 During the autumn months, my phone rings off the hook with people looking for readings and advice regarding how to deal with things that are going bump in the night. This never surprises me as I wrote in this Blog, the “veil” is thin. In the fall, it is easier for Spirit to communicate with us causing people to fear the paranormal activity they are experiencing (advice calls) or have a greater desire to communicate with their loved ones (increased readings).
I know all this. I expect an increase in calls. I expect my “waiting room” to be more full. I even expect to see more Spirits when I am running errands. What I don’t expect is for more “bumps” in the night IN MY HOUSE. But, that’s exactly what I’ve been experiencing recently. It all started a few weeks ago...  While I get teary eyed over the thought of my daughter entering pre-school (she starts next week), many parents are giving a collective sigh of relief that their kids are going back to school. Summers are filled with fun and excitement with carnivals, road trips and late nights. All of this activity disrupts a family’s routine and by the end of summer, the lack of routine can be uncomfortable (hence the excitement for the beginning of school).
Unfortunately, getting back into a routine with the start of school can be a challenge. The new school year and its accompanying afterschool activities such as sports and homework have people going rushing from place to place. Until a family gets back into a routine, this chaotic energy is uncomfortable for all individuals. It is especially uncomfortable for those children sensitive to energy. As intuitive (all) children go back to school, parents often see behavioral changes such as disrupted sleep, outbursts, exaggerated fears, etc. Because of this, during this time of year I get calls from parents looking for assistance. Several friends have already asked! Being asked has always been strange. My daughter has never been to school so as a parent, I have no recommendations. Not only that, I’ve been blessed in a couple ways where I haven’t had to cross that bridge. For one, my daughter has always slept through the night. Even as an infant when she was nursing, I would get up, feed her and she would fall right back asleep. The whole process took no more than 15 or 20 minutes. And being self-employed, both my husband and my schedules are flexible and allow her to follow her own routine. We don’t have to hustle in the morning to drop her off at daycare or a sitter before going to a nine to five job. Rather, we can let her sleep until she wakes up as I’ve arranged my schedule to accommodate her. I don’t see clients until the afternoon, so there is no rush in the morning. I realize, however, my friends and clients don’t ask me my thoughts because I’m a parent. They ask me because I’m a medium. And in many cases, they have tried the recommendations their mom friends and even health care providers have offered and they are still struggling. So as a medium, my recommendation is always to balance the child’s energy. The best way to do that? Get a good night’s sleep. I know this can be easier said than done, but here are a few tips that can help.
Hope that helps! Good luck as the school year begins!!  As a medium being able to communicate with the other side, I realize that I (and my colleagues) have a unique perspective on the world. Here are a few ways that I think mediums (and intuitives for that matter) see the world differently.
Death isn’t all that scary. Being able to communicate with loved ones on the other side makes it impossible NOT to believe in life after death. Knowing that there is something after this, especially because the feelings from the other side are so filled with love, it’s hard to fear death. That doesn’t mean that as a medium I want to die or that I want death to come any sooner. It also doesn’t mean that there isn’t some fear around death. I mean who doesn’t wonder, what will it be like? Will it hurt? The experience of death can be scary, what actually happens? But it is comforting to know that it isn’t the end, in fact it is really just another beginning. You are NEVER Alone. You thought having kids meant the end of alone time? HA! Wait until you let your intuition flow. Having my daughter barge in on me while taking a poop was nothing new as Spirits have been doing it for years!! A story I use as an example of this is a time in Gettysburg. My mother and I had just pulled into town and first stop was the museum. Soon as I got out of the car, boom a soldier was there. He didn’t’ leave my side, even when I went to the bathroom to get some quiet. In fact, this Spirit spoke to me the entire time I was in the bathroom. Shortly after, we decided to leave. While these invasions can be annoying, and at times embarrassing… i.e. the Spirit of my father-in-law standing at the end of my bed at an inopportune time… they can also be comforting. The presence of our loved ones no matter where they go lets a medium know there is always someone around and always someone to talk to. You are ALWAYS supported. With your loved ones and guides always around, it is impossible to not feel supported. They are the cheerleaders that keep you going. And while they may not always be able to give you what you want, on some level they are always able to give you what you need. In those times of struggle and pain, they are sending you love to pull you through. LOVE is the only thing that matters. In the physical world we live in, it is easy to get caught up in the material wants and needs of the world. You may strive to have more money in the bank a flashier car or bigger house. You may work towards being skinnier or physically fit and more beautiful. Or, you may spend countless hours working towards a better title to be revered and more successful. All of these things are great accomplishments and aid an individual towards achieving their life purpose, but that life purpose isn’t filled with what boxes you have checked off… it is filled with what you have loved. When Spirits come back and communicate with a medium, their messages aren’t filled with boasts about the accomplishments they had, rather it is for the people and things they loved. From the other side, all that matters are love and hope. For mediums, they realize this and strive to have what makes them happy. It’s OK to be Unhappy While a medium strives towards finding fulfillment through love and hope, he or she recognizes that in life one will not always be happy. There are going to be days where you feel sick as a dog. There are always going to be days when you are angry that your plans got thwarted or someone did something to hurt you. You are also going to have days when you are sad, whether it be the death of a loved one or the ending of a relationship. These things happen AND you aren’t going to like them. What makes a medium slightly different, is a medium accepts these down times. He or she doesn’t try to pretend everything is ok, rather he or she acknowledges the situation, honors it and works through it knowing that these negative situations happen for a reason. The medium also realized he or she may not know why it is happening other than it is part of the human existence to assist us in learning our life lessons. If we didn’t have lessons to learn, why would we be here on earth? We wouldn’t be. So sometimes, bad and frustrating occurrences have to happen. Those are a few ways a medium sees the world differently. What other ways do you think a medium sees the world? Put them in the comments below.  After a reading recently, a client asked if she could take a few moments and ask about me. She, like many, asked how I receive information from the other side. Because this is a question I get a lot, I figured it would be a good topic for a Blog.
Before I can talk about how I perceive the information, let me first start clear up where the information comes from. As a medium, I connect with both your loved ones (deceased family members and friends) and the universe (spirit guides, guardian angels, etc.). Why do I choose to connect with both your loved ones and your guides? Well, I can. And more importantly, by doing so it provides you with greater insight. Your loved ones bringing through specific details about themselves provide concrete evidence that I am connecting with the other side and you. Knowing that your loved ones are with you can be comforting and bring closure. The reason I don’t limit myself to your loved ones however is that loved ones are limited to their opinions and insights. So while they offer loving advice, it doesn’t always mean it is good advice. That is where your guides and angels can step in. Since they know not only what you want but where you are meant to be, they can help guide you towards your life’s purpose. Now that you are clear on the who, I can explain the how. Explaining the who was important because how I receive information is different depending on where it is coming from. I’ll start by describing what it feels like to receive information from your loved ones. As a clairvoyant, I SEE your loved ones. When they step in with you they look a little like holograms. They have the shape and dimension, but it is evident they don’t have mass. I can shift my focus to look at their features and when I do the details become crisper. Often the loved one will guide me to specific features such as putting out their hands for me to look at or fluffing their hair. Similarly, they may give me an object or something to hold, look at. Similarly, if they are passing a message, I will sometimes see the message conveyed like a movie in my head. Hence why I tend to use a lot of analogies and metaphors. Because clairaudience, the ability to hear, is not one of my strongest I do not hear what they have to say. If I do hear, it is similar to my voice in the back of my head and I will hear a tune or a name. Clairsentience and clairempathy, meaning I feel their emotions and ailments rounds out the messages. And sometimes, I just know. That’s claircognizance – there is no explaining it. This is different than when I receive messages from your guides. The messages from your loved ones are very heavy of the visual messages. And while I CAN see your guides/angels and the messages they pass, I rarely do. Why? Because their form is irrelevant. Unless you are like myself, who has developed a clear vision of your guide I could tell you they look like anything. Additionally, your guides aren’t around for them (like your loved ones are) they are present to pass a message. Hence when guides step in it is an unshakeable knowing. You may be wondering if both guides and loved ones come in with a knowing, how do I tell the difference? And more importantly, how do I know it’s not just my opinion? Let me first address the question of my opinion. I know it is not my opinion because I rarely have enough information to form an opinion. I don’t see my clients that much. I don’t remember details of their readings. So, I don’t have enough to form an opinion. And if I do hear my opinion, it is in my own voice and is similar to the dialogue I have with myself in my head. It sounds and feels different. Loved ones and spirit guides also feel and sound different. Loved ones, because they are still evolving, have a heavier vibration than your guides. Think of it like the vibration that accompanies the sound of a timpani drum. Whereas the feeling of the universe through your guides or angels is more similar to the vibration that accompanies the sound of a piccolo. In addition to that, your loved ones will waffle on their opinions, your guides will not. Your guides speak with conviction. They may offer alternative solutions, but they always come back to a truth and conviction. That’s how I get my information. I hope this gives an insight into my world, and something to think about for you emerging mediums. Remember every individual will perceive the information in a slightly different way.  I’m writing this blog as I sit in my temporary office space at Santosha. If you have watched this video, you know that I am here because my home office is currently being remodeled. From that video, you may also know that Santosha is located in the same space that had once been my midwife’s office. It is interesting sitting here. The year I was pregnant, I spent A LOT of time in this office. For those who have been pregnant, you know there are a lot of appointments with the provider. Once a month, then every other week, and the last month once a week… which after my due date was every couple of days. During each of those visits, my husband and I spent an hour conversing with our midwife – yes a WHOLE hour, the beauty of my provider’s model of care – while she alleviated any fears and checked the progress of the little one. But, now while I observe the space, it feels odd… not bad, just different. It isn’t because the physical space has changed all that much. A wall has been put up to create an office where my midwife’s desk had once been. That’s about the only change. In fact, I think the colors are the same! The energy however, is much different. I attribute this to both Khristeena Kingsley (my midwife) and Angela Hewett-Abt along with Don Scott (the proprietors of Santosha). Each of them have put their hearts and souls into this place to ensure the energy of the space meets their needs and expectations. And it shows. Recognizing that got me thinking about my own office space. It is a blank canvas for which I can create any energy I desire. Fortunately, there is already a lot of good juju in the space. I have been doing readings out of it for seven years after all. But with the renovation there is time for rejuvenation. The first comes with color. The one painted wall had been green. And while color doesn’t need to change to create new energy, as you know I thought my new space called for a new color and you guys got to choose! You spoke, I’m listening. I will be doing an accent wall in Rare Wine, a deep plum, and Grey Screen will cover the remaining walls. Plum is a wonderful color as it aligns with the third eye and crown chakra which will facilitate intuition. Great color for the space. Before I (or rather my contractor, PDQ gets to painting), I will write my intentions and hopes for the space on the walls. Terms like serenity, healing and intuition will be scrawled. By doing this, I am physically setting the intention. It’s a little thing, but it is amazing what it does. Once the room is completed, I will focus my attention to the flow of energy. When the furniture goes in, I will make sure neither I nor my client’s back will be facing the door. I’ll also pay attention to the décor. Crystals will be placed, subtly as I’m not a crystal junkie – my husband takes that title. I’ll make sure my fairy house is placed to the faeries liking. And any other accents I feel will be sprinkled throughout. I’m thinking I might be doing a run to Pier One for some throw pillows. Finally, the space won’t be ready to go until I bless it. I will go through and smudge, because smudging is not just about removing negative energy it is also about bringing in the positive. Come to think of it, I could christen it by smashing a bottle of champagne like they do with a boat. Naw, that’s a waste of a good drink instead I think I might just pop a cork. Have you made your space your own? If so, how?
 Timing is everything. When a circumstance is meant to be, it will be. But it will happen in its time.
Such was the case in a situation I encountered recently. The story starts with my daily routine. Before I go to bed every evening, I check my e-mail and calendar to get a sense of my schedule and to-dos for the next day. The other day, my last appointment of the evening rescheduled their session after the 24-hour reminder. Seeing this, I was slightly pleased as I would be done with my day a little earlier than expected giving me time to take care of other business which included writing this Blog. I mentioned the cancellation to my husband who commented, “Dawn, if you want it to stay that way, you should block off the rest of the evening so no one schedules.” By this point we were having this conversation it was a little after 10pm. My calendar closes out at midnight, at which point no new appointments can be scheduled. With that in mind, I shirked off his recommendation feeling assured that no one was going to book. If in the off chance someone did book, I assured him and convinced myself the appointment was meant to be. With that in mind, I put away the technology, completed a few more chores and went to bed. On days I’m in my East Aurora office, I try not to do any business until I get to the office and instead focus my attention to my daughter. Such was the case this day, which meant I didn’t look at my calendar until I got to the office. At which point I discovered my husband was right (Damn his intuition)! Someone snuck into the vacancy left by the rescheduled appointment, just under the wire. I begrudgingly smiled to myself. As I told my husband, if someone booked it was meant to be. And after an exchange with my last client, I was affirmed this was the case. When she walked in, during the small talk before the reading I mentioned to her it must be her lucky day as the appointment had only just become available late yesterday. I smiled further when she responded, “I KNOW! I’ve been trying to book an appointment with you for the past few months. But between your schedule and mine, it hasn’t been able to line up. That is until last night. I was thrilled when I saw the 8pm this evening. It was too good to be true! I would have been happy with 8pm next week!” She continued that she was certain she must have been mistaken and kept checking her e-mail and phone all day just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. But she was there, as were her loved ones and guides. It was the right time and they helped arrange the session. Had she checked my scheduler earlier in the day, the availability wouldn’t have been there. Or, had she waited until after midnight, she would have missed out on the opportunity. It is amazing how that works! In my last Blog, I discussed the challenges I as an intuitive face while staying at a hotel or rental property, as well as the steps I take to mitigate those challenges.
But what about staying with friends and family? Do I have to be psychically protected there? ABSOLUTELY!! Perhaps to an even greater degree than while at a rental property. Why? Here are a few examples:
As you can tell, instead of making strides to create sacred space like I do with a rental property, when staying with friends or family, I am protecting myself from their energies which are contained within the host’s sacred space, their home. This is not because their energies are bad, they are just DIFFERENT than mine and my family’s. By protecting, this is assisting in creating a balance. If you’ve ever had a roommate, you know how important this is. To find this balance I offer you the following advice:
Those are my tricks. Since using them, travel has been a lot more fun and less draining. What tricks do you use?  I LOVE to travel. I love the thrill of seeing new places. Trying new foods. But more importantly, I love getting away from the daily grind. Away from the laundry and the dishes. The mile long to do list. When I am away, I FINALLY relax.
Travel, however, comes with its own set of challenges. From making the arrangements including hotel, flights and car if necessary, activities and food. And for me, the intuitive with an intuitive child, the unique challenge of psychic protection. I’ve got to make sure I am prepared to keep any ghosties and negative energy at bay. Why? If I don’t… I can’t sleep. My daughter can’t sleep. My husband gets cranky. We all become drained. Which is NO FUN while on vacation. To be quite honest, it isn’t because places are overly haunted. Yes, there is usually a Spirit or two. But my protective bubble lets the Spirit know, I’m not there to communicate. Most are respectful and leave me alone. If they are a little pushier, I just ask them to go away. No different than when I am at home. What I do always need to remind myself to protect against is the energy of places. In my home, I have established a sanctuary. It is laden with protective amulets. Each decorative element is purposely chosen to enhance the feng shui and bring a specific energy to the place. My husband and I smudge it frequently to remove negativity and infuse it with love and light. Not only that, we are picky about who we welcome into our home. Hotels and rental properties, are not so picky. Anyone willing to pay the price of the room can stay. The energy is transient, always flowing just as guests come and go at their leisure. The décor, is not chosen to be protective. Rather it is utilitarian. As for, smudging… I always pray that the hotel has had a thorough cleaning, I’ll settle for that. Asking that it be smudged is asking for a little too much. All that causes obstacles for the intuitive. Not only that, guests often bring (and leave) their emotional baggage at hotels. Think for a moment your last trip away for pleasure. Before the trip, you were probably excited to get away to relax. The trip provided an opportunity to leave your stress from work and the day to day life behind. I know that’s what I am usually thinking. Although it is unlikely you left that stress at home. That stress, and the stress of travel, probably wasn’t released until you got to the place you were staying. And guess what, that energetic baggage stays there and builds up over time as it has no place to go. No windows to open to let it out. Many hotels are created in a square, so the energy goes around and round. With hundreds of rooms… the energy of a hotel can be stifling. What do I do to counteract that? Well, first I address the sterile environment by stealing a few tricks from my step-mother. Whenever we go and stay someplace, she always brings a candle and buys fresh flowers for the room. This brings a little bit of a sense of home to the otherwise typical room. Additionally, my husband and I have opted towards renting homes or condos. At the bare minimum, we rent a room with not only a bed but also a living space. Through sites like Airbnb and Homeaway, we’ve found amazing deals that have given us an entire home for the same price as a hotel room. This has been beneficial for the following reasons:
Finally, in addition to bringing our homey touches and staying at a rental property, I always bring smokeless smudge. My dear friend, Sue, created a wonderful line of sprays filled with intention, essential oils, blessed waters and crystals, that cleanse the air. I always have a stash on me. They work wonders! These tricks work wonders while at a rental property. Stay tuned for my next blog for tips and tricks on how to stay protected while staying with friends and family.  An unusual trait the females in my family share is active sleep. On our best nights’ we toss and turn, wiggle and squirm. On the worst, we punch and kick. In addition to moving all over the place, we talk. A lot. We are even known to have full conversations while still sound asleep.
This trait starts early, often as night terrors, night mares and vivid dreams as young children. My mom vividly recounts a night when I came screaming into their room, sound asleep, frantic that a snake was chasing me. When my daughter started having night terrors a few months ago (yup this has been passed down to her!), the first time my aunt witnessed it she said it reminded her of the many nights my cousin arose with night terrors. As I said, it runs in the family. I shouldn’t have been alarmed when it was passed down another generation to my daughter. But, as a first-time mom, even being aware that it was likely she would exhibit these, after my daughter’s first night terror I did what most first-time moms do. I googled. I read article after article trying to get a better understanding of the cause and treatment of these alarming fits. The literature suggests these disturbances are often brought on by sleep deprivation and extreme tiredness, stress, fever, and sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings. These factors made some sense. The night terrors did start occurring more frequently when my daughter decided she no longer needed an afternoon nap. Without her nap, she has probably been more sleep deprived. Additionally, every time she stays overnight at a family member’s she wakes them with her screaming fits as she remains sound asleep. But, as we have been tracking her sleeping patterns, we have found the night terrors occur just as frequently on days she has had a nap as days she hasn’t. And the family member’s she sleeps at, she has been sleep-overs since she was three months old, have noticed the increase as well. And we know she hasn’t been having fevers, and I don’t think she has been under any undue stress. So I have sat back, scratched my head and pondered what else might be going on? Why else might she be having night terrors? And why might they be so prevalent in my family? It got me thinking and wondering if night terrors might be linked to intuition. The literature suggests night terrors most often occur during stage 3 non-REM or delta sleep. This is the non-REM sleep stage where dreaming does occur. It is also suggested that during delta wave sleep, a person’s deepest sleep, that one’s body heals and the individual can access the unconscious mind. This led me to more questions… could this active sleep and the dramatic night terrors be because she is intuitive? Is she interacting with the other side? Could she be astral travelling? If she is doing these things, why (at least from my perspective) are these experiences disturbing. Wouldn’t visiting the other-side be fulfilling. All sorts of questions arise. And unfortunately for these questions, the research and literature offers no answers other than the assurance that my child experiences no discomfort. Left with no answers and lots of questions, I’ve turned to the tools my husband and I use and I offer my clients that experience sleep disturbances. And you know what? They’ve worked!! At least a little… so here are what we are doing: Crystals – We have loaded her room up with crystals. Fortunately, she loves her rocks and is happy to have them in her room. Which crystals have we chosen? Quartz points in the window to disperse energy, hematite to ground her, rose quartz for nurturing and infinite for healing. In our bedroom, my husband and I have blue and black kyanite for dreams and to ease anxiety as well as a salt lamp. We have also been sure to remove all amethyst from her room, because while it is great for people that want to enhance their dreams those who are already experiencing dreams it can be worse. Grounding & Centering Exercises – To assist her in being more grounded and centered, we have been teaching Baby Girl breathing exercises, meditation and yoga. While she doesn’t do any of these for any length of time, we are getting her in the habit of using them to calm herself and release stress. At this point they are fun, and honestly I think she likes to copy momma, but they must be having some effect. Boundaries – Since Halloween, Baby Girl has recognized the difference between the living and Spirit. As she has been interacting with them, the sage advice my grandfather provided me with has been shared with her: “Acknowledge Spirit but then tell them to go away if you don’t want to be bothered.” She simply tells them, “Stop it.” And it works. We’ve reminded her she can do that at night. Time for Spirit – I encourage my students to take time to communicate with Spirit every day, and if possible the same time every day. I do the same thing with my daughter. Every day we take a moment to connect with our loved ones that have passed be it my grandmother or grandfather, my husband’s father, my uncle and many others. By doing that, hopefully they won’t bother her as much at night. These tools seem to be working. Our plan is to keep it up! Hope they work for you too!! Are you enjoying the holiday season? How do you celebrate? It amazes me how over the years my preferences for celebrating have changed so dramatically.
Let’s flash back to 1999. I was a young adult in college. I LOVED crazy, loud parties. I’d go to big soirees and get all dressed up. I loved going dancing with friends. If there was a get together, I was there. And quite frankly, it didn’t matter WHAT night of the week it was. Nor did it matter what time it started. In fact, I often wasn’t heading out the door until at least 11pm. Now… When I’m told there’s a party, the first thought that goes through my head is: “Can’t I just stay home in my pajamas?” Knowing that I can’t be anti-social and should really make an appearance at a few events, before I determine which events to attend I ask the following questions:
Now you might be thinking, “Dawn that’s normal… you are getting older afterall.” While age and it’s increased responsibilities of a real job and a family definitely play a significant role, I think my desire for quieter more intimate gatherings can also be attributed to my increased awareness of energies, intuition and mediumship. Why? Because in smaller, quieter parties I don’t have to deal with as much energetic baggage. And let me tell you, the energetic baggage that people carry with them around the holidays is IMMENSE! What is this energetic baggage that I speak of? First, it includes Deceased Loved Ones. It has been my experience that during the holidays, deceased loved ones are louder and pushier. They WANT to get their family to know they are around. Now that is all fine and good. Except I have a rule, when I’m not in with clients… I am OFF the clock. If I’m off the clock, no matter how hard a Spirit pushes, I’m not going to pass a message. Why? Selfishly, I feel I deserve time off. Reading is my job… there should be times when I should have just my thoughts. And secondly, just because the deceased loved one wants to pass the message doesn’t mean that their loved one wants to receive it. Unfortunately, during the holidays Spirits tend to push that boundary a little further. The larger the crowd, the more Spirits that are pushing and the more work it is to enforce that bubble. Along this same line of thought, YOU (my friend) may be grieving or missing your loved one who has crossed. The holidays are a time we reminisce and think fondly of our family members who have left the earthly plane. Many wish to be able to have that one last conversation with their loved one. And then I enter the scene. We may be out to dinner. At a holiday party. On the phone. Or out shopping. Wherever we are, your deceased loved ones not far from our thoughts. It’s human nature, knowing that I do talk to loved ones, to hope that perhaps my rule will be broken. Yet, knowing that I’m “off the clock” and wanting to respect my boundaries… you don’t ask. Even though you don’t verbally ask, the body language and energy does. It’s sort of like the little kid who when a magician asks for a volunteer from the audience and he and wants to wave his arm and yell, “Pick me pick me pick me!’ but instead sits on his hands squirming left and right. You don’t say it… but I know. That can be overwhelming. What is also overwhelming is peoples AURAS. Your aura and everyone else’s wherever the gathering is. They are supercharged by stress and emotion (good and bad). It is bouncing around all over the place, it is sticky and it is contagious. Think about it for a moment… how much more road rage to you encounter during the holidays than any other part of the year? Is it really because people are driving that much worse, or could it be because the energy just facilitates it. Alcohol also facilitates the crazy auras. As we know, the liquid libations are often flowing during the holidays, which doesn’t always make situations comfortable for the intuitive. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not a prude. I enjoy a glass of wine or heavy beer just as much as the next guy, but I also know that alcohol (especially in excess) inhibits my protection and filters as well as those for people around me. Think about it… when people drink they say things that wouldn’t normally say. I know I do. My friends love to give me a drink or two because they know my filter is down and the words are flowing. Just because I get loose lips and may be connected to Spirit, doesn’t mean it is of Spirit for the highest and best. Hence why I don’t drink when I am reading. Similarly, I don’t like to read people who are drunk because their boundaries are down and their guides aren’t protecting them as much. Also without the filter, individuals who are drinking are throwing their auras around for everyone to see. Again, it’s overwhelming. Lastly, this time of year fosters a CURIOSITY as to what is coming next. As a medium, in addition to communicating with loved ones, I communicate with guides and guardian angels. More than anytime else during the year, around the new year my friends and family become curious in regards to what the new year may have in store for them. And they often hope I’ll give them some wise direction. Again, because most have become respectful of my boundaries they don’t outright ask… BUT, their energy SCREAMS – “please tell me what to do!” Instead they do a tap dance… So while I’m getting old and I just don’t have the stamina to shake it like I did when I was younger, the energy is more my deciding factor than anything else. For my friends, if I seem like I am avoiding you, please don’t take it personal… I’ll see you in January! And for those who have intuitive friends, know that them avoiding you may have less to do with you and more to do with the need to protect their energy. Another quick tip… if you’ve noticed, most of the stress comes from energy that is bottled up and the questions that are avoided. From an intuitive’s perspective, it is always better to be blunt, open and honest as opposed to biting one’s tongue. We can always feel it… but because you aren’t stating what is going on, we don’t know what to do about it. Help a girl (or guy) out and ask/say what’s on your mind.  It is impossible to deny that the Winter Holidays are a crazy time of year. People are excited – the kids for Santa’s visit and adults to see the happiness in the children in their life and visits with loved ones. People feel hurried as there is so much to get organized and so many places to be. This frenzy causes people to become stressed. This stress is particularly hard energetically for intuitives. They feel their stress AND the stress in the universe around them.
I observe this trend every year with myself, my husband and now my daughter. To avoid this, we try to control our holiday activities and environments we enter this time of year. By doing this, we hope to avoid melt downs and discomfort. Despite our efforts, we aren’t always successful. In fact, an outing this week DEFINITELY left a LOT of room for improvement. We were at Vidler’s. If you have never been there, it is an adorable 5 & 10 Shop in the heart of East Aurora. The store, a maze of unique goods, is always a must hit while Christmas shopping as it has one-of-a-kind gifts for those hard to buy for people. And to be honest, it is just really fun to browse around. Knowing that it can be crazy in there, we planned our trip early in the day during the middle of the week with hopes of avoiding crowds. The store, when busy, can be hard to navigate… and with a toddler, my husband and I wanted to limit our stress. And our planning paid off, we found the store to be relatively quiet. SUCCESS! To further set ourselves up for success, upon entering the store our first stop was the popcorn machine. For ten cents, YES ten cents, we picked up a bag of popcorn for my daughter (and husband) to nibble on as we meandered the store. Having a distraction, something to focus on, helps when the energy of a space becomes overwhelming. And this trick worked as my family wandered aisle by aisle, room by room of the labyrinth that is Vidler’s. Anytime either my husband or I felt her begin to become unfocused or energetically overwhelmed, we immediately offered her popcorn and reminded her to hold my hand which she did as she happily gobbled down popcorn. The tricks worked like a charm! We made our way throughout the ENTIRE first floor without incident. At that point, we agreed we should skip the downstairs as we didn’t want to push our luck and headed toward one of the registers to purchase our finds. Baby Girl, however, was not ready to go. She eyed the stairs and started straight towards them. My husband and I eyed each other with a lot of hesitancy. The downstairs is more cramped than the upstairs. More cramped means not only will it be harder to navigate with more items for little hands to grab for, but the number of items could be overstimulating and energetically the it doesn’t flow as nice. Recipe for disaster. But, because she was doing so well and she was determined to see the downstairs, we relented thinking… eh, what the heck. We should have listened to our instinct. As soon as we got downstairs, she became more and more distracted. The vast number of gadgets and goods WAS overstimulating. The popcorn trick was no longer working. Then, the telltale sign we are minutes from a meltdown occurred. My daughter started pointing at people and stating, “Ghost.” Almost everyone we passed, she stopped and would say, “Hi Ghost.” Why is this a sign? Young children live with one foot on the physical plane and one foot in the spiritual realm. A protective bubble cast over them protects them from outside energies, including spirit. When that diminishes and they become ungrounded, they have a hard time distinguishing between those energies that exist in this realm and those in the spiritual. Hence her acknowledgement of the “ghosts.” Fortunately, as a medium, I can check in to see what she is seeing. Seeing that she is now having a hard time protecting herself, I knew it was time to go. But the strong-willed toddler she is, she didn’t want to. After trying to coax her up the stairs, we scooped her and kicking and screaming brought her up the stairs. Needing to check out, as we approached the register we put her down. She took that opportunity to bolt towards the stairs. Having longer legs, I was able to cut her off at a pass. Knowing she was beat, she crumbled crying to the floor. There she laid. Getting out her frustration… and more importantly, grounding herself. Worried someone would step on her, I stood over her and attempted to soothe her. Telling her it was “ok to be frustrated” and to “take a deep breath” – which she did – and to “let that frustration into the ground.” Most people gave sympathetic looks, a few rolled their eyes as to say why are you letting your child behave that way. But within a couple minutes, she was calm. The tears had stopped. She had refocused herself. And, she was giving me a hug. Without further ado, my husband marched her out to the car. I paid for our goods. We were on our way. Her situation isn’t that different than many we all face. To avoid those meltdowns, if you are intuitive, plan ahead and avoid the crowds. If a situation does get the better of you, take that time to let go of your frustrations. I don’t encourage you to lay on the floor and scream like my daughter did, but if it means stomping your feet or walking away to take a deep breath, do it. Once you are grounded and centered, come back to the situation that frustrated you… not to stay, but to leave. I encourage you to not overstay your comfort zone. We sometimes stay at a party too long because we are having a good time, but too much of a good thing isn’t always good. Like my daughter who was loved shopping, but was overwhelmed by it all. Take care of you. Take care of your energy. And, enjoy your holidays! The election, it is tomorrow. If you are like most people, you are fed up, can’t wait for the election to be over and don’t want to talk about it. Yet, despite your efforts to avoid the topic… you can’t. It’s on billboards and lawn signs, on the radio and television, in your mail and Facebook feed, and on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Surprisingly, it is a conversation that comes up a lot in readings. You’d be surprised how many people at the end of their reading ask, “any idea what the outcome of the election is going to be?” I’ve even had people ask my intuitive daughter, “Trump or Clinton?” I don’t know. She doesn’t know. Even if I did, I wouldn’t say. But fortunately, I don’t. In fact, knowing has been further complicated for me because at different times in my life I have had feelings that BOTH candidates would be president. Around the time the first George Bush was running for president and Trump was still married to Ivana, I remember thinking he was going to be president someday. But, I also remember thinking during the Clinton/Monica Lewinski scandal around the time when Primary Colors came out that Hillary would be president at some point. How do I explain this? Well, while I was a child that was intuitive and supported, I was not trained or mature enough to navigate the nuances of premonitions and insights. Not savvy at readings the signs at the time, I could have been observing the election. It’s also very likely that, since the future is always a moving target, at the different points in time each had the opportunity to become president. And with those thoughts, I digress. Especially since, as I mentioned, I don’t have any idea who is going to prevail at the end of the day. And quite honestly, while I have my preference, I don’t want to talk about the candidates. There is enough of that occurring in the media. Nor do I want to talk about the issues… although I WISH the issues would have gotten more air time. But unfortunately, the issues didn’t get air time because the candidates have been busy degrading one another. It occurred in the primaries. And it has continued through the general election – both on a national and local level. The mudslinging has created an energy that is vile. Neither party has followed diplomatic decorum. The lack of diplomacy in the election scares me. These are the people who will be representing our values and interests on a national, statewide and local level. Our politicians are the individuals who are supposed to be skilled in negotiating and finding compromise. Shouldn’t our hope be that our adversaries respect them for fairness and diplomacy? As the quote goes “honey catches more flies than vinegar.” And how has this impacted our culture? From my personal experience, in the last month, I have seen an increase in inconsideration and rudeness among individuals. Everything from a truck pulling a tractor turning head on into my husband and my car. We were stopped at a stop sign mind you. And in doing so, our car was pushed off the road. The driver’s response as he further pinned us on the side of the street, “you are in my way.” To a woman standing in front of me at a grocery store saying to the cashier, “Please shut up. I don’t want to talk to you.” I guess we could find the positive in that she said please? Are individuals being more hurtful to one another because speaking one’s mind is valued more than being kind? And being hurtful is acceptable? Has emotional and verbal abuse become status quo? And whomever has the wittiest, harshest response – regardless of truth – wins? If this is the case, to what end? Being hurtful doesn’t make anyone feel good. The person receiving the insult feels beaten down. And the person dishing the insult often feels guilty or unsatisfied. Even the people who may be observing the interaction are negatively impacted by the exchange. And, in many cases the truth is lost and perception is king. For example, in the grocery store, there was a palpable tension. As the smile left the cashier’s face, it was apparent she was hurt. I felt icky and felt myself stiffen and shift awkwardly, as did the person behind me. Now yes, the cashier was a little annoying. More talkative than was necessary and it was holding up the line. BUT, the cashier was trying to be friendly and there was no need for the coldness… no matter how bad a day the person ahead of me was having. Witnessing this, I felt compelled to change the energy and bring positivity into the space. What did I do? Noticing the woman behind me only had a couple items. I added them to my order. It brought her joy. The smile returned to the register operator’s face. And then the cashier told me, “Ma’am, you are a good lady. You just earned some bonus points with the big guy. Karma is a real.” Hearing a stranger talk about karma made me smile. It was simple. That type of world is the world I want to live in. Unfortunately, come election day, I don’t think the candidates who win and become our representatives are going to create that world for us. That is up to us. So, I want to encourage you to choose your candidate wisely and go out and VOTE tomorrow. More importantly, I also what to urge you to be kind. Rather than stoop to the levels we see our candidates at, next time you find yourself wanting to say something hurtful or find yourself judging a person or situation, stop yourself. As you stop yourself, I encourage you to smile and do something nice. Each act of kindness makes the world a better place and the ripple effect is amazing.  During a conversation with an intuitive friend recently, because I value her insight and it’s really hard to be objective about oneself, I asked her if she minded checking into my energy on a situation I had been struggling with.
Upon observing my energy, she confirmed the feelings I was having. Which was comforting. Unfortunately, like myself who felt that “an important piece of the puzzle” has yet to be revealed, I was left still pondering action steps. For impatient and action-oriented me, this was discouraging. After giving me her gut feelings and seeing the slight disappointment cross my face, she asked for a little more information. She hoped to put a little more context around and confirm the messages she was receiving. I was only too happy to oblige. Once I did, part of me wished I hadn’t. With the additional information, my dear friend went deep into friend mode and, rather than providing objective or gut feelings, she broke into a long monologue on how I could “fix” the situation. This soliloquy included coaching on how to apply energetic techniques to improve the energy around me and manifest my desires…. the same techniques I present and coach my students in during my basics of mediumship classes. At first I smiled. She has a big heart and was trying to help. But, as the one-sided conversation continued, I found myself annoyed and physically stiffening and rolling my eyes. Why? My ego was rearing its ugly head. My ego was insulted. It became the evil voice in my head was saying things such as– “Doesn’t she know I teach this stuff?” and “Of course, I’m doing it. I’m not a dummy…” and the worst, “Well that’s a stupid technique, especially if not applied properly. What does she really know” Recognizing the ugliness that was growing inside me and disliking myself for it, I took a moment to take a deep breath. When I find myself in situations like this, I ALWAYS take a deep breath. Why? Because whether it’s to ground, center, protect or allow (in this case to center) it always brings my awareness back to the present and, most importantly, ME. By bringing my awareness to the present and to me, I can change the one thing I have control over – how I respond to things. Upon breathing out the negativity, that’s exactly what I did. I stopped, reevaluated and asked myself “Why was I so upset?” Well, I didn’t get an answer I liked. I was upset because of my own insecurities. Recognizing this allowed the kind Dawn I aspire to be to walk back in. With words reminding me “it wasn’t fair to be upset at her, I had asked her for insight after all” and, “she was trying to be helpful” the evil voice was silenced. This moment of reflection also facilitated a teaching moment for myself. That teaching moment reminded me of a few things: First and most importantly, it humbled me. I was reminded I still have to practice centering in a continual effort towards releasing the fears and insecurities that are harbored deep within. The second, I was reminded how important it is to remain objective. If you remember, I mentioned I provided my friend with very little details of the situation. I do this to my intuitive friends all the time (they probably hate it). I’ll say something like, “how do you feel about the business opportunity that I have presented?” No more details as I want to know their off the cuff gut feeling. Why would I do such a thing? The more someone knows about a situation, the less objective they can be. If you’ve ever tried to forget something you overheard and weren’t supposed to know, you KNOW that’s impossible to do. Once someone is no longer objective, they do what my dear friend did. They search their memory banks for tools they have acquired over time and offer them to fix the situation. As this comes from their memory banks and their experience, it is their advice not inspired by Spirit. And lastly, I remembered that sometimes advice someone offers is less about the recipient and more about the giver. It’s where the adage, “we teach what we need to learn,” came from. Perhaps she needed to hear those words herself. In preparing this blog, my husband reminded me of one more lesson in all this. Even though we may already know something, doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be reminded. 
As feng shui is a philosophy that connects an individual and his surroundings, if an individual is commenting how busy or chaotic his life is, the feng shui practitioner will encourage that individual to evaluate the state of his home environment. As it is likely that individual will find his home cluttered or messy, the recommendation the feng shui practitioner would offer is that the individual organize the space and get rid of unnecessary stuff! Now, I by no means am an expert or aficionado of feng shui. Nor is it something I put a lot of thought or consideration into on a day to day basis. This is much to the chagrin of a dear friend who IS a feng shui practitioner. Every time she comes to my home she finds more and more places in our house where the Qi (energy) is blocked – thank you Ernie. As I mentioned, this rarely concerns me. But recently, I have found the energy has been blocked. And I’ve realized I do need to take some action so the blocked energy didn’t continue to have a negative impact on my life. What’s been disrupting the energy? The clutter! You see, my daughter who is almost two now, is (as you’d expect) becoming more and more active and inquisitive. As a result, it is not uncommon to find toys strewn across the house. For example, the sight I see when emerging from my back room after a day of readings often includes kitchen utensils lined from one end of the kitchen to the other, hundreds of balls filling the living room floor (she has a ball pit she loves), diapers (fortunately they are clean) in a pile next to the chaise because that’s where she likes to change her baby’s diaper and one diaper just won’t do, and several piles of books on the bathroom floor next to her potty, need reading material in the bathroom, after-all. Not surprising, right? Being a neat freak, this sight immediately results in my heart beating faster and my temperature rising in frustration. But then I see my tired, weary husband in the chair and know that this mess just demonstrates our daughter’s activity and the fun she has had. With that recognition, my heart melts a little… but the clutter still leaves me with a little anxiety and energetically I feel a little discombobulated. Feeling the chaos from the mess, I would straighten up some. But then I would rationalize that I was wasting my time, everything was going to be pulled out again anyways, so I’d leave some. Which left me uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore those feelings. Those feelings made me feel overwhelmed. And I began to think that it didn’t matter how clean the house got, it would always seem messy. Overwhelmed by the volume of household chores and everything I “had” to do, cleaning started to become neglected. As you can probably guess, this just spiraled. When I realized the new tub hadn’t been scrubbed in weeks if not over a month and this was causing me more and more anxiety, I realized SOMETHING had to be done. About two months ago, I took action. What did I do? Exactly what most individuals of my generation do, I went to Pinterest. Why Pinterest? Because you can find ANYTHING there. What did I find? A to-do list of what chores to do every day, once a week, once a month, etc. Looking at this list, the chores that had once seemed overwhelming now seemed feasible. Now in my house on Mondays I vacuum; Tuesdays the bathroom gets cleaned AND because it is garbage day, the refridgerator gets cleaner; Wednesdays the kitchen gets attention; Dusting falls on Thursday; Friday I get a break; and then on Saturday and Sunday the laundry gets done and some of the other chores fall into place. With this new system, I end up only spending 15 to 60 minutes a day cleaning instead of the hours I used to. Sure it adds up, but in little spurts it is Doable. You might be thinking, where does feng shui fit into all of this? Now that the house is cleaner, it is also decluttered. Well, for the most part. Baby Girl’s toys are still strewn about. My hubby still has a tendency to sprawl… But, the space looks better. Creates better energy around us. And best of all, my life feels less chaotic and my anxiety has faded. Is this me becoming in harmony with my environment? Have I found some feng shui? I like to think so! Want to find out more about feng shui? Looking for a practitioner? Patty Pope of Deliberate Reflections is not only a wonderful woman, she is well educated and good at what she does.  Last month, Buffalo Underground hosted a class during which I spoke about the importance of psychic protection. During this conversation, I noted that it is important to not only be aware of how the obviously negative people in your life impact you, but also those people you care about and you see as positive influences in your life. You see, those people you care about can affect your energy WITHOUT YOU KNOWING IT. Why? Because unlike the stranger or acquaintance who just bumps into your energy – sort of like a fender bender or in some instance more devastating crash – family and friends are inside your world, they are the spark plug or muffler without which you won’t run well, if at all. These connections are called psychic cords or hooks. They explain why a mother instinctively knows when her child becomes hurt or when a friend “coincidently” calls you in the moment you were thinking about them. Your energies are intertwined. This is a good thing… AND a bad thing. Having just spoken about the need for protection even from those we love, it was ironic that a situation occurred that blatantly demonstrated the existence of psychic hooks between friends. It starts innocently. I had happened on this article about emotional affairs. As we have been working to improve our relationship, I found the content interesting and forwarded it on to my husband. Not being one for words (and forgetting that he can’t read my mind), I omitted an explanation as to why I was sending the article. Although I hate to admit it, he appropriately became a little concerned I was accusing him of affairs. The article, which I had though was just good food for thought, ended in a much bigger and more heated discussion than I intended. Thinking I was accusing him, he asked about our friends. Without thinking (should have used the filter!) I rattled off the names of some mutual friends that I had thought at times the relationship may have crossed the line or there was potential for it to. Seeing him become red, I thought if I explained my rational further he might see where I was coming from and understand. I should have kept my mouth shut. As soon as I started discussing one friend in particular, we both dug our heals in and the debate escalated. Fortunately… at least in my opinion… I was saved by the bell. The dinging bell of my husband’s phone that is. His attention was immediately diverted from me to the phone. But then I felt and saw it, a frustration washed over him. Why frustration? Because he suddenly felt defeated. The text was from none other than the friend we were just talking about!!! And why defeated? For the same reason I felt validated and elated knowing I had just won the heated debate. Her text, in the exact moment we were discussing her relationship with him mind you, demonstrated their psychic connection. As they say, her ears must have been ringing. Because of their connection, on some level she could feel the current status of their relationship from which they both pull emotional support, was in jeopardy. This was further evidenced by the fact that she did not just text once, but more than five times in just as many minutes!!! And with each text, she became more insistent that he contact her as soon as possible. Stubbornly he said… well I guess I will not be responding to her tonight. Even though my husband wanted to argue the point, he couldn’t. The point was made, and it was clear that there was an unhealthy connection. Does that mean he has to cut her out of his life and never speak to her again? Not at all! She is a good friend and is someone he has a lot of fun with. What it meant was he needed to identify what connection wasn’t serving him physically, emotionally and spiritually and remove that. And he did. On the full moon he did a fire ceremony smudging himself with sage and copal releasing those connections. Seems to have done the trick! Since then we’ve talked about the relationship and the phone hasn’t gone off! Smudge worked to psychically protect my husband from his friend. How do you psychically protect yourself from the people you love?
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AuthorDawn Lynn is an EveryDay medium. She lives and breathes via her intuition, which as a fourth generation intuitive from a family of Spiritualists came easily. Her abilities became apparent in early childhood and were cultured by a supportive family. Through her Blogs and Vlogs, she wants to help you become the EveryDay medium too. Categories
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