Billy Pacholski

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not seek the answers, which you would not be able to live. The point is, to live everything. Live the questions. You will gradually, without noticing it, live some distant day into your answers.” — Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Most people spend a great deal of their lives in a state of punishment.This energy can be so present that we no longer even notice it – it feels “normal” or “natural”. The most surprising thing about this is that most of the time, the punishment comes from within ourselves.

Punishment is a terrible energy to be generating within yourself. You can be punishing yourself by not being allowed to have the kind of job you’d long to have. Or not being in the kinds of relationships you would flourish in. You can be punishing yourself by remaining in situations or conditions that are very unhealthy to you “because you made your bed, now you need to lie in it.” You can be running your whole life feeling out of place, like you don’t belong, like you’re not worth anything. This can be the “story” or the energy that informs everything you experience.

Not surprisingly, when you’re punishing yourself like this, it gives other people permission and encouragement to punish you, too – on an unconscious level. We’re all psychic, and we are all sensing subtle energies all the time. When you meet someone who is generating a energy of self-punishment, it’s a little like a subconscious cue inviting you to punish them too. You might go right along with and support their punishment. Or, if you’re a healer, you can get stuck trying to make them feel better about themselves – which allows them to remain in punishment mode (ie – a victim), relying on you to constantly and continually heal them.

You might be carrying punishment from your childhood, from failures of the past, or even past lives in the form of karma. Punishment that people around are in that you heal for them, “here – let me help you with that” – is a way of making someone feel better or protecting them. But where does that energy go? Chances are you’re taking it on.

None of this is in present time, and does not deserve or require that you hold on to it, or remain punished. The best way to learn is through mistakes – so even things you’ve done in the past that could be seen, in the worst light, as “in error” – are really your greatest assets going forward.

If there’s an area of your life where you’re in lack, chances are that there’s some form of punishment going on – and it might not be punishment coming from other people, but generated within your own space. You might be blaming people, things, the world for your punishment and pain – but the genesis is almost always within you. You can clear these energies, you can heal yourself, and you can take steps forward towards having more!

Where and how are you stuck in a cycle of punishing yourself? It might be hard to see at first. A clairvoyant reading can look at these energies, at the root causes behind them, and help you to take a step towards self-healing and having more in your life.

http://attractingabundancemarch.eventbrite.com

This special four week class is a journey meant to jumpstart the change you’re looking to create in your life. This class will give you tools, techniques, and will look at concepts that are core to manifesting abundance energy in whatever way is attractive to you. Just in time for St. Patricks Day, this 4 week journey will focus on the energy of luck. Where to find it, how to harness it, and how to have more of it in your life! Why do some people seem so lucky, and others don’t?

This is a psychic energy class. Everyone is “psychic”, and has the ability to sense or perceive energy. it’s part of being human. Our bodies are built to react to energy – and what a true psychic does is not strange, or weird, or “super-human.” To be psychic is to be aware of energy on a fundamental level; your own, and everyone else’s. In that awareness, you can learn to examine, shift and re-create energy that enables you to live the life that you want for yourself.

Most of the class will take place in guided meditation, using imagery and symbolism to create change in the energy of your body, your space, and the world around you. Come get a little taste of the magic that you can create for yourself every day!

Here’s what one student from my 2009 Abundance Class had to say about the experience:
“I enjoyed this class so much. I had listened to CDs, read books, but never really “gone anywhere” with my personal practice. It’s hard to put the experience of the meditations into words…but Billy takes you on the most vivid, colorful, and palpable tour of your inner being. In a sense, it is an overwhelming amount of emotion and revelation, but that’s the point, right!?”
Rebecca (Attracting Abundance, September 2009)

If you participated in the September 2009 class, there will be new and additional material covered in this class. It’ll also be a great refresher and bump if you’re ready to take another step! A special rate is offered to returning students.

Class is on Tuesday nights from 8pm-10pm, March 9, 16, 23 & 30th, at The Awakening Center, 3523 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60657. You do not need to present at all classes to participate, and special payment arrangements are possible. Email me at billy@billypacholski.com for more information or with questions.

Spots are limited and I anticipate this class filling up quickly. Please take advantage of the early bird special and sign-up today!

Often times, clients look to me as if I have all the answers – I certainly don’t make that claim. Each person is responsible for their own answers and truth. What I can do is sense and perceive energy, which is very different than having all the answers! One of the great things about working with energy and being psychic is that I make space to grow, learn, and change in my life too!

In my own life, I continue to get stuck all the time. One of the biggest lessons I find myself learning over and over (and over) is to “go with the flow.” I habitually try to control the outcome of my manifestations, and definitely get stuck creating “perfect pictures” – i.e. – if I just get this one thing – then everything will be perfect.

I came to San Francisco in October and fell in love with the city. The bay area is magical – especially for this boy from the midwest suburbs. The natural beauty, the energy of the ocean, the laid-back attitude of Californians was like an exotic dream. Not to mention the food – don’t get me started on the food!
But since I’ve been here, I’ve struggled a bit to ground, and to make being here “real.” I’ve been looking for additional work (those San Fran rents are high, folks!) and for an appropriate living situation. All the while, I’ve been spending time staying with friends and a really great guy I’ve been dating.

But you know what? It’s just not working. There’s no flow of energy, no serendipity, and I’ve been suspicious of that. What’s the problem? What needs to be cleared? Where am I handling energy that isn’t my own? I’ve been trying hard to figure it all out, to clear what needs to be cleared, and to get what I thought I wanted – a job, an apartment, and a life picture that “made sense.”

What I forgot was that when things are right, they just work out. Simply, without effort, and definitely without “hard work.” Oh, sure, I could try harder, I could force myself to take a job I wasn’t excited about, I could finagle some kind of apartment rental. But none of it would feel right. It wouldn’t be me.

Myself? I’m a seeker. I’m always on the move these days; its a part of myself I’m really enjoying exploring. I spent years feeling pinned down and trapped. Through intensive energy work, meditation, and clearing I recently found a great amount of freedom and now there is always a new opportunity on the horizon that is evocative, exciting and full of new adventure – when I’m in my flow.

So today, I blew up my perfect picture of being in San Francisco. Of how it’s all supposed to work. What it’s supposed to look like. And you know what? I got to say hello to the opportunity to travel to Seattle in February, back to Chicago in March, and New Orleans in April. Sounds kinda fun, right?

Now, a life like that might sound horrible to you, and this constant moving and traveling is definitely not for everyone! But what I’m trying to say is – if you’re trying to fit into a perfect picture of how things are “supposed” to work, and it’s not your truth, it will eat away at you. You’ll feel invalidated, not good enough. In part, because you aren’t. You’re trying to succeed at a game that simply isn’t yours.

Now, there’s a price to pay for making these kinds of choices. I might have to say goodbye to some really awesome people. But I’m sure I’ll see them again, and besides, relationships these days are mobile, elastic, and transferrable. And San Francisco will always be here, right? I’m excited that I was able to change my perspective and see an abundance being offered to me in other areas of my life.

Play your own game. The one you choose for yourself. Run your own energy, life-force, truth. Make choices and decisions based on what will make you happy – not anyone else. The rest will fall into place – that’s what happens when you’re in the flow.

There are people in our society that we immediately identify as healers. Doctors and nurses heal our bodies. Lawyers heal our legal troubles. Teachers heal our minds. Once you start to open up your awareness to how much healing really goes on in day to day life, you begin to notice healing happening around you all the time.

You might be a healer , and you might not be aware of how much of your energy is invested in healing or taking care of other people or their problems. You might be the spiritual healer of your workplace, your family, your friends or colleagues. People might see you as the one who “keeps everything together”, or “smooths everything over.” It’s a powerful role to have in any group, but like anything, it has a price.

If too much of your energy is invested in taking care of everyone else, you might be unconsciously taking on everyone else energy. How often have you heard someone say, “I feel so much better when I hang out with you!” Maybe you’re the only one at work that is capable of keeping the peace – constantly in the middle of childish squabbles and relationship problems. Meanwhile, you feel tired, or stretched thin. There’s often never any energy left at the end of the day to deal with your own life – so you sweep it under the rug.

Chances are, there are things in your life that you’re healing all the time. And you may not be getting validated for being in this important role in your relationships. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Once you start becoming more aware where your energy, or life-force, is being directed, you can start to see how its affecting others, and also, where you might be leaking energy like a garden hose! You might be healing a whole bunch of situations and relationships that really aren’t that important to you any more. They might be in past time. You might be ready to let some things fail – so that you can create something new in their place.

If you’re in a bunch of situations or relationships that aren’t fulfilling or validating to you, and you’re waiting for other people to change – you might be waiting for a really long time. Chances are, they’ve got you exactly where they want you – your healing energy is extremely valuable! Why should they begin to heal themselves – you’re doing a perfectly good job for them!

Perhaps it’s time for you to call some of your energy back to yourself – so you can create new things in present time that resonate with who you are in spirit. The hardest obstacle you’ll encounter when beginning to call back your own energy is guilt. Guilt that you should be obligated to fix everyone and everything else. “But if I stop healing them, they will suffer” is a common energy we handle – and it can keep you (and them) stuck. It simply isn’t true. All healing is self-healing, and each and every person is capable of healing themselves and creating the life they want to lead with just their own energy. It’s really that simple.

Sometimes we keep over-healing because people tell us how great we are, how much they love our energy. That can be very validating, but can also create an inequity – if they continually rely on your energy to “feel better”, you can be stuck needing to generate enough energy for more people than just yourself! And your energy always runs better in your own space. You can be stuck in a network of friends, colleagues and relatives that “rely” on you for so much – there might not be much left for you in your own life!

You can learn to heal without giving it all away. You can learn to create a healing space for others to heal themselves, without them needing your energy to do so. You can be validated as the healer that you are by learning how to heal yourself first. You can become responsible for your own energy alone instead of everyone else’s, and you’ll let go of feeling “in control” of situations and relationships that you’re really not in control of anyways. It makes it easier to know your own life-force more clearly, to find your own answers, and to make choices that resonate with you in spirit. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have compassion. It simply means that you require the people around you to find their own answers and to heal themselves too.

The funny thing is – that’s when the magic happens.

By healing yourself, you actually become the healing for others. And you won’t need to do anything – simply by being yourself, healing your own space and energy, you’ll get to have more in your life, and so will everyone else.

Others will follow your lead. They’ll start growing and changing too, just because you have. So who heals the healer? The healer themselves!

If you want to heal the world – heal yourself first.

As we grow older, an inevitable part of that process is that we stop dreaming as a child dreams. We become practical creatures, instead relying on the way things are to create a sense of safety and security in our lives. But what we miss out on is our ability to create a new world for ourselves to inhabit and grow into. Children know this intimately; they dream of fantasy worlds, of out of reach occupations (what child says, I want to be a banker?) and of new, innovative inventions.

We become experts at underestimating ourselves, and in that, underestimating others, and this negative energy can influence the entire space around you, wether at work, at home or with friends. You’ve seen people like this in your life – just a simple look at a person running this energy, and you know they’ve stopped dreaming. You know that they are stuck.

Likewise, you can adjust your energy and become a beacon of light within that dark energy. People will look at you differently. People will know – empathically – that you are a person with a dream. A person who still has access to that part of yourself. It’s a very attractive energy to be in – but it will also make you stand out in a crowded room. That can be a little uncomfortable at first!

Reconnecting to that part of you that dreams, that has an ability to create a new dream for yourself and create change to get there, can be an amazing healing for your spirit AND your body. It puts you back on a path of growing, changing, and learning that satisfies an inherent need in the human lifetime. It will stimulate all the agreements and energies that would prefer you remain unchanging, and this can be painful and difficult. But it will create opportunity not only for you, but for everyone around you to evolve and grow closer towards their own dreams.

We are born in supreme fragility, and we die in supreme fragility. Why are we so frightened of what is in between, seeking to keep things the same, to plateau and remain “safe”? Life is the adventure. It’s the time to take risks. It’s the time to create new world for yourself, and for others. To gamble it all for what your heart is drawn to. As you create resolutions for this new year, the beginning of a new decade, why not look towards the bigger picture? Reconnect to that part of you that is still a creative, imaginary child; yearning for something bigger in your life. Create a healing for yourself – and in that, a healing for others, and a healing for the whole world.

As 2009 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on where things are ending in my life, and also where things are beginning – like seedlings poking through the ground at the first sign of spring.

In order to create something new, space must be created for it by releasing energy that has been invested in the old or outdated thing. Sometimes its people, places or things – but sometimes it’s letting go of simply an idea or a picture of what you used to want. Are your current desires in present time? Do they adequately reflect who you are today, as opposed to who you used to be?

How have you changed over the past year? What did you learn about yourself and about the world? Are you allowing this new information, knowledge and experience to influence and flavor your life in positive, growth inspiring ways?

Changing your goals or desires can be interpreted by some as failure; but it can also be seen as allowing yourself to evolve, grow and change. From an energetic perspective, there’s no failure in adjusting the picture of your future or your life. In fact, if you allow yourself freedom to do this, it can be very liberating!

Most people are heavily invested in keeping things the same. In fact, whole lives can be constructed around keeping the status quo, not rocking the boat, and making everyone around them comfortable by not shaking things up. But often times, this is the exact thing that leaves us feeling so unfulfilled and unsatisfied with our own lives. We yearn for something more, long for something new, and want fresh influence and energy in our lives and dreams.

Maybe it’s time to consider in your own life where you’re ready to move on, end things that are based on old dreams or old self-image pictures, and create something new. Maybe that’s a new job, maybe a new home, maybe even a new city. Or maybe it’s something more internal – a new way of seeing yourself, a fresh look at who you are in present time and what you want for your own future. What are the things that you’d like to experience?

Creating change will no doubt shake things up, and people in your life will react in various ways; excited to see you achieving your goals, but also scared and nervous at how that might change their relationship with you. Some people may even react negatively – if you begin to create growth and change, it might begin to show them where they are stuck too! But if you’re finding yourself increasingly unsatisfied, it might be time to rock the boat a little and adjust your course. After all, it’s your lifetime – and it’s all about what experiences, opportunities, and relationships you want to create for yourself. Give yourself the freedom of clarity and movement this new year!

Recently, I read a woman who was having trouble with some anger in her life. She just felt angry all the time. At people, at events, at her child, even at her pet. Here’s the kicker – she had no idea why she was so angry. Everything in her life was fine. But she had tried everything, and she just couldn’t make her anger go away.

In the reading, I found an energy picture that went something like this: She was a kid at Christmas, and in front of her was a mound of presents. Each one was fine. They were nice gifts. She was happy with them. But there were other kids all around her opening up their gifts, and their gifts were awesome! New, high tech toys. Fancy Barbie dream houses. All sorts of things that seemed magical and exciting. In this picture, she was angry and pouty and sad. She wanted what everyone else was getting! She wanted magic!

Upon a deeper look, it became clear that in this picture (and therefor her life) she had given up her right to ask for what she wanted. In fact, she had deferred to her parents to decide “what she was going to get for christmas” for her. And it’s not that the things she’d been given – or the life they had picked for her – was bad, or wrong. In fact it was quite nice. But it wasn’t what she would have picked for herself. She wanted something different; something more.

You see, her parents wanted her to be safe, and to be happy. They had the best of intention. They chose some nice toys for her. It was the best way they knew how to provide those things for her life. And it’s not that they were wrong or cruel or wanted to take advantage of her – but as she grew into the woman she is today, those things have become less relevant. They have become less of what she would pick for herself.  She felt guilty for wanting something different or more when what she had been given – what was decided she should have – was so nice. Who was she to ask for more or different when so many people had so little? Who was she to say no to her parents ideas of what her life should be like? This was the genesis of the anger that had been afflicting her. Guilt of being unhappy, and for wanting more control on her “Christmas gift list.”

When I asked her what in her life she would change if she had the freedom to do so, without consideration for what anyone else would think or say to her, she quickly replied – “everything.”

I told her she’s got a lot of work to do, then.

A little bit about the history of Halloween.
(from wikipedia)

Halloween has origins in the ancient festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an), which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”. This was a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland and Scotland. However, similar festivals were held by other Celts – for example the festival of Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf) which was held by the ancient Britons.

The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Another common practise was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.

The name Halloween and many present-day traditions, derive from the Old English era.

In the 800s, the Catholic Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints’ Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day.