Listening in With … Denise Linn

Denise Linn, a registered member of the Cherokee tribe, has studied not only with Native American teachers but also with those from indigenous cultures around the planet, including the aborigines of Australia, the Zulu in Africa, and the Maori of New Zealand. She also learned healing from Hawaiian kahunas, trained with a founding Japanese Reiki master, and spent two years living in a Zen Buddhist monastery where she meditated for up to 16 hours a day. The underlying truth she’s learned from these varied experiences is that we are all one, not only with each other, but also with Spirit. Here, she talks with Unity Magazine editor Katy Koontz about how to become more aware of this connection and the role synchronicity plays.

Katy Koontz: In your latest book, Energy Strands, you talk about the energetic connections we have with people, places, and things. You wrote that part of you doesn’t believe in cords because we’re really all one to begin with. Can you elaborate on that dichotomy?

Denise Linn: I had a profound near-death experience at 17 in which I understood that I was a part of all things. I realized the life I’d been living here on the earth (where we feel separate from the world around us) was an illusion. The truth is that a unified field connects each of us to the entire universe. So I was hesitant to describe strands connecting us to other people and places—especially the negative ones— for fear it might contribute to this idea that we are separate from each other and the world.

In my experience, the more you feel separate in this way, the more isolated you feel; and the more you step into unity and oneness, the more peace you feel and the more you contribute to the harmony of the world.

However, there are times in life when we are not in that place of infinite oneness, and it’s in those times that it’s valuable to understand what we can do about the cords that negatively impact us and how we can plump up those that have a positive effect on our lives.

KK: So we can control these strands that separate what we recognize as us from the parts of us we don’t always recognize as us, right?

DL: To be in balance, it’s good to have a foot in each world—in the heavenly realm of “I am one with all things, and I understand there are no victims and that there is a reason for everything,” and also in the realm of duality. If you stay in the heavenly universe, you have trouble having compassion for those who are struggling with the dark and light of the world. If you live simply in the realm of reacting to life’s circumstances, then you’re separate from Spirit.

KK: As long as we’re in physical form, then, you’re saying it’s best to have a foot in both worlds.

DL: Yes. In life it’s valuable to encompass the knowledge that we are one with God as well as to embrace the very human world around us.

KK: How can we become more aware of these energy strands so we can manage them?

DL: Becoming aware of your energy cords is important because it’s difficult to heal what you are not aware of. I suggest a simple meditation in which you visualize any place that feels safe to you. I usually imagine a rolling hill, with the ocean and mountains in the distance, but it could be something like a log cabin, a temple, or a meadow. In your meditation, look down and sense and “see” the cords and strands that are flowing out of your body. In your imagination, follow one of them to see where it goes. It might surprise you.

Imagine the people in your life standing before you, one by one, as you look to see what is flowing between you. Are the cords thin or thick? Are they bright red as though they’re inflamed, or are they beautiful, blue, and flowing? Are they strong or shriveled up? You can also do this for situations or places on the earth, as well.

Sometimes you see bright, beautiful cords, so you realize this might be a relationship you want to pursue more deeply. Or you might see raggedylooking cords with a person you think you have a good relationship with. Sometimes what we think consciously is very different than what the soul knows—and the soul loves the truth.

KK: So if you have strong, clear cords with someone you don’t like much, I’m guessing that could mean there’s something positive about that relationship.

DL: Yes, there could be value there for you. For example, decades ago, I was in business with a man who always cheated me. I got so angry, but then when I’d tune in to the cords, they were always beautiful. One night, he came in a dream, and he was so kind. I thought, How can I be so angry with someone when the cords between us are always beautiful? and How can this person, who’s so selfish, be so kind in my dream?

I asked him about that while I was still in the dream, and he said, “There’s still more for us to play out, but all is well.”

I’d never said anything when he cheated me because I wanted him to like me. I wanted everyone to like me! He just kept victimizing me until eventually I thought, That’s it—I’m going to stand up for myself. This was something I’d never done before. That relationship really served me because it inspired me to stand up for myself. My mind hadn’t understood the benefit of this relationship, but my soul did.

KK: If we manage to cut some of these strands that bind or weaken us, can they reform later?

DL: They can, yes. People often get the idea that if they just visualize cutting the cord, it ends the relationship, but it’s important to understand why there’s a negative cord to that person and what the payoff is for having this relationship. If you don’t do that, the cord usually reappears. Also, it’s not a clean cut if you feel a bit righteous when you do it; if you feel that they are the “bad” person, and you are the “good” person, chances are the cord will reassert itself. If you can cut it without anger or resentment, it will stay unattached.

In addition, a cord that reattaches can also represent an unresolved issue from the past. In this case, you may need to look at your own culpability and take steps to resolve those deeper challenges. Negative cords can be a reflection of something in ourselves that we are not owning, not accepting, or that we haven’t healed.

KK: Let’s talk about synchronicity, which you’ve tied to the unity you spoke about earlier. What importance does synchronicity hold?

DL: One of the things I discovered during my near-death experience was that the place we call heaven is not up in the sky. It’s a dimension where we are one with all things. It is a place of universal love that coexists with the dimension we live in here on earth. You can tell when you’re getting close to the dimension we call heaven because you start experiencing more synchronicity. If you need something and it magically appears, or you think about somebody and they suddenly get in touch with you, these are affirmations that you are getting closer to the frequency of heaven, the realm of Spirit. The more synchronicity you experience, the closer you’re getting. When I was on the other side, there was no separation between intent and manifestation. The instant I had a thought, it manifested. So when the distance between intent and manifestation is short, that’s the Universe winking at you.

KK: Is there a difference between coincidence and synchronicity?

DL: Coincidences are just a kind of synchronicity. In Energy Strands, I told a story about when my husband, my daughter, and I were driving from Washington state to California for a wedding, and we got lost in Oregon. I was driving and I kept wanting to stop to ask for directions, and my husband (who was in charge of directions) kept saying, “No, I can figure it out.” This was long before GPS.

Finally, in the middle of nowhere, I said, “That’s it. The next house we come to, I am going to stop and ask for directions.” There was a house in the distance with a very long driveway, so I just turned onto the driveway. I jumped out of the car, ran up the steps, and knocked on the door. Amazingly, my stepsister—who I’d completely lost track of—opened the door.

KK: No way!

DL: I hadn’t seen her for years. I didn’t even know where in the world she lived. We all ended up going out for dinner that night and we reconnected. Some people might say that was a coincidence, but to me, that was a synchronicity—it was much deeper than just a coincidence. It was as though we had cords connecting us that drew me to her. It was not an accident that the one house we just happened to stop at was hers.

KK: It’s easy to see what that synchronicity was all about, but what about those that aren’t as obvious? You see a synchronicity, but you’re not sure what the message is?

DL: Whenever I’m not sure what something means, I’ll ask myself, Well, Denise, if you did know what it meant, what would it be? And that simple question makes it really easy. You just have to trust whatever comes, even if it doesn’t make sense.

KK: After all, if it made sense, we wouldn’t need to get the answer synchronistically. We’re not after our left brain’s help here.

DL: Right, we’re seeking our intuitive sense, which is not always easy to get to. That’s why I love that question. It just gets right around my brain.

KK: Is synchronicity connected with déjà vu?

DL: To me, déjà vu is not so much in the realm of synchronicity. That feeling of I’ve been here before can indicate someplace that you’ve been in a past life or it can be something you’ve dreamed about and forgotten. This lost dream may even have been precognitive, showing you a glimpse of some future event, which is not uncommon. When the event later happens, it seems oddly familiar.

KK: Is it a sign of a cord?

DL: Absolutely! It’s activating a cord to the past, a cord to the future, or a cord to Spirit. It can be showing you that we’re connected to the future as well as to the past.

KK: You mentioned that dreams, like synchronicity, can be signs from Spirit. How can we work with them?

DL: We are constantly getting messages from Spirit, but we don’t always recognize and understand them. However, in dreams, the veil is thinner, so Spirit can speak to us more directly. That’s why it’s so important to remember your dreams. Most people in the western world do not remember their dreams because, as a culture, we don’t believe dreams are important. Within societies that believe dreams are important, almost everyone remembers them.

KK: That makes sense.

DL: Einstein said every major discovery he ever made came from a dream. They are a phenomenal resource. You can actually program your dreams to give you certain answers when you go to sleep. Let’s say you wanted to connect with a loved one. Hold something that they owned before you go to sleep, or look at a photograph of them, and just focus on them as you’re drifting off. Say to yourself, Tonight, I ask that my loved one come and visit me.

Or maybe you have a problem and want to ask what direction you should take. Simply say, for example, Tonight, give me a message in regard to my work—should I quit now or should I wait a year?

Be sure you write your dreams down as soon as you wake up. In laboratories, where they research dreams, they’ve shown that 10 minutes after your dream, it’s gone, and even only five minutes later, you can usually remember just snippets. But immediately after a dream, it’s possible to recall the whole dream, so always write it down as soon as you can. Even if you think you’re going to remember it, usually you need to write it down.

KK: You’re speaking at Celebrate Your Life’s International Women’s Summit in March. Can you comment on the importance of the rise of the feminine?

DL: When I was in Bophuthatswana in Africa with Credo Mutwa, the spiritual head of the Zulu people, he said that for our planet to heal, we need the women to arise. It is the women, he said, who will promote the rebalancing of the earth. It seems to me that we have gone into a very yang time in the evolution of our planet. We’ve become very technological, very linear, and very left brain, which is great in many ways. We have advances in medicine, communication, technology, and so many other areas, but we’ve lost something along the way. We need the yin, too, which involves living in harmony with nature, going inward, revering our dreams, connecting with our intuition, and nurturing ourselves and others.

The International Women’s Summit is about attaining that balance. It isn’t just an arena for women to step into their power and be willing to stand up for themselves. It’s also about gaining your inner goddess, that place of inner knowing and trusting your intuition and dreams—all qualities associated with being a woman, qualities that, we as a society, have lost. You don’t have to be a man or enter into a male energy to be strong. You can embrace the depth of the divine feminine and be powerful beyond measure. That’s what occurs in the Women’s Summit.

KK: I would imagine it’s important for men, as well, to connect with their divine feminine, yes?

DL: Absolutely, because within each woman is a yang energy, and within each man is a yin energy—each of us have both. To truly balance the masculine and the feminine in our primarily yang world, we need both women and men to honor their feminine yin energy.

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.