Developing Your Talents

Everyone is psychic to one degree or another. Some people are just more “aware” of the unseen energies within and around them than others are. But those “gut feelings”, a “woman’s intuition”, or a “detective’s hunch”, are all psychic abilities. We’ve just learned to call them something that doesn’t sound so far “out there”.

If you haven’t already, I’d suggest you go back a few postings and read about Psychic Abilities. On that article you’ll find descriptions about a Psychic and a Channel. The different types of Psychic senses a person might have. And how Metaphysics explains the levels of psychic communications.

Of all the questions I’m asked, “How can I be a psychic” is the most common. Right along with “How can I develop my own psychic skills?” As I mentioned above, you’re already psychic. Because everyone already is, it’s part of our nature or our natural instincts. It’s not a “gift”, nor is it a “special ability”. Everyone has it and everyone has the potential to exercise and develop their own senses. So before I answer this second question, how can you develop my skills, I always ask my own question first. “Why do you want to?” It’s important to understand why someone wants to enhance and develop their natural abilities? I’ve heard every answer in the book. “I want to read minds”, well you won’t be able to do that, so next? “I want to give readings and make some extra money” or “I want to be a psychic for a living”.Those desires come with karmic consequences, so be careful what you ask for. Ideally the answer I’m looking for is, so I can communicate with the Divine force in my life. Or some variation of that.

Everything you do in life, contains an exchange of energy. The kind of energy you give, should be positive and uplifting. And of course you want the energy you receive to also be positive and uplifting. But there’s also spiritual energy to contend with, or what we call Karma that can also be exchanged. And that’s where being a Psychic reader, can get you into trouble. Especially if you’re not prepared for the consequences or have the training needed that go along with that service. But let’s get to that later on and start with the basics.

Can I Develop A Psychic Gift?
The quick answer is yes. But it takes work, effort and dedication. My first suggestion, whether you think you know why or not you want to develop your talents, is to sit down and think about what senses you’re most interested in. Write it down and define why you want to tap into your psychic abilities. Define the “intent” behind your desire. That word “intent” will always be very important during the course of this topic. The intent behind why you generate energy to meditate, to make a connection to your higher conscious, to the divine sources , and to a client determines the type of energy you will create or tap into.

Next I strongly recommend you read the article Meditation, Energy and Action. This is the most important article on this site. The message and lessons contained in that article will make developing your senses so much easier and fulfilling than anything I can say here. So if you haven’t read it, pause now and go read that first.

Do I have the power or the gift?
Start to understand right now that power is an illusion. It’s an ego trip, or an arrogance that serves no purpose except to hold you back. No one has more or less “power” than anyone else. Which is one reason I truly despise the “power”. We are all equal. Everyone has an ability within them to call upon, or talk to spirit. Calling on a spiritual guide or entity does not give you more power than the next person either. You are not the source of energy, nor will you be the container for it. Energy flows through us all, from one to another and back again to the spiritual realms around us.

I can’t explain enough how important this is to grasp. One of the first things you must learn is how to move your own ego aside and allow the Divine source (whatever that is to you) to work through you and with you. Allowing your own ego to get the best of you, will eventually turn against your abilities and sometimes can turn against your own physical body.

As I mentioned your psychic senses are not a “gift”. This gives the impression that your Psychic sense is something special given to you by some omnipotent force. I’m sorry, but no it’s not a gift. Psychic senses are just that, a sense. Just like your other 5 senses. We all have the ability, we all can connect to the Divine energy in our lives. Some of us may have a natural aptitude for connecting to that 6th sense, just like some people have an aptitude for touch. If you’re one of those people you  can utilize that ability in Physical Therapy, or as a Surgeon, or a Concert Pianist.  The choice of how to apply your personal aptitude is up to you. But we all have the potential.

Then there’s the modern assumption, I’m psychic so I’m a Witch. Uh, No. Having Psychic Abilities does not dictate what spiritual path you choose to follow. Those are personal decisions and choices. There are Psychics who utilize their abilities to serve a variety of communities, from Pagan to Catholic. But this is the choice of the individual person. It’s not a predestined path. How and where you use your personal talents are solely up to you. And besides, a Witch is practitioner of Magik and there’s nothing magikal about 6th senses.

Sixth Senses
Every animal on this planet, no matter what kind of animal it is, has an ability to sense the energy around them. Deer are the perfect example of this. We’ve all seen a Deer, either in real life or on TV, quietly standing in the forest munching away on lunch. When suddenly they pop their heads up and start listening to their surrounds. They look around and try to scan their area for danger. That’s their natural instinct for self preservation. Just like animals that move for shelter when they sense a storm coming, animals listen to their sixth sense to avoid danger. This natural instinct is their ability to sense the energy around them and recognize the subtle changes in that energy. They recognize danger, they can sense the change in weather, they can “feel” the Earth beneath their feet and they act upon what they feel. Good, bad or indifferent, they’re always in-tune with their 6th sense.

As a human being, you too are part of the Animal Kingdom. And just like all animals, you also have that natural instinct to sense energy. For some people, your ability to recognize those instincts have been muted, or tapped down by society, by the way you were raised, or just by the way you think of “psychic abilities”. Everyone typically dismisses that inner voice that talks to you and warns you about something. We chalk it up to paranoia and push it aside and go on about our day.

If you’re feeling drawn to exploring your senses, it’s time to put that kind of thinking aside. It’s time to be open to new experiences and accepting what comes your way. And the biggest thing, it’s time to start listening to yourself!

So to get started, the first thing you’re going to have to do is learn to Meditate and set up a meditation schedule for each week. Pause your reading again, and head over to read my Meditation Guide. Meditating is not as hard as you may think. But it is where you’ll need to start.

Getting Started
Meditation helps the physical conscious mind connect with the higher or divine consciousness we all have inside ourselves. Through practice and dedication, this “bridging” between our physical and divine selves, opens the doors to a new spiritual knowledge that has always existed within you, but that we may not have been able to “tap” into. Now don’t make the assumption that when I say “spiritual” knowledge I mean Pagan or Metaphysical understandings. It can be whatever spiritual path you feel comfortable on at this time in your life. From Christianity to Vedic.

People who meditate on a regular basis report feeling the need to improve their attitudes or outlook on life. This could be one of the positive results of bridging the conscious and sub-conscious spirit

ual minds together. All of which are important for maintaining a positive energy flow for psychic development. The more positive the attitude, the easier it is to make a connection to the positive forces around you. There are also benefits to your physical body and health.  But what we’re going for here with the Meditation practice, is building the bridge between your conscious mind, your sub-conscious and the higher Divine mind within yourself.

Next, any time you begin a new lesson in life, you should take notes to help you remember things you’ve tried that may not have worked. Or things you experienced that you want to revisit again at a later time. Note taking is an important process to any spiritual path, and it’s equally important to understanding your progression as you work to develop any type of practice and ability.

Get a notebook and keep track of your experiences, your outlook and so on. The first things you should record in your book are:

• Page 1, define what spirituality is (from your perspective) and what it means to you. Remember that taping into psychic energies is above all else a spiritual experience. How can you achieve the best connection for you, if you’re not real sure what that higher consciousness is. Again, don’t assume I mean that you and I have to have the same definitions about these things. This is about you and what you think. Even if you’re agnostic or atheist, you still have some concept of what your higher consciousness is. So write it down.
• Page 2, define “why” you want to develop your psychic senses.
• Page 3, write down the events, feelings etc. of your meditations during the week or during each meditative session.

Doing these exercises should give you some insight into yourself. A lot of people have “thought” about their spirituality, but I guarantee, when you start writing it down, you’ll write things you never “thought” about. The “why” will help you identify the blocks that might stand in your way, so be honest with yourself in both these cases. That’s the most important part, don’t hold back and write what you truly feel. The last exercise, gives you an example of where you are now and will make a record for comparison later.

Feeling Energy
Now let’s play a little game. You can do this right now as you’re reading this article. In fact, I suggest you do this now.

Sit in a comfortable chair, or in a comfortable position on the floor. Some place where you won’t be distracted or interrupted for about 5 minutes.

Put on some headphones, if you like. But make sure the music you’re listening to is calming, has no words to distract you. So a piece of orchestral or instrumental music.

Take a couple of deep breaths and completely exhale between each breath. Then close your eyes (well after you finish reading what to do here).

Rub the palms of your hands together, over and over again as if you’re warming them up. Do this for about 30 seconds or so. When your palms feel warm and kind of sensitive to the touch, or tingly, separate your hands. Palms facing each other, about 2 feet apart or the width of your body, which ever is more comfortable.

With your eyes closed, focus on the palms of your hands and slowly bring them together. Try to feel the space between your hands. Take your time, don’t rush and focus. As you bring your hands together, do you feel something? You may need to practice this exercise a couple of times to sense the space. Don’t be discouraged. Just keep practicing until you feel something. Don’t make an assumption about what you should feel, just let it happen. Keep trying over and over, for about 5 minutes.

If you aren’t able to feel anything the first time, don’t worry. But don’t set any expectations for yourself either. Doing so can alter your experience and you’ll question what you felt, or didn’t feel. Just relax and trust yourself. If you didn’t get anything this time, keep practicing. You will feel something eventually.

I suggest to my students to perform this exercise before and after every meditation session they conduct. When you do get a sense of something, make a mental note of it. What does it feel like, what sensations did you experience, did you “see” anything in your minds eye and so on. What you’re probably feeling is your own energy.  And that’s the first step to feeling the subtle unseen energies that are all around you.

As you develop your skills, you’ll be able to feel that energy when ever you turn on your senses. You’ll be able to tell when something passes by your energy space, or walks into your space. And you’ll be able to extend your own energy outward, away from your physical body, kind of like a force field, where you can sense the subtle energies within that field.

This exercise is somewhat important, as it sets up your awareness of how energy feels around you. In turn, that will help you visualize energy, create a shield for protection when you’re working and how to take down or a better way of saying it is, how to reduce your shield for when you’re not working. Shielding not only protects you from unwanted or negative energy. It also helps you push out unwanted preconceived energy that can get in your way of communicating with the Divine forces around you.

Developing your talents
Think of being a student of the piano. You need to begin your lessons at the basics. Start by learning to read the music, where your fingers go on the keyboard, the tempo changes and most importantly ~ practice, practice, practice.

Finding your particular aptitude or which one of your psychic senses is the strongest, isn’t always easy. Some of us can feel energy, others can see it, or hear it and so on through all the senses. The best way to find your aptitude is through, you guessed it, meditation.

There are many Meditation exercises to help you discover information needed to develop your psychic communication abilities and skills. If I put them all here in this article, you’ll be reading this article for weeks. So at this point, the best thing to do is to provide you with several links and send you off to read. Take these one at a time. Spend one month on each of these and then move onto the next. And I strongly suggest, you tackle these in the order I’m listing them.

Each one of these exercises will help you find information to build on your development process. Each one will help you with the next exercise in the list. So don’t just jump to the one that looks exciting and interesting. You’ll make it harder on yourself if you do that. Have a little patience. Take my word and my experience for how to proceed. Follow the list.

Some of these articles are here on Reflections, others are from my original education website. All of them will open in a new browser tab/window.

• The 5 Minute Protection Meditation – Clearing The Negative and Setting Protection
• Meditations for:Finding your Spiritual Sanctuary
• Meeting your Spirit Guides
• Meditations for: Meeting your Relative and Spirit Guide
• Meditations for: Meeting your Animal Guide
• Meditation Exercises
• Meditation Prayers – For Opening & Closing Circles

Practice Makes Perfect
If you believe you have the ability to see energy, as a visionary: then I’d suggest you start developing your talent through the use of a tool, such as Tarot, runes, pendulum, Iching, etc. The tool will help you strengthen your talent, develop your ability and most importantly your confidence in yourself. The tool is just that, a tool. It is a mechanism to make a connection to higher divine sources, to help you feel and interpret energies. As you grow and practice, the tools will be needed less and less. Until finally, the tools will almost be in your way and can be put aside.

If you believe your gift is as a healer: then I’d suggest you find a formal (or several) training classes that have interest to you. There are many “hands on” type healing methods, Reiki, Rolfing, and accupressure are just some examples. These classes help you understand how energy relates to the body, how to use divine energy to manifest healing and most importantly, the really good training classes will also cover what causes illness within the body and how to help a patient overcome those obstacles.

If you have an interest in herbology, sound therapy, aroma therapy, color therapy and so on, the same suggestions apply. Find someone in your area that teaches a class in the subject of interest. But remember to do your due diligence and do some research on the teacher and the offerings they provide. Look for someone reputable, who has extensive experience and a good reputation.

Reading books and practicing lessons from a manual is a good way to learn as well. But the experience of an individual (a teacher) is very difficult to put down on paper. That’s why the interaction between teacher and student, or even students with students is so important. That’s the real benefit of attending classes. You can read all the books in the world and gain a lot of knowledge. But it’s only through the execution of what you read and the experiences you go through that creates “wisdom”.

Bottom line, the piano player doesn’t become a composer over night. It takes classes, training, work, practice and teachers willing to answer questions and show examples. It takes effort and a willingness to listen. It also takes years! Years of practice and understanding each experience as it happens.

But, be ready for some hard karmic lessons if this is the path you wish to take. The Divine source in your life WILL mold you into a divine messenger through lessons of unconditional love, humility, greed and ego. They are not the only lessons, and they are not the easy ones to transition through. But they are necessary for an individual who wishes to be a psychic.

Be careful what you ask for, you will get it!

Additional Reading
Any skill has it’s own set of basics. Using tools, working with certain methods and practicing what you’ve learned. Read. Read everything that pulls at your interest. And don’t just read from one author. Read many different perspectives, methods and applications. Develop your own thoughts and perspectives. No one on this planet knows everything. And there’s always something to learn from others. What rings true to you, keep it. What doesn’t ring true, set it aside and move on. Don’t dwell on things. Don’t discard things you read completely. Understanding others is how we understand ourselves.

• Giving/Receiving A Psychic Reading
• What Is A Spiritual Expert? – A Six Part Series of Leadership and Inspiration
  • What Is A Spiritual Expert? – Part IV – Divine Holistic Healing
  • What Is A Spiritual Expert? – Part VI – Intuitive Psychic
• The Beginning of the Tarot
• The Bare Minimum Basics of Numerology
• Learning the Pendulum
• Learning about Scrying

Note:
Remember that palm exercise that I described earlier in this article? Here’s a helpful tip. When you’re bringing your hands together, you’re sort of squeezing your own energy between your palms. Does it feel like a slight pressure between your hands? Maybe like you’re holding a balloon between your hands? Can you squeeze and release the pressure and feel it move and flow? If so, then you succeeded. Keep a mental note of that sensation.

Created: 10/04/1996 Updated: 03/20/2012, 11/02/2019

© 2012-2019 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.