We lived in a different world back then. It was hard. Dirt roads, corn fields, and bikes. The life I lived was all I knew and I never questioned that it might be anything but ordinary. Looking back I realize that it was anything but.
We weren't exactly dirt poor but we didn't have much money either. But that didn't take us away from ordinary. There were plenty of families with the same situation. No, if anything, looking back...that just made us common. I'm not going to lie...at the time I hated that. Felt like an outsider....more from the thoughts inside my head than from anything else.
No, the thing that moved us past ordinary was not something material....a lack of money, old farmhouse, or run down cars. The thing that I never really realized until much much later was the odd series of events that unfolded, off and on, throughout my childhood were just not ordinary events that everyone experiences.
I can remember being as young as 8 or 9 and hearing the front door open, footsteps, the dog barking and jumping on someone or something...that just...well it just wasn't there. Or at least none of us could catch a glimpse of it, if we dared venture into the livingroom and click on a light. My father tried many many times to figure out exactly what entered. Though he NEVER talked about it...at least not in front of me. I'm not sure if he ever really discussed it with anyone. Only mother felt strong or sure enough to question the oddness of our almost weekly visitor.
In and of itself, perhaps that doesn't move us into the realm of odd.....but there was more, much more.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Update on the Cards
Back when I started picking cards or images or concepts to use in this deck, I had some very strong ones I knew for sure had to be included. Then I thought and thought and picked out some others....none of those were as strong or as meaningful as the first choices. So now months down the road I am revising the list...
First I took out all the filler cards that I had placed in the deck to sort of round it out. Images such as the fool, the moon, etc...ones that are in traditional decks....well...guess what...this is NOT a traditonal deck. They don't fit for me!
Second I went through and took out the images that were from history but perhaps not as strong or meaningful to me. I have left only one person card in the deck. The Grandma Annie card represents my mother. And while there are other important family members, such as Grandma Uptown...none of them resonanted with me as being part of this deck other than the woman who embodies the idea of this deck.
Third I added a few cards. The grasshopper card is a recent adventure but still seemed to fit in this deck. I also added the Ball of Fire, Knock on the Door, the Ouija Board, and the Stone (all from family history and with interesting stories attached to them.)
I still have a few blanks (I'm not rushing this time, these cards will "come to me")...I'd like to start the deck with 48 cards but am open to adding to the deck as time goes by...but the goal is to get the 48 in place and then add a card here or there if something seems to fit.
If you are interested in the list of cards...click on the The Cards link on the top bar here at The Silent Woods and you will be taken to the page with the list...scroll down a bit!
First I took out all the filler cards that I had placed in the deck to sort of round it out. Images such as the fool, the moon, etc...ones that are in traditional decks....well...guess what...this is NOT a traditonal deck. They don't fit for me!
Second I went through and took out the images that were from history but perhaps not as strong or meaningful to me. I have left only one person card in the deck. The Grandma Annie card represents my mother. And while there are other important family members, such as Grandma Uptown...none of them resonanted with me as being part of this deck other than the woman who embodies the idea of this deck.
Third I added a few cards. The grasshopper card is a recent adventure but still seemed to fit in this deck. I also added the Ball of Fire, Knock on the Door, the Ouija Board, and the Stone (all from family history and with interesting stories attached to them.)
I still have a few blanks (I'm not rushing this time, these cards will "come to me")...I'd like to start the deck with 48 cards but am open to adding to the deck as time goes by...but the goal is to get the 48 in place and then add a card here or there if something seems to fit.
If you are interested in the list of cards...click on the The Cards link on the top bar here at The Silent Woods and you will be taken to the page with the list...scroll down a bit!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
CARD: Ghost Lights
Have you ever watched something on TV and got that vague uneasy feeling that it is something you have seen before or it just jiggles your memories? Well with all the new shows on like ghost hunters and paranormal....I'm bound to encounter that what with the haunted farm and stuff. Well this happened over a year ago when I was watching TV, not a paranormal show...I hardly ever watch those but I did happen to catch a bit of an advertisement for one in which they mentioned "ghost lights". When I caught a glimpse of the segment, it sure reminded me of something. Something buried deep in my memories and I sort of just shook it off.
Then about six months ago, I was chatting with my niece who is in her thirties and as often happens ....talk turned to family, funny memories, and the farm. My older daughter was there too and just happened to mentioned that she wanted to take a "ghost tour" in St. Charles, MO. That's a town about 35 minutes from us and it has these tours in the old down town section which are taken (at night of course). We had been throwing around this idea (just for fun mind you) for quite some time.
Then my niece mentioned the "ghost lights". It seems that she has some pretty clear and distinctive memories of the farm. She lived in a trailor on the farm for several years when she was quite small. The trailor was about fifty to a hundred yards from the farm house itself. As she told the story she remembers of the ghost lights I began to realize that she was talking about exactly what I had viewed and found disturbingly familiar on the TV segment. Those glowing lights several feet in the air and moving (usually directly toward me).
She related to us, how as a small child of about 4-6 she can remember at dusk being afraid to walk the fifty yards or so to Grandma's house (the home I grew up in) because she had to watch down the lane for the ghost lights and make sure she had plenty of time to make it to the house before they could travel down the lane toward the house. She vividly described the lights usually in pairs or groups of three to five lights. Possibly ten-twenty feet in the air, but she can't be sure as they were in the distance. But when she would enter the yard at dusk or a bit later in the summer she could see them up the lane and they frequently started moving toward her and the farm house as she made her way quickly across the yard. She had actually read mention of "ghost lights" in a book about Missouri ghosts and made the connection.
I can't say I have a clear memory of the lights which seems a little odd but what she described are exactly like the lights on the TV segment that cause me such pause when I caught a glimpse of them. Perhaps her story could be explained away as her memory "fitting" what she had read but how exactly do you explain my nagging dejavu when I saw the segment and then the fact that her stories so closely match my vague memories. The ghost lights unlike the little man in the attic caused us a bit of fear but no one was ever hurt by them. Small children can be easily scared by what they do not understand especially at dusk in that twilight time when the light of day becomes the darkness of night.
Originally Posted at Ginger's Journey MARCH 2008
Then about six months ago, I was chatting with my niece who is in her thirties and as often happens ....talk turned to family, funny memories, and the farm. My older daughter was there too and just happened to mentioned that she wanted to take a "ghost tour" in St. Charles, MO. That's a town about 35 minutes from us and it has these tours in the old down town section which are taken (at night of course). We had been throwing around this idea (just for fun mind you) for quite some time.
Then my niece mentioned the "ghost lights". It seems that she has some pretty clear and distinctive memories of the farm. She lived in a trailor on the farm for several years when she was quite small. The trailor was about fifty to a hundred yards from the farm house itself. As she told the story she remembers of the ghost lights I began to realize that she was talking about exactly what I had viewed and found disturbingly familiar on the TV segment. Those glowing lights several feet in the air and moving (usually directly toward me).
She related to us, how as a small child of about 4-6 she can remember at dusk being afraid to walk the fifty yards or so to Grandma's house (the home I grew up in) because she had to watch down the lane for the ghost lights and make sure she had plenty of time to make it to the house before they could travel down the lane toward the house. She vividly described the lights usually in pairs or groups of three to five lights. Possibly ten-twenty feet in the air, but she can't be sure as they were in the distance. But when she would enter the yard at dusk or a bit later in the summer she could see them up the lane and they frequently started moving toward her and the farm house as she made her way quickly across the yard. She had actually read mention of "ghost lights" in a book about Missouri ghosts and made the connection.
I can't say I have a clear memory of the lights which seems a little odd but what she described are exactly like the lights on the TV segment that cause me such pause when I caught a glimpse of them. Perhaps her story could be explained away as her memory "fitting" what she had read but how exactly do you explain my nagging dejavu when I saw the segment and then the fact that her stories so closely match my vague memories. The ghost lights unlike the little man in the attic caused us a bit of fear but no one was ever hurt by them. Small children can be easily scared by what they do not understand especially at dusk in that twilight time when the light of day becomes the darkness of night.
Originally Posted at Ginger's Journey MARCH 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)