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Hello +Bishop Sean. I would like to ask you, if I may, what your views are on ghosts? Also, what do you think of 'mediums' and psychics who attempt to contact spirits in haunted locations? Thank you and God bless, David Carter-Green.
What is a ghost? The disembodied soul of an otherwise dead person? The appearance of a deceased person or animal that manifests in either definable or blurry form? Apparitions that often appear suddenly and quickly, disappearing at a distance?
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Spectres have certainly been sighted moving through physical barriers such as walls and doors and are often accompanied by a noticeable drop in temperature. Poltergeists are thought to be a form of ghost which takes energy from people, most often children or teenagers, and convert it into the ability to move solid objects. Poltergeists will allegedly announce their presence with rapping, or other noises, and generally create disorder. They apparently like to generate acts of mischief such as throwing furniture about. A ghost, ultimately, is believed by some to be the energy or soul of a living person. When we die, it is supposed, this energy is released from its corporeal shell and is believed to do one of two things: move to a higher spiritual place according to the individual's religious beliefs, or stay behind and linger earthbound for an unspecified time. Why ghosts linger is never satisfactorily explained, but the most popular theories include unfinished business, the need for closure and to say farewell, a wrongful death, or perhaps to communicate a warning.
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Ghosts are allegedly photographed, videotaped and recorded on audio devices. It does seem, however, to be their choice and not ours. It has been claimed that ghosts can be detected with devices such as EMF detectors, thermal scanners, electrostatic detectors and tri-field meters. Ghosts may make themselves visible to the living from time to time, but I often wonder if what we are seeing is always the apparition of a dead person? Ghost lights have nevertheless been seen and recorded in every country and civilisation. These mysterious lights are usually seen as white or blue balls or yellow spheres (though occasionally as flickering candle flames) glowing in the darkness. Some scientists have suggested that the lights are caused by swamp gas, electricity, magnetism, or some phosphorescent material; yet so far no definitive natural source has ever been discovered for the sightings. There have been attempts to trap a ghost light for examination, but, pursued, they invariably always seem to be just out of reach. They acquired the name ignis fatuus, meaning "foolish fire," because it is thought foolish to try to follow or capture such a phantom light. According to certain legends, the light of an ignis fatuus is the ghost of a sinner who is condemned to wander the world for eternity. In parts of Britain, it is sometimes called the will-o'-the-wisp and is considered to be a death omen.
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I tend toward scepticism where the majority of recorded sightings of supposed discarnate spirits are concerned, but, as with all things thought to be supernatural, retain an open mind. Some apparitions, I suspect, might be the original scene occuring in its own time and, of course, the same space with the imprint somehow managing to be eerily glimpsed in our time due to circumstances that enable a "time window" into the past which we do not fully comprehend. This has nothing to do with the supernatural, as I would define it, and is preternatural, by which I mean it is most likely to be understood scientifically at some point in the future. Could the surviving emotional memory of someone who has died traumatically and tragically, but is unaware of having become deceased, be another explanation? They may appear confused or frightened. Not being ready or yet able to let go of the physical attachments, they remain in the old and familiar places, repeating the same acts indefinitely until something or someone breaks the cycle for them. The theories are seemingly endless and, needless to say, spectres attributed to the dead might actually be demonic entities masquerading as loved ones.
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My view on mediumship is the scriptural one; certainly mediums who prey upon the vulnerable and charge money for their "gift." A gift, by its nature, is something given and received freely.
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One needs to define "psychics" before I can opine because some are mistakenly confused with mediums. I am considered psychic, for example, as are a great many people. This is by no means a voluntary condition. I, therefore, define a psychic as having the ability to receive information in ways other then the normal five senses. This is something the psychic cannot control, but might be able to develop.
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Professional "psychics" who charge money for their supposed "gift" is a practice I would unreservedly condemn. Mediums and psychics who attempt to contact spirits at haunted locations are also to be discouraged and, to my mind, are playing a most dangerous game. Should anything supernatural manifest there is every possibility of it being demonic. Those who summon such entities would not necessarily be equipped to deal with what they unleash when unlocking doors best left closed.
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Dear Bishop Manchester:
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of the term "sin eater"; What if anything do you know about it ? There was a movie, a rock tune (these are recent) and a Twilight Zone episode about it.....it was placed back in the Dark Ages as a pagan practice.....the tune and the movie had nothing to do with what was suggested in the episode....if you would, please comment and thank you, carol
PS: enjoyed reading the entire blog
A local legend in Shropshire, England, concerns the grave of Richard Munslow, said to be the last sin-eater of the area:
ReplyDelete"By eating bread and drinking ale, and by making a short speech at the graveside, the sin-eater took upon themselves the sins of the deceased".
The speech was written as: "I give easement and rest now to thee, dear man. Come not down the lanes or in our meadows. And for thy peace I pawn my own soul. Amen".
The 1926 book Funeral Customs by Bertram S Puckle mentions the sin-eater:
"Professor Evans of the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, actually saw a sin-eater about the year 1825, who was then living near Llanwenog, Cardiganshire. Abhorred by the superstitious villagers as a thing unclean, the sin-eater cut himself off from all social intercourse with his fellow creatures by reason of the life he had chosen; he lived as a rule in a remote place by himself, and those who chanced to meet him avoided him as they would a leper. This unfortunate was held to be the associate of evil spirits, and given to witchcraft, incantations and unholy practices; only when a death took place did they seek him out, and when his purpose was accomplished they burned the wooden bowl and platter from which he had eaten the food handed across, or placed on the corpse for his consumption".
Howlett mentions sin-eating as an old custom in Hereford, and thus describes the practice:
"The corpse being taken out of the house, and laid on a bier, a loaf of bread was given to the sin-eater over the corpse, also a maga-bowl of maple, full of beer. These consumed, a fee of sixpence was given him for the consideration of his taking upon himself the sins of the deceased, who, thus freed, would not walk after death."
A reference project based on the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, states:
"A symbolic survival of it (sin eating) was witnessed as recently as 1893 at Market Drayton, Shropshire. After a preliminary service had been held over the coffin in the house, a woman poured out a glass of wine for each bearer and handed it to him across the coffin with a 'funeral biscuit.' In Upper Bavaria sin-eating still survives: a corpse cake is placed on the breast of the dead and then eaten by the nearest relative, while in the Balkan peninsula a small bread image of the deceased is made and eaten by the survivors of the family. The Dutch doed-koecks or 'dead-cakes', marked with the initials of the deceased, introduced into America in the 17th century, were long given to the attendants at funerals in old New York. The 'burial-cakes' which are still made in parts of rural England, for example Lincolnshire and Cumberland, are almost certainly a relic of sin-eating"
I'm sure that it's done today as tradition ritual and that's all, but sounds like it was a type of almost witchcraft (?) and I would think dangerous--but they saw the world through superstitious eyes and thought they were doing a good thing; the episode from Twilight Zone was quite horrific and I thought it was a good horror twist: the young man coaxed on by his mother for want of food and money in medieval times had to eat a banquet atop the corpse and eat as fast and as much as possible while chanting and praying for the soul of the dead and then went into a terrifying protrayal of the "sins" he had taken on himself.....it really was quite horrific, after which, he brought the remainder of the food home to his mother and she blessed him.
ReplyDeleteoh, and in the account of what you posted that it was done so that the dead could not walk being freed from their sins--a reference to the "walking dead".....interesting.
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