Do you meditate? If so, do you struggle with things like focus, finding the time, or falling asleep? Are you interested in learning how to meditate? Morgan Dix of AboutMeditation.com and the OneMind Meditation Podcast shares some of his experiences and offers tips!
Pssst… Want to leave voice feedback? Use theSpeakPipe Link!
Carole J. Obley, of Soulvisions, LLC – is a professional spiritual medium from Pittsburgh, PA, who has done thousands of readings for people seeking confirmation, guidance, and healing from the spirit world. She has been the subject of newspaper articles, spoken on both radio and TV and is the author of three books on mediumship and healing. She has also published articles on spiritual and metaphysical subjects and taught workshops at Lilydale, N.Y., the largest US center for Spiritualism. She has produced audio programs to help people with spiritual development and teaches three levels of classes in intuition and mediumship. You can find Carole’s website atSoulVisions.net.
In this episode:
Intro and Carole’s Bio :37
What’s it like doing so many phone readings and connecting with people over the radio? 3:50
When did Carole first discover she had the ability to communicate with the spirit world? 6:30
What types of messages from the spirit world do spirits typically want to communicate with us? 9:33
Messages of forgiveness 11:30
Let’s dig into Carole’s book, Soul to Soul Connections: Comforting Messages from the Spirit World 13:19
Carole gets details of past lives in her readings 13:19
Tips on mindful meditation/”timeless state” and my own “A-Ha” moment! 18:37
Eckhart Tolle 18:37
Avoiding getting lost in the noise and details of our 21st century technology and busy-ness 22:50
Chaos/Negativity/the shift 27:10
Addiction and Recovery 29:02
12-Step Recovery and Spiritual Growth 30:28
Carole’s most memorable readings and evidence 34:25
What is the spirit world like and what happens when we die?Also, the “life review” seems to be the ultimate Elf on the Shelf! 40:43
Carole also gets communication from pets and animals from the Other Side! 48:31
Carole’s courses on mediumship and spirituality 52:08
The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!
Shirley MacLaine has written several books, but the autobiographicalOut On a Limb (1983)is the first book that really goes “out there” as she lets you follow her search for inner truth. If you not only go back a bit in time, but also think about the massive career that Shirley had built by this moment, it’s not hard to understand that she had a lot to lose by “coming out” to the public about her enlightenment. It’s not really a short read, and it’s not light and fluffy either. But I suspect many Big Séance readers can relate to much of what is in this book.
There are a few initial chance meetings that introduce Shirley to topics like reincarnation, mediumship, and aliens/UFOs. I found it interesting to hear her talk about her hunger for learning and finding information through books. She couldn’t stop reading and searching for answers. This is how I felt when I began what I’ve often called my “spiritual shift” several years ago. This blog has been a continuation of this shift. It took what seems like forever for Shirley to really accept some of these concepts. There were times she was downright skeptical and wouldn’t just take one person’s explanation or even one personal experience as proof. And the biggest moment that I could relate to happened after spending two and a half heavy and dramatic weeks in Peru with a friend and teacher. She became overwhelmed. The spiritual truths and learning was all too much and was happening so fast. I flagged this paragraph in the book.
“I spent the next few days walking and thinking. Sometimes David came with me, sometimes not. Sometimes I wanted to go home, back to America, back to the familiarity of my old world with its fast-paced involvement, its clanking relationships, its unrealistic romance, all the rushing with no seeming purpose–the events, the news, the arts, movies, hits, flops, sweat, hard work, black humor, competition, new fashions, profits, color TV, and success. I missed it all. I was used to it. I had survived in its colorful confusion, and I missed it. But I didn’t want to be unfulfilled in it anymore either. I watched the woman with no teeth wash her clothes by stamping on them with her feet. They came out clean. The clothes, I mean. (Probably the feet, too.) That’s what I wanted to do with my life… stamp on it until it came out clean. Could I go back to my old world now? Would I be two people? Was I more than one person anyway? I stopped and laughed right there. That was the whole lesson, wasn’t it? I was all the people I had ever lived. I had probably been through versions of this brain drain more than a few times before.”
How many of us have experienced this? I know I did. I still do sometimes. Well according to her book, it didn’t take long for her to snap out of the confusion. You might say that since then she’s been one of the few Hollywood faces of the paranormal/spiritual. Hersitehas the following as a part of their mission.
“The objective of our center is to afford visitors of all ages the ability [to] explore and interact with the myriad of alternative views relating to Spirit, Mind, and Body. These are vast realities that range from the very human concerns of health, well being, aging, and alternative therapies, to universal topics of extraterrestrials, UFOs and phenomenon, to our delicate environment, to life after life, and the spiritual truths of the Divine that each of us is striving to connect with.”
For those in a younger generation that may only know her as playing the role of Martha Levinson on the hit PBS series Downton Abbey(AhhhhMAZING show!), below is Shirley’s Oscar acceptance speech for the amazing film, Terms of Endearmentin 1984, a year after Out On a Limb was released. In it, she makes a joke about past lives, but she also talks about there being no such thing as accidents and that we all manifest what we want. I love it and I’ve watched it several times. Just look at the amazing talents and personalities that are shown. The ending of her speech is classic. This video started me out on one of those endless labyrinths of addictive videos that kept me from sleeping. I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that this same all-night obsession has happened in the past withEsther Williamsand Gloria Swanson. Anyway, view at your own risk.
Unfortunately, Shirley has most recently been in the news after her daughter, Sachi Parker, wrote and released a bookLucky Me: My Life With — and Without — My Mom, Shirley MacLaine. In the book, Parker apparently claims that Shirley was an absentee mom.
Do they have to be different? Are you both? Neither?
Next question.
How did your upbringing or early life experience lead you to where you are now and how you classify yourself?
If you’re wondering what brought this on, bear with me and I’ll attempt to explain. Sometimes I get going on these things and I wonder if I’m even being coherent. In recent weeks I’ve gotten a few comments here, mostly polite, from people who I would consider “religious”. For the most part, these comments have shared concerns that spirit communication is from the Devil or evil. I apparently need to find God… which is weird, because I feel like I have a pretty close relationship with him, actually. I have no intention of censoring these comments, providing they stay respectful. And just to be clear, I have comments set to be approved mainly due to the fact that I have students out there. They’re free to read, but they don’t need to comment. 🙂
In one of the comments, the reader discussed how she was once into “the occult” (a term that is SO misunderstood and is often confused with “cult”), but now she’s Christian. It was suggested that I repent and “seek God, rather than demonic spirits.”
Well… I realize it is dangerous to go here, but I’m going to. As soon as I read the comment discussed above, I couldn’t help but think about how my path has been the opposite of hers. And, I suppose, we both would see each others paths as backwards. I grew up and spent a LOT of time in a Southern Baptist Church. My sister and I were the third generation of our family to go to this church. By the time I was in high school, I was a staff musician and was getting some great experience. But it was also around this time that I learned some disappointing things that were going on in the congregation. Not only that, but nationally there was a lot of controversy going on with the Southern Baptist Convention spreading and teaching hate. Ellen Degeneres had come out of the closet and so of course they boycotted everything having to do with ABC and Disney (their parent company). Ring a bell? People can be so very hateful in the name of God… and they’ll follow anyone who refers to themselves as a “pastor” or “preacher”. So I think my family determined that there was more love and acceptance at home than in the church. But I decided to stay until I left for college, gritting my teeth the whole time… and I made that decision for one reason only… music. In college I worked in two or three different churches as a staff musician and for a year was a director of music. I’ve been known to say that the only thing I got out of these church experiences was music, which has ended up being a huge part of my life, but that’s not exactly true. There were many people who helped raise and support me in my hometown church, people who I have lots of love and respect for. There were many nice people who I worked with in college. But… you can lose a lot of yourself in organized religion. And most definitely, not everything shouted from a church pulpit is good… or even true, for that matter.
Around 5 years ago I began what I refer to as my “spiritual shift”. I am so much closer to God now than I ever was before then… and I don’t regret leaving organized religion. I don’t think anyone is ever truly enlightened… and I definitely have my flaws (oh boy, that’s another blog post), but I’ve certainly come a long way since then. It’s like my eyes are opened now. I can’t imagine going back to a time where I knew nothing about a spirit guide… or meditation… or energy, or the fact that we’re all loved, no matter what and no one is judged! And… I can’t believe there was a time when “ghosts” were just people wearing bedsheets on Halloween. Aren’t we doing our children an injustice by teaching them that there is a physical land up in the sky covered with clouds and angel wings where only some of us go? I remember praying a lot growing up… begging to not go to the fiery place where the red guy with horns would torture you. And if we’re teaching kids that to get them to behave (Jesus on the shelf?), then we have serious issues. To me, closing my mind and going back to a world where dogma is kept alive to keep leaders of churches and religious organizations in power would be a giant leap backwards. I know too much now. And spirit communication? I’ve yet to have a negative experience. Why wouldn’t we want to learn more? (Side note. Check out MOSS’s two investigations [HERE andHERE] of a church that DID want to know more. Cool experience!)
So… I know everyone has their own path. I get that. I know very little about these readers other than their “religious” comments. They very well may be the nicest and sweetest people one could meet. But… how does one respond? Do you smile and just move on? Do you write up a blog post about it? 😉 Am I even being coherent? Am I going to Hell? Care to start a discussion?
If you’re like me, you think of yourself as a pretty spiritual person. Though I have many flaws, I am one who likes to work toward being as enlightened as possible. I’ve written many times about the “spiritual shift” that I went through around five years or so ago. Since then, along with the topics that you read about frequently on this blog, I’ve read about and tried my hand at things like channeling, meditation, astral travel, automatic writing, manifesting, etc.
I mean no disrespect to some of the blogs I read or to spiritual leaders and authors out there, and I kind of feel funny posting this at all. But… let’s all be honest with ourselves. Do you get frustrated when you read material by psychics or spiritual leaders and realize that many of them have conflicting beliefs, stories, or statements? For example, one may say that I’ll see all of my former pets on the other side. Another says no. One says we can reincarnate as an animal. Another says no. One says when I die “the light” stays with me for a certain number of hours after my funeral. If I stay too long and miss my light then I’m doomed to be earthbound until I catch someone else’s. One says there’s a bridge in that light, but another says it’s a tunnel. And yet another says there is no light at all. When we pass, is there one big afterlife or are there different levels that we’ll be placed in according to how enlightened we are? Do we have 100% free will in this life or did we plan and script it all before we got here? And this next one drives me nuts. There is a popular book about auras and chakras out there. Well… the author no longer supports the information in the book, or even the idea that auras and chakras exist at all.
And here is the inspiration for this post. Many wise and spiritually enlightened people refer to themselves or others as being “lightworkers”, “mystical travelers”, or “mission-life entities”. I’m not sure if these are just different names for the same thing, but there is a book that I’m reading now that tends to be aimed toward people who accept the mystical traveler role. I’m not feeling the call to accept these positions so I feel a bit guilty. Or maybe since I feel I could never live up to or fit the description of a “mystical traveler” I just feel like I’m not a member of the club… and so why finish the book? Also, I’m confused. Do you accept these positions in life or on the other side before an incarnation? How does one know if they have been granted one of these titles? (Clearly, none of these belong to me or I wouldn’t be asking.) Is this something you choose to be? And if so, does one make this decision in life or before getting here?
Alright, I know there are too many question marks in this post, but bear with me for just a few more. There have been a few times in the last year or so where I’ve been in conversations with spiritual people, many who I respect and look up to. Sometimes I get corrected or told how something is or isn’t, even though there is clearly conflicting ideas out there. Is all of this spiritual wisdom coming from the same place and just interpreted differently? Or… is this wisdom just strong beliefs and opinions that are formed like anything else?
Even though it’s sad for me to think, my ego sometimes wonders if some of this information is just made up.
Okay, rant over. I need to get rid of this nasty aura and meditate. 😉
It was the year 2008. My family and I had already been bitten by the Ghost Hunters (T.A.P.S.) bug, and I remember many nights watching Crossing Over with John Edward before bed in my old condo. Other than always having a love for a good scary movie, that was pretty much the extent of my paranormal life.
A few years earlier an ex had inspired me to start reading the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. Reading was something I absolutely never did unless I was getting a grade for it, and I could count every book I’d read for pleasure my whole life on one hand and still have a few fingers left. I agreed to borrow the first book just to humor them. I absolutely fell in love with it, which led to me finishing the entire series of eight books (and rumor has it there is a ninth in the works). I was shocked to find that I was becoming obsessed with reading.
Now, back to 2008. I was walking through the bookstore (RIP Borders) and was struggling to find more fiction titles to add to my “to be read” shelf. On a bargain shelf next to the checkout I found James Van Praagh’s Ghosts Among Us and decided since it was cheap it was worth the try. O… M… G…
Seventy-some books later, most of them from the spiritual or paranormal genre, I look back and realize it probably isn’t any more mind-blowing than many of the other books I’ve read since, but it was the first, and it really kick started what I’ve been calling my “spiritual shift”. I loaned the book to my mother, who loved it as well. I have since loaned it to a few other people… and when I didn’t get it returned I went out and replaced it to put it on my shelf again (I’ve since created the “I am selfish with my books and don’t loan them out” rule. Don’t worry, I’m sure this rule will end when they halt the production of physical books…don’t get me started…or once I have to buy another book shelf or two.)
From the back of the book…
From a very young age James Van Praagh was aware of a dimension that most of us cannot see, and he has dedicated his life to explaining it to the rest of us. The New York Times bestseller Ghosts Among Us takes us on an incredible journey into the spirit world that brings to light one of our greatest mysteries – what happens to us after we die?
Alright, here we go… second post for The Big Séance.
This evening as I lie in bed I’ll begin my next book. It is called TALKING TO THE DEAD: KATE AND MAGGIE FOX AND THE RISE OF SPIRITUALISM by Barbara Weisberg. I’ve read many books on talking to the dead and several include and discuss the Fox sisters. This is the first book that I’ll read that is entirely focused on the sisters and the rise of spiritualism.
Kate and Maggie Fox were young girls who are widely credited for really kicking off the movement of Spiritualism in the mid to late 1800s in New York state. They were one of the first to attempt to communicate with spirits with a system of “rapping” (knocking) on surfaces inside the home. They eventually developed a system of “yes” and “no” answers and even spelling out messages (even though it was time consuming and tired spirits out). People came from all over to witness it and they became famous for that time. Apparently they were caught red handed hoaxing at least some of their paranormal experiences as the years went by and they felt pressure to put on a show… but most Spiritualists believe that for the most part they were really communicating with the other side.
All of this led to a period in time that I’ve always been a little obsessed with and would love to visit in a time machine (providing someone could guarantee I’d make it safely back to my iphone, DVR, Keurig brewer, etc.) Home circles and séances began to be popular. People began looking within to realize they had some mediumistic abilities… and of course some faked it too. 🙂 And of course, ouija boards or talking boards (which I don’t promote) came from this period of time as well. It sounds SO exciting to me.
Really, without even considering the fact that it is “2012” (which I have issues with… that’s another post), I think a lot of people believe that we’re experiencing another Spiritual movement right now… or at least a shift of some kind. People are becoming more intuitive and learning to choose love over fear or power. And… I believe people are becoming more and more open to the concept of there being no death… life continues. AND, there are only about eleventy-six paranormal or ghost shows of some kind on TV at all times. Then throw in the hundreds of paranormal investigation groups that are out there… and the number grows every day.
From dictionary.com…
Spiritualism
1. the belief or doctrine that the spirits of the dead, survivingafter the mortal life,
can and do communicate with the living,especially through a person (a medium)
particularlysusceptible to their influence.
2. the practices or phenomena associated with this belief.
Do you meditate? If so, do you struggle with things like focus, finding the time, or falling asleep? Are you interested in learning how to meditate? Morgan Dix of AboutMeditation.com and the OneMind Meditation Podcast shares some of his experiences and offers tips!
Carole gets details of past lives in her readings 13:19
Shirley MacLaine has written several books, but the autobiographical Out On a Limb (1983) is the first book that really goes “out there” as she lets you follow her search for inner truth. If you not only go back a bit in time, but also think about the massive career that Shirley had built by this moment, it’s not hard to understand that she had a lot to lose by “coming out” to the public about her enlightenment. It’s not really a short read, and it’s not light and fluffy either. But I suspect many Big Séance readers can relate to much of what is in this book. 
For those in a younger generation that may only know her as playing the role of Martha Levinson on the hit PBS series Downton Abbey (AhhhhMAZING show!), below is Shirley’s Oscar acceptance speech for the amazing film, Terms of Endearment in 1984, a year after Out On a Limb was released. In it, she makes a joke about past lives, but she also talks about there being no such thing as accidents and that we all manifest what we want. I love it and I’ve watched it several times. Just look at the amazing talents and personalities that are shown. The ending of her speech is classic. This video started me out on one of those endless labyrinths of addictive videos that kept me from sleeping. I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that this same all-night obsession has happened in the past with Esther Williams and Gloria Swanson. Anyway, view at your own risk.
Now, back to 2008. I was walking through the bookstore (RIP Borders) and was struggling to find more fiction titles to add to my “to be read” shelf. On a bargain shelf next to the checkout I found James Van Praagh’s Ghosts Among Us and decided since it was cheap it was worth the try. O… M… G…
“Spiritual” and “Religious”…
Here are a few questions to ponder today.
Are you “religious” or “spiritual”?
Do they have to be different? Are you both? Neither?
Next question.
How did your upbringing or early life experience lead you to where you are now and how you classify yourself?
If you’re wondering what brought this on, bear with me and I’ll attempt to explain. Sometimes I get going on these things and I wonder if I’m even being coherent. In recent weeks I’ve gotten a few comments here, mostly polite, from people who I would consider “religious”. For the most part, these comments have shared concerns that spirit communication is from the Devil or evil. I apparently need to find God… which is weird, because I feel like I have a pretty close relationship with him, actually. I have no intention of censoring these comments, providing they stay respectful. And just to be clear, I have comments set to be approved mainly due to the fact that I have students out there. They’re free to read, but they don’t need to comment. 🙂
In one of the comments, the reader discussed how she was once into “the occult” (a term that is SO misunderstood and is often confused with “cult”), but now she’s Christian. It was suggested that I repent and “seek God, rather than demonic spirits.”
Well… I realize it is dangerous to go here, but I’m going to. As soon as I read the comment discussed above, I couldn’t help but think about how my path has been the opposite of hers. And, I suppose, we both would see each others paths as backwards. I grew up and spent a LOT of time in a Southern Baptist Church. My sister and I were the third generation of our family to go to this church. By the time I was in high school, I was a staff musician and was getting some great experience. But it was also around this time that I learned some disappointing things that were going on in the congregation. Not only that, but nationally there was a lot of controversy going on with the Southern Baptist Convention spreading and teaching hate. Ellen Degeneres had come out of the closet and so of course they boycotted everything having to do with ABC and Disney (their parent company). Ring a bell? People can be so very hateful in the name of God… and they’ll follow anyone who refers to themselves as a “pastor” or “preacher”. So I think my family determined that there was more love and acceptance at home than in the church. But I decided to stay until I left for college, gritting my teeth the whole time… and I made that decision for one reason only… music. In college I worked in two or three different churches as a staff musician and for a year was a director of music. I’ve been known to say that the only thing I got out of these church experiences was music, which has ended up being a huge part of my life, but that’s not exactly true. There were many people who helped raise and support me in my hometown church, people who I have lots of love and respect for. There were many nice people who I worked with in college. But… you can lose a lot of yourself in organized religion. And most definitely, not everything shouted from a church pulpit is good… or even true, for that matter.
Around 5 years ago I began what I refer to as my “spiritual shift”. I am so much closer to God now than I ever was before then… and I don’t regret leaving organized religion. I don’t think anyone is ever truly enlightened… and I definitely have my flaws (oh boy, that’s another blog post), but I’ve certainly come a long way since then. It’s like my eyes are opened now. I can’t imagine going back to a time where I knew nothing about a spirit guide… or meditation… or energy, or the fact that we’re all loved, no matter what and no one is judged! And… I can’t believe there was a time when “ghosts” were just people wearing bedsheets on Halloween. Aren’t we doing our children an injustice by teaching them that there is a physical land up in the sky covered with clouds and angel wings where only some of us go? I remember praying a lot growing up… begging to not go to the fiery place where the red guy with horns would torture you. And if we’re teaching kids that to get them to behave (Jesus on the shelf?), then we have serious issues. To me, closing my mind and going back to a world where dogma is kept alive to keep leaders of churches and religious organizations in power would be a giant leap backwards. I know too much now. And spirit communication? I’ve yet to have a negative experience. Why wouldn’t we want to learn more? (Side note. Check out MOSS’s two investigations [HERE and HERE] of a church that DID want to know more. Cool experience!)
So… I know everyone has their own path. I get that. I know very little about these readers other than their “religious” comments. They very well may be the nicest and sweetest people one could meet. But… how does one respond? Do you smile and just move on? Do you write up a blog post about it? 😉 Am I even being coherent? Am I going to Hell? Care to start a discussion?
Related:
Christians and the Occult (kristinemcguire.com)
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