Every once in a while, I get a question about hauntings and ghosts. The latest question I received was about how ghosts even exist.

Ghosts are not the same as spirits. Put simply all ghosts are spirits, but not all spirits are ghosts. 

A ghost is the spirit of someone who has passed, who then refuses to cross over. Often the reason for this refusal is an attachment to a person, place, object or situation on the physical plane. There is so much attachment, anger, resentment, fear of crossing over, or other such energy that they stubbornly refuse to cross over.

So they stay. And it isn't pretty.

Staying on the physical plane in spirit form is no picnic. There is terrible loneliness, which only feeds anger and fear.  The longer this way of being exists, the worse it gets.

The key to "ghostbusting" is employing guides and angels in the task of helping the person cross over. That is something that not everyone can do; it is very specialized and delicate. I and a few other mediums I know have done it, and it takes plenty of prayer and preparation, so don't try it yourself. It can get dicey if your not careful. And there are only certain ghosts that mediums can take care of. Others require the assistance of an actual exorcist - and that's a whole other realm.

I grew up around ghosts, unfortunately. There were three of them, and they were dangerous, one of whom tried killing my father at one point. It turns out that the ghosts were attached to a specific trunk, which we had to get rid of. But it took 4 years to localize the cause, which was 4 years of many strange occurrences and events.

I'm happy to say the ghosts are gone, and I was much wiser for the experience...for only being 5 years old!

Psychometry is the ability and art of being able to connect with energies through physical objects or photographs. It is an ability that some psychics have, but not all.

I am happy to say that I have that ability, although it is sometimes a difficult gift. Touching objects that have had happy memories and owners is fine, but there are other times when there are painful or traumatic memories attached, which complicates the experience.

There was a time years ago when I was asked to hold a small stone and give my impressions. The impressions were instantaneous: swaths of red, the sound of yelling, screaming, and explosions, feelings of great pain. It turned out that the stone was from Normandy, and that I was getting impressions from D-Day.

When I appear at gallery events and psychic parties, I will often use this ability. Even touching papers that people have written on, can give me immediate impressions, which makes these events fascinating as well as entertaining.

When I'm asked how I think about Tarot cards, the answer is very nuanced. First of all, I do not see the cards as having any inherent power in themselves. They are pieces of cardboard, and that is all they are. There are no magical powers, nothing at all. They are - as they were when they first came into existence in the Middle Ages - playing cards and nothing more than that.

The slippery slope happens when we start ascribing power to them. When we think that they are all-powerful and all-knowing means to know all things, then we invite darker forces into these objects. Essentially, we make the cards into little gods, and the results are truly horrific.

Cards essentially are helping us tap into our own intuition and higher knowing. They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Intention is everything here. They can jog your memory, inspire your imagination and expand your vision, just as a work of art or a passage from a book can do. 

Keeping things in this perspective will help you keep your feet on the ground, and safe from less-than-desirable situations and outcomes.

Tonight I will be teaching an online class about understanding, interpreting and using the Tarot. It is going to be a great class, with so many nuggets of information and possibilities!

The best part of the class is really learning how to use the Tarot for spiritual and practical growth. So many times we tend to relegate the Tarot to the very limited and narrow view of a fortune-telling tool, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

The Tarot can be a wonderful and exciting tool for expanding the mind, revealing new possibilities, and empowering your life. So much more than "...you will meet a tall, handsome stranger."

The classes are great because they are recorded for students. That way, if you have to miss the class, due to work schedule, sudden events, or some other reason, you still get the class sent to you. It's a win-win situation!

See you all tonight!

Often we hear about the psychic senses (clairaudience (hearing), clairvoyance (seeing), clairsentience (feeling), clairaugustance (tasting), and clairolfactance (smelling)), which correspond with our five physical senses.

There is one thing that gets lost in all the noise: discernment.

When a psychic engages the psychic senses, it's not just a matter of "whatever comes in." There must also be a degree of discernment, or as St Ignatius of Loyola calls it, the discernment of spirits.

(Special note: I recently came across a post from a psychic Medium claiming that discernment of spirits is mediumship. This is FALSE. And I have the texts of St Ignatius to back me up on that!)

Discernment of spirits is recognizing that we can easily deceive ourselves. The thoughts and experiences we have can lead us to love or away from love, toward connection or toward disconnection, toward God/Spirit or away from God/Spirit.

When we have psychic experiences, it is important to run them through the sieve of discernment to see whether they can be trustworthy or not. We judge them by their fruits. If they are leading us toward love, healing and connection, then they are good. If they lead us toward disconnection, division, and woundedness, then it is best to disregard them.

During readings, there is always a curiosity about the future. After all, why get a reading to know about the past? And psychics seem to be synonymous with the word "fortuneteller".

But is the future really that easy to predict?

Not really.

You see, the future changes from moment to moment. Sometimes, these changes are due to the decisions of others. Other times, circumstances change (as a result of other decisions from people), and the future is altered. Or you may alter the future timeline yourself through your own attitudes, actions, and thought patterns. 

When I look into the future, I see things as they will go at the present time. This is why I always will say "right now" with regard to the future. Things can change, which alters everything in your path. 

There is a BEST way to predict the future, however. The best way to predict the future is to make it happen! Granted, freewill and changing circumstances can still occur, but if you want the future to move a certain direction, then do what you can to make it more likely.

This is often what I talk about during a reading. If you're wanting a specific result, we explore how that result can be more likely to occur. That is where healing happens, and new possibilities unfold.

The future is literally in your hands!