OUR CAST OF GHOSTLY CHARACTERS
OUR CAST OF GHOSTLY CHARACTERS
We would like to introduce you to some of the different spirits and presences by personality and function, with whom we have crossed paths over the years. Rather than tell you we encountered ectoplasm and orbs, we prefer to to be a little more colorful.
The Good Guys
These are the spirits and presences that we encounter most often. They do most of the haunting. Average people who died one way or another and whose spirit cannot or will not break free of the earth plane. We have met very few Good Guys whom we feared. And while some can be unpleasant, for the most part, the Good Guys just want to heard, understood, assisted, or released.
The Bad Guys
As many spirits were in life as human beings, they are in death. There is a lot more to it ... why some people's spirits are good guys ... and why other's, while not pure evil or demonic, are just plain bad natured.
They have their stories, and we try to give them a forum to tell it to us. Many are so often negative, spiteful, or unpleasant, it takes patience, skill, and real effort to break through. We always try to appeal to their better natures. Even nasty SOBs deserve respect.
Sometimes they will come around and act civilly. Sometimes they will respond to a spiritual clearing and depart. Oddly enough, for all their bad attitude, being released from ... sometimes pushed out of ... the earth plane is what many wanted all along.
Non-Resident Spirits, or, 'the Travelers'
Very often, especially in public places like graveyards, haunted woods, unlived in haunted houses, before we begin formal sessions, we look for and invite a non-resident spirit to be our intermediary. These spirits are benign, impartial and reside in or near the area in which we conduct our sessions.
Not a Gatekeeper, we call them NRSs, Non-resident Spirits. They stay with us for that one session, or sometimes for the entire project over several days. The NRSs give us suggestions, hints, clues on how we can best work with the target spirit. It gives us updates on the target spirit's mood and temperament. It works like an advisor, only on the Other Side.
We have found, over the years, that most locations where spirits and ghosts remain active, there is always at least one NRS. He or she is uninvolved in the haunting. Nevertheless, when they encounter a paranormal psychic working with hauntings, they are curious about humans and curious about what will happen in a session.
Generally, they are not feeling maligned and have not experienced a violent and traumatic death. They just drift or hang around until something finally motivates them to travel on out of the earth plane. Sometimes they give us their real names. Often they give us false or made-up names. We think that is because they do not identify with whom they were in life any longer. They do not feel like the non-physical extension of whoever they were in the physical world.
Guardian Spirits
At the little cemetery where we go to visit with Molly Douse, the spirit of a woman who died in 1803, named Ama Davis lives. Whenever we begin to pick up the presence of another spirit from the graveyard trying to enter into our conversation with Molly, Ama steers it away. She is also very protective of Molly. There have been times when Molly became upset or very angry while we were discussing one thing or another. When she becomes like that, she leaves abruptly. A little ghostly tantrum. Or heartbreaking sadness. Almost every time, Ama either has convinced Molly to return to our energetic space or has gone after her to give comfort and love.
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The Powers That Be
Occasionally at paranormal psychic session, great and undefined energies pass through. Some like thunderstorms. Some like golden summer days. Some with remarkably complex energy. Some with very dark and often dangerous energy. Some that seem angelic.
We know they are universal energy beings not paranormal presences. This is where and when spirituality and the paranormal pass through each other.
Often, we use these energies to push up the vibration of the spirit communication for stronger results. The high, fine energy beings seem to offer the earthbound spirit with whom we are working the opportunity to leave the earth, immediately. The complex, powerful energy beings seem to keep them earthbound.
Once or twice a year, we will feel a dark, dangerous energy flow into a session. It has an unmistakable effect. Everything suddenly just feels awful, the energy we feel, the feeling in the room. If we are engaged in communications with a spirit, he or she will usually break off. If they do not we will. The spirits at the location will always come back. The dark energy more often than not, will not. We always perform clearing rites. And resume at some other time.
A good paranormal psychic should be able to recognize, learn to work with, and respect these beings from between the worlds.
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Gatekeepers
Ethred is our primary Gatekeeper (we have two others), the main spirit at many of our sessions who helps us through particularly harrowing paranormal communications. He acts as a screen between the worlds, regulating which spirits are allowed to come through.
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Mosquito Ghosts
Every now and again, while we are working psychically with a spirit, the session is crashed by a lost soul, sometimes more than one lost soul. They remind of us of lonely strangers who crave interaction with other people but impolitely inject themselves into conversations without asking. They are harmless but annoying. They seem to be bumbling through the Afterlife, clueless on what to do next. A few times we tried to engage some in a dialogue. Without saying much, they lost interest and went on their way. We call them mosquito ghosts. You really just want them to go away.
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Evil Incarnate
We are talking about evil. Some, demonic. Some, spirits of really hateful, violent human beings. The demonic presences, we will have no part. None whatsoever. To purge evil, it takes a remarkably talented and spiritually powerful person who knows how to walk expertly the perilous line between God and the Devil. These people, demonologists, look their own destruction squarely in the face when they work. The rest of us should stay far far away.We shake our heads when we see casual paranormal investigators or less experienced paranormal psychics become all jazzed about demonology. We have nothing but disrespect for 'paranormal experts' who teach those two-hour Demonology workshops for anyone who signs up and pays up. To us, it is like a snake expert giving a two-hour course on how to handle a cobra. Then, handing over the cobra. Demonology is a calling, an innate spiritual power that is a whole lot more curse than blessing to those who wield it.
Then, there is tricky evil. It disguises itself, often as a curious spirit that has been attracted by an Ouija board session or another form of psychic tool. We believe most of the negative and scary experiences people have with Ouija boards occur when they go 'fishing' for anything spooky. Rather than working deliberately at a known haunting with specific spirits. And not knowing how to call for a Gatekeeper or spirit guide to oversee the whole experience.
We have never had a negative experience with a Ouija board. Even so, we seldom, if ever, use them anymore. It is much more effective and much more rewarding to cut out the oracle and go direct.
Still, every paranormal psychic is going to encounter dark, menacing, non-physical evil. Our advice? If you even remotely feel out of your league working with evil presences, stand up, turn on the lights, burn some sage, say some clearing prayers, and leave the room, or the house, or the location. Period.
We learned our lesson a couple of times over the years. Ignoring the danger, we were victim of our own over-confidence (Arrogance. Stupidity.) Rule of thumb? Confronting non-physical evil is like confronting our friend the cobra. The longer you interact with it, the longer you convince yourself you know what you are doing, the more you lose control.