We are each an individual and each of us has a different level of connection with our “Upstairs.” Although there can be many methods by which we receive information and guidance, there are three that are most common. Briefly, these are:
- Knowings: These can be described as sort of a “feeling” where you become aware of the information you seek. It is more of a direct transfer of information which does not include visual or auditory cues. For me, these are almost always accompanied by a rush of energy or a feeling of heat in the physical which feels as if every nerve ending in my body has been stimulated.
- Visual images: These can come as still images, a series of still images, or as moving images like a movie. Sometimes they may be in black and white, and sometimes in color, and the images may be in familiar physical-world form, or in the form of symbols.
- Auditory: You actually hear in your mind words in your native language that convey information.
Those on “the other side” are very efficient, and they may use different methods at different times depending on which will convey the information with the least distortion given where we are physically, mentally, and emotionally at that particular moment. I even know some who receive information through smell. When they ask a question, or request information, it is carried to them on a fragrance. Joe McMoneagle, who was Remote Viewer 001 in the government’s Stargate remote viewing program, receives his guidance with feathers. He opens up his channel to guidance, clears his mind, and when the solution comes, he will either see a feather on the ground, or one will float down in his field of view. He’s been using this method for years, and has thousands of feathers.
Upstairs can also use others here in the physical to bring us messages. There have been numerous times when I have asked for information on one thing or another, and it has ended up coming to me via a friend, or even a stranger in a line at the grocery store.
Although we may all want the grand visuals complete with a full musical score, not all of us will get them, and really, that should not matter to us. What is important is to work with what we have, and become proficient at using it. It shouldn’t matter by what method guidance comes to us, but only that it does come.
There are many ways of knowing of perceiving of being that connect us with guidance and are reveal vital information to us. I found it interesting that someone else ie. Joe McMoneagle and I share the feather experience. At such times I see a bright feather floating down into my field of vision.
Brightfeather, that’s cool that you get feathers too. Up until now, Joe was the only one I knew who got feathers.
Good teaching. It is unfortunate that so many people think that information from non-sensory sources must nonetheless come in some sensory form — visuals, voices, whatever — whereas “knowing” is the purest as long as it is not ego-driven. There’s the rub, of course — so Edgar Cayce said that dreams are the most reliable means of obtaining information, precisely because the ego-mind cannot dictate the dream.
In my own experience (as you know!) you are SO right in saying this: “Upstairs can also use others here in the physical to bring us messages.” Sometimes we’re just to thick to hear it if it’s “only” a knowing. We need to have someone say it or exemplify it. Fortunately, if we’re open to it, and able to observe, the message will show up in one way or another.
As I said, good teaching!
Thank you Frank. I agree with you that “knowings” are the most pure form. In most instances, no matter how hard you try to put them into words, you can at best only hint at what you got. There are so many layers and nuances that simply cannot be put into words.
In addition to “Upstairs” using others here in the physical to verify, or reinforce “knowings,” I also find they use others when I am simply too busy or preoccupied with life to listen. “Hey you, answer the damned phone will ya? Upstairs has been calling for a week!”
I wish I had that sort of physical reaction, I would feel more confident about my “knowings.” Maybe I do and I just havent’learned yet how to recognize it… For me, it started with just closing my eyes, getting still, and things came to me. I would usually just “hear” it, but other times I got an image in my mind’s eye. I’ve had many precognitive dreams, but they are most often symbolic rather than literal — but I’ve had both.
But even in getting plenty of confirmation of what I was receiving, I still doubted it and felt so uncomfortable sharing such information. And that’s why I think I was guided to use the Tarot. It makes me feel more confident to have something there in front of me that stokes my “intuition.” Something “solid” that I can point to, so as to justify the information. That does seem to be my forte, my “knowings” are invariably spurred by something outside of me.
Not only does the Tarot “stoke” me, but so much in the physical, especially things in nature — animals, especially birds. And this is a joy for me, resonating so strongly with certain animals, nature. I also get messages from the words and actions of those around me — I see “Tarot cards” in people and events. Again, it’s in those types of knowings that I feel most confident. Still, I think I need to address what seems to be a fear of receiving information without that outer stimulus…sometimes I think that might be a hindrance to learning to trust my own feelings.
Dove
Dove, I think anyone being honest with themselves will have doubts. Am I just making this up or is it real? It’s all part of the process, and hopefully we are able to work though those doubts and stop short of swinging to the other extreme and catching what my friend Frank DeMarco calls “psychic’s disease” where we get too confident and think we have it all at our fingertips. The thing is to use what works for us, and what we are comfortable with, at a particular time. If and when we are ready to move on, we will.
I too have a strong connection to nature and to the animal spirits and feel incredibly at home when I’m out walking in the forest, or along a beach, or sitting beside a stream listening to the waters talk to me. No matter what is going on in the world, no matter how screwed up things seem to be, nature always assures me that all is well.
Hi Richard
The feather reminded me of my first ever confirmation that I was receiving information from “somewhere else”. I had just started on my journey and had read somewhere that feathers were a good way that the angels communicated with us. So I placed deep “intention” (I know that now) to be shown a feather. Went to work that day – I was at that time working out of someone’s home and usually when I got there the desk was a huge mess and I had to clear a path for me! Whilst so doing, there were 3 huge feathers – bright blue, purple and green! To say that I was gobsmacked is an understatement. I asked who had put them there and was told that his daugther had inadvertently left them there from a costume that she’d been making up. I still have those feathers with me!
With love
Irene
Yep, I can relate, Richard. I’m totally in love with nature. It’s my heaven, and the only thing that makes this life bearable… I truly can’t understand why most ppl can’t see the magic in nature, it just seems so blatant to me. I reel with joy even at the site of the tiny creatures. A co-worker brought in a “walking stick” (bug) the other day and put it on my computer monitor at work. I started talking to it like it was a puppy or something, lol 😉
Oh, well now I have to share my feather story. I had kinda forgotten about It until I read Irene’s. Btw, way cool, Irene 🙂 I wrote an article about how I was drawn to use the Tarot (you can read it at my Tarot site). I left a couple of things out of the article, one of them was the feather. The male psychic that I had gone to had blown me away with certain things that he told me. One (and I didn’t put this in the article either), was that he told me I was supposed to be studying something, but he wasn’t sure what — he mentioned Reiki, or the Tarot (maybe something else, can’t remember). And it was clear later, that he was referencing the Tarot.
But during the reading, he left the room and came back with the this huge, beautiful parrot! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, I adore birds. In his other hand, he had a long blue feather from this parrot. He handed it too me and said he felt he was to give it to me. A precious gift that I still treasure. That reading spurred a significant turning point in my life, and it was integral to me beginning to use the Tarot. I’ve never been so passionate about anything else in my life. And it was all so synchronous, even with the parrot. Since then I have discovered the energy of “winged ones,” especially birds is so strong in me (I have many winged “totems” — owl, crow, blue heron…). It’s all so wonderfully fascinating 🙂
Dove
Irene and Dove,
A couple wonderful and powerful experiences for you two, thanks for sharing them.
I had not mentioned it either, but I’m given feathers from time to time. I’ve never tied them to messages from above, but I cherish them just the same.
In a journey one night, an American Indian ancestor came to me, looked my right in the eyes (actually through me) with a very serious look on his face and then his expression softened a little and he handed me an arm band with two eagle feathers hanging off of it made with what appeared to be sections of bone and beads, and waited for me to put it on. I attached it to my upper arm, just above the bicep and as I looked back at him, he gave me a slight smile and nodded his head in approval. It was a very powerful experience and needless to say, I forgot all about my journey. Whenever I journey now, I always glance down to see if it is there, and it always is.
Something Dove said resonated deeply. She said:
“But even in getting plenty of confirmation of what I was receiving, I still doubted it and felt so uncomfortable sharing such information. And that’s why I think I was guided to use the Tarot. It makes me feel more confident to have something there in front of me that stokes my “intuition.” Something “solid” that I can point to, so as to justify the information.”
I hadn’t ever thought of it, but as soon as I read that, I realized that indeed this is a major advantage that people get out of using a system of divination like astrology or tarot or palm-reading or whatever. NOT just that it makes the indications clearer (though it does) but that it gives the user confidence in the information!
The ultimate result will be that the user either stops using that method, as it becomes unnecessary as a prop, or else uses it at an ever-deeper level, as the additional confidence makes it easier to go deeper. Interesting!
Awesome feather story, Richard. And, Frank, I love it when something I share stirs someone 🙂 The word that came to me while typing that was “crutch,” but I so dislike referencing my precious Tarot in that way. It’s taught me sooo much, I was even more fascinated by it’s “magic” than in discovering my psychic ability shortly before, and I have no doubt that it’s a significant part of my life — and always will be. Yeah, I feel it will take me deeper, but I do need to learn along the way to trust myself more without it…and I think it will ultimately aid me in doing so. But I know I will be living and breathing the Tarot, endeavoring to master all of it’s wonderful intricacies until I leave this world. It’s wrapped itself around my heart and it’s not lettin’ go 😉
Dove, thanks. I would view the Tarot as a tool rather than a crutch, and a tool that is working well for you. With photography – one of my passions – it is not the camera that creates a beautiful photograph, but the photographer. The camera is the tool used to capture the what the photographer sees. It’s the same with the Tarot, it is you that is doing the work, the Tarot is the tool that you are using to capture the information.
Yep, I agree, Richard, I often say the magic isn’t in the Tarot, but in us. And I also speak of it as “just cardboard with pictures on it,” but only in my efforts to salve the fear that so many have about it. Regular playing cards is good for this purpose as well, they can be used like the Tarot (although they lack the Major Arcana cards).
I found a deck of cards at my last job, and was showing my co-workers a bit of this “magic” 🙂 It was kinda spooky showing them, here in Bible-Belt Land, but it did prove to open their minds a bit. (Note, they didn’t know about me and the Tarot, or my website and all…) The most memorable was this one guy, a regular church-goer, and initially totally averse to the idea… Well, he saw that I was getting accurate answers, and one day kept bugging me with a question. I was busy with my job, but handed him the playing cards and said in a rush,”Shuffle ’em any way and for as long you want, while thinking about your question, then cut ’em, and show me the top card.”
He fumbled around with them and finally nervously cut them. So, while I’m working on the computer, I quickly glance up at his card and tell him what it means. Later that day, it proved to be bang-on accurate. He went around telling everyone that he was now a “believer” in it, lol
But the point here was about me giving him the cards, knowing the magic was in him. I knew his hands would go for the card that would represent the truth. It isn’t just about what came from me, the cards can be very specific. There are certain cards that there’s no way you can make them be much of anything positive, and others that you’d be greatly challenged to draw anything negative from them. So the magic wasn’t just in my intuition, but also in his hands, in him 🙂 The body knows the truth, and when the mind hasn’t a way to interfere, it can show us the way 🙂
But the Tarot, to me, isn’t just any tool, just like to so many, the Bible isn’t just a book 🙂 The Tarot is rich with the energy of it’s history, with the energy of those who “believe” in it, those who have for lotsa years seen the truth in it. And the decks I’m drawn to are beautiful, each card a rich piece of art with symbolism out the wazoo, numerology, astrology… A stunning book of life 🙂
“The body knows the truth, and when the mind hasn’t a way to interfere, it can show us the way.”
Dove, the above is the key, getting out of our own way. Sometimes easier said than done.
You are right, the energy that has surrounded the Tarot throughout history means it is a very powerful tool, and it’s made even more powerful when one realizes and recognizes that energy and history.
It’s been fascinating reading the comments on this thread. Maybe someday I’ll share my feather stories too. As a child I had a great grandmother who called me “brightfeather” and I chose it as a moniker because whenever i get the heck out of my own way – i see the way very clearly.
A friend of mine, Penny, died in the springtime. Shortly after her passing, I was sitting in my living room meditating, eyes closed. Suddenly I knew that someone had entered the room. Incredibly strong smell of peach blossoms, followed by a visual of Penny standing under a tree loaded with peach blossoms. Beautiful colors. And wonderful smile.
In one of my Gateway sessions [at The Monroe Institute], I was standing on a hill with the sky getting increasingly dark, the rain becoming increasingly heavy as it pounded down on me, the smell of the rain as it hit strong and loud. Sight, touch, smell, sound. Now, if I had only thought to stick my tongue out!
It has been fascinating and enlightening. Thanks to everyone.