Analysis of "The Secrets to Unlocking your Psychic Ability" by Matt Fraser

 

Analysis of “The Secrets To Unlocking Your Psychic Ability” (2012) by Matt Fraser

Rating: five out of five

 

I began reading Matt’s books: informative, engaging and comforting...and full of his unique sense of humor! They were the perfect texts for any spiritual self-help classes and philosophy. Despite references of Heaven and angels, the text wasn’t your typical “praise Jesus and the Heavenly Father” concept. His work presented neither a purely religious nor atheist standpoint, it appeared to envision a neutral comforting stance on the afterlife that all faiths could conceptualize. The spirit world was, in this case, a vast world of energy that existed all around us. Spirits were as abundant and mysterious as atoms and sub-atomic particles; they were everywhere but they remained unseen by the majority of humanity. Some may argue that using “Heaven” “angels” “God,” and other terms instead of the more neutral “Other Side,” “guides,” and “Source” may indicate a bias. However, Matt is accepting of all faiths and lack thereof, his main concern is to bring people together for a divine connection with those in the spiritual world. Matt uses those terms on purpose. Indeed, using Heaven and angels as part of his logo (two white feathers) and lingo (“Heaven and angels watch over you”) is an effective method for several reasons. A majority of us had been introduced to the concept of God, Jesus and a cloudy sky Heaven by Christianity since we were little, especially in the west. The religious archetypes have been seared into the collective subconscious for hundreds of years. When the afterlife topic comes up, the heaven concept is the first thing that appears in our minds…it is relatable to us as humans. Marketers and advertisers, good and bad, know of the powers of art, messages, social media, and concepts designed to grab our attention. Matt’s clever technique instils hope for ordinary people and increases his followers without placing too much emphasis on a single faith. Aside from his aesthetically pleasing art with inspirational quotes being used to advertise his blog and readings, it also serves the greater purpose of “consumerism for the soul.” It takes advantage of common advertising methods and everyday religion and utilizes it to help humanity on a global scale.

 

The cover of the first book itself was beautiful and eye-catching. There was the superstar Matt, smiling and wearing a white shirt with a background of a heavenly sky and clouds. He held an old-fashioned golden key in his hands as a transparent door was shown open, letting in divine light. “The Secrets to Unlocking your Psychic Ability” appeared elegantly in gold. It cost $11.11, referencing the spiritual 11:11 as the supposed sign of the spirit world. As I dove more into spirituality, I figured logically that some people are naturally born with psychic ability like Matt while others go through years of spiritual training to get their abilities. It was only the lucky elite “chosen ones” who could be psychic, similar to what I gathered from New Age perspectives.   

 

Then I looked at the back of the book, which detailed how Matt’s mission was to help people communicate with the departed across the ultimate divide. Along with his first death-defying claim: “We never die,” Matt proclaimed something equally unfathomable by typical logic: “We all have intuition and psychic ability in various degrees.” A.k.a. the magic powers of real life.

 

Wait. We are all psychic?! Even the most non-intuitive person such as myself?!

 

At first, I found that claim preposterous, until Matt explained that at birth, in infancy, in early childhood and close to death, we are more “open” to the other side. We have no fear nor judgement and are somehow able to sense spirits around us. Most people grow out of it after they move past toddler years, but a few keep their gift in their lives. This got me thinking, were we all psychic before…and could we be psychic again? Could we sense the unseen when we were babies…and will we all become psychic again after death? If we don’t remember any supposed past lives we had, then for most of us, we probably don’t remember the earliest years of our lives. I was still unsure.

 

I examined the back of the book. There was Matt again, standing like a saint, holding out his golden key to the reader…inviting them to create their own magical kingdom. As children, we were filled with wonder when we were told, “Embrace your freedom and responsibilities as future adults.” Now as adults, Matt dares us to stimulate the curious child within us. “Embrace who you are and what you will become.”

 

Summary

 

In Chapter One: “Growing Up Psychic,” Matt provides a brief introduction on how he obtained his psychic abilities. Matt grew up in a psychic family, with his grandmother Mary passing her ability down to his mother who then passed it onto him. Fate and genetics alike propelled Matt down his journey early in life. As a little boy, Matt was able to see and hear spirits in his bedroom…and for a little kid, it was terrifying. When talking to his grandmother, she comforted Matt, asking him what the spirits had said. She told the young Matt not to be afraid of the spirits, and that he had a very special gift.

 

Matt knew early on that he wanted to help people, so he decided to pursue his dream of being an EMT in the medical field. He went to a private high school where he was frequently bullied for being different. Fortunately, he was able to move to another school where he was more accepted by his peers. Before he went to college, he went with a group of friends to see a psychic, not knowing that the reading would change his entire life. Initially, Matt wanted to know when he would get a girlfriend. Instead, the psychic looked right at him and proclaimed: “Your grandmother says you are destined to be a great psychic medium.” Naturally, Matt was in disbelief until he went home and eventually reawakened his abilities.

 

Matt then began reading for family and close friends. Word got out and more people wanted to hear messages from their departed loved ones. Although Matt got his EMT certificate and enjoyed his first medical job, fate would lead him to becoming the star of his own TV show, a YouTube sensation, an author, and him earning the title of “America’s Top Psychic Medium.” Matt could never have imagined fame and fortune accompanying him on his journey to heal the human soul, but he quickly embraced the spotlight after years of hard work. His grandmother’s premonition had come true. Much of Matt’s backstory and every-day life as a medium are detailed in “When Heaven Calls.”

 

In Chapter Two: “What Is Psychic Ability?” Matt introduces the various types of psychic abilities and claims that all of us have the capacity to tap into the other side. Clairvoyance (Clear Seeing), Clairaudience (Clear Hearing), Clairsentience (Clear Sensing), and Claircognizance (Clear Knowing) are the types which define being able to pick up energy beyond the traditional physical five senses. They may manifest as visions in the mind’s eye, hearing voices in your head that are not harmful or confusing and having a sense of intuition about a person or about events in the future. Some people can naturally tap into these “sixth” senses while for others it takes more practice. Oftentimes, these may pop up for the person in relaxed altered states of consciousness such as dreams, trance, and meditation. It can take many years and exploration for a person to “tap in,” whether it’s due to childhood religious upbringing or an upbringing of no spirituality at all.

 

Matt explains that fear and doubt may hold us back from our abilities. We often dismiss the messages we get as being part of our imaginations or illusions. Although science and society does not usually acknowledge these subjective experiences, these kinds of perceptions ring true for many groups of people. A healthy balance between everyday life and the spiritual would be a noteworthy goal for us humans. Even though reality must come first because we have no choice, it could be noteworthy for us to open our minds to helpful advice that is diverse from what we normally experience. It is like learning from another culture or language, because supposedly, that’s what the spirit world is…another society hidden among our mortal world. Matt also stresses the importance of patience and allowing our abilities to grow at their own pace.

 

In Chapter Three: “Tapping Into Intuition” Matt introduces intuition, the sixth sense that allows us to feel things on a deeper level. It manifests as one’s “gut feeling” or instincts that let’s one know whether something feels right or not. Intuition can help people move forward in careers, relationships, helping other people, and other big decisions.

 

Chapters Four, Five and Six discuss the development of Clairvoyance, Clairsentience, Clairaudience and Claircognizance. Matt describes a meditation “white light/white light of Christ” technique used for protection by psychics. In meditation, everyday thoughts are pushed to the side and the person visualizes a protective white light around them. But visualizing certain things in the mind is hard for many people, especially since there will always be distracting worries and thoughts, plus it is not something we have been taught to do.

 

Certain symbols may appear in visions, each with its own meaning. A flash of a monarch butterfly, for instance, may signify transformation, joy, and representation of a departed loved one. Loved ones often leave signs that may be familiar such as their favorite song or animal that keeps appearing in your daily life. If the same symbol or animal appears in your dreams, meditations, or real life three of more times within a short time frame, consider it significant. For the more advanced, Matt encourages asking spirit guides what certain symbols mean to help in mediumship readings. Being clairsentient often goes hand in hand with feeling another person’s emotions as if they were your own. It can also be used to sense oncoming danger. Hearing voices in your head that are not your own that are brief and harmless, relates to the clairaudience experience.

 

In Chapter Seven: “Mediumship and Spirit Communication” Matt proposes a comforting thought: “The ones who love us never really leave us.” The spirit world is a place where our souls go after we leave our physical bodies. It is a loving world of energy within our reality where we evolve as souls and watch over our living loved ones. Matt provides a series of meditation exercises to help people connect with their loved ones, angels, and spirit guides.

 

In Chapter Eight: “Understanding your Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels” Matt explains that not only do our loved ones watch over us, but we also have a team of unseen spirit guides to provide wisdom for us. Spirit guides are typically people who used to live on Earth before we were born. They evolved on the other side and chose to watch over us to further their evolution. Our guardian angels are there to help escort our souls to the other side when we die and also to protect us from dark entities as long as we are careful. Angels can save humans from accidents, but it doesn’t always happen. Our guides and loved ones don’t know everything, but they know about our lives and can see the future. They are there to help us pursue our goals, find our soulmates, and help us through various challenges in our lives. Since we can die at any time, our main guides watch over us our entire lives, and may have helped us in past lives. As shapeshifting beings, our spirit guides can appear human, animal, as beings of light, shapes, or even aliens. They are as unique as the living person they assist. We are not “superior” to spirits, we are more like equals, like a student and mentor…both can learn from the other. Be sure to show respect and say thanks if you’re lucky enough to get a confirmation from them. Inter-dimensional communication is hard, but if there is an afterlife, hopefully we will be able to fully meet our spiritual team and gain the truth about our lives and the universe.

 

The final Chapter Nine: “Putting Together Your Senses” is a series of exercises to use all the psychic senses together as practice.