A Conversation
with Renée Swisko

The Monthly Aspectarian: Like many people in psychic and spiritual healing Renée, you had unusual experiences as a child.

Renée Swisko: Yes, I always felt that I was a little different when I was growing up. I wasn't particularly happy. I felt very alone and yet I had these wonderful angels all around me. There were times when I would lie in bed when I was three, four, five years old and see what I called fireflies, all these sparkles fluttering around in my bedroom. I didn't know at the time, but now I realize they were my guardian angels. I actually spoke to them on a daily basis. One of the things I did realize is that I was very sensitive. I was very sensitive to my mother, father, sister and my grandmother whom I lived with. I could feel their emotional pain as well as their physical pain.

TMA: Your healing talent was present as well?

RS: There were times when my father would come home from the drugstore - he was a pharmacist in Miami - and he would complain of his head hurting, or his legs, or his feet aching. I would just very gently put my hand directly on where the pain was and the pain would just vanish. A lot of times, my father would acknowledge me, "Oh! I feel so much better!" I guess there was a part of me that was doing that for his approval. I assumed anybody could heal. I thought that when I had a headache, it would be rather easy for my mother to put her hand on my forehead or the top of my head and the pain would go away. I was very disappointed to realize she couldn't do that for me.

Well, years went by. The first time I went away from home, I went to camp in North Carolina. I was thirteen or fourteen years old. There was a little girl in my cabin named Fran who had just gotten her period. She had very bad menstrual cramps and she was moaning. I walked over to the bunk bed where she was and asked her where it hurt. I put my hand directly on the pain and it seemed that within a matter of seconds, the pain was gone. She looked at me and she said, "My god, Renée, the pain is completely gone. What did you do?" And I said, "I don't know, I had no idea. I do this all the time."

I went on to college and considered going to graduate school but had some very upsetting news that I had a physical challenge and was told that I was going to need some surgery. This really troubled me. I happened to be in Boston one particular weekend and ran into a couple of people who recommended that I receive some past life regression.

What was really amazing to me was that not only did I contact a past life, I completely handled this physical challenge. The doctor said I was in full remission. To this day, the physical challenge has never reappeared. And in on or two hours, I got rid of some asthma I had my entire life. I was very impressed with this spiritual approach. Instead of going back to graduate school and getting a Ph.D., as I had thought I might do, I decided I could best serve others by helping people spiritually.

TMA: What did you do from there?

RS: I moved to Los Angeles in 1974 and had an opportunity to be validated in several different ways. I'm embarrassed to say that I need the validation, but I guess everybody on some level needs to be validated. I used to say that I communicated with Spirits but the truth was, I never knew for certain if what I was hearing or feeling was accurate.

Chuck was a young man I was attracted to. I met him through my girlfriend Jill. Jill and I visited Chuck, and we were all going to go out to dinner. About fifteen minutes after arriving at his home, I had to go to the bathroom and ask him where his restroom was. He told me the bathroom downstairs was broken and wanted me to go upstairs through his bedroom and use his. As I was walking through his bedroom, I couldn't help but notice an energy, which I called a spirit. The spirit seemed to be flashing some pictures, and they were that of an older man who looked as if he was maybe in his mid-seventies. He looked like he was very, very upset. I felt as though he had been crying. I tried to communicate with him. I asked him if he was okay, and he didn't talk to me. I went to the restroom and went back downstairs. I didn't say anything to Chuck at the time because I had just met him. I was attracted to him, and I didn't want him to think I was a kook.

Well, shortly after I came back downstairs, Chuck told Jill and me he wasn't going to be able to join us for dinner, that he was going to have to drive to northern California to be with his godmother. His godfather had died the day before and he had to make funeral arrangements with his godmother. Chuck said how badly he felt because his godfather was like his surrogate father and he really loved him. He said that his godfather had been troubled for months and had been asking him to go fishing with him. Chuck had been putting it off because he had other business ventures and he didn't have time. And now, he said it was too late.

I realized as Chuck was sharing his grief, that the energy I felt upstairs possibly was his godfather. And so I asked him if his godfather looked like the image I had seen. Chuck said, "Yes! How did you know that? I didn't show you his picture." So I prepared him. I said, "I don't want you to be shocked or overwhelmed, and please don't think I'm a kook, but I do see spirits and I believe I saw him up in your bedroom." Chuck immediately ran up the stairs and kept hollering out for his godfather. Finally, he called down to me and said, "Renée, I can't see him." I went upstairs, and I couldn't see him either. I suggested that Chuck go back downstairs. By this time, Chuck was really shaken and was crying, so I told him that I would try to bring this energy out and have a conversation with it to find out if in fact it actually was his godfather. Well, when I went back upstairs,I did have an opportunity to speak with this energy and - I've forgotten his name, it's been so many years, but for right now let's say that his name was Ben - Ben was very troubled and he explained to me that his wife had confronted him with something that Ben was very guilt-stricken about. It seems that his wife found out that he had had an affair eight months ago and thought he had been having an on-going affair for eight months. She asked Ben about that and Ben ended up having a heart attack right on the spot and died immediately.

Well, I didn't know about any of this. Chuck had not said a word to me. However, this is what Ben was telling me now, and that it was very important to him that I clear the air. I explained to Chuck what had really happened. It seemed that Ben did have an affair eight months ago but it was only one of these one night stands. Ben felt so embarrassed, so ashamed, so guilty, and very stressed. He never could break down and tell his wife, who he loved so very, very much. Ben was devastated to think his wife assumed him affair was an ongoing one.

At that moment in time, not only was I able to help Chuck and help Chuck's godmother get through such a terrible loss, but I was able to help Ben move on. Also, for myself, selfishly, I considered it a major learning experience but yes indeed, I didn't have an exact conversation. I really did communicate with a spirit that wasn't in the body and guess I really needed that validation to know that I could do it

TMA: At about that time, you went in another direction.

RS: Yes, shortly after my experience with Chuck. I had some really bad menstrual cramps and really bad headaches and was told to go to see a wonderful chiropractor. This was in 1974, maybe early '75. I was told his name was Dr. Harry Rickard. He was in L.A. at the time. He didn't ask me any history and I filled out no forms at all. The first thing that he asked me was did I have my right ovary remove - which had occurred when I was twenty years old. I was quite surprised and said, "How cold you possibly know that?" He said, "I could see the scar tissue, and that's causing some of your cramps." Then he said, "That's not a problem, we'll be able to handle it." Harry went down to my feet; checked to see whether one leg was longer than the other and walked out of the room.

I lay there for about fifteen minutes waiting for Harry to come back and crack my neck, but while I was lying there I noticed that my headache completely went away and my cramps were completely gone. When Harry entered the room again, he asked how I was doing and I said, "I'm doing great, but where's my adjustment?" He said, "what are you talking about? You already got your healing." I asked, "When did I get my healing?" He said, " You don't have cramps or a headache anymore, do you?" He told me, "You don't necessarily have to heal by touching." I said, "You're kidding!" He said, "You're a healer too, aren't you, Renée?" I asked him, "How'd you know that?" And he said, "I know these things!" Harry just knew so much; he was so intuitive. He told me, "You know, Renée, I bet you could do the same things that I can do." Up to that day I had had an amazing amount of success touching people who were in pain and the pain would go away but it never occurred to me that I could heal from a distance.

About fifteen minutes later, another patient arrived. I believe his name was Tom. He was probably my age and he was having a lot of problems with his lower back. Well, Harry introduced Tom to me and actually told him I was Harry's apprentice - which was a big joke, because I had just met Harry only forty-five minutes earlier. Harry asked Tom if it would be okay with him if I gave him his adjustment. I was a little nervous but I agreed. I listened to Harry's instructions and went down to the bottom of Tom's feet and noticed that one leg seemed to be at least an inch and a half longer than the other. At that time, through intention, I intended for his legs to be even.

Harry and I walked out of the room and we had a conversation in which Harry explained to me that I didn't have to look at Tom as though there was anything wrong with him. I should look at Tom as though he was whole and complete, that he had absolutely nothing wrong with him. So I visualized Tom doing some deep knee bends. Tom told us he had been having trouble sitting and standing, and that he could hardly get out of the car when he came over to see Harry. I was just shocked. I left Harry's office that day very excited and started practicing on all my friends and friends and friends of friends of friends! It seemed to be so effortless.

Eight or nine months later, I went back to Miami to visit my family. My father was once again complaining of some problems with his legs and his hips and his neck, so instead of touching him, I tried to do the same thing that Harry showed me. It didn't work. I even tried putting my hand on my father's body like I used to and it just wasn't working. So I phoned Harry and told him I was having difficulty and he asked to speak to my father directly.

Well, my dad spoke to him for a couple of minutes and gave the phone back to me. Harry told me he thought I was trying to get my dad's approval and was trying too hard. I said, "Yes, you're right, that usually is the case." And he said, "Well, why don't you let me do it. I can tell that this is chronic and think I can handle this so that your father won't have any more problems." I said, "Harry, are you talking about coming to Miami?" He said, "No, I'm talking about doing it right now. I'm going to do it right over the phone." "You can do this over the telephone?" He said, "Absolutely, Renée, you can too?" I said, "Harry, come on, I've never done any healing over the phone."

I actually practiced that day with my grandmother. She was complaining of some problems with her hip and her back and I recommended she lie down in her bedroom. I went into my sister's bedroom and picked up the extension phone and asked her if we could have a phone session. She agreed, and we did, I went back into my grandmother's room and lo and behold, her pain was gone. Well, you can only imagine how excited I was about that.

I went back to Los Angeles and this time, instead of working with my friends in person, I started practicing over the telephone. That was the beginning of my healing practice as it is today. I never considered charging my friends or friend of friends because it was so effortless and I felt like I didn't need to make my life a lot more complicated [laughs] by earning money doing work that never made my heart sing.

TMA: You're no longer doing past life regression?

RS: Right, I had another epiphany in the early '80s which made me realize I could no longer take people to past lives. It was quite an amazing experience. I had an opportunity to be gifted with a lot of money. I was riding home in my car thinking about how I was going to be able to buy a car, changing my living environment, give money to some of my friends and actually take a trip to Europe. I was thinking about all these wonderful things that I was going to do with this extra money. I couldn't wait to get home to call my mother, my boyfriend and some of my other friends to let them know about "the lottery" that I'd just won.

I stopped off in a grocery store about half an hour from my house to buy frozen cherries. I happened to see a woman who had the energy of a bag lady yet was wearing a very expensive jacket. She was wobbly; she looked as if she was going to faint. As I walked closer to her, I could tell that she hadn't slept in days. I walked over to her just to ask "Are you okay, and do you want me to help you?" She didn't even notice me and walked away. Well, my attention was immediately on the frozen cherries and also on the money I had just been given a couple of hours earlier. I paid for the cherries, and before I got to my car, I found myself feeling very depressed. As I was driving home, I was crying and I was looking at all of these problems that I had very quickly created in my mind. I was so depressed that I got to this place where I was thinking that maybe I didn't deserve the money or maybe I shouldn't keep any of it for myself. Maybe I should give it to other people who need it more than I did. I was creating all these problems for myself.

I got home and called one of my friends. He thought I would be really excited bout getting all this money but he could tell from my tone of voice that I was depressed. He said, "Renée, don't you feel you deserve this money" I said, "Absolutely I do!" Then, he asked, "why are you so upset?" I told him, "I have all these emotions. I have all this anger and guilt and fear, and this depression." I was actually crying. I said, "Is this what happens when you make so much money that your life is going to change?" He just said, "Why don't you just process this and take a look at what you're grateful for and also look at why you feel you don't deserve it."

I hung up the phone and didn't feel like calling my mother or my other friends to tell them about the windfall. I was tossing and turning in bed and couldn't quite understand this contrast. Just before I went into the grocery store I was exhilarated. And then leaving the grocery store I felt so depressed that I actually had this fleeting thought that I wanted to die. Now why would I want to die when I had just received so much money?

I got out of bed and went into the living room. I was very angry because I knew this was not my energy. It did not feel right. So with a tremendous amount of intention, I said, "Whatever this is, get off of me! This is not my energy!" I was shocked to see this black mass lift off my head and part of my chest. It went right in front of me. It was almost similar to the energy I saw in Chuck's bedroom, a spirit talking to me. Because I knew that I cold communicate with spirits, it was rather easy for me to have a conversation with it.

The spirit put my attention back to the grocery store where I saw the woman. Her name was Laura. She was a very successful entrepreneur and a single mother. She had a son who was seven years old, and this energy explained to me that Laura had been very angry because her son was late to dinner. He was at a playground across the street, and she screamed at him to come home and she was threatening to punish him. She wasn't paying attention to oncoming traffic and obviously, neither was her son. He was paying more attention to his mother screaming at him. Laura witnessed the car hitting her son. She ran over to him and he died in her arms. Well, you can only imagine how devastated she was. She was so angry and guilt-stricken and so angry with God and with the driver that hit her son, that she felt like she wanted to die. Her feelings may have been appropriate for her but certainly not for me. Wasn't it interesting that by offering help, I hooked into her energy field and took on her feelings. This energy that had surrounded her, that had been actually in or around Laura, had left her and collapsed into my energy field.

With a tremendous amount of love and compassion, I helped this energy through the loss of losing Laura's son. This spirit eventually lifted into the light. I felt like I was myself again and was back at that place of enthusiasm and exhilaration of being gifted with a lot of money.

If I had not released this energy into the light, I could have gone to a spiritual healer who could have regressed me. I could have actually found myself in another lifetime as a mother with a seven-year-old son and witnessed him being hit. I could have created in my imagination his having been run over by a stagecoach and dying in my arms. I could have taken that experience and dark energy as my own and it never would have occurred to me that I picked this energy up form somebody in a grocery store.

I realized that evening that it would not be ethical for me to take people to their past lives until I could successfully help them to release any negative energies that were attached to their energy field and/or to their body. I felt that I had to take the next step as a spiritual healer and put people in a stream of pure, positive energy where they were once again connected to the light, where they were once again connected to God, All That Is. By lifting them into higher vibrational frequencies, negative energies will effortlessly leave their tissues, their cells, and their energy field. And that's what I do to this day.

TMA: Renée, how would you answer those who would say the kind of healing that you're doing could be considered something like a spiritual bypass?

RS: I can understand that one might view it that way but I look at what works. I've noticed that the majority of my clients over the years have had hundreds of hours of therapy and they come to me with the same challenges and fears that they had when they started seeing their therapists years earlier. The intention is not to be in denial or to take your attention off the areas that you want to address. By reinforcing this negative energy by reliving it over and over, the cells recreate that traumatic time period. Unfortunately, the emotional and physical pain will continue. Thirty years later, my client will still have that cellular memory.

TMA: Rather than going over and over it and making more of the same how do you deal with it?

RS: I teach my clients about the Law of Attraction: Whatever you put your attention on, you create more of. What you want, you create, and what you don't want you also create. I also teach them the basic principles of a Course in Miracles: God is Love; We're all an extension of God, therefore we are Love; Only the love is real . . . anything other that love comes from fear, and fear is an illusion. By putting my clients in higher vibrational frequencies of absolute infinite trust in a positive reality, their disempowering emotions and negative cellular memory from the past effortlessly release into the light.

TMA: They will not have forgotten what happened?

RS: They won't forget it; they're not in denial. But there will be a shift in perception-which is one of the definitions of a miracle. The glass will be perceived as half full instead of half empty.