Joined Seeking Advice

Thank you for letting me partake in your forum.

I joined your community to seek the wisdom and possible education from your members in a situation my husband and sister-in-law suffered a few years back.

I, myself, am interested in seeking guidance for some inner thoughts and feelings I have regarding the mystical world, but first I would like to ease my husband's mind. And so, I shall begin...


My husband, Liam, and his sister, Beryl, were fairly close until she was on her own. Liam usually took Beryl to one of the lesser used beaches we have here. It's a fairly nice beach, that's technically a private beach at dusk, but in all the years it's been here, not a single local follows such postings.

In 2003, Liam and Beryl were on the beach during the Winter Solstice at approximately 1AM EST. They were strolling on the beach having a conversation about Beryl's next year in school and the latest trends in music when the events unfolded.

Liam noticed a group of individuals on the beach unlike what he had ever seen before. What shocked him was that he and his sister couldn't see them until they were about 30 feet from them. There wasn't a moon out, as he recalls (and verified as a nearly a New Moon that date), so there wasn't really a source of light save for the ambient light the city a few miles away makes.

What made the group of people stand out from the standard drunks on stoners was the fact they were all wearing ground length robes that seemed to be black. It was difficult for him to tell seeing as there wasn't really white light to define its color. Liam noticed that each of the 7-8 individuals were roughly the same height and shape, but also carried a staff/torch object that had a thin long blue flame emitting from the skyward end.

At that exact moment, his 15 year old sister blurted out much louder than they had been speaking "Hey, let's go play with them!" in a way she might have said as an innocent 8 year old might. That spooked Liam as Beryl took off towards them *skipping* (something he said he'd never seen her do in their entire life as siblings), so he grabbed her and pulled her back towards him before she reached them.

He stated, at that point, Beryl seemed to snap out of it and realized what was going on. The turned heel and fled faster than either of them had ever ran before. Liam even noticed that after they reach his car, she had managed to lose her shoes in the process of sprinting the half mile back.


I've since been trying to find out what transpired here. I carry pretty open beliefs and have certain feelings about the metaphysical, but I don't see anything in that situation that would explain her entirely uncharacteristic and childish outburst without knowing she was consciously doing so.

With what was described, what rite/ritual would be taking place at such a time/place in such attire with such props and costume? Why would a normally mellow and cynical teen suddenly start behaving in a way she never had towards a group of shadowy strangers?

I know Beryl personally and she acts very spooked when I bring this event back up. She gets literal goosebumps and she genuinely looks terrified. I have no doubt that she was not in control of her own actions. She's not the type of woman who behaves strangely to get attention.

So I ask of you, learned and experienced practitioners of the metaphysical, what the hell happened?

The first thing to note is that the ritual being performed may not be directly related to the experience of your sister-in-law. At Winter Solstice, many rituals are performed by many different groups all over the world. Most of these are celebratory in nature, though many do invite various spirits to join them in their revelry. The experience you described could easily have been one such spirit - or even one who was unhappy about not being invited - acting on its own, as spirits will, as opposed to at the direction of the ritual's participants.

Another possibility that doesn't place the ritual or its participants at fault is that of a Past Life Entity (PLE). They go by several different names, though I have heard Past Life Memory (PLM) used most often. These are manifestations of individuals who have lived at various points in the past, and may or may not be recollections of previous lives of the individual themselves. On rare occasions, PLEs can "break through" whatever mental or spiritual barriers the "host" may have in place and take control of the body for a short time. It is entirely possible that your sister-in-law is host to a PLE, in which case such events are highly likely to recur unless she removes those barriers and embraces the other individual within her. The awareness of the other living vicariously in her mind will give her the ability to prevent the other from taking control when it would not be a good idea, as well as allowing the other to take control whenever possible so the other can experience life as well. These usually develop into symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationships. If she doesn't like the idea of sharing, which wouldn't be surprising in this day and age, I believe there are methods similar to exorcism that can remove the PLE from her mind. I'm sure you can guess which one I would advocate.

As for what ritual it might have been... I don't know of any offhand that would cause such a thing directly, nor any in particular that use such torches (they sound pretty cool, to me, I'd like to get a handful for my own use at some point...). I find it suspect that she was the only one who seemed to be affected by it, but there are degrees of susceptibility in each of us, and the ritual in question may have been more attuned to her specific energies. Perhaps someone else has more insight as to what ritual was being performed, but I personally vote for the ritual being coincidental to the experience, as opposed to its cause.

- Sendoshin

Maybe they tapped into the Theosophical egregore and were in contact with the Secret Chiefs?

Could the explanation be something simple? She just acted on an impulse. I think she was not really on her guard and not expecting anybody to be around. So she just reacted... said the first thing that came to her mind. She was just a teenager, remember? I think the incident can be put into the past, especially since it has not recurred.

The PLE idea sounds interesting and I would have to talk to her in depth about that possibility.

Khephra, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I will look into each of those words that I do not understand and give it thought. Thank you for your input, it is highly valued.

digicamghosts, while I understand that what you're saying is plausible, it's extremely unlikely. Beryl has stated many times that she felt completely out of control/lack of free will when she acted the way she did. She's not done anything like this before or since then, so I personally feel that her acting on a impulse is easily ruled out. Beryl isn't an impulsive person and tends to be a bit obsessive with control in her personal life (like diet, exercise, how long she watches TV, etc.) I appreciate your input as well, but I find that explanation very much less likely. Once again, thank you for your opinion.

Thank you all for your replies, ideas, and input thus far. I won't mind receiving any more thoughts along the way, but now I would like to ask the second question I had mentioned before. And like before, I'd like to give some background before I pose my question. Thank you for taking time to read what I've exposed of myself.


When if comes to personal beliefs, I have always had a difficult time trying to define the feelings I get. I was bible-beaten as a child to the tune of Southern Baptist. At 15, I decided that the hellfire and brimstone scare tactics were over the top and unneeded for people who were true believers. As I was not one of them, it felt like boring theatrics being played out with the even more tedious hymns of yore. I decided being a Southern Baptist wasn't for me.

That was a decade ago and I've been reading off and on (sadly, not as much as I should be) trying to understand myself and what I want from life, in a spiritual sense. A lot of the ideas, feelings, and emotions I get from pondering and experiencing life, I find some reoccurring feelings. Such examples of what I mean are:

An extremely close feeling to nature - What I mean by this is while it is raining, I feel this overwhelming urge to stick my feet into the mud, reaching heavenward like a tree kissing the water as it hits my face. I feel like the millions of years of life courses through me and I get to experience some of the life that has used the rain before. It's not the same when I'm bathing.

Viewing scenery causes a gentle dream-like state - During these daydreams, it feels like I'm watching the Earth bend and move to form what I'm optically seeing now. Like seeing some of the mountains where I live bring these mental images of the movement the layers of rocks made to form the waves you can see and sort of similar to a high speed camera playing back the forest growing over the expanse of time. All of this happens while I'm optically viewing these things, but the imagery I'm describing happens internally, if that makes sense.

Sometimes I swear I can feel what animals are thinking - Mostly pets I've had, but there have been several animals that I swear I've felt what they are saying. The best example was a friend's horse had a knot in its gut. He got it from eating the unripe apples that fell from a tree in their yard and rolling about trying to relive himself from the terrible gas that was paining him. When I was looking at him, as he paced back and forth, I could feel a tightness in my stomach and felt nauseated. I asked the horse if his belly hurt (I know talking to animals looks weird, but I've always done so) and he seemed to relax. The feeling in my gut subsided and I told my friend to get a vet because he had a serious gut issue. She had been raising horses for nearly a decade and thought I was nuts, but the vet confirmed what had happened and treated the horse appropriately. Since then, each time I visit that horse, I get an overwhelming warm and pleasant feeling when that horse is near. This has happened with several pets over my life.

I have a strange attraction to rocks - Not like a rock collector, but I feel personality and life from rocks. So when I'm out and about and a rock 'speaks' to me, I bring it home and it lives with the other rocks that have communicated with me in different ways. Some rocks seem to tell me their entire life as that rock and how it came to live with me. Other rocks just evoke emotions or feelings. I'm really interested in seeing what crystals have to say, but I'm not sure where to begin with that.

I don't really like plants, but they flourish too well if I'm taking care of them - If I try to take care of a plant, it dies 100% of the time. If I just water it when I feel like it needs it or move it to a different part of the house or property, the plants seem to thrive much better than my grandmother (who's been the family gardener for 4 decades) and my mother (who has a degree in horticulture and loves plants more than anything) can do. This annoys them and astounds me. I think the plants are telling me what they want and not what others are doing to them. This is something my husband has witnessed, too, and it equally annoys him because he fancies himself a botanist. I feel guilty that I do this on accident while they desperately try to fix some of their plants.

As for beliefs of higher powers, I don't deny there is a certain level of magic in the world that we as humans can't prove exists. I feel there are intelligent forces out and about that to hail to the names that mortal man has assigned to them and invoking those names can have certain effects on one's life. I believe in the existence of positive and negative energies and beings that feed off of them. I don't offer homages or sacraments to named powers in fear of them calling on me in return for something as I don't fully know what to expect or feel about such things.

With this information, does some of this make sense or ring true with others? I would like to try and see where these thoughts and feelings fit into a spiritual setting and what terms would appropriately label these experiences. That way, I can read and try to understand what has been going on with me for years now. I would appreciate your input on this matter as well. Thank you, once more, for your assistance in clearing up these puzzling mysteries for myself and others.