Growing Up with Spirits with Dawn Schulze

My interview today is with Dawn Schulze, an empath, clairvoyant and healer. She grew up in a family of gifted individuals, and at a young age, could see the world much differently than her peers. In this episode, she not only shares her experiences of “growing up with spirits”, but also provides us as listeners how to step into the unknown, how to face our fear, and also how to increase our awareness of the energy that surrounds us” growing up with spirits” by Dawn Schulze. 

Transcript

Speaker Dar

Dawn…. welcome in, Dawnn. I'm so excited to have you with us today. 

Speaker Dawn

Thank you

Speaker Dar

Before we get started on this exciting topic, growing up with spirits, would you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you are today? 

Speaker Dawn Oh, gosh. I live in Duluth, Minnesota, and I've been raised here, but I wasn't born here, and I come from probably a large family now, but I have three other siblings, and both of my parent well, both my parents and all my siblings were gifted, and some of us embraced it, some of us did not. And so, you know, over the course of my life, because I'm not a spring chicken, but I have picked up said pieces and did kind of things my way and spirit finally convinced me that I needed to start attending the expos, I grew up making bargains with the Lord saying, Okay, if I have to do this, then you have to make it happen for me and make it easy, because I can't handle this stress. So, spirit has helped me along the way quite a bit. So when it came to doing expos, They let me come in very slowly. So I'd say, okay, I can probably do maybe 10. I'd be comfortable doing 10 readings. And then, okay, I can do 15. And then it kept going up. And then pretty soon I was getting the message that I don't need to use tarot cards anymore, but I can do it if someone wants me to. So that was never, you know, that wasn't a problem. But spirit, I think, is very generous with And kind,

Speaker Dar

Wow, that's beautiful, Dawn. And just for the audience’s sake, that's how we met. We met at an expo… let's do a quick flashback though. Tell us about growing up with spirits. That's our topic, 

Speaker Dawn

Alright, so for the audience, I'm Native American, so I grew up hearing ghost stories all my life, and it wasn't like the ghost stories or even, I wasn't even supposed to hear the stories. But you know, they think that, you know, if you're literally, you're not there and you're invisible. So I would just be quiet, and I would hear all these stories, and, you know, things like people after someone had passed on watching lights. And this individual's name was Charlie, so watching lights go up his staircase and they'd be like, ooh and no one lived in his house and that, and also, you know, hearing stories that when so and so passed there, the sky was clear, but there was lightning over his house. So there, you know, they made the assumption that this person was not going to heaven. But those are the type of things that I kind of grew up with. And then I used to travel quite a bit with my grandparents, and I remember, I mean, you can't do that now, because this would be way illegal, but I would sit in on the floor in the front, like where your feet would go. I would sit there, and I would play, and I would look out the windows, and I would be seeing the trees, and they were always glowing. And I never really thought about it. And I don't recall if I ever asked my grandparents or anyone, how come the trees are glowing, but I might have, and, you know, it'd be one thing or another, and I would, I think, really, I scared my family, because I would just say something like, oh, you better not do that, because you're going to trip and fall. And they'd be, you know, as an example, and darned if they would just do it and they trip and fall. So, doing, like, instant readings without realizing I was doing it, I think really caused some of the family members to, oh, maybe isolate me. 

Speaker Dar

Yeah, that was actually my next question, did your gifts never make you feel isolated, or did you find some understanding and support? 

Speaker Dawn

You know, growing up and you would think it would be different, because everyone in your family is gifted, but no, it was almost a thing to be ashamed of, or, you know, growing up and you're not supposed to bring attention to yourself. You're not supposed to stand out in a crowd. That's just how we were raised, and having gifts made you stand out. And so some of the things that that would go would be where, if I said so people, you know, most of the time, I didn't realize I was giving impromptu readings. I would I would say something like, Oh, don't date him, because chances are he's going to drop a TV on your head. Well, you know, unfortunately, that came to pass. But you know, things like that, and I never realized this is what I was doing, but the people around me knew I was doing it. And so I remember a time when I was an adult at this time, by this time that we were up the the North Shore at Lutzen and, and my mom was looking out the window, and she said, I wonder if there are deer out there. And I said, Oh yeah, there are deer, you know, right out there, if you keep looking, you're going to see them. They're coming. And she pushed That, and I wasn't very nice about that, but pretty soon, probably within about three minutes, she said, Oh, there's deer out there. But very dismissive of my gifts. And I was, I was probably the most vocal out of all of all of my family about things that I would see. But I never, I never really told them a whole lot so, except I would talk about it with my sisters and not so much my brother, but I think he did a lot like I did, where we where he was quiet and he listened and kept his comments to himself so but every you know, every house that I've lived in has been spirited also, 

Speaker Dar

Yes, tell us some more information about some of your experiences, like some of these houses, or some of the other experiences you've had. 

Speaker Dawn

so in in the house that I grew up in, Well, one Okay, so in my very early years, I lived out in a log cabin in the middle of the woods with my family in Wisconsin. And my oldest sister was eight years older, so she would have been 12 or 13, I would have been four or five, and all of a sudden, we're playing out in our driveway, and the only thing that's around us is woods. We're in the forest, so pretty soon you don't hear any birds. You don't hear an Things, and we looked up, and there was a spacecraft. And it was kind of funny, because I remember it and it, it really scared my older sister, and she had a hard time talking about it, and didn't like to talk about that. But and so that was, that was almost like the start of things, um, but then when we moved to Duluth, There were spirits that kind of hung out in the basement. And I didn't really like the basement, um, just because they were there, and you could I would see shadows moving in the basement, and for the most part, not real, like entities, but just Shadows. And then, ever since I was a child, I would feel like, not like, well, I used to think they were bugs crawling on my legs, and I realized that they were like little animals, like, almost like a cat winding its body in and out between my legs and my ankles. And so then pretty soon I would, I would look to make sure it was a superbug. So, that was, you know, one of the weird things that I had experienced. But so as I got older, and when I moved out of of my mother's home, every house I had had spirits in it, and I remember, I remember being upset lying in bed, and pretty soon it felt like my hair was moving and I I thought, what am I feeling? And in my mind's eye, it was a little old lady with gray hair up in a bun, and she was passing her fingers across my forehead and trying to soothe me and that was, I thought was very lovely. And the same lady, when we're sleeping, would like to do the dishes. So, I'd always hear my roommate would hear the silverware clanking. So, that was one.

Where I currently live, there's a spirit that a spirit or two that are just upstairs. There's a couple, man and a woman downstairs in the basement, and there's, there's one on the first floor that that comes and visits and checks in, and the dogs like, like the spirit, and we think it is the spirit of the man that lived here before we bought the house, and, and he redid a lot of the inside of the house. And, yeah, just very polite. And one of the funny things with the spirits in the basement is you can hear them talk and, and it's not real audible, like you can't, couldn't really tell what they were saying. And they were off in a corner, and, I said to them one day, I said, you know, you don't have to stay down here. You can come upstairs, but you just can't touch me and or touch anybody and, so I left it at that. And so life goes on. So I'm going from the basement up to the kitchen area, and I hear Claire Isabelle, the gal say, Do you think she and I whipped around. I said, I can hear you, you know, guess where they went back to the basement, and then the spirit upstairs. You know, it's like I have a friend that will come and spend the night here, babysitting the dogs, when, when we're gone. And one time she was here, and that the spirit upstairs, and I believe it's a male, was getting a little persnickety with her.  She got up, she yelled at it, and she got up the next morning. Was walking out in into the hallway, turn the light on, and the spirit blew the light bulb, and she said, you know, if you keep this up, I'm telling Dawn on you.

And nothing happened after that. So I just think that's funny.

But you know, that's just that. That's the sort of thing that I have to take in stride. And you know, there's where, where I live here. Also, there's a cat that comes and jumps on my bed and when I go to sleep, and, and I, I've had a cat named Chippers in the past, and she, she was a delightful companion, And, and I like to think that's who's visiting, 

Speaker Dar 

yes, and it probably is, 

Speaker Dawn

Well, I hope so. She was just so delightful. And you know, you hear the stories that you know, if a cat is sick, and they know they're sick, they'll go away by themselves and that is exactly what she did. And she just disappeared one day, and I was just, I was missing her so bad, and I didn't know what happened. And the next thing I know is I feel the tingles, and I, and she used to come up and snuggle by my stomach, and I'd hug her like a pillow, and that's what this cat did. And then I realized, Oh, she was gone. She had pressed over. 

Speaker Dar

Wow, what a story. Oh, So as you've been talking about all these different spirits and the different homes and experiences, what comes to my mind is fear. So often when people think that they have spirits in their homes, there's so much fear and hesitation about it. Could you address that a little bit? 

Speaker Dawn

Yeah, you know, I and it's like you said, this is so common. And, you know, one of the things being Native. I will go around and smudge I will put out like sweet grass and cedar, but at the same time, they can hear you and and I think that if they're not mischievous, I think they're really good for taking care of whoever's In the home, but you could talk to them like, I do not like being touched by spirits and and it wasn't until I gave myself permission to say, don't touch me that it stopped. So it's so it's empowering yourself and believing you have this right and fear is so debilitating I I had; I'd never had an easy childhood. You could almost say that I grew up in a verbally and emotionally and psychologically abusive family, and one of the things, and I'm not ashamed to say this, but I had been suicidal at one time, and II had to really take a look at my life and start creating some limits. And one of the things I picked up, it was called just for today, and it's a little poem, actually a long poem, but one portion of it says,” Just for today. I will be unafraid. I will enjoy that which is beautiful, and will believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.” And for me, the world is Spirit. As I give, as I give of myself out in goodness, I will get back in goodness and for me, it is so easy to go back into being afraid of everything that I won't let myself do that because we are here. So we're Corporal. We have our bodies and spirit does not, you know, and even the ones that remain here. So it's good to remember that you guys, everyone can inhabit the same environment, but you're the boss. You get to set the limits with them, and I don't ever try to force my friends to cross over, because, you know, I think that they can go over anytime they want. You know, because they're not, they're not bothering me. They you know, for whatever reason, they're here, I feel safe with them around. 

Speaker Dar

I'm glad you mention that because that came to mind, that so many people believe in having someone come into their house and doing a clearing and making sure that there aren't any spirits present and they want to lead them to the light, and I will not go on and on, but I'm glad you're addressing that topic. 

Speaker Dawn

I used to live and work up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and they had a cleansing they had a group of people come in, and I thought, Oh, this is not good. And they were in the dining room, and they all had these candles. And I was invited, you know, because I was the director and it wasn't my idea to have these people come in. So they all lit their little white candles, and then they did some prayers. And pretty soon, and I have to say, I found this so disrespectful to the spirits that they were saying stuff like, oh, oh, someone just touched me, and then they would make inappropriate comments. And as I noticed, and as I was watching their candles, you know, they're saying, Okay, I just led someone into the light, they're gone. Oh, they're fighting this. And I was watching their candles burn down really fast. I thought, This is wrong if, if they're not, if the entities and the spirits that are here are not bothering anybody or even being mischievous. And mean, you know, leave them alone. But I just, I just thought that the whole thing was very, very disrespectful to them 

Speaker Dar

Thank you for sharing that. I think, well, I'm not going to go into the instances I've had as well. And one of the things that Dawn and I have in common is we do see and so sometimes you know spirits are there for your greater good, and you don't even realize that. 

Speaker Dawn

Yeah, yeah. And some of those spirits that hang around people are choosing to be guardians and guides and yeah, why would you want them to go away? Right? We've and especially when it comes to healing, we really we want to bring in all the all the help we can get

Speaker Dar 

right. And I think you know, as people go along in their daily life, as they're going and doing like even going through the grocery store, you could pick up spirits at the grocery store, and it's not because they want to haunt you. It's because, and I truly believe this, it's because they like your energy. It's loving,

Speaker Dawn

and I'm assuming everyone's energy is loving, but yeah, so I'm pretty careful. I'll tell you a story. I was in San Diego, and I had a day of doing nothing, and I was down there for meetings, and I thought, well, what the heck am I going to do today? I have the whole day free. And I thought, Oh, hey, look at this. There was a cemetery tour like. A little ghost cemetery tour. And I thought, oh, that sounds like fun. So I picked up the phone, and as I went to dial, I heard, no, don't do it. They'll come home with you. Oh, okay. And I hung up the phone and I spent the day at SeaWorld. Sea World was much safer. I take it. Sea World was much safer. 

Speaker Dar 

Oh, wow. So you mentioned, we've been mentioning energy quite often. So when it comes to energy, can you lead us through a quick little activity on feeling energy,

Speaker Dawn

So if you put your hands together, palms facing each other, and I'm sure, you know, if we think back, we might have done this as a little kid before, but rub them back and forth till they get nice and nice and hot. Someone, Baby, do this for a minute or two, and your hands are going to get hot. And that's what we want. And then I want you to put them about six inches apart, palms facing each other, and you should feel like some tingling in your hands, and maybe pulse your hands a little gently towards each other, and you can almost like feel a ball of energy develop between your hands, and That's energy. That is your energy, what you're feeling, and when you look at your palms, your palms might have changed a little bit. Mine always get more into a cup form. My man did that too. Kind of formed around the ball that you mentioned, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that that is, you know, that's a quick and dirty way of of feeling energy. 

Speaker Dar

Now you mentioned expos and you mentioned readings. How did you find or come home to the idea of using your hands for healing? Can you talk about that transition a little bit, Speaker Dawn oh, sure, yes. So all my life, you know, little kid, even my hands are always warm or hot, and it doesn't matter the time of year either. So one night, and I was a teenager, one night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it felt like my hands were Mickey Mouse sized. They were huge, and that's just what it felt like, and they hurt so bad, and instinctively, I just put them close to each other, and I felt something shoot from my right to my left, and it felt like my hand shrunk down to normal size, and they no longer hurt, and it didn't feel like they were on fire anymore. I thought, Oh, that's a good thing. And you know, so I had to, I was a teenager at that time. So it took me a while, of course, as you get older and become an adult, to have money. And so I bought a book called Hands of light by Barbara Brennan. And in that book, you talked about energy and why people's hands are hot and, and if you've never seen energy, how to find out how to do it yourself so you can see it. And, and I did one of those exercises, and, and I saw my energy, and I realized that I have been seeing energy my whole life. I just never thought anything of it, because everyone saw what I saw, didn't they? And then I realized no one saw what I saw, but yeah, and one of the first things I remember seeing, like I said, the trees glow. They glow silver in the winter and red, or silver in the summer and red in the winter. 

Speaker Dar

Thank You for talking about that, and I think there's people in the audience that will identify with having gifts that they really didn't realize were gifts were different from other people, and perhaps feel hear or see spirits as well. I'd like to go back to that in the fact that it's okay to say, No, I like the example you gave. You said you can come upstairs as long as you don't touch me. I know I have had to be able to sleep at night. You know, don't come into my room at night. I need to get a good night's sleep. will you address boundaries just a little bit?

Speaker Dawn

Yeah. You know, as a kid, I was never very assertive, and then I became, I was, I literally was a dormant…in my, my mid-20s, I took an assertiveness class, and then I, you know, became very assertive and just needing and learning how to set boundaries, I think it was important, and I could apply what I learned to addressing the entities in my house. And, and it can seem kind of funny, because you can say out loud, this is, this is the way it is. And, you can invite them to leave. You can invite them to stay, and most of the time they want to stay,

Speaker Dar 

so they have to live by your rules. And if they, if they don't, then they can't stay here. 

Speaker Dawn

We had a dog. Her name was SIBO, and SIBO was very passive. And submissive and kind of a Fredi cat dog, and if you looked at her, she'd pee. And pretty soon it was like, No, you can't do that. And my husband was very sick of it and he was like, she either stops, or we have or she can't live here. So I ended up contacting an animal communicator, and we had this very interesting conversation with SIBO about her peeing and poor SIBO, she was sitting next to me on the couch when, when I told the communicator to let SIBO know that if she cannot stop this random peeing or fear peeing, that she couldn't live with us anymore. Darned if that dog didn't get off the couch, walk to the door, put herself in the corner, and wouldn't look at me. My heart just breaks when I think about this. And then, then I find out that SIBO, you know, how afraid she is, and so I had to, you know, tell her that there's, you know, we're not going to do anything to her, and we had her as a puppy. So, yeah, so she stopped her peeing as much as she could, and yeah, she lived to a ripe old age and actually died in my home here. And she's been back at least once that I know of. I saw her come through the kitchen and jump on our little coach and curl up and lay down and yeah, then she went away.

Speaker Dar

Yes, setting boundaries. That was a great example. I would think that people in the audience can identify with some of those things that you mentioned, like the feeling of your cat coming back on your bed, or, you know, out of the corner of their eye, maybe an animal passing through that they had lost. So I'm glad, I'm glad you brought up those experiences, because I think more people than we realize have had those. 

Speaker Dawn

Oh my gosh, yes. And you know, for boundaries. Please. I'll tell you another little story if I have time. We're in Alaska. We're getting ready to move back here. I have our truck, a trucks getting, like, new tires put on. I'm sitting in the little waiting room, and it's a little room between the service area at the dealership, and I'm just sitting there, and I have my Kindle and I'm reading, and out of the corner of my eye, there's movement, and I look down and there's something licking itself. You know how dogs like will clean themselves some Yeah, and the only thing I can think of is this was a dog, and I stopped. My Kindle went down. I'm looking straight at it. It lifted its head to me, and it bit me. It bit me in my shin bone, and I'm whacking it, and I know nobody can see it, but I'm whacking it with my Kindle, and I happen to look into the dealership area, and they're staring at me, and I, the first thing that I could think of is I said, Oh, it's a bee - whacking away at a bee. Well, it was a dog, dog, ghost. Oh, my goodness. Oh, 

Speaker Dar

I have also been in a situation where I've had to make up an excuse for dealing with something that was invisible to others. I've done that a few times. I'm glad you shared that as we wrap up this conversation, which I know we could go on for hours, but are there some thoughts that are coming to mind that you would like to share with our audience? 

Speaker Dawn

Yeah, there. There's a gal out there who will be listening to this, and the message to you, and I want to say her name is Laura, but I'm I could be wrong, but not to be afraid of what you're going through, what you're experiencing, and to remember that even though you feel like you're alone. You're not alone. You have your guardians and your angels and your ancestors around you to support you and to start talking to them and listening for their answers, because they are giving you the answers. 

Speaker Dar

So that is, oh, that's the message that's beautiful. And I'm going to repeat the message of to our entire audience to repeat the affirmation just as just for today, I will be unafraid. Yeah, that was beautiful when you shared that with us. Oh, thank you. Just for today, I will be unafraid. 

Speaker Dar

Well done. Your contact information and for everybody who would like to continue this conversation with you or to experience one of your readings. You can contact Dawn by email or by phone, and that will be in our show notes. So I just want to give you a big, heartfelt Virtual hug, Dawn, and thank you so much for being with us. I'm looking forward to actually seeing Dawn in just about a month. So yeah, I'll give her in person hug then. So thank you Dawn

Speaker Dawn

Thank you, Darla. This was fun. 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai