Paranormal Galaxy July 2014

July 2014

The Truth About Exorcisms: What is True and False in the Popular Movies

Thrillers

The Nebulous Genre

Haunted Family in London

Balance and Protect Your Aura:

Exercises That Can Help

LET TER FROM THE EDITOR THE UNEXPLAINED is the focus of this July 2014 edition of Paranormal Galaxy Magazine! From spirituality to exorcisms and hypnosis, our contributors have a lot to bring to our readers this month on the topics to which we are all looking for answers.

Some of the articles that are of particular interest include: The Indian Satan: Judaculla Rock, The Spiritual Journey of a Care Worker and learn more about The Guinea Pig Diaries.

Paranormal Galaxy Radio launched in June and the show can be heard on the Paranamania Radio network, every Thursday at 5pm EST. To listen to our podcasts go to http://paranormalgalaxy.com/radio/.

Be sure to check out our new monthly column, Tech Time with Brock and Doc! Sherrie Wilkolaski Editor-in-Chief Ps Paranormal Galaxy Magazine is looking for contributors!

Contents Exorcism: The Facts 4 A Haunting 6

SHERRIE WILKOLASKI Ed i tor-in- Chief and Managing Partner JACK HEATH Executive Ed i tor ALAN COX Paranormal Editor-At-Large KRIS SEDERSTEN

Not So Spiritual Side of Spirituality 7 What is a Thriller Anyway? 8 It’s a Dog’s Life 9

Ed i tor- at -Large JESSE BRAVO Celebrity Psychic Ed i tor- at -Large TAYLOR YOUNG Production Editor

Tech Time with Brock and Doc 11 8 Popular Myths About 14 Hypnosis and the Real Truth Understanding Protection and 15 Grounding of Yourself The Indian Satan: Judaculla Rock 18 The Spiritual Journey of a Care Worker 19 The Guinea Pig Diaries 23 I AM THE FEELING 25 Letter From Grays Encounters Paranormal 26

CONTRIBUTORS Paul Bergman Hazel Bergman Brock Burroughs Colin Christopher Dave Erickson Eric J. Gates Melissa Jones David Marchant Karen Murray Penelope Rollinson Reverend Sue Chelsea Wilson Cyrus Yavneh Taylor Young

INTERNS Melissa Jones Ashley Magliane Chelsea Wilson Taylor Young

Horoscopes 27 Word Search 28 Lost Mojo Book Excerpt 29 Chain of Souls Book Excerpt 31

Paranormal Galaxy Magazine

is published in English. Our audience is a global market with global contributors. Each writes, using the f orm of English with which they are f amiliar. So you’ll see US, UK, AUS, CAN, versions, etc. We hope this eliminates any conf usion on spelling.

Exorcism: The Facts

By Melissa Jones

You’ve seen it done by Hollywood, from the levitation and projectile

green pea vomit in classic films like “The Exorcist” to multiple possessions and supernatural strength in new documentary style films like “The Devil Inside.” The main theme of these films is exorcism, but is what all we see in the movies really true of exorcism? Or is it all smoke and mirrors in an attempt to appeal to audiences and add that extra scare factor? To find out the truth, I scoured resources searching for the truth and here’s what I found out. Exorcism is the act of casting out/dispelling demons from a host whom is believed to be possessed. The word “exorcism” derives from the Greek word for oath, “exousia,” to exorcise thus means something along the lines of placing the possessing spirit under oathinvoking a higher authority to compel the spirit-rather than an actual casting out. The demonic presence is always commanded to leave the host in the name of the father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit rather than the authority of the priest.

According to Isaiah 14:12, demons are former angels that are fallen and have been cast out of heaven to earth and whose judgment is eternal torment, 2 Peter 2:4. Although demons have been sentenced, their punishment won’t be fulfilled until the end of times according to Matt.

25:41. Demons strongly oppose God and react violently to religious paraphernalia during an exorcism. Exorcism is often a heated debate among Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox believers on whether Exorcism should be practiced regularly as part of the Christian Ministry.

There are some that believe that a possession can be mistaken for a physical or psychological abnormality. There are many believers that hold onto to a view between these two views, believing that demons possess people to get back at God through his believers, not be responsible for life’s hardships.

When determining whether the victim is indeed possessed, the priest follows a set of guidelines issued by The Vatican listing signs of possession.

The Vatican first issued official guidelines on exorcism in 1614, and revised them in 1999. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, signs of demonic possession include superhuman strength, aversion to holy water, and the ability to speak in unknown languages. Other potential signs of demonic possession include spitting, cursing, and “excessive masturbation.” Before an exorcism can be performed, an ordained priest must seek permission from the local bishop as well as have the possessed thoroughly examined by a medical doctor to rule out the possibility of a mental illness. An exorcism is done as a last resort nowadays with the Vatican rewriting their guidelines in 1999 and requiring a medical examination of the victim to rule out mental illness, the possessed must meet most, it not all of the following signs listed below to determine whether an exorcism is indeed needed:

(List provided by Wikipedia): • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Cutting, scratching, and biting of skin Loss of appetite A cold feeling in the room Unnatural bodily postures and change in the person’s face and body The possessed losing control of their normal personality and entering into a frenzy or rage, and/or attacking others Change in the person’s voice Supernatural physical strength not subject to the person’s build or age Speaking or understanding another language which they had never learned before Knowledge of things that are distant or hidden Prediction of future events (sometimes through dreams) Levitation and moving of objects / things Expelling of objects / things Intense hatred and violent reaction toward all religious objects or items Antipathy towards entering a church, speaking Jesus’ name or hearing scripture.

The ritual itself is performed by an ordained priest, sometimes with the aid of a Catholic Doctor, and psychiatrist; the ritual involves prayers, blessings, and invocations with the use of the document Of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications and the possession victim is restrained so that they do not harm themselves or others present. An exorcism can take anytime between one to several sessions before the ritual is successful, some can take years, after the ritual is complete, the possessed is freed of guilt, feeling reborn and freed of sin.

In spite of what we’ve seen done by Hollywood, a lot of what we’ve seen in the films is actually possible and are signs of possession according to the Vatican guidelines, however, much of these films are over dramatized particularly when it comes to the stance of the Vatican in performing an exorcism, the Vatican views exorcism as an absolute last resort unlike in the films. The only film I’ve seen dealing with exorcism that stays true to the belief of the Vatican, is “The Devil Inside.” In “The Devil Inside,” priests actually attend classes at the Vatican dealing with cases of possible possession and explore the victims’ symptoms, discussing whether the victim’s experiencing possession or a psychological abnormality. It’s also stated in the film that the Vatican had turned down the main character’s request of an exorcism on her mother because there wasn’t enough proof and that she seemed stable with medication.

I recommend watching this film if you would like to be better informed about the stance of the Vatican on exorcism and at the same time get the scare factor you crave. Despite what you see in Hollywood, the stance of the Vatican on exorcism is a lot stricter than what we’ve been shown.

Images provided by author and Elvis Santana

A Haunting

By Alan Cox

My work takes me all over the UK as well as many other countries, including America. In order to help those who have the misfortune to suffer from negative energies, I have travelled extensively.

One experience that comes to mind, takes me back four or five years ago, when I was in Dagenham, London. While exhibiting at a mind, body and spirit show, I was approached by one of the other exhibitors who said he and his family were being attacked in their home by negative energies. They were unable to sleep at night, forced to be tired all day, due to things going bump in the night…literally. What was a happy and loving home, had turned into a daily routine of arguments and routine disagreements. This was particularly worrisome because, as the husband was in the fire brigade, a job that depended on him being focused and attentive.

The husband asked if I would visit his home to try and remove these bad spirits. Immediately I accepted. On arrival, as I entered the house I could feel a strong negative presence. With the help of my spirit ‘Guides’ I set to work. It is a partnership that I cannot quite explain to most people, but I cannot do the work without them and the ‘Guides’ need my energy to link in to our dimension.

Between us, we are able to remove bad spirits. Systematically I went through the house, with the owner in tow, so he would feel the positive difference as the negative forces were being removed.

The types of people who are affected tend to be the sensitive ones; the bad energies find it easier to work on these people.

Have you noticed some people seem to go through life without any major problems? Some have been through hard times in previous life times and learned from the lessons presented to them, so this time round they don’t experience the same issues.

They tend to have a strong will and mind set.

It is a different scenario to having the misfortune of moving into a haunted house. In this situation the individuals are inheriting existing issues.

In future issues I will explain more about protection from negative energies and explore the situation of moving into a space that is already inhabited by negative energies.

I heard from the family a few weeks later, harmony and normality had returned to them all. They were sleeping well and getting on with their lives with no pointless arguments.

Blessings.

To do my work, I use a pendulum (Dowser). It swings in a circle as my ‘Guide’ links in to our dimension, without any physical influence from me. As the pendulum circles it connects with the bad energy and I am then able to send it (them) to the light on a one-way trip away from the space that we live in.

During this process I entered the bathroom, only to find out afterwards that this was a hot spot for many of the problems in the house. It was here, I felt the presence of a demon. These are creatures that haven’t lived like us. Their sole purpose is to try and destroy humans. They work to make us feel as if we have no way forward. Despite this, they have no real powers and they work on our minds only. Usually, once confronted by someone who has the ability to eradicate them they flee and cannot win when challenged with the presence of God’s energy.

In this instance however, this was a particularly nasty demon that entered my body. I felt it move in and immediately felt sick; it tried to talk through me changing my voice to a harsh, deep and sinister sound. I have only had this happen to me on three other occasions.

My ‘Guides’ who protect me removed it from me before I was then able to send it to the spiritual light. The atmosphere in the room and the house was transformed and there was a feeling of light and happiness. The entire cleansing process from start to finish took around two hours.

When bad energies cross the threshold into someone, their home, or business premises it usually is when there is some kind of unhappiness or problem in a person’s life. As a problem is recognised the demon or entities make it seem there is no solution to the situation. This isn’t the case, once they are removed thinking becomes clearer and solutions are found.

Image provided by Shuttershock

Not So Spiritual Side of Spirituality

By Jesse Bravo

Spirituality is a word that incorporates many different topics and fields.

Since the reemergence of spirituality as a movement within the United States over the last 10 years, there has been an explosion in entertainment dollars associated with it. In reality television, there was instant intrigue with the proof of life after death with Ghost Hunting shows. Many people ask me if Ghost Hunting and the people associated with shows are spiritual. My answer is that it is in part, but the people who produce and make shows aren’t spiritual but more entrepreneurs of Spirituality. Let’s take Zak Bagans who started the hit series on the Travel Channel “Ghost Adventures”. Zak comes off as a Bad Boy who wears all black clothes and tight fitting shirts with tattoos all over his body, who goes to fight and document Spirits, Ghosts and demons with his Ghost adventures crew. On his arms and fingers, he has tattoos of crosses to protect himself and the weak that are being harmed from bullying and aggressive energies.

So he portrays himself as a knight who defends the weak but in reality off camera he has a major legal battle for not paying his agreed 10% commission to the company Abrams Artist Agency who got Zak his $4.5 million dollar contract with Travel Channel in October of 2012. So I ask the question again. Where is the spirituality of a person who documents spirituality but does not live the life of a spiritualist? If Zak’s isn’t doing the right thing off camera, what makes you think he is doing the right thing on camera and it is these types of questions that have caused a lot of people to doubt the authenticity of the show “Ghost Adventures”. I reached out to both Zak Bagans (ZBE) and Abrams Artist Agency (Alec Shankman) for this story with no comment. So now I leave this question of spirituality in your hands to decide.

Image provided by Sacha Leclair.

What is a Thriller, Anyway?

By Eric J. Gates

One of the most frustrating questions I am asked from time to time is ‘what kind of novels do you write?’

I normally stick to a nebulous ‘thrillers’ and hope the interrogator will settle for that. Alas often ‘what kind of thrillers?’ is the next thing I hear.

You would think it was an easy question to answer. I am, after all, the person who has spent months and months writing the beasts; surely I must know where they slot in in the general gamut of the thriller genre? Yet I do find that a complex issue to resolve.

Thrillers, as a genre, is really a collective description for a style of novel rather than a specific type. I like James N. Frey’s description, in his excellent book ‘How to write a Damn Good Thriller’. There he states that “writing a thriller is like riding a bobsled down Mount Everest. You can let your imagination run. You can make up wild and crazy characters and stuff them into woodchoppers. You can blow up cities. Lop heads off. Sink ships. Go to Mars. In the world of thriller writing, anything goes—as long as you thrill your audience.”

That description says it all. There are references to sci-fi, horror, dystopian, disaster and terrorist themes in that description. So why bother about sub-divisions. Isn’t it just about thrilling your audience as he states?

He goes on to quote the “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” which defines a thriller as fiction “that thrills, especially a sensational or suspenseful book, story, play, or movie.” He makes references to pacing, to emotional rushes, to suspenseful sensations and to exhilaration-driven narrative. What he doesn’t say is that they are sci-fi, romance, horror, chick-lit, psychological, paranormal, YA, or any of the other popular categories.

Why’s that?

That’s an easy one to answer: because a thriller can be ANY of those.

Thrillers are more about the way you write your tales than the kind of tales themselves. So we could have a Horror thriller and a Technological thriller side by side and although their story lines would be radically distinct, their essence, thrilling their audience, is the same.

Yes, I have just compared Robert Bloch’s ‘Psycho’ with Tom Clancy’s ‘The Hunt for Red October’. Why not? They are both outstanding thrillers.

So back to the question ‘what kind of thrillers do I write?’

If pushed I will say something like ‘contemporary thrillers with a paranormal twist’. Sounds good, doesn’t it.

Images provided by author and Piotr Bizior

Contemporary (present-day, dealing with 21st Century issues) and paranormal (weird things that happen in our world). For me, that just about covers it. After all ‘2012’ deals with the End of the World brought on by a fanatical Spanish businessman with an imminent war between China and the United States over oil resources as a backdrop; ‘Full Disclosure’ is a covert Special Operations caper with drug trafficking overtones, set at a moment when the US President announces contact with extraterrestrials; ‘the CULL’ is about the tracking down of a serial killer, set in a world where real vampires exist, products of genetic mutations; and ‘Leaving Shadows’ involves the kidnapping of a high-level spy and weather warfare.

It’s a Dog’s Life

By Paul Bergman

In my opinion, most dogs are psychic or able

to sense things that we cannot. I say this with some experience and I also say “most” because, like humans, most but not all dogs can see or sense the spirit world when we are unable to.

I have two dogs, both adopted from different rescue centres at different times and both are the same breed i.e. Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

Blue is very switched on and aware of how we are both feeling and will adjust her behaviour if we are feeling unwell. In particular, my wife who is an asthma sufferer, finds that Blue will snuggle up to her neck to keep her warm after a coughing attack and will generally snuggle very close to keep her warm. Usually she is a bouncy lively dog, but if we are ill she will be calm and snuggle up to us. She will tell us when we have a friendly spirit visitor with us by wagging her tail and when we ask her who is there she will prick her ears up at the name of the departed family member who is visiting us at that time. She has also been known to growl at the bushes in our front garden from time to time, indicating that we have an unfriendly spirit visitor, and this is usually enough to frighten them off.

Blaze, on the other hand, will walk all over you with his big paws whether you are well or not.

He doesn’t give any indication that he is aware of the spirit world and seems oblivious to what is going on. As long as he gets a back scratch, he is happy.

We are both Reiki Masters and both dogs love to receive Reiki, especially Blue. Blue has learnt, and I have no idea how as neither of us taught her this, that she can channel the Reiki through us without waiting to be asked. Quite often of an evening, she will be laying with us on the sofa and my hand will be resting on her back and suddenly my hand will start to tingle, a sure sign that Reiki is flowing through, and she will be there looking all innocent as if nothing is happening but loving the feeling and the energy all the same. At the end of 2011 we thought it would be a good idea to attune Blue to Reiki Level I (i.e. able to give Reiki to others). Since this attunement, I had a neck ache and asked Blue if she could provide me with Reiki to make me feel better. I placed my hand on her back and my hand started to tingle so I knew the energy was flowing, and after about 30 minutes, my neck ache had disappeared.

I’m sure dogs communicate with each other as even Blaze has started to do draw Reiki from us too and even insists on it by reversing up to either of us to achieve this and nudge us to get out attention to start his treatment!

“[Blue] had also been known to growl at the bushes in our front garden from time to time, indicating we have an unfriendly spirit visitor,” This is a story of one of the first encounters with the spirit world and Blue. We adopted Blue in 2010, and we live in the South East of England near the coast and have some lovely walks nearby. One late afternoon in early October 2010, Blue and I were walking along the cliff tops near to where we live. About halfway along the path Blue stopped, sniffed at a particular point and wagged her tail. Thinking nothing of it, I kept on walking and after a momentary pause, she too ran on. At the end of the path we turned to go back the same way to the car. Walking back along the path and at the same point as before, she stopped, sniffed again, wagged her tail and this time looked at me as I too had stopped but couldn’t see anything. I asked her if there was someone there and she responded by wagging her tail and pricking her ears up.

I determined that it wasn’t one of the usual relatives, but there was a spirit person there. I had no idea at that stage who they were, why they were there or what they wanted.

Back at home, later that evening, I was intrigued by our encounter and I spoke to my wife about it. She wasn’t able to pick up any more information about the person I encountered. At that time, I was only able to communicate with my guides with a pendulum getting “yes” or “no” responses. Through a drawn out questioning session, I worked out we had encountered a lady spirit, she needed our help and it had something to do with flowers. A few days later, I was talking to my good friend Alan Cox and I told him of our encounter. Alan was able to give me more information though his guides.

During World War Two, the lady had been married to a man who went off to be a RAF pilot. Before he left, he promised that he would return and they would be reunited. Whilst he was away, the lady went to the cliffs every day to see if she could see him. Sadly he was shot down over enemy waters before the war ended and he never came home. Even though she knew her husband would not return, she still went to the cliffs to look out over the water. When the lady passed away years later, her spirit went to the cliffs to wait for her beloved husband to find her but despite both of them being in spirit, they could not locate each other. Before he had left, he had given her a single white rose. She asked if I could place a single white rose at the place on the cliffs, this would act as a beacon to guide him to her.

“Before he had left, he had given her a single white rose.”

On the Friday evening of that week I went to a local supermarket to do my shopping. I passed by the flower display and in it was the last flowers left for the day – a bunch of white roses. I took this as a positive omen remembering Alan’s words to me.

Early the next morning, Blue and I went for a walk on the cliffs and at the place where she had stopped twice earlier that week, I placed a single white rose. We carried on with our walk and turned back at the end of the path as usual. As I passed the place where the white rose lay, I looked up into the almost cloudless blue sky.

The few clouds floating past suddenly formed into a word: “Together”. I watched the clouds and the word dispersed almost as quickly as it had formed. Alan later confirmed to me that the two spirits had indeed found each other once more and had passed on.

Over the next few weeks and months, Blue and I walked along the cliffs and I looked at the place where I had placed the white rose. It was interesting to me that it had not been disturbed at all.

Although the petals had fallen off and had blown away by the wind I could see the stalk, in the same place for a long time afterwards.

About 18 months ago, the local council asked residents what sort of statue they would like to see depicting the local area’s history. Six months later the council erected a statue on the cliffs about 100 yards away from where I had placed the white rose. The statue shows three people and they are supposed to be an airman, a farmer and a roman lady. To me, however, there are only two significant people there: an RAF pilot standing next to his beloved wife forevermore.

Images provided by C.M. Thomson and Akbar Nemati

Tech Time with Brock and Doc: The K-II Meter

By Brock Burroughs and Dave Erickson One of the more popular pieces of equipment used by paranormal investigators and researchers alike is the EMF (Electromagnetic Field) Meter. It is a common belief by many in the field that spirits are composed of energy and can manifest and manipulate electromagnetic fields. These meters are commonly used to get base readings of natural / manmade sources of EMF present in a location prior to an investigation. Once the investigation has begun, an EMF meter is used to search for and identify fields that may potentially not be produced by the environment but something else, perhaps a spirit.

The K-II Meter (K2) manufactured by K-II Enterprises is one such meter that came into the view of the paranormal field back in 2007.

It became a sensation overnight that every team had to get one after it was seen used on an episode of Syfy’s Ghosthunters .

The original version of the K2 has a temporary push on button. In order to use it, you would need to push and hold the button in. This typically would give false readings as even a slight movement of your thumb while holding the button would turn it off and back on, lighting all the lights up for just a second. Quickly, people figured out that you could use a small coin to hold the button down to keep the meter on continuously. Even using a coin, after many uses the slightest vibration caused the K2 to reset and blink all its lights giving you a false reading. Later on to solve this problem, a version was made with an on/off toggle switch and quickly followed by a version with a push on/push off button. The meter itself has 1 light to indicate it is turned on and then 4 lights colored green, yellow, orange and red from left to right to indicate field strengh. The more lights that are turned on the stronger or more intense the EM field that is present.

We must first stress that the K2 was never built or designed with the intended use of paranormal investigations. It was designed to be a low-cost and easy to use meter to identify fields caused by bad wiring, electronics and other sources found commonly in a house.

The K2 meter is pretty broad banded and detects sources of EMF covering frequencies 50 -20,000 Hz. Also, due to its very simple design and poor shielding it is easily set off by cell phones, portable handheld radios, and electronics. Now realistically you shouldn’t have your cell phone turned on during an investigation, but the K2 will be set off by data communication between your cell phone and the cell tower whether you are on a call, or not. Remember smart phones today, have background apps and tend to be communicating with the internet all the time.

The K-II Meter

In the case of the portable handheld radios, like GMRS and FRS radios, we found that just having it on whether it’s transmitting or not, the radio’s local oscillator would generate enough of a field to set off the K2.

And for my last trick I’ll just push the push-to-talk button on my radio, causing it to transmit and magically the spirit just answered yes, and we are able to determine that it was a boy who was 10 years old when he died.

Now, how strong a field is it really? Another problem we have with the meter is it is a relative meter. Meaning the lights light up to show a more intense field with the expectation that each light indicates a specific range of EMF in milliGauss. After comparing this meter to a more professional EMF meter that are calibrated, we found the accuracy of these meters to be unpredictable. Is it going to detect if a field is present? Yes it will. Will it give you a decent representation of the strength of that field? No it will not.

Wait! Before you go chuck your K2 in the trash can. There are a few things you can do to continue to use it on investigations and have it provide some value. When taking base readings of EMF before an investigation, use your K2 to quickly locate fields coming from lights, switches, kitchen appliances, electrical wiring and boxes, and various electronics. Then follow up with a meter that can provide you with an actual measurement of the field strength in milliGauss. During the investigation, ensure that all cell phones and radios are turned off. Even a Digital Voice Recorder can set the K2 off, so be sure to keep it at least a few feet away from the meter. Make sure you set the meter down on a flat surface and do not move around the room when asking questions while using your meter.

In conclusion, we believe the K-II meter’s flaws and poor design do not meet the demanding requirements of a serious paranormal investigator and would instead recommend the investment of a Tri-field Meter (Approx. $115). If cost is a factor then you can acquire a standard EMF Digital Meter with an LCD display like the EMF-822A (Approx. $65).

Tri-Field Meter

EMF-822A

Images provided by CapsCompound.com, Amazon, and RequiemParanormal.com

About the Authors Brock Burroughs and Dave Erickson are both paranormal investigator/researchers as well as they host the internet radio show, Tech Time with Brock and Doc, that airs every Sunday at 10PM Eastern / 7PM Pacific on ParaMania Radio.

Tech Time with Brock and Doc is a show all about the Technology used in the Paranormal, interviewing paranormal teams and exploring their use of technology, inventors of new technology and exploring new potential technology that you may want to start using on your next investigation!

Both Brock and Dave (Doc) work in the Information Technology field and have a passion for all things electronic. http://paramaniaradio.com/

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8 Popular Myths About Hypnosis and the Real Truth

By Colin Christopher

Perhaps you’ve seen a hypnosis show and always wondered how

it works. Or maybe you were referred to a hypnotherapist for help with quitting smoking, overcoming a phobia or gaining selfconfidence. Whatever the case, most of the information out there about hypnosis is wrong.

Here are the eight most popular myths about hypnosis and the real truth: 1. I won’t know what’s happening and I won’t remember anything.

This is extremely rare and in therapy sessions, the depth of hypnotic trance facilitates awareness and vivid memory so that the client knows what’s happening and remembers everything.

2. Don’t look into my eyes.

Although looking into a hypnotist’s eyes can be hypnotic, hypnotists usually have their hypnotic subjects close their eyes because this helps them relax more effectively.

3. I can’t be hypnotized, I’m too strong minded.

The ability to be hypnotized has nothing to do with the perceived strength of your mind. It has everything to do with how well you are able to understand the hypnotist, follow instructions and relax.

There are 3 hypnotizability levels, high (15% of population), mid (70% of population) and low (15% of population).

4. I went to a doctor of hypnosis for help.

There is no legitimate educational facility on the planet that awards doctorates of hypnosis. “Doctors of hypnosis” are fake titles awarded by fake schools that print fake diplomas on the internet. The American Council of Hypnotist Examiners (http://hypnotistexaminers.org/) is one organization offering an examination/certification program that is very reputable.

5. People under hypnosis always tell the truth.

This is false. It is very easy for someone to tell lies under hypnosis.

6. I will remember where I hid my…

Although hypnosis can be very effective at helping people remember where they put things, it is not a memory panacea that will help you find those lost keys or that wad of cash you stashed 10 years ago.

7. I will have no control over my body and I will do crazy things.

Believe it or not, people in stage hypnosis shows have the choice to follow or reject a suggestion given by the hypnotist.

Excellent stage hypnotists do their best to make it seem like volunteers don’t have a choice, but they always do.

8. Hypnosis is the “Miracle Cure.”

Hypnosis is very effective at helping people make mental, emotional and physical breakthroughs. While it can seem like it works miracles, the effectiveness of hypnosis is always dependent on a combination of a person’s hypnotizability level, the skill of the hypnotist and the problem being worked on. It’s not a panacea, but it’s an excellent modality for discovering and harnessing the power of your own mind.

Colin Christopher is a clinical hypnotherapist certified by the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners, and author of the book Success Through Manipulation: Subconscious Reactions That Will Make or Break You.To learn more about Colin go to www.colinchristopher.com or www.stmbook.com.

Image provided by saiuri

Understanding Protection and Grounding of Yourself

Image provided by Sundeip Arora

By Karen Murray from GraysEncounters Paranormal How to Protect Yourself If you are sensitive and need to protect yourself,

you can place yourself in an Embilence of Light. By imagining that a bright Golden White Light surrounds you, you can protect yourself from intense or non-nurturing subtle energies, ghost or mental attacks. This technique works in most cases.

What is the Aura?

First, to protect yourself, you must understand what it is that you are protecting and what is used for protection.

The aura, or what others call the "sacred space," is the electromagnetic energy field that surrounds and encompasses the atmosphere of every living thing. The "auric shell" comprises various layers, each one distinct but interconnected within the shell. The aura has often been referred to as a "halo" and is depicted in religious paintings especially paintings of Jesus, saints, and angels.

The aura encompasses the essence of the living being it surrounds, and it projects the thoughts, desires, and also the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual states of the individual. A person’s innate spiritual gifts are clearly defined in the aura.

For instance, a gifted psychic may see brightly colored musical notes above a person’s head only to find out later that the individual is involved with music in some way or has a knack for music. Not only is the aura an energy that envelops you, but it penetrates your being as well. The aura is a colorful field of energy, and its colors represent your level of vitality, mental capacity, emotional well-being, and spiritual understanding. The dominant color represents the dominant part of your makeup. If you are very spiritual and compassionate, you will tend to have more green and purple in your aura.

We are all protected naturally by our auric shell, but at times this shell can wear down if not properly protected.

Cracks and holes can appear in it. All sorts of psychic energy, ghostly or otherwise, can enter through these cracks and holes. Anyone can overdo something and not be aware of losing energy. A weakened and unhealthy aura can also be the result of drug overuse, alcohol abuse, constant negative thoughts and beliefs, and fearful and angry emotions. Also, if you are around negative locations and negative people, then you are susceptible to losing energy.

Finally, a variety of illnesses and diseases can deplete the aura. It is important to remember that our thoughts and emotions affect our auras first and manifest lastly in our physical bodies. We should be mindful on a daily basis of reinforcing the strength of our auras through prayer, meditation, and positive visualization. These methods are the most effective ways to repel and fight off any disturbing energies.

Grounding and Balancing Your Energy It is important to be centered and wellgrounded before beginning any sort of protection meditation or visualization. It is very common to have more energy in one part of your body and not enough in another part.

Doing this exercise will help you to create a balanced and steady flow of energy so that you can maintain an energetic awareness of your body.

Sit in a chair with your spine straight against the back of the chair. This will ensure a proper energy flow up, down, in, and out of the various energy centers, or chakras. Close your eyes and place your awareness in the middle of your head on your third-eye chakra. Be aware of how your body feels.

Breathing is one of the most important elements in any exercise. The breath is your cleansing filter. It is important to realize that when you inhale, you are taking in new energy, and when you exhale, you are letting go of used energy.

Place your awareness on the soles of your feet. Imagine that your feet are like tree trunks and that roots extend from the soles of your feet downward into the ground right to the center of the earth.

Next, imagine a tube that goes from the base of your spine through the ground to the center of the earth. This tube will be used for the release of any excess energy in your body that you no longer need or want.

As you breathe in, imagine the green, nurturing Mother Earth energy coming up through the roots of your feet and into your legs, pelvis, stomach, and heart.

As you exhale, let go of any excess energy you may feel in your body through the tube that is attached to the base of your spine. See this excess energy as gray or brown, and let it flow down the tube and into the earth.

After several breaths in and out, imagine the bright golden light of the Sun hovering several feet above your head. This light represents the cosmic energies. As you inhale once more, let the golden rays of the light come through the crown chakra at the top of your head and down your body through your head, neck, shoulders, arms, back, and finally into the heart center. As you envision the earth energies and the cosmic energies coming together, feel them blending in your heart.

Protection Exercise 2: Recognizing Energy and Ghostly Attachments A woman once complained to an international psychic that nothing in her life was going right.

"What’s wrong with me?" she asked. The psychic took one look at her aura and told her, "It’s not what’s wrong with you, it’s who’s wrong with you.

Whose energy are you carrying around with you that is impeding your space and influencing your choices?" Anyone who thinks of you or with whom you interact can leave an indelible impression in your aura. It could be your husband, wife, mother, father, child, employer, employee, or neighbor.

Most of these energies are harmless, but some may be a source of physical and emotional aches and pains. This next exercise will help you get rid of these parasitic energies.

Start with the grounding and balancing exercise. Remember to keep a steady breathing pattern when doing this exercise.

Next, imagine that you are standing behind yourself, looking at your body. As you look at your body, become attuned to the space surrounding it. What does this space look and feel like?

With your mind’s eye, visualize a blank white screen in front of you. This screen is surrounded by a garden of colorful tulips.

Special energy vision goggles are plugged into the screen. Take the goggles and place them over your eyes. These goggles are able to detect energetic intrusions.

As you stare at the screen with your goggles, scan your body and the space around it from the top of your head on down. Make sure to take your time. Do not rush through this step. Some energy is harder to detect than others.

While you scan, notice whether there are certain areas of the body and aura that appear dense, as if some type of matter is attached. When you see these pockets of clumped energy, ask the energy to identify who or what it is. The answer will appear on your screen. If it is the energy of a particular person, you will see his or her face projected on the screen.

If it is a ghostly attachment, you should see something projected on your screen.

The ghostly attachment could be a person’s figure or a dark mass. If the energy is leftover from a particular event or situation, the event will appear on the screen. This step is vital in removing the energy from your space.

As you identify the energy on the screen, mentally command this energy to leave your space.

Next, imagine the unwanted energy is being absorbed by the tulips in your garden. As it goes into the tulips and back into Mother Earth, it is transmuted into love.

If the energy turns out to be an uninvited ghost, then mentally send the ghost a message that it has passed out of the physical world and needs to return to its spiritual home. Tell the ghost to ask for a loving relative to come and take it into the light. If the ghost is cooperative, it will be met by a loved one who will help it cross over to the light. Remember that without your energy, an earthbound ghost loses power and cannot stay in your space unless you allow it.

Image provided by Kimberly Voshen

Protection Exercise 3: Getting Back Your Energy Have you ever felt totally exhausted at the end of the day even though you didn’t do much to feel so tired? Your fatigue may be a sign that you have given away a lot of your energy to people, places, and situations.

When you feel depleted, you are out of balance, and your well-being suffers. The following exercise will help you get back the energy you gave away.

Sit in a comfortable chair in a place where you will not be disturbed.

Begin with the grounding and balancing exercise.

Close your eyes. Go back to the beginning of your day from the time you got out of bed. Remember everything that happened during your day, the people you spoke to, the places you spent time in, and so on.

Make sure you focus only on one person and situation at a time. As you see the situation in your mind’s eye, be aware of the conversations you shared in person, over the phone, or even through e-mail. Be aware that with each conversation, or even by merely thinking of someone, you left a bit of your energy behind.

Next, remember your words and thoughts and see them leaving the person and situation and returning to you.

Imagine this energy entering the crown chakra at the top of your head. Envision it as gold stardust coming into your space and filling you with renewed energy.

Quick and Easy Protection Techniques: The Shower of Light Most people wake up every morning and don’t think twice about taking a shower or bath to cleanse the physical body. Well, if you can also get into the routine of cleansing your spiritual body while in the shower, then you can start your day clearer and lighter. As you stand under the shower, close your eyes and imagine the water turning into a waterfall of white light.

See the white light flowing through your entire body from your head to your feet. As the white light flows, it washes away psychic debris and stagnant energy. This unwanted energy flows through your fingertips and toes and right down the drain. At the same time, fresh, clean, powerful energy takes its place.

As an added bonus of protection, see this white light surround your entire auric shell, sealing up any cracks and holes so that no harmful energy can intrude into your space.

The Reflective Mirror This is an exercise to do before entering a place where there may be negative energy and you want to protect yourself from people’s thoughts and feelings. Imagine that a 360-degree mirror surrounds your entire body. The reflective side points away from you and therefore shields you. When any thoughts come your way, the mirror will deflect them and they will be returned to their source.

The Cloak When you want to go somewhere and remain anonymous, imagine that you are wearing a dark-colored cloak that covers your entire body from head to toe. You will be amazed by the results. No one will notice that you are around.

The Bubble Imagine a large bubble completely surrounding you. Fill the bubble with your favorite colors, ones that represent and reflect your personality and make you feel loved. With each color, mentally say “This color protects me against any negativity that comes my way.”

The Pink Light Whenever you are concerned about someone, like your child, and want to send him or her instant protection, see the person surrounded by a pink light. The color pink represents unconditional love. By envisioning this person in pink light, you are sending him or her love and protection.

Image provided by miamiamia

The Indian Satan: Judaculla Rock

By Taylor Young My friends one night decided that they just had to see this rock with a strange name during my first year at college. Apparently, it was a very popular local attraction to go see at night, and so I came along thinking nothing of why people would want to see a rock in the night time. As we rode along the winding road listening to one of my friend’s extensive collection of opera and other songs my friend deemed vocally excellent, I noticed that the moon was bright and full. One of my friends then mentions that the rock is supposedly haunted, and I couldn’t help but think “uh-oh” as we continued towards the historic site.

That rock’s name is Judaculla Rock. When we got there, it was definitely dark. There was no real light around except from the moon and from a couple of houses a little ways away. A sign dedicating Judaculla Rock as a Cherokee historic site sat in the ground, and a wooden platform rose and surrounded the rock. I observed that this rock was ancient and a sacred part of the Cherokee culture that thrived in the area. I also did see that the rock was covered in mysterious markings and carvings, but I didn’t see an explanation as to why the rock had those carvings, nor did I hear from my friends why it was rumored to be haunted. The place was definitely quieter than it should have been, and it did give off a spiritual feel, but nothing significant really happened. One of my friends took pictures with her new fancy camera, we hung out a while, and then we drove back to their apartment. At the time, I didn’t bother finding out the possible explanations for Judaculla Rock’s carvings or hauntings, but I eventually did. The explanations for the rock’s existence are both interesting and hair raising.

According to the Cherokee, a giant named Tsul`kälû´ was the source of the carvings on this ancient artifact, and he is what Judaculla Rock is loosely named after. Loosely translated, Tsul`kälû´ means “Slant-Eyed Giant”. This giant isn’t only known for the shape of his eyes, though. He is a provider of sevens, standing at seven feet tall and boasting seven fingers and toes.

He also had an abundance of hair and claw-like nails. According to the legend, Tsul`kälû´ was very powerful and able to control the weather, particularly the elements of thunderstorms. He was in charge of all game, and the Cherokee were only allowed to hunt with Tsul`kälû´s permission. Some say that the carvings he made into Judaculla Rock were written laws for hunting, or that he either fell or hit the rock with his hand hard enough to leave his mark on the rock. Either way, Judaculla Rock has been a site for Cherokee ritual up until their forced leave during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Even early European settlers thought they saw Tsul`kälû´ while they were viewing the rock, calling him the “Indian Satan”.

Image provided by judacullarock.com

Along with the possible archaeological and historical explanations for the carvings on the rock, there are also some paranormal explanations for Judaculla Rock. According to one of the websites dedicated to Judaculla Rock, my friends and I were not the only college students who came to see the rock at night. Many local college students have used this spot for initiations, and there have also been many witnessed paranormal happenings at the site. There have been ghostly noises heard, UFOs seen, and a lot of eerie and unexplained illuminations.

“[The giant] is a provider of sevens, standing at seven feet tall and boasting seven fingers and toes.”

A paranormal investigation company, called L.E.M.U.R., came to investigate the rock, and their explanation competes with the fascination level of the Tsul`kälû´ legend. They hypothesize that the carvings are possibly the first depictions of microscopic life. They came to this conclusion because a lot of the carvings match what a lot of microorganisms look like under the microscope including amoebas, diatoms, and hydras. Since the rock is thousands of years old, this could mean that humans knew of microorganisms way before it was historically recorded. How could knowledge of microscopic life exist thousands of years ago? L.E.M.U.R hypothesizes that there could’ve been a lost ancient civilization that invented a microscope and most of their information was since lost, or a group of astronauts from another planet brought the information down from outer space.

Whether Judaculla Rock was carved on by a Cherokee giant, by an alien race, or maybe a different mysterious source all together, this historic site is definitely one to see for both paranormal and history fans. Perhaps I would’ve been keener to my surroundings if I had known about these stories and theories before visiting Judaculla.

Judaculla Rock is located near Cullowhee, North Carolina. To read the full stories and theories I mentioned in this article or to find out more information about how to visit, feel free to go to these websites below.

Maybe you can find an explanation for yourself while you’re there. http://www.northcarolinaghosts.com/mountains/judaculla-rock.php http://www.judacullarock.com/ http://shadowboxent.brinkster.net/judacullatheory.html

The Spiritual Journey of a Care Worker

By Hazel Bergman During the war when the care worker was a

young child, she had an alcove in her bedroom which had a curtain drawn across it where her mum had a statue in there. She does not recall what the statue was, but it gave her a strange feeling. She dreaded opening the curtain, but when she did so on one occasion, the statue had moved position and nobody had been in the room. At the time, this made her very nervous as this was her first occurrence with the spirit world. Not long after this event, her mother approached her to calm her down and told her not to not get troubled by things and if she did get upset to go and speak to her.

After this episode, things quieted down as if her mother had warned everything to stay away.

The next sensation that she remembered, which was in her teens, was when she was around people and she had the ability to assess their character very quickly determining their character traits.

Thereafter, she had regular events which would occur such as astral planing where she would come out of her body whilst resting and would travel around to different places and although she cannot recall where she went does remember that it was extremely restful.

She would always experience incidents where she was aware of events that would happen before they had actually occurred and could recount all the details.

Our carer’s mother was a practicing medium and was a member of the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (Belgravia). Our carer firmly believes that her mother protected her throughout.

“She would always experience incidents where she was aware of events that would happen before they actually occurred and could recount all of the details.”

On her eldest son’s 19th birthday, he was on his way to a Kent University when his car was involved in an accident. The carer was at work on night duty and could not leave; her husband made his way to collect his son and their daughter also made her way to where he was. Whilst the carer was attending a Circle, she was informed that it was not her son’s time to go on this occasion.

In June 1993, our care worker was taking some residents from the psychiatric care home she worked at to Butlins Holiday Camp in Bognor Regis just after Father’s Day. She was driving the van on this occasion when she was overcome with the smell of TCP which she was actually able to taste! She mentioned this smell to the other members of staff who were present on the van and nobody else could smell anything. The significance of this, however, is that it reminded her of her eldest son who whenever he cut himself would apply lots of TCP. On arrival at Butlins, she got out of the van to check everybody into the resort and was overcome with an extreme feeling of sadness. The next day she was very agitated and kept changing her clothing as she was not sure what she should be doing. Also, one of the residents would not come anywhere near her and would keep backing away from her.

One of the staff in the evening said she was going to telephone about her daughter to see how she was and our care worker had no intention of calling her family to see how they were at this time but kept hearing a voice in her head saying “phone now”, “phone now”.

When she did telephone her husband answered the phone and said he had some bad news and our care worker immediately said the name of the eldest son which was confirmed by her husband who said that he had died abroad.

Prior to this, her daughter was having waking dreams where she was falling from the sky and she was landing in a pink place, and the people that were there was her grandmother who had already passed away and her brother.

Our care worker received a phone call just prior to Father’s Day that year as her son had got the time zones wrong and thought that everybody would be there, but in fact it was just our care worker. He was asking how everyone was and seemed very happy.

Father’s Day was on 20th June, and the first thing her daughter asked was if we have heard from her brother, and if not why not as she had expected him to be in contact; she was very worried at this point.

“…her daughter was having waking dreams where she was falling from the sky and she was landing in a pink place, and the people that were there was her grandmother who had already passed away and her brother.”

Two days later, the police had arrived at their home and nobody was in, and rather than wait to tell them what had happened, they knocked on their neighbours’ door and told them instead. Eventually, her husband came home, and the police then knocked on the door and he was informed his son was dead.

He tried calling his wife several times at the Butlins camp and left various messages for her to call. Once he had spoken, he and his daughter who had returned from work at this stage after being called at her office to break the news made the journey to Bognor to collect her.

Her husband, who was a fire officer at the time, had been assigned as a liaison officer to assist the family during the difficult time. The liaison officer assisted with emotional support for all members and also assisted in arranging financial support to bring the sons body back.

It was a difficult time not only because of the loss but the difficulty with arranging to bring her son’s body back from the Far East.

Her daughter had come to stay for a while as she did not want to be at home alone, and nobody could sleep during this time, so the family ended up playing snooker into the small hours which was also the son’s favourite game.

The carer and the daughter both experienced the fact that there was somebody else in the room with them which was the carer’s son.

During this time, the youngest son wouldn’t sleep in his own bedroom and slept in the lounge with the daughter and actually saw his elder brother which scared him at the time as he had no idea about what was happening.

During the days and weeks that followed, she could feel herself going down a black hole of depression. One day she was semi-asleep and she experienced the fact she was standing outside of her body looking down on herself and talking to herself as a patient. She said this was the most peculiar sensation, but this is what helped her to make her way out of the mental state she was in and to start to interact with other people, even returning to work.

Prior to his death, her other son had been walking in their local town when he had pointed out to our carer a lady that was walking on the opposite side of the road and said “you are going to be needing her later on”.

Approximately nine months after her eldest son had passed away, our carer started to notice that her spiritual energy was returning and wanted to seek some spiritual guidance. She telephoned a spiritual church out of hours, and somebody answered and listened to what she had to say and said “I know who you need” and was given contact details to visit someone. A couple of days later, she went to visit the spiritual medium who confirmed small details like her gran, her grandmother and gradually built up information to the point where she confirmed that her son was present and got the connection between her son and the Far East and was confirming things that he used to do that nobody would know. After visiting this medium twice, the medium explained that although she could continue taking her money, she was not a fraudster and did not want to come across as one, but would see her at the church in a development circle and left our carer feeling more positive and put her in touch with a spiritual development group (Circle) which she attended with her other son.

“…he had pointed out to our carer a lady that was walking on the opposite side of the road and said ‘you are going to be needing her later on.’”

On the first visit to the development group, they were taught how to relax and then how to ground themselves. The group had someone who would take the group and one who would remain as a watcher to assist if anyone needed assistance.

At these meetings as it was an Open Circle there would be extra people who would come in for a meeting or to and some of these people generated some interesting events such as: - On one occasion, a lady arrived into the Circle who sat next to the watcher as this was what the watcher had requested and our carer sat two seats away. Next, they were all being taken under and then our carer experienced a hobgoblin figure coming towards her with bright red eyes which she found very unpleasant, and she also recalls that there was horrible sulphur like stench which was very overpowering. She remembers calling in her mind for her mother to come and help her. The next thing she remembers is being like a baby carried along on clouds. At this point, the watcher stopped the Circle and made sure that everyone had come out of their hypnotic state into an awakened state. At the point our carer came round, she was the last one to come to because her mother was assisting to keep her calm until the visitor had been removed from the Circle and out of the Church.

She was then asked if she was okay and was asked to recall exactly what had happened.

None of the other members of the Circle were allowed to leave for a period of time to ensure the bad entity had left the building completely. Our Carer was warned not to open herself up between visits as they did not want anything untoward to happen without anybody watching and assisting. In between this visit and the next visit the church members had investigated the visitor and found that she was dabbling on the dark side.

-On another occasion, a young girl had joined the Circle and all members had gone under then a friend of the carer who was in the group had a feeling that something was not right and saw something that was not very nice coming towards her. At this time, she received a message from the carer’s son informing her friend to “use it”. Her friend then emitted a white circle of light that encompassed the entire circle assisted by the carer’s son to protect those that were in the circle. This white light seemed to take the negative entity away with it and the friend heard this entity scream as it disappeared. At this point, the young girl became very tearful but was still sending little balls of negative entities towards her friend in particular as she had eradicated the main negative entity. Her friend could see what was happening and had to dispose of each of them as they appeared. At this point everyone was brought round and the person in charge said “I don’t know what is going on but I see blood on my hands and I did see a big white cross going round the circle”. The person in charge took the girl outside into the hallway and she never returned.

-One day, several of the group had received an invitation from one of the Circle members to attend a local working men’s club (which just happened to be where the carer’s daughter

was working) for a social evening. When they entered the bar, her daughter said to her what she was doing with that lady as she is not very pleasant which is a feeling she had had for some time; however, she was told not to worry as she was a member of the Circle. However, later on at a Circle evening at the church, the lady who her daughter did not like had been seen to talk to new people that would attend ask them lots of questions, and then in a Circle session a few weeks later would retell their stories as if she had picked this up in the Circle session. Unfortunately, she was then given the opportunity to take healing and give healing sessions even though everybody knew what she was up to and therefore as this point our carer and her friends left.

After this our carer joined another Church, which was better organised, and the people who joined seemed to be vetted, and she never experienced the same negativity as the previous group. Our carer continued with this group until she relocated to the coast. Her husband recently passed away and is now looking to pursue her spiritual journey once more with her daughter and son-in-law.

Images provided by Shuttershock and Puiu Adriana Mirabella

Listen to with Alan Cox Some recent guests include:

New York Author Celebrity Psychic Dave Ashworth!

Jesse Bravo!

UK Singer, Songwriter, Pop Star Psychic Daz Simpson!

You can also listen to Alan on Paranormal Galaxy Radio!

Listen live on Paramania Radio Thursdays at 4 pm EST

The Guinea Pig Diaries

By Penelope Rollinson

I spent the last thirteen years writing novels from ideas I received through my dreams. I experienced a lot of automatic writing in the early hours of the morning. I would either see or hear a sentence in my head and then grab a writing pad at the side of my bed to write it down. I kept my eyes closed because I didn’t want to wake up and in the morning I would be amazed to see that what I had written made complete sense. I was learning how to write. I bought manuals on writing, attended courses and wrote constantly on days off and in the evenings after work. I remember a male spirit getting exasperated with my slowness to grasp the concept of writing and I heard him sighing impatiently, I saw him inwardly and intuitively knew what he was sighing about.

In 2012 Alan Cox suggested I write the autobiography of film producer, Manny Fox. It would be a book to go with his musical A Unique Collaboration, which charted the musical relationship between Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Manny suggested I write the book in the voice of one of my animals. I got so carried away, that my guinea pig Henrietta Harriet, literally took over the pages as her story and personality emerged. I was hooked, and in the end I had to separate Manny’s book from The Guinea Pig Diaries.

At the time of writing for Manny, Henrietta Harriet had died a few months previously, giving birth. She was my beloved guinea pig and I was devastated. She visited me in her spirit form and so did her partner Hamlet when he died. Weeks later I had a visit from both of them and I often see the deceased guinea pigs King William and Mohawk running around the kitchen when all the other guinea pigs come into the house for winter. In the summer, I see them running around the hutch-runs in the garden. Henrietta Harriet is guiding me through the writing of her book and she loves to see her domineering and bossy personality coming through and how this contrasts with Hamlets calming influence.

Talking about deceased pets visiting, I had a cat called Abigail who died twenty six years ago; she was determined to stay with me and has followed me through all my changes of residence. I have seen my present cat Poppy playing with her and when I lived in London, a friend who stayed for six months, said, ‘‘You didn’t tell me you had two cats.’’

I didn’t enlighten her.

I have almost finished writing the Guinea Pig Diaries and soon I will be submitting my manuscript to different agents and publishers, with ideas for follow on books. I have attached the first part of the second chapter for your enjoyment. From this chapter you will get an insight into Henrietta Harriet’s background and how her personality developed.

When I found her in a pet shop, she was being kept in a box in a cupboard with hay and a whole carrot.

The Box When my brother and I were six weeks old we were taken away from our gentle loving mother, to live in our human’s pet shop. I wasn’t ready to leave my mother and I cried bitterly. My brother was more resilient. He was looking forward to finding a new human, who would hopefully not be another guinea pig fanatic like our human. My brother got to live in the only cage in the shop, while I had to live in a cardboard box in the cupboard behind the cash register. The cupboard had no windows and in the dark gloom there was the smell of cardboard from dusty old boxes that were dumped and forgotten.

When my human came in to look for dog nappies or fish food the dust flew everywhere and I would go into a frenzy of sneezing and coughing. How I hated that dark dusty cupboard and the box I was forced to live in! I really wanted my own cage, so I prayed for someone to buy my brother quickly. Unfortunately, no one seemed interested in him, so I spent the next six weeks of my life in that box with hay, a whole carrot, a scattering of guinea pig muesli and a bowl of water.

In the evenings, we would go home with our human and spend the night in separate hutches with all the modern conveniences of water in a bottle, china bowls for our food and a separate bedding area with fresh hay. The feeding area of my hutch was spacious and I was glad to be able to stretch my legs after a whole day in that box!

“The cupboard had no windows and in the dark gloom there was the smell of cardboard from dusty old boxes that were dumped and forgotten.”

I didn’t see my mother when I went home, even though I could smell and hear her. I missed her so much I would curl up in my bedding area and cry out for her. I heard her answering me a few times and that made me feel much better, but I still cried into my hay, longing to cuddle into her soft body.

I hated going to the pet shop everyday and living in that box with no room to run around and no bars to look out of. I used to cry out and complain to my human to tell her I wanted my carrot cut up, but she kept throwing in a whole carrot, which I hated more than I hated that box! My early weeks of guinea-pig-hood were dominated by my experience of spending so much time in that box and that’s why I became so opinionated and adamant to get what I wanted. I quickly learnt how to show my charming and appealing nature when someone I liked visited. Luckily we didn’t get any dodgy humans in the pet shop, so I didn’t have to try and frighten anyone off.

I was bored and unhappy, and to while away my time I used to plan my escape by practising being cute, charming, intelligent and highly desirable. I would walk around the box pulling faces and trying to decide which face would be the best to show any humans who were allowed to see me. Not many people saw me; I was the hidden secret.

‘Why?’’ I would cry out, ‘‘I don’t have two heads or five legs and I’m perfectly formed.’’ I knew I was perfect because my mother had told me what a pretty little girl I was and she always said how much she loved my ginger and white hair. My rear end was completely ginger and there were two splodges of ginger over my eyes and ears, the splodge on my right side went down to my mouth. I would always admire myself in the mirror in our cage by turning around and inspecting every bit of my hair, which made my mother laugh and say how vain I was. I didn’t have a mirror in the cardboard box and whenever I reminisced about my mother, it made me miss her even more and I would silently cry in the darkness. I thought about her a lot and I regretted being taken away from her and separated from my funny little brother.

The loneliness was intolerable.

“I was bored and unhappy, and to while away my time I used to plan my escape by practicing being cute, charming, intelligent, and highly desirable.”

I learnt how to become strong and determined in that box and I started demanding things from my human, not, that she took any notice. I wanted my carrot cut up, so I would cry out loudly and when she came to check on me, I would look at the carrot and put my foot on it. What did she do? She laughed and told me what an odd little guinea pig I was, and then she’d walk out to tidy the pet shop or see to a customer. Most of the customers came in to buy dog nappies, and my human bought lots of those to sell. I wanted her to buy me a cage and stop buying dog nappies, so I could be in the shop and see all the customers coming and going. Her attitude made me more determined to get what I wanted and I became even more vocal and demanding. I even began to hate dogs, those stupid animals that wore nappies! I’d never seen a dog before, but I thought they must be really ugly and a little bit scary in those nappies.

I quickly learnt that potential humans did not like it when I had accidents on them, so I learnt how to prevent my pee and pellets from escaping and spoiling their clothes. I also piled on the charm and pulled all the cute, charming, intelligent and highly desirable faces I had been practising in my box. One human asked if I had a form of guinea pig Parkinson Disease! I didn’t know what that was, but I understood it must have been something to do with the faces I was pulling, so in my box I started practising even more appealing faces and one that would stay on my face the whole time. I found my facial muscles started to ache, but I was determined to get it right and escape from that box into the arms of a loving human.

Images provided by Emma Johanasson and ania2882

I could tell when someone wanted to see me, I would hear voices by the till as my owner extolled the virtues of my brother and then I would hear, ‘‘But, I really wanted a girl.’’ Footsteps and the creaking of the door would be my queue to put on my best face.

The comments I got about my forced expression were varied, but when one woman looked in my box, she said, ‘‘She’s lovely, but why does her face look so twisted and strange?’’ My owner looked at me with an exasperated frown and retorted, ‘‘She always was an awkward guinea pig from birth, demanding things and causing trouble in the cage.’’

I was finding it hard to be appealing and attract the much needed human, so I decided to change tactics and be a grumpy foul mouthed guinea pig instead, to see how that worked. So the next time I heard the door creak open, I flexed my ears so they stood up instead of flopping over my face. I opened my eyes wide and pulled back my mouth into a forced threatening smile, which showed off my two long and very sharp front teeth. I flared my nostrils so they looked huge and held my head high. I was very emotional and tried to keep back my tears of hope that this person would want me.

When I was carried out in my box and place on the counter, the woman took one look at me and screamed, ‘‘What the hell is that!’’ I felt her rejection cut through my heart like a poisoned guinea pig claw and the tears I had been holding back ran down my face as a deep heart rending sob emerged that wracked my body and caused the woman to go into a hysterical fit of screaming. I shouted a few guinea pig swear words and as my crying and shaking got worse, she screamed, ‘‘Get it away from me, it's having a fit!’’

It is the middle of a quiet night.

I can see trees and roads because of the horizon glow.

It is a clear peaceful night.

A wave of inner bliss, good feelings.

Is the Presence my benevolence?

Or is my benevolence a result of the Presence?

Iʼm standing near a country house nestled in fertile farm land.

Iʼve traveled to this spot seemingly alone.

Then a square shouldered woman, too much pudge for her frame to manage, she flutters, wearing a simple Summer dress, appears to my left at the bottom of the stairway.

How and why I am here?

I donʼt know.

I've discovered I can fly.

How? I donʼt know.

Was I given permission?

By whom?

Is it twilight or dawn or both?

Or is it just the middle of a glowing after midnight?

Am I alone?

Flying is as simple as lifting my body.

It is fun...

Not soaring sweeping dart or diving

I AM THE FEELING

By Cyrus Yavneh

but flying off the ground, no fear of falling, higher then the tree line, joyful, flying.

It is new and easy.

Her words are rapid and sincere in tone.

Her round face with eyeglasses that catch reflective glints, exudes: almost crying, almost reluctance, almost nervous, almost anxious, about a movie, about MGM, about maybe I wonʼt get the job.

I turn to my benevolent Presence, assuming still with me and say: “Just tell them I need a job.”

Later: I wonder who was she?

Is she the fat lady who doesnʼt want to sing?

Is the Presence my inner feelings of benevolence?

Were my inner feelings of benevolence because of the Presence?

Maybe both. Does it matter?

I had the feeling.

I am the feeling.

Everything very clear in the ambient soft night illumination.

Iʼm not looking as a purpose or exploring to find.

Just walking pleasant steps and passages here and there.

Iʼm in a big room on the ground floor.

Iʼve been in before.

I feel like there is another presence with me.

Image provided by Remigiusz Szczerbak

Letter from: Grays Encounters Paranormal Firstly, we would like to thank Alan Cox, Jack Heath and Sherrie Wilkolaski for giving us this opportunity to do an article in your online magazine.

We at GraysEncounters Paranormal and 2GraysParanormal are all like-minded characters where we take the scientific approach and look for the rational explanation to all things that could be possible paranormal. On most occasions there is always a rational explanation that can be de-bunked of any strange occurrences but there are some that you just cannot explain and after going down all avenues to try to come to a conclusion you hit a dead end so then we cannot explain the phenomenon and we can only put it down to a paranormal occurrence. We all began our quest to explore the paranormal many years ago from experiencing things from our child hood seeing strange anomalies hearing strange noises a glass dining room table levitating and smashing in midair etc.

Many years ago myself and my nephew Gus Founder of 2Graysparanormal started to go on paranormal events has we was obsessed to find out and search for the truth. We took part in many of experiments with different paranormal teams and started to gain our experience within the paranormal field. Has time pasted and we gained more and more knowledge then we both decided it was the right time to start our own Paranormal Team. (2GraysParanormal was born) Our first team member was my sister Teresa Plumbe who has always had a big interest in the paranormal, not to say that when she came on investigations with us she always wanted us to take her to the loo when it was in complete darkness, and we had to wait outside the door for her with her calling out to us saying are you still there waiting for me. Today, she is a very experienced investigator and is quiet happy to walk alone in the darkness. We hosted some great events with some great experiences and started to get a nucleus of people that really enjoyed our investigations not to say all events was active because if the spookies didn't want to come and play they wouldn’t and we have to respect that. After about a year I had time out from the paranormal world due to personnel reasons but it didn't take long before I got the urge to get back into the spooky side of things. (GraysEncounters Paranormal was born) I put a paranormal team together and had some fantastic investigators join Mark Walker and Stephen Stanway to name a few and again became quite successful.

It didn't take long before it suddenly dawned on me why don't we merge the two teams has they was both doing well. I gave Gus a call and arranged to meet and go over how we could move it forward which really didn't take too long has we both had the same vision. We put a structure together and with the help of all the team members GraysEncounters Paranormal and 2GraysParanormal united for our next adventure. Within no time I managed to get an international medium/healer and author Jacqui Rogers and sensitive/healer Chris Glover to come on board to take part in our investigations. Although Jacqui and Chris are our main medium and sensitive we wanted to push the boundaries and have others that could join us when they could. I contacted My ex brothering law who is another international medium Bernard llsley which people in the USA will find the name very familiar has he tours there often. He was happier to offer to come along on an investigation if he could fit it in. Also we have other mediums Bernards sister Susan Iren Hickling Annie Conboy Jan Latham and Alan Cox which will all offer their time when they can. Then we have our teams which is based upon some very experienced investigators and some trainee investigators and some more of the spiritual side of things which we think gives a good blend to what we are trying to achieve.

People often ask “what you do on an investigation,” or “how do you get to see them or hear them or make their presences known”. In my opinion, it is very simple you have to create the energy within yourself and within the team you are working with, the best paranormal tool you have at your disposal is yourself.

Use your senses; they are more powerful then you know. You can have all the paranormal equipment in the world, which can be of very good advantage to you over the course of your investigation. Let’s take an example you are using your own senses and you hear a voice in your ear that may call a name out or some form of message and you have a evp recorder running and maybe a k2 meter next to you and a night vision camera recording your session. You have then used your best tool your senses heard it then you can go back to your equipment and hopefully validate it at a later date. Again in my opinion there is no hard and fast rule you have to comply with we are all different souls within our earthy plain so use your senses that suits you. We are all in a way on a different vibration has are spirit. I once said to Bernards and Susans Granny Edith Cole in my teens where I went most weekends to sit in a circle to try to help my understanding why is it that one minute they there the next the not. The response I got was so simple to understand and have taken that with me to this present day. She said in a calming voice think of a radio and you are listening to radio one and then you decide to tune in to radio two they are still playing music on radio one but you tuned into radio two and you had not heard it anymore. She went on to say it’s the same has spirit they are on a different wave length a different vibration and to connect you have to use your senses to tune back in. This has I said made it more understandable to me which I still use to this present day.

People regularly ask us “what is your vision in the paranormal world”; again, it’s quiet simple: Paranormal - simply means something beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation, and ghost - the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy form, haunting living persons or buildings. Yet, if we use these words in making enquiries for locations it is normally met with a sharp intake of breath, and a look of fear passing over an owner’s face. It is a fear of the unknown. If you cannot see it, yet you can smell it, sense it, hear it, then you don’t want to believe it may be a 'ghost', and you become scared. A lot of groups use this factor to install fear into their investigations, and also the power of suggestion. How many times have you been on an investigation and been told the history of the building first with all the reports of ghost sightings, this means that before you even get to room ‘a’ or ‘b’ you are expecting to see the butler, or knight in armour, or to hear the wailing of the lady in white. Think about it, suggestion is a powerful tool for motivation or fear. Paranormal investigations have taken off massively in the recent years, mainly due to programmes like “Most Haunted Tapes”, “Ghost Adventures” etc., you may be at a venue for 8 hours and get nothing, not a whisper or a draft.

You may walk into a venue and be blasted with touches, and smells and that and that creepy feeling. No one can say what may or may not happen at an event. No one can guarantee ghostly goings on.

The Paranormal field should in our opinion work together, so we feel we should be united in our quest to use all our individual talents to help others understand all that is beyond our normal senses; The Paranormal .....

Happy Ghost Hunting folks and remember to unite the paranormal world If you would like to visit our website please visit www.GraysEncounters.com Or our Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/graysencounters/

July 2014 Monthly Horoscope Provided by the Astrotwins The only thing constant in your life has been change, Cancer—and by now, you might have embraced that. On July 16, you'll wrap up a yearlong visit from expansive Jupiter in Cancer—a gamechanging cycle that only occurs every 12 years. Jupiter first sashayed into your sign on June 25, 2013, and since then, your life may have ventured down a whole new course. While sentimental Crabs aren't really known for taking a caution-to-the-wind approach, off you went on a reinvention tour anyhow.

Boundless Jupiter encourages us to take risks, and since it's been visiting your first house of personal identity, assertiveness and appearance, you haven't had much time to linger in that famous shell of yours.

Read More

July is, well, kind of a big deal for you, Libra. Two major planets—Jupiter and Mars— will change zodiac signs, and you'll feel the shift in every way! Read More.

No person is an island—not even the zodiac's solitary Mountain Goat. Capricorns are legendary for your lofty treks to the summit, outlasting all the other climbers in your quest for wisdom, accomplishment or simply to finish what you started. Read More July is a momentous month in 2014—one that could herald a turning of the tides for you.

That's because expansive Jupiter makes its annual sign change, exiting Cancer on July 16 after nesting in the sign of the Crab since June 25, 2013. Read More.

Get ready, Leo, because you're about to undergo a HUGE life change—and you are gonna love it. On July 16, expansive Jupiter will enter your sign for a full 13 months, making Leos the luckiest sign in the zodiac, and kicking off a fresh decade-plus life cycle.

Read More Loosen your collar…and your grip. The headline news this month is expansive Jupiter's annual sign change from Cancer, your group activity house—to Leo, your twelfth house of healing, endings and surrender. Read More

Get that power suit pressed and ready. On July 16, expansive Jupiter will begin a 13-month trek through Leo, your ambitious and careerdriven tenth house.

Read More.

Cue the Diana Ross, Sagittarius, because you’re coming out! Your ruling planet Jupiter is making its annual zodiac sign change on July 16, moving into fellow fire sign Leo until August 11, 2015 Read More.

Change is in the air, Aquarius. This month, expansive Jupiter will switch zodiac signs for the first time in over a year, shifting the focus on your life. Read More.

Love, sweet love! It's been a preoccupation for many Pisces for the past 12 months, as expansive Jupiter paid a yearlong visit to Cancer, your fifth house of glamour, passion and creativity. Read More.

Home is where your heart is—and if it isn't, it will be soon enough. July brings major planetary movement, when expansive Jupiter makes its first zodiac sign change in over a year on the 16th. Read More.

Shake that moneymaker, Gemini! This month wraps up a yearlong cycle of financial and career growth for your sign, where you've taken risks and leaps like never before.

Read More.

July 2014 Word Search Take the time to enjoy our first monthly word search!

Some words maybe found backwards or diagonally.

Word Bank: Paranormal Galaxy Jesse Bravo Judaculla Blue Rose Guinea Pig Open Circle

Haunting Box Hypnosis Exorcism Myth Thriller Investigation

Psychic Medium Tech Time Aura Chakra Unexplained

Chapter Excerpt: Lost Mojo By Kris Sedersten On a country road four miles north of the small farming town of Harvard Nebraska, a black Dooley pickup sat on a forgotten dirt lateral road once used by local farmers. Traffic had largely been rerouted to roads maintained by the county, in recent years, so the isolated back road was rarely used.

The truck was well hidden; tucked away, behind a wall of rogue bushes and tall, thick trees. The man in the driver’s seat yawned; patiently waiting. He glanced out toward the hilly road to his right.

His gaze automatically darting to the carefully spaced spikes he’d planted under the loose gravel a few hours earlier.

The sun was rapidly sinking in the western sky, spilling pink and orange hues across the horizon. The sharp, shiny tips of the hidden steel would soon be impossible to see in the fading light and the man smiled to himself.

A small, light colored SUV came into view and flew up the hill toward the spikes in the road, kicking up a trail of dust that blew behind it in a long billowy tail. The man in the truck smirked and the smug, self-satisfied grin slowly widened across his face while he licked his lips in anticipation.

“Let the games begin!” He whispered under his breath.

When the approaching vehicle topped the hill, the buried spikes immediately hit their intended mark. Both front tires blew at the same time, and the small Tracker jeered dangerously out of control.

Maria, the young Hispanic woman behind the wheel fought desperately to keep the car under control but it swerved from one side of the road to the other. The thick layer of loose gravel on the rough surface made it even more difficult to keep it centered between the ditches, and it slid sideways for several hundred yards before straightening up again, still fishtailing. Elia, the girl in the passenger seat screamed, clutching onto the dashboard with both hands, trying to remain upright in the seat.

The road was narrow, and the steep ditches on either side were scattered with trees and wild shrubbery. At the bottom of the hill, a narrow wooden bridge loomed in the fading light, and the driver slammed her foot on the brake pedal with full force, hoping to avoid the collision. The vehicle finally came to rest only a few feet in front of the bridge railing, and wound up situated almost sideways, dangerously close to the edge of the road.

Initially, the two teen-aged occupants were in a state of semishock. They huddled together in stunned silence, too terrified to make any movements in either direction, for fear the car would topple off of the road altogether. After unbuckling their seat belts, they hugged one another; each looking for validation that the other was safe and still in one piece. They laughed and cried at the same time, grateful to have escaped injury, or worse.

The man in the black truck watched the near-collision from his hidden spot on the hill. His plan was falling into place perfectly, and he looked on in eager curiosity; impatient for the darkness to fall. He lit up a cigarette, slowly inhaled a deep draw of smoke, and exhaled it in small bursts of perfect circles, sending smoke rings wafting in the air through his open window.

Once the girls were completely satisfied that neither was injured, they exited the Tracker to check out the damage. Both of them used the driver’s side door to avoid tempting fate by putting too much weight on the passenger side of the car that was closest to the ditch. The driver, being the older of the two, attempted to make a call for help on her cell phone while they looked over the flat tires. There was rarely good reception on the hilly country roads between the small towns in Clay County and she quickly found that this evening was no exception. Her phone was not responding.

The girls soon discovered that both front tires were obliterated, with literally nothing left of them, but random patches of black rubber clinging to the rims in bizarre patterns of torn tread. They were dismayed by the extent of the damage, realizing it would put a serious crimp in their plans for the evening.

They had no idea what they’d hit, but it was obvious that they were stranded on the gravel road for the time being, and it was getting darker by the minute, making them even more uncomfortable with their situation.

Initially conversing in Spanish, they discussed the possibility of walking the four miles back to Harvard, where they’d come from.

Neither was anxious to walk the country roads in the dark. They had an engagement in the nearby town of Giltner, where they were scheduled to sing the Gospel at a diversity delebration in the community church. But they weren’t going to make it there any time soon, and they regretted the decision to take the short cut through the country that had seemed like such a good idea some twenty minutes earlier.

Together, they searched for a spare tire in the storage compartment of the Tracker. Though neither had ever changed a flat tire before, they were desperate enough to give it a try. The daylight was disappearing and they hated the thought of struggling with the unfamiliar task in the dark, but the older girl searched through the back end of the vehicle, and located the one spare tire they had in their possession, along with a jack, and a tire iron.

Elia dug out the owner’s manual from the Tracker’s glove compartment and she scanned the material for instructions to guide them in changing the flat tires, while the darkness continued to fall. She was impatient and frustrated at not finding the information she needed. She tossed the book onto the seat beside her, and started to voice her complaints.

“I don’t see why we’re messin’ with this, Maria,” Elia said, pointing out the obvious. “Even if we can change one-a the tires, we aren’t gonna be able to drive on the other one!”

“I know that: But at least it’s givin’ us somethin’ to do besides just sit here and look stupid,” Maria snapped.” Maybe we really should just start walkin’ toward Giltner. I think there’s a farmhouse just a couple of miles down the road.”

“Not if we keep goin’ toward Giltner,” Elia argued> “There’s nothin’ forat least five miles in the direction, cept maybe a cemetery, and cornfields. None-a that is gonna help us.”

“Well, let’s head back to Harvard, then. This is getting’ ridiculous!

Whoever heard of two flat tires at the same time? How can that even happen?”

Elia looked down at her shoes, wishing she had on a good pair of tennis shoes instead of her high heeled dress pumps.

“Whatever! Let’s just do it. But my feet are gonna die in these shoes!” She smoothed out her tight fitting little black dress and sighed. “Hey, at least I still look good!”

“I’m glad I wore flats!” Maria said appreciating the conservative brown slacks and blouse she was wearing. “You always got be the diva! Maybe you’d be better off goin’ barefoot!”

Before Elia could respond, the welcome sight of headlights came toward them from over the top of the hill.

Both girls frantically waved their arms, signaling for the oncoming vehicle to stop. It was common in Nebraska for farmers and townspeople to stop and help stranded motorists on the road.

People were neighborly like that in and around Harvard. The hope of rescue was alive, and the girls were ecstatic at the renewed possibility of being on time for their debut at the church.

“Stop! Stop!” Elia yelled out to the driver of the big black truck that was rapidly approaching them. “Please stop!”

Maria joined her, jumping up and down on the side of the road. “Help!

Please help us!”

The enormous Dooley pickup pulled over to the side of the road just a few feet from the crippled Tracker. The roar of the engine quieted as the driver hopped down from the cab and joined the girls on the road.

They were immediately put at ease by the friendly stranger and his air of confidence. It was difficult to see his face in the fading light but he laughed a lot when he spoke and he was pleasant; reassuring. Then, after checking the damage, the man was certain he had another spare tire in the back of his truck that would fit their vehicle, and he insisted upon changing the tires for them; just as they had hoped.

Taking control of the situation, the stranger walked back to his truck and gathered the necessary tools. He engaged the girls in small talk while he assembled the jack and rolled a usable tire closer to the Tracker. It was indeed exactly the right size and they couldn’t believe their luck.

Elia was talkative, and she readily joked with the stranger as he worked on the first tire, while Maria slowly walked down the road; putting distance between her and the others. Being the responsible one, she was determined to let Reverend Carter at the church know why they were late for their engagement and she didn’t want anyone to worry about them. It was dark now, but she could see fairly well from the headlights of the Tracker that was perched cockeyed on the side of the road; and she appreciated that while she meandered closer to the old bridge, still trying to find reception on her cell phone.

Meanwhile, the man carefully explained each step in the process of changing the flat tire to his captive audience. Elia listened closely, grateful for the crash course in auto mechanics, taking mental notes for future reference.

He eyed her carefully while he went through the motions of preparing the tire. She was a beautiful girl with long black hair and delicate facial features. She was a little too petite for his taste, but her tiny figure looked strong and well put together just the same.

Elia was bent over the tire, concentrating on the task at hand, when from out of nowhere she felt a blinding pain in the right side of her skull. She slumped to the ground, trying to raise her arm up to hold her head and stop the agony, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Terror seized her as she felt consciousness slipping away. Awareness faded into a foggy blur, but not before she realized that the tire iron the helpful stranger still held in his hand was now covered with dripping blood— her blood—that flowed down the metal bar and melted onto the ground beside her face.

She had a fleeting thought of her boyfriend and she pictured herself safely cuddled in his arms. Then everything faded to black.

The stranger started to whistle while he bent over to scoop the girl up in his arms. He swung her limp body over his shoulder and carried her over to the back of his truck. He flipped the tailgate open with one hand and plopped her body into the truck bed. She landed with a thud on a ragged assortment of spare tires that lined the bottom of the box.

To learn more about Lost Mojo go to www.krissedersten.com.

Salem VI: Book IIChain of Souls Book Excerpt

By Jack Heath and John Thompson

PROLOGUE The girl ’s feet kicked up small puffs of dust as she walked down the dirt lane. The greens, blues, and reds of her plaid skirt seemed to pulse with every step, and the wind tossed the blazer covering her white blouse, each gust making it rise and writhe as if trying to escape the strain of her backpack straps. Her hair was dark, tied in a neat ponytail, and her face had a youthful glow that betrayed her age. She was at best thirteen, maybe fourteen.

The sky overhead was a swirl of heavy gray clouds that seemed to threaten rain, yet the path was hard and bone dry. An ancient stone wall ran along beside the lane; and beyond, the ground rose to what should have been a verdant meadow. Instead, sheep grazed on scabby brown grass that clung to the hillside.

The man looked down on the scene with growing dread.

Something was terribly wrong. He called to the girl, imploring her to turn around, to go back to wherever she had come, but his voice, barely escaping his mouth, faded into the heavy gauze of the approaching storm. He tried to run after her, but his movements were slow and restrained, like a fly trapped in ether.

This was a dream, he knew it was a dream, but through the horror of his past he understood that something about this dream was more, was real. The man cried out, screaming at the top of his lungs, but the girl kept walking.

Up ahead of her an enormous oak webbed the ground with twisted shadows, its barren limbs catching what little light there was, and deeper, beyond the edge of the shadows, was pitch black, as if some terrible secret was hiding in the darkness, waiting for the girl there—something he could feel, something he knew with all his senses was horrible beyond words, that related to another place, another girl.

Suddenly, his dream changed, and he saw the place where he had found the other girl. It was a room of white tiles with shackles set into the walls, the girl’s nude body sagging in the chains, her belly slit open and her intestines spilling obscenely, the floor pooled with blood. The young girl, the one with the backpack, was walking into the exact same fate.

John Andrews bolted awake, his body tense with panic, his heart pounding, his pillow and sheets soaked with his sweat. Beside him Amy gripped his shoulder and switched on the bedside lamp.

“John,” she said, her voice soft yet urgent. “It’s okay. You were having a dream.”

Andrews pulled up his knees and brought his head forward, balling himself up like a child hiding from the world. “The Coven,” he groaned.

“It’s over,” Amy assured him as she worked her fingers into his shoulders, trying to unknot the muscles. “They’re all dead, all of them. They can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

John tried to focus on the warm light from the lamp, the reassuring touch of Amy’s hands on his shoulders, on the words she was speaking. More than anything, he wanted to believe her and be assured the Coven had finally been destroyed.

He was safe in his bed on Pickering Wharf in Salem, Mas- sachusetts, he told himself. He wasn’t on some dusty lane in god-knows-where.

There wasn’t a girl in danger. Amy was right. The Coven was gone.

After all, hadn’t he seen the bod- ies of the leaders? There was no mistaking the fact that they were dead because he was the one who had killed them, all of them except his friend Rich Harvey, who had killed himself, and he had seen that with his own eyes, too.

It was hard to imagine that all of those things had taken place just a week earlier. Already it seemed like another life- time or another world because the discoveries had been so horrifying, the violence so unbelievable.

John knew that over the past week his mind had shut down, almost like it had been shocked into a state of suspended animation. He hadn’t thought about the Coven; he hadn’t relived the bloody scenes. He had just gone through his days with his mind almost blank, getting up, taking long walks, eating, sleeping, never allowing himself to process the atrocities of the previous weeks.

Now he realized he was starting to come out of it and re-enter the real world, and he was enough a student of psychology to know that nightmares were a natural part of reawakening. This bad dream wouldn’t be the last one, and it was probably perfectly normal.

Only something nagged at him. He remembered some- thing Captain Card said when they were alone together in the underground warrens of the Coven. John hadn’t thought about it until now, but he was sure that Card said there had been a seventh member of the Coven. Card, a Massachusetts State Police detective, had been very cryptic and tight-lipped, and the few things he had let slip seemed to have only leaked out by accident. John wracked his brain to recall what else Card had said. He recalled something about the fact that the ultimate leader of a Coven was apparently called the Inquisitor, and hadn’t Card also said that all the Covens were organized the same way?

All the Covens, plural? The word had sat in his brain for the past week like a cancer, silent and waiting to be discovered. John felt a sickness deep inside. His mind reeled and images and memories of visions past—visions of Rebecca Nurse—came flooding back. As hard as he had tried at first to deny those visions of his long-dead relative, he had finally accepted that they were real. Now the same part of him that knew Rebecca Nurse had been real knew what he had just seen was no dream. The girl was real and she was still walking, just entering the deep shade beneath the ancient tree. What waited for her there was the same evil he had defeated before; he could feel it. That meant the Coven might be gone from Salem, but it wasn’t destroyed.

John sat up and turned to face Amy. “What?” she asked, seeing the alarm etched on his face.

“It’s not over. It’s not even close to being over.”

CHAPTER ONE When John Andrews walked downstairs the next morning to make coffee, he stopped at the bottom of the staircase and looked into the living room at the portrait of his ancestor, Rebecca Nurse.

“Please talk to me,” he said, gazing up at the painting. Just like almost any portrait of a Puritan woman, Rebecca Nurse was unquestionably not pretty in her black dress with a high white collar. She sat in a rocking chair working on a piece of embroidery as her unsmiling face gazed out of the portrait.

Until very recently, John had hated the portrait, which had come as part of the furnishings of the house he’d inherited from his great aunt. His aunt’s one condition on giving him the house had been that Rebecca’s portrait had to remain hanging in the house. For years John had never understood his aunt’s reasoning, but he had honored that condition, hanging the portrait out of sight.

He used to joke that Rebecca Nurse had been “as ugly as a Rottweiler with a sore ass,” but that was before the spirit of Rebecca Nurse helped him avenge the murder of his late wife.

Until a few weeks ago, John Andrews would have scoffed at the idea of spirits, and when Rebecca first appeared to him, he had feared he was losing his mind. However, after the events of the past few weeks, his cynicism, or what he might have called his reporter’s skepticism, had been totally demolished. He no longer had any doubt spirits existed or that they could communicate with the living, or, for that matter, that Devil worshippers had been living around him in Salem.

It turned out the Coven had operated in Salem for the past three hundred years and been responsible not only for the Salem witch trials, of which Rebecca Nurse had been the final victim, but also for countless blood sacrifices over the intervening centuries. John Andrews knew he was a man whose sense of certainty about everything in life had been badly weakened.

In fact, he now acknowledged that the spirit of Rebecca Nurse was the reason he had survived the events of the past month. She had been the key to unlocking the Coven’s foul secrets and had shown him the secret door that allowed him to attack them in their underground lair. In so doing she had opened him up to the mystical or spiritual power—whatever it had been, he still had no idea what to call it—that had allowed him to kill the leaders of the Coven. As a result, John had moved Rebecca’s portrait and it now hung where it belonged, in the place of highest respect and visibility in his home, right above the mantelshelf.

Having spent his professional life as a journalist, Andrews had been armored with a heavy sense of skepticism and doubt that would have made it nearly impossible for anyone to convince him of the things he had now experienced personally.

These days he not only believed that the spirits of the dead could communicate with the living, he actually missed having that communication and wished Rebecca Nurse would continue to guide him as she had in the days when they struggled together against the Salem Coven. However, as if their victory over the Coven had somehow released her spirit to go wherever spirits went when they were at peace, Rebecca Nurse remained silent as she had in the days following Andrews’s final battle with the Salem Coven.

Andrews stood in front of the painting for another few seconds.

“Not talking to me again today? You even there any more, or have you gone on permanent vacation? Not that you don’t deserve a permanent vacation, of course, after every- thing that happened to you. I hope you’re someplace with palm trees and a nice beach and people to bring you those little drinks with umbrellas in them. And no offense, but I hope you can finally get out of those heavy black clothes, maybe get some shorts and sandals.” Finally, he shrugged, knowing anyone who overheard him would think he was absolutely nuts, and he went to the front door to bring in the morning papers. He grabbed The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, tossed them onto the counter, went to the coffeemaker and hit the on button then went back, pulled the papers from their plastic tubes and started scanning the morning headlines.

He always read The New York Times first and skimmed over the paper’s descriptions of disasters and conflicts around the world: another battle in Afghanistan, a car bombing in Iraq targeting Shiites, flooding in Thailand, a riot over growing unemployment in Spain. Strangely, when Andrews read world events, he actually found they relaxed him. At least these were straightforward things that happened month in and month out, year after year. A man could deal with wars and famines and floods, he joked to himself, but not with Satan-worshipping Covens doing blood sacrifices in his own backyard.

As the aroma of brewing coffee filled the kitchen Andrews started to feel better, and his memory of the nightmare that had awakened him a short time earlier faded from his memory. That was when he turned the page and saw the article about a drought in Great Britain. Something about it nagged at him, and he saw the girl from his dream again, her foot- steps kicking up small puffs of dust. The dream’s setting with the rural lane, the stone wall along the road, and the grassy hillside with herds of sheep had been so quintessentially British, all except for the dryness.

The other thing that troubled him was that he had been so preoccupied recently with matters closer to home he didn’t think he’d even been aware the U.K. was suffering a drought.

So why would he have dreamed it? Was it just some massive coincidence? Did the dream mean something, or was it simply a bad dream? He couldn’t shake the feeling it actually meant something, and the whole thing gave him chills.

He stepped over to where he had his cell phone on the charger to look up the number for Captain Andrew Card. Card was a Massachusetts State Police detective John had taken down into the warren of underground passages in order to show Card where he had fought and killed the leaders of the Coven.

However, when they had reached the room where the fight took place, John had been shocked to find that the dead bodies and all the other evidence had been removed. As stupefied as John had been, Card had seemed unsurprised, and that was when he had let slip the fact that he knew far more about the Covens and Devil worship than he had previously admitted.

John had tried to call Card several other times since they’d discovered the bodies were missing, but Card had never returned his calls. John assumed the detective was extremely busy, and that he’d also probably assumed John wanted to talk things out, rehash what had happened and ask a lot of questions Card might be unwilling to answer.

Still, those questions had been eating at him. How much more did Card know? Why wasn’t he willing to be more forth- coming? John needed answers, not only because the journalist inside him craved information, but also because what he had said to Amy earlier in bed was true. It wasn’t over. He felt it in his guts like an essential truth, but he couldn’t say why.

He needed someone who knew more than he did to help him understand, but there was no doubt in his mind the danger still existed. It wasn’t as close as it had been, but it was out there in the darkness. His nightmare had been a reminder of that truth, but was it more? Was it an omen of something in the future or a warning he should act on now? He needed to know these things. As foolish as he might sound recounting all this to anyone else, he was willing to take the risk, and Card was the only person John could think of to call.

Card’s cell phone rang until a recording asked John to leave a message.

“Andrew,” John said, leaving another message. “I had a dream last night and . . . look, I know this sounds totally hysterical, but I’m pretty sure I was seeing a girl who was about to be taken by the Coven. But it wasn’t this Coven; it was a different one, someplace else.

Maybe in England, but I can’t be certain. It looked like England, but it could have been a lot of places. I don’t know who else to tell this to.

Please call me.”

To learn more about Chain of Souls go to www.salemwitchtrilogy.com.

Jack Heath is the host of NH Today, New Hampshire’s only live afternoon radio talk show, and cohost of Sport Legends of New England with Bob Lobel, which can be seen throughout New England. A direct descendant of Rebecca Nurse, the last person to be tried and hanged during the Salem witch trials, and Ann R. Putnam, one of her accusers, his first novel, Salem VI, is an altogether modern take on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

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Salem VI: Book II Chain of Souls Weeks after Salem newspaper editor John Andrews avenges his wife’s four-year-old cold case murder, he’s thrust into the mayhem of another mystery. The Coven, who’s kept tight their secrets of power and blood-lust for centuries, is bent on silencing Andrews. Though his nightmares tell him otherwise, he’s willing to keep things under wraps until there’s proof— he’s a newsman after all. But when the Coven kidnaps his daughter, Andrews must further reveal Salem’s murky past—his daughter’s life depends on it.

As the Coven’s onslaught continues and the body’s pile up, good souls and bad, Andrews learns that Salem isn’t the only place controlled by the Coven.

It’s an international organization on a dark mission with an even darker past. And so begins the witch-hunt.

See the book preview in the July edition of Paranormal Galaxy Magazine!

salemwitchtrilogy.com