Liz Long, chats to us about her inner journey to becoming a Reiki Master and Intuitive Healer, and shares some of the insights that she has learnt along the way.
What is an ‘Intuitive Healer’?
I usually refer to myself as a ‘psychic’ because everybody understands what that is; working with unseen information, connecting with spirits etc. However, my work is so much more than that. Regarding the intuitive aspect, I do have a format that I follow but I really like to allow spirit and flow into the sessions. Every session is different, some focus more on energy work, some are straight psychic readings and some involve channelling spirit guides. So the term ‘intuitive healer’ as a means of an identification simply allows me to flow between these different modalities. I work with a variety of tools and use my understanding of psychic and spiritual information to create a healing experience that supports the person wherever they are in their life.
Following on from your last answer, does your client have to share information with you to enable a ‘successful’ healing session?
The way that my work functions is very ‘prayerful’. I really can only go as deep as someone is willing to go. If someone comes to me with a question that requires a straight yes /no answer, or somebody requests a general synopsis of their love life, I cannot help. This is not what I do.
However, if someone comes to me with deeper emotions or broader questions, for example, “I don’t know what to do… Is this the right person in my life?, I am heart-broken…!”. This person is presenting me with desires and needs and it is at this point where I can make a difference. This openness really allows space for a spiritual connection and only then can I access and see the information. My work is therefore very emotional. When I channel spirit guides, they speak in poetry. They never answer a question with a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Do you find that you use your own language to transmit the answers given by the spirit guides or do you relay the ‘poetry’?
When I do a channeled reading, I try to step out of the way and allow the poetry and specific words of the spirit guide to come through. This is usually very different to how I talk or even how I sound so it can be quite amusing. I think there is a different kind of healing that takes place when I step out of the way completely with my own interpretation, and when I allow that energy to move through me. I record my sessions and sometimes when I go back and listen to them I am astounded by what “I” have said.
You are a Reiki teacher? Can anyone learn the art of Reiki and practice successfully or are certain people more apt than others?
Not necessarily. Reiki is a Japanese modality for energy work that involves laying on hands and transmitting healing energies to people. It’s totally different to channel guiding. Anyone can learn and use Reiki, and people have really different experiences when using it. I found that it opened up my psychic ability to feel and see energy. Some people never experience this. Learning Reiki for me was undoubtedly the trigger to get in touch with my additional psychic senses but as I say, this is not the case for everyone.
When did you start learning Reiki and what influenced your decision to go into energy healing as a business?
I started over 6 years ago. I was working in the non-profit sector and I felt I wasn’t in the right line of work. I knew I wanted to practice some kind of healing modality, perhaps counselling or acupuncture. Around that time my partner’s father, who was a Reiki Master, was in town and gifted us with a day of teaching the art of performing Reiki. It felt like a light switch had been turned on in my life. It simply opened up a whole new way of knowing and feeling. Reiki opened a spiritual door for me and I started doing energy work on other people which felt unbelievably natural, and I absolutely loved it. Over time, I slowly built a clientele. After doing energy work on my friends for free, the word spread and eventually someone came to me for a session and wanted to pay me for my services.
How often do you recommend ‘healing’ sessions?
For those with whom I work, I usually recommend they come seasonally, so every three months, or more often if they feel the need. The work that I do is meant to catalyse and support a person’s healing process and I feel that I work best when my client perhaps has a therapist, is doing acupuncture or some kind of other body work or maybe they are already consciously working on shifting some patterns in their life. My work helps to propel those shifts and support people in their transformation process. Particularly with spirit guide readings, there may contain recommendations for someone in their daily life and it usually takes quite a while for that person to implement those recommendations. Therefore, when they do come back to me for another session they are more than likely in another cycle of needing support. In a nutshell, I think it’s beneficial to receive energy work monthly .
You speak of operating within an ‘anti-oppression and anti-racist framework’. Can you explain in further detail.
Our country was built by enslaved Africans therefore to ignore the political and cultural conditions that we live in would be to ignore the very foundations of our existence. I am a queer person and I work with many others who are queer or transgender. We have a specific experience of being in a culture that sometimes accepts us and sometimes doesn’t. This of course creates challenge and difficulty, and as a healer I feel it’s really important to acknowledge what’s happening around us. We live in a world which constantly tells us we are not good enough, implicitly and explicitly.
Since COVID-19 you have been working with clients via zoom. Do you find it as successful in terms of healing as when you are in close proximity to your client?
I prefer working in person with people, because it feels good to be around the central nervous system of another person.The psychic and spirit guide information is, however, exactly the same whether you are healing from a distance or sharing the same physical space .
You mention ”asking for guidance from a ‘Source of Wisdom’ that is not my-self, but lives in me (and all of us).” Can you tell us more about this ‘Source of Wisdom’.
This goes back to what I mentioned earlier in the interview about my work being ‘prayerful’. There is something amazing that happens when you acknowledge that you don’t have the answers to everything, accept that you need help and release that need into your environment. Some people may refer to this ‘Source’ as God, Spirit or Nature, but I believe that there is an intelligence and love that exists beyond my own being and this applies for all of us.
Have you found that over recent years, a more diverse clientele has developed? If so, why do you think this is the case?
Yes, intuitive healing is becoming more and more acceptable to people from all walks of life. They are excited and curious when they find out what I do. Before living in a colonised, westernised world, our ancestors had land-based spiritual traditions, they practiced spiritual rituals and spells. They listened to spirits. I think psychic work is now a facet of the spirituality that was practiced by our ancestry and which, through modern day processes has been lost. People are now interested in rekindling this spiritual existence that lies deep within us and they are taking steps to reclaim this part of themselves.
