This next question is from a young woman who goes by the name, Dina.

Dina’s Question

Hello Elisa,

I’m writing to inquire about your “Channeling Erik” page. I’ll start off by saying this is my very first time doing anything like this. I’ve never had a reading done, I’ve never talked to a medium, I’ve never channeled anyone, and I’ve never astrally projected, although it sounds like loads of fun and I’d sure love to try. 
I’m by no means a skeptic. I was brought up with some aspect of spiritual awareness, (I honestly don’t know what else to call it), and I’ve had a smattering of paranormal experiences throughout the years. So, believing isn’t the hard part for me. The hard part is knowing what to believe, knowing which of the new-age indigo psychic paranormal whatchamacallits are the real McCoy, and which ones are mere mirages, assembled by the avaricious among us to drain the wallets and dignity of society’s pained and lost. One of the reasons I make this attempt, is because your story rang true. Indeed, your story rang even truer than that Sylvia Browne book I read last year.

I came upon Erik’s page very recently. I doubt I can tell you how or where, as for all I know, telling you would compromise the privacy of the “middle man,” so to speak. I hardly think it’s important anyway. The important thing is my main reason for writing, and that is, simply, to ask your permission to ask your son a question. I am aware of the Ask Erik link on the site. But as I glanced over the meager form I felt as if I were about to shake a magic 8-ball. After considering it for a moment I decided that wouldn’t do the situation justice. When I read your story I imagined countless online looky-loos swarming the page with all of their myriad curious questions. And, while I won’t deny being one of the same and having questions of my own, I absolutely refuse to treat Erik like a magic 8-ball, an automatic answer-bag, or a personal Dear Abby machine. Whether or not that ring of truth I heard was yet another mirage, you and your family are real human beings with real feelings just like me, and I aim to respect you as such.

My start of course, is this written request. After all, you’re the guy’s mom. I’d feel weird not asking your permission. The reason I want to ask him is the age-old one. There are things in my life I’ve been wondering about, and I seek answers that someone on the Other Side may have access to. I’m just another looky-loo, searching for a spoonful of certainty in this melting pot of madness we call a world. Nothing new I’m afraid. If indeed this message is just a repeat of similar ones you’ve doubtless red a million times in the past few months, and you’ve grown weary of such requests, by all means tell me to back off. The last thing I want to do is disrupt your life with a meaningless chorus of what-about-me’s. No matter the response I receive, I wish you hope, joy and success on your life journey.

Humbly,

Dina

(I answered Dina with an email, which basically encouraged her to put her questions out there, as this Ask Erik venue is an opportunity to help Erik and I as well.)

Dina’s Response

Hi Elisa,

Don’t worry. I don’t always write like that. When I get nervous I tend to over-formalize. It’s an amazing and disconcerting thing to have so many questions, and then find the way to answer them has unceremoniously plopped into my lap. I just wanted to take it seriously. It didn’t feel right to just go ahead; maybe I’ve a few too many scruples. Anyways, here’s what I’d like to ask Erik.

For a few years now I’ve had this, I don’t know what to call it, interest or fascination if you will, with the Deaf. I took a couple of signing classes in 04, then life interfered and I lost most of what I learned. This semester I started up again. The trouble is, beyond learning sign, I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to work in the Deaf Community, or if I’ll have a partner who’s Deaf, or whether it’s something I should stay away from altogether. All I have at the end of the day is this feeling like a 300 ton magnet is pulling me towards something to do with deafness. It’s confusing, frustrating and I don’t understand it. But just the same, I love it.

Here’s the actual question part. To start off, why am I so drawn to this in the first place? Secondly, how does it apply to my life and how should I channel it? And third, does it have anything to do with August of the year 2003? That last one’s very important.

I almost feel bad because my questions have nothing whatsoever to do with relatives or the afterlife, and don’t seem as serious. But chances are the response will give me a decent measure of comfort and understanding just the same. That said, do you realize how many in the world will shed tears of joy and thank their lucky stars a thousand times over that they found this blog and read your story? I don’t know how to say this in a way you haven’t heard before, so I’ll just go for it. Whether you can help me or not, I sincerely appreciate the 3 of you and what you do for people.

Warmly,

Dina

P.S. I’m approximately 20 years old, I live in Hayward California, and my real name is XXXXXX. As you can see it’s not a very forgettable name, and I have a thing about randomly throwing it around online, I hope you don’t mind. For this reason, is it possible that we could use the given pseudonym on the public blog? Thanks.

Channeling Transcript

Me: Okay, the next person that has a question for you, Erik, is Dina. That’s her pseudonym. Her real name is XXXXXX. She’s from Hayward, Ca. She’s around 20 years old. She wants to know why she’s has such a fascination for the hearing impaired. She’s even taken up sign language. Is it because she needs to work with the deaf? Will her future partner be deaf? Also, she wants to know what the significance of all this is in relationship to the date, August, 2003, if any?

Erik: Her guides are telling me that she’s been deaf in a lot of past lifetimes, so she’s very familiar with this. She’s gone to schools for the deaf, she’s worked as a teacher helping the deaf with sign language, helping them read lips. She’s also worked with children who were deaf and blind, like Helen Keller, but she didn’t work with Helen.

Me: Okay. That makes a lot of sense.

Erik: Yeah, and she’s here this lifetime to be a healer and teacher. She’s here to help the deaf learn to communicate clearly. Her life partner won’t be deaf, though. She’s also gonna help people who get the cochlear implant, including ones they’re gonna create in the future. She’ll help the deaf speak clearly and she will love this. She’s gonna devote her life to this. She’ll write some books about it, too.

Me: Okay! So what about the significance of that date, Erik?

Erik: Her guides are saying that was a near death experience. They’re saying that it was a near death experience, because her soul left her body, and she went to Heaven. What happened up here in Heaven is now in her subconscious and might have seemed like a dream to her. This was to help her see herself for who and what she really is so that she would set farther reaching boundaries for herself and so she’d begin to understand that she can make a difference in a shitload of people’s lives. It was supposed to be life-changing. It should hopefully help guide her in her decisions.

Me: Okay, thanks Erik! I’ll see what she says about all this.

Erik: Cool. Tell her she can channel me if she wants.

Dina’s Response

Hi Elisa,

Wow. I’d say I was speechless but… I’ve wondered if it had something to do with my past lives, this makes much more sense now. The only thing I don’t understand is the part about teaching them to speak. The Deaf have a culture of which ASL is the main cohesive factor. If I went into a field of speech therapy I’d feel as if I were working against this culture, sending the message that ASL isn’t acceptable, and that deafness should be “cured.” Not
 that I’m questioning the veracity of the answer, it’s just confusing because it seems contrary to my motivation. Indeed, it feels more real, because there are parts I don’t understand. If he had said I’d be an interpreter with a Deaf husband and several ASL-fluent offspring I would’ve wondered. Lol. I knew the part about August 2003 would be interesting. On the 19th of that month, I’m still ashamed to admit this, I attempted to take my own life. The deciding factor was a trivial one, but it was a case of the straw breaking the camel’s back. Needless to say it didn’t work. 12 days later I woke up with the worst ear infection I’ve ever had to date. It wasn’t until 3 weeks later that I could hear properly out of my left ear. In earlier years my greatest fear was going deaf. I’m already blind, and the thought of losing another sense was just too much. So during this ordeal I jumped to the usual conclusion. (God was punishing me for almost killing myself by making me almost deaf for a time). A few months later I took my first sign class. Though I never attempted suicide again, I frequently felt close to it. For the longest, signing seemed like the only good thing in my life, and all I could deservedly hold onto. I have many memories of 08/03, but sadly the dream is not among them. And, as for the deaf spouse, I figure there’s no reason why I can’t at least try. Lol. Once again, I can’t thank the three of you enough for your time and effort.

Warmly,

Dina

My Response

Well, wait until you get the word for word transcript, because my memory isn’t that great. Many of the questions from people were very similar. I think it’s amazing that Erik said the event 8/2003 was a near death experience. I can’t remember what he said about how a dream was involved or if on a soul level you received this information and it may have felt like a subliminal dream. Who knows? It’s best to take only what rings true from these things. I have found, however, that what doesn’t ring true at the moment rings true later, sometimes months or years later. I’ve had Kim tell me things that made me think, “wow, you’re off today, Kim” only to have it all come true a year later. So keep an open mind about the speech component. Maybe he means speaking with fingers not vocally. You might be able to tell more after you read the detailed transcript.

I wish you all the best.

xo

Elisa and Erik

In retrospect, I believe she did receive information on a soul level that she’s perhaps struggling to translate on a conscious one. As for her future ability to help the deaf speak more clearly, she will of course need to teach them using ASL. Also, I understand how ASL is a cohesive factor in the deaf community, but imagine how much their lives could expand if they could all be understood by those of us who don’t have knowledge of this wonderful form of communication! As souls, we yearn to connect, as we are all part of the same whole. Perhaps this yearning occurs on a deeper soul level, but it exists nonetheless. I’m certain of it. We long to reach out to our fellow travelers as we share the human experience, regardless of race, class, location, education or abilities.