Visits from Relatives

I think most people with an interest in the preternatural have heard of relatives returning from the grave to give some comforting messages to those left behind. Some are credible, others... not so much. I dunno, usually when I hear about this sort of thing it brings to mind some New Age strangeness.

But it does happen, nonetheless.

There's one story about a British Naval officer who was seen by guests at a party held at his house. These guests expressed surprise to his wife, since they were under the impression that he was still on tour. His wife assured them they must be mistaken, his ship was in the middle of the Atlantic.

What she didn't know was at that very moment his ship was on it's way to the bottom of the ocean.

Personally, I haven't had a dead relative actually visit. A Great-Great Aunt (or something along those lines) did have a premonition that a younger relative and mother of small children had just died. So when the father came to fetch her to help him take care of the kids she was already packed and waiting on the porch for him.

A friend of mine had a much more detailed encounter with a recently dead relative, and a much more poignant one. It's a very good read. He posted the story as a comment on my Experience Talks post.

Experience talks.

Hello to my tiny number of readers. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask you for your ghost stories. Personal experiences would be great. Secondhand stories would be good, too. Please keep it so something you have some reason to believe actually happened though. Please?

Possession vs. Oppression

There is a very important distinction between oppression and possession when dealing with demons.

Now one thing I will mention right off the bat. As far as I know demons are the only spiritual entities capable of either of these attacks. I suppose angels are, since demons are simply fallen angels, but angels don't do these things as they are violations of free will.

Now, I suppose you may be saying, "Well, I know what possession is, what's oppression?"

Oppression is when a demon makes suggestions or puts thoughts in someone's head that wouldn't otherwise be there. Usually of a highly destructive nature. There isn't as much information on this sort of attack in popular works such as what's on the internet because it doesn't make for as sensational a story as full possession.

It is still dangerous.

With possession the demon must be welcomed in somehow. This can happen with seances or other forms of summonings and divinations. Or perhaps a request for power. I'd like to think it's rare for someone to knowingly let a demon into their body, but I really don't have any proof of this.

With oppression it's different. Anyone can be oppressed. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter how often you go to church. It doesn't even matter if your a priest.

Actually, it's likely that the holier you live your life the more likely it is that demons will try to oppress you. All of the saints have experienced this. Mother Teresa wrote about a time when it seemed God was not in her life. This caused quite a sensation after her death, but to me it wasn't so surprising. After all, in a war who do you try to bring down first but the best the enemy has?

That is what oppression is. The slow wearing away of defenses. Also to scare and disturb the target.

Having said all that, you may wonder how someone can be sure they are being oppressed, rather than just suffering from depression or having random thoughts.

Well, that's hard to say. I suppose in most cases you can't really tell.

There have been times when I'd pass a stained glass window or something else of great worth and have a mental image of me somehow destroying it. It always scared me a bit because I knew I'd never do something like that on purpose. At the earliest times oppression never occurred to me, but at that time I didn't know about oppression. Later I thought that might be it, but never said anything to anyone.

Maybe I should have. Maybe some of the fear would have been alleviated.

On a related note, while trying to find information for this post I found an interesting site that may be useful. It's called the Catholic Online Spiritual Warfare Education and Information Center.

One of those 'what the heck' moment

My previous posts were of a rather serious nature. This one is just simply weird. And it happened this afternoon.

After finishing a meeting at a business building in town, I went out to my car. I hadn't noticed it before when I had gotten out because I was running a little late, but I noticed near a tree in the shadow of the building a mass of white stuff flecked with dirt and leaves.

It looked like a pile of packed snow.

No way. Sure it was the right time of year for snow, but not that much and there hadn't been any snow fall yet. Certainly not enough for a pile that size. My best guess was two feet wide and maybe a foot tall.

I went over to it to see if someone had pulled a prank. The pile rested in a depression, but the area was pretty open. There was no way I could see snow staying in that spot through a Minnesota summer.

So I touched the pile. It was without a doubt snow.

Perplexed, I went back inside and found someone to ask about it. The lady I stopped said she didn't know how it got there, but it had only been there for a couple days.

The mystery deepens. How could that have happened? It was far too warm for snow at the time.

How did it get there? I have no idea. But it definitely isn't normal.