Strangeness

A while back...I posted a blog My Crazy Life.....Literally. It was about weird things that had happened to myself or my family. Most of it has been human in nature....likely aimed at a single mom with kids who looked like an easy target. There have been though....a few things that make me wonder about the non-human world.

I have been thinking a lot recently about some of the things that have happened of the non-human sort and wonder. After my experience in the tub and the black shadow...I was terrified of the dark for years. Even in my late teens and early twenties....I didn't like being home alone. As I have gotten older and have kids of my own those old fears were put to rest long ago....along with the nightmares and apparently screaming night terrors that I used to put my mother through. Little of a supernatural type scares me anymore. My biggest fears now reside in Washington....not in the supernatural world. But I digress....

As a Catholic we are taught to avoid clairvoyants and fortune tellers and yet in our modern world they seem to abound. We also are warned against witchcraft, Ouija boards and all things of a mystical nature. As a kid I thought it was because as Catholics we were not to believe in that sort of thing. As an adult I have come to the conclusion that it is because we do believe in this sort of thing that we stay clear. I think God and satan and heaven and hell are in daily battle both in the real world and quite possibly in the supernatural world too.

My mother was the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter. While she never broadcast it....the woman flat out knew things that there was no way she should have. She would get "feelings" about things and if she got a feeling...I learned early on to listen. It went far beyond motherly instinct and more than once her feelings kept me from being in situations that could have hurt or even potentially killed me. Her mother too had a sense. After her mother had suffered a stroke and was in the hospital....my mother was staying with her over night. When they were alone....my grandmother told my mother in detail what the next few years of her life would be like. She told her that she would suffer more strokes (she gave her the exact number), she told her that one of the strokes they would think she wouldn't come out of....but eventually she would and she told her how and approximately when she would die. Soon after telling my mother all of this....she suffered another stroke (which she had predicted) and apparently lost all memory of this conversation. When my mother told her father and sister about this....neither believed her and chastised her for "making up" such lies. My grandmothers words came true to the very letter. Later after my grandmother was gone and this was brought up to both my grandfather and my aunt....neither seemed to have any recollection of the incident. If they couldn't explain it....then they simply denied it ever happened.

My mother fought hard against her "feelings." She would get terribly upset when she would get one of them and she always said..."I wish it would just go away." This was never something she sought out nor was it something she wanted. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders when she had these feelings. It was obviously God given and as I said...more than once it saved me....but in Mom's view, it was simply too much information. Later in her life....it either did go away or she simply quit talking about it.

Another case of strangeness happened to another aunt. At a time when she was struggling through a tough time in her life, she woke from a nap to see a young girl standing in her doorway. She assumed the girl was a friend of her kids as they were in another room with friends over. The little girl struck her as odd because she was somewhat dirty with long blonde hair that needed combed and she was dressed rather old fashioned. I cannot remember whether my aunt actually conversed with her or whether the little girl just stood there and then left. When my aunt got up and walked in where the kids were....she didn't see the little girl and asked about her. None of them had a clue who she was talking about. My aunt shrugged it off and literally forgot about the little girl until one time when she went back to the home in Oklahoma where she grew up. Going through some old pictures with some other family members...she was caught up short when she happened upon a picture of the exact little girl who had stood in her room. The picture showed her  bathed and with her hair combed....but definitely the same little girl. On the back was written Grace Etier age 6. My aunt was dumbfounded. It was her own mother as a child that had visited her. Maybe she was there to let her know all would be alright (as her troubled time had resolved itself shortly after seeing the little girl). Whatever the case....too much had happened not to have realized that my grandmother had made that appearance...strange as it was.

I do believe in these things. I don't see them as anything sinister or frightening. On the contrary....I see them as God given. After all....God has allowed visions of saints, angels, Mary and even Himself....when groups or individuals needed them, so why not family members and friends? I believe each contains a message and each comes at a time when very much needed in the lives of the ones they touch. I also believe that some are given information like the info my grandmother gave my mother for a purpose. It had a direct effect on my mothers life and quite possibly on anyone elses life my mother told.

I also believe that the shadow I saw in the bathroom that time was something. I believe it was something bad and I think it had more to do with the house than with me.....as nothing like that has ever happened since. At the time....I think I was just an easy target. I was small and knew nothing of spirits or shadows full of energy. But there was definitely something there and it effected me for years. Just as there are good and God given spirits....I believe just as strongly that there is evil and it can show itself....perhaps as a shadow or something more sinister.

I think that the line between our world and the next may quite possibly be very thin. While prayer can keep us in the light.......Ouija boards, witchcraft and seances can take us to the dark. When we pray we call on God and if He feels we need the contact of heaven then we may be visited by an angel or a family member  or even given information to help us. However....witchcraft, seances and the such are not prayers...in fact they are often summoning something dark whether we realize it or not. These actions have been documented in many cases of hauntings and even possessions. Perhaps it is our realization that just as good can be present....so then can evil....that we are cautioned to avoid anything that can call upon anything or anyone but God. Thus I guess is my reasoning for feeling that far from not believing...it is actually our belief and acknowledgement of the fact that evil does exist in all forms that we should do our best to steer clear of it. Hmmmm.....

Okay...okay! I know....very strange blog today. Well what do you expect on a rainy day? So welcome to the strange dwelling place that sometimes is my mind. Oh come on...we all have a little strangeness in our families...right? No! Just me! Perhaps then, I should just go back to blogging about politics! :)

So....any strange incidents in your life? Care to share? That's what the comments are for!