Finding Your Spirit Guide

Spirit Guide by Valerie Rogers

Many psychics believe that within each of us there is an inner voice, sometimes called a inner guide or spirit guide.  I've never been entirely sure of this myself, but I am always open to new experiences.   I saw a psychic speak several months ago on the importance of finding and connecting with your spirit guide when you go on paranormal investigations.  She said that many times these types of investigations put you in contact with malignant and mean spirits that could do you harm.  She said that it was your spirit guide that could protect you and lead you away from danger, keeping you safe in these types of situations.  Whether you believe this psychic and others or not,  I thought this would be a fun exercise for a hot summer night.  This is Theresa Cheung's advice on how to contact your inner guide.

"Find a place where you can relax and get comfortable without being disturbed.  Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful place of light and sound.  As you breathe slowly and deeply, imagine a bridge leading to this place and see yourself walking on it.  As you reach the end of this bridge you are surrounded by light and color and sound.  Take time to explore the feeling and the place and to listen to the sounds.  You come to a full-length mirror.  As you look into the mirror you realize that the image you see is the real you, the ideal you, the magical you- your inner guide.  To your amazement your inner guide steps out of the mirror and stands in from of you saying in a kind,gentle voice,  "I am the most creative part of you. I see what you do not.  How can I help you?"

You sit down with your guide.  You may request some insight or discuss a problem or ask what lies ahead.  Listen and remember.  Remember your guide will always be with you now that you have found them.  when yo leave, see yourself taking some of the sounds and images back with you.  In time all you will need to do is close yours eyes to find your guide.  And the more you work with your inner guide the more you will know that your psychic powers are coming to life within you."

This is an interesting exercise to me because I am a psychologist and I do 2-4 groups a day in a psychiatric hospital.  One of my most popular group is a type of relaxation therapy called guided imagery.  This process is very similar to guided imagery, which is supposed to help the patient find a symbol of peace and protection they can carry with them.  I hope you enjoy this exercise and discovered a new part of yourself, or at least a little bit of peace to take with you into a chaotic world.

Guest Blogger Louise Baker's Favorite Ghost Stories!

As a writer myself,  I know that managing a writing career is challenging and I am always amazed by those that can accomplish this task.  That is why I'm always happy to welcome writers here.  Tonight's guest blogger is Louise Baker.  Louise loves ghost stories and wanted to share a few of her favorites tonight.  When not trying to scare herself silly, Louise Baker writes about getting an online education. She most recently reviewed the best online schools at http://www.zencollegelife.com/the-top-10-best-online-schools/.   Louise has also had articles picked up by sites like MSN, Publisher's Weekly, About.com and the Consumerist.  Welcome Louise!


Ghost stories capture our minds and imaginations. We share them around campfires and on dark nights to give our friends - and maybe even ourselves - some thrills and chills. There are a number of ghost stories that circulate, though and here are five great ones to remember the next time you need to share a spooky tale.


Bloody Mary
The tale of Bloody Mary is one that has stood the test of time and the test of many a slumber party. The story of Bloody Mary starts with Mary, a witch who lured young girls to their deaths. She used their blood to keep herself young and beautiful and when the villagers discovered what she was doing their burned her at the stake. As Mary burned she spoke a curse that would cause her evil spirit to continue causing harm. Her curse stated that if anyone spoke her name - Bloody Mary - three times in front of a darkened mirror, her spirit would appear to seek revenge. She would tear to pieces the one who summoned her, stealing their soul and trapping it within the mirror to burn forever as she burned.

The Hook
The tale of an escaped asylum resident who had a hook instead of an arm has been retold countless times over. The story holds that a young couple park in a secluded area to make out when the girl is spooked by the radio warning of the deranged hook man. Something shakes the car and she begs her boyfriend to take her home. In disgust he starts the car and they leave. Upon arriving at her home, she exits the car only to discover that a blood hook hangs from the passenger side door handle.


Windigo
The story of the Windigo is an Ojibwa story from long ago. The Windigo is a creatures that will eat the flesh of any man, woman or child it finds. In some instances, the Windigo will instead possess the body of a person, causing them to become a cannibalistic Windigo themselves. Most Windigo stories occur in the dead of winter, when people are searching for food and in danger of starving. The Windigo is usually described as large and white, with black eyes. The Windigo makes a strange hissing sound that mixes with the howl of winter winds.

Ghost Hand Prints
The story of the ghost hand prints centers around a set of railroad tracks on which a busload of school children had died years earlier. A young couple are driving over the tracks when their car stalls. They are horrified to see that a train is bearing down upon them and they can't get the car started. Without warning, their car rolls off of the tracks to safety, just before the train passes. Shaken, the man gets out of the car and discovers dozens of child-sized hand prints on the rear bumper.

Ghost Soldier
The story of a ghost soldier has seen action in every conflict or war over the past several years. The story is that a young soldier is on tour during a time of war. One night his mother awakens to find him standing next to her bed. He tells her he loves her and is alright. She realizes that in fact, this is her son's spirit come to say goodbye. The next day she receives word that he was killed in action but she carries his last message in her heart as she grieves for his death

Wish I Was Oceanwide

This is another email with all the same previous markers but new company name (a real company to boot) and contact info. S-to-the-C-to-the-A-to-the-M.


From: Peter Chan
Subject: Attention: Counsel
Date: June 28, 2010 8:45:10 PM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Reply-To: peter_chan406@yahoo.com.hk


Attention: Counsel

I have previously sent you an email; please confirm the receipt of this mail due to the urgency of this matter. If you are not in position to represent us at the moment kindly advice immediately. After a careful review, we decided to contact you to represent our company in North America. Oceanwide Hong Kong Ltd is a manufacturing company in Asia, We would require your legal representation for our North American delinquent Customers.

We are of the opinion that a reputable attorney is required to represent us in NorthAmerica in order for us to recover monies due to our organization by
overseas customers, and as well follow up with these accounts. In order to achieve these objectives a good and reputable law firm like yours will be required to handle this service. We understand that a proper Attorney Client agreement must be entered into by both parties.

This will be done immediately we receive your letter of acceptance.

Awaiting Response.

Peter Chan.
Managing Director
Oceanwide HK Ltd.

This is a cut and paste job. Not very original but we posted it because it is using all new contacts and company names.


From: Chan Yung
Subject: LEGAL SERVICE URGENTLY NEEDED
Date: June 29, 2010 9:03:46 AM PDT
Cc: recipient list not shown: ;
Reply-To: stu71u@cabanova.com


LEGAL SERVICE URGENTLY NEEDED
Huatai Electric Cable & Wire Co Ltd
No. 14-3, Wu Lin Street
Shu Lin City
Taipei
Taiwan 238
Tel: (886 2) 26835095
Fax: (886 2) 26836179
www.huataiwire.com

Attention Counsel;


I have previously sent you an email; please confirm the receipt of this
mail due to the urgency of this matter. If you are not in position to
represent us at the moment kindly advice immediately.
After a careful review, we decided to contact you to represent our company
(Huatai Electric Cable & Wire Co Ltd ) in North America; with its head
office in Hong Kong. We got your contact detail from our online search for
attorney.

The management of Huatai Electric Cable & Wire Co Ltd . requires your
legal representation for our North American delinquent Customers. We are
of the opinion that a reputable attorney is required to represent us in
North America in order for us to recover monies due to our organization by
overseas customers, and as well follow up with these accounts. In order to
achieve these objectives a good and reputable law firm like yours will be
required to handle this service.

We understand that a proper Attorney Client agreement must be entered into
by both parties. This will be done immediately we receive your letter of
acceptance.

Attorney, you can advise us what is required to draw a proper letter of
engagement that will be review by our board. We are most inclined to
commence talks with you as soon as possible. We shall bring you into a
detailed picture of what your responsibility is, when we receive your
response.

Your consideration of our request is highly anticipated, and we look
forward to your prompt response to this request. Your questions regarding
this Proposal is welcome. Once more thank you for taking time from your
busy Schedule to read this mail.If you wish to receive this proposal via
fax, please advise us.

Yours truly,
Chan Yung

President.

The French Bride's Ghost

This story was told to my by a native Southerner.   She heard it while she was travelling in South Carolina.  It is pure Southern folklore at its best.  The story begins with a young couple that were new to this nation when this nation wasn't really a nation at all.  They were pioneers travelling to a new world occupied by hostile forces and unknown people.  But they were also escaping the old and they had each other.  They were a French couple and they had just built a house in Charleston, South Carolina.   They planned on getting married and moving into their new house on their wedding day.

The young woman was beautiful in her white dress with her flowing blond hair.   People came from all over to see her on her wedding day.  Unfortunately,  the local natives came as well.  They came with the intention of driving the European settlers out of Charleston once and for all.  They killed everyone they could and they scalped the young bride and hung her scalp from the tree above her house.  Time past and the natives reclaimed their land.   As time past,  the hair began to gray and change as if the young bride were still alive.  The natives became afraid that her ghost was haunting them.  Not only did the hair gray but it thickened and it spread and as it spread the natives became sure that the ghost of the  young bride was coming to take her revenge.  They fled the tree, but the hair grew on all the trees.  It spread from tree to tree as if it were chasing the bride's assassins.

Finally, the natives fled the region and the Europeans reclaimed it.  The bride's hair remained as a reminder of what had happened. It thickened and darkened and became the Spanish moss that hangs from so many trees in the South today.

My Ghosts

The ghosts of my past having been pulling at my heart strings lately.  The pull is so strong is tangible.   The pull started long before my visit to my grandmother yesterday,  but she only made it worse.  For most of my life my grandmother was the dowager empress of the family.  She sat in our old, family house  like a queen.  Our family house is in Cheboygan, Michigan and it is 150 yrs old.  It has been in our family for all those long years when my great, great, great uncle  built it as a wedding present for my great, great, great Aunt Newton.  The house was haunted.  It wasn't something people spoke of often, but it was certainly a given.  Entire batches of photographs were thrown out because white mists permeated all of them obscuring the faces of the living.  Strange noises came and went at night.   There was a cold spot in the middle of the old kitchen at midnight. 

There are so many stories it is impossible to list them all.   I visited once after a wedding.  I never took out my wedding clothes at the house.  I left them at the bottom of the suitcase.  After my departure,  they were found laid out on the floor of the attic.  There were no children or pranksters present during that trip.  Strange things like that were just normal there and that house was and is my favorite place in the world.  When I was a girl I used to hide under the piano in red parlor so I wouldn't have to go home.  The house was my home.  It was huge and beautiful and it was part of our family legacy.   With eight bedrooms and  2 kitchens and 2 parlors, a library, a den, and a dining room it was large enough for my entire family to meet in every summer.  All my aunts and uncles and cousins would fill the halls with laughter and drinking.   The adults would play cards well into night and the children would creep around the darkened rooms when we were supposed to be asleep. 

Many years have past since those days.  The family has broken apart.  Everyone got divorced and the cousins were left drifting in the wind.  Even my grandmother,  the dowager empress herself, has dementia and must now sit alone in a nursing home while her castle sits empty.   Yesterday, she and I looked at photos of the old days and I wanted to weep.  Ghosts drifted in and out of the pictures like family and she smiled and spoke of the house like a person.  To her,  the house is alive.  It is her great love and best friend.  The house is for sale now and  I have no ability to stop it.  It sits empty while the price drops as no one wants an old mansion in Northern Michigan.  My grandmother says some day she'll go back there and maybe she will, but not in life.  Maybe some day her ghost will join the others and she'll be empress once again.  I wish I could be there when she returns.  I wish we could keep our haunted castle.

The Riverhaven Cabin Ghosts

Most ghost stories are creepy. They hint at some unhappy soul lurking just beyond reality waiting to do us harm. The Riverhaven cabin is haunted, but the ghosts there seem pleasant and inviting.  This was one of the first haunted places I wrote about, but I am revisiting it since I'm returning to Gatlinburg in a few weeks.   Alas, we can no longer stay at Riverhaven  because we have dogs now, but it was my favorite place in Gatlinburg and it has been remodeled since our last visit. 


Riverhaven is a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. It is described by the reality company as pleasant and comfortable. This historic log home is an antique Chestnut log approx. 200 years old built in 1800. It has unique wormy Chestnut paneling inside. The cabin was constructed in the National Park and was moved in the 1930's to its current location in downtown Gatlinburg. The Realtors website shows many pretty pictures of the cabin and if you rent it, when you enter you'll be pleasantly surprised by it's comfort and warmth.

Every cabin in Gatlinburg has a log or journal for visitors to share their experiences in. Typically, these logs are filled with stories of family vacations. Every page has the same bland pleasantries. It is as if they came from a script. Guests tell about their family, what they did, and the great time they had in the cabin. Riverhaven's journal is different. Each guest tells about flickering lights, moving objects, vanishing items, and odd noises. Not every resident there concludes the cabin is haunted, but every page indicated there is something odd about this pleasant cabin nestled by the river.

I only stayed at Riverhaven for three nights and for the most part it was quiet. I stayed with my family and we complained to each other about the lack of linens in the cabin. We searched it from top to bottom, pulling it apart in a futile quest for a table cloth or anything to cover the splintery, ancient dining table. Finally, on the first night we gave up and ate on our laps. We went to bed and dead bolted the door and locked the door with the sliding lock that even someone with a key couldn't open. In the morning, we awoke to find every table set with table cloths and silverware. The cabin was clean and pretty and we certainly hadn't left it that way when we went to sleep. We often laugh about this cabin as we flounder to explain our experiences there, but when I think of the strange journal there and the consistency of all the stories, I have to assume it was haunted by ghosts that liked us.