Holiday destinations for the living – and the living impaired

There are many places you might expect ghosts to congregate. Cemeteries, old battlefields, abandoned institutions and so forth. But apparently there are some locales in the United States where ghosts like to vacation. That’s because the live population is largely made up of practicing psychics.

Lake Pleasant in Massachusetts, Lily Dale in New York and Cassadaga in Florida are three of these communities which owe their beginnings to the Spiritualist movement that began in the United States in 1848. The communities differ slightly but their overarching belief is that existence and personal identity continues after the change called death. Contact with those who have moved on to the next life is not only possible, but desirable in order to gain knowledge.

In these places, mediums, hands-on healers and other types of psychics are usually accredited – meaning they have to pass a test administered by the larger spiritualist community to verify that they can indeed communicate with the dead. Some spiritualist groups recognize the use of psychic tools, such as tarot and crystal balls, to focus energy, while others avoid such things. Séances, or circles as they’re usually called, are held regularly.

Live tourists are welcome in these communities during the summer, but many have said that dead tourists far outnumber the living!

Location, Location, Location…

It’s not hard to see the appeal of these vacation spots for a ghost – after all, how many places can spirits go if they want to talk to someone? Less obvious is why the psychics were drawn there in the first place. It’s easier if you think of your cell phone – how well it works depends on signal strength. And in some parts of the country, psychic energy tops the equivalent of five bars.

Cassadaga is a great example of this. Known as The Psychic Center of the World (who knew it was just 45 minutes northeast of Orlando?), its real name comes from the Seneca word for “rocks under the water”. There is said to be a powerful energy source there, naturally emanating from the earth. Many claim that ancient sites such as Stonehenge in Britain also possess this unique energy. This ethereal vibration apparently makes psychic communication both easier and stronger.

After visiting these sites, many people report a renewing of their energy. For some individuals, however, the experience is exactly the opposite – they feel drained!

Can You Hear Me Now?

Adherents of Spiritualism describe it as science, philosophy, and religion based upon the principle of continuous life – not to be confused, they say, with occultism. For believers, there are Sunday church meetings in these communities, and the use of a medium to invite messages from the deceased is as integral to the services as the hymns and the sermons. For visitors, there are also psychic retreats, personal readings and healings, workshops, classes in mediumship, psychic fairs and much more. For visiting psychics from around the world, it's a chance to hone their skills.

And for the ghosts? The chance to communicate, to express themselves, utilizing a wide variety of methods. These communities report spirit manifestations such as visions, trances, spirit rappings, levitation, channeling, automatic writing and painting, psychometry, materialization, clairvoyance, clairaudience, healing, and the ability to move objects without touching them – telekinesis. Picture all of these boosted and powered by the energy of the locale and the energy of the participants. For the ghosts, it might be a little like going to a spa for the rejuvenating hot springs… No wonder some ghosts are rumored to have made these little communities their home away from home!

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/

Your turn – what do YOU think? Are there psychic hot spots right here in America? What other high-energy places have you heard about? (I’m thinking Sedona, Arizona for one…) Have you ever been to any of these locations?