Back to the Mist: Questions, Curiosity and the Unknown

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, and welcome back to Whispers from the Mist, Conversations from the Spiritual Byway. Today we are doing something a little different, and we're opening up the conversation with a few discussion questions. We'll start with two final questions about the Warrens as we wrap up that chapter on our podcast. And then we're getting back to our regularly scheduled program, moving into the bigger conversations that we'd love to have about intuition, the paranormal, energy, fear, discernment, and all the strange spaces in between. There may not always be a right answer to these questions, but that's kind of the point of this podcast. So settle in, keep an open mind, and join us as we travel a little bit further down the spiritual byway.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Whispers from the Mist Conversations from the Spiritual Highway. My name is Stacey, and with me is the fabulous and wonderful Michelle. Hi, Michelle.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hi, thank you for that wonderful introduction. I feel like I need a little propping up right now because it has been a summer.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

It sounds like it. I feel like you and I have both have been on very different wild rides this summer for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Definitely. And on this podcast, I mean our summer was dolls and the Warrens. And so today we're going to start transitioning away from the Warrens back into a variety of topics.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

But before we dive in, Michelle, I sent you a video last week, something in my home that happened. What did you think of that?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I thought, what the hell was going on? And just in shock that you got such clear video of this.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

So just for clarity's sake, it was not me. It was my husband that took the video. I was actually sound asleep in our bedroom. And he was up because he couldn't sleep watching TV. And he noticed out of the peripheral of his eye that something was moving next to him. And there was a bag of candy sitting there. And in the video, he was in a point where he was doubting what he was even seeing. So he just hit record and he recorded it moving back a little bit. And then halfway through the video, you have to actually pay attention. The entire thing just moves a little bit more. And he said at that point in time, he was like, All right, it's time for bed. I know the bedroom is protected. I'm gonna go back there. And he said at no point in time was he fearful, but it definitely shook him up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

That was wonderful evidence to capture. And the fact that it continued after he got his camera out amazes me because I feel like anytime I have something going on in front of me and I get my camera out, it's like, no, we're not giving it to you. It's and then I put it away and it starts again.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

So that was really lucky. So we talked about it the next morning, and naturally my first question was, was the fan on? Because I was like, if the fan's on, it would have been a kind of repeat movement, potentially not as obvious as it was in the video. And he said, No, Stacey, I was cleaning up and I was folding blankets, and I didn't want to get dog hair because we've got a dog. I didn't want to like shake it and have the fan blowing it everywhere. So I turned the fan off before I even sat down and folded the blankets. So it was very interesting because that tells me like a few different things. Number one, there was no feasible way for this object to actually move. And two, there was something popping by to say hello. And with everything going on, my gut pulled me to a dear friend of his that passed away a few years ago. And that's not a bad thing at all, but you know, like a little nod going, hey, you're not alone. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

You know? I love that. And I love that you immediately stepped into how can we discern this? Is there an explanation in the environment around us? I will say after watching that bag, I don't even think a fan would make it move that way. Had the fan even been on. And then my next question to you, which you kind of answered, is Did you take a moment to sit with it and tap into that energy to give him a clearer picture? Which it sounds like you did.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

So I have a friend local to me that does paranormal investigations as well. And we sent it to him too, because we were like, What are your thoughts on this one? And he and I were able to sit down and have like an awesome conversation around who he thought it might be or what he thought it would be. And I didn't offer my thoughts or opinions immediately because I wanted to see what he thought. And when he sat down and he really looked at it, he goes, My gut is telling me it's your friend that passed away a few years ago, just letting you know he's still there. Yeah, Steve needed that in the moment. If you'd like, we are very willing to have the video posted because it's not super long, it's only like 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

I was gonna ask you that next. Can I put it on social media? Yeah, absolutely. Listeners, tell us what you think, tap into it, tap into the energy of, and it really is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

It is. So with that being said, I think we have some discussion questions today.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Is that correct? We do have some discussion questions because again, we are transitioning away from a summer spent with the Warrens and into new topics. So I think I have two questions here in regards to the Warrens, and then we're going to go into some more random questions about intuition and all things paranormal.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I love it. I'm here for it. Okay. Well, if you weren't That would be kind of a bummer.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

It would be. I'd be like, exit now because this is what I have for you today. The first question I have is after everything that we've researched, has your opinion of Ed and Lorraine Warren changed? And if so, how?

SPEAKER_01 5:57

My opinion of them, no, I wouldn't say it ever changed. I still feel that they were a very strong piece of the very beginning of paranormal investigations. I I feel very similar to them kind of from the beginning, as I did when I first started, you know, learning and studying psychology. You know, you have your grandfathers of psychology that have been disproven time and time and time again, and not disrespectfully, but they laid the groundwork for future investigations that we wouldn't have otherwise. So I look at them as kind of the grandparents of paranormal.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

And I would say, and it's taken me a long time to formulate these words, but I really enjoyed researching the Warrens. My initial thought was pioneers, the grandparents of the paranormal. They were amazing. They had a very strong connection. It worked for them and the work that they were doing. So very solid impression of them. Now I know that we have to be discerning and there's other information that comes in. We have to look at Hollywood's influence on things, which, you know, Hollywood takes a story, uses some truth of it, and it condenses it down into two-hour period. But the Warrens, this was the life they lived. And I'm gonna say my opinion did change when I went into the house to sit in the energy of the top level of their house and to have Ed come through and to have Lorraine come through. And you could completely tell by the words they were using who you were talking to.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

And it is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Such a balance of we're a team, I'm gonna be exactly who I was in life, and Ed was exactly who he was in life. And then sitting in the energy of the house and experiencing the knocks, the problems with electronics, the physical sensations, what we witnessed, that was their life. And we can say it was all Hollywood, but I truly internally feel a lot of these movies were based on their files, but what actually happened, being physically present in it, had to be terrifying. And they learned to work with it and to accept it as they could. So yeah, I just have deeper respect and an understanding of them. And I honestly wish that I had had the experience in the house and then talked about them because I feel it so much deeper in my soul than I did before. Before I was reporting, and now it's like I'm she.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

You've experienced it. Yeah. Wow, that is such that's actually really profound. And, you know, I think too, what I'm what I'm hearing, and please correct me if I'm misunderstanding, is not only do you have a deeper and more profound respect for them, but you also still see them as kind of the the pioneers of paranormal. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

I definitely do. And like all the criticisms that came at them, the people who believe them, even years after their death, they're still doing the work. They're still promoting the Ed and the Lorraine that they knew and the love and respect they have for them. It's not like they passed and then they came out against them and were like, oh, this was all bogus. No, it's love and respect for the people that they were. They believed in what they were doing. Maybe some of the techniques are now antiquated, but uh it's just mad respect. You have to start somewhere. You definitely do, but I've been changed by this experience for sure. I can only imagine. So I do have one more question about the Warrens before we move on. I'm here for it. Of all the cases that we discuss that involve the Warrens, which one do you find the most believable? And which one still leaves you with the most questions?

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Oh man, it is a toss-up for me between Annabelle and uh the conjuring house, I'm gonna be honest. Annabelle being the most believable? I would say the conjuring house being the most believable, Annabelle still leaving me with questions. Um, I gotcha. But, you know, again, when we talked to the conjuring house, like there's so much misinformation that it's hard to discern what's true and what's not because of what Hollywood did too.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Exactly. Again, the Perones were in that family house from 1971 until 1980. So it's not like the Lutzes that went into Amnityville and only lasted 28 days. So they were having experiences in that home, learning to live with it for like a 10-year period, which then is all condensed into like a two-hour movie. What about you? I was gonna say, don't ask me this question because I don't know all of their cases. I would say Amnityville, I know it was very Hollywood eyes, but I know that also probably gave Lorraine the most pause, and she found it very difficult to deal with. And I've talked to people who've read the actual files and they say what actually happened was much more terrifying than the movie showed. I know we had questioned levitating and we have questioned like pigs with red eyes, but I don't know. It seems after being in the house, more genuine, again, Hollywood eyes, but there were parts of it that were still very genuine. And then I don't know. I there's not one I can really disagree with right now that leaves me with the most questions. Maybe I could have done a little more research on the devil made me do it because there was this whole dinosaur aspect and the dinosaur was in the museum. And I wish I'd looked into that a little bit more. So I feel like I failed a little bit at my job because there's so much out there.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

And then when you sit in the energy of it, like it keeps you focused on certain things too, when you're sitting in the energy of it, because you're you're focused on the energy and you're focused on, you know, the experience itself, too.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

So yeah. So that was the last question I had about the Warrens. So for now, we are going to say goodbye to them. Although, as we talked about in the previous episode, going into that house really felt like a spider web with lots of different strings pulled through it. And I met a lot of interesting people along the way. And if they are willing to come in and share their stories, we might have an episode about that because some fascinating things happened, connections in people's lives. The universe knows, our ancestors know, and healing can still be done, even all these generations later. So stay tuned for that. Okay. Well, let me see if I can find a fun question about intuition. Have you ever received an intuitive message that you later realized that you interpreted incorrectly?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Of course. Yeah, like all of us have done that.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yes, we get messages and sometimes we absolutely get the meaning of them wrong. That's called being human and having the human experience. And, you know, those moments are teachable too.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

I'm sitting here laughing because it's so true.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Yeah, I'm trying to think of a recent example I can give, but I absolutely can't think of one on demand. Okay, here's the next question. Is there something about psychics, mediums, or paranormal investigators that people commonly misunderstand?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yes. I I think there are a lot of things, but do you do you want to answer this first?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Psychics, mediums, paranormal investigators. If the interest is there, anyone could do it. It's just taking that interest, it's facing those fears, it's being willing to push your boundaries and experience something new. I mean, we're all intuitive, and it's really working with your intuition to see what you lean more into. If you lean more into the psychic side, which is getting information on your own, things bubbling up and swelling up with inside you, or the medium where you're getting it from an outside source, such as your guides or a loved one who's past. You just have to work with it. Like any trade, you have to work with it. Some people are natural and it comes a little more natural, but they're fine-tuning it. So that's what I would like to say. It's possible for anyone to do it if there's an interest there and they have time or are willing to do the work to see if they actually could do it or want to.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I I love that answer. I think that's a a really, really great answer. So I'll give you mine. Okay. Number one thing that pops in my mind immediately is no, I do not know the lottery numbers because I get asked that all the time. Oh, you're a psychic. Oh, that's cool. What are the winning lottery numbers? Because I want to be rich. That's just not how that's not how it works. And I I think that might also have popped right through for me because that's just I don't want to say a pet peeve. It gets asked all the time, and I it's kind of a a joke at this point in time. But the other piece is that no, I'm not reading you. I'm not jumping in to get intuitive messages as soon as I am introduced to you. There are ethical things that do come up, and and yes, there have been times that I've been in a grocery store and messages have come through, but the the piece on discernment, I have to be understanding of when and where to share information that comes through. And then my final piece is no psychics, mediums, paranormal investigators. We are not crazy. There's nothing wrong with us. It's that we just get information potentially differently than other people might.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

And we have an interest in that area. We are putting ourselves intentionally in those spaces, wanting to learn more. And you can come at it both from just the paranormal aspect or you can come to it through a science frame of mind. So either of those could be true. So those are great. And I love that you brought up ethics because definitely it would not be ethical to meet somebody and know all of their secrets without their permission. And it's so interesting that you brought that up because on our recent trip, Bonnie and I had gone to a restaurant and we met the most adorable bartender there, and we were talking, and she said she goes to places often and people will come up and tell her messages from I believe it was her grandfather. And Bonnie and I looked at each other like, oh, you know, that's not really. And she's like, no, but I love it. And so she would be open to it. But a lot of people might not. So you have to consider the effect it's going to have on the person.

unknown 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

And that's where asking permission comes into what is, you know, you are allowed to love getting those messages. And yeah, we want to share them with you for sure. But we also need to make sure that you're in a space to hear them and that, you know, we're asking before we just give you the information that pops up or pops through. Now, the other thing that I want to throw out with that kind of answer is when I meet you, I know, I know if I can trust you and I know if I can't immediately. And it it does impact, I would say, my relationship with different people moving forward because I I do trust my gut in those moments, but I'm not reading you. My my gut says, yes, this is a person that is someone that I need in my life, or no, there's something off. And if there's something off, that's where I step back and go, okay, we're gonna treat this a little bit differently too.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Well, with what you just said, this is not a question I had written down, but one that I'm thinking of. Are you ever fooled by that first impression? No.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

That that first impression has actually, for at least for me, always proven to be very accurate. With that said, sometimes that gut pull that I get, if it's not good and it's, you know, I don't trust this person or there's something going on. Sometimes it takes a while to actually kind of show. But when it does, it's typically big. Like one example I can give is I had met this person, and my gut said, do not trust them, do not trust them, do not trust them. But they were invited to a lot of things that I attended. So I saw them quite regularly at this point in my life. And eventually they definitely showed their true colors when they tried to physically get into an altercation with somebody that I am like super, super close to for no reason other than to make themselves feel better, very egotistically, you know, let's go outside and fight kind of deal. And as soon as that happened, they they were politely removed from the gatherings. We didn't like cut them, cut them off at the the knees or anything, but I knew from the very beginning that there was an edge to this person that was not fitting into the people that I spent my time with.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

That makes sense. And thinking of myself, I don't think I always give a very good first impression, not because I'm not nice, but I am an introvert. And sometimes people see that as snobby or rising above or not interested, which isn't the case. It's just it takes me a minute to warm up, and I'm much better one-on-one than I am in groups of people. So I'm hoping that the people who are trusting their guests and their instincts take a chance on me, just knowing that it's there. It just we have to get past the small talk.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Energetically, Michelle, you are as beautiful as a human comes. If I didn't know you, I I think that I would be drawn to you immediately, anyways, because I'm always drawn to the brightest lights in the room that may not be super chatty, but they are that energetic, I'm gonna say like sow to the soul that you need in your life.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Yeah, just holding space. And someone said to me the other day, you are just way too hard on yourself. And I'm like, I know, I know. We we always are yeah, definitely. Well, the next question: what's the difference between intuition telling you something is there and fear convincing you something is there?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

I think for me, it's how it comes across. Intuition telling me something is there is not presented really as fear. In this question, like I'm I'm tempted to dive a little bit into psychology because fear is typically representative of something else, right? Anxiety is one thing that comes up and comes to mind. So if information is coming through and it steps into worry for me, for example, worry is a future-based anxiety. So I know if it's if it's like a worry about something or a worry about, oh, if I turn this corner, I'm going to hear or see something, it that would be fear-based. Whereas if I'm stepping into it intuitively, I am curious and I am, you know, walking around that corner saying I'm open to all experiences.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Does that make sense? It makes sense to me. And I'll just kind of piggyback off that. I think a big difference between intuition telling you something and fear convincing you of something. Intuition flows lightly. It doesn't flow with like an urgency attached to it, whereas fear it. Is that lower vibrational energy? It's that worry, it's the anxiety, it's that thing that's going to hold you back rather than allow you to move forward. Now there are times that my intuition speaks loud to me, like don't cross the street because there's a car coming that you don't see, but it still feels different. That feels like an urgency of just turn around getting our attention. But fear, I think fear will keep you from doing something and it gives your power to whatever you're fearful of.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I agree with that and I love it because immediately what came um to mind when you were saying that was an example that I've used in the past where I was in the woods in northern New Hampshire and I was about to go under a bypass to go see a space that I used to love. And my intuition, it wasn't fear, it was intuition, kicked in high gear and said, You are in danger. Turn around and go back. Don't be here today. Turn around and go back. So I I listened and turned around and and got back in my car and left. And I didn't go any further. But my gut intuition, whatever you want to call it, I wasn't scared, but I knew had I gone forward, something would have happened, something bad would have occurred. And it wasn't like anxiety warning, it was like alarm bells more, more or less, like don't cross the street because a car is coming that you don't see, kind of like really giving you that pause. Does that does that make sense for the difference between the two?

SPEAKER_00 23:31

It does. And I'm also, you know, knowing that in those moments where it's like, stop, get my attention, like I'm feeling it on my shoulder. I'm feeling it throughout my body in a different way than fear comes through. Fear came through at the end of the night at the Warren House when I am laying in bed and I'm fearful to go outside because of what came through on the spirit watch. I'm fearful of staying. I really have no great options, although I know this one room in the house, which we talked about, is protected. So I place my energy in there. And then in my mind, I knew I was fighting fear, and I just brought in like lovingly green energy to fill the room, that soul energy to fill the room, and then just kept everything else out of my mind. Like when a family member or something would pop in, I'd start thinking about peacocks or apples or water, just keeping everything out kind of as my protection too. But it just felt so unsettling. I knew that was fear speaking and not my intuition. So I had to do something to calm myself to be able to work with my intuition and keep myself safe, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

It's it's very true. I mean, and and that's you know, when we can distinguish the difference between the two and it allows us to flow a little bit better too.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Well, I think we have time for two more questions. You have four? Okay. There's a really good question here, but I don't have an example. So I hesitate to ask it, but I'm going to, and maybe I'll think of one. What's an experience that you've had that even today you still can't explain?

SPEAKER_01 25:07

I would say it was when my intuitive abilities initially started opening up when I was very little, 13, 14, because I've asked many spiritual leaders or peop mentors in my life, and they've answered the question, but I still can't really explain what happened. And I know I've shared it in the past, but it was the middle of the night, and I was looking out my window at the house that I grew up in, and there were hundreds of people standing in in the yard, just standing around the house. And I remember it was um one of the scariest things that I had ever seen. And I never understood it until I was much older and had seen a psychic at this point in time who said, You are like a beacon to souls. So they are seeking you out for help crossing over or get messages to their loved ones or for all of these things. But I remember at that point in time I didn't understand how to use it, how to work it. And I just completely shut everything down. And to this day, while I understand, I still can't fully explain the experience.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

And as you're talking, I'm thinking about my own experience and journey. There are so many things that still I'm like, did that just really happen? And why did that happen? And I feel like every time I get comfortable with an answer, like I think I've figured it out, something else has changed. And so I feel like I'm constantly in this ebb and flow of understanding and releasing because I don't really understand. I will say probably the biggest mystery for me is the one that involves a past life. And I have gone to great lengths to try to understand this. And I've had things that have come in that have validated it and maybe put a few of the puzzle pieces together, but I still don't have all the answers. And it's not something I should let go of, although I've been told I need to let go of it. But there's a connection there. And we've talked a little bit about it in past episodes. So maybe we re I can't even talk, we revisit that because it really is one of those things I still don't have the answer to.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

We could absolutely do an episode on past lives in general.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

That'd be fun. Yeah, that would be really fun. Okay, well, I have one more question that kind of goes hand in hand. What's something you believed about spirituality or the paranormal when you first started this journey that you don't believe anymore?

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Oh, this is such a good question. Love it. I now understand that when you see a spirit or a presence, you are not going to see them how they passed away. This was actually my biggest fear that I had to conquer because I never wanted to see any spirits. I never wanted to actually physically see them because I was convinced for the longest time that they would show up however they had passed. And that fear was definitely due to Hollywood and the Sixth Sense, that movie specifically, because there were a few scenes in that movie where they show you the ghosts of of different individuals in it, and they are exactly as they passed. And I just said nope. I noped I noped for a very long time until I realized that spirits show you what they want you to see. So if Aunt Thelma is coming through, she's gonna show you a version of herself that either you recognize as who she was when you knew her or who she wants you to recognize.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

That is beautifully stated. And I should have known you were going there because when we did the Amityville episode, you talked a little bit about having that fear of seeing spirits, but now you know Hollywood's version isn't exactly how it happens. So you're just doubling down on that.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Doubling down on it.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

What about you? Do you know? I could lean into the Hollywood version also and how it distorted so much that maybe gave me a little bit of fear. I know the way that I see spirits is a lot different. I don't necessarily always see them standing there. Sometimes I see them in little boxes that are floating around. So that jump fear is not there anymore of just waking up and having someone standing there. And again, that fear for me would mostly be is it human or is it spiritual? And could I tell the difference in the moment? So that has definitely changed. But something else that's also changed the training that I did early on, I'm trying to figure this out. When I come across a spirit, my job is to cross it over. Whereas now I think there's just a permission aspect that I need to add to that step. That while I can do that, I can offer assistance, I can open a door, leave it open. I need to have permission before I cross someone over. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. So those are your questions today. Good move into whatever we are going to talk about next week, which we still haven't decided, but we have time. We have a week. Well, I do have three listener questions if you're ready. I was born ready. Well, the first question is Do you think certain people are naturally more sensitive to the energy of places, spirits, or other people? Or is that sensitivity something anyone can develop? Question number two, can being around intense paranormal activity actually change a person's energy, emotions, dreams, or intuition afterwards? And the last question, number three, how do you tell the difference between truly picking up on something outside yourself and simply absorbing the fear, expectations, or emotions of the people around you?

SPEAKER_01 31:14

I love those questions.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

I do too. I feel like we kind of shared our thoughts on one and two. And number three, man, that's a whole episode on empath and protection of your own. Absolutely. So another subject. Yeah. Well, with that, Stacey, would you like to close out this episode? Absolutely, listeners. Thank you. Trust what you know. And we will bye bye. Until next time. No, you're not alone. We're here for you, and we're all in this together.