‘Has very strange ideas, should not be allowed near children’ read my first university report. Not what you want to hear when you’re on a teaching degree course. But then, I was born psychic so I was used to it. I spent my childhood seeing things I wasn’t supposed to see – according to my mother. Thankfully both my grandmothers were psychic and took my abilities for granted as they did my obsession with crystals. At the age of 4, I learned to read the Occult Review because I wanted to know what the pictures of ectoplasm and spirit guides were all about. It was comforting to know that other people shared my world.
The research topic for my Religious Studies dissertation was ‘The Seven Principles of Spiritualism’ and my supervisor, a lay preacher, had more than once been seen surreptitiously checking my head for the first sign of horns sprouting. My secondary school teaching-practice pupils loved it however – one of them was my babysitter and knew all about my ‘rather strange’ interests. As a break in very long Friday afternoons preparing for O level examinations, we searched the Bible for signs of belief in reincarnation (there are several in both the Old and New Testaments) and psychic moments (of which there are many), crystals were everywhere and, of course, miracles were commonplace. But you can understand why I didn’t take up a career teaching in schools.
Prior to that, almost half a century ago now, I was dragged into a Spiritualist church to be told: ‘You should be up here on the platform.’ I replied, ‘Oh no, I can’t sing.’ As I was to learn, there are many ways to use your psychic ability – and of teaching. By the time I started the mature student’s Religious Studies teaching degree five years later I’d sat in a development circle to bring my psychic ability under control, and had trained in healing and begun past life readings and regressions. I’d met Christine Hartley, a Western Mysteries high priestess and my metaphysical mentor for psychic protection as well as past life healing. But I was determined to find out more. The continuous existence of the human soul does, after all, to my mind at least, imply reincarnation and I’d already had two near-death experiences (another was still to come). My research took me into areas I’m still writing about today. But it also took me into a kind of ‘who’s who’ in the psychic and spiritual worlds (not always the same thing). Harry Edwards was my NFSH healing tutor and I cherish my correspondence with him and his down-to-earth, practical approach. I was fortunate to have the College of Psychic Studies library and my local Spiritualist church’s collection of more than 400 early books to draw on together with hand-written reports. I interviewed some of London’s best mediums (as they were known then) and it was a privilege to be able to question Silver Birch through his instrument Maurice Barbanell for instance, and so many others.
Apatite: The stone of discernment
c. Michael Illas/Crystal Wisdom Healing Oracle
But I also spent hours listening to the biggest load of old codswallop you’ve ever heard. I asked a trusted but less well known source: ‘Why do we get this rubbish spouted at us?’ (There was no internet back then but some of it was remarkably similar to what you can read there today so you’ll get the picture). ‘Death is not an instant cure for ignorance’ was the reply. He went on the explain that, without rigorous training on the part of the channel (as they became known) and equally rigorous discernment on the part of the recipient, what was likely to come through was from the realm closest to Earth and most of its denizens hadn’t progressed very far. They were delighted when someone was gullible enough to listen (Apatite is the crystal that assists you to discern truth). Silver Birch said a similar thing when he described a ‘ladder’ of intermediary spirits each standing on another’s shoulders to reach the highest realm. But he deplored the fact that the teaching of necessity lost something in the downwards transmission.
Somewhere around the millennium, I was asked to write a book on intuition. The brief was precise. It was to be a rigorous handbook that would appeal to men as well as women, and it had to open with research to back up what I was saying. It couldn’t be ‘airy fairy or nebulous’. Nothing ‘woo-woo’ – no crystals and it certainly couldn’t mention the word psychic. It had to be ‘scientific’: the very antithesis to intuition in fact. Taking a deep breath and drawing on what was by now years of experience of teaching psychic development to diverse people from around the world, men and women, I wrote a carefully structured course that would stimulate the intuitive right brain and engineer a natural opening up of psychic abilities, interwoven with what scientific facts there were available to keep the analytical left brain engaged. The publisher’s design was, however, totally left brain and negated my gently nurtured flow of psychic receptivity. Deeply disappointed, I heard a voice whisper in my ear: ‘Patience, wait, it will come right’.
The company were taken over, the book vanished into a black hole and, eventually, I was able to re-vision the book in a way which I knew would work with psychic perception, not against it. Much new research emerged. But something was missing: the right publisher. Again, the inner voice whispered: ‘Wait, it’s closer than you think’. I was delighted that the wonderfully intuitive Margaret Cahill of Flying Horse Press once again became my publisher – especially as she added immensely to the depth of the book with her perceptive questioning. But, for various reasons, the book’s second coming was delayed even further. Spirituality had been in vogue, ‘channelling’ had rife, intuition was ‘in’, but rigorous psychic training seemed to be lagged behind. Then finally it was released to the world. Right timing? I hoped so!
A long time in the making, but finally birthed!
I included research that helps us to recognise the optimum conditions for intuition to flourish. The book was launched into a world in which intuition was now used routinely in commerce and was actually taught – rather than being objectively studied – in universities, nursing and business schools. A world where psychic experiences were shown almost daily on television. Where near-death or out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming, telepathy and the like were being called Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs) rather than an hallucination or anomaly. It goes to show how things evolve and how important right timing can be – as is listening to the inner voice of our own true knowing.
The value of rigorous training and discernment remain as great as ever. In ancient times initiations were carefully directed, the pitfalls were highlighted and steered around, and there was no substitute for self-knowledge. The same remains true today and for those of you who want to develop your metaphysical skills I shared the fruits of my experience. An experience that covers much more than ‘intuition’. To be truly metaphysical is to have a guidance system, an inner awareness, a compass that directs your life. My Book of Psychic Development was written to be your light along the way.
Naturally I used crystals in my own psychic development and still do in training others. They are excellent tools for raising your vibrations, expanding your consciousness and taking you to different dimensions. But they also assist in overcoming blocks on seeing that may have been put in place in this or in other lives.
My psychic development crystal kit
Apophyllite pyramid: the clear-sight initiator.
Apophyllite
Apophyllite is an excellent stimulant for psychic sight. It opens the third eye and the soma chakra, which lies on the hairline just above it and is the connection point for the soul. It has strong links to the spiritual realm whilst at the same time allowing you to feel comfortable within your body. Apophyllite takes you journeying through different dimensions. This crystal has a high water content which makes it a very efficient conductor of energy and a carrier of the Akashic Record. Its presence in a room enhances the energies as it is a powerful vibrational transmitter. Apophyllite creates a conscious connection between the physical and the spiritual realms. During out of body journeys, it keeps a strong connection with the physical body, allowing information to be transmitted from the spiritual realm into the physical. This spiritual stone enhances clear sight, stimulating the intuition and enabling the future to be accessed. It is an excellent stone for scrying. With its connection to the Akashic Record, it facilitates journeys into past lives. Place it over your third eye to enhance your psychic sight.
Ammonite: the listening ear
c. Jeni Campbell/www.angeladditions.co.uk
Ammolite/Ammonite
Not everyone is psychic in the same way. Some people will never ‘see’ anything psychically. But they will hear. Either as an internal voice or thought, or as an external one. Ammolite, the beautiful opalised form of Ammonite, opens the psychic ear but, if you do not have access to Ammolite, Ammonite can work just as well. Place the stone just behind your dominant ear – the one you cock forward when you are listening intently.
Bytownite/Lakelandite
Lakelandite: Granite and Bytownite mix
Bytownite is the yellow form of Labradorite, a great enhancer of psychic abilities when placed on the third eye. Lakelandite is a unique combination of Bytownite in Granite from the English Lake District. It was thrust up from far below the Earth’s crust by a volcanic eruption. The combination grounds and earths your psychic sight. It is particularly useful for looking back to, and reframing, previous lives. Place over the past life chakras behind the ears or on the third eye. Hold it in the palms of your hands if you want to stimulate your kinaestheric (sensing/feeling) abilities.
Chevron Amethyst
Chevron Amethyst: the clarity bringer.
A combination of Amethyst and White Quartz, in a banded pattern, Chevron Amethyst combines the strengthening and enhancing qualities of Quartz with the visionary qualities of Amethyst. It draws back the veils that obscure hidden things. Chevron Amethyst is one of the best stones to work with the third eye, enhancing psychic sight on all planes of existence and removing negativity. It is particularly helpful for cleansing and repairing the aura. It is also said to deepen the meditative state, enhancing the quality and frequency of visions and inspiration from higher realms. It is particularly useful shaped into skulls that will relay intuitive guidance from higher realms (see my Crystal Skulls).
Anandalite
Anandalite: the highest vibration available so far.
Like Selenite, Anandalite is frozen divine light and has a very high spiritual vibration, one of the highest on the planet so far. It opens all the psychic gifts and contact with higher dimensions. Place one over your head to open the higher crown chakras and create a ladder of awareness to the very highest of dimension. With Anandalite over your head, nothing from a lower vibration can imagine on channelling or psychic insight.
Selenite
Selenite: frozen divine light
Selenite is frozen divine light and has powerful protective properties, allowing only the highest of communicators into your space. Grid it around your room before undertaking any channelling or other psychic work. It will ensure that you receive the most profound guidance and connection to All That Is at the highest possible levels.
Tangerine Aura Quartz
Tangerine Aura Quartz
If your third eye is sluggish and reluctant to open, try placing Tangerine Aura Quartz over it for instant fizz. I found that one shaped as in the picture was the most proactive, but then my third eye has been open since birth. You may like to start with a point (point down) on your forehead to stimulate your metaphysical abilities on all levels.
Rhomboid Blue Selenite
Rhomboid Blue Selenite
If you develop a headache over the third eye when opening your metaphysical sight, place a Rhomboid Selenite over the spot. It instantly releases any prohibitions placed on using your third eye no matter when that was bound shut. Being a form of Selenite, it enhances all psychic and metaphysical work.
Labradorite: the psychic interface
c. Michael Illas/Crystal Wisdom Healing Oracle
Labradorite
Last, but most certainly not least, I couldn’t work psychically without a Labradorite pendant around my neck. This stone accesses so many levels of being. Protective Labradorite greatly enhances psychic abilities (the Bytownite mentioned above is a yellow form of Labradorite) but more importantly it creates an interface, a meeting place, between my energies, the outside world and other people’s energy fields. It allows me to observe, to see, to perceive, while at the same time preventing my being overwhelmed by what another person is feeling or experiencing. A compassionate stone, it gives me both empathy and objectivity. Holding a space for something to just be, it facilitates the ability to see beyond the
The Otherside Press Columnist
immediate to check out the source of what someone is experiencing without judging or interpreting it. So often we are tempted to interpret for someone, thereby risking losing a deeper, personal meaning. Or, what is worse, to use our own judgement to decide what is meant by what we see. With Labradorite, we can simply offer what we are seeing, allowing the other person to expand their own awareness and find their personal meaning.