One time, I thought I saw…
A ghost? A spirit? A shadow shaped like a person? Something that just didn’t fit in with what my brain understood about the so called “reality” that we all collectively agree to experience? If you talk to enough people, they’ll casually mention either an experience they, a close friend or family member had interacting with some “entity/spirit” from the other side. According to a 2012 survey done by HuffPost/YouGov of 1,000 people, 45% of them said, yes, they do believe in ghosts. I think it’s an interesting comment on our society to have so many people admit this.
When you’ve had an experience with a ghost, spirit, or entity (for the rest of the post, I’ll refer to it as a spirit), it’s really hard to wrap your conscious mind around what you’ve just experienced. It can be shattering to realize that you’re not the center of the universe—that there are in fact things “not dreamt of in our philosophies”. Growing up in the South, where there were more churches in our cities than there were gas stations, it’s not that hard to hear people casually talking about spirits. There are plenty of references across all religions and spiritual traditions to spirits. I highly recommend doing your own research, and please, don’t just take my word for it. Go read and educate yourself. Be a seeker of knowledge and truth because that is what has helped me the most on my own personal journey, and after my own personal experiences, some harrowing and some heartening, I’ve come to my own personal opinion on the matter.
Spirits are real, and since spirits are real, we must acknowledge that there is something that happens after death. There is a larger ecosystem of forces and energies at play than we can even begin to imagine.
We are spirits—souls/energy—made manifest through our bodies, and when our spirit is done with it’s time on this Earth, it moves on to the next. Not all spirits that we interact with are human. We are not the only beings to have ever existed in this world, and to assume so would be mighty dangerous! Where do you think our inspiration for the fey, dragons or demons come from? Even angels are technically spirits too! Look to the histories of Native peoples and the myths of ancient cultures, they hold the seeds of ancient truths mankind has forgotten.
I guess the point of this post is to tell you, dear reader, that you’re not alone. If you’ve seen or had an experience with an entity or being, you’re not alone. You’re not broken. You’re not evil, and you’re certainly not mistaken for acknowledging the truth of your experience. Many people in this world brush against the other side far more often than they realize, and I think some of us put up blinders to what we may just be naturally able to perceive. It’s not comfortable to be able to look around and see spirits. Hell, it might be downright unsettling for you, but I’ve always felt that it takes a measure of courage to be honest with oneself about our own experiences with the other side, which does go by many other names. I admire that trait in people because I know what depths of courage and strength it requires. I hope that maybe by sharing some of my own experiences will invite you to feel a bit more ease with your own.
One of my very first memories of interacting with a spirit was when I was thirteen years old, I remember that I was at a friend’s sleepover. We were all sitting in her bedroom, sprawled out in sleeping bags with magazines, make up, and candy wrappers everywhere. It was evening time and dark. We were all just talking, laughing and sharing the tiny secrets that illuminated our lives. I was sitting with my back towards the wall, leaning against the side of the bed. We were talking, and then, I looked up.
About six feet away in front of the door to her bedroom, I saw a human shaped figure in the darkness standing there. The edges of it were illuminated somehow with even greater darkness. It looked at me, and I felt it’s regard upon me. I felt it so much that my entire body tingled with an electric force that I’ve never forgotten. It leaned towards me, and I screamed. I had a complete meltdown, and all five girls started screaming with me. The parent in charge that evening came running in, and lights got turned on, banishing the darkness and all its mysteries. It was hard to explain what I had seen, but when I was questioned, I was honest. I told them, “I saw a man in the shadows, and it looked at me.”
That was one of my earlier encounters of interacting with a spirit. To a thirteen year old, it had been frightening and harrowing. What was that thing? Why had it looked at me? Where had it gone? All these questions swirled through my mind, and after that, I gathered my courage and steeled myself to begin researching all I could about ghosts and spirits. From the perspective of the adult that I am today, I would tell that girl, “It’s okay, sweetheart. Be calm and be steady. It can not hurt you. It’s just curious. It’s as surprised as you are that you can see it.” Oh, if I only had my older self back then to comfort and console me, it would have at least saved me on all the tears, haha!
I remember not being invited back to that house very often after that, but that’s what people do when you’ve disturbed their sense of their own reality. People will try to reason and logic their way out of believing or accepting what you have said or even what they’ve experienced. Remember what author and therapist, Virginia Satir, says about humans, which is that we have a stronger drive to keep things to stay the same and maintain the status quo of a familiar scenario, relationship or belief system, but frankly, that doesn’t always mean that those things that do stay the same are actually good or good for us.
I hope what I’ve shared with you today has helped. I hope you feel a bit more reassured or comforted at least in the understanding that you’re not alone. Many of us have had unexplainable things happen, and that is perfectly okay. If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to share or leave a comment, and you can always reach me at info@sacredstarmystic.com or on my facebook page to schedule a service. Take care!
With Warmth and Grace,
Melanie, Sacred Star Mystic