supernatural
Things That Go Bump in the Night
I have never been one to base my beliefs on popular opinion, rumors, or superstition. My beliefs regarding the supernatural or paranormal come solely from my personal experiences, as well the trustworthy accounts of my immediate family. So, if I tell you there are indeed ‘things that go bump in the night,’ you can be sure that I am speaking of personal experience.
When I was a little girl, for example, my father was the first person to bring the supernatural to my attention with a story of his own paranormal experience back in 1946. His story was the first to whet my appetite for investigating the paranormal and the mystical.
The Second World War had just ended, and my dad was only 20 years old at the time. The United Kingdom was still recovering from the horrendous aftermath. As a result, people were seldom out and about after dark. In fact, from what my father told me, there was not much socializing in those days and at night the streets were mostly deserted.
One night, after my dad had walked my mom (his future wife) back to her house, he decided to take a shortcut to his grandmother’s place, where he was living at the time. It was around 11pm and the short route took him past the graveyard on a street called Columbus Ravine. It was here that he saw the strange sight of a lady walking up the road in what appeared to be a Victorian costume.
“That is odd,” he thought. “A woman out alone at this time of night and dressed like that? Maybe she attended a fancy-dress party?”
He did not want to alarm her. After all, she was all by herself, it was dark out, and there was no one else around. To put her mind at ease, he therefore thought it polite to greet her.
Miracles Happen Every Day
A miracle is described in the dictionary as “an event attributed to divine intervention”, and also referred to as “a phenomenon that defies the laws of nature”. The online Encyclopedia Britannica defines a miracle as “an extraordinary and astonishing happening that is attributed to the presence and action of an ultimate or divine power”. In certain translations of the Bible the terms “wonder,” “mighty work” and “sign” are also used to describe miracles.
Most people would say that a miracle has occurred when the medical profession says there is no hope for a particular patient, and then, miraculously, the patient recovers fully, and without the complications which would have been expected connected to their condition.
But miracles are not necessarily always larger than life or dramatic. Miracles can happen for anyone at any time. And don’t expect an earthly explanation, or even to be taken seriously by everyone when the miracle has happened to you.
People have often told me of little miracles that have happened to them. For example, they don’t know how their bills will be paid, and out of the blue they receive a check in the post, or money is given to them, or they would win the exact amount needed to lift them out of their financial dilemma. Although I can’t prove it scientifically, I also know for sure that miracles have happened to me.
Two separate miracles I recall very vividly are both connected to my pets. A dog, and a cat named Miracle!
When my 5 year old Rottweiler, Sophia, was rushed to the vet with what we thought was an upset stomach, a burst duodenal ulcer and peritonitis were diagnosed instead. The vets had little hope, because even for strong humans this ailment can be life threatening.
Following the diagnosis, the vet phoned me and said they had to operate immediately. I asked if I could phone my husband and get back to them. I was informed with a sense of urgency that there was no time to do that, and even if they did operate on Sophia immediately there was very little hope.
The Haunted House From My Childhood
Every year, around this time, I go to the same cemetery to visit the final resting place of my childhood friend. It is located in one of the neighborhoods we would often frequent on our bicycles. It is also where we went trick-or-treating for Halloween. My return visit this year was not only nostalgic as always, but it once again reminded me how important it is to trust your gut when it comes to paranormal phenomena. We live in a cynical, digital age, where adults too easily attribute encounters with the paranormal to the overactive imagination of children, or simply disregard it as ‘old wives’ tales.’
Throughout our childhood years, into our early teens, my friend and I would often stop to admire an abandoned old home in that neighborhood. At the time we firmly believed to be haunted! Well, amazingly, that old house is still there after all these years. It has never been demolished, despite the rumors of what went on there. There used to be talk of a vicious, gruesome murder that took place there. A well-known antique dealer in the community used to live there, and it is said that he received a surprise visit one night from two men with baseball bats, who forcefully entered his home and killed him.
Sometimes, early in the evening, on our way back home on our bikes, we would see mysterious lights flicker inside the empty old house. We always wondered who possibly could be there? There were no curtains, nor furniture inside. At least this is what we were told, when we were cautioned not to go anywhere near the place. There were also never any cars parked outside. The neighbors would take turns to mow the lawn, to keep their street looking neat.
On my recent visit, as I was getting ready to leave the cemetery, I had the idea to drive down that street, to see the old haunted house again. Feeling nostalgic, I slowly turned the corner on the dead-end street and spotted the house right away. There was what looked like a chair, out on the front lawn, and a thick layer of fallen leaves on the grass. As I drove by, I noticed a faint light in one of the windows.
The Spiritual Cleansing Of Negative Energies
Negative energies and dark entities are sometimes misunderstood and misused concepts in spirituality. The term ‘negative energy’ is typically thought of as an ‘evil force’ that is intending harm to you, or something sinister that lies hidden in your home. But this is often not the case. I have a somewhat different view of this.
I believe much of the modern day fear and superstition around ‘dark entities’ may be due to the misunderstanding of old texts scribed in a style that may be too cryptic for today’s language and worldview. There are many instances in both Christian and Buddhist religious literature, for example, in which ‘demons’ are mentioned, but in my opinion they are referring to these phenomena in a poetic manner, as a metaphor.
One clear example of this is the so-called ‘Noonday Demon,’ or ‘Midday Devil’ found in Psalm 90:6 of the Hebrew Bible. It is a demonic figure believed to be active around noon every day to make people restless, distracted and excitable, causing its victims to neglect their work or duties. Well, we all know that sluggish feeling we tend to get after a lunch hour. The digestive process takes quite a bit of our energy, and spikes in our insulin levels, as well as neurotransmitters like serotonin and melatonin, doesn´t help to keep our focus on a specific task.
The solution proposed in traditional texts for this ‘demonic activity’ does not, however, involve exorcisms with Holy Water or other radical metaphysical interventions. Instead what is recommend is mere tenacity and patience. It is evidently more of a normal, physical challenge that one has to overcome, instead of it being a ‘psychic attack by the devil.’
The Power Of Your Totems
Those of us who are metaphysically inclined often believe in the power of carrying a sacred object, symbolic item, or ‘totem.’ The totem is worn or kept on one’s person for various purposes, including healing, protection, guidance, or support.
This spiritual practice is known as Totemism. It is a system of belief in which humans are said to have a mystical relationship or kinship with a spirit-being, such as an animal, plant or symbolic object.
Believing in the power of a ‘totem helper’ gives one the kind of spiritual self-confidence that can make the difference between success and failure. Actually, I wear on my person a medicine bag in the Native American tradition, which contains various totems or ‘alliances’ I have found in nature.
Some of them were gifted to me, because they resonated with my energetic frequency and “wanted to be with me,” as friends and fellow metaphysicians have stated through the years. It is our custom to save special things of this nature for gifting to each other, especially at sacred times of the year, such as when we celebrate the solstices.
Right now, I am surrounded by all of these charming personal offerings. There are the great horned owl feathers that were gifted to me, for example. I used it to make a prayer stick, that I now make use of during meditation, and sometimes also as an altar piece. In the tradition of Totemism, I consider it to be part of a living being, which is the altar. Indeed, every altar has its own ‘being-ness,’ the same as any other sacred deity.
October 2019 Weekly Astro Forecasts
October 7 – 13
We’ll be in the shadows of a waxing Full Moon this week, so be on the alert for minor accidents, computer glitches and surprising messages from people in your past.
We’ll be under the influence of an Aquarius Moon on Monday and Tuesday, which means there’s a chance we’ll be changing direction at a moment’s notice.
New ideas flow in, but we’ll have to take care not to blurt out everything we know or think now. Better to keep things to ourselves for another week or so.
Venus will move into Scorpio on Tuesday, kicking off a month-long passion for the supernatural, the mystical and the unexplained. It will also turn our thoughts to our shadow sides or deeper selves, unearthing memories or experiences that it’s time to look at and clear out, as the transformational energy of Scorpio is so famous for.
The rest of the week takes a softer tone as the Moon glides through Pisces, gearing us toward our spiritual sides and helping us look at the bigger picture of life. The weekend is ruled by an assertive and active Aries Moon, so this is a great time to get things done!
Sunday’s Aries Full Moon will inspire us to purge, and its motto is ‘out with the old and in with the new.’ So, if you’ve got clutter around your house you’ve been meaning to bag up and donate, now’s the time!
How To Deal With Ghosts In Your Home
Do you suspect your home may be haunted? If so, don’t panic! The majority of hauntings are generally harmless. However, it is nevertheless imperative that you be able to recognize when spirits are around you, and to know how to engage correctly with them at all times. If you suspect that you are dealing with something more ominous, then it may be advisable to find professional help from paranormal experts in your area. But in most cases there is usually nothing to fear. The following guidelines may useful to you when dealing with typical ghosts in your home
Spirit Spotting
Spirits are often experienced by humans as orbs, flashing lights, shadows, blurs or mists. Complete, full-bodied apparitions, as are often portrayed in the movies, tend to be more rare and less frequently encountered. Yet, this is what most people expect to see, which impairs their very awareness to recognize spiritual contact when it actually happens.
Interestingly, paranormal research suggests that ghosts tend to be more active during the night, rather than the daytime, possibly because there is less electronic disturbance being emitted from household appliances at this time. In fact, electricity is a crucial factor in tracking down ghosts, as a lot of professional paranormal investigators use Electromagnetic Field (EMF) meters to measure spirit activity.
When an electromagnetic current changes or moves, it creates an EMF, and as ghosts are understood to be a form of energy, this energy current interferes with the EMF fields that surround them whenever they move, thus allowing any detecting equipment to ascertain both the spirit’s presence and whereabouts. How exciting is that?