Woo Woo

By Pauline Evanosky

The nudges you get are important and if you allow them more power in your life, I think the quality of your life might change somewhat.

I know everybody gets a nudge here and there. I know I used to. Actually, I still do, but I never acted quickly on many of them. In fact, acting upon one of them led me to write this article right now.

At the time of this writing, it is currently the 4th of July weekend. So, the month has just started. I’ve been busy all day, in fact so busy that I never even got dressed. Such is the life of a writer. Of course, I didn’t go outside; much anyway. I was on our porch just for some fresh air, but mainly I’ve been studying all day and writing up my notes. After having put in 6 hours I was tired, laid down on my bed to read, and promptly fell asleep. My dream was disjointed and hurried which didn’t surprise me but sort of reflects my state of mind right now. Hurried, but not panicky.

I awakened in a bit of a fog, got up, and began to settle down. My intention was to settle at my desk and do some more studying (a publishing course) and it sort of came out of the blue and hit me. This urge to write next month’s article.

Now, on the face of it, I would say there is nothing extraordinary about this urge I got. Generally, I’m writing an article for this column for the following month about halfway through the month, but this was something else. It came from Spirit. How do I know? It was just odd that way. It was strong. It was sudden. For some reason, and I’m really not sure what that was, it was necessary that I act on it pretty tooting fast.

I think usually when I’ve got something to do, I will think it to death first. The rent check needs to be written. I’ll think of it, and it will be done in the next couple of days. Unless, of course, I’m late. Stuff to buy at the store. That’s why we’ve got a chalkboard now in the kitchen. Just write whatever you need on that and the next time my husband volunteers to go to the store we look on the chalkboard to make the list. I got tired of the notepad we normally used falling off of the counter and hitting the cats’ water bowl. About the only thing I act on with suddenness anymore is if I’ve got to go to the bathroom. No putting that off anymore.

But this was different. The first thing that I thought of as I decided to write was to wonder what I could write about for August that is psychic. I cast about for half a minute, and it occurred to me it was the actual urge to write my article that needed some discussion.

What I mean to say is there are so many ordinary things in your life that can also be considered psychic it is startling. It isn’t until you realize that you are psychic and absolutely accept that as a state of being for yourself you realize how many things you had done in your life before that were actually psychic. It’s very startling and in some ways almost scary.

We are all of us psychic beings whether we acknowledge that or not. You don’t have to go to school to do this. Some people are so aware of it that psychic instances have been happening all their life, especially if members of their families or their friends are psychic. It is something you are accustomed to. In my house, this is illustrated by how many times my husband and I call each other on the telephone to say, “I was just picking up the phone to call you.” He says to me, “You must be psycho…oh, I mean psychic.” It’s sort of funny.

But, if you have a desire to do this, to be this way all you really need to do is to listen to somebody like me. Wayne Dwyer said one time that the best way to become psychic was to hang around other people who are psychic. It was either Wayne or it was Ram Dass. Both men were American spiritualists and both, I believe were plenty psychic. Anyway, one or the other of them said that. Whoever said it, it is true. Someday I’ll run across the piece I heard or read and be able to definitely say it was one or the other.

It is because we are innately psychic beings that you can so easily become aware of these psychic influences in your life and just allow them to blossom. Giving more attention to a trait you want to encourage is the best way to get there.

I used to think that you had to be born a psychic in order to be one. I know that now to not be true because we are all inherently psychic beings.

What I did as a teenager was read about “things psychic”. I read books by Carlos Castenada, “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge". That one is the first of 3 Castenada wrote about being a shaman. How is that psychic? Believe me, he was psychic. Any shaman is. If you get technical about it, I think I could call myself a shaman. I’d need to concentrate more on what the mindset is for shamanic activities, but I know in my bones I am a shaman. There is a journey that the shaman will take to seek out knowledge. You listen to drums that set the stage, cast about with your psychic vision, and find a hole in the earth, go to that hole psychically and imagine yourself diving into the hole.

When you imagine psychically you are just imagining. Anybody can do that. The more you do it the more you will realize what is psychic and what is ordinary. I get this sort of swooshing that happens when I have a psychic vision. It’s like the Road Runner as he lurches his way quickly towards something.

What you get next is an incredibly fast whooshing journey downward, on a slant into the earth. When I’ve taken those journeys the walls of the tunnel are rough, I can feel dirt clods, and stones on my way down. It is controlled and yet not controlled. It is natural and yet one of the most exciting things you will ever do. It’s shamanic.

I know I have read that many shamans partake of hypnogogic plants to help get themselves in the state necessary to make this journey. But I don’t. The reason I don’t is you really don’t need them. Also, I have a problem with substance abuse being that I am an alcoholic, so I had to figure out a different way.

Believe me, you don’t need drugs, though purists might insist upon it.

These journeys are similar to spirit quests where native American young men, traditionally, go by themselves into the wilderness to fast and meditate until they have a vision and either see their totem animal (I have two of them; a large sea turtle and a bear) or meet with a spiritual leader or ancestor and ask them for guidance.

It would be necessary prior to undertaking a shamanic journey to have a goal in mind, a question you want to be answered. I just like to go to visit other shamans, other people, the animals, and other spirits who acted as shamans so very long ago. I like to visit the ancestors. It is startling. But if I can do it, I know you can too. There is a book, if you are interested that will help called, “The Shaman’s Way” by Michael Harner. An interesting one is called, “The Reluctant Shaman” by Kay Cordell Whitaker. In fact, there are several books out there written about shamans. In looking for the correct spelling of Kay’s name I realized a very famous science fiction writer called L. Sprague de Camp wrote one too with the same title that I want to read.

Here's another nudge all of us get sometimes. When you meet somebody for the first time, sometimes you are either immediately attracted to them or conversely, immediately repelled. Trust your gut instinct. These gut feelings are important when you are hiring people. I know they are all gussied up for a job interview, they’ve prepared a top-notch resume and are putting their best foot forward, but if you get a strong gut instinct about them, please pay attention to it.

I knew a lady once who was interested in interior design. If she walked into somebody’s house and it was not in accordance with her idea of what the house could look like she would get physically ill. I told her she was just being psychic and to embrace that. If she figured out a way that the house didn’t make her sick, she could be one pretty phenomenal interior decorator.

I hope I have convinced you that you are already psychic. It is nothing to be afraid of. Let me know if you win the lottery. I’m always thinking of practical applications.