Four of Wands reversed/Ace of Cups. Today I am being shown the first step on the path to increased enlightenment and connection to love (and love’s ability to heal and fertilize). However, I am being told that just the planting of the seed of happiness is nowhere near enough. I need to fertilize that seed with passion and creativity and new ideas, and I need to get to work. Now is not the time to sit back and celebrate!

My Thoth Card is the Knight of Swords reversed. Another Knight; two days in a row, and they do present a supporting pair! This card in the upright position tells of someone who is filled with ideas, strong and passionate ideas which tumble over each other with intensity and instability. Rationality and intellect are presented here as omnipotent, shutting out practicality, groundedness and compassion. However, the card is reversed, which is a good thing. I am being told that I am able to prevent this “control through intellect” from controlling me, through the application of emotions and a connection to my foundations.

Interesting horoscope, too: “Working with another person today will be just as much fun as you were expecting it to be, but it could also create a critical turning point in your life. If you are ready for change, it is ready for you. You are all set to have a good time with creative brainstorming, and you will definitely not be disappointed. However, your tasks will not be all about play. There is some serious advancement going on in your life and the transition you're in is no laughing matter.”

I have been giving some thought to ghosts, probably because my husband’s niece (who sees ghosts) and her family will be coming to Cape May for the weekend. Maxim is 10 years old, and has been seeing the dead and astrally traveling since birth as far as we can tell; she has described these experiences since she became able to talk. Max has seen our Miss Pauline at Cape May, and she independently verifies everything that my dance partner has told me about Miss Pauline. Unfortunately, not all of Max’s experiences with ghosts are voluntary, and there are some spirits in her home (a late 1800’s house that was at one time used as a convalescent home, which could be source of the people dressed in white Max sees going up and down the stairs at night) that unnerve her. For instance, she sees a man sitting in front of the fireplace in the dining room every morning, and she wishes that he was not there.

I understand that many non-malevolent entities can be told to leave, but I think Max needs to be convinced that she can do this, that she can set boundaries with these spirits. I think she needs to know what these entities might be and why they are there (not their individual reasons, but rather how they could possibly come to be there) in order to believe that she can successfully ask them to leave her alone. I would like to be able to explain to her, in a way that she can understand and believe, exactly how I feel about ghosts. The best way for me to do this is to write everything down. So, here we go.

In order to understand my possible explanation of ghosts, I need to first say that while humans are certainly physical entities, they are also energetic entities. Our physical bodies and the physiological processes that maintain them consist of efficient processes that to a large extent repair themselves and fuel themselves in order to maintain life. However, we are also energy beings. Our brains communicate through the nervous system using energy as the message carrier, and our glands communicate through our blood and other bodily fluid, using hormones and acids and other chemicals as messages, using processes that are fueled by energy. We maintain our body heat, and fuel all those processes that allow the physical body to live, with energy created by our physical body from what we eat and drink. We can feel the first layer of that energy body, the etheric layer of the aura, with our physical skin by holding our hands against its surface.

Now, this energy can be collected and programmed to act or manifest in a certain way. In other words, we can learn to siphon off a little of this energy and use it for our own purposes, to help manifest our goals. Every time we pray or hope or focus on or visualize or fear that something will happen, we are actually collecting some of this energy and instructing it to strive to bring about what we are picturing in our minds. This picture that we are creating in our minds, this visualization of what we hope or fear will happen, is called a thoughtform. Thoughtforms, then, are energy that has been collected and given a set of instructions and then told to become what we are instructing them to be.

Some people are really good at creating thoughtforms, but just about everyone can learn how to consciously do this to some extent. Just like everyone could learn to play the piano with some skill if they are willing to work at it, but some people have a natural ability to learn without expending much effort, some people are able to make thoughtforms with ease but everyone can make them. Many people can make thoughtforms without realizing that they are affecting others with their moods and desires (whether they are angry or relaxed, happy or sad). Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that one person's thoughtforms can create a "Dawn of the Dead" scenario and turn us all into zombies, but thoughtforms can have tangible effects on us.

I believe that some people are able to gradually, over their lifetime, create an energetic copy or thoughtform of themselves at a certain imortant time in their lives or doing a certain thing that was pivotal in their lives. They are able to build and maintain and instruct this thoughtform to the extent that it is able to continue its existence independently for some time. And they are able to do this on a subconscious level, without even realizing that they are doing it.

This could be why some ghosts stay in a certain place or repeat a certain action again and again. For whatever reason, it is that place or that action that has been programmed into the thoughtform. Some ghosts seem to be able to respond to our words and actions in the physical realms; to me, the people who created these thoughtforms were able to infuse the energy with more details of their personalities, enough details so that the thoughtform is able to both act and react. Whether they realized they were doing this or not, these persons were talented enough (perhaps without realizing it) to create and fuel a very detailed and complicated construct.

So, what that means is that Max may not be able to chase them away, but she should be able to direct each of them to “do their thing” when she is not around. But she needs to believe that she can do this. Perhaps my explanation will make her fear them less and believe in her ability to affect what is happening more. After all, these thoughtforms are no longer attached to or being fed by a live person, and her energy is attached to and being fed by her live physical body. That alone, coupled with her belief in her own abilities, should tip the scale in her favor.

Now all I have to do is convince Max.