While writing part one, I heard my guide laughing, and I asked him what was so funny. He told me that I should take a look at the phrase embracing the unknown from the perspective of my life and my gifts. After doing so, I realized there was more to be said on the topic, but in a very different way.

In my work as a metaphysical practitioner, the unknown is part of my everyday existence. When people contact me for a reading or a healing, I never know what I’m going to get. I’m not a typical psychic who “reads” energy. I can see entities and energy even at a distance. I’ve had many instances of people calling me for one thing, and when I “look” at them, I see that their issue is greater than they think it is.

When I mentor people, same thing. There are different things that can happen, most of which I have not experienced before and I have to “wing it” to figure out what’s going on and what, if anything, I can do about it. I have a lot of tools in my metaphysical “toolbox” taught to me by other shamans I trained with and from personal experience, and I often find myself cobbling things together to create a solution. I don’t work with a lot of hard and fast rules with how I do things, more like guidelines depending on the seriousness of a situation.

I tell my students that it’s important to assess a situation without emotion as much as possible. Think of it like being a detective and getting the facts. That doesn’t mean how they and others feel isn’t important, but I tell them to figure out what’s going on first and then react however they want to about it later. The best actions are taken after all the known variables are laid out. Then all you have to deal with are the unknown ones. Those are the ones that can be the most terrifying, but once you are in detective mode, they are easier to handle.

It is during those moments of clarity that I tell my students that they can make an honest assessment as to whether they are capable of taking on whatever it is or stepping back. Especially when dealing with entities, only a fool goes forward knowing they are in over their heads or assumes they can handle it without certainty. With all the work I’ve done, there have been jobs that I turned down after assessing that they were beyond me. There weren’t many, but ones I passed on I recommended they call a priest.

Embracing the unknown for me also consists of the advice given to me by other practitioners. I’m not arrogant enough to think that I am the end-all of everything. If you meet someone like that, run. I tap into the Universe in a certain way. There are many ways to do that, and different people perceive energy differently than I do. I love that. It means I can get information on a situation from a different perspective. The more I know about something, the more I can tailor what I’m going to do about a situation, especially when it comes to myself.

I have a list of health problems. There was one particular problem with my digestion that has plagued me for years. I am a practitioner of alternative healing methods, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in medical doctors. This problem has bothered me through several doctors and a battery of tests to no avail. I have had this issue for over ten years. I had a casual conversation with another practitioner who assessed my energy and made a suggestion. I took her advice, and now, several weeks later, I find myself feeling better than I have in a long time. The funny thing is that I’ve seen her around but never really spoke to her. She and I have mutual friends and we’ve chatted a couple of times, but it’s never occurred to me to ask her about my stomach issues. It was a casual conversation that has changed how I view my life.

There are no coincidences. I’ve said that before and that things happen when they are supposed to happen. This is another aspect of embracing the unknown. When someone tells you something, check in with yourself and see if that feels right to you. If it does, go with it. If it doesn’t, say thank you and keep looking for the answer. Don’t take things at face value because you’re desperate for an answer. Be open to the answer, and it will appear. In my case, I’m left to wonder how much earlier my problem could have been solved if I had spoken to that other practitioner sooner. I’ve known about her for maybe two years. What could I have accomplished in that two-year time period if I was feeling better? I will never know, but I also recognize that things happen for a reason. The reasons are still being revealed to me and again, some things I will never know, but in the meantime, my job and yours is to use our gifts to the best of our ability and continue to embrace the unknown.