Five Signs That You’re Ready to Initiate

It happens at more and more of my healing courses these days: students experiencing initiations, or spiritual advancement. I used to facilitate just one or two initiations per year, and now I find them happening every day, sometimes to an entire room of people!

As you climb to higher and higher levels of consciousness through initiations, you are also helping to raise the vibration of the whole planet. Initiations come from a place of unconditional love, and that love touches the hearts of everyone who is lucky enough to witness it, and everyone who comes into contact with the initiate.

For such a life-altering event, initiations can sometimes be confusing, especially if you’re new to them. Below are the top five questions I get asked about initiations with answers I hope will help clarify things as well as get you excited by the prospect of your own initiation!

1. What is an initiation?

The short version is that an initiation is a spiritual step up, like moving to the next grade in school. The longer explanation is that initiations are the process of reconnecting with Source, one level at a time. Just as you wouldn’t go from first to sixth grade, you can’t just jump up to the same spiritual plane where Spirit exists from here on the physical plane, it would be too high a vibration to handle all at once. You have to move slowly, raise your vibration level by level. Initiations bring in higher level energy, raise your awareness, and open you up to spiritual gifts.

Initiations happen in all cultures, though they go by different names. In India they call this energy the kundalini rising, in western Christian cultures where I first learned of this process they call them initiations, but it is all the same energy. Whether the facilitator is a Brazilian shaman beating a drum, a Texan minister speaking in tongues, or an energy healer and spiritual teacher like me, the Source energy that flows through us is the same, bringing you expanded awareness and a deeper tie to Spirit.

2. Why are initiations happening more frequently now?

Spirit has infinite information and infinite wisdom; it knows what this planet needs and when. Our world has grown so large so fast, we can barely keep up with ourselves. With increased connectivity it is easier for good energy to spread through the means of Skype and Facetime, so much so that we can even do energy healing sessions and healing courses via the internet!

But this also means that negative energy can spread more rapidly as well, and since negativity is always desperately seeking the light, Spirit saw a need for more light bearers to come into their full potential sooner. If more and more people initiate to higher awareness, the world will start to heal from the inside out.

3. How can I encourage an initiation?

You cannot force an initiation to occur, but what you can do is build a strong base for the initiation to rest on. Prayer, meditation, running, nature, or something else that brings you into mind, body, and spirit into alignment is a good place to start your spiritual practice for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the link to initiations. Sometimes a student will have the initiation energy waiting above their head, ready to download into their body, but there is no base for me to place it on. You must have a spiritual practice, whether that be meditation or prayer or something like that as a foundation. I never have limiting beliefs about what that foundation can be for an individual – one time, it was pole dancing!

But the best thing you can do is be of service. Chop wood, carry water. Do the manual labor; don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty—literally or metaphorically. Maybe you can plant trees in your neighborhood or volunteer to work with homeless teens. Anything you do that is in service to others, giving your time and energy to benefit someone else with no expectation of reward—that is when Spirit will reward you with a step up.

4. Why do I cry at an initiation, even if it’s not happening to me?

Initiations are pure, unconditional love. When I say you initiate to a higher vibration, well, that vibration is love. When that love comes from Source and into your energy field and body, your heart chakra opens wide to welcome it in. Not just your heart chakra, but anyone who is present, live or via the internet, anyone who witnesses that initiation has their heart chakra expanded, too. That’s why you feel all warm and fuzzy inside at my workshops when other students initiate—your heart chakra is opening, and that can bring tears to your eyes.

5. How can I tell what my level of initiation is?

The best approach to take with initiations is to try not to wonder what level you are on. Curiosity is one thing, but it can be hard to keep curiosity from turning into an egotistical need to know, which defeats the purpose of striving to be of service. Attending energy healing courses and workshops and working with a trained energy healer will help you get a sense of where you are and how much work needs to be done to prepare your energy field for an initiation.

First and second level initiations are subtle and do not require a spiritual teacher to facilitate. In fact, if you are reading this, there is a very good chance that you have already initiated to the second level and you didn’t even notice. Beyond that, a spiritual teacher is needed to be the conduit for the energy from Source to you in higher level initiations.

Initiations are like cats—they come when you stop calling for them or asking them to show up. Meditate and being of service is the best advice I have for preparing for initiations. When you are so engaged with spreading positivity beyond yourself, the initiation will materialize when you least expect it, just like a cat. And it will bring you more joy than you can possibly imagine. It will also bring you para-normal spiritual gifts, perhaps clairvoyance or the ability to know beyond this plane, or perhaps even the gift of healing!