I have a problem that I'm sure you two have a lot of experience with. I'm a medium/clairvoyant, but I try not to let everyone know this for a number of reasons. While of course there are concerns that people will think I'm weird, the hardest thing for me to deal with is being swamped by people who all want me to read them as soon as they learn what I do. I imagine it's a bit like being a doctor and having everyone you meet tell you about their health problems in hopes of a bit of free medical advice. I don't want to be rude or seem uncaring, but there is only so much one woman can do! How do you two handle psychic hangers on?
Blessings!
Ruth
Dreamchaser:
First of all, shame on you. It sounds like you want all the benefits of feeling connected to Spirit and none of the hassles. You only want to tell who you want, when you want. Is that about it?
Well, thanks very much for letting people like me and Astrea (who are out
about being psychic with everyone all the time) take the heat!
I personally enjoy helping people realize that spiritual readers of any kind are normal, everyday people who have to go to the grocery store, the hardware store and the post office, just like them.
I like folks to see me in my daily life. I get to teach them by example what an ever-growing, imperfectly human spiritual being can be. I think that's one of the greatest gifts I can give to humankind.
I can tell anyone a psychic prediction, but I think my best teaching comes by allowing people to watch me in my daily life. I love knowing that people see or sense something different about me.
My best friend is also a great psychic reader, and we have a wonderful time exchanging tales about how people react to us. Lots of people start telling us their entire life stories just because we said hello to them. They just open up to us.
Of course, they may not be sure about us at first, but once they see us living normal lives, they realize we're not so scary. You've been given a gift, not a toy that you can pull out and play with when you choose.
Secondly, shame on THEM! Of course, there are freeloaders in any profession - that is just a fact of life. Like you mentioned, I'm sure that doctors are constantly asked to take a quick look at this or that.
Every doctor I ever knew would smile and say, Call the office on Monday and I'll get you in.
Most folks will accept that answer and retreat, so you might say, Well, let's set you up an appointment for a reading. When are you available?
Instead of letting other people affect you so much, you have to take charge. By offering to stop what you're doing and set up an appointment for them, you are being polite, not rude. You're letting them know that you are a professional, just like doctors and lawyers and everyone else.
I'm sure you will also meet people who ask you a lot of questions about your gift and how it works just because they are fascinated by such matters. Take the time out to answer those folks.
Everyone is psychic on some level, for everyone has a sixth sense, and we can help foster that ability in the people who ask us about it.
I wish you the wisdom to be a great example!
*****
Astrea:
My dear friend is also a psychic reader, and for a while, her neighbor would arrive on her doorstep daily, asking to have her cards read. She finally got fed up with her and said, I don't need any cards to tell you that you've messed up your life!
That was the end of the neighbor's visits.
There are people I hear nothing from for months at a time, and then I'll get an email that says, Hi, how are you? Here is my problem, what do I do?
Sometimes I answer them with a reading, and sometimes I don't.
When I don't, I simply tell them I'm not doing free readings right now. I can usually feel when someone just wants to emote versus when they are sincerely in need of guidance. I can't turn down a sincere appeal, but since they are so few and far between, they don't take much of my time.
My friends only ask me to read for them if they really need guidance, and they usually offer to pay, though I usually won't let them. Since they learn fast not to endlessly bug me about it, I don't mind doing it every now and then.
I know you don't mind helping your friends. The problem is there are TONS of people who are just looking for fun and wasting your time as a result. Over the years I've found it's easiest to say, Oh, do you want a reading? If you visit me at Kajama, I'll be glad to do one for you.
If they're the sort who won't give up, I might say, Oh Honey, I don't think it would be worth it to you. I charge too much for readings for what you want to know.
Most of the time it's not that they want something for nothing, they just don't understand that doing readings isn't a hobby for me, it's how I make a living.
Also, you can always tell them about how people tend to value things based on what they invest in them, so people who pay for readings get much more out of them than people who are constantly angling for free ones.
There are a few folks who simply want to be entertained. Since those people aren't going to be important in your life anyway, I'd just say, I don't do this for fun, it's my job.
As strange as it may make you feel, you're wise not to broadcast your ability to every person you meet. This can even be a safety issue, as not everyone understands what we do or why we do it.
For example, for most readers, this line of work wasn't a choice but a true spiritual calling. Believe me: teaching ballet classes to screaming kids was a walk in the park compared to reading for people!
Some people aren't even open to TRYING to understand that we're not a bunch of fakes who just want to separate them from their money, while other people think we're all going to hell in red dresses.
(I have mine hanging on the back of my closet door, so it's handy just in case!)
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.