Sunday, December 27, 2009

Update on Paranormal Investigation in My Home

Pacific Paranormal Investigations (TAPS/Ghosthunters Family Member) has asked me to join their team!!! I feel honored and excited. The best Christmas present ever!

To read about the 2 investigations they completed on my home this year see: Part 1, Part 2,and Part 3.

Return of the Feminine and the World Soul: reading and internet synchronicity

Though I am a practitioner of the Tibetan Nyingma tradition, I still draw inspiration from a variety of mystical traditions. The time I spent in the company of Purna Das Baul - a Sufi- opened my eyes to the divine Feminine in a most amazing way. In Purna Das Bauls teaching's, a man develops a relationship with the Divine Mother ("Ma", or "Shakti") through developing the divine within: the Man of the Heart. Women are "Ma" embodied, by their very nature. This is the divine play of the longing for the Divine Other, the Beloved.

On Christmas Eve, I found myself reading The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul, by Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee, an American Sufi.
On page 52 was the following passage: "The feminine mysteries of love --the sanctity of longing, the receptivity of the heart that is always awake, waiting for her Beloved, for that moment when love comes secretly and sweetly-- need to be reclaimed and honored. Only through receptivity can we give birth to the divine as a living presence within ourselves and within out lives." I then put the book down for a short break.
I decided to play a game of Scrabble Blast on line. The letters are random, computer generated sequences. I was surprised as I recognized the first word I would highlight on the game board: beloveds.
After completing the game, I picked the book back up to resume reading on page 56. A sentence on the page popped out at me: "For example, the Internet is a powerful, living image of life's interconnected oneness." Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee is talking about how the Internet is reconfiguring our collective unconscious, allowing our unconscious to communicate with us in new and non-traditional ways.
This sequence of events certainly has me thinking about the internet in a whole new way.
UPDATE (12/28/2009)This morning I discovered an relevant post on a Jungian analyst Heide M. Kolb's blog. On 12/26/2009, She had written an entry entitled On Avatar and the Return of the Feminine- a Jungian Perspective. She talks about the archetypal imagery in the movie Avatar, highlighting the World Soul/Anima Mundi. She also points out the parallels between the Na'vi people in Avatar and their similarity with the image of Krishna. (Krishna is also involved in the play of the beloveds through the lila of Krishna and Radha.)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Word Patterns & Karma

My daughter and I like to play Scrabble. Playing a round this past week , we both noticed certain word patterns in the letters we were drawing out of the bag. While playing I was thinking about some posts on Trish and Rob MacGregor's site Synchronicity. They were noting the synchronicity in some of the word verifications for posting blog comments.
Jokingly, I said to Desiree "I wonder if there is such a thing as word karma.? Would each of us have different experiences with words due to our individual karma?". She said that it was good question, and she made her play on the board. I flashed back to one of my spiritual teachers telling me that we have repetitive patterns with names in our lives, due to karma. She had also explained that the names represent certain "energies". At my turn, I put 6 letters on the board, and reached in to the bag to replace the 6 letters I had used. I was very surprised to see the letters "D L PAGE E" staring back at me. This is my first 2 initials, last name, and an extra "E". I showed Desiree and she laughed said "I guess your question is answered! You should put this on your blog."

Saturday, December 19, 2009

"On intuitive and creative people..."

"Anyone who can confront a visionary experience consciously, distinguish it from physical reality, reflect upon it's inner meaning and perhaps give it artistic form removes it decisively from the realm of pathology."

- Jungian analyst Janet O. Dallett,
from her book Saturday's Child: Encounters with the Dark Gods
(The above photo was taken from behind my home with a Sony Cyber-shot. There were also two rainbows on each side of the sun at the same time. It appears to be some type of winged cat griffin.)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Holiday Sychronicity




On my birthday (December 7), my husband and I were at a department store picking up a few things. My daughter called on my cell phone to tell me that she would be at our home in 2 hours. We had no specific plans for the day, she just wanted to see me. As we were getting ready to pay for our purchases, Larry & I saw some beautiful bird Christmas ornaments on extreme mark-down. We made an "impulse purchase", and brought the bird ornaments home. On the drive home we talked about not having a tree for the past 6 years, and how we would like a small living tree to put the birds on. Shortly after arriving home, my daughter walks up to our doorway with a small beautiful potted pine tree! She said, "Mom, I saw this tree and I just had to bring it to you! I don't know why." I showed her the bird ornaments. We all laughed about the mother-child telepathy bond always being there (she's 24) as we decorated the tree.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Adventures in Ghost Hunting- in my own home! Part 3

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. A photo of the black lacquer box is here.


During their first investigation of our condo, Pacific Paranormal Investigations (PPI) found at least 11 EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena). To our relief, none of the EVP's are threatening. Most of the voices seem to want to be helpful, or playful. Most of the recorded EVPs were not heard by anyone when they were spoken.

* In the bedroom, an investigator was using a technique called provoking to try to get a response. He yelled at the spirits, accusing of them of being animal abusers (because I had reported that the cat was chasing shadow critters through the home). He said to them that they would probably abuse children if there were any in the house. EVP: (child's voice, shocked)"NO!" The investigator noted here that he heard something. This is the same room where the flashlight came on by itself.

* Twice during the night, recordings of an entity mimicking household noises were recorded. One was the sound of a cell phone on buzz mode, when no one was in the room. Another was caught when an investigator opened the bathroom pocket door, which squeaks. Right after the squeak there is a voice mimicking the squeak. This made us laugh when we heard it. There were also 2 EVPs of laughter.


Most of the EVPs were recorded on a digital recorder that was placed on or near the black lacquer box in our living area. Here are a few:

* When an investigator was using a handheld thermometer he requested that the spirits change the temperature. At this point the temperature drops from 72.3 down to 71.9. He says: "Keep tryin'- seventy-one point nine. Can you make it 70?" EVP:(female voice) "I can't".

* An investigator was setting up HI-8 camera, explaining out loud what he was doing. He stopped in mid sentence. EVP: (female voice) "Do what?"

* One clear (class B) EVP was caught when no one was in the room. EVP: (a rather scruffy sounding male voice) says: "karatsu". This EVP lead to some interesting research. The results were used during the second investigation.

Naturally, after viewing and listening to the PPI investigation results, I wanted to learn as much as possible about our home, and neighborhood. I discovered that our neighborhood was settled in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was designed to be a Bohemian artist's colony. They even called it "God's Garden" because of the green hills and many trees. Our condominium complex was built in the early 1960's as a retirement community. There was no record of anyone dying in our condo, but there were a few deaths on the grounds over the years. None of the deaths appeared to be connected to the phenomena in our condo. The hill that our complex is built upon contains a rare vein of diorite. This substance was treasured by the ancient Egyptians, Mayans, as well as the builders of Stonehenge. It was used temple complexes, and statuary in ancient times. Perhaps this stone's magnetic qualities contribute to the conditions that allow spirits to interact with the human realm?

I then turned my attentions to the mysterious word "Karatsu". The lacquer box was from Japan, and is at least 40 years old. Karatsu is a city in Japan, but I couldn't find connection between the box, and the city. I then discovered that there is a trickster being in the Japanese Shinto belief system. His name is Karasu! This being resides in a small family shrine in each home. (The shrine traditionally has foxes on it, but cats are accepted as well.) He is an ancestor spirit whose totem is the crow, and he is a guardian of the dharma.  Coincidentally, ravens and crows happen to be extremely relevant in my family's life. I spoke with a friend of ours, who is very familiar with the Shinto practices and this is what he said about karasu: "You either have to ship him back to Japan, or you have to allow him a place in the home." I gave karasu an official place in the lacquer box (which may have already been his home, and how he came to be in our home). Our cats love the lacquer box, and often one of them will spend an entire afternoon curled up on it.

PPI came back for a second investigation in September of 2009. We all wanted to see what changes there may have been due to repairing the collapsed conduit (see part 2). They focused the equipment around the black lacquer box and the bedroom. At one point, 3 investigators communicated directly to karasu in the bedroom. They asked him if he would show them some tricks. When they asked him to turn on one particular flashlight, he turned on a different one. He did this 3 times with three different flashlights!
There was only one EVP found in the 2nd investigation: An investigator asked the spirits if they could change the numbers on the Geiger counter that he held. EVP: (scruffy male voice)"Paintbrush." Maybe he was joking?

Before the session in the bedroom, PPI filmed me doing one of my dharma practices: a meditation. During this time, the home was completely silent for over 30 minutes. Not one instrument registered a change.

At the conclusion of the second investigation, PPI labeled our home "Possible Paranormal Activity/Inconclusive". As with all their investigations, the evidence will remain open for interpretation based on what they learn in future investigations.

After the second investigation, I spoke to any other spirits that might be present. I told those who had been human and died that they needed to pass on. Any other type of being could stay if they would respect the family and protect the home. After this, things became much quieter. We still hear household noises mimicked: a favorite is imitating the doorbell when no one is there. (After being awakened twice in the wee hours of the morning, I told karasu that he can't be waking us up when we sleep unless it's an emergency. I explained I was too sick with my ME/CFIDS to handle it.) During a visit with my daughter, he imitated my daughter's cell phone.We both heard the "buzz" in her purse. She pulled the phone out, but there wasn't an incoming call. We both laughed when this happened.

I wonder about the dreams of fire...probably I was psychically (but unconsciously) aware of the fire hazard. Sometimes I wish that ESP could be more specific! I believe the ghost woman that awakened me with such urgency was kindly trying to warn me of the danger we were in with the fire hazard. I am thankful for her help, even if it startled me at the time. The shadow people my husband & I saw at the beginning of this adventure could have been the effect of the EMF field on our brains. One PPI investigator saw a shadow being during the first investigation, but it wasn't on any of the video footage. They believe the EMFs were affecting him. The shadow people haven't been seen since the conduit was replaced and the EMF field went back to normal readings.


Friday, December 4, 2009

The Black Lacquer Box


This box appears to be at the center of paranormal activity in our home.
Read the story here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Aventures in Ghost Hunting- in my own home! Part 2 of 3

Read Part 1 here
As I've stated in my profile, I am psychic. I grew up in an isolated area in upstate New York, where this "gift" was considered evil. I've spent allot of my life conflicted about this "gift". I have paranormal experiences everyday, and there is a range of what is normal for me. What made our current circumstances so disturbing to me was that I couldn't "read" what was happening in a clear way. All in knew was this: My family was in danger. This is why we called Pacific Paranormal Investigations.

After we contacted PPI, they sent us a detailed questionnaire. They are very thorough in their data collection: they even want to know what medications you take. All of this is important in evaluating what you are experiencing. I told them I was a "haunted person", in the spirit of complete disclosure.

PPI arrived at our home on the evening of May 9th, 2009. Karl Sherlock, Brain Miller and their team immediately put my husband & I at ease- they really listened to our concerns. They were very professional and took many notes. They then proceeded to set up the home with monitoring equipment: DVR recorders, camcorders, digital tape recorders, EMF detectors, AC field detectors, thermometers, K-II meters, and many other devices.
Larry and I went to a neighbors home for the night. At approximately 3 am PPI called to inform us that the investigation was over. When we arrived at our condo, they immediately showed us that the floor was emanating a very high EMF field. (Safe readings are under 1.0 milliguass. Our floor read 30-50.0 milliguass!) This high field ran across the entire width of our home, and our couch was sitting directly on it.(When I had checked for EMF's, I didn't check the floor because there isn't a cellar.) No wonder we were having strange experiences! High EMF's affect the brain, as well as creating general malaise. For me, this was made worse by my electrical sensitivities and my auto-immune disorder (which often translates stimuli as trauma). PPI then left, assuring us that they would call us when they had analyzed all of their data.

At this point, we called another electrical contractor to our home. I showed them the high EMF's along the floor. They informed us that our mid-century condo probably had a collapsed conduit. They did some diagnostics that confirmed that the main electrical conduit for the entire 9 unit building was under the floor, and embedded in the concrete. Our unit was the last in the row. The shielding around the electrical wires had corroded and water had surrounded the live lines, pulling the electricity from the field for the entire building into our home. We were living in what is called a "fear cage". $5000, and 3 days later, new lines were threaded under the roof. The contractors asked my husband to go the the side of the building before they cut off the electricity to the old conduit. They showed him that all the meters in the wall were arcing (buzzing , popping with live electricity), and they said it was a miracle that there wasn't a fire! At this point we were very grateful for PPI and their equipment! As soon as the old conduit line was cut, and the new conduit was turned on the EMF's went down to 0.0 along the floor.
Repairing the electrical system solved many of our problems: my heart rate gradually went back to normal, the high pitch ringing, humming,& buzzing was gone, the shadow person and shadow critters were gone. My night terrors of our home catching fire did not recur. The ghost lady desperately trying to awaken me did not come back. Imagine our surprise when PPI contacted us to tell us that their investigations turned up anomalies!!!


This is what we learned at the "Reveal"( a professional term for sharing the evidence with the client):
*There were at least 11 EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), including what appeared to a female, a male, and a child.
*There was an incident of an investigator's flashlight coming on by itself in the bedroom, caught on DVR.
*The beings/spirits appeared to be intelligent: they interacted and responded to the investigators.
*A majority of the phenomena appeared to be centered around a black lacquer box (which we had purchased at a thrift store). See photo here.

In part 3 of this story I will share some of the EVP transcripts, and talk about the results of a second PPI investigation.
Read part 3 here.