Once we’re able to recognize the energies around us, we have a responsibility to assist those in need.
Spirits may be in our realm for many reasons, including visiting loved ones or traveling to sites that hold fond memories. Some may be here seeking closure or help to cross over.
One of my favorite historical ghost stories is that of Miles Faucett, who hung around after his death. His energy was very active in the basement where his body had been buried until the couple that murdered him was convicted and executed. (See my post: Unfinished Business)
Others—probably the majority I’ve met—seek acknowledgment. The dancing ghost at the Washoe Club (see post: Dancing with the Ghosts). The teenager from the Goldfield Hotel who followed me home and the entity that levitated a remote control in Frank Sinatra’s old cabin at the Cal Neva Lodge (both stories are from a “A Reluctant Spirit). And, a crossed-over friend who played my old music box. They’re reaching out to let us know they survived physical death.
By Maurizio Sartore, freeimages.com
But there are some who are stuck in our dimension. And these are the ones who desperately seek our help. Rabbi ElizaBeth Beyer told me about the Baal Shem Tov, a rabbi from the late 1700s, who regularly assisted other worldly visitors to the Other Side. By some accounts, Baal Shem Tov helped thousands of entities. A noble calling.
I’ve had several encounters of this kind, and the first one left me incredibly saddened because I didn’t know how to help. In 2008, I participated in a séance at the Miner’s Cabin in Gold Hill, Nevada. A teenage boy who’d died suddenly during the 1869 explosion in the Yellow Jacket Mine was channeled by the attending medium. Inhabiting her body, he leaned in close to me and asked me to help him go where he needed to go. Shaken and shocked, I responded, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.” Afterward, I prayed he would be helped to the light, but it felt horrible to have let down this desperate soul.
Over the years, I’d watch others guide energies to the Other Side. I’d merely play the role of the witness, thinking I needed to gain a supernatural power that would qualify me to take an active role.
Then it occurred to me that we all have access to the biggest super power of all: God. All we have to do is ask the Supreme Being for help or to send divine emissaries to escort a spirit to move on.
This year, I had the honor of serving one spirit. During an investigation in Sutter Creek, I used dowsing rods* to reach out to unseen energies.
I encountered a woman who said she hadn’t crossed over because she was ashamed of her past. This time, I knew I could help. And, surprisingly, it came quite naturally. I explained how God was the ultimate source of unconditional love and that he was waiting for her. I encouraged her to follow the light. I prayed to the Most Supreme Being to help her travel to the heavens.
I felt her energy leave the room.
Later that evening, I received validation. When I was washing up before going to bed, a woman’s face flashed in my mind and I heard her voice say, “Thank you.”
There’s no big secret to helping a spirit. We can encourage them to move to the light. We can pray with them. We can enlist the assistance of angels to guide them to the heavenly realm.
But to do this, we must be aware of the spirits around us. We need to investigate in ways that allow us to know what’s going on at that site while we are there, whether it’s through conducting short EVP bursts—one- or two-minute recordings that we immediately play back in that room, having a talented medium as part of your team, or using dowsing rods.
Have you assisted a spirit in need? If so, please share your story with us.
*A dowsing rod is an easy, non-technical way of getting yes/no answers from spirits. You hold the wands steady and ask questions. You instruct the ghost to cross the bars for “Yes” and to open them wide for “No.”