A Spiritualist Church: Messages from the Dead?

         As an explorer of the paranormal, I’ve done some unusual things—everything from visiting haunted buildings to attending trance mediumship sessions and ritual magic circles. In November 1998, I had the opportunity to attend a service at a Spiritualist church, and the experience did make an impression.

         Spiritualists believe that a part of the human personality survives after death and is able to communicate with the living. Spiritualist churches can differ greatly in their practices, but they are all founded on this belief in spirit communication. I had a friend who was a member of a Spiritualist church, and she invited me to attend a service where she would be speaking. Of course I accepted.

         The service took place in an old, musty church that would have seemed haunted to me even if it hadn’t been Spiritualist. I just had a sense of old energies lingering in the dimness, like faint after-images imposed one on top of the other. It wasn’t the most unnerving place I’d ever been, but I definitely sensed something. The service, to my surprise, ended up containing some familiar elements: Christian hymns, Bible readings, and a belief in Jesus. This, it turns out, was a Christian Spiritualist Church. But the rest of the service was very unlike anything in a Christian church.

         My friend’s talk focused more on the metaphysical aspects of God—such as the idea of God’s presence in all things, everywhere. I enjoyed the talk, and it did give me some food for thought. But the “reading” I received from one of the ministers was the thing that really floored me. Everyone at the service got a reading, a message from the “spirit world”, and mine was so accurate that it really shook me up. Back then I was going through a difficult time, and was just beginning to climb out of some anxiety and loneliness. The minister, who had never met me before, looked me straight in the eye and told me exactly how I was feeling, and what I needed to do to feel better. One might argue that she had probably just observed all that in my demeanor; but she verbalized my feelings so precisely that I don’t think she could have done it just by looking at me. She told me that I felt like I “was dragging an enormous weight uphill,” and that I was having trouble trusting anyone to help me with it. Which was dead-on correct.

         Was this amazingly accurate message really a communication from the other side? It’s certainly possible. I know that spirits can communicate with us, and I believe there really are some who want to help us. And, fact is, I was helped by that reading. It helped motivate me to make some much-needed changes—resulting in a life that is so much fuller and happier now than it was then. So—if this really was a message from the spirit realm—thank you!

Taunting the Unknown

         As someone who’s experienced a haunting first-hand, I shudder when I see ghost hunters on TV taunting the unseen energies they’re trying to document. Even though, in my opinion, most of these shows are fabricated and staged, that doesn’t mean there aren’t invisible forces present. The locations ghost hunters visit are, for the most part, places with a history of strange occurrences. And it seems like such risky business to antagonize the unknown.

          I’ll never forget the time, years ago, when a friend and I were brazen enough to taunt the presence that had been causing disturbances in our other friend’s house. One night in late December, while we were on Christmas break from college, the three of us slept in the bedroom where the disruptions had been occurring: rapping, apparitions, objects moving by themselves, and more. A lot of thumping and banging would come from the closet in that room, and a tall bureau had been wedged in front of the closet door--to help our friend who lived there feel a little safer.
         On the night when the three of us stayed there, we spent a long time just lying in our places on the bed and floor, waiting nervously to see what would happen. Things didn’t get interesting until we finally turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep.

         We began to hear noises around us, as if something was moving around the room, disturbing things. One of the noises was near the vanity where my friend would put on her makeup, and I quipped, “Hey, it sounds like he’s putting on his makeup!” My other friend responded with a gibe about our unseen visitor’s sexual orientation--tasteless and insulting, to be sure. Immediately we heard a loud bang, and we screamed. When we finally had the courage to turn on the lights, we saw that a can had fallen--or been thrown--from the top of the bureau, which was about 6 feet tall. The can had landed a few feet out from the bureau, close to the place where two of us were lying on the floor.

         Just a few minutes later there was another loud bang, and another scream from one of my friends. She was sitting by the wall with her elbow touching it, and something had thumped soundly on the wall, close to her elbow. Needless to say, we ended up spending the rest of the night with the black light on. In retrospect, that seems like a strange choice of lighting--everything looks eerie under black light. But it seemed like a good idea at the time!

         I guess my point is that unseen, unexplained energies do exist--and they are sometimes able to respond to what we say and do. Since we truly don’t understand what we’re dealing with, why not approach with caution--and a degree of respect? At this point in my life, I would never treat any area of the mysterious in a flippant way. The paranormal is not a game. One might argue that I wasn’t really harmed as a result of my brash behavior--but who's to say that I wasn't just lucky? Who really knows the extent of what the invisible can do? And--how do I know that I didn't cause distress to an already disturbed spirit? I'd much prefer, at this point, to approach with respect.
         I’m not saying that we humans shouldn’t remain curious about the unseen, or continue to explore it; I’m just saying we should do it with caution and respect. What do you think?

Paranormal Romance, For Real

         Sometimes truth really is more extraordinary than fiction. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m going to share the story of a true-life romance where intuition and psychic connection played a major role. I know the story is true, because I was in it—along with my husband.

         The tale actually begins 6 years before the two of us met—when his name turned up in a journal of mine. As an avid explorer of the paranormal, I kept a record of unusual experiences, dreams, and psychic impressions. One day I jotted down his name, and the words “He’s coming! Yes!” In all honesty, I didn’t think much about it after that. But that entry did turn out to be precognitive. And it was just the first of many uncanny occurrences involving him and me.

         Six years after that journal entry, I was living in the Northeast, single and disenchanted; he was stationed on a military base over 900 miles away. Amazingly, even though each of us almost didn’t make it, we both ended up on Paradise Island, Bahamas at the same time—in the same disco, on the same night. I sat down at a table behind him. And, he says, he got a sudden, overwhelming feeling that he had to turn around and talk to the person behind him; he knew that if it was a man, he would become his best friend—and if it was a woman, she would be the love of his life.

         So he turned around and asked me to dance. I said “yes”, and that’s how it began. As I said in a previous entry, I was amazed at the immediate, potent mental connection we made. He already seemed so familiar on the first night we met. And by the next night, I knew I was falling in love with him.

         In the following months, as we dated mostly by phone and letter, intuition continued to play a huge role between us. Even though we hadn’t known each other for very long, I had a deep sense that he was the right one for me; that was the major factor in my decision to marry him. I’ll never forget the night when we shared the same reincarnational memories of each other, with him describing the same details I was seeing in my mind (See my blog entry “Other Lives”, June 21, 2011). And on the day of our wedding, I had a profound feeling of being in exactly the right place, for the first time in my life.

         Now, nearly 26 years later, my husband and I still have a beautiful romance. We have our challenges, of course. But in the end, we always come through them better off than we were. Intuition and psychic connection have continued to operate in our relationship. And marrying him has turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

         Having been a very real part of this amazing story, I’ve come to believe that my husband and I certainly didn’t meet by accident; I also believe that we were connected, on a psychic and spiritual level, long before we met. I think our story also demonstrates the potency of intuition. We humans really are so much more than we appear to be on the surface—and the connections between us run far deeper than we usually know. The Universe truly is an amazing place.

Vast Potential

         

         In my novel Between the Sun and the Moon, I explore some of the “what-ifs” about the power of the mind—for telepathic communication, self-protection, and influencing weather, plant growth and other events. Do I believe we humans are actually capable of all this, and so much more? Absolutely. Why? Because there is, in us, this amazing interface between brain and mind. I believe that these two parts of us are much more powerful than we realize, and that they create in us a vast potential for amazing things.

         Medical science acknowledges that the full power and capability of our brains isn’t fully understood; this less tangible thing called “mind” seems even harder to delineate. But I believe that the power of each is considerable. And, working with and through each other as they do, they give us the capacity to accomplish remarkable things, including the heightened mental powers I described above. The vast majority of us aren’t using our minds in this expanded way because we truly don’t realize it’s possible. But, in American culture, at least, there seems to be another factor, too.

         We Americans seem to have a great deal of skepticism and fear holding us back. Most of us don’t seem to believe that we could have these incredible capabilities—or we’re terrified at the idea that we just might. Over the years, I’ve seen and experienced enough to know that the power of the mind does extend beyond the limits we’ve created for it. I’d love to see more of us recognizing our potential and using it in a constructive way. We could make some truly amazing changes in our world. Wouldn’t that be an awesome thing?

Intuition Speaks

         Have you ever had the unshakable feeling that you were in exactly the right place—or the opposite feeling that you had to get away, fast? I’ve had both, and I always listen to that inner voice. It’s never misled me. I’ve come to believe that this thing called intuition is an aspect of our psychic nature as humans—and that it certainly serves a purpose.

         I’ll always remember the two occasions when my sense of being in exactly the right place was incredibly strong: the day I married my husband, and the first day I ever worked out at a gym. In both instances, I felt a profound sense of rightness about what was happening in that moment—and a distinct sense of being in my perfect place. Powerful feelings, and they didn’t turn out to be false. After nearly 26 years, my husband and I are still together in a strong, loving partnership that has enriched both our lives. And, after 19 years and many ups and downs, I’m still working out at the gym, which continues to be a healing activity for my body and spirit.

         I can also recall two occasions when my intuition warned me that I absolutely needed to get away. One night, during a cross-country car trip, my husband and I stopped at a small motel for the night. As soon as I went into the motel room, I was seized with the feeling that something terrible was going to happen; the sense of danger was so imminent and close. I stridently refused to stay there, and my husband ended up taking me to a hotel. Another instance happened years later, as the two of us were driving on the freeway, headed for a night out. I suddenly had a bad feeling about where we were going, and that we shouldn’t go. When I told my husband this, he said, “You know, I’m getting the same feeling.” Needless to say, our plans immediately changed.

         I never found out whether anything bad actually happened in either of these instances; there was no way I was going to stick around to find out! Because my intuition had been right about so many things. And there was a time when it really did save me. When I was a child, I was approached by a couple of men in a car, who claimed they knew my father and wanted to give me a ride. Looking into their faces, I knew they were lying; I just knew. I refused to go with them, and I didn’t let them get close—a decision that probably saved my life.

         After numerous episodes of intuition over the years, I’ve come to believe that it serves a definite purpose: to provide us with just one more level of feedback about situations in our lives, making us aware of significant things our physical senses aren’t able to discern. Another piece of our amazing psychic nature as humans. How wonderful is that?

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.