Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side by Barbara Parks (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📗

guests in one sitting instead of the usual groups of four. I had no idea whether the loss of intimacy would be detrimental to spirit contact and I was curious to find out.

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118Laurie

The plan was to begin the evening with dinner, after which

we would convene in my downstairs family room and invite

the spirits to join us. My psychic friend, Paula would com-

mence proceedings by doing readings for our guests.

She began by methodically reading each person in turn,

but there was one impatient spirit who simply refused to wait.

Paula’s physical discomfort became evident as she put her

hand to her throat.

“Someone’s passed from suicide … something to do with

the throat.”

She looked towards a group of women seated on the

lounge.

“Has this gentleman come with any of you?”

Suicide victims are often the strongest and quickest to

come through and this evening was no exception. The spirits

of those who have prematurely ended their lives are invariably surrounded by an aura of intense emotion, as I suspect they

are enveloped in sorrow and regret. They are often eager to

contact their loved ones; to make amends and offer comfort

with the assurance that they’re OK.

My friend, Lane identified her Uncle Laurie immediately.

Laurie had passed just a month earlier, a seemingly spur of the moment suicide which saw him put a gun barrel to his mouth.

Lane’s grief was still very raw and she excused herself and

went into the kitchen. I gave her a minute or so and then fol-

lowed her upstairs. Lane was crying, shaking from the inten-

sity of her heartache and shock.

“I felt him put his hand on my shoulder,” she said tearfully.

“Barbie, he was really there!”

Lane has often displayed mediumistic abilities, so it didn’t

surprise me that she felt Laurie’s presence so strongly. Lane

was ordinarily at ease with the presence of spirits, but the

Laurie 119

rawness of her grief had taken the experience to a new and

intense level. I suggested that if she wasn’t comfortable with Laurie being so close, that she ask him to step back a little. I assured her that he’d understand.

“No, it’s fine,” said Lane. “It was just a bit of a shock …”

Lane remained in the kitchen for a little while longer, whilst I returned to the group downstairs. She later told me that

she stayed behind to speak to Laurie. Contrary to what I had

expected, Lane didn’t want Laurie to ease up at all, in fact she had asked him to provide her with some solid proof of his presence. She asked Laurie to give her an unmistakeable sign that he was really there beside her. She wanted to be convinced.

Once Paula had completed the readings, it was time to

work with the table. We decided to work in groups of four,

swapping the sitters every few minutes so that everyone could

experience the phenomenon for themselves.

Paula began the table tipping with a breathtaking display.

The table skittered repeatedly across the floorboards, buck-

ing and rocking as if it had suddenly come to life. Those

who hadn’t experienced table tipping before were awestruck,

almost unable to comprehend the scene playing out before

them.

It was a hard act to follow, but Laurie made sure that my

table tipping session was equally memorable.

I began with the usual prayer of protection and invited the

spirits to make themselves known to us. Using my pendulum,

I asked if I was speaking to my spirit guide. The answer was a strong and categorical NO.

I was informed that I was speaking to a spirit who had

come with one of my guests. Of course I suspected it was Lau-

rie right away, but proceeded to list the names of my guests in 120Laurie

turn, asking if he had come with them. Each name was met

with a no, until I asked if he had come with Lane.

The pendulum began to transcribe big, strong circles; the

signal for yes.

When I asked if I was speaking to Laurie, the circles

became even larger, so I encouraged Lane to come and join us

at the table.

After answering some questions which confirmed that we

were speaking to Laurie, he told us he was eager to try and

make the table move. He said he wasn’t sure if he would be

able to do it, but was certainly keen to try.

Fingers poised lightly on the tabletop, I invited Laurie to

see what he could do. The vibrations coursing through the

wood came through almost immediately; a promising sign! A

moment later the table lifted up on one side, tipping straight into Lane’s lap.

Laurie’s effort was met with encouraging whoops and

clapping from those standing around us. The energy in the

room felt electric. The table returned to its starting position for a brief moment, after which it lifted up once again, tipping back towards Lane. As impressed as we were, Laurie was

about to take things further.

Suddenly from behind me, I heard the sound of glass

breaking. My first thought was that someone had knocked a

glass over. But the wide-eyed expressions of those before me

quickly dispelled this idea, as it was evident that something

incredible had just happened.

I turned to see that the candle holder had spontaneously

broken, a large piece of its glass casing had sheared off and was lying beside it. The candle itself continued to innocently flicker.

I picked up the holder to examine it, searching for a plau-

sible explanation for the spontaneously breaking glass. I won-

Laurie 121

dered if perhaps the glass had gotten too hot, but of course the glass was designed to be heat proof. The wick itself was

leaning away from the side that shattered, thereby dispelling

my initial theory that it had simply overheated.

It was at this point that Lane told us about her request in the kitchen; and how she had asked her uncle to give her an unmistakeable physical sign. It seems Laurie was happy to comply. It was an incredible conclusion to an emotionally charged night!

When going through the photographs after my guests had

left, I came across a photo taken shortly before the candle holder broke. Hovering just above it is a beautiful, iridescent orb. Could it have been