psi phenomena
Modern Misunderstanding Of The Occult
I recently had an interesting conversation with a casual acquaintance about spirituality and the occult. She is new to metaphysics and mysticism, but since these topics are of great interest and intrigue to me, I needed no convincing to dive into it with her.
It soon became obvious that she had some misunderstandings, and even a few misgivings regarding these matters. For example, she believes a ‘spiritual person’ is someone who engages in some form of religion or spiritual practice, such as meditation or prayer. She also believes spirituality is the exclusive domain of humans, as animals do not practice any religion or spirituality – they merely exist in nature.
Many people confuse ‘being religious’ with ‘being spiritual’ – one does not necessarily imply the other. Living a spiritually aware or conscious life simply means ‘living in the truth’ of who you are – a spirit being in human form. One can be religious, but it is not a prerequisite to living your true spiritual identity.
I also explained to her that the creatures of this earth may appear to be ‘soulless,’ but all living, sentient beings, as well as nature at large, are all expression of Spirit, God, Source, Universe, the Divine. How the animals operate and survive in this world is what is inherently true of the inner being of who they truly are. The entire universe is an expression of its sacred origins. In fact, in my opinion animals live with much greater alignment to higher consciousness than most modern humans do!
It took her some time to evaluate these concepts, but she did eventually come to a conclusion that there must be some truth to it. However, the real fun began when I mentioned my life-long interest in the occult. She vehemently protested that everything relating to the occult is “evil and demonic.” I asked her what facts or personal experience she based this opinion on, but her only justification was that this is “what most people believe.”
The Divine Source Of Psychic Awareness
One of my favorite Vedic hymns is the Absolute mantra which can be translated this way:
That is Absolute (Divine), this is Absolute (Divine),
Absolute (Divine) rises out of Absolute (Divine).
If Absolute (Divine) is taken out of Absolute (Divine),
Absolute (Divine) remains.
It is my personal belief that this mantra is a key to understanding our existence, and also gives us insight into where psychic phenomena come from. We are all interconnected through a Divine matrix, but the daily perception of our experience is that of duality or separateness. We do not consciously share our awareness with trees or other people, but the Divine matrix is still present whether we recognize it or not.
So, how does this explain psychic phenomena? These are my theories, but that being said, they are theories that have their roots in various spiritual traditions. We may never fully understand psychic phenomena, but it is my personal conviction that it happens when a level of the Divine consciousness seeps through into the consciousness of an individual.
Some psychics experience intense empathic impressions, where they experience the emotions of another individual, while others communicate with spirits or ultra-terrestrial beings, such as the angels and guides that observe and influence our everyday lives.
The veil of duality is slightly removed for people who have these abilities and they can therefore interact with these beings on a higher plane of consciousness. Gifted psychics can also see into the past and the future, because they are able to transcend the duality of time. This is also a manifestation of the Absolute, since the Absolute transcends even time itself.
My Strange UFO Experience
It was an April day in 1983. It was a normal day at home in the quiet country setting of Delaware, Ohio. Our home was set far back from the road, on a vast expanse of pasture land with no nearby neighbors.
Nothing seemed different or out of place that day. The sky was clear, sun shine shining and birds chirping. My twin daughters and I were enjoying playing a board game in the living room.
So, imagine my shock and surprise when suddenly without warning I heard the terrible sound of what seemed like a crash or explosion right outside the front of the house. The booming sound was so loud it made the house shake.
Thinking it must have been a horrible car wreck or even a plane crash, we jumped up and ran outside. But nothing at all was out of place. There was no one there, or no sign of any accident to explain the loud sound we had heard. In fact, it was unusually quiet outside, no birds, no breeze, no sound. Only an ominous silence.
Then I sensed there was something or someone behind me, but bizarrely I found myself unable to turn around to see who or what it might be, as this energy behind me wouldn’t let me. For a few minutes I couldn’t move at all and felt a great fear for our safety.
Then I heard a telepathic voice saying, “Do not look. Do not turn. Do not move. We are not here to harm you. You and your children are safe.”
Panicked, I called for my daughters to come back into the house immediately, but noticed they were acting oddly. They did as I asked, but without turning around. Instead, they walked backwards into the house!
The Babysitter’s Near-Death Experience
While I was working out at the gym one day, I saw a little old lady who used to babysit me and my brothers when we were little children. I will never the wonderful times we had with her. She was always making it so much fun. She wasn’t on the phone all the time or watching television. She wasn’t ignoring us kids like so many of the other babysitters my mother sometimes hired for us.
When I spotted her and her daughter in the gym, I walked over to greet her, and told her that I remember her very well. I also thanked her for giving me some wonderful memories and teaching me so many valuable life lessons. The one thing I specifically remember her telling me was to always be careful about what we “put into our minds.”At a young age she had already made me realize that what we think about can either help us or harm us. I have always held on to that wisdom in my life. Because it is truly worth more than gold.
One time, I asked her how she knew so much about things. She looked at me and said,“Moon, you know what, I died once.”
“What? No way!” I responded. I went to catholic school growing up, and near-death experiences were certainly not the kind of thing we were learning about in class.
“Yes, I was in the hospital,” she continued. “I had a major operation and I could not wake up afterwards.” Apparently, she had flatlined during surgery and they had struggled to revive her.
“I am very lucky to be here,” she said and then shared some very interesting things with me about her near-death experience (NDE). I still remember that when she first left her body her parents were both there to meet her and she could hear loved ones on the other side of the tunnel having fun. I also remember she said she felt like a ball of light at the time and that it felt so good. The next moment she was being pulled back into her body. Continue reading
My Past Life Nightmare In Hexham, England
My friends have a running joke that no event with me can ever be just a normal, everyday experience. Such was my notorious visit to Hexham, England.
I used to have a friend for many years who I knew to be kind and generous. She is a talented singer and we met while performing in a musical together. We were never close friends. Instead, we kept in contact and exchanged birthday presents, but rarely talked or saw each other in person.
At one point she was going through a difficult time. She had ended several friendships, was feeling lonely, had financial problems, and desperately hoped to meet a special guy. Then she invited me to take a special trip with her to Hexham, England. She owned an international timeshare and offered to use it for the two of us for our holiday accommodation in Hexham. Although we shared the costs, she also insisted on handling all the flight bookings, transportation and other arrangements. We had a very good relationship, so it never occurred to me that all of this might later become a major issue between us.
It was a long, 13-hour flight. When we arrived at the airport, sniffer dogs held back by airport employees ran up to us with rabid looks in their eyes. They were barking loudly; it was really terrifying. Neither one of us drank, used drugs, or had ever committed any crime. In fact, she is a devote Seventh Day Adventist. So, being targeted by security dogs was an out of the norm experience for us. The customs officials took us into a backroom and thoroughly searched our baggage. I have also never experienced this before. Of course, they found nothing. I was later informed that do not often receive American visitors in Hexham, so they were therefore instantly suspicious about us.
We then found a taxi and transferred to our timeshare accommodation. To make matters worse, our visit was during an outbreak in the area of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as ‘mad cow disease.’ Everywhere we went our shoes and the wheels of the vehicles we travelled in had to be sanitized with some awful, toxic spray. Not a fun way to start a vacation.
When You Hear Things…
My grandson, his wife and their two-year-old boy, as well as their cat and dog, recently all came to live with me for a couple of months, while waiting to move into their new home. Normally my house is exceptionally quiet, so I absolutely enjoyed the noisy hustle and bustle of having a young family under my roof.
Because both parents work, their son goes to day care twice a week. They leave just after 6am in the morning and he is picked up again at 3pm at the end of his mom’s workday. The entire time they stayed with me this schedule never wavered.
Late one morning, just before noon, I was sitting quietly in my chair catching up on some knitting. I was home alone and there was little going on in the house, aside from the regular activity of the cat and dog. It therefore took me by surprise when I suddenly heard a child crying?
The wailing sound briefly came from the kitchen area, where the back door is located. I thought I was imagining things, so went back to knitting. All was quiet for a few minutes, but then the crying started again! Subconsciously, I assumed it must be my granddaughter who was home early with her son, so I expected them to come into the living room soon. But nothing further happened.
Then I heard the crying again. This time it was loud and clear enough that I had to get up and investigate. But there was no one to be found in the kitchen. I looked out the window thinking maybe they might have gone back to the car, except there was nothing in the driveway. I then opened the back door, but there was no one there. I then decided I was either imagining things, or maybe it was the cat or dog I heard.
Lucid Dreaming
When we experience a lucid dream we are aware that we are dreaming. Dreamers also report that when they are having a lucid dream, they seem to be able to control the dream to some extent and they also tend to remember them better. In my experience it is like being half asleep and half awake. One time, I actually got up for a drink of water in the middle of a lucid dream, went back to bed, and continued my dream right where I left off!
For me lucid dreaming feels like being in the state of hypnosis – a ‘light’ state of hypnosis in which you have some control over how the session goes. You are in the dream state, but still aware of things around you. You are in a have heightened state of awareness.
Everyone I have discussed the subject of lucid dreaming with usually say they enjoy the experience. Some even say they wish they could stay is that frame of mind longer. When you lucid dream, write down your experience. Enjoy the movie of your mind.
The term ‘lucid dream’ was coined in 1913 by Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his article A Study of Dreams. It usually happens during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When we sleep cycle through phases of non-REM and REM. REM sleep happens about an hour to 90 minutes after we fall asleep and this is when we tend to have vivid dreams.
It is estimated that at last 50 percent of adults have experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetime. I have them all the time. The first lucid dream I can remember was when I was about thirteen years old. I was having a lucid dream of talking to my dad. But unlike our normal waking interactions, this conversation went exactly as I wanted it to go. I asked if he would let me go to New York for three weeks, and he said yes!
Since that time, it became increasingly common for me to slip into the lucid dream state. For me it usually happens in the morning, as I am waking up, but then going halfway back to sleep.