Table of Contents
Other books by Echo Bodine
Hands That Heal
Echoes of the Soul
Relax, Its Only a Ghost
A Still, Small Voice
Dear Echo
New World Library 14 Pamaron Way
Novato, California 94949
Copyright 2003 by Echo L. Bodine
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Cover design: Knockout Design / Peri Poloni Designer
Text design: Tona Pearce Myers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bodine, Echo L.
The gift : understand and develop your psychic abilities / Echo L. Bodine. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57731-205-5 (alk. paper)
1. Psychic ability. I. Title.
BF1031 .B612 2003
133.8 dc21 2002014134
First Printing, February 2003
ISBN 978-1-57731-205-5
Printed in the Canada on acid-free, partially recycled paper
10 9 8 7
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this book to
all the wonderful role models we have today who
have shown us what Jesus meant
when he said, These gifts I give unto you,
and greater works shall you do.
Thank you for not letting
the fears and ignorance of the world
keep you from doing your work
and for showing all of us
what is possible.
Rosemary Altea
George Anderson
Sylvia Browne
John Edward
Char Margolis
James Van Praagh
And to the most important role model in my life,
my brother and teacher
Rabbi Jeshua ben Joseph.
Foreword by Melody Beattie
T he woman gazed into her crystal ball, then solemnly looked at Echo and me.
I see, I see....
Echo and I leaned forward anxiously.
I see you two playing the piano at a recital, then afterwards having Kool-aid and cookies.
We paid her $10, then rushed to the car to giggle and talk about our latest reading.
In many ways, this little tidbit about the piano recitals was more believable than what another, more accurate psychic had predicted for both of us: that we would go on to become writers and teachers, and our names would be known worldwide.
The year was 1975. Psychic phenomena for the most part was still underground. Echo and I had instantly become best friends when wed met, a year earlier. Echo was the first psychic I had ever met and one of our mutual passions became going to visit psychics. For different reasons, we were both intrigued by this mysterious world beyond and the information transmitted from it to us.
Echo had been raised in a normal family transformed by a paranormal experience in 1965. From then on, auras, listening to what spirit had to say, and trusting intuition became as everyday to her as vacuum cleaners and grocery lists are to most of us. I didnt have a clue what any of this was about. Nor did I know how it fit into my religious upbringing which included Baptist Bible summer camps, Covenant Christian High School Academy, thousands of Methodist Sunday school classes, and weekly church services.
Like most people, I had psychic experiences that ranged from hearing clear guidance in the form of thoughts that werent my own (clairaudience) to being able to get a radar-type feeling for situations I was about to walk into (clairsentience), but I didnt have the words to describe these incidents and lacked the training to understand them.
Over the years just as predicted Echo went on to become an internationally renowned psychic and healer and the author of many books on these subjects (although the piano recital has yet to take place).
How do you tell an accurate psychic from an inaccurate one? What can you reasonably expect from a reading? When is it time to get a reading and, just as importantly, when is it the wrong time? Whats a third eye, and how do you open it? How can you see and hear things invisible to our physical eyes and not audible to our ears? How do you accurately interpret the things you see and hear, especially when your own fears, hopes, and dreams get in the way? Are we all psychic, or just a handful of us? Is it wrong to pursue psychic phenomenon, or is it an integral part of spirituality and spiritual growth?
Echo has mentored me and thousands of others who want to learn more about this mysterious otherworld and information communicated to us from it. Sometimes shes given us answers and suggestions; other times shes encouraged us to discover our own answers (as any good mentor does). More importantly, besides telling us how to grow psychically, shes given us the belief that we can.
Theres a doorway, a gate, that stands before us. See, its started to swing open. Maybe youve had that sense of knowing who was going to call before the phone rang. Maybe youve seen pictures flash through your mind, like scenes in a slide show. Or maybe, like the boy in the movie Sixth Sense, you can see and hear dead people.
You dont have to hang a shingle and become a professional psychic to grow and develop psychically. Learning to communicate with the world beyond can be helpful in building and maintaining personal relationships, in the business world, in our personal growth, and in being of true service to others. Ive found psychic abilities invaluable in the creative process. From what to get someone for a birthday gift to what to write about next and how to write it theres a wealth of information out there waiting for us to tap into it.
As we roll into and through the twenty-first century, more and more people are finding themselves standing at this gateway. Were heading toward a time when auras, intuition, and spirit guides will be household words almost as common as computers, and as helpful for navigating our way through life. The veil between the worlds has thinned. As many seers have prophesized, we stand at the brink of a creative and spiritual revolution that includes the everyday use of psychic information.
Without hesitation, I can tell you that Echo Lee Bodine is one of the keepers of information for people crossing this threshold. She was trained and taught during a time when only a select few had this information (or access to it), and most of it was passed on through oral teaching and hands-on practice. Most of her teachers have passed over or retired. Now, this information is finally offered to the masses.
Ive watched Echo come up through the ranks and become established as a psychic and healer the old-fashioned way: by paying dues, perfecting her abilities, and spending time being a student before she moved into the position of teacher.
Before embarking on a recent trip to Tibet, my hiking partner and I talked about our goals and our hopes and dreams for this trip. He wanted to see the terrain, and the people, and visit the holy Mount Kailash. Without reservation, I told him what I wanted: to go to the next level with my psychic abilities.
If youre ready to make your psychic and spiritual practice deliberate and conscious instead of random, you dont have to go to Tibet. This is the book for you. If youre looking for a quick fix, how to become psychic overnight, this may not be the book for you or on second thought, maybe it is. Come join Echo while she teaches what she has passed on to me and countless others: psychic development is a skill like any other that takes practice to hone. Using our sixth sense can become as natural as using any of our other senses smell, sight, hearing, touch, or taste but it takes time, patience, and correct spiritual attitudes and discipline. And using our sixth sense is no more taboo than using our physical eyes or ears.
