spiritual gifts | National Spiritual Science Center Historical Society

December 4, 2025May 29, 2026

When the Departed Speak: Understanding True Spiritual Communication

A dimly lit spiritual altar arranged for mediumship, featuring candles, sacred objects, and symbolic items used for connecting with the spirit world and understanding energetic shells and true spiritual communication.

When the Departed Speak

Understanding True Spiritual Communication

Most people assume that if a loved one has crossed over, they should still be standing close by—showing signs, visiting dreams, or leaving messages. It’s comforting for some to think that way.

But the majority of spirits do not linger simply because we miss them.

Most souls continue their journey back to the Creator God. They don’t stay stuck in emotional traffic trying to comfort the living or live through them. When genuine communication happens, it’s because the contact is purposeful and aligned with both spirits involved.

Can mediums reach your departed? They will connect to what’s with you—a shell holding on to the essence of your loved one, infused with your memories of them. In most cases, that is what responds first because it sits closest to the living and is easiest to access.

Before continuing, it’s important to understand that there are three very different forms of spiritual presence that people often confuse with one another:

1. The energetic shell or imprint
2. The soul that has moved on
3. The soul that chooses not to leave the earth plane

Mediums often connect with the first because it remains within reach. The second continues on its spiritual path. And only a small minority fall into the third category.

As a spiritual healer, I originally understood the term lost soul to refer to spirits who linger. Over time, through direct healing experience and later through a vivid dream, I came to recognize a deeper truth: there are no lost souls.

There are souls who choose to remain in this dimension. The phrase lost soul implies confusion or aimless wandering, when in reality some simply do not wish to leave the earth plane entirely. Because of this, I could only assist in liberating the ones who were spiritually ready to move on.

Many assume these souls stay out of fear or attachment to the life they once lived. But in practice, the majority are willing—sometimes even eager—to return to the Creator God and continue their journey beyond this world.

Why Would the Departed Stay Behind?

This is an honest question.

A soul that has completed its earthly work moves on. What remains is not the soul itself, but the emotional tether created by those who are grieving.

Love, grief, and longing can hold energy in place, and that attachment must be released. Releasing a loved one is not forgetting them. It is letting go of the emotional cord, so healing can begin, allowing memories of love and joy to remain without being trapped in grief.

A Spiritual Science Reflection by Rev. Starlene Joyner Burns, President & Founder, National Spiritual Science Center Historical Society.

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October 6, 2025May 30, 2026

Can Psychic Ability Be Taught, or Is It an Inherited Gift?

Psychic & Mediumship: Inherent or Learned?

At the National Spiritual Science Center in Washington, DC, meditation was the cornerstone of spiritual development and enlightenment. It wasn’t just about quieting the mind — it was a discipline that helped students refine and strengthen their spiritual gifts and inner power.

Whether in healing, mediumship, clairvoyance, or other forms of psychicism, meditation provided the focus and clarity to unfold those gifts. Some students became more attuned as mediums. Others deepened as psychics, and still others grew as healers, But all shared the same foundation: a steady practice of meditation, discipline, and accountability.

Too often, people become uneasy when they hear the word mediumship. But fear usually comes from misunderstanding. And mediumship, at its core, is simply about communication with Spirit. For some, that may come as messages from loved ones who have crossed over; for others, it may come as guidance from the higher realms. In every form, it is a gift of spiritual connection.

These gifts can manifest whether we are trained or not. Training helps us use them wisely, giving structure and responsibility to what is already our inherent birthright.

Spiritual gifts vary. Meditation at the National Spiritual Science Center wasn’t presented as an instant awakening, but as a significant part of spiritual development. It was one part of a larger process that only deepened what students already carried within.

Those who meditated with clear purpose often found their sensitivity heightened — but meditation alone does not create spiritual gifts.

In the 1970s, The Psychic Observer & Chimes—published under the direction of Rev. Henry J. and Rev. Diane S. Nagorka, announced the establishment of the American Academy of Parapsychology through the National Spiritual Science Center. This collaboration of research and ministry reflected the Center’s long-standing commitment to understanding spiritual gifts as both natural and divine phenomena.

A Spiritual Science Reflection from Rev. Starlene Joyner Burns — President & Founder, National Spiritual Science Center Historical Society

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May 23, 2025May 30, 2026

Living Spiritual Science – Part 2

Spiritual Senses and Discernment

Understanding the Spiritual and Physical Connection Spiritual Scientists recognize that human beings have five physical senses and equivalent spiritual senses. Not all spiritual senses are active at once; they emerge as needed—offering insight, guidance, and sometimes challenge, depending on the situation or spiritual need. What I share here is not something I learned from books—this is based solely on my own personal experience. My sense of touch is constantly active—I can feel vibrations, both near and far. This would fall under clairsentience, the ability to feel spiritual impressions.

I went many years without having a word for what I experienced. In my study of Alice Bailey’s Esoteric Healing, vibrations were studied, but I kept using the phrase “feeling energy,” which led people to label me as an empath. That label didn’t match my experience—I wasn’t feeling others’ emotions; I was picking up on vibrations and thought patterns. Over time, I had to reframe how I described my sensitivity, because the common understanding of “feeling energy” pointed to emotional empathy, not the tactile experience I was actually having. It has always been about the direct awareness of vibrations.

a spiritual woman feeling vibrations and surrounded by energy—symbolizing clairsentience and spiritual awareness. Unbeknownst to me, the first time I felt vibrations was during a phone conversation with an aunt in 1987 or 1988. That was a sign of my gift that day, despite the conversation. Vibrations come in a range of densities—from suffocating, tingling, gentle, to light and airy. I can feel the energy in an aura, objects, thoughts (anger, hate, etc), or even places—it’s not emotional empathy; it’s vibrational sensitivity.

My sense of smell activates when required. This is often referred to as clairsalience—spiritual smell. I may smell fragrances, smoke, or other scents that are not physically present but carry spiritual meaning or connection to someone who has passed. When necessary, I also hear or see spirit. Hearing spirit is known as clairaudience, and spiritual sight is referred to as clairvoyance—both are forms of receiving messages beyond the physical senses. But I prefer to keep certain senses, like sight and hearing, dormant unless they’re truly needed.

One sense I’ve yet to experience is taste—and honestly, I don’t think I would want that gift, especially when it first bursts forth. Taste, like smell, is a physical sense. Spiritually, it is known as clairgustance—the ability to perceive taste without a physical source. If clairgustance ever activates for someone, the experience might include tasting something comforting, like peach pie their grandmother used to make, or something unpleasant or down right gross. Each taste represents something Spirit is communicating, and the individual must learn the meaning of each flavor. It’s not vibration or energy—it’s direct symbolic communication. And for now, that’s not a door I feel called to open.

What Happens When Emotions Take the Driver’s Seat

In the next part of this series, we’ll explore how emotional turbulence can lead to the creation of thought forms, how those forms attach, and what it takes to release what isn’t yours. This includes the subtle (and not-so-subtle) emotional patterns that can turn into energetic residue—and what a Spiritual Scientist must know to stay clear, grounded, and in alignment with truth.

Honoring the legacy of Living Spiritual Science.

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A Spiritual Science Reflection by Rev. Starlene Joyner Burns — President & Founder, National Spiritual Science Center Historical Society

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