So I believe I've been living with a ghost for most of my life. I am now 20 years old and I think i've always know i wasnt alone. I used to play with my "friend" when i was younger and my mom said i could be alone for hours just laughing and carrying on with what she thought was my imaginary friend who i'd call peggy. But about 2 years ago, shortly after i moved out on my own, I started having awful nightmares EVERY night. They were horrific and i would wake up scared, crying, sweating, etc. This went on every night for a little over a year. I saw doctors who just came to the conclusion that i was depressed so they gave me meds. The meds didnt help my nightmares at all so i soon stopped taking them. I finally decided to see a hypnotherapist, since western medicine obviously wasnt solving anything. The session went fine except i remember her keep saying things about St. Michael, and i thought that was strange because she never asked what religion i am (I went to Catholic school my whole life but dont believe in it. I closer to an atheist than anything). So when she brought me out of my trance i felt great and she said, very confidently "your healed. there is no need for you to come back for another session. you will no longer have night mares." I was astounded by her confidence and it turned out, she was right! I was sleeping GREAT for months, with no nightmares or lucid dreams.
About 2 weeks later she calls me and tells me there was something abnormal about my session that she was afraid to tell me about at the time because she didnt want to scare me. She let me know that she has only seen something similar once before so she didnt fully understand what happened. When I was in my trance, she said she couldnt tap into my subconscious like she usually would because there was a strong entity attached to me call out for her help. She had to put me into a deeper trance just so she could deal with is other being. She described the spirit as "someone who has known me since birth and has always loved me very very much. She is very catholic and when she killed herself, she knew god would not allow her into heaven so she clinged on to me when i was 8 months old." At this description i knew it was my godmother and my moms best friend, Peggy. The hypnotherapist said Peggy agreed to pass on to the afterlife with St.Michael there to guide her. I got chills all over when she said all this but it all made sense to me and i was glad she could be at peace finally. Im not sure why she caused nightmares after almost 20 years but i was just glad it was over with... or so i thought.
I just moved into a new house 2 months ago and ive been noticing some odd things happening like footsteps, doors closing, and the feeling of being watched. Ive also been having nightmares again. Not as frequently as before but the same kind of nightmares. Im afraid to tell anyone what im experiencing because my friends and family dont believe in the paranormal the way i do. Could Peggy have returned, not liking where she was sent to, or could this be a different thing all together. Please give me advice! I have no idea what to do.

Hi jro118. I see that you joined this forum just today. Welcome to Discuss the Paranormal. I hope we can all give you helpful information.

It is the nature of human consciousness to try to make connections between things by association. It's just how the mind operates. The incidents you've described may very well be related, or they may not be related at all and your mind is just trying to make connections between them.



It is very common for young children to have, "Imaginary Friends." Whether these, "Imaginary Friends," are truly imagined, or some sorts of spirit beings is unknown. It probably differs from case to case. On the psychological side of the matter, there are three great human instincts: 1) self-preservation/survival, 2) sex/reproductive, and 3) herd/social. The types of children who tend to, "mentally construct," "Imaginary Friends," are only children (those without siblings), children with much older siblings with whom they don't play regularly, children who spend a lot of time alone, and children who are ignored by their parents and other household members. Additionally, this, "mental activity," seems to start around the age of three, or four. A psychological explanation for the, "Imaginary Friend," is that it is a Defense Mechanism for overcoming loneliness: a mental compensation for being deprived of the natural human herd/social instinct. However, on the paranormal side of the matter, experienced occultists agree that young children are particularly perceptive to spirit beings. My personal view of ghosts, or spirits, is that, in order for them to exist, their existence must be acknowledged by at least one human being. I further believe that ghosts, or spirits, associate themselves, prey, or feed on the, "energy," of young children. Most adults do not believe in ghosts, or spirits. Most adults look for logical, rational, or scientific explanations for seemingly paranormal occurrences. For the most part, they're closed to the idea of ghosts, or spirits. As such, ghosts, or spirits, have difficulty acquiring acknowledgment of their existence from most adults. However, young children are different. Most young children do not have the expanse of consciousness to know whether ghosts, or spirits exist, or not. As such, they're completely open to the possibility because they don't yet know that they're not supposed to be. Therefore, spirit entities can acquire acknowledgment of their existence much easier from young children.

In your case, I think it is quite more than a coincidence that your childhood, "Imaginary Friend," was named, "Peggy:" the same name as your Godmother's, who committed suicide shortly after your birth. I find this remarkable. From an occult standpoint, I think it is quite likely that your, "Imaginary Friend," was your late Godmother, both named, "Peggy." However, only you would be able to validate this. It might be helpful to think back to your childhood. In a sense, an, "Imaginary Friend," is a, "Thought Form:" a, "thought," to which you have given, "form." Surely, you must have assigned a visual image to your, "Imaginary Friend." How would you describe it? Male? Female? Adult? Child? If you have never seen a picture of your mother's best friend, "Peggy," it would be very interesting for you to try to remember everything about your, "Imaginary Friend," as possible first. Even write everything down: hair color, size, outstanding physical features, etc... Then, after you have a strong mental image of it, ask your mother to see a picture of Peggy. It might be startling to see how closely your mental image of Peggy resembles her actual photograph.

By the way, I think your hypnotherapist is gifted. There are a lot of charlatans and otherwise unqualified and unsavory people who have infested the occult practices. Since you seem to have a good one, you might want to stay in touch with her.

The fact that your hypnotherapist mentioned St. Michael the Archangel in reference to your Godmother having not known that you are Roman Catholic is nothing to be amazed about. Christian doctrine teaches that there was a war in heaven. St. Michael the Archangel led the army of good angels against Lucifer, who led the army of dark (evil) angels and cast the dark angels out of heaven and down to the Earth. No matter what denomination, occultists often invoke St. Michael the Archangel for the purpose of doing good works. St. Michael is regarded as God's, "Right Hand Man," so to speak. So, we often invoke St. Michael to help us do the work of God (whatever we perceive God to be).



If, in fact, Peggy was accompanied by St. Michael to her afterlife in heaven, then I do not believe she has returned as the spirit that is causing your current set of occult problems. The reason, "Discarnate Entities," continue hanging around on the Earth Plane, is because they are afraid to, "Face the Divine." As such, Discarnate entities don't like being around anything Holy. One of the ways we occultists, "Banish," unwanted spirits is by inundating our surroundings with Holy objects and invoking Holy spiritual beings. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that suicide is a Mortal Sin: the only sin that can prevent one from going to Heaven. Personally, I don't believe this. Rather, I believe that the Christ was crucified for the forgiveness of all our sins, including suicide. Nevertheless, I can understand how your Godmother would be afraid to face God. But, if St. Michael accompanied her to heaven, himself, then Peggy is there to stay. She faced her fear. She faced the Divine. She faced God. She won't be back to Earth as a spirit.





I don't believe that Peggy caused your nightmares, initially, after you moved out of your house when you were 18 years old. And, I don't believe Peggy has come back and is causing the occult problems you are experiencing now. Even though she was a, "Discarnate Entity," she loved you very much all your life and you always had a positive, "playful," experience with her as your, "Imaginary Friend." Discarnate Entities tend to behave consistently with the way they behaved when they were alive. If what you are experiencing now is, in fact, of an occult nature, then it is something different.

If I were to rate the "strength(s) of the, "spirit(s)," you are are experiencing now (if they are, in fact, spirits) on a scale of, "Low---Medium---High," I would rate yours as in the low to lower-medium category. You can probably get rid of them by banishing them yourself. Again, these things hate being around Holy objects, or anything Holy, in general. They are here on Earth because they're afraid of facing the Divine in the first place. Try hanging crucifixes in every room of your house. Frankincense was one of the gifts of the Magi to the Messiah. Try burning frankincense in your home. Invoke the Christ in prayer often. Visit your local library or bookseller's metaphysical section, specifically the Magic section. You should easily be able to find a ritual known as, "The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram." An organization known as, "The Golden Dawn," mentions it frequently in its literature. The ritual, which takes a little practice at first, but is easy to learn, consists of surrounding yourself with the four Archangels for protection. Perform it frequently: perhaps at morning and at night. As I learned from one of our other authors on this forum (tviscante), "Holy Reinforcement," may very well be the key to getting rid of these types of malevolent spirits for good. If you just do these sorts of Holy things half-heartedly and infrequently, the spirits might leave for a little while. But, they'll be back. I think you have to keep your, "Holy Regimens," frequent, consistent, and over an extended period of time in order to keep these types of spirits away for good.

Lastly, jro118, you may have to change your lifestyle to some degree to get these spirits to stop bothering you. There are some people whose lifestyles open them up to the occult. You might be one of them. You don't have to answer these questions for me. But, consider them yourself:

1. Do you spend inordinate amounts of time alone?

2. Have you been experiencing inordinate amounts of stress over a prolonged period of time? Emotional? Financial?

3. Are you depriving yourself of ordinary sensory pleasures such as listening to music, watching movies or television, enjoying cooking, anything having to do with pleasuring the senses?

4. Do you consider yourself extremely mentally active? Do you think a lot? Do you, "over-think," things?

5. Do you feel inordinately influenced by fear?

6. Are you using drugs for recreation? (Sorry to ask).

People who answer yes to these questions are particularly open to experiencing occult phenomena. If you are answering yes to these questions, you might consider changing your lifestyle.

1. Get out and socialize more often.

2. Do whatever it takes to alleviate stress in your life.

3. Saturate your life with sensory pleasures.

4. Distract yourself from, "over-thinking," which might be considered, "obsessing," and, "compulsing."

5. Do whatever it takes to overcome your fears and restore peace to your life.

6. Lose the drugs (if such is the case).

Lastly, I'm not a psychologist and am making no presumptions here. However, there are amazing similarities between experiencing what one perceives as, "occult phenomena," and schizophrenia. I'm only mentioning it because it's the truth and is something to consider.

I hope I've helped you. Good luck! If there is anything further I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to post me, or send me a Private Message (PM) on this website.

Agreed with the therapist being a heckuva one of a kind in knowing about spirits and all. I was really surprised in reading that and wonder what got them to know about that, what their upbringing was in regards to that.

Also with this thing possibly not being your godmother, many entities cannot be trusted and will lie if they know they will get attention if they say they're your beloved uncle Bill that passed away, or whatever. Then after they've followed you home and have started causing trouble and all and you wonder why uncle Bill seems angry and all, then chances are you're right that it's not them after all.

Yes, jro118. tviscante is absolutely correct. The spirits you've described are of the variety that tend to hang around on the, "Lower Astral:" that is, close to the Earth. Again, in order for spirits to exist, their existence must be acknowledged by at least one human being. The trouble is, it seems that the number of spirits far exceeds the number of human beings able (or even willing) to acknowledge their existence. So, it seems there is much competition in the spirit world for human attention. And, in order to get that attention, spirits will play tricks. Dishonesty is common in the spirit world just as it is common in the physical world. Spirits will often masquerade as other spirits (ones familiar to you) for the sake of obtaining acknowledgment of their existence.

Fortunately, there are ways to test spirits to see if they are really, "who," you think they are: or, more accurately, who they want you to believe they are. And, fortunately, "duplicitous spirits," do not hold up well under these tests. Spirits are not always, "seen." From my experience, I would say that most of them are, "unseen." Rather, most of their presences are, "felt," or we conjure up their images in our imaginations. If we are able to identify them at all, we do so, not by, "seeing," them," but rather by sensing their symbolic associations with our imaginations. You may never have, "seen," your Imaginary Friend, "Peggy." However, you knew it was her by her, "body," of symbolic associations. For example, if I asked you to describe, "Peggy," to me, you would probably describe her to me in symbols. If you described her as female, all of the symbols associated with female would come to mind: physical characteristics, clothing, hair length, voice pitch, smell, cosmetics, etc... If you described how she made you feel when you were in contact with her, perhaps the symbol of a, "Smiley Face," would come to mind, etc...

Just as matter must obey the laws of physics, so must symbols (or, information) obey the logic of metaphor.





In your post, jro118, you seemed to believe that all of the paranormal activity you are experiencing was caused by, "Peggy." However, the way you described, "Peggy," as your Imaginary Friend did not at all match your description of your paranormal experiences subsequent to when you left home at age 18 as well as what you are experiencing now. For instance, "Peggy," was your friend. However, the spirit activity you are experiencing now appears to be that of an enemy.

Do you understand that the spirit you are dealing with now fails to hold up under your symbolic associations with, "Peggy?" Therefore, the spirit you are dealing with now cannot be, "Peggy." It only wants for you to believe it is, "Peggy."

This is what (I believe) tviscante and I mean by, "Dishonest Spirits." Trust your instincts and put the spirits to the test.