Things that go Bump in the Night.

Goddess Blessings

I'm sure we've all had those moments in life when we see a person as we are walking, a shadow or a figure perhaps, decide to take a second look because something just didn't feel right only to find that there is no one there after all. Maybe it was just a movement out of the corner of your eye, or perhaps the hair-raising feeling that you are being watched, or perhaps the sensation of uneasiness of having someone, or something breathe down the nape of your neck. Now, they could all be just a figment of our imagination, the fanciful musings of the paranoid or perhaps self-diagnosed schizophrenic, or - if you are one to believe in such things - they could perhaps be something, or rather things, or a more supernatural origin. 

Now, before I bring you all into the specifics of what I have come to understand about spiritual entities, I cannot stress strongly enough on how I usually try to avoid the term "supernatural". To me, to be "supernatural" is to be something that is more than, or in other words beyond natural, which would in turn suggest to many people that these beings are things which are "extraordinary" or perhaps not of this world. And while there are any number of spiritual beings out there which (though they may occasionally wander in ours) generally reside in foreign existential planes, most spiritual phenomena can in fact be pinpointed (or rather, rationalized, if we wish to avoid so definitive a term)  to more immediate sources. Indeed, as with most things metaphysical, the reality of the situation is in fact much more complicated than that! But for the purposes of dissemination of knowledge (not to mention facilitate the light-reading process for my readers) I will attempt to limit myself to two of the more basic explanations that will be offered in two parts.

Spiritual Consciousness and Psychic Imprints

The first explanation I can offer for quite a number of spiritual encounters people report are that of spiritual or psychic imprints. In this writer's humble opinion, to be psychic in some ways, is to be especially in tune to the vibrations that are constantly being emitted by various objects. The concept of vibration is not one that is foreign to the field of science. Indeed, I am not much of a scientist myself (my knowledge only extends as far as my passion for insects and the natural world) but I know enough to state with some level of certainly that all things are made out of molecules and that these microscopic structures constantly vibrate at varying frequencies. Light, for example, vibrates at different wavelengths and color simply refers to the various wavelengths that are picked up by the human eye. 

Similarly, if you can bring yourself to follow such a concept, psychically gifted individuals are perhaps those who are able to naturally perceive these vibrations with what must be the most powerful and yet vastly untapped human sensory organ of all; the brain. Except, instead of picking up on the vibrations of physical objects, they pick up the emanations of other, less tangible things. Mental signals for instance, or spiritual ones. 

Consequently, to be psychic is to be able to perceive and decipher the mental and/or spiritual vibrations of nearby objects and process them in the brain as images or information. People with extreme levels of empathy for example, who are especially attuned to the thoughts and emotions of others, can pick up spiritual or psychic imprints left behind by a living being just by passing, or by touching an item. As such, it can perhaps be argued that objects can, and do, over time become imbued with the psychic imprints of humans. 

Of course then one might argue that every single item in the world must have been touched by at least one person a million times over and as such would therefore have millions upon millions of these so called "imprints" on them. This is not necessarily untrue. But let us think a moment about psychic vibrations and the vibrations of light. Light, in its natural state, vibrates around us all the time. In this form it is invisible. We know it is there but we cannot actually "see" or perceive it. Only when it refracts in certain ways do we perceive light as color, as the various reds and blues and greens that illuminate our world. Quite like that, too, only an item that was "lived" in by its owner would possess an imprint that is distinct and recognizable enough to be picked up by the psychic. 

In that sense, a pen treasured by a businessman as the first gift he obtained from his wife, or the wedding dress worn by a young woman on the day she against all odds legally wed her lesbian lover, would possess a notably more distinct "feel" to it than, say... the public payphone at the corner of the street!  This is because when people touch objects, they leave behind a little of what is called the soul's fingerprint. If one looks at the consciousness of the human mind as a part of the human soul (a metaphysical discussion of a different threat that I might entertain in a separate post) it is perhaps then not so difficult to see how, just like the corporeal body leaves behind fingerprints, that the soul leaves behind a trace of itself with every physical contact. 

Unlike the corporeal body though, which almost invariably always leaves behind traces of its presence, the spiritual self, being ethereal in nature, needs a strong fuel behind it in order to achieve a similar effect and this is mostly achieved in the form of energy that was possibly generated through strong or powerful emotions. In that sense, I suppose if someone were particularly angry while talking on a public phone, the empath who picked up the phone but a moment later might be able to channel those very same thoughts and emotions. Consequently, the amount of emotional attachment that is given to the object, or the sorts of emotions that were generated while operating it would no doubt increase the strength and duration of the psychic manifestation that is perceived through the medium.  (if you are not yet too skeptical at this point, I might stretch my luck even further by asking you to watch those Discovery channel films on psychic detectives to perhaps get a clearer understanding on what I've said thus far)

But let us not digress too far from the original topic and let's just take the concept of the psychic imprint and look at it on a different scale. Think, instead of a pen or payphone, of a house. A house that someone has lived in for a long period of time. Now, houses are very important things for people. They are our sanctuaries, our safe havens and our fortresses. They are the physical walls to the ontological security every individual needs. And yet sometimes, houses can be prisons too. They can be places which cage instead of shelter. As such, you will probably understand that people generally have very strong emotions about houses. Now think again, for a moment, of a person whose emotional bond to his or her house is unnaturally, or perhaps supernaturally, strong and significant. This need not necessarily be an affectionate tie, indeed it could even be one of bitterness or resentment.

Consequently, if a person can leave behind a significant psychic imprint by holding onto a sentimental object, a pen, or a soft toy for example, think about how much stronger that imprint might have been for the person who has lived his or her entire life in a particular place, constantly leaving behind psychic energies as he or she goes through the same routines over and over again. These psychic vibrations then build up over time within the boundaries of the house, fueled by the strong emotions of the individual who resides within. As a result, they often linger even long after the individual is dead and gone. Indeed, this would seem to be one explanation as to why many spiritual encounters or even "sightings" happen in places like hospitals, orphanages or abandoned homes (often accompanied by sordid stories from the building's long forgotten past).  

To the psychically sensitive, the psychic vibrations trapped within act as a sort of spiritual photocopier and it  functions almost to the point where it becomes pretty much possible to witness the person(s) going through their daily routines or whatever it is that gave off such strong emotions as to fuel the psychic imprint in the first place, almost as though he or she were still in the house and alive. To the less psychically aware (and I do believe that we are all to varying degrees capable of this), glimpses of the individual's past may appear instead. Figures out of the corner of the eye as discussed are a common phenomena and may in fact be manifestations of the deceased's psychic imprints that are being picked up in bits and pieces, sort of like trying to listen to a radio show with the radio dial set in-between stations. They  come up as incoherent puzzles that the brain can only project as vague, translucent images and/or random flashes of unexplained emotions and feelings, such as that uneasiness or of being watched.  

The Indigo, or third eye chakra which governs the psychic abilities of clairvoyance and imagination.

Anyway, this is perhaps the most sympathetic view on spiritual manifestation and encounters. Indeed,  I will not peg this as a total discredit of ghost sightings and feelings of unease in reportedly "haunted" areas, but it is one explanation that may be easier to swallow for the more skeptical; one that stems from the amazing and untapped potential of the human mind. If you enjoyed this post on spirituality and mysticism, do write to me to let me know. I love hearing from you guys!!!

Blessed be.
)O(.