Basic Starting Guide To Paranormal Photos

Spirit photography has been popular almost since the dawn of spiritualism and coincided with the dawn of photography as well. Some savvy photographers worked out how to use double exposure to fudge photographs for the unsuspecting public. And the public lapped it up. Fake spirit photos are not a modern age thing only done by someone cluey enough to use Photoshop. Ghost apps by the dozen are available to download for free for smartphones and are unashamedly uploaded to social media. Surprisingly there are still people who fall for them. 

The story of the photo usually starts with something like, "a mate of mine took this photo and sent it to me and swears it's genuine". Even investigators are not immune to this folly. On more than once occasion, I have been shown photos on smartphones with the above story and was expected to be in awe. Of course it didn’t go down well with the owner of the photo when I revealed that I was an investigator and a photographer myself and what they were looking at was a fake. Some tried to convince me it wasn't as they took the photo themselves. It makes me a little sad.

I would like to share with you some very simple and easy to follow tips you can use to take great photos even with a compact camera while on ghost tours, investigations or just on a rogue Saturday midnight cemetery dash.

No handheld devices

Forget your smart phones and tablets. While most of them take pictures with excellent resolution, there is precious little you can do photographic settings wise to adjust to your environment. Not to mention that any self-respecting investigator worth their salt will just plain and simple refuse to give you an opinion on your image, should you decide to send it to them. Simple and fairly inexpensive compact and SLR digital cameras are perfectly fine for taking snaps. Some even have really good low light functions and that means you won't have to use your flash all the time. We all know that one person on a tour or an investigation who just can't help themselves but take hundreds of flash photos, ensuring that participants are all but completely blind by the conclusion of the event. Not cool.

Have the right equipment

A tripod is a must have staple in your spirit photography arsenal. It doesn't have to be super-duper, weight balanced titanium with an inbuilt spirit level, you're not photographing for National Geographics. Inexpensive ones can be acquired online and are lightweight aluminium and will easily fit into a small backpack alongside your rations for the night, your torches, spare batteries and holy water. When you take pictures in the dark, whether your camera is set to auto or you adjust the settings yourself a longer exposure will required if you don’t want the images to turn out completely black, if your camera even picks up objects at all. Most camera sensors need something to hook onto when focussing or measuring for autosettings. Longer exposure means that even if the camera moves the slightest, you will have a ghosting effect on your image. This may even be caused if you breathe while the lens is open or the subject in the frame moves. Yes, even if the movement is the slightest.

Common misidentifications

Moving lightsources, dust, insects, cigarette smoke, breath or condensation are often misidentified as spirits on photos. The great orb debate has raged for a long as digital cameras have been around. Even longer if you take into account sunflares and lens reflections. At least now, in the digital age, where images are no longer captured on film negatives, aberrations on the images caused by incorrect distribution of developing chemicals or a faulty film strip can be excluded. There are steps you can take to avoid the above listed artefacts from appearing on your images. Trailing can be avoided by making sure that there are no prominent light sources in your shot. Someone holding a torch, a candle, even street lights can be misleading once you manage to put your images on your computer days later. It's unlikely you will remember every single details about your environment on the night you took your photos. Insects are hard to avoid but they will be pretty obvious once you get the hang of spotting them in your photos. Exhaled breath and cigarette smoke will not necessarily be visible when you take your picture, but will produce a distinctive signature on the image. Condensation in or on the lens will occur if you move between areas of varying temperatures like getting out of a warm car where you kept your camera and start taking photos outdoors on a cold day or night.

5 Fluff Free Meditating Tips For The Superbusy

According to Webster Online Dictionary, mediation is continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature. Yawn! This explanation is likely to put the most devout Buddhists off mediating, let alone a mum who's desperately looking forward the kids to go to bed so she can at least have 5 uninterrupted minutes in the bathroom. Or the busy professional who even works on the train on their way home from work after a 10 hour day.

When you hear the word meditation, what comes into your mind? Incense smoke filled yoga room with dreadlock and drawstring pants wearing people? A stack of never opened CDs you bought ages ago thinking you will have the time and dedication one day to "really get into it"? Or maybe an idyllic picture from your Facebook newsfeed showing a person sitting on a mountain top looking mighty serene and kind of full of inner peace smugness? I hear you!

Don't let all this dissuade you from at least trying it on for size. Bringing meditation into your every day is easier than it might seem. Let me share with you some ideas that I think will grow on you faster than you can say Namaste. These 5 top tips will not only help you get into meditation but will enhance your experience with psychic development.

1              Relaxation and Mindfulness

If you haven't done any meditation before, I suggest you try relaxation first and some mindfulness meditations or visualisations. These types of meditations are guided and on top of the soothing soundtrack of ocean waves, bird sounds and the like and you will have a person's voice taking you through a landscape of some kind usually. Sandy beaches, cool caves, lush forests are all popular choices. To start off with, choose something that is not too long. About 10-15 minutes will do. Choose a time when you won't be disturbed, turn your phone off and find a comfortable place to sit. I prefer a sitting position as it's just too easy to fall asleep during a relaxing meditation. As much as you want to enjoy it, unless it's bedtime, you want to get on with the rest of your day once you're finished.

2              Noise is Good

If guided meditations are not your cup of tea, I found that just a track of plain sounds is very effective. I have tried various background noises such as white noise, wind blowing, the sound of rain, drums, even whale songs. There is plenty of free material available online or inexpensive tracks on iTunes even. This type of meditation will allow you to be in the driver's seat and go wherever you want to go in your head.

3              Your Happy Place

You will be much more inclined to spend time meditating if you have a comfortable, inviting, cozy place to go to in your head if you're not using guided meditation. You can create the space you want in your head, even the path you get there on. Lack of imagination is not an excuse here as you can also go back to physical places in your thoughts where you really enjoyed yourself in the past or felt peace and calmness. I have a temple space I visualise, where I go to in regular meditations.

4              Thoughts Be Gone

I used to think that meditating means to be completely thought free until I met a yoga teacher who taught me something invaluable and I pass it onto everyone I teach. Don't fight your thoughts when they come into your head. It's natural to have those floating through your mind, even when meditating. If you're focused on keeping them out and fighting to push them out of your head once they enter, your focus is not on your meditation but your mental processes. Imagine that those thoughts that come into your head during meditations are like lithe leaves, being blown into your mindscape during meditation and see them float out of your head as effortlessly as they floated in. Acknowledge each thought and let it drift on and the next one and the next one until there aren't any more. Most of all, don't give yourself a hard time if you're not successful right away. Meditation is called a practice for a reason.

5              Keep It Simple If You Go Off Track

One of my issues during meditation used to be that I often "came out of it" really suddenly and was unable to go back into that relaxed state. Or during guided meditations I would drift away and completely off the path that the guidance was, especially during psychic development classes. I would find it difficult to re-focus once that happened and I would spend the rest of meditation time either with my eyes closed, fully aware and trying not to fall asleep in front of everyone in the circle or beating myself up in my thoughts for not keeping on task. Another technique I learnt from my yoga teacher helped me overcome that issue as well. Whenever I felt myself drifting or coming out of meditation, I would re-focus my thoughts on my breath. As I was inhaling and exhaling, very deliberately, I would feel the rise and fall of my chest and continue with that practice until I was back on track. Some people in my circles found that focusing on their heartbeat works better for them and that is perfectly fine. This is also helpful at the beginning of a meditation session as it helps centring and balancing the mind, priming it for a great meditation.

Consulting the High Priestess - A Tarot Ritual

For most people maybe Tarot cards and herbs are not often seen as working together. For me however, the woody scents of mugwort, lavender and many other herbs is something that is inseparable from my Tarot work. Not only do they keep my precious cards that I use for readings company but have provided a source of liberating wisdom in home circles as well as during my solitary practice as a witch in ritual. Luckily most herbs used for opening the psychic senses are easily accessible and may can even be grown in our gardens with no fuss at all.

It has been many a time that I have made myself a fortifying cup of mugwort tea with a hint of rose and lemon balm before sitting down for a reading. The steaming cup sitting on my reading table. I even made a special blend that I use for ritual purposes when I want to connect with the archetypes of my Tarot and use it to scatter it on the floor, making a circle of working space, my little haven for my magickal Tarot work. In this article I share with you this blend and the use of it, hoping that you will derive as much pleasure out of it as I have been for a long time now.

 

Take one part of mugwort, rose petals, lemon balm, a bay leaf or two half of eyebright. If you're intending to use this blend as an incense, you might add some sandalwood chips or frankincense to make the smell more pleasant.  Mix the herbs together in a bowl while imbuing the mix with your intention for its use. You may want to chant something like:

"Herbs of sight, bring your might, show what's hidden, bring to light."

Keep in a separate container, labelled with the name of the mix and when you made it. If you want to use it with your cards, just put some in a callico or organza bag and keep with your card. I keep the bulk of my mix in a pretty glass container. I use that to mark out a circle when I cast in my temple space before I begin working with my Tarot. You can also use this blend as an incense to burn it on a charcoal disk.

This month I have also included another ritual to go with your psychic circle blend that will bring you even closer to your inner high priestess.

If you pull out all the High Priestess cards from your decks, (that is assuming that you are like me and one deck only just won't do) and put them next to each other you will notice one thing that seems to be common in most cards. She is depicted wearing a white dress. Some would say it’s due to her position as a priestess that she chooses to remain a virgin to be bound by no man. I partially agree with this, however it’s not the only reason I think. Her independence is not only prevalent in her being in her own power but also in the fact that she is ready to receive any hidden knowledge without any prejudice, there are no ingrained behaviours that would prevent her from gaining new understanding. This to me also signifies purity of mind.

Instead of only using rational knowledge that comes from learning through experiencing, she has the power, the tools and means to access the limitless universal knowledge and therefore glean things that would otherwise remain hidden to those not privy to those skills. She not only sees what is happening in the world but also the reason behind it. Consult her when you need to connect with the wiser you to make a decision where you feel like you don’t have all the facts or when all options seem to be blocked.

To connect with you inner High Priestess, the wiser you, try this simple ritual. You will need a pomegranate, a paring knife and a plate, pen and notepad, white tea light candle, incense or oil of sage or sandalwood, The High Priestess Tarot card or a printed picture of it.

Find yourself a quiet space where you will not be disturbed for about half-an-hour. Put on some soothing music if you like. Light you candle and incense or oil in an oil burner. Write down on your notepad a question that you need clarification on or a problem you need insightful help with. Cast your circle and scatter your psychic herb blend in a circle around you, marking out the space where you will be performing your ritual.

Sit while you concentrate on your breathing until your mind is settled down. Invoke the image of The High Priestess on your card in your mind as if she were sitting opposite you, giving you a reading. Ask her your question or tell her about the problem you need her assistance with.

Sit with her for a little while she connects with you. When she signals you that she’s ready, just bring your awareness back to your space a little bit. Cut the pomegranate in half and offer her some of the seeds in exchange for her help. Take your pen and notepad and start writing down the information she’s giving you while snacking on the pomegranate seeds yourself. Write until you’ve exhausted all the knowledge she was giving you.

Leave your notes for a day or two, but at least for a few hours, then go back through them again and make your decision. If you're planning on using the blend as a tea, please make sure that you omit the bay leaves and check the rest of the herbs with a herbalist to make sure you're not taking something that might compromise your health should you ingest it.

The Spark Within - A Tarot Ritual

By Andrea Kaldy

A few Christmases ago I was given a book called Oil For Your Lamp by the owner of a place I teach at. For a long time it was sitting on the top of my bookshelf, once in a while reminding me while dusting that I should read it. If not for gaining some generic wisdom then at least for the courtesy that I can tell my friend that I have read the book she gave me.

I had a feeling she hadn't picked this title by accident and half-annoyed I think I was avoiding the book on purpose. She asked me from time to time if I had started reading it but I managed to duck having to answer or at least I thought so. She stopped asking me after a while and relieved at the thought of having to be accountable for it, I continued to dust it off on the top of the shelf.

I even forgot about it soon afterwards until one day one of my kids picked it up for some reason. It was only a small book with colourful photos in it so it was appealing with its smart cover design and stood out from the rest of the pile of books I was about to take out into the garage. I felt it, I knew it, I had to read it.

I defiantly picked it up and opened it in the middle somewhere, I have this bad habit of doing this to books, to read a few pages from the middle to see if I like the writer's style. An hour later almost in tears I was sitting next to my bed on the floor fully immersed in this little wonder. Reading about other women and how they have overcome challenges in their lives and how they have triumphed over tragedies or even how they kept their lives together after cataclysmic changes that turned everything around them upside down.

I still don't know what grabbed me about this book so much. Why it touched me so deeply, why I was a crying mess as I recognised so much of myself in many of the stories and narrations that were packed into that tiny book. I couldn't read all of it, I had to put it down and I had to allow myself to understand my strong reaction to what I was reading. It took me about 6 months to pick it up again and when I did I started reading the book from the very beginning, savouring each story as I was going and letting its meaning seep into my consciousness.

I started to understand why my friend gave me that book. On the verge of a burn-out, how apt a name is that, she intuitively knew that it was exactly what I needed. I wasn't ready just then but when I was, the guidance was there. I was burning out from disbursing my energy too much, from wanting fix everyone's problems for them, from being frustrated that the travel on my spiritual path wasn't as fast as I wanted it to be, that I had no focal point when all I heard from those I looked up to that I had to have one.

I was vegetating day by day, going through the motions, robot-like, no emotions, no passion, no fire in my belly. It felt like this cold piece of stone, heavy and grey sitting in my stomach, making it harder and harder every day to get up and start the day. I was in depression.  I felt it, I knew it, I had to cut my way through it.

Day by the day that book game me comfort, gave me examples on how I may empower myself with small things. It started a small spark in my belly like an ancient flint stone and with each day as I kindled that spark it grew. It became a focal point of mine and every single decision I made afterward concerning my well being was directed by that spark. I listened to that small warmth in my belly and only allowed things and people in my life that fed that warmth and supported its growth. When I needed guidance I asked myself and if the feeling went cold I pushed back but when I felt the warmth coming through my solar plexus chakra I accepted.

One day I noticed that the tiny kindling that I protected from mal intent for so long has grown into a strong, ferocious, independent fire that was my path and my passion. It was no big revelation, no fanfare, no red carpet, no chorus of angels. It was just a quiet knowing that crept up on me one day and I just knew. The oil for my lamp has been refilled and through my renewed connection with the universal force it has now found a never-ending well of divine replenishment.

I now take time on a regular basis to honour that well and to share it with others and help them find their own source of this life-fuel and through that work I constantly replenish mine.

Here is a simple Tarot ritual that may help you find your focal point and put the fire back into your belly, lift you out of the darkness and replenish your faith in yourself as well as the divine. For this you will need The Hermit from the Major Arcana, a candle of your choice and incense that you find most soothing. It's this simple.

I want you to light your incense and sit in your sacred space with The Hermit in your hands. Now look deeply into the card and absorb all the features that this image has. Become the Hermit yourself. Your mission is to find your light. The single light by which you will travel, the one that will be your guiding light, the one that will assist you in your search of finding yourself. Close your eyes and imagine the path before you with a faint light in the distance. Say a prayer and ask that you may find this light with ease and be able to keep focus on it no matter what it on the path before you. Start walking towards the light in your visualisation, always keeping it in your sight. Feel how easy it is to move towards and when you come across a challenge on the path ask your divinity to remove it for you and then wait for the road to clear and start moving again. You may not get to the light on your first go so try again the next day. When you reach the light during your meditation, take it and own it. Notice how different you feel when you claim it. Enjoy this experience and know that you can come back to anytime you like. When you come out of the meditation light your candle and put it in a place where you can see it every day. Light it every day with a simple affirmation that you are now kindling the light in you. Before the candle burns down completely, light a new candle off the old one to have a representation of the continuation of your intent. Revisit this exercise when you feel like you need to find focus within yourself and your light replenished.