GATHERING GHOSTS

According to some cultures, ghosts are not only real, but can be troublesome.

Here in the United States we tend to believe in ghosts and they are sensationalized on television shows like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State. According to these shows, ghosts can do things like decrease the temperature in a room, cause orbs in pictures, occasionally move things like curtains or chairs, and speak in difficult to hear voices that are picked up on EVP recording devices.

If the entity haunting the house is demonic, supposedly it is much more dangerous to the inhabitants of the home. A demon or devil can possess a person and take over their lives.

There are many different types of ghosts according to Chinese culture, and even Confucius said: "Respect ghosts and gods, but keep away from them."

If a person died from hanging by either suicide or execution, or far away from home, a wrongful death, or was drowned, he will leave behind a spirit that is vengeful or evil. They can come to the party that wronged them or even seek to harm them.

Some ghosts are benign like Gui Po, who takes the form of a kindly old woman and helps around the house.

During the Ghost Festival, on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar year, ghosts and spirits visit the earth from the lower realms. People are told not to go out alone on festival night if they can help it or swim on this day for fear that a malicious ghosts will attack them or drown them in dark water as revenge. Those born during this month are said to be more sensitive and have the ability to see ghosts and apparitions.

According to folklore in Bali, ghosts clutter where it is dark and not many people walk or visit. If you have many useless papers or a dusty mess beneath your bed spirits may hide there in the quiet and interfere with your sleep. It is said we fear the dark not because of what we can't see, but what we CAN feel. 

Almost everyone feels a little trepidacious when walking down the basement stairs. The darkest corner is exactly where we do not want to go. That creepy corner of the yard by the fence that gets no light from the street lamps...you will probably get someone else to go and look what that noise was.

A Feng Shui practitioner might hang a wind chime in the dark corner of your yard to attract motion and rid the area of ghosts. According to Kartar Diamond, in certain instances hanging a wind chime can actually attract ghosts. (A great book on Feng Shui by Kartar Diamond: http://www.amazon.com/Feng-Shui-Skeptics-Kartar-Diamond/dp/0967193788  In a future post I will be talking about my own experiences with Feng Shui and Kartar Diamond after a long-distance consultation.)

Living too close to a cemetery can cause a property to attract more than its share of spirits also. There is a slang word in Chinese for cemetery because it is said the ghosts that inhabit the graveyard come "to life" at night, like at a nightclub.

If your house is very 'yin' it will attract ghosts also. A yin house is dark, damp, and possibly covered in plants. It could be built into a mountainside or have an overgrown garden or landscape.

If someone died in your current house before you lived there, the previous owner might decide to come and visit. If the death was particularly violent, the spirit might have a hard time detaching from the magnetic pull of the place where the death occurred.

If you have a long empty hallway make especially sure not to collect clutter there. The Chinese believe ghosts can only move in a straight line and call anything too straight a poison arrow. 

Ghosts dislike children and animals, especially if they are noisy and funny--so keep them laughing and busy!

Here is a list of things you can do to keep ghosts away:

* Burn crushed and dried orange peels

* Fu Dogs or Fu Lions placed at the front door keep away ghosts

* Placing a penny in the corner of each room in the house deters evil spirits. Copper conducts love. Even a jar of pennies in a room that seems a bit haunted could be the equivalent of psychic Raid.

* Play music in your house

* Live plants and flowers deter ghosts. Dead plants can give them a place to hover.

* Simply ask the ghosts to leave

* Keep the home immaculate. Fix dripping faucets and clogged drains. Get rid of clutter and pick up crumbs.

* Clean your mirrors and windows until they are spotless. Ghosts cannot inhabit them if they are clean

*Clean gemstones until sparkling and then cleanse them in salt

* Open your windows during the day--let in the sun and the air

* Take down pictures of people that give you any kind of bad feelings. Pictures of the dead can attract negativity and 'bad vibes' too

* Keep the entire house and yard well-lit

* Have your house blessed

* Place lines of salt before the windows of doors of your home. Supposedly ghosts cannot cross them and they cannot get in

* If ghosts are haunting your dreams sleep with a bowl of water beneath your bed. In the morning empty the bowl outside the house

* Remove suspicious or old items--dolls recently purchased from an antique store, ring that belonged to a deceased relative. Ghosts can cling to old items

Although the jury is still out whether ghosts actually exist or not, I will NOT be walking around on July 15th this year without a burly escort. For all I know a ghost could be looking over my shoulder right now...and wondering who is reading this.

If any of you have had any ghostly experiences I would love to know about them. I would also like to hear of any ways you keep the ghosts OUT. :)

More ghostly thoughts from 100 UNFORTUNATE DAYS: 

Day 57

Every single basement has a dark corner or room no one likes. Maybe the whole basement is dark and scary. Spirits collect in dark and cluttered spaces. They hide and wait for you because they are stuck. Some people can see them. Some people see the long thin black wispy figures with arms ten feet long that unfold as they slowly reach for you in the dark because you have to go down there to get something or fix a light bulb or retrieve a screwdriver. Part of you revs up and moves really quickly to get out of there because you know if you wait long enough and the arms fully unfold, they can touch you and then part of you belongs in the black corner in the basement. Then it will be very hard to be normal again. You will wake up in the middle of the night, and you won’t be able to get back to sleep because you will worry about all the things you have done wrong and how you are hurting people.

You can’t get this out of your mind now and you think that maybe if you count and envision each number in your head as you say it in your mind; you can block some of the bad thoughts. Or maybe you can pray—say the Lord’s Prayer over and over and over and God will surely be there to help you because you are saying his prayer.

But it doesn’t help. God doesn’t give a fuck when you are miserable—he doesn’t care if you pray. You can pray until there is blood dripping out of your mouth and nothing will change. God is an asshole that way. Even a relatively rotten person will assist you if you are begging for help. But your thoughts will just revolve through your mind over and over until you want to take a gun like the lead in Fight Club and shoot them out of your head. Maybe someday you will, but for now, you are trying to figure why God is such a jerk and you have to live like this. You wonder why you feel forsaken—well it’s probably because you have been forsaken and you don’t know how to live in that state. Because when you are a kid somebody probably told you everything would be all right, and now you realize they lied.

So you keep lying to yourself, telling yourself it’s not such a big deal, but actually it is. Because now the dark corners in your basement have started to get darker. And bigger. The arms get longer and longer and pretty soon there won’t be anywhere you can go where they can’t touch you. So you start to drink or take pills or do some other kind of drug so you can’t tell when you get touched. But now the problem is you get touched all the time, but you don’t know it.

At least now you don’t care.

 

CURSES! Can It Happen to YOU??

DROP DEAD!

If you uttered these words, even without thinking, according to some you have delivered a curse.

Although one of the definitions of CURSE is: foul language, a more common use is: a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon another. Curses direct negative energy by thought and intention to a person or family or group that are filled with HATE with the purpose of causing harm, illness, pain, or even death.

One theory behind curses is that demons get released when a curse is uttered and they are set free to follow through with the curse until it is done. If the person is "protected", either by a counter curse, Jesus, white light, or another method, the curse may boomerang and get the person who sent the curse, or even an innocent bystander. Some consider it very simple to curse another, and name calling, slander, bad thoughts, gossip, envy, jealousy, or just bad will can cause the person to suffer from a curse of oppression.

Witches are said to be able to send curses, along with gypsies, medicine men--or anyone with a dark wish or hatred toward an enemy they want to see suffer.

In Australia "bone pointing" is a curse that is said to kill its victim without fail. A kundela, the bone used in the terrible killing ritual in the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, is usually human, but can be from an emu or kangaroo, and about 9 inches long and sharpened to a point to resemble a needle. They eye end is threaded with hair from the intended victim and held in place with a gummy resin from a local bush and charged with negative psychic energy and power. When the victim is found, sometimes after months of searching, the killer goes down on one knee and points the kundela and issues a short, harsh chant. The kundela is then ritually burned. The cursed is said never to survive, falling first ill, refusing food, and eventually passing away.  More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdaitcha

Damien Mulkrin, author of the book When Bad Things Happen to Bad People, says you do not need to be a witch or a gypsy to throw a curse--he thinks anyone can do it--and here's how--but be warned, he says it can cause harm--or even death:

1. Rise from your bed at midnight. Sit cross-legged on the floor in a dark, empty room and whisper the words: “Evil, live, live, evil” over and over for one minute. In your mind’s eye, picture the person you want to curse.

2. As the image of the person appears to you, visualize great harm coming to him or her. For example, you might watch with delight as a car runs over him or he falls down a flight of stairs.

3. Savor the victim’s agony – but don’t forget: the misfortune you visualize is the misfortune your victim will suffer in real life. If you visualize the victim losing an eye, he should lose and eye, if you visualize his death, he should die. Carefully consider the outcome before the invocation.

4. As you continue to revel in the imaginary evil you have brought to your enemy, whisper: “Powers of darkness, make this so.” Contemplate your actions for a minute or so and then, says Mulkrin, “your work is done.”

“If you are sincere in your desire to punish an enemy, and have absolutely no reservations about bringing him harm, the curse will work,” he said.

Daniel Mulkrin is said to have vast knowledge of the black arts and is known in the world of occult. (from the blog Peach and Things http://www.peachandthings.com/2011/07/casting-a-spell-or-a-curse/)

And please note that I am NOT recommending this.

The Vatican exorcist Gabriele Amorth, a Roman Catholic priest, states in his book An Exorcist Tells His Story, that there are four types of curses. He said "Spells and witchcraft are two different types of curses." He believes that the other type is through demonic intervention--although he does not claim to know how this works.  The four types of curses are:

1.  Black Magic, Witchcraft and Satanic Rites that Culminate in Black Masses-- Fr. Amorth believes these are all similar since they "obtain a curse against a specific person by invoking a demon but without the use of specific objects".

2. Curses--Fr. Amorth believes curses spoken with true feelings of hate, especially when directed and family and during special occasions like a wedding or Christening, can have terrible consequences.

3. The Evil Eye--this is a spell that is cast while looking at the victim--not by merely casting a glance, but by casting a spell on a predetermined person with the intention of evil.

4. The Spell, Malefice or Hex--the most common type of curse, often used with an object that has been "offered to Satan and imprinted with his evil powers". Items used to represent grace, a cross, baptismal water, or a host can be turned into a malefice, or instrument of harm. These can be used in a DIRECT way--for instance mixing cursed water, herbs, or ash into drink or food, or and INDIRECT way--which is cursing and object that belongs to the person such as a photo, a pen, a pillow, or doll. Fr. Amorth says that he has found "just about everything, from colored and tied ribbons to chunks of hair tightly knotted… animals – especially mice – or geometric shapes; and blood clots. I have seen chunks of wood or iron, twisted wire, and dolls full of piercing and marks and have witnessed the sudden appearance of very thick braids of children or women’s hair" inside of mattresses and pillows of the afflicted. He has also stated that these objects are sometime not visible until holy water is sprinkled on them.

More CURSED information:

A cursed item can be passed to an innocent party, and the curse can then affect them.

Burning a cursed item can cause more problems.

You can accidentally curse someone.

James Dean has a "cursed" Porsche he called "Little Bastard"--he died in a crash in that car and it supposedly caused more injuries and pain after it was sold. See more famous curses here:   http://people.howstuffworks.com/7-famous-curses.htm#page=0

Curses can be cast on generations of families.

God can supposedly curse a whole nation for not following his will.

A curse can befall even an unborn child.

There is a psychosomatic side to curses also.

There are many cases of voodoo and curse deaths in medical literature. I read a story of a man who was cursed with bone pointing, and died in a hospital days later from no apparent cause. He was not poisoned, had no injuries, and had no illness. We could say he thought himself to death. The opposite of the placebo effect, these negative thought pattern deaths are partially a result of what we think is going to happen to ourselves, and what others tell us will.  More on voodoo death here:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201209/voodoo-death-i

Whether you believe that demons or negative energy can cause problems if someone curses you, you may doom yourself to seven years of bad luck if you believe TOO much. Or you an be like me and know for a fact that there is not a whammy in sight that can get through my self-made Superman shield.

Or is there... 

I'd love to know any stories you may have about curses--or any you have experienced yourself. Thanks for reading :)

Read about a psychic curse in 100 UNFORTUNATE DAYS:

Day 21

The jar from last year contains my hair. Beautiful long pieces of my hair from when I was 15 years old and the sun turned it golden, in a jar of water from a well with one drop of water from Jar 1.

Jar 1 was given to me by someone I no longer know. Last year’s jar is the only jar that has a screw-on top. This jar has to be put in a dark place, behind the stairs, adjacent to where many people walk every day. Seven years from the day the jar is sealed the hair turns into snakes. The person who owns the jar has two options—1. Release the snakes. They will slither away to find any person who has wounded you, bite them, and kill them. OR 2. Open the jar and place one grain of sugar inside. This makes the snakes sleep forever, but the water in the jar is now as potent as the poison of the snake and you can use it at your own discretion and have the joy of watching your victim die.

But—the snakes know what you are planning and they will try to bite and kill you first. This happened to my mother’s aunt—and they said she died from falling and hitting the back of her head on the wooden floor.

Is Magik REAL?

I do not doubt for one moment the existence of witches.

I know many, and some are great friends.

When I was young I bought a book from a old store called The Abbey in Elizabeth, NJ, as I was waiting for my dad to finish taking pictures of some local characters. This was no Barnes and Noble. There were books from floor to ceiling, in boxes, in barely-lit back rooms, and in bookcases that covered every inch of wall space. Wavy glass let the light into the front of the store, and the original light fixtures and scrolly woodwork gave the store a slightly ominous feel.

Although not labeled, my favorite section was in a corner and thankfully low enough to the ground for a little girl to view. As wide as my arms could span, this section would be called OCCULT in today's bookstores--but unlike today's bookstores, held copies of dusty and out of print gems I can only dream of now.

The book of my choice was filled with spells and illustrated in an almost Edward Gorey-esque style. For twenty five cents I could pay for the book myself, and I did.

The first spell in the book was for love and consisted of finding a personal artifact from the person you wanted to love you. After certain words were spoken the item was buried deeply in a place your love interest would pass often, for instance, near their front door. Within a month, supposedly, they would be yours.

The first entire first chapter consisted of light-hearted, easy-seeming spells. The middle chapter's spells were more complex, and to a girl my age, far more interesting. The Hand of Glory had you digging a grave at midnight and stealing the hand of a thief.

The final chapter had spells that scared me and haunted me--it was my favorite. It was very tempting to use the :To Harm Another" spell after my 5th grade class found my diary in my desk, read it, left their own not always positive comments, and put it back. I did try astral projection and fell asleep. I also tried the spell "See Into One's Soul". This consisted of sitting before a mirror and a candle in a dark room and watching for any changes or signs. It was very frightening to be in a quiet room alone at that age, and my face DID seem to morph and change--and I did NOT like what I saw. I still hope that was not my soul.

The book ended with the spell "To Call the Devil". It said I needed a black hen, black cat, and a black sheep. I was then instructed to kill them and skin them and pour some of their blood into a large receptacle of water. I knew I would not be calling the devil--but wondered what would happen to the people who did do the spell as they waited for his reflection to peer back at them over their left shoulders.

As I think back on this book I wish I had not thrown it into the running water near my home when strange events started occurring in my life. I can see why my father had no problem letting me buy this seemingly innocuous and almost child-like book at such a young age. I had no idea it would get as dark as it did either. I have searched the names of the spells in the book but alas, I can't find it anywhere.

About ten years later I purchased more books from Wiser's Bookstore in NYC. This book was a Golden Dawn manual of sorts, and contained not only spells, but information about rituals, ceremonies, and talismans. I also purchased a book by Aleister Crowley that was very confusing, and some tarot cards. I breezed through both books and got caught up in work and life, and never pursued it much further.

But my interest is still there.

I recently read, "A psychic can read your future--a witch can change it."

This made me wonder if spells can only be done by witches--or by anyone. I've tried several of the spells in several of the books I've had when I was young, to no avail. I do not call myself a witch and ponder what type of things a witch actually CAN change.

I would LOVE some input on this subject! I can look this up and read stories from people on the web but I do not know these people and would be interested in first-hand experiences.

Please tell me. :) And if you know the book I was trying to describe earlier--I'd love to know that too.

Questioning the Blessings

As I was watching an Oprah rerun this weekend I realized how many people believe in or want to believe in angels and God.

The featured woman told a story of how she was walking home alone one night and heard a terrifying noise. She prayed for help and was physically lifted by an angel and carried to the safety of a bridge many feet away. She was spared because she asked God to help her, and he responded by sending one of his angels.

I turned off the television because this got me thinking.

Not because I did not believe her, not because her story was long winded, but because of the idea there is an omnipotent being somewhere choosing who to listen to--and more importantly--who to ignore.

I realized it bothers me when people say they are blessed, and until now I never could not figure out why. I WANT to be blessed, and I want you to be blessed too--but then that leaves the people who are in dire straights, hurting for money, sick, injured, lonely, sad, or worse. Are they the UNblessed? The forgotten? They may believe more than you or I, but all the praying in the world does nothing. It almost felt to me that the "blessed" were bragging and leaving the others that were not lucky enough to be smiled upon by the benign and loving father above out in the cold. Why were they the chosen ones?

So what does that mean?  And what about praying?

There have been some studies concerning prayer and the results are inconclusive. http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20050714/does-prayer-help-others-heal  The patients in the study listed here had less stress before a heart procedure if they were part of the imagery/music group. The group that was prayed over fared about the same as the group that was not. In a similar study the prayed for group had a slightly higher rate of complications after a medical procedure (52%) compared to the group that was not prayed for (51%). http://www.examiner.com/article/prayer-undergoes-a-real-test-with-interesting-results

Even the Pope has his moments of doubt: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17113318-pope-benedict-tells-cheering-crowd-i-am-not-abandoning-the-church?lite

He said: "Sometimes it feels like God has been sleeping." Interesting.

Prayer seems to be an unnecessary process if we are to believe in the entity we are praying to. We are taught that God is all-knowing and loving and that prayer will help when you are hurting. But the caveat--it will only work if it is God's will anyway.

I am confused.

Admittedly I am more of an atheist than believer, but this does not mean I cannot be swayed. The gorgeous world around me, the stunning sunsets and beautiful babies born everyday do not mean to me that there is a God--and yet I cannot say 100% there is not.

Many of my prayers and prayers of others I know have been ignored or disregarded, so I eventually stopped praying. I am not wicked and I try and do my best to help others and be a good person--nothing has changed since I have ceased praying other than I feel like less of a hypocrite.

I have many things to be thankful for including an inquisitive mind that can't process a subject simply by faith.

I would love your opinion on the subject--agree or disagree.

I would also love for you to change my mind.

Please read Day 57 from 100 UNFORTUNATE DAYS for more God questions.

100 UNFORTUNATE DAYS is FREE TODAY http://tinyurl.com/bb35r3f

Day 57

Every basement has a dark corner or room no one likes.

Maybe the whole basement is dark and scary. Spirits collect in dark and cluttered spaces. They hide and wait for you because they are stuck. Some people can see them. Some people see the long thin black wispy figures with arms 10 feet long that unfold as they slowly reach for you in the dark because you have to go down there to get something or fix a light bulb or retrieve a screwdriver. Part of you revs up and moves really quickly to get out of there because you know if you wait long enough and the arms fully unfold, they can touch you and then part of you belongs in the black corner in the basement. Then it will be very hard to be normal again. You will wake up in the middle of the night, and you won’t be able to get back to sleep because you will worry about all the things you have done wrong and how you are hurting people. You can’t get this out of your mind now and you think that maybe if you count and envision each number in your head as you say it in your mind; you can block some of the bad thoughts.

Or maybe you can pray—say the Lord’s Prayer over and over and over and God will surely be there to help you because you are saying his prayer. But it doesn’t help. God doesn’t give a fuck when you are miserable—he doesn’t care if you pray. You can pray until there is blood dripping out of your mouth and nothing will change. God is an asshole that way. Even a relatively rotten person will assist you if you are begging for help. But your thoughts will just revolve through your mind over and over until you want to take a gun like the lead in Fight Club and shoot them out of your head. Maybe someday you will, but for now, you are trying to figure why God is such a jerk and you have to live like this. You wonder why you feel forsaken—well it’s probably because you have been forsaken and you don’t know how to live in that state. Because when you are a kid somebody probably told you everything would be all right, and now you realize they lied. So you keep lying to yourself, telling yourself it’s not such a big deal, but actually it is. Because now the dark corners in your basement have started to get darker. And bigger. The arms get longer and longer and pretty soon there won’t be anywhere you can go where they can’t touch you. So you start to drink or take pills or do some other kind of drug so you can’t tell when you get touched. But now the problem is you get touched all the time, but you don’t know it.

At least now you don’t care.

Six Word Stories

Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write an interesting story in six words.

His six-word story read:  "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Smith Magazine decided to be like Hemingway and ask their readers to come up with six-word memoirs about themselves, and the results were overwhelming. The first collection of over 1,000 responses was put into a book entitled Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs from Writers Famous & Obscure,  and contained quotes from the likes of Deepak Chopra, Moby and many other celebrities. It also became a New York Times bestseller.

This was followed by Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs from Writers Famous & Obscure, Smith released Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak, and  I Can't Keep My Own Secrets--Six-Word Memoirs by Teens: Famous & Obscure.

We are now a world of 140 spaces and quick information, our attention spans being reduced as the methods of spreading information reduces the size of the world.

Yet somehow this, possibly the tiniest of all personal diaries, makes us slow down and look.

We quickly learn about one another, and the impersonal world of fast information is somehow made personal again.

Here is my Six Word Memoir:  My soul is not my fault.

I hope you will leave your own Six Word Memoir in the comments.

Here are some of the latest from the Smith Magazine site:

My groundhog plans to sleep in.
(by Believe)

Followed my gut and got lost.
(by Bohemdeb)

I'm a bad influence on myself.
(byTawnyPort)

I am looking forward to reading your Six Word Memoirs!!

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

NIGHTMARES and What Your Dreams Tell You

As a psychology major in college I learned about Carl Jung.

Carl Jung, protege of Sigmund Freud, believed that dreams were a way we could become acquainted with our subconscious.  He believed they could provide a window to solutions to our problems, subconscious or not, and assist us in achieving wholeness. I believed I would love learning about dreams and their meanings. I have had bad dreams that have come true, brilliant and bright dreams that I have turned into children's books and illustrations, and nightmares that have shocked me awake to a dark room and rapid heartbeat.

Some dreams seem prophetic, and certain individuals gained notoriety due to dreams coming true. For example, Joan of Arc predicted her death in a dream, Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his death only a few days before his assassination, and Einstein's theory of relativity came to him in a dream.

Jung believed, as do many others, that dreams can represent feelings, relationships, fears or any one of many situations that are occurring in your life. But unlike his contemporaries, he did not believe that each specific dream represented the same thing for every dreamer.

For instance, if I dream of fire and look it up in the Dream Dictionary on the web http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/ you will see several interpretations, but each of these would be the same for any dreamer. Jung believed many things had to be taken into account if one were to interpret their dreams. He thought there was not one single correct way for a dream to be described. Personal judgement is heavily relied upon, how the person feels, and the most significant interpretation of the dreamer is more important than what a book of dreams may say or another person.

To help a dreamer reveal the true meaning of his dreams, Jung developed and believed that certain symbols were present in all the dreams of men and women, and had universal meaning. These are ancient symbols, recognized across generations and locations, and derived from the collective unconscious called archetypes.

The main archetypes Jung considered were:

THE PERSONA

The persona is the image we choose to present to the world. The word is a derivative of the Latin word masca, which translated means mask, spectre, and interestingly, nightmare. It is a representation of ALL the masks we wear in social situation--a protector of the ego, a guard to help us from being hurt. Jung believes the persona can take many forms and can appear in our dreams.

ANIMA/ANIMUS

The anima is the feminine inside the man that allows him to understand and communicate with women. The animus is the masculine in a woman, and allows her to communicate and understand men.

 THE SHADOW

The shadow can be considered our dark side. It is the side we do not like to consider on a day to day basis. Jung thinks when we get to know our shadow side, only then can we truly know our whole selves. If the shadow appears in a dream it sometimes shows as a monster, demon or creature.





THE SELF

The self is a product of individuation, it represents the psyche as a whole--it is a unification of the conscious and the unconscious. The self is both the whole and the center, or the ego, as represented by the picture.

Jung did not believe there was a limit to the number of archetypes. He believed they were endless, and some other examples are the joker or trickster, the Mother or Crone, the wise Old Man or Wizard, the child or divine child, and the hero--or these days, the Superhero. Any and all can appear in dreams.

There are also many types of dreams. We discussed the prophetic dream, and if the dream is good we hope it comes true, but another type of dream we can have is a nightmare, or night terror. We have nightmares because of anxiety or fear, and it is said up to 10% of adults can have nightmares every month--or more. These dreams can cause rapid heartbeat, sweating, vocalizations, sleepwalking and waking up with an intense feeling of fear. Seeing a scary image, reading a frightening book or watching a horror movie or television show can all cause nightmares. Children can experience night terrors and moan and thrash while experiencing the dream. They may hallucinate and think they see the creature that is horrifying them in their dreams.

In a lucid dream the dreamer is aware they are dreaming and the waking mind gains control. Please visit The Lucidity Institute to learn to control dreams, remember them, and do experiments like the The Light and Mirror Test:  www.lucidity.com

I have a friend who has dreams that cause her to experience a real  medical phenomenon known as sleep paralysis. (Click below to read a bit about her experience when a book caused it to rear its ugly head:   http://www.amazon.com/review/R28NG4E7W82B9R/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B009WR2BFO&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text

This is almost the opposite of lucid dreaming because the dreamer wakes but can't move a muscle. They are conscious but cannot do anything about the weird events taking place around them. My friend saw an evil man in her room during one of these dreams and could not breath. She knew he was evil, but could do nothing.

And he began to move closer. She was awake in her own nightmare, helpless.

Read more about sleep paralysis here in one of my favorite magazines, WIRED:  www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/sleep_paralysis/

I remember as a child someone told me if you dream of blood someone will die. Not too long after I dreamt a girl I went to school with cut her father with a knife, and blood poured from the wound. Within two days a relative of a friend passed away, and I was SOLD on dream interpretation.

I read that water means anxiety, and the darker and deeper the water the worse the problems.  I read dreams of the devil mean you are sneaky and underhanded, and daisies mean a happy day will follow.

I bought a dream book and spent many afternoons looking up my own dreams and dreams of friends.

Although I do not look up my dreams any more, I sometimes try and interpret some dreams that are recurring.

Read 15 Interesting Facts About Dreams below--bet you didn't know that not everyone dreams in color...

 http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/

The OUIJA BOARD--I Still Want to Use It

In third grade a girl named Margie brought a Ouija Board to our classroom. It would be a perfect addition to the Halloween festivities we had planned for the day.

The room was decorated with grinning Jack O'Lanterns and we celebrated in our costumes while Disney's The Haunted Mansion record played in the background. A few kids were on line for the Spider and Web craft, several more waited for the caramel apples, but the longest line was for the Ouija board. After quick instructions the first kids to try did not have much luck and quickly gave up. I tried with Margie and we got the planchette to move a tiny bit but not enough to spell out any cryptic messages from beyond.

Then the board seemed to warm up. Everyone that got a chance experienced some movement, but it never pointed anywhere--in fact it never stopped. It swung around and eventually moved in larger and larger circles. Sometimes it went off the edge. We took that as a sign that the 'spirits' wanted new participants.

About a half hour later we began asking question and got some answers. Our new friend from the great beyond was male and he was angry that we were bothering him. (We knew this because our teacher asked.) We asked what his name was, and the board did spell out a name, but I cannot remember what it was. Someone asked if he was stupid. My teacher said, "Be nice," and everyone laughed. But that was the last answer we got from the board. No one felt any motion after that and we all quit soon after.

The Ouija Board thrilled me. I went home and told my parents about how much fun we had during the day. They told us we had a board in the basement and they could not get it out fast enough for me.

Needles to say I was hooked. I played with my sister, friends, and neighbors. Then we started having seances. And we did levitation.

Soon after we moved to a new house and made some new friends. Our new basement was perfect for conjuring the dead. Of course we were scared a few times...we would have been scared just sitting down there with a single candle burning. It was huge and had plenty of creepy nooks and crannies. My obsession with the occult had officially bloomed. I guess Ouija is the gateway drug to more intense occult experiences.

Several years later my friend and I were wandering around NYC one afternoon and stumbled upon Weiser's Bookstore. Walking down a few steps we walked into what we discovered was a large and relatively famous occult bookstore started in 1929 by Samuel Weiser. (Weiser's still exists as an online bookseller and now publisher of esoteric and occult literature. http://redwheelweiser.com/p.php?id=2 ) . That day I purchased a pendulum for divination and spent many fun nights at parties reading fortunes.  http://readersandrootworkers.org/wiki/Category:Pendulum_Divination

Then I moved on to Tarot cards. I had a knack for them and people began to ask me to read them again and again. The results were oddly accurate. Although I just said whatever popped into my head, half the time it meant something to the person I was talking to. People began to offer me money for the reading, and not a little bit. I began to study them more and more, and found them fascinating.

If you have followed this blog at all you know I have had my share of strange and seemingly supernatural occurances in my life. The house I lived in before this one seemed haunted. We would hear the silverwear shaking in the drawer, the television would turn on and off by itself, and worst of all my husband and I thought we were having conversations with one another, but no one was there.

I came home from work one day and saw my husband looking out our master bedroom window at the woods across the street. I was waving and trying to get his attention when the automatic garage door started opening, and my husband stepped out.

I got very upset and I don't think my husband paid much attention to my story until the night he was having a conversation with me in the laundry room and he turned around and I was not there. He called my name and I answered--from our third floor master bedroom.

We had the house blessed. In the very last room of the blessing (the master bedroom again) as the final blessing was said my jewelry box with a small angel fell off my dresses. The minister turned around and asked me "Did you do that?"

No. I did not.

Things slowed down then came to a stop after the blessing. We were happy and planning to start a family. We have since moved to a new house. Not too long ago I woke in the middle of the night. No windows were opened--it is cold here in October. I watched the bathroom door slowly open on its own, and stop before it could hit the bookcase.

They're hhhhhheeeeeerrrrreeee......

I think American Horror Story would have a wonderful season if they based it on divination, but they certainly had fun last night with the circus theme.

A page from 100 Unfortunate Days about the dangers and delights of the occult:

Day 27

I went to a store in town whose name that implies the things sold there will help you be successful.

When you go in the store you can smell the burning sage and other incenses— you can smell this all the way down the block. They sell books for alcoholics and drug addicts and people who want to commune with God or spirits. They also do tarot card readings and angel interpretations and anything else you can think of that will attract spirits or angels or demons into your life. I thought this seemed cool. The card reading said pertinent things to me.

But I don’t know if this is healthy.

After this I took a class in hypnosis, and then one in acupressure, and then I carried the little Angel Cards that I picked at each session with me. And something bothered me about it every time. My marriage was terrible and getting worse. I could feel my hatred for my husband growing by the minute. BUT I was being open minded and I thought reading cards and knowing the future and reading about the devil was a good thing because I was enlightened. I stopped reading the book about the devil dead-smack in the middle and took a train south. I pushed past any exhaustion I felt. I threw away the cards I’d kept tucked into my wallet—they had demons attached to them and so I prayed to St. Michael. I should pray to him every day—twice a day. I wanted a shell of protection like I read about in The Screwtape Letters—somehow I got it. I know I am safe now and I will not stray again.

Ha ha. Even as I say this I realize I am full of shit, especially when there is a full moon and I’ve had too much wine. I feel surrounded by spirits at night. They can be there and I can be safe. I think. I can laugh at them and know I am with God—and as I write those words I know I am lying. I don’t think I am one of God’s favorites. The insidiousness of it all is the most evil. It creeps in and finds a place with a pillow and cuddles up and you are not even sure it is there at first. You don’t know when it starts to creep in, but it’s funny how you can tell when it’s gone.

At least for now.

A Dark Visit

I watch Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State.

My son and his friends would watch A Haunting when they got home from school, and I got hooked into that one too. The entire time I watch there is a little voice in the back of my head that keeps me sane and un-scared. I shake my head with a smile on my face at 99% of the Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). (Please listen here to what is touted as "The Most Horrifying EVP Ever Recorded:   http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghostaudiovideo/a/aa101507.htm )  It seems I can never hear the words they claim they are hearing. "I will kill you," usually sounds more to me like "kkkkkkk--static--kkkk", but maybe something is lost in the translation. The investigators hear many things, they swear that someone touched them, and they get lots of pictures of orbs floating around.  My father is a photographer and has explained why orbs actually happen (bits of dust or particulate too close to the lens that reflect light from a flash), so I am a bit skeptic of their paranormal interpretation.

And yet...

There is an even quieter voice that tells me some of what I am seeing may be true. That reason I smile while I watch these shows is because on some level I believe some of it. I have contemplated calling the Long Island Medium just to see what she says and to give myself another reason to either believe or disbelieve.  Here she is:  http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/long-island-medium 

Dozens of not-quite explainable things have happened to me throughout my life, the most remarkable being the exorcism of my best friend. This was not interesting, or cool, or amazing--it was terrible and frightening. It is still scary to think about almost 35 years later. You can read about it here:  http://penelopecrowe.blogspot.com/2012/01/do-you-believe-in-possession-true-story.html

I had an experience that I would not consider paranormal but terrifying none-the-less.

Lambert Castle is located on a scenic hill Paterson, NJ, overlooking the New York skyline, and currently operates as a museum accessible to the public. In the late 80s I visited Lambert Castle with a friend late one night on a personal ghost hunting mission. We had previously visited graveyards and a supposed haunted house, but we never had anything to report other than being chased out of a cemetery one night by the police. Our Lambert castle visit was to be a bit different.

I drove my car up the long driveway, and parked past the gaslight lanterns. A fox scurried out of our way as we exited the car. We looked around the back towards the woods, but it was so dark I could not see a foot in front of myself, and we decided to climb the stairs around the front. The walkway and steps up the front of the building took us past windows and showed us opulent rooms filled with furniture covered with white sheets. The stair path wound around the side of the structure and we stopped momentarily to look at the view. I saw motion out of the corner of my eye coming from the back of the castle and turned to look to see where my friend was going. But this was not my friend. This was a figure in a hooded black robe, something from your bad dreams, something from hell. This was not a ghost or apparition, this was a person dressed in a black cloak moving slowly toward us. I could not see his face. I quickly turned and saw my friend about halfway down the stairs already, and I began to run too.

The figure never followed us, and after we got in the car and locked the doors, my hands shaking so badly I had a hard time getting the key in the ignition, we looked up at the steps and did not see the hooded figure any more.

I tell this story often as one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. We still wonder if we interrupted a coven, or a mass, or that was a way Lambert Castle prevented hooligans from hanging around at night. I really do not want to know. Well--I want to know a little bit.

Part of me wants to attend a TAPS session and experience a paranormal expedition for myself, but the other part tells me NO!--don't mess with it, because I seem to have an uncanny ability to attract trouble from the dark side. Or that voice just might be my sister--she yells at me about this all the time.

Next weeks blog will be a bit scarier, and much more paranormal. Opening bathroom door including...

Messages from the Dead--Angels? Ghost? Or Wishes.

Ebenezer Scrooge was a greedy, hard-hearted character in the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.  After being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, his tight-fisted ways change and he is transformed into the epitome of giving, caring, and the Christmas spirit.

These spirits took Ebenezer on a journey to show him the evil in his ways, and revealed to him the terrible outcome of his life. The precious money that he spent so much time cultivating and saving would be stolen by the same poor and needy people he spent his life scorning. His employee, though poor, enjoys his life despite his pittance of a salary, and his family bitterly mourns the death of his ill son Tiny Tim. Scrooge's death affects no one, and he is shown his lonely, unkempt grave with not a soul to give it care. He begs the spirits for help.

He rises on Christmas morning thrilled at having another chance at life and quickly changes his ways.

Although A Christmas Carol is a fictional novel, the premise is not uncommon. We are a people obsessed with ghosts, angels, and the afterlife. And rightfully so. It is one of the only areas in out lives we cannot properly study.

We hear stories on a regular basis about messages from the dead, clouds that look like angels appearing the same day a loved one dies, and phone calls received from a phone that is not plugged in.

Death is final. We don't get a free pass for another try, a second opportunity to say something to a loved one, or the ability to know what happens after our eyes shut for the last time.

We desperately hope there is something good waiting for us after we die. We want to follow the white light and see our dear departed loved ones lining the halls to the Pearly Gates.

I had emergency surgery at 19 and was rushed to the hospital with very serious internal bleeding and had surgery the same evening. I remember being told to count backwards from 100, and made it to about 98. The next thing I recall is hearing my name being called as if through water or from deep within a cave. I also saw the white light at the end of a tunnel. I remember the voices and the light fading, and the darkness closing around the glow like a television would shut off in the early 70s. The circle just got smaller and smaller then winked out. This happened two or three more times until the voice calling my name won and I opened my eyes. Looking up I saw the doctor and a bright light over my bed in the hospital. He smiled and told me they had a hell of a time waking me up because I had a reaction to the anesthesia. I told my sister I saw the white light and heard the voices from beyond--but they were the doctor and the ceiling light.

That experience was enough to make me jaded about any of the white light stories I had previously heard.  I mocked the clairvoyants like James Van Praagh or Sylvia Brown when they said they could "see" the dead around a person, and got messages from them.

And then my grandfather got sick. He was in the hospital for a while and we knew it was only a matter of time. After visiting him one afternoon I was downstairs doing laundry and it got a bit dark--I figured a cloud went over the sun. I dropped a piece of clothing and bent to get it, and when I stood saw tiny red, blue and green lights. I figured it was a head rush from standing too quickly, but them I started to think of my grandfather. He told me not to worry, and things would be fine. He also said to take care of my grandmother. The sun came back out from behind the cloud, I shook off the creepy feeling, and walked upstairs. Two steps from the top the phone rang. It was my mother telling me my grandfather had passed away.

Yup. Could be a coincidence. I sometimes get lightheaded when I stand up too fast--and I see checkerboards and lights too. But something about this made me believe a bit again. Not completely--but I cannot discount the afterlife 100% anymore.

As for angels, that is another story. To believe in angels one has to believe in a Christian God and a heavenly hierarchy. That would also mean the belief of Lucifer, the rebellious angel cast down from heaven into hell. That will have to be another post.

Many believe they have guardian angels, and feel their presence.  Many stated they were saved from a car crash because the wheel somehow miraculously turned at the last minute saving them from certain death.

We cannot understand what happens after death. We don't know why some are taken from us so young and without warning. We want desperately to know our loved ones are in a better place, and no longer suffering. We wish for signs and guidance when we are having a hard time, and hope a benign force can help lead us to the correct answers.

My next post will be a continuation of this theme--but a bit darker. Can we also be visited by less friendly and more malicious beings? Next week I'll tell you about the time I watched my bathroom door open by itself, and a few other experiences I've had.

Please tell me any of yours--I'd love to know!

 

Missed the Leonid Meteors? Find Them Here With Pics and Superstitions

Leonids Over Niagara Falls

We pass through the remnants of an ancient comet every November during the Leonid meteor shower.

The night sky lights as minute particles within the comet's ice flash as they pass through the earth's upper atmosphere and burn up in a beautiful flash of light. More info from Huff Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/leonid-meteor-shower-2012-return-tuesday_n_2162177.html

The peak of the Leonid happened this morning, with up to 20 flashes per hour. View a few here if you missed them.

http://www.space.com/18498-early-leonid-meteors-caught-on-camera-video.html 

The world has been captured and sometimes frightened by heavenly bodies as long as history has been recorded. Many cultures have been shaped by superstitions, some relating to the comets and meteors they saw in the night sky. For example, some native Americans had beliefs relating to meteor showers that struck fear: 

The Blackfeet of Montana believed a meteor was a sign that sickness would come to the tribe in the coming winter, or that a great chief had just died.

The Kawaiisu (California) thought a meteor that started high and fell to the horizon was an omen of sickness and death.

The Cahuilla thought a meteor was the spirit of their first shaman, Takwich, who was disliked by his people. Takwich was said to wander the skies at night looking for people far from their tribe. When someone was found, he stole their spirit, and sometimes even the person, took them back to his home and ate them.

The Shawnee believed meteors were beings "fleeing from the wrath of some adversary, or from some anticipated danger."

(From Meteors and Meteorites http://www.crystalinks.com/meteors.html )

The following are two quotes form the 1949 book The Encyclopedia of Superstitions from 1949:

Falling, or shooting stars, are souls coming down from heaven to animate new-borne children.

When death occurs the flame of life lights up a new star.

Some superstitions could bring good things. It is said if when you see a meteor you can make a wish before it disappears, your wish will come true.

Or, if you see a shooting star and say "money" three times, your pockets will be full.

The Einsisheim meteor depicted in a 1492 etching.

Although we now know what a comets and meteors are, we still hold onto many superstitions relating to them, and probably make wishes on them--it sure can't hurt.

Some interpretation of superstitions from 100 Unfortunate Days:

Day 98

Some popular superstitions and my interpretations: a black cat crossing your path is bad luck. I think any cat crossing your path is bad luck because they are familiars of the devil. The black cats are the worst because they are the most evil. Their souls have been charred and they are diseased and if they scratch you, you will most likely die.

If there are thirteen people at the dinner table, one will die within the year. This is probably a flat-out fact. One out of three or four women get breast cancer, several are probably just old, someone there is probably brewing some kind of heart disease and accidents happen every day. One of those thirteen is in for it.

Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. Probably based on the idea that your image contains a part of your soul.

I don’t believe in any of the traditional superstitions—but I have some of my own. For instance, if I pray too much the devil will get me. If I look at myself in the mirror in the dark I will see something terrible. If I am not around when my children are sick they will get worse. If I want something really bad and I get it, and I will be very unhappy. The devil is there at 3:00AM.

I would love to know if there are any superstitions you believe in and why. Looking forward to hearing about them :)

 

Unusual Art from the Usual Artists--the Dark Side of van Gogh, Cezanne and DaVinci

Cezanne riveted us with his bright still-life paintings of fruit and lush fabrics and their slightly altered perspective.

Starry, swirling skies, multi-colored blooms and luminous cafes made van Gogh a favorite,

and DaVinci always fascinated us with his machines, forward thinking, perfect dimensions.

 Degas gave us a back-stage look at enigmatic ballerinas,

and Picasso used shapes and shadows to change the art world.

We are used to seeing certain things from certain artists.

We expect to see skinny walking skeletons dressed like Santa from Tim Burton, or dark and morose,  unfortunate children sketched in ink by Edward Gorey, but we do not assume the classic artists to have a dark side. We expect soft, blurry flowers and gardens  from Monet, or achingly perfect depictions of people sitting near a window by Vermeer.

Although we know van Gogh had a dark side by the famous and terrible story of his ear, we do not see his angst in his glorious pictures, unless we look for it. The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a display of many impressionists. I was very ready to feel bright and cheerful and to soak in the glow from the flowers and sunshine shown in the paintings.  I was not ready to see some of the more dark works of some of these same artists.

As I turned a corner I came across and small but stunning painting of skulls by Cezanne. The feel of his work was there, but the subjects opened a new corner in my brain. I was not used to this. This was new, and I was practically shaking.

The slightly upturned table so familiar to Cezanne's works was not covered in a rich fabric and lovely fruits and a bowl. In this painting it had death upon it.

Van Gogh has the ability to make you want to be part of his paintings. His cafe glows, his fields sway, and his flowers remind us of nature's beauty. And his bat shows us of the dark side we so rarely see in his art.

The picture of a skeleton with a cigarette also by van Gogh made a recent appearance as the cover of the David Sedaris's book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and also shows a bit of humor.

And two rats also by van Gogh--another surprise.

And here is a deliciously bleak Picasso.

A skull by Degas.

DaVinci was the slight exception. His medical drawings, machines, and inventions could lend themselves to the slightly macabre. Here is an example.

So yes, we have Tim Burton, Edward Gorey and Charles Addams--but we also have the web. We can find the dark and mysterious paintings and pictures from impressionists, post-impressionists, modernists and any famous artists that only the curators and collectors previously had access to.

And I am thrilled.

HOP WINNERS!