When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [43]
It was clear to me that this ghost had never wanted to leave her home and had patiently waited until she could duplicate the place she had felt most happy. It took a little coaxing to convince her that she would be just as comfortable in the Light, but in the end I was able to release her, and the homeowner was able to redo the guest room in her own style.
Fear of Judgment or Punishment
I have talked to many spirits who did not cross over simply because they were afraid of what awaited them in the Light. Some of these fears seem perfectly reasonable. Ghosts whose lives were marked by violence or crime often fear a final punishment. Those who committed suicide or were highly religious and felt they had died without atoning for their wrongdoings also feared the judgment they might face. Often children will avoid crossing over because they are afraid they will “get in trouble” either for leaving their parents, or when they died with their parents, for not following Mom or Dad into the Light the first time.
It is these earthbound spirits, the ones who are filled with remorse or whose very human fears of the unknown prevent them from seeking peace, that I often find to be the most difficult to help cross over.
Suicides
Some time ago, I received a call from a woman asking me if I could help her find out if her father had remained earthbound. Ten years earlier, he had committed suicide, walking out of the family home and onto the ice of Lake Erie. He never came home. Instead, the police found him close to the shore, frozen into the ice at his waist as if he had simply walked in and paused.
I could tell from the woman’s voice that she was still distraught at the thought. “We were a happy family,” she insisted. “My dad loved my mom and all of us kids.”
Although she was calling me from her home, I couldn’t detect a ghost with her, so I asked her why she thought her dad might still be around. She explained that because his death had been ruled a suicide, the priest from their Catholic church had refused to give him Last Rites. In the end, he wasn’t even buried in a Catholic cemetery. “We went to church every Sunday,” she said. “I worry that he’s not at peace.”
When the woman mentioned that her mother had died a few years after her father’s death, I was sure I knew what she was hoping: that her parents were together again, and happy. I asked her if she or any of her brothers or sisters ever dreamed of their father. I explained that spirits who have crossed over often communicate with their loved ones in dreams.
“No one’s ever mentioned it,” she said. “And the six of us talk about Dad all the time.”
I thought it was possible that her father had not crossed over. In my experience, suicides often fear they are going to hell and refuse to go into the Light. I asked her to contact her siblings and have each of them write a note to their father. The note needed to say that if he was around and wanted to talk, he should go to the woman’s house on a certain day and time; I would call and see if he was there. Leaving a written note is the best way to pass a message to earthbound spirits. When you attempt to directly talk to ghosts, or acknowledge their presence, you can give them more energy. The more energy earthbound spirits have, the more they can influence you and your environment.
The woman did as I asked and her siblings all cooperated, though two of the five told her she was crazy. On the day we had picked, I called her house and immediately sensed the presence of a ghost. I described to her the tall, dark-haired man with a neat beard and bushy eyebrows who was standing in the room with her. The woman burst into tears. “It’s Dad!” she said.
We arranged for me to visit her house, and I made sure she said the date aloud so her father would hear it. When I arrived at her home, the ghost of her father and three of her siblings were all waiting for me. This poor woman had been tormented by thoughts of her father’s welfare for the past ten years, so I got right