Rambling on the Paranormal.

I climbed up 30 flights of stairs today. I do that sometimes when I need to shake things up and add a little cardio to my workouts. I've been doing it for a while. People say exercise gets easier. And I laugh whenever I hear that phrase. Each time I do the stairs it still feels like hell. As a matter of fact, it makes me think of death.

I am a fantasy writer. As far as genres go, that's my first love. The words flow easily. However, I started out writing paranormal romance, and still do. Although it takes me a bit longer to complete a story in this genre, I'm ever fascinated by it. It's no secret that I derive from a long line of people who wholly accept the existence of the supernatural. It's in my upbringing.

I like to play and be goofy, but there is also a more serious side to my personality. Heck, I wouldn't be at my current job otherwise. This blog is meant to be basically about those things that move me. Plenty of that is the art of writing because it's in that form that my soul speaks the loudest. And it's about this multidimensional entity that I intend to focus on today.

Near Death Experiences:

There's been a lot of talk about near death experiences since the book Heaven is for Real came out, but I've been reading books on the subject for years. Embraced by the Light, Life After Life, and Dying with God, to name a few.

Why the fascination?

Aside from my clairvoyance as a child and my recent ghost video, my father suffered a heart attack a few years back. He died, came back, and told me everything.

Now, I don't toot a horn for any religion. They all have their pros and cons. To me religion serves a purpose: a tool by which to experience God. I won't deny his existence. His presence for me is too raw, and I boast about our great relationship. Still, the things my father told me left me with a tinge of envy.

First he left his body through his head and climbed up to the ceiling. From there he was able to see his doctors. He traveled to other rooms in the hospital by just thinking about the people he wanted to be with. He saw my brothers arguing. This was verified. Then he walked through a tunnel and watched his life be replayed before his eyes on a movie screen. He saw animals, tons of them, and small children. There was a kaleidoscope of rich colors.

An angel-like creature held his hand while he walked to the end of his journey.

(Now, isn't all that great? Animals go to heaven and angels are real.)

I'm not ready to go yet. In truth, I love being physically present. Still, wouldn't it be wonderful just to experience it without any permanent consequences? Just one more peculiarity to add to my list.

Have a great Tuesday!

　

An unusual experience taking place on the brink of death and recounted by a person after recovery, typically an out-of-body experience or a vision of a tunnel of light.  (I always wanted to have one. The thing is that you have to die.)

　

About Souls

I have enjoyed the privilege of having animals in my life.  I've had ferrets, birds, cats, fish, and dogs.  They've taught me so much about human kindness.  My experiences with them have led me to write them into my books.  


Unconditional love comes in many guises. 


These are my babies. 
heart failure.  I held him in my arms as the vet administered the injection that put him to sleep.  I watched his
The tri-colored sheltie on the right is Xanadu.  I lost him three years ago to congestive  eyes glaze over, heard his last breath, and felt the moment life left his body. 


It affected me greatly to lose him in physical form.  


Three days after his death, I heard him barking so loudly it woke me up from deep sleep.   I realized he had come to reassure me that he was okay.  If any fool tells you that animals don't have souls, tell them they're wrong.  They just haven't looked deeply enough into a dog's eyes.


The recollection still moves me to tears.  Everytime I see or hear a spirit, it only serves to prove that we are more than just our flesh.  If we were to aknowledge how wonderful we truly are, we would never harm each other.


I opened my eyes, glanced over at my husband.  He moaned and shifted in bed, but then again, he never did train himself to awaken to the sound of barking. 


I pasted Xanadu's picture to the other one using a stitch program.  My husband told me it doesn't match.  He looks bigger than the other two, and the snow is whiter.


He just didn't understand.


"What do you mean?" I asked.  "It matches perfectly.  Xanadu looks larger because he is in a higher place.  The snow is whiter because snow is always brighter in heaven.  The other dogs are barking up at him."

I adopted Deedra, my golden sheltie on the left from a sheltie rescue.  She had been abused and neglected.  It took me a year to get her to trust me, four to get her to trust my husband and everyone else.  Now she is a totally different dog, and I am so proud of her achievements.  She suffered through Xanadu's death with me.  


I adopted Stryker, the bi-black sheltie from the Humane Society after asking Xanadu to bring me a dog of the precise color and age.  I found him 6 months after his death.  He is only a few months younger than Dee.  They are now inseperable.  


When I write, I do it in a dog room/office.  As I sit at my desk, it's with two fluffy poochies at my feet.  It's my little piece of paradise, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 


And now a quote from an animal lover.




  Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem.  ~Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

Ghost Stories

I decided to make this paranormal week. 


In light of my decision, I thought it best to tell a few ghost stories, experiences from my childhood.


Before my great-grandmother bought her house, it was used as a midwife center.  Stillborn babies were buried in the yard.  At night, the rocking chairs will rock by themselves, and you can hear the sound of children playing down the hall. 


During the Summer, when I was a child, we would vacation in St. Lucia.  The beach was lovely, and the cabin spacious.  There was an outhouse in the back.  The use of the outhouse was forbidden after a few ladies complained of getting their butts slapped by naughty ghosts.


One of my uncle's wakes was performed at his house.  Imagine our surprise when we caught his spirit standing beside his bed looking at his body.


When I was 12, my mother tood\k a part-time job at night cleaning offices.  So that she could spend time with me, she took me with her a few nights.  Offices are freakin haunted!  While she was using the sweeper on the carpet, the ghosts were running down the hall. 


While we were having dinner at my parents, a lady walked through the main door, past the kitchen and disappeared into one of the bedrooms.  She was a ghost.  We just looked at each other and kept on eating.


When I was 13 I was in a swimming pool.  My mother started sweating cold and praying.  There was a foul, smelly ghost beside us.


When I was twenty, I found myself in a bad part of town.  I entered an abandoned building.  There was no one there but me and a friend.  A spirit found it necessary to tell me that we were in danger.  He filled the entire room with awful body odor.  We got out of there fast.


Aside from fireghost, I've seen a spirit walk into my step-son's room.  He didn't sleep for a week after I told him.  We couldn't figure out why he was carying a book.


A few days after my father-in-law died, my husband saw him running down the stairs.  After his mom died, our bedroom was filled with the scent of lilacs.  He still smells it from time to time.


Days after my husband's cat died, we were laying quietly in bed when the cat started meowing.  This time, we both heard him.  He just came to say he was alright.


All these stories are true.  I'm not making any of it up.


Here's a quote from a wise man.




This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

                                                 ~Dalai Lama~

Ghosts and Stuff

When we hear the word ghost, we immediately scoff.  Traditional upbringing has taught us to ignore the supernatural.  Realists and skeptics alike turn their noses up.  Yet, every religion recognizes the existence of a soul.  A soul is a spirit, which is just another word for ghost.  Many try to divide the two by saying that ghosts are Earthbound spirits.  I disagree, and furthermore confess to being somewhat of an expert on the subject. 


I grew up in a household where it was acceptable to believe in all things supernatural.  Around the age of 3 my mother told me of the existence of God, so I started talking to him, and everything else around me.  I'm not like the kid from the "Sixth Sense."  I'm no medium or ghost whisperer.  We all possess clairvoyant abilities.  Like all talents, they have to be developed and nurtured.


Peripheral vision is a wonderful thing.  Many can attest to seeing shadows out of the corner of their eye.  Once they turn to face the entity directly, it's no longer there.  That's because spirits move faster than we do, and they don't really want to be seen.


I remember being around 10.  I had just returned home from shopping with my parents.  It was about 9pm and pitch black out.  While helping to put away groceries, I distinctly saw the form of a man run down the street and crouch behind a bush.  In a pitch black night, the being was blacker than black.  I pointed him out to my mother.  She nearly wet her pants.  That is the quickest we ever unloaded groceries.


I usually slept with the light on.  It's a little more scary to hear them than it is to see them.  The light helps.  Besides, as soon as the lights went off, someone would make pounding noises on the kitchen table.


As a child I was afraid of such things.  It's human nature to fear what we can't understand.  As I got older and studied more on the subject, I learned respect for non-corporeal beings.  I don't catch a glimpse of them that often, but when I do, I consider it a gift, a privilege.


My husband and I have a camper at a campsite by a lake.  Last Summer we bought a fire pit.  It was small, cute, and fresh out of the box.  We lit it up and stoked that fire.  Now, I love photography and video.  Put me on the back side of a camcorder and I do silly things.  Well, I decided it would be fun to pull out my cell phone and record our first campfire. 


Below I have included a copy of that video for the pleasure of all who love the paranormal.  This is my actual video from my cell phone.  I have shown this to everyone at my place of employment.  I've had skeptics sweating for an explanation,highly religious people rubbing at their goosebumps.  My husband wanted to go home and not sleep in the camper that night.


"Don't worry honey," I said.  "I'll protect you."
 My step-son refuses to believe it, then he looks at again, and again.


Watch the video carefully.  It's only about a minute.   Toward the last 10 seconds, keep your eyes on the top right hand corner.  You will see a spirit run from the corner and down into the fire.  I call him the fireghost.  I'll tell you the same thing I told my husband. 


"Don't be scared.  The spirit just thought our fire was pretty too.  He wanted to warm his hands."


Enjoy.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horation, than are dreamt of in your philosopy.

~Shakespeare~