Why do people feel so confused over whether to have a Christmas tree or not?

Our Christmas tree at night by Dean Beeler 18 December 2004

Courtesy of wikimedia commons

For those who do not know me, I am Reverend Alaina Damewood, and I have been studying religions for more than eighteen years. One of my favorite areas of study is the myths around the holiday traditions.

For all who have a Christmas tree up in your house at this time of the year and have wondered how it fits into the holiday or why we use the tree to represent the birth of Christ, we must go back and look at the history and the heritage behind how our calendar was created.

The calendar we use in today’s time is based off the one created by the Catholic Church of Rome in a time period where the church was dealing with issues related to the pagans in their lifetime.
But how is that relate to our holidays? During the time period in question, the pagan traditions of the early Roman Empire had four major and four minor holidays.

The minor holidays marked the solstices for the seasonal year in celebration for being one step closer to the end of the year. The spring solstice celebrated the growth of the harvest. The summer solstice celebrated the beginning of the summer season. The fall solstice celebrated the change of summer to fall and the time of saving food for the coming winter. The winter solstice celebrated the coming of the new season. We recognize those on the calendar as the days which mark the beginning of spring, summer, fall and winter.

The major holidays were Beltine, which was celebrated for the warm weather that came from the change of spring to summer, Östra, the goddess of fertility, the time mother earth creates life from animals to people, samhine, the day of the dead or what we know as Halloween, and Yule, the end of the calendar year, also the birth and death of the oak king in winter to be reborn in the spring.

The Catholic Church of early Rome recognized the traditions of the pagans practiced in their time, and to get them to convert over to the religion of the Catholic Church, they decided to design their calendar to have the same celebrations.

The most famous example of this is Christmas, the day of Christ’s birth when Mary found out she was pregnant at the feast from the immaculate conception on December 8th. Because the Catholic church could not determine Christ’s actual birthday, they made it the same as the pagans Yule celebration and then adapt the celebration of the death and birth of the oak king for a Christian purpose. Since the burning of the log would not work for celebrating the birthday of Christ, the church stole a portion of a ceremony from the pagan faith again to represent the Norish day of the dead. 

In the same way family members would decorate their tree with ornaments to represent memories of their dead loved ones, Christmas is done the same way, except hanging the ornaments and giving presents to each other is to represent Christ’s birthday.
 
And since then, this has been the on-going tradition for the season to show respect to God’s birth and death no matter which religion you view it from. Whether you decide to put up a tree though, that is up to you. 

                                

Spirit Activity on Old Hallow's Eve & Common Misconceptions

 Illustration in courtesy of Wikimedia commons 

"Halloween Lantern" by Carole Pasque 2004

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halloween.JPG

This entry was written by Jose Prado, Thank you Jose for sharing your insight on the topic of Halloween.

One of the biggest problems in the struggle for tolerance for people whose religious beliefs differ from that of Christians and other monotheists, is that of ignorance. For years now, preachers like Pat Robertson and other members of the self proclaimed 'christian' Right have been preaching about how Halloween is 'satanic' and how demons will enter the bodies of children who dress up in costumes. Some people have gone to the extreme of trying to ban children from wearing almost any Halloween costume from Mad Scientists to Vampires because they fear it will summon devils into their bodies. Members of the pseudo-christian Right cite examples of Satanists who practice arcane rituals on this Night and of spirit possessions and demonic attacks occurring around this time. So what is real and what isn't? Let us briefly examine the origins of Halloween.

Origins 
While Halloween is a modern American name invented by Candy companies, to make a fortune off of children who nag their parents into taking them trick or treating, it does stem from an Occult source. There are many festivals of the dead all over the world on different dates, but Halloween mostly stems from Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead and New Year that is celebrated in October. It is also called Ancestor night, since the spirit of the dead ancestors rise on this night. It should be noted however, that certain holidays like Samhain are never celebrated on the same days, the day changes according to the position of certain celestial bodies or other factors. Only the month stays the same. October 31st is just the day that the Catholic Church designated as All Saints Day and All Saints Eve, the Christianized version of Samhain.

This was due to the Church's policy of taking Pagan holidays and renaming them in order to make their religion more attractive to Pagans for the purposes of conversion. 

Samhain was a holiday dedicated to respecting the spirits of the dead, particularly one's own ancestors. This was a day for ancestor worship. In Mexico on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), the day is dedicated to the Aztec goddess of the dead, Mictecacihuatl who is also worshiped as La Santa Muerte(Holy Death) or La Santisima Muerte (The Most Holy Death). In the Greco-Roman pantheon this same goddess would be equated with Atropos or her Roman name, Morta (Death). She is the third sister of the Fates, the goddesses who literally control destiny.

Atropos was the Fate who decided when, where, and how someone would meet their end. She is also referred to as La Señora de la Muerte (The Lady of the Dead), On Dia de los Muertos. Parties at the cemeteries are common place, where family members visit their dead loved ones in their tombs and give them offerings of alcohol and candy as well as the traditional flowers. Singing and dancing occurs for them to always know that they are remembered and loved no matter what. Because these are sacred days, 90% of the spirits encountered at these times, were a mix of ghosts with other spirits.

Such as Faeries and Trickster spirits of all kinds. So a person would have a better chance of meeting up with a departed loved one, or even an Angel from Heaven rather than an evil spirit. This is not ignoring the reality of demons however. Demons and other nasty spirits, such as spirits of the dead who seek revenge or who were full of hate in life, are always on the look out for escape holes to roam the Earth and torment people. Halloween provides them with an excellent way to do this.

Some spirits were not always evil, but in their desperation to live again, to feel again, they would do whatever it took to return to Earth. Even if that meant causing some kind of harm to an innocent person. However, they can usually only stay with you until Halloween is over. Unless of course they are riding you, that is to say, possessing you or have bound themselves to you to resist being returned to their plane of origin after it is over. Now at this point you are probably wondering why an evil spirit would use this day to cross over into our world. After all, if Halloween is not inherently evil, why would they choose this day then? The answer lies in the opening of the Veil.

The Veil
The Veil is a term invented by Philosophers and Witches to describe the invisible inter-dimensional Wall that separates different realities. It doesn't just separate this world from the spirit world, it separates all dimensions. Albert Einstein wrote about this in his little known String Theory to explain it. In String Theory, Einstein theorized that there are dozens of parallel universes that are separated by a natural, inter-dimensional wall. Some scientists and Occultists believe there are some spots in the wall which are so vulnerable, that creatures from other worlds could theoretically cross over. Magick users always speak of the Veil being at its thinnest when Halloween approaches. 

The veil is always thin on Sacred days. But it has always been at its thinnest in October because Samhain falls on this month. The veil grows ever weaker with the fall of another festival of the dead on Nov 1st in the Aztec and Mayan pantheon. It is not however, the only time. There are several festivals of the dead. The Veil will always be thinnest on days where Festivals of the dead take place because spirits are not like living beings. It is easier in theory for a living being to cross over into other dimensions with the proper magick or technology. But, even if a spirit crosses over from another plane, in ours they are still just spirits. On Festivals of the Dead, the veil is so thin that a dead soul can actually walk amongst the living and even feel and look corporeal enough for people to mistake them as living persons. The reason for this many believe, was because the gods made it so, for spirits to be reunited with their loved ones. 

The Souls of the Dead from every corner of the spirit world, Heaven, Hell Purgatory, and all other worlds in between come flooding the gates of the spirit world and human world to reach us

Or to take care of unfinished business. So if a spirit were to cross over, there is a variety of different ways they can accomplish this. They can appear in their true ghostly forms, they can appear as flesh and blood people, or (if powerful enough) they might jump back into their corpses and have the option to fully regenerate their former vessels to achieve a living form again. Or they could come back as decomposing corpses as is the case with the infamous Halloween spirit, Stingy Jack. Some possess the living or hold on to them in order to resist the pull of the veil sucking them back into the spirit world upon the end of Samhain.

But, upon a festival of the dead's end, the spirits that cross over must return to the other side. Those who remain here, will usually no longer be able to manifest a strong enough presence for anyone to notice them at all. Some are so weak after the veil becomes strengthed again, that they can barely muster the strength to make a voice audible enough for the living to hear. And very few would be strong enough to retain possession over a person. At this point, you would need a recording device to hear them if you were not already a clairvoyant. 

Espanta Muerto (Dead Banisher or Banisher of the Dead) a sacred herb used in Santeria (The Cuban version of Voodoo) to ward off evil ghosts or ghosts who aren't necessarily evil but are causing harm with their actions. Also used to ward off Demonic entities at times though for that, Palo Santo (Holy Wood) would be the more preferred Warding charm.

But in either case, it is always a good idea to have wards (charms to repel evil) ready, always cleanse and bless your home and yourself, and do not stay out too late at night unless you have protection, are accompanied by others, or are strong enough as a magick user to handle yourself in any situation. For those who argue it is satanic, let me remind you that Satanists celebrate a satanic holiday on May 1st which is a Pagan and Christian Holiday (Beltane for the Celts and Walpurgisnacht or Walpurgas Night for Roman Catholics in Europe dedicated to St. Walpurga). They chose this as a feast night to Satan for the purpose of mocking White Witches and Christians and attempting to siphon off power from the veil on that sacred day for sinister purposes. Evil witches or Warlocks as English speaking Pagans refer to them, pervert good magick for the purpose of empowering themselves by draining power from something that was good. The easiest way for them to pervert good magick is to invert things.

For example, Satanists use Crosses too, but they use Black Crosses or upside down (inverted) crosses in order to pervert magick that stems from Jesus of Nazareth and Yahweh his father. Yet another example is how Aleister Crowley took holy magick used by practioners of the Kabbalah and perverted Hebrew prayers and symbols in order to empower his own black magick. Which is why the Guild he founded known as the Golden Dawn, used holy symbols such as the Star of David and invoked the names of God in Hebrew in order to make their power stronger. In the Satanic ritual of the Black Mass, Roman Catholic prayers are spoken backwards to mock God. The Pentagram was also stolen from good magick users such as Wiccans and perverted it in order to give them greater power.

Note* Just because a Pentagram is inverted does not mean it is satanic. An inverted Pentagram is used for summonings or calling energy to yourself. How you use it defines whether or not it is good or bad.

Conclusion
To conclude, Samhain or Halloween as it is referred to in modern day America, is not a 'satanic' or demonic holiday. An evil spirit can come to you on any sacred day when the veil is thin .A demon could just as easily jump into you on Valentine's day or Christmas as they could on Halloween. Samhain, Dia de los muertos, and other festivals of the dead are days when the dead can return to finish projects or do things they never did in life. To feel the air and breeze on their skin once more, and for loved ones to be reunited once more after having been separated by death. The examples above prove that it is not that Samhain is satanic, but evil witches and evil spirits alike pervert holy things in order to draw strength from them.

To say that Samhain is satanic because of the behavior of warlocks and evil spirits is akin to saying Christians are satanic and evil because Satanists use crosses and dedicate Walpurgas Night to the Devil. All that proves, is that there are a lot of irresponsible people out there who misuse Occult symbols, knowledge, and blaspheme sacred days just to give themselves a little bit more power on certain occasions so that they can flaunt it to others and boast about their power. That's all it is. An Occult pissing contest of evil spirits and adherents of evil religions Vs. good spirits and adherents of good religions. But there is nothing demonic or satanic here. In fact, this is not even to say that Satanists are the only Warlocks that pervert sacred days or knowledge to grow stronger.

There are other demon gods out there too, Satan isn't the only one. So let's not throw it all on Devil worshipers either. And in any case, I don't think a couple of people who dance around naked in grave yards or have orgies in Lucifer's name are in any way more demonic on Samhain, than the so-called 'christians' that bomb abortion clinics on regular days. An old Asian proverb said "you must think with an open mind, hear with open ears, and feel with an open heart," so on this Samhain when you hear non sense about 'satanic wiccans' and how it is all 'devil worship', please kindly correct them.  

Keep your Jack-O'-Lantern lit to ward off Stingy Jack!


Bibliography 
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The Cursed Norwegian Kicksled in Vadsø

A Norwegian Kickslead

Photo in courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Many years ago my mother became so fed up with everyone running off or stealing her way of winter transportation in the icy city of Vadsø, so she went ahead and placed a Norwegian reading and a curse on her kicksled, so that anyone that next to take it without explicit permission would feel the full wrath that she now instilled into its wooden frame.

It so happened that the next morning before she went to work, our one cousin Hilde was late for her own work, and, knowing the kicksled belonged to her favorite aunt, felt reassured she wouldn't mind in letting her borrow it because it was an emergency. 

Hilde, however, did not get far on the kicksled as she put it into the ice and headed down hill, it started shaking ferociously, and then sped up to full speed before it collapsed with my cousin Hilde ending up in the nearby ditch holding onto what was left of its wood handles. Hilde was not badly hurt, but she felt as if she was beaten up, with red and blue marks all over her body from first falling on the icy hill when the kicksled collapsed on her, and then from tumbling into the nearby ditch before it all ended. 

When my mother woke up and prepared for work, she noticed her kicksled missing again, and AGAIN was forced to walk to work. As she continued down hill, she could see a pair of uneven kicksled metal tracks that were split into two lanes as if the kicksled had been split in half. At the end of the hill where it turned, she could see the markings of someone that had tumbled and smeared the fresh morning snow, with the remains of kicksled shattered about the snow. She thought to herself, now looks like whoever took my spark did indeed feel the wrath I put upon it last night. Wonder who it was. 

Later in the evening, Hilde came over. I remember how she was still all scrunched up. Luckily, she had not broken anything from the tumble from her encounter with my mother's kicksled. Her first words were “Aunt edith, What did you do to your kicksled? I took it this morning to get to work fast, as I happened to be late after I overslept, and then it went all insane on me. It was like it was trying to cause me bitterly bodily harm which it also did as it caused me to end up in the ditch by the end of the hill.”

I still recall the stern look on my mother's face as she looked at my cousin Hilde, who was about 18 at the time, while I was still only a kid. “Now Hild, you know better than taking other people's property without asking permission. I was getting so tired with all the rascals in our neighborhood running off with my things so I had a curse placed on the kicksled to affect anyone who tried to use it without my permission.” 

My cousin Hilde sure learned her lesson and would always ask for explicit permission before borrowing anything from my mother again. 

Ghosts and Robbers - Protected by Spirit Ancestors

Illustration in courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 Footprints in the melted snow slit and mud 

Photo by Juan R. Lascorz 

Sometime after my grandparents had passed away and the house was abandoned, our father received an urgent call from Old Arthur, a neighbor to the now old summer house. He reported seeing two people around the house, but they ran off before he had a chance to investigate, so he decided to let it go til morning. In the morning, when Arthur followed through with what he said. He found two sets of muddy footprints leading to the house and to a broken window, and more footprints inside the house. He also noticed a second set of footprints coming from another broken window. These were clearly showing sign of rapid  escape, so he called my father to check if anything was missing and broken. 

My father went to the house with one of my brothers, and Arthur joined them as they entered the house. As they walked into the living room, they saw how the intruders broke into the house from the large living room window and went into two directions, one set toward a two hundred year old fiddle hanging on the wall while, second set toward a different part of our living room where we kept a lot of ancient silverware. These two sets met in the middle of the living room, where we found the fiddle and our family heirloom silver bowls on the floor, and then both sets hastily toward the south side living room window and out. 

Two weeks later, two young men contacted us. They asked us if we were the owners of the home. They told us that ever since they had broken in our house, they have been plagued by haunting dreams, heinous nightmares. They felt that whatever still dwelt in our home was responsible. They pleaded us for forgiveness and offered to pay for any and all damages caused by them. We agreed and settled on not bringing any charges against them, as we felt they had learned their lesson. We never heard from or seen a sign of those guys again. Since then, nobody has ever broken in and entered in on our ancient family home. 

We will never know for sure what scared off the burglars in the way it did, but we have our own suspicions. Our house has always been very haunted, with our ancestral spirits protecting us, and even with us around when my grandparents were still living there, the spirits would show their power whenever they found a new guest to the home to be unwelcome or just kept for closer observation to assess whether they should be told to leave or not. 

Since that time, our family home has been sold twice. Each time the new owners complain of the house being haunted . Cold spots, hearing voices and, things moving from one place to another. So, my uncle bought the house back and it is now back in my family. I guess that is where it belongs. 

Hags (Demon Witches)

Today's entry called Hags (Demon Witches) was written for the Paranormal Corner by Jose Prado.

Although witches originally were healers and great teacher who helped shape our civilizations with the teachings of nature and in some cases with advanced knowledge, there is a darker side. The Warlock. Warlock is an old Scottish word meaning but not limited to: traitor, deceiver, oath breaker (because they broke the oath to use magick only for good, devil, etc). Each religion or culture has their own term for these evil witches. In Vodoun they are called Chochon Gris (grey pig, sometimes translated as hairless pig). In the Bible in Exodus 22:18 it says "thou shall not suffer a witch to live" in the original translation, it's actually "thou shall not suffer a Deceiver to live" Deceiver as in warlock.

Over the years the Catholic Church under Emperor Constantine censored the original Bible, taking out entire chapters or even entire books; therefore a deceiver or warlock in the Bible was changed to the eponymous term witch. Most people think that the Bible condemns all witches, but this is a false premise invented by the Council of Nicea. In some books of the Bible, characters like Solomon practiced powerful forms of sorcery, usually associated with Angels, and Yahweh was not the only God. Several Pagan Gods and Goddesses were subservient to Yahweh such as Anat, Inanna, Hadad, (also known as Baal Hadad*), and other deities from the Canaanite religion. That is not even mentioning Asherah also known as Azna the feminine face of God. Remember that the Hebrews came from Canaan. The word Hebrew comes from Habiru (river crosser) because Hebrews were immigrants from Canaan.

So being a witch was not necessarily a bad thing in the Bible; however, being an evil witch is. Precisely within the culture of the Hebrews and the Canaanites resides one of the earliest recorded instances of creatures known today as the Hag or Demon Witches. Hags are a sub-species of Demon that come from a much larger species the Lilim. In legend, Lilith was the ex-wife of Adam and was cast out for turning to the dark side after Adam continued to try and force his will on her. She returned after her exile as a Demon once Adam took on Eve as his new wife.

We commonly recognize this demon today as a Vampire feeding on Adam and Eve's children. She was also the first witch to turn into a warlock. All Vampires, warlocks, and even some Earth demons (demons who were either human in origin, half human, or fallen nature spirits) can trace their spiritual ancestry back to her. Lilith bred many of these Earth demons after coming to Adam in an erotic nightmare, sleeping with him, and then giving birth to creatures known as the Lilim. Other Lilim were bred from Lilith's children with Satan or members of her male (demon) harem when she was still a human though albeit at this point as a warlock. From the Lilim many species of Earth demon came forth and among them were the Hags. The term simply refers to demon-witch hybrids in cultures around the world. Lilith was the first warlock and the first human to become a demon in history. She's the Empress of Hell and wife of Samael (Satan's original Hebrew name). In different regions of the world we find Hags of different species under different names and of different purposes.

In Romania we have creatures known as the Strigoi. Strigoi (along with other variations of the name Strega from Latin Strix: witch) is a name given to evil witches who are either undead vampire witches or living human vampire witches that bring all manner of evil upon people in their communities including the classic stalking of human victims to feed on them. Strega is not given to evil witches or flesh eaters; it means witch like Strigoi but where as it carries a darker connotation in Eastern Europe, in Italy is used for any witch good or bad.

In other countries there are stories of warlocks who become flesh eating hags such as Baba Yaga in eastern Europe which is the origin of such stories as of Hansel and Gretel coming across an evil sorceress with the hunger for human flesh, which is part of the reason so many people have an innate fear of witches today. The bad part of this fear is that most witches are normal human beings who use good magick or at least don't use it to harm people (unless it's an extreme situation).

Contrary to popular belief male hags also exist. The Cambion is the child of an Incubus with a human woman who becomes a demon sorcerer with destructive powers and is usually called upon as an Antichrist for demons to destroy the world. The female version of this with a Succubus and a human man is an Alu-Demon.

In the Navajo religion, warlocks are people who subscribe to a perversion of the Navajo religion known as the Witchery path. Among the many types of warlocks in the Navajo faith are creatures known as the Skinwalker, warlocks who shape shift into demonic creatures that can become animals like wolves, crows, bears and other animals.

These warlocks are people who s lowly transition into demons and as such have all sorts of unnatural abilities (even for a warlock) and can be warded off with sacred objects or blessed waters and salt. These creatures or people are either half demon or becoming demons due to their practice of the black arts; therefore whatever effects a demon can now effect them. This explains why so many legends state that witches can be warded off by salt, fennel, silver or can't cross rivers; things which in tradition are related to demons not witches. Most scholars say that it was Christian ignorance and prejudice in conflating witches with demons but in fact that these are warlocks that have gone so far into the darkness that they are shedding what is left of their humanity with these practices.

If one carefully examines the things prescribed against these demonic witches, the sacred objects used to banish them are used and prescribed in witchcraft. Fennel among all the uses for charms holds the power to banish negativity. It counters psychic attacks and curses. It can also prevent evil spirits and energies from entering the home when you keep it outside your doors or hang it on door knobs. Salt is used for breaking spells cast on you from an enemy, warding off evil spirits, empowering holy water and the more powerful exorcised water, and demons almost uniformly cannot abide it. Silver has many medicinal properties and since disease was ushered into the human world by demons, things that are used to counteract disease typically can be used in the warding of demons, hence why demonic creatures are usually said to be killed by silver knives blessed with a priest's prayers.

There are even spells for preventing warlocks and the more evolved hag from coming to your house. In German communities, it was believed if you said "Kiss my Ass" three times under your breath with your anger and/or concentration they could not harm you. A more powerful version of this spell requires you to get a besom broom or at least a regular broom and casting it as a protective rod before your door after you say "Kiss my Ass" three times. In Vodoun, laying an old shoe at the door would prevent a warlock who is close to becoming a hag from entering the home. In other spells throwing out pieces of sugar, salt, or even buttons would cause a hag and other supernatural beings to stop and count each one, eventually losing count and having to start over till sunrise when they must leave. The reason is because for whatever reason different supernatural beings develop a type of obsessive compulsive disorder over time and as such must do compulsive rituals every single time. However some have evolved beyond that weakness so it is best to rely on more than one thing to fight them.

Others place mirrors outside the home so that evil beings (usually very vain) are distracted by their own reflections which incidentally demons love mirrors and use them as doorways into our world and many others. Therefore a demon with a physical form or a demon-human hybrid could very well be effected by this technique. There are many, many more techniques that can be found in cultures all over the world. There are obviously too many to list in this one article and I do not pretend to be a specialist on the matter. But just remember this: whatever it is you believe in, keep an open mind. There are things that lurk in the dark, Hungry things and many may not necessarily have been covered in your own religious studies if you stick to only just one path. No matter how learned you are, or how much knowledge you acquire there are always things that wait and watch and are wiser than humans. Arrogance is their downfall, they need not be ours too. Until then stay safe and learn all that you can to protect yourself from them. And if anyone is reading this now and saying "I've never encountered this and never will" thank whatever God you serve and pray that it stays that way.

* Baal is not a name, it is a title either for a Deity or a Lord in Canaan. So the evil Baal who demanded the murder of children was either a Demon God or a high ranking Lord who demanded it, or in my opinion, religious fanatics demanded human sacrifices of children.

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I Will Call When It Is Time

In cortesy of Wikimedia Commons

Photo  "Cell phone Sagem my202x" by  Tomasz Sienicki 2006

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cell_phone_Sagem_my202X_ubt.jpeg

My parents and I knew this elderly couple who lived down the street from us back some years ago. They were a very nice elderly couple and known by most of the neighborhood. I loved them both very much as the elderly man (Robert) taught me how to drive and his wife (Dorothy) taught me how to play the piano. Robert would also take me fishing with him and Dorothy was always making me eat food every time I went over.

A few years ago, Robert died. he just became ill and never seemed to get better and one day he just passed away. Dorothy had a very difficult time going through life without her husband as they were married 55 years when he died. One day I was over with Dorothy just checking up on her and making sure she had everything she needed. As a child they helped my parents raise me and I knew they loved me just as much as my own parents loved me and I had it in my heart to make sure that Dorothy was OK and I didn't want her to be in need of anything. My Mom and I came over and did the laundry and cleaned her house from top to bottom. Then we took her food shopping and out to eat with us before returning her to her home.

While we were still there in Dorothy's house the phone rang. I answered the phone and the guy asked to talk to his wife and it sounded just like Robert. I handed the phone to Dorothy and let her speak and she told me it was indeed her late husband talking to her. Now, my family and I were all in the room with Dorothy when her husband died and we were all at the service too. It was indeed Robert we all buried without a doubt.

Two weeks later Dorothy told us that her husband would call and tell her when it was time to join him in heaven. I didn't know what to make of that so I said nothing. However, a week later I was over at Dorothy's house with my mom. Dorothy had made so much food, and she told my mom and I to take it home and freeze it. We did as she asked then the very next day mom and I went over and we found Dorothy sitting in her chair with the phone clutched in her hand and her hand in her lap. She was dead. Her autopsy said she had died of natural causes. So I always wonder if her late husband was really calling his wife from beyond the grave. My Mom and I were the ones to clean Dorthy's house for the last time . the phone was on the table. I picked it up and took a look at the recent call list on the received calls. the last calls for the last week were restricted calls. So, we could never see who made the calls to Dorthy but Mom and I will always wonder if it was indeed Robert calling Dorthy from Heaven She did say the last time we saw her alive to take the food home with us and it would be the lst she could cook because she  was told by Robert that it was her time to join him So,there she was in her rocking chair with her phone in her hand laying on her lap. She had gone to be with her husband of 55 years. I am sure of that and I am also sure that it was her late husband calling her from hi spot in heaven. To me and my Mom, it just could not be anything else !

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My first Exorcism by Rev. Alaina Damewood

Illustration in cortesy of Wikimedia Commons 

"Healing of the Demon Possessed" medieval illustration of Jesus Healing the Gerasene. 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Healing_of_the_demon-possessed.jpg

The Following story is a true account of demonic possession and everything in it is based on what actually made me become curious and begin my studies in the occult and demonic, it made me the exorcist I am today. I am Rev. Alaina Damewood and I grew up in the small town of Princeton, West Virgina. I was in middle school at the time learning what I thought was Wicca from a friend who had been studying the occult for some time, she really was a black magic practitioner. 

We had a friend who had been studying black magic who came over for a visit to see what we where working on with meditations at a friends house in Princeton. The male friend name Derik came up and said Alaina some strange things have been happening to me I think I am possessed by something and I want it out of me and I am leaving the coven I am done with black magic and quitting. I turned and looked at Derik and asked him how can I help you Derik? He said Alaina can you remove it from me. I looked at Derik and said we can try. So I had my friends Jenn and Megan form a salt circle in the middle of the down stairs basement so we could start the ritual to try to remove the demon from Derik. 

When we all started to call the elements while standing in a circle surrounding Derik. I put holy water that I carried on me from the catholic church on his head. The girls and I began to chant louder and louder to the elements of earth, air, fire, water and spiritual beginning. Derik looked up at me and said you are not a exorcist while having a demonic sounding laugh and said you can not cast me out of him. I looked at the spirit and said in the name of god the father god the son and the holy spirit I have the rite to get rid of you, it laughed at me. I grabbed the holy oil out of my left pocket put it on my hands and continued to pray to god and the goddess to remove the spirit from within my friend. 

The spirit in him looked at me while I was praying and said oh it is you and I am in trouble. Please forgive me for what I have done to your friend. I said you know the consequences of your actions in the other plain and I am sending you back to the hell you came from. I put my hands on Derik's forehead and said in the name of all things good be gone. Just then I felt a coldness come through the air, the girls fell to the ground leaving only me and Derik in the circle of salt . He woke up out of the trance and said Alaina where am I how did I get here what is the day I said Derik it is Thursday and we are at Jenn's house do you not remember?  He looked and said no, I do not, but thanks for what ever you did, I feel much better. 

It has been over 18 years since this took place at my friends house in Princeton WV.  My friend Derik is now a Christan minster and I am now a licensed exorcist for the order of Saint Michel and the order Saint Benedict for the reformed catholic church. I am also a certified minster in the states of WV and VA and I also am a registered Wiccan clergy and believe that both the goddess and the Christian god can save peoples lives from demonic forces. I sometimes look back and remember that I saved my friend's life that day and he is now a stronger person for it. 

As for dealing with the difference between black and white magic there are several signs any one can use to tell if someone is practicing black magic . The first is that if you feel a harmful energy surrounding the person, Second is demonic spirits give off smells of unpleasant odors and some people even get sick or mad when the person walks into the room. The first tell of a good person who practices white magic is the factor you will feel completely relaxed around the person and in some cases you will feel your stresses and issues of the day go away when talking to them. 

People like my self who practiced Wicca do prayers just like Christians to help heal people Wiccans believe in the three fold law and that if we do bad it comes back to us three folds once while we are alive , once when we die and once in the next life if we are forced to come back to earth. We pray to the goddess or mother earth to help heal all who need healing. As a exorcist, I use these tools to identify if a spirit is good or bad every time I go to do a case on people who claim to be possessed by demonic forces. I believe my experiences as a child and studying other faiths has made me a strong reformed catholic exorcist. 

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Moonlight and Mirrors in The Night

The Moon-mirror By PJ 2011

According to ancient western superstitions during the full moon It was thought that to sleep in direct moonlight caused madness or blindness. In time, the word, lunatic, from "luna", meaning Moon, and "tic", meaning struck, evolved from this belief. 

A well popularized Moon mythology of Europe is of the werewolf the shape-shifts into a wolf, at the appearance of the full Moon. Lesser known variant of the same mythology is that in the light of the full Moon it was said that a woman that lay in moonlight or who stare as the full Moon would become pregnant and give birth to a monster, possible even a werewolf that shape-shifts at the night of the full Moon.

The Moon was thought to be important to bring potency to the healing and magic powers of herbs were said to be at the peak during the night of the full Moon, this one probably has more credence than one would think, knowing that the night cycle of plants cause them to change how they flow water and nutrition's from the roots, and also cause the osmotic pressure that gives the plant fresh morning-dew when observed in the morning. Though they would do this at any night the extra pull of the full Moon should make them more potent, and also for practical reasons it is a lot easier to collect herbs during the light of a full moon than on a night of only starlight. This is also probably part of the stories of how the witches were traveling using their broomsticks during the night of the full Moon, out to collect all the magical and medicinal herbs.

One other interesting legend I came over is a twist on the bad luck caused by the breaking of a mirror which, we commonly know is supposed to mean 7 years of bad luck, but what I had not heard about before was you could break this curse if you take the mirror pieces outside and bury them in moonlight.

The Moonlight and Mirrors in Samoan Folklore

I found out that is a widespread practice among Samoans to cover the mirrors at night, and if one does not do so, they think there might be someone else other then yourself starring back at you. 

To put it in the words of Loa from Samoa. 

-"cover the mirrors at night as Nek Minnit Miku is said to be staring at you"- 

When it comes to the Moon, and moonlight, The Samoan mythology is deeply connected to The Moon, and I heard multiple accounts how one is not supposed to sleep with moonlight falling on ones face. Also how those that would let that happen would find themselves paralyzed unable to move or let anyone know as they can't speak, yell or force themselves to wake up. Which is why it is very important to not only cover your mirrors but also cover up the windows so the moonlight cannot cause you to become frozen in the night. 

In the words of Loa from Samoa about the topic of moonlight

-Yea that moonlight one is scary. Happened to my mum and sisters. And in New Zealand too.. Its called '' malu 'ia '' they said they couldn't move and like they were screaming but they couldn't hear themselves.. So ever since that i made sure my curtain is always closed!-

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Abundance

Photo by PJ of the actual Indigo Blue Abundance Candle that was lit, Saturday Feb 26th 2011 

Chakra-Indigo-(Abundance) 

Product Description

The chakra of the third eye, the center of psychic power and higher intuition. Your true self will attract unlimited resources, power, and compassion to realize your destiny.Lavender, Fir, and Chamomile

Back in February of 2011 we were struggling and I happened to look at some magical and meditation candles in one of the local health food and alternative life style stores here in Honolulu Hawaii, we looked at a few of the candles they had, which promised to bring abundance, good fortune, money, tranquility and many other forms, these chakra candles had vivid colors and a pleasant scent so we decided to buy one of them and give it a shot.

This was on Saturday the 26th of February 2011 and we decided to go for a well scented indigo blue abundance candle, as we got home I quickly unwrapped the candle and placed it in a appropriate candle glass for burning, as the candle burned it filled our apartment with a pleasant scent and it also seemed to change the atmosphere on a deeper level, some would call this to align the flow of the internal and external cosmos, or in some ways fine tune your synchronicity.

After a half hour it was burning vividly and I decided to start working more on The Paranormal Corner blog, having it burning on the table behind me. as I moved on to the analytic blog tool I noticed there was a spike in visit numbers that had started to build up within the last 5 minutes, I watched and browsed trough the menus and found that the spike in visits was for a story about The most haunted hotel in Chicago, The Congress Plaza hotel, which we had posted a few months earlier with very few reader. As the candle continued burning for the next few hours I could follow a steady flow of visitors to the story on the Congress Plaza hotel.

Now this could just been pure coincidence but still no other story has so far been as successful as this one and its abundance of traffic from search engines all over the world is still growing, pulling more than a few thousand readers a month alone from search word hits.   

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The Mermaid of Finnmark

"The Land Baby" Oil Painting on canvas by John Collier 1899 

courtesy of wikimedia commons

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/John_Collier_-_The_Land_Baby.jpg

My Aunt Hanna once told me about the time she and her husband encountered a mermaid while out fishing.

This all happened years ago but my Aunt Hanna remembers it perfectly, it happened of the coast of Vardø in Finmark Norway, were Aunt Hanna and her husband Gunnar was out for one of their usual jig fishing trips in a small open boat, this was one of several fishing spots over a natural underwater cave known for it's rich schools of fish. As they started hauling up their jig, Gunnar noticed there was something swimming just under the surface of the water, at first he thought it was a harbor porpoise which is a small whale common in this part of Norway. 

He altered Hanna of the whale, and they watched it swimming around the boat before surfacing, it was then they realized this was not a whale at all but what seemed to be a female, with blue gray skin and long hair, she also wore sea weeds around her neck as if it was ornamental. She stood still in the water watching them before returning back to the deep, hair fish tail was the last thing Hanna and Gunnar saw before the mermaid disappeared down into the depths of the ocean.  

To this day Aunt Hanna still swears that mermaids are indeed real, my uncle Gunnar passed away years ago so I never got to hear his version of their mermaid encounter. 

I have always been fascinated with mermaids and other merfolks, and also a adamant supporter of the water ape theory as part of our own human evolution. This is why when I recently I came across a program that in the best ways I so far have seen described the water ape theory and merged this with the mermaid mythos I was especially thrilled. 

The documentary below is fictional in nature but still sums up all the mermaid mythos and looks at the water ape theory as part of the human evolutionary tree like no other program I have seen before.

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