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Spirits and signs, how do they shape your life? Psychic Helen Jacobs shares ways we can connect with our spirit guides, notice the signs and find our life’s purpose.

Helen Jacobs, psychic and author of You Already Know – a comprehensive guide to spiritualitychats with Wellspring editor, Kate Durack, discussing a framework for living more intuitively in order to see your path clearly.

Before she practised as a psychic medium, Helen was a successful PR executive. Upon the advice of her spirit guides, she was able to make this change. Helen suggests that everyone should connect with their own spirit guides to give direction to your life’s path.

A busy mum of two, Helen transformed her life’s outlook, staying grounded but believing that her spirit reaches beyond her roots. She knows the challenges life brings and taps into her psychic senses to let spirits guide her, inviting and urging others to do the same.

sunset and serenity

Spirit guides

Helen began her journey with guides in 2001 after a spirit visitation from her Aunty. After this, she began to really connect with her inner and higher guidance.

Helen has relied on spirit guides to help her through many life decisions. After studying business and journalism, Helen realised the importance of communication. However, only later and likely due to her self-proclaimed naturally curious manner, did she realise how important spirit communication is, and how it would change her life.

Helen suggests that guiding spirits are present to be called on at various times, whether that be a transitional period such as becoming a parent or other challenges in life. She knows that every life has a purpose and urges others to realise they are here for a reason, and you will be guided towards this if you use those around you.

Everyone has at least one spirit guide, who is assigned to them for the entirety of this particular lifetime.

Instead of just one spirit guide, Helen posits that everyone has access to a spiritual support team, likened to a board of advisors in a business where each spiritual guide plays a different role.  According to Helen, spirit guides do not possess a physical body and knowing they are present is not the same as sensing when someone is in the same room as you.

Their energy can be as close to us as we wish to invite it in.

girl in nature watching path

Use the ‘psychic senses’

Helen believes that everyone has psychic senses in the same way that we have the physical ones of taste, sight, smell, etc., but in a metaphysical sense.

The way that spirit is going to communicate with us is not necessarily through our physical senses, but the metaphysical.

Do the hairs on the back of your arms often stand up? Helen suggests events like this are signals that there is a lot of energy around. When you get dizzy, she likens this to a spirit being present as energy moves in circles, making you feel as though the world is spinning.

There are so many clues that our body is giving us that someone non-physical is trying to get our attention.

Colours, animals, numbers are also symbolic and can be relaying messages from the spirits around us, says Helen. Most of the time we are not even paying attention to the clues that indicate that spirits are trying to grasp our attention, she continues.

Through our intuition we can sense, we can feel that the energy in the room shifts, Helen says.

She believes in not hiding your truth and following these hunches.

tarot cards

Look backwards

Intuition plays a big role in how one expands and challenges themselves. Helen believes that everyone has a path, but this is not necessarily set in stone. Instead, listen and follow the signs around you to do what will ultimately benefit you. This intuition, she says, will help you navigate through your life’s journey.

Life will present us signposts with choices of directions and our job is to figure out, by using out intuition, which one of those directions we want to go in.

To determine what has shaped your life, Helen suggests looking at things that have shaped your life experience, as they will help inform you about how you have gotten where you are, and importantly what you will do next.

Looking backwards is one of the best ways to realise what your signposts look like.

Helen warns against getting caught up in fear-based thinking, as despite its intention to keep you safe, it might make you retreat or hide from what is presented in front of you. Instead, she encourages us to follow our intuition despite this not always being easy. In doing so, she hopes, you will be guided on your journey by the signs around you that you might be missing.

girl meditating at sunset

Ask for a sign

Once you start looking for signs, Helen says, you will find them.  Then, she believes, you will be able to see how much life is working for you. Don’t be so specific, Helen warns. For example, if you want to quit your job and ask for a yellow car to drive past as a sign, you might be waiting a while. Spirit guides can do a lot, she says, but “maybe not that.”

There is real magic in watching how the signs come to you, and what the signs are that come to us.

Helen suggests taking a step back and becoming an observer in your own life, so that you can notice what has shaped your life’s journey and start to see this “serendipitous, synchronistic life” that we are a part of.

man meditating in nature

Be present

Don’t spend too much time wondering what you purpose is, Helen urges. “Each and every moment is of purpose,” she claims, and “if there are millions of moments in a lifetime, you have already offered so much.”

Life purpose is a moot point because you don’t know what the purpose is until your life is almost is complete.

She ends the interview with an important message, reminding us to trust your intuition and its guidance.

You know more than you think you do, and when you trust yourself, your whole world can change.

Watch the full interview below or on our YouTube channel.

Different types of ingredients need to be considered when tackling skin concerns such as, dry, ageing or mature, oily, acne prone and dull skin.

Being mindful of what is both good for your skin and

what is bad will determine the right product for you.

For example, alcohol in some products can dry out the skin and although collagen is crucial in the ageing process when naturally produced by the body, applied topically, it hardly does anything for anti-ageing, at best it aids in hydration. Rather, what you need is an ingredient that aids in collagen production such as, Retinol or Rosehip oil.

Selecting a skin care product based on its ingredients is a crucial step to aid in the health of one’s skin.

Skincare ingredients to look for:

1. Hyaluronic acid (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  •  All to dry skin types
  • Sensitive and oily skin
  •  The perfect allrounder
Benefits:
  • Hydration
  •  Promotes healthier supple skin, reduces the appearance of wrinkles, redness, dermatitis
  • Has a key role in wound healing due to its antibacterial properties
Tips:
  • Apply after toner and serums
  • Apply with already damp skin so that it retains moisture
  • Hyaluronic acid will not work to its best ability if the face is not damp

2. Rosehip oil (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  • Dry skin
  • Mature skin
Benefits:
  • Boosts naturally occurring collagen to create skin elasticity and firmness
  • Hydrates with the help of fatty acids (linoleic) which strengthen the cell walls of the skin and supports retain water

 A dry not greasy oil, that easily absorbs into the skin

  • Helps reduce scars and fine lines, hyperpigmentation, sun exposure and hormonal changes
  •  High percentages or vitamins A and C (benefits for these shown below)
  •  Boosts naturally occurring collagen levels to help increase skin elasticity and firmness
  •  Full of antioxidants and antibacterial properties (phenols)

Tips:
  • Make sure to keep it out of sunlight and warmer temperatures
  •  Use as the last step of a skincare routine, before bed
  •  If your foundation is to dry often one to two drops of Rosehip oil gives a youthful glow without greasiness, preventing the skin becoming dehydrated from the makeup
Fun fact:

Derived from Rosa Canina – a rose bush from Chile.  It is different from rose oil which comes from rose petals and derives from the pressed fruit and seeds of the plant (Rosa Canina).

3. Caffeine (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  • Red, puffy, and sensitive skin
  • Dark under eye circles
  •  Mature skin
Benefits:
  • Calming (opposite to drinking coffee)
  • Reduces the appearance of dark under eye circles
  • Rich in antioxidants
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antibacterial
  • Helps reduce the appearance of sunspots and appearance of fine lines
Tips:
  • Keep cool and store in a darkly lit space
Fun Fact:

Coffee grounds can be used as a skin exfoliator or mixed with a little olive oil – an exfoliating mask.

4. Zinc (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  • Acne prone skin types
Benefits:
  •  Helps clear acne-causing bacteria from skin
  • Helps reduce oil production
  • Reduces acne and acne scaring
  • Anti-inflammatory properties helping reduce redness and irritation
  • Can be used to aid other skin conditions such as melasma, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis and eczema
Tips:
  • Spot test first
  •  Use as a serum for best results

5. Vitamin C (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  • Sun damage
  • Mature skin
  • Dull skin
  • Hyperpigmentation
Benefits:
  • Reduces wrinkles
  • Helps protect against sun damage
  • Reduces hyperpigmentation
  • Evens out skin tone
  • Brightening
  • Aids in the healing of wounds
  • Creates a barrier against pollution
Tips:

  • Use both morning and night and for best results, after toner and before moisturiser

Do not combine Vitamin C and Retinol (Vitamin A) as it can reduce the other’s effects/neutralise each other

  •  Vitamin C can be found in face wash/cleansers, moisturisers, sunscreen even some powders, if you are the type of person who has no time for an elaborate routine try and use it in combination with something else

 The dryer the skin, the lower the percentage of vitamin C should be used, to solve this dilute in moisturiser

  • If the serum or product starts to change colour (oxidising) throw it away
Fun fact:

Once applied Vitamin C cannot be easily wiped or washed off thus, missing applications will not be too detrimental to overall result. It also works in combination with SPF (not as a replacement) to boost skins protection against the sun.

6. Vitamin A/Retinol  (applied topically)

Suitable for:
  • Mature skin
Benefits:
  • Stimulates the production of new skin cells (creatingnew skin)
  • Can help production of collagen
  • Speeds up the skin turnover process which in turns reduces the signs of wrinkles, dark spots, fine lines and acne
  • Promotes a radiant glow
Tips:
  • Well known for causing irritation at the beginning of use, it is advised to spot test and apply with care(symptom such as, dryness, itchiness, redness and increased sensitivity can occur)

When eased into softly (I.e applied less frequently increasing gradually, less irritation is likely to occur

  • If the above symptoms persist an alternative method would be retinal also called reinaldehyde or bakuchiol which appear to cause less irritation than retinol
Fun fact:

Vitamin A and Retinol are the same thing and has the best scientific evidence of anti-ageing.

Final Notes

Anti-ageing products are often left to too late, from early twenties onwards an anti-ageing ingredient should be implemented into the skincare regime as a form of prevention rather than used to fix the problem.

For oily skin types, it is still necessary to hydrate it. Often the production of excess oil is due to the skin trying to rehydrate itself, thus helping this process should slow down the production of oil. Sometimes choosing products that stop oil adds to the problem, it is better to choose something lightweight and hydrating. However if symptoms are excessive its advised to see a health professional.