It just doesn’t work. I recently had this confirmed for me with stunning clarity while I was traveling in Rome. I was attacked by a very powerful male spirit while touring the summer home of the Pope. It was one of the most disturbing and powerful psychic attacks I’ve ever experienced.

Then, I got to talk about it on Coast to Coast AM. On October 27^th, I called in for open lines. Dave Schrader was hosting, and said he wanted to hear “Your scariest paranormal experiences.” I got lucky, and got right through. Big thanks to Dave and the Coast to Coast team for taking my call!

I was hesitant at first, and a little nervous. Sure, it’s one thing to type away, and hit post on my blog. Quite another to have my voice instantly projected around the world. The enormity of it hit me, and I felt like I was stumbling, reaching for how to describe what I’d gone through. Then my Guides whispered in my ear, and I knew what I had to say.

It’s all about Love. Love really will overcome all, heal all, even if at times it doesn’t seem possible. It’s often a nasty, painful process, and holding onto Love is the hardest thing you’ll ever do. When you come out the other side though, you’ll see how far you’ve come, and how much you’ve grown.

We have the free will to accept it, or not. But Love is always the answer. Everyone needs to hear this right now. The time right now is crucial. This is why my Guides nudged me to get up and call when I heard Dave say the phone lines were open. Why I got through without any trouble. The world needs to hear, in as many voices, and languages, and ways possible, that Love is the answer.

The challenge is accepting that truth. It’s easy to say, “Love is the answer, Love wins” when the sun is shining, and life is rosy. Holding on to Love though, in your darkest moments, will be your biggest challenge. You may find though, that it’s also your greatest strength.

I’ve had some astral fights. Actual battles. Throwing energy bolts, shaping weapons and dueling it out. There’s definitely an empowering sense of accomplishment to it. You’ve just vanquished evil! Or have you?

In my experience, anything I’ve fought has come back at me again, at some point in time. I haven’t defeated anything. I’ve even had my battle energies absorbed, and make the being I’m confronting stronger. That’s generally not helpful.

But evil cannot stand before Love. When I switched my strategy to loving anything that came at me, I was far more successful. Instead of being drained and vulnerable after meeting up with some nasty astral being, I was filled with gentle, energizing warmth. And the “bad guy?” Gone, not a problem anymore.

I had always wondered though; just how effective would Love be against some really Big Baddie? I don’t run into much more than very angry dead people in Seattle. I do encounter nasty critters sometimes while out travelling astrally, but that’s rare. I tend to stick to the lighter astral planes, avoiding the darker, lower levels. I know there’s bigger baddies out there than I’ve run across, and so the question has crossed my mind more than once.

I was answered on my recent trip to Rome. Absolutely, unequivocally.

Castel Gandolfo is perched on the lip of dormant volcano. Until Pope Francis, the tiny hilltop community has been home to the Pope during the sweltering summer months. Pope Francis though has declined it’s use, and recently opened the palace and extensive gardens up for tours.

It was while wandering through this light, airy building, filled with paintings of past Popes, and some really spectacular antiques and paintings, that I was confronted by an angry male spirit. My Guides tell me it was a past Pope, but I was not given a name. He certainly considered himself of primary importance in the church. Swelling with righteous indignation he swirled around me, arrogant and commanding. “You don’t belong here. This is a holy place. You defile it! Witch! Evil!” And there was more, in increasingly rude and vile terms. Heat too; I was swamped in it. Yes, it was late summer, but we were above the hotter temperatures of Rome itself. The rooms were pleasantly cool, until sudden, thick heat swaddled me. Dark tentacles of negative energy wrapped around my auric field, probing, seeking to pierce through my shields to attach to my physical body.

A headache started to throb. I pulled out my selenite disc, holding the protective crystal to my solar plexus. The pressure of his hatred eased, pushed back by the cleansing crystal, but the headache continued to grow. He poked and tested at my shields as I walked, “Begone! Leave my home! I will not tolerate such foulness polluting my chambers!”

So we traded, back and forth. I would push him away, or he would back off, judging how next to strike. The full pressure of his aggression eased when I got out of the palace but the headache continued to grow. He followed me – sometimes closely, sometimes distantly – as we continued on our tours. Always there though, reaching with his tentacles of black energy, probing, testing.

Our last stop was the Catacombs. They don’t even know how many are buried there, and it was used by ancient Christians because it gave them a relatively safe space to gather that was outside the official city limits.

I heard the screaming before I got off the bus. I’d already told my husband I couldn’t go in. I wasn’t up for it. He wasn’t either, although for non-paranormal reasons, and we called for a car to take us back to the hotel.

Ordinarily I would ground and use the Earth’s energy to augment my shields and energies, but this path was closed, horribly so. The ground, even outside the Catacombs was saturated with death, grounding just tapped into the energy of all those souls.

Not helpful. All I could do was focus on holding my shields and expanding my heart chakra field so that it encompassed all of me. My Guides gave me their love and support, helping keep the physical symptoms at tolerable levels. The angry Pope’s malice was lost in the overwhelming energies of the Catacombs.

Finally, the driver arrived, and the heavily tainted energy receded as we sped away. The pressure against my shields eased, as did the headache and the nausea. By the time we reached the hotel, I was feeling much better. Enough to go out shopping around Rome with my husband through the late afternoon and evening.

All was fine until night fell. The headache and nausea crept back, and I started to feel dizzy as well. I realized that the angry male spirit, who I thought I’d shaken off, still lingered. It might have just been that it was night, but his energy levels were stronger, and he was relentless. Heavy black limbs struck again and again, wrapping around my shields and squeezing while trying to worm in toward my body. I was in an astral fight, struggling to look and act normal for my husband as we wandered the streets of Rome.

At times, I was able to override the physical sensations when I was able to hold my energies and shields at full capacity. But it was draining, holding my shields in that manner. Returning to the hotel, I lost sight of the angry Pope again in the general psychic noisiness of the old building. Exhausted, I immediately fell asleep. Only to bolt awake around 1:30 am. Crushing fear and anxiety had my thoughts racing and my heart pounding. Gradually it slowed, even as the consuming fear grew.

He wanted to kill me, he said so, over and over. He was the source of the fear. He was proud of the anguish he inflicted, grinning as he drove harsh waves of negative energy at me. The level of his power, and the depth of his anger – which to his thinking was fully justified – only confirmed what my Guides had already told me.

Away from the death-soaked grounds of the Catacombs however, I was able to ground, drawing the loving, healing energy of Mother Gaia up into my physical form. It washed through me, soothing, and energizing. I reached for my Guides, and was bathed in their loving support. I took it all in, and the darkness and fear fled from my being, shrinking from Love.

I offered Reiki to the Pope. I offered the Bridge of Light to help him cross over, and be healed of his hate and anger. I showed him the path. I filled the room with the loving energies from my heart chakra, from Mother Gaia, and my many astral allies. He hissed at me, and vanished completely. The nausea and dizziness from his attacks dissipated like mist in the sun. I was whole, and my heart filled with bliss, banishing any lingering shadows. “He’s truly gone this time.” My Guides whispered with absolute assurance. I slept peacefully then for the first time since leaving home.

You might never be in an astral fight, but at some point in your life, you are going to face Love and Fear. Probably more than once. Each time you choose Love, you heal yourself. Maybe just a little, maybe a whole lot at once, but the healing is real. Let yourself feel it.