Diary of a Psychic Healer

I recently finished a six-month class on Internal Family Systems Psychology , which looks at different parts of you and how they interact. I have two polarized parts - one is intuitive, the other wants to be rational and make sense of things, but more than that, that part of me wants to explain away intuition in logical and scientific ways.  In some way, I started this blog to document my experiences after I came across my former psychic school in 2010. If you check out the Rabbit Hole tab you'll find blog entries for that crazy fun journey.  There have been a few instances that I didn't write about, and that I don't know how to explain but that still boggled my mind. For example, in 2013, I signed up for a Remote Viewing class - where you use intuition to look at a target, and then verify what you saw. Our teacher gave us lots of different exercises.  The Time I Half-Failed Remote Viewing One day she had us sit in pairs, with your partner sitting in front of you with t...

One of the things that I have had to let go of is the idea that if we help someone, it has to be 100% altruistic - in order for the action to be good. I don’t know if this is an idea that I adopted in childhood seeing others hold up selflessness as good - “give till it hurts” etc. The world would be a much better place if we knew that it is always in our benefit to help others. We always get something in return, directly or indirectly 💛 🫶🏻 Research shows that kindness makes for a much healthier society. I read a book last year called Shadow, Self & Spirit on transpersonal (or collective) psychology. There was a chapter on the psychology of evil and violence. People are less likely to harm others if they experience some form of compassion in their lives, or if they believe that someone cares about them - even if it’s a public figure, a politician, a celeb, or a deity like Quan Yin. Or better yet, family members, friends, and strangers. Random acts...

I love reading up on different themes and seeing how it all comes together; it’s not surprising as I majored in Philosophy (Tufts ‘02). That probably explains this blog 👀 Last year, I started reading the Hermetic books from the 2nd to 4th centuries, which are attributed to the greek Hermes Trismegistus. Believe it or not, the original set doesn’t mention the Kybalion (the 7 manifesting principles); those were channeled 1,500 years later. Instead, it’s a dissertation on the origins of the Universe, humanity’s place in it, and how we can practice meditation to connect with the divine. The first part looks at astrology ; that was my favorite chapter.  For the purpose of this blog , it tells us that when we meditate on the image of a god (or a goddess), that deity pulls us up, closer to his or her level .   The books read as a dialogue between Hermes and his teacher, in the style of the Greek philosophers that we read at school. Hermes is given that visualization, but we can...

Last year I found a book called  TARA: the Liberating Power of the Female Buddha, by Dr Rachael Wooten.   The author is a depth psychologist and Tara devotee. It had been on my desk for months. Whenever I'd walk by I'd think to myself, I need to sit down and meditate. Green Tara has such a cool vibe but her energy felt distant somehow. I finally started reading it again this week after meeting up with a friend; it turns out she'd been connecting with Tara too 😅 Tara is a powerful female Buddha - known as Wisdom Moon in her early incarnations. Wisdom Moon is said to have taken on the challenge of becoming enlightened. At the time, the common belief was that only men could become enlightened (haha). What it means to be enlightened is a separate topic, but if it includes clarity, compassion and having a bigger picture view of life - there is no reason why men and women couldn't both become enlightened.  The name Tara translates as Star. The idea is that the goddes...

Last year I signed up for a short environmental psychology class with Jeffrey Kiehl.  We looked at WHY the science is so easy to ignore. Professor Kiehl has a book called Facing Climate Change - I haven’t read it, but I learned a lot in class.  The last few centuries of progress have been shaped by the idea that nature is separate from us, inferior to us (as we’ve moved away from seeing Spirit in nature), and that it can be tamed and exploited. The Age of Reason led to humans thinking of ourselves as superior because the intellect was deemed superior.   The scientific community identified fossil fuels as a problem almost 140 years ago! But their warnings fall on deaf ears. In class, professor  Kiehl explained that  data doesn’t lead to action because the parts of the brain that are involved in decision making and resolution are emotional, not rational.  Decisions involve the Limbic System - in one case, a person’s amydgala is activated (a fearful trauma res...

I signed up for a short  jungian psychology lecture.  What I enjoyed most was the introduction to depth psychology. It was amazing. There was one comment that struck with me and I am not 100% sure if I got that right, but I'd like to share it here. Please don't assume this is a point of view that is shared by all jungian psychologists.     We looked at the effect that unconscious archetypes have on mental health at a group level and how these archetypes are expressed in religions, narratives and cultural identities.  Our spiritual beliefs play a big role in how we connect with the unconscious (both individual and collective), with each other, and with the planet.  For example, ancient belief systems often attributed certain behaviors to the influence of gods and goddesses like Venus, Mars or Cupid. When a person acted out that part of their psyche in a way that was disfunctional or disruptive (maybe too much jealous y , fear or ambition), they had a concept...