4 Ways to Make Spirit Communication Less Scary
Four years ago, I was terrified of spirit guides, ghosts, negative beings – any spirit, really.
I have spent many a night frozen with fear unable to summon the courage to get out of bed and simply TURN ON THE LIGHT because I sense something in the room, trying to get my attention or communicate with me. Sometimes my heart would beat so fast and all I would hear was the muffled sound of blood pumping really hard around my body as I lay there terrified!
Maybe you’ve had similar experiences. Sometimes those experiences can be real psychic experiences and sometimes our adrenaline and fear kicks in and we begin to imagine things that aren’t there.
For me, fear was the biggest stumbling block on the path of psychic development. Communicating with spirits seemed scary – and I really didn’t want to see scary things.
Spirits Aren’t Spooky
I later learned that communicating with spirits doesn’t have to be frightening. I know because I communicate with spirits all the time. Now it’s not scary – not even a little bit. And this is NOT because I’ve become less of a wimp, it’s because I’ve learned four perspectives/lessons that make communicating with spirits easier. When you know these four things, you can make your experience less frightening:
1. Develop Your Claircognizance, not Your Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is the ability to see spirits. It’s one of the more well-known psychic gifts. There’s nothing wrong with it, but if you’re easily frightened, it’s probably not the best gift to develop intensively.
To reduce a fear of the spirit world, sensitize yourself to your claircognizance. Claircognizance is when you have psychic information just popping into your brain – which is not scary at all. It is very subtle and is often that subtle judgement or assumption about an outcome, that comes into your brain just before you have a thought. To develop claircognizance, try automatic writing (I don’t think anyone can be too scared for automatic writing.) Automatic writing is my favourite method for communicating with spirit. I have an article for beginners here which teaches you how to do it.
Clairsentience is another non-scary way to communicate with spirit. It is all about gut feelings – and no one can be scared of their own gut feelings. Here’s an article I wrote about sensitizing yourself to clairsentience.
As for clairvoyance, it doesn’t HAVE to be that scary either.
I don’t see dead people walking around my neighbourhood – I never have (I don’t see spirits with my bare eyes at all.) When I see deceased spirits, I see them in my mind’s eye. Seeing a spirit in your mind’s eye is not as scary as seeing a dead person walking around.
Now for the second way you can reduce fear when interacting with spirits:
2. Increase Your Level of Control and Sovereignty
You can quickly become more in control of HOW and WHEN you receive information.
Don’t want to see spirits? – Tell your Spirit Guides and Higher Self. Let them know you are not comfortable getting messages through clairvoyance.
Don’t want to be surprised by spirits? – Tell your guides you will tune into them once a day but you don’t want surprise input without you asking for it.
Even when you do see spirits in your mind’s eye, you are in control – you can make the spirit clearer, or less vivid. You can tune it out. You can tell it to go away. You can turn your mind’s eye off and completely ignore it (there may be times when you do need to do this). You can tell your spirit guides not to allow spirits to come through to you when you’re not consciously asking for it. You are essentially in control of your mind’s eye and you can turn off visions. It’s the same with clairaudience (which is the ability to hear spirits.)
When it’s Time to Turn off Psychic Abilities
If you hear voices or see visions that you cannot control, then you really need to know that it is possible to turn it off, and you have to want to. If you’re in a position where you feel like you can’t control what you see/hear/sense, then you need to read this article: How to Switch off Psychic Abilities.
Telling Spirits to Get Lost
Being in control also applies to your space and your home. Do you sense something in your space when it shouldn’t be? Tell it to get the hell out. You can because you’re in control of your energy and your space. Nothing should enter your energy field without your permission. It’s the same with your space. If you are renting or own your space, then intruding energies shouldn’t enter it without permission. The only time they can enter your space and your energy is when you forget you’re in charge and get too scared to boot them out, or when you haven’t consciously set parameters around this. That can happen when you have a weak solar plexus chakra.
You can make prayers and rituals to make it really clear to the unseen world that you are the sovereign of your space and energy.
Here’s one way of doing this:
1. Light a white candle
2. Call on your higher self and spirit guides
3. Visualize putting a bubble around yourself
4. Repeat the affirmation:
“Nothing can enter my space without my permission.”
Say it ten times, as a command.
If you say this over and over to yourself, it builds up your sense of power. Say it with an attitude and even anger if you feel like something is intruding on your space or scaring you. Anger is one step better than feeling helpless. It helps to raise your vibration if you’re in a space of fear.
Now let’s talk about the third way to make the spirit world less frightening…
3. Communicate with Spirit More Often
One way to make communicating with the spirit world less frightening is to do it more often. There comes a point when talking to spirits is a bit like picking up the phone, and it becomes a bit mundane!
In the beginning, I used to get really creeped out because when I tuned into my spirit guides, I used to feel tingling on the sides of my head. Now that has become a commonplace occurrence – it happens a lot when I do readings but I barely notice it now.
You may be creeped out the first time you communicate with spirit, but you definitely won’t be creeped out once you’ve done it 20 times!
4. Don’t Watch Scary Films about Ghosts
One final tip: If you don’t want scary spirit experiences, I advise not watching scary films about ghosts and evil spirits! Those are designed to evoke fear to give you a thrill and so often they have nothing to do with the reality of communicating with spirits. They’re definitely not helpful for reducing fear of the spirit world if you are the type who is easily frightened in that regard (like I am.)
Still have a serious fear of spirits? – Check out this article: How to Overcome a Fear of the Spirit World.
Now I want to hear from you! Are you afraid of spirits or not? Have you had scary experiences?
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Anna,
Can you explain what you mean by saying your mind’s eye? Thanks.
Hi Sylvia,
Your mind’s eye is what you see when you close your eyes. It’s like a movie screen in your head. Try visualizing a big red balloon in your mind – that image will appear in your mind’s eye. At first, it can be difficult to access the mind’s eye, but the more you use it, the easier it becomes.
Does that make sense?
Thanks Anna! This is very helpful!
.-= Darla´s last blog ..Frisky Friday =-.
Hi Anna,
I just wanted to make sure I understood it right because thats exactly what I’ve been experiencing since January (and has scared me a lot!). I mean, I am not clairvoyant but suddenly (after doing a level of Karuna Reiki) I started to see images/shapes when closing my eyes just before falling asleep. I see them just in front of my third eye… So thanks again, your article was really enlightening of what I have been experiencing…
Oh ive had lots of scary experiences. Right from an early age. The one predominant one I had that shut down my abilities for a few years, was in my bedroom I felt this noise around my walls, usually at night, like fingernails scratching, but it wooshed around the room. I thought perhaps it was a rat in my roof but it wasn’t coming from the ceiling, but it was a scurrying sound. Finally I got some *ghostbusters* in and they were creeped out, but managed to clear the energy. I had been given a necklace from tradeaid of a fertility goddess. they linked the energy to the necklace, saying it had been cursed by a witch doctor. they saw a hand coming through a portalway in my wall, a bloodied hand. after they cleared the energy the room completely changed feel and the noise never came back. They said the necklace was clear now but i wasn’t keeping it, I threw it in the sea.
That scared the shit out of me and so I never dabbled again lol
Another thing I want to say on this topic is that people who have been abused in some way, especially in their childhood, can find it hard to tell spirits to go away and believe it will happen because they said so. Because they weren’t able to do it as a child etc. Having to work through being able to protect oneself can be important here.
It is interesting to me that you talk of spirit guides as helpful happy beings floating about ready to give you a helping hand. There are a lot of tortured souls out there with very angry spirit guides whose main purpose is to create havoc and pain and punishment on the human race. Yes, they have the agreement with the being to be there and probably unconscious to it. IF you ever look at a violent person in society and look at there true self, it is not them committing the act, it is a spirit guide of theirs.
Yes there is great healing beings out there also, who do help us as a whole and individually to evolve as human beings as much as we ask of them. But a whole side of a coin is not being addressed.
.-= Forest Aliya´s last blog ..Energetic Healing =-.
Forest – I don’t believe that anyone’s spirit guides can make them do anything, without their collaboration – much less a violent act.
Yes, people can be influenced by the spirits they attract – but essentially, you attract the spirit guides according to your vibration. If you’re depressed or have been low for a while, you can attract negative guides, but according to my experiences, when your vibration raises, you shed those guides and attract spirits who have a higher vibration. It’s all about where you’re at – and the guides can’t make you do anything.
If someone is living in great fear and feels victimized by their own spirit guides, then I would suggest not to develop psychically. It’s not a solid foundation to build on. You need to overcome some fear in your life before you can overcome fear in psychic development. You need to work on raising your vibration in those circumstances, before you start tuning into guidance from the spirit world.
For the record, I am writing not for the tortured souls who live in great fear and commit violent acts. I really don’t think people who have serious psychological or spiritual issues are in a safe position to open up psychically because their vibration is too low. I personally would refuse to teach someone who was in that space. I am writing for the people who sometimes get scared of spirits but those who are of a sound mind.
Hi Kate – Interesting story you wrote. That is a good point you made about people who have been abused as children. I guess how you interact with the spirit world will be similar to how you are with people..if you let people walk all over you, you’re probably not going to exert much control over your energetic space either.
Thanks so much this helped me alot. When i was little and taking a bath or usinng the restroom i used to feel tingling all over my body. i was so scared that i hurried up and got the heck out of there and hid under my covers. now i understand.
I have been looking for this type of information for a while now. I have been having trouble controlling the communication I get – both from living people and from spirit. I don’t normally consider myself scared of spirit, but I realized that what I was really scared of was loosing the communication ability because I dismissed it for a while and things got “quiet”. Now I feel more confident in being able to reconnect, and to use the information more productively.
THANKS!
Hi Anna
I’ve read your blog but i want to know that what is the meaning of Claircognizance, Clairvoyance and i want to know that what are the procedure to communicate with spirits
Thanks & Regards
Habeeb
I want to know what is higher self and spirit guides
I’ve have only 1 really scary experience. I was only like 10 so it was really scary to me and I am 14 now. Well in the middle of the night I woke up and saw something. I started to wake up more and become more aware to my surroundings when I saw that it was a spirit. I was staring at it in complete terror with half my face under the covers. It was an old man,glasses,mustache,hair, and I saw that he was wearing a buttoned down shirt and i kinda saw the pants. His lower legs were a little more white and blurry. But he did look really real, clear, and detailed. he wasn’t paying attention to me, just staring at the walls. He then disappeared and reappeared next to my bed and then did the same thing again and reappeared in the middle of my room again. It was very early in the morning with a couple more hours left and I told myself i can’t just lie here all night staring at this spirit in terror. God only knows what will happen. So I decided on the count of 3 I would sprint out of my room into my mom and dads room. I started to count to 3 slowly and then right when I said 3 I jumped out of bed and ran sooo fast but i did notice as I ran past him I saw him turn his head really fast and he watched me run out of the room. While I was in my bed I was also pinching myself, closing my eyes, shaking my head with my head under the covers and he was still there. Not my imagination. When I went into my parents room I just went to sleep there and don’t know where he went after that. I never saw this spirit ever again and this is the only ghostly experience I’ve had. I think I lost my sixth sense a little bit and i wish to regain it cuz now that i am older i have a great interest to communicate with spirits but I do want to have control and i don’t really like seeing them. thats what scares me. And please reply telling me why you think he never came back and why maybe he showed his self to me? Also do you think he showed himself or I was just able to see him. is there a difference? I do wish to know who he was and why he came but the only way to do that is to somehow communicate with him which i think i am too scared to do. Well, Thanks for this article!
I’m terrified of spirits, and I watch Paranormal State and Psychic Kids episodes over and over to try to better realize that spirits will not harm me. I am 14, between the ages where the brain starts “rewiring” itself (12 and 21 I think) which I learned in National Geographic. It says that the brain picks up more and more information, and you can “readjust” things if you practice. I’m becoming more of a psychic and I’m always thinking “I’m a psychic” and I think it’s helping a bit.
I saw a shadow person dash by a light in my garage, at 11pm when I was cleaning up a craft I did earlier, and he left a shadow on the opposite wall. I WAS TERRIFIED BUT SO EXCITED! It was amazing. I’ve looked up shadow people and I’ve read more about spirits. I now have realized that they’re basically humans-just no physical body. They are as curious and afraid as we are of THEM. They may hide because they’re hurt, scared, might not even know they’re dead, or might even not know how to get to the “other side”. I tried to contact him once, and he was gently pushing one of the punching bags on the stand, and it was rocking back and forth. That’s all I got from him, because I was nervous and had only been there for 5 minutes. Another experience I had was after a friend died in 5th grade, I heard my name whispered in my ear in the middle of class. The last experience I’ll share is this: I was in a cathedral with my father, he was somewhere at the altar, fixing something. We were alone in the church. I was just about to walk up the stairs to the choir loft, when a spirit man, in kahki pants and a blue dress shirt walked up the stairs, and faded away before me. I’m going to try to contact by automatic writing with my other sort of psychic friend soon! Thanks for your advice about spirits on this site!
Hi Anna,
The one i remember is when i was 9 my sister was looking at the window and begged me to look so i did. I seen a woman that look just like my mother. Same coat my mom have and hair color and eye color. i ask my mom if she had a twin but my mom said no. when she look outside their was no one foot prints but her own. even since than i seen or hear spirits talking to me or about me. some scary me at times.
thank you for you info it helped out alot.
i’m 23, and have no one to talk to about being a psychic i thought i was going crazy for the past 5 years now. reading what you put about not being afraid and such has really helped. thanks im saving certain things to look at later
Hi Anna, nice article. I enjoyed reading it as I do many of your articles.
One thing I learned early on in my own spiritual development was to simply NOT push myself beyond my own comfort zone while learning new subjects. If something “creeped” me out, then I would simply leave it out of my spiritual studies/practice at that time. I found that as my study and practice base strengthened, I could approach that same “creepy” subject again years, or months later and be all ready for it. One example here is communication with spirit guides…for me,many years ago, just the thought of this kind of communication turned me completely off. However, within just a few short years of continued spiritual growth, guess what I was doing?!?! Yup! Communicating with my own spirit guides! Never say never, right?
Also, over the years, I’ve learned that sometimes I just need a break from all my spiritual studies, and practice. I need to get completely away from them, take a “vacation”, and concentrate on other things in life. This vacation is usually a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks long. I found I needed these breaks more when I was a newbie first starting into my studies. I think this was because my being was acclimatizing(?) itself to new experiences. I find, now, that I rarely need them. But anyway, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break from spiritual studies, and one will usually find they have a fresher mind that is eager to get back to work when one returns.
Peace!
Hey!
So i recently visited a very wwll known psychic. He was 100% right on everything. It was quite amazing. Anywhoo i am very jealous of his abilities. He looks so happy when hes reading. It was rly refreshing. Anywhoo i believe myself to be a lil above average w intuitive…ways… So i asked him if i could develope his abilities to see spirits. His response was “you did when you were a kid.” i just dont recall. I just want to know anything that can help. I meditate. I am very positive and spiritual. And i ask help from my angels and guides. (sry for the length)
Hi Anna,
Very informative and interesting site you have. I do have something to tell you and I hope you can give me some advice.
I know I have always had an intuitive mind and always very open to spirits. I never paid much attention in the past. But lately, since my very close grandmother passed away, I have been calling to her to give me a sign that she hears me asking for her advice and to help me through bad times and that I miss her and my grandfather dearly. She did.
I was sleeping so soundly (very unusual for me)when at around 3:45am, I just opened my eyes and stared right at the top of the tv set which holds 3 different lights(I sleep on the couch). First light plugs in the wall, it’s a bright white light. The second is run by batteries and is a rope blue butterfly light. The third is a battery run toy bear that changes different colours (this is the bear I gave my grandmother for her to look at, she had alzimeirs and I looked after her for many years, everyday). They all went off exactly at the same time. Then turned back on, then all off again. I was scared but then I realized it must be my nana letting me know she hears me.Then I actually had thoughts in my head of her talking to me and telling me to do a few things for her.
My question to you is, What the heck was this? Can I really communicate with spirits? Are they actually hearing me?
Thanks so much Anna and sorry for such a long reply.
My aunt & uncle passed away both were found wed morning by my cousin. They both have been dead for two days..they passed away sun found on wed. But there spirit is coming to me ..I’ve seen spirit’s before never scared me but some reason this one scares me to death why….something does not feel right….
Hi Anna, I have recently started following your blog and seriously I find this more informative than data available over the web.Really appreciate it. I am following the exercises tha you have suggested to explore the scope and vision of mind eye.Today, after 5 consecutive years of practice, I saw some letters and numbers(clear though),…just wanted to find out, does this make any sense..
recently i have moved back in the home i grew up in. my dad passed over in jan 1998.at times i think i see movement slight shadow.how do i connect with that movement.i am 61 and no-nonsense person.how do i find out if its real or not.
I’ve seen shadows out of the corner of my eye since i was little, but always dismissed it.I believe this is due to the fact my family is a medical family and work with the elderly/dying. My mom loves fortune tellers, me not a big fan, but she’s been to a few and each one asked/told her she has a daughter who can “see.” Still i dismissed this until a recent encounter where my mind is blown and I’m scarred.
So I am taking out the trash like I do every night and the light flashes on. I would normally dismiss the shadow i saw due to the light flashing next to me(motion detecting lights), but this was a very different figure then i see usually. It was on the railing of my patio deck and i could see it wearing a dress and it seemed female. I took a step towards it and it turned around and it smiled that joker smile(from Batman)and looked down to the ground(a 20 ft drop). And when I blinked it was gone.
It was clearly not human but that did not stop me from rushing to see if anything fell below. Of course nothing, but i got the feeling that thing committed suicide by jumping. But all this took place in seconds, but i felt a lot of things. Fear(my usual “OMG i saw something that’s not real” fear), fear for the “person”, sadness, shock, bittersweet-ness. I’m confused and scared and to get over the fear wish to socialize more with things around me(school) what can i do without looking silly?