I Can't See in the Akashics
Everyone has the capability to see visuals when working in the Akashics. This is hardware and software we come equipped with as human beings. It's standard on all models. :) However, there are a number of things which can interfere with the process, some of which aren't resolvable, most of which are. For example, being born blind doesn't prevent a person from having visuals in the Akashics, but as this won't be the primary mode of communication or even sensory input for them in embodied life, their brain won't naturally use it as the means by which to access or process experiences. This isn't something which can be remedied. On the other hand, someone who can't calm down enough to get into a meditative state or who suffers from night terrors can get support which allows them to heal and use their regular abilities of visualization.
With that said, we live in a culture which tends to talk about things as if "one size fits all". As if there's a standard for doing things which every single person should meet or else they'll be found lacking. It's easy to recognize because it requires us to compare. I think of it as the Lemming test. If everyone else is doing it, then I should be able to do it. Like Lemmings running headlong off a cliff. We look at the mass and want to join, but don't think critically about what the mass is doing or what it means long term.
Everyone has the capability to see visuals, but not everyone will use the ability in the same way. This is the same as people being right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous. Yes, we all have hands, but how we are wired to use them and what we train ourselves to do with them is very individual. Some people are gifted with tools, musical instruments, or hand motions. Others have strength, agility, and hand eye coordination. Most of us are capable of handling the rudiments (pun intended) and some learn work arounds to make up for a deficit. I personally suffered from repetitive motion injury in my right arm from overuse. This is something I manifested, and it helped me to understand that, while I can do something if I set my mind to it, overriding my body's wisdom is not the best way to go about things. So, I worked, not just to heal, but also to change my life so I wasn't overtaxing myself professionally and personally. At the same time I trained my left hand so I could be ambidextrous. Particularly I trained to be able to use my computer mouse and pointing devices left-handed.
Part of being able to get visuals easily depends on what amounts to personality "handedness". For those who are naturally grounded, slip into meditation easily, and have an easy time taking in volumes of information as data or story, then the visuals are going to be a breeze for the most part.
For people who are more emotionally, musically, or experientially inclined, the visuals might be harder. This is because visual representations can cause us to experience feelings, but they don't require active feeling or interaction. For those who need to "feel it to get into it", visuals can be cold, distant, and dry. These people's visualization triggers can take more connection or "meat" as it were to get started.
And for kinesthetic people, those who think in movement, three dimensional forms, or the interconnective Tetris of things, visuals are the most difficult. Dropping into the boring state of receiving pure data the way visuals provide it is a bit like forcing a Tiger or a Dragon to sit still and listen to a lecture. It's not that they can't, but why would they want to? There are better ways to get things done, as far as they're concerned.
So before labeling an inability to see visuals as a problem or something broken which needs to be fixed, first look at what you're working with. There might not be a problem at all, other than you're trying to ignore the fact the peg is square, triangular, or a tetrahedron as you pound it into a round hole it will never fit.
If instead of visuals you see colored lights, hear sounds, sometimes get perceptions of things and or beings, try working with this information. After a meditation write it all down and let yourself feel it fully. Not the frustration, but what did the perceptions make you feel before frustration? Connecting this way will trigger your ability to translate the experience into a visual style which you will then be able to write down as if writing out a dream.
If you're more tactile and so receive physical sensations or emotions while receiving information directly, then work with a partner rather than writing things down. During or after being in the Akashics a partner can ask you pertinent questions such as what your book looked like, what room you were in, or who you interacted with and you should be able to talk it through.
Once you know and are comfortable about your natural ability and means of working in the Akashics, you can then work to improve it like any other skill. Just as you didn't come into this world walking, talking, or texting, you didn't come in fully capable of consciously accessing the Akashics. While we tend to think of these things as natural gifts, they are actually skills which can improve with conscious effort and practice, are vulnerable to the "use it or lose it" rule, and can be impaired by physical/emotional/mental interference.
With that said, there are things beyond just skill set which can affect our ability to perceive visuals in the Akashics. Below are some of the most common issues people experience and what you can do to start working through them.
#1 Issue - Sleep/Stress
We both know and often forget lack of sleep, long term stress, and current/recent trauma affect our ability to focus on or intake information. For example: if we've just been in a fender bender our ability to take information in is disrupted for minutes or even hours. Or you can ask any new parent about how lack of sleep makes us loopy, irrational, and unfocused. (Or just look at the circles under their eyes and then offer to look after the baby for a couple of hours while they take a nap...you'll be saving their sanity). If we're going through highly stressful events like surgery, illness, loss of income, moving, getting married, getting divorced, and so on and so on, our ability to take in anything other than the very specific information which will help us survive is severely limited. Our nervous system makes sure of it.
Accessing the Akashics during these times may be possible, but it's not likely, and the results are usually fairly worthless. Either we get fragments which make no sense even to someone who isn't sleep deprived or we get the message "everything is going to be ok" over and over and over with no further details.
So, if you need Akashic help, inspiration or problem solving during these times, I recommend working with an Akashic reader. Your energies and efforts are best focused on getting through this time frame rather than taking on one more task.
#2 Issue - Am I making it all up in my head?
I have a podcast about this which goes into more detail, called Getting Your Brain out of your Way, but the short answer is, probably not. While it can seem like it, since the Akashics isn't going to use a visual vocabulary you aren't familiar with, what you're experiencing there is really there.
But you don't need to believe me or live in doubt. What you experience isn't all in your head any more than what is said in a conversation over dinner is completely controlled by you. If you want to check this out for yourself, next time you are daydreaming about something, try changing some random aspect. Try changing the setting, the flooring, the ceiling or the sky. Try changing what the people are wearing. You'll find you either can't or the change is momentary and returns almost immediately to what it was before. It's as if you looked at the person you're having dinner with, told them you didn't like their eye color and then tried to change it for them.
If you can change something in the scenario then it's something you brought with you, something in your head. If it's something you can't change, then it's part of the conversation. It's either something the other party is trying to tell you or it's part of the place. Either way, it's not irrelevant but has meaning and you should pay attention.
#3 Issue - Everything is Dark or Blurry
Touching or handling things in the Akashics is a great remedy for many different problems including not being able to see things clearly, misinterpreting things, imagining things are there or not there, or proving it's not all in your head. And as many have noticed in dreamtime or through other Akashic experiences, while sight is our key sense in embodied life, it can be complicated in the Akashics. Our minds can play tricks with us, making something look one way when it is actually somewhat or quite a bit different. This is why it's so helpful to hold things or touch them rather than just looking. Not only does this help you focus, but your sense of touch will put the lie to any information your mind is trying to convince you of.
You can use your hands somewhat like a blind person and map your Akashic room. From the door you enter, turn left, hold your hands out in front of you and start walking. Whatever you come in contact with, touch it to verify what you're seeing - or not seeing - to get a full sense of the object or feature. This includes furniture, knick-knacks, windows and so on. The more you are in physical contact with the object the more information you'll gain, somewhat like a dried sponge coming into contact with water. You won't be knocked off your feet, but your perception of the item and the room will expand as you get filled up with knowingness. Follow the wall, not your visual perception of the room, to discover whole new areas you weren't aware of, items you've skipped over, and to build skill with your Akashic perceptive acuity.
#4 Issue - Not wanting to know what you know
One of the most frustrating issues for not being able to see in the Akashics is the one which seems like self-sabotage. We want to be able to do it, at the same time we know we're preventing ourselves from doing it! This is often because even though our problem solving brain wants to know and work with what is there, it also wants to protect us from it. Once something is seen, it cannot be unseen. Or once something is said, whether through words or visuals, it cannot be taken back.
In modern times we have come to think of words as things. As tools which we create, use, discard, and manipulate with ease. Generations tease each other about it, claiming words and phrases are old, dated, or out of touch. Others lament the generations who can only write in text abbreviations and have no reverence for the Oxford comma.
What we have lost, what indigenous and ancient cultures honor and incorporate into their understanding of how the universe works, is words/images/symbols have power. We see this in Egyptian writings where symbols were so powerful they were modified in Kings burial chambers so they didn't harm the soul. We learn this from the myths and legends of the Druids who used words and symbols to manifest connection with the numinous. Or in the wisdom about Dragons which filters to us out of various Asian cultures, where the right word used against them can either create or destroy.
Vestiges of this linger today. "Sticks and stones may break my bones..." is an incantation we teach to children in order to help them retain their power in the face of social strife. Current manifestation fads teach us if we just think the right thoughts, say the right things, and hold the right intention all of our desires will come true. And all of us know instinctively that saying something out loud makes it real, hence we all know and have probably experienced a situation where "there's an elephant in the room".
When our problem-solving brain is wanting to get into the Akashics and see things, but our internal self is resisting, this is more than likely because of an elephant in the room. This could be one particular issue we don't want to face, like the fact our marriage/relationship/partner situation is over, and things need to change. It could be we tend to try and see problems as within us when they aren't because seeing the bigger picture is far too frightening and requires us to make survival/thrival level changes. The issue could be more core as we have a coping mechanism which requires us to be fully and completely in control, to wrap our head around things before we take any action, therefore we can't even get in the Akashic door. If we can't set the agenda, control what we experience and how, then all of our self-protective measures come on full force at the same time our conscious mind is actively trying to push through them. Like a car where we've got the gas pedal to the floor while at the same time having the emergency brake on and the door open so we can jump out.
In these situations, awareness is the remedy. If we can allow ourselves to be aware of this. If we can accept and begin to feel how we are ignoring our internal knowing, protecting ourselves against ourselves, and working from instinctive reactions which are more relevant than any meditation or journey, then we can start to resolve the issue. Because the issue isn't really about the Akashics, meditative technique, or skills, so much as the elephant in the room and how much we're doing to avoid it.
For those who want support to help with this or anything else about your Akashic work, I offer private lessons which are created specifically for you. You can find our more and schedule your session on my website. I’ll put the specific link in the podcast description.