The RV Life – Is Being a Nomad Being Homeless?

Thanks in part to the movie, Nomadland, many people are beginning to consider living in a van, RV, motor home, ambulance, skoolie, etc. For most of us, becoming a nomad would make downsizing necessary. For me personally, if I couldn't find a place in the RV to store all of my crafts, I would have to rent a storage unit, and wouldn't that be defeating the purpose?

Um, no! Everything important to me would have to be with me if I were to live in an RV, and if I couldn't keep all of my important things with me, I would rent space in somebody's garage before I would part with my crafts and photos.

What about you? You pay rent, mortgage (or possibly both if you live in a manufactured home), electricity and/or gas, water, sewer, phone, homeowners' insurance, medical insurance, auto insurance, car payment, gas for the car, doctor bills, dentist bills, maybe cable, maybe internet, and food. And when you compare your income to your expenses, do you ever ask yourself, why am I just existing? I want to LIVE!

Whether you save (if you can) for a vacation or your kids' college education, you probably live paycheck to paycheck, and if something unexpected happens to sever your income, if you get sick, if you have an accident, do you have enough savings to pull you through for 6-18 months? Sadly, like many people my age, I have no savings. Life took all of my money. You might think I'm a shopaholic, but I hardly shop at all.

Five years ago, I posted a blog – Low Income Home Options – Tiny House, Yurt, Earthbag Home, or RV Living? – all kinds of considerations for where to live with a low income. I ended up living in a retirement home, and discovered that I hated living there, so I moved into a manufactured home again. Now I'm reconsidering living the RV life. Why? Because I've always had nomadic tendencies. I'm a nomad at heart and want to live my dream before I die.

Another reason to become a nomad? Look at all the bills above. What can you delete if you live in an RV? If you buy enough solar panels and have a large enough battery bank, you won't have to worry about electricity. If you use propane to cook and to heat your vehicle, because you live in such a small space, you won't use a lot of propane. You'll also use less water and if you get a membership to Planet Fitness, you can shower there after you exercise, and as of May, 2021, the cost for membership is only $10 a month!

If you can give up cable, but you still want to watch TV,  you can purchase an antenna. Internet might be a necessity, though (I consider it to be a necessity). So what's left? Gas for your vehicle, insurance, doctor and dentist bills, phone bill, and vehicle maintenance bills. And maybe a vehicle payment. Can you afford to be a nomad? Can you afford not to be a nomad? Because of my low monthly income, 

I believe I can be! If you are a nomad, please click on the t-shirt above and consider purchasing one of my designs to help my dream become a reality. The more products I sell, the closer to living my RV life I get!

So in answer to the question in the title, no. Being a nomad is not being homeless, because, as the shirt above says, "Wherever I roam, I'm always at home."

Here are my other Amazon t-shirts:

Thank you for visiting! And remember to always find a little joy and sprinkle it everywhere!

Are Orbs Proof of Life After Death?

You've seen orbs in photos, haven't you? – those iridescent blobs that some people think must be dust, bugs, or camera lens imperfections. Watch Orbs and Spirits and then let me know what you think, either here or in the comments section of the video.

The Number 13, Friday the 13th, and the 13th Floor

Except for the number 666, no other number gives rise to more superstitions than does the Number 13. So how did evil become associated with Number 13?

In The Tarot, the Number 13 is associated with the Death card. Anyone getting a reading, after seeing the Death card, might assume that somebody, maybe even the person receiving the reading, will soon die, but that’s not necessarily true. Enlightened readers know that while the death of something or someone is inevitable, death also means rebirth or rising from the ashes – the ending of one thing; the beginning of something else.

In Numerology, the Number 13 becomes the number 4 when the two digits are added together. What does the number 4 mean in numerology? The numbers of the houses in astrology can give us a glimpse. House 4 is associated with family and home, and it strives for security. What are you supposed to learn about home – discipline, cooperation, and love. Scary? No!

Number 13, the first movie directed (and produced, but never shown) by Alfred Hitchcock in 1922 is a bit of a mystery. The obscurity of the movie alone casts a shadow over the number and adds to its intrigue.

Number 13, a TV movie made in 2006, assumes that a lack of the number 13 contributes to the superstition about the number 13.

The 13th floor, often missing from many high rises, contributes even more allure to the mystery of the number 13. Numerous movies include the 13th Floor in their title and the 13th floor is a staple in many haunted buildings just waiting for visitors to explore.

The date itself, Friday the 13th, is filled with predictions of catastrophes. However, nobody has ever proven the validity of such predictions. It’s just another day. So far!

Falling Water Controls Dreams

The new television series, Falling Water, created by Henry Bromell (deceased) and Blake Masters, appears on October 13, 2016, on the USA Network. I have to admit I’m intrigued already, because of my own experience sharing dreams – and also because of a bizarre and mystical dream shared with me by somebody close to me. 

On February 14, 2011, I wrote about that dream when I posted the following blog, When You Dream The Same Dream As Somebody Else. In that blog I relate the story of two sisters (whose names I changed for reasons that will be obvious if you read the blog), who, unknown to each other, dreamed the same dream, but from their own perspectives. It was a frightening dream that will have you reconsidering the idea of reincarnation, if you don’t already believe in it. Neither sister knew the other’s dreams so when I heard about the second sister’s dream years after learning about the first sister's dream, my mouth fell open. I think you’ll be awed as well. 

The premise of the movie sounds eerily similar to what is happening in my own writings, especially when I factor in the coincidence of a screenplay I wrote back in the 1990s (written, but never produced), entitled Flies on the Wall, a story about a group of teenagers who dabble in the paranormal, specifically, astral projection, astral travel, and remote viewing. Begun January 22, 1998, reworked throughout the entire first decade of the new millennium, and forgotten during the last 6 years, FOTW reentered my mind when commercials for Falling Water first appeared. Thanks to Falling Water, I’m revamping that screenplay!

People dreaming the same dream is probably not all that uncommon. A couple of times my oldest daughter and I dreamed the same dream. On one occasion, for example, she walked into my bedroom when she was only 2 years old and asked me why I was dreaming about bears. I had nightmares about them as a child and continued to have nightmares about bears into adulthood. I never talked about them, though, because I didn’t understand their significance in my dreams (I think I know now). 

So how did my daughter know that I was dreaming about bears? Was she psychic? Was she experiencing the same dream? In one dream I was outside my home. An already heavy mist became so thick I could see only a couple of inches in front of my face. I kept calling for my daughter and reaching out in the darkness for her, because I had seen her round the corner of the house, and I panicked that I would lose her, because she was no longer visible. As I ran after her through the mist, holding onto the outside wall of my house so I wouldn’t lose my way, I called her name just as she appeared in my room by my bed. She said she was scared, because she got lost in her dream and couldn’t find me.

In the TV series, Falling Water, three unrelated people, played by David Ajala, Lizzie Brocheré, and Will Yun Lee, share parts of the same dream and, like my screenplay in which a group of people try to control experiences for my characters in the ether world, dreamers in Falling Water find themselves being controlled by others who reach them through their dreams. 

I’m looking forward to watching this series in October. From Falling Water: “If you can control people’s dreams, you can control the world.” 

Sounds deliciously mysterious, doesn’t it? If you’re not already as excited for this new series as I am, read these 11 Reasons to Get Excited About USA's New Series Falling Water!

And watch the trailer HERE!

Sleep Paralysis or Spirit Visitation?

You lie in bed awaiting sleep, but just before you fall asleep, you feel the air around you become heavy. It grips you in such a way that every pore in your body feels smothered by it. You hear whispers you can’t decipher. Your heart pounds like a herd of horses trampling a field. And the heavy thumping waves of whoosh whoosh whoosh thunder in your ears. 

Oh no! It’s happening again! 

But what is IT?

You decide it must be a spirit, because you feel a presence in your room. You cry out for help, but no words escape your mouth. Fear engulfs you, and though you try to get up, you can’t move. You are awake in your own nightmare.

I have relived that horrible nightmare over and over again, and only recently did I learn that it had a name – Sleep Paralysis. But is that really all it is, a feeling of being paralyzed? That simple answer doesn’t address the feeling of a presence in the room. 

In the moments before we fall asleep, when the air around us closes in like a vice, can we really attribute that feeling to Sleep Paralysis? From what I’ve read and heard, everyone’s experiences seem similar, and many people attribute these events to spirit visits, alien abductions, or nocturnal visits from beasts (incubus, succubus). In my case, because one of these events ties in so closely to the death of a friend who promised to contact me when she died (read The Pact), I tend to think more in terms of spirit visits than anything else. 

Explanations for this phenomenon exist in documentaries, on YouTube, and in articles on the web. The best explanation I’ve read about Sleep Paralysis is Karen Emslie’s article, Awake in a Nightmare, written for The Atlantic. 

For me, Sleep Paralysis events appear just before I fall asleep. The transition between being awake and falling asleep is the most vulnerable time for me. Perhaps my fear that IT will happen again is why just the process of falling asleep often awakens me. Insomnia rules many of my nights. 

Because I attribute my experiences to spirit visits, especially because of the close ties I had with my friend, Katherine, I think that the veil between the worlds of life and death lifts during that transition. Loved ones long gone try to reach us in those moments when we drift into sleep. When their attempts to reach us fail, they appear to us in dreams. I prefer dream visits to the ones attributed to Sleep Paralysis.

Ghost Virgins

Are YOU a Ghost Virgin?

originally published October 12, 2010, on a site that no longer exists

A three-year-old girl walks out of her bedroom where her baby sister sleeps. Their mother is in the living room and wants to know why her little girl is not in bed. "There's a man in my closet," the child explains. 

The mother panics. They live on the south side of Chicago in an old dilapidated building that is in such disrepair that one day it will be demolished. She cannot just grab her daughter and leave – she has to rescue her baby.

The mother, her whole body trembling, grabs a knife with a serrated edge and tiptoes into the bedroom. She cautiously maneuvers her way to the closet and reaches out to it with the knife twitching in her hand. 

Her heart pounds in her chest and thumps in her ears. The door creaks slowly open and she adjusts her eyes to the darkness.

What she sees is – an empty closet – the man is not there. The likelihood that he jumped out of the window is slim. They are three levels up.

I don't remember that day. My mother does. Vividly. I was the three-year-old who claimed to have seen the man in my closet. Was it a dream – or was it a ghost?

Even before that experience, and especially after I experienced a ghostly presence one night as an adult (explained in this article, Touched By a Ghost – click the link if you want to read it), I have believed in ghosts. Never once did I discount the possibility that spirits existed, because once I discovered in a science class that energy never died, and that we all move, breathe, think, and exist due to energy, I have believed that a part of me – a part of all of us – never dies. http://bit.ly/1kLRovD

Because our spirits live on, who's to say that some of us don't continue to live – on Earth?

Even so, I know of several people who, at one time or another, did not believe in ghosts, among them some ghost hunters who run their own ghost hunting television programs. They didn't believe in ghosts – until – they encountered them. 

If you have never believed in ghosts and have never had experiences with ghosts, you are a ghost virgin. Oftentimes, not until somebody experiences ghosts do they become believers in ghosts. 

So many people disbelieve what they watch on ghost hunting programs, because they think the only reason these shows are on television is for the ratings. I understand how they feel. Sometimes those of us who view the programs barely detect the words the ghost hunters claim to hear, and the ghostly apparitions appear to be nothing more than smoke. 

With all of the digital alteration programs available, modifying videos is not only possible, it's probable. Why should anybody believe anything they see anymore?

Eager to hear or see proof, though, we tune in to these programs and listen carefully. We watch like hawks the images that appear before us. Like pregnant couples who attend the ultrasound of their first baby and stare at the monitor saying, "Yeah, I see it," then leave and cry in each other's arms because they didn't want to admit to the technician that they couldn't recognize their own baby, we cannot always decipher what appears before us. 

What would it take for you to believe in ghosts? A hand on your shoulder when you are alone? Whispering in your ear when nobody is near you? I have experienced both, and I guarantee you that just because you can't see spirits doesn't mean they aren't all around you. 

Until the day you first hear a ghost, see a ghost, smell a ghost, or feel a ghost, you will remain a ghost virgin. I'm sure some (if not most) of you would prefer it that way.

A Haunting in Beverly – I DO Believe In Ghosts – I DO, I DO!

In the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's south side, old, massive homes line some of the streets in a spooky Halloween-type setting where tree branches look as if they might reach out to grab unsuspecting motorists and plunge them into depths unknown. One of those homes on one of those streets belonged to my friend, Clare. 

On the day I met her, I sat in front of her home for the first time, staring at the structure from inside my car. Something about the house caused my heart to palpitate and I felt instantly uncomfortable. The discomfort was so palpable, in fact, that I had to force myself to brush off my uneasiness just to make it up the sidewalk to the steps. With much trepidation, I climbed the stairs and tried to convince myself that my fearful perceptions sprouted only from my overactive imagination. 

"Want to see the rest of the house?" Clare asked after we drank tea at her dining room table.

No, not really, I wanted to say. But I accompanied her from room to room, anyway, the uneasiness following me with every creak on the floor and through every doorway. As Clare showed me around her spacious house with its giant rooms, she asked me if I wanted to see her basement. 

I didn't, but having never met her until that day, I didn't want to admit to her that basements have always frightened me. As I peered around the eerie underground space, I thought about Wes Craven. Was Clare's basement a model for his A Nightmare on Elm Street movies? Would I find Freddy Krueger lurking in the shadows? 

1984, the year I first met Clare, was the same year the first Nightmare movie appeared in theaters. Combining my feelings and observations with Clare's admission that she and her family shared their home with a ghost, I absolutely, with no hesitation, believed that a ghost lived in her home.

I met Clare through my oldest daughter, Keeley, who had been friends with three of Clare's children. Escaping the rants of her stepfather, Keeley moved in with Clare and had no apprehension at all about moving into Clare's home despite the fact that Clare AND her children had clearly stated that the house was haunted.

Unlike her mother, Keeley believed in nothing paranormal, so it was no wonder when, on her first night living in their home, she ignored admonitions not to intimidate the ghost – Keeley thought everybody was joking about him. 

Since Keeley was the only one tired enough to sleep that first night, everybody but Keeley remained downstairs. All of the bedrooms were upstairs, and if Keeley wanted to go upstairs by herself, she would be alone. Clare and her children were concerned about how Keeley would react if the ghost decided to appear to her in some form, so they reminded her again and again about the ghost.

In addition to the original Nightmare movie, Ghostbusters had also made its debut that same year, and after Clare and her children reminded Keeley again about their "houseghost" and asked once again if she would be OK going upstairs by herself, Keeley climbed the squeaky steps and flippantly remarked, "I'll be fine – if he bothers me, I'll just call the Ghostbusters." 

Clare and her children exchanged knowing glances, thinking her remark would be just enough to set off the ghost, and warned, "He's not going to like that," but Keeley was so certain that no ghostly activity whatsoever would occur, she dismissed their warnings, ascended the creaking stairs to the room they had assigned to her, and jumped on the bed, ready for a good night's sleep.  

Nonbelievers generally don't believe in ghosts until they experience their own ghostly encounters. Some former nonbelievers, after having had experiences with ghosts, now run their own ghost hunting companies. Some of them even televise their findings. Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel and Paranormal State that used to appear on A&E are two ghost hunting programs that come to mind. 

I sometimes wonder what would convince a nonbeliever of a ghost's authenticity, because while I have had my share of ghostly encounters (read Touched By a Ghost if you want to read about one of them), I have always believed in them.

Keeley, on the other hand, had never believed in them. So on her first night at Clare's house, after she had found her room and sat down on the bed, in less than a minute, one single event challenged every belief Keeley had ever held. Because in that minute, as she sat down on the bed, with Clare's family awake and only one floor below her, the bedside table lifted off the ground beside her, and hung in mid-air, rocking.

Something strange happens to the throat of a person who is frightened beyond comprehension – a voice chokes into silence and any attempt to make sound becomes thwarted. Though she tried to scream for help, no voice erupted;  though she tried to thrash her arms and legs around, no movement ensued.

Like the Cowardly Lion who holds his tail, closes his eyes, and cries, "I do believe in ghosts" (in the movie version of The Wizard of Oz), Keeley would now admit to believing in ghosts.

So what about you? Do you think that not believing in something means it doesn't exist, or are you open to the possibility that beings exist beyond our abilities to perceive them through any of our five physical senses and that they roam among us on this planet? If you don't believe in ghosts, what would it take to make a believer out of you?

Just wondering.

One more thing: consider the house's history when purchasing a home in any old neighborhood. Why? Because when Clare sold her house and I asked her if she told the new owners about the occupant she left behind, she responded, "Nobody told me when I moved in and nobody asked me when I sold it." 

I can tell you with certainty that if I ever move into an older home, I'll find out about its history BEFORE I move in.

The Astrological Synergy Between The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr

Energy moves our bodies, wires the synapses in our brains, and lights up our world. Synergy is the combined effect generated by the interaction between or the cooperation of two or more organisms that results in something greater than what each individual alone could expect to accomplish.

Individually, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were/are amazing musicians. Together, however, they were exceptional, sensational, phenomenal, and inspirational.

The exchange of energy begins when two creative geniuses (Lennon and McCartney) connect. When others of like mind join forces (Harrison and Starr), they contribute their creative energies as well. 

That energy exchange between hard-working, committed people with a common goal is often palpable. The energy involved in the dynamics of those types of groups is so powerful, in fact, that it can profoundly impact an entire world, as it did with The Beatles. 

Though energy can be measured, it can't yet be analyzed. For instance, what constitutes success in group dynamics? If one person in a group is taken out of the group, how does the group change? Would The Beatles have been THE BEATLES if even one member had been replaced by someone else?

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney met, they connected on a level that allowed them to support and encourage each other while they merged their unique talents and their individual styles. Some part of each of them was drawn toward the other through some invisible force that created musical harmony. They became a team with a purpose. 

When George Harrison joined The Beatles, another element was added to the duo – another dimension where more energy interacted with the already established duo and the relationship changed to include George. By the time Ringo Starr became a member of The Beatles, all of the elements necessary for an electric and eclectic mix of poetry, magic, and music combined to create the phenomenon known as The Beatles.

The dynamics of any group, however, are complicated. In the case of The Beatles, those relationships included not only the relationship between the four of them, but also John's relationship with Paul, John's relationship with George, John's relationship with Ringo, Paul's relationship with George, Paul's relationship with Ringo, George's relationship with Ringo, and a still different dynamic when only three of them were together.

Combine talent with skill, innovation with music, and personality with passion, and you get The Beatles. The Beatles affected people of all ages around the globe. Would it be possible to duplicate that kind of success in the music world again?

Energy in a horoscope is found through aspects – the way the planets and signs relate to each other. Can the merging of the energies with The Beatles be shown astrologically? 

Astrologers look for many factors when trying to determine relationships between people. One of those factors is harmonics, or the mathematical relationship between various aspects in two or more horoscopes. 

An astrology chart is divided into twelve houses. Beginning on the left side of the circle, just below the horizon, sits the first house. Going in a counter-clockwise direction, the next house (the second house) sits next to the third house, and so on until the chart ends at the twelfth house. The astrological chart is a mathematical computation that takes into account the longitude and latitude of the birth place, the exact time of birth, and the date of the individual's birth.

Once the math has been computed (in the "old days" astrologers computed everything by hand and it sometimes took hours – today computer horoscope programs take only seconds after inputting the information), the astrologer (or program) assigns planets and signs to individual houses and interprets the relationships between those planets and signs.

Conjunctions (planets and signs that align with each other) and trines (planets and signs that are four houses away from each other) show "easy" relationships. Squares (planets and signs that are three houses away from each other) and oppositions (planets and signs that are six houses away from each other) show friction or "hard" aspects.

In the case of the Beatles, the relationship between the four (see graphic with all four names) shows lots of conjunctions, but also enough oppositions and squares to make life for The Beatles very interesting and challenging. 

What astrologers might find particularly interesting is what appears in the second house of money and assets. Uranus, the planet of the unexpected, aligns nicely with all four musicians. Any astrologer looking at this combined chart could see, in retrospect, why The Beatles saw an unexpected rise to fame. 

Also, the sign Leo, a common sign for entertainers, shows in the fourth house of home and family. These four felt at home with each other in the early years when their stars shone brightly.

So the question is, could The Beatles success be duplicated in our lifetimes? Never say never.

Graphics:

Photo of the Beatles is from wikimedia commons.

The four natal (birth) charts of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

The combined chart shows (from inner circle outwards) the charts of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison. A combination chart always starts with the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries.

Touched By a Ghost

(previously published in September, 2010 on a site that no longer exists)

Dennis sat in my driveway after he dropped off his cousin, Marilyn. Our eyes met, and I could tell instantly that he was as attracted to me as I was to him. But our situations were complicated. We were both separated but still legally married and we each had a child.

I had met Marilyn when I joined the same company where she and her best friend Jeannie worked. We all became friends and every day the three of us took breaks and lunches together. When Marilyn told me the day after Dennis dropped her off that he wanted to know if I would go out with him, I told her that absolutely I would.

I was living with my parents at the time, and though Dennis and I dated for a couple of months, my parents were upset that every time he came to pick me up, he brought along his entourage of motorcycle buddies. She refused to babysit anymore if I continued to see him.

When Dennis called the day my mother refused to babysit any longer, I told him to spend time with his daughter, and I would work something out for the weekend.

The next morning I awoke with an uneasy feeling, but I went to work anyway. Marilyn hadn't shown up for work that day, but Jeannie was there and I told her that I had a bad feeling about something. I couldn't eat and I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was terribly wrong with somebody I deeply cared about.

The first phone call I made was to my babysitter to find out if my daughter was OK. She was fine. I then called my mother, my sisters, and even my friends. It didn't occur to me to call Dennis, because we hadn't really been dating that long. 

Despite the fact that everybody I called was fine, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong somewhere. As the morning passed into the afternoon and I still couldn't eat, I told Jeannie I was really worried.

After watching me suffer all morning from worry, Jeannie finally pulled me aside to tell me the reason Marilyn wasn't at work that day – Dennis might have been killed in a motorcycle accident the night before, the night I was supposed to be with him. The rumor was that he had been hit by a Pepsi truck and that his head had been severed from his body.

Instantly I knew that the reason for my feeling of dread was because the rumor was true. Dennis had died. I asked Marilyn to verify the information for me, because I was shaking and crying too much to talk to anybody on the phone. 

When I made it home, still in tears, my mother reminded me of how lucky I was that she had refused to watch my daughter for me. The thought that I too might have died hadn't entered my mind.

That night, as I rolled over in bed, still crying, still thinking about Dennis and about how sad it was for his daughter to have lost such a loving dad, I attempted to fall asleep.

But whispers in my ear prevented that from happening. I immediately jumped out of bed and turned on the overhead light, my heart pounding inside my chest. 

I had been studying Harold Sherman's, How to Make ESP Work For You, and I had been implementing his strategies. His methods were working and I amused and amazed my friends at work with my predictions. But now that I "heard" whispering from the other side, I wasn't so sure I wanted to develop my ESP any further. I was, in a word, frightened by my ability.

The next night, thinking the whispering was a fluke, I turned off the light and sat on the bed. Out of somewhere I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I immediately leaped out of bed to turn the light back on.

Terrified, I acknowledged that maybe I didn't really want to learn ESP after all and that I couldn't handle ghostly encounters.

I've heard it said that when people die from traumatic events (in this case, a head severed from a body), their spirits remain earthbound for a time while they adjust to the fact that they're dead. 

To this day nobody will convince me that it wasn't Dennis saying a final goodbye.

Related Reading: The Pact – Two Friends Promise to Visit Each Other After Death

Time Travel – Psychic Espionage – Remote Viewing

Soviet Russia was of paramount concern for the United States during the 1960s when children dived beneath desks in response to Air Raid drills that warned them of imminent danger. These monthly drills were necessary in case the United States came under attack by Russia – something the people of the United States believed could occur at any moment.

The United States was also in fierce competition with Russia. On September 13, 1959, Russia's Luna 2 mission put a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon – TEN YEARS BEFORE the United States' manned moon landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. 

So if Russia exploited a skill using psychic espionage tactics that sounded more like science fiction from the vaults of Rod Serling than nonfiction from scientific journals, the United States wanted to implement those same strategies – with hopes for a more successful outcome. The procedure they wanted to learn and employ was called Remote Viewing.

Through paranormal means, remote viewers use their psychic abilities to "see" a target that could be thousands of miles – or several years – away. Over the years the U.S. government has often denied the covert remote viewing Stargate Project, but purportedly spent $20,000,000 to develop the remote viewing technique.

By the 1970s, the U.S. government implemented their Psychic Intelligence project and by the 90s, military intelligence reportedly used it during Desert Storm. 

Remote viewing requires one to focus on nothing more than a number or an image. The image or the number might be hidden inside a manila envelope. The viewer is told nothing of the target or the contents of the envelope, but using skills developed during training, the subject learns how to psychically transport himself (or herself) to a different place or to a different time. The remote viewer then reports or draws his or her findings. 

Numerous books have been written on the subject of remote viewing. One in particular stands out, because one of the participants in Stargate, Joseph McMoneagle, explains not only the process of remote viewing, but also the effectiveness of locating targets using remote viewing tactics. Memoirs of a Psychic Spy: The Remarkable Life of U. S. Government Remote Viewer 001,by Joseph McMoneagle and L. Robert Castorr, recounts Joseph McMoneagle's experiences with remote viewing. 

Of what use is remote viewing, you may ask? Imagine a weapon that could locate scud missiles, missing children, weapons of mass destruction, submarines, drug ships, and hostages. Now imagine that weapon to be your mind. By learning the techniques for remote viewing, you could psychically transport yourself anywhere in the world or anywhere out of the world, and you wouldn't have to leave your seat. 

According to remoteviewing.com, the remote viewing project mentioned in McMoneagle's book was Classified and participants had to sign secrecy oaths. What was secret then, however, is now common knowledge. Remoteviewing.com also writes that remote viewing is an innate ability – anybody, when trained properly, can learn remote viewing skills.

Despite Stargate's reported 85% accuracy rating, when the scientific community demanded proof for the effectiveness of Remote Viewing, after nearly a quarter of a century of funding the program, the government discontinued funding the Remote Viewing program. Apparently results had to be accurate and reliable 100% of the time.

If remote viewing intrigues you and you want to learn how to be a psychic spy, read the book mentioned above. In addition to Joseph McMoneagle's book, other books on Remote Viewing include:

Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies by Jim Schnabel

Remote Viewing by Paul Young (Editor), Vicenc Altaio, Emilio Alvarez, Carlos Duran

Remote Viewing: The Complete User's Manual for Coordinate Remote Viewing by David Morehouse

You can click any of those links or you can check out McMoneagle’s web site for links to the books shown in the photo above. Also try McMoneagle’s blog.

Imagine being able to travel through time and space. Imagine the consequences of improving the effectiveness of Remote Viewing. Imagine finding buried treasure, or even better, missing children.

Reincarnation in the Bible and at the Movies

The term, "born again," for many people, means, "Born Again Christian," but for others, "born again" means "reincarnation," and for those who don't believe in reincarnation, the topic incites many heated debates.

Reincarnation, or transmigration of the soul, is a belief that the spirit or soul of an individual returns to a different body upon the death of a previous body.

According to Comparative Religion, "The concept of reincarnation seems to offer one of the most attractive explanations of humanity's origin and destiny." 

Well, not everybody agrees. Many people consider the concept of reincarnation to be blasphemous. Some religious leaders argue against the possibility that reincarnation exists, and others use the Bible to prove that it does, saying that Jesus spoke of reincarnation when he said that John the Baptist was Elijah (in the book of Matthew). "Matthew 11:11 states: 'I solemnly assure you, history has not known a man born of woman greater than John the Baptizer. …' Matthew 11:14-15, in continuing Christ's remarks about John the Baptist, states, 'If you are prepared to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who was certain to come. Heed carefully what you hear.'"

The argument is extremely controversial because some people take the Bible verbatim while others understand it metaphorically. But even those who take the Bible literally will debate the theory of reincarnation as it relates to those three sentences. 

If you ask a biblical scholar what the statements mean, you might discover that Jesus referred to John the Baptist as being LIKE Elijah. And others will tell you that Jesus speaks in parables – puzzles that, until we reach a certain level of understanding, are left for us to figure out. 

But even if Jesus spoke in parables, wouldn't he have said John the Baptist was LIKE Elijah instead of saying he IS Elijah if that's what he meant? How can you pick out one part of the Bible among others to argue that this statement is figurative and then be emphatic that the rest of the Bible is literal?

While Western religions frequently denounce reincarnation by claiming it is evil, reincarnation is a commonly accepted certainty in Eastern religions. Belief in reincarnation requires them to live their lives with the understanding that whatever they do in this life impacts their souls in their next life.

Some people seek explanations about their former lives using hypnotic regression. Hypnotic regression has been used to explain the relationship between circumstances they are experiencing in this life and events that occurred in a previous life. 

The story of Bridey Murphy, depicted in the movie, The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956), tells the tale of a housewife, Virginia Tighe, who, after having been hypnotically regressed, relates to the hypnotist, without previous knowledge of Ireland, her 19th century past life in that country.

Though much of what Virginia said while regressed proved to be false, many things she related proved to be accurate, neither proving nor disproving reincarnation.

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975), starring Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder, Jennifer O'Neill, and Cornelia Sharpe, is a movie that provides a scenario that, if reincarnation truly existed and people were aware that it existed, might explain why people either don't want to believe in reincarnation or wouldn't want to believe in it.

Peter Proud experiences flashbacks to a previous incarnation and finds himself drawn to a place and to a woman he knew in a previous existence. Morals concerning the possibility of entering into relationships with one's own child become muddied in the world of reincarnation theory.

A haunting movie about what happens to a child who is regressed occurs in the movie, Audrey Rose (not to be confused with the 2005 horror film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose), that debuted in 1977. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Marsha Mason, the story involves a man who is convinced that his daughter has been reincarnated in Audrey Rose, a little girl who has been born to a different family. What happens in the movie, if it were ever to be true, is frightening.

Karz, a 1980 movie inspired by the Reincarnation of Peter Proud, tells the story of a man who is reborn into a situation in which he may have to remain silent unless he wants to suffer the same fate as he did in his past life. Starring Rishi Kapoor and Tina Munim, Karz also examines the repercussions of knowing about your past life.

Is reincarnation merely a theory or does it indeed exist? Is this one life all we have? In terms of eternity, if one life is merely one speck of dust on the timeline of infinity, what can you do to make your life count?

For a list of other movies about reincarnation, click HERE.

Runes for Divination

One of my dearest friends, Katherine, believed in the power of Runes. She felt that by unlocking the secrets held within the stones, she could divine (predict) what the Runes were trying to tell her. 

Our journey through the occult began when we were each very young. I didn’t meet Katherine until we were both pregnant with one of our children. Initially I taught Katherine how to cast astrology charts by hand (before computer programs made astrology programs much easier), but her interest in the occult went far beyond where I had taken her. We both cast astrology charts and read the Tarot, but Katherine immersed herself in the Tarot and had so many clients, she was able to quit her full-time job. 

She also taught me about Runes. When Katherine told me about Runes, I decided to purchase some. I liked the way they felt in my hands, I liked their smoothness, and I liked the symbols that appeared on them, but try as I did, I couldn’t get them to reveal to me their secrets.

Inscribed with ancient letters, each rune vibrates to a different frequency and the placement of them when thrown down reveals patterns that rune readers interpret. 

My dear friend died nearly eight years ago. I think of her often, most recently when I came across information about Runes in the blog I’m about to reveal, so if you want to know more about Runes or even purchase some for yourself, you’ll find them by clicking on How to Use Rune Stones or by clicking on the photo above, which comes from Blue Dragon Creations. 

Demons, Demonology, and Demonologists

"…Satan was now at hand; and from his seat

The monster, moving onward, came as fast

With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode." ~ John Milton

Demon Hauntings

One of the most malevolent of all hauntings is a demon haunting – an event involving evil spirits whose only goal is to deceive and destroy.

Unlike wraiths, which are ghostlike images of people who appear shortly after death and who want vengeance for some perceived or actual harm caused them in life, demons will force their will upon vulnerable individuals and take over their bodies.

Spiritually and physically demons assault the living as they engage in spiritual warfare and seek out psychological weaknesses in people. Acting as energy vampires, they suck the life out of the person whose body they have inhabited, while draining the unsuspecting victim of his life force, luck, health, and spirit.

Animals sense a demon's presence and respond with behavior that is so bizarre, pet owners who previously may not have believed in demons, find themselves doubting their own beliefs. Not every animal who behaves strangely senses the presence of a demon, but when no other explanation suffices for an animal's response to the presence of evil, pet owners might suspect a demon.

Ridding Homes of Evil

Ridding your home of demons is best left to the experts, but some solutions for getting rid of demons include: religious procedures such as exorcism (still performed by the Catholic church – though rarely), where priests use holy water; the practice of sea salt sprinkled around the edges of a room or home (a favorite of Supernatural's Winchester brothers); or lighting sage to suppress negative energy. 

Demonology and Demonologists

The study of demons is termed, demonology. People who study demons are called demonologists. According to several sources, demonologists must be “called” to the vocation in the same way priests and nuns are called to their vocations. Being called to the study of demonology means to feel a strong pull toward the field of demonology. The decision to become a demonologist is not a choice made lightly. 

Because future demonologists are unprepared for just how harrowing an experience dealing with demons can be, they must be mentored. Strong as they may feel physically, all humans are vulnerable to the manipulations of demons. Nobody is exempt from falling under psychic attack by demons who know how to enter a body and cause physical, emotional, and psychological harm, not only to the prospective demonologist but also to his or her family and friends. 

Because no one can learn how to become a demonologist from a book or from school, potential demonologist practitioners must first become apprentices, learning from others who have been called to the challenge. Motives for entering the field of demonology cannot be selfish (monetary compensation, fame, etc.), and the demonologist hopeful cannot be young, either, because even a spiritually evolved individual will experience psychic trauma while dealing with evil – dabble with demons without protection from God, and your loved ones will witness your destruction.

Discernment and Demons

Discernment is necessary when dealing with demonic spirits, because evil humans who once lived will be as evil in death as they were in life. However, humans who behave with malicious and evil intent are not demons. Unlike hauntings, where evil spirits demand attention from the living by frightening them, demons will inhabit the human body and take it over. 

If you are called to the field of demonology, you will be drawn toward people who will mentor you. But again, pay attention to the forces around you. Both evil and good will be vying for your attention, so the gift of discernment will serve you well when you agree to become another demonologist's intern.

Entering the Demonic Field

If you are curious about the study of demonology, visit: 

Demonology at the Institute of Metaphysics

Demonology at Paranormal Clergy

Demonologists, The Warrens

WORDS OF CAUTION: Never enter the demonic realm without God's protection or you might find yourself in the midst of your own exorcism.

Photo of Nightmare (1800) by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard is from Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

The Warrens

D.J. McAdam

Are You Psychic?

You awaken from a dream that warns you of a trip you are about to take. Your daughter calls to inform you that she, too, has an eerie feeling about the trip. Though your spouse doesn't believe in dreams or in premonitions, he tells you that he feels uncomfortable about leaving too, though he doesn't understand why. You decide not to go and later discover that the day you were to arrive, an earthquake tore apart the hotel in which you were to stay.  

On another occasion, as you are driving south down a road next to a truck, which has been blocking your eastern view for a couple of blocks, you approach a red light. When it turns green, something tells you that, even though the light is green and the truck that was to your right is already turning, you should wait before you proceed. 

As you creep slowly forward, you question your reasons for doing so because the light in front of you is clearly green. In that moment a car races around the truck at high speed going west through a red light – directly in front of you. Had you not listened to that inner voice, you would be badly hurt – or dead.

Stories abound with people who avoided disaster because their plans changed at the last minute due either to circumstances beyond their control or because something didn't feel right. Listening to that inner voice has saved many people from enduring pain or loss. 

I am one of those people – the truck incident mentioned above actually happened to me, as did the following story:

Rarely were my children and I able to take vacations, but one weekend I decided to take them to Great America. Before we left, I awoke with a feeling of dread. Something told me to postpone the trip, but I ignored that little voice. One of my daughter's friends came over before we left and begged us not to leave, because she had had a bad dream about our trip.

Another friend called to ask us to stay home as well. Despite all the warnings, though, I decided to go anyway. We hadn’t gone on any vacation of any kind – ever – and I was determined that we would arrive safely, so I deliberately drove slowing and carefully. Numerous drivers sped past us so fast I felt as if we were sitting still on the expressway most of the time. I didn't care. The warnings were ever-present in my mind.

Though I took great care to drive safely, that feeling of dread continued the closer I got to Great America.

My children and I, along with one of my son's friends, had witnessed several accidents along the way, and I thanked God we weren't in any of them. Just as we arrived at the cloverleaf of the expressway that would take us to Great America, where the ferris wheel was clearly visible, the car in front of me came to a screeching halt. Unbeknownst to me the car in front of that driver had come to a screeching halt as well, because the car in front of that driver had slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of him.

All along the cloverleaf were a series of accidents, one behind the other. As a police officer later explained, I was the last car in a series of five accidents. After we got to the hospital, we discovered that two more accidents had occurred behind us. Nobody was badly hurt, but my car was completely demolished. 

As in the case above, psychic feelings sometimes make no sense before they occur. It may not be until later that the person experiencing the feeling discovers the results of following (or not following) her intuition. 

When my oldest daughter was a toddler, for instance, I had a strong sense that somebody was trying to take her from me. From the babysitter to my mother, everybody knew not to let her out of sight. In the early 1970s, long before Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a shopping mall (and later murdered), the feeling that my daughter was going to be taken from me was so strong, I took every precaution to prevent losing her.

Several years later I discovered from a former sister-in-law that my ex-husband and his wife were going to court during that time to try to get custody of her. 

Though I haven’t always acknowledged my intuitive feelings, over time I have learned to pay attention to it.

How many times have YOU had that little voice speak to you and not paid attention to it? That feeling, that intuition, that sense that something is about to occur should never be ignored. Something that lies outside of our three dimensional world is trying to communicate with us. Something that lies within you is trying to communicate with you. Through psychic phenomena, secrets reveal themselves to us when we pay attention.

From fortune tellers gazing into crystal balls to séances held in darkened rooms, "psychic" phenomena is shrouded in mystery, but only because it reaches beyond the five physical senses. We tend not to believe things we cannot see, hear, feel, touch, or taste. Our perception of psychics is warped by the media portraying them as eccentric old ladies who predict futures while draped in veils as they collect money with greedy hands.

But we are all psychic, and we are all capable of predicting our own futures. We just need to understand what being psychic means.

The word, psychic, comes from the Greek word, psychikos, meaning "of the soul," and it relates to psyche, also meaning of the soul. According to Merriam-Webster, the term, psychic, is "marked by extraordinary or mysterious sensitivity, perception, or understanding." Also, "lying outside the sphere of physical science or knowledge: immaterial, moral, or spiritual in origin or force."

What that means is that psychic experiences, when they happen, cannot be easily explained through any physical science. They lie outside the boundaries of scientifically proven evidence. How does one prove dreams exist, after all? Scientists can prove THAT people dream because they can measure REM (rapid eye movement), but they don't understand WHY images appear in dreams or IF they are significant in meaning.

Psychics are often termed, "sensitives," because people who are highly sensitive are more likely to experience psychic phenomena than people who are less sensitive. Psychic phenomena reveals itself in a number of ways. Besides feelings of dread, many people awaken from prophetic dreams with curiosity, and many people react physically to their feelings. Some may become hyper-alert. Others become confused or nervous.

One morning as my sister and I were getting ready to go on a canoe trip with one of my friends, I kept dropping things. Normally clumsy, this particular morning, I was dramatically worse. No matter what I picked up, it managed to find its way to the floor. I was shaky and nervous for no apparent reason. I commented to my sister that something very weird was happening to me, something I couldn't explain, and I was a little nervous about taking the canoe trip, because I felt the clumsiness was somehow connected. 

My sister said that maybe my uncomfortable feelings were related to her feelings that something was a little off-kilter – she felt uncomfortable about going on a canoe that day as well.

When my friend arrived, the first words out of her mouth were, "We are NOT going canoeing today." She had been having psychic feelings all morning about the trip and when we combined my unexplainable physical clumsiness to my sister's bad feeling about the canoe trip with my friend's feeling that something was going to go disastrously wrong, we changed our plans.

In situations like the one just mentioned, we may never know if the Kankakee River would have swallowed us in an undertow or if nothing would have happened, but unlike the trip to Great America, we listened to that inner voice and decided not to go. We trusted our instincts.

Can you trust your intuition? If you can relate to any of the above stories, or if you have had premonitions, prophetic dreams, or an inner "knowing" about something you couldn't explain scientifically, you have probably experienced psychic phenomena.

My own personal belief is that everybody is psychic; some people have just developed theirs further than others. But developing psychic ability is similar to exercising a muscle, and you can develop your psychic powers by practicing techniques that will enable you to become more psychic. 

To learn more about developing your psychic abilities, please read ESP Works – Harold Sherman Shows How.

Thank you for visiting!