Book Review: "Adventures in the Supernormal"

         Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a collection of books on the paranormal, and I’ve certainly learned something from each one. But there were a few that made an especially deep impression on me. Adventures in the Supernormal by Eileen J. Garrett is one of them.

         This small but potent book is the autobiography of Eileen Garrett (1893-1970), one of the most amazingly psychic people I’ve ever heard about. In an insightful, unpretentious way, she describes a life that was far from typical, giving us a glimpse into how it felt to be intensely psychic—and sharing her perceptions of the unseen world that is hidden to most of us.

         From the time of her childhood in Ireland, Eileen could see auras (“surrounds”) around people, animals, and plants; perceived patterns of color and light everywhere, and saw how they interacted with the energies of living things; and saw and communicated with spirits. As her life unfolded, she would exhibit practically every psychic skill I know of—precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis, spiritual healing, and trance mediumship. She would participate in psychic research in both Britain and the US, where she was extensively studied and tested, and recognized as a credible, highly skilled psychic. (She was, in fact, the subject of one of the most well‑documented, convincing episodes of trance mediumship in the history of psychic research. More on that in a future entry.) As often as possible, she also made herself available to people who needed healing or psychic help. And in 1951, Eileen established the non-profit Parapsychology Foundation, which is still in existence today, supporting scientific and academic research in parapsychology. Along with all this, she also managed to be a book publisher, magazine editor, and author of a number of books! A truly amazing story.

         This is not a new book, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who’s interested in the paranormal. The book is available from Amazon and other sources, and I just might get one to replace my yellowed, well-read copy. It would certainly be worth it!

Paranormal Phenomena: Proving The Unprovable

         Even as someone who’s had many unusual experiences, I’ve come to believe that there are some areas of the paranormal where definitive proof isn’t possible. Ghosts, and the issue of spirit communication, are two of those areas. Now, I don’t need to be convinced that ghosts exist, or that the dead can communicate with the living; I’ve experienced these things first-hand, so I already know. But I haven’t yet seen any kind of concrete evidence that proves these truths in an objective way.

         Part of the problem, I think, is that “evidence” can be so easily faked. EVP recordings, spirit photography, mediums seeming to make contact with deceased members of peoples’ families—all very easy to fake. I tend to agree, too, with one of the interpretations of quantum physics, which suggests that the act of observing a phenomenon changes it. Maybe setting out to observe a paranormal event changes it, making it even more difficult to pin down. But the biggest reason why I believe that objective proof isn’t always possible: I don’t believe we can easily measure the intangible through concrete means. How do you capture proof of things that exist outside ordinary reality by using the tools of ordinary reality, like a computer or a camera or an audio recording device? Not so easily, it seems to me. The tool just isn’t appropriate to the task. And how could you even develop a suitable tool until you had begun to understand the nature of the thing you were trying to capture?

         The only convincing evidence for anyone, I believe, is in their own experience. Once a paranormal event has happened to you—once you’ve distinctly felt an unseen presence in a room, heard rapping on the walls and seen objects moving on their own—you know. Or when you unexpectedly receive, in a dream or meditation, that vivid communication from someone who has passed away—you know. And your view of reality is never quite the same after that.

The Wisdom of Wicca

         Many of us, it seems, are afraid of people who practice witchcraft. Yes, there are some “witches” who seek to manipulate people and situations for their own gain, even to cause harm. I’ve met a few. But I’ve also known others who practice Wicca, “the craft of the wise”—a nature religion that reveres all life and seeks to bring healing and good to the world. I can tell you that Wiccans understand something vitally important that most of us don’t: they understand the tremendous power of thought.

         Wiccans strive to master the art of casting spells, learning to direct their thoughts consciously and strongly to achieve a positive purpose. But: every one of us, every day—through the sum total of our thoughts—is “casting a spell” that helps create our personal world and the larger one in which we live. Most of us do this unknowingly, without direction or focus. But, like Wiccans and others who recognize the potency of thought, we can learn to direct our thoughts in an affirmative way. And then we get to witness some magic of our own!

         I’ve seen this principle work very powerfully in my own life. When my husband and I decided to buy a home, we just happened to be taking a class in spiritual/metaphysical studies. The instructor, and the entire class, put out affirmative energy to support our house-hunting efforts. (In a future entry, I’ll explain how they did it.) In a supposed “seller’s market”, we found a great property on our first day out; were the first to make an offer on it; and ended up getting it for an excellent price. A couple of years later, when my husband was job hunting, we again sought affirmative energy support for our efforts. He did find a job, with excellent pay and benefits at a stable company—so stable, in fact, that even during the recent economic crisis, this company continued to grow, hiring new employees at a time when many others were losing jobs.

         I’ve also seen, among our friends, numerous “miracles”, big and small: a car, a needed item, or unexpected money coming to someone just when they needed it; people suddenly appearing in someone’s life to help solve a problem; even an organ donor becoming available just when it was needed. The common denominator: in each case, there was a person or a group utilizing the principles of affirmative thought in order to help bring about a good result.

         Could all of this be coincidence or illusion? I really don’t think so. And I believe that the power to utilize thought is universal; anyone can do it. By conceiving a positive thought and entertaining it strongly, with some potent emotion behind it, anyone can achieve a goal or help manifest a favorable outcome in a situation. We really do have so much more power than most of us realize. Why not learn to use it as constructively as we can?

Strange History

         I first began keeping a journal in 1975—a lifetime ago, it seems. This written record of my life has allowed me to see the pattern of events that comprise this strange history of mine. There were the big events—like the poltergeist phenomena I witnessed, or the extraordinary people I met. But there were also so many small, uncanny occurrences that would have been unrecognized or forgotten if I hadn’t kept a journal.

         The thing that amazes me most is just how often my dreams, hunches and feelings turned out to be precognitive (predictive of future events). There were numerous instances when I would get the feeling that someone was going to call or write or visit soon, and they would. There were also a number of occasions when I would have an intense dream of my ex-boyfriend—only to run into him within the next day or two. This didn’t happen every time I dreamed about him, but most of the time, I could feel when the dreams would be precognitive.

         Once, during one of my meditations, I “saw” an image of a group of people in wheelchairs. Little did I know that I would later get a job in a nursing home, something I never expected to do. I became quite close with the residents of that home, many of whom were in wheelchairs. Another amazing incident: a full 6 years before I met my husband, I made a note of his name in my journal and wrote, “He’s coming! Yes!” Imagine his astonishment when, after we’d been married for a while, I showed him that old entry with his name in it!

         Sometimes my precognitions could be a bit chilling, too. The ones that stand out most involve my father. For a couple of weeks before his death at the age of 53, I felt a distinct sense of his energy ebbing away—even though his health didn’t appear to be worsening. On the night before he died, I found myself lying in bed wondering what our family would do if we lost him. Then, on the day he passed away, I began to have a cold, pervasive feeling of something being terribly wrong. At 4 PM, the time he died, I felt a strange, disorienting jolt, like time going awry—and the van I was traveling in with a group of nursing-home residents nearly crashed into the vehicle in front of us. To make the story even stranger, I found out later that, around the time of my father’s death, a close friend of mine also had a premonition. She was napping, and she dreamed about a man who was cut down in the street by a speeding car. He resembled my father, and she woke up with the horrible feeling that something might have happened to him.

         With all this strange history behind me, how could I not believe in a sixth sense? I’m not sure where psychic ability comes from, but I think all we humans have it, to some degree; it’s part of the great, complex mystery of who we are. Maybe that’s why writing about things psychic—in my novels, journals, and blog entries—is such a passion of mine. It’s the mysteries in life that really fascinate me and ignite my imagination. How about you?

Extraordinary Psychics

         During my years of exploring the paranormal, I’ve met psychics, mediums, healers, and more. There were a few who truly amazed me with their gift—and with their capacity to guide and inspire through using that gift.
         The first one that comes to mind is a psychic named Michael Sullivan. In my early days as an explorer of the mysterious, I went to a weekend gathering where I met quite a few unusual people. Michael was there, and I decided to consult him for a psychic reading. Without any information from me, he proceeded to give me a lengthy reading on my health, personality traits, talents, needs, and more. The amount of accurate detail he provided was astounding, including some truths about myself that I probably wouldn’t have wanted to talk about—and some unrecognized strengths I sorely needed to hear about. He seemed to sense exactly what I needed to know in order to create some constructive change in my life. The insight I gained from that reading turned out to be just the beginning of my seeing myself in a different way.
         Over the next several years, I shed a substantial amount of weight, met my husband, and moved to a different part of the country to start a new life. I’m not implying, of course, that a single psychic reading solved all my problems. But it did prove to be a catalyst for positive change, a little nudge up to the next level in my personal evolution. For that reason, as much as for Michael’s amazing talent, I’ll always think of him as extraordinary.
         Another person who impressed me deeply was the trance medium June Burke, who dedicated over 35 years of her life to channeling “Julian”, a being who identified himself as an angel of the order Seraphim. I’ve never thought of myself as a believer in angels, but I do think we humans are not the only kind of being in the Universe—and I believe that there really are some highly evolved essences who have a desire to help and guide us.
         I once had the privilege of attending one of June Burke’s channeling sessions, and I felt something extraordinary when Julian began to speak through her. June’s own personality was appealing and warm, but when Julian came through, I distinctly felt something radiant and powerful descending into the room. The entire atmosphere changed, and an utterly different intelligence began to speak. The message that came through was about our own radiance, our amazing minds, and our capacity to bring light to the world. The experience left a deep impression that is still with me to this day. The spiritual philosophy I’ve come to embrace in recent years bears many similarities to the Julian Teachings. And the spiritual leaders I admire most, and most want to learn from, are the ones who carry the kind of radiance Julian described.
         Recently I was pleased to discover that the legacy of June Burke and Julian still carries on, through the Julian Teachings Organization (www.julianteachings.com). June passed away in 2005, but she left explicit instructions for the preservation of Julian’s teachings. Under the leadership of Saul Srour, (who was trained and groomed for years by June and Julian) the organization is continuing their work—through the classes and workshops June and Julian created; through her books; through yearly Gatherings, a website, and an e-newsletter. The website contains some of the fascinating details of June and Julian’s story, and also features “Affirmations from Julian”—pieces of his inspirational, yet very pertinent and practical guidance. Something we could all use a little of, it seems …
         Sometimes I feel so grateful for the burning curiosity that first impelled me to explore the supernormal. It led me to some extraordinary people, who influenced my life in potent and unexpected ways. How could I not be grateful for that?

        

Ann Young

Author—Fantasy, Mysticism, Paranormal Fiction…and Fact

www.annyoungfiction.com

           

           

Other Lives

        Have you ever felt like you’ve known someone before—in another life you lived before you were born as the person you are now? Ann, the protagonist in my novel Echoes of the Moon, has that experience—and I have, too. In fact, the people I felt that way about turned out to be some of the most important ones in my life.

        The first one that comes to mind is a childhood friend I met when I was 9 or 10. She seemed so familiar right from the start—I just felt like I already knew her. And she understood me so implicitly; we could laugh together, cry together, share secrets and behave outrageously together. Even before I was old enough to consider a belief in reincarnation, I knew we had known each other before. Our friendship ended up lasting for over 20 years. And just recently we’ve found each other again!

        Even more uncanny was the experience I had with a man I fell in love with in my mid-20’s. Powerfully drawn to each other from the start, we spent an enormous amount of time together; we always had so much to talk about. And there really was genuine love between us. But he wasn’t able to give me the romantic relationship I wanted. One night, as I was lamenting once again over this man I couldn’t have, an unexpected, intense flash of knowing came to me. I realized that we had loved each other long before we had ever met in this life; I could sense the numerous lives we had been through together. Our purpose, I knew, had been to explore all the different configurations of love—husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child, friend and friend. And I realized that, in this life, we were simply experiencing another configuration. This didn’t provide an instant solution for my pain, by any means. But I think it really did help me move on. A few years later, I met a man who possessed some of the same qualities I had loved in this one—plus more. And I ended up marrying him.

        I guess it isn’t surprising that my most intense reincarnational experience happened with my husband-to-be. The story of how we met, far from our homes in different parts of the US, is amazing enough. And then there’s the flash of intuition that impelled him to approach me on the night we met. (More on all that in a future entry.) Suffice it to say, our relationship was powerful from the start; just a few hours after we met, the nearness of him already seemed so familiar. Our minds just seemed to spark and dance together when we talked. And by the second night, I knew I was falling in love with him.

        A few months later, as we were chatting on the phone, I admitted I had the feeling that I’d known him before. He said that he’d had the same feeling about me. And then I had a sudden flash of another life where we had been together. I actually saw what I had looked like! I knew that I had been his protector and helpmate that time, and that one of his reasons for coming into my present life was to return the favor. I knew, too, that we had acted out this pattern through a series of lives, taking turns taking care of each other. As I began to tell him all that, he floored me by filling in pieces of the story before I could say them, even describing the physical appearance I had seen in my mind! Incredible! I’d already had an idea that our relationship would be extraordinary, but that conversation convinced me even more. Now, twenty-five years later, we’re still together, and we’re still the kind of couple that people notice because we seem unusually close. Funny how that turned out …

        Do I really believe that I knew these people in other lives? Yes, I think I did. I suspect that all of us live many lives in this vast, richly creative Universe of ours—and that, if we open our minds, we can discern pieces of our own amazing histories. We would probably discover that we’re all much more deeply connected than we thought.

    

Ghost in the Closet

        As children, most of us were probably frightened, at one time or another, of the monster lurking under the bed or in the closet. I never dreamed that, as a college student, I would be witness to a string of eerie paranormal disturbances, some of which really did emanate from a bedroom closet.

        As I’ve mentioned before, these strange events took place in the home of one of my friends. The room where the disturbances occurred did have a bit of a history; an older family member had been convinced, years before, that there was a presence in the room. She had never felt at ease there. Years later, when my friend “inherited” the room, and that presence began to make itself very strongly known, I happened to be one of those who experienced it. I heard the eerie rapping on the walls—which would occur in different places in the room—sometimes very close to where one of us was sitting, and sometimes in response to what that person had said. I felt the pervasive, unnatural cold that would settle on our clothes and skin. And I heard the distinct sounds of thumping and banging that sometimes came from the closet. Needless to say, everyone wanted to stay away from that closet—and my friend decided she felt safer with a tall, heavy bureau wedged against the closet door. But: when items began disappearing from all over the house, she developed a sinking feeling about where they might be. And I was with her on two of the occasions when she finally opened the closet.

        I’ll never forget the chilling sense of shock I felt over what we found in the closet. On both occasions, the missing items from the house were indeed there—plus some other things that no one had realized were missing. We found a magazine, a ticket stub, drawings, photos, plaques, and other items, intermixed with the old clothing and books stored in the closet. One item we found, a magazine illustration, didn’t belong to any of us; we never did figure out where it came from. A couple of the paper items we found were actually crumpled. And, on the third occasion when the closet was opened, the items we had so carefully placed on the shelf had been tossed onto the floor of the closet. Very disquieting.

        Was all of this a hoax, or some crazy practical joke? I really don’t think so. I knew everyone who lived in that house; my friend and her brother were genuinely terrified about what was happening there, and I can’t imagine either of them carrying on a hoax that ended up lasting for over a year and a half. Their mother, a no-nonsense sort of woman, certainly wouldn’t have done it. And the other person in the house was too ill to be physically capable of it.

        I also can’t find a rational explanation for the entire range of strange occurrences that took place in that house. Even if some of it was hysteria or exaggeration or a mistake, that certainly wouldn’t explain everything. And: having been there to witness these things first-hand—I could feel, on a deep level, that I was in the midst of something totally beyond normal comprehension. My view of reality was never the same after that.

        I’ve come to believe that our everyday world exists side-by-side with other realities that are largely beyond our perception—and that energies from those unseen realities occasionally seep into our familiar world, producing strange phenomena that we can’t explain. Maybe, sometimes, something in our own consciousness attracts or feeds or stirs these energies; I wondered about that in the case of my friend, who was a brazen experimenter in the paranormal. The presence in her home became much more disruptive after her explorations began. I wonder, too, whether the spirits of deceased people don’t always entirely leave our world, hovering between the seen and unseen, with their presence echoing back to us in what we call “hauntings”. Maybe this was true of the presence in my friend’s house, who apparently lingered for decades before the really severe disturbances began. Or maybe this “presence” was more a trace, an impression of a deceased person’s energy that was left behind. So many intriguing possibilities …

        What do you think?

The Magic of Ideas

     For me, one of the most exciting things about being a writer is the seemingly magical way in which ideas bubble up. I can still remember how the idea for my first novel came about.
     When I was in my late 30’s, I read two books that especially inspired me: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, a vivid retelling of the Arthurian legend from the point of view of the priestess Morgaine and the other women. The other book, written by medium Jane Roberts, was The Education of Oversoul Seven, a metaphysical tale of the interconnectedness of souls and the many lives we live. Both stories made a deep impression on me, and I finally realized what I wanted to write about: the mysterious, the supernatural, and the unseen. I also knew that I wanted my first novel to take place in an ancient setting. And then one day, without any conscious effort on my part, a group of characters sprang up fully formed in my mind; they had distinct names, personalities and faces, and I knew their story would take place in ancient times, but not exactly where. That was the beginning of Between the Sun and the Moon, a project that became my passion for the next six years. I still feel amazed at the incredible way in which it started.
     Echoes of the Moon, my second novel, also had an uncanny start. I had gone into the hospital for minor surgery—a brief procedure, but one that required general anesthesia. A few days after the surgery, as I was recuperating at home, I was awakened early in the morning by an idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d had some ideas about the next novel I wanted to write, but I suddenly knew, very powerfully, exactly what I wanted to do. And my mind wouldn’t rest until I got out of bed and began putting my ideas into writing. Later I joked to some friends that having anesthesia must have shaken something loose in my subconscious! And then I remembered: just before the surgeon had put me to sleep, he had started a conversation with me about my writing, asking what kind of writing I did and what my novel was about. This was the last thing in my mind before I drifted off, and I realized later that this probably did help advance that wonderful subconscious process that seems to underlie my writing.
     After having these experiences, and hearing about how ideas evolve for other creative people, I’ve come to believe that a person’s creativity draws from myriad sources, not all of them conscious. Input taken in at all levels of mind—things we experience, sense, see, hear, read, imagine—all swirl into a great melting-pot of creativity. And from a continuous, subconscious process of creation, ideas and inspiration bubble up. To me, that’s a wondrous thing. And it’s one of the reasons I feel so fortunate to be a writer.

**Blog: First Entry, 1/14/11

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            Sometimes a writer’s inspiration comes from the most unexpected of places. When I was in college, a series of unusual experiences totally rocked my world. I had no idea how much this would change the course of my life—and ultimately become the springboard for the kind of writing I wanted to do: stories and poetry about the mysterious, the uncanny and the unseen.

           The crazy thing that happened way back then: I was a witness to some incredible paranormal occurrences in a friend’s house. Banging on the walls, objects moving by themselves, sudden, unnatural coldness in the room—none of which had any mundane cause we could find. This wasn’t a college prank, or some silly practical joke; my friend’s entire family witnessed the strange events in the house. And they were eventually driven to sell the house when the disturbances became even worse. For me, all these events had an undeniable validity. And my life wasn’t the same after that.

           I guess I became a kind of explorer of the unusual, spending years learning and experiencing as much as I could (I’ll share more about that in future blog entries). I’d also had a love of writing from when I was young, and had tried my hand at various kinds of writing. I finally realized the kind of writing I wanted to do. And soon the idea for my first novel was born. I’m excited to begin sharing the writing that has evolved out of this unusual life of mine.

          I’ve written two fiction novels so far: a fantasy story in an ancient, mystical setting, and a ghost story set in contemporary times. Each novel explores some of the what-ifs—about psychic things and magic and the power of the mind—and the incredible workings of the Universe. Come take a little journey into the mysterious with me. And do enjoy the ride!