Do you feel you are an Empath or have you seen the world around you and wondered what it really means? Empaths are psychic individuals who read their environment by absorbing the energy around them through their energy field. An empath's energy field has the ability to open like a human colander as they release their energy and then absorb the energy of the person, place, or group energy they are in the presence of. Sounds like a pretty cool super power! It can be cool if utilized appropriately but most of us who are highly sensitive would often disagree. It's like draining a pool and refilling it with polluted water. That's why Empath's can often feel drained or tired. If you are an Empath, the trick is that you must first learn how to release what you pull in, while then learning how to call your own energy back into yourself. Many Empath's have been told they are too sensitive, too compassionate or too emotional. Empath's typically don't like big crowded places like a shopping mall, a stadium or a crowded theatre. They often confuse their anxiety and emotions to be about themselves, as if they have a shortcoming, when in reality they are just very attuned to the energies around them and feeling that disturbance via their own emotional field. Simply put, an Empath is highly susceptible to absorbing other people's feelings and pains, albeit conscious
or unconscious. Often, an Empath is born  with a capacity for deep sensitivity and acute intuition, which makes them more prone to being an internalizer of their emotions. They become sensitive to the environment(s) they are in....at home, at school, or in their neighborhood, as they slowly learn to shape shift their energy field to accommodate others over the course of time. They can feel when someone is angry, sad, happy, hurt and often their own peace and joy becomes contingent upon how the other person they are in relationship is feeling, be it a parent, spouse, etc.

I have been an Empath since I was a little girl. I always though it was a bad thing being told I was sensitive. I was sensitive because I wasn't able to manage my empathy. I couldn't even handle my Eeyore stuffed animal from Winnie the Pooh because he looked so sad it made me cry! I grew up always being attuned to what the people around me were feeling, what their moods were, which caused me to constantly feel the need to help them, which I often did. What ends up happening, however,  is that you lose sight of your own needs and become to focused on the needs of others as a way of finding peace in your surroundings, even at the cost of yourself. It can become difficult to understand where one person's emotional field ends and yours begins. Boundaries become skewed.
It takes knowledge and healing to move into what I called being a Skilled Empath. I had a momentous experience for myself while in Energy Medicine School. I was practicing an addiction healing with a fellow classmate. I was required to give her the healing, so I asked her what addiction she would like me to focus on. She wanted me to plug into her overeating habits. So I did my thing and began the healing. As I layed my hands on her, in that moment we became like E.T. and Elliot in the movie E.T. The Extraterrestrial! All of a sudden, I felt such despair and pain! I truly felt all of her loneliness, how it made her feel isolated, and how her overeating provided her with a temporary feeling of relief, because in her mind, food had become her only friend. I started to hyper-ventilate and cry, as I absorbed the intensity of her feelings into my being. The next thing I remembered was my teacher running over and literally grabbing me and dragging me to other side of the room, which allowed the intensity of the pain to subside. She looked at me and said:
“Jessica you have a gift, you are an Empath but you will never help anyone if you drown in their pain with them.”
The light bulb went off....Ooohhhhhhhhhhh....Duuuhhhhhhhh!!! I got it! I realized I not only felt her pain but I was feeling my own...I wouldn't have been able to have any empathy without keeping control of my own emotional barometer. I always feel things to the depths of my soul and just can't imagine it being any other way! I have since learned that I don't need to to drown in another's pain, I don't need to take it on or even be the one to heal it. I just have to be present to someone, to let them know and understand that I hear their
pain. This starts the process of facilitating and assisting them to release their pain and find peace, or even be with the pain if they need to experience it at that time. It isn't my place to judge it or take the experience from them. I can be a loving supportive presence and that is the gift. I can also be a loving supportive presence to myself
when I experience emotional pain. There is a lot to learn in that. Being able to keep a healthy boundary has been much better for me to manage my own energy field. I am stronger and more
empowered for it as a result. Do I still fall into the Empathy pit? You betcha!!
Here are some tips that I have found very useful to help myself, when I overdo my Empathy or know that I am going to be in an environment where it is difficult for me to manage my field.

1) I take lots of salt baths with essential oils or I use salt scrubs if I don't have the time to soak. Salt is very purifying to an empath's energy field.

2) I use meditation and visualization. One image I envision is the light growing and exuding from my heart and beaming lights from the inside out through the holes in my energy field, (which happen from unskilled empathy) then sealing them off and healing them.

3) I pray a lot and ask for assistance and guidance.

4) I use a lot of Selenite....This is a great stone for Empath's...I hold it in my palm and it seems to help lift and purify the energy field.

5) I get Energy Healing from practitioners I trust.

6) I go outside and touch the earth, a tree, the dirt...This is very healing and soothing for me. I love all the elements and each seem to offer healing for me.

Jessica teaches the “How to be a Skilled Empath” workshop. For more info contact her at angelicguidancereadings@gmail.com

Important Guidelines to Tap into your Intuition:

1) Shielding – When you start to open yourself up to do this type of work it is always important to use shielding techniques for protection.  I have met many people and even had experiences myself that were of a lower energy or negative nature.  Many people associate this to evil working through Ouija boards, or Tarot Cards, and then they destroy the tools, blaming the object and labeling it as evil.  This was my opinion as well.  From experience now, I realized it is not the tools.  It is the inexperience of someone who is untrained, and who is dabbling in what can be dangerous waters.  You need to hop in prepared, and with a life vest.  You shouldn’t jump into deep water not knowing how to swim.  When you open yourself up doing psychic work, or connecting into other realms, you are opening yourself up totally to receive.  Your intention is very important.  Whether your tool of choice is psychometry (holding onto an item to feel the energy), Palm Reading, Runes, Tarot Cards, Crystal Ball, Angel Cards or Oracle Cards, etc… It is first the most important to Shield yourself.  Here is the prayer that I use to shield myself.  This is what works for me.  Please feel free to modify it to what works best for you.  
Some of us are most comfortable working with our Angels or Guides, Some of us work with Earth or Elemental Spirits, Some of us go straight to the main Source, Some use Goddesses or Archetypal Energies.  We all come from the same source so therefore it will all work:
“Divine Spirit, Divine Mother, Divine Father, Archangel Michael and all my Spirit Guides, Please surround me in Pink Light to allow love in and out of me.  Surround the room with pink light, and only allow in what is of Love & Light, and has my highest and best good at heart.  Lower Energies are not allowed in and are to be sent into the Light of the Creator to be transformed.  Use me as your Divine Instrument to bring in communication of higher wisdom and guidance for myself and my client.  In Gratitude, Amen.” 
When you ask for protection, it is done.  Trust it.  Once I learned this and started to do this for myself, a lot of fear I had over some negative experiences went away.  I realized  had a light beam to diffuse anything negative and could use my gifts and not run from it. Majority of the time while I do this prayer I will also smudge or cleanse my space using Ceremonial Incense such as Frankincense, Lavender, Sweet Grass, Cedar wood, or White Sage.  This neutralized all energy in the room and sets a sacred space of intention.

2) Ground and Center yourself through Meditation -  It is important to stay present while communication with your intuition.  Sometimes Intuition will just drop in on you, you may receive hunches, instantaneous guidances or promptings.  The more you practice the more you will become aware of such instances.  When you are practicing and setting an intention to open up and tap in then it is very important to STAY IN YOUR BODY! 

Many of us meditate and check out for a long trip.  Some of us fall asleep.  It is hard to retain the information you receive.  It is also hard to come back to earth and take action on the guidance you receive when you are hovering up above your body.  You make a better instrument when you are present, and in the moment.  If you are doing a reading for another it is also very important to be available to them as you deliver the guidance and wisdom you are receiving.  In the past when I have not grounded and centered myself for doing readings I have felt very spaced out and scattered afterwards.  Then I may get the munchies and want to eat a lot, which is my body’s way of saying “Yooo Hoooo, remember me, you are human and are supposed to be here.  Why don’t you eat some snacks and come back for a visit”.  When you aren’t grounded in your body you can be forgetful, flighty, unfocused, confused quite easily, and aloof. Be mindful of these signs while practicing this work.  A quick way to get in your body is move around.  Do some jumping jacks, sit ups, yoga poses.  Something to bring you into your body.  I don’t do jumping jacks before a reading, but I do a meditation to center and ground myself and therefore I feel very alive and tapped in.  There is quite no feeling like it!  Having all that beautiful divine energy coursing through you is an invigorating experience.  You definitely want to stay present so you can enjoy it!  The grounding and centering exercise I use does relax you, but it relaxes you so you can connect to that inner divine power while staying present.  It helps you to not focus on all the things that are bothering you.  If you have a busy mind then it may be helpful to have a notebook nearby.  As thoughts pop in such as “what will I cook for dinner?, Oooh, I need to rsvp to that party, or I am not intuitive enough to do this”, Jot all of these thoughts down on paper.  You can deal with them later, but for now they are just blocking you.  This really helps me to release worries, or negative thoughts. Here is my meditation: 

Sit comfortably with your legs uncrossed, Close your eyes an begin by breathing deeply, but gently in through your nose, out through your mouth, and slowly relax the muscles in your body.  Starting with your  feet, begin talking to your body, gently, softly, first to your toes.  Slowly become aware, minutely aware, of every small part of you. Wriggle your toes and in a soft soothing tone tell them nice toes, tired toes, relax toes, relax, and when you feel your toes relaxing a little, then move to the soles of your feet.  Working slowly, talking slowly, let your body respond to your voice.  Nice Feet, Relax Feet, Relax…Now moving to your heels, then slowly up to your ankles, keep talking, softly, gently, relax hardworking feet.  Slowly, little by little, allow your mind to move upward.  Concentrate on your body, inch by inch, slowly, slowly, visualize yourself massaging each area.  Working slowly, move to your legs, your knees, your thighs, pausing when you reach areas that you “feel” need gentle massage.  Still breathing gently, with each new breath allow yourself total awareness of the vehicle that you use and abuse each and every day of your life – your body.  Slowly still, tell your body how special and wonderful you think it is, and how much you love and want to care for it.  On reaching the area around the solar plexus, the middle stomach area, just above the navel, take more deep breaths, and visualize, if you can, the universal healing color of blue surrounding that area.  Again using gentle mental massage, visualize and become aware of your chest, your lungs, your arms and hands.  Wriggle your fingers, talk to each area of your body lovingly, bring your thoughts to your neck, your cheeks, and your lips.  Become aware of the top of your head, the back of your head.  Using gentle mental massage, center your thoughts on your temples, and visualize all the tensions of life and all the impurities of your body washed away. Breathe in deeply but gently and again visualize the color blue, this time in the form of a soft blue blanket of down, wrapped around you, giving you a feeling of warmth and comfort and security.  Notice that you feel Lighter, and supported.  You are more aware, and in tune with your mind and body, you will achieve a state of peace, inner peace from which all things are possible. Now move to just above your crown and you will see a light blue ball of energy just above your head.  Move this awareness up an up, you will notice that it starts to get brighter an brighter, you may see lots of rainbow colors, and sense angelic or light type beings. You are going up and up into the higher realms, but your body is still very much aware and present. You are now ready to communicate with your Intuition, Your Higher Self.After this meditation you are prepared to practice your technique.  You are elevated yet safe and grounded in your body.  After you are through with your communication you will want to reverse the meditation going from the blue ball of light and bringing it back down through your crown through the rest of your body.

3.  Communicating – Now we get to the good stuff!  There are many ways to receive information from your intuition.  As you practice it may help to keep a journal.  Intuitive language can often be cryptic.  It can appear in your mind’s eye as a symbol or image.  It can appear in the shapes of animals, archetypal images such as Kings’s, Queens, Princesses, Letters, Shapes, etc.  For example, I had a client who came once and I saw an image of St. Joseph.  I asked if she was devoted to St. Joseph and she said no.  I was a little stumped but I told her what I saw.  Then I asked her “Are you trying to sell a house, or is someone close to you selling a house?”  She said yes! We are trying to sell my Mom’s house and are worried it won’t sell.  Many Catholic people bury a St. Joseph statue in the yard of the house they are selling as they believe it will sell their house. My intuition used this to communicate to me as it is something I am aware of and link to St. Joseph.  Another time I kept seeing the letter M, so I trusted it and asked the client.  The clients Mother in spirit’s first name was Mary, and her middle and last name began with an M as well so it was very accurate.  When you communicate you need to trust what you get even if it doesn’t make sense in the moment.  When you are practicing it helps to jot down the images you receive, the emotions or sensations you feel, and the sounds or thoughts you hear.  This helps you to learn your intuitive language and how it communicates to you.

Are you Clairvoyant? Do you primarily see?  Do you have visions, or see snapshots of things, glimpses, do you have vivid dreams that sometimes come true? Do you often see sparkles or twinkles in your peripheral vision, or had some full visions externally?  Do 
you see cloud formations, rainbows, or animals that seem to bring messages?  Can you see vividly- such as going on a vacation would you remember the beauty of the beach, and picturesque moments, or would you focus more on the sound of the ocean and nature, or would focus on how you felt, how the sand felt in between your toes, or the ocean felt like liquid silk around you when you went in.  

Are you Clairaudient?  Do you hum a song in your head and it suddenly plays on the radio, Do your ears ring?, Do you hear your name whispered in your ear while dozing off to sleep or just before you wake up?  Do you have a thought drop in your mind that 
somehow feels external to you?  Clairaudience isn’t always hearing a voice dictating to your loud and clear as if someone is standing next to you.  It often sounds like your own voice, as if you were whispering your name inside your mind.  It is a gentle whisper or 
message in your mind.  

Are you Clairsentient?  Do you often walk into a room and get emotionally overloaded? When sitting with someone do you often know how they are feeling without them telling you?  Do parts of you twitch sometimes like your eye or nose?  Are you deeply 
compassionate and Empathic?  Do you get sensory overload just from going to Walmart or the Grocery Store?  Have you been told you are a Highly Sensitive Person?  Being Clairsentient is a way of receiving messages in the form of very clear feelings.  When utilizing properly the feelings shouldn’t hang around.  They should disappear within 30 seconds to a minute.  If they hang around chronically this can sap your energy.  People who are clairsentient are more susceptible to receiving psychic hooks or energy cords.  It is important to always put on a glittering silver energetic suit so you do not have the “Urge to Merge” with your client, or anyone for that matter.  Empaths take on other’s emotional burdens yet they don’t hand them back off to the White Light of the Creator to be transformed.  If you feel that certain people have the ability to drain your energy, or you feel so deeply and want to isolate at times you are most likely Clairsentient orEmpathic.  It is very important for you to cut Psychic Cords after each time you connect with your intuition with this simple prayer.
“Divine Spirit, Please cut the energy cords of fear that are draining my energy and vitality.  Thank You, Amen”

4)Ways to Communicate – There are many ways which to practice your communicating.  One is by writing, using oracle cards, Holding something that belongs to the other person, or simply by holding the other person’s hand.  We will practice a few techniques in the class.  Primarily it is finding your own niche.  Personally I like to look at 
your palms and feel your hands, I also like using Oracle Cards.  I receive visions and strong feelings and impressions.  It took me a while to find my strengths and to trust.  In this workshop when we partner up to practice it is important that we all feel safe, and no one here is here to judge.  Trust what you get, write it down.  In many readings I do for others I am on target with a lot of things.  Sometimes I get something that makes no sense, but I have them write it down, and many times I receive an email months later telling me how it made sense to them.  Trust yourself.  Sometimes fear of not pleasing the client, or not trusting ourselves, being insecure, or wondering  whether your message is inauthentic prevent us from tapping into this brilliant parts of ourselves.  You may not be accurate 100% of the time, but you may find you are correct a lot of the time.  You have nothing to prove to anyone, you are only honoring your divine self.  Your messages are authentic if they come in and are full of wisdom, helpful, inspirational guidance, and most importantly NON-JUDGEMENTAL.  Discernment is important, but Discernment allows us to understand the nature of the energies coming in, it doesn’t have us passing judgment on others.  Intuitive Guidance is always for our highest and best.  It usually gives us the wisdom we need, the guidance on how to take action on it without creating hurt or turbulence in our life.  Sometimes we do receive Guidance to make a tough decision in our life.  It can come in with direction to ease our way out of a current job to make a place for a new one.  Sometimes we receive guidance and ignore it.  Then we fight against ourselves, we get angry, we get depression, or anxiety.  This is still intuition really pushing you as we may not have listened to its gentle voice in the first place.  Sometimes we ignore its voice out of fear, not trusting, not liking change.  Intuition is the tool to co-create our life and take part in our destiny. When we ignore intuition, we become a victim to fate.  The road is a lot bumpier, it may get us to the same place, but the journey is tougher.  Intuition is great way to take charge of your life, to find out where your blocks are and to work on healing them; you realize you aren’t in the passenger seat.  You are really the driver, and your intuition is the GPS!  

5) Closing the Session – Remember by closing the session doesn’t mean your intuition is not available to you.  It is always there for you. Closing the session is a way to cleanse your energy, bring your awareness back to your body and giving thanks to the higher powers who guided you.  It is also the time to cut any energetic cords, and separating and protecting your energy field.  It is kind of like taking your car through a car wash and refueling after a long road trip.  I reverse the meditation, once back in my body I visualize a car wash made of rainbow lights washing through my entire body and aura.  I then ask spirit to cut any cords that could drain my energy and give thanks to Spirit and my Guides.

If you have any questions regarding practicing your intuition or you are interested in studying further, I can be contacted at 774-264-1329, or angelicguidancereadings@gmail.com 

INTERIOR CASTLE SOUL HEALING
(Service Mark and Trademark Pending)

18-years ago I was introduced to the work of St. Teresa of Avila by a Franciscan Priest while on retreat.  He got up to speak about how he had been studying the “Interior Castle” By St. Teresa and how life changing it had been for him.  When I got home I immediately ordered her book.  Since then I have been a student of the “Interior Castle”.  This book and its tools have inspired me and assisted in the spiritual path I have been led on ever since.  I believe Theresa was way beyond her time.  She was a true mystic. 

Studying the Interior Castle brings us on a journey through our own Energy System to our core, our inner fire, our soul. It is a practice, a way to live more consciously.  Not live perfectly as we are humans, but to be more aware in our actions.  The Soul wants us to live authentically according to our Soul’s purpose and our contract with the Divine.  The soul always guides us back to that contract and usually the lives we have built don’t fit with that Divine Plan.  It takes deep work and processing to do the work to make our life more aligned to the call of our soul. Once you stir the soul you can never stop the work.  It is a commitment and if you stop your soul will remind you.  Sometimes in ways you wish it didn’t.  Lots of life crisis and dramas are wake up calls that the soul uses to lead us to making changes for our better good. Everything is meant to build up our soul stamina because we need stamina to really and truly step forward into the guidance that our soul’s give us.  We need stamina to trust that guidance and fearlessly make changes and leaps of faith.  The Grace you receive is well worth it.  Anchoring inside to one’s soul is a feeling like nothing else! During difficult times being able to anchor into your interior castle is like a calm within a storm.  You are protected in your castle.
​
In the past 18 years I have taken many classes, learned many healing modalities, read many books.  I have learned much but my biggest teacher has been my Soul.  She is connected to the Divine and has given me guidance and teachings.  My soul never lies to me and teaches me according to my own contract with the Divine.  I have learned more from my soul than anything else.  I have learned 
that to assist others in the world you need to assist yourself.  The healing begins first with you and as you heal and peel away layers you become a clearer instrument to hold space for another.  I feel this healing process is a lifetime process and commitment.  When we stray off the path we are guided back to it. For me personally this work of journeying through the Interior Castle and its mansions has had profound impact on me. More than any other work I have been involved in.  I realized that facilitating healing from within the castle for me or others was powerful. I love doing energy healing and spiritual healing.  I have worked with many modalities.  For me I realized if I was in my castle and facilitated a healing I didn’t have to do much accept to be present and lay my hands on the person.  Then I realized as I anchored into my Interior Castle and went through the mansions, I assisted the healee with their energy on the levels of their mansions.  I realized it was most important to anchor into my soul through the Interior Castle while doing Energy Healing and it had powerful and profound results. I didn’t have to get caught up in my head and all different modalities.  I just had to step out of the mind and move into the Soul. 

This is how I decided to offer the Interior Castle Soul Healing Certification Course.  This Course will be 7 classes over the course of year of facilitating journeying through the mansions and incorporating teachings and practicing of facilitating energy healing while embracing the energy field of your Interior Castle. I do refer to “The Interior Castle” By St. Teresa of Avila and “Entering the Castle” by Caroline Myss.  I think Caroline Myss’s book is a wonderful translation making the original book much easier to assimilate into our modern time.  I worked with the original text so when Caroline’s book came out I was quite excited.

"Contain your experience with the divine so that it does not escape you but rather shapes you.
 Be silent.
Silence will help you avoid engaging in the games of competition and illusion that regularly seduce us in the outside world.  
Silence also helps you avoid distraction.  It helps focus the busy mind---the mind that always has to be doing something, thinking something, the mind that always has to be otherwise engaged lest it become introspective and allow the soul's voice to override its own.
The silence I am describing is a silence that you use to contain the grace you receive when you enter the Castle of your soul.  This quality of silence allows you to engage in discernment.  
You carry this silence within you, even when you are with others.  It allows you to hold your center amid the chaos of your life; it keeps you clear so that you do not do or say things you will regret or make decisions out of fear.

~ Caroline Myss ~

​​ Visit www.the-soul-purpose.com/calendar-of-events for more information on the next Interior Castle Soul Healing class coming Dec 12, 2015.

Love & Light,

Jessica