Visitor

[poliphilo]

"Turn over slowly," says Ailz. "And tell me what you see."

We're in bed. We've been in bed ten minutes or so. It's just past midnight.

I turn over. "Where?" I ask.

"About level with my shoulder."

I can't see anything and I say so. "What am I supposed to see?"

"There's a shadow. I was looking at the wall and suddenly the darkness got darker. And there's movement inside it."

"You think we've got a visitor?"

"Yes. You really can't see it?"

"No. But then I never can."

Bah; I find it really frustrating. I'm the one who's interested in ghosts- the true believer- but I never see a thing.

Shortly after she'd drawn my attention to it, the shape faded. I don't think this house is haunted; we don't have any permanent, unlisted residents; but we do get these visitors from time to time. Ailz never sees enough detail to identify them, but there was no feeling of menace or hostility- there never is (we have protection in place)- so I guess it was a friend.

I'd love to know who...

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

What kind of protection? Or shouldn't I ask? :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We have a "guardian" at the foot of the stairs. It's a picture of a satyr I painted about ten years back, which has (greatly to my surprise) become energised. Ailz takes control of all this side of things. She's a proper (natural) witch and I was never more than a theoretical one. She also puts up pentacles and things and draws circles of protection (all in the mind, of course).

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

I always ask the Gods/Guardian etc., to allow nothing who holds ill will towards us to enter. If there are noises on the street at night then I put 3 circles (Over the top, round the middle and lengthways) around the car to keep it safe - I also do this if I'm in a car with an idiot driver.

I put the 3 circles round the house when we leave it empty and ask the Guardian to look after it - and us. He sort of comes with us.

I also talk to my Gods & Goddesses a fair amount.

Recently when I go to bed at night I often hear an owl hooting which gives me a feeling of security as my main Goddess is Minerva and the owl is Her symbol.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm also interested in the 'protection' (once I'd dragged my mind kicking and screaming out of the gutter). Why do you feel a need for it, if you don't mind my asking?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We used to be witches (Ailz still is) and if you're messing around with whatever it is we were messing around with, it makes sense to put things in place to keep hostile and malevolent energies at bay.

Ailz puts up pentacles and draws circles of protection. We also have "a guardian" in the form of a painting of a satyr I did about ten years ago. This guy has become energised (don't ask me how because I really don't know) and quietly patrols the house. Ailz sees him out of the corner of her eyes sometimes.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, although I can't pretend to understand most of it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't understand it either. But I accept it and it seems to work

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

I always ask the Gods/Guardian etc., to allow nothing who holds ill will towards us to enter. If there are noises on the street at night then I put 3 circles (Over the top, round the middle and lengthways) around the car to keep it safe - I also do this if I'm in a car with an idiot driver.

I put the 3 circles round the house when we leave it empty and ask the Guardian to look after it - and us. He sort of comes with us.

I also talk to my Gods & Goddesses a fair amount.

Recently when I go to bed at night I often hear an owl hooting which gives me a feeling of security as my main Goddess is Minerva and the owl is Her symbol.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I find this whole subject really interesting, although - despite being a rabid collector of ghost stories - it's not something I've ever had any experience of myself.

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

We also 'wear' protection when going out into crowds. Have you ever noticed how your mood can be affected by those around you?

I picture myself surrounded my mirrors which reflect away other people's thoughts and energies - not harming anyone just bouncing into the light. poliphilo pictures himself wearing a suit of armour which, again, repels stuff 'thrown' by other people.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

I can't help thinking that the world you inhabit seems so enchanted and somehow peopled with things and elements that I will never get even close to in my life. And though I have a hard time believing that a ghost would appear in MY bedroom, it somehow seems perfectly reasonable and credible that one should appear in you and Ailz's. My own life is far to entzaubert (is there an English word for that? "Disenchanted" has all these connotations of disappointment etc...) to allow for such appearences.

[cosmolinguist]

I think I agree with you -- I certainly don't know of anything I've done to encourage inexplicable things to happen around me, but I'm quite all right with that.

My brother once claimed he saw a "shadow person" next to the barn when he was coming home very late one night. It kept him from going down by the barns for a few days, I think. :-) Supernatural apparitions aren't all fun and games, I guess.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe the universe adapts itself to our beliefs.

When I was an active Wiccan I found weird, odd, synchronicitous things were happening all the time. Since I stepped aside from Wicca such things seem to happen much less frequently.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Drat! So close!

But you did see a shape...

Did you feel anything?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ailz saw a shape. I saw nothing. I am so totally unpsychic.

I didn't feel anything either.

[silversmoke.livejournal.com]

You should ask your bunny who it was. If he was awake, he probably knows.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

He probably does. If only he could speak...

[paroxysma.livejournal.com]

Could have been her brain actually.
Sometimes we see things and if we stare at them long enough our brain has a way of making them move.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, could have been.

It's just that I trust her sense of the uncanny.

[forestdweller.livejournal.com]

We have someone who visits our home off and on. I think she used to live there ages ago, perhaps she passed there. She tends to favor one of our bathrooms...the one we use the least. *chuckle*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm told there's a difference betwen resident ghosts, who are stuck and unable to move on, and visitors, who are free to come and go as they wish.

[forestdweller.livejournal.com]

Hm. She may be a resident then because she seems distressed at times, placid at others, but she's almost always about. She'll show up if I talk to her and ask how she's doing. (Which isn't the brightest thing to do sometimes...lots of trauma I suspect.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's sad when people get stuck.

From what I've read, that's what most hauntings are; people who can't get out of a place because they're confused or preoccupied or frightened and don't know how.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

How exciting!

When I was little I heard voices and things when the house was empty but I don't now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Kids seem to be more open to spirits (if that's what they are) than most adults.

[karenetaylor.livejournal.com]

I used to get visits all the time shortly after my mum died. I'd hear her call my name, plain as day. Never saw her, though.

And my brother would stop by every so often, on a clear night, especially if I was sitting on my deck with a beer and a smoke.

Both of them, though, seem to have moved on. Which is the way it should be.

I've had feelings of presences in most places I've lived -- most of them seem benevolent. As far as guardians go, I do have "the ugly thing" (as pictured in the icon.) I suspect nothing is going to want to mess with my bad boys. ;-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the ugly thing: I remember him well :)

It's nice that loved ones should come and visit, but entirely proper that they gradually let go and move on.

I agree.

[ajoyfulgirl.livejournal.com]

Some of the loved ones I've known that have passed have visited me before passing on. It's a comforting thing to feel them-- that last sigh of the tangible before they move beyond.

I've had interesting experiences with other ghosts, though. When I first moved to Portland, I was staying in my then-boyfriend's house: it was part of a duplex. There was a little girl ghost that sometimes got a little too rowdy. Only one of the housemates saw her, but the neighbors knew about her from the previous tenants. She liked Alex's room the best-- would flip on the computer at random, throw things around the room-- never meant any harm, that I could sense, but definitely made it difficult to sleep. I told her to go to bed one night in a fit of exasperation, and the boys haven't seen or heard from her since. I feel rather bad for it, actually.

There's another ghost that I never saw, but had an encounter with as a child-- she lives in my grandparents' house, having followed my family for a couple generations now. Apparently she likes us, though she's no known relation.

Spirits are strange things. As a child, I believed in ghosts-- but it hadn't been until these past couple years that I've become more in tune with seeing them, or noticing it when they pass.

*b.

Re: I agree.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Just after my father died- and my mother and sister were drinking coffee in the kitchen- his bedside radio alarm suddenly went off- though it hadn't been set to do so.

I've always thought it was his way of saying, "I'm still here, you know."

There was a similar incident at my great aunt's house ten years before. We were sitting in her kitchen after the funeral discussing the will when her alarm clock went off.

My great aunt and my father were very close. Perhaps he learned the trick from her.

Ghosts seem to have an affinity with electicity. Switching things on and off is something they find relatively easy. The odd thing is that ghosts who date from before the harnessing of electricity are able to do it too. I guess that means they've been paying attention.

Re: I agree.

[karenetaylor.livejournal.com]

I guess that means they've been paying attention.

What else do they have to do? ;-)

Re: I agree.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Some ghosts seem utterly oblivious of present day reality and do things like walk through doors that have been bricked up.

Others obviously try to interact with the living.

I guess I'm curious to know exactly how much they can see or sense.