Paranormal or normal? I wish I could say I wish I knew

My daughter whispered in my ear, so that my husband wouldn't hear..."there's something in the kitchen."

I've lived all my life with, I would say, not an understanding, but an acceptance I suppose, of paranormal events. That sounds so dramatic, but really it's not, as I haven't experienced much at all. It's something that I believe in, but don't think much about on a daily basis. Sometimes I will experience something out of the ordinary, and I'll think, "oh...it's that kind of thing". I suspect more goes on than around me than I realise, well, to be honest I know it does because of my children.

When I was young my father told me my great grandmother was a fortune teller. One night, after he had been drinking, he said that he too had the ability to predict future events. When he was a young adult,  friends at a party asked him to tell their fortunes. He "saw" a car crash and both of them dying. This really happened a short while later and after that incident my father vowed never again to tell another fortune, and never has.

My mom too, is prone to visions, but will seldom talk about them. She did tell me that she had "seen" the house that we all live in together at the moment, before we moved in. My mom especially, is a very private person and does not discuss personal matters easily, even with family members. I just know that her understanding runs deep.

As a child my first strange experience involved a telepathic communication with my sister, but it was so mundane! We had been to our local swimming pool, and we were leaving when my sister realised that she had left something behind at the pool, and ran back inside. I grew impatient while waiting for her, and yelled at her in my mind. A few minutes later she re-appeared, confused, and repeated the words I had said in my mind verbatim. She doesn't remember the incident, but it has always stuck in my mind.

Decades passed and there were no further spooky incidents, and really, it wasn't something I thought about at all. I had a daughter, and then a few years later a son. Once again I fell pregnant and this time during the entire pregnancy I felt a consistent sense of foreboding so strong that the air around me seemed to be shimmering with it. One night during the pregnancy, I woke up to a massive snow white owl sitting on the window sill opposite my bed, just staring at me. I knew this owl was evil, and as a consequence, I am still fearful of owls today. Later in the pregnancy I had a dream concerning my maternal grandmother, who was a very spiritual woman. I didn't see her but I recognised her energy as she surrounded me in a ball of warm glowing rose tinted light. I woke up with the words "be strong" etched into my mind. I understood that this dream was a counter action to the owl.

My baby was born a month prematurely and due to a freak medical condition, I almost died, and in fact was not expected to live. (I have blogged about this previously). While I was fighting to live, and it was a literal fight, as I refused to leave my 3 children motherless, I had a vivid dream where I was reaching behind me and stabbing a demon that was clinging to my back. Life after my last son was born seemed to deteriorate, even as I became physically well. Financially times were very hard, and family relationships were strained, which all took a massive toll on me and I became very depressed. Every time I felt I could not go on, I heard the words echo in my mind "be strong".

Slowly over the last couple of years I have come to believe that I was meant to go through those dark times as my soul needed the lessons that those awful times taught me. I wouldn't be who I am now without them. I dreamed of a favourite aunt who had passed on a long time ago. She showed me her home in a place of beauty and peace. I also dreamed about a much loved staff member, Clementine, who had succumbed to AIDS. This lady's only daughter died very young, and before she started working for me. Clementine's husband, who treated her very badly, and was most likely the one responsible for her disease, had also died a couple of years earlier. In the dream I was sitting at a table with Clementine, and she was happy, healthy and smiling, introducing me proudly to her daughter, who was also at the table. I saw her husband too, but he was behind a barrier that looked like thick glass, just looking on, unable to participate. These dreams provide such a sense of all encompassing peace, and are why I don't fear death at all.

This past year the paranormal events in my life have really ramped up. My daughter had a brush with pure evil and had to be protected. Somebody who I have never met before just "showed up" and helped me with that situation. Unfortunately I suspect that we will have to be vigilant for a long time. One of the by products of these events was that my daughter revealed that she had always felt presences. She said that she never spoke about them before as it simply never occurred to her to do so. We had started practicing yoga and this has made her even more sensitive. 

I became accustomed to her presences to such an extent that when my youngest son refused to sit next to an open doorway, and I asked him why, he told me that things were flitting from door to door across the passageway, I just thought...okay then, here we go again. I never make a big deal over these occurrences, I believe that my children must accept them as part of their lives, and not obsess about them.

My husband does not believe in the paranormal at all, or even life after death. He wants proof and I am quite happy for him to have this mindset, and not have "proof" as I think the reality/unreality would disturb him greatly. It is because that my husband thinks that we are a little loopy that my daughter came to me and whispered in my ear that there was something in the kitchen.

My daughter was not disturbed by the presence in the kitchen. She was making cupcakes and I was in the lounge at my computer. I decided to go and sit with her a little while and she told me that this was the first time she physically could see the entity/ghost/who knows. She kept on pointing out its position to me. As I entered the kitchen I felt the strangest crawling sensation in my back, as though my skin was contracting towards my spine, and my spine felt cold. A bottle randomly fell out of the cupboard, and when my daughter switched on the mixer for the cupcakes, there was a power surge/glitch(?) never before experienced. One of our cats lay on the floor, staring at the position my daughter had pointed out. The sensation in my back became too much for me to bear and I told my daughter I had had enough and left.

She stayed in the kitchen and finished her cupcakes, as she told me that the entity was merely confused. She said it began to irritate her by standing behind her, and she had to tell it to stop. My dad came upstairs from the apartment my parents have adjoined to our house and she told me that the entity went downstairs with him. This does not surprise us as for at least two years my parents have been complaining about a phantom knocker. Every so often my parents receive three sharp raps on their door in the early morning. In the beginning they used to ask us if we were looking for them, now they have become accustomed to their weird visitor.

(all images: pixabay)

It seems I have been surrounded by paranormal circumstances, but consider that all these events have taken place over a lifespan of 45 years. What I find weirder than the experiences themselves, is that when they occur, I don't feel like the people we see in the horror movies, which is particularly disturbed. It could be that my mind does not want to process the events, or it could be that part of us, as humans, instinctively recognise the other realm?

I would love to hear your views, experiences and opinions.

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