I love listening to music during my morning walks in the woods or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The musicians’ traveling to these higher planes has the effect of grounding me. I have chosen a list of my current favorites—all that I feel raise my own vibration.

DJ Julie Hansen Intuitive Spins!

• I Will Be Light: Matisyahu
• One Day: Matisyahu
• Give Thanks and Praise: Bob Marley
• Natural Mystic: Bob Marley & The Wailers
• Higher (feat. Crown City Rockers): J. Boogie’s Dubtronic Scene
• Believe (feat. D’Angelo): Q-Tip
• Jazz (We’ve Got): A Tribe Called Quest
• Through the Dark: KT Tunstall
• Follow the Lights: Ryan Adams
• Hymn to Freedom: Oscar Peterson Trio
• If I Need to Move On (Sometimes): Ladybug Mecca
• Soul Purpose: Nightmares on Wax

Let me know about music that inspires you as well!

Warm musical wishes,

Julie

Perhaps they are there so you can heal an old issue that needs to be released. The issue has nothing to do with the person, but more with a thinking pattern or way of being in the world at the time they were most present in your life.

They may be there so you can grieve a long forgotten part of yourself.

Maybe they are there to remind you of a dream you let go of because you felt it was not practical at the time to go for it.

No matter why they showed up– you now have the opportunity to relate to them in a different way. Check in to see if your relationship dynamic has shifted or you find yourself going back to previous patterns. Sometimes we need to act out these patterns again in order to release them.

The connection does not have to happen in the physical realm. Perhaps you start missing them and/or they show up in a dream.

You called this person back and they showed up. Honor that as they are playing a key role in your healing process at this time.

Sending light to your healing path,

Julie

I would define manifesting as a combination of faith, intention and mindful action.

Below is an exercise for seasoned and beginning manifesters alike: ask for it out loud. It is my belief that spoken words carry a strong vibration, more so than inward thoughts. There are times when we think we want something but when we check in with ourselves we find we really don’t.  We all also carry hidden beliefs about how deserving we are.  When you ask for something out loud you will realize how badly you want something or how worthy you feel. You will then get much closer to what you want by owning your desires and speaking them clearly.

Try it:

1. Think of something you want
2. Ask for it out loud
3. Ask for it louder
4. Now ask for it with more feeling
5. Ask for it loud and with feeling three times

Notice how the vibration of the request has already changed?

I feel strongly guided to reiterate how important it is to own and feel deserving of the life you want. As always, when you reach your goal express gratitude.

Keep expanding!

With love & respect for your journey,

Julie

We may find something not working in our lives, but like an insistent lover it begs for us to hold on.

In phone readings I channel information and relay to my clients what is currently unhealthy for them. Most often the response is “I know”. They are calling for confirmation but also with the small hope I will tell them it is not what they think it is. This is easy for me to identify with as I have been in the situation many times.

As I stated in my first blog post, the hurting known appears more comfortable than the healthy unknown. Why is this? Us humans seem to be naturally resistant to change. It feels related to our self-preservation instincts. But in order to evolve, in order to grow we must change.

Change can be scary, but it is usually positive. As a wise elder once told me: “At my age, any change is good.”

Lose a “good” thing and make room for something in your life that is fresh, surprising and better.

With love & light,

Julie

Winged Pharaoh by Joan Grant

This is a story of a young girl in ancient Egypt whose psychic abilities eventually lead her to become a Priestess and Pharaoh. This is the most famous one of Grant’s novels, which are all channeled information from past lives. Reading this novel assisted me in my clairvoyant path–I was literally spinning at times!

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

A feminist reimagining of the Legend of King Arthur and my all time favorite book.  This book will transport you to another world.  I did not want this beautiful story to end. The first sentence: “In my time I have been called many things: sister, lover, priestess, wise-woman, queen.” Are you hooked yet?

Green Darkness by Anya Seton

This dark and haunting novel is about how past life relationship in the 16^th century affects a couple in the present day.  It is full of mysticism, suspense, romance and heartbreak. Once you get past the first section of the book it’s hard to put down.

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

This novel set in 14^th century Norway tells the life story of one woman struggling with her faith, marriage, motherhood and her family of origin. This book is extremely well written and the author’s grasp on the intricacies of family relationships is astounding.

I also really enjoyed The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel and Wise Child by Monica Furlong.

I’d love to hear your favorite spiritual novels!

The situation was awkward, tense and also darkly humorous.

It is not often that people say outright what they feel is owed to them.  Most debts are invisible and we are often not even aware of them.  I imagine if we were able to write up a list of our perceived obligations and debts it would be a scroll that would be miles long.

Many of our choices and motivations are based on these hypothetical responsibilities. I am using the word hypothetical because the obligations are merely our perceptions. They come from past experiences, past lives, hidden beliefs and a multitude of other sources. Most often the recipient of our debts has no idea they are owed. They may not even want or expect anything.  The point is: you feel like you owe people or even groups of people but it is an illusion based on your unique worldview.

Take a moment to think about what/who you owe and see what shows up.

Sending you blessings of balance & harmony,

Julie

My family was not seated together and when we went to the gate agent all I could focus on was the couple in front of me. The husband was elderly and very short in stature and his wife was in a wheelchair. They seemed like a very cute couple and I found myself just hoping their trip would go smoothly. Of course I ended up being seated with my husband and daughter because I was holding a vibration of calm.

When we went through security a Code Orange alarm was sounded and we all had to freeze. It was interesting to watch people go from “just get me through this line” to “am I going to survive this”. The man behind me was complaining loudly of the annoyance of being stopped. With that attitude I assume he will only attract more inconveniences.

Most of all people traveling seemed anxious, vulnerable and tired. They were in a rush to get to their destination as fast as possible while feeling out of control and sometimes angry. It seems like a metaphor for life and it makes me aware of how I feel like this sometimes as well.

Airports can be stressful. Life can be stressful. But I am going to try my best to have compassion for others in any situation and be a light in a crowd. I see other lights in the crowd all the time and I am grateful and inspired by them.

In Light as Always,

Julie

I believe owning our power as healers is the ultimate ambition. I use the term healer as in someone who is actively seeking to bring in more light to themselves and to the world. Working on raising your spiritual vibration can be a harder and deeper struggle than becoming successful in the traditional sense.

Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that basically translates to “repairing the world”.  Committing to doing your part to repair the world is the greatest ambition of all.

Here’s to owning our ambitions…peacefully & mightily! -Julie

One way to accomplish both is to be open and gentle with yourself. Yes, live in the moment but don’t pressure yourself too much about it. Plan for the future, but don’t think about the logistics. Picture and feel how wonderful it will be once you are there. If you are enjoying the process you won’t miss out on being in the moment.

Keep in mind that we are dynamic beings and you can’t ruin anything with a thought. Set the intention to experience joy and to being receptive to evolving and moving forward.

In Light,

Julie

He believes in the concept of “higher selves”.

Now when I say higher, I don’t mean that they are engaged in narcotic activities or are in some way tonally different- they simply exist at higher frequencies than we can usually perceive here on the third dimension. Every person alive, according to the theory, has at least one being unique to their individual wavelength but at a higher frequency, with whom they can communicate, and whose spirits they are a part of as well as emulate.

Now, there are numerous holes in this theory. I’m pretty sure that I don’t need to point them out to you: There’s no evidence for the existence of these higher beings (even if their dimensions are factually existent) and since they only communicate to their ‘host’ on the third dimension you pretty much have to take it on faith. There are a number of mental conditions and deficiencies which attribute the exact same symptoms; in fact the whole thing sounds like an elaborate psychosis, and in a lot of cases it may well be.

Channelling these higher selves is far from the only way to contact them, if these individuals are to be believed- in fact, their influence over our actions and thoughts may be far subtler than we realise.

The subconscious mind, like the heart, is active not only while we sleep, but also while we wake; our very thoughts and actions may very well be guided without our knowledge. Think of a number between one and a thousand. Got it? Common ‘higher self’ theory states that the number you just instinctively and impulsively selected may very well have been the decision of one of your higher selves. The same can be said for impulsive (gut) feelings and instinctive ‘hunches’- since time is non-linear in realms above the third dimension, it is quite possible that precognition could be one of the many faculties enabled by the existence of these beings.

How many times have you been playing a video game when a specific button input was needed and your thumb was already hovering over the button before the command appeared? How many times have you ignored the niggling little voice in your head only to have a perfectly avoidable evil occur? Why do we put any less faith in our intuition than in our senses? It makes no sense.

From a purely anthropological point of view, we have spent just as much time evolving our ability to ‘sense’ events through intuition as we have learning to see, think and hear, so why do we distrust these “little voices” that guide us? A lot of the reason behind this is cultural: The western world’s views on what can only be described as ‘extra sensory perception’, whether guided by higher selves or not, are largely based upon the Christian values propagated by the Catholic church, whose primary motivation for creating these views centuries ago was control.

You see, if we rely on ourselves, rather than externally created belief systems (including the belief in higher selves) we take power away from other people. The human race, currently, is under the control of a rigidly maintained caste system by which personal freedom and power is ultimately restricted by systems of government, religion and law- acting outside these boundaries for any reason is looked down upon, and as such self-reliance is often seen as “crazy”.

Now, with so little evidence available to validate the existence of higher selves we must concentrate on the existence of ESP as a whole; whether or not pandimensional beings exist is of little importance to the day-to-day lives of most humans, but the abilities they supposedly enhance are of importance. Of course, because of the practical applications for these abilities, the governments of the world have invested considerable time and money in researching them. The results are staggering.

The theory of extra sensory perception was coined in 1892 in France, but serious study of ESP abilities began in the 1930s, when American parapsychologist Dr Joseph Banks Rhine devised an experiment to determine the telepathic abilities of test subjects of various ages, genders and races. The experiment used the cards shown in the image above, which Rhine would examine without showing the card to the subject. The subject would then guess using any mote of extra-sensory intuition that they possessed which card the doctor was seeing, and of course Rhine’s observations were made public.

The experiment lives on in infamy, and is actually how we are introduced to Dr Peter Venkman at the start of 80s classic Ghostbusters, as well as being present in the brilliant 90s sci-fi film Starship Troopers, which also deals a little with Channelling. I digress: The results of Rhine’s experiments were summed up as this:

“If the null-hypothesis (no psychic ability) is assumed and each card selected for testing is chosen in a truly random fashion, a user’s success ratio is expected to approach 20% (1 hit per 5 trials) as their number of trials increases. The further the observed scenario is from the expected scenario, the more cause for believing the null-hypothesis is not true (the results are not simply due to chance).”

It was, needless to say, prevalent that certain test subjects, through some form of intuition (possibly even higher selves) were able to ascertain which symbol was on the card, and these results varied from person to person depending on the level of intuitive, or “psychic” ability. This, however, is not the most pressing case for the existence of paranormal abilities manifesting in humans.

In 1972 the American Defensive Intelligence Agency (DIA) published a report indicating that the USSR had what could only be described as “psychic operatives”, whose abilities outstripped the US’s conventional methods of surveilance. This came following the shock transfer of an electrical engineering lecturer named Hal Puthoff, who gave up a prominent position lecturing at Stanford university and entered the field of PSI-research.

Don’t take my word for it though; the memo itself is publicly available:

So, the Russians had been working (successfully) on unlocking the potential of the human mind, and only a year before this memo was circulated Puthoff had begun working in the same way for the Americans. Puthoff was an ex NSA agent, and was at the very forefront of the field of laser research, so why would someone so important transfer to what is considered today to have been a redundant field of research?

There are numerous sources available, but the two best are The Men Who Stare At Goats (now a movie) by Jon Ronson, and The Wizards of Langley by Jeffery Richelson. Both shed light on this almost-forgotten era of human history when the two superpowers who controlled the world secretly believed in and endorsed the factual existence of paranormal ability.

Still, this is getting long enough, and whether higher selves exist or not it is important to remember that what they apparently do has been proven to be real by millions of individuals all over the globe, and is growing more prevalent by the day. We’re on the cusp of something big, but that’s a tale for next time. Go with love, Internet traveller! Go with love.

They say that the traits we dislike in others are inward characteristics of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge.  While I believe this to be true, it can be challenging to discern which exact traits are something within ourselves when someone we dislike appears so different than us.

Finding and accepting these traits can take a lot of compassion-for ourselves and others. Sometimes you will need to protect yourself energetically before you can find out.  Once you feel  safe, it is important to maintain an attitude of compassion. After all, this person is reflecting you in some way.  If they bother you so much they are clearly triggering something.

While the outward traits may be easy to spot, I find it is our previous life experiences that are difficult to recognize. For example, maybe this person is very lonely and reminds you of a time you felt isolated. While you are trying to avoid that experience again, this person senses you healed from it and wants to learn from you.  The dynamic is very subtle and it will take strong intention and work on your part.

We could all use some assistance on our personal healing journey. If you would like new clairvoyant perspectives to gently guide and assist you-feel free to email me at juliehansenintuitive@yahoo.com to schedule a phone reading.

Sending many peaceful blessings!

-Julie

I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that. The Ex expects me to sign over a Full Power of Attorney and title over the car to him or else he won’t provide any money and will cancel the car insurance.

The State where I live has some of the toughest insurance laws in the country. Driving while uninsured will lead to the DMV suspending my license.

Three lawyers, a realtor, a therapist, and numerous others have said that his requests are unreasonable, unrealistic, and even unethical. They are also outside the bounds of the law. If I suggest this to the Ex, he retorts that I am “thankless, immature, and  have imaginary unrealistic approaches to things.”

I think his solution is to make the just-turned 18 year old the one financially responsible for all the bills, home decisions, etc. This is the kid who I had to hassle for days just to change a toilet seat.  The stepson told me he has no idea what bills have to be paid nor how to pay them. So, of course, having him in charge seems to be a very mature and realistic solution, indeed.

And our realtor’s mouth dropped when I told her this. A diplomatically worded email was sent to my Ex that the house won’t be sold without, um, joint cooperation.

My mother’s mouth dropped, as well. “Screw the house,” she exclaimed. “as far as I’m concerned, the Ex has effectively cut you and the kids off. Go do what you need to do.”

This may mean alerting child protective services that there is a 16 year old kid in the house, not mine, with no legal guardian in this country and the one looking after him has no money to buy him food.

For the past two weeks, I’ve managed constant home repairs and made over 15 phone calls to take care of emerging problems discovered while making the other repairs. This means I haven’ t had time to look for work. It also means that had I a job, I would have had to take off almost every day in order to manage these things.

For the past two weeks, I’ve had contractors and others come and go in the house all damn day. I am grateful they are here; everyone has been nice and professional. But I can’t handle people constantly in my space. It drives me crazy. I need a mental health day before the house goes on the market next week, for then I will have every fucking body coming into my space.

I am frustrated and scared. Yet, in an odd way, I feel things will be OK. There may be some immediate hard times but these events really force me to buck up, stand my ground, and assert real control over the situation.

I had lunch with a geomancer today who uses the earth’s energy to “clear” portals and negative energy. I am unsure how I feel about these things although I do acknowledge much of this goes back to shamanic wisdom.

However, he did offer some profound advice. He advised me to try to use my “higher self” to talk to the Ex’s “higher self.” This self isn’t the physical one, but our astral twin.

“I’m unsure my Ex knows about his higher self. He isn’t connected to it.” I responded.

“It doesn’t matter,” replied Mr. Geomancer. “The important thing is to have that cosmic conversation, unscripted and with kindness, in order to have closure. The intent you put out in the universe matters and try to send healing energy to him. You acknowledged that he isn’t a bad person; he is just responding to real pain and a jolt to the ego. You seem to be able to see the real person inside and that is to your credit.”

As woo-woo as this sounds, he has a point. I have to be assertive in the living world, but in the world of energy and intent, I can expend softness and kindness and hope my efforts will somehow result in a benevolent outcome for all involved.

What is the difference between these two scenarios? I believe it has to do with your trust, belief and openness to natural flow.

When situations work out the way they were meant to, you really don’t need to do much-just follow the signposts neatly laid out for you. The more things work out for you, the more your energy becomes one of trust. This in turn increases the vibration of completing your goal.

On the other hand, if you start doubting or victimizing yourself you become magnetized to failure.

I suggest asking your Higher Power for help when you want something. Take the time to rest and contemplate and answers will come to you in down time. This is much more effective then being anxious/constantly checking email/”doing” just to feel useful.  The more you trust the more likely you are to meet your goal efficiently. Remember to practice gratitude every step of the way.

Sending you peace, love & light from rainy California,

Julie

The energy we send is so powerful because it is given with such strong intention. How often do we do the same for ourselves?  Not only do a lot of us neglect our own needs we feel guilty when we work directly on healing ourselves.

Just for today send yourself healing energy with the same strength and sense of purpose as you send it to others. You deserve it!

When you are ready to let go of an unhealthy pattern, addiction or relationship set the intention of love and understanding for yourself and others. Times of healing often coincide with times of crisis. When we let something go it does bring up a host of old emotions and painful feelings. This is why we hold on to old hurts. Be gentle with yourself and don’t try to force or rush a release. All you have to do is make the decision and it will all happen in the way it’s supposed to. If it is a person you are trying to break away from-send them love and light as well. This can be done in the Spirit realm and does not require a literal conversation. You will not heal unless you forgive.

Life is too short to hold onto things that don’t serve you. I’m here to assist you if you need help in letting go or learning what it is you need to move on from.  I work with clients all over the country and would love to connect with you as well!

To set up a phone appointment email me at juliehansenintuitive@yahoo.com  I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Here’s to a blessed 2012!-Julie

This first response can be ego based, for example wanting to meet other’s expectation of us. Or we may be repeating a pattern or habit. We all have a story of who we are and often act in a way to play out this story. 

We may identify ourselves as someone who is always there for our friends. When they ask us to do something we agree even if we don’t have time and it will cause resentment later. Tuning into our true voices benefits all.

If you truly want to connect more with your intuition, set the intention to do so. The next time you need to access your gut instinct ask yourself: is this my gut instinct or my first response? Take a step back and notice. The information will sometimes show up upon reflection. Don’t judge yourself for a missed opportunity –you learned a great lesson that will benefit you later.

In a reading with me you will learn how to distinguish your intuitive and ego voices. I will help you understand your patterns and the cause of them.  My intuition serves me in every aspect of my life. I’d be honored to help you do the same.

To set up a phone appointment email me at juliehansenintuitive@yahoo.com. I look forward to assisting you in tapping into your true instincts!

Sending you joy, love & light,

Julie

It takes courage to empty your pockets. We often want to hold onto our pain, whether it is subconscious or not. I recently got over being sick and realized the reason it dragged on was because if I was well I would have to face other aspects of my life I pushed aside to take care of myself. 

We often hold on because we fear the pain of release. The hurting known appears more comfortable than the healthy unknown.

When we are ready to let go energy levels go up, immunity strengthens and relationships become more balanced. It raises our spiritual vibration and enables us to live life more fully.

During a clairvoyant reading I will identify and/or confirm your issue(s). Information will come through to support your healing transformation.  Together we will create strategies and a plan to assist you in moving towards greater overall health.

Be gentle with yourself as you prepare for the reading. Often questions we perceive as being insignificant have a large crumb hiding underneath.

All my readings are done by phone and can be arranged for any time zone. Email me at juliehansenintuitive@yahoo.com  I will get back to you within 24 hours to schedule a time to talk.

Sending you light, blessings and love on your healing journey!

Julie

Each of our lives can be likened to a grape. Our Soul in that particular life remembers and stores our every thought, action and experience, and the `grape’ swells. All of the other `grapes’ on the bunch swell and grow simultaneously, in “The Now Moment”. The `bunch’ of grapes is our Higher Self, who remembers and stores all of our experiences, in all of our lives. He is `the bunch’; the collective consciousness of all of His `grapes’.

The more lives we have lived, the more `grapes’ there are on the bunch, and the wiser is our Higher Self.

All the bunches of `grapes’; the Higher Selves of all the Human Beings on the planet, grow on a vine, and that `vine’ is growing on the Mother Earth. She is the collective consciousness of all of our Higher Selves, and she stores all of the experiences of all of the Souls on the planet in her subtle energy fields.

We now move on to the macrocosmic level. Each planet in The Solar System stores all of the experiences of all of the Souls resident upon it, that are stored in their Higher Selves.

Our star, the Sun, is the Higher Self of this planetary system. He is the `bunch’ at the macro level, and the planets are his individual `grapes’. He, the “Father” of his planets, is our brilliant, shining symbol of Spirit, and all of the experiences of all the Souls  and all the planets, are collected and stored within him.

Our Galaxy is the collective consciousness of all of the stars within it, and stores all of the experiences that have been collected by those stars. And at a greater level again, all of the experiences in all of the Galaxies are stored in the collective consciousness of our Universe. There are also other Universes besides our own, and so the story goes on.

Spirit (“God”) uses this system to experience His Creation, and never a Sparrow falls that He doesn’t know about it.

From Rananda on 17th May 2011.

Password

The password of life seeks to inspire us to awaken our inner wisdom – our higher consciousness – to develop our intuition which is our inner guidance, compass and the wisdom of the soul

Pause Word

The pause word is meditation – the infinite stillness within that encompasses our true evolution – it is the moments during which we seek to pause and intuitively reflect upon the true purpose of our life – being true to our values

Words

During meditation we listen to the speech of our higher selves speak forth amazingly – the meditation – me-dictation is the immersion – the alignment of the mind of our heart – the heart of our mind with our true nature – our true self amazingly

Importance

The above does not mean deviation from one’s assignments – agenda’s – tasks, obligations – responsibilities – a person could not seek to be negligent or ignorant towards one’s duties that have been entrusted upon them with earnest sincerity

Protocol – Etiquette

This would mean adoption and pursuance an effective and responsible set of time management of schedules respectively whereby one is completely aware and conscious of one’s priorities and accountabilities conditionally – everything in its appropriate time and place please

God Bless

May one and all be blessed with a vision of good health, happiness, joy, prosperity, progress and wisdom always – God Bless

Peace, Love, Light and Wisdom,

God Bless,

Vashi

Copyright ©2010 Vashi Ram Chandi

All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer

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Any and all liabilities are hereby disclaimed regarding any omissions- errors or consequences that may arise as a result of preview; dissemination or propagation in any format whatsoever

“I tripped; I thundered.   It was of no consequence to me at the time.  I trampled men underfoot in my strive for perfection in technique on the battlefield (of life).  I was/am no unsung hero!  My operations were elaborate.  I generated greed and hatred all in the name of sovereignty”…At this moment my face tingled and a large batch of landowners moved over.... “It was all nonsensical!  I harboured!”… a batch of Russian casualties, earthbound to this day, moved across to the light (helped by the real charge of the Light Brigade)…72 wounded and missing from Home.  “Reservist army, clobbered.  I made a bloody mountain out of a mischievous molehill.” ..Another 5 souls are lifted from the tunnel of darkness… “Extenuating circumstances… Elaborate operations with blunderbusses!”... Another 2 ‘blasted’…Misunderstandings!  I have since battled with my own  mountainous journey homewards – My soul’s  need  to conquer the battlefields of my own mind!  Supposition has been gained.  The door has been swung shut.  I have opined sufficiently.  All comrades are reunited in the Glory of God.  Another battle over.  In the deep cesspool of humanity’s history there have been many errors made, errant past, erroneous and inhumane deeds.  Notice is hereby given.  (I see a white flag of truce)  Enough sacrifice!  Surrender to your Higher Selves.”

(The Charge of the Light Brigade was a disastrous charge of British cavalry led by the 7^th Earl of Cardigan KCB (1797-1868) – against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25/10/1854)

He drew a line across his throat.

After sharing this with my husband he said “remember those pistols from the Crimean War which you did psychometry on a few years back?” (Being a woman (ha ha) I had not connected the ‘Crimean War’ with the Battle of Balaclava until now!)  A collector of antique arms, upon hearing of my unusual abilities, showed me a cased pair of percussion pistols and asked for my opinion on them, even though he had inherited their written prominence.  (Obviously it was a test!)  As soon as I handled the first pistol I knew it had not been used to take a person’s life, but the second was different.  I closed my eyes and saw a Victorian London street, I could see drains on the cobbled street and looking up there were steps leading up to a big house.  I was looking through the eyes of a lady in long skirts carrying a basket on my left arm, inside which was a cabbage. (“That was you, my dear” came a voice as I typed this…and a large batch of earthbound spirits from this time were lifted in a vortex of love)…I walked up the steps and into the house, stopping on my left to open a door to the Master’s room.  I saw a gentleman at a desk, silhouetted against the light window, and told him I had got a cabbage and would make some soup and he was very pleased!  Then there was a whooshing sound and a swirling sensation as I had moved forward a number of years in time.  I was now observing from the back of a chapel or church, the same man with his back to me stood alongside his wife, who had a lacey veil over her head, and between them I could see a baby being christened at a stone font.  The baby’s name was ‘William’.  Then there followed another whoosh and I saw a ship sailing on the high seas and then a battle. I opened my eyes again and carefully handed back the (very expensive) pistols…

The owner of these collectables then revealed (with shock all over his face!) that what I had seen in my vision matched exactly with the documentary evidence he had in respect of the original owner of the pistols.  In particular that they belonged to a titled Londoner named William who had used them in the Crimean War. (I think I passed the test!)

With grateful thanks to my very special friend, whose husband once more carried the charge of the Light Brigade forward (via his energy field) to help us on more successful spirit rescue missions!

Robert E. Goodin

This post is a simple summary of and a low profile commentary on Robert E. Goodin’s working paper “On Constitutional Design”.

According to Goodin, “political scientists do not have a particularly distinguished track record when it comes to designing constitutions” (p. 1) despite the fact that they often come up with ideas for new constitutions and reflections on the existing ones. He thinks they’d better keep working this way, since it is more interesting to have them commenting on a wide range of issues besides constitutions.

I. Constitutional Design

A. Contra the Skeptics

Goodin emphasizes the fact that constitutions, contrary to many other institutions, are built and rebuilt consciously by definite actors at a definite time. He defines the modus operandi of designers as

1. First-principle: “Minimally sensitive to local traditions”
2. Blue-sky: “Minimally sensitive to constraining circumstances”
3. Blank-sheet: “Minimally sensitive to past practice”

His example for this? Well, he thinks that designer clothes are not comfortable (see the picture). He doesn’t leave the metaphor there.

He says that there are two alternatives to designer clothes (or, should I say, houte couture constitutions?):

1. Off-the-peg items (even these are cut to some basic design. It is a generalized version of the common-sensical design)
2. Made-to-measure articles (preferable)

Goodwin is a supporter of made-to-measure constitutional designs but he approves that in the end, it all comes to general principles (p. 3).

"Designer clothes are notably uncomfortable." Well, who can disagree with that?

For the concept “design”, the author borrows the Bauhaus slogan: “harmoniously fitting form to function”.

Forms? “Alternative constitutional arrangements”.

Functions? “Purposes those constitutional alternatives are supposed to serve”.

What’s harmony? It means “fitting the separate bits together in such a way that they interfere minimally one another in the performance of their designated functions”. Cool definition.

But all this is about internal consistency. What about the relationship between the design and its environment? A good design must also adapt well to the “larger functions which [it is] supposed to serve”, according to the writer.

To meet these ends, constitutional design has two crucial elements:

1. Functional requisites: The things the constitution is expected to do.
2. Functional equivalents: Alternative mechanisms to fulfill functional requisites.

A good design picks the best functional equivalent to satisfy the functional requisites. Obviously.

II. Constitutional Aspirations

“Constitutions constitute the skeleton of the polity” (Here comes another metaphor!). This function of the constitution is called higher law. (But, to make things more confusing, Goodin says that we should call this function lower law. However, thank Jupiter, he does not follow this idea in the coming paragraphs and leaves us in peace with the initial definitions).

But constitutions also act as the source for the flesh by creating goals and aspirations.

And this makes the skeleton metaphor a very very bad metaphor.

Goodin agrees with Bruce Ackerman’s claim that constitutional moments evoke people’s higher selves and motivate them to pursue long-term ideals rather than short-term interests.

Although people put a serious effort in constitution-writing, constitutions are to be amended in the future. However, they are hard to modify. This hardness comes from the constitution’s function: being the framework within which primary laws are amended, enacted and utilized.

There’s also a political reason: we want it to be hard to amend the constitutional law because we want it to limit the playground of politicians. We want it to define the grounds on which political commitments and agreements will take shape.

What makes citizens interested in long-term common interests is that since constitutional laws are hard to amend or replace, it is hard to calculate the benefit one will gain from any one article of the constitution. It is thus rational for citizens to try to increase the “average citizen’s long-run well-being” by coming up with good constitutions. He calls this logic of uncertainty.

Something makes me wanna draw a parallelism between this and Rawls’ veil of ignorance.

Goodin thinks the fact that we don’t bump into the traces of this logic in the classified records of parliamentary meetings weakens this argument.

This doesn’t make much sense really. No parliamentarian would openly state that he is pursuing long-term principles just because his short-term interests appear to be incalculable at the moment.

He thinks logic of appropriateness is at work along with logic of uncertainty. Parliamentarians, because they are sitting in the parliament and discussing high-level concerns, they tend to think about long-term common benefits.

To be honest, this sounds far less convincing than logic of uncertainty.

Ability of constitutional debates to evoke higher ideals makes Goodin claim that political philosophers should focus on uncovering these ideals and finding out ways of “framing institutional structures capable of evoking them”.

III. Constitutional Options

A. Against Borrowing Off-the-Peg Models

Many constitution writers tend to borrow “tried-and-true” models. Goodin says that he is planning to do this but he makes it clear that he intends to go “beyond the tired trinity of British, French and American constitutions” (p. 8).

However, Goodin also warns us about the perils of borrowing constitutions from elsewhere. To explain why, he utilizes the general theory of second-best. This theory says, if I understood him correctly, that if one of the aspects of the first-best model does not work, it is not enough to replace that aspect with the second-best: all of the first-best aspects will need to be revised. This theory makes it clear that it is not enough to have a model which is partly appropriate to the reality at hand. The reality might necessitate wholesale alterations to the model. Thus, it is clear, it is not good enough to borrow a model which functions good in a completely different framework.

B. Canvassing Wider Options

If a tried-and-true model can be devastating in a different environment, constitution-writers need to know all kinds of alternatives in order to pick the model appropriate to the given environment. For this, they need a menu which includes far more than this year’s catalogue of off-the-peg products.

Goodin’s aim, here, is not giving all possible alternatives that could be utilized by constitution-writers. He merely wants to give “different ways of skinning the constitutional cat” (and no, it has nothing to do with Satanism or illegal Vietnamese cuisine).

1. Democratic Responsiveness: Making vs. Applying the Laws

“We want our laws to reflect the will of the people”, don’t we? (Don’t bother to ask who ‘we’ are.)

Goodin gives two alternative strategies to keep the will of the people relevant to the laws:

1. “Franglo-American” strategy: Keeping the actors of the law enactment accountable.
2. Alternative strategy: Keeping the law enforcement actors accountable.

The second is really interesting. Since what simply matters is to force the legal process to take the will of the people into consideration, keeping law-makers accountable does not appear to be the only option. However, would it be equally democratic to keep the monarchy and having citizen councils when it comes to law-enforcement? Ofcourse not. Because the laws citizens will try to enforce in this case would be created arbitrarily, which is completely non-democratic.

2. Checking the Abuse of Power: External vs. Internal Controls

A very wide-spread concern is to keep the government within a circle where it will maintain its power but will not abuse this power.

There are alternative strategies to achieve this aim, according to Goodin:

1. Giving people vested rights and empowering courts to stop government from violating these rights.
2. Separation of powers. (Shoot yourself if you’re reading this summary but you don’t know what this means)

These both mechanisms try to create an external control over branches of government. However, Goodin claims, it is possible to create internal control within branches. A way of doing this would be concentrating the power and “thereby giving the authority in question both the motive and the ability to check abuses of power”.

My reaction to this proposal? Nothing but a huge question mark that could be seen from the Moon. Although Goodin talks about diffusion of responsibility (“what is many people’s job is no one’s”) and blame avoidance (“each passing the buck to co-responsible parties”), if we are to keep our concern with the abuse of power with our concern of the will of the people, references to the Middle Age arguments don’t mean much. At least to me. Adversus solem ne loquitor.

As Goodin argues, such arguments can be used to show why “responsible party government” is good.

But responsible party government does not mean the USSR government where governments were supposed to have internal control if this line of logic is functional.

3. Protecting Minorities: Output vs. Input Filters

“The standard way of” protecting minorities “is through rights guarantees of one sort or another” (p. 11).

Goodin defines this method as “filtering outputs”, outputs being the actions/laws. An alternative to this method is to filter inputs: limiting the legal arguments to a sphere where the discourse will not include “racist appeals or arguments defamatory of minority religions or ethnic groups”.

Will limiting the language of parliamentary debates in any way guarantee the non-existence of discriminatory laws? Ofcourse not. Any parliament is capable of making terrible laws while talking about beautiful concepts. Goodin also admits this weakness of filtering inputs.

4. Social Pluralism: Tolerating Diversity vs. Promoting It

The “ordinarily mechanisms”, as Goodin calls them, for accomodating social pluralism “are constitutional guarantees of toleration” (p. 12). There are hands-on and hands-off variants of such mechanisms while the former defines various institutions of social pluralism and the latter recognizes an unregulated space where civil society acts on behalf of various religions, races, languages, etc.

However, this is not the only way of recognizing the importance of social pluralism constitutionally. A constitution can also “actively promot[e] more diversity”. Goodin gives the example of Locke’s constitution for Carolinas where everybody was free to belong to whatever church they desire to, but it was obligatory to belong to one or another.

Goodin gives various reasons why this alternative might be preferable to the standard attitude of mere tolerance:

1. Mere tolerance might give authority to “distinctly illegal groups”.
2. It might ossify the existing power relations among groups.

C. Ensuring Functional Fit

As he has already said before, Goodin thinks it is essential to go beyond creating novelties when it comes to writing constitutions: bits need to be harmonious with each other and the whole needs to be harmonious with the circumstances.

In this section, Goodin gives the example of “the perils of presidentialism”: where the president and the parliament both enjoy the authority given by popular elections, neither of them tend to recognize the authority of the other. Often this mechanism leads to deadlocks between two branches. This makes comparativists to think that popular legitimacy is better to be given to one branch of the government. It is deemed preferable to have parliamentarianism where the parliament enjoys the advantages of being elected by the people while the chief executive is elected by that parliament. The other alternative is Latin American presidential dictatorships where the popularly elected president ignores the views of the popularly elected parliament.

Goodin offers two alternative ways to solve this tension which is rooted in having two branches of government elected by the people:

1. Having an unaccountable or indirectly-accountable institution to filter the decisions of the parliament. This will, according to Goodin, decrease the parliament’s ambition to own the final word on representing the will of the people.
2. Limiting the authority of the parliament to the local issues while deeming the president as the only representative of all nation.

Although I support Goodin’s idea that we should look beyond the tried-and-true models and be more creative when it comes to design issues, I really don’t think the first alternative is convincing since a popularly elected parliament which does not even tolerate the control of a popularly elected president will not tolerate the control of an unaccountable upper house.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Goodin states that there is a “higher purpose to be served” by creating constitutions. Although he does not clarify what that higher purpose is, from the rest of the paper we can claim that the higher purpose is coming up with a constitution which will blend sensible alternatives harmoniously with each other and with the circumstances. He finishes the paper by saying that “when it comes to fundamental questions of constitutional design, … much can be known and much can be done – and theorists can help.