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Like I mentioned earlier in the book, I worked for three Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trainers in my life. I also worked for a lot of other trainers. I don’t believe one system is best and I think you should experience everything you can in your life to live life to the fullest and find out what you like and who you are. How did you pick a religion? Did your parent’s pick for you? How do you know what truly speaks to you if you don’t try something new? If you are a martial arts fan, you may know that Bruce Lee didn’t like one system, because there is no one system that fits every body type and type of fighting.

I had three different readings in my development by three different mediums who said I would follow the, “red path.” They said I had very strong Native American spirit guides and that I would gravitate to Native American beliefs and medicine and feel comfortable traveling along that path. I lived in Oklahoma for ten years and didn’t have a clue. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma and studied Native American history for many years, but never studied Native spirituality. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about Native Medicine Men, crystal gazers, hand tremblers, healers and seers.

It was true; I was comfortable with Native beliefs. There is one Great Spirit (God) and it doesn’t matter what you call him. You don’t have a set of rules like in most major religions! Common sense was the most common thread in keeping in touch with your guides and your life’s plan. Following the “Red Path” or “Red Road,” is a term used by Native American people to talk about those who are in balance with Mother Nature and following the path that the Great Spirit or God would like us to take with our lives.

To walk the Red Path means to respect and be in harmony with the earth and all living things. Those on the Path have compassion for others and strong family values. They respect other people’s views and ideologies. How else could over 500 Nations survive in North America before the arrival of the Europeans? Those walking the path respect the elderly, teachers and spiritual leaders and always ask, “Is what I am doing in the best interest of the Great Spirit, my family, my tribe and my nation?”

Walking the Path does not put material goods above spirituality. Those who walk the path take responsibility for those who can’t feed, cloth or heal themselves. It is not a religion; it is using common sense and doing the right thing for all living things. You can be any religion or race to follow the Red Path. How you live your life is between you and the Great Spirit! Followers of the Red Path seek peace and harmony with all life!

How do you find the Red Path? Asking God for your life’s purpose is called a “Spirit Quest” or “Vision Quest.” You will ask the Great Spirit to direct you in your life’s purpose and show you the path. You can pray and ask God to make you aware of your unique talents and skills so you can learn your life lessons in love, beauty and joy! The Great Spirit will direct your Spirit Guides and Angels to reveal your path in meditations, dreams, visions and signs. You must have an open mind and heart to listen and watch for these visions and signs. Your guides will leave no doubt in your mind and soul. There are no coincidences on the Red Path. Everything is by design and synchronic. All you have to do is ask for direction and your Guides and Angels will help you stay on the Path. All you have to do is Ask.

I asked for my path and they led me to a psychic medium named Marveena Meek, who lived just east of Dallas in a small town named Forney. I was experimenting with going to a lot of different mediums’ circles and galleries. There are about seven or eight outstanding mediums that I trust and stand by in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and most I have on my links page of my website. I highly recommend going to see and watch as many mediums as you possibly can.

Marveena was one of these outstanding mediums. She is also a Reiki master as I am now. I liked her circles because she had a very cool Native American induction that she learned from her teachers. She raised Thoroughbred racehorses and I found out and she also had apprenticeships. The only problem was I was poor! I could afford the average gallery donation of between ten to twenty dollars depending on the medium but an apprenticeship was more expensive and my wife PJ wanted to learn Reiki as well. Luckily Marveena needed a new barn built and someone to work with her Thoroughbreds. It’s amazing how our guides work!

Marveena held her circles in the dark. I liked it a lot, but I wouldn’t have accepted it just starting out. I would have thought it was too woo woo, too Hollywood. I believe it increases the power of the circle and I was able to see all types of small flashes and colorful sparks in the air. Holding a circle in the dark helps keep the distractions down to a minimum. That is unless you are distracted by the moving lights and orbs like I was. That is when I started to shut my eyes to make connections. I was already shutting my eyes to meditate, it just made sense.

Marveena was only the third medium I’d been to. I’m from the racetrack so I like to read the “Racing Form,” on everyone, read everything I can get my hands on, news stories, their websites, thank God for Google. Anyway, the skeptic that I am, you gotta’ prove to me you’re legit. I know I’m a pain in the ass for those on the other side, but I’ve been burned before and never again. So I let PJ in on what we’re in for, like the circle in the dark and so. We were sitting around watching the documentary about Elvis. PJ knew about Marco’s reading and my grandfather’s Elvis connection. So the smart ass that I am blurt out, “Okay if this Marveena women is really any good, I’d like to see her bring through Elvis.” Yeah, yeah I got a cheap laugh and nothing else was said about it.

We go to the circle that night that was being held in the back of a salon in Ft. Worth. The room was pitch black and Marveena was on her game. She was bringing in some great messages that night. Just bout everybody in the circle of twenty received something. PJ and I both got readings. It seemed like PJ’s reading was deeper than mine (a lot more names and specific information), but I was happy with my reading and really thought Marveena was good and passed the “Steve seal of approval.” Just towards the end of the two-hour circle (my butt was killing me) she was about to shut down the circle when she said someone was coming through and was sitting next to PJ in the only empty chair in the circle.

“I think its Elvis,” she said.

Both PJ and I burst out with a laugh at the same time. I’m thinking, “Oh my God!”

Marveena asked if we had a connection to Elvis. PJ said he wasn’t connected to us and I added that my grandfather had talked to his father about some horses. Marveena said that wasn’t it. I took a deep breath and explained,

“Okay I kind of dared him to show up if you were really legit.”

Marveena said he was singing a song and that she didn’t want to screw up such a beautiful song by trying to sing it. As soon as he had showed up, he left saying, “Elvis has left the building.” She closed the circle and the place was a buzz. That was the first celebrity she had brought through. PJ and I stayed behind and explained the night before and the television special. That’s when I decided that I would work with Marveena!

The next day I began to meditate in the bedroom like I regularly did, back in the day. I came to the door of my adobe cabin and one of my guides let me in the door. When I walked in expecting to see all of my guides on the couch as usual, I saw my grandfather sitting on the couch grinning from ear to ear and next to him was Elvis. Elvis got up and said it was nice to meet me and left out the back door saying, “Thank you, thank you very much,” the way he does. My grandfather kind of scolded me about playing around with the spirit world, but said it was okay just this once to witness the power. He phased out and I talked to my guides for a short while. Lesson learned! Be careful what you wish for. Was it really Elvis? Not a doubt in my mind and if I’m lying I’m dying, serious as a freakin’ heart attack!

Kat introduced me to triggers to get the energy flowing in her circles. If you watch John Edward he rubs his hands together to raise his vibrations right before he comes on stage and sometimes in the middle of a reading. Kat would rub her hands in a clockwise circular motion. I tried everything, from using a spinning ring, to shuffling Tarot cards and it wasn’t happening for me. You see a trigger is something you can do every time before you start to channel or receive signals from the other side. Your body gets used to the trigger and it is kind of a short cut to raise your vibrations, similar to Pavlov’s dog experiments. You know, every time the French scientist rang a bell and feed the dog, after a while he could just ring the bell and the dog starts to salivate. That is another reason I like to light a candle, incense and some cool music to meditate to. I see the candle, smell the incense and hear the music and my body relaxes and prepares for take-off!

I was reading psychic medium and Reiki master, Echo Bodine’s books and she suggested turning on a light switch on your forehead to open your third eye and unzip an imaginary zipper on the top of your head to open you up. I started using this technique and it really helped. Once while meditating I asked my guides why I wasn’t hearing anything. They said how can you keep talking and not listen to what they are saying. I said I was listening. They said if I was listening then I should hear the stream and rushing water in my head. I said what stream? Suddenly I heard the sound of the mountain stream rushing down the mountain in the back of my head behind the left side of my right ear. They said when I can quite down enough to hear the stream, I’ll be able to hear the voices of spirit and it worked!

I always admired the way Marveena could bring through so many names that were validated by members of the circle. Then she would go on to describe the person’s personality, what they looked like and things they did in their lives. I’m not talking about common names like Mark, John, Mary and Joe; I’m talking one in a million names like Beatrice, Willamina, Myrtle, Vernon, Gilbert, and Eugene. She was right on with the uncommon names. She brought though the easy ones too, don’t get me wrong. She brought through my Great Grandmother that I had never met and only heard a few things about. Pearl is not common of a name, but when I didn’t claim it, Pearl got mad. She said that she was connected through the Edward and had a message for Steve. My grandfather was named Edward and I did have a great-grandmother, but I hadn’t met her. It doesn’t matter. She gave me a great message and told me what I had been doing recently to prove she was with me. She had extremely strong energy as I later received messages from her in other circles as well.

You gotta’ love Marveena’s sense of humor. Before every circle she goes through a spill of what to expect for the new comers who had never attended a circle before. She talks about how she is connected more like a cheap cell phone that cuts out at times and drops out and sometimes she’ll give you a sounds-like name. After about ten minutes of explanations she always ends her speech with, “And I’ll tell all of you when the circle is over so you can put your clothes back on before we turn the lights back on!” She always gets some nervous laughs with that joke.

One time her mentor, Dawanna Paul, was there helping to give messages. Dawanna is a physical and mental medium. I’m really skeptical about physical mediums. I asked my master guide, Eagle Heart, that if she gives me a message to give me a sign if she is on the level. Sure enough Dawanna started to give me a message. It seemed like it was on the level as I could relate to some of the information. She said one of my spirit guide animals was a cougar and went on. I said okay, Eagle Heart, talk to me. I shut my eyes and Eagle Heart was kneeling on a big red rock in my mind’s eye. He slowly started standing up and when he was standing up he outstretched his arms and put his head back as if praying to the heavens. At that moment there was a bright light that flashed behind me. Half the circle of about twenty-five people jumped and about a third of them screamed or yelled. I could tell the light was behind me. I told Marveena it was a sign for me by my Spirit Guide. Little did I know, but Dawanna had asked for a sign that night too. She’d asked her guides if she should move back to the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area. She did.

So I have the horse and cougar as spirit animals. Now, that is not to say I have the qualities of these animals. They were asked to be my spirit animals by my higher self and my guides because I would like to include these qualities in my life. Many Native Americans will carry a totem or small representation of an animal with them as a constant reminder of the qualities they are trying to achieve. The horse represents inner power, freedom and safe movement to do the things I need to do. The Cougar or Mountain Lion represents balanced leadership, cunning and wisdom. Boy, do I need all of those things. It is the same thing in picking Spirit Guides. No, you don’t get to pick down here. You made an agreement with your Master Guide before you came down here. That’s why I know Eagle Heart is the universal champion of patience. B’ God, do I test his patience! Thank God for unconditional love! You leave it up to your Master Guide to pick his posse. You know, he knows a guy that knows a guy that can help you with that work assignment that is due next Monday. You’ll put in the leg work, but it is okay to ask this new guide for inspiration, strength and acceptance to get the job done. How long does he stay with you? I believe it’s a super hero type of thing. You don’t want him or her, waiting around in the Guide lounge (I always think of the teacher’s lounge at school, where they have their own bathroom) when there is hero’n to done somewhere else.

Our guides also send us special messages once you understand the Great Spirit’s or Mother Earth’s code of nature. For example, I work in the city, but from time to time I see a coyote. The properties of the coyote include, humor, trickiness, adaptability or reversal of fortune. Quick, what were you thinking about just before you saw the coyote? Well there you go, an answer from your guides or God! Yes, it is that simple. Are you growing as you awaken in your new life and realm? The hawk is a sign of awakening visionary power, guardianship, awareness, truth, clear visions, a messenger and heightened awareness. Man, I love hawks. I’m right on my path. I’m growing and more things are being revealed to me. After a while if I don’t see a hawk for a while I start to evaluate what I’m doing and where I’m going. Am I still on the path?

One of my personal favorites is the crow. The crow represents magic, creation, spiritual strength, intuitive knowledge and assertiveness of voice. Crows are very good luck for me. Every time I see one, something good usually follows. Now am I creating the good things that are happening to me? If I see three crows together, you can bet I’m playing the lottery that day. What if I am making my own luck or good fortune? Thank goodness my guides are sending me some crows to get the process started. Become aware what is around you? Start with the animals and birds all around you. So you never noticed these things before? It is an incredible experience. The animals will teach you what you need to learn about the people around you. Switch energy and watch and feel the people around you. It’s pretty heavy energy. Now shift up and feel the lighter energy. Now you are talking to dead people!