About three months ago, a writer friend asked if Rob and I could visit and do her and her family a big favor. She explained that her middle daughter, L, has been experiencing ghostly encounters in her room at night, and she won’t sleep in the room any longer. L also insisted that Trish was the only person who could rid her room of the ghost. We first wrote about it here.
I’ve never tried to banish any spirit to anywhere, probably because I’ve never had the need to do so. However, in preparation for this, I solicited advice from friends who are psychics/mediums, read up on the subject, and came up with a technique I felt might work. Belief seemed to be a huge component in this picture – L’s beliefs. The above drawing, in fact, is her depiction of what she has seen in her room. Creepy little sucker, isn’t it?
The ghost busting venture finally came to pass. First, Rob took photos in L’s room and in different areas of the house where everyone in the family had felt a presence – the bathroom off the guest room where we were sleeping, and in the youngest daughter’s bedroom. Nothing showed up on the digital pictures.
We saged everyone out on the porch, taking turns, arms extended, legs spread. We jokingly referred to it as the TSA position. I also told L I’d never done anything like this before, that it was as much an experiment for me as it was for her. She’s an old soul, this one, and understood that I was grappling in the dark, just as she was, that it was a joint venture into the unknown. But she joked, “Gee, great. That’s a vote of confidence.”
L’s mom has a gorgeous Salvator Dali tarot deck, so I pulled out the 22 major arcana cards, fanned them out, and asked L to draw four, to represent the four directions. Her selections: The Magician for the north, the Empress for the south, the Star for the east, Justice for the west. I used tarot cards because it’s how L and I initially connected. She was interested in the tarot, so I had sent her a copy of the book on the tarot that I co-authored with Phyllis Vega.
The flash on my camera obscured the top card and I had to Google the image to find it. After she’d chosen the cards, I removed the stones I had brought out along – a large rose quartz and a large amethyst. L laughed and showed me her selections – a piece of rose quartz and an amethyst, smaller, but the same stones. We knew we were on a synchronistic roll.
In her room, I drew a circle on her floor with white chalk. We placed the tarot cards at the appropriate directions. In the center of the circle went out stones, a candle, , holy water from the Vatican that L and her family had brought back from a trip to Rome, a rosary, sage for smudging.
L’s mom had prayers and blessings to say. L and I stepped into the circle. It wasn’t large enough to include her mom (the room was crowded with stuff), so mom sat just outside the circle and the three of us held hands and visualized a white dome of protection around us. Then we said the Lord’s Prayer.
I should note that we aren’t traditionally religious people, that none of us adhere to any particular religious belief, but we recognize that certain rituals are powerful statements. The holy water and rosary, for example, were L’s choices, symbols that are meaningful to her, so we used them. Since Mom had some prayers that were meaningful to her and L, we used those, too.
Once this was done, I told L I was going to step outside the circle, smudge the room with sage, and bless the room with the holy water. While I was doing that, I asked her to bow to each direction, hands pressed together, touching the center of her chest, the Namaste salutation in yoga. The divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you. I also said that while she was doing these salutations, she should ask the spirit/ghost to move on, that it had nothing to fear in the after life, that it wasn’t welcome in her room, this house. While I saged and sprinkled the holy water around the room, I silently told the spirit it was time to move on.
We repeated these rituals in the younger daughter’s room and in the guest bathroom. I saged every inch of the house, sprinkled windows and doors with the holy water. I never felt a presence in the house, never felt threatened or intimidated by anything unseen. This led me to believe that the spirit L had seen was drawn to her because of puberty, her psychic energy, to awaken her to her own intuitive ability.
That night, for the first time in eight months, L slept in her bedroom – with all the lights on. But as her mother noted, “She’s in there. That’s what is important.”
So, we’ll see.
PS It’s now late June, six weeks later, and L is still sleeping in her room, but with the light on. I wonder if I can add ghost-busting to my resume.
You’re right, Debra. My German teacher was extraordinary. He was a direct descendant of Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer; was a world-renowned psychographologist and hypnotist, (not a stage hypnotist); and a very busy individual. He spent a lot of time in the Hex-Out country of the Amish. I’ve been incredibly fortunate in both my medical career and my spiritual path to have been a student of such rare teachers. My German teacher is now on The Other Side, and when he initially appeared to me after he transitioned, he sent a beautiful “German Shepherd” (the dog) to indicate that it was him. A German “Shepherd” (Guide), indeed!! When he was incarnate, prior to his astral visits he would send a very fat robin, in any and all seasons, and that easily recognizable robin followed us from GA to FL when we relocated. After intially showing me the German Shepherd, Mesmere then began to send a real robin again, just as he had done in life, and he continues to do that although not nearly so often now, and I miss him. I’m sure he’s extremely busy wherever he may be and in whatever form he may be expressing. I have been blessed!
Marcus’s insights, as always, are compelling. For me right this minute, they are a synchronicity, as I just finished penning an email to T & R about a mid-day, outside encounter I had yesterday with a man I ultimately concluded wasn’t corporeal. It was an unusual expereince and while I’m not ordinarily frightened by such encounters, this one seemed especially threatening. My two dogs, one a huge Great Dane and the other my service dog, a Yellow Lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, were with me, and their reactions to this man were overtly protective of me and extremely aggressive towards the man when he reached his hand out to me. Neither dog was leashed; they don’t need to be, and I had to give them powerful commands to keep them off the man. My experiences with soul rescue (ghost-hunting) have never left me feeling the way this “man” did. I’m cautious in ghost-hunting and soul rescues, often get shivers and have other physical reactions to the presence of invisible entities, but am rarely frightened. When the encounter yesterday was over, I realized it had left me trembling and on the verge of terror. He seemed to be darkness personified, in broad, brilliant daylight. Reviewing the details of the encounter, I’ve concluded he was extra-dimensional. From where? Haven’t any idea, but he was one nasty sucker!
Wow this is very interesting! Who are you gonna call….Trish. I think there are many, many factors that may be creating this situation. Marcus’ thoughts over the mind are something I too would have to agree upon as well. Not really focusing in on the sexual content of it as a cause, but fears of any kind or anxiety or general concerns, can manifest in one form or another outside of ourselves. Sensitive people pick up on it and translate it into ways that make sense to them. I have often thought that in my own life. Let’s hope your efforts paid off for the girl. I do hope so.
Uh-uh. Call Debra. Or math. I think marcus’s interp is right on in terms of anxiety and concerns for L’s age group.
I agree with Marcus in that most cases Pacific Paranormal Investigations encounters come down to the family psychology and dynamics. The actual statistic for PPI is that only 15-20 % of cases involved something paranormal.
Now that’s an interesting statistic! What do they do with the paranormal stuff??
Each case is handled based on the client’s own belief system. We refer them to psychologists, ministers or other specialists, if we (PPI) can’t solve their problem. We always have our phone or email contacts available to them if they need to talk to us in the future. For example, we received a referral from another group for a lady. We went to her home,found no evidence of a haunting. Her household wiring was creating the phenomenon. She decided it was a demon, no matter what the evidence showed. So we referred her to an exorcist. Now she on to her 3rd group of investigators.
Fascinating. An exorcist!
This comment is not specifically aimed at the experience of the child in the post, but is general in nature. I thought I’d write it, as it might be helpful to some people.
It is actually very difficult for a “normal” person to know where the energy in such cases is coming from. My experience leads me to conclude that many, perhaps most “ghosts” are projections from the psyches of living people. Discanates do exist, and sometimes this is the source of the ‘presence’. But we should remember that the mind is not localised to the body, and is entangled with the minds of other people. This is true for almost every human being living on the planet, except for incredibly spiritually advanced individuals. Now that I am able to readily perceive consciousness fields, I am aware of the sources of most of the energies that are around me (although some are hard to work out). Often the mind will depect the projections from other people in symbolic form, according to the nature of the projections. For example, a projection from a grandmother to a little boy, if mixed with sexual projections, may be perceived as a witch (we all project sexual energy at each other – it’s normal, although it can be frightening when you actually witness it, especially if a person’s sexuality is messed up because of shame and abuse). Aggressive/punative male energy is often perceived as a gorrilla or monster. When we begin to fall asleeep, normal verbal/linguistic brain activity is replaced by the more symbolic hypnogogic state, and the mind will begin to represent the energy in visual form, and this may include auditory representations also (i.e. you get a soundtrack!). We also become more sensitive to psychic energy in this relaxed state (with conscious/verbal brain activity reduced), and that’s why the “ghosts” start appearing at these times. In fact the energy may be there at all times, including during the middle of the day, but most people are too active and busy to notice it.
In short, the monster under the bed is often a projection from a family member or relative. Ironically, that is usually coming from the mother or father, with grandparents, aunts and uncles and siblings being common too.
I remember at a child when we visited my mother’s relatives (aunt and grandmother), my brother and sister and I were terrified to go to sleep in the room where we were put to sleep. We could see snakes and vermin climbing/slithering up and down the walls. I now realise that this was the way our minds depicted the very disturbed consciousness fields of the relatives on that side of the family. The snakes represented the fact that much of the ‘disturbance’ was related to sexuality. I won’t go into details here!
Marcus
Wow, very insightful, Marcus. I’ll pass this on to the family. Thank you.
Wow, what an interesting post! I am not familiar with magick rituals at all, but I agree it is the intention of the ritual that seems to pull the victim’s fractured and frightened energy into alignment and rid the nasties.
Good for you, Trish!
I wonder does it work on SIL’S? *wink*
I bet it does!
Debra, you must be feeling better! And, I agree with you about Trish, etc. Oh, indeed, Trish, that expeieince was unforgettable! One of the most compelling parts of it was that the German Hexemeister lived in Bay Village, Ohio. He was one of my long-time teachers, and was an Adept at astral travel. (Remember that?) He often went physically into the Amish/PennsylvaniaDutch counrtyside for his work. However, he removed the entity from our space without being physically present himself. He did request that all of us leave the premises, which we did, while he did whatever he did.
I can state with inviolate truth that this man had the ability to travel astrally at will. He appeared on many occasions in my sanctuary in GA and his image could be seen briefly with our physical eyes, but he was not “there” physically. I’ve never known anyone else who was an Adept at astral travel, altho I know we all do it spontaneously and many have mastered the ability to do it at will, as he did. A magnificent gift, and a rare one! Bringing him in to rid our home of the invader was like calling Orkin to get rid of pesky termites, except this termite was highly destructive. Whatever his Hex was, it worked, and permanently. Never again had any similar problems.
Math:
I lived in Shippensburg PA for a few years, went to Shippensburg State U. I was in the heart of Amish and Penn. Dutch country. Very rich “Witchy heritage”, which I loved. These folk did not hire well finders when building property- they did “water witching” with tree branches and metals rods to find water. I even was trained to do it.
There are Hex Signs on the barns and over doorways to protect the beings living there.
Your teacher sounds very fascinating.
YOU are very fascinating, Debra. ♥
I second that!
LOL! Thanks. 🙂
Nat and Trish
I just spent the last week and the weekend on site for a Pacific Paranormal Investigations case. We have approximately 16 hours of video to review & 6-8 hours of audio to review. The most that happened on site during the investigation was battery operated items would come on spontaneously.
During this case, S. (PPI senior member) and I discussed how , sometimes (not always), the “ritual” of the investigation itself is enough to stop what is happening to the family. Its seems the ritual enables the psyches of the family members to integrate what is happening. Some times this is where a “shift” takes place: the “victims” become empowered and take more of a command of their own space both physically and psychically.
I am sure you were an immense help here, Trish.
Fascinating! I hadn’t thought of an investigation as a ritual,but of course it is. I hope L continues to be able to sleep in her room. What happens once you review all these hours of audio and visual stuff?
Trish, after the review, we have another ritual: “The Reveal”, where we sit down with the clients and go through the evidence with them. What we do after that depends on what the client needs, or how they feel. We isolate the EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), & video evidence for the homeowner to review.
Our oldest son was/is truly ADHD and has a tested, phenomenal IQ. During his puberty/adolescence, his extreme energy pulled in an entity that didn’t attach to him but rather attached to our home space and wreaked incredibly destructive havoc. Ultimately, a German hexemeister was called in to clear it, and did. The story has been posted here on the blog so I won’t repeat it. I did not want to know anything about the entity. Just had to have it gone, and that was done. I do know that it attempted constantly to do automatic writing though my right hand, which I refused to allow under any circumstances and have never allowed myself to do automatic writing since. The entity didn’t hurt us or our bodies, but it destroyed lots of property, and even after it was vacated from the space, we decided to move. Our son, now 40+years old and a born medium, has never used his profound innate medium abilities as a result of that experience, and I applaud and support his decision.
The experience was an amazing lesson in the presence of invisibles and their abilities to use excessive available energies of adolescents as well as hyper adults. Some of the entities also feed on fear, so if we are able to combat the fear of them they lose much power to manifest. Our family practices magick: ancient ceremonies and rituals. They are central to our spiritual path. Although my hubby doesn’t follow the path, he has witnessed the power and results of the rituals, respects them, and from time to time will request that I “do a little magick” for this, that, or the other. He also carries a small natural consecrated crystal in his pocket everywhere he goes. He’s never without it except when he sleeps. He’s learned that we don’t use ritual for selfish gain so he doesn’t make those requests.
Drawing the Magick Circle and invoking the Guardians of the Four Gates was certainly aligned with ritual magick, Trish, no matter what you chose to call them, and was a wise and essential part of your “exorcism” rite. The Fifth Gate is in the center of the Circle. That is the gate of Spirit. All this, of course, is from my own experiences and may not reflect the opinions or experiences of others. An interesting aside, when we had the visitation from the troublesome entity in GA, there was a small cluster of dense woods between our home and a very old African American church and cemetery that had long been abandoned. In a deep “hollow” (valley) area of the cemetery was what we called a “cold spot”. It could be 90 degrees outside, and in that hollow, the temperature dropped more than 30 degrees, constantly, and was always “shrouded” in a light fog although there was no water nearby. We measured the ambient temperatures in and out of the hollow often, and the hollow was always the same chillbump coldness. Got some incredible photos there with my Polaroid! Orbs, light bars, a few ectoplasmic faces, etc. Just mind-blowing stuff. Can’t deny there’s more to this old world than meets the physical eye!! Sorry, Whoot….went off once again on one of my long-winded tangents! 🙂
I remember that story!
Most of my bizarre dreams and strange experiences happened from 15-25. I don’t think that I ever got used to them, but at some point I did decide to shout them out of my space. A ritual is always good for reclaiming space. Sounds as if you did a fine job.
Hi jeri – great to see you again! The ritual really did seem to be the most important thing – that and L’s desire to sleep in her own room!
The power of a ritual – they often seem to work regardless of what is said and done. I think it’s as you mention: belief and also impressing the unconscious mind. It’s a bit like an old fashioned magic spell – getting the eye of a toad, the hair of a black dog and placing this at a cross roads near water etc. while chanting certain words. The ingredients aren’t necessarily important, it’s the effort of completing the spell that works. In saying this there are no doubt well trodden rituals, ceremonies and symbols that can be important.
So, Ghost Busting – a new string to your bow!
I think you’re right, Mike. The ritual, regardless of what’s said and done, seems to be the key.
Rituals, combined with focused Will and Intent, have tremendous power to alter circumstances and transmute Nature. Sounds as though yours may have done the trick. You’ll know when L turns off the light in her bedroom! That drawing has the appearance of either an ET entity, or some other entity that hasn’t ever taken on human form. There are those never-human entities who inhabit certain dimensions and are not necessarily evil or dark, but different and scary when they come to call. Keep us posted on this story! A couple of suggestions if she continues to have visitations or remains frightened: L should go to a hardware store and purchase several iron nails. Size of nails doesn’t matter. Place a nail at each of the four corners of her bed, between the mattress and boxsprings or just under each corner of the mattress. Also, important, suggest she sprinkle seasalt on a regualr basis around the edges of the room, including corners, and around her bed. After room is vacuumed, sprinkle again. These are Wiccan rituals which sound silly but are effective against unwanted energies. (Silver bullets,if you will!) Certain entities are repelled by certain naturally-occurring substances. Can’t hurt, and does help. One other suggestion: phone and digital cameras won’t generally capture extra-dimensional objects and/or entities. Polaroids and 35mm cameras with special fast-speed film such as infra-red work beautifully. They’re a hassle, but well worth the effort. Blows you away to see what’s sharing our space that’s invisible to our eyes!
I’ve had some luck photographing orbs with a digital camera and, once, some sort of being on a friend’s property. Thanks for the suggestions, Math. I’ll pass those along.
Very interesting. It reminds me of my daughter – sleeping with the lights on. You have to wonder how they ever get into a deep sleep. I agree that certain energies are attracted to adolescents – they are hormonal and intense. I hope this worked and the young girl is free of whatever is frightening her. I can attest, as a mother, it is horrible not knowing how to help when this type of thing is a constant in your life.