The events I’m about to recount happened several months ago. Though I had expected to write about them much sooner, I realize now that Halloween week is the perfect time to share my ghost story with you.
I’ve already gone public with my garden’s chatterbox ways, whether it’s life lessons whispered from the compost pile or what the Universe is teaching me when a snake swallows baby wrens right outside my kitchen window.
And I’ve already written here about the repeated water disasters in my house.
What I didn’t understand was the linkage between the two. All those water events were apparently the land’s efforts to get my attention–a cry for help, if you will.
It was Bridget, the spiritual dowser and space clearer in Saskatchewan, Canada, who told me about the ghosts.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
It all started with the sewage backup in the basement, a shitty way to start a weekend when your husband is headed out of town and you’re left with the clean-up.
I called my Feng Shui consultant, Carol Olmstead, to report this latest flood. Carol was no stranger to our water woes, which included several freak floods and two previous sewage backups. She had done a full Feng Shui scan before and after our master bathroom remodel. All was in order with the design, pathways were cleared to allow positive chi to flow, and the plumbing was new.
In addition to the bathroom remodel, I had even replaced all the toilets in the house with super-duper-pooper-flushing commodes. I had crossed every “t” and dotted every “i” on the plumbing front, since Feng Shui says that leaky faucets and other plumbing problems symbolize a drain on your finances. And yes, I drained a hefty chunk of our finances for those fixes.
When the sewage backed up into the basement yet again, the plumber was at a loss as to the source of the problem.
Carol had a plausible answer, depending, of course, on where you stand on the woo-woo scale. Sewage backups, according to Feng Shui, result from the house clearing bad energy out of its system.
I developed my own theory. The sewage backup happened the week before my first colonoscopy. I figured the house was just being empathetic by clearing its own bowels.
Putting my mindfulness techniques to use, I remained calm and accepting. I went about the cleanup in a zen-like state, not adding any of my own drama to the situation. I even looked for silver linings, like getting new carpet (except that I had already gotten new carpet not too long ago after the last flood).
Five days later, water poured through the dining room ceiling, right below that new bathroom of mine.
Now it was getting creepy.
“You need a specialist,” was all Carol could say once she got over her shock at this latest development. “Something bigger is going on here.”
She hooked me up with Bridget Sarako, CEO of the International Feng Shui Guild and creator of Feng Shui by Bridget. Bridget’s website lists her specialties as: “On-site and Distant Feng Shui, Dowsing, Space Clearing, Blessings Ceremonies and Zen Attunement© Consultations.”
Stay with me, people. This was uncharted territory for me too.
In our initial phone consultation, Bridget explained that she could send her energy field down from Saskatchewan to check out our little plot of land in Vienna, Virginia. If she found energetic disturbances that needed fixing, she could take care of that for us.
When I asked about the mechanics of how this all works, she said she’s not a clairvoyant or fortune teller. Instead of “seeing” what most of us can’t, she “feels” the situation by tapping in to the vibration. Then she clears whatever non-beneficial energies she comes across and balances the rest to support the highest good.
And why not? I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I don’t have to understand everything.
The price was less than what we spend on a new pair of soccer cleats for the boys, so I was going for it. My husband and sons, whose permission Bridget needed before her “arrival” since she’d be checking out their chi as well, humored me. But the kids made it clear they thought I was a whack job.
Curses, ghosts, and other bad juju…
Well, Bridget found all sorts of non-beneficial energies stuck on our property. Some had to do with geopathic stress, some were related to electromagnetic fields (so-called Curry Lines and Hartman Lines), and some were from interference caused by cell phone towers.
But the water problems–the reason Bridget was on the case–were presented to her as being due to very old emotional trauma of the land. You heard me. Emotional trauma of the land was making my house cry.
Whatever the trauma was, it probably had something to do with the four curses, four Earth Karma sources (stemming from the curses), and the six or more non-beneficial energy forms that she encountered in addition to those already listed above.
As Bridget explains it, that last category of non-beneficials “are sometimes thought of as ghosts, thought forms, or energy beings that are either stuck or move through time.”
OK then.
Don’t run away yet. I’m just getting to the interesting part…
Across cultures, and in Feng Shui specifically, water represents emotions and purification. As she befriended the energies on our property, Bridget was informed that our water incidents stemmed from the land’s plea for release and healing.
But what was the source of the trauma in the first place? I asked if my kids’ fighting or teen angst could be to blame, but they were off the hook. The trauma had deep historical roots.
Bridget asked me if anything noteworthy had happened in our local history that might provide a clue.
“Well,” I said, “this area had a lot of Civil War action.” But I’m no military historian, so couldn’t speculate further.
She suggested we check my town’s website, which confirmed that Vienna had been “an alternate camping ground for the two contending forces” when the war broke out. “This was a confusing time for residents. It was hard to tell friend from foe, and the area changed hands so often that many families moved away for the duration of the war.”
Between all of that bad blood and recorded violent skirmishes in the neighborhood, trauma was clearly in abundant supply.
What gave both of us goose bumps, though, was that the first settler within the town limits of Vienna was probably a man by the name of Colonel Charles Broadwater, “a prominent colonial soldier and public servant, who owned much of the land in the region and built his home here in 1754.”
Bridget made an immediate connection with our water issues and BroadWATER. “When I get tingly like this,” she said, “it tells me we’re on to something.”
My own goose bumps stemmed from the fact that during our stint in Germany living on a military base, the senior ranking officer was General Colby Broadwater. I’ve lost touch with our old neighbors, but my recollection is that he came from a long line of military Broadwaters. I’m in the process of tracking them down to inquire if there’s a link.
No more tears…
Once Bridget had a handle on the source of the water incidents (which I’ve come to think of as very wet and snotty whispers from the land), she cleared and transformed the non-beneficial energies, brought in positive healing energy, and balanced everything out to serve the highest good. Not only that, she created an energetic matrix anchored at the four corners of the property to protect us as long as is needed. I forgot to ask if a warranty comes along with it.
We all feel better after a good cry, especially when we know we’ve been heard by the target of our outburst. Now that I’m listening and have done my part to help the healing process along, I hope we won’t need any more Kleenex (or insurance claims).
So far so good. Happy Halloween!
What about you? Do you have any ghost stories of your own? Or are you of the “she’s a whack job” opinion?
If you enjoyed today’s entry and are not yet a subscriber, sign up above for free delivery of new posts to your email inbox. (I promise to never share your information.) Social media likes and shares are always appreciated as well!
