This category of metaphysical events involves the spirit-energies that all living things posses. Normally, upon the death of an individual, their spirit rejoins with the Goddess, where it finds peace. However, if for any reason it does not, it may remain at some Earth-bound location where it can be seen or felt by ordinary people.

Observations of such spirits are an old and well known phenomena. In many cases the individual can be identified, and it can be confirmed that they died some time ago. To try to describe the phenomena in scientific terms, we might say that the energy of their thought-patterns continues to exist, independently of their physical bodies, and can manifest itself in various ways.

There seem to be two main types of phenomena which are observed... apparitions and interactive spirits. An apparition is like a recorded event, which is being replayed. It may be auditory, visual, or just a mere feeling. It may be perceived during consciousness, or perhaps only during dream-state. The basic idea is that some sort of a scene plays out, in the same way each time, and the observer is not involved nor able to interact with it. Some common terms used for this are "impressions" or "residual energies".

Let's discuss the subject of the apparitions first. I have found that these energies are usually attached to some material object, such as a room of a house, a chair, etc. Often the object was near to the person at the time of their death. I will give two examples of such objects that I have personally encountered... one was a bell, which had been cast from the bronze of melted down civil war cannons, and the other was a rifle, which had once been used to murder a group of native people, in South America.

The case of the bell began innocently enough. As an antique collector, I decided that an old hand-bell, of the type used by school teachers to summon children back from recess, would be a desirable thing to have. I located one, and purchased it. It seemed a bit strange at the time that the owner was very eager to get rid of it, and for a very low price... but I paid no attention to that, at the time.

When the bell arrived I looked it over and saw nothing unusual about it. I put it on a display table in the living room, and later that night I went to bed as usual. In the early hours of the morning I was startled awake by the sound of screaming and gunfire, coming from the living room. I got up and looked, but of course there was nothing to be seen. Although I was very disturbed, I assumed it must be a bad dream and went back to bed.

The next night the same thing happened again. Very loud and frightening screams and gunfire awoke me, coming from the living room. Again, I assumed that it was a nightmare, and returned to bed. Finally, on the third night, I remained in dream-state for a little longer... and this time, in addition to the screaming and gunfire I was able to see the events. It was some sort of a battle. I recognized the uniforms as civil war era. There was a charge in progress and men were being shot down right and left. The dream lasted only for a few moments, but it was enough for me to identify the cause of the screaming and shooting.

As I considered the matter, I remembered that the bell was received on the same day as these dreams began. I examined the bell more closely, and found that it wasn't brass, as I had originally thought. It had a very peculiar greyish shade to it. I began to do some research and found that only one type of metal has that appearance. It is a special alloy of bronze called "cannon bronze" or "gun metal". It has a very high hardness and was quite expensive to make, compared to regular brass or bronze. That accounted for the fact that the bell also had an exceptionally sharp ring.

Next, I discovered that most of the cannons used in the civil war had been made of this particular alloy. It was only near the end of the war that steel cannons first appeared, which were lighter and cheaper to make. After the war ended, the military proceeded to replace all of the old bronze cannons with steel ones, and sometime around 1870-1880, by an act of congress, it was decided to use the old cannons to make "memorial objects"... primarily bells and candlesticks.

The initial proclamation stated something to the effect that the cannons were to be re-cast into "bells to ring out freedom, and candlesticks to light the path of peace". The melting down and re-casting process continued until about 1920, when the last cannon was consumed. It was turned into a plaque which was made for a civil war veterans monument.

At the time I purchased the bell, I had absolutely no knowledge of it's true nature, which clearly rules out any possibility that what I perceived was merely a result of the "power of suggestion". In fact, I would never have known that the bell was made from civil war cannons, if the active metaphysical energies had not been present. Furthurmore, the fact that the cannons had been re-cast into bells demonstrates that the object need not be present in it's original form.

The final disposition of the bell is another interesting matter. I decided to perform a "passage of spirits" ritual, and began by ringing the bell. When I reached the point where the portal is opened and the Great Mother is prepared to receive the spirits of the dead, I felt something like a strong wind blow through the room... yet the windows were closed at the time. Of course I can't say what the source of the wind was, but the bell is still in my possesion, and it appears to no longer have any spirit-energies attached to it.

The case of the rifle also began in an innocent way. I was visiting a friend who collected old firearms, and he told me that he had just bought a nice specimen, very inexpensively. It was one of the early 20th century German-made contract rifles, originally produced for various governments of South American countries. These rifles were very commonly found in the 1980's, as they had been replaced with modern ones and were sold off cheaply as surplus.

I agreed to take a look at it, and he brought it into the room and handed it to me. Immediately the experience began. I was able to both see and hear the events, during consciousness... in other words, a "waking vision". It was fairly brief. A group of soldiers were hiding in the tress, on a hillside overlooking a village of native people. Then they began firing down on them, and the people began to scream and run. The vision was accompanied by a profound feeling of horror and disgust which is simply impossible to describe.

I have handled many of these surplus rifles before, but never had any sort of similar experience with them. Of course in this case it was impossible to verify that the events I perceived were genuine, or exactly when or where they may have occured.

Interactive spirit-energies are similar to apparitions. Although I have not had as much personal experience with them, I think it's safe to say that the number of incidents which have been reported makes it fairly certain that it does occur. The main quality which distinguishes these events from apparitions is that the spirit clearly perceives the observer, and engages in behaviors which demonstrate an active consciousness.

The spirit may do such things as touch or push the observer, or attemp to speak or gesture to them. Objects may be moved, doors open or close, and there have even been cases where the spirit has lead the observer to a concealed grave where their murdered body was found... as if asking for help, or demanding justice.

It seems that spirits generally remain near the place of death. They are most often found in old houses, sanitoriums and insane asylums, structures built over old graveyards or Native American burial grounds, and on battlefields.

Traumatic death is often involved. For that reason, most people are usually very uncomfortable with the subject, and simply want to get rid of the spirit. Very seldom is any compassion shown for the deceased, which is what I consider to be the greatest mistake in how these events are viewed and dealt with.

Unfortunately, I have not had a well enough researched experience with interactive spirits to present as an example. However, a person who I know and trust has related a case which I will include here, for your consideration...

A teenage girl living in a southern state awoke one night to find a thin, pale man in confederate uniform standing in the corner of her room. She asked him who he was, and he simply smiled, tipped his cap and then disappeared. She thought perhaps she had dreamed it, and went back to sleep.

A few weeks later the soldier reappeared, during the evening, in the living room. He introduced himself as Michael, and explained that he had come from South Carolina, and was here to fight the yankees. He could remember fighting around the area he was in now, and being very cold right before going to sleep. He said that when he woke up, his friends were gone, and nobody could see him any more.

The girl told her father about the soldier, but he called her a liar and said such things did not exist. The girl and her mother then did some research, and were able to turn up some records which showed that during the first winter of the Civil War, a small troop from South Carolina had indeed been in the area, although there was no mention of any names or deaths. They also found out that it was a rather harsh winter... and in an old cemetery they found the graves of some soldiers who were not from the area, including one which was dated about right.

The girl spoke with the soldier a few more times before she eventually got married and relocated. She described his image as fairly solid, but a bit vague around the edges. She also mentioned that the room would get slightly chilly and felt slightly smaller when he was there.

One night, about 6 months later, her father telephoned. He was distressed, and said that he was sorry, and that he had been wrong. He said that he was sitting on the edge of the bed getting ready to go to sleep for the night when he felt the bed indent beside him. He looked over and there sat the soldier. He described the soldier perfectly, including the details of his uniform, his hair and eye color, and general physical characteristics.

The soldier had introduced himself, and told him that his daughter "was not insane and not making me up, you know", and then disappeared. The girl had never given her father any details about the soldier, yet his description of the man matched perfectly with what she had also seen.

When my friend provided me with this story, I asked her if she could find out anything more, that might help to identify the soldier. She contacted the local Historical Society, and found that they had recently discovered some medical records from that time period. One of the documents was the death certificate of a soldier from Charleston, South Carolina. His name was Michael, and he had indeed frozen to death in the area, during the Civil War.

This particular example of an encounter with an interactive spirit energy serves to illustrate a number of interesting points. The soldier was able to see, hear and converse in a normal manner. He appeared to have a fairly substantial body, and looked much as he had at the time of death. He was not hostile, and seemed only moderately concerned about his present condition. Since he had frozen to death, he was essentially unaware of what happened at the time... which may explain why he did not rejoin with the Goddess in the normal manner.

If we consider that all people are children of the Goddess, whose spirits are intended to return to Her at the time of death, then in cases where that does not occur, some help is needed. I believe that it is the duty of our clergy to assist those spirits to rejoin with the Goddess so that they may find peace. Therefore, unless it is apparent that a spirit is acting in the service of the Goddess, and needs more time to complete their mission, then we should take decisive action to rejoin them to Her, for their own safety.

It should be noted that spirit-energies which are more than 300 years old are seldom seen... indeed, most are less that 100 years old. Perhaps they eventually do rejoin with the Goddess, either through a conscious act, or because She simply takes them. On the other hand, their energy could dissapate until they are no longer capable of manifesting in human form... or they may cease to exist entirely.

There are some even more disturbing possibilities... perhaps their energy is fed upon by a hostile entity... or worse yet, they may be transformed into something which is no longer recognizable as human, and enslaved by a hostile entity for their own purposes.

Furthur information pertaining to hostile entities is reserved for senior members of the temple, and those preparing to join our clergy.