Chat with a Psychic

This is the Unknowncountry Subscriber Chat Transcript for May 19th, 2007, with Psychic Medium Marla Frees. Whitley participated in the chat as well. (Note: you can contact Marla directly by writing to whitley@strieber.com. Put the word “Marla” in the subject heading., and include your phone number and the reason why you want to consult her. We will forward these emails to Marla and she will reply to you directly.

Q: I was given Communion years ago from my husband’s co-worker who had been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. I remember wondering which experience would be more frightening. Are “split personalities” common with people who encounter the visitors

Whitley: What seems to be pretty common is a history of child abuse. As this often leads to MPD, it must be common, also. The visitors seem to be most readily noticed by people who have had their expectations about reality shattered. It tends to enable them to see things that others filter out. Personally, I was placed in classes at Randolph AFB when I was 6 that were so stressful that they caused my immune system to shut down and I almost died. It was this stress that shattered my expectations and made me accessible to contact, I think.

Q: Marla, did your health ever suffer from picking up too much psychic energy

Marla: Everyone must be very careful to be sure you are keeping clear of energies that dont feel “in right resonance for you.” It happens every day to all of us when we are subjected to energy from another person that does not feel “right.”

Q: Does anyone believe that there will have to be a new form of astrology put in place before or around 2012

Whitley: We’re going to have a great astrologer, Mahala Gayle, chatting with us soon. Let’s ask her this one.

Q: Marla, in you own words, I would like you to explain how you tell the difference between a real psychic image and your imagination.

Marla: This takes time to learn. I ask for confirmation of what I am being shown. I am sometimes given images that I have to trust are images that mean something to a person I am working with , and it just takes time to feel comfortable enough to share these images.

Q: Whitley, do you feel that children who are sexually abused say from age 5 to 12 would be more susceptible to visitations

Whitley: I do think so, yesanything that shatters our expectations about reality. A great personal tragedy at that age would do it, too.

Q: I am also interested in why more and more people seem to be moving into fear and anxiety.

Marla: There are two types of emotionsfear, or loveand we have to choose which way to focus. It is easy to fear anything. Our media teaches this. It is courageous to try to find love in the day-to-day experiences that seem so very harsh. This process is a personal one, and we can ALL change this pervasive fear.

Q: Are the images you get primarily visual, or is there an interplay of color and even sound

Marla: It is like remembering what you did for breakfast this morning. If you can “see” it in your head, you may even hear conversations. I get this all the time , but it is not MY memory, it is someone elses.

Q: Regarding the phrase be as clear as glass through which God can shine, has anyone thought about how this may be related to the phenomenon in physics known as the observer effect and if this could also be associated with psychic energy and its potential of application

Whitley: This is the sort of insight that I love. I am going to chew on this one. I don’t have an answer, except to say that this is a really smart connection between one of the deepest and most powerful things ever said about meditationby Meister Eckhart, btwand one of the strangest effects observed in quantum physics, which is the way that the presence of the observer alters reality, at least on the tiny scale of quanta.

Q: Marla, I seem to have a big problem protecting myself from absorbing other peoples energy and then allowing it to affect my mood, especially in the work environment. What is the best way for someone like me to protect themselves from others that you have to be with everyday

Marla: The first thing is awareness, that is half the solution. I take a bath in salt water every time after I work with someone. And making a consorted effort to NOT mesh with other peoples energy is key. It is as simple as refusing to engage with any negativity, but it takes practice. I have to be careful how much try I watch important folks.

Q: Whitley, I probably should re-read your book The Secret School, but were there older kids in that group and do you recall how many kids were present Also, were you in a trance and how many teachers there, any modern day equipment like personal computers

Whitley: I remember some of the kids who were there and have met some of them but only one has acknowledged any mutual memory, and he’s a lawyer who can’t dare to come forward. Also, his memory is mostly of the UFOs that came to our neighborhood, and just maybe of the secret school itself. I don’t recall a sense of trance, but I do have vague memories of equipment, primarily a helmet that was not dissimilar to the sort of things video gamers sometimes wear today.

Q: I wonder if Buddhist masters or others who have mastered the art of meditation could possibly get different results in operating and controlling associated physics experiments”

Q: Marla, when this started, were you getting those sorts of experiences in dreams, or remembering them primarily from dreams, before you started to listen while in a waking state

Marla: It was happening all the time until I sorted out, and started gaining some form of control, meaning I demanded help! I was sent numerous teachers to assist me, in physical form as well as energetic assistance from what I call (this is a huge term ) Spirit.

Q: I remember reading John Hogue’s bio on his website and his referencing meditation and mentioning that when he was experiencing sadness or some other negativity he would try to observe it, in order to not get caught up in it.

Whitley: The skill is to be open to it, but not entangled in it. This means to accept it and even to fall in love with your suffering, but as an adult does with a child, with tenderness, decency, acceptance, and, above all, respect. Meditation helps us stay clear of that moaning inner voice that always sees us as victims.

Q: Whitley, any suggestions for maintaining ones awareness of what’s happening while accessing Cygnus energy during Cygnus meditation I seem to go unconscious at this point in the meditation.

Whitley: Going into a sleep state during this meditation is going to happen when the energy gets to be too much. One strategy is to forget about Cygnus, orient yourself as described in the meditation, and concentrate only on the work with physical sensation. Then, when your attention is focused on physical sensation, hold it there, working with the process of returning to sensation every time your mind takes you away.

Q: Marla, can you can relate to this I’m recently retired from the NYPD. I was a street cop for 20 years. My Lieutenant, and a few cops at my precinct, knew I had psychic abilities, and my Lieutenant would often call me to the scene of a missing person. I always instinctively knew where they were, especially if they were dead. After I retired, I was asked by a detective to find the missing body of a murder victim. It was a famous case here in NYC, where a mother and son con artist team were accused of murdering an elderly lady. The body was never found, so I was going to use remote dowsing to find the body. I always ask the deceased persons permission to look for them. The deceased told me it was safe to find her, but that she didn’t want ME to find her. She said that the police would use me again and again and that somewhere down the line something evil would happen to me. So, I took that advice and told the detective to get another psychic.

Marla: First, I am certain that with your own intuition and your cop experience, you would be a great asset to any department, unless someone is threatened by you, which happens all the time, and then they try to scare you with the evil crap. This is another fear tactic. It is a wonderful thing to be able to assist an investigation. I approach it as trying to be of “assistance,” not anything else. Do not be swayed by threats of evil, you can certainly protect Yourself by the intention of “no harm” to come to you!

Q: Marla, here’s a question I’ve always wanted to ask a Psychic: Do you think the dead can read our minds naturally and easily, or do they have to use methods of concentration to do so Are there psychics among the dead

Marla: Thoughts certainly have a frequency that can be picked up, but it is the heartfelt emotion that I feel is what is being “read.”

Q: Whitleythough I was never abused as a child, I constantly ran very high fevers for which I was often given ice baths (Old School medicine, I guess) and I think that the fevers and the effects that came with them, including some very odd visions, as well as those horrific baths may have had something to do with why the Grays came into my life. I guess what I mean by that long-winded response is that I think you’re really onto something regarding “their expectations about reality shattered.” Though I would say, comparatively speaking, that my childhood was nowhere near as bad as that of others such as yourself, Whitley.

Whitley: My childhood sounds worse than it was. Mostly, especially after I got out of that Randolph thing, it was great. My mom and dad were good at being parents, and I had a great neighborhood to grow up in. We ran totally wild and got into all sorts of delightful trouble. But that was all AFTER age 7. Before that, it was rough. Fortunately, my dad put a stop to it when he realized what was going on: no more classes. Sadly, though, the two other kids who were in it with me were basically scarred for life. I was lucky to be resilient, I guess.

Q: Where may I purchase your book on The Secret School

Whitley: I think you can probably find it on Powell’s.com or Alibris.com. It is not in print.

Whitley: Are there psychics among the dead Cool question! I wonder if they’re ALL psychic, or if they have mediums on their side just like we do

Q: Marla, is there information that you receive, or other abilities that you have, that you hold back on and do not reveal If so, why

Marla: I go where I am invited, I do not go where there is NOT an invitation. I work when there is a forum, and that forum is not always available, especially with law enforcement. Getting back to part of another question, about psychics among the dead. Its fascinatingI never thought of that!

Q: Sometimes I notice that I receive a complete download of something right after I walked through it. It is the same as when I see something before it happens, but the information comes to me in detail just afterwards. I see all the interactions and thought forms of people involved. It is like an instant replay with bigger camera shots and commentary. Does this ever happen to you

Marla: Yes, this is the way I work many times. Start making notes about this andthis is very importantwhen you are getting confirmation about this, your confidence will increase!

Q: As for the “evil crap” relayed to the detective by the deceased woman, someone wise (and living) once told me, “Just ’cause you’re dead don’t make ya smart!”

Marla: Profound.

Q: Whitley, do you have any advice on how to not be caught between reality and a lucid dream I have trouble shaking off the feeling that there is another reality half a breath away.

Whitley: This is probably because there IS another reality half a breath away. I am not sure what a lucid dream is. Is it a journey into such a reality, or just the brain burping

Q: Marla, how do you handle wailing spirits I have had the dumb luck to walk into situations where people were spooked, and I have been spoken to by such things. Maybe Im unenlightened, but although I had some empathy for the anguish, I also raised my own hackles and shooed them away with a kick, because they were just scaring people. Is that wrong

Marla: I think you have to be discerning. I used to sit in a circle to assist those in distress” and I found they just like to be heard, just like the living. I send them love and move on.

Q: Marla, what is the best way to get and stay grounded I seem to feel myself out of my body a lot more than usual and would like to be able to stay here at least for dinner. I assume that in part it is all the new energies coming in.

Marla: Good Question. I think a meditation that is specifically FOR that is good, as well as not messing with your own vibration , by using any “substances.”

Q: Comment: Meditation has helped me to have a sense of humor about my own moaning inner voice.

Whitley: For those interested in lucid dreaming, you might look at the book Exploring Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D and Howard Rheingold. It helped me identify and control my own.

Q: Brain burps and journeys might amount to the same thing, given the subjective nature of quantum mechanics.

Whitley: I hear you there, for sure.

Q: Being clear as glass through which God can Shine means that the observer becomes a conduit for communication between realms.

Marla: Terrific

Q: Marla, when I cut down my diet of news that would inspire anger or mean thoughts, my general health and outlook sweetened somewhat.

Marla: Yep, good to know.

Q: I have a question that I have thought about asking for a while. It is, have serial killers had multiple visits or does this have nothing to do with serial killers

Whitley: It’s an interesting question, because the visitors do have a dark side. I have wondered about this, but have never seen anything in any interviews with serial killers that mention close encounters.

Q: Whitley, I was wondering how the movie project is coming along, and what the projected date of its premier is

Whitley: There are 2 movies. The Grays should be out in 2008 or 2009, and 2012 is scheduled for 2010. Both are coming along well.

Q: On that note Marla, what is the difference between he sprits that can manifest here to, say, shove a disabled mans wheelchair down a ramp, or cry for help and hell from behind a wall in a room, and the spirits you interact with Or is there a difference at all

Marla: There are cruel people here, and not here. I get really pissy if something messes with me, and I demand assistance to BAR them.

Q: Mr. Strieber, would you say their dark side is integrated with intent and progression, that is to say, the transcendent “gray” is not just a pun or idea but a truththe complete merging of dark and light, with the goal being pure intent and evolution

Whitley: I think that they manifest as gray in color and have orchestrated that name for themselves, to express that they are a light and dark side in balanceor rather, mostly in balance.

Q: Marla, do you ever use your gifts to explore the nature of reality, of what it means to have a soul, to be human, or is most of your work purely informational

Marla: I am in this journey on a daily basis. I have traveled the world on this quest of understanding, and it is my intention to explore other realms too. I intend to visit the Monroe Institute this year. This process is all about the soul.

Q: Whit, you would think with the acceleration of time your movies would be out sooner!

Whitley: In the world of movies, time actually DE-celerates! The production process is S-L-O-W.

Q: Marla, do you find that remote viewing leaves you feeling physically tired, and if so, do you do anything to fortify your body for that situation

Marla: No, I love it, what tires me is resistance. People and places have resistance and that can flatten me. I do eat protein, and I have been known to drink a few Red Bulls when depleted. I imagine a rope tied around my waist , that Extends deep into the earth and attaches itself to a big rock. I keep my feet firmly planted, and then I review my chakras to keep them clear, and when I feel the need to release, the rope lets go.

Q: Is there a difference between grounding in full awareness and simply shutting off unpleasant energies or realities In “The Key,” The master says he is both suffering and in ecstasyeternal nostalgia Do the higher energies come as numinous pretences because they are in a way a third thing from earth’s emotional poles

Whitley: There is an enormous difference between grounding in full awareness and shutting out the unpleasant, in the sense that the former adds energy to your being and the latter consumes it. At higher levels, there is no difference between being and energy. You see it as you can. And that’s a very thoughtful question about the Master of the Key. In a sense, what he was really saying was that he was living a life unfiltered by the sort of emotional buffers we use to change the way our realities look to us. I mean, ignoring what we don’t want to face and putting a glowing light on what pleases us, etc.

Q: Whitley or Marla, why do you think that the dead frequently appear with the grays

Marla: This is part of my present research

Q: Marla, could you clarify not messing with your own Vibration for me please I am not nor have I ever used substancesI have been ungrounded most of my life.

Marla: I am referring to any form of drug! Your best venue is to make sure you are physically active on this earth. I have found that connecting with the earth by really “getting on ones body” can be very helpful, and exercising is very important.

Q: Whitley, where do energetic bodies, souls, derive from According to The Key, they are tied to this earth. Where were they before they (we) came here

Whitley: It’s a good question. How old are we Is this place a generator of souls, or a soul trap The Master of the Key didn’t really address these questions directly, but my sense of it was that bodies generate souls, but not all of them. Once I asked the old lady on the cover of Communion if we had souls. She replied, “not all.” We need to work for this to happen. The tragedy of life is that not everybody persists as an independent consciousness after death, but everybody has the right to. You need to lead a good life, to be frank with yourself about who you are, and, above all, to live out of love and compassion.

Whitley: We’re getting to the end and there are still loads of questions for Marla. If you want to contact her, email subscribers@unknowncountry.com with the subject Marla, and I’ll get our webmaster to forward your email. She also does private consultations, I think, so you can probably get that if you want, as well.

Q: Maria, is what you do perceive different frequencies

Marla: The difference you feel when you are upset, and then if you take a pill you are relaxed. The need to fix the frequency is what people are trying to do all the time. it is my belief that the frequency holds something very important. I do think that the visitors like us to work with them when we have certain frequencies going on in our bodies, and to alter them may push back important information.

Q: Mr. Strieber, what you are saying is very “Dark shaman” like: the need to create the soul or double as they say. Stalking death and all that happy stuff. For me that was a part of the teachings. I researched it after I was experiencing it. So what place does that have, tied into technological craft and higher physics Its outside of the picture I would like to be able to accept. Most things are, however.

Q: Hi Marla, do you find people that just can’t be read As said before, I have had several readings that weren’t even close. However, friends and family with same reader, it was hit after hit!

Marla: I am not sure. I am sorry you have not had good experiences, it is my feeling that the sitter must keep an open mind and be willing to have an experience. When there is GREAT expectation, or more than the normal skepticism, then the reading is not fun for ANYONE.

Q: What would the world be like if we could hear each other’s thoughts all the time So much of our society functions on the premise of keeping something secret.

Marla: I would not get out of bed

Whitley: In answer to one of the above questions, I don’t think that the visitors have technology in the sense that we do. What they have is a way of penetrating into our reality that we assume is technology because that’s what we have now. However, their tools are not our tools. We don’t even have a word for their manipulations of reality. And there is certainly a dark side to it, but I would say, as well, that it is deeply founded in joy. A very complex experience, and one that can go in any number of different ways at any time.

Q: Do either of you see a drop in the tide of fundamentalism or/and authoritarianism, or is this a journey that we have to see to the end in order to get past the need to control and judge once and for all

Marla: Getting to the other side of fear and control is a personal journey. We have been on an odyssey of traversing organized religion. It is a fascinating way for us to find what is real and important for each of us.

Q: Marla, have you ever dabbled in numerology

Marla: My birth number is an 11, and yes I find it very interesting!

Q: Marla, may I ask if you subscribe to any particular religious belief And if so, how does that influence your work

Marla: That answer is for another day, my friend!

Q: “You need to lead a good life, to be frank with yourself about who you are, and, above all, to live out of love and compassion.” Is that though Or do you need to learn techniques of meditation Is “being good” simply enough And are you equating post-death consciousness with a “radiant” body The Master of the Key seemed to say the two states were distinct.

Whitley: The people at the Gurdjieff Foundation would say that you need to develop techniques of meditation. Personally, I think that the key is to be comfortable with yourself after death. There is no need to hold anything tight, but there is a need to be able to look at yourself as you are, and not want to filter this with illusions or turn away from it. If you turn away from yourself, the universe does, also.

Whitley: Thanks, as always, for a challenging, wonderful experience!

Marla: Thank you all for your interest and insight, it has been a pleasure.

NOTE: This Insight, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.