Children are natural mediums and tend to see more than most adults do. Pets are excellent at seeing spirit activity as well. Not all spirits are negative or scary. Many are relatives looking in on us to see how we are doing. There are also instances of spirit guides and angels that are there for us as children or adults when we ask for help. A great way to identify these helpful beings is that they will never intrude in our lives or be intentionally scary.
Intelligent Ghosts and Hauntings: Typical hauntings occur in places with a lot of history, but that is not always the case. Ghosts can manifest anywhere. Ghosts or trapped souls with unfinished business may fall into the unwanted spirit category, when they try to interact, demand our attention, scare us us into leaving or keep us from sleeping they become a problem. There are cases of spirits that seem helpful at first, but then start to become scary or drain you or your child’s energy. In these cases, they will need to be cleared out of your lives. See “Helping Children Bothered by Unwanted Spirits”.
Residual Hauntings: frequently these hauntings are neutral. This type of haunting will replay a ghostly action over and over again, more like a TV show that repeats like clockwork. There will be no interaction with the living (other than you witness it). After no harm is experienced often the living will adopt a “live and let live” approach to this situation. It can feel frightening, but not harmful. My sister and I experienced this type of residual haunting in a Motel room. We both woke up suddenly were shocked to see a man hovering above the bed. My sister said she couldn’t see his legs, I saw an old wrought Iron elevator surrounding him. I wondered if the Motel had been remodeled and the old elevator shaft was where the beds were now. This apparition absolutely didn’t notice us at all and was probably replay of the old elevator operator still doing his job. I wonder how many other people have had this same experience at this Motel.
Angels: In a few instances I have experienced a very soft warm loving energy cloud around people going through a rough time. I really feel that these are angelic beings that are very comforting and loving. One experience was around a friend from high school who was pregnant and divorcing a man who was a mistake. Her parents were old school and not at all happy about the situation. My friend was miserable and every time I was over to visit her, I saw this white, warm sparkling cloud-like being that felt like pure, love. I experienced this angelic being until a few months after the baby was born. I’m sure this angelic being was there for the baby through the stressful pregnancy and living situation.
Spirit Guides: These beings seem to choose and mentor us. We usually have more than one. They will help us with different aspects in our life. One may help you with personal relationships and another may help you in school or your career. They are a type of teacher for us. I know of a couple of instances where a Guide gave a warning about a dangerous situation.
The following is an example of a helping Spirit Guide. This happened to my good friends daughter when she was 14 year old. She is a wise old soul, even then, at her young age. Brittany woke up in the middle of the night and saw an Indian standing beside her bed. We all talked about it and she realized that he was there to help her. She asked him not to show himself to her, telling him that it made her nervous. I have seen him around her since then, but he has honored her wish. I’m sure if she ever wanted to see him, he would appear again.
Deceased Loving Relatives: When Brittany’s older sister was 3 years old, she used to see her Grandfather appear in her room at night. She told my friend that he was waking her up. The same thing worked like a charm. She asked him to not wake her up. When he realized it was disturbing her sleep, he stopped showing himself to her. This is a really good way to know that the guide or deceased relative is just checking in and showing loving interest and guidance. They will not ignore your wishes and wellbeing. Nothing to be alarmed about!
Sometimes the interaction is so subtle and loving that the child is not even aware of it. This happened to my mom who now lives in Oregon. She was looking at old family photos with my aunt Mary about 15 years ago. As they went through the album, they saw a photo of their great grandmother. My mom was born in Chicago and lived in that area up until she was 5 years old. In that time period, my mom’s parents would have Sunday dinners with my grandmother, Margaret’s family at my great grandmother, Salina’s farmhouse in Kentucky. My mom remembered playing and having a great time with my aunt and her brother up stairs. Their great grandmother smoked her pipe and kept an eye on them as they played. (Just the pipe smoking alone would make an impression.) All those years later while looking at the photo, my mom asked my aunt why their great grandmother never came down stairs and sat at the table with them for Sunday dinner. My mom thought that maybe she was disabled and couldn’t get down the stairs. My aunt was pretty startled and told my mom that their great grandmother had died two years before my mom was born! My mom was also startled and admitted that she had never before thought to ask about it. In all of that time, she had no idea it was their great grandmother’s ghost watching them play. It still gives me goose bumps.
This example of my mom’s great grandmother is the type of spirit that usually will not cause fear. She seemed to be doing what a great grandmother would do and watching over the children. Normally kids won’t have any trouble with this type of guardian spirit. Another interesting aspect to this is that my aunt never saw her, while my mom did. Maybe their great grandmother Salina knew it would frighten my aunt Mary and not my mom?
These beings are in and around our lives whether we see them or not. Our bodies tend to react with fear when we first see something out of the ordinary. Just know that our Guides and Angels want to help and will protect us from the negative energies. Just ask!