Learning to Talk to Angels
Dear Elder Peterson,
In the last letter, I shared an experience Rebecca and I had with her dad about a week after he died. This was not the first or the last experience we have had communicating with people on the other side of the veil. As missionaries, you represent an opportunity to bless both people in the spirit world including unseen angels on the other side of the veil and people in the physical world by bridging the gap between them. The greater your capacity to hear and speak with people and angels through the veil, the more you can serve them and others. The people on the other side of the veil will tell you things about the people you are speaking to that you could not know for yourself without them. They will give you insights, information and direction that is invaluable in your work.
Before you can speak to them, you need to learn to recognize them speaking to you. And they speak to you several times a day in your line of work because they are anxious for your help. Here is a simple outline of the learning process.
- Realize that you have a spirit body & a physical body, so you can interact with both worlds.
- Learn to recognize the sound of your own voice in your head so that you know when someone else is speaking to you, (not your own voice).
- When you recognize someone else speaking to you, engage in conversation…
- Listen
- Thank them (using your spiritual body, doesn’t require you to speak out loud)
- Ask them what their name is
- Ask them why they are interested in you or the person you are speaking to
- Ask them if there is anything else they could tell you that will help you
- Thank them again and let them know if you are ok with them speaking to you again.
- Eventually you will learn to initiate conversation with other spiritual beings
Let’s do a deeper dive into each of these points.
Realize that You Have a Spirit Body & a Physical Body
This is a commonly taught and accepted principle that you are already familiar with. But what you may not be familiar with is that you can use your spiritual body at the same time as your physical body. You have spiritual ears to hear spiritual beings, you have spiritual eyes that let you see spiritual things, you have a spiritual mouth that allows you to speak to other spirits, etc. Before you can use these things, you need to realize that you have them. Learn to realize that just as discussed in the previous letter, Spirits have spiritual bodies that interact with spirit. To commune with them, you need to use your spiritual body, not your natural body.
Your spiritual body is not bound by the limits of the physical world like your physical body is. For example, your spiritual body is able to communicate with people far away as easily as if they were right next to you. It is the principle on which prayer works and allows you to communicate with God, Christ and others who may be remotely distant from you. Consider the following scriptures about how we are to worship God and how Moses saw God, not with his natural or physical eyes, but with his spiritual eyes.
John 4
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Moses 1
11 But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him.
You need to learn to recognize and use your spiritual body just as easily and clearly as you do your physical body to become a complete being, both spiritual and physical. For this reason we are given both bodies. The good news is that you mastered your spiritual body before you came to this physical earth, so it is much easier to remember how to use it than it is to learn how to use the physical body which was added to the spiritual body.
Learn to Recognize the Sound of Your Own Voice in Your Head
Spirits and angels speak to us often, but without realizing it, we mistakenly think that thoughts and ideas are just popping into our head randomly. Essentially people walk around thinking that their voice is the only voice that exists. Until you can recognize the sound of your own spiritual voice, (in your head), you will not be able to distinguish your spiritual voice from the spiritual voices of others.
The process is simple. Just talk to yourself in your own mind and pay attention to the “sound” or feeling of your own voice. Maybe start with a familiar nursery rhyme that you can repeat to your self in your own mind and pay attention to what it sounds like and feels like. Think of something new to say to yourself and notice how much and what type of effort you exert to first think of what to say, then to say it.
The order of events I just called out is very important to understand and recognize too. When you are speaking to someone, including yourself in your own mind, the processes goes like this (pay attention to the order of events and when you think vs listen:
- Think of something to say – Mental effort at the beginning of the process.
- Then you say it, which is much less work than thinking about it.
- Then you hear what you said and sometimes consider or think about whether it was what you wanted to say.
Compare the above experience that happens when you are talking to the order and experience that happens when someone else is talking to you.
- You hear what someone said first. Your focus is on passively receiving the information.
- After you hear the words, you have to put in the mental effort to interpret them or figure out what they mean and what is being communicated.
- You don’t listen again to see if what was said is what you intended to hear.
The biggest difference between the two is that when you are speaking, you think first and then speak, but when others are speaking to you, you hear the words first and then think about what they mean. Any time words or thoughts are given to you, they are coming from some other source than your own mind. You didn’t generate them or think them up. Someone else took the effort to think of what to say and is asking you to listen and consider what they said. Sometimes the process does not use words, but concepts, pictures or thoughts. If you are generating them, then you put effort in upfront to express them, but if you did not generate them, you receive them first and then put effort into understanding them.
Once you understand this, you will always be able to tell when someone is speaking to you spiritually through the veil. When you recognize that a spirit person is speaking to you, you can speak back to them and have a conversation.
When You Recognize Someone Else Speaking to You, Engage in Conversation
The hardest part of this whole process is learning to recognize others speaking to you. They have already taken the initiative to talk with you, you were just ignorant to that fact and ignored them as if they didn’t exist. Now you are empowered to recognize and communicate back with them.
One truth that I have learned which will help you along is to realize that “Dead people are still people, they’re just dead.” They still have their own opinions and desires and goals which may or may not be your opinions, desires and goals. Just because they exist and you can hear and recognize them doesn’t mean that they are right or speaking for God. They are just like other people, but they are speaking to you spirit to spirit.
Just as with physical people, if someone is speaking to you by the power of the Holy Ghost, it doesn’t matter who they are, they are speaking for God. This applies to you and EVERYONE else equally.
D&C 68
4 And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.
If someone is speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost to you, they are acting as an angel.
2 Nephi 32
3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
When someone is speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, it comes with the highest level of importance and is more than a simple opinion. It is essential to recognize when someone is speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost and when they are not. This is true when communicating with spiritual and physical beings.
Eventually You Will be Learn to Initiate Conversations with Other Spiritual Beings
In the scriptures this process is called, “communion”. One of the definitions of “communion” is:
Communion (noun)
“Intercourse between two or more persons; interchange of thoughts or interests; communication.”
The scriptures tell us that we can have the privilege to commune with the following groups:
- The general assembly of heaven – Just people like you and me
- The Church of the Firstborn – Specifically Celestial people who know things you might want to pay attention to
- God the Father – like Moses described above
- Jesus Christ – This is the Second Comforter
D&C 107
18 The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church
19 To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.
After you learn to hear others communicating with you through the veil, and begin communicating back with them, it does not take long to learn to reach out to and commune with anyone you desire. Spiritually speaking, it’s kind of like calling them on the phone. When you get good at it, you are able to both hear and see them with your spiritual eyes. You also become aware of other spiritual senses that are not always observable by the physical body like their intent, (spiritual discernment).
Conclusion
Learning to access and use your spiritual body does not require a person to be on a mission, however a mission is a unique opportunity to develop and hone your spiritual abilities. Using both your spiritual and physical bodies at the same time offers great and incredible benefits. Living without using your spiritual body is much like being disabled or handicaped. It is living without half of your whole being.
I encourage you to follow the steps outlined above so that you can learn to recognize when others are communicating with you through the veil. I promise that as you do, you will be amazed at how much people are talking to you. I also promise that as you do you will learn to do as the temple endowment depicts and learn to commune with the lord through the veil which must happen before you enter back into His presence.
With Love and Faith,
Philip Stevenson