From: To: Subject: [IGHS] Newsletter July 4, 2004 Grants New Mexico Date: Sunday, July 04, 2004 11:43 AM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Remove Link To Unsubscribe from Newsletter: Click on Reply To or send email to ighs-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com for an automatic removal from this newsletter. Mission Statement: The Ghostweb is the official Web Site of the International Ghost Hunters Society. Membership in the IGHS is always FREE. The IGHS is dedicated and committed to the research, documentation, education, and investigation of ghostly phenomena recorded through EVP, digital, film and video photography. The IGHS is a society of ghost believers, ghost hunters, and ghost researchers with over 14,000 members in 87 countries worldwide. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter July 4, 2004 from Grants, New Mexico Dr. Dave’s Notes: Our home study courses cover an in depth analysis of everything we have learned about ghosts and life after death. Our courses are for the serious student who is seeking answers to questions about life after death and how it relates to ghost research. We do not teach our students that folklore and traditional stories must be ignored as they search for the truth. Ghosts are real and they exist in our physical realm, but they are not cursed or fragments of the soul. We help many people who write and share their grief about losing someone close to them. Some are depressed and some are searching for answers to unanswered questions about death. As ordained and licensed ministers, we do not wear our religion on our sleeves. As spiritual ministers, we reach out to those in need of help; we share what we have learned and what knowledge we have gained from our field investigations. Our ministry is outside of the 2,200 Christian sects and involves the spiritual side of life after life. Some people accept Wicca and witchcraft as their religious belief with witchcraft as a manifestation of that belief. The five-pointed pentagram is a symbol of protection to Wicca and pagan members, just as the holy cross is supposed to be for Christians. Some Christian sects employ the fish symbol as a manifestation of that belief. The cross represents the execution method of Jesus. If a different execution method were employed, such as a hangman’s knot, then today we would see nooses worn on chains by members of the Christian sects. Perhaps if that had happened, the term “hanging around” would have an entirely different meaning today. Now, my religion is being a ghost researcher and my craft is known as ghostcraft, which is a manifestation of my belief. I also have my religious ghostcraft symbols, such as Casper who rides on our dashboard in our Honda, instead of the Virgin Mary or a dangling cross. I may have a ghost pin that I wear on my hat or put a ghost in a logo on our web site. I may find cute looking ghosts to adorn our walls. Unlike the Christians who wear the cross as the implement of death, I wear a ghostie as the evidence of life after death. I do not wear a coffin that symbolizes death as the cross symbolizes death for the Christians, but a ghost symbol that represents life after life. What exactly is ghostcraft? I coined this term to represent the knowledge and comfort I gain from the practice of my religious beliefs as a ghost researcher. Christians have sermons and ghost researchers have investigations. Just as some will sleep through a sermon and learn nothing from it, so too, ghost researchers may learn nothing from conducting an investigation. The end results might not be as restful as sleeping through a sermon, but the end results are the same. Nothing is learned. Other times Christians will come away from a sermon all charged up to race out and convert the world to their beliefs. Likewise, after a good investigation, with good EVP recordings of ghost voices, I want to rush to the web site and share the ghost voices with the world. How can Christians say my ghostcraft is leading me down the road of destruction? I can relate Ghostcraft to other crafts, such as the fishing. Those who practice this craft, do so religiously. They will often rise early in the morning, drive long distances, and locate quiet and serene sites along creeks, rivers, and lakes. They humble themselves, utter a quick prayer and cast forth their fishing lines, and pray that God hears their petitions. Later, they will often share revelations about the great fish that got away. The members of this craft will wear their religion on their hats, much as the Jews wore their markings on their sleeves to show how much learning they had. Since Christians wear the symbol of a fish, the followers of Fishcraft wear the symbol of the hook! There are over 2,200 sects who call themselves Christians. While many sects deny these other sects, the truth is that the Christian movement swings from the Nazi Skinheads to the far end of the conservatives who want to control and monitor what you read in newspapers and watch on television. These are the ones who fight to keep Harry Potter series of books out of school libraries, but openly accept the Lord of the Rings series of books. Both deal with fantasy and magic. Main stream Christians believe it is okay to take their children to the sadistic and violent Passion of Christ film that is so gross that children may well suffer damaging effects from viewing the brutal beatings portrayed on the silver screen. I am appalled as a parent by the violence of this film. If there is a redeeming value to the film, it is lost in Mel Gibson’s vision of violence and brutality. Hollywood has portrayed ghosts as demonic and ghoulish. I have the same concerns within my ghostcraft. Some ghost researchers are radical, believing that ghosts are demons and they call themselves demonologists. They have watched too many episodes of Charmed where the three charmed ones fight and destroy demons in our physical world. The other end of the spectrum is those ghost researchers who believe that ghosts are the souls of those who lived and died on the earth. These researchers believe that many of these trapped souls are here because of unfinished business or unresolved issues. I do not endorse the demonologists who see ghosts as demons; I tend to avoid these folks as they scare me with their pious and “holier than thou” attitudes. Their attitudes remind me of the witch hunters in Salem who hanged innocent women and men they thought to be in consort with the devil. A part of my ghostcraft is to teach people to forgive, forget, and move on with their lives, leaving their emotional baggage behind. Our emotional baggage will continue with us into the next life. The Christian doctrine that we leave behind our emotional baggage and spring forth fresh to stand before the Pearly Gates is false. If we do not discard the baggage here in this life, it will burden us in the life to come. We have documented far too many cases where the emotional baggage is still retained by the spirit and it is that baggage that is anchoring the spirit to this earth plane, preventing it from moving forward. There is an old saying, “Before religion there was peace, after religion there was contention and war.” Just as religion contends with other religions, we find those religious zealots who contend with ghostcraft. These zealots, who threaten you with damnation, all claim to be servants of God. What are servants of God? I sometimes wonder if these servants of God all need hearing aids as they hear some really slanted and discriminating things from God that the rest of us do not hear. We have all heard about the mothers who have been in the news the past few years that have killed their children in the name of God. They claim God told them to kill their children. When a religious extremist claims God wants something done and mothers are claiming the same revelations, it makes me want to back off from these nuts. This is not new. In history, we find that Hitler claimed God told him to kill the Jews and even in this millennium, we hear that President Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq. How many serial killers have said that God told them to kill? The first clue to something being wrong should be if God says, forget the “thou shall not kill commandment.” We live in an age where we have nuts, all claiming that God is talking to them. Turn on you television sets on Sunday and listen to the dozens of evangelical ministers preaching their version of the truth while collecting donations for their causes. These servants of God ignore the Biblical command of traveling without purse or string when doing God's work. We can look back at how the collections of Jim and Tammy Baker were used as one good example. Their dogs had a wonderful existence due to the generosity of those sending money for Gods’ work. When I ask them if it is okay to have religious visions because so many from their sects have seen angels and angelic messengers, they claim their religious visions are from God. I share my religious experience and say I have seen and talked to ghosts, just as they have seen and talked to angels. They become upset with me when I confirm that ghosts are real. If their angels are real, why cannot my ghosts be real? When I ask them, “Have you ever recorded the voice of an angel,” they say no, but they get mad when I say I have recorded the voices of hundreds of ghosts. They practice their religion without scientific confirmation and I practice my religion with scientific confirmation. While they claim that there is no scientific way to prove their beliefs, I counter with there is a way to prove that my ghostcraft is valid. I can play back ghost voices that are interactive, meaning they are responding to something that I have said or done. I see these ghost voices as evidence of life after death that life does continue beyond death. Death is a comma, not a period in our journey through life. When everything is going well with them, they claim God loves them and are blessing them. They heap praises to their God, but if they hit some potholes in the road, then God is challenging them and if things do not work out, they feel frustrated, wondering why God has ignored their pleas for help. In my case, if things are going well, I knock on wood and say, it is about time. If I hit some potholes in the road, I say, Oops, must be more careful and if things really go south in a hand-basket, I say, crap has hit the fan. I do not blame my God for my lot in life. I do not give him credit if I do something right nor do I condemn him if I do something stupid. I made those choices, not God. I am the one who stepped in the pothole, or got out of the way of the oncoming train. I must have the mental strength to accept responsibly for my own actions. I may pray to God for wisdom and common sense, but I am a free soul, I can and do make my own decisions and therefore, I must stand and be responsible for my actions and not blame someone else for my lot in life. God set the ball in motion, but it is up to me to determine what happens to that ball as it moves forward. It is called free will, which we are all given to do with what we will in this life. The ball is in my park now; it is up to me to determine what I will do with it. Too many people are afraid to go to bat because God hasn't told them what to do. What we need in this life are more people stepping up the bat, not sitting on their buns waiting for God to direct their lives. There is an old saying, “God helps those who help themselves!” Happy trails. Dr. Sharon’s Notes: We share a lot in out newsletters, Home Study courses, and books about ghosts. That is the subject we research and study so that is what we write about. We established scientific ways to document the existence of ghosts. Ghosts are the mirror image of the living that have lived and died on this physical plane. The more that we learn about ghosts and the spirit realm, the more we realize we have only scratched the surface of knowledge to be gained. In studying the nature of ghosts, we have learned more about human nature than expected. To understand the nature of mankind is to understand the nature of ghosts and visa versa. What about the nature of death and grief? Do we truly have an understanding of physical death and what the survivors of loss go through? This is the serious side of life and so far, our society turns their heads away when the subject comes up. We fear death and though it comes to every living thing, it is a subject avoided as if talking about it will evoke death personified to knock on our doors. The normal thinking is that if we do not concern ourselves with it we can deal with it later in life. If the truth were known, when death does take a loved one, we do not know how to deal with it. Little know is the fact that those who are dying, lay in a state of terror at the thought of death. We never know when the time will come for someone dear to us will leave this physical existence. Studies done into the death experience have shown that regardless of education, beliefs or social standing in life, fear of death is common. Yet, death is as natural a process in the cycle of life as birth. It is our lack of understanding, our fear of the unknown that takes over as the life clock ticks down. For those who survive the loss of a loved one, the pain of grief goes on and can continue for many years until reaching the point of acceptance and letting go. Our grief is a normal process of working through the intense pain of loss. We will all experience the grief of loss at some time in our lives. There is no magic pill that will take us from a state of mourning and make all of the pain go away. Grief is one experience we have to work through and heal. Grief is internal, not something, that can be put in a cast like a broken limb for support until it mends. Grief is emotional; in fact, it is a time of the most intense emotion a person can ever feel which makes it very personal. To put it simply, grief is something like an emotional wrecking ball that swings forward and hits you in the stomach, fast and hard. It is the experience of being hit with every emotion you have felt throughout your lifetime and intensified, all at one time. Grief is the most supernatural experience a person will ever feel that is totally normal. Grief is personal and the only one who can work through the process and heal is the person having the experience. At times is requires assistance to sort through it all. Understanding what is happening is a huge step toward accepting the condition and working toward healing. We mourn our losses, as those we love are no longer part of our physical life. We miss their presence, long talks and happy times though we hold them close in cherished memories. Our grief is for our loss and ourselves. We will feel the sadness, the regrets, anger, and hate toward God for taking our loved one from us. Grief is a process of working through each emotion, one step at a time, day by day. Each emotion, each step is normal although at the time it causes us to question our sanity. Family and friends are an asset but grief is also a time of truth. Real friends will remain by the mourners side while those less sincere about the relationship will turn away, not knowing how to deal with the pain. Some may just say get over it and expect a miracle to kick in so the person in mourning will snap back to the happy people they were before experiencing loss. The request is unrealistic and unreasonable but understand, it is ignorance speaking. My husband died suddenly in 1989 from medical negligence and I walked the road of grief, most of the time alone. I learned a lot about death and grief but now from self help books as I found nothing on book shelves to help me. My real friends were there for me and my older sister supported me in ways that kept me going. The one lady who helped me the most was an acquaintance who had lost her husband a few years before. It was a letter from Mary that touched my heart and helped me understand what I was going through. Mary told me I was going through a tender time, a complex time that was mine alone. It was time for me to do special things for myself and to take the time to relax, enjoy a bubble bath, light candles, or whatever gave me the most peace inside of myself. Mary was honest and open, speaking from her own experience, telling me how it would be for a while. She told me it would not be easy but encouraged me to put myself first and work through the upheaval of emotion. It was the compassionate advice of someone who had gone through what I faced that changed my outlook. I found hope in her words when before, I had felt only hopelessness and despair. I think Mary's letter gave my family new insights until they forgot what she had said in her letter. The lives of family and friends went on normally while mine was turned upside down and life as I knew it was lost. That too, is normal from what I learned. I realized the church offered little to ease my pain but I found God in everything around me, if I just took the time to look. Nature was more comforting for me than any building I walked into to pray or socialize. It difficult for the pastor to find the words to comfort a forty year old widow who was facing an uncertain future. I learned very quickly the path of grief was dark and narrow but only because no one shared a light of knowledge to ease the way. Experience is a great teacher and the lessons can be difficult. Learning hard, I gained insights and awareness to the need people have for knowledge that has been some great secret in our society. I promised myself if I could ever get through my own grief and the experiences I had along the way, I would share all that I could to help others understand such a natural process of grieving from loss. As a result, Dave and I were able to compile that knowledge into the second part of the home study course that deals with death, grief, and helping others to understand the process. It was the personal experience and research that brought the information into one booklet that others may have insight into what death and grief hold for each of us. Each grief experience is complex, each is personal and individual yet regardless of who is having the experience or the circumstances within it, grief is the same to everyone, everywhere. It is how we deal with it that makes the difference. Digital Ghost Photography Handbook: Are you confused about orbs? What are dust orbs and how do they relate to real ghost orbs? Read our 20 page thermal bound book or download the PDF book and discover how digital photography is the wave of the future. We have been using digital since 1994 and we share with the reader, which are the best digital cameras on the market today. We also share what to look for when purchasing a digital camera and provide some protocols to avoid falling into the dust orb trap. Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet2.html. How to Record and Analyze Ghost Voices: Traditional techniques for recording ghost voices are outdated and far less successful. Sharon and I have an accumulated 28 years of experience in ghost research and in evaluating ghost tools for field investigations. Along the way, we have discovered many hidden techniques that enable us to be tremendously successful in recording the voices of the dead. Our new book will disclose our time tested techniques in a step by step procedure that is easy to understand and to apply. Check out the book at http://www.ghostweb.com/booklet.html We ship via Priority Mail through the Post Office, not the slow boat to China known as Media Mail that takes several weeks to arrive at an address. CD Version Home Study Courses: We offer the CD version is for PC computers using Wins95, Wins98, WindowsMe, and WindowsXP. The added features of this CD version, includes color photographs of spiritual orbs, spirit energy ectoplasm, a full body apparition and samples of ordinary airborne dust particles we call dust orbs that fool so many people. The separate Photo Analysis CD is now a part of the CD version. In addition, a printed copy can be made from CD, as in the printed version. We pay the shipping charges for Priority Mail in the USA, International Air Mail to Canada and for an extra ten dollars, we will ship it by Global Priority Mail to Europe and Asia. More information is available at http://www.ghostweb.com/mainhsc.html Fulfill your dreams: Magic Dimensions We all have dreams that we wished that could be our reality, but we do not know how to make that wish come true for us. In our book, we teach about the magic of having your dreams fulfilled. We show the reader how to open a doorway for a new reality where your dream will come true. Many claim this process is a miracle, but Quantum Mechanics teaches us that our miracles are simply an application of this weird science. Out book can show you how to create that miracle! We share with the reader the magical techniques that create the miracle we seek after in life. Magic Dimensions may be one of the most important books that will change your life. The ISBN number is 0-595-22032-0 and can be ordered from any bookstore or online at major dot.com bookstores. Life Time IGHS Member Certificate: Instead of renewing every year, IGHS members can now purchase a Life Time Membership for $60 or a Life Time Membership and Life Time Clip ID Badge for $75. This is available through PayPal and through our online Secure Order Form at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html. IGHS ID Badges for Investigations: We have received many requests for some kind of Identification Badge to wear while conducting field investigations. We have created a laminated ID Badge with a metal clip that snaps onto your shirt or other piece of clothing. It says that you are a Registered Ghost Hunter/Paranormal Investigator in good standing with the International Ghost Hunters Society and it has our signatures and web address. Order the ID Badge at http://www.ghostweb.com/id_badge.html. Password Memberships: We offer a special membership in our Ghostweb Ghost Galleries. Due to the size of these ghost galleries, we have to limit the number of people because of the bandwidth consumed by downloading the photos, spirit voices, and ghost videos in this area. If you want to view over 9,000 ghost photos, EVPs, and videos, check out our membership program at http://www.ghostweb.com/pass.html. IGHS Membership Certificates: The IGHS offers a beautiful Membership Certificate. The membership certificate is valid for one year Check it out at http://www.ghostweb.com/memcert.html for more information. Kind regards, Dave, Sharon & BooBoo International Ghost Hunters Society Copyrighted 2004 by Dr. Dave Oester All Rights Reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Oester, Ph.D., DD. Sharon Gill, Ph.D., 713 W Spruce, PMB 715 Deming, NM 88030 1-505-494-0026 Web URL: http://www.ghostweb.com/ Email: MagicDimensions@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~