Interview with Michelle Frost
Author of Elephant Songs
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Michelle Frost has written an amazing book detailing her journey as a reluctant psychic. Elephant Songs is the autobiography of her life story from Africa to Scotland and from childhood brushes with spirits to a more mature spirituality. The book is engaging, honest, and very intriguing. Today she joins me to talk about the book and her experiences.
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Why did you decide to write an
autobiography? How did it come about?
My mother was the first person to suggest that I write a book. She felt
I should share my experiences, but every time I tried to write I’d start
thinking about strangers actually reading my life and… I’d freeze up.
Everything I wrote was stiff, deadly dull and
boring. This book is very much owed to my internet friend, Richard Eldredge.
He’s a rare thing – an open-minded sceptic. He’d constantly ask questions and
I’d email back. By the time I’d finished answering all his questions I had 42
emails about my life and my abilities. They became the foundation of my book.
42 is the answer to “Life, the Universe and everything”, according to
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas
Adams. How could I resist that cosmic joke?
Do
you thinking growing up in Africa influenced your on-going spiritual life?
Definitely. Africa is steeped in mysticism and its people are far more aware of magic and the unknown. Things that would be laughed at in the West are still seen as perfectly normal in Africa. I grew up with first hand experiences of witchdoctor curses and cures as well as the legends of magical places and legendary beasts. Anything feels possible in Africa.
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How important was it to your
spiritual development to keep a dream journal?
I’d say that
it helped my self-trust mostly. When I first started a dream journal my
intention was to prove why my dreams came true. I was expecting to find a
rational explanation, but instead all I proved was that I really was dreaming
of things before they happened. Having that proof helped me come to terms with
the fact I had psychic abilities. I’m a rational person at heart and simply
trusting my intuition does not come easy for me. Having my journal to return to
has enabled me to look back over decades and see patterns as well as reasons
that I was completely clueless about at the time.
How did your hospital stay of 2005
affect your abilities?
It was the first of two events that
changed my abilities. I woke up from surgery to find I could “see”
and “hear” at a level I’d never had as an adult. I’d been able to see
spirits as a very young child, but that faded quickly as I grew up. The surgery
seemed to trigger some change. A friend of mine suggested that the anaesthetic
and morphine acted on my brain in a similar manner to the hallucinogenic plants
South American Shamans use.
By “see” and “hear” I
mean a state of awareness that is more clear and real than imagination, but not
literal seeing or hearing.
You had a spirit-guide who revealed
himself over a long period. This experience was far from what is commonly
reported. Can you tell us a little about that? What advise do you have for
others whose experiences don’t match the textbook case?
My
“spirit-guide” (we both know the label isn’t a perfect fit, but to
say more would be a book spoiler) revealed himself after the second major event
to change my abilities. I was writing my second book, Wisdoms of the Light
(sequel to First Light), in 2013. Writing that book changed me. It was an
intense experience and I wasn’t alone in feeling that. A psychic friend of mine
offered to be an extra proof reader. When he finished reading through the first
draft, he sent me a message his spirit-guide dictated for me:
You have grown exponentially of late and it is because of the
book, because of the creative process employed with the book and the unusual
way in which you created characters from self, from “ALL”, from
else-where’s lifetimes, to both create a fascinating narrative and also a
healing, consciousness raising/expanding experience for you.
It was about a week after I finished that first draft that I HEARD
my spirit-guide speak for the first time. HEARD because he was loud, clear and
very real. A life-changing moment I will never forget.
I can’t comment much on “what is commonly reported” since I haven’t
read any books about other people’s experiences with spirit-guides. My advice
to others would be to trust themselves and their “gut feeling” over
anything they read or are taught/told. We are all unique and nothing works for
everyone. If something feels wrong – trust that it is wrong for you and move
on. Same with what feels right. I’d have saved myself a lot of stress and grief
if I’d relied on my gut and intuition more than my intellect.
Your spirit-guide repeatedly tells
you to “think from the heart, not the head.” What does he mean by this?
I
can start by saying what he doesn’t mean, this isn’t about connecting to your
emotions.
Let’s start with some basics. We tend to use the heart as a symbol
of love and emotion, just as we use the brain to symbolise logic and
intellectual deduction. I’d say that modern humans have become exceptionally
“head bound”. We revere the brain and all things related to it: book
learning, diplomas in knowing stuff, facts and figures. And as a result, we
often see emotions as being unstable and more of a weakness than a strength.
My spirit-guide explained that there has to be balance between the
two for any human to be completely healthy and productive, but this
“thinking from the heart” is something more than that. When he says
this, he points or presses his hand on a spot a few inches below my throat; a
place roughly half way between heart and brain. He says this area is where we
hold the energy he describes as “the higher heart energy”. It’s the
place from where we connect to “All” – our higher self, God and/or
the Cosmos. Here is where we experience those feelings we call intuition or
genius; those moments when we simply KNOW something instantly without any need
to mull it over in our brains or run it through our emotional heart.
He constantly nags me about this higher heart thinking. I’m still struggling with this. I’ll have the moment of instantly knowing (higher heart intuition), but then my brain starts asking questions and my emotions run off in all directions like a flock of hysterical sheep.
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Were you ever concerned that writing
a book as deeply personal as this, might open you to ridicule? Has there been
any negative pushback? What about support from surprising places?
I’ve
worried mostly about accidentally hurting or offending anyone, since this is a
book about my life where I do talk about my experiences and people I know,
friends and family. Ridicule doesn’t worry me as much. I was teased for being
skinny and sickly as a kid, laughed at for being overweight as a suddenly
healthy teen and ridiculed for all sorts of things (politics, religion,
nationality, gender, etc.) as an adult. I’m fairly immune at this stage. My
main concern was to keep it truthful without causing harm to others.
So far, I’ve not had any negative pushback. As for support in surprising places… I’ve had a few people contact me to say thank you for writing the book. They’ve all been people who can relate as they’ve had similar experiences. That’s been awesome.
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In a time when it appears more and more of
us are “waking up,” how important is it that stories like yours find their way
into the world?
This is why I agreed to publish in the first place, because people
like my mom and friends said, “this is needed.” I know dozens of
people who have psychic abilities or have had esoteric/spiritual experiences
and been too afraid to admit that fact for most of their lives. That, to me, is
a tragic waste of human potential.
Thanks for being
here today and sharing your journey! For more about Michelle Frost and her work,
check out the links below.
Blog: http://crows-feet.blogspot.com/
GoodReads: http://goo.gl/swYHsB
Amazon: http://goo.gl/KKGKkD
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/QH9tQe
