The Ghost Or Spirit Of St Bernadette And Her Incorrupt Body

While looking through some photos, I came across the picture above, purported to be Saint Bernadette - after she had died. There are five images said to show her as spirit, gradually fading into a wall.

It's not known who the photographer was but is generally referred to as The Ghost of Bernadette Soubirous and was taken in 1890, eleven years following her death. And, yes, I realise there were many fake ghost and spirit photos in that era.

Bernadette Soubirous is the French farm girl from rural Lourdes who was canonised as a saint on December 13th 1933. Lourdes has since become a centre of healing for believers, mostly of the Catholic faith. Her full story can be found on Wikipedia, where it is says:

"In the 150 years since Bernadette dug up the spring (at Lourdes), 67 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as 'inexplicable', but only after what the Church claims are 'extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations' that failed to find any other explanation."

No doubt most people have probably heard of the Lourdes story but I didn't realise that Bernadette's body had been exhumed three times with bizarre results:

On the first occasion, in September 1909, witnesses claimed that, though a crucifix in her hand had oxidised, her body was declared 'incorrupt.' In other words there was no sign of decomposition.

On the second exhumation in April 1919 the doctor, who examined the body stated: "The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts. The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body."

Following a third exhumation in 1925 Doctor Comte published a report in the Bulletin de I'Association medicale de Notre-Dame de Lourdes:

"What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon."

As to whether Lourdes has supernatural powers of healing is a matter of opinion. What can be said is that belief can do many wondrous things - including returning people to health. Belief is at the centre of most miracles.

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A Warning Sent To Him By His Deceased Cousin

An interesting story follows which some may find hard to believe, but it is from a no nonsense serving police officer. It's about a warning received from the spirit world.

"My husband and I are both police officers. He is the most pragmatic, realistic man you could meet.

In July last year, he came in from his shift after midnight and put his car keys on the bedside cabinet. At 3am the keys flew across the room, waking us both, and I accused him of swiping them with his hand. He said that it wasn't him, and that was that.

We were flying to London later that day. As I was driving to the airport, he kept telling me to watch my speed, mind that car, and was generally irritating. Then he said, "We are going to be in a car crash today." At the airport I gloated that I'd managed to get us there in one piece.

We landed at Heathrow at 5pm and got picked up by a friend. As I got into the middle of the back seat, I couldn't find the belt buckle so I wasn't going to bother. My husband insisted I dig it out and gave me 'The Glare'.

Five minutes later I shouted: "That guy hasn't seen us!" as another vehicle sped across the lanes.

The impact was fairly substantial. I dislocated my  neck and pulled the crucial ligament in my left knee. My husband fractured his sternum and three ribs. The Fire Brigade said that if I hadn't been wearing my seat belt, I would have been out through the windscreen

Later on in A&E, I asked my husband how he had known what would happen.

He told me that his recently deceased cousin, Shane, had thrown the keys, and that he was there with their grandmother. They had told him not to go to London as he would be in terrible pain, When I asked why he had still gone. He said that if he hadn't, then I wouldn't have worn a seat belt and would probably have been killed.

If anyone else but my husband had come out with this story, then I would have laughed at it."

~ Katherine

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The Wall Opened Up And She Saw Her Dead Mother

Vintage funeral - California late 1800s

I seem to be on a roll with stories about people seeing their loved ones in some sort of spirit appearance after they have died. And it's not a new thing! Here's a story I've dug up from way back in 1869 by a Mrs. Ellis.

"On March 11, 1869, I was giving my little children their dinner at half-past one o'clock. As I was in the act of serving macaroni and milk from a tureen, I raised my head, and as I did so the wall opposite me seemed to open, and I saw my mother laying dead on her bed, in her little house.

Flowers were at her side and on her breast; she looked calm, but unmistakably dead, and the coffin was there.

It was so real that I could scarcely believe that the wall was brick and mortar, and not a transparent window.

I ought to say that when I was married my mother made me promise, as I was leaving home, to let her know if I died, and she would try to find some way of communicating to me the fact of her death - supposing that circumstances prevented the usual methods of writing or telegraphing."

~ Mrs Ellis

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Grandson Had A Message From His Deceased Grandmother

Here's another short story about a message from beyond the grave.

My mum sadly passed away in 2006. I rang my daughters that evening to tell them the news.

The next morning my eldest daughter texted me to say that my grandson, who was three at the time, came into the room that morning, not knowing that Grey Nanny (his name for her) had died. He called me Nanny Bells.

He said, "Grey Nanny said that you must tell Nanny Bells that she isn't to worry, as she is home now!"

~ Suzie Roberts.

It's often said that young children are more sensitive to messages of this nature, but most would probably write them off as fiction or coincidence. It's interesting to really listen to children, sometimes they are more aware than us supposed adults.

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The Butterfly As A Sign From The Deceased

I've written previously about how a butterfly is sometimes said to be a sign from someone who has recently died. This is something with which the English actress Lysette Anthony agrees. When her mother, the former actress and producer Bernadette Bennett, died, "Extraordinary things started to happen." Here's Lysette's experience.

"I saw my first ghost at the Windsor Theatre and I discovered he was a well known ghost there.

I know this sounds bonkers, but in the play I had this speech right at the end. It was a sad speech and that is when I would pour out my grief, crying real tears on stage.

One evening there was this massive butterfly and one of the other actors commented on it being an 'old soul'. The butterfly was having a lovely time fluttering around the set. When I came to do my final scene it landed on my white hat and it stayed there until the end of the play.

I like to think that was my mother taking her last bow."

Other Butterfly Posts:
His Dead Son Visited Him As A Butterfly
Chips And A Butterfly: Memories And A Visit From The Spirit World
The Law Of Re-Embodiment Or Reincarnation

By The Time You Read This I'll Be Someone Else And So Will You

I've often ruminated on the thought that we are many different people during one life time. We only have to look at photos to see this. Our beliefs and opinions also change as we learn from life.

A few days ago I came across an article on the Global One website about a man who spat on the face of Buddha and the next day went to ask him for forgiveness:

Buddha said, "Forgive? But I am not the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you because I have no grudge against you.

And you also are new. I can see you are not the same man who came yesterday because that man was angry and he spit, whereas you are bowing at my feet, touching my feet. How can you be the same man? You are not the same man, so let us forget about it. Those two people, the man who spit and the man on whom he spit, both are no more."

It's easy to understand that we are many different people because of how our body changes - and parts of it quite quickly. Our liver, for example, is only about five months old and other bits of us are being replaced over and over, such as:

Taste buds replaced after 6 months; heart every 20 years; lungs 2-3 weeks; skin 2-4 weeks; bones every 20 years; intestines 2-3 days; red blood cells 4 months; hair 5-6 years; stomach lining 5 days and so it goes on.

So parts of us are older than others. Strangely though, the number of brain cells or neurons, which transmit impulses, stays the same. Amazingly there are as many as there are stars in our galaxy - about 100 billion. Can that be by coincidence?

Where it all gets difficult is how the mind fits into all of this. Oh, and then there is a soul or spirit to consider as well - if you believe in such a thing.

If we damage our brain this can effect our personality which means it must have also damaged our mind - and therefore the soul too?

For example in his book The Tale Of The Duelling Neurosurgeons Sam Kean tells the true story about how a family man, with an undiagnosed brain tumour, became a paedophile. But once the tumour was removed by surgery he returned to 'normal'. Brain damage can alter personalities, can make make people who were gentle become aggressive and so on.

It appears we are therefore at the mercy of our brain neurons.

If something like Alzheimer's should come our way do we recover our original mind once we move onto the next life (assuming you believe there is a next life)? And if so what particular stage of mind?

It's interesting as to how the delicate brain, mind and soul can fit together without conflict. And, of course, you have to ask who or what is doing the asking?

But, whatever, by the time you read this I'll be someone else and so will you.

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Chips And A Butterfly: Memories And A Visit From The Spirit World

Chips from a traditional Fish & Chip shop

I felt a bit down on Friday as some results of a blood test I had weren't quite as good as I expected. "I know," I said to Karin in the evening, "Let's go for a walk." Can't beat a walk for getting your head in order.

It was chilly and windy and when we went out of our front door we just followed our nose(es) - as my mum would have said. We found we were heading towards our local town. Before reaching there, however, we passed a traditional British Fish & Chip shop.

Being a vegetarian I hadn't been in there for donkey's years but Karin asked, "Fancy some chips?"

I knew they would most likely be fried in some sort of animal fat but I still answered, "Yes."

As soon as we opened the wrapper, while continuing our walk, the smell and taste immediately transported me back to when I was a child.

Mum and I always visited my Gran on a Sunday evening while Dad got ready for work the next day. If I'd been good, on the way home, I was allowed a bag of chips - and back then the outer wrapper was still newspaper.

I remember eating the chips, while walking home with Mum, on a cold evening and that's where it seemed I was again last Friday.

Lost in my own world Karin said, "You're quiet." Then she said, "I know what you are thinking about - your mum."

That's the trouble of being married for a long time, spouses often know what you are thinking! So I told her about my memories of walking home as a child from visiting my Gran, while finishing off the chips.

It's strange where smell and taste can take you.

The next day (Saturday) I had been lopping some branches off a tree that had got too big in our garden. Karin came out to see how I was getting on - or maybe it was to supervise! But whatever, she said, "Whose your friend?"

I had no idea what she was talking about. "On your jacket. The Butterfly."

And sure enough sitting there was a butterfly, even though they aren't usually about this time of year. Goodness knows how long it had been with me, but it continued to stay with me as I carried on with the secateurs and tidied up the branches I had already cut. The butterfly didn't move, just sat there as I bent and moved about.

It stayed with me for ages even when I started to put the tools away in the garage. As I took off my boots though, the butterfly flew over to the wall and sat very still again. When I next turned around it was gone. The garage window was open so it could have flown away.

This made me remember a post I wrote this time last year His Dead Son Visited Him As A Butterfly. This is a story about how the English actor, Ricky Tomlinson, is convinced his son Clifton, who had died, visited him as a butterfly. Ricky said:

 "... but he [the butterfly] stayed with me all night and I just thought that this was wonderful. I felt his presence, it was Clifton. I was made up. I loved him, he was a cracking lad."

Later Karin remarked about how she wondered if the butterfly was someone visiting me. I'd been wondering the same.

Who knows, perhaps chips and a butterfly can be more meaningful than most people would imagine.

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The White Dove Who Brought Peace To Her Son's Funeral

A very touching story today from Melinda Miranda about how a white dove brought peace to her son's funeral and what the sighting means to her.

"I lost my 25 year old son to a sudden accident on his job 3 months ago. I was supposed to visit him and he passed away just ten days prior to my visit.

There was a lot of bickering at his burial as my ex husband can't let go of certain issues that were caused through our divorce many years ago. Suddenly, as 'our wedding song' played at the cemetery, a white dove appeared out of nowhere and circled above us throughout the entire song. Then there was peace.

This dove appeared to me and my daughter again two months later on Thanksgiving Day and once more when we returned back home almost three months since my son left the earth.

I REALLY believe this is his spirit letting us know he is okay and at peace and also that he wants us all to be in peace with one another. I wait to see that lovely white dove when I am feeling down and see it as a sign that my son is with me!"

~ Melinda Miranda

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The White Dove As A Messenger Of The Dead
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White Doves As Signs Or Messengers

A couple of white dove stories to add to our collection. The first is straightforward. As I have written previously many believe that a white dove is a sign from a loved one, or even the spirit of a deceased person.

"Hi I'm Michael. The day after my mum's funeral I looked out of my living room window to see a white dove stood on the wall. I ran upstairs to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I looked out of my bedroom window and the dove was still there looking right at me. The dove seemed as though we had acknowledged each others presence and then flew away. I never saw the dove again."

The second story asks, "What does this mean?"  My answer is, "I don't know." It's how it feels to the individual concerned that matters.

It seems, from the story, that a white dove disappeared. It's appearance in the first place is probably more relevant. I wonder if someone in their family had died recently. But, whatever, I'd just like to add that doves should be free to fly as they wish and not enclosed in a room or a cage - and surely they have no place in a pet shop. I guess we all think differently.

"Yesterday I went into my garage to do some laundry, as I opened the garage door I saw the most beautiful white dove wandering around.  I was surprised to see him there, and I realized that he must of slept there the whole night. I grabbed him and brought him into my house.

My kids were amazed to see such a beautiful bird and since I didn't have a cage I let him loose in the house, gave him some seeds and water but he didn't seem interested. So today I went around my neighbourhood asking if the dove belonged to anybody.

Since nobody seemed to know anything I told my kids I going to the pet shop tomorrow because we can't have another pet.

So anyway I came from work today and I asked my daughter how the bird was. She said he was fine.

Since is has been really cold here in California I put my two dogs inside the house for the night and I put the dove in my son's room and told him not to open the door.

Not too long ago was looking for the bird to put him inside my sons room again and he is nowhere to be found which is really really weird. My house is really small and the dove is nowhere to be found.

What does this mean?

Other White Dove Posts:
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The White Dove As A Messenger Of The Dead
Was The White Dove Messenger From Her Dead Mother?

Temptations Of The Fox And Other Puppet Masters

Last week in the UK media there was a story about a 16 year old schoolgirl Lurelle Bancroft who was turned away from her school prom (something we seem to have imported from the USA).

It seems Lurelle wants to be a model, or something like that, and was a finalist for Miss Teen Great Britain which affected her school attendance record and added to her general bad behaviour.

She was told she wouldn't be able to attend the prom, but turned up anyway and 'by chance' a Manchester picture agency just happened to have a photographer on hand to record the sob story in pictures.

It appears that so many nowadays want to be celebrities, or a 'star' in reality shows and ... I won't say any more on this, but you get the picture. The temptations for easy fame and money are dangled very much like J.Worthington Foulfellow the Fox did with Pinocchio.

The Fox offered the easy way to success and Pinocchio followed. He was even offered 'hot' women (but it could just as easily have been hot men) puppets. And that's how many celebrity seekers end up - as puppets for shady characters like Stromboli.

Pinnocchio ignored his conscience's warnings at great cost - and was unable to return to his creator. Very much like people are persuaded to turn their backs on spirituality and their own creator or God. The money the puppet makes enriches his (or her) handler.

In Pinocchio's story he does gain back his conscience, via Jiminy Cricket, but is once more tempted, this time to Pleasure Island by Foulfellow the Fox. Here there is no school (knowledge) or laws (morals). Children are allowed to eat, drink, smoke, fight and destroy at will, all under the guidance of The Coachman. Instant gratification and satisfaction are offered much like with the celebrity world.

Of course, we have free will, so everyone can return to their Creator but there is often a task or initiation to perform in order to do so. When Pinocchio tries to return to Geppetto he isn't there. It turns out he has been swallowed by a giant whale! Shades of Jonah from the Bible here:

Matthew 12:40. "For as Jonas was there three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Pinocchio jumps into the water and gets swallowed himself to find his Creator, Geppetto, which he finally does and escapes from the darkness to be reborn. And now we have shades of Freemasonry - but that figures as Carlo Collodi, who wrote Pinocchio, was initiated into Freemasonry.

And a quote from Plotinus (204-270):
"Therefore we must ascend again towards the Good, the desired of every Soul. Anyone that has seen this knows what I intend when I say that it is beautiful. Even the desire of it is to be desired as a Good.

To attain it is for those that will take the upward path, who will set all their forces towards it, who will divest themselves of all that we have put on in our descent:- so, to those that approach the Holy Celebrations of the Mysteries, there are appointed purifications and the laying aside of the garments worn before, and the entry in nakedness - until, passing, on the upward Way, all that is other than God, each in the solitude of himself shall behold that solitary - dwelling Existence, the Apart, the Unmingled, the Pure, That from, Which all things depend, for Which all look and live and act and know, the Source of life and of Being."

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Memories Of The Future

When I was about 14 or 15 I had this idea that all of us would eventually become Gods. We would each be given a planet to oversee with a population designed as we thought fit. I can also remember standing over a small ant nest and realising that, like God, I could wipe out a few of the ants or even most of the colony by simply stamping on them. This, in a way, was influenced by the old fashioned idea of God, where he could bring about terrible consequences if we did anything wrong - or even just on a whim.

When I was imagining these things it was way before computer games where such things are possible.

As I see it, in days gone by, there was a fear of God because it kept us all in line. This in many ways completely opposes the teachings of Jesus and love and forgiveness. The Old and New Testaments of the Bible do tend to contradict each other at times.

I feel that the Old Testament God may be a misunderstanding of the idea of karma, - whereas Jesus teaches about what we reap is what we have sown - a truer version of karma.

At times it is difficult to understand the unfairness of life, but problems are a means or opportunity to overcome. We maybe should think of our lives as being long term, and not just 70, 80 or 90 years. The idea of a resurrection being based on the actions of one short life, and the conditions we are born into, is unrealistic and would be unjust.

Resurrection surely must be an opportunity for us to start again and is part of a constant state of a surviving spirit, soul or whatever you may wish to call this. We assume and discard many bodies with the essence of life flowing from one on to another.

We therefore refine our future bodies and circumstances by the actions of our current lives here on Earth. Our lives are a spiral of continuity which we gradually ascend.

Something I read recently by RP Beesley was:

"The Spirit is the true self, this is our eternal body. That it will grow, expand in wisdom and knowledge, become strong resilient, courageous and deep in understanding is the purpose of it's being, thus to become builders, teachers, skilled artisans of creation.

As the Kingdoms grow other worlds are still in the making, so these souls and spirits help fashion and to dwell in these future realms - brave new worlds invested in the consciousness of God."

So maybe I was sort of on the right track when a young teenager after all!

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A Half-Wits Opinion Of December 12th

It's interesting that William Roache has received a lot of stick following stating his opinion that the world will change dramatically on December 12th. He's generally thought now to be something of a nut-case.

For those who don't know, 80 year old Roache is a UK actor who has been in the soap Coronation Street since it started back in 1960. Not exactly my cup of tea, but each to their own. What annoys me though are some of the comments made against him such as: "i think he need puttin in an home now" and "What a shame that this man is such a fool."

I guess Roache can't win because (a) he's getting on in years and (b) he dares to say something different from the norm. Wonder what this says about us as a society today.

So what did Bill actually say? This is a little of what he wrote in Silent Voices magazine:

"The energy and light of the Creator is love. Love is the life force, it is everything, it is the law of attraction.

I have always known that there are beings around me, loving and guiding, and never more so than now."

Regarding the 12th of December he added:

"This will be the Golden Age, when a majority will know they are love and spiritual beings. The Earth will continue to cleanse itself while material and negative things will collapse and cease to be.

No one religion or philosophy has the sole rights on spiritual beliefs - understand we are all pure love made in love, living in love. It is urgent to get this over. Time is running out."

Roache puts himself further in the firing range by saying that his daughter, Edwina, who died aged 18 months in 1984, is now a nurse in the afterlife. He said, "She is helping other children who have passed over to understand what has happened to them."

He then puts himself deeper in the mire by saying he believes that we will soon be able to communicate by telepathy. It appears that a homeopathic doctor told him this while he slept; "He was able to appear on the astral plane, come into a dream and actually speak to me in that way."

So no wonder I've read further comments about Roache's beliefs, like this one from someone called Colin Dodd: "Bring on the men in white coats. Why is this half-wit not in a secure place?"

Wonder who are the real half-wits in the world today?

Enjoy The Spirit Ride To The Pure White Light

There are many descriptions as to what the spirit may be. Here is one such explanation by RP Beesley, see what you think.

"The spirit is a very splendid thing, composed in miniature of the essence of all creations, known and unknown; concealed splendour perhaps at this stage, but nevertheless its future assured.

All wisdom, knowledge and comprehendings are stored away in the holy essence.  This explains the need for its various clothings, its various bodies (astral, etheric, mental etc.) to protect itself from the course material of outer space, and which are means by which it can in part project itself into denser matter.

Mind over matter is not a new phrase, but with the comprehension of spirit it makes the eventual discipline, the overcoming, the final achievement more possible.

As God consciousness expands so are new worlds formed.  We are the people of these new worlds - pure spirit, pure essence of God; what a privilege!"

And our ultimate goal? These are Beesley's thoughts:

"We shall shed the soul form, so that pure mind (pure consciousness) and pure spirit are completely united in cosmic intelligence and Form Divine; this we call the place of Pure White Light - something which will take many eons to achieve - yet a heavenly goal we should all seek to attain.

I guess it will take us an extremely long time before we can be fully united with God- for want of a better word. Creation as we know it has barely started, so there's a lengthy journey ahead of us!

It might be an idea to try and enjoy the ride.

Posts on a similar theme:
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The Fortress Of Light: How to prevent a psychic attack
The Winds And Energy Of Death