We all grow up hearing stories about ghosts, haunted houses, and other scary stories but rarely do we consider the reason behind these occurrences. The most common and widely held belief is that they are the souls of people who refuse to cross over into the next plane of existence. Psychic charlatans (e.g., Sylvia Browne, etc) make a substantial amount of money claiming to communicate with such entities that have not transitioned over. Though I do not doubt some may have had personal encounters with people who have deceased, I remain highly skeptical of those who claim to communicate with the dead.
What are ghosts?
Many esotericists, specifically Rosicrucians, hold the belief that upon being born we take our first breath, and only then does our soul personality enter our physical body. Furthermore, as the true nature of the universe is based on the principle of progression, we have thus have ‘preselected’ our current life situation in order to obtain some level of learning in order to progress into a higher state. This is not to say we must completely abide by any such experience, yet alone predetermined fate, but rather through our freewill, exercise the full extent of our potential in order to experience the trials and lessons that may lay ahead. Within the living state of being there are three parts; the soul, the spirit (or astral body), and the physical body. Within esoteric traditions the subject of the soul is a very complex topic in itself and many hold the belief that the soul represents an individualistic consciousness. This consciousness is separate from any other, however, similar to Christmas lights strung along a long wire, it is only activated through an underlying force or energy, sometimes referred to as cosmic consciousness (which both activates and unites all things). Lastly, the spirit, in itself is a shell for the soul within the body, it is what emanates force or glows. The composition of this spirit shell consists of impressions that are remnant of the soul consciousness from within the body. Thus, the physical body is a vessel in which the soul occupies and brings into being the spirit.
When it comes to the time of death, or transition for a person, the soul immediately passes back into its original collective plane of consciousness (or the divine astral) and the body begins to decay. However, what might linger on is the spirit. The spirit, being only a shell, maintains many of the impressions left by the soul such as memory, ego, and to some extent lower-personality traits. So, contrary to what many may believe it is the spirit that still may remain, and not the soul (because this would be contrary to the evolutionary progression of the soul). If a person has lived a fair and balanced life, exercising love and peace, then the spiritual shell decays. However, if a person has lived a life maintaining lower ‘animalistic-level’ feelings such as hatred, sadness, spite, grief, etc, then the spirit shell maintains an almost independent quality. The negative attributes of the ego maintain this shell and refuses to dissipate. Various factors hold the spirit prisoner in this reality, such as refusing to let go of possessions, or even refusing to accept death. Human ignorance during the person’s life becomes the only factor attributing to so-called ghost or paranormal phenomena. Over time it too will decay regardless, but it will do everything in its power to prevent this from happening.
The spiritual shell will try and make the body become reanimated again, but over time it will start to feel its own intelligence weakening, its memory gradually vanishing, and slowly it too will vanish. It is not an independent entity, but rather a reminiscent of its former lower-self. Activities that the person use to engage in (such as vices or violence), will once again take shape. There is nothing of spiritual value, but rather just disintegration. All ghostly phenomena are attributed to this shell left over from the individual. In some instances these spirits are seen manifested vividly as any other living human, however, this is due to the collection of energy it has gathered in order to become manifest. In other instances, they are seen to communicate with people, this again is due to its refusal to dissipate and gathers energy in order to make itself once again ‘be alive’. It is not completely conscious, rather only acting on lower-level instincts.
Many people become slaves to this shell. Needing energy to exist, it will do everything in its power to deceive people and to obtain their energy. Many people upon discovering unusual activity in their homes will become frightened, this fear translates to energy and only fuels the shell, thus creating a self-perpetuating ebb and flow. An analogy may be drawn between these entities and people alive today known commonly referred to as ‘psychic vampires’. These people (even on a subconscious level) have a strong desire to draw out energy from those around them. In some instances you might feel weak after talking to a certain person, or even so much as standing next to them. This is in part due to an internal need to obtain living energy from others to fuel their own desires. This ego-driven exchange may be to feel accepted, wanted, or to be the center of attention and they feed off of it. Similarly, the ‘ghost’ or spirit shell, will act in much the same way as a ‘psychic vampire’. They need to be noticed, they will do anything to become noticed, and once they have your attention you become hooked. Should you ever find yourself in such a similar situation, I strongly suggest to completely close yourself off from any such involuntary exchange.
A few curious-minded individuals have been known to attempt necromancy or conjure up spirits via an Ouija board. I highly speak against this. In almost every instance that a spirit manifests, it is a lower-level consciousness that will thrive on your living energy. For example, when a person plays the Ouija board, they allow any number of these beings to come in direct contact with you. These are always lower consciousness entities that have not fully developed. As mentioned before, they will do everything in their power to obtain your attention by deceiving, giving half-truths, or even through acts of aggression. By directly feeding these entities they might find that getting rid of them would be harder than imagined. Some people throw away the Ouija boards hoping to end the communication, but the doors have already been opened.
Occultist View
19th century French occultist Eliphas Levi once wrote “when one creates phantoms for oneself, one puts vampires into the world, and one must nourish these children of a voluntary nightmare with one’s blood, one’s life, one’s intelligence, and one’s reason, without ever satisfying them.” I have heard several personal stories of people summoning these spirits, only later to become dependent on them. Invoking demons, mythological creatures, or the devil himself is best left alone. As with most cases of spirit conjurations people will ask them questions and in return get somewhat strange answers. In other instances people have been known to summon creatures. Or, in the instance of Aleister Crowley, summon To Mega Therion, The Beast from the Book of Revelations, in order to unify himself with it. Unfortunately, because no such entity really exists, he fed all his energy into this false creation. And in the end he died a grotesque man, poor, drug-addicted, and with numerous STD’s. To this effect, Eliphas Levi also stated, “human thought creates what it imagines; the phantoms of superstition project their real deformity in the Astral Light, and live by the very terrors they produce. They owe their being to the delusions of imagination and the aberration of the senses, and are never produced in the presence of anyone who knows and can expose the mystery of their monstrous birth.”
For those interested in reading a little more on the subject, here’s another article I wrote regarding my own personal experiences and how I learned to live with them: Embracing the Unknown: how I learned to cope with otherworldly experiences
Additional resources: Society for Psychical Research