On Ghosts

Nobody loves a good ghost story more than me.  Ever since I can remember I’ve been tortured and simultaneously delighted by the spine-tingling fear of something unseen, just over my shoulder.  I’ve consumed a whole lot of ghost stories in my life, watched them on film, listened to them in podcasts, begged for them around campfires, mined them from friends and relatives.  I’ve lived a handful of my own as well.  

This particular October, all the information I’ve collected seems to have congealed and reformed into a new, crystallized understanding.  I’m experiencing ghosts in fresh ways.

What I understand now is that a ghost can be anything that you carry with you, that no longer serves you.  Any form of energy that sticks to you, that may even have well-established roots inside you, but isn’t needed anymore.  A coping mechanism, a pattern, a way of viewing the world.  A story you tell yourself.  A trauma.  An old relationship.   When someone from a past life contacts you after years, and you realize you’d like the door on that relationship to stay closed, but you just can’t seem to close it, the connection between you and that living person is a ghost.  

These things take up energy and space in our lives.  Any ghost-story connoisseur can tell you that if you want to get rid of a spectral visitor, you have to tell it to leave.  To free yourself of a haunting and reclaim your sovereignty, you have to draw a boundary.  

I spent the beginning of fall creating the course "Herbs For Boundaries & Protection."  I immersed myself in the material, and gave a lot of attention to the meditations and the practices therein.  Now that spooky season is officially upon us, and I’ve dived into my yearly mega-dose of creepy storytelling, I notice that I’m reacting differently.  When I watch or listen, I don’t feel scared.  Instead of feeling vulnerable or susceptible to attack, I feel grounded.  The protective bubble I’ve created is clearly defined, and I don’t worry about it being punctured.  I can look an apparition in the face and see it for what it is.  And when I’m ready to cut ties with a connection that’s haunting me, I’m able to tell the ghost to leave.

Thank you so much to the people who’ve reached out to tell me how much they’re enjoying Herbs For Boundaries & Protection.  My heart does a little happy-dance every time. 

Before I go, I have no doubt you've been hearing this everywhere, but here is a friendly reminder to VOTE.  The time has passed for putting ballots in the mail, so drop your ballot off in person, vote in person early, or vote in person on Election Day.  Let's get this thing done.  

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