feywon
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rural North Central NM
People throw the word 'ghost' rather indiscriminately, usually referring to any apparition of a previously living being (human or animal). Different cultures actually perceive them differently and attribute different abilities to them, tho there are some commonalities too. In this thread i just want to describe the three most common in American lore and which i've experienced. i don't expect anyone else to use same references so i might sometime ask questions about your experiences so i can grasp it better. But the following is what i mean when use the bolded terms.
Residual Haunts (RH for short)--these are sometimes only 'felt', often in historical sites--battlefields, or a place where people were institutionalized unwillingly like a prison or mental hospital. But some people can see them dressed in clothes (sometimes uniforms or hospital 'gowns') of the era the during which they lived. They do not consciously interact with incarnate beings, but rather seem to repeat some action or movement frequently and sometimes endlessly. They will not interact with you, cannot hurt you unless you can hear them and the noise keeps you awake
This is because 'they' are more like some kind of impression on the very space of the place than a conscious entity. They likely did what ever often in life. Think about stories of New England Ship's Captain's wives pacing the 'widows walk' balcony of their home. We have a sad woman RH who walks from one of bedroom across our living room to bathroom which was probably the room they kept the chamber pot and bathtub in before indoor plumbing. We have had more than one dog and cat who've noticed her. We reassure the animal it's nothing to fret about and they grow used to her, pay less attention.
Ghosts- i view these as the earthbound consciousness of someone who has died. It is of course only themselves that bind them: To be close to loved ones, or have 'unfinished business', the latter can even be learning enough about the reality of 'afterlife' (as opposed whatever religious indoctrination they'd had) to be able to look at themselves more objectively as being in transition, maybe forgive themselves for things they feel guilty about and that post mortem emotional/spiritual growth can allow them to 'move on'. Sometimes they can be assisted in this through conversations with a living person even if they had not known the 'living' when they were alive.
i've had experiences with a couple of these, including my first husband, but one or two others i hadn't known who i helped 'cross over', let go of earthly life. Some even seemed unaware of their state of being. The movie 'The Others' with Nicole Kidman dealt with it (don't want to give spoiler alerts--but it was well done).
Spirits: To me these are 'freed' souls, consciousness tho they can appear as they were in life to be easier for living loved ones to accept. They can not only interact with us, but move back and forth between the earthly plane and other planes of reality. Different ones find different ways to communicate with us---but often the 'signs' they use to let us know they want to interact involve things we know were significant to them or things we shared. Sometimes they come in dreams first if they don't know how we'll react.
Time is different on other planes of reality---so they may not come immediately after death, and they may not come regularly. But you can actually communicate with them. And yes when a terminally ill person addresses loved one who predeceased them they are in communication with the Spirit of that loved one.
Tempting as it might be to think of all Spirits as highly evolved--growth is highly individual and proceeds at different rates even after death. Just as living people sometimes slip into childhood roles when visiting their parents, the Spirit of parent who assumes their earthly appearance when 'visiting' a living one might slip into the dynamics of the interactions they had with each other when alive.
Because our experiences vary, you may make different distinctions. i'd like to hear how you categorize them.
Residual Haunts (RH for short)--these are sometimes only 'felt', often in historical sites--battlefields, or a place where people were institutionalized unwillingly like a prison or mental hospital. But some people can see them dressed in clothes (sometimes uniforms or hospital 'gowns') of the era the during which they lived. They do not consciously interact with incarnate beings, but rather seem to repeat some action or movement frequently and sometimes endlessly. They will not interact with you, cannot hurt you unless you can hear them and the noise keeps you awake
This is because 'they' are more like some kind of impression on the very space of the place than a conscious entity. They likely did what ever often in life. Think about stories of New England Ship's Captain's wives pacing the 'widows walk' balcony of their home. We have a sad woman RH who walks from one of bedroom across our living room to bathroom which was probably the room they kept the chamber pot and bathtub in before indoor plumbing. We have had more than one dog and cat who've noticed her. We reassure the animal it's nothing to fret about and they grow used to her, pay less attention.
Ghosts- i view these as the earthbound consciousness of someone who has died. It is of course only themselves that bind them: To be close to loved ones, or have 'unfinished business', the latter can even be learning enough about the reality of 'afterlife' (as opposed whatever religious indoctrination they'd had) to be able to look at themselves more objectively as being in transition, maybe forgive themselves for things they feel guilty about and that post mortem emotional/spiritual growth can allow them to 'move on'. Sometimes they can be assisted in this through conversations with a living person even if they had not known the 'living' when they were alive.
i've had experiences with a couple of these, including my first husband, but one or two others i hadn't known who i helped 'cross over', let go of earthly life. Some even seemed unaware of their state of being. The movie 'The Others' with Nicole Kidman dealt with it (don't want to give spoiler alerts--but it was well done).
Spirits: To me these are 'freed' souls, consciousness tho they can appear as they were in life to be easier for living loved ones to accept. They can not only interact with us, but move back and forth between the earthly plane and other planes of reality. Different ones find different ways to communicate with us---but often the 'signs' they use to let us know they want to interact involve things we know were significant to them or things we shared. Sometimes they come in dreams first if they don't know how we'll react.
Time is different on other planes of reality---so they may not come immediately after death, and they may not come regularly. But you can actually communicate with them. And yes when a terminally ill person addresses loved one who predeceased them they are in communication with the Spirit of that loved one.
Tempting as it might be to think of all Spirits as highly evolved--growth is highly individual and proceeds at different rates even after death. Just as living people sometimes slip into childhood roles when visiting their parents, the Spirit of parent who assumes their earthly appearance when 'visiting' a living one might slip into the dynamics of the interactions they had with each other when alive.
Because our experiences vary, you may make different distinctions. i'd like to hear how you categorize them.