As you get interested in a certain spiritual direction and you want to buy books or take classes, shop around. First up with the books go to the library and see what they have available. Read the ones they have on offer. If you find a book that is invaluable to you and you have limited resources to buy a copy, try the second-hand bookshops. A lot of good books are out of print now so try there first. I found a book which is absolutely magic for me and it was published in 1947. Check out the books at charity stores, these you can pick up for a few dollars. Another tip is rather than go and buy a lot of books, then get them home and find they are not what you are looking for, ask friends who have the same interests if they will loan you any good books or if they have read any books they can recommend. It all takes time and money, and when money is short there will still be a way to keep learning. If you have the Internet you can go to www.amazon.com and have a look at the book reviews and any other books on related subjects in the links. This will give you an overview on what others think about the book you have chosen. The web has a minefield of free spiritual information try www.spiritweb.org. Everything you can imagine with the latest articles from well-known authors. The books you are meant to read will fall into your lap, one or maybe two people will recommend a book then maybe offer it to you to read. Books and the net are a great way to start out. They give you information you can digest in your own time and you can see which direction you would like to go in.
Protection is the white light you hear about that people put around themselves; this is to protect their spirit body from anything negative.
You should do this when you meditate as well, you can imagine a white egg of brilliant white light with you enclosed inside.
You can call in the white light of Christ. I used to do this in the beginning; I would see god standing above me and beaming white light down over me before I went to sleep.
If you can’t see white light around you what about blue, it lets in some of the other colours of the rainbow, even gold if you like, any of the colours of the rainbow are fine as they all use white as a base. Black is definitely out, make it something bright and cheery, something to lift your spirits.
You could always mix and match with your mood. If you need a bit of love and tenderness think about pink, warm and comforting. Feeling a bit sad, bright sunny yellow will pick you up. Blue is a good colour for pain relief, cool and soothing. Green is for healing, red for some energy.
These colours are for emotions and physical healing.
Anyway protection is important, as is the need to be physically protected so is the need to be spiritually protected. Protection keeps you clear of negative spirits.
Meditation is a great start, it calms the chatter of the mind, to let you get some peace and quiet. Can you say you hear nothing when you shut your eyes, or do you have mind chatter, groceries to get, school tomorrow, arguments you have had, plotting revenge, love thoughts…
It may take a while to get into the habit of meditation, the easiest way I have found to start is to listen to a guided tape. Listening to someone’s voice guide you into meditation or finding a meditation in a book and recording it on a tape yourself. If it doesn’t feel right change it a bit, make sure you are comfortable with it.
You can get a heap of different tapes now for different purposes, you can get them for clearing and balancing Chakras, clearing negativity, manifesting a certain situation, releasing stress, feeling calm, just about anything. These tapes and CD’s can be bought in New Age shops, music stores or over the net, more and more places have them, look at the library, for books and tapes also.
After a while you may like to make up your own meditation place to be. I found after a while I wanted and needed more quiet time than the tape gave me, so I remembered a meditation that my friend used when I attended a psychic development class and I used that. In my mind I made myself a lovely park setting with flowers, lawns, paths, trees and a park bench to sit on. This was under a dome, which looked out into the stars, inside was sunny, but outside the universe spread out before me. This was a place I could sit in quiet, meet my guides or just relax and look at the stars, safe and protected. So you can have anything you like, a place that you have been to where you were at peace or a place you make up in your head with everything your heart desires. A place like the beach, woods, bush, a room or even another planet, make it your own and let your imagination run wild. Have some fun with it but remember to make it a place where you will feel safe, peaceful, calm and relaxed.
Now first to relax to go into your meditation, if you have found a way that feels comfortable and is easy to use good. If you still haven’t really got a clue, you can relax down by telling yourself a few different things.
1. Count down from 5 to 0, relaxing different groups of muscles as you go, giving each group a number like head and neck number 1, shoulders and arms number 2, keep going down when you get to 0, the 0 is what encompasses the whole body.
2.Tensing and releasing of each of the muscle groups in the body until they are all relaxed.
3. Taking 3 deep breathes slowly, in and then out and saying to yourself “deeper and deeper relaxed” after each one, or “I am” as you breath in and “relaxed” as you breath out, keep doing this until you do feel relaxed. Meditation just to calm the mind without any added extras helps.
Meditation is a good starting point in spiritual awakening, even if you have had things happening to you, when you start practising meditation you will find messages get clearer and easier to receive. This is also a time to contact spirit guides when you are ready. Even 10 minutes a day to calm the mind and refresh the brain, if you miss a day, you will start to feel like the fitness junkie who misses out on training after a while.
Meditation is a good practice to have. It gives the brain a rest for a few moments and helps it to clear your head.
To get started you may like to take a class or two, here are a few hints. When you go to buy something like a washing machine you shop around which is what you should do when you are looking for spiritual classes. Classes are springing up everywhere these days, catering for a variety of different spiritual practices. These can be found in your local newspaper in the public notices, spiritual magazines, leaflets on notice boards and on the net and word of mouth.
Like in every type of business, there are people who will take advantage of you. Ring up and find out if they are local, what the course is about, who is running the course, what you get for your money, as in handouts, manuals etc, how long the course will run for, if you receive a certificate at the end and what you can do with the qualifications. See what type of qualifications the teacher has and how many years they have been practicing what they are doing. Some people have life experience rather than the Certificates.
If the course is not being run locally, ring up and get information sent out. Is this what you are interested in learning?
Qualifications are necessary for some courses you take, specially if you wish to teach or run workshops at a later stage yourself. People who have a natural ability do not usually give out Certificates.
Check around to get value for money, maybe take a short course with them and see if they are the teacher for you, especially if you are going to spend a large sum of money on a course with them. You are not in school now. If the teacher is not the one for you, you don't have to go, different teachers have different teaching styles. There are correspondence and Internet courses available, as well as the normal hands on, face to face. Talk to people, if you can, who have done this class before and see how they found it.
Knowledge of any kind is worthwhile. For the time and money spent if you get at least one relevant point to help you on your way. Some people throw money away by trying to get there quicker, but it all comes back to you. Money doesn't buy spiritual growth it comes from within. A lot of money for a course does not mean it is worthwhile doing, you may not get what you pay for.
There are many classes out there and everyone offers something different. As you progress, some classes you will not need. Many of you will be going through a relearning process, this is when what you are being taught is very familiar and comes naturally. Have you perhaps had these abilities in another life.
If you are on the net check out the www.egroups.com community. Groups of like minded people helping each other. The classes you need will come to your attention if by chance.
A one liner - Consciousness: the annoying time between naps.