Monthly Archives: November 2015

Nov 19 2015

How Far is the Other Side?

There is far too much evidence to deny the existence of some sort of continuance of life beyond what we call death. Just what that existence consists of is conjecture; but the energy that we are made up of just doesn’t disappear when we leave our bodies. This begs the question – what is life? Perhaps if we could answer that one we wouldn’t have to wonder what death is.

Our Universe seems to operate within a framework of opposites like up/down, light/dark, good/evil and so on. But, could it be that these supposed diametrically opposed states are all the same thing and not different at all? If everything eminates from the same single source then it would make sense they all must be interconnected and therefore part of one another. Could one exist without the other? ….seems unlikely.

This three-dimensional world we live within is also a trickster. It limits our abilities to perceive things as they really are. Electromagnetic radiation is the light spectrum around us, but we only see visible light in the range of about 390 to 700 nanometers. We’re also limited in our hearing frequency from about 20 to 20,000 Hz, (Hertz or 1 cycle per second). That leaves a whole lot more around us that we don’t have access to, but still exists none-the-less.

We also do not perceive the things we see as some other living creatures do. You can look at pictures of flowers, for example, under ultraviolet light – like insects do and the flowers look totally different from our sensory data. The blossoms have imprinted ‘run-ways’ on them that show a bee, for example, where to land to gather pollen. So which view is the right one? The real one? And these differences are all around us, we just don’t experience them on a daily basis.

With these breeches in our sensory reality is it such a far step to consider that the availability to the other side is no more than our inability to perceive its existence by our stunted view of the entirety of what exists beyond our senses?

– ashanta

Nov 15 2015

White Church Cemetery – West Springfield MA

Western Massachusetts has its fair share of old cemeteries purported to be haunted, but that doesn’t mean that those without that reputation don’t have ghostly activity.

The old White Church, as it has become known, is an old place. For just over 200 years it has occupied a spot on the corner of Elm Street and Witch Path. It was originally built as a Meeting House for a burgeoning community just west and across the river from Springfield. As was the custom, meeting houses were used for church services and a Congregational religion sprung up and used the place for Sunday services…..which were mandatory for the population to attend. Over time the place became the Congregational Church on Meeting House Hill.

As West Springfield grew life went on, people lived their lives and died. A churchyard cemetery started to grow adjacent to the church. A Mrs. Ashley from one of the founding families was the first to be buried there. Her grave can be found to the left of the chain gate that can cross the road entrance right behind the church. There used to be a huge ancient tree just in front of it, but I think that’s gone now.

There are no remarkable stones in this graveyard, but there’s still a lot of history and interesting stories on the stones. They still speak. Townspeople use the small street circumscribing the place to jog, walk their dogs, and sometimes on moonlit nights sit on a bench and steal a kiss from a loved one.

This quiet spot doesn’t seem to come alive until most of the townspeople are at home and perhaps sleeping their own sleep. On occasions, small bright lights that some might call “orbs” can be seen dancing around the outlines of the stones. A dark figure of a man walks slowly from south to north across the middle heading toward what seems to be a potter’s field. Just forward of that there are two headstones that touch. One is of a young woman and the other an infant. Did she die in childbirth along with her child? Her shadow can sometimes be seen just above the grave…. is she looking for her baby? And on some nights when things aren’t seen you can still hear the rhythmic leaves and twigs crunching as invisible feet seem to walk over them.

And what about Witch Path on the South side of the church? That’s another story….

– ashanta