Discernment

I have spent a lot of time, in the past few posts, talking about the idea that not only do spirits lie at times but that they also can effect human perception such that the human believes that one thing is happening when, in fact, something completely different is going on. My discussion, up to this point, has been around the idea that spirit communication is something that should not be done willy nilly but that the would be spirit communicator should be well trained in basic magical practices, especially banishing and work designed to align the magician with his or her Hidden One, before attempting evocation – the calling forward of a specific and well-researched spirit for a specific purpose.

With the best case scenario above, the magician has done the research on the spirit in question so that he or she can test that spirit and ensure that the being presenting itself is indeed the one the magic worker is looking for. No mage worth his or her salt will take any spirit at its word; their discernment process involves testing the spirit for responses in line with what is known about the spirit, their own native psychic impressions of the being they are dealing with and the input of the magician’s Hidden One (however you like to call that) and well-established spiritual allies. Evocation is not a process to be undertaken until the magician has at least managed to establish some contact with that Hidden One, has gained at least one good spiritual ally and has managed to settle their mind through meditation.

The above is the best case scenario. What we have with paranormal witnesses of all sorts, is the worst case scenario, an individual with little to no training encountering ‘something’ and having a perception of that ‘something’ which may be in real time or may be a wholly cast glamour. I am going to work with this idea from the assumption that the reader is the witness and walk you through the steps I might take to discern what it is I am actually seeing (or not seeing, as the case may be).

First of all, know that some things you will not be able to test. If you are walking in the woods, and you have a chance encounter with a Sasquatch, chances are good that the Big Fellow is not going to hang around long enough for you to do much more than point and exclaim and, even if it did, such encounters usually happen at a distance and are not typically interactive. The same thing can be said of most of the “monsters crossing the road” phenomenon that we see in paranormal reports. The witness sees what he or she sees and then it is gone. The creature might have been ‘real’ – in the sense that the witness saw an actual manifestation of something – or it could have been a glamour. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell.

Let’s say, though, that you find yourself in the midst of a full blown incident of some sort. Let’s use as an example one of the classics of paranormal literature, the black eyed kid. There are a number of theories about what these beings are ranging from children playing a hoax to alien hybrids and straight through to vampires. Their pattern is pretty similar, no matter what they are, the BEK (or BEK’s) approaches a person in a car and asks for a ride or knocks on the door of someone’s home and asks to come in.

You are home, alone, of an evening and a knock sounds on the door. You open the door and see a child, usually dressed in a hoodie, nondescript pants and shoes, standing on the doorstep. The child asks to come in to use the phone but something strikes you as “not right” and you hesitate.

Ding . . . spiritual discernment lesson number 1 – always listen to that inner voice. Whether it is the subconscious analyzing the situation and determining that there is danger or your Hidden One yelling at you to look out, if something seems ‘not right’ about a situation, I can assure you this is true. At some point in this scenario, you will realize that this creature has completely black eyes, including the irises. Take a psychological step back from the situation and use all your senses to determine what has cued up your defense systems.

I do mean all your senses, too. Look carefully at what is before you, listen to its voice and any other sounds it makes, scent the air around you and determine if it has a smell. Obviously, you are not going to taste it and I do not recommend touching such a being. Take a deep breath and try to center yourself. If you have a psychic bent, call upon whatever you hold sacred to allow you to see clearly what is before you and why you feel threatened. I recommend, too, invoking (calling into yourself) the Sacred since this provides protection as well as letting spirits know that they have been discovered. Facing off a BEK or other entity can be really scary, let that adrenaline wash through you but don’t let it rule you. Use the fear reaction to clear and sharpen your senses so that you can focus them. Used those focused senses to ‘look over’ whatever it is that is before you.

It is well known in faery and spirit lore that looking straight at a being does not yield the best results. Instead, regard the critter in your peripheral vision and chances are, with your focused senses and the protection of your invocation, you will get an idea of its true form. If this really is not a child playing a trick on you, it will become quite evident at this juncture. Everyone is different so I can not claim that you will get a crystal clear view of being but your perception will be clearer than it would have been if you had not taken steps to clear your sight and you should have a good notion of whether there is really something standing before you or if it is a projection coming from another source.

The Silence Re-Visited

In a previous blog, The Silence, I spoke about the quiet that paranormal witnesses often describe in their witness statement and some of the theories that surround that silence. In this installment, I would like to take this thinking a little farther.

David Paulides, the author of the Missing 411 series describes an incident, in this episode of Beyond the Edge Radio, in which he was out in the forest with an skilled guide and experienced an extended period of silence in the woodland around him. The shows host and co-hosts all agreed that this was “creepy” and, having experienced something similar in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, I would have to agree. What if, though, such incidences are more than just creepy. What if they are a symptom of impending high strangeness and might even be used as a sort of early warning system for investigators in the field?

My theory is actually pretty simple. I admit to a silly love of monster shows and particularly enjoyed a BBC production called “Primeval”. In that show, “anomalies” open up and allow all manner of creatures, past and present, into our current space time. Now, you may call them anomalies, inter-dimensional rifts or rips, window areas, portals, the entry to Faerie or “a damn big hole in the sky” but it all boils down to the same thing – access points from other worlds into our world.

Likewise, there may be dozens of ways in which these access points occur ranging from natural magnetic processes to magical intervention. The skeptics can spend their time sitting around in denial but anyone who has spent any time listening to witnesses or looking at what little physical trace of these incidents is out there knows that there is a lot of weird . . . stuff happening in our world and sticking our heads in the sand is not the proper approach. Additionally, those of us who spend time in magical practices develop a deep understanding that there are worlds other than our own and that those worlds are inhabited by a plethora of beings.

Setting aside, for a moment, the idea that some of those beings are engaged in an organized deception campaign designed to feed their need for our energies, one never knows exactly what might come through one of these access points. I suspect that some of the more outlandish witness reports might be of creatures from other worlds that we do not often contact or who reach into the minds of humans looking for a form to assume. Given the richness of human folklore and imagination, there are all sorts of forms these beings could assume if they did not have a ready made “mold” of their own when they manifested.

The other important thing to remember is that these access points are two way. Beings can come through and, if we are lucky or unlucky enough to find one of these access points, we can step from this world into another and sometimes come back. Faerie lore from all over the world tells us this is possible though the person who has been to Faerie often suffers unusual consequences for his or her temerity. I have to wonder if some of Mr. Paulides’ missing people have not actually wandered inadvertently through one of these access points and been unable to return. It makes sense, from this theoretical frame work, to assume that, even if a person did make it back to this world they might not drop exactly where they left. This would help to account for small children and handicapped people being found miles from where they were lost, confused and unable to relate what happened to them (such a journey is bound to be a shock to the nervous system).

Unlike the characters in “Primeval”, investigators do not have “anomaly detectors” to work with in the field. While I suspect that an EMF detector would go nuts next to one of these access points, the investigator would have to be right on top of the “door” before he or she would pick up the readings. So, how do we know if we are in an area that is going to yield investigative results? Obviously, one has to look for areas of high activity but, once these areas have been located, The Silence might be a good early warning system, at least in more outdoor places.

Now, if my experience is anything to judge by, the investigator is going to have to have a firefighter’s personality – he or she is going to have to be willing to run toward that which most people are inclined to run away from. In other words, if the Silence settles in an area, the investigator is going to have to try to quickly and quietly move toward the center of the lack of sound and get any equipment in place in the same manner. If anyone actually wants to try this, please remember, safety first. Move in teams, watch your footing (especially when moving equipment), know some basic banishing techniques and don’t be too proud to retreat if things get out of hand. As I have pointed out, over and over in these pages, beings from the Otherworld come in as many varieties as humans do (more, actually) and with as many different motivations and ethical structures. Stealth and caution are the order of the day should you happen to find or get close to one of these access points.