If you long for guidance around a major life decision, a lingering emotional wound, your relationships, or habits you’d like to break, you may want to tap into the “spiritual cloud” known as Akashic Records. DailyOM spoke with several experts to learn how to access these records and the benefits to look forward to once you do.
Have you ever wished you’d kept a detailed diary of your everyday life? What if you could access one that detailed your every moment? Something like that does exist, according to proponents of Akashic Records, although not in a physical or written form. This energetic library of sorts holds not only the moments of your current life, but also every moment your soul has ever experienced, from your oldest past life to this very second, experts say.
If that weren’t fascinating enough, Akashic Records experts believe that anyone can access them through a process known as Akashic Record readings. Here’s what they entail and how to access and benefit from your own reading.
What Are Akashic Records?
Emily Logan Lewis, an Akashic Records trauma-informed master consultant and past-life regressionist known as Emily the Mystic, describes the records as “a metaphysical, energetic record of every soul, every thing, ever in existence in this Universe.” (Yes, objects are tracked, too.)
“I like to think of the Akashic Records as being like a cloud storage library of information that we can access using our intuitive and psychic senses,” Logan Lewis says. She points out that the word “Akashic” comes from the Sanskrit word Akasha, meaning the primary substance from which all life is formed.
Akashic Records were even referenced in the Bible as “The Book of Life,” according to intuitive healer and Akashic Records teacher Josephine Hardman, PhD. “The Akashic Records have been referenced in most spiritual traditions and texts across time and space in humanity’s history,” she says, and they “contain the blueprint of each soul’s evolutionary journey across time and space.”
Akashic Records exist on “spiritual dimensional planes” and “vibrate at the energetic frequency of unconditional love and truth,” says Lewis, who describes them as “truly limitless.” Your own records can contain a huge range of helpful information, such as details about your soul’s past lives, as well as lessons you’re here to learn, your mission and purpose, and understandings about your relationships, she adds.
Interested in learning more? Check out Meditations to Unravel Old Patterns and Reshape Your Brain.
How to Access Akashic Records
Anyone can access their Akashic Records by tapping into their intuition, according to Cheryl Marlene, a mystic, master teacher, and author of The Akashic Records Masterclass: The World’s Most Comprehensive Guide to Opening the Akashic Records. Or you could work with an expert guide, who can do readings on your behalf or teach you how to do them yourself.
Opening your Akashic Records yourself may be easier than you imagine, according to experts, so if you’d prefer to go it alone, you absolutely can.
In either case, the session might seem similar to a psychic or tarot card reading, in the sense that information is being received through a “reader,” says Marlene (and that reader could be yourself or a guide). “What’s different in my experience is within a psychic or tarot reading, the information is coming from within the reader,” she adds. “When I open the Akashic Records for someone, I am going outside of the physical world into the divine knowing and the origin of the soul.” This often means, she says, that there is deeper awareness and responses that aren’t available in other types of readings.
Working With a Teacher or Guide
If you choose to work with an Akashic Records teacher, the specifics of your readings will vary based on the practitioner’s approach. “When I do an Akashic Record reading for somebody, the first thing I do is I open their records,” Marlene explains. “I’m quiet for a few moments, then I say a blessing out loud, then I’m quiet a moment more, and then I say, ‘The records are open.’” At that point, the person receiving the reading can raise any questions or issues they’d like to discuss.
When Marlene first started doing Akashic readings, it felt like someone yanked her out of her body and set her down at Oxford University, she recalls, “like in one of those old lecture halls … and I would have the sense of people sitting there discussing things with me.” That’s evolved over time. “Now it can definitely feel like someone’s talking in my ear,” she says. “I get a lot of pictures. Also, as the reading progresses … the energy shifts and it goes into that place where I just know what to say.”
The blessing Marlene mentioned, also called prayers or Pathway Prayers, are commonplace in Akashic Record readings — for accessing and opening the records, and for completing the process. In her book, she provides examples of the opening blessing, which may start like this: “I enter the realm of the Masters, Teachers, and Loved Ones of [your full legal name] and match our hearts and minds with theirs.” Throughout your reading, you simply listen and receive the information so you can walk away with greater clarity about the topics you asked about.
Dr. Hardman calls her readings Akashic Records Healing Sessions, and they start with formulating a main question or focus in advance — something she typically helps formulate.
“At the start of the session, we have a conversation about what we’re going to explore and make sure our main question is as effective as possible,” she says. “I then get the client’s permission to access their records, and we sit together to do some deep breathing and get grounded.”
From there, she opens the client’s records using her “portal power,” a skill set she’s honed, and receives the first few messages and impressions. Then it “becomes a three-way conversation between me, the client, and the records,” she adds. “We explore the client’s main question from every possible angle to receive healing and guidance.”
While there is no specific directory for Akashic Records practitioners, Hardman says a web search can be helpful for finding a good fit for you. “Just be careful to avoid anyone who doesn’t sound genuine, who hasn’t gone through comprehensive training as an AR practitioner or healer, or who claims they can ‘fix’ you,” she notes, adding that you can also search for Akashic Record readings on YouTube and podcast apps to get a feel for various providers’ styles.
Opening Akashic Records Yourself
Opening your Akashic Records yourself may be easier than you imagine, according to experts, so if you’d prefer to go it alone, you absolutely can.
“It's a misconception that we are separate from the Akashic Records, or from Divine Source,” says Hardman. “Since we are divine, too, the records are part of us and we are part of the records.” Given that, all you really need to do to “find” them, she says, is tune into their frequency (another word for spiritual vibration), which she describes as higher than you’re used to in the human dimension. “This requires us to get centered, grounded, and to release any ego patterns that weigh us down — such as perfectionism, people-pleasing, overthinking, etcetera,” she adds.
So on your own, Akashic Record readings look very similar to what you’d witness with a professional guide: You set an intention (what you’d like to learn), get quiet, say a prayer or blessing, and “listen” by tuning into your intuition to see what clarity comes forth. Then you close with another blessing/prayer.
First, though, you may want to set agreements with the records themselves, which is among Marlene’s top advice for beginners. “The primary piece that I provide students to be able to get started is a set of agreements that you make with the Akashic Records about how and when you’re going to do this,” she says. Intended to support your process of opening to the records and your intention to apply what you learn, this ethical framework that helps “set boundaries, maintain integrity, focus intention, and create sacred space” also fosters trust in yourself, she explains. You can come up with your own specifics or glean ideas from experts, such as this agreement Marlene lists in her book: “I begin each opening of the Akashic Records being as clear and open as I can.”
Once your readings begin, give yourself some grace, knowing that self-doubt is a natural part of the process, adds Marlene. In other words, really try to explore without judgment. If thoughts of “Am I doing this right?” crop up, Marlene says, you almost surely are.
Making the Most of Akashic Record Readings
Whether you aim to access your Akashic Records with an expert guide or on your own, Lewis believes that intention is everything. For that reason, coming to an Akashic Record reading with a clear objective linked with what you want out of life is “absolutely key,” she says.
You can make the most of your readings by bringing up “burning questions that have been keeping you up at night,” Lewis adds. So leading up to a reading, you may want to prepare a list of those questions. Examples that Lewis points to include: How can I have a more peaceful relationship with my mom? Or How can I find my soulmate? Or What are my soul’s gifts?
And while you may have a flurry of questions you’d like addressed pronto, Hardman suggests stepping in gradually with one challenge, issue, or question at a time. Asking many questions at once can be a mistake, causing overload and diluted focus — which makes the clarity you’re seeking less likely. “Focusing on one thing at a time enables us to address things from every possible angle and fully work through and heal each issue,” she says.
If you can’t seem to figure things out on your own as far as reading your Akashic Records or navigating challenges, such as self-doubt or feeling stuck, that’s a great time to turn to a pro. An expert can help you “clear any energetic blocks and resistances that are holding you back, and you’ll feel more purposeful with your next steps after your reading is over,” says Lawrence.
Clearing Your Akashic Records
Many people turn to Akashic Record readings in hopes of understanding a current dilemma or deciding what steps to take next in life, both of which may involve clearing your Akashic Records — something that can unfold during your readings, say experts.
“Clearing something in your Akashic Records means going back to that original situation, event, or trauma — from this lifetime or a previous one — and doing the healing work required to release it,” says Hardman. “Nothing is ever ‘erased’ from the records, but we can absolutely ‘rewrite’ a past trauma and become free of it.” Such “rewriting” can take many different forms, according to Hardman. It might involve “clearing emotions from that past experience that are still stuck in our bodies,” she says, “or ‘traveling’ back into a past life to understand what the original trauma was [so you can] receive guidance from the records as to how to release that now.”
Although Akashic Record readings aren’t a replacement for supports like mental health treatment, they may help you “release and let go of anything that is holding you back in life,” explains Lawrence, such as negative thought patterns and limiting beliefs.
While psychotherapy uses various techniques to help a person identify, change, or process troubling thoughts, emotions, and situations in their current life and treat mental health conditions based on social science, Lewis says Akashic readings can give someone perspective on their entire soul’s journey so they can approach emotional healing from “a knowing that there is more to their soul’s history than just what they’ve experienced in this lifetime.” That clarity and awareness you glean, experts believe, can go far.
If you know you’re struggling with something trauma-related, working with a trauma-informed Akashic Records professional can be crucial. “Being trauma-informed recognizes the widespread impact of trauma on individuals and our collective,” says Lawrence. “That means that as a practitioner, I may be given information from the Akashic Records about my client’s soul’s history and what it has been through in this lifetime and others. I need to deliver this information carefully and with the utmost understanding and respect for the client’s physical and mental well-being.”
To do so, Lawrence aims to create a safe and supportive environment, taking special care to ensure that her clients feel heard, seen, and understood. “Having experienced trauma in my own life,” she adds, “I understand what it feels like to do my own healing, and how important it is to work with a practitioner who can foster a safe environment for their clients to feel at ease, no matter what they are going through.”
The Benefits of Akashic Record Readings
The compassionate care Lawrence described can benefit any Akashic reading, making way for “higher-level soul wisdom and guidance” and then some, she says.
“My clients report to me time and time again that they feel so much less stress within their interpersonal relationships [after readings]. They are no longer bothered by the annoying co-worker or the busybody neighbor, and they finally feel like they can relax and be their true selves in their relationships with their friends and family members.”
When an Akashic reading allows you to heal old wounds, says Lawrence, “you leave the experience feeling like you’ve had lifetimes of old gunk just removed and released from your system. You’ll get better sleep, feel more grounded, have less worry and anxiety, and find clarity on your next steps.”
Hardman has experienced these kinds of benefits herself. “Personally, the Akashic Records have helped me heal long-standing relationship issues — i.e., commitment phobia and attracting unavailable partners — and find and marry my life partner/soulmate.” They’ve helped her work through other challenges in her daily life, too, she says, such as a tendency toward perfectionism and people-pleasing.
If you regularly engage with Akashic Records, you might become so connected to the wisdom that you won’t even need formal readings to invite those perks, according to Marlene, “The point is not that you have the records open 24/7 and you’ll always have a cool place to get answers,” she explains. “The process of opening and connecting with the records and believing what comes means that you’re learning to trust yourself and hear your own voice of truth at any moment, whether or not you’re ‘in’ the records.”
The Akashic Records are always there and willing to help, she says, but ultimately you get to a place where you don’t feel the need to search for help. Instead, she says, “you learn to feel independent and to claim your own power within, and be happy and excited to live your life.”
