Category: God and guides

Dreams: Guidance, Confusion, and a Little Jealousy

JoeLeave a comment

For the past few weeks, I haven’t been sleeping well. Each night, I’ve had numerous dreams that often made little sense and sometimes prevented me from falling back to sleep quickly. So I decided to begin Denise Linn’s Gateway Dreams course, which I’d signed up for some time ago.

After just a few days of listening to the course meditations just before bed, I’m already sleeping better, even though the dreams continue.

Throughout history, people have sought to understand dreams. The Bible contains stories of angels and the divine communicating through them. Denise teaches that dreams can also provide guidance, inspiration, and even ideas for inventions, including the sewing machine. I love that! I’ve sometimes awakened in the middle of the night with ideas for my spiritual fantasy novels, compelling me to get up and write them down before I forget. In fact, it happened last night.

But I also find dreams frustrating. Sometimes they’re so strange that I wonder what message I’m supposed to receive. I’ll ask my divine advisors, “What the hell does that mean?” Unfortunately, answers don’t always come.

In my novels, when Thom, my main character, falls asleep, his spirit sometimes travels to the divine realm. There, he meets with his guardian angel, his higher self, his friend Jeshua (who most know as Jesus), and even God.

Can you believe that I’m jealous of my own character?

Although I communicate with my divine advisors daily and receive guidance through oracle cards, as well as words and songs that unexpectedly pop into my mind, I’d love to sit down with them, look into their eyes, and experience their love and support directly. Maybe even get a hug!

One thing Denise reminded me of is that not every dream carries guidance. Some are for entertainment. Last night, I had one of those, too. What a pleasure!

During this seven-month course, I hope to develop my own dream key by recording my dreams and discovering whether certain objects, images, or situations have particular meanings for me. Perhaps I’ll begin recognizing patterns that will help me understand future dreams.

What about you? Do you remember your dreams? Do you write them down? Have you noticed recurring images or situations? Are some of them strange? Do you wonder what they mean? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

I’ll share what I’ve discovered in another month.

May the weeks ahead bring you clear and loving support and guidance from your own divine advisors.

Joe

P.S. If you’re curious about Thom, the first book in my series, Shadows and Light: Journeys of a Spirit Healer, is available on Amazon.

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Beyond What We Can Imagine

JoeLeave a comment

I was raised in the Catholic faith. And honestly, even with a Catholic education, I didn’t spend much time considering what I believed. That changed when I went to college.

My first roommate was also Catholic but didn’t seem to follow some of its doctrines, particularly the prohibition of sex before marriage. His behavior confused me. My next roommate had also been raised Catholic but had become a born-again Christian and attempted to convert me. When he challenged my beliefs, I couldn’t answer why I believed them.

Thus began a time of faith exploration.

During that time, one thing that always annoyed me in books and homilies was the use of the word ‘mystery’ as part of their explanation, thus ending the conversation. Since I was studying engineering, my mind was being trained to think logically. Calling something a mystery felt like a ‘lame’ copout used by someone who didn’t have the complete answer.

Later, I studied theology in the seminary and had the opportunity to dig more deeply into Catholic beliefs and their origins. In the process, I discovered that the interpretations of every theologian or scriptural scholar didn’t always match. It freaked my engineering brain out until I realized each based their understanding on their experience and knowledge. That realization freed me to explore my beliefs from the perspective of whether they made sense to me and my experience.

For the next forty years, I continued my exploration through workshops, books, and podcasts. One thing remained important to me: everything had to fit together. In fact, it was frustrating when they didn’t. But a few months ago, I had a major aha moment.

As remarkable as the human brain is, it’s still part of a physical world and thus limited by what it can conceive as possible. Now some of you know that I love SciFi and fantasy. You would think it would enable my mind to go further. It might, in some ways, but beneath that it is still constrained by what is believable.

And suddenly, I found myself back where I started.

Mystery. Perhaps there really are things my mind cannot imagine or comprehend.

Now, that doesn’t stop my questioning. In fact, it opens that process up to allow things not to make sense and allowing my understandings to change and expand as the unexpected unfolds.

So maybe those scriptural scholars and homilists weren’t so lame after all. Well, some of them still were.

What about you? How do you hold the idea of mystery? Do you think minds are limited because they are contained within a physical existence? Can something you don’t understand still be true?

After all, we never know what’s waiting around the corner.

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When the Outcome Isn’t Yours

Joe4 Comments

These days so much is chaotic. We don’t know what will happen next. In such a world, sometimes we hesitate to start something new unless we’re certain of the outcome. Otherwise, we fear we’d be wasting our time and effort. As a former engineer, that kind of thinking is familiar.

Recently, I was reminded of a decision I made that ran counter to that. Years ago, while searching for what being a spirit healer entailed, I enrolled in a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with a personal agreement: if, at any time, this path didn’t feel right, I could stop and not judge myself a failure or the money spent a waste.

Now, after publishing two books in my spirit healer series, working on the third, and contributing to several spiritual books, I’ve come to recognize that part of my calling is to be both a storyteller and story-receiver, creating space for people to see themselves in the story and share their own.

While I treasure these accomplishments, I’ve been disappointed that the books and their messages have reached only a limited number of people.

That disappointment was complicated by something that happened years earlier. Shortly after I began writing book one, my divine advisors warned me about becoming arrogant because of my future success. The message seemed odd given at the time, but I took it seriously and made expressing gratitude a daily practice.

Fast forward a few years, and I found myself wondering if I hadn’t done enough because that success hadn’t arrived.

The message I heard from my advisors the other day was simple: I needed to let go of the outcome, just like I had with my Counseling Psychology degree.

They further encouraged me to continue with my story-receiving effort, as I was truly offering healing in the process. The image of a farmer planting seeds came to mind. Once planted, the farmer must trust Mother Nature to do her part.

That perspective helped me release the belief that my lack of success was not because I hadn’t done enough.

Then, two days ago, on a flight home from vacation, I watched the musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” The next morning, a song from it, “Our Time,” kept playing in my mind. Since my advisors often communicate through music, I paid attention.

Something is stirring,
Shifting ground
It’s just begun.
Edges are blurring
All around,
And yesterday is done.

It’s our time, breathe it in:
Worlds to change and worlds to win…

And you and me,
We’ll be singing it like the birds,
Me with music and you the words,
Tell ’em things they don’t know!

Our turn coming through,
Me and you, man,
Me and you!

To me, it seemed to suggest that the success they had spoken of might be unfolding through our joint effort. Yet the lesson remained unchanged. My focus still had to be on planting the seeds and letting the outcome to emerge as it will.

Where do you stand with your own calling, path, or work? Are you willing to take a risk, do something you’re drawn to, regardless of the outcome, even if it doesn’t make sense at first? Sometimes, we’re invited to proceed anyway and just see how things unfold.

June 11, 2026

I watched another podcast today with Lee Harris. His guides also mentioned releasing a need on specific outcomes. Moments after I finished, I received a message, whether from my own intuition or guides, I don’t know. Here’s the message:

For those who are lightworkers or trying to make life better for all,
it’s so easy to get discouraged when we don’t notice that what we’ve done has an impact or makes a difference. Relying on outcomes only leads to giving up.

Rather, continue praying, envisioning a better world,
and doing what makes sense for you and your path.
Then, let go of the rest.

Trust me; it does make a difference even if you can’t see, feel, or sense it.

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For the Highest Good

JoeLeave a comment

A handful of days ago would have marked the 37th anniversary of my ordination as a priest with the Paulist Fathers. When I left, it wasn’t that I no longer felt called to serve. I left because I realized that the means through which I served had to allow me to find a life partner: a spouse.

Faced with the need for income, I found a job in the software industry.

A bit of a surprise, huh? How would I live a life dedicated to service in the corporate world? Why not look to another faith that allowed married ministers, work at a non-profit, or become a therapist?

Good questions. I considered them and even obtained a Counseling Psychology degree, but none fit. I was searching for work that supported the same passion that led me into the priesthood: helping others experience God as loving and supportive rather than punitive and condemning.

After years of searching, full of questions and doubts, I found a way to live my passion and serve the highest good: as a spirit healer, storyteller, and story-receiver. So many people yearn to be seen and heard by someone who understands the ups and downs of their life. In my novels, I write of a character whose path mirrors elements of my own journey, even though our lives unfold in very different ways. My hope is that readers might see pieces of their own journey within his and discover hope along the way.

What about you? What fuels your spirit and brings you fulfillment? It might be as a parent, teacher, house cleaner, accountant, salesperson, or through countless other roles.

If you haven’t yet identified your passion, take a step back and reflect on what brings you joy. From within that, you may discover your calling.

And if I’m any example, that search can take you along many paths. None is a waste, for each one teaches you something valuable.

Looking back over the thirty-seven years since my ordination, I can now see that every turn in the road was guiding me toward a different expression of the same calling: helping others feel seen, supported, and connected to the divine.

I send you all loving support that you identify your passion and live it out with great zeal, for the highest good.

If you’re curious about my novels, the first book is Shadows and Light: Journeys of a Spirit Healer.

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A Never-ending Story

JoeLeave a comment

I’m being drawn to creating short video blogs instead of a written blog. My sense is that my divine advisors want me to become more comfortable sharing my thoughts and ideas off the cuff. With written blogs, I often spend a good amount of time editing. In other words, my advisors want me to trust myself.

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Unnamed Worries/Hidden Limitations

JoeLeave a comment

Yesterday, a friend and I gave each other spiritual readings. A few things stood out from hers about me, especially the message from my divine advisors and guide that I’d become was caught up in various worries and stresses. When she mentioned that, I was surprised. Was I really worrying?

At first, I couldn’t identify anything big. Then I realized that they weren’t big worries but small. Some of them included not getting the bookmark I was designing to align correctly for my newly released book, Where the Heart Leads: Journeys of a Spirit Healer. Despite repeated adjustments, it wasn’t perfect, and this led to worry and stress. Another was about losing weight prior to a vacation. I’d increased my exercise routine significantly, severely restricted sweets, and reduced portion size. Even with that effort, there were times I gained weight rather than losing it. I also noted other small worries as well.

I’m still surprised by how unconscious I was of them.

This morning, during meditation, as I asked Archangel Michael to help me release those worries. As I did, an image and song popped into my head. The image was a river with rocks scattered throughout which impeded the flow. My worries were the rocks, and I realized they limited the possibilities that might come to me.

The companion song to the image was “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon. Its lyrics have always inspired me. I wrote a homily about it when I was a priest. One line still jumps out: “Let the river run. Let all the dreamers wake the nation.” This conveys power and intention that encourages me to go forward and remove the obstacles to enable dreams to become reality.

May your river flow freely, unblocked by worry, so that you can see your possibilities and manifest your dreams.

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Balance

JoeLeave a comment

I recently completed a twenty-eight day Soul Coaching program with a goal of connecting more deeply to spirit. The final exercise was to go on a mini vision quest, a traditional rite of passage taken in nature to gain spiritual insight. I call mine “mini” because it lasted only a couple of hours instead of days—but the insight I gained was powerful:

To connect more deeply to the divine, I needed to connect more strongly with nature to restore my balance.

Does that make sense to you?

Up until then, while I recognized my need to ground and appreciate nature, much of my spiritual focus was directed toward the heavens. That typically entailed daily meditations, regular chats with my divine advisors, going on retreats, and attending workshops and programs. I didn’t realize that something was missing.

My vision quest insight called me to remember that while I bear a divine essence (my soul), I do so within flesh and blood. In other words, my very existence is part of nature and is in fact made of the same stuff.

So rather than “looking up” to strengthen my connection to the divine, I’m invited to look around at the wonder of creation. To appreciate the beauty, be grateful for it, care for it, and remember the fullness of who I am as an incarnated being. By doing so, I deepen my relationship with the divine and also step into my role as a co-creator.

What about you? Are you spiritually balanced? What’s your relationship with nature? I invite you to feel your connection to all of it, and through it, experience the divine in a new way.

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A New Way to Learn That Isn’t Learning

JoeLeave a comment

As I sat down to write this blog, this phrase came to me. But how can that be? Let me back up a bit.

I’m taking a Soul Coaching course with Denise Linn and, in yesterday’s session, she reminded us to pay attention to dreams. Last night, I had a doozy.

I found myself in a school that didn’t use books or classrooms. While the students all had heads and arms, they came in every shape and color. Some had fins; some with rounded bodies ten feet wide; others were quite small. I went up to one teacher and asked:

“How can I learn without books or memorization?”

“You will,” he answered.

“But how can I figure it all out if my mind doesn’t have something to latch on to?”

“Your learning won’t be with your mind.”

When I woke this morning, I wondered if this meant learning through experience. My divine advisors chimed in:

“Not quite.”

“Would I learn via spirit?”

Their puzzling reply: “Yes, and possibly.”

I’ve valued my logical mind for most of my life. Yet I know it has limits, especially when questions arise about how to live out my calling in the world. Sometimes, I need to let understanding come in its own time.

I forgot to mention that when I woke, lyrics from a Patricia Costa song popped into my head: “Sleeper, wake up to new life…” and “come out of the depth of your dreams, [God] is calling you.”

So, the dream was important. To clear my head, I decided to walk through my neighborhood, taking in the beauty of nature. Knowing my mind would still try to figure things out, my advisors sent more messages along the way, using other Patricia Costa songs:

  • “Things we see are not as they appear to be. A door was closed; another opens.” From this, I understood I’d be encountering something different, and encouraged to step through an open door into the unfamiliar.
  • “Beside restful waters, [God] is leading.” As I step through that door, my advisors alerted me that this new learning won’t come through effort or striving.

Once again, I’m being asked to have faith in whatever’s presented to me, trust that my spirit/my soul will recognize it, and not try to figure it out.

Have you ever been in this situation? When intuition tells you something new is about to unfold, and you’re asked to let go of your mind’s need to know or do and just be with it.

I guess we’ll see what comes of that.

Peace to you all. And thanks, Patricia.

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Downloads from the Divine

JoeLeave a comment

Two nights ago, just past midnight, I woke up, and a message resounded very clearly in my mind. It was immediately followed by a dream. The dream ended with a variation of the first. I wanted to share them with you.

Message One

Sometimes the most profound teaching can come through the most mundane and simplest circumstance.

Message Two

Sometimes the simplest words offer the greatest and most profound teaching and healing.

That’s it. After the long excerpt from book one a few days ago, it made sense that this blog would be short and sweet. I must also admit that I find it interesting that I’ve been posting quite a bit this month.

Peace.

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