Getting Advice From Your Mostly Friendly Local Spirit Guides

I go in and help an entity cross over, and then I cleanse the place.”

Water rippling on a windshield.

That’s how Alex Burley describes the look of the spirits she speaks with.

Burley, an empathic psychic medium, can’t see spirits in their human form, unlike her physical medium counterparts.

“I can talk to them, hear them, feel them, smell them,” she said. “When I tune in to all that energy I can get a pretty good vision of what they look like.”

The Lakebay medium has lived in the area for two years, after spending her life in California and Connecticut, and has come across all sorts of paranormal situations. She believes the area south of Evergreen Elementary School and very condensed forests are locales with the most negative energy. “Those places give me the sense that I don’t need to be there.” Burley also said the intersection near the KP Civic Center where South Vaughn, Wright Bliss and Hall Roads meet with Olson Drive is a dark spot.

“It’s really heavy and traumatic. There’s some kind of Native American energy there — the type that has caused some people to have mental health issues.”

It’s Burley’s lack of local knowledge that she says gives her credibility. She hasn’t researched the Key Peninsula and purposely enters situations with new clients with no historical information. “It gives me the opportunity to be more open-minded, and focus more on my abilities.”

Burley has been tagging along with the Kitsap Paranormal Investigators — most recently she was with them at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. Paranormal investigators, also called ghost hunters, have a reputation for trying to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts but don’t do anything to help the spirits. That’s where Burley steps in.

“I give (the investigators) information they can’t get from equipment. I go in and help an entity cross over, and then I cleanse the place.”

Based on information she has from those who have crossed over, souls go to one of three places:

The Light
Stories about “going toward the light” are true, according to Burley. “This is the place that’s heaven-like,” she said. It’s also the place you go to be reincarnated, so it’s a bit of a time loop.

The Cosmos
Some souls are meant to help others on Earth. These souls enter the universe to become energy and are behind-the-scenes, so to speak, guides to the living. “We’re never alone. We always have spirit guides,” Burley said, giving examples of joy, relationship, protector and even work guides.

The Void
These are planet-bound spirits who hold on to shame and are afraid of judgment. “This is essentially their hell,” she said. Things like ghosts and curses are all a part of the void.

Burley admits she must have looked like a weird kid talking to herself from ages three to 11 years old. “I was actually talking to ghosts.” Her mom’s side of the family was “very Catholic” and her dad’s side was Jewish, so she made a conscious effort to shut down her abilities to stay away from family religious issues. It wasn’t until later when she was in an emotionally and physically violent relationship in her late teenage years that her protector guide got involved and kick-started her intuition.

“He got loud. He said, ‘I’m going to make you feel uncomfortable and scared until you get out of this.’ ”

She eventually did and credits the protector guide for saving her life. Since that time 15 years ago Burley says she hasn’t shut off her psychic abilities. “I absolutely love it at this point in my life. I’m in the zone and listening to my body and myself, and I’m ready when my guides want to talk to me.”

She now uses that ability to help others in traumatic situations. Burley is a licensed therapist but also attended the Ivy League Psychic Academy in Buffalo, New York, which, appropriately enough, is an old funeral home turned into a school, and did online courses with Bliss Academy to better hone her psychic abilities to provide more spiritual therapy.

Her sessions are like traditional therapy sessions, except she’s a lot more engaged. “I don’t just sit there and nod my head. If someone is going through trauma, they want to have a conversation.”

Burley also knows her limits. There are times when her clients need to see a psychiatrist or need to be treated with medication. “I can help heal the aura and the chakra systems, but I’m not going to heal heart or digestive issues.”