Reclaiming Spirituality from Judgment

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to this week's episode of Three Cups and a Dash of Spirituality. And today's episode takes us into the heart of a paranormal investigation, one that unfolded not just in shadows and cold spots, but in spaces touched by love, remembrance, and spirit. Michelle and Carissa explore a restaurant where the owner, a deeply good person, created something rare: memorial spaces, a quiet prayer area, and an invitation for a psychic to support those in grief and curiosity. But not everyone saw it that way. On social media, someone called it diabolical. So we ask, what happens when spiritual intention is misunderstood? When sacred spaces meant to honor the dead are labeled dangerous? What is the difference between honoring spirit and provoking it? In this episode, we look at what lingers, both in haunted spaces and in the ways we judge what we don't understand. Cue the music. Good. And we're missing Stacey today. She is gonna be back on the next one for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

First thing I want to say is I'm so excited to share this story because it does involve a paranormal investigation kind of, but it is in a town that I frequent a lot. And so I'm familiar with this location. And the owner, who, since we've been doing this podcast and I've been getting to know her better, knows that I have some experience with ghost hunting. And I have some of the equipment that maybe I could walk through her restaurant with and give her a little more insight and details into what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yeah, absolutely. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

So we set up a date. We waited until the restaurant closed.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

What time was that?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

It closes at nine o'clock, but I actually showed up like it's 7:45 because it is the summer, and in the summer months, things are a little bit slower. And even if there were a few people there, like we were in a corner, it's a very big restaurant. Now I have known her for many years, and recently she started talking to me about all these happenings, not just things she's experienced, but things that her employees are experiencing. And she's never gone to her employee and said, Well, tell me what's going on. She waits till the employees come to her and they always have a story they're gonna share.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So yeah, it's kind of a lot. And she does have video footage, and I would love to share it on our social media, or better yet, I would love to have her come on this podcast and talk to us about everything that's going on because the evidence is unbelievable. She's had things like drop from a spot, hit the ground, and then like scurry across the ground. And it wasn't a mouse or anything. It was like a stuffed animal. It hit and then it slid across. She's had drinks move down the bar by itself. She had a car that was sitting up on a shelf that totally went flying and smashed in the ground. Just one of all.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

So she gets a lot of activity there. I believe she said one of her bartenders in the morning when she opens up actually has cups, like styrofoam cups, thrown at her. Oh my god. And she stayed at the job, so that's nice. She has stayed at the job. And I'm like, Melissa, like this is a really great angle for your restaurant because people like to know about it. They will track them to go there. Exactly. And just the hopes of having that experience. So that was the activity she was kind of having. She did fill me in on some details of the past. The previous owner of the restaurant, he did pass away at that location, or he fell at that location later, passed away at the hospital. But that was part of the information she shared. And so I showed up and I brought out my SLS camera, which is basically the camera in which the stick figures drop down. Yeah. And I'm like, let's just walk around. Let's just have fun with it. Let's just see if anything comes through. We're not going to take ourselves serious or too serious. We're just going to see what comes up. And in that restaurant, she has three memorials. One is for the previous owner. One is for an employee that passed away of breast cancer. And the other one is for fallen soldiers or soldiers who didn't return home. So in three different areas of the restaurant, she has a memorial. Like a plaque? Like the one memorial for the previous owner, she created a photo booth for him. So people can come in there, put on whatever to have pictures taken. The other one, it's a table in which the employee who passed, her coworkers have each brought something that reminds them of her and put it in that location, which you're not going to know unless you know. Right. Unless Melissa or someone tells you what it is. And then the other one is a booth. And on that booth, I believe it has 13 United States flags. Oh. For yeah, the the people who didn't come home. But I did find out during my visit there that right in front of that booth is where the previous owner went down. Now I'm only sharing about the memorials because, you know, she is very connected, very um spiritual and open, sensitive. And walking through the restaurant, activity showed up at all three locations. And that's where the activity showed up.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Well, yeah, because it's like you're open, you're it's like you're opening a door saying, hey, you're welcome, which is not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Exactly. And it just, I mean, it tears me up kind of thinking about it because those are intentional spaces that have the energy for the right reasons. And the fact that those are the three places we picked up activity speaks volume to this restaurant and what she's trying to create.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Right. And can I say, what if one of those, I mean, it it feels like a she seems so sweet. She is. And it's warm and inviting and loving. And like, what if that's a safe place or a lighthouse for, say, a veteran who was killed in combat and has lost, and that's the lighthouse to bring them to a place.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

It feels that way when you go in recently, because she has suffered some personal losses lately, and she's open to helping the community. That is a big part of her mission. Like every Thanksgiving, she will host a Thanksgiving dinner for people who don't have a place to go. She's just very giving back to the community. And so she had the space in the restaurant that she's decided to make into a prayer room. And inside this prayer room is a wind phone, which, if you haven't heard of wind phones before, it is a way and it's kind of going on around the country, maybe even further, that people can connect with their loved ones. It's that symbolic phone. It's usually a rotary phone where people can go sit, pick up the phone, dial the number, and say what's on their mind, share what's on their mind. Either, you know, you can say it out loud or keep it to yourself and, you know, say it in your mind. But it's just that space of intention to go and connect with your loved one. So that's in there. Uh, she also put a table where if let's say it's a Sunday night and people want to go have a family dinner, it's separated from the rest of the restaurant. And her only request is if you sit in this room, please say a prayer before dinner. She's making it a very sacred space, open to everyone and every religion, which is so important. And I'm going to share this because the next thing that happened, it didn't leave me feeling very good. I felt bad for my friend who's trying to do something nice for the community. I felt bad that there are people out there like that. But my friend has a social media presence. And when we did the walkthrough, she took video of the SLS camera and put it on social media. And there was a lot of positive responses. Again, people are interested. And when you put it out there, people are going to share their stories. And that was happening, very positive. But then she put on social media the next day that she had this prayer room coming. And somebody sent her a message. And why do people do this? Maybe because they're hiding behind a keyboard. But this person actually said that it was diabolical.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Diabolical. Do you know what that means? That means evil or at like the devil, like diabolical.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

To have a psychic in the same space that you would have a prayer room. Excuse me? To me, that is so I mean, wasn't Jesus psychic? Yes. I mean, he was intuitive. He did follow something. He followed God's guidance.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Guidance. He heard God speak. Exactly. In order to communicate with your with your guardian angels, you need to have some kind of intuitive awareness. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

And isn't that what prayer is? Just because you're in organized religion, you don't own the concept of prayer. Prayer can be said every time you speak to yourself, every time you speak to the universe, every time you speak to God. I still say prayers. And so as a person who does have that religious background, who still holds on to it and has found a way to incorporate it into my own spirituality, I found it really offensive. And I'm just like, why can't we all just get along? You do you and let other people do them?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Why do you have to judge? It's black and white thinking, and they're forgetting the teachings of Jesus. They really are forgetting the teachings of Jesus. And that is, you know, focus on your path. Love those, don't judge, focus on your path.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Exactly. And so what if someone does it differently? I think one of the remarks that this person made was something along the lines because my friend responded, no, this space is open to every religion. Everybody's welcome here from this religion to this to this. And the lady said, I don't see psychic as a religion. And I'm thinking, well, lady, do you know really what psychic means? It means tuning in to yourself. That part of it is not the medium part. Medium is connecting to spirits, bringing in information through them. Being a psychic is just being aware, trusting your gut, learning to listen to yourself. And I was there just to walk my friend through something and show her there are possibilities there. And let's embrace it if that's what you want to do. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

If that would have landed differently before that, I think psychic has such a negative connotation to it. Like they're psychic, and I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go ask them what to do. And whatever they tell me what to do, I'm gonna do it. I feel like it's kind of like that. Because there are bad people out. So I'm just wondering, do you think it would land a different? Because intuitive and psychic are the same thing. A medium is someone who talks to people who have already crossed over loved ones, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

I I agree. And that might really have shifted the person's thinking just a little, but I'm trying to remember exactly what the post said of our visit. It could have just been my friend brought her ghost hunting equipment. It might not even have said psychic in the book. I can't remember right at this moment exactly what it said. But the responder, who again, get behind a keyboard, type whatever you want to type, but that's hate, that's judgment.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

And let's just, let's just say, let's just, you know, place devil devil's advocate. Let's just say spin on words. Let's just say, okay, okay, that kind of stuff can pull in negative dark energy. Okay. And then what I would say is the power of prayer is so powerful that it is going to push out and block any dark and negative energy that comes in.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

That's beautifully said. And so true. It's all about the intention of people who are coming in, having good intention to connect with their deceased loved ones, their deceased mother, their father, a child, prayer, saying prayer before you eat. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

It's gonna be really sad because so many nuns are psychic. Let's just use intuitive. So, because let's just take the word psychic out. So many nuns who are dedicated to the faith, their faith and prayer day in and day out, are highly intuitive because they have dropped all the other worldly stuff, which I don't think anything bad of all the worldly stuff. They just have, and that they're just very focused in that spiritual world. There's nothing evil about them. And we call them a nun, but what she's actually saying is you, the psychic that was in there, is diabolical. Well, would you call a nun diabolical? Because let me tell you, they are highly, highly intuitive. A lot of them. Yeah, I can't say all, but in spiritually advanced and evolved.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And that word diabolical, I really wish the lady would like check her vocabulary, but to mean evil or like the devil, you're placing somebody who prays and does good for the community who does believe in God. She just processes it, she being me a little bit differently. You're comparing me to someone who is diabolical, like Brian Kohlberger, like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, all those gross people with really bad intentions who do really bad things. So, how can you balance the two? To me, it makes absolutely no sense. And I'm not bashing religion. Again, I don't know. No, we're not bashing it at all. I believe everybody should follow the teachings that speak to them. But also when I think about religion, I think about it's everything that man has written down for it to be. It's like there's so much more that man hasn't written down, so much more that they don't know. It's like asking somebody to take the ocean and put it in a jar.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

That is beautifully stated.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

I'm just feeling a little stepped on. And I'm wondering too, why it is that as sensitive people, you could have a million positive comments, but one comment that's negative, it's just gonna set you into a spiral.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Well, because you know, this is very vulnerable stuff. And you have to be very sensitive and vulnerable to tap into the other side and your spirituality and intuition. And for me, mine is people have called me witch. And from now on, I'm just embracing it. Like, okay, like it, it's still a little trigger, but I'll still, like, someone says witch, I'm like, yeah, I'm a witch. Like, I'm just gonna embrace it. But it's just like it's it's still a little bit of a trigger.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

I don't know. I just wish people would kind of stay in a place of acceptance. And I know worldwide we have this issue right now. It's not just limited to this one little incident here, but I know it makes me feel vulnerable, especially when my friend has asked me if I would come in and host a talk where people in the community who are having experiences feel open to sharing them. And I'm like, that is our mission statement here. We want people to feel comfortable to share their experiences because you build community, you find out you're not alone, and it's very validating to have other people who want to hear it and not say you're weird or judge.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Please, Michelle, do that. And if you want me to fly in, I will fly in and sit next to you. I think that's true.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Then I will want you to. And even Melissa asks, well, maybe your friends can come, like two podcast people. And I'm like, I would love to.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Oh, then I will, because that is so important. We're here about love, non-judgment, and acceptance, period.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Exactly. And I shouldn't let that one voice of negativity ruin an opportunity to hold space for other people.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I think when I looked at your chart, you had a past life of some religious stuff, though. For me, mine uh with one of my placements, it's more than likely I was a like I was a spiritual person burned at the stake called a witch. That would probably check, you know? That would probably check. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Well, I'm sorry I had to vent it. I've been holding it in for a couple days and trying to process it. I wasn't gonna get on a social media forum and go to combat with somebody who's just not open to seeing that everybody's different. And that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

But I'm glad you shared it because everybody else has gone through this. They sure have. Especially people who go to church and they have these experiences and then they can't share it. You know, yeah, that's just that's tough.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah, we just don't want people to feel isolated. We wanted people to be able to share their stories and feel comfortable with where they're at on their journey because journeys are unique to us. Your experience is different than my experience, is different than their experience. And they're all valid.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

And some one of the listeners, now or maybe in the future, may be a very religious person. And just because you have a stuck soul does not mean they're evil. They might not have been a good person when they were alive. But if they're a stuck soul, you can pray in your Christian faith to ask them to help them cross over. Instead of prayer to get rid of that energy, pray to help them cross over.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah. I love that. Those are beautiful sentiments and they're so true. And that's why I love having these conversations with you, you and Stacy, when she's here, because you help me balance, you help me look at things in a different perspective. And again, I just got worked up because there's so much of this in the world that I know to see it here, it just made me religious wars, religious wars.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

It's absolutely ridiculous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And lady diabolical was the wrong word. Well, can you share the restaurant name? Sure. It's Blonsi's Steakhouse in Lake Habasoo City, Arizona.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Fun.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Also has a restaurant, Blonsi's guest house in Salem, Oregon. And that restaurant is haunted also. So we may have to go visit that one too.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

She would love it. Oh, that's so fun and cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah, it is really cool. I do just want to share real quick, since we're talking about the word diabolical, we are sitting right now recording this on July 1st. News yesterday hit everybody that Brian Kohlberger, the murderer of the four. I guess I still have to say alleged because he's I don't even know.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

I don't even know what's happening. You tell me.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Okay. Well, he, you know, committed this horrendous crime at the University of Idaho. He killed four students. And again, I'm gonna say allegedly because he hasn't accepted he has accepted the plea deal, but it hasn't gone through the court yet. But four people, students at the University of Idaho, were murdered. He was arrested. He claimed he was not guilty, but yesterday agreed to take a plea of guilty. I'm very attached to this case because my son went to the University of Idaho uh recently when I was there back there for a wedding. I did walk by the site where the crime happens. The house has been torn down. And I did take a picture, but I felt a little bit bad about it. Is this the one where he stabbed?

unknown 20:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah. But here's the other part. There's a reason I'm sharing all this story because I had an experience yesterday before this announcement was made. I went to Safeway to pick up a prescription for my husband. And as I'm standing in line, there's only one person in front of me. And I looked at him and I'm like, it's Brian Kohlberger. Like he's a little bit awkward. He's tall. Oh my God, like he is a tall man. Let's even say his victims were my size at five, six. I mean, he's got this big height difference, strong, overpowering. And so I'm just looking at this person going, he's still in jail. I know he's still in jail. But my mind couldn't step off the fact that he's standing in front of me. And then he leaves and he was very polite to the ladies. Like, I hope you have a nice day. He left. I get the prescription. I go get in my car. And the first thing I heard is Brian Kohlberger took the plea deal. And it was a very, very strange that I had that experience. And then I heard that. And yeah, I just wanted to share it here. Since we're talking diabolical, I know we're moving a little bit from the spiritual stuff to but it is all intertwined. And that's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah, it's like you psychically were picking that up too.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah. And just stand and it got that obsessive loop that you kind of get when you're onto something. It just kept doubling down on it, like first looking at him, looking at his backpack, looking at how tall he was, looking at how awkward he was. It just compounded.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

So wow. Yes, and that's diabolical. And that is psychic, or if we want to say intuitive download.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yeah, definitely. Well, thank you for letting me process this.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

I can't wait to go visit.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I know. We need to get you here. And I know you've got a lot going on through the fall, but we will get you here.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

No, I can come for a weekend in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Okay. I'm holding you to it.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah. Okay. Well, with that, do you want to close us out? You can be Stacy and Carissa if you don't want to. Stay classy. Stay sassy. And stay badassy until next time. Everyone, be good to each other and follow your path of happiness. Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Three Cups and a Dash of Spirituality. If you like what you heard, please know that we have a full library of episodes now available on your favorite podcasting platform. You can listen to it now or you can download it to listen to later. Also, if you'd like to give us a review, we'd appreciate it. We love connecting with listeners and thank you in advance.