Can you remember a time when you gave up on something you loved or dreamed about? It might have been when you were a kid, or a teenager or as an adult. I want you to think about when you chose to stop going for that dream or doing that job or activity that you loved. Regardless of the circumstances, there was a moment when you chose to let it go.
Maybe some other kids made fun of you for being different, so you gave it up. Maybe a teacher said you weren’t good enough, so you gave it up. Maybe someone told you that it would be too hard or maybe impossible, so you gave it up. Maybe you had a family to provide for, so you gave it up.
Can you see that moment in your mind’s eye? Can you remember how it felt?
When I look back, I can see a few of those moments too. The one that stands out tonight as I write this post, is the moment I realised that if I was going to be with my husband then I would probably never work overseas. He was perfectly happy staying where he was and we were married and I loved him. At the time, my choice seemed obligatory and not a real choice at all. If I wanted my relationship then I had to give up the exciting dream that beckoned to me.
But it was me who chose. I could have gone for six months and then returned, but I didn’t (I wasn’t brave enough to take that risk on my own). I could have left him, but I didn’t (that came years later when our paths were definitely and permanently no longer running in parallel).
I chose not to chase that dream.
Over the past 13 years, since my marriage ended, I have done a lot of travel. I guess you could say I’ve been making up for lost time. I even worked remotely for clients while I was in Italy last year, so I guess you could say I finally realised my dream after all. Does that mean we all eventually get where we’re meant to go? I’m not sure.
I know I’ve come a long way from that 20-something young woman who was too scared to go for what she really wanted. I also know that the love I’m seeking these days won’t require me to give up what I love and dream of. Compromise in a relationship is one thing, but giving up on your dreams and the things you love permanently is a choice I’m no longer willing to make.
Life will always throw us curve balls. Sometimes we have to defer things and put them off for a while until it’s a better time. I know this. But the danger is when we choose to make those decisions to align with other people’s expectations, or when we think we should just be more sensible, more practical and [insert all the other reasons we tell ourselves why we can’t have what we truly desire and deserve].
I hope that when you read this post you will remember that thing you loved or dreamt of. I also hope you will choose to find a way to reach for it again because the real cost of giving up what you love is always too high.
Lucretia is an author, psychic channel and transformational teacher who helps women reach for what they love. Her three-month, personalised mentoring programs help women like you claim their Intuitive Power and Live Their Soul’s Mission. Contact Lucretia at lucretia@lucretiaswords.com for more information. You can also find more of her work onFacebookandInstagram
There’s an old saying about witches and their cats: “Every witch needs a familiar”. It’s believed the cat (familiar) and the witch are drawn to each other intuitively and form a lifelong connection.
As a former cat owner, I’ve jokingly refer to myself as a witch who needs a ‘familiar’ and these comments have sometimes caused an expression of disquiet to pass over the faces of people around me.
“But you’re not really a witch, are you?” they’ve asked. You can tell just the word, witch, conjures up unsettling images of supernatural spells, dark places, steaming cauldrons and women with nefarious intentions and wart-topped noses perched on broomsticks. She might even have green skin (if you watched The Wizard of Oz as a child).
At this point, I usually make a joke and lightly move the conversation on to other subjects because I know they feel confronted and perhaps a little afraid of what I’m saying.
I don’t usually refer to myself as a witch because it’s not a term I’ve felt overly drawn to. But I know that in centuries past, someone with my psychic skillset would have been called a witch. In those times I might have been sought out as a healer, a soothsayer, a maker of potions and so on. I may have been feared, ostracised or burned at the stake for my naturally-occurring gifts, even if I used them to help others.
In those times it was wise to keep a low profile.
If you fast forward to the 1960s and 70s, women with metaphysical gifts were depicted in television shows like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Samantha and Jeannie (the respective main characters) were bright, creative and energetic women who were forced to hide who they truly were because their husbands could never feel comfortable with their special gifts and worrying about what the neighbours might think was a big concern.
Shows like these gave my mother’s generation very clear messages about conformity and that openly claiming your metaphysical gifts could not occur in mainstream society. The underlying themes of masculinity being unable to hold space for gifted women was also very revealing (but that is a subject better dealt with in another post).
Fast forward to Halloween 2018 and many little girls across the world donned black hats, wigs and false noses (with the obligatory wart) and (cackling witchily) they moved from house to house asking, “Trick or treat?”
Clearly, the somewhat negative perceptions of witches persist today.
The women I know with metaphysical gifts (and I know quite a lot of them) do not look different from any other person you might meet on the street. They do not have green skin or nefarious intentions for the world around them. They are flawed humans who have special gifts they use to help others and make a difference to the planet in whatever way feels right for them.
They may call themselves witches or herbalists, clairvoyants, psychics, channels, healers, shamans, lightworkers, empaths or any other name that feels right to them.
Their gifts in another time and place would most certainly have defined them as witches.
It’s part of my mission to draw the veil back from the mystery of metaphysics and help others understand that psychic and energetic skills should not be feared, but should be embraced and owned. As I sit here in my make-up and stilettos, writing this post, I also want people to know we are often living in our suburban homes or apartment buildings and participating in mainstream life, just like you.
We’re not weird and we don’t usually have warts on our noses. Some own cauldrons (shout out to my close friend S, you know who you are) but a lot of us don’t. Others work with crystals while some have never used a metaphysical tool in their life. We are all as diverse and unique as the rest of the human race.
And fortunately, in most places in the world, we can no longer be burned at the stake.
Lucretia is an author, psychic channel and transformational teacher who helps women harness their intuition so they can live their Soul’s Mission. You can find more of her work onFacebookandInstagram.
Many years ago my Dad suffered a minor heart attack and, as we sat in a curtained cubicle in the Emergency Department, the doctor came by to chat to us about what was next. During that conversation he talked about the causes of heart attacks. He even spoke about how some people literally have their heart broken by grief or loss and experience heart problems as a result.
I found it fascinating that a medical professional would openly acknowledge that our emotions can create such a strong physical response in our bodies.
I can totally relate to what the doctor was saying to me, and I’m not alone. Practitioners such as Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life) have written extensively about how our physical ailments are often a manifestation of our emotional states and the way we view our world (and ourselves).
Often the emotions we carry forward with us from the past into our present are “negative” such as grief, loss, sadness, rage, disappointment and anger. I’ve placed “negative” in inverted commas because although these are normal and very human emotions, we are often conditioned to see them as being negative and discouraged from owning or openly expressing them. This is particularly true for many women who are brought up to be ‘nice girls’ and therefore taught to push down and repress these emotions instead of owning and expressing them in healthy ways. It certainly doesn’t encourage women to process their emotions and associated challenges in ways that empower them to move forward and, in essence.
It is only by truly owning and acknowledging all the parts of ourselves (including the more “negative” parts) that we can truly claim our power and step into the expansiveness that is possible for us to experience. Unexpressed emotions lead to constriction and yes, sometimes resulting physical and mental ailments that restrict us further.
For those of us who highly empathic and consequently feeling lots of emotions a lot of the time (often from other people), suppressing what we truly feel is not a recipe for success.
It’s important to find safe ways to release the emotions from past experiences from our bodies in order to be healthy. Clearing out our emotional junk may take time but it is definitely a worthwhile exercise.
I’ve found letter writing to be a successful and cost-free way to release my emotions from the past. It’s as easy as picking up a pen and some paper, finding a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed, then writing Dear [name of the person who has made you feel angry, sad, etc.] and writing whatever comes to mind without editing your words, judging yourself or even thinking about it too much. During the writing process I encourage you to be ruthlessly honest with the person about how you feel. DO NOT HOLD BACK!!! Remember, this is your time to own and fully express how you feel.
When you’ve finished writing, don’t read the letter (because the whole idea is to purge the emotions out of you rather than suck them back in). Simply dispose of it in a way that feels right to you. For example, you might shred it into little pieces, burn it or bury it in the garden. And while you do this, I invite you say “I release you, I release you, I release you” so the Universe knows that it is time to take all those emotions and energy from you.
Of course, I know that many of you might feel tempted to send the letter to the person has upset you. After all, you want them to know what they’ve done and how they’ve made you feel…right?
Actually, if you do that you are completely giving your power away (and that defeats the purpose of this exercise). The whole point of writing this letter, just for you and owning your emotions then releasing them, is to help you reclaim your power and equilibrium so you can move forward freely. The minute you give that letter to the other person, you make the process about them, not you. So don’t give it to them. Instead, claim this as your moment to acknowledge and release emotions that are keeping you stuck so you can move forward feeling lighter and more free than before.
Lucretia Ackfield is a psychic channel and author who helps women reconnect to intuitive power and manage their psychic gifts so they can fully live their Purpose, create Positive Change on the Planet and Serve Humanity.
A few years ago I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking about offering mentoring programs in intuition but I was doubting myself. I wondered, “Am I really the best person to do that?”
My friend (who knew me well) laughed aloud and said, “Lucretia you’ve been mentoring people your whole life, why would you stop now.”
I guess in many ways she was right, it’s just that the topics I teach have changed over time.
For me mentoring is about empowering people to speak what’s in their hearts and follow their path. It’s never really about me, it’s actually about them.
When I’ve stood in front of a class of university students or talked to one them afterwards to help them understand a concept or simply manage the stress of study and trying to have a life at the same time, my goal has always been the same. There are some rules, but more importantly there is the need to trust yourself, know that you’re enough and simply do your best.
In my intuitive mentoring programs, my principles are the same and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a woman beginning to tune into her inner voice and begin to block out the noise of everyone else’s needs, wants and expectations. It’s at that point, that I know we’re making real progress.
Mentoring and even teaching for me is about helping my students or clients to find their own way forward – I’m just there to provide a few signposts, spotlight the potholes and outline the road rules. The rest is in their hands. It all sounds deceptively simple and, in many ways, it is.
But for someone who has never claimed their intuition as their birthright, it’s not always so easy. I know this because I didn’t even know what it meant to trust myself until I was in my third decade. Until then I did a lot of things I loved, made important life decisions and had very strong opinions. But underneath all that, I didn’t have a clue who I was and I had no one to show me.
Then the Universe threw me a curve ball or two and I began to find out about the parts of me I didn’t even know existed (and if you want to know how that initially worked out you should read my first book The Men I’ve Almost Dated).
Everyone’s journey is different and I don’t claim for one moment to have all the answers. But I do know one thing for absolute certain – trusting your intuition and knowing it will always lead you in the right direction for you is the key to a sense of groundedness and stability in yourself that can’t be bought or lived vicariously through someone else. Without it, your cheeky monkey mind will rationalise you in and out of almost anything and the fulfillment of your purpose on the planet will be a lot more difficult than it needs to be.
Of course, the ultimate key (as I mentioned to a former student tonight) is to trust yourself always and use your mind to execute strategy – then you can’t lose.
Picture this. One Sunday, you sit down in your kitchen with a friend who, like you, is a psychic channel. Shortly afterwards, over a cup of tea, you agree that you’d both like to do some trance channeling of your spirit guides.
It’s something you’ve both done before but it’s been a while, at least a year or two. Longer for your friend. However, it seems like an opportune moment.
Then you hit the record button on your phone, take a final sip of water, shut your eyes and tune in. For a few moments your mind says things like, “Maybe I can’t do this anymore. Do I need to get my channeling crystal from the office to help me do this? Perhaps I’ve forgotten this stuff. Who am I kidding? Could I ever really do this?”
Then, from somewhere else comes a quiet voice that simply says, “You can do this. Just breathe and allow it to happen. There’s no rush. Just be here and allow it to be.”
So you breathe and relax further. You trust that you still know the way to connect. Then you feel the familiar, telltale constriction in your throat, like there is a huge lump that won’t go away. You remember this feeling because it has happened every time you have trance channeled your guides. When you first began doing it, your body was so resistant that you would gag and the partner you were working with (because you always do this with a partner) would often lean back in alarm as they expected to be vomited over imminently.
You know it is happening.
You can sense your Gatekeeper Guide organising the others off to your left. He is doing crowd control as they all jostle to be the first to come through. He’s good like that; he keeps them in line, most of the time.
You feel the energies of a few of them pass through you. Which one will be first? And then you know. It is the one who wears the pretty dresses and dances barefooted through the streams and grassy hillsides. What will she say?
She begins to speak through you. She has guidance for you and your friend. Your friend asks questions and recognises your guide from the other times when you’ve channeled together. This is because your voice changes when you channel your guides as they each have their own, very unique personality. Many who have watched you channel before also talk of your face changing as you do so. It changes to reflect the guide you are channeling.
You hear what your guide is saying but it’s as if you are off to the side, observing it happen. You are still present, still in the room, but you have stepped aside for a while to allow your guide to bring through the information you seek. It is such a curious process.
Some people might ask, “Is it like an out-of-body experience?” Your answer would be, “No, not quite.”
But it is strange and to someone who is unused to it, you’re sure it would seem rather freaky indeed. But it is real. It is not imagined. And you are not crazy. Remember, if something happens repeatedly, it really is happening.
Another two guides come through in quick succession, each with their own unique style of delivery and focus. Then it is done and you find yourself re-emerging consciously into the present and you open eyes.
You make eye contact with your friend and suddenly you are both laughing. Your guides have such big personalities and they certainly made their presence felt. You both marvel at this skill you have to connect to energetic beings in this way.
Then you eat some food, drink some water and go for a wander around the house to ground yourself back onto the earthly plane before your friend takes her turn at connecting into the energetic realm.
Some people may read this anecdote and dismiss it as the fanciful ramblings of a deluded woman. Others may feel fear because it is a world they know little about. Meanwhile, there will be readers who feel their curiosity aroused and they will feel drawn to know more.
All of these responses are valid and I respect them all because they arise from the experiences of the individual, the cultural and faith-based contexts they’ve been raised within, the perspectives they’ve developed over time and the teachings they have absorbed from others. We are a product of our experiences and our exposures to the world around us.
My purpose in sharing my experience – because this anecdote is from my reality – is to share information about what it’s like to be psychic from my perspective. There are so many of us out there who reside at various points along the intuitive spectrum and I think it is time to shed light on these gifts so we can build understanding and acceptance within ourselves and, in turn, with others.
Above all, my goal is show that you can be a psychic channel, intuitive, work with energy to heal others, see auras or even be an empath. You can be any or all of these things, or have other energetic gifts I haven’t even touched on here. But having these gifts doesn’t mean you are some weird hippie chick. You can be psychic and live in the mainstream world. After all, I do it every day and I invite you to join me.
Lucretia Ackfield is an author, blogger and psychic channel who helps women understand and manage their psychic gifts so they can live their purpose and create positive change. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
