Clear Your Mind and They Will Come

I had two back-to-back message circles last week: one Friday evening and another Saturday afternoon. I've gotten kind of cavalier in my approach to conducting these sessions, and I've noticed recently that my performance has been (for me) sub-par. I know my guests are thrilled with the connections we make, but for me lately I've seen fewer tears of joy, heard less astonished laughter, and felt somehow less satisfied at the end of our time together.

Usually I prepare for a circle at my house by saying a rosary, or several decades of it if not the whole entire thing. And when I say, "I say the rosary," I mean I say the Our Fathers and the Hail Marys. I don't know how to do the other parts, the holy mysteries, joys and sorrows. As the process has become more familiar for me and my confidence has grown, I've taken to saying the rosary as I putter around the house putting chairs in place, getting the tissues out, etc. I haven't exactly been on my knees with my attention focused on either one of my Divine Parents.

When I conduct a circle somewhere other than my house I usually say the rosary in the car on the way. I also toss out the standard pleas to the spirit people to show up and be clear with me so I can make the positive connections with their physical people.

Before Friday's session I decided to meditate rather than say the rosary, so I sat in my living room (after all the chairs were set up) and just quieted my mind. I concentrated on my breathing for a moment or two and then let the images, feelings and impressions sort of wash over me. The guests were a bit early, which started my dog barking, which yanked me from my blissful serenity rather more quickly than I prefer to surface. Yet once everyone was settled, I was thrilled to conduct one of the best seances I think I ever have! Such delightful details came through, of the sort that make the spirit people so real, so at home and so present that we're all convinced over and over again of eternity. Poignant gestures, jokes, and apologies flowed so perfectly I think I had a better time than my paying guests. Two hours came and went (there were 9 present) so swiftly that I was reluctant to end the evening.

Afterwards I made an immediate connection between my state of mind and the success the spirit people had in impressing such distinct details on me. It didn't matter that my meditation was cut short, that I'd failed to say my prayers or even to beg the spirit folk to show up loud and clear. I set out to do the same for my Saturday session.

But instead I took a nap. I awoke at 3:35 for a 4PM circle, and had just washed my face when the first car pulled up the drive -- 20 minutes early! Though there were only 4 present, and each guest made a positive and confident connection with a spirit person, I felt so much less successful than just the day before. Why? Because I meditated and cleared my mind just a bit.

There are lots of good books on meditation, but I don't think you need one to get started. I think "clear your mind" just means: when you find your mind wandering off to something you have to do, some memory, etc., just stop thinking about it and go back to thinking about something unprovocative, like your breathing, the ambient sounds around you, or a spot somewhere behind your forehead.

My next circle is Wednesday, and I intend to meditate beforehand; maybe last weekend's experience was just a coincidence, but I don't think so. The contrast was just too obvious. So the next time someone, some book or some guru says "clear your mind," just try it -- I know it made a huge difference in the service I delivered!