Communicating with spirits can be elaborate or simple, helpful
or not
Blenders turning on by themselves. Doors opening and slamming shut for no reason. A cool breeze floating through the room when all the window are closed.
Strange occurrences such as these only happen in the movies … right?
Not so, according to Pamela Ticoulat, a designer and consultant for Shelter for the Soul, a Santa Cruz-based interior decorating business that emphasizes the relationship between humans and their environment.
Sometimes, Ticoulat said, that environment is filled with the energy of spirits of the deceased, and according to her, their presence in the house can cause some strange things to take place.
Although a handful of people are comfortable co-existing with the so-called spirits, most can put up with the willies for only so long, and that’s where Ticoulat, who describes herself as a channeler, comes in, helping clients communicate with the spirits to ask them what they want and if they’re planning to leave.
Often, the spirits belong to people who died a sudden, unexpected death, such as in the case of murder, suicide or freak accidents, said Ticoulat, who serves clients throughout the South Valley.
While the physical body of the person is dead, that person’s spirit refused to stop living and is trying to make itself known, she said.
“There’s just a general sense that something is there,” she said. “You can’t see it, and you don’t know exactly what it is or where it is, but you know it’s there.”
While the methods and techniques of communicating with the spirits vary among different schools of thought, there are a number of general guidelines Ticoulat recommends.
First, the ritual should include at least three people, one of whom is a channeler or medium to help guide the spirit.
Sitting in a circle – with an extra place kept empty for the spirit – participants surround themselves with candles and incense, especially strong scents such as sage, frankincense, myrrh and sandalwood.
Participants also can wear robes in symbolic colors. Red, for instance, represents fire, blood and life, Ticoulat said, and acts as a protective shield against possible harm inflicted by the spirits.
As a form of offering, to welcome the spirits or to absorb negative energies, participants can place sand, salt, water or oil on an altar in the middle of the circle. Also useful when dealing with particularly stubborn or deviant spirits is to set out alcohol, Ticoulat said.
“Sometimes the spirits are a little dysfunctional,” she said. “You have to remember, they don’t always have the same ethics and manners as us, so you might have to tame them a bit. It’s good to feed them before they leave, so they leave happy, and if the spirits get a little drunk, sometimes it’s easier to work with them.”
After the atmosphere of the room has been set, participants prepare themselves for a meditative state, in which they close their eyes and mouths and fold their hands so the spirit cannot enter their bodies. They should sit with their feet flat on the ground or sit in the lotus position, Ticoulat said, but they should not lie flat.
“It’s important to make sure the spirit stays out of the body,” Ticoulat said. “Some people can get sick from doing this, if that happens. These things are powerful.”
Participants then sit still, meditate and wait to feel the presence of the spirit. Placing a pendulum in the center of the circle allows the spirit an opportunity to communicate by swinging it, or, if the spirit chooses, it can cause participants to feel certain sensations, such as a prick on the finger or slight pain in the chest.
Household pets might start acting oddly, meowing and barking erratically, or items in the house such as blenders or dishwashers might start operating.
Once the spirits have been contacted, Ticoulat said, the next step is to walk through the house in a clockwise fashion, exposing every nook and cranny.
“Open all the doors, and look in dark places like corners, drawers and closets,” Ticoulat said. “The energies use those spaces to live or pass through. They’re gateways to different dimensions. In opening all that up, you begin to interact with all those energies. Either they’re going to go away because they don’t want to be there or because you’ve shown them a new way out.”
If the spirits leave, Ticoulat recommends leaving on the altar nine red envelopes filled with money, along with rice and water.
“Nine is a trinity – it has three sets of three, so it’s in harmony,” she said. “And money is a form of energy. It’s symbolic of exchange, and a lot of times, people just feel better if they offer the spirits something in return for leaving.”
Ticoulat said she has performed such rituals for several clients who complained of sensing strange presences in their houses for months. After trying everything from obsessive cleaning to remodeling in an effort to oust the creepy feeling, they hold the ritual and report back with good news, Ticoulat said.
But Kathlyn Rhea, a Gilroy psychic, said the candles, incense, offerings and other add-ons are unnecessary, though they may do the trick for some.
“It’s a bunch of nonsense. It’s just a flowery way to get people into a meditative state,” she said. “You can get in a meditative state almost any way you want – lay out in a hammock, spin on your head. Anytime you empty your mind of problems, you’re in a meditative state, and you can communicate with those spirits.”
Rhea maintains that the spiritual and physical worlds really are one and the same, and simple communication is all that’s needed to make contact.
Several years ago, when Rhea lived in Virginia, she said she saw a spirit walking to and from her house, which recently had been built. Her neighbors noticed the ghost as well, she claimed, and after three nights of tossing and turning, Rhea decided she and her daughter would try talking to the spirit at the next encounter.
“We both talked to him that night and told him he was free to go,” Rhea said. “That was the last time we heard from him.”
Regardless of the method used, people shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the idea of communicating with spirits, said Susan Gregg, author of a number of books on spirituality including “Mastering the Toltec Way.” Healthy skepticism, though, is wise, she said.
“I think there are a lot of con artists out there, and there are people that are able to speak to spirits that have passed over,” she said. “I have studied spirituality for almost two decades and have experienced many interesting phenomenon. I have talked to people who have had their lives transformed by receiving a message from a dead loved one. My feeling is, it doesn’t matter where the information originated, as long as it had such a positive influence on their lives.”
