mental health professional keeps people from living happier lives.

Those seeking help from a mental health professional can visit psychologytoday.com for a list of therapists and their specialties across the United States.

When looking for a mental health professional, find someone with expertise that can help you as well as a personality and approach that you are comfortable with.

Guest Rebecca Lepoff’s contact information:

Center for Integrative and Functional Health and Wellness in Bloomingdale, IL   https://www.thecifhw.com/

Facebook.com/thecifhw

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/rebecca-lepoff-bloomingdale-il/342650

Host Dan Johnson’s websites: www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Reiki and Energy Work with Lee VanZyl Spirit and Energy Podcast

“Reiki” means “energy healing” in Japanese.  Reiki is administered through the hands, allowing life force energy to reach the client. 

Our body is made of atoms and subatomic particles (energy). 

Why does Reiki work?  When you work as a healer, you are channeling that energy with intention.  Laboratory studies have shown an energy frequency ranging between .8hz to 30hz gets projected out of the healer’s hands.  Cells regenerate at 2hz, ligaments at 10hz, bone at 7hz and skin at 15hz.  If a Reiki practitioner is able to channel and direct energy of up to 30hz, this can have a positive impact on healing. 

Usui Reiki is one of the most common modalities of Reiki.  Reiki training commonly go through three levels of training to learn about energy healing (including self-healing). 

Reiki is used in some hospitals and hospice as well.

Lee believes that spiritual and energy workers benefit by healing themselves.  The best healers are the often the wounded warriors who have gone through their own healing process.

Reiki is different than massage.  Massage is actually palpates the body tissue and muscles, where Reiki is more of laying hands on someone’s energy field or laying hands gently on a person’s body.

Each person experiences Reiki differently.  Many clients fall asleep on a Reiki table, feeling very relaxed.  Some people will feel nothing while others will feel heat, a tingle, or slight pain with a sudden release during a Reiki session.  In most cases, people feel calm and relaxed at the end of a Reiki session.

If you are interested in learning Reiki, find a Reiki Master who also performs Reiki with clients so the training will include lots of practice in addition to theory.

To strengthen your own energy flow:  (1) Simply move in a state of gratitude and appreciation each day because how we feel will affect our energy.  (2)  Focus on your heart center and

Lee VanZyl’s websites:  thesouthafricanmedium.com and montclairpsychicschool.com  Lee VanZyl’s Facebook: The South African Medium and Montclair Metaphysical Center   Lee VanZyl’s Instagram: The South African Medium   

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Spirit and Energy Podcast presents: Manifesting, Intuition, and Transformational Presence with Alan Seale

Intuition is simply paying attention. Alan integrates the voice of intuition into everything he does throughout the day and anchors his connection to intuition through meditation each morning.

Manifesting is simply the alignment of energy. Alignment of thought, intention, action, everything about your being is aligned with what is trying to happen. What is trying to happen may be a “bigger” energy than what you individually want to happen. Think in terms of “Are you talking to life, or are you letting life talk to you?”

When you align with the bigger energy of “what’s trying to happen,” that energy wave will carry you vs. you trying to force something to happen.

“Push Against or Partner With” tool below helps you to shift your relationship with an ongoing challenge and helps you to pay attention to what is really trying to happen:

1. Think of something that is you are having a hard time with right now.  
2. For just a moment, try pushing against it. Try to make something happen. Notice what happens in your body and your breath. Feel the energy of “push against it – make something happen.” [It often feels exhausting.]
3. Take a moment to shake off/clear yourself of that experience.
4. Now take another breath, and imagine you can drop down beneath the challenge or lift yourself up above it – a place where you can just observe.
5. Pay attention. Notice what you are observing. Notice what’s trying to happen. There’s a message trying to come through or a shift that is trying to happen.
6. What happens if you partner with what is trying to happen? Let it carry you. Whatever it wants you to know, whatever it’s asking of you, say “Yes” to that.
7. Notice what happens in your body now, what has shifted. [Often feels lighter, relaxed.]

Pay attention to your body – it is talking to you all the time. We are in dialogue with our intuition all the time – they key is to pay attention to it and trust it.

Transformational Presence is creating the optimal conditions that allows transformation and the greatest potential to happen. “Presence” is how you show up and what people experience when you show up. Transformation means “change across form.” “Change” happens from the outside. “Transformation” happens on the inside and working from the inside out. It’s a shift in vibrational frequency or pattern.

While there are many viewpoints on leadership – first you follow a leader, then you lead yourself in what you want to do, then you lead others. Few leadership paradigms recognize that the “potential” or “what’s wants to happen” is actually the leader.

To strengthen your own Transformational Presence, Listen at all levels – listen to those you lead, listen to the environment in which you operate, listen and pay attention to the energy of “what is trying to happen”.

Here's a simple process that will also help you strengthen your transformational presence:

1. What wants to happen? [What’s the opportunity that’s available to you right now?]
2. So who is that asking you to be? [Who is this opportunity asking you to be?]
3. What’s this opportunity asking you to do? [What’s the next step? The next step is all you need.]
4. After you’ve taken that next step, notice now what wants to happen. Then repeat the process by going back to Question 2.

 

Alan Seale: transformationalpresence.org and alanseale.com

Alan’s books include: Intuitive Living, Soul Mission Life Vision, The Manifestation Wheel, and Transformational Presence

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

 

Clairaudience and Spirit Humor with Medium Lisa Bousson

Lisa remembers seeing spirit as early as the age of 4.  She learned quickly, from the response of her parents and others around her, not to talk about it – that this was something she was likely going to just keep to herself.

If there are kids who are having psychic or mediumistic experiences, it’s important for their parents to learn how to talk about these experiences with their children.  Having psychic or mediumistic insight is very natural for us as human beings and children would benefit from learning that their experiences are “normal”.  The numerous television shows that feature mediums and psychics do help the general population understand this is a real, and oftentimes normal, experience to have.

Lisa perceives much of her mediumship clairaudiently, meaning she “hears” spirit, but most everything she receives is filtered through clairsentience – how she feels or how her body feels about what she is hearing (clairaudiently) or seeing (clairvoyantly).  In other words, her clairaudience informs her other senses of perceiving spirit.

Lisa “hears” spirit both inside her head as well as spirit messages that seem to be coming from a source outside of her head.  She can receive as much as several sentences clairaudiently.  In contrast, Lisa also experiences spirit through claircognizance, when means “clear knowing” or a sense of knowing something with certainty.  When she gets a message through claircognizance, Lisa often just gets a word or two from spirit.

When Lisa is perceiving spirit clairaudiently, it’s like she’s reading herself a story silently.  She now experiences the energy of her own thoughts and ideas as different than the energy that accompanies spirit speaking to her clairaudiently.

When developing your mediumship, one of the biggest hurdles is to not care if you are right or not – just give the messages that you receive.  Practicing with an element of playfulness helps you be easy on yourself and makes you less self-conscious about being “right”.  Your accuracy will develop much faster if you simply trust the messages and impressions that you receive.

When spirit brings forth answers, it’s always “truth”.  Spirit may tease or have fun with you, but spirit never lies.  You get to set how you are going to communicate with spirit – you are in the driver’s seat.

Spirit communicated with us in a way that is similar to a game of “mental charades.” 

Working with spirit gives you a larger world view, a “big picture lens” through which you view the world which results in a stronger sense of freedom. 

Because mediums and psychics can be highly sensitive, it’s very helpful to have a strong sense of centeredness and to ground yourself when doing work with spirit. 

How to develop or strengthen your clairaudience (your ability to “hear” spirit):

q  Pay attention to random thoughts that pop into your head and keep a journal of these

q  Take note of EVERYTHING you are hearing

Spirit’s messages are not meant to instill fear.  Rather, think of Spirit working in your favor.  If Spirit whispers to you to call your grandfather, it may be just a reminder to spend time with your grandfather and tell him you love him.  Spirit’s messages are not to be feared.

Lisa Bousson:  www.lisabousson.com or www.mediumlisa.com

Facebook:  LisaBousson

Twitter: @lisabousson

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​ SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

 

Dream Work and Interpretation with Dan Johnson, CPC, CNTC

"The soul thinks in images."  – Aristotle

Think of a bridge.  Our dreams are really a bridge to our waking life.  What’s going on in our dreams is often a reflection of what is going on in our waking life.

Common types of dreams:

• Unprepared – you didn’t study for a test in college
• Rehearsal dreams – you rehearsal what you are going to experience the next day, a dry-run or rehearsal
• Nightmares – wake up with heart pounding and break out in a sweat
• Flying in the air 
• Spirit communication – conversations with people on the other side
• Jumbled mess 

 

NOTE:  Sometimes we dream because we don’t give ourselves time to dream during the day/waking life.  Our brain has two networks -- Task Positive Network (tasks, goals, short-term memory, planning, abstract reasoning) and Default Mode Network (Dream, visioning, introspection).  When we are so focused on tasks 24/7, we drown out the voice of intuition and insight (Task Positive Network).  We are healthiest with an “integrated brain” where we access both default mode and task positive networks.   How to recall your dreams:

1. Give yourself time to clear the day, write out what happened during the day.  Do this right before bedtime.
2. Set the intention the night before that you will remember your dream.  Repeat the process as repetition helps us to recall dreams.  It  may take six months (of doing the dream exercise twice a week) but that repetition helps.
3. Have a journal next to the bedside or a digital recorder.  (Try to minimize the number of buttons you have to push to start the recorder.)
4. Write (or record your voice) immediately upon waking, preferably without taking your head off the pillow.  Be less concerned about how pretty your handwriting works and more concerned about capturing the content of your dream.  Once we raise our head up, our dream memory seems to fall away.  Try to keep the light low so you won’t adjust to waking life just yet.  You don’t have to record everything, try to capture three key elements:  Emotions, Symbols, and People

Our dreams are really a bridge to our waking life.  What’s going on in our dreams is often a reflection of what is going on in our waking life.

 

Tips to help you recall your dreams:  Minimize alcohol consumption, avoid being overtired, have uninterrupted sleep, and avoid using an alarm clock

Three Methods to Work With or Interpret Your Dreams: 

Remember:  Dreams are often a bridge to your waking life

1. Quick Five Minute Dialogue. Write out the dream.  Identify what element of the dream (person or thing or emotion) that most stands out.  Then do a 5 minute written dialogue with that person, thing, or emotion.  Example:  I had a dream where the green monster under the bed stood out the most.  So you have a written dialogue.  Ask “What are you trying to tell me?” and have a written conversation back and forth (answer as if you were the monster).  You could also ask “What do you have to tell me?”  Then set it aside and look at it a day later to see what pops up.
2. Gestalt: Everything in the dream is you. Say out loud where every person in the dream is you.  Give example of woman who dreamt about her boyfriend who, in her dream, was very demanding and was always focused on getting things done.  When she restated the dream as herself, she froze, realizing in her waking life she yearned to claim her power and get things accomplished.  Her dream was inviting her to claim her power and achieve what she wanted to achieve and not give her power away.
3. The List. Write out the dream. Make a list of those emotions, people, and images that stand out from the dream. For each item on your list, write a sentence about your waking life that includes the emotion/person/image on your list.  (One sentence per item on your list.) Read all the sentences you wrote. BRIDGE:  What in your waking life is reflected by these sentences? What might you want to do about this situation in your waking life? Example:  I’m on a boat with no sail and traveling across the lake.  I can’t steer the boat and it isn’t going in the direction I want it to.  I can hear loud music and people talking but I don’t see anyone around me.  Things that stand out from the dream:  I can’t steer the boat/it’s not going in the direction I want.  Loud music and people talking

Once you have the awareness, ask yourself: What do I choose to do now in my waking life?  What do I choose to do differently now?

Symbols in dreams – What does this symbol mean to you?  Each symbol is personalized – ask yourself what the symbol means to you.

Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Tarot For Your Self: 19 Tips for Reading Tarot PLUS The Life of Tarot Illustrator Pamela Coleman Smith with Mary K. Greer

Tarot is 78 cards that were originally designed as a card game.  In the late 18th century the cards were used for fortune-telling.  56 playing cards plus a set of 21 trump cards (that in the card games could trump any other suit) plus the Fool Card for a total of 78 cards.

By studying Tarot you can learn so much about psychology, history, science, mathematics, art, literature, symbolism.  It’s endless what you can learn through the Tarot.

There are many myths or misconceptions about Tarot, including where the Tarot came from.  What can be proven is that the Major Arcana (trump cards) were added to a previous set of playing cards between 1420-1440 in northern Italy. 

Mary is co-author of the book Pamela Coleman Smith: The Untold Story.  Pamela Coleman Smith was the illustrator for what is known today as the Rider-Waite Tarot deck.  The deck was completed in 1909 and a new edition came out in 1910.  This deck had scenic pictures on each of the minor arcana cards (rather than just symbols as in previous Tarot decks).  Rider was the publisher, Waite was the conceptualizer of the deck.

Pamela Coleman Smith born in England (her parents were Americans).  She was a storyteller of Jamaican folktales because she lived several years on Jamaica.  She was also involved in literary theater of England in late 19th and early 20th century.  She lived in England in much of her adult life.  Her grave is unmarked.

Mary’s inspiration for writing Tarot For Your Self was inspired by journal writing.  It is really a workbook that takes you through Tarot in a step-by-step manner that makes the cards come alive.  You actually create a relationship with each Tarot card.  It has remained popular for more than 30 years because it gives permission to explore Tarot in your own way and discover your own meanings for the cards.  It’s also a very fun way to explore the Tarot that creates mini-mystical experiences along the way!

Description Technique for creating meaning from a Tarot card:

1. Simply describe the card as literally and concretely as possible. 
2. Describe the emotions, mood, and attitude you are experiencing or seeing in the card.
3. Look at what you’ve stated in steps 1 and 2 as metaphors for what is happening in your life.

Story Technique for creating meaning from a Tarot card:  Tell a made-up story of fairy tale (start with “Once upon a time . . .) and the card is the key illustration for the story.  Make the story wild and crazy and make it spontaneous.  If you are reading for your self, record yourself telling the story.

Develop Three Core Keywords for each Tarot card.

Work with the suit and number of the minor arcana:  Identify what all the ‘3’ cards have in common and how the meaning is influenced by the suit of the Tarot card.

Compare and contrast between two cards.  Note the similarities and differences.

Tips for reading reversed Tarot cards:

1. If you have difficulty reading reversed  Tarot cards, remember you don’t have to read reversals!  Let yourself off the hook if reversals are difficult for you. 
2. Set a clear intent for what the reversed card will mean – this will also work for you.
3. Try looking at reversals as “inner” (unconscious) rather than “outer” (conscious) forces or dynamics.
4. See reversals as the blocks or what the client may be resisting.
5. See reversals as what is delayed or delaying something in the outer world.
6. What is being overturned or what you are breaking through.
7. What is on its way as potential.

Tips for reading Court cards:

1. People in your life
2. A reflections or aspects of your own personality
3. Knights can indicate simply going on a journey
4. Aspects of yourself that you are projecting onto others
5. You can also use astrological correspondences (for example, “Cup” court cards refer to water signs, “Sword” court cards refer to air signs, etc.)
6. See the court card as having an opinion on the situation you are bringing to the reading.  What would this court card recommend you do in this situation?  You don’t have to follow these opinions, but they do inform you on what you choose to do.

Reversed court cards are NOT bad or evil people.

Mary is surprised that Tarot has been so central to her life for over 50 years!  There is infinite variation in its symbolism.  There’s always something new to explore.

Mary teaches Tarot at the Omega Institute and has some recorded webinars at the Global Spiritual Studies.  She is also a frequent presenter at regional Tarot conferences throughout the world.

Mary K. Greer:  www.marykgreer.com Instagram:  @marykgreer Facebook:  facebook.com/mary.k.greer Two of Mary’s books include Pamela Coleman Smith: The Untold Story and Tarot For Your Self (35th Anniversary Edition available September 1, 2019) and Tarot For Your Self (2nd edition available now)  Mary’s online courses can be found at Global Spiritual Studies.

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​ SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Rose Vanden Eynden -- author of So You Want To Be A Medium? -- shares different ways we can communicate with our spirit guides and gives us tips for writing a book.  Welcome to today’s episode of Spirit and Energy Podcast.

Rose has always been very aware of energy and the vibrations of living things.  She did not grow up in a household where that was embraced or encouraged.

Working with spirit has taught Rose that we are never alone.  We have our own spirit guides and teachers as well as angelic energies.  We have our own loved ones who passed into the spirit world who are there with us and are never more than a thought away.   Spirit has also taught Rose to be much more compassionate about other people’s spiritual journeys.

Spirit guides are energies that each individual has around them.  These energies could have incarnated in a physical body at some point.  They could have been with the person in other lifetimes.  Or even members of person’s family who have transitioned to the other side and have made a commitment helping the person in his or her spiritual journey.

When Rose says “spirit guides are energies” she is referring to the consciousnesses of different types of beings.

Rose believes before we incarnated into this lifetime we have members of our own soul group in the “in between” and sit with them and we make decisions on how we want to interact with each other.  Our spirit guides are part of that meeting.

Spirit guides can communicate with us through all of our senses including our psychic sense.

Many spirit guides have incarnated on earth before, which makes them helpful to us.

In a “like attracts like” universe, some of our spirit guides are attracted or connected to us because we share similar traits and interests.

Everyone has spirit guides, even if we don’t believe in them or use them. 

You have to give your guides permission to work with you.  You have to ask your spirit guides to do things for you.

Don’t spirit guides have better things to do?  Spirit guides have freedom of choice.  They serve as our guides out of great love and commitment. 

Rose believes each of us has more than one spirit guide and that spirit guides come in and out of our lives based on what we need or are asking for.   Examples of spirit guides include a healing guide and a joy guide.

Ways to connect to our guides:  Set an intention to get to know your spirit guides – who they are, how they are working with you in this lifetime, how you can work best together with your spirit guides.  Set an intention such as “I easily connect with spirit” or “I easily communicate with my spirit guides.”  Reduce distractions and become more aware of our surroundings and our own personal energy.  You’ll notice differences in energies and thoughts that aren’t your own but rather are your spirit guides communicating with you.  Spirit communication is subtle so you have to have keen awareness to pick up on it.

Meditation quiets the mind and helps you sense subtle changes and the subtle communication from a spirit guide.

Communication with spirit guides is conversational – that means you can initiate conversation, ask questions, and create a dialogue with spirit rather than simply being passive and waiting for spirit guides to talk to you.

A spirit guide’s answer to your question may come to you as a color, a song, a book title, a phrase, a single word, or an inspiration that you have.  Many people dismiss these messages from spirit guides as they think they are making it up.

You can write out your dialogue or conversation with a spirit guide. 

Regardless of the method you use to communicate with spirit guides, trusting what you receive is a big part of that communication.

It was a thrill for Rose to see one of her book -- So You Want To Be A Medium? – in the hands of a character on a television show.

Rose’s tips for those who want to write a book:  Write every day, even if it is just morning pages first thing in the morning.  You have to like writing and you have to have something you want to say or convey to others.

Rose is inspired by England, Aurthurian Legend, and helping women empower themselves.  She founded a Spiritualist church in Cincinnati, OH which is still operating.  She’s also written a play about the Fox Sisters.

Rose Vanden Eynden:  http://www.vandeneynden.biz/ Instagram:  @roseovavalon Twitter:  @RoseOfAvalon Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RoseVandenEyndenOfficial

Host Dan Johnson:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com ​SUBSCRIBE to Spirit and Energy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn radio, or in your favorite podcast app Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Travis  Sanders, psychic, medium, and author of Practical Mediumship talks about growing up psychic, tips for your own psychic children, Spiritualism, the gifts and drawbacks of being connected to spirit, tips for strengthening your sixth sense, and the ethics of working with spirit. 

Travis was highly sensitive and aware of his connection to the spirit and psychic realms at a very early age.  Always aware of his connection with spirit, Travis started having back and forth dialogue with spirit when he was older.  Most people were intrigued by him and supportive.

If you have a child who has a strong connection to his or her psychic ability, Travis recommends engaging them as if it were a normal experience to have.  Don’t push the child on their psychic impressions and, by the same token, don’t ignore the child’s psychic impressions.  Hold a space for them without judgment.

When he was younger, Travis was on the TV show “Psychic Kids” and later apprenticed with one of the adult mediums on the show, learning forensic mediumship.  This medium introduced Travis to Spiritualism.  During his visit to Lily Dale, NY, Travis decided he was 100% “in” with Spiritualism.

Travis feels passionate about letting younger people know what Spiritualism is.

What significant events or people stand out to Travis in Spiritualist history:

• Hudson Tuttle lived in Berlin Heights, OH and invented the precursor to the Spirit Board called a Psychograph, a planchette-like device with a dial in the middle.  He was an incredible writing medium and his wife Emma Rude was a Trance Medium.   Together they started the first Spiritualist publishing company in the United States.
• Jonathan Koons from Athens, OH was a farmer and a medium and the first medium known to use the device known as a spirit trumpet to aid the phenomena of direct voice.

Travis gets psychic and mediumistic information through clairvoyance (sight) and clairsentience (feeling).  He is working on strengthening his clairaudience (hearing) to continually improve his mediumship skills. Travis believes mediums can get in a rut if they are not continually challenging themselves in finding new ways of perceiving spirit and deepening the evidence you get from spirit. 

The gifts of working with spirit and being in tune with the spiritual realm include never feeling alone, being able to discern what is the right decision or what is right for you.  When someone is very empathic or very connected to spirit, it can be challenging to create boundaries with others (and have those boundaries accepted).  It can also be frustrating in dating life when you just know, from the outset, that your date is not a fit for you. 

Accessing spirit can be a very simple process because we are, by nature, spirit.  Sometimes rituals can be helpful and sometimes rituals can be a hindrance. 

Spirit can bring levity through their interaction to uplift you during a rough time.

If you are working with spirit, they will always provide you with what you need.  It may not be what you want, but spirit will provide what you need.  If you show up for spirit, spirit will always show up for you.

Travis wrote Practical Mediumship as the book he wished he had when he was first starting out on his journey.  It’s very practical in its approach and covers the mechanics of connecting with spirit so you can prove to yourself that communicating with spirit is your birthright.

Tips for strengthening your sixth sense: 

• Take a deep exploration of all of your five senses. 
• Meditate. 
• Sit in a Development Circle on a regular basis to improve your mediumship.

To keep grounded: 

• Recognize we are body, mind, and spirit. 
• Engage the body -- go for a walk, do yoga, stretch, eat some healthy food.
• Take time to engage your human experience.

Ethics:  Never approach someone and give them a reading or spirit message without being asked for a reading first.

Needing adequate “alone time” is common for those who are sensitive to the energy of others.

Travis Sanders:  www.psychictravissanders.com or facebook.com/psychictravissanders

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com

Subscribe to Spirit and Energy Podcast in your favorite podcast app, TuneIn Radio, or visit www.spiritandenergypodcast.com

Facebook: facebook.com/spiritandenergypodcast

Instagram: @spiritandenergypodcast

Geraldine’s became interested in Tarot after having a Tarot reading herself that was so accurate and powerful that she felt she had to learn more about Tarot.  She later moved to Hawaii and met her teacher who was a Spiritualist, a Kahuna, and a Master at the Tarot.  This teacher taught Geraldine about the spiritual aspect of the Tarot.  The Tarot taught Geraldine how her own inner psyche was contributing to her life.

1. Tarot is a pictorial picture of the story of our lives, from the time we are born until we die.  A language of the unconscious mind.  A telephone to the images that are in our unconscious mind.
2. The unconscious mind speaks and thinks in images.   Aristotle even said the soul thinks in images.
3. The Tarot allows us to discover the patterns in our lives, what is driving us, so we can consciously act toward what it is we want to create.  Tarot helps us claim our power and put us in a place of choice rather than victimhood.
4. The real gifts of the Tarot are what the Tarot can teach us about the processes of the unconscious mind.  What part of myself am I not seeing that is projecting outward in creating my life experience?
5. In working with Tarot on your own, you can ask the cards a question and pull a Tarot card, let the card speak to you, do some journaling, have a conversation with the image, ask the card or image what its message is for you, draw the card, paint it, and pick a card a day and use it as a filter through which you experience the day’s activities and events.
6. There are many meanings for each card.  The meaning can be influenced by many things including its position in a spread, the cards around it, the client you are reading for, and the question that the client has asked the reader.
7. Geraldine has more than 200 Tarot decks, each deck an interpretation by the creator and artists for that particular deck.
8. Cut your teeth on Rider Waite Smith deck but choose Tarot decks that really speak to you to work with.  Begin by working with the 22 Major Arcana and the 4 Aces.
9. Formulating the question is very important for a valuable Tarot reading.  Avoid using the word “should” in your question because it is limiting your power and sense of choice.  The best questions are specific and open-ended.  You want to be careful NOT to reinforce a victim mentality.
10. Think about Tarot as fortune-creation rather than fortune-telling.  The Tarot helps us to “possibilize” the future.
11. Why do we use Tarot?  Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it “fate.” – Carl Jung
12. A good Tarot reader will educate potential clients on how he or she works and how to formulate questions to get the most from a reading.
13. Geraldine is an ordained minister in Divine Metaphysics.  Divine Metaphysics believes there is an energy field or universal divine intelligence.  It teaches the power of the mind is huge and that many of us are using only a very small percentage of our mind.  We are creators of the life we have. 
14. The power is not in the Tarot cards – they are simply paper.  Rather, it’s the power of our mind and the power of spirit that is able to speak to us and through us with Tarot images. 
15. Geraldine’s favorite cards are The Hermit and The Chariot.  The light that the Hermit holds is really that divine light within us.  The spiritual path is really connecting to that divine light within.  The energy of The Chariot can help us to be in charge of our destiny.
16. The minor arcana have to do with everyday life.  Major Arcana cards represent the big picture, spiritual forces. 
17. A Tarot reading can take your intuitive spark or idea and help you grow it into something fantastic.

Reverend Geraldine Hodson:  www.thespiritualtarot.com or [email protected]

Host Dan Johnson’s websites:  www.performancemastery.com  and www.vibrationalintelligence.com

Subscribe to Spirit and Energy Podcast in your favorite podcast app or visit www.spiritandenergypodcast.com