This post is part of a series. If you have not read the first post on clairvoyance, you can do so here. There are also two other intro posts on spiritual gifts linked here: 1 & 2.  Enjoy.​

“True Listening is Worship”[1]
 
Just as we see only one percent of the light spectrum, we hear very little of reality as well. Radio technology proves that there are sound waves all around us that can be heard with finely tuned devices. Mystics and spiritual savants tell us they can also hear thoughts and hear the sounds of the chakras and the music of the planets. We call this clear-hearing clairaudience.

For decades, I knew there was something strange about my hearing. When I was 6 or 7 years old my parents had my hearing tested – I guess they had concerns. I asked about the results several weeks after. They told me, straight-faced, that I had “selective hearing.” I now know this was a joke. Selective hearing means I had no medical problem but that I only heard what and when I wanted to. At the time, however, I didn’t know it was a joke I thought it was a medical diagnosis. In fact, I didn’t figure this out till I was almost an adult (we didn’t have the internet back then to google our symptoms). I used to tell friends or teachers seriously that I had “selective hearing” and they would look at me askew and raise an eyebrow or smirk.

It’s a funny story that shows how early my clairaudience was active. I still have “selective hearing” sometimes, and it’s not because I want to ignore my husband or child. It is because I am listening on several levels, often without realizing it. This multi-dimensional listening can become overwhelming when noise from ordinary reality becomes overbearing and jars me back suddenly. I have been labeled too sound-sensitive by my family, but I also have an amazing ability to tune out some things others can’t. It’s baffling, but helps me understand people with sensory processing issues—I realize that many other sense “disorders” may be a a spiritual gift that needs attention.

I have a shaman friend who survived electrocution at age 5. After the accident, her clear seeing and clear hearing became undeniable. She said that while the electrical current was running through her it was like she could see people’s insides. Since then, she hears what people mean to say instead of what they say. Her neighbor might say “my leg hurts,” but she will hear, “I want a divorce.”  This gift caused all kinds of childhood scrapes. As an adult, she felt like an alien for years until she learned more about spiritual gifts, that she was not alone, and how to use what God gave her.
 
Do You Have It?
If you wonder if you have clairaudient sensibilities I bet you do. First, just for fun, I would check your childhood for funny stories, scapes, or “imaginary friends.”  Often the stories we remember or that are told to us are not what they seemed. There is more going on.

You might have clairaudience if answers to prayers or everyday problems come into your mind in words. The voice may sound like your own inner voice, but it’s usually much wiser or more funny or clever than the ordinary mind chatter. You might hear song lyrics as messages. I find that if a song is stuck in my head, there is usually a message trying to come through in the lyrics. Some people hear actual voices that come as if from outside them, though this is less common. It takes an incredible amount of energy for the subtle realms to manifest an audible voice and so they don’t do it as often unless it’s extremely important.

Do you ever say things and afterward people tell you that what you said was meant just for them. I was told this many times before I realized I was “hearing” and then saying these messages aloud for others. I am a teacher and I often sit on a stage and teach to a group. Even when I prepare an exact outline of what to say, I often go on tangents. I am not always consciously aware that these are me listening and receiving special words for others, because it happens so fast. But afterwards several people will tell me that this or that part of my class was just for them. They even wonder if I was reading their mind because it was so specific. To my knowledge, I was not reading anyone’s mind. God, however, was, and my subtle listening and transmitting gift was in action.

Speaking of mind-reading, the gift of telepathy is real. There are many people who can hear your thoughts and can communicate mind to mind with others, as well as with animals. In fact, we are all born with telepathy and it is slowly trained out of us.
When my daughter was young I figured out that she was reading my mind when we played cards because she always knew what color I had or what number. I did some experiments and I used to practice sending her either pictures or words. She often guessed them before I sent them. As soon as I decided what to send, she would know.

If you haven’t found the podcast “Telepathy Tapes” yet, you can listen to how thousands of parents and teachers have discovered that their non-verbal autistic children have telepathic gifts and many other gifts previously unknown by most of the world. And why not these previously marginalized children? Jesus said that the last shall be first and the first last.[2] The scriptures also aver that one does not hide a valuable gift in an ostentatious vessel but in a plain vessel, so that thieves don’t plunder and steal it.[3]  I look forward to seeing how this population will lead us into a new age of spirituality. They can teach us, but we must listen to them.
 
Meditate to Hear the Music of the Spheres
While we are all born with gifts, the world we are born into has been hostile to their survival. This is why meditation is essential, because the outside world is relentless in urgency and stress. We need to meditate to hear the voice of the soul.

John O’Donahuse said, “When you listen to your soul, you come into rhythm and unity with the music of the universe.”[4] That quote may seem like merely nice poetry, but it is fact. The universe is making music. The yogis will tell you it is the sound of God or of Om like a lullabye oozing forth through all creation.

Our own bodies are also full of subtle music and mystical sounds. Only when we quiet the roar of our breath and heart beat and rushing of blood and sloshing digesting can we hear the subtle sounds. This is why saints and shamans fast, and meditate. To quiet the digestion and slow the breath and the heart. 

Once your body is quiet, you can hear things like the heart chakra. The heart chakra is called the anahat, which means “unstruck sound.” I had no idea that this referred to a literal sound, until I heard it myself while deep in meditation. The first time I heard the anahat I was meditating with a friend in the early morning between 4 and 6 am. We were chanting an eight-syllable mantra when I heard a strange bell sound, almost like my cell phone text alert (which has a gong chime) but higher pitched. I did wonder if someone had left a phone at my house, because I knew it wasn’t my phone and my friend didn’t have his phone with him. I heard it again several times. I asked about it later and he lit up when he realized what I had experienced, “You heard the anahat!” I have heard it many more times since then, but it is always surprising, like a cheerful bell.

The other chakras have sounds too. All the mystics and saints describe them similarly.  The second chakra is described like a flute, and the 6th chakra or spiritual eye has a sound like the sound of rushing waters. If you have read your Book of Revelations, you may remember how many times the Holy Ghost is described as the sound of many rushing waters (Rev 1:15, Rev 14:2, Rev 19:6). If it makes you think about everything differently in The Bible, that’s a good thing. There are layers upon layers in the scriptures that are waiting for you to understand at a deeper level. Paramahansa Yogananda asserts that the Holy Ghost works through the awakened spiritual eye. That this spiritual eye has a sound that correlates to the description of the Holy Ghost is very interesting. How can you verify this though, or any of the other supposed sounds until you hear them for yourself?

 It makes me think of the many times Jesus says that the people listen but do not hear. These sounds are not easily heard but by the deeply devoted meditator. But I believe everyone can learn to hear them.

Who's There?
 Another way to develop clairaudience (and other gifts), at least temporarily, is through spiritually intentional fasting. Once, after fasting for many days I heard several people talking about me near my head. I was lying down in my own house and no one was around, but there were clearly people in the room in another spiritual dimension. I listened more intently. The best way to describe them is as angels. They had compassion for me and they wanted to help me. They were discussing my “case.” They felt so loving and warm and I wondered why if they were so close I did not hear them all the time. Later, when my fast ended and I went back to daily life, I couldn’t hear them as easily, and I missed them. I knew there were there though, and I had a reason to keep listening.

Just as with clairvoyance, there are many other gifts that I will list separately later in these pages/posts that crossover or fall under the heading of clairaudience, such as: speaking with the tongue of angels, writing poetry, other writing gifts, the gift of tongues, the gift of translation. For now, however, I will save these gifts for another post where I can cover them in the depth they deserve.

Also, as I mentioned in the post on Clairvoyance, the input that comes from beyond the veil in the subtle realms is not transmitted in words, it’s more in a “style” that we must assign words as best we can from our storehouse of language. This is how when God speaks, everyone can hear the Lord in their own language and even speaking their own name. It’s remarkable. Does the translation get garbled sometimes? Yes and no. That depends on how you see it and how much importance you put into words themselves. A two year old may sit in deep communion with God, and have loads to share with you, however, they may only be able to say a few words such as “Jesus loves Daddy!” An awakened heart can feel the power and truth in his words hit home like an arrow to the heart and nothing else is needed.

More about words another time. So much more.  For now, stay tuned for the next clair sense: smell.

End notes:
[1] – Martin Heidegger
[2] Matt 20:16 (similar scriptures in Mark, Luke and elsewhere in Matthew)
[3] 2 Chorinthians 4:7, Jeremiah 32, Matthew 13:44
[4] John O'Donahue, Anam Cara  p. 71

This post is part of a series that will include 4+ more posts and there are two previous posts that you might want to read first. Spiritual Gifts 1, and Spiritual Gifts 2- Supernatural and Power Gifts

Thresholds of the Soul
 John O’Donahue describes the senses as “thresholds of the soul.” A threshold is defined as a point of entry or beginning. Thus, it is through the senses that we gain access to the subtle realms and the soul. However, another definition for threshold is: “the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be manifested.” (Oxford languages). This definition is relevant too, since all have senses, but not all can reach beyond them to the subtle realm. So there is a need for clarification, hence the prefix commonly ascribed to the sensory gifts is clair-, which means clear. Thus the term clairvoyant means clear seeing. Clairaudient means clear hearing. Clairolfactance is clear smelling and so forth. Some people use sensational words to describe these gifts, such as psychic, medium, or seeing or hearing beyond the veil, etc., but I like the word clear because it is simple and yet allows for gradations and progression. Clear can become clearer and more clear, etc.

All spiritual paths teach us we are spiritual beings in a physical form. The physical body give us the sense organs, including the eyes, ears, moth, nose, and skin. But the senses are not in the organs. The senses are the stuff of the subtle realm. That is why having ears does not guarantee hearing, neither does a lack of ears predestine a person to live without hearing or speech. There are many miraculous stories about people who can still hear without ears, or see while blind or blindfolded.[1]

The clear gifts are more common than people realize. I’d venture that every spiritual seeker who reads this has at least one of them, though it may be underdeveloped or misunderstood. Even those who are sure they were born without a clair sense can develop these gifts through the regular practice of scientific meditation and other shamanic tools, such as fasting.

I’ll explain later why I believe these gifts are misunderstood. For now, let’s explore them. Though we will consider each of the senses individually, it is important to acknowledge that the senses always overlap and work together.
 
 
The Light of the Body Is The Eye
Each spiritual gift is a love letter from the creator to creation. Poet John O’Donahue said “The eye is like the dawn.”[2]  Dawn is an end to darkness as well as a thing of beauty that awakens us and calls us forth to remember our own brightness.

Our lives are full of concealed beauty. Science has proven that humans see only 1% of the light spectrum. Imagine that! It would be like all the light you can see is all that there is, and then imagine dimming it by 99 percent and watching people try to get around.

Essentially, that’s what we are all doing—stumbling around in the dark. Remember that what the word Shaman means is, “one who sees in the dark, and helps others to see in the dark.”  Therefore, to be a shaman means to see a bit more, and then teach or show others. That’s why I write. I am a shaman. In Jesus, The Ultimate Shaman, the authors assert that there are seven traditional roles that shamans play in their communities. The first says:

Every Shaman is trained in the arts. They all practice some kind of artistic creative expression. Some of their art is used in their ceremonies.[3]

The authors don’t explain this further, but it makes sense because an artist is a person who works to make the unseen seen. A painter takes an image that is seen only in their mind and puts it into oils, or watercolor or mixed media. A good poet uses words to take an experience that is beyond description and creates a poem that can reopen that experience for others. In a very real sense, artists are shamans and all legit shamans are artists, even if they have not be formally trained in either. Making art (and storytelling) is a way we help others connect with the subtle realms and thus “see in the dark.”
 
Jesus said, “The light of the body is the eye.”[4] He goes on to say that if one’s eye is single (to the glory of God) the whole body is full of light. The single eye of which Jesus spoke relates to the spiritual eye, sometimes called the Third Eye, a spiritual center in the forehead between the eyes. Without getting deep into a discussion about the chakras and spiritual anatomy, suffice it to say that this spot in the body corresponds with glands that regulate your feelings of happiness, your physical health, spiritual connection, and ability to experience joy. Clairvoyance is sometimes described as having one’s Third Eye open. The physical eyes can be closed, but still there is “sight” into both material and spiritual things.

People with highly developed clairvoyant gifts can “see” auras, angels, disembodied spirits, fairies, and dark energies. Others can “see” pain or illness in the body. Still others can “see” lights or energies in the air. Some people “see” visions or flashes of the future or the past. You may notice that I put the word see in quotes. This is because seeing with one’s physical eyes is not like seeing with one’s spiritual senses. In fact most clairvoyants don’t actually see with their physical eyes. Many have to close or partially close their physical eyes to eliminate distractions to see/sense with the spiritual eye.
 
Seeing is Not Believing
            One of the reasons the sense gifts are so misunderstood is because the subtle world is not like our ours. Expecting it to be similar is part of the problem many people run into and it’s the reason they don’t realize that they are perceiving subtle input.

The subtle senses receive information that does not always easily covert to human experience. So we translate it into images (or words, sounds, smells, etc.), of material world things or ideas that have the same "style."

When clairvoyant people talk about seeing, what we are doing is sensing something from the subtle realm that has as certain “style,” then assigning an image or moving picture that is in the “style” of what we perceived. For example, I may sense a person’s aura and then describe it as blue because it had the style of blue, but I didn’t actually see the color around them with my physical eyes. I imagined the color once I sensed the style of blue.

We all learn to do this kind of mental imaging naturally as children. When we read novels or poems we make images in our minds to go with the story. If we didn't they would be boring. It’s important to note that each of us has a different mental picture of the novel's heroine and the sound of her voice.

When I first started clear-seeing I thought that I couldn’t possibly be clairvoyant because I wasn’t seeing with my eyes. I thought I wasn’t "doing it right" because I knew I was assigning images from my own mental storehouse. I finally learned from a fellow clairvoyant, alchemist and author Catherin McCoun, that this is normal. But what about all the people who swear they see blue around your head and its real? Here is what McCoun says:
 
What if I can't make the blue go away? By the standards we apply to our physical senses, that would mean the blue is "really there." We know that we're not just imagining a physical perception because it stays put. With the subtle world, though, it's exactly the opposite. Unthinking a mental picture should make it go away. If the object of a subtle perception appears solid, permanent, and fact-like as a physical object, the seer is hallucinating.
 
Some people hallucinate because they are physically or mentally unwell. But hallucinations can also be a function of what hermeticists call "atavistic clairvoyance." Atavistic clairvoyants are overtaken by visions that seem very solid and real because they don't consciously experience the mental translation of the abstract into the pictorial. It happens too fast. Since they don't notice that their brains are interpreting subtle input, they can't correct a mistaken interpretation. Their subtle perceptions are too convincing.[5]
 
McCoun says it's not unusual for things to get off to this kind of start with beginning clairvoyants, but if there is no underlying pathology, it is easy to fix. The fix involves slowing down (or suppressing altogether for a time) the conversion of subtle impressions to mental images. Like closing your eyes for a minute. When you slow it down and consciously choose to imagine on purpose, you are less likely to be misled by your mental pictures—because you know they have come from your own subconscious.

This might be a shock to some people who assume that the more psychic you are, the more solid your "seeing" should be. Welcome to the spiritual realm! There is a lot to unlearn.

Remembering that each person has their own picture of the heroine in the book is helpful when sharing your subtle perceptions with others or hearing theirs. If the subtle perception has a “style” unlike anything the receiver has experienced, it can come out garbled. Remember that the images aren’t 100% literal—it’s the underlying themes or messages that matter.

For example, if Joan tells me see saw an angel wearing purple in my back yard, does that mean there is such an angel there? No. Of course, that is one possibility. There are numerous other possibilities. For example, just to name a few: 1) Joan could be hallucinating because she hasn’t eaten or is mentally unwell,  2) Joan could be seeing a hologram projected by a neighbor into my back yard. 3) Joan could have sensed a benevolent presence near the property but the details were filled in/projected by her own love of a male ancestor and an affinity for purple. 4) Joan is lying to create some drama. There are many additional possibilities. This is why it is good that I can tune in to my own subtle senses and see what, if anything, is going on in my back yard.

Anyone who insists their seeing or visions are 100% factual is not necessarily wrong. They may be close enough many many times. But without a deeper understanding of where the images come from, they are likely to be misguided at some point or to misguide others. 

I have friends who are obsessed with Near Death Experience (NDE) books and read every one that comes out. In the postscripts at the end of the book or in subsequent books by NDE authors I have noticed that many authors eventually come to realize that much of what they saw during their vision was symbolic.

Assuming the literal interpretation of everything you “see” may not have dangerous consequences, but there are consequences to everything. I have watched new clairvoyants go down weird roads and misguide others. I myself made some huge blunders in the beginning for which I’ve had to make amends. We all make mistakes. This is why we need mentors who understand the pitfalls.

If you have been misled by a psychic or clairvoyant, you're in good company. It's easy to get side-tracked by the sparkly or interesting things in the astral garbage dump. Determining the source of subtle perceptions is the great work of a spiritual life and I will address it many more times in my posts and the forthcoming book.

That being said however, shutting down or ignoring a spiritual gift in the hope that this will keep you from being misled is a terrible idea. Jesus Christ has strong things to say about people who “seeing do not see” and “hearing do not hear.” Fear of doing something wrong keeps a lot of people from doing anything, and they remain in the dark and therefore, full of darkness. Fear spreads us out like spilled quinoa. It directly opposes the singleness of focus to that glorious light. “If thine eye be single –your whole body will be filled with light.”

As I said previously, all gifts were given by the creator as a message of love and to benefit and serve others. In my book and in later posts, we will talk about how to practically apply our gifts.
 
All Gifts Awaken Through the Spiritual Eye
The spiritual eye is connected with all the other clair gifts. Basically, you can’t have clear hearing and a closed Spiritual Eye. They all work through the spiritual eye. If your spiritual eye is open (even in part) your other senses can engage. Many people may have an open spiritual eye but their gifts lie mainly in the auditory realm or in another sense. I tend to be auditory dominant but I work with all the senses when needed. My Creator knows me well and uses whichever sense is the best one for me to understand in the moment.
 
Do You Have Clear Seeing?
Have you ever walked into a room or walked by a space and thought you saw someone there but looked again and there was nothing? Maybe you sense a brightness or color around people or plants when you look at them and then close your eyes. The irony of clear seeing for me is that it feels a little like dyslexia. I will often read words that aren’t on the page or on the billboard, but they are the hidden message just for me. If I am inattentive to them, they will find ways to repeat in many forms till I pay attention.

Here's a cool story: I once interviewed a man who told me what happened when he took an important exam. He had little time to prepare for the exam because he was working full time and had a young family, so he used the shamanic tool of fasting, which is known to advance spiritual gifts and open gateways to the supernatural. He fasted many times in anticipation of the exam. When it came time to take the essay part of the exam, he said that a screen magically opened in the air before his eyes and the words appeared about as fast as he could type them and then scrolled up and disappeared. He typed them till they ended and then the screen closed. He had no idea what he wrote, but he passed the test. That never happened to him again, but many times in difficult situations, words were put into his mind (clairaudience).

Clairvoyance can be simple, such as visual answers to prayers or questions. For example, I asked my Higher Power what was the cause of my client’s problem. I got a subtle impression that it had the “style” of a blow to the head. My first thought could have been that her husband hit her, but I slowed it down and asked a simple question instead: “Did you ever have a blow to the head?” Yes! She was struck in the back of the head with a hockey puck when she was a spectator in the front row at a game.

Another time I asked, What part of my body is causing this illness? A picture of a liver appeared. Luckily I know what the liver organ looks like. The doctors didn’t believe my liver was involved, but I insisted and got an ultrasound of my liver—it turned out I had two golf-ball sized cysts there. The medical world tells me they are benign and “normal.” Lots of people have them. Some people are born with them. From a shamanic perspective cysts are not normal. They are communication that something is out of balance. How I worked with my Higher Power to heal my liver is for another post on healing. 
 
Looking For Your Face
 There are many other gifts that I list separately later in these pages on gifts that crossover with clairvoyance, such as: dreams, journeying upon the way, prophecy, pre-cognition, post-cognition, and more. All use the gift of an awakened spiritual eye as the power behind them. If you are new to seeing, the spiritual world can be overwhelming and also enlivening. Every day that you allow it, there are vistas that expand, and marvels in your private closet. There are also (depending on your own subconscious mix) three-headed dogs, grumpy ancestors, dancing gazelles, lesser angels and talking rabbits. Of all the things in the subtle realms, it is easy to be distracted. Spiritual teachers call this “the glitter at the bottom of the ladder,” reminding us that there are more important reasons for accessing the spiritual realms.

So what should you look for in all the worlds and realms? That is up to you, but if you have not yet seen (experienced) the face of God/Christ/Love, then I encourage you to keep your eye single like a searchlight for that. 

The deeper I go into my own spiritual journey the more I understand the mystic poets who describe the Lord as a lover or beloved  and the separation has been too long. With reunion, there is ecstasy, bliss. These are the reasons for gifts, to help us all reunite with that source of Love. In this, I cannot understate the importance of meditation. A solid, daily practice of meditation will increase and open your gifts and help you connect with the Infinite, which I sometimes call God.

What I don’t like about the simple word God is that it doesn’t do enough. It takes a gifted poet to create an experience of that which is beyond words. The 13th century mystic poet Rumi is a great example.  Rumi’s love poems are famous, but they weren't written for any woman, they are all about his relationship with God.  I'll end for now with his poem called “Looking for your Face.” 

Looking for Your Face

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer”― Rumi, The Love Poems of Rumi

Endnotes:
[1] Think and Grow Rich story about the boy with no ears. Listen to "Telepathy Tapes" podcast for seeing even when blind.
[2] Anam Cara page 60
[3] P 17
[4] –Mat 6:22, Luke 11:34
[5] On Becoming an Alchemist, A Guide For The Modern Magician. 

As I mentioned in my last post, there is a special class of spiritual gifts that the ancient sages called siddhis or vibhutis.

Patañjali, who lived in the early centuries CE, was an enlightened sage and writer. In Patañjali's Yoga Sutras IV.1, he tells us how these gifts are attained: sometimes through birth, but most commonly through self-discipline or scientific yogic techniques that take one to specific states of merger with God. According to different sources, below are the eight classical siddhis, or eight great perfections:

1. The ability to reduce one's body to the size of an atom.
2. The ability to expand one's body to an infinitely large size.
3. The ability to become weightless or lighter than air.
4. The ability to become heavy or dense.
5. The ability to access any place in the world.
6. The ability to realize whatever one desires.
7. The ability to assert influence upon anyone.
8. The ability to control all material elements or natural forces.

According to ancient yogic scriptures and records, the five siddhis brought on by yoga and meditation are:

1. Knowing the past, present, and future
2. Tolerance of heat, cold, and other dualities
3. Knowing the minds of others, etc.
4. Checking the influence of fire, sun, water, poison, etc.
5. Remaining unconquered by others

The ten secondary siddhis are also described:

1. Being undisturbed by hunger, thirst, and other bodily appetites
2. Hearing things far away
3. Seeing things far away
4. Moving the body wherever thought goes
5. Assuming any form desired
6. Entering the bodies of others
7. Dying when one desires
8. Witnessing and participating in the pastimes of the gods
9. Perfect accomplishment of one's determination
10. Orders or commands being unimpeded

This is by no means a complete list. There are many more supernatural and power gifts.

Does this sound like sci-fi or fantasy to you?

If you look in the scriptures, you can find examples of Jesus Christ, his apostles, and his disciples using many of these powers. If you read intertestamental gospels and other spiritual literature, or the journals of saints and shamans, you will find examples of people using all of the above gifts in the name of God. If you’d like to read more modern accounts of people with these gifts, I can make a reading list for you—just ask.

Perhaps the reason we are obsessed with superheroes and fantasy as kids, and even as adults, is because a part of us remembers what’s possible. When I was a child, the one superpower I wanted most was to be able to touch a book and read it instantly. When I heard about the yogic siddhis, I started to ask around to see if this gift I wanted was real—and I met people who could do it! Eventually, I was led to a man who taught me the once-secret meditation technique to develop this gift for myself. My inner 10-year-old, who slept with the dictionary by her head, was exultant. (Dictionary Definition- (adjective) exulting; highly elated; jubilant; triumphant.)

As I list all these gifts, does your soul remember? do you feel belief or wistfulness? An inner child may be excited, or the ego may also be intrigued by the prospect of so much power. The ego is always after power. Although no one likes the ego, it has its purposes, and it is not going away any time soon. Here’s what I say: I think it’s okay to start, or be on, the spiritual path for egoic reasons. I don’t judge anyone for meditating, fasting, or using spiritual technology because they hope for spiritual gifts—I already admitted my own self-seeking desire for book osmosis.

Why one begins the path doesn’t matter, because either way, a person will gain a lot of healing. The soul is happy you are on the path, and the ego is happy also—but for different reasons. Of course, when a spiritual discipline is kept up long enough, consciousness changes, and at some point the ego and the soul will disagree in a major way. This can cause serious challenges later, but that stage of development is usually seven or so years into a serious discipline. So don’t worry about it now. If you are already at some ego challenges, I have received so much wisdom and guidance for navigating this phase, and I’ll share it in other posts and places.

Another reason I mention the siddhis and vibhutis, besides wanting to blow your mind, is that unlike other spiritual gifts, they show evidence of the scientific structure of yoga. Please do not misunderstand me. By yoga, I never mean the physical exercises that have become popular today in gyms and studios. I mean the ancient meditation science for union with God. Yoga means union.

Paramahansa Yogananda says in Autobiography of a Yogi:

"Section III of the Yoga Sutras mentions various yogic miraculous powers (vibhutis and siddhis). True knowledge is always power. The path of yoga is divided into four stages, each with its vibhuti expression. Achieving a certain power, the yogi knows he has passed the tests of one of the four stages. Emergence of the characteristic powers is evidence of the scientific structure of the yoga system, wherein delusive imaginations about one’s spiritual progress are banished; proof is required!

Patañjali warns the devotee that unity with spirit should be the sole goal, not the possession of vibhutis—the merely incidental flowers along the sacred path. May the Eternal Giver be sought, not His phenomenal gifts. God does not reveal Himself to a seeker who is satisfied with any lesser attainment. The striving yogi is therefore careful not to exercise his powers lest they arouse false pride and distract him from entering into the ultimate state of Kaivalya.

When the yogi has reached his infinite goal, he exercises the vibhutis—or refrains from exercising them—just as he pleases. All his actions, miraculous or otherwise, are then performed without karmic involvement. The iron filings of karma are attracted only where a magnet of the personal ego still exists. (p. 255)"

Patañjali’s warning is echoed almost exactly by the Apostle Paul—which brings me back nicely to where we started in Part 1. Here are Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 13:1-10:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."

Does Paul sound like Patañjali? There is a reason for that. They were both regular practitioners of a highly advanced state of God-union. Paul was totally a yogi. (My proof will come in another post.)

Though there are other ways shamans and prophets have attained Christ Consciousness and the more advanced Cosmic (God) Consciousness, the ancient yogic technology of meditation is one of my favorite methods because it is so scientific—a spiritual science. What a lovely combination of words.
​
I will write about how to discover, reclaim, or develop your gifts in the future. For now, I wanted to stir your soul a little, to let you know that, as Paul says, there is more than you may have imagined on the spiritual path. So much more.