Table of Contents

Preparation

Practical Psychic provides a concise, realistic method of learning psychic abilities. It uses short, simple techniques, without rituals, objects, intense meditation, or particular religious beliefs. All it requires is confidence and practice.

"Do or do not. There is no try." Yoda never explains, but his quote is accurate. This section will explain what he did not—the reasons belief is important and how to achieve it.

Belief is a requirement for learning psychic abilities. If you believed touch typing was impossible, and so you wouldn't even put your hands on the keyboard, you wouldn't be able to learn it. Well-informed belief is best. Read research, case studies, stories, and if possible talk with people. Learn about the psychic abilities that have already been studied, proven, and understood.

As you research, you will be more enthusiastic and interested in practicing. You will trust yourself more. This keeps you more relaxed and make practicing easier. It improves your concentration, your focus, and your accuracy.

This chapter contains worksheets to help you understand your beliefs and become comfortable with psychic abilities. Consider each question carefully, and notice your reactions. The first worksheet, just below, is to help you recognize your past experiences. Your experiences shape your expectations and influence your beliefs and knowledge.

Critical analysis and doubt have their place—that is, laboratories, not classrooms. Skepticism is not specifically disbelief. It means uncertainty: "Skeptic, n.: One who is yet undecided as to what is true; one who is looking or inquiring for what is true; an inquirer after facts or reasons." (Webster’s Dictionary) Taking a realistic view in experiments is useful. Uneducated disbelief is not useful. Fanatical disbelief is as illogical as fanatical belief. Experiments are meant for learning what is true. A person can’t learn the truth if he or she has already decided what that ‘truth’ must be.

However, new skills practice is not the time for experiments. The skills must be learned before they can be tested in a controlled situation. If a person were testing to prove whether any human could type 80 words per minute, he or she wouldn’t start with people who couldn’t type at all. Choosing people who had been typing for many years and already typed quickly would be wiser. Similarly, it makes no sense to try to prove psychic abilities in people who have not practiced with them. People need to learn first, and then they can test the skills later.

If you have some fears about learning psychic abilities, you’re not alone. Most people are nervous, doubtful, or outright scared when they first consider learning the abilities. Spend some time understanding those feelings and discovering which ones are unreasonable.

Each time you find yourself feeling bad or scared, give yourself a pep talk. Explain why the worry is unrealistic. Some examples are given here for the fears listed in the worksheet. If you have a fear that’s not in the list, research it. Decide whether it’s realistic and useful to keep, or whether you want to challenge it.

Psychic abilities do exist, and have been proven scientifically. This isn't fiction or fantasy; it's here and now, in this world.

No correlation has been found between psychic abilities and anything else yet. Anyone could have the ability, and quite possibly, everyone does.

Why are they weird? They’ve been a normal part of being human for thousands of years. We've just ignored them out of fear of the unknown. If we learn about them, then they become known and normal, and they aren't scary or weird.

Changing one belief, or even several, won't shake me to pieces. Disbelieving is superstitious. Psychic abilities have existed at least as long as humans have, and the world is fine. Accepting reality won't hurt me.

Psychic abilities can only be gained a little at a time. I can stop at any point and wait until I feel okay about it before moving on. They are within me to control. Just like I control my daily reactions to people, I would be controlling psychic abilities. I’m no more dangerous than I would otherwise be.

I would still be myself. Who I am is not determined by what I can do. I would be the same person I am today, and the same person I've always been. I would just have a new skill to play around with, and use in the ways that I feel are appropriate and right.

Psychic abilities are only scary because I haven't learned enough about them. Any ability I gain is within my power to control, and since I am in control of it, it can't do things I don't want it to. It wouldn't be scary if I let myself learn more about it and consider it okay.

I can stop at any time. My mind and body are under my control. They can’t do anything I don’t let them do. I let go of control every night when I sleep, and I don’t have any problems then. If I go too deep into a trance, I’ll just fall asleep. No spirit can affect my body without my permission. I am totally safe, because my subconscious keeps protection around me at all times.

When you’ve challenged the fears, and you’ve started learning psychic abilities, there are many new feelings you may encounter. Although they feel unfamiliar, they are still safe.

As you fall asleep, or as you start to go out of body, you may feel for a moment like you are falling. This is a common feeling that is the result of your mind relaxing and letting go. Many people experience this feeling. It may interrupt your concentration, but it has no other effects.

Meditation can also feel different. It may feel like a deep daydream. Your body may feel like it’s buzzing once you relax physically. This is due to your blood flow increasing, just like it would after exercise. It’s a normal part of relaxation. Your body temperature may go down a little, making you cold. This, also, is a normal part of relaxing. Take a blanket if you tend to get cold.

As you practice any abilities, you may notice feelings in your head and forehead. This is because you are concentrating on those areas when you use the abilities. Relax, massage your face a little, and the feelings should be gentle. If your head hurts, you’re probably tensing your muscles and giving yourself a headache. Relax and take a break, and then try again without getting tense.

Trusting your feelings and avoiding fear takes time. Repeat the challenge statements every time you notice disbelief or fears. You must convince yourself that you have as good a chance as anyone at learning the abilities, and that it is possible to learn them. You are just as good as anyone else. Practice, practice, and keep practicing. Stay enthusiastic and relaxed, and you’ll make fast progress.

Psychic experiences may shake up your religious beliefs. They give you a new perspective on the world. Much more is possible than you may have previously believed. Religious beliefs will influence your skill development. If you believe most of the skills are evil or wrong, you generally won’t want to learn them, or may have trouble with them. It’s important to recognize what your beliefs are related to the topics in the worksheet below.

As with any skill, you will want to consider the ethics of psychic ability use. Psychic skills can be used in a variety of ways, almost invisibly to the general world. Psychic skills are not good or bad, just as any type of skill can not by itself be good or bad. Certain uses of the skill can have good or bad consequences, however. The question I consider when determining the ethics of a situation is, "Would this be ethical to do, if I used a non- psychic method to achieve it?"

Of course, that question does not give a clear answer in all cases. You will need to decide for yourself if what you choose to do is appropriate to your beliefs.

Aura vision helps healing abilities, empathic understanding, and deeper spiritual caring. It leads to a deeper understanding of human actions and relationships. Telepathy, empathy, clairvoyance, and other information skills help you understand events, relationships, and human life. A healer can help people accept and love each other, work out difficulties, and solve difficult interactions in creative and helpful ways. The abilities also simplify everyday life by giving you extra information, which helps you make wiser decisions.

When you begin psychic skill development, your first few experiences will probably change your beliefs. A world that seemed stable, measurable, and known, suddenly has mysteries at every step. Your beliefs, habits, and interests may all change suddenly. Your restrictive beliefs fall apart, and beliefs that are more realistic replace them.

Experiences that shake up your ideas can certainly be scary at first. That doesn't mean they’re dangerous. Learning the truth is useful, and there’s no need to fear it. Trust the change without feeling threatened. Your new abilities are simply giving you extra information.

Sometimes this feels like being a toddler, just beginning to explore a vast world of new things. You will need something stable and safe to return to after a bit of exploring. Choose a special place or routine to return to each day. Lighting a candle to relax for a few minutes each night is one routine. Familiarity provides security, safety, and relaxation after a very intense period of learning.

Your perceptions will change along with your beliefs. Energy flows, emotional relationships, and spiritual interactions between people appear much more visibly. Humanity and philosophy may become more important. Astral projection and out-of-body experiences sometimes accompany this. You may have more interest in spiritual values and ethics. You’ll also continue to gain perceptive abilities.

Some of this may be uncomfortable because it’s unfamiliar. You can work through those discomforts once you realize you have them. The worksheet below will help you identify your comfort zone. You may have trouble learning abilities related to uncomfortable or scary experiences. Once you know what scares you, consider whether it’s realistic, and challenge any unrealistic fears.

You may find that after a period of practice, you develop several new skills at once. Then you have some time to work with them and gain comfort before another set of skills begins to develop. Skills tend to develop in waves. Practice will improve your psychic interactions, auras, and perception of events at a distance.

As you perceive and work with the psychic energy around you, you will have an increasingly strong effect on people. They will notice and consider more seriously the things you do. You may re-evaluate your beliefs to make decisions on your interactions with other people. You may reconsider your place in learning from and teaching.

Many students know they want to learn, but they aren't sure where to start or what interests them. Psychic abilities are quite varied, but fit into two basic categories, perceptive and alteration.

The most common type of psychic ability is perception of information. Empathy, telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, aura sight, seeing ghosts, knowing about illness or injury before it happens, reading cards, telling fortunes, recognizing disease, perceiving energy, and predicting dice rolls are all perceptive abilities. Many people have experienced these abilities at least once, but may not talk about them for fear of ridicule.

The other type of ability is alteration: abilities that directly cause a change in the world. Telekinesis, levitation, healing, telepathic commands, empathic projection, teleportation, helping or hurting a plant's or animal's growth, and directing energy are alteration or projection abilities. Fewer people experience these, but the abilities are still somewhat common.

As you look at your plans, how do you feel? Are you excited about the skill you're going to learn? If you aren't excited, you may have trouble staying focused. Choose what interests you. What would be most fun and exciting to learn?

You've decided which skills interest you. You've determined how patient you will be while learning them. You've considered whether to seek a teacher. You summarized your interest in the worksheet.

Any time in the future that you feel like quitting, or get discouraged, come back and reread this. Maybe your reason for learning abilities will change. Maybe your patience isn't as good as you thought. Maybe you will need more help from other people. Changing your mind is fine. Over time, you'll learn more about yourself. This worksheet may provide the reminder you need to stay motivated through the tough spots.

This section investigates your learning personality. If you choose to work with a teacher, these things are important for the teacher to know. If you are working alone, you should still understand them so you can work past any difficulties.

A teacher can help starting certain abilities and increasing your control of them. With patience, you can learn the abilities even without a teacher. Most practicing will happen at home without teacher supervision.

Students are responsible for practicing, recognizing their own styles and feelings, and choosing which abilities to develop. The teacher may suggest that you improve certain abilities before learning others, because the basic skills generally need to come before the more complex ones.

Some expectations of teacher/student relations are reasonably normal. Others are unreasonable, because they require the teacher to do the impossible, or because they are an unnecessary drain on the teacher's time. The lists below explain some common expectations and which are acceptable.

Everyone prefers one sense out of sight, hearing, touch/feeling/emotion, and intuition. When you receive information psychically, your perceive it through your favorite sense.

If you are a visual person, you will receive mostly images. If you understand more easily through hearing, you will hear voices or words telling you the information. If you learn more through touch, you will feel yourself in the situation. You may also be an intuitive person who simply knows the information without it taking any specific form.

Regardless of your strength, you will probably receive some information in every form, so be open to all of it. You will receive information best when you open all psychic senses.

Visual people prefer a variety of sights and colors. They prefer pictures full of meaning, written directions and maps rather than verbal instructions. Visual people say "show me" rather than "tell me." They are able to imagine vivid pictures and scenes. They may imagine colors and pictures when listening to music. They also read books by picturing scenes more than by hearing the words in their heads.

Audio people are drawn to a variety of sounds. They consider music and speech important. An audio person asks to be "told" directions and may spend much time on the telephone. They can get more information from listening to someone talk than from reading about a topic. If they do read, they may whisper or hear the words in their heads as they read.

Touch people are drawn to textures, crafts, and other people. They enjoy working with their hands and are often very good at it. They may learn massage techniques or sports early in life. When reading, they may follow the line with a finger to keep their place. They care about temperature and textures. When they shop for clothes, they care most about the feeling of the cloth.

Emotional/empathic people do something because it feels right emotionally. They are able to sympathize very well with friends in any emotional situation. Friends who are not feeling well may depress them. Likewise, if they have friends who are feeling good, they will tend to feel good also. They understand others' situations by feeling those emotions themselves. Some emotional people are also touch people.

Intuitive people often act on impulse, doing something because they know it is right. Intuitive people know unquestionably that their choices are right, but may not be able to explain why. Their information appears as sudden inspiration, but it doesn't last long. They enjoy games of anticipation, because they have just enough knowledge of what is coming to do well in them.

This book uses "picture" and "visualize," visual words, to describe imagination. If you are not a visual person, use mostly your own sense. Also, deeply involve as many senses as you can, so that the images are complete. That way if some of the information gets lost, there is still information left.

Learning any ability is a step by step process. Choose a skill, try it once, repeat until you are doing it properly, and then practice, practice, practice.

Practicing helps you remember how the skill feels. If you practice riding a bicycle, you learn how it feels to pedal, where your feet go, how to steer, and how to stop. Bicycling feels unfamiliar the first time, but after you do it many times, it gets easier. After a few weeks, you can get on a bike and ride down the road without thinking about how to steer.

Psychic abilities improve with practice just the same. You may feel awkward at first, paying attention to many details while you practice. With time, they will get easier. Learning a psychic ability involves remembering how it feels to use it. Once you know how it feels, you create that same feeling later to use the ability again.

The first step of learning a new psychic ability is the hardest: making it happen once. To remember what it feels like to use the ability, you have to use it once. Most abilities will occur instinctively in day to day life. You just have to watch for them, and notice when they happen.

Pay attention to subtle thoughts and gut feelings. If you feel you should take a different route to work or school, take it, even if you aren't sure why. If you get a vision of a speeding car as you near an intersection, wait a moment to see if one passes by. When you notice yourself worrying about someone, give him or her a phone call and ask how things are going. Respond to the intuitive thoughts you have. This encourages them to happen more often and encourages you to notice them sooner.

Read about the abilities you want to learn. Gather information on how they work. Notice when they happen, who uses them, and what effects they cause. Read experimental studies of them, especially any with successful results. Daydream about using them, and consider ways to practice them every day. What fun things would you use them for? Thinking about using them will encourage your subconscious abilities to show up more often.

As you think about the abilities and watch for them, you will begin to notice them occurring throughout your normal daily life. When they happen, notice your mood, surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and activities. Remember exactly how you felt just before they happened.

After you have an ability occurring "randomly" throughout the day, you will want to learn more control. Start out by trying to make it happen on cue. Recall how you feel just before an ability happens. Try to feel exactly the same again. Don't try too hard; if you were relaxed the first time, you need to stay relaxed and calm again.

Learn to turn the ability on and off like a light switch. You may not yet be able to control it when it's on. Just practice turning it on and off. Become open to it happening, ready to receive intuition, or whatever the ability requires. The important part is being able to remember and cause the same feelings and thoughts. When you can turn on the ability a few times each week, without too much hard work, you're ready to learn more control.

You've found an ability, and you can turn it on and off. Now, you want to make it useful—direct it toward a particular goal. This can mean receiving psychic perceptions, causing something to occur, or whatever. Choose the goal you want. What is this ability to be used for? Just as you thought about the ability to turn it on and off, now think about and focus playfully on your goal. What do you want to have happen?

Keep the same feelings you needed to turn on the ability. Stay in the same mood and same thoughts. Gently direct your thoughts to the goal. Visualize it as strongly as you can. Feel it, see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, taste it. Involve all of your senses, and focus on it. If you feel your mood change, guide it back to keeping the ability turned on.

If you don't get results after a few minutes, stop, relax, and try again later. Results may not happen until you try many times. Sometimes you may find that as soon as you quit trying, it works. This means you were working too hard at it the first time. Stay relaxed and playful. If you aren't having fun, you aren't going to make progress!

Life is exciting—you made the ability work! You've gotten noticeable results once or twice, and you want more. Keep trying the same way you have been. Notice what works and what doesn't work. Where are your inaccuracies? Are some of your perceptions symbolic, instead of realistic? Do you consistently mistake a telephone pole for a pencil? How do you feel about the things you get right or wrong? You will probably feel some differences in your incorrect perceptions. Aim for what feels right, and remember carefully how it feels.

Don't judge your results while you are still trying to receive. This will usually cause incorrect results. Receive everything and, if necessary, write it down so you don't forget. Stay open to all the perceptions, no matter how strange they seem, until you are fully done (usually 2-10 minutes). Don't let yourself give up early; stay confident and enthusiastic, even if you think all of it is wrong. You may be surprised at the results.

Keep a journal of your perceptions. Any time you have a chance to confirm or disprove something you received, write it in. You'll learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. Your mistakes show you what to improve and help you learn how to do it. With practice, you may be able to receive details with about half or a little more of the details being totally correct. Sometimes they may all be completely correct.

Practice, practice, practice. Stay relaxed and have fun; find games to practice with daily. Use the skills every time you get a chance. If you can find an interested friend, talk about your experiences. No matter what, don't give up! I took nearly 20 years to learn one particular skill but I did eventually get it. Most skills will only take a few weeks or months, but even if they take longer, just keep trying. Practice and play!

Seances, fortune tellers, and ouiji boards brings to mind dark rooms, candlelight, and a distinctly spooky mood. Telling ghost stories around a campfire brings up similar feelings. You may feel scared, excited, or paranoid after a few such stories. You may feel the world is magical and different for a few minutes.

Atmosphere and mood contribute to the experience. They direct your feelings and perceptions in a particular way, to enhance the story. A spooky mood may help or harm, depending on your intentions. Watch how mood affects your psychic perceptions, and learn how to use it to help get the results you want.

When you are scared, you spook easily, jumping at the slightest sounds. Your heart races and everything that moves seems threatening. This is a normal reaction; it kept us alive centuries ago in the wilderness. It still helps us now to react to balls flying at us.

However, your perceptions are sometimes inaccurate when you are scared. You perceive and react quickly, but your perceptions may not be correct. That creak wasn't the sound of an intruder; it was the house settling. That shadow wasn't a bat in the house; it was only a curtain flapping in front of a fan. The movement in the corner of your eye was your own reflection in a mirror. Because you are scared, the things you perceive will tend to be scary.

For accuracy and concentration, you may want to avoid spooky settings when trying to use psychic abilities. You'll have enough doubts, fears, and new experiences to deal with. Once you are more experienced, you can use a spooky mood if you enjoy it. For now, if you get scared, your psychic abilities may perceive scary things. If you stay relaxed, you will tend to perceive more objectively.

Some moods are useful tools to enhance your psychic practice sessions. A relaxed, contemplative, quiet mood works best to begin with. It should feel slightly dreamy, or romantic like a plush room with candlelight. It will take you away from your daily worries. It will let you focus more completely on what you are practicing. Feeling a bit new and strange is okay; it'll help you focus as long as it doesn't worry you.

Choose a mood to create, and think about how to best create it for yourself. Do you want candles or dim lighting? Do you want a soothing bath first? Do you want special music? Will it be energetic and playful, or quiet and soothing? Choose a time when you can be alone for an hour, and decorate a room for your mood. Set up lighting, music, a fan, soft blankets, a bed sheet tent, or anything that will help the mood. Spend at least half an hour relaxing in it. Learn how it feels to be totally immersed in that mood. Let the world fall away, daydream, and enjoy.

Practice setting up moods for yourself before you practice any psychic abilities in them. They will help you feel secure and stable while you practice. If you feel best in the middle of a sunny field in July, the field is as good a place to relax as any other. Lighting level only matters in how relaxed you feel. Having practiced with various moods will help you be familiar with various states of relaxation. Familiarity helps you be comfortable and more confident, and confidence improves your ability to learn.

Some moods to consider experimenting with are quiet, deep, trance-link, fluffy, light-headed, relaxed, contemplative, inquisitive, hypnotic, ritualistic, and playful. All of these can be used with other people involved, also. Cooperative, interested people will make the mood much more intense, if they are respectful rather than intrusive.

Recreational drugs are sometimes used to set a particular mood. They do not help people gain controlled use of psychic abilities, however. If they do open the abilities at all, they do so wildly and without giving the person time to learn proper control. They can cause terrifying experiences, without any of the long-term practice needed to understand what's going on.

If you're already using such drugs, nothing I say will make a difference. However, don't start using them as a shortcut to psychic abilities. It would be like jumping off a cliff instead of climbing down the rope; you might get to the bottom, but it wouldn't necessarily be comfortable. Anyone can learn these abilities, completely safely, in only a few months. It's not worth risking your health for a shortcut that may not even give you the experiences.

Basic Skills

Shutdown means stopping all psychic activity, totally but temporarily. Closing all psychic perceptions lets you stop to understand what you have experienced. It helps you recover from emotional surprise or shock and return to reality.

When psychic experiences frighten you, take a step back and relax. Breathe. Consider whether you really need to shut down, or whether you’d do better to think things over. Shutting down means you will have to completely stop thinking about what happened. Sometimes this may not be helpful.

If thinking about the experience bothers you too much, or makes your energy feel bad, go ahead and shut down for a while. If, instead, you can stop using the ability for a few minutes, sit back, and think, do that instead. Shutting down all abilities is an extreme step. It can always be reversed, but it will take some effort to open again. The section on personal changes discusses frightening experiences in detail.

Shutdown happens when you focus all conscious thought toward the physical world. Become involved with other people, being social and discussing fun things. Do physical activity; walk around, stretch, jog, or do anything else that makes you more aware of your physical body. Let thoughts of the psychic experiences float away like a dream and stop worrying about them. If you like games, programming, writing, art, etc., do that. Do anything you can think of to keep yourself occupied, without memories of psychic experiences distracting you from it.

When you are ready to use psychic abilities again, start opening your perceptions as you would when you first practice any psychic ability. You can do this at any time, whenever you are comfortable and ready.

Q: I can’t stay shut down.

A: Concentrate on the physical world. Don’t let memories distract you. Do something fun and involving, like watching a movie or reading a book. If you’re curious about your experiences, you may be too interested to ignore them. Make sure to stay as relaxed and calm as possible. If you feel insecure, try creating a shield instead.

Grounding connects your energy to the earth in a stable, secure way. Ground to get rid of unwanted energy and take in clean, balanced energy. When you are well grounded, drawing energy through yourself is easier. Any time you are working with energy, grounding makes it easier.

First, let go of all the tension you can, relax your shoulders, calm yourself, and focus on what you are doing. Bring your attention to the current time and place. Let all the active energy you have release, and any that you don't want drain down off of you into the earth. Slow down and take a deep calm breath.

Extend your own energy down into the earth while keeping it also connected to you. Feel your energy as streamers or roots extending deep into the earth, as anchors. These roots balance your energy, so you're not dizzy, and they give and take energy to keep your overall level steady. When stressed, you may not anchor very well. Ground and stabilize your anchor to reduce the feelings of stress.

Drain your unwanted energy down through the anchors into the earth. The more strongly you anchor, the better your energy balance will be. More energy will flow through you smoothly, without feelings of tightness or nervousness.

Q: I just don’t feel anything when I try to ground. Am I doing it? What’s happening?

A: Make sure you are relaxed, not scared, and not feeling defensive. Gently and playfully, reach toward the Earth with your feelings. If you are tense or scared, you won’t connect with the Earth very well. If you feel defensive, you will hold your energy in and stop it from flowing to the ground. You must share your energy generously with the Earth, and accept its energy connection to you.

Q: I am relaxed, and I think I might have grounded. How do I know if it worked?

A: Trust yourself. Look at how you are feeling. Do you feel connected and stable, or dizzy and uncertain? When you are strongly grounded, you will feel more confident and calm. Trust what you feel.

Q: I can ground for a moment, but then it slips away. How can I keep it there?

A: Practice. Notice how you feel when you are grounded. Then notice how you feel just as it starts to slip. Focus on staying stable and letting lots of energy flow between you and the earth. As you start to feel grounded, slide in deeper and more stable. Stay relaxed; don’t let the excitement of success stop you from enjoying the feeling and staying grounded.

Centering means finding your own identity and essence. This is you, separate from the influences of societal expectations and pressures. It can enhance shielding or make them unnecessary. It allows you to perceive energy clearly. It keeps you emotionally stable as you encounter new things.

Finding your center will be easiest when alone. Find some quiet time, where you can be alone for at least 30 minutes. Do what you can to prevent interruptions. Turn off the TV, radio, etc. Turn off the telephone ringer and let an answering machine answer instead.

Sit quietly for a few minutes, just breathing and noticing yourself. Pay attention to how you feel and why. Let each feeling surface and then pass on without judgement. Recognize your stream of thought and let it flow. Notice how your body feels and looks, and any tension you are carrying. Notice your daydreams, ideas, and everything that is a part of you.

Also, notice anything you are feeling that may be imposed on you by others. Look for tension, pressure, or expectations. Notice how you have reacted to them, and what your feelings are in response. There's no need to change anything unless you want to. Just be aware of these things. Consider the things you want separate from the things others want for you.

As you do this, you will get a stronger feeling of yourself. With time, you'll recognize more quickly what is a part of who you are, and what is temporary or societal. This will help prevent empathic flooding, and increase control of energy work you do.

With practice, you will be able to pause for a few seconds to center yourself in almost any circumstance. If you tend to be susceptible to empathic overload, staying centered in crowds will reduce the flooding. It may take practice to get good at, but will help significantly.

You may find that you have trouble staying centered around certain people. Their pushiness, their ideas, and their feelings overwhelm you. When you notice this happening, strengthen your grounding and centering. Stay as strong, stable, and calm as you can. Once you learn to shield, you may also want to add a shield around yourself. The shield will keep your energy separate from theirs, and give you more distance from them. The section on shields discusses this in more detail.

Q: I try to find center, but I’m not sure what’s me. How do I figure it out?

A: Spend several hours, or if possible, a few days alone doing hobbies. Read a book, or do any activities you enjoy. Creative or imaginative activities are the best. Look back over photographs of your childhood or the past few years. Look around your home at the things you own, and consider why you chose them. All of these things help you feel yourself. Make sure you get plenty of time alone to daydream and think.

Q: I start to find center, and then I lose it again. I can’t stay centered for more than a minute or two. Every time I go where someone else is around, I lose it. What should I do?

A: Start out by centering for a long time while alone. Practice that until it feels comfortable and familiar. Watch out for getting too involved in other people’s emotions. Make sure you recognize and understand your own emotions thoroughly. Remind yourself of what is you when you are around other people.

Psychic energy is a strengthening, encouraging energy that exists in nature. You will need psychic energy to use psychic abilities. Energy comes from many sources, including the sun, moon, earth, nature, water, wind, storms, fire, emotions, and movement. People carry energy with them at all times. However, this energy can become drained as you use your abilities. Because of this, having other energy sources to draw from can help you avoid getting too tired.

Choose an energy source you enjoy to draw energy from. Feel energy from that source flowing into you. You can picture it as a garden hose pouring energy into you, or as a waterfall all around you. You might picture it as light surrounding and filling you, or a fire warming you. The energy surrounds and fills you, raising your energy to a much stronger level.

As you feel the energy flow through you, relax and focus on staying balanced. Don’t hold the energy in; let it flow through. Bottling it up will stop the flow. Raise the energy strength as far as you can comfortably go. Then, hold the energy flow at that speed and strength for a few minutes. Practice holding it stable.

If you begin to feel lightheaded, imagine a connection into the ground to let go of the excess energy. Lightheadedness usually means that you have too much energy and need to let some of it go back into the earth, like grounding an electrical system. As you draw energy, take only what feels appropriate. Don't force it; just gently draw the energy. Forcing it will only make it more difficult to get the right amount of energy.

When you are done, you will want to finish comfortably. Direct the energy flow back into the ground. Let the intensity gradually reduce. Send the energy securely into the ground, and bring yourself back to a normal state of mind. Close it down until it feels fully settled. Then let go of the final bit, and relax.

Q: I don’t feel anything. Am I drawing any energy?

A: Until you feel something, it’s hard to tell. Pay attention to subtle feelings. Are you actually not feeling anything, or do you just doubt what you feel? If you feel even slight tingles or pressure, you are probably drawing energy. Relax and be playful. Imagine drawing energy, even if you aren’t sure you are succeeding. When you’ve imagined it for a while, and imagined feeling it, you will succeed in actually drawing energy.

Q: I feel that I’m drawing energy, but it’s uneven and difficult to hold. How do I make it smoother?

A: First, relax. You may be trying too hard to control it. Let it flow naturally at its own speed. Get rid of any muscle tension you have by stretching and moving around, and then try again. Make sure you are breathing smoothly and deeply. Increase the energy flow as you breathe in, and keep it flowing steady as you breathe out.

Q: I was drawing energy smoothly for a while, and then it wobbled and stopped. Why did it wobble?

A: You probably got tense or excited, and lost your grounding. Ground and center, and then try again. Be sure to stay relaxed and playful.

Psiballs are balls of psychic energy. They can be any size, density, shape, texture, etc. They can be used to carry information, investigate an area, heal, warm, or cool an area, or simply to play with and to practice energy control.

Draw energy and direct it outward through your hands. Cup your hands as if you were holding a baseball or a ball of cookie dough, with one hand below it and one above it. Picture the energy flowing from your body, through your arms, and out through your hands.

Feel the energy swirling and building up between your hands. Make the energy into a ball between your hands, making it denser as you add energy. It doesn't matter whether your eyes are open or closed - do whichever is comfortable for you.

Let yourself feel the energy between your hands. Notice any push or pull between your hands, any difference in heat, changing density of the air, sparks of light, waviness of the background behind the energy ball, or anything else that changes.

If you have difficulty creating a strong enough psiball to feel, try drawing more energy and adding that energy to it. It may take practice to make a strong enough psiball to physically see waviness in the air, but you should be able to feel it quickly. Do not worry if you only feel it, and can not see it; that is normal. You may feel a lot of heat between your hands; this means you have drawn energy through them properly.

The sensations you feel may be very slight: tingles, pressure, or tightness. Trust your sensations. You're learning both to shape energy and to perceive it, at once. Both take some time to gain confidence with. If you think you felt something, you probably did.

After you are comfortable making a psiball, try working with friends. Each person starts by creating his or her own psiball. Then combine all of the psiballs into the center of the circle. Each person continues to add energy to the center. After a few minutes, discuss how each person perceives the energy. As a group, try changing the temperature or the density of the energy.

Practice regularly to improve your speed at creating psiballs and your control of them. As you become more comfortable making them, try variations. Make shapes other than a ball; try fire, a pool of water, a crystal, and any other shape you can imagine. Try changing the temperature of the energy, making it extra warm or extra cool. Make the energy carry different emotions, being agitated, or soothing. If you have a willing partner, try using an energy ball to tickle them.

Make a large energy ball of happy energy, and cover a friend in it. If you do it with a willing friend, but at a time they don't know what's happening, you can see how strongly it affects how they feel. (This often has the effect of making the receiver very happy and bouncy, as if they've had too much sugar or caffeine.) The energy can also be used to heal, by keeping the intention of healing as you create the ball and share the energy with someone.

Psiballs don't have many "practical" uses - their primary purpose is to learn basic energy perception and control. Beyond that, they can be used in all the same ways any energy can.

Q: I was able to make a psiball once, but it was weak and I can't do it anymore.

A: Try drawing more energy to make the psiballs. Since you were able to do it once, you have the technique, just not the strength. Let things happen gently, without forcing them, and be sure you are adding enough energy to make a strong psiball.

Q: I have drawn energy and tried to shape it, but I don't feel any energy ball forming.

A: Either you are not creating an energy ball, or you cannot feel the one that is there. First, open up your mind to feel any sensations around the ball, no matter how small. If you feel no sensations at all, try putting much more energy into the energy ball. It may take many times the amount of energy you expected. Also, let the energy leave your body; don't hold it in. Focus on letting go of it as it swirls around between your hands.

Q: I can make an energy ball but it immediately falls apart, or just doesn't do what I want it to.

A: Energy follows thought, so practice keeping your mind focused on the one thing you want the energy to do. As you practice, learn to keep your mind focused even through distractions. What you think and expect is what the energy will do, so as you practice, expect the energy ball to last longer and longer, until you decide to let it stop existing. You may need to continuously add energy to keep the psiball in shape.

A shield is a bubble of energy that works like a window screen. It filters the energy that moves through it and defends against other’s negative energy. It also prevents people with psychic abilities from using them with you. Shields help empaths keep others' emotions separate from their own.

Begin by clearly thinking through your purpose for the shield. Why do you want a shield? What exactly do you want it to do? Will it keep out all energy, or just bad energy? Will it be temporary, or will it be permanent? Will it only be defensive, or will it attack in response to negative energy?

Once you have a clear intent, begin drawing energy and swirling it around you. Picture the energy as anything you wish. Common visualizations are soap bubbles, waterfalls, balls of light, fire, trees/vines, crystals, feathered wings or fur, tank metal, and armor. Choose an image that you enjoy thinking about and that isn’t cramped or heavy. Swirl the energy around you.

When you feel the shield is strong enough, let go. It will maintain itself with whatever purpose you gave it as you created it. If the shield depletes over time, repeat to add more energy.

A shield can have many effects, alone or in combination. A shield can keep energy on one side or the other, or act as a filter to allow only certain energy inside. It can convert energy from one form to another so that a filter is unnecessary. Shields help empaths keep out some of the extra emotional energy so they don't feel overwhelmed.

Shields also define boundaries in the physical world, which people will usually not to cross. Often they won’t even realize why they stopped there. The edge of a shield works as a psychic alarm. When someone physically crosses it, the shield gives the owner a psychic warning that someone is nearby.

Shields cause any effects you intend them to have when you create them. Just like any psychic ability, energy follows thought. Whatever you think about when you create the shield affects how it is created. Shield effects are not at all limited to what is listed here; anything you can think of, you can do.

Stress sometimes interferes with maintaining a shield. Under normal circumstances, a shield maintains itself for quite a while. However, large amounts of negative energy, attacks, illness, and lack of sleep all weaken a shield. This section explains how to maintain a shield under stressful conditions.

Daily stress is the most common difficulty with shielding. While a shield often prevents psychic energy from adding to the stress, eventually the shield weakens. More rest, planned time alone, meditation, and avoiding stress are the best cures. Daily or weekly meditation replenishes a drained shield and helps relax you.

Empathic overload is similar to, but can be more intense than, normal stress. Large crowds, schools, and cities are filled with intense emotional energy. Empaths who are particularly sensitive to this learn to build very strong shields to keep other people's emotions separate from their own. The first few days of an emotionally intense environment can be particularly tiring if the empath has not yet made a strong enough shield.

Meditation and self-examination are important to protect from the empathic pounding of emotionally intense environments. Meditation helps relieve the stress and emotional energy in a controlled way. It also gives time to identify the difference between empathic emotions and personal emotions. By identifying yourself carefully (especially emotionally), you add an extra layer to the shield which defines "self" and "other." This helps external emotions bounce off harmlessly.

Sometimes electromagnetic fields, from power lines or electronic equipment, can tear at a shield and cause it to weaken. If a person has grown up near power lines, his or her shield may already be adjusted to compensate.

For people who have just entered electric fields, though, it can be rather intense. Experiment with drawing energy from the field and changing it into a more useful form of energy. Also, try matching your own energy to the existing electricity. With some practice, adjusting your shield to that energy takes little effort.

Shields also become weakened by psychic battles. Though most people will never need to deal with this, some can't avoid it. They may have known they were dealing with it before ever reading a book on psychic abilities. Shielding is a natural defense to psychic attacks.

During psychic battle, people hold their shields in place by willpower and energy. Willpower controls the shield the most. Calm confidence is the best way to prevent a shield from being drained. If you are uncomfortable trusting in your own endurance, trust in the universe to do what is best for you, whether or not that is protection.

If the shield does feeling drained, draw additional energy from a comfortable source to replenish it. Keep drawing until you know you are safe. If you cannot hold up the strength any longer, place your psychic self some place safe (or even shut down) to avoid being attacked. A safe place is any place, real or imagined, where you feel secure. Attack rarely causes any symptoms worse than a headache, but headaches can be bad. Avoiding fighting is best.

For this, and all future skills, first check your grounding and centering. You should be strongly grounded, and strongly centered. You also need relax and avoid pressuring yourself.

Q: I can’t get a shield created. I can’t stay focused.

A: Ground, center, and relax. Draw energy just as you would to create a psiball. Instead of directing it through your hands, direct it outward around your body, as if you are inside the ball. If you want, use your hands to trace out the size and shape of the shield in the air. Add energy until you feel it strengthen and hold its shape.

Q: I can create a shield but it’s not very durable. How do I strengthen it?

A: Your shield strength is very closely tied to your grounding and centering. Be sure they are both very strong and stable. Relax and stay playful. Your shield should be somewhat flexible, not brittle. Keep it flowing and swirling around you.

Q: There’s unhappy energy inside of my shield. When I put my shield up, I feel bad, or I feel like there’s something stuck inside.

A: Drop the shield for a minute, and push away the energy you don’t like. Clear the space around you. Before you put up a shield, push a lot of energy out away from you. Start the shield tiny inside of you, and make grow bigger like a balloon until it’s around you. This prevents energy from being trapped inside it.

Q: My shields are fine until I enter a particular room, and then they wobble or fail. What’s going on?

A: Other people may be affecting your shields, either purposely or accidentally. Staying grounded and well centered will help that. You also may be getting interference from power lines, or an electromagnetic field. Adjust your energy to match it, instead of fighting it, and the shield will work again.

Practice Month One

Tips on practicing are scattered through many sections of this book. This is a summary list of helpful and harmful things to do as your practice. Laugh at the goof-ups; remember the helpful things. Psychic ability practice should be fun and comfortable.

Remember that everyone has some trouble. If you realize you're doing something harmful, be amused. You're much like everyone else. Don't worry about it too much. Just work on improving. Use the challenge statements from the Beliefs section if you're having trouble with a particular worry.

Now you, too, can absolutely assure that you won't make progress. You won't learn the abilities. You won't experience new and strange things. You won't have anything useful to show your friends. You can make certain you will never, ever gain control of any psychic skill! Here's how.

Ok, so some of the goof-ups are slight exaggerations. Here are some helpful tips to remember instead.

You may experience things that seem to be paranormal. Careful investigation will usually show you whether it is normal or paranormal. Consider two things when you investigate each event.

1. Does any normal explanation fully explain the event?
2. Does the event provide otherwise unknown information, or seemingly impossible movement or events?

The first step is to investigate all normal causes for an event. If an object moved, look for wind that could do it. Were there people who might have thrown or dropped it? Were there vibrations from large vehicles driving by? A weak nail could cause a picture to fall off a wall, and this would certainly not be psychic. Does the event provide any new information? Could that information have been gained normally, such as overhearing a whisper?

If there is no normal explanation for the occurrence, then it may be paranormal. You can use the form below to record the important information if you want to keep a record. You may recognize a pattern to the events after you keep a record for a while.

Grouping events into categories can help you understand the event. Each section below explains what is paranormal and what isn't.

Intuition means "just knowing" something without images, words, or touches. Intuitive messages are often warnings for safety, instructions to follow, gut feelings, and hunches.

These are sometimes called hallucinations. They are psychic only if nothing is causing the vision, sound, or sensation. They are not dangerous if you know you are healthy and they don't interfere with your life.

These are changes of physical objects, such as movement, floating, breaking, mending, vanishing, and appearing. They also include invisible touches, where a visible dent can be seen.

When you investigate carefully, you'll usually find a normal explanation. Check for wind gusts, drafts, breaking or weak nails and hangers, lopsided shelves, and objects off balance. Consider normal ways to cause the same movement. However, scientists have recorded real movement and touches that have no physical explanation, so some of these events are paranormal.

One common kind is a poltergeist, which translates as "noisy ghost." This includes cases where objects move around as if a ghost were moving them. This is usually unrecognized psychokinesis caused by a living person. If the person doesn't want psychokinesis, a counselor can help. Once the person learns to deal with stress better, the psychokinesis usually stops.

Telepathy is any communication between people or animals that does not occur by the normal senses. It can convey images, sounds, words, names, ideas, feelings, and emotions. It happens most often between emotionally close people, such as families, lovers, best friends, and pets.

Telepathy is not body language, whispers, voice inflection, lip reading, or any normal communication. If the people communicating are far apart and separated by walls, then telepathy may be a reasonable explanation.

Synchronicity is when an event occurs at exactly the right time. This may mean that people meet unexpectedly, just when they needed to talk. It can be accounted for as coincidence, but it may also involve telepathy or other psychic abilities. It is difficult to measure since there is no "chance" to compare against.

Some cases of synchronicity can be explained by telepathy. Some can be explained as coincidence. The rest are still a mystery.

All psychic abilities require some visualization. That visualization can be images, sounds, ideas, or stories. If you have trouble visualizing, try some playful childhood activities. Play pretend, or act out scenes in storybooks. Create an imaginary world to explore. Play with them when you’re feeling good, relaxed, and want to have some fun. Get enthusiastic! Dress the part. Share your excitement with nearby children.

Create an imaginary land in your mind. It can be anything - a jungle, a desert, a crater on Mars, or an underwater city. Make it something that excites you and interests you. Decide how big you want it to be, and who else is there with you. Start to explore it, looking for anything and everything interesting. If you work better by writing, write down a description of it, as a poem or a story. Make it as detailed as you can. Describe it to a friend. Do anything you can to remember your land. Come back to it often and add details and new ideas to it. If you tire of one area, create a new interesting one. Play in it!

Find a child's storybook about adventures and surprises. The 6-9 years age group will probably have some good ones. The more silly and adventurous the book is, the better. One with lots of pictures will help if you have trouble specifically with pictures. As you read the book, make the scenes from the book as vivid as possible in your thoughts. Really get into the book and laugh with it. Be willing to let yourself feel like a child, and bring back the creative excitement of childhood.

Read the book aloud to any nearby children. Practice being a storyteller, using creative cartoon-like voices. Give every character its own body language and tones. Use crayons to draw pictures of each character showing its personality. Add another character and imagine how it would interact with the others. Enjoy yourself!

If you have the toys available, make a wooden block castle, a Lego dragon, or a Tinkertoy Ferris wheel. Create the same kinds of play scenes you enjoyed when you were young, and relive the ones that interest you. Draw/color/paint a picture (it doesn't have to look realistic!). Get crayons and color in a coloring book. Make it as fun and silly as you can; let the trees be purple with pink polka dots if that amuses you.

Find your creative self, and enjoy it with enthusiasm. If you have trouble with pictures, use whatever other methods you prefer to think about things. Doing the things you did as a child will help you remember how you thought about the things you created. Then you can use those same methods to access anything that requires visualization (it doesn't have to be pictures).

This is useful when you are dealing with a stressful person or situation. It helps clear your mind, focus your attention and energy, eliminate distractions, and keep you stable. It's also very necessary before you begin to use any advanced skill.

Shielding is useful for many things. It can help you move through crowds. People will feel the edge of the shield and move away, often without realizing why. A shield set around a room will alert you when anyone crosses it. And, a shield can reduce the effects of highly emotional situations and other psychics nearby.

Overusing a shield may make you feel tired, however. So, if you use it a lot during the day, spend some time each night letting it relax and soften. You don't need to feel defensive all of the time. Relax, play, and center instead of shielding each evening.

Everyone participating should ground and center before starting the games. Sit in a circle, and watch each other's energy until everyone is grounded and centered. None of these games have a winner or loser. They're cooperative for fun and practice. Discuss everyone's experiences as you play.

The goal of this game is to see how much energy a person can draw before he or she gets unstable and the flow collapses. It practices staying well grounded and holding a large energy flow.

Draw a little energy in from the ground, funnel it upward through your body, and out your head like a fountain. Stay well grounded and balanced. Gradually increase the amount of energy moving through you. Over a few minutes, try to move as much energy as you can. It's okay to get lightheaded or giggly, as long as your energy is still stable.

When you can't increase the energy any more, or when the energy column collapses because you got dizzy, drop all the energy into the ground and relax. Lower your energy level and ground a lot until you're comfortable again. Then let the next person try.

When you are watching someone make a fountain, practice seeing and feeling his or her energy. Notice if he or she wobbles or stays grounded.

The purpose of this game is to practice matching a description with your shields.

One person is chosen as the leader, and names a type of shield for everyone to create, such as soap bubbles, tire rubber, brick wall, metal armor, fuzzy blankets, spider webs, etc. Everyone in the group spends a few minutes trying out that kind of shield, making it as strong and stable as possible.

Then the next person around the circle names a different type of shield, and everyone tries that. Go around the circle as long as it's fun, and discuss how the shields felt each time.

This game practices stabilizing energy while letting go of it.

One or two people create a strong psiball between their hands. Then they pass it to another person in the group, who adds energy, and passes it on. See how strong you can make it. Try varying the thickness and temperature. Notice how the energy changes, as each person contributes.

This game practices stabilizing energy while directing it through an area.

Each person creates psiballs and throws them against the walls of the room, like throwing sticky goo. Vary the energy in the psiballs, and let the energy remain on the walls as you throw them. If you want, say aloud what your psiball is made of just before you throw it. ("Soapy sponge! <Splat>") After a few minutes, look around psychically and notice all the energy splats everywhere.

When you're done, take turns "washing" the walls off with a spray of energy from the palm of your hand, like a garden hose. Let all the energy soak in to the ground, and ground yourself.

For a more advanced version of this game, create the psiballs and throw them without using your hands.

Advanced Skills

Empathy is the ability to know someone else's emotions psychically, during normal conversation and at a distance. Body language and tone of voice are not empathy, only psychic perceptions. Empathy is a limited type of telepathy, which is easier for most people to learn. It is the most common of all psychic abilities.

Many people use empathy without realizing it, especially with close friends and family members. This often occurs as a feeling that a friend is hurt or in trouble. The receiver may also feel stressed because a friend is stressed.

With practice, you can improve your empathic ability. You can begin using it on cue instead of just spontaneously. You can learn to receive detailed emotions and complex situations.

Create an empathic connection by focusing your thoughts on your chosen target.

Create a constant stream of energy connecting you to him or her. Let the connection grow and strengthen, like a web or joined hands holding you together.

Emotions flow through the connection in both directions. The target will feel some of your emotions, and you will feel some of the target's emotions.

Be open to receive images, sounds, and feelings through the link. You may feel the emotions as if they were your own, or they may seem like a movie. They may appear as emotional images or as hunches.

As you receive information, watch for related details and subtle feelings. Watch how the target reacts to his or her emotions. Ask questions to navigate through related emotions. Notice how the feelings change in response to your questions.

To be certain you aren't reading body language, practice when you can not see or hear the target person. Practice at times when you wouldn't otherwise know what mood the person is in. Then ask the person later what his or her mood was at that time, to see if you received feelings accurately.

Controlled, useful empathic navigation can take a while to learn, but it is necessary. The telepathy section explains techniques for navigation in more detail.

Closing the link is just as important as opening it. When you are ready to close the link, visualize it gently drawing apart and closing cleanly.

If you try to remove it too quickly, it may hurt like a suddenly broken relationship. You may even feel it physically near the heart, where empathy connects. Be gentle with empathic links because they represent your relationship with that person. You will both feel what happens to it.

Q: I don’t feel anything when I try to connect. Am I doing it? What’s happening?

A: Ground and center. Make sure you are relaxed, not scared, and not feeling defensive. If you are tense or scared, you won’t connect well with people. If you feel defensive, you will hold your energy in and stop it from flowing to the target. Make sure you are comfortable feeling close to the target. Make sure the target is comfortable feeling close to you. Gently add energy and strengthen the connection.

Q: I can connect, but I am not receiving anything.

A: Ask a question and then listen for an answer. If the connection is still quiet, strengthen it and increase the energy flow. Be sure to stay calm and relaxed.

Q: Receiving too many emotions is overwhelming me. How do I filter some out?

A: Ground and center very well. If afterward you still need a filter, create a shield around yourself to block all empathy. Then when you choose to receive empathically, tell the shield exactly what to let through. When you are done, tell it to block everything again.

Telepathy is the psychic transfer of thoughts, concepts, images, sounds, and feelings. Empathy is a form of telepathy.

Theoretically, telepathy can carry any information. In practice, it is more limited.

The most accurate reception comes from full concepts involving all five physical senses and emotions. Thoughts involving fewer senses reduce accuracy. For detailed, accurate telepathy, focus on an entire situation instead of a single object, word, or number.

Create a telepathic link the same way as an empathic link.

Focus your thoughts on the target person. Create a clear image of him or her in your mind. Create a picture of a situation involving him or her, and imagine the sounds, smells, emotions, and surrounding atmosphere.

Create an energy link between yourself and the target.

It will have two parts: an emotional link between your hearts and an intellectual or conceptual link between your minds. The emotional part is important because connecting requires trust. Emotions and thoughts will go both directions through the links.

Strengthen both links until you feel strongly connected.

Telepathy should always be done with compassion for the other person's thoughts and feelings. You may learn personal information. If you betray this trust, future connections will be more difficult.

The target will not always consciously know that you are connecting, but will still respond subconsciously. He or she may block you out if upset with you. The receiver cannot force accurate telepathy. It only works when the sender and receiver both allow it.

As you explore someone telepathically, you will notice many levels of thought. These levels exist in yourself and in the people you connect to. Some levels are more conscious than others.