Psychic Development: How to develop your own psychic skills

By Vicki SpringWolf

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. Those "gut feelings" and "women's intuition" are psychic abilities.

Of all the questions we're asked, this is the most common: "How can I develop my own psychic skills?" The sad thing is, when someone is asked why they want to do this, they don't usually have an answer. The first suggestion, whether you think you know why or not, is to write down and define why you want to tap into your psychic abilities. Define your "intent." That word is going to become 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, determines the base of the energy created.

Do I have the Psychic power?

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. We are all equal. Everyone has the ability within to call upon or talk to Spirit. Calling on a spiritual guide or entity does not give you more power either. You are not the source of power, 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. One of the first things you must learn is how to move your own ego aside and allow the divine forces to work through you and with you. Allowing your own ego to get the best of you will eventually work against your abilities and sometimes your physical body.

Clearing the Psyche

Before a psychic can "become," he or she has to learn how to clear the psyche. This is probably the most misunderstood metaphysical process and yet one of the most important. Without this "clearing" or releasing, many old patterns will:

� Take energy away from the individual, keeping them from raising their consciousness up into the divine ethers.

� Set limits on an individual's perspective (making the perspective linear). Again, this will limit the psychic abilities.

� Stop spiritual growth through "not knowing" they're working on their own divinity.

� Without growth, a psychic cannot achieve enlightenment. Once more, this will limit the person's abilities. Clearing the psyche is removing karma, changing negative thought patterns and achieving spiritual lessons that will help you become a better and "purer" psychic.

Acknowledgement

The first step in clearing the psyche is to acknowledge the existence of a karmic issue or negative trait. Find that one thing in your life that really sticks in your craw and examine it. Define it, look into the details of the issue or event. Why does this issue upset or bother you? How does it affect you when it occurs or when you think about it?

Setting a Form

Once you have defined the issue, give it a form. Sit quietly and move your mind into a meditative state. In your mind, imagine a play or story starring this issue. Allow the images to play out in your mind until everything you've defined in acknowledging the issue has been addressed.

Forgiveness

Once you acknowledge the issue and give it form, forgive. Either forgive yourself for having those perceptions, or forgive those individuals or issues you think played a part in it, or both. Until you forgive the issue, you can't release it and that's the next step. Within the meditation, attempt to contact the people, or yourself even, to discuss how the issue made you feel and why it affected you the way it did. Then forgive the person, or people, or yourself. See yourself saying I'm sorry. See yourself forgiving the others for the part they played.

Release the past

You have to be able to release the issue, to "take the power" out it so that there's nothing there to hold you back. This can be done if you have truly forgiven all concerned or related to the issue. In your meditation, imagine yourself opening the door to let the individuals out. Watch the issue as it floats out into the ethers surrounded by unconditional love and forgiveness.

Reward yourself

Finally, once you've achieved the acknowledgement, forgiveness and letting go, reward yourself. This is almost instant karmic payback. You worked hard to overcome and bring a positive light to a negative situation, so stroke yourself a little. Buy a new suit or CD player, something that will mark the occasion as a triumph.

All these situations you have within you must be cleared before the "pure" psychic and/or channel can emerge. When we step into the Pituitary chakra to work on these "gifts," we're opening up Pandora's box and the lessons we maintain in our Akashic Records. Most of the time we're way to hard on ourselves. We perceive negative energies from situations that with a little understanding and unconditional love, we can learn to accept, release and move on from.

Getting Started

As you work on the issues in your life that hold you back from the enlightened path, you can begin developing your gifts. There is a need to understand that the gift will not form to its full potential while issues exist that can cloud your judgment and hold you back.

So where is the best place to start? That's easy. Meditation. 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, but that we may not have been able to "tap" into.

People who meditate on a regular basis report feeling the "need" to improve their attitudes or outlooks on life. This could be one of the positive results of bridging the conscious and sub-conscious spiritual minds together. All of this is important for maintaining a positive energy flow for psychic development. The more positive your attitude is, the easier it is to make a connection to the positive forces around you.

There are numerous forms of meditation such as Yoga, Tai Chi, mantra, gazing and freeform; these are the most common. No one way is better than another. What works for one person may not work for another, so it's best for people to choose the type of meditation that feels the most comfortable for them. Then one must practice, practice, practice.

There are dozens of books on the market that describe how to meditate, or if you'd like, take a look at our method of meditation. The important part to any meditation though, is learning how set the energy within, how to protect yourself and align your energies with the higher forces on ethereal planes.

Get a notebook and keep track of your experiences, your outlook and so on. First:

Page 1: Define what spirituality is (from your perspective) and what it means to you. Remember that tapping into psychic energies is above all else a spiritual experience.

Page 2: Define "why" you want to develop your psychic abilities.

Page 3: Write down the events, feelings etc., of your meditations during the week.

Doing these exercises should give you some insight into yourself as a spiritual being. A lot of people have "thought" about their spirituality, but I guarantee, when you start writing it down, you'll write things you never considered before. 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, write what you truly feel. The last exercise gives you a picture of where you are now and makes a record for comparison later.

Finding your Special Psychic Gift

Hopefully you did part one, because you're going to take what you learned about yourself and use that information to help you find your special talent. So go back to your notebook and re-read your reason for wanting to be a psychic. Look at the sentences you wrote from a third person point of view. Are there any "hidden" messages in what you put down on paper? Did you say something like "I want to be able to channel energy in order to help people overcome the blocks in their lives?" If you try and look behind the words, you might see the message of a "Psychic Healer" or a "Healing Channel."

Now if you can't find a message in your writing, turn to your meditations. Try and go within and ask your guides for help. Ask your higher conscious mind to show you or tell you about your gifts, how you can begin developing them and how you can overcome any blocks that might stand in your way. Make sure you write down what you experience in that meditation. It may not be clear today, but next week, you might see the same words in a different light and have the answer you seek.

Developing your Psychic Talents

Once you have an idea of what your special gift is, like the 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 again...practice!

If you believe your gift is as a visionary, then I'd suggest you start developing your talent through the use of a tool such as Tarot, runes, pendulum, I-ching, etc. The tool will help you strengthen your talent, further develop your ability and most importantly shore up your confidence in yourself. Remember, however, that the tool is only 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 interest you. There are many "hands on" healing methods like Reiki, Rolfing, and acupressure. These classes help you understand how energy relates to the body, how to use divine energy to manifest healing, and most importantly, 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.

Reading books and practicing lessons from a manual are good ways to learn, 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 only through the execution of what you learn and the experiences you go through do you gain "wisdom."

The bottom line is that the piano player doesn't become a composer over night. It takes classes, training, work, practice and a teacher 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 will develop a strong and reliable psychic ability.

Be ready for some hard karmic lessons if this is the path you wish to take. The Great Spirit 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 transcend, but they are necessary for an individual who wishes to be a spiritual psychic.

Finally, be careful what you ask for, you will get it!

Vickie Springwolf is a Celtic Shaman, Reiki Master, trained as a metaphysical minister, spiritual counselor and multidimensional channel. More from her can be found at Pagans Path: http://www.paganspath.com.