Haunted? How to Cleanse and Ward Your Home, Get Rid of Demons, Ghosts or Negative Spirits and Keep the Friendly Ones

By Lionrhod

Yes. ghosts are real.

Bumps in the night. A feeling of being watched. Sudden anger or depression. Cold spots. Doors that slam, shadows that move, noises that don't have a logical explanation. Even touches or full blown apparitions. Any or all of these COULD be signs of hauntings.

Haunted?: How to Cleanse and Ward Your Home, Get Rid of Demons, Ghosts or Negative Spirits and Keep the Friendly Ones teaches you how to keep yourself free of negative entities and make your home and loved ones safe from harm.

You'll learn:

How to Know if Your are Being Haunted
How to Clean your Haunted House and Keep it Safe
Cleansing Baths and Rituals
Balancing Your Energy Body
Honoring Your Ancestors and Beloved Dead
Shielding Meditations to Keep you Safe from Negative Energy
How to Safely Remove Negative or Haunted Objects from your Life
Creating Wards to Protect Your Home
The Ecology of Demons and how to Get Rid of Them

And much more.

Abjurer (ghost hunter) and author of Spellcraft Secrets: the Art of Magic Made Easy, Lionrhod has worked as a Psychic, High Priestess, and metaphysical teacher for most 4+ decades/ Her lessons are easy to follow and will assist you in taking back your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lionrhod
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005738181

Lionrhod

A writer of fantasy and non-fiction metaphysics, Lionrhod (pronounced LION-rod as the h is silent) caught the writing bug at age 8. Inspired by her writer mother, she wrote an extremely lousy and highly plagiarized story about a pony. From there, she went on to focus on science fiction and fantasy as well as romance, and when she realized that she was a Witch, articles on Wicca and Magick. As an avid Dungeons and Dragon's player, she has written several articles for that sort of thing and one of her pieces was featured in a TSR module way back before they became Wizards of the Coast. She has also written for Green Egg.She tends to write slow, though that is changing!She has been a witch and wysard (yes we spell it funny) for most of her life. She works as a professional psychic and a teacher of metaphysics. When she isn't glued to the keyboard, she enjoys hiking in the woods, gardening, cooking and yak wrangling. She is presently working on creating a rescue for large breed dogs and for retired animals.

Book preview

Contents

Intro: What is Haunted? About

Part 1: Are You Haunted? By What?

Chapter 1: Are You Being Haunted?

Chapter 2: Types of Ghosts

Chapter 3: Other Entities that Can Cause Hauntings

Chapter 4: Demons

Chapter 5: Modern Ghost Hunting

Chapter 6; Communicating with Ghosts and Other Entities

Chapter 7: Do You Need to Get Rid of Your Ghost? Dealing with the Friendly or Beloved Dead

Part 2: How to Get Rid of Negative Entities

Chapter 8: Things that Attract Negative Entities

Chapter 9: Things that Repel Negative Entities

Chapter 10: House Cleansing

Chapter 11: Cleansers to Protect Your Home

Chapter 12: Cleansing Baths

Chapter 13: Getting Rid of Negative Objects

Part 3: Empowering Yourself Against Negativity

Chapter 14: Grounding

Chapter 15: Shielding

Chapter 16: The Chakras

Chapter 17: Discovering Your Trouble Signs

Part 4: Getting Out the Big Guns

Chapter 18: What's Your Next Step?

Chapter 19: Vetting Outside Help

Chapter 20: Removing Attachments

Chapter 21: Making and Using a Lure for Object Cleansing

Chapter 22: Removing Vortexes

Part 5: Wards

Chapter 23: Creating Wards

Chapter 23: House Wards

Chapter 24: Personal Wards

Chapter 25: A Few Final Words

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Connect With Me Online

More Books by Lionrhod

An Exerpt from Dark Moon Gates

Intro: What is Haunted? About?

The purpose of this book is to help you determine 1) If you are being haunted. 2) What kind of entity you might be dealing with. 3)What to do about it if you are haunted.

I've watched (and possibly you have too) numerous ghost hunting TV programs and videos, and what ticks me off about many of them is that very few actually talk about what to do about ghosts if you have them. In fact most TV shows like these drum up the ghosts, get them annoyed, then move on, leaving the re-excited ghosts/spirits/demons to torment the living. (A notable exception to this is The Dead Files--backed up with excellent research, and what seems to be an exquisitely talented psychic, Amy actually DOES provide advice on what to do once her investigation is done. Sadly she's just ONE PERSON and no doubt only has time for the most pressing cases.)

My plan here, is to inform you about the various beings that you might be dealing with, and then give you the tools to empower yourself to make your life and your living space healthy.

Why is this important to me, and why should you take my advice?

I've been a sensitive and a psychic all my life, following in the footsteps of grand and great grand-parents who were psychics, Charismatic Christians and Spiritualists. I grew up in a haunted house, and I suppose it's not much of a surprise that not only do I see ghosts, but that I've devoted a large part of my life to helping others deal with them. I discovered that I was Wiccan at about the age of fifteen. Around 2000 I passed my test in Abjuration (the removal of negative spirits and energies.) But I'm only one person too. I'd rather make sure that you are empowered to take care of your own ghosts, demons and negative entities, and to make peace with those who aren't negative.

Sections in this Chapter:

Do Ghosts Really Exist?

Do Hauntings Exist?

A Note About Terminology

How to Use This Book

I'll Ask for a Few Promises From You

Please Infuse Your Own Beliefs

A Brief Rant About Cultural Appropriation

Do Ghosts Really Exist?

The simple answer from my own experience is, yes, absolutely. But that's only my own experience because I've met some of them, befriended some of them. Gotten rid of some of them when they were negative and haunting people and places.

Let's face it, NOBODY presently alive can tell you EXACTLY what happens when we die. Some of us have theories. There's Heaven and Hell, past lives and reincarnation, and the list probably goes on further than that, especially if you explore other cultures. Some folks have also recorded Near Death Experiences, (NDAs--not to be confused with Non-Disclosure agreements) and we have theories on that too.

What I can say is that the belief in Ghosts is potentially as old as our human (homo sapiens) ancestry, and perhaps even goes back farther than that. It's suspected that our potential Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors practiced death rites to honor the dead and to either help them find peace or to help them on their journey to the afterlife.

It's certainly known that the ancient Egyptians believed in Ghosts and had elaborate rituals to ensure a loved one's passage to the afterlife. (They even had rites to ensure that evil people would not be able to return.) Our ancestors there and in many other lands buried their dead with weapons, food and other material goods. Sometimes even favored pets and wives.

Science itself doesn't seem to have an answer for us at this point. One series of experiments dated around 1901 suggested that people lost approximately 21 grams of weight upon dying, and that this accounted for the weight of the soul. (I've seen other websites which suggest this amount is 6 ounces, which translates into 170 grams--a huge difference in weight, and I'm not sure where either group got their numbers.) Looking into these experiments, they may have been flawed, and the sample size used for them was very small, so we can't really rely on them. In fact an experiment on sheep found that they GAINED rather than lost weight at the moment of death. While I love science, and use it (or at least scientific principles) in my magic whenever possible, I also realize that at this point in our human and scientific evolution, we don't have all the answers. It's interesting that the ancient Egyptians viewed the soul as something that could be weighed and measured to learn the amount of good or bad the person had done during their time on Earth. Perhaps that's what led to this experiment.

Multitudes of scientists will try to tell you, we can't measure it, therefore it doesn't exist. But there was a time when we didn't understand aerodynamics. Icarus failed pretty miserably. Now we're able to reliably send airplanes loaded with passengers across the country, and the world, and have even sent travelers into space. Some of today's questions include how far can a photon travel? Does it have mass? Maybe tomorrow we'll find the answer.

We still don't have a concise answer regarding ghosts.

So for the moment, let's just go with the consistent lore of hundreds of cultures spanning millennia of years.

Yes. Ghosts exist.

We might not know EXACTLY what they are, or how they function. We do know via popular culture and folklore that things which we call ghosts exist.

Let's just go with it, and assume that ghosts are.

I'm not here to prove it to you. You may either believe or disbelieve as you wish. If you disbelieve, why are you even bothering to read this book? Okay you might be an agnostic. It will probably take your own experiences to convince you. I can only offer you my experiences, and you can decide to believe me or not. I know what I've seen and heard and felt.

You may wish to allow yourself to put aside skepticism and listen and see and feel and otherwise experience for your own self. Do (as I will recommend soon) keep a journal of what you go through and allow that to help convince you.

Or if you desire, label me as crazy (no worries, you wouldn't be the first). But remember that over the many millenia that our ancestors have spoken of the phenomena we call ghosts, I am hardly the first one, and I will not be the last.

Do Hauntings Exist?

This one is even easier. Can we assume based on centuries, and even millennia of documentation, that some people in some circumstances experience situations they cannot explain? (And our modern science often can't either.) Certainly our modern science can suggest reasons why some specific phenomena happened. But all? Not yet.

One of the interesting things about magic and folklore is that in our modern age we are beginning to learn some of the science that folklore and magical knowledge have always known.

For example, one of the Laws of Magic says, Once together, always together. Quantum physics is presently studying entanglement of particles. Scientists are finding out that when they create a pairing of particles, they can affect one of the particles, changing its properties and programming and the other particle will change accordingly, even if the two particles are at a great distance from each other.

We have passed down to us through our folklore, families, history, numerous occasions where, something weird we can't explain happened. Do we know what these things are? No.

Later I'll go into what MAY be the causes of various hauntings. Right for now, lets just admit that we and our ancestors, probably down to the dawn of humans, have experienced, shit we can't explain.

Some of our ancestors explained these as ghosts and some called them hauntings. (A bit less specific, since hauntings can be from demons, the Fae, and other non-ghostly causes. Maybe even UFOs.)

If you've NEVER ONCE experienced even the slightest twinge down your spine, suggesting that, things might not be entirely normal right at this moment, then I feel kind of sorry for you. Oh, as a psychic, I've seen and experienced things I don't want to re-experience. But I've also experienced a very short time when I went head-blind because of a traumatic Demonic experience, and my normal psi-abilities were taken away from me. I wouldn't want to go through that ever again.

In my opinion, we as humans were given psychic gifts to enable us to deal with obstacles in a more elegant (and swift and life-saving) fashion than we might have otherwise been able to. And this has helped to ensure the survival of our species since the beginning of what we know of as time.

Our ancestors, both recent and well back to the beginnings of history have had experiences that were

weird, unexplained, and which they labeled as hauntings. They've been passed to us in our earliest folklore. Do we really have the right to call bullshit on every single experience felt by every one of them? Probably not.

Was every single one of your ancestors batshit crazy? I don't personally think so.

More important does saying, Hauntings may exist, harm us? Or does it instead empower us to deal with situations in our lives that we can't otherwise explain, and that by ridding ourselves of them, we can make our lives more peaceful?

Yep, I believe in hauntings.

A Note About Terminology

In referring to ghosts (and other things that might go bump in the night,) on a general level, I may use the terms ghosts, haunts/hauntings, entities, spirits or beings or even spooks/spooky things. Mostly I do this to refrain from using ONLY the word ghost. (It does get redundant if it's the only word I use.) Especially in the early point of your investigations or observations. Not every entity you may encounter will be a ghost, and in later chapters I'll specifically address some of those.

Just as a note on terminology, Allisande, one of my mentors, calls these traditional or intelligent ghosts Spirits and leaves the term Ghosts for residual hauntings. Your mileage may vary depending on your training and study. You might even have different terms, depending on your learnings.

Abjuration: This is the formal name (at least in my Path) of what I'm teaching in this book. This art/science includes shielding, cleansing, warding and destruction, as well as removing attachments and demons; and helping ghosts to release into the afterlife.

Wards: Objects or thought forms that prevent negative or wanted energy from getting in, or that keep in a particular type of positive energy

Psychics, Mediums, Sensitives and more:

I actually don't like the term "Psychic," as it implies that not everyone is has psychic powers. This is miles away from my actual belief, that almost EVERYONE (possibly with the very rare exception of some sort of brain-disorder that I couldn't even name or guess at) has some sort of psychic abilities.

At the same time, that's the title/job description I've used to make much of my living with for most of my life. There really isn't a far superior word that the average person will understand.

When referring to folks who have specifically trained in the arts of communicating the messages from Spirit to other people, and to those of us who actually make our living doing that, I'll most often use the term psychic. That also includes those who are well trained but don't do it for a living.

A medium is specifically a psychic/sensitive who talks with ghosts, spirits and so-forth.

Sensitives include pretty much anyone with psychic ability and possibly a decent enough understanding of how to use the art.. Some have more or less ability, and as said, there are many different types of talents., some useful in ways that help others, and some useful only to themselves or their tribe. For instance one particular kinesthetic art related to both the ability to move abjects, and also to feel (which I'll discuss in my upcoming book on the Psychic Arts) utilizes the ability to make a tree-bough bend down to within reach so that the sensitive can more efficiently gather fruit from the tree. This might sound like a little thing, but in ancient days (and maybe in the future) this skill may have been the difference between life and death.

Shamen, witch doctors and such, are generally those trained in various Native (to their region) methods of magic.

On occasion I might list something like psychics, shamen, priests, imams, etc. etc. I in NO way mean to leave any (or your particular path or tradition out of the mix. It's just...how many can I include and in any one sentence.?) If I leave your particular path out, it's not because I disrespect it.

Priest is a specific title in some paths, and in others refers to a relatively broad category of clergy.

Witches/Witchcraft may refer to any of those accused of witchcraft (whether innocent or guilty) in less enlightened times. It is also an umbrella term for many different belief systems, most of which include the use of spellcraft and magic.

Wicca/Wiccan refers to a particular set of religious beliefs which might or might not include spell work, although it generally does. Many of these traditions derive from that taught by Gerald Gardner. Some claim to (and possibly do) come from older traditions of Witchcraft who later adopted much of the ritual and ceremony used in Gardnerian Wicca. Over the years, dozens of other traditions of Wicca have come into being, and I salute every one as your or someone's special interpretation of this lovely religion.

Voudou refers to a general category of tradition that comes to us from Africa with many particular divergent paths (and known by many names) along the way. Most of what I know of that particular path comes to me either through my teacher Alisande, a master of Yoruba and Santeria, as well as of a Faery Tradition of Wiitchcraft, and Luisah Teish a Yoruba priestess (who I will credit over and over in the course of this book. no doubt.). I took one live class with Teish many years ago, but am also learned much from her books. If I don't credit something Voudou related to her specifically, I probably learned it from Alisande. If I get anything wrong in my depiction of Voudou tradition, it is most certainly my own fault, and not that of my wise and beloved mentor.

How to Use This Book

How you can get the best out of this book, depends on why you're reading it.

No matter what your purpose, I highly recommend that you read Chapter 14: Grounding and Chapter 15: Shielding pretty early on. Despite the fact that for organizational and understanding purposes, I've put these two chapters closer to the middle of the book, they are two of the most basic and important principles in this book. If you want to get rid of negative energy, these are two things you will need to master. Start learning them sooner rather than later.

If you know you're being haunted and it feels like something negative:

Read Some Indications of Haunt Activity and Who Feels You're Being Haunted? just to be sure. Detour over to Part 3: Empowering Yourself Against Negativity after that, and get started on those exercises, especially Grounding and Shielding. Next go to Salt Water/Holy Water and Smudge and Incense then head over to Chapter 10: House Cleansing and do a cleansing. Once you're done those, then come back and read the book in order.

If you know you're being haunted and YOU ARE VERY SURE it feels like a positive entity:

Start with Some Indications of Haunt Activity and Who Feels You're Being Haunted? just to be sure, then skip right over to Chapter 7: Do You Need to Get Rid of Your Ghost? Dealing with the Friendly or Beloved Dead. But in this case you may want to read the rest of the book through before starting any activities involving honoring the dead. Do be aware that sometimes negative entities will masquerade as positive ones.

If you think you're haunted, but aren't sure:

Start with Chapter 1: Are You being Haunted? Next read Chapter 17: Learning Your Trouble Signs then, when/if your answer is yes, I'm haunted, follow the steps above, depending whether you feel it's a positive or negative haunt. If the answer is I don't think so feel free to go back to the beginning and read from the start, just in case you do come across a haunting.

If you're just curious about ghosts and hauntings in general:

Read straight on from the beginning. I've tried to have chapters progress in a logical order for you to learn about these things.

If for some reason you desire to become a ghost hunter or abjurer:

Start with Part 3: Empowering Yourself Against Negativity, begin practicing the meditations there, and make them part of your daily practice. Then come back and read from the beginning onward.

I'll Ask For a Few Promises From You

Most of the techniques used in this book are fairly benign. You can't hurt yourself or anyone else by performing a house cleansing, or taking a salt bath. However some of the techniques mentioned are advanced, and could potentially cause physical, emotional or psychological harm to yourself or others if they're not performed with care. I'll attempt to warn you when you're in possible danger territory.

DO NOT EVER cast a spell on someone (either to let them realize they have an attachment, or to help get rid of it or for any other reason no matter how kind your intent) without express permission from the person involved.

DO NOT EVER suborn someone else's will (and perhaps physically or emotionally harm them) by attempting any of the methods you've seen in Hollywood, such as tying them to a bed or chair, forcing them to listen to Biblical passages, gagging them, starving or beating or otherwise abusing them.

Be respectful of the Dead and other entities. Remember that they may (we don't really know) have feelings. Being respectful is almost never a bad move, and might keep you out of trouble!

Be humble. There are so many one-book wonders who having read a book or two or taken a few classes, decide that they are the God-wa master of a particular brand of knowledge, and portray themselves as such. Be cautious in all that you do regarding the Dead and especially with demons or other entities. Be honest as to your abilities, both with yourself and others.

Despite my 50 or so years in dealing with ghosts, demons, the Fae and other entities, I don't begin to believe that I know everything there is to know about them. I learn every day. Do not take unnecessary risks.

Don't trust anyone who says they know everything about ghosts/demons/entities either. They're either lying to you or to themselves. Face it, until we die...we can't possibly know all there is to know about death. Unless you believe in reincarnation. Even so, we have to wonder how much of that information actually transfers to our new lives. Certainly do take wise counsel if it seems wise. A hint: Most wise counsel suggests, Don't mess with that, rather than, Oh yeah, go ahead and screw around there, and see what happens. Wise counsel will also suggest specific techniques and be able to tell you why those work.

Do not summon Demons. They are not pretty to play with. They are not your friends. And you are NOT in control no matter how much you think you might be. They'd love for you to believe you have control...until you don't.

When needed, call in an expert. Even if you consider yourself a psychic. We all have different abilities, and while yours might be perfectly suited to the subject of this book, they may not. Just because you have prophetic dreams or can light a candle with your finger or can levitate or cause the dice to roll your way, doesn't mean that you have the specific skills needed for the advanced techniques in this book.

At the same time, if you do feel (humbly and without ego) that you have the skills and ability to help yourself and others deal with issues of the dead or negative entities, then please go ahead and learn as much as you can from this book and others, and do what you can to create a healthy balance between our world and the spirit realm.

Please Infuse Your Own Beliefs

This book is written primarily from a Wiccan/Witchcraft/pagan perspective. That's how and where I learned the majority of my study. Your beliefs may be different, but the good news is that the information in this book is universal. If your beliefs utilize prayers or mantras, psalms, or chants, use those in your cleansings, shieldings, or anywhere else they feel appropriate to you. If you feel protected by calling on angels, or totems ancestors, or your higher power (no matter what name you give it) then call upon them in your workings. If the Bible, the sign of the Cross, or some other book or symbol is important to you, allow it to inform your workings.

A Brief Rant About Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is defined as is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. Many of the techniques I'm going to suggest below come from many different cultures (as do many of the those I've read in other books, and written of previously).

A few days ago while researching for this book (because I always double and triple check my facts, even when I'm pretty sure I know my stuff.) I came across some rant suggesting we shouldn't use the term smudging because that is (somehow) exclusively Native American.

I looked up the word smudge, and according to various etymological dictionaries the first use of the word is from the early 15th century Middle English, smogen, meaning to soil, stain or blacken. The exact origin seems unclear. From the 1590s, we have smudge used as to cure [herring] by smoking. By 1767 we have it used in the context of a suffocating smoke used to repel mosquitoes and other pests. By 1768, smudge is also used as a dirty mark, stain, spot or smear. and by 1865, it is used in the context of to rub in, or to rub out.

I don't know what any particular tribe of Native Americans called the practice of smudging prior to European contact. Each Native language (and there are more than a few) probably had their own word for it.

When possible I will ABSOLUTELY attribute a technique to whatever culture or person it comes from, assuming I'm aware of that. And honor that culture for their brilliant contribution to magic.

For instance smudging as we know it today, and especially when sage is involved, is something that comes to us from our Native American ancestors, certainly. But the process of cleansing ourselves in sacred smoke is probably common to all cultures, possibly stemming from our first ancient relatives who moved out of Africa. Who really knows where the practice comes from? By many different names, it's certainly a global phenomena. The main difference between these various practices wasn't so much HOW we used those plants, as what plants we had access to. Sage just happens to be an excellent cleansing herb, which is why many folk have adopted its use.

One of the most amazing things about we humans as a species it that we learn by copying from each other. Imitation is one of the purest forms of compliment. Wow, I see you're doing something pretty amazing there, and I want to try it out for myself! From there, we often get a flash of inspiration. If we put together this thing that you're doing, and that other thing I was doing before, we can create something new, and perhaps even more powerful.

We are all mutts. That's a good thing! When it comes to dog breeding (or any kind of breeding) we find that those populations that are inbred and only breed within small confines tend to pick up genetic disorders. In dogs this might manifest with hip displaysia or deafness in white dogs or many other infirmities. In people and human interaction it may manifest in a belief that there is only one way to do something.

In this book I'll offer you the best methods that I presently understand. But please do innovate. Go beyond what you know and what I know. Learn from everyone else you can.

Ghosts, demons and negative spirits do not, fortunately for us, tend to innovate. The methods that work against them in Native American culture, or in Siam (now Mirabar) or in New Orleans will work equally well to cleanse a condo in Florida, a flat in London or a creepy old house in upstate New York. So long as we understand the spirit BEHIND the actions we take and the items we utilize.

Of course, give credit where it's due. Don't say, This is an authentic Native American smudging ritual unless it actually IS one. Even so, there are many different tribes of Native Americans, (or First Nations, if you're in Canada). And no doubt at least a few do things slightly different than other groups. Better to say, This is how I was taught to smudge by a Cree elder.

Or you can say, My door-ward charm was inspired by the Jewish tradition of the Mezuzah, but not, This is a Mezuzah, if it contains something other than the correct scripture from the Torah.

Do also work on understanding the history (as much as you can learn, since so much history is lost to time) of any practice you utilize, as well as why it was done the way it was done.

Back to Contents

Part 1: Are You Haunted? By What?

First let's determine if you do have some sort of entity haunting you. What are some of the signs that a haunt is happening? Next we'll look at the potential types of entities that could be creating a haunting, and how they work. Are they ghosts, demonic, or some other entity of nature or the universe?

Back to Contents

Chapter 1: Are You Being Haunted?

Bumps in the night. A feeling of being watched. Sudden anger or depression. Cold spots. Doors that slam, shadows that move, noises that don't have a logical explanation. Even touches or full blown apparitions. Any or all of these COULD be signs of hauntings.

Are they always?

Absolutely not.

This chapter will help you determine if you're being haunted and aid you in discovering what is going on, and potentially why.

Sections in this Chapter:

Who Says You're Haunted?

Do You Want to Be Haunted?

Some Indications of Haunt Activity

Looking for Other Answers: Is this Really a Haunting?

Keep a Haunt Journal

Why Keep a Journal?

Check in With Others

Rule Out Natural Causes

Research the History of Your Home

Who to Talk To and Where and How to Research?

Some History to Look For

Can New Houses Be Haunted?

Renovations

Haunted Objects

Is it the House that is Haunted or is it You?

Who Says You're Haunted?

Whose idea was it that you're haunted?

If YOU feel you're being haunted, then I'm very glad you found this book. Please do utilize it to the best of your ability.

If someone in your household feels there is a haunting or has experienced unexplained things, and you're a skeptic, then please at least read through this book with an open mind. It's quite possible they're correct, and it doesn't harm you to learn. If they wish to perform cleansings and so-forth, do go along with it, if possible. None of the cleansings from Part 2: How to Get Rid of Negative Entities or the exercises in Part 3: Empowering Yourself Against Negativity of this book are harmful.

If someone who has visited your home, or someone who previously lived in your home says it's haunted, listen. Or if a wise elder, priest or someone who knows you, says you or a particular object or your home are haunted, again, be willing to listen and consider. They might be picking up on something you haven't.

If your child is seeing things, feeling negatively affected or speaking with imaginary friends, then by all means, read this book and rule out a haunting, or deal with it as need be. Quick.

If however, and this is the main reason for my including this section, you were told by a psychic that you don't know or don't know well, that you or your home or a particular object is haunted, that's when you might desire to become skeptical.

It's too easy to say you're being haunted with no proof. 90% of the information I give my clients is information they can verify by their own past experiences.

Most psychics you will (hopefully) come across are the genuine article. I've spent the last two and a half decades working alongside or networking with a few dozen psychics in my area. Every one of them is dedicated to being honest, ethical, helpful, and working to be certain their clients receive the best counsel possible.

On the other hand, there are charlatans and scam artists out there who will tell you that you are haunted/possessed, that your house is haunted, etc. Because they want to sell you their specially blessed candle or 300+ more readings at ten times the price of the original reading. And so forth.

True story: I was doing a reading for a woman, and she asked me how her daughter was doing. How old is the daughter? I asked.

I will read about your minor children because I feel it's your duty to protect and nurture them. In 99% of cases I will not read about any other adult who is not seated at my table. The only reading I'll do is about how YOU should best react to and deal with them. That goes even in the case of most teenagers of about 16 and up. I'm not going to spew their personal secrets or tell you what they're thinking without their direct permission.

This was the 1% exception. There was something in the mother's voice that suggested I look deeper. Even though the daughter was in her 20s. I laid out a few cards, fully expecting them to tell me, it's none of her business. Instead, the cards said that the daughter was well adjusted, doing fabulous at college and in her personal life, and had no big challenges that she couldn't overcome.

But through the reading, the Mom kept circling back to her daughter, as if terrified something bad was going on.

Okay, I finally said, Exactly what is happening here? WHY are you so worried.

And then it came out. A few years before, the daughter had visited a psychic and this ALLEGED psychic told the daughter that she was going to commit suicide one day. Okay, we're in emergency mode now. I reshuffled the deck and read about the supposed suicide, even if it wasn't Mom's business.

Guess what? The second reading confirmed that the daughter was just fine, other than the so-called psychic's warning.

This was obviously the case of either a charlatan (more likely) or just some idiot who didn't know much about how the cards work OR the ethics of psychic readings.

An ethical reader will never, ever predict that someone is going to die, because it creates a post-hypnotic suggestion in the person's mind that may actually cause their death. (If you see danger for them, you tell them how to avoid it - check your brakes on your car, don't speed, watch out for backing up trucks, don't hike on the edges of cliffs, and so forth.)

Telling someone they have a haunting isn't nearly as unethical as telling they're going to die or commit suicide, but it's still nasty if it's a scam. If someone suggests this, ask them what they feel you should do about it. If they give you information on how to cleanse your home, take a cleansing bath or something similar, but don't press you to spend money, they're probably legit. If instead, they come up with a hundred dollar shopping list for you (from their store of course) or suggest that they will them to give you regular personal cleansings, or say various prayers for you or that they will personally need to visit your home (any of these to the tune of a good deal of money) to do a ceremony, then be aware they're scamming you. If they instead offer to come over and check out your house for not much more than the price of gas money and a couple sticks of sage, then certainly take the help where offered!

It's not just psychics here. In Chapter 4 we'll talk about other charlatans too.

So, if you got here because somebody from out of the blue told you that you were haunted, take it with a grain of salt. Do read the book, and if anything makes sense to you, certainly follow the advice. But don't let charlatans rule your life.

On the other hand, if some stranger just walks up to you on the street, or turns to you on the bus, or meets you in the grocery store and suggests that you've got a haunting...and they proceed to walk off without any expectation of gain from it...you might be haunted. (And if you're reading this and think it would be a great prank to pull--DON'T.)