The rain’s pouring hard here. Last night, a few raccoons were cacophonously serenading the backyard. I have no idea what was going on but they caused a real ruckus. Nothing happened to my garden. I guess it is all good. The summer season has flown by. October is around the corner. I want my garden to grow faster and better. I know Mother Nature takes her time.
Yesterday A.F Stewart interviewed me for her show The Book Chat. I was thrilled to be interviewed. I shall post the link when it becomes available. I spoke about writing short fiction and poetry, and my horror novella. It felt good to be interviewed. A.F Stewart was so sweet.
The first Paranormal Symposium occurs in October, 2023. I bought my ticket months ago. I just can’t wait. I have posted the latest trailer for the symposium on my timeline. I just can’t wait and I am so excited. Here is the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/halifax-paranormal-symposium-2023-tickets-541022772677. I may need to try on 60 different outfits for this and I have to figure out where the event is located before the event. I love the paranormal and well, I mean, look at this blog. Of course I love the paranormal. I will dive deeper into the paranormal since the dark half of the year is not that far away. Nothing is keeping me from attending the Paranormal Symposium.
I guess I love the paranormal so much. I feel a strong connection to it. I have a connection to the dead. I know I tackle some strong topics on this blog, but isn’t that what a blog is for? I have always had the ability to see the dead. Well I shouldn’t say always, I had to move to Nova Scotia to realize I had this ability but once I did, it just went from there. I was fortunate enough to find a supportive community of like minded individuals. I was trained in mediumship and I have certificates. I don’t always see or sense something but when I do, I am usually right. I have no idea why I had to move to another province to find out I am mediumistic. It could be the energies of the city here, the fact that it is uber haunted, full of ghosts, history, tragedy, blood. That woke up a latent talent, I guess. Maybe the spirits chose me. Who knows? I will never have the reason and I have decided to accept it. Or, as Harry Potter says, just go with it. You don’t always get the answers you were after.
I believe it is vital to be a part of a community of like minded individuals when you delve into occultism, mediumship, etc. They can protect you, support you and teach you. I probably sound like Gandalf right now but he had a good point. Skeptics can be cruel or nice. But it is good to have a group of people to reach out to if you get a hard time. One hard lesson I have learned is to offer aid only to those who ask for it. Also, it is important to have an open mind. Not everyone who doesn’t believe in ghosts or aliens is trying to be mean. They could just be sharing their perspective. They are entitled to their opinions, no matter what it may be. I know, I go home and grumble about the skeptics too. They can’t help themselves. If you need to, stand up for yourself.
Training in mediumship allows you to have more control over your talents. That is a good thing. I would never turn down the opportunity for training. Your talents grow better with practice. It is like exercising a muscle. To keep it strong, you have to try. So. you can imagine my enthusiasm when I first learned about the Paranormal Symposium. That never happens here. Of course I bought my ticket early. I bet they will be sold out for tickets and that the room where it takes place will barely have standing room. I plan to arrive early to get my spot- front row!
August is almost over. August is the prequel to October and the dark half of the year. I love summer. I love being in my garden. My garden takes away my stress. Fall though is when I feel I can be myself more. The leaves trickle to the cold earth and the days grow darker. I look forward to the cold season and all the dark gifts it brings: the harvest, the colourful leaves, ghosts, the scent of autumn in the air. Pumpkins, Samhain, cider and apples!
Do you feel it in the air? Do you smell it or taste it in the water? I do. I know many others do because they told me online. But try to feel it in the air. I am talking about this change, something heavy in the air. It is not always heavy but I think that it represents a change, not necessarily for the better.
I sense a change in the air. It is transitioning to autumn, fall. Yes Samhain approaches. (Which means I need to get my shit together but that is another topic). I just feel like a darkness is coming over the world. I think it goes beyond the Goddess is pissed at us for disrespecting the earth on such a huge global scale. I think that that is part of it. I would be called crazy for talking about this stuff but I can post this here.
Ok so… I believe we are going to see a lot of change in the near future. If you don’t believe me or in the paranormal, then go read up about Skinwalker Ranch. I do. I also believe that the paranormal has something to do with it – the aliens which I believe exists, and the spirits roaming the earth now also know about the change. Of course, they are just waiting around for us mortals to figure it all out. I not only believe that but I feel it. I imagine or understand it as a darkness growing over the world, like some people say the devil is having his way.
I sense that if people are being good to the earth that they might survive. If someone or an organization has harmed the earth like the destruction of the amazon rainforests, deforestation, etc, then they are not going to be fortunate. The evil companies will drive us toward a mass destruction of our planet. I don’t even use pesticides in my garden. I did catch a Japanese beetle in a jar from my garden. I tossed the jar in the dumpster. But if I did use pesticides, that would throw off the balance in my garden. Balance can’t be touched or tasted or felt but it exists. I keep a balance in my garden. I grow nasturtiums which attract aphids. That draws the predatory insects to the aphids. I grow the nasturtiums because I know that some bugs want to eat the aphids such as ladybugs. I keep a balance. It keeps the insects out of my apartment and keeps them productive in the garden. I have a beautiful thriving garden. I work with the energies and the land spirits that are already there. I also offer gemstones, coins, honey, milk to the spirits in the spring and fall. I give thanks to the spirits and the Goddess/ God for the beautiful garden I have. The gratitude I show ensures I can have a good harvest and that they will continue to help me.
I think we should all hit the pause button and reflect deeply on not what the paranormal is about but why it is suddenly the hottest thing to hit social media. Why is it so huge right now? I believe that it has something to do with what I mentioned above. This is a good time to strengthen relationships with your chosen deity or gods that you follow. It is a good time to strengthen relationships with your mortal friends too.
Aliens, UFOs, crop circles, cattle mutilations, poltergeist activity etc are so hugely popular now. I am on the fence about Bigfoot but I would believe in aliens way more than Bigfoot. I know that social media connects us globally. We can now have information at an unprecedented rate now and faster than ever before on earth. We all communicate globally within mere seconds or minutes. So this is why we all know so much about the paranormal and many other things of course. I am terrified about aliens. I don’t want to think that they exist.
The greed, corruption, the huge demand of the earth’s resources, violence, crime, war (Ukraine, anyone?), and apathy sweeping over the planet now is not helping anything. It casts a dark shadow over the earth. I don’t know what happened in Skinwalker Ranch that ignited all that activity occurring there but it is a great example of what I am talking about here. We have to remember that we are not in control of the earth like we want to believe. We need earth but she doesn’t need us. We can’t live anywhere else. I have zero intention of leaving earth and moving up the stars – where the aliens are watching over us. I serve the Goddess, she doesn’t serve me. I was meant to be here on earth. This is how it works for me.
Not everyone believes in these things. But for those that do and that includes me! The paranormal is so hot right now. I feel that something is coming, and I also feel that whatever that is isn’t good at all. I mean if all this crazy stuff is happening, there has to be an explanation for it all and that explanation might make you uncomfortable. I am still feverishly curious. You have to admit this is all cool.
I would love to see all your comments on what you think this is. It is ok to be a skeptic! It’s ok to believe. It is real cool when skeptics become believers. Be good to the earth, be good to your fellow man, and be good to yourselves!
Whatever transpires for us in our weird paranormal future, let’s hope it is for the best of all mortals and animals -or amphibians out there. I do sense a darkness coming. It is good to remember from time to time that change is good and that as long as we maintain the balance of life, we just may be fine. I hope I am wrong but I wouldn’t be shocked if I was right.
The next turn in the Wheel of the year is Yule, or the Winter Solstice. I will post more about that later. For now, I am posting about ghosts and if they are real. It’s hard for people to believe in ghosts and it’s not hard to see why. I found an article about the paranormal in India that presents a balanced, skeptical perspective about the paranormal. I hope you enjoy it, dear readers.
In search of the unknown: The tussle between paranormal researchers and rationalists
Ghost hunters and paranormal researchers are trying to find the science behind paranormal occurrences.
A techie, working in the San Francisco Bay Area, received a call from his home at Shivaji Park, Mumbai, just after the lunch hour. The techie was taken aback because it was three in the morning back home, and that was not the time his aged dad and mom ever called. It was his mom on the other end. “Why are you calling me so early in the morning? Is everything ok?” the techie asked.
The old lady spoke to her son in chaste Telugu: “Why? Can’t I call you now? Can’t I speak with my son when I want to,” the lady shot back angrily, and slammed the phone down. The techie was worried as his mom never spoke to him so harshly — and that too in Telegu, a language rarely used at home.
He called back, and this time it was his father who answered the phone — after five to six rounds of rings. He told his father about mom’s phone call a few minutes earlier. “No, she didn’t call you… She’s sound asleep. Besides, it’s early morning here,” the dad said.
The techie was quite alarmed; he had clearly heard his mom on the other end. He sent a screenshot of his mobile call log to his father on WhatsApp. But his father — and now the mom was also fully awake – denied having made any call to the US at that hour. The next day, the techie’s father visited the local telephone exchange to get a copy of his recent call-log. Upon checking the records, he found no calls were made to US from his home for over a week.
The family decided to pass off the incident as a “telecom glitch”, but a few more bizarre incidents over the next two weeks forced the family to consult a psychologist first, and a psychic healer later, when the shrink failed to solve the problem. Constant ringing of the doorbell at dead of night — and pounding and banging of bedroom doors — made the family believe their house was haunted. “That place had a lot of electromagnetic
swirling around … These energies were causing such actions,” explained Akshai Sthalekar, founder of India Paranormal Team, which conducted a series of “cleansing rituals” (with water, crystals and pranik and reiki healing) to deviate or clear-off bad energies from the techie’s family home.
BUT WAS THAT A GHOST? “We don’t call them ghosts … we call them energies. It could be energies let out of dead people, too. Energies cannot be created or destroyed; it just get released into the lower cosmic strata,” said Rahul Kumar, a trained allopathic doctor and founder of Bengaluru-based Spirit Hunting & Research in Paranormal.
Ghost hunters and paranormal researchers are trying to find the science behind paranormal occurrences. “Metaphysics and parapsychology form the basis of all things that cannot be explained by science,” said Kumar. But anti-superstition activists and atheists are not willing to buy these theories.
“This is all pseudo-science … Paranormal researchers use scientific terminologies to mislead people. They just cheat people with scientific mumbo-jumbo,” said Avinash Patil, state executive president of the MaharashtraAndhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti.Neither pure sciences nor paranormal research have managed to pierce the veil of the unknown. But paranormal researchers are having a field day finding solutions to the problems of the “other realm”trying to unravel the mysteries of the “other realm” – and also make some money off it.
BIG SPOOK BUSINESS India’s top spirit hunters such as Akshai Sthalekar, Waqar Raj, Rahul Kumar and Shishir Kumar attend to 20-30 cases every month.
“Most paranormal cases are misunderstood … in fact, 99 out of 100 cases we attend to pertains to psychological disorders or external energy influence,” said Shishir Kumar, head of Team Pentacle, a group specialising in paranormal activities and UFO sightings.
By external energy influence, Shishir means the presence of an electronic device which emits a lot of electromagnetic waves (EMWs). Higher levels of EMW exposure leads to incurable headache and auditory hallucinations, researchers say.
Most paranormal researchers advise their clients to approach a psychiatrist prior to opting for a psychic investigation. Only when the shrink fails, the psychic healers start investigating the phenomenon.
Paranormal investigators charge about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for primary investigations.
The remedy part could get expensive as it may entail a series of cleansing or healing processes and religious rituals. Psychics may charge anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh to exorcise, deviate or neutralise “bad energy” or negative vibrations.
“We come across a lot of such cases every month… our clients come from all backgrounds… Bollywood stars, politicians, rich socialites, slum dwellers — everyone comes to us when they’re left with no other option,” said Sthalekar of India Paranormal Team, a member organisation of the Secret Society of the Paranormal.
“We’re flooded with panic calls when horror movies such as Conjuring get released in India,” he added.
Waqar Raj, who heads the Indian Paranormal Society, has a word of advice: “There’s a lot of fraud happening around paranormal sciences … Lot of people are entering this field to make money. I personally feel paranormal researchers should not charge money for investigations. It should be seen as pure research.”
A few paranormal research groups have also started offering certification courses in paranormal sciences. They charge Rs 50,000-75,000 for three to six-month courses.
DECODING GHOSTS THROUGH SCIENCE The red needle on the electromagnetic field meter (EFMs) jumped to life, swinging wildly towards the extreme right end of the monitor. The static sound flowing out of a digital voice recorder is interrupted by a short crackling sound and a prolonged hum. It turned cold suddenly — the reading on the thermometer dropped to 22 degrees Celsius, from 29 just a few minutes earlier.
A team of paranormal researchers, spending a full moon night at Kuldhara, an abandoned village in Rajasthan, was scared and elated at the same time. It was the first time all their scientific “ghostbusting gadgets” reacted concurrently to the presence of “supernaturals”.
“Kuldhara is a haunted place … there’s no electricity in that place, but still your EFMs come to life; sometimes it scales to as high as 20-30 milligauss. Now such high levels can’t be the effect of the earth’s geomagnetic fields alone,” said Waqar Raj.
Many a time, clients approach paranormal experts when they stumble upon “white patches” or “white apparition forms” in photographs clicked at home.
“They believe their house is haunted then … But many a time, these are just orbs resulting out of humidity in air or dust particle on lens. We use photo detailers to inspect these photographs and report back,” said Sthalekar.
Several “poltergeist actions” also come up on the tables of most paranormal researchers.
These include beds and chairs getting picked and dropped or dragged, incidents of stone throwing and crockery breaking. “But poltergeist actions are not actually classified as paranormal activities … some people have “high levels of brain power” to move things, without actually touching them,” said Raj. Then comes cases of apparition sightings.
“It will require a lot of energy for a ghost (or a spirit) to appear as an apparition…,” says Rahul Kumar, the allopathic doctor-turnedspirit hunter. “So most of them time, an apparition you see is the result of a weak mind. Prolonged exposure to EMWs could weaken your mind; it maysetoffboutsof hallucination or even turn you a schizophrenic,” he added.
Cases of ghost possessing — where the ghost is believed to have entered a living person’s body — always accompany tales of the afflicted physically “bending and twisting” in unimaginable ways. This, according to Kumar, is a case of ‘Rubber man syndrome’, a rare medical condition. Cases pertaining to people speaking a foreign language never learnt or even heard by them relate with another medical condition called ‘Foreign accent syndrome’. A person suffering from ‘Alien hand syndrome’ would hit or harm people sitting next to him without really meaning to do so.
“Many a time, all the above cases are misunderstood as a demonic possession or haunting,” said Rahul Kumar.
“Ghosts or spirits are intelligent energy sources … They’re not like what they show in movies. These can’t enter human bodies in normal courses,” said Shishir Kumar of Team Pentacle.
Sthalekar added: “Psychics try to communicate with energies and try to send them away … If the lingering energy is of a dead person, we tell the energy source it is dead and it has to move on. We help them to cross over to the other realm.”
According to Waqar Raj, the problem of “bad energy” only compounds when people use these powers to harm others. “These powers may not affect you, if you’re not scared of them … But if you start worry about them, they’ll make you a nervous wreck, make you depressed or start suicidal tendencies,” he added.
These words do not mean much for the non-believers though. “This is purely superstition … We challenge them to prove their theories. These people should be prosecuted under anti-superstition laws,” Patil of Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti said.” End of article.
I disagree that an ‘energy’s is responsible for the angry prank calls late at night in the article. I need way more proof to be able to believe that. I find it very hard to believe. I am sure that someone got hold of the phone, a living person and is the one responsible for the calls. No ghost could do that. Someone broke into the parents’ home and did the prank calls. The phone was slammed down too. Right. If those people are willing to blame it on a ghost or energy, then they are in dire need of a good head check. It would take a huge amount of energy on the ghost’s part to do that. I welcome your opinions in the comments below.
There will always be believers in the paranormal and skeptics. They are both entitled to their beliefs. They work best when balancing each other out. A good dose of skepticism can actually be of help when dealing with the paranormal. There just may be a rational explanation for creaking floorboards. If you believe it’s ghosts for every single time your cat Fido stares at the ceiling, your doors creak open from an open window, or your hat keeps falling to the floor, you will have serious health problems to deal with. Paranormal investigators first rule out possible solid scientific and rational explanations for occurrences.
Yule is almost here! I hope you’re looking forward to it!
I just read the book The Zozo Phenomenon. It was a very good book if not far fetched in parts. I don’t believe all the hype but it was a good book overall. I do believe that people can convince themselves that something exists.There is a fine line between what is real and what is fake. In one section of the book during a paranormal investigation, the wife of Darren Evans enters the house and claims to be sexually assaulted by Zozo. She is not dressed well but seems oddly calm, acting like she is drugged even ( she probably was) and her husband takes it very calmly. Excuse me, if my husband sees me or hears me say I was sexually assaulted, I would expect him to be behaving way more damn concerned. Instead, he continues with the investigation with Ghost Adventures. I would divorce him on the spot. He just goes outside and finds her at a hotel and leaves her there. What an asshole! That right there tells me it was fake. She desperately wanted attention. If I was assaulted by a far fetched demon no less, I would expect more done about it and I would not be behaving that calmly.
The power of suggestion is powerful. I suspect that is what is occurring here in the book. I don’t believe the Slender Man exists either. People start a story and it goes viral. But on the other hand, I have had actual paranormal things happen to me. But I never looked for it or forced it to happen. It just did. I had no control over it. But people do have control over what they choose to believe exists. I have used ouija boards and nothing happened- at all. That may be because I was alone. I am sure the boards function better with two people. So no a demon didn’t pop out and possess me.
I am skeptical that that demon exists. The people who want to believe he is real search for any explanation or story that he exists and then that should make it so that it does. Sheesh. If anyone has a genuine occurrence that they never forced to occur, then yeah I would believe that person.
I know a guy who is a Witch and has discussed demonic possession with a priest. The priest told him nine times out of ten, the person believing themselves to be possessed are instead dealing with mental illness. That is a more logical explanation. I do believe in the paranormal but I also believe in being practical and logical. First you rule out all the plausible causes, then when you can’t explain it and you are sure, then you go deeper and accept the paranormal explanation.
It was a good entertaining read. That is all. I don’t regret reading it but I don’t believe it. It is fake , the whole thing. A cry for attention. There is something to the maxim seeing is believing. A lot of spooky things have happened to me that I never forced or sought out. they just did. An editor who read the book Dracul by Dacre Stoker claimed that Mina and Jonathan Harker were real people, acquaintances of Bram Stoker. People are so eager to believe in anything that they will accept anything. He believed that Dracula existed. He is a fictional character, nothing more, based on the actual historical figure Vlad Tepes.
To demonstrate my skepticism even more, I have bad news. The publishing company J Ellington Ashton Press is a scam. I am now not having my horror novel published with them.
This is what convinced me it was a scam all along:
The editor who encouraged me to sing on has zero ratings and reviews on Amazon- no ratings mean no sales
They were terrified of deadlines A First
Signed me on too fast- the same day they got my partial
Praised me up
I couldn’t google or find the editor anywhere online even on Facebook
I was told it would be too hard for her to be in touch with me from Australia- it takes seconds to send an email
I had a fishy feeling about them
I had a fishy feeling about being told it would hard for her to be in touch or her constant assurance she was working on it
Their website looks like shit
Their ratings and reviews on Amazon are bad
They have zero web presence
Told me I would be shelved- my book would be shelved next to other famous authors
The editor constantly name dropped He is full of shit
I was on bated breath waiting for them to ask me for money
In order for you to avoid this happening to you, do your research first. That will save you heartbreak. And you want to be happy right? And you want to be with a legit company right? Right. If publishing is your goal, then go for it but be careful.! Scams are everywhere these days. It is terrible that a publishing company will prey on gullible authors and wreak havoc with their dreams but the scammers are out there.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love watching Ghost Adventures as much as the next person. I am not writing this to sprinkle hate confetti. I do watch the show. But I just maintain a healthy dose of skepticism. I don’t agree with the way they bash witchcraft not knowing enough about it, But I just brush that aside because my ability see ghosts leaves me feeling quite isolated. I can’t just stop being what I am. I am what I am. I accept it but I bear the mantle for it. I don’t boast or act proud or show off. I think that with an ability like mine, I guess you have to pay the price. The guys on that show validate it for me because they make it cool and acceptable. It makes me feel less alone.
We live in a society that pushes conformity. I say never be afraid to stand out and be true to yourself.
The paranormal is now more accepted than it was say 20 years ago. I do believe though there are more ghosts, spirits. demons out now than there ever were before. I also know that we have more ghost hunting tools on the market. I never knew those tools existed. I just used my own natural clairvoyant senses to detect ghosts. When I do encounter a spirit it never sticks around for me to find out what it wants. How can I help it that way? Maybe with more ghost hunting tools, I will be able to know what they want. Let’s hope. The future seems spooky. I believe something is coming, something big. And I think that the spirits all know what that will be and are waiting for us mere mortal to figure it out. Let’s do just that before it is too late. This pandemic is only the beginning.
Please do not steal or copy from this blog. If you do, be prepared to be stomped on by the Fates and karma for your bad character. I can be reached at :
heddyjohannesen @ gmail.com
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