Spiritual Exercises

This site’s name –“wb4all” — is short for “well-being for all”

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Exercises #3 and #5 with the cute plant, tree, and bush spirits are easy and a lot of fun.  The other three exercises are also easy, interesting, and can be fun and funny too.

Hearing the Voices of God (Mainly) and Other Spirits (Once It Starts, It’s Easy and Fun)

The first principle in this no-frills virtual spiritual online wb4all meta-church is, “God wants many people — eventually all people — to get into direct 2-way verbal communication with him and participate in sharing his current expression of his will with others.”  I’ve been in that mode of experience off and on since May 2011 and consistently all during 2013.  I’m also in communication with Michael Old Trees, and a wide range of plant, tree, shrub, flower, wind, breeze, and other spirits types since May 2011.  It’s great.  And, yes, for real.

So here are a few simple exercises to get you started in this wonderland.

By the way, a “meta-church,” by my definition — and I invented the term — influences all religions to have some basic core principles in common.  In this case, there are three principles (or pillars) involved which are stated in various places on this site.

Exercise 1 – Just Listen for God’s Voice

Before you try the funnier exercises #3 and #5 with plant spirits, or the sweet exercise #4 with the spirit of the wind, why not try just cutting to the chase and listen for God’s collegial words for you?

One can try to do this directly just by being silent in any period of 5 – 15 seconds — anywhere, anytime — and just listening for his (God’s) voice, for his words.  I’m not talking about “communication” as in praying and then staying alert for his “signs,” but actually listening for his words to come directly into your mind.  He talks to me with words, will talk to you with words (if he doesn’t already), and will talk to everyone with words eventually as humanity returns to the way it was in the beginning days of mankind.

Adam and Eve, symbolizing all men and women at the time, communicated directly with God.

Knowing from this website that it’s possible, that someone else is doing it (I definitely am and probably others in the world are also), and that everyone will eventually be doing it, helps by creating in you the perception of possibility that it will work for you right away or eventually too.  That alone removes a huge obstacle to natural experience of spirit voices.  Then give yourself permission to experience the presence and voices.  That removes a second huge obstacle.  From knowing it’s probably possible and being willing to experience spirit presence and voices, what’s left to do is just try once in a while.  You will either succeed in hearing the voices during one of your tries or not.  If you don’t, don’t assume you’re doing anything wrong or that it won’t eventually work.  There are several factors at play including our enculturation that tells us our subjective senses are worthless and that information we gain from them is “just our imagination,” “not real.”

We all do have and use imagination, but we all do also have very valuable subjective senses that let us sense the presence of and communicate with spirits, if we’ll just allow ourselves to do it.

Trying to hear God’s voice, once in a while, for just 5 – 15 seconds is enough, will either just work or will eventually give rise to your just spontaneously noticing it sometime when you least expect it.  You get affinity with the idea here at this website and that, like magic, attracts the creation of the result into your life.  When the words come, and the “knowing” that it’s God comes, don’t kill it or dismiss it with the thought that, “It’s just my (your) imagination.”

“Hearing the words” is one “subjective sense” that’s real and not nothing.

“Knowing the identity” is another “subjective sense” that’s real and not nothing.

There another coming up in one of the next exercises (“feeling the emotion/attitude/tone”), also not nothing.

Exercise 2 – Just Listen for “Michael Old Trees”

You can try the same thing — anytime, anywhere — by intending to sense the presence of and hear the words of the spirit, Michael the Archangel (Old Trees), who is also, like God, available to everyone all the time, 24 hours each day, 7 days each week (“24/7”).

This spirit is an ancient tree spirit of two tree spirits merged.  The Hebrew sound and word for “like God,” is “Michael.”  That how a spirit that thinks of itself as Old Trees got the name, Michael.

Both God and Michael Old Trees want collegial, smart, and often funny relationships with you and me, so don’t be surprised if the words you hear and the tone you feel (“feeling the emotive/emotion aspect” is another “subjective sense” that’s real and not nothing) are funny.  The words and tone might also be just straightforward in some way and not necessarily funny.  That’s up to God and Michael Old Trees Michael and what they have in mind for you at the time you stop for a moment to listen.

Speaking of funny, the plant and tree and other spirits are also often funny, cool, and magickal, so here’s three more ideas for how to get started with presence and communication with spirits:

Fun Ways to Get Started — With the Wind, Breeze, and Prankster Plants

Well, the sometimes serious, sometimes cute, often funny, spirits that I communicate with– bushes, daffodils, wind, breeze, and more — have started helping me with my attempts to get other people — that’s you! — into direct communication with them, with Michael Old Trees, and with God.  They’ve given me a few suggestions for how to make the process easy, sweet, funny, and fun.  I’ve also come up with a few of my own.  I’ll share a few of them here.

The assumption is that we all have the in-born innate abilities (our culturally-marginalized subjective senses, as opposed to our culturally-encouraged objective senses) to communicate directly with spirits.  All we need to do is (1) know it’s possible to sense and hear them, (2) listen for them, and (3), when we eventually hear them, not kill them off or dismiss them with the thought that, “it’s just my imagination” and “not real.”

Here’s a few more exercises, one of which worked for one of my friends recently.

Exercise 3 – “Are you trying to talk to me?”  🙂

Get into a funny attitude, walk over to a shrub, bush, or other plant, lean over, and — in a challenging, mock serious, way — either out loud or in silent words, say, “Are you trying to talk to me?”  Then listen carefully for 5 – 15 seconds.  If you hear some words, don’t kill it off or dismiss them by thinking, “It’s just my imagination.”  You can also do it from across a front or back yard or across a room.

The plant spirit will know your question is coming, think it’s funny, and say something (probably clever) to you in response.

Exercise 4 – “Do you have a message for me?”  ♥

Here’s one that worked for a friend of mine recently.

We were chatting on Facebook.  The friend told me of hearing the lovely spring wind and felt it through the window.  I suggested to ask the wind, “Do you have a message for me?”  The friend did, listened, and heard, “Come with me.”  I asked the wind and Old Trees Michael if that sounded right and they both said, “Yes, that’s what the wind said to your friend.”  The  wind had given my friend an invitation to enjoy a sense of flowing along like the lovely springtime wind.  Sweet.

So that’s two people who have heard from spirits — my friend and me.  But there’s probably a LOT more around the country and the world I just haven’t met yet.  For one thing, remember, in the 1970s, there was the book and movie, The Secret Life of Plants, that was asserting that plants might be “sentient,” i.e., have spirits that have thoughts, cognitive abilities, emotional aspects, and such.  I know for sure that they do and you will soon too.  Here’s Wikipedia on that book and movie:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Plants  Whether the authors and the movie makers had direct experience — I’m guessing they did and do — I do and my friend did, so you can too.  Give it a try!

Exercise 5 – The “You Hurt My Feelings by Just Walking Past Me” Game 😉 (Mock pouty prankster plant spirits)

As you’re walking past a bush or a few bushes, and you sense a little “pull,” don’t dismiss it with the thought, “that’s just my imagination.”  Turn back to the bush and listen carefully for 5 – 15 seconds.  If they say, something like, “Hey, you don’t say Hello to your friends anymore when you walk by?,” don’t be surprised and don’t dismiss it or kill it by thinking, “That’s just my imagination.”  Playing the “I’m hurt because you just walked by me” game is what 3 prankster bush spirit pals did to me the other day on South Street in Ware, Massachusetts.  Here’s the map of the action:

3 Prankster Bushes on South Street in Ware. Where? Ware. Ware? Nevermind. 😉 Click on image for larger image

Comment about Irish Leprechaun spirits

When you make contact with funny invisible plant nature spirits, you’ll have made contact with what the Irish called leprechauns!  Other cultures have used other names for the same nature spirits and represented them differently in their art.  Christians have their angels.  Muslims have their good spirits/jinn.  Asian and African cultural and spiritual worlds have their names and art for the same spirits.

What are leprechauns?  If you’re Irish, or if you’ve lived long enough to see a lot of St. Patrick’s day celebrations with Irish decorations, you may have noticed there’s always images of cute little “people,” the leprechauns.  Why have they come down to us as so present everywhere?  Because ancient spiritualized Irish experienced cute funny natural spirits everywhere!  Did they look like the modern pictures?  No.  But how do you paint or draw a picture that symbolizes an invisible spiritual presence?  Answer:  You take an artistic liberty with the facts and draw little people that appear and disappear.  And then develop, over the centuries, a folklore.  Since the spirits are both funny and wise, let them be combinations of old little “people” and young little “people.”

Comment about Native American spirituality: Spirits and The Great Spirit

I’m no expert in Native American spirituality, but I am expert in what I’ve experienced.  My experiences of not only sensing something special, but also hearing words, from wind, breeze, plants, trees, rain, and God seems like it could be the exact same thing as Native Americans reporting they and their ancestors experienced presence of and communication with wind, breeze, plants, trees, rivers, streams — and The Great Spirit.  Make sense?  Sure.  When I first communicated with God, he and I were calling him the voice of the universe (and I was writing notes about him as votu).  See the God entry in the glossary on this site (or the Wikipedia page on God) for the many names various cultures at various times have used for the same spirit that the 6th century Germans started calling using the word and sound, “God.”  Names like El, Elohim, I am who am, YVHV, Yahweh, Jehovah, God, Brahman, Krishna, Hare, Ahura Mazda, the Great Spirit, and undoubtedly many more in less well-known cultures, religions, and spiritualities.

Comment about Adam, Eve, and the Tree in “Paradise”

The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve, symbolizing all of humanity at the time, had the ability to communicate directly with God.  What was also true, but not mentioned in the Bible, but told to us (via me) recently, is that Adam and Eve also had the ability to communicate directly with other spirits, including the plants, trees, breeze, and wind.  The main point here is they could communicate with tree spirits and one in particular, Old Trees Michael.

Think about the comment in the Adam and Eve bible story about “apples” from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  That’s not talking about physical nutrition from physical apples.  That’s symbolic/poetic language for gaining knowledge from somewhere, from some wise and good spirits, from a tree.  I’ve been told it was Old Trees Michael that was trying to share the “apples” or elements or information of knowledge of good and evil, and that God, of course, supported that.  I’ve also been told, by God, that Satan has deliberately caused the confusion in the story.

Right.  What you just read is correct.  God has told me that tree part of the story has come down to us backwards due to Satan’s tampering with it long long long ago before it got written down in the original written languages.  Think about it.  Why would God prohibit something like eating from the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil?”  That makes no sense.  And God says it not only makes no sense, it’s wrong.  It’s not the way it happened. with God, Adam (all men), Eve (all women), Old Trees Michael, and Satan at the time, long long long ago.

Perspectives:  Other Spiritual Exercises From St. Ignatius of Loyola and Other People,

The Jesuit order of priests are pretty famous around the world for being intelligent, educated, supporting education, and being independent-thinking within the Roman Catholic Church during its history.  Like most significant initiatives, there was one person responsible for starting the Jesuit order.  In this case, that person was the man history calls, St. Ignatius of Loyola.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola  One of the things Ignatius did is invent spiritual exercises for the members of his Jesuit order to use.

I’ve never read any further detail about what those exercises were, but I know modern spiritual events like the 2-weekend est training, Esalen, and many other retreats and seminars have processes for contacting or strengthening aspects of life, including spiritual aspects.  The point is there’s precedent, in the past and in modern life, for spiritual exercises to contact aspects of our abilities that have been asleep for a while, maybe most of our lives, or that can grow for the first time.

And I’m noticing Wikipedia has a good entry on Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_Exercises_of_Ignatius_of_Loyola.

It’s good because it brings up what I’ve run into, namely, the sole bad eternal spirit, Satan, still sometimes attempts to and sometimes a little bit  can confuse direct communications between me and God, between me and Michael Old Trees, and between me and other spirits.  I’ve developed a few techniques which I’ll share here to sort it out.  From what I’ve read so far in the Wikipedia entry on Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, I don’t think Ignatius was teaching exercises for direct 2-way verbal communication with God and other spirits (like I am in 2013 and like God wants you and everyone to be).  So we’re looking at a different skillset in Ignatius’ and my exercises.   He wants to help his adherents be better able to follow Jesus’ example (which is ok for people who want that lifestyle of poverty and such) and I just want you and everyone to get into direct 2-way communication with God and other spirits so we can all hear together what He and they are trying to tell us He wants in 2013.

For the moment, the exercises above will get you into the game of spirit presence and communication either directly and right away, or eventually and spontaneously when you least expect it.  Enjoy.

Don’t let the mention above of the non-mythical non-superstition Satan throw you off on this.  Our enculturation also prevents us from logically, maturely, and objectively discussing his existence and activities.  Let’s discuss him anyway to make things tougher for him.  As the old saying goes, “The devil’s greatest accomplishment is to persuade the world that he doesn’t exist.”  So discuss him anyway, right?  Right.

Comment in case you jumped to the end of the page:

Generally speaking — and anyone can be an exception — our enculturation has discouraged as “just our imagination” our natural array of “subjective senses,” while encouraging pretty much exclusive use of our “objective senses” (physical touch, sight, taste, smell, and sound).  This effects a lot of things.  One of them is what we experience and mean by the term, “spiritual experience.”  Because, since May 2011 in one way, and during 2013 in another way, my subjective senses seem to have muscled back up to more natural less-enculturated states, I’ve been “hearing” and “sensing” spirits that have always been there, are always there, always will be there, and have been reported in various cultures in various ways at various times — Irish leprechaun nature spirits, Arthurian tree and lake and other spirits, Celtic tree spirits, Secret Life of Plants book and movie in the 70s, and a lot more across time and around the world.  It’s fun.  I thought, though it’s still, at least for the moment, a bit odd in our culture, I thought I’d share some simple little exercises I’ve been suggesting to friends to give a try.  #3 and #5 above are funny.  Enjoy!

You’re welcome!

Keep me posted, if you like.

Tom McMullen

tommcmullenjr@hotmail.com