Psychic medium Erin Pavlina drops by Shift Your Spirits for an exclusive interview. In only a year and a half, Erin's popular blog and her one-on-one intuitive readings have endeared her to many.
Combining out-of-this-world topics with a down-to-earth style, Erin's articles will inspire you to shift your consciousness, "remember where you came from," and reclaim your sense of meaning and purpose.
With her trademark candor, eloquence, and grace, Erin opens up about some of her greatest fears and challenges in answering her spiritual calling.
Slade: You've written about the turning point in your life -- which you call The Emergence -- an ultimatum presented to you by your spirit guides:
"In January of 2006 my spirit guides told me I had a decision to make. Embrace my abilities fully and use them to help people remember where they came from and why they chose to incarnate, or sink into a 3rd dimensional life forever. It was actually a tough decision for me..."
What were some of the fears holding you back?
Erin Pavlina: One of the biggest fears I've struggled with during my life is fear of trying and failing, so my default behavior has often been not to try at all because then at least I can still have my dream. If I try and fail, the dream is over. I also feared being ineffective. What if I tried to help people but couldn't? To which Steve would always counter, "What if you tried to help people and you could?" which may have terrified me even more. With great power comes great responsibility, right? I've always had this idea that I shouldn't even play the game unless I know in advance I can win. But you can't know that.
So in January of 2006 it all came to a head. My guides had been pushing me for years and I was of the mindset, "Wait… I'm not ready. I don't know if I can do this." Finally they sent me the leverage I needed. I felt like I'd been handed a superhero suit but hadn't put it on yet, and they told me if I didn't start using the suit they were going to give it to someone who would. They allowed me to feel, just for a few moments, the suffering of all the people on the planet. It overwhelmed me. It was like they opened my heart chakra to encompass the entire planet. It was emotionally painful and devastating. They said, "People are suffering every moment of every day. You can help them, and you won't even try." That got me. I decided right then and there that if there was even a remote possibility that I could help end suffering on our planet then I must try it.
I discovered that courage does not come before you take action, courage comes when you take responsibility and then decide you must take action.
Slade: You use your psychic abilities to assist others -- we all seek spiritual guidance with problem areas of our life. Beyond asking your spirit guides to support you in helping other people, what are some of the things YOU personally ask your guides to help you with the most?
Erin Pavlina: Mainly I ask them to teach and train me so that I can serve people better. I ask them for advice on how to reach more people and make a positive impact on our planet. I ask them to explain difficult concepts to me. And sometimes I ask them why something happened and what its place is on my path, or what lesson I'm supposed to learn from it. They're also great at alerting me to dire situations like if I forgot to buy bread. :-)
Slade: You contemplate and write about Mysteries -- so much of your mission involves shining a light in places where there will always be some remaining Question Mark. Are there any paranormal subjects that just flat-out stump you? Are there any aspects of mysticism that people ask you about that you just think "I wish I knew... I just don't get it... I feel helpless, here... Can I pass on this one"?
Erin Pavlina: I definitely don't feel like I know everything. I've had a lot of personal experiences in many paranormal areas, so I enjoy passing on what I've learned. I have no problem telling people, "I don't know." I am always learning and expanding my knowledge, so in the areas where I have expertise I will pass it on, and in the areas where I don't, I consider myself a student like everyone else. But I always keep an open mind. I never decide in advance what is and what isn't. I like to experience something for myself before I say whether I believe in it or not. Specific examples of areas where I don't consider myself an expert: ghosts and hauntings, kirilian photography, astrology (besides the basics), palmistry, tarot card reading, telekinesis, and aura reading. But I'm an expert in areas like lucid dreaming, astral projection, psychic skills, mediumship, life after death, dreams and premonitions. Like a doctor, I have my specialties, and then there are other areas where I have just a passing knowledge or interest.
Slade: The points in life at which we are most desperate for spiritual guidance, assistance, answers, a nudge in the right direction are often the most challenging or tragic. The biggest personal transformations or the most powerful changes, at the moment when they are happening, can feel like the Universe has a big wrecking ball aimed right at your life. When you most need your spirit guides to come through loud and clear -- when you are most required to proceed on faith -- are often the moments when you feel the most alone, spiritually lost, intuitively blind, deaf, and dumb...
Can you describe a moment or event that felt like the "end of the world" that later revealed itself to be a necessary transformation -- a heartbreaking challenge that you can now look back on with gratitude? Or somehow see that you WERE being spiritually guided, even though it didn't seem like it when it was happening?
Erin Pavlina: I've had many such occurrences in my life. In 1999 Steve and I were in really poor shape financially. The publisher we had a contract with to publish one of our games cancelled the deal just as we were completing the project. Up until that time we had been receiving cash advances from the publisher to fund our work, and we were living on our credit cards. With the cancellation of the deal we stopped receiving any money. Our expenses at the time were $5,000 per month and we were making just $500 per month from a few shareware games. Our debt was well over $100,000 and the minimum payments on our credit cards were $2,000 per month. As you can imagine, we didn't have enough money for rent and food, let alone money to pay our credit card bills. It was an extremely stressful time for me as creditors called non-stop and our landlord was trying to kick us out of our apartment for not paying the rent on time. We faced homelessness. It was a fearful time for me, although I have to say that Steve never feared and never hit the low that I did.
We declared bankruptcy, picked up the broken pieces of our financial life, and did anything and everything to earn money just to eat and live. But we learned a great deal from this experience. We learned never to live beyond our means. We learned to rely on ourselves for income instead of working for someone who might pull the rug out from under us at any time. We learned to budget and save. And we recovered. Our income increased steadily as we began to tune in to our purpose in life. We found that when you serve others and give of yourself, then abundance is the natural result. I don't think I would have fully understood abundance until I'd gone through lack and scarcity. So I consider the entire experience one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned. I believe that if we hadn't gone through such a low point financially that we may have continued making the same mistakes that led to bankruptcy. So I thank the universe, my guides, and higher self for allowing us to learn that lesson early on when it didn't matter as much as learning it today would be.
My advice to others who are going through a low point or a time of despair is to find the lesson in it as soon as you can so that you can begin to recover. Life will keep on sending you the lessons, so the sooner you learn them, the sooner you move past them. Don't fight the lesson. Just learn and move on. And there's no need to berate yourself. Just keep doing the best you can. And never lose hope for a brighter future.
Slade: Blogging has proven to be a major component of your spiritual mission. What practical pro-blogging advice can you share with other spiritually motivated writers who want to follow in your footsteps?
Erin Pavlina: I didn't realize when I started my blog that so many people would be interested in just hearing my personal stories. I think people like to know that there are others out there just like them who have gone through or are going through what they are experiencing. Blogging has enabled me to reach a community of people who no longer feel so different, or so alone, or so weird. I know I've inspired other psychics, mediums, and healers to start their own blogs which is wonderful! I also recommend that people be open and honest. It's okay to say "I don't know" and it's okay to admit when you make a mistake. Don't try to be all-knowing. I'm also very big on sharing my process. I know some psychics like to keep their process a secret, but that suggests a scarcity mentality. I believe that if more psychics and mediums discussed their process openly the field would gain more credibility. Be proud of who you are and what you do. And when people write to you and tell you that you're going to hell send them some love and some light and hit the delete key. :-)
from ErinPavlina.com: "Erin Pavlina is a spiritual intuitive, lightworker, and psychic medium who uses her gifts to help people remember where they came from and get their lives back on track... You will find articles and insights designed to help you remember where you came from and why you're here so that you can live your life consciously and on purpose."
You are invited to discuss this interview at the forum Erin hosts with her husband, Self-Improvement blogger Steve Pavlina.
Update: More Erin Pavlina Interviews you should explore:
- Erin talks to Jeff Lilly at Druid Journal