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  Where Clearing Can Take Us

  So far, we’ve talked about how we’re constantly influenced by the energy around us. Yes, we’re often negatively impacted by all the stressed people around us and the stuck energy held in the spaces in which we live and work. But wait—it works both ways! That means the opposite is true as well—we can turn this around to be positively influenced instead! So before we get on with actually learning how to do a clearing, I need to tell you one final story, as an example of this.

  Many years ago, my dear friend Marianne was dying of breast cancer. She had actually survived with it for 10 years, trying everything that both alternative medicine and Western medicine offered. But nothing had worked, and finally she was coming to the end of her life. As she prepared for the passage, I planned to be available for her.

  This is one of the things I do with clearing: support people in the death process, working with the energy of their transition so there is as much ease as possible. With clearing, you don’t have to be physically present with someone; since it can be done at a distance, I can tune in no matter where they are. In these situations, I often find that about three days before a person actually passes, I sense them entering a new phase. To me, it feels as if they’ve entered a dark wind tunnel, and they seem a bit disoriented and unsure. At that point, I will stay very connected and focused on clearing them to help with the process, and I often experience their relaxing into this stage more easily.

  The evening came when I got an e-mail that Marianne was entering the final phases of dying and that it probably wouldn’t be long now. I went into full clearing mode to be with her remotely, and I soon felt her step into that place that felt to me like the dark wind tunnel. I went to bed that night still energetically connected, expecting my usual experience of clearing over the next few days before finally feeling her pass.

  But that’s not what happened. Instead, I woke up the next morning in a complete and total state of bliss. It’s nearly impossible to find words to describe the quality of what I was feeling. It’s as close as I can imagine to the pure peace and joy of enlightenment. I went through the next three days, doing my regular work, buying groceries, cleaning the house, all the usual activities. But I did it all in a place of what felt like serene elation, even though that might sound like an improbable mix of feelings. This had never before been any part of my experience while clearing someone as they were dying.

  It took me a while to figure out what was going on. Marianne had been friends with several spiritual teachers and healers around the world, and I’d known that I wasn’t the only one connected energetically to her in this way. This was a group of highly advanced energy workers, each one tuning in to her remotely with their own particular form of support. So as I connected with her energy, I joined with their presence as well. I was benefitting from the network that had been formed by us all directing our conscious intention to the same place. I was uploading and downloading bliss.

  But when I woke up on the third morning, the feelings had all faded away. I felt “normal” again, the elation gone. I checked my e-mail, and there it was, the message telling me Marianne had passed while I was asleep. Her spirit was gone, so the energetic network was no longer needed; it collapsed and our connection faded away.

  Here we see where clearing can take us. Just as we are so negatively challenged and stressed by the transmissions we receive from those around us, the opposite is also true. When people join together with the intent to bring balance, the same kind of energy transfer takes place between them in a positive way. Their systems synchronize; their bodies, minds, and hearts entrain; there is an energetic exchange stimulating each toward joy and peace.

  When you learn how to do clearing, you can walk through the world as a fully compassionate presence and change the energy within you and around you. And when you need help, you can access a community of like minds who can clear you. There are people all around the world who’ve learned how to do this work, and many have come together online to be available for one another in this way.

  In my workshops, I often say that I studied 30 years so I can teach this to you in four days. Now I can say that those 30 years have been compiled into these 248 pages, so you can learn this very simple, elegant, honoring way of activating the power of your compassionate heart. So let’s get going.

  chapter 3

  Learning to Clear Energy

  * * *

  Clearing is a subtle, gentle way to release the things that have been holding you back, to create infinite new possibilities for vitality and joy in life and connect you to your sacred sense of purpose. People often report feeling immediate shifts in their energy during a clearing, and that significant change unfolds in the days and weeks afterward, often in astonishing ways.

  There is a tool to use when you do a clearing that can keep your analytical mind from overriding your ability to connect to someone’s energy, help you stay focused, and let you know when each stage in the process is complete: a pendulum. Now, a pendulum is not some magical object with mysterious powers! It’s basically just a weight on a string.

  A pendulum

  Pendulums have actually been used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, all over the world. One of the age-old ways to use a pendulum was to determine whether a pregnant woman was going to have a girl or a boy. A needle hung from a string would be swung over her belly. If it swung one direction, the baby was predicted to be a boy; if it swung another way, then the baby would be a girl. That may or may not be folklore, but it does demonstrate one way that we can use the pendulum: interpreting its movement for “yes” or “no” answers.

  First, of course, you’ll need to acquire your own pendulum in order to learn how to get those answers! You can find pendulums in many spiritual bookstores, and there are plenty of online sources as well. (See the Resources in the back of this book.)

  You can also make your own pendulum if you’d like. It can be as simple as a small rock tied to a length of yarn, or a heavy bead hung from a string or chain. If you make your own pendulum, follow these three basic guidelines:

  The pendulum must be able to swing smoothly and freely in a circle, without jerking or getting caught on the knot in the string or the attachment to the chain. Sometimes people try to use a necklace or key ring as a pendulum, but these often have a jerky motion to their swing because of how the pendant is connected to the chain or the key to the ring, and therefore are not good solutions.

  The string or chain should be three or four inches in length. Any longer or shorter than that will affect ease of use and prevent you from getting accurate answers.

  For the stone or bead or whatever you use for the weight, heavier is better. When you’re just beginning to learn to use a pendulum, it’s best if you can really feel that weight. If the pendulum is too light, it’ll be hard to learn to “drive” it at first.

  If you want to start immediately without buying or making a pendulum, you can simply use a wet tea bag! A dry one would be too light to use, but a wet one is heavy enough to work perfectly well. Just be sure to wring it out a bit before you use it, or it might spray a stain onto your shirt as it spins!

  How to Hold Your Pendulum

  Once you have your pendulum, hold it between your thumb and index finger. Most people hold the pendulum in the same hand they write with, but you can experiment to see what’s most comfortable for you.

  Keep your arm, wrist, and hand relaxed. When you’re first learning to use a pendulum, it’s normal to tense up and try too hard. Slightly bend your elbow and wrist, and hold the pendulum firmly, but don’t clench it tightly between your fingers. Just let it dangle!

  How to hold a pendulum

  Give the pendulum a little swing, just to get a sense of how it feels to use one. Make friends with your pendulum—you’re going to be using it a lot from now on! (For more detail, you can also view a video about how to use a pendulum at www.jeanhaner.com/clearingvideos.)

  Finding Your “Yes” and �
��No”

  There are four steps in learning how to use your pendulum to get “yes” and “no” answers to questions.

  1. Pick up your pendulum and hold it a few inches above the palm of your other hand.

  Step 1: Hold the pendulum over your palm.

  Give it a little swing to get it moving, and then watch for a minute or two. You should see it gradually settle into a certain kind of regular movement as you hold it over your palm. For instance, it may swing in circles or side to side in a straight line. There is no right or wrong; everyone’s pendulum will have its own kind of motion here.

  2. Now you know what kind of movement the pendulum naturally makes when you hold it over the palm of your hand. While the pendulum is still swinging, flip your free hand over so that the pendulum is above the back of your hand.

  Step 2: Hold the pendulum over the back of your hand.

  Observe what the pendulum does now. After a few moments, you will probably notice that the pendulum changes its movement! It swings in a different way over the back of your hand than it did over your palm. Again, it can be any kind of motion, circular, side to side, up and down. Just notice what it does for you. Remember that movement; it’s the one the pendulum will consistently make when held over the back of your hand.

  What’s going on? Your body has a natural electromagnetic field that has a negative and a positive polarity. One side of your hand is the negative and one is the positive, and the pendulum is just reacting to that energy. You can try the same experiment by holding the pendulum over one knee to see how it swings, and then hold it over your other knee to notice it swing in a different way. The pendulum is really like a little biofeedback tool for you!

  3. Hold the pendulum up in the air in the same relaxed way, but without your other hand beneath it.

  Step 3: Hold the pendulum without your other hand beneath it.

  Give the pendulum a little swing to get it moving. As it’s moving, say, “Show me the movement for my ‘yes.’” Soon it will settle into one of the motions that it had previously made, either the one over your palm or the one over the back of your hand.

  Now you know what movement indicates that the answer to any question you’re asking is “yes.”

  4. While the pendulum is still swinging, say, “Show me the movement for my ‘no.’” Now watch as the pendulum begins to change how it moves! It will settle into the other motion it made previously, either the one over the palm or the one over the back of your hand.

  Now you can use a pendulum to ask yes or no questions. You know which movement means the answer to your question is “yes” and which indicates a “no.” Don’t worry about what kinds of motion the pendulum makes. As long as the two swings are recognizably different, you’re fine.

  What to Do If You Don’t Get Two Different Movements

  What if the pendulum doesn’t change its movement when you flip your hand? Maybe you see it swing in a circle over your palm, and when you turn your hand over, the pendulum still swings in a circle. This usually just means you’re trying too hard! This is normal when we’re learning something new.

  It’s important to be in a relaxed state of mind when you use a pendulum. So try taking a nice deep breath, have a sip of water, look out the window for a few moments, and then try again. Don’t overthink it; just give the pendulum a few minutes to find its movement. Often, that’s all it takes.

  If the pendulum still makes the same motion above the palm and the back of your hand, try sitting in a different chair. Perhaps you were sitting in an area of stressed energy! If the pendulum still doesn’t change movement, it’s not a problem. All you have to do is assign yourself two different motions of your choice.

  For example, you could hold the pendulum over your palm and make it swing in a circle, intending that this is your correct movement for when it’s above your palm. Then hold it over the back of your hand and swing it side to side in straight lines. Tell yourself that this is now your correct motion for over the back of your hand.

  Then, hold the pendulum up in the air (without your other hand beneath it), swing it in a circle, and say, “This is my ‘yes.’” Now swing the pendulum in a side-to-side motion, and say, “This is my ‘no.’” Do that a few times until it starts to feel natural for you. There. You’ve got your two assigned pendulum movements, your “yes” and your “no”!

  What to Do If You Get “Switched”

  If you try to use a pendulum when you’re stressed, upset, or exhausted, you may find something strange happens. In that state, if you hold the pendulum over your palm, you may see that it’s not making the movement you’re used to seeing. Instead, it’s swinging the way it normally does over the back of your hand. And if you hold it over the back of your hand, it makes the motion it usually does over your palm!

  What’s going on? You’ve gotten “switched.” That means your energy is temporarily out of balance, and so you won’t be able to get accurate “yes” or “no” answers or do any clearing.

  However, there’s no cause for alarm! Often you can bring yourself back into balance by just taking a nice deep breath and telling yourself to rebalance. If that doesn’t work, drink some water, maybe have a snack, get a breath of fresh air, and then come back and try again. Perhaps move to a different chair, as you might have been sitting in an area of stress that made your system react like this.

  After trying one or all of these solutions, is the pendulum making the usual movements again? If so, great. If not, you may need a good night’s sleep; when you come back, the pendulum will work for you just fine. It’s only a temporary situation, so don’t worry about it. A big part of this work is trusting the process and not trying to force things.

  How Using a Pendulum Affects Your Brainwaves

  A pendulum is sometimes called a dowsing instrument. You may have never heard of dowsing; if you have, it may have been about someone dowsing to find underground water for a well. Dowsing is simply a way of getting information by tapping into your greater intuitive awareness without all the chatter in your head that usually blocks it, and a pendulum is just one tool that helps us do that. One of the remarkable things about a dowsing instrument, scientists have found, is that learning to use it has a measurable and amazingly positive effect on your brainwaves.

  There are four different types of brainwaves: beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Beta is the one that’s active when you’re awake and in your everyday state of mind. Alpha is what you experience when you’re feeling peaceful and content, and also during gentle meditation. Theta shows up when you’re asleep and dreaming, and it also corresponds to the times you’re so relaxed that creative ideas and instant solutions to problems suddenly emerge. Delta occurs during very deep, dreamless sleep, and it’s also active during the very deepest meditative states.

  Researchers studied the brainwaves of people while they were using a pendulum and found that during this process, there is an increase in alpha waves, the state you enter when you’re peacefully happy. This was measurable even in people just beginning to learn how to use a pendulum. In terms of alpha waves, the dowsers’ brains responded nearly identically to the brain of someone meditating. (So fascinating, considering how that meditation teacher in my workshop compared clearing to “accelerated meditation”!)

  As people gained experience in dowsing, their theta waves began to increase (the very relaxed phase when creative ideas emerge). Over time, as they continued using the pendulum, their delta waves became active as well (the state of mind usually reached only during the deepest levels of meditation)!

  But that’s not all. The researchers found that as people became more practiced, they remained in heightened alpha and theta brainwave states even when they weren’t dowsing. Most remarkably, highly experienced dowsers had all four brainwave states active at the same time! This was something that they hadn’t seen in testing even the most accomplished Indian yogis.

  What this means is that using a pendulum expands your consciousness, and this lasts ev
en when you’re not actively dowsing. Just the act of using a pendulum transforms your awareness.

  You’re Ready to Do a Clearing!

  So now you know your personal “yes” and “no” movements. You know how to check to see if you’re switched and what to do if you are. And you’ve learned how transformative it can be simply to use that pendulum. This means you’re ready to move on to the next stage: doing a personal clearing!

  chapter 4

  How to Clear Personal Energy Fields

  * * *

  Simply by picking up that pendulum, you’ve already started developing your abilities. The next step is to use it to do a clearing for someone. You learn and gain confidence in clearing by actually doing it.

  Rest assured, in all the years I’ve been teaching, there’s never been anyone who couldn’t learn how to clear, not even left-brained engineer husbands who were dragged to my course by their eager wives. In fact, it’s sometimes the left-brained people who find it easiest to learn because it’s devoid of what they consider magical thinking or mumbo jumbo!

  If you were to watch me do a personal clearing for someone, it would just look like we were sitting having a chat, with one exception: I’d be swinging a pendulum. Clearing someone doesn’t involve any physical touch (unless you count the fact that you often get a hug at the end!).

  When you’re first learning to clear, it’s best to practice by clearing another person. Of course, you can clear yourself as well, but when you’re first developing your skills, you won’t be very effective. This is because you’re too close to your own stuff; your own energy is so completely familiar to you that you won’t find much to clear. Later on, once you’ve had more experience, you absolutely can clear yourself easily and effectively using the same technique here. But you need practice to get to that point, and you get that by clearing other people.