Since my post about Conjuring a Familiar, I’ve received a
lot of asks/messages in regards to Spirit Work mostly to the tune of: How?
And unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. There are certainly ways to improve
(and I’ll offer a “How to get started” below), but some never quite get a
grasp. I was not born with the Gift, but was granted it through a rather
unpleasant event that I don’t recommend to anyone. Still I had to dedicate
myself to practice. That will be the key word for today: Practice. Continuous practice: for it is very much a “use it or
lose it” art. For instance, I’ve been a little lax in recent months and while I
can still communicate, it is something I have to focus on. At the height of my
practice, I couldn’t go anywhere without seeing or overhearing the Dead (or
other Spirits), but now I tune in only when need be. Which sounds more
convenient, but the less you tune in, the harder it is each time. I’m trying to
get into a more regular schedule, because it is so imperative to my practice, and I’ve recently been weighed
down with the more practical aspects. I’m working on it.

Anyway – where to begin? Working with the Dead isn’t
something that you can just magically do. Sure, there are things that can help,
but if you want to develop your abilities without the need for outside
influence, it takes work and patience. As I mentioned above, the way I came
about sight was of outside influence and was an extremely unpleasant ordeal
that I did not volunteer for, and while it did open my Eyes, it was I who kept
them open and it was I who laid the ground work. I was on my way, fate just
intervened. Don’t do what I did. Instead, start where I started: The Graveyard.

The Graveyard is a particularly suited playground for Spirit
Work as it is host to the Dead Energy, as well as a Nexus, a Crossroads. While
you can work on the art anywhere the dead roam, the Cemetery is the perfect
ground to lay the foundation – and not only that, but the Cemetery has proven
to be (I have found) where the more peaceful Dead reside. Sure, you get your
fair share of vagrants, wanderers and troublemakers, but it doesn’t have that
pain and sickness that hospitals possess (with their confused, often irrational
spirits) or the possibly malicious inclinations that “haunted houses” have.
Funeral homes are too heavy with mourning and battlefields can be volatile. The
cemetery proves to be most suited and it is where I honed my abilities.

To begin, go to the cemetery and find a peaceful place.
While there may be a few lingering Spirits by day, night is when they come in
droves and I recommend making the pilgrimage then. Once you’ve located a
fitting place, sit. Ask the Spirits to come to you and keep a close note on the
feelings or thoughts that you have. If you’d like, you can bring a journal to
record them as they happen, assuming you’ve chosen a well-lit cemetery. Spend
awhile sitting, speaking if it feels right, then say your goodbyes a leave. Do
the same for two more nights, on the third night review your notes and connect
which feeling or idea appeared each night – this will be your way of knowing
when Spirit is present. You’re little gauge. For me, even when I do not see
them, I can tell they are about by a tingling along my palms and down my spine.
Some people experience a heaviness or the unshakeable feeling of being watched.
It’s a very individual thing and finding out what your “tell” is, is the first
step.

After you decipher what the feeling is, continue to go to
the cemetery. It needn’t be every night, but a few times a week, exploring the
nature of the feeling. The more time you spend tuning to the Dead energy, the
easier it becomes to recognize and decipher. That’s the key. Surround yourself
with the Dead and you will better understand them. Inevitably, you will also
come upon a rather unsavory spirit – or one that does not want you near. This,
too, has a recognizable feeling and one more universally recognized: a sinking
feeling in the pit of your stomach. If – or rather when – this occurs, simply
leave the area and apologize for intruding. If the feeling persists, ask them
to leave you be. If they remain, cast them out formally. Very few will persist
after asking them to leave, but there is always a possibility.

Once you get the hang of it, it becomes quite easy. You can
use cards, pendulums, and other forms of divination to converse, if you wish,
but you can also use that handy-dandy gut of yours. To most living people,
Spirits do not communicate in words – instead they impart emotion, ideas.
Mediums often speak with the Dead, but very rarely is it the only form of communication. The Dead can
show you. Let them.

In regards to Sight, it’s tricky. When most people hear “I
see dead people” (…well, they think of little Haley Joel, but then…) they think
it is done with the eyes. And of course, why wouldn’t you? It’s Sight! That’s
how we see, after all, isn’t it? With the eyes? No. It isn’t. We see with the mind. Without having to go into how
light and vision works, or go into the anatomy of the eye, know that sight is
the mind’s interpretation of light. Sight (with a capital S) is the mind’s
interpretation of energy – in this case, Spirit. This is where things get a
little more complicated. How I See
feels almost as though it is through feedback. You do not project a mental
image onto the environment, but you project your mind or energy and that which
it does not “pierce” is reflected. Almost like echolocation. It is these
signals that are reflected that your brain interprets.

Image a flashlight in the darkness: You train your flashlight
on a tree. The light illuminates the trunk, but the rest seems to vanish into
the unseen. The light reflecting off of the tree is taken into the eye and
interpreted. The same process can be sight for Sight – only instead of interpreting
light, you are interpreting energy. It is that reflection of your own energy
off of another that your mind interprets.

Of course, with that being said, that’s how it works for me. I can’t say that all experience it
the same way, I can only expand on that which I experience.

To develop Sight takes time, it takes patience and (again)
it takes practice. The better you are at tuning into the dead with your
intuition, the easier it will be to See. This is why you should not attempt to
rush things: yes, you might end up being able to See, but for how long and how
well? Do not rush. From the time I began going to the cemetery to the time I
was able to see took years. Literally, years. Between two and four. It takes
patience, but it also shows dedication. So long as you remain dedicated and are patient with yourself, things will come together! 

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