What the Hell is Heaven and How Do I Get There?

Thursday July 26, 2014

I thought this question was well worth the Daily Spook treatment so thanks Kate for grilling me and my spooks! It is actually something that is addressed in my book and a question I am often asked. Well, not me personally as I have to confess when I answer questions it is generally with the help of Arty, P and others! Let's just set the scene for the answer...

Why is it that only the good die young? Surely if you are good you don't deserve to die young at all? Does that mean if you're bad you should die as soon as you have unleashed your badness upon someone? Picture this; a man loses his job in wartime England. He has four children, a wife and no means of putting food on the table for his family.  So, he steals a few loaves of bread. Is he a thief that should be condemned or a man that will do anything for his family regardless of the consequences to him?  So what we have to decide first Kate is the definition of "good" and "bad."

Goodness or badness it seems, and  according to spirit is based on intent. Our bread-thief didn't want to get away without paying, he wanted to feed his family. Let's assume a person has a drink problem that manifests itself because of underlying psychological issues. Our man Joe didn't want to be a drunk it's just that it developed over time as a means of coping with a life he couldn't cope with sober. When Joe get's poodled, he beats his wife and children. When he sobers up he is filled with self loathing and can't bear to think about what he has done.  Joe is ill. That doesn't mean to say what he is doing is ok, no no no! The clincher here is whether Joe chooses to get help because he knows his impulses and addictions are wrong and hurting others. Joe doesn't go to hell for being a violent drunk, he goes to hell (well he doesn't actually go anywhere but you know what we mean) because he won't do anything about it and therefore makes others needlessly suffer.

Annie goes to church religiously, every Sunday of her life best frock and hat. Kitty can't be bothered with all that hoo har but has a strong faith in God. She prays by her bed at night, asks God for help when things are bleak and thanks God when things come up roses. Does Annie get a better seat at St Peters dining table whilst Kitty has to have jam sandwiches with the sinners? No. Why? Because we are taught that the universe, your God, my God is not judgmental. All love in spirit is equal once we get there. Church is a social thing, people who share a common faith and a common way of wanting to celebrate it and not a way of racking up brownie points so you get a window seat on a comfy cloud!

So..now we have that sorted, sort of, we have to get to heaven and hell. Well Kate the short answer is no; because there is no physical place because there is no physical about the afterlife at all. The only way Arty feels it can be explained without adding confusion is that heaven and hell are a state of mind or a state of being.  The purpose of the afterlife is to allow us to redeem ourselves, review our thoughts and deeds and hopefully make a better go of it next time and so we carry on with our spiritual journey.

There is no doubt as a reader, I have encountered angry spooks, happy spooks, kind spooks who have helped me and mean spooks who have tried to do the opposite. So it doesn't follow that once we die we go through the heavenly sheep dip and come out whiter than white the other side, all forgiven and penitent. No we tend to hang around in our "human spiritual form" for a while until we and those who love us accept the finality of our exit from the mortal world. For a while we remain exactly who we were but with no physical attributes. It is another way of learning and if you like, the intermediate experience to being a spirit real. We are a human spirit at first and that is why we can retain our original selves and where they fit within our human environment.

Once we progress from that point (and as an aside we can come back from that and interact with the human but that's for another day), according to my beloved Arty, we go through a phase called "the knowing". Arty calls it that to explain what it is, rather than there being a big door with a flashing neon sign that says "This way to the Knowing!" This is really the "heaven" or the "hell" that we think of as a place of flames and a little red guy with a pointy stick, or clouds and lollipops as far as the eye can see. When we go through this we have to feel, and that is the key to the knowing it should perhaps really be called "the feeling."

It's not a movie of our life because we have no eyes and what's the point in watching something you already know anyway? If you were a thief and you denied it in court and got away with it you will only deny it again! The knowing is about feeling the impact of our thoughts, and deeds. I had violent parents, so let's say when they pass on they will have to feel how I felt as a child. Trapped, beaten and no where to run. They will also feel the physical pain of each blow as it happened when they were in the living. On the flip side if you are a good person you will feel that which you bestowed on others by being kind and good. You may be a mix? Someone who started out on a wrong path but righted it. You don't get to avoid the grubby bits just because you made good, you still have to do both.

We also go through a healing process whether we are deemed good or bad. No soul is returned to earth broken or damaged that is something we do to ourselves. Most of us bear battle scars of human life when we get to the next world. Whether it is as an abused child, a starved prisoner, a tortured mind or a physical disability we are healed and made whole again ready to go onward; maybe back into the human world or maybe a higher spiritual progression.

The payoff? That is a really human concept. What do I get when I die if I'm good when I am alive? There is definitely no bag of lollies, new car or holiday for two to the Bahama's if you live a good life and why should there be? A good life is what is expected of us when we first get here on earth in human form.

The payoff for good is peace and spiritual progression, the value of which we never truly know until we get there.

Similarly if you are evil it can be traumatic. I remember for a few years seeing the spirit of a ne'er do well family member who had been quite quite evil in his life. I wanted no connection with him and so he was always outed from my spook space and ignored.   I wondered why he kept coming around me, I despised him for his evil ways as did many others. The one night I was "dreaming" of P as she sat on my bed she said "You have to forgive him." I knew instinctively who she meant, and realised that his "hell" was not being healed or progressing because forgiveness wasn't forthcoming. To make matters worse for this troubled spook he was (even as a spirit) afraid of going on to the knowing because he feared having to feel the physical pain and emotion of his misdeeds. In some ways he had learned a lesson and the mid-plane existence was his hell. He eventually did make it through the veil to the other side and I saw him a couple of years ago and this time I didn't feel the evil, dark fear and hatred he just felt like every other spook! he even smiled. Which gave me the creeps, just a little. Alright a lot!

As usual I do hope mine and Arty's collaborative effort make sense; all or in part!

Divining with the Divine

Tuesday June 17, 2014

The latin word of origin for divination (telling the future) actually means to foresee but has also been translated as "inspired by God." Essentially what divination or reading with tools is, is taking a random object, series of events (fall of the cards for example) or signs and symbols and put them together to interpret the meaning for the person with the issue they need advice on.

One of the things that differs for each reader is how we do it. What we need as clue cards to the message we are trying to bring through for the sitter.  Tea leaves, coffee grounds, cards, pendulum, crystals or tarot cards the tools are many and varied. Most people who use tools will later go on to trust their own intuition and spirits. Other chose to stay with the prompts and hints of visual aids and are still as good a readers. Me personally my preferred "tool" is spirit. I cannot read for anyone unless I have a spook present. I need to see that spirit or at least feel them before I can kick off the read.

In the early ages seers, mediums etc who had no tools to speak of were thought to be witches or warlocks, subjected to horrible'punishment' because no one could actually see where or how they were getting their information from. I believe, as do many others, that Jesus was one of the first mediums and in some ways he literally put the fear of God into people with his abilities, even though he only sought to do good with them it frightened people and for wanting to do what so many of us do nowadays, he was crucified.

So how does it work? Does a big invisible hand come down from the sky and create patterns and chose cards for us? How can it possibly be preordained what cards will come up? Seeing in crystal balls etc is just a confidence trick of the best kind. Because it really isn't a trick at all. Using a tool in that way gives the reader confidence that she or he can "see" her own visions rather than trust in something we hear or see but not with our biological ears or eyes. It is the same with the practice of psychometry, the practice of holding a piece of jewellery or item that belongs to the querent is said to be so the reader can "feel the vibrations" of the sitter. precious metals have their own molecular structure and vibration and so to assume that intermingled with the scientific composition of a precious metal there can be any kind of human element, is scientifically ridiculous.  Sure sweat, DNA and your Avon hand cream might rib off but there is no part of you as a person that is "absorbed" by a ring or a watch. I had a dear friend who used to read that way and she was brilliant. One day I asked her why she did it that way and she said "To be honest kid, I just need to do something with my hands because I can't smoke inside!" God love her and so did I! she was just a darned good medium who needed a spiritual "blankey" to comfort her during readings!

I am a firm believer in the notion that spirit can influence things in the physical. I don't believe anything is preordained though because as a medium one of the pre-read cautions is, "This is what is here for you now, you can take it or leave it." That is also why when using tools, particularly tarot cards that if you throw them twice you won't get the same cards. If life was pre ordained you would. it's as simple as that. So declining the notion that we can meld with a piece of precious metal I DO believe (and so do Arty and P) that when Tarot cards, crystal balls, rune stones etc are being used, there is an energetic influence at play. You shuffle the cards and even if you don't hear it maybe that inner voice says "stop and split now."  

Pendulums are another energetically influenced means of divination but what never ceases to amaze me is the number of people who think because it moves it is telling the truth! Do you KNOW how many spooks  are around at any given time? It isn't always who you think it is influencing the movement of a pendulum and if you aren't a medium and can't see that then you are playing with fire. Opening an energetic door that you might not be able to close to easily. it is the same with ouja boards, unless you really know what you are doing it is a dangerous practice and nothing like reading tea leaves or coffee grinds because with such methods (pendulum, ouja etc) you are effectively summoning spirit. Sometimes they just don't like that, especially as the world gets more and more conceited and selfish in it's use of spiritual communication.

So, in short there are two ways of using tools. One is a placebo effect; crystal balls, psychometry etc. Things that don't move and all you can possibly do is use them as a prompt or confidence booster from the spooks around you. The other is something which the energy of the universe may or may not be influencing; which cards are drawn, which runes come out, which way the pendulum swings.

Whatever your method it is important to clearly understand that you need ot have the connection and the protection before you begin. You have to be psychic or a medium to read with any kind of divination tools, so really why use them at all?? Good point me! 

A Spooky Adventure - Midnight at the Moulin Rouge

Thursday June 12, 2014

If you have been hanging out on my Facebook page you will know that recently we have been looking at doing some documentaries on all things spooky. Sort of medium meets scientist if you like. One of the things I don’t want to do was EVP’s in prisons, mental homes, hospitals. I mean pardonne moi for stating the obvious but hasn’t that been “done to death?” I rather like the idea of identifying the resident off worlders, connecting with them and then doing all that kind of stuff. Give them a name, a face and a story. After all that is probably why they are there, they want to be heard.

Here is Part I of what happened on my recon mission to a Queensland brothel that was reported to be haunted. Before I start let me just say this; don’t you go getting all judgemental with me because it’s a brothel.  You WILL get an argument out of me aif you do but this isn’t the place to do it. God is NOT judgmental so you don’t have the right to be either. Suffice to say ALL of the people I met on my research affair were the nicest people. Kind, accommodating and deserving of your respect. 

Now onto the dead ones. Let me state without a shadow of a doubt…it is haunted!  One of the things I like to do when we know we have a throng of spooks waiting is to talk to them. Upon arrival there was a short-ish man in spirit who just seemed to make me laugh but was like the smart kid at the front of the classroom shooting his hand up "Miss! Miss! Pick Me! Pick Me!". Although I could only see him in my spook space, he was a complete dag and seemed to be up to all sorts of antics. He didn’t feel like he belonged at the Moulin Rouge (not the real name of the establishment so God help me if there really is one called that because it’s not your place..ok?) He felt like he was with someone who was there. We eventually had a little chat, validated him and who he was with and he hung around a while to see what was going on. He even told me where to look and where not to go. Thanks Dad! You know who I mean..no not my Dad you idiot…I don’t actually know who he is. Ooops wandering off…ok back now!

Walking around with the Manager of the Red Windmill he was telling me where the lurking spooks were reported to have been seen by the girls. It was important I didn’t know too much in case it looked like a set up.  Dad wasn’t even mentioned before he introduced himself so I think they got that I was intending on acting like a pork chop with integrity!  There were definitely good and bad energies, entities and spirits there.  Some lurking and some shoving me on the stairs or tapping me on the shoulder. In the end we had three main players and two family members that we could positively identify. The main spirit-players; Mr G, Skinny Guy and Mary. The gatecrashers; Dad and Margaret. I would like to apologise to Margaret for not realising who she was straight away.  Sorry Margaret.

There was no doubt there were cold and warm spots in the establishment. Similarly I felt both friendly "Hey stop for a chat" energies as well as some less endearing spirits.  One of them hissed at me and said "Go away you big baby" but that was later on.

Once we can “feel” there is someone around in spirit I like take photo’s lots of them because it's really only one in one hundred that you get anything in the frame. Even that doesn’t always work and to be honest I have only met one spiritual being who will be photographed on demand. Most times I see them, click and they are gone and I am left with just a splurgy light thingy when the image comes out.   Having said that once I decided to take photos the bizarre stuff kicked off. Remember, I am a a pork chop with integrity, there were witnesses to everything.

I took photos all over the place but the camera would not work in one particular room ( in the living area for the girls) with one particular person in it. You know who you are Lollipop!. After trying all three cameras I bought with me to cover off "equipment failure" I decided to leave it and carry on about the place taking pictures, clicking and flashing like an old pro myself I was!  When it came to downloading  from the memory cards there was NOTHING on any of them, nothing…except…two pictures of Lollipop.  If that wasn’t a spectacular start to the 24 hours I don’t know what was! It reminded me of the time I went to a cemetary to take pictures and record.3 hours of tape was just three seconds of  "Go away" and 211 digital pictures were all just grey fuzz like when the television programming ended in the 1960's, white noise and grey fuzzy.I know spirit can interact better with electronic equipment than some people, so I was annoyed but not surprised. I just wanted to know what the caper was though? Was someone trying to tell me not to take pictures anywhere else?

As I was walking along the hall I muttered an apology to the naked man standing in one of the bedrooms and properly averted my gaze.  I thought he was an idiot for leaving the door open when there were strangers around but I have eye balled enough bare bums in my time for it not to ruffle my feathers.  I turned around in the stairwell and the Moulin Manager was behind me coming up the stairs. To protect the innocent I shall refrain from describing under what circumstances and his attire but I almost peed my pants laughing! I quizzed Lollipop who was the other guy? I feared the two and only males on the floor would be in cahoots playing practical jokes on me all night. Lolly casually responded that there was no other man in the building. Gosh! Naked spook bum! He looked so real and usually when I see spirit in the physical environment they are grainy or don’t hold there for long but in this instance this perky pink derriere looked jolly real to me! My very first naked spook!

Two things became obvious when it came to pinpointing the most ethereal activity; around the pool table was definitely spook central and Mary liked to walk the hall upstairs with a frosty look on her face. I feel she considered herself house-mistress for the girls.  At one point I was sure I saw an older man leaning against the pool table, looking directly at me. Time and time again as I passed a black leather chair I saw someone sitting there as if they were waiting for their turn at pool. Then there was the tall dark shadow that I am sure was not good, it loomed over the pool table like the dark miserable energy it was.  Skinny Guy liked to hang out by the kitchen door or in one of the bathrooms. Which had frightened many of the girls already. Not least little Miss Sarina who simply refused to go in one particular room unless she had an armed guard and a string of garlic!

Taking the first daylight photos this is what we got. Now let me tell you that usually spiritual energy is more active at night.  I have said before that Arty explained this is because of the less unnatural light and the slowing of human energies.  It is easier to manifest at night than in the day but you will see from these photos those we had connected with were giving it a red hot go to be seen.

I had managed a spook-up (like a hook up but spooky!) with Mr G who explained he was in his late 50’s and worked for himself when he hopped off the human merry go round. He owned a business, had one daughter and was separated from his wife. He didn’t say divorced he clearly said separated. His family he felt had used him and not been as genuine as they could have been and when he had a heart attack (too much rich food and wine he smiled). They were “faster to the bank than they were to the funeral home.” 

That was a little sad as he struck me as such a genuine man. Salt of the earth type who got where he got through hard graft without any tricks or handouts. In fact he confirmed he had no handouts and he started things from scratch. When I asked him his business he said “manufacturing and insurance.” The two don’t really go together but we were located in a semi industrial area so I pondered whether he was actually from the area and the word insurance was just a furphy.  Maybe he had a local factory in the same area but decided to hang around the girls rather than his family? he mentioned he was there because he wanted company and I never thought at the time to ask him how a spook becomes lonely! His story made sense to me and is worthy of some local research to back it up.

Tomorrow I will ramp it up a little as the evening goes on and tell you about Skinny Guy (heads up he is a voyeur…tsk…tsk). For now let’s evidence where we pinpointed ‘the action” to be…..a demain mes enfants! See you tomorrow kids!  Bis morgen kinder!