Astral Travel

Photo provided by: www.theartofastralprojection.com


  What is Astral Travel? It is the act of your spirit or soul leaving your body for a short period of time to travel anywhere it is called or chooses to travel to. More of a definition can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection

  What happens to you when you Astrally Project yourself? Well that is all up to the person and there are many theories as to where you go, when, why, etc. Some people have it happen to them randomly and others do it on purpose to go travel to different locations, remote viewing, dreams, or even different realms. Ideally there is a sort of spiritual rope that ties you to your body so you can always go back to your body at any point in time.

  Interestingly enough I myself, have had "out of body" experiences. Mine were mostly during a dream state which is supposedly an ideal time for the travel. You are most relaxed mentally and physically which allows for your spirit to exit the body. Some people report a feeling of sleep paralysis as their spirit exits the body and also upon it's return. It's a temporary feeling and only lasts a mere few seconds.

  Where would you go? Well some people like to visit loved ones, some people like to visit places they've never been, etc. What I do know is that in mine I visited with someone who is very much alive also. We met and had a whole experience together. Everything was very vivid and I could remember all the conversations we had. Dreams typically are very difficult for me to remember as the mind goes in so many different directions in your sleep that it's hard to pinpoint specifics. You dream more than you actually think you do. It's that we don't remember most of it. When Astrally Travelling, you remember every detail and you also will awaken feeling exhausted because essentially you were up all night. It's a very unique experience to have indeed.

  Many people have become not only accustomed to doing this travel on a regular basis but it comes easy for them like breathing. They have long practiced the art of Astral Travel and can do it at the blink of an eye when the rest of us either do it by accident or do it while in a sleep state. Either way it is almost like a form of time travel. You can visit anyone you wish at any time and place.

  If you were aware that you had an innate ability to do this, where would you go? Who would you see? What would you do? The possibilities are endless. Did you know that while Astrally Travelling, you can also do a technique called "Dream Walking"? This is travelling into someone else's dream and interacting with them. I have not done that one so far but I have been pulled from a dream state into a situation that required rescuing lower end ghosts from a more malevolent one trying to hold them captive. I really don't know why or how they pull me but when it happens, it's very real and I wake up totally exhausted from having worked my butt off to get them safe or at least try. Sounds crazy I know but it's something I periodically experience and have come to accept it as somewhat normal for me.

  I would advise you that if you are going to try this, please read all the literature out there that you can. It's very interesting to do it and you can have a whole lot of experience as well as fun. There is SO much information on the web these days that you can find out anything you want. The link I placed under the photo is a great site to check out on this topic. I wish you luck my friends.

Shadow Figures

   Throughout the years we've all heard stories about people seeing a dark figure in which they can only describe as a black mass that has a shape of a large man and sometimes with a hat. What are these figures? The reality is that no one really truly knows what they are or for that matter; what they want. These creepy figures seem to appear to people randomly.

  In my own life, my very first experience was with a "Shadow Figure". Again, it was huge and appeared to have a male type figure. I do not recall a hat but I do recall it was blocking out the light in the hallway. I was home alone as a latch key kid and had been tinkering around with my things in my room. I don't remember what compelled me to look but I looked into the hallway and saw this "thing". I was terrified and froze sitting on my bed. I looked away because I wasn't sure what to do at this point. I heard keys in the front door as my mother was coming home. When I looked back into the hallway this figure was completely gone and the light was back. I never saw this figure again. That was the beginning of my paranormal world. What was this thing and what did it want with me? Was it evil? Was it just a figure of a former human being? These are all questions we have when we see these things.
 
  The truth is, we don't know what these things are. In all my years of study I have not gotten much information about these figures other than hearing people saying the same things over and over again. They describe almost the same thing that I experienced and have no other knowledge. Some of these have been known to attack people! I was fortunate enough that my mother came home when she did otherwise I am not sure what that thing may or may not have done to me. I didn't sense malice coming from it but I was terrified more that there was something in our apartment that I didn't understand and knew shouldn't be there.

  People have started to collect photos and video of these beings. It is interesting to me that so many people are having encounters with these figures. I just cannot help but wonder if they are former human beings or are they beings from another dimension we have not yet explored. There are so many theories out there that it really is hard to believe in just one. The reality is this, they are here and I would love to know what they are and what they want.

  Anyone with stories of their own, please feel free to share them. I find them all very interesting and raise more questions.

Ouija Board Harmful or Helpful?

For many years people have debated on the topic of Ouija Boards. It is still considered to be a taboo topic but I want to know why? For years I have seen many people writing or talking about Ouija boards being evil or a vessel in which evil comes through. These people are absolutely convinced that to touch an Ouija is a danger for oneself and one's family. People are afraid to use such a simple tool.

Where the debate begins is people using it in their home in a seance' type of format. They sit in a circle and have two people each touching two fingers on a planchette (the pointer that moves from letter to letter to spell out what the ghost/spirit wants to tell you). They call upon those who have passed that might be either known to them or any random ghost that might answer. The problem is in most of these cases, they are not knowledgeable on how to protect themselves from the start and are leaving not only themselves open for things "not so nice" to come through them or even through someone else that is in the room that may not even  be participating. Here is where the danger has a possibility to come through. 

Many folks that go buy an Ouija board from a Spencer's or any other store that sells novelties. The Parker Brothers Ouija boards are among the most popular and most easily accessed. They retail for about $15 to $30. They are cheap because they are only thick card board with a print across the top. It comes with a little plastic planchette. Harmless right? Well the answer is YES. The board itself is NOT harmful. Think about it.... cardboard and plastic.... Those two are totally harmless. 

There are other types of Ouija boards out there on the market that are much more extravagant and much more expensive but the truth is, unless it's been imbued by a witch or someone that practices magic of any sort, it's harmless. What DOES bring danger through are the humans using it. 

I am speaking to you as a veteran Ouija Board maker and user. I have been doing this since I was 8 years old and have NEVER had anything unsavory happen nor have I had any unsavory things come through and cause problems for others. Most of the time I use them on my own in the safety of my own home. How do I make it NOT dangerous. The answer is very simple. No matter what religion or belief you have, there has to be some sort of  higher power that protects you, right? If you are an Atheist or Agnostic then this whole topic is a moot point to you as you don't believe anything can happen with these things SO, I am speaking to those who do have a belief system of some sort in tact. Now for those of you who pray, do magical practices, etc., surely you have one that you call to for protection more than others. I myself call upon Archangel Michael and my other Archangels as well as spirit guides for protection. 

When I use my boards, I only call to my spirit guides. Why you ask? Well the reason is flat out, Ghosts lie. I am not saying they all do BUT a grand majority of them will lie to you especially when you ask silly questions about your future. Here's the thing; Ghosts do NOT know the future as they are shadows of their former selves and are trapped here on our plane which means they do not have ANY special knowledge. If they have ANY knowledge about your present circumstances it is more than likely because they are living around you and are observing what anyone else can observe. That's how it works for them. That being said, they lie through Ouija Boards and they can also lie via Pendulums, Dowsing Rods, and even EVP's (Electronic recording of their voice). Without a pure Psychic divining then you will never know if they are being truthful to you or making up a story to either astonish you or scare you. 

Once again, I use my boards to contact my spirit guides as they are teaching me to listen to them more often.  They have given me many "heads up" on things that were getting ready to happen in my life. Some things were major and some not so major. So now your next question to me is: "But how do you know if it is your guides or if it's a ghost lying to you". Again, simple! I have been doing this for SO long, I know EXACTLY how my guides speak to me and if it ever deviates then I know instantly that it is NOT them. I call the spirit out and tell them to get lost. I remind them I am under protection of Archangel Michael and my Guides. Typically they go away and my guides will come back through.  It's like talking to a family member or friend over many years... if they came through, you would DEFINITELY know it's them by the way they talk. It's the mannerisms via language that gives it away.  

Back to the topic of the "evil" that can come through. Well here's the thing, if people who do not know how to protect themselves, or do NOT understand that most likely the ghosts they are trying to contact are not going to hold much info for them, then they ARE opening up themselves for something not so nice to come inside their body. THAT is where the real danger is. It doesn't matter if they are using an Ouija, Pendulum, Tarot Cards, or even themselves without a tool of sorts. THEY are the point at which nasty ghosts or even evil entities can come through and become a problem in their lives or as I mentioned earlier, a nasty force in someone else's life who was in the room when they did this ritual. Typically evil entities will prey on the weaker souls. 

The bottom line with Ouija use is, get educated, protect yourself and DO NOT mess around with it if you not know how or what you are doing. YOU can open YOURSELF or anyone with you to things that CAN and will harm you as well as others. BE CAREFUL! But do NOT be ignorant enough to say the board itself is evil. It is but a tool. Be careful folks! 

P.S. DO NOT take the boards, pendulums, tarot cards, etc. with you to Haunted locations unless you can do a protection ritual of some sort. If you don't know how to do it, please get someone who does to either join you or can do a ritual FOR you so that you don't pull through YOURSELF something that should NOT come through and stay with you. You CAN bring things home with you that you shouldn't. As a practice you really should never go to a Haunted Location itself without a protection ritual or prayer in the first place so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE protect yourself folks.

Photographic Evidence?

  I have seen and am still seeing quite a few photos that are posted all over the internet by paranormal groups or individuals whether they be in the ghostly side of things or on the cryptid side of things. The pictures are typically "blurry" or "fuzzy" and in many cases have circles on them as the person who felt it was evidence wanted people to look in specific spots on the photos. If they do not they post up saying what they think it looks like and where to look.

 From a skeptical standpoint, even myself being a paranormal investigator for years, I find that none of these are anything that resembles credible evidence. Now I am not saying that whatever the original person who came across the photos doesn't see what they see however, there are many things our eyes and brains do not agree. This goes into the same thing as looking at a wall, a piece of wood, carpet, etc where you can make faces out of certain patters. When you look at a picture of the woods, you can almost certainly make faces out of anything and everything. There is much for the brain to process! If you don't believe me , try it. Next time you look at any picture of the woods stare at it for awhile, you'll see what I mean. That having been said, now look at the photos of the woods where people circle stuff. If they don't tell you what they see in the circles, you can almost certainly see nothing at all or a blur. If they tell you what they see and you are a "believer", you will see what they see. It's manipulation of the mind. Am I saying they are purposefully trying to manipulate you? Of course not. In most cases they really believe what they see in the photo IS real and they just badly want others to see what they see. That works much the same for Electronic Voice Phenomenon. If you listen to an EVP but you read their assessment on what they "heard", you will hear it too. If they leave it blank and leave it up to you , you either hear nothing OR you hear something entirely different. I've learned to turn my head away while listening so I can hear what has been captured without any visual influence. I do that with the t.v. shows as well when they play audio. There are SO many times that I have heard something totally different than what they present. I have had people get very frustrated with me because I don't hear what they hear. The thing is, it will NEVER sound the same to everyone. A picture will NEVER been seen the same way for everyone.

  Going back to my original thought, photographs are not very good for present as scientific evidence unless its so obvious that there is no denying. Don't even get me started on the amounts of photo editing that goes on and passed off as evidence. Unfortunately that goes for everything. There will always be those that just want to trick people out and make them believe they have something when in fact, they have nothing at all.

  I want to believe most of the paranormal groups on Facebook and other social sites are not trying to be malicious. I think they are just really seeing what they think they see and presenting it. They get very annoyed and sometimes angry when people are saying they see nothing OR when someone debunks it as camera and/or lighting issues.

  So in short, if you are going to present ANY photos as evidence, you must realize you are going to be under a lot of scrutiny. If you cannot take constructive criticism OR scientific debunking then it's probably best you don't present what you have as it is most likely NOT credible evidence of anything. This goes for Ghost Hunters and Cryptozoologists as well. Most of us that have been doing this for years already know all of this and you most likely will never see us present photographic evidence unless it's just SO mind blowing there is no denying it. Save yourself time and possible embarrassment and don't post pics and if you feel you must post them .. DO NOT circle things in the photo, tell people what you see, or where they should look. Let them look at it without any influence and tell you whether or not they see anything. If they see nothing, do not get upset with them. Realize that either you aren't seeing things correctly OR they are just not seeing it. No amount of getting upset is going to make anyone see what you see. That's the core of this rant.

  Thank you once again for taking time to visit my blog! Stay busy my friends!

Orbs or Spirit Energy Bursts

 I am watching many t.v. shows that are displaying what they believe are spirit energies in their video footage.   While t.v. is very entertaining I would like to say that one should NEVER try to claim such things as evidence of a spirit energy. Why? Well there are a few reasons. One is unless you know 100% that it was NOT a bug then you look and sound silly claiming anything. Just because a bug appears one way in one film clip does not mean it will appear the same in another. There are also millions of different types of bugs so to say "this is obviously not a bug because you cannot see wings" and then show a clip of another video you had with a different bug where you can see wings. Are you kidding me? There are MANY bugs that you cannot see their wings when they are flying by in your video.
  Another thing that makes such things not credible is that no one in Science or Paranormal has been able to prove 100% that orbs or anything orb like is indeed a spirit energy. No one knows what they are in fact. There are things that appear in photos and film that do make you think "that's interesting" but is it proof of any sort? Can you walk up to a skeptic and show them your video or photo and have them say "oh wow! that's neat, I believe in the paranormal now"? The answer is NO. It's not good evidence. It may look interesting but it is NOT a form of evidence. Such things make credible investigators who have been in the field for many years think you are very misinformed or new to the field.
  Photos of orbs. Folks, it's the same as what I just mentioned. Presenting photos full of orbs is NOT evidence. It makes people such as my self look and say "WOW, look at all that dust!" or "Wow, humidity was at work there or perhaps rain".  You will NEVER convince anyone in the field with experience that what you are showing them is real or means anything. I have many people send me pictures of orbs and I try to be nice about it but honestly, it still proves nothing. Even if you had recordings or emf spikes at the same time, it still doesn't prove that it was a spirit one way or the other.
  I am not telling you that your "special" orb in a photo isn't anything. What I AM telling you is that is not strong evidence for anything one way or the other. How do we know that some of these orbs we see that have been proven to not be dust, bugs, or humidity are not Aliens or some other phenomena we do not yet understand. All I am trying to stress here is that when you want to present people with evidence and want an opinion, if they tell you anything other than "well that's interesting, was there any dust, bugs, humidity, or something of the like involved?" then they themselves have no idea what they are talking about OR they are lying to you to spare your feelings. There isn't ANYONE in our field that knows what they are if they are anything at all. MOST of the time though there is an explanation. I know that's disappointing to some but it's cold hard facts.
  I am also a Psychic Sensitive aside from being an investigator and I can honestly tell you that there is not one picture of an orb that I have captured that I would sit here and tell you it's paranormal or a ghost. I never will because there is no proof one way or the other.
  The best evidence you can possibly gather if you think something is going on where you live or a place you like to visit is using your senses, recordings, and other means of scientific data that you can gather. That's if you are planning to present it.
  One of the best websites I have ever visited on educating people about orbs is:

The Truth About ORBS

  I recommend that site to anyone starting out in the paranormal field or even those seasoned that still may not know much about ORBS.

  I cannot stress this enough.... Please DO NOT believe everything you see on T.V.

Does anyone believe in Facts anymore?

  Have you ever seen a post on Facebook or some other social networking site where they use a horrifying picture of an animal or person and make some outlandish claim? I just read one that claimed that people in France are using dogs as bait for sharks. They used a picture of a dog with a huge hook through it's lips. What people were NOT paying attention to were the details of the photo. People naturally have an instinct to look a the dog with a hook in it's mouth and are horrified that people would do this to an animal. I took was initially shocked but then I read the caption for it and TOTALLY looked at the photo again. This animal looked GREAT despite the hook in it's mouth. The dog looked absolutely healthy and even has a collar on. One of the hands holding his head straight for the photo had a glove on which tells me that it was most likely at a vet clinic where they were taking a photo of the dog before carefully trying to remove the hook. It's probably a good photo for people to watch what they are doing with their hooks and lure. By the size of the hook it most likely had a tasty piece of meat on it that the dog naturally wanted to eat then in the process got stuck on the hook. That is NOT in any way strange. 

  The point of my rant is that people are either really gullable OR people are somehow craving to be outraged. I haven't quite figured it out yet but what I do know is that through this experience, I felt initial outrage but then took a REAL look and realized what the facts are. I would prefer NOT to be outraged. I am not saying there are not cruel people out there in the world because unfortunately there most definitely are. What I am saying is be sure to get the facts before you put yourself through an emotional roller coaster.

  Trust me when I tell you I AM one of those people that cannot watch the animal abuse commercials that ASPCA puts on t.v. It's absolutely heart wrenching and tears me apart every time. So I am speaking from an angle of compassion but also please pay attention to facts and realize that there are so many folks out there that want to create attention whether it be positive or negative, it gets them views. You know it's true! This holds true with the News. When someone goes nuts and murders several people randomly what happens? The media is all over it, people end up giving that murderer exactly what they want, publicity. They get FAME whether it was just or negative, they got EXACTLY what they wanted. PLEASE do NOT give these people attention. Don't go post about them everyday on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc. You are feeding into their need or desire. They are not worthy of our attention. Let the law handle them and drop it. That would be the best punishment.

  This is only one woman's opinion so you can agree or disagree, the choice is yours. I just felt the need to get that off my chest. Thanks for letting me vent. :)

Intro to Jen's Thoughts- Paranormal Investigation

Well this is my first time doing this so it should be interesting. A lot of things enter my mind and I don't necessarily want to post them on places like facebook as there are always people that take offense or think it's about them so to alleviate that mess I will just start keeping a blog. This blog will mostly be about random things on my mind so please don't try to make too much sense of it. :)

For those that do not know me, I am a Paranormal Investigator. I go look for the unknown and/or unproven. Up until recently I was hunting mainly for ghosts but have now expanded my horizons as someone has peeked my interest in Cryptids now as well.  That having been said, I am hoping very much that I will get to go out on some of those investigations with an amazing Cryptozoologist that I know and cherish.

Going back to ghosts, well I have actually written my paranormal auto-biography but have not yet published it as I am not sure which is the best way to go about it. Do I want to publish via Amazon online or do I want to put it to paper? Any thoughts from my readers would be helpful. I've been struggling with the options for a year now so I'd really like to figure it out and get this thing rolling. This book explains who I am and why I have experienced what I have. I've been dealing with the paranormal since the age of 8 that I can remember.  Life has been a real roller coaster ride since. These days it's fairly normal for me to see and hear things that others either ignore or miss. Not a whole lot shocks me anymore.

So I bought all of this equipment from when I had my own team and now I am finding that out of all the tools I have at my disposal, my favorite is definitely my audio recorder.  The ghost box is cool and all but when you live in a big city like I do, it's harder to decipher what is being said to you when you hear a bunch of music and other voices at the same time. In other words, there are too many radio stations here! It works great though when you go in a more desolate area where it's more quiet.

Now after using all this equipment I would have to say that the best tool of all that you can possibly use is YOU and YOUR SENSES. Honestly before we had equipment to look for paranormal anomalies, we sensed them. We can hear, see and sometimes smell them but in the quest of trying to PROVE things to skeptics, we have forgotten why we were looking in the first place. Obviously something had to have happened somewhere in your life that made you take an interest or perhaps you knew someone who had an experience and it peeked your interest. In any event, the interest was put there and the best way to experience things for yourself is to go to one of these proclaimed "Haunted" locations and sit there quietly. Listen to everything happening around you, FEEL the energy, try to see with your eyes. When you are so busy juggling equipment, your senses are not quite up to par and you probably miss a whole lot of things that you might have noticed otherwise.

Remember why ARE you into paranormal research? Is it because TV made it seem glamorous? Or do you genuinely want to experience something for yourself? Are you trying to prove something to skeptics? Honestly skeptics will always remain skeptical until they experience things for themselves so no amount of your data that you are collecting to show them up is going to convince them of anything. So now you are finding that you are trying to hard to MAKE proof that you are missing a lot of what you shouldn't be.

I do have friends that ARE or have been on t.v. but I will tell you that they are still very much on the level, the skeptics are still skeptical except for a couple who finally after years, had experiences that changed their lives forever. There are still many on T.V. that used to go ghost hunting because it was fun and now they are doing it because the producers demand they falsify evidence so that viewers will stay interested. Of course some tell the producers to get bent because they refuse to fake things they haven't found. Kudos to those because honestly is it really worth it to lie? Is fame that important?

Just ask yourself next time you go to do an investigation or hunt. WHY are you doing it? Do you genuinely love it, do you seek something you don't understand? Are you trying to get on t.v.? ..... Ponder if you will.

Thanks for reading my first blog EVER. I hope I didn't bore you to tears with my thoughts. :)

~Jen~