Visualizing the Invisible
Back in February, I promised to detail how I personally experience and perceive psychic energy. I realize that if I continue waiting until I produce some digital masterpieces before sharing them… Well, then it might never happen.
I’ve decided to smother Perfection with a pillow, and humbly proceed.
A Self-Portrait
Below is my homespun graphic depiction of my energy, viewed from above — a simplification of what I see at the bottom of the circular window I described in an earlier article about how I conduct Distance Readings. The “map” below shows the physical position of a few of my guardians, in relationship/connection with my body.
Check out this simplified detail of the location of my closest guides:
- You’re looking down at the top of my head — my aura, for lack of a better word, is the bubble in the center
- The compass-like, light-blue graphic represents a clock face, for standard navigation purposes — 12:00, the top of the image, straight in front of me; 6:00, the bottom of the image, right behind me
- The line connecting my energy to the bubble in the 6:00 position is my silver cord — my direct connection to source — monitored by an angelic I call DJ
- The bubble at 7:00 is Big Jane, my “primary” guide
- The little orb close to my right-hand side, at approximately 2:30, is my familiar Cera of fifteen years, now deceased, still attending me
These are by no means the only entities that I can map in this fashion — I’ve chosen to list a few for illustrative purposes, just to give you a general idea. Your spirit guides and guardian angels do not float about, physically independent of your aura. They can “travel” instantly, much the same as any consciousness or thought, but they occupy general positions in your energy.
I’ll discuss the variety of structure, formations, and positions in another post.
Balloons
There is an elasticity to their movements — they can stretch beyond comfortable boundaries from time to time, given the situation — but I would liken their motion to helium-filled balloons tied to the wrist of a child.
They drift, spin, follow, float above — but their energy is somewhat anchored to your location. Imagine if you attached mylar balloons to your chakras with rubber strings. That should give you some sense of how your guides behave.
You might also consider the behavior of soap bubbles or beach foam — the size, number, and configuration of individual bubbles, clustered together.
What’s with all the bubbles?
I’ve been fascinated with photographing the behavior of water droplets for years — the deciding factor in my first digital camera purchase was a killer macro lens, for close-up microphotography. I’ve snapped THOUSANDS like the background of the first image in this post. While my near obsessive-compulsive voyeurism of dewdrops on glass at sunrise could be seen as an exercise in abstraction, the motivation is actually quite literal:
I seek to contemplate super-common everyday examples of super-natural concepts — the magic in the mundane. I prefer to embellish my articles with photorealistic imagery — even when choosing pure abstraction. The premise for the imagery on this site was to avoid ooey-gooey New Age airbrush cartoons, employ the abundance of kick-ass user-contributed imagery available on the web — much of the work lightyears ahead of my abilities — and to generally avoid as much of my time-stealing design addiction as possible — to focus on what I can accomplish with words.
But I am not only a writer, and I will never be totally satisfied with one medium — here I am twenty years later, and I still can’t choose a major! One of the goals of rebuilding my blogs, and moving everything under my name, was to bring back a more controlled expression of all the minutiae that make me who I am — that make my Vision unique. And this certainly can’t be accomplished by suppressing or censoring. I’ve waited a lifetime for the multimedia potential of the web — I hope to put even more of myself into these projects — in as many dimensions as possible.
Expect to see a lot bubbles around here — like those on my front page. For me, bubbles, spheres, and orbs are the modern equivalent of all those centuries of halos in religious art history. I just can’t find anything that more accurately portrays how I see energy — the dynamic interconnections of souls, spirits — as constellations of blogs on the web, or foot-traffic through the cafe from where I often write to you, or cars on the roads, ants on the ground…
If you wonder what I see — yes, clairvoyantly — contemplate what those bubbles, the crowds of foam, the elemental intersection of Water and Air, represent:
- the bubbles could be the Shift Your Spirits readers — your attention converging around my screen — this blog as mirror and filter
- the orbs could be the spiritual bloggers who comment and link here — the constellation in web space I described in Stars of the Apocalypse
- these spheres could be YOU and the spiritual entities that surround you — you’re that big one at the bottom, with your god posse frothing around you, drifting either to or from light, or gravity…
Spirit Guide and Guardian Angel Portraits
If you’ve engaged me for Readings, then you’ve given me permission and invitation to look for humanoid features in the bubbles that hover around you. I alter images of statuary to produce portraits of what the various members of my god posse “look” like — where else can you find more vivid models for angels and gods? This is not an original idea — I’m going along with some serious tradition regarding idols and icons.
If you’ve read about my primary guide, who I call Jane Throne, then you’ve already seen a rendering of what Jane looks like to me. Also featured in an article on this site was a transit guide — meaning, she worked with me for a few months last summer and then moved on — Angela. Angela assisted me with the launch and promotion of this web site, which revolved around conducting Spirit Guide Readings for each and every new subscriber.
I don’t create these portraits just to amuse myself or to illustrate my stories about them — both good enough reasons, certainly — I render visual representations of my guides as a way to more fully develop my relationship with them. If you’ve delved into manifesting techniques and tools, then you’re probably familiar with the concept of Image Boards; I not only use the portraits themselves, but more importantly, the PROCESS of creating the god posse portraits, to connect with their voices and stories.
Illustration often serves me as a meditative entry point to the clairaudient messages I receive — like those medieval ladies that fall into trances spinning thread… For distance readings on strangers, I cast a graphic natal chart to use as the entry point.
Keep in mind that the Jury is out on whether the facial features and characteristics I describe are plucked from my mind or yours — borrowed from versus projected by the entities themselves - but I am confident that what WE see — the collective consciousnes — is the hope chest full of drag that spirits pull from, when presenting us with physical form.
Do spirits already have preferences for forms? Do they assume their appearance, or do you? Is it your need that dictates — requires — them to appear?
I can see now that I have opened up yet another Pandora’s box of potential posts — your response to this discussion will be the best indication of whether or not I should prioritize these types of details and continue struggling through Visualizations of the Invisible. (This is damned difficult to pin down and translate!) My intention, for the next few months remaining in Year One of Shift Your Spirits, leans toward delivering on my promises of gory details and diary-of-a-mystic blow-by-blows.
See, as soon as I started writing publicly about my life-long clairaudience, somebody turned up the volume on my clairvoyance — or, er… turned on the highbeam lights… or something like that. My writing is always running behind a speeding train of experience…
I realize this is exTREMEly self-indulgent — but you know what? I love Jeff Lilly’s narrative meditations, and many of you have written me excited about Vera Nadine’s transparent accounts of her mediumship. Wait for me! The best I have to offer the campfire are my own “One Time…” tales.
Soap Opera fans refer to their favorite shows as their “stories” and their “bubbles” — the metaphor of this slang is not lost on me. My Rich Inner World is a private drama of which I am the star, with a colorful cast of supporting spiritual characters.
I ususally labor to present my spiritual experience in terms that you can apply to your own life; but I wonder if I might not be missing an opportunity to simply set an example by sharing more magical detail from my own… Would you like for me to introduce the members of my God Posse to you?
Seek Wisdom — Practice Love
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By the way, Jeff, remember when we talked about what Apollo looks like?
Like I don’t have enough projects — but I’d actually REALLY like to do a portrait of him for you. Beyond my own guides, your Apollo is the number one Other Person’s Guide that I have encountered enough that I feel reasonably confident that I could render him for you…
Buff little guy, likes to be shot from below for scale effect…
Wow Slade, I’m all agog!
Following a hectic weekend of to’ing and fro’ing between friends and family I’ve just settled the kids, lit the candles and the Nag Champa, put on some Incubus (one of my fave chill-out bands) and sat down to respond to my e-mails, catch up with our Community and prepare an article for posting tonight!
But then I saw a SYS update in my inbox and couldn’t resist having a peek of what my good friend has prepared for the World.
Absolutely amazing man - Lovin it big time! I’ve already read it through twice just to savour the contents - and those Graphics ROCK!
This article feels like a ’shift’ from most of your other concoctions and somehow more YOU - don’t get me wrong I love all your work but this mapped out the process so well while allowing us the chance to see inside YOU - much more please? Of BOTH kinds
Much Love to you and yours,
Damian
Damian,
Thank you. That’s the encouragement I needed…
But you know what part of your comment I’m savoring?
REALLY?!
Wow, I love being part of that ritual.
Go post something that scares you just a little bit — but something you hope will be well-received.
Best buzz in the world.
Apollo wasn’t kidding. (And so much for no New Age art — unless it’s — at least — my own : )
Jeff introduced me to him, but he visits me now — he seems to dig posing like this.
I’m loving this… just yesterday I was explaining to my husband how I see my blog and the others that are connected to it, and the people they reach and I was using interconnected bubbles to explain it to him…
Once upon a time I hated getting out of bed and would sleep until the early afternoon…
Now I am wide awake sometimes before my alarm and stoked to get on my computer at 6am to get stuck into the day’s blogging.
By 8am I can get so much done…
I seem to have unlimited energy when it comes to this.
I’d love to hear more tales of the specific Slade - that’s what makes you U-nique. It’s like stepping into another world… and that’s why I love reading so much, and those are the blogs that are appealing to me - the ones that give me a snapshot into the blogger’s world.
Keep ‘em coming.
K-L,
Ditto! I haven’t set an alarm clock in 5 years, and get up earlier than I have in my life, raring to go.
More bubbles, coming up!
Awesome! Slade, you nailed it — that’s exactly how Apollo appears to me. The build is right, the musculature, the hair, the cut of the jaw, and most especially the tight, coiled energy, is spot-on!
And yeah, he’s not very tall. Like a lot of famous people — shorter than you expect, when you meet them in real life.
Side note here — Rudolf Steiner notes that a lot of choleric (fire) individuals tend to be on the short side. He says it’s because their spirit is exerting so much will and power into their physical manifestations that their bodies simply don’t freely grow as much as they might otherwise.
In the first picture, too, I was struck by the watery background. Many, many of my recent meditations begin with me staring at the sun reflected in water.
There is one teensy thing, though: when I see him, Apollo is always smiling.
I’m sure he can be nasty when he’s provoked, though. This picture looks like he’s about to unload a world of hurt on somebody…
… And yes, please tell us more about your guides! It’s a truism in writing that “specific is general”, i.e., people can learn more from a specific story than from vague generalities. I’d say, tell us about your specific, personal, experiences in detail, and you’ll be amazed at what we can learn from them that applies our own lives.
PS: I do set an alarm, but it’s for 2am, and I never have any trouble hopping out of bed.
I’ve been polyphasic since the beginning of April, and it’s been going wonderfully. I originally did it because I didn’t have time to hold down a full-time job AND be a good father AND a great blogger. Now I do — the stress is gone, and all my different kinds of children have plenty of room to grow.
Jeff,
I had a blast playing in Photoshop yesterday afternoon to bring Apollo through. I haven’t found the perfect head shot for him yet, and I do find that historical statuary is the best source material for a specific entity, archetype, or god such as the Little Big A.
Statues and historical portraiture, up through the earliest decades of still photography, tend to be serious, grave, and pretentious, considering our modern ideal for capturing happy faces, and technology that allows us to capture split-second moments and mid-actions.
Jane looks a little sad in her portrait, too. Apollo doesn’t like me quite as much as he does you — no doubt, our relationship is different. He’s sort of a friend-of-a-friend thing, at this point. Our connection is through you, and when we meet on our own, there’s an acknowledgement, but without much interaction.
I get the feeling he looks at me and dismisses me as one of Athena’s minions…
Men generally tend to project an angry face when they try to look sexy, imposing, powerful, cool — some alpha-male posturing, I suppose. Especially when presenting themselves to other men.
I find your side note interesting — about physical size in relation to energy. I’m a Leo wrapped in double Scorpio — I think of my energy as Fire burning on top of Water… I’m also an ectomorph; and my body temperature is always exactly one degree higher than normal. (Connect the dots here to the recent conversation about physical mass over at Kara-Leah’s)
A Chinese Medicine healer once told me that I have high chi — maybe this relates to all of the above…?
See, that’s exactly how Athena treated me when she was acting as Apollo’s substitute teacher this past winter. A perfectly polite, nice person to work with, but… distant, that’s the word I want.
I always sucked at alpha-male posturing… I think maybe I’m a gamma-male…
Everything you say about fire and physical size just sort of clicks into place, doesn’t it? Amazing.
Something else I meant to add earlier. The pictures you made of Apollo have a weird fascination for me. I keep coming back to them, looking at them again, studying them. There’s something about the colors and the lines…
You could make a picture of my nun, Slade, but I have to admit I didn’t like her much!
Jeff, interesting info about elemental influence on body size. So, Fire is to blame for me being short! And Earth must account for all the curves.
I’m definitely going to continue with these images. Thanks for the encouragement, guys!
Jeff — “gamma-male” ?! HA!
: )
I’m feeling sort of Man 2.0 these days.
A-E,
No blame, girl! Celebrate those Earthy, feminine curves. Men prefer such attributes — and just think: you don’t have to worry about making some guy you’re dancing with feel self-conscious and SHORT.
Hey Slade, I got totally inspired yesterday and created my own version of Apollo. I’m not sure if the image link thing below is going to work; here goes nothing:
Jeff’s Apollo Illustration
Dear Slade,
This is my first comment, of many I’m sure. As with everyone above, a resounding yes to meeting your God Posse… - seeing the specifics in your experience would definitely help me with understanding, and working with my “God Posse”. Continue resonating with the greatness and clarity that is you!
Power on!
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy,
You bet!
I appreciate the vote of confidence.
[…] If you look at the graphics I included in my last article, Visualizing the Invisible, you’ll see a simplified graphic depiction of my energy map, showing the position/relationship between DJ, Jane, and myself. According to my perception, DJ is actually the primary receiver of my messages from spirit — a language that is easiest to process as clairaudient music; Jane translates and interprets that information and shares it with me in conversational English. […]
Hey Slade and A-E:
It occurred to me out of the blue that the Nun seen by Slade and the Morrigan seen by Angela-Eloise could actually be the same guide. I was re-reading your article about how guides look, Slade, and it sounds as though you and A-E could simply be “clothing” and “naming” the same guide in different ways. Is that possible?…
Work is getting me down this morning, so I’m playing hooky and reading old “Shift Your Spirits” articles… a guaranteed pick-me-up!!
Jeff,
VERY interesting point!
Think of it in terms of two people meeting the same person, or my meeting someone you know really well… My first impressions — not to mention, my internal visual vocabulary regarding appearances — is certainly a factor.
Fascinating possibility… Hmmm.
You play hooky HERE?! I’m flattered…
I hate to burst your bubble boys, but if you knew the Morrighan you would realize that there is NO WAY she would ever appear as a Nun. She is a fierce warrior goddess. Like many Celtic goddesses, she does have a triple aspect, one of which is a sort of mother, but she appears more in the form of protectress of her people.
I found this page with a quick Google search that explains a bit about the Morrighan (not vouching for any academic quality - I went for expediency).
Maybe the Nun is the way that one of my other guides appeared to you, Slade. Are you sure she was a Nun? I do have a Pictish ancestor who appears to me in a dark, hooded cloak. But she doesn’t appear to be a Nun to me.
AE,
I do NOT believe I confused the Nun that’s in your posse with Morrighan — nor is it likely that your big M would have spoken to me.
If I remember correctly when I did the reading for you I did not see this Nun as being a primary guide. And yes, the concept of a Pictish priestess presenting as a nun — or some perceived similarity between the two — makes more sense.
I don’t think your “ancestry” is necessarily relevant, though. Ancestors are not spirit guides in the context of how I discuss them. You may identify an ancestor in your God Posse — the larger, more general group of entities who attend you — I do pick up on ancestors, often, but they don’t behave the same way or occupy the same role.
So, yeah, Jeff — you’re wrong.
: )
In THIS case. But you brought up a great point about the relationship between how an entity presents and who is perceiving her.
And AE — DOUBLETAKE — what do you mean NO WAY Morrighan would present as a Nun? That’s kind of an EXTREME statement, don’t you think?
What if she had good reason to, like, she was undercover or something? I don’t know… Seems anything is possible — and an entity without physical limitation in the first place has even more possibilities…
Always and Never are two words I would most avoid using in the context of the Mysteries.
This is why I hate IM and comments - no nuance of tone. My all caps NO WAY was more in surprise. You know, sort of like surfer talk - NO WAY, DUDE, REALLY? We need to figure out how to express bemusement and sarcasm in text - two tones of voice I use a lot.
Anyway, my experience of Morrighan has always been in fierce warrior mode. Nuns strike me as demure and obeisant - but that could be my own bias as someone who was raised as a Christian. That role does not strike me as a guise the Morrighan would ever take under any circumstances but who knows. As you said, the Mysteries have no limitation. I suppose if appearing as a Nun suits Morrighan’s purpose she might. If that link on her I found is to be believed, she is supposed to be the protrectress of priestesses too.
Hey, I was wondering if you could help me visualize my guides. I discussed a little bit about them and my experiences in general with them here http://sladeroberson.com/prayer/how-do-your-spirit-guides-respond-to-you.html, but it was just my main guide Marcy. I wonder what she looks like as well as my three male guides. I hear their thoughts, but have no idea what they look like.
Thankyou.
ps- nice picture of Apollo. He is my favourite of all the ancient Greek gods; I would have loved to worship him and speak to him if in Greece two millenia ago. ;-p
Interestingly, it’s been just a little over 2 weeks since you generously gave of your energy to do a Spirit Guide Name Reading with me. A couple of days ago I started to SEE my primary guide in my mind’s eye. I haven’t made out all the facial features yet, but I know she has brown hair. It’s a little like a blind person trying to tickle out a shape or form with Other senses, isn’t it?
These posts are GREAT! As you can see, I’m still going through your archives. (Almost caught up…)
Peace & Light