Whether we call them spirit guides, guardian angels, the deceased, or God, most professional schools of healing don’t talk about “invisible helpers.” The healer interested in embracing subtle energy concepts and protocol, however, must sooner or later ask the question: Do I believe there are invisible helpers?
This question is a bit like a magician’s scarf. You tug it out of the hat and dozens of silk scarves follow, all tied together. Participate in a conversation about subtle assistants and you’ll start thinking about other questions. Does my client think there is intangible help? Does my client want me to bring up the topic? What do I do if my client poses the subject?
And the scariest question of all: Do I actually bring up this topic?
Through this column, I invite you to step boldly across the threshold labeled “This Isn’t a Professional Topic” and into the arena of the invisible. My goal is to enable a conversation between you and yourself. It’s a subject you might have already considered—or not. Either way, all energy workers—the term applied to healers who rebalance information and vibration to further health—must have a sense of their own beliefs in this matter. This inner comfort will help you confidently deal with this topic with clients, should it come up.
A Compendium of Spirits
First, let’s look at how many people profess a belief in intangible aid. There are thousands of categories outlining invisible helpers. For our purposes, I’m going to concentrate on three main kinds: God or a universal spirit, angels, and the deceased. I’m not going to analyze the effectiveness of these potential sources of power. Instead, I’ll explore the numbers of Americans who believe they have an unseen support system. This knowledge is a clue as to how you might proceed if the theme enters a client session.
I don’t think you’d be surprised to find out the majority of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, more than 90 percent of Americans say they believe one or the other exists.1 Many people adhere to a religious practice; however, one in 10 Americans don’t identify their beliefs with a certain religion.2 What this means for your business is that regardless of your beliefs, your clients most likely have faith in a greater presence.
Moreover, most believers say this presence influences their lives. As an example, data from two surveys revealed that 82 percent of Americans, from all education and income levels, depend on God for help and guidance, and 71 percent assert that the good and bad events in their lives have included divine intervention.3 It seems that 25 percent of Americans even insist that God helps determine which team wins at sports events.4 So, even if your client isn’t comfortable broadcasting what they want a godly presence to do for them, they might be thinking about it while they’re on your massage table.
Another mainstream class of spiritual guidance is angels. Nearly 80 percent of Americans believe in angels—divine messengers who provide insight, assistance, and even healing. Those who queue up for the angelic most frequently are Christians, with almost 100 percent of all evangelical Christians looking to the winged for help. However, four out of 10 who consider themselves nonchurchgoers also believe in angels.5 In my own practice, clients continually ask about, or call on, their angels. Also related to this category are beings often called devas, faeries, masters, power animals, saints, spiritual guides, and more.
A good number of Americans also believe they receive assistance from deceased loved ones or ghosts—the latter defined as beings who were once alive but now occupy the “other side.” This latter group can include people, but also animals. Almost half of all Americans believe in ghosts or visitations by the spirits of the dead.6 Many health-care officials acknowledge that the dying often experience visitations from the other side, usually by mothers or other unseen loving presences, before death.7 As well, certain ethnic groups embrace unseen visitors.
For instance, health-care providers are frequently trained how to interact differently with populations such as Native Americans. Most of the 500 nations of Native Americans who follow their traditional practices believe their ancestors continue to guide them, frequently through ritual or dreams.8 My own training as a healer took me around the world, deep into indigenous communities in the deserts, jungles, mountains, and seasides. Nearly everyone I met in these cultures believed in a god or gods, divine guidance, and a compendium of spirits who dwell in the sky, land, afterlife, and other places.
Proceed with Caution
By and large, most licensed professionals are wary of asking their clients to call on the unseen for assistance. First off, we’re working with people to provide a service, and that service seldom explicitly involves providing or eliciting spiritual insights. And, if your business does include these matters, as mine does, it’s still important to proceed cautiously. Ultimately, a standard of care must start and finish with boundaries and respect. We have the right to our own spiritual beliefs, as do our clients. But it’s not for us to define, evaluate, judge, or shape our clients’ spiritual theories. And we might say the opposite is true as well.
One of my pet peeves in the world of spirituality is that boundaries aren’t always respected. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to be preached at. Neither do I want someone trying to convert me to his or her point of view. At times, I don’t even want to share what I believe in. I used to be married to a pastor, and most of the people in his group continually asked me to justify my spirituality or prove that I shared their own. My own faith is a fount of incredible nourishment and wisdom to me, but I keep it guarded in the same way I safeguard my heart. Only over time are people invited into the inner chambers. You might feel the same way. Especially in a professional setting, it’s important to remember our clients aren’t looking for a patronizing diatribe, and neither are we.
Given the need for respect and boundaries, statistics show that faith in the unseen is an important resource for people. The sense of receiving guidance, being watched over, and being cared for are important healing tools. Are there ways we can serve these higher needs if our clients or the situation call for it?
In general, I offer the following guidelines as ways to support the exchange of guidance and healing between our clients and their source of unseen wisdom, if applicable. These ideas aren’t the be-all and end-all. They are starting points for figuring out how—and if—you might incorporate this topic into your work. I encourage you to develop your own principles.
Know What You Believe
Granted, spirituality is a moving target. My understanding of the connections between the invisible world and myself is ever unfolding. On any given day, however, I strive to be clear about my beliefs about the invisible world. Since I personally believe I can tap into intangible guidance, which includes my own inner wisdom, I do so while working. But I also maintain boundaries on all levels and don’t require that my clients share my beliefs. We are truly made of field upon field of oscillating energy, our own swirling dramas interacting with those of others. And while the famous chakra might like to portray itself as a solo act, there are dozens of other subtle energy bodies composing the self. These often function as various planes of reality, as well as energetic fields.
Ultimately, the message of the chakra is this: we are each a mini-universe, a beautifully choreographed composite of subtle structures. Whether we call them bodies, energy layers, channels, tubules, or any other name, each constellation points us toward the heavens, our birthplace.
Decide What You Are Comfortable Sharing About Your Beliefs
If a client asks about your spiritual beliefs and you feel comfortable responding, then do so. But you might not feel comfortable. You might feel called to completely separate your spiritual beliefs from your work. Or you might desire to share your thoughts with some clients and not others.
For instance, a certain tone in a client’s voice might make you wary of her motive or agenda. It can be helpful to prepare a set of statements you can draw on if the subject comes up. For instance, you might state clearly, “I am a Christian/Buddhist/Hindu/nonbeliever. My personal faith supports me in working with members of all faiths, however, without judgment.” Or you might have ready an answer like this: “I draw on my faith for my work, but prefer to focus on my client, not my own beliefs. Is there anything you want me to know about your own beliefs?”
Determine the Boundaries Between Your Professional Role and Personal Beliefs
I’ve met hundreds of healers who struggle to differentiate the obligations of their profession from the doctrine of their religion. Many of these healers belong to a faith that compels them to persuade others to their religious point of view. An insistent healer can emotionally injure an unsuspecting client. Ask yourself the hard questions: Are you really OK working with people who don’t share your spiritual viewpoint? If you are not, are there legal issues involved with you advertising to work with only one type of believer? These are sticky questions, and responding ethically to them might involve consulting a spiritual director or even a legal expert.
Test the Waters
If you sense a strong connection to the unseen and feel prompted to share a sense or a message, first ask clients if they are open to this input. You can use questions like, “I have an intuitive feeling. Is it OK if I share it?” Or you can say, “I’m getting a sense of some sort of unseen presence.” You can then follow the latter question with further probes, such as, “Do you feel anything?” Or, “Do you want me to share?” If you usually intuit inaudible messages or invisible beings, you might want to consider saying that in the descriptions of your work or ask clients up front if they are interested in these observations.
Support the Client
If clients mention an otherworldly sense or message, by all means, encourage them to speak. Let them share as much as they desire, but hold on to your common sense. If a client starts diving into toxic waters, don’t follow. For instance, one of my clients stated that God wanted her to commit suicide. I got permission from her to call her mental health therapist and share this potentially tragic comment.
Go with the Flow
We can’t possibly plan for all the situations that might call attention to the invisible. I’ll give you an example. One morning, my front door slammed open. I was sleeping at the end of a hallway, a long way away from that door. As the cold winter air blew in, I heard a voice in my head: “Tell her there are angels.” That was at 5:00 a.m. When I rose at 7:00 a.m., I picked up a message on my work voice mail. It had been left at 5:00 a.m. by a client who told me her mother had just died. I felt confident this client would be open to hearing about my invisible morning visitor; after all, it was most likely her mother. My client cried and was glad to know that there are, indeed, angels, and that her mother had found them—or been found by them.
Who knows what we might be led to know or share? After all, our own connection to the unseen might very well set us up to be, well, someone’s earthly angel. And perhaps that is the most important point of all to make, which I would like to do through this quote by Italian writer Luciano De Crescenzo: “We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”
Ultimately, as a healer, are you not an angel in training?
Notes
1. Frank Newport, “More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God,” Gallup (June 3, 2011), accessed February 2016, www.gallup.com/poll/147887/americans-continue-believe-god.aspx.
2. Ibid.
3. Science 2.0, “Majority of Americans Say God Influences Their Daily Lives,” accessed February 2016, www.science20.com/news_articles/majority_americans_say_god_influences_their_daily_lives.
4. Dan Merica, CNN Belief Blog, “Poll: Quarter of Americans Say God Influences Sporting Events,” January 29, 2013, accessed February 2016, http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/29/poll-quarter-of-americans-say-god-influences-sporting-events/.
5. CBS News, “Poll: Nearly 8 in 10 Americans Believe in Angels,” December 23, 2011, accessed February 2016, www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-nearly-8-in-10-americans-believe-in-angels/.
6. Lee Speigel, Huffington Post, Weird News, “Spooky Number of Americans Believe in Ghosts,” February 8, 2013, accessed February 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/real-ghosts-americans-poll_n_2049485.html.
7. David Kessler, CNN, from Oprah.com, “Do the Dead Greet the Dying?” October 19, 2010, accessed February 2016, www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/18/o.end.of.life/.
8. Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, “Guidelines for Health Care Providers Interacting with American Indian (Native American; First Nation) Patients and Their Families,” accessed February 2016, www.kyha.com/docs/PreparednessDocs/cg-native_american.pdf.
Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, and intuitive consultant. Her books include Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Chakras (Llewellyn Publications, 2016), The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy (Sounds True, 2009), The Complete Book of Chakra Healing (Llewellyn Publications, 2009), and Advanced Chakra Healing (Crossing Press, 2005). To learn more about Dale and her products, services, and classes, visit www.cyndidale.com.