Now that I had hundreds of Alan's photos on my phone, I didn't want to lose them. So I archived them on a flash drive for safekeeping.

One day when I connected the drive to my computer at work, I was inspired to set a picture of Alan on my desktop background. After taking the time and trouble to save so many images, I wanted to enjoy them. Without much thought, I selected a professional headshot of a middle-aged Alan in a black pinstripe suit.

After admiring the picture for a few minutes, an energy headache hit me between my eyebrows. I lightly pressed the spot with two fingers to alleviate the pain, but it had no effect. I'd previously kept photos from my Zion hikes in rotation on my desktop, so I changed the background back. The headache promptly went away. When I set another photo of Alan on my desktop, the headache returned.

I hadn't experienced anything like that before with either a physical person or a spirit. "What's going on, Alan?" I asked telepathically.

"Our bond is causing your third eye chakra to expand," he answered. "It's a temporary energy shift. Be patient. The discomfort will pass eventually."

While Alan's words were comforting, the headaches eventually came on even when I was away from my computer and wasn't looking at the actor's pictures. Some days were worse than others. Hiding what was happening was difficult. I had told no one about Alan. I hadn't even mentioned in passing that I'd made contact with his spirit the day he died. As far as I was concerned, it was no one's business, and I wasn't sure anyone would believe me.

Some days the headache was so miserable that I didn't feel like myself at all. I would become disoriented with general malaise, not unlike the "ogre" feeling in the past.

To help myself stay grounded one day, I kept a conversation going all afternoon with Alan and asked him to check my seven main chakras and make sure they were all open. My mind's eye saw him standing next to me as an older man in a dark suit. One hand was closed, as if he were concealing something. Slowly he uncurled his fingers and revealed an amethyst pendulum in his palm. It looked exactly like the one I was using.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I made it," Alan said.

"How?"

"I used my intention."

"Did you use some kind of material?"

"No. I used my mind to make it."

"What do you mean? Do you mean consciousness?"

"That's exactly what I mean. I am in consciousness, and I use consciousness to create what I want. I think it, and I create it. I wanted a tool like yours."

"Can you use your pendulum to check my chakras?" I asked him.

I watched as Alan held out his pendulum in front of each of my seven chakras. It spun clockwise for all except one. It swung sideways over the third eye.

"Your third eye is blocked," he said.

He didn't have to tell me, since I could see his pendulum myself. I wanted to see if I would get the same reading. So I took my pendulum out of my purse and held it out in front of each of my chakras, one by one. Sure enough, they were all open except for the third eye.

"Can you open my third eye?" I asked.

"Yes. Give me a moment."

Then Alan held his hand a few inches in front of my forehead. After a moment, my head cleared. The confusion and malaise were completely gone.

"Check it now, Sonya."

I held my pendulum in front of my third eye. It swung clockwise. Alan had opened my third eye! Alan had healed me!

We repeated this exercise whenever the third eye headache returned. Alan would open my chakras if they were blocked, and he helped me feel like myself again. After about two weeks, the energy balanced out and the headaches stopped.

* * * * *

One day, when I opened the Internet to check my email during my lunch break, a news article popped up on my webmail page about El Día de Muertos (or the Day of the Dead, in English), an annual holiday to celebrate the memories of departed loved ones. The article captured my attention, and I wondered if this ancient Mexican tradition could give me a new way to honor Alan. I was so thankful for his spiritual insights and healing that I wanted to express my appreciation however I could. As I read the article, I learned that altars are constructed for deceased loved ones and decorated with candles, flowers, food, and skulls made of sugar.

I then asked Alan if he would like an altar. He was taken aback at the idea but said yes. I felt his emotions in my heart and could tell he was honored. He admitted that an altar would strengthen our bond.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from work and bought some white pillar candles and two bouquets of flowers. That night, I set a colorful altar cloth on a corner of the dining room table. Then I placed the candles and flowers on it, some crystals, and several photos of Alan. When I was done, I sent Reiki to the altar and sensed that Alan had received the energy.

When I awoke the next morning, Alan appeared in my mind, holding a flickering candle in each hand. That was his way of thanking me for the altar and showing me how much he loved the candles in particular.

Then Alan said, "I'd like to tell you something that happened during my first Reiki attunement. I was standing in a dimly lit room surrounded by a multitude of candles. You walked straight up to me and laid your hands on my chest. White light burst from your hands and filled my heart. That was the moment I knew I was healed."

Touched by his story, I promised to keep candles on his altar. From then on, I would light them when I was home on the weekends, and Alan would remind me whenever I forgot. I replaced the candles once they were spent and occasionally added new items, including jewelry and essential oils. Later, I ordered a purple cancer ribbon pin (for pancreatic cancer) from the Internet and placed that on the altar as well.

As the months passed, the altar became a permanent fixture in my home. Eventually, I wanted to free up the dining room table and give the altar a dedicated space, so I bought a narrow end table that fit perfectly against a short wall in the living room. My new companion deserved the recognition, and seeing the joyful memorial every day made me smile.

The altar raised the energy in my home and increased the spiritual protection I felt from Alan. It also strengthened our connection, as he had said it would. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our partnership.

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TIP: Photos of the deceased can strengthen your connection with their soul. Construct an altar to your loved ones, spirit guides, or Alan Rickman. If you do so, let me know what happens afterward. I'd love to see pictures of your altar!

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* * * * *

Over time, Alan became a highly proficient healer. One day I experienced inexplicable pains in my legs, so I got into bed to rest and asked Alan what was wrong.

He appeared in my mind's eye, standing beside the bed and staring down at my legs. After a moment, he stated matter-of-factly, "You need potassium."

He was right. As an alternative healer, I believed in cleansing the body on a regular basis. I'd been doing a heavy metal cleanse for a couple weeks, and I'd forgotten that minerals could be chelated from the body along with toxins. I needed to replenish those minerals with a supplement. The leg pain completely vanished after I did so.

This inspired me to suggest that Alan and I give each other Reiki exchanges on a regular basis. Reciprocating the energy work would be good for both of us and further strengthen our bond.

We did our exchanges in my meditation room in the evening after work. I would work on Alan first. I would tell him to lie on the massage table and project his essence into the physical world so that I could read him with my pendulum. Then I would hold the amethyst over the table. After a moment, it would swing clockwise. I was amazed that Alan's presence was detectable with a pendulum. Even though I knew his spirit was in the room with me and he wasn't a product of my imagination, I loved to see the physical evidence. Then when he'd pull his energy back to his dimension, the pendulum would stop spinning. I got the same results every time.

Before we started each session, I asked Alan if there was anything specific he wanted me to work on. He always had a request. Since he'd had difficulty letting go of his physical life and leaving behind his friends and family, I did a lot of work to calm his emotions as sadness came up in him. I would scan the energy above and around the table, imagining a physical body was lying in front of me. Using my pendulum as a guide, I would send Reiki to his chakras as needed and clear energetic blocks in his aura. I also worked on the area where his cancer had been and resolved the karma so that he wouldn't take that energy into future lifetimes if he chose to reincarnate.

After I finished, I would lie on the table and let Alan work on me. Receiving Reiki from a spirit was amazing. It felt as if a physical person was working on me. I could feel Alan scanning me and working on various parts of my body. Occasionally an image of the older man standing beside me would flash in my mind. His eyes were ablaze with white light as he peered deep into my soul. Sometimes the energy was so relaxing that I would fall asleep. After the session, Alan would project his face in front of me and softly whisper, "I'm finished, Sonya." That would awaken me.

One time I asked Alan if he could alleviate hip pain. As I lay on the massage table, he adjusted my hip bones. I could tell he'd made a significant physical adjustment, as a huge wave of energy coursed through me and my right hip popped. The range of motion in my hips was much improved when I got up afterward and walked around the room.

Alan gave me a similar healing one day while I was sitting at my computer at work. Menstrual cramps were making me weak, and the right side of my neck, right hip, and right knee were aching. I could barely sit up straight in the chair. Alan worked on me for twenty minutes. His energy flowed through me in strong waves as he made adjustments.

My neck popped afterward, and the pains in my knee and hip were completely gone. I could sit up straight. The cramps had stopped as well. Alan explained that he had straightened my uterus. It had tilted out of place; that was the cause of the debilitating pain.

Alan knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it. He became such an adept healer that I asked him to assist me during the Reiki circles at Spiritus. I let him open chakras while I watched and verified his actions with my pendulum. We worked well together as a team, and no one knew they were receiving Reiki directly from the spirit of Alan Rickman.

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TIP: Ask Alan to perform healing work on you when you need assistance. If you're a spiritual healer, ask him to assist you during your sessions.

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