Ghosts 101 Chapter One

Chapter One

"What is a Ghost?"

What is a ghost? Has anyone really been able to define this?

It hovers nearby when you are curled up on the couch reading. It walks the hallway when you have lain down to go to sleep. You know someone or something is there, but you cannot see it, and you cannot really hear it, not really.

Sometimes it shows up in your dreams. Sometimes it rearranges your objects. It may even knock books off your shelves or hurl medicine bottles from your medicine cabinet.

Ghosts manifest in many different ways. Since ghosts come from human beings, and no two human beings are exactly alike, it should not surprise us that ghosts are as individual as living persons.

They are in pain.

They need help.

They don't know exactly what they need, but they will try to get your attention.

We call them ghosts, disembodied spirits, lost souls, discorporates. They scare the heck out of you. They probably don't want to scare you; they may not even be aware that you are afraid, but their dulled senses tell them that the energy you emanate bolsters their own failing life force. It's like putting fresh air into a tire that has a slow leak.

Some people convince themselves that the spirits infesting their homes are protecting them. Occasionally, we hear of a well-publicized case where an earth-bound spirit warns of a fire or other disaster, in a dream or by means of another type of apparition. These incidents, which are actually quite rare, have lead to the myth that ghosts remain on earth to guard the living. However, most of the time, ghosts do more harm than good.

They make you feel unsafe. They feed off your vital life-force -- which is why they tend to like children. Ghosts are psychic parasites, not unlike mosquitoes, leeches, or ticks. They take just a little at a time, but it is stuff they are not entitled to.

At the same time, they're doing harm to themselves by remaining earthbound hen they should go on to their afterlife. But how do you get them to leave? And why should you bother?

If you are a spiritually aware person, such as a Wiccan, Pagan, Heathen, or other religious persuasion., then you are aware that negative energy has an unwholesome effect on your life and on everything that you try to accomplish. Some of us utilize discorporates in religious life or magickal practice; I am not here to tell others how to conduct themselves, but I have never met a discorporate entity who was not tormented. In every major world religion, there is a tenet or a verse of scripture that reads something like, "Do unto others are you would have them do unto you," or "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Is it not part and parcel of the Wiccan Rede, "An' it harm none, do as thou wilt."? This is part of the Great Goddess' Law of Love. Discorprates remain in pain until they join with the Light beyond this lifetime, where they experience awesome joy, healing from the hurts of this life, and oneness with the Creator. Isn't it better to heal than to hurt? And isn't it better to heal someone than to ignore that soul, to just let it bleed?

Closure is what discorporates need. The same denial, false pride, and unfinished business that troubled them while they were incarnate still churns within their fleshless souls. The same frustrations afflicting their earthly lives will afflict them in death, with the added frustration of lacking hands and feet, eyes and voice, necessary to accomplish tasks in this world. Poltergeist activity - objects that are moved or otherwise affected by a ghost, ghostly noises with no visible source, and even electrical disturbances, when these are not caused by a living telekinetic, can be manifestations of a ghost's frustration. Ghosts want to see, hear, and feel clearly, which they can't with the remnant of their astral bodies, and they want to be seen, heard, and felt, which they can accomplish only for brief moments by expending a tremendous amount of energy. They expend what little they have, and they must replenish it by taking on more, usually from a living person. Ghosts' frustration becomes harmful to them and to the living they try to contact.

I have been dealing with discorporates since I was a young girl, but only successfully within the last few years. I have learned much, but I also feel I have much to learn. Therefore, I must state that this book does not contain "All the answers." I have encountered what I consider to be mild to moderate poltergeist activity, nothing that produced serious injury (at least, not to me). However, if I encountered a poltergeist that wanted to cause bodily harm, I believe I would know how to handle it. Since the harmful activity is a scream for attention, and I am already attentive, I am able to reduce such activity or to stop it immediately. Also, I have not encountered a haunting by a non-human entity, what we might call a demon, but I know how to prevent such hauntings, and I know how to make them go away. Some of what a human ghost does may be very, very frightening; it may "feel demonic," but most haunting activity, in my experience, is caused by the ghosts of humans.

I consider myself to be a healer, and I always work with energies to that end. Not everyone considers him or herself to be a healer, and it simply may not occur to a person that a dead spirit needs healing...for what is there to heal, without a living body? But please understand, that just as words can hurt more than fists, emotional and psychological pain lingers long after the body has ceased to feel any pain. This is what must be healed in order for a haunting to cease.

I believe that offering spiritual and emotional healing to the spirits of those who have died and are haunting will help to release the Earth from some of her suffering. Lessening the great quantity of negativity on the planet has to be good for her. I believe that this book not only fills a void in our modern lore, but that it is a piece of the puzzle in healing our Mother Earth.