From: "ShepherdJ" 
Newsgroups: alt.paranormal.channeling
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Original Date: 28 Mar 1997 17:51:30 GMT
Overcoming Dark Influences
When following a spiritual path, it is easy to mistake force, which can
blind you with its intensity, for love, which speaks in a far gentler
voice.  We tend to be drawn in by flash, by patter, by a dazzling display
of personality.  This is why many seekers, myself included, have sometimes
allowed themselves to become mesmerized by a person or entity's raw energy
without first stopping to discern what that energy actually is.  We can
automatically assume that it is "good" on the basis of its sheer wattage,
rather than using the flawless meter of our heart chakras to measure the
energy as either loving (affirmative) or chaotic (manipulative).
Darkness can, to some extent, masquerade as Light, donning its wardrobe,
and doing its best to emulate the truly divine.  This darkness manifests
through entities as well as people.  Darkness can be defined as the Void,
as formlessness, as lack of completion or connection to Source. Darkness
can only ever sustain itself by feeding off of Light.  If left to its own
devices, devoid of sustenance, it spirals into a whirlwind of its own
chaos and disappears, pulled quite literally apart by the lack of
energetic integrity within its own atoms.  In seeking form and wanting to
prevent its disintegration, Darkness attempts to persuade people to join
with it.  It tries to influence people to step off the path of loving
evolution and to serve its purpose -- to perpetuate further chaos upon the
planet.  Alienation, hopelessness, and a lack of loving relationships or a
belief in a Higher Power are all symptoms of being ruled by darker
energies.
Light, by contrast, is directly linked to love, to ecstasy, to communion
with all things.  A sense of purpose, of humble self-love and
compassionate regard for one's fellow man, along with a joyful sense of
connection to a Higher Power, are all marks of someone who is focused in
Light.
Darkness is not stupid.  It can be expert at emulating, at least
superficially, the characteristics of Light.  There are many masterful
teachers with a great deal of esoteric wisdom and occult skill who are
working now upon the planet.  Knowledge, however, should not be mistaken
for love.  Psychic talents, great intelligence, and a multi-dimensional
energy field can be the marks of "devils" as well as "angels".
It is up to each seeker of truth to decide which side they will serve,
which "team" they will play on.  No one can get away with inhabiting the
"gray" area when it comes to spiritual alignment in these times.  We are
each being impulsed, by spiritual as well as geomagnetic forces, to take a
firm stand on one side or the other.  Do we serve love?  Or do we serve
chaos?
When a Lightworker has been driven off balance by darker energies, they
will usually fall victim to vast self-doubt, may suffer physical or mental
illness, and may temporarily lose their evolutional way.  While they are
off track (and usually in a state of some confusion), their energies can
be fed off of, rather like a victim whose blood is being drained by a
vampire.
There are many ways to stop this drainage and to clear darker energies out
of your life for good.  However, the first step is to determine if you
have really fallen under the influence of something negative.  The
following checklist can be useful.  If you can answer yes to more than
three of the questions, chances are that the person or entity you are in
communication with is spiritual bad news, and you should sever ties to
them as soon as you have the reserves of strength (and a support system
outside the relationship) that you need.
1)  When this person or entity initially approached you, were they
extremely flattering and complimentary to you, catering to your ego,
calling you very "unique" or "highly advanced?"
2)   When you are physically near the person (or in communication with the
entity) do you feel intensely hot, cold, or unnerved in any way?
3)   Do you feel instantly thrown out-of-body when you are around them (or
working with them), finding it difficult to remain centered and grounded?
4) Do they convey a restless intensity which feels incompatible to your
natural energy?  Do you have to "adjust" your energy to blend with theirs?
5)   Does the person or entity show up in your dreamspace more than twice
a week (if you recall your dreams)?
6)   Does the person tend to want to talk to you either first thing in the
morning or last thing before you go to sleep?  (Or does the entity try to
communicate with you then?)
7)   Does the person/entity strongly advise you to change certain aspects
of your behavior/looks/personality/living environment/monetary or business
practices?
8)   Do you feel pressured by them to make these changes but don't really
want to make them yourself?  If you give in to their pressuring and you
make the changes, do you feel as if you did it for them, not for you?
9)   Does the person withhold affection, making sarcastic or critical
comments, if you resist doing what they recommend?  Do they claim to "know
what's best for you" and do they say that they have your best spiritual
interests at heart?  (Remember, no one is a better or more qualified pilot
of your spiritual vessel than you!)  Do they even claim that a "Higher
Source" is making these suggestions, thus adding more pressure for you to
comply?
10)   Does the person/entity emit love?  If so, you should feel happy,
serene, and joyful in their presence, and you should feel completely free
to spontaneously be yourself with them.  When you offer the person
authentic bits of yourself -- ideas, emotions, even jokes -- your offering
should be affirmed and genuinely appreciated (even if they disagree with
you or don't get your joke!).  If they are not emitting love, then they
may bite your head off when you offer something, discouraging you from
sharing intimacy.  They may cause you to feel vaguely guilty or as if
something is wrong with you.
11)   Does this person/being have a sense of humor?  Is it the cruel kind,
the sort that enjoys picking on others and feeling superior, or the
gentle, self-deprecating kind?  Love and lightness of being go together,
so a warm sense of humor is a revealing ingredient of an entity or
person's true nature.
12)   Are you at all times on an equal basis with the person/entity,
having complete autonomy to set up further communication/instruction as
you see fit? The relationship, if it is a balanced one, should proceed on
your terms.  If it's on their terms and they are being too pushy (waking
you up in the middle of the night with messages, for instance), assert
yourself.  If they honor your request, they are being loving.  If not,
they are abusing their power, and you should not be dealing with people or
energies who do not honor your limits.
 There are many physical and emotional signs of having a dark energy or
person connected to you.  They can include:
1)   Nightmares and disturbed sleep -- including astral experiences with
dark beings.
2)   Depression during your waking hours, unusual feelings of loneliness,
despair, restlessness, or emptiness assailing you.
3)   A feeling of having to battle something or someone off.
4)   People who have known you for years telling you that lately you don't
seem like yourself.
5)   Lack of energy, either physically or emotionally.
6)   Hypersensitivity to temperatures/sounds/smells, or even to people.
7)   Having troubles focusing your thoughts, feeling mentally cloudy.
8)   Memory loss or mini "blackouts" of the times when you are working
with the person/entity.
9)   Taking on the person's worries as their own, or the entity's agenda
as your own, even if they are not really naturally yours.
10)  Taking on the physical or emotional symptoms of the person (if they
have an illness or abnormality).
11)  Animals around you behaving strangely towards you when you are
communicating with the person/entity (domestic cats, for instance, can
behave in suddenly feral ways when they sense that a darker being is
present).
12)   Feeling very afraid of going against the person or entity's wishes
because you fear something extremely bad will happen to you (these
feelings usually intensify around the time that you are contemplating
breaking off communication with them).
13)  Things of an independent nature that you might be trying to do which
are not connected to the person/entity  (such as involvements in your
career or with outside relationships) are strongly frowned on by the
person/entity.
14)   When you do try to set things up that the person/entity doesn't
approve of, they tend to get "jinxed" (for example, the career move fails
or the relationship crashes).
15)   Many other people that you know can't stand to be around the
person/entity because they don't like their energy.
16)   The person only seems to gather people around them who have a sweet,
malleable "follower" personality; no one is ever their equal.  The person
or entity may talk openly about being a "fully enlightened being." 
(Remember, you only have their word on this! Analyze their actions and
their attitudes carefully.  Does a fully enlightened being seek to
dominate, manipulate, influence, or control others?  Or do they gently
affirm, entertain, and play in a loving way, allowing their students to
become empowered and someday grow into teachers themselves?).
17)   Does the teacher/entity discourage independent thinking or
experience and demand that you follow a complex litany of behaviors and
beliefs?
18)   Does the person/entity have an exclusionist mentality, an "others
are the enemy" approach, rather than being sociable and open to scrutiny? 
Do they ascribe to a philosophy of warriorship, of "might makes right"? Is
their philosophy "nice guys finish last" or "it's us versus them?"
19)  Do instances of death, disease, scandal, bankruptcy, and/or divorce
seem to trail the person (or entity) wherever they go?
 Understandably, if you find yourself in a situation where you are closely
linked to an entity or person of a darker nature, it can be difficult
breaking free of the relationship.  It is not, however, impossible. 
Reading up on how ex-cult members overcame brainwashing can be helpful. 
So can careful meditation and prayer when you invoke Higher Energy that
you can trust.  A truly loving Source can add to your feelings of
strength, self-value, and protection if you need to break free.
If you decide to exit from the reality where you have become enslaved by
darker energies, you must be strong.  You will need to be 100% clear with
the person or entity and demand a final, permanent severing of all ties to
them.  It can be hard to feel completely confident and clear about your
choice.  Remember, you have been under their influence for some time, and
your reasoning may have been muddled for a while.  Be prepared for the
person or entity to exert strong pressure on you to change your mind.
 They will probably say things like:
 1) "You've really got a problem."
 2)  "You are under psychic attack -- these are bad energies speaking
through you."
 3)  "You have really harmed me.  I expected better of you than this."
A dark-energied person will not be above trying to make things very hard
for you on the material plane, spreading bad words about you to people
that you both know, trying to turn other people against you, even
interfering with your career progression if possible.  On a psychic level,
they may transmit their energies to you under the guise of peace (you'll
have dreams in which they seem charming and wonderful and you forget what
has happened, or you'll suddenly feel their energy during the day and it
will be powerful and commanding).  
You can overcome this by doing two things.  
 1) Break off all ties and common connections to them on the physical
plane and;
 2) If you encounter them in any form, do not get into a discussion.  Give
them no ammunition.  Just say, "I have nothing to say to you."  This
should be done firmly, politely, without emotion.  If you exude emotions,
like fear, anger, confusion, this only feeds them.  Remember, you have
been a tasty morsel of energy for them for some time.  They will want more
of you, and their goal will be to try to get you into a debate and then
wear you down to the point where you give into them.  This can be avoided
by you just asserting that you have nothing to say to them.  There is no
real response to that!
Another technique that is useful for getting them to go away (this works
for entities as well as people) is to beam extremely ecstatic, high
frequency love their way if you encounter them.  The clash between the
denser vibration they live at and the clearer, faster vibration you are
emitting will cause them to leave you alone and allow you to be completely
protected by Light.  Do not hesitate to invoke a loving Higher Power's aid
and call upon squadrons of angels to act as a barrier between you and
them.  This assistance is especially needed so that you are not
overwhelmed by fear -- because after they are angered, dark beings will
lob lots of negativity your way and seek to feed off of your fear.  You
have nothing to fear.  Fear is a choice.  By invoking Christ's aid, for
example, or the direct help of various angels or trustworthy guides, your
fear will completely dissipate.
The single most powerful action when putting dark energies or people
behind you is to walk away and never look back, not physically or even
mentally in reflection.  Their energy was bad for you, and you are moving
on to better things.
Do not be afraid to get therapy, to join with others in worship of a
loving God, or to seek spiritual counseling.  Others are out there in a
Light-filled, joyful reality who would love your company and add loads of
affirmation to your recent journey.
A spiritual search is never without its challenges, and we each meet many
foes as well as allies on our journey.  Foes, who attempt to deter us from
the path of loving evolution, can be some of our greatest teachers.  But
we should not confuse them for friends, and we should not hesitate to cut
the cords that bind us to them when we have finally learned that their
energies hinder rather than assist us. 
 
Joy, humor, communion, health and peace are the hallmarks of a loving
being.  Trust the map of high spirits to get you where you are going --
hopefully with a minimum of detours!
ShepherdJ@aol.com
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