I spent the majority of my life as a woman of science, trained that I must “see to believe”, as in, observe some kind of empirical evidence of all phenomena I choose to have faith in. Naturally, I had no faith in the afterlife or any life beyond my current physical body, as I was unable to observe it or to find even a shred of proof.

All of this changed seven years ago, when I received a reading from one of America’s most talented psychic mediums, Bill Philipps. With no information about me, he was able to bring back clear, specific messages about deceased relatives, loved ones, and even old friends of family members who I had never met and never known existed. There was simply no way he could know this information, not even with Google. I was stunned. And shocked! It was the first time in my life I had witnessed “proof” of something more, something greater, and it resonated deeply within me as truth. It was an experience that blew me wide open to the potential that there might be so much more to this journey than meets the eye. For the first time in my life, the skeptic in me came face to face with a challenging question…

Could psychic mediums and spirit guides actually be REAL?

To address this question and so much more, I invited Bill to join me on Lucid Planet Radio to discuss what it means to be a psychic medium, how he developed his skills, how he does his work and the types of messages that typically come through from the spirit world. You can listen to the whole interview here and read so much more in Bill’s book, Expect the Unexpected: Bringing Peace, Healing, and Hope from the Other Side.

Bill explains that many of us are psychic: In fact, our psychic senses such as our intuitions and gut feelings are a birthright that we bring into this life. Many of us can tune into the energies of people, objects, or situations that have already happened, or develop a sense of the future (although the future is never set in stone because we always have free will!) According to Bill, the key to turning on your own psychic senses is to TUNE OUT the outside world and begin to notice the subtle feelings and sensations deep inside that you might not have noticed were there. The power of prayer and meditation to still the mind can be hugely influential for connecting with your innate psychic abilities and calling high vibrational spirit guides into your space.

What is a Psychic Medium?

What distinguishes someone as a psychic medium is the the way that they are able to connect directly with spirit to bring through specific information. Bill describes himself as channel for information to come through from the other side. This is not an exact science, but it is more like a radio receiver that receives subtle impressions from spirit which he then trusts and transmits to those who have come to see him. He explains that information is always coming through, but he is able to ignore it to a certain extent, except when people ask him for help (he equates it to tuning out someone’s nagging). He doesn’t “see dead people” like in The Sixth Sense, but rather, he can tune in to their voices speaking to him (this type of mediumship is typically described as “clairaudience”).

Bill discovered his gifts early in life, when his mother began communicating with him after her untimely death when he was 15. While he remained ‘in the closet’ with his gift for a long time, thinking he was crazy or that it wasn’t real, he eventually learned to embrace his truth and accept that channeling messages of healing from the other side is indeed his calling.

The Four Main Types of Spirit Guides

According to Bill, there are four main types of spirit guides that he communicates with on the other side, who are here to help guide and protect the “living”:

Deceased Loved Ones: Bill communicates most frequently with deceased loved ones, such as family members and friends who knew the person during life. Often, these individuals are part of larger “soul groups” that incarnate together and then watch over each other from other side for 2-3 generations until it is time to incarnate again, each time in different roles, to help teach new lessons that help each other’s highest soul growth.

Spirits Sent to Help: These spirit guides are not necessarily people we have known in life, but rather, could be guides from past lives or other spirits who have been sent to protect us. For example, someone in your ‘soul group’ who passed before you were born could still be watching over you as a guide.

Ascended Masters: These are people who lived highly evolved spiritual lives in the physical realm who continue their journey in spirit to help the living. Their vibration is energetically higher than the previous two groups, and the ascended masters are thought to guide many people.

Angels: According to Bill, the highest vibrational guides of all are the angels, who have never inhabited a physical body before. They are might of pure light, pure energy and pure love.

At any point, each of us may have a combination of these spirit guides watching over us and protecting us. All we have to do is ask for their help, and to look for the signs of their presence, which can manifest in so many different ways: Dreams, songs on the radio, the numbers on the clock (like 11:11), feelings of warmth, as well as actual visions or voices. Prayer, which means establishing your individual connection to the divine source, is an excellent way to communicate with your guides. Bill just reminds us to always Expect the Unexpected in how your prayers might be answered.

Bill also explains that YES, darker/denser spirits do exist, but he firmly and verbally does not allow those vibrations to enter his space. He chooses to focus on the healing messages and higher vibrational energies. Whatever our vibration, we will attract more of that, and so we all absolutely have the power and ability to protect our spiritual space by maintaining a high vibration through mediation and prayer. We do not need to be afraid of dark or dense spiritual energies, we simply must affirm our boundaries that they are not permitted in our space.

Messages of Hope From the Other Side

I asked Bill about the most common messages he receives from spirit when he does readings for people. Overwhelmingly, our spirit guides are here to show us that we DO live on after we die, and that they are here to protect us and to show us love. They want us to know that they are still with us, and that they are alright. It can be a truly profound and life-changing experience to connect with these messages from your guides. Often, the living need some kind of proof to accept this message, and so spirit guides typically provide very specific examples that only that person would recognize so that there can be a sense of validation and reassurance that yes, this is REAL. This was certainly the case in my reading.

The other main message from the other side revolves around leaving everything physical behind, including money, power or fame. There is NO MONEY on the other side. There is also no time on the other side, and there are no celebrities or wealthy people. We are all one, and everyone is EQUAL. Given how easy it is to lose sight of this in our world, this is an incredibly powerful message. The expression, “You can’t take it with you” really hits home here. While we might need money to survive in this world, for now anyway, LOVE is truly the universal currency that matters.