Personal Paranormal Experience, part 2: Something In the Dark

(Transferred from the blog Spirit Facet)
I think everyone will have ghostly experiences in their lifetime. Some are not very dramatic and will easily get passed on with excuses. Others are indisputably paranormal. In this three part series, I will reveal to you what things have convinced me there is another form of existence beyond the human realm.

I first read about lucid dreaming when I was 13.  The idea of being in some control of my dreams intrigued me so much that I put it into practice.  I got to a point where I could retain some conscious awareness that I was dreaming, and therefore experience it for an entertaining value.  I didn't always do this, but most of the time I was successful.  If a dream wasn't going the way I liked, I would change it.  If it got real bad, I'd tell myself to wake up.  Simple lucid dreaming experience.

A couple of years into this, at age 15, my dreams gave me a new experience.  Something I wish I could forget.  I was asleep, doing my thing with lucid dreaming, when at a moment I felt that I wasn't alone.   My conscious part of myself was alarmed.  I looked around my dream and found something in my dream, watching me.  It was a dark and very ominous being.  It had such a heavy feeling of dread that the sense emanated through everything around it.  There was no mistaking that it was not a part of my standard dream. It was separate from me. It was watching me.  After some work, I forced myself awake. 

The being of dread was like a silhouette of a tall man.  There was nothing distinct about its shape.  Just blackness.  A blackness that no light could pass through or illuminate. The only other feature was the eyes.  They were a glowing gold.  The light seemed to be coming from within.

The next night I experienced the same thing.  This thing invaded my dream.  I would be minding my own business, sleeping and dreaming, when again my consciousness felt the presence, and found the source of my terror.  This shadow being was no good.  I experienced this for several nights in a row, until one night when I was just refusing to fall asleep.

I didn't want another visitation.  I was too afraid to fall asleep.  This thing would not leave me alone and I felt that if I could break the chain of sleep for even one night, it would lose interest and go away.  So I stayed up, reading in my room. 

Then I felt it.

The heavy weight of dread was the first thing that caught my attention.  I reluctantly looked in the direction of the source.  Across to the other corner of my room was the dark shadow and the glowing eyes.  My internal alarm spiked.  I grabbed my blankets, covered myself with them, and went into a tight fetal position.  Looking back I'm not entirely sure why I didn't run out of my room.  Perhaps it was because that would have taken me physically closer to it, perhaps it is because I didn't want me to follow me out and pester my family.  Rather I hid in the bed like a small child  This thing terrified me.

While I hid I felt it watching me.  Just standing there, filling me with fear, the same as it did while it was in my dreams.  I closed my eyes so tight and prayed for sleep.  I felt that sleep would at least put me in a level playing field.  This thing did not belong in my physical space.

Eventually I escaped into sleep. 

It never came back.

I didn't tell people about this experience for years as I feared this dark thing would sense I was talking about it and come back.  I searched for answers as to what this being was.  A simple 'demon' answer just wasn't good enough for me.  I finally got to a point where I could tell a few people about it.  A good friend of mine who was a Druid high priest said he felt it was a psychic vampire, and he told me it couldn't physically harm me, it was just trying to keep me from my potential.  Still not certain this was it, I continued my research.  I have come across stories of shadow people, but most aren't described quite like this.  I did once come across a girl telling the same type of experience on a discussion forum, and she was the same age I was when I experienced it.  I have gotten more comfortable sharing the story, but I still feel some uneasiness.  Sharing this story is a big step for me.  Perhaps it could help someone else out who has also experienced a visitation from a being like this. 

Personal Paranormal Experience, part1: Being of Light

(Transferred from the blog Spirit Facet)
I think everyone will have ghostly experiences in their lifetime. Some are not very dramatic and will easily get passed on with excuses. Others are indisputably paranormal. In this three part series, I will reveal to you what things have convinced me there is another form of existence beyond the human realm.

My first experience isn't actually with a ghost. I'm not sure if my second one was either (read it to see what I mean). However, it is paranormal in nature, and it firmly sets in my stronghold in an afterlife.

 I was 14. Something bright woke me from my sleep. I looked at the foot of my bed to see a figure that was strongly illuminated. In most circumstances a light that bright would cause me to close my eyes and look away. However, this light didn't cause any strife to my vision. It was welcoming. In the light was a figure, dressed in light blue, and with golden hair. I could not tell you with certainty if it was male. I felt so comfortable, surrounded by love, and a yearning to hold it. So I jumped up and gave it a hug.

I don't know the amount of time I spent with this being. Time didn't exist. It conversed with me. It wasn't in the normal way that you and I talk, which is with our mouths. It was as though I heard it in my head and understood it with my heart. I could feel a slight pulling connection from the center of my head and the center of my heart with this being. I cannot remember the specifics of our conversation. I am certain that I am not meant to remember that.  My memory of my experience is dominated with the sense of the conversation, not the words.

There was only one thing I was allowed to remember. At the end of our conversation, it said, "Everything will be OK." This message was ambiguous. It referred to my life, and to everything in existence. After saying this, he gently touched my head, which I responded to by laying back down to sleep. When I awoke in the morning I felt an odd sense of being drained, as though I had been crying all night. However, what was in the place of the feeling of being drained was a very strong feeling of love. It is difficult to convey exactly how I felt, but this is the best I can come up with.

The message played over and over in my head "Everything will be OK." I keep that message with me. It is comforting.

This message is also for you.

In the beginning

(Transferred from the blog Spirit Facet)

When it comes to religion, I was raised on a clean slate. My parents never talked with me about religious ideals. I was on my own.

When I was a child I found this extremely difficult, especially since I grew up in a state where 80% of the population belongs to one church. Religion is very surfaced in the culture of Utah. The first thing people asked me when first meeting me was "What ward do you belong in?" (A ward is a designated congregation in the LDS church). The parents of my peers would use me and my family as an example of people who will not get the rewards promised to them by God. The people of this culture related with others upon their religious affiliation. This forced me to try to find some sort of religious identity at a very young age.

I have always had a love within me of God, regardless of how people used God as an excuse to judge me. I remember solemnly revering Jesus on Christmas Eve, though in my family it was simply a secular holiday. The Mormon view of God was my only outside influence for the earliest part of my life.

I was fascinated by Greek mythology when we read the stories in elementary school. It is so much a part of me that the only tattoo I have is of Medusa. I would consider this my first introduction of religious thought other than Christian.

Since then I have read many religious and spiritual writings, been held captive to shows about religion, fascinated by what was historical and current mythology, seeking to know the common strain and to understand the core of those around me. I have learned so much, and continue to have my eyes opened further than I ever expected.

I now realize what I perceived as a difficulty has actually been a great gift. My path has been completely of my own choosing, without any force to go down another road. This clean slate from my family is a gift for which I am grateful. 

My current beliefs are from various sources and eclectic.  They are strong in their foundation, though I am ever curious.  I like to learn spiritual truths within the world's religions.  I find that learning about religious beliefs and practices grows my understanding of both humanity and 'Universal Spirit'.  I also have witnessed that each belief contains parts of the whole of what the Great Spirit is, hence every religion is a Spirit facet.

For years I have wanted to write down what thoughts race through my head. This is that outlet. I also want to share with you experiences of different faiths and paths that I come across. I seek never to convert, only to share what has been shared with me. I hope through this you will gain more to grow in the light of Supreme Love.

Blessed be your eternal Self,
Heather