Ghosts Among Us by James Van Praagh

Christmas day seems a good day to talk about ghosts and to review James Van Praagh’s newest book Ghosts Among Us.  The holidays always make us think about the people we have loved that are no longer living on this plane of existence, don’t they?

This Christmas was much better for me, without my Dad. My Psychic friend Patti did a reading for me and talked to my Dad. He told me to start enjoying my life. To have fun. That he had made it finally over to the other side and was settling in and that he was okay. It is like a sad heavy cloud has been lifted from me. Not that I didn’t cry when I looked at photos of him the other day. Heck, I’d give just about anything some days to hear his voice. But, I am resting in the belief that I am on this plane of existence and he is living in another plane of existence and it is only time that seperates us.

Van Praagh’s new book is very anecdotal and his voice is strong and clear. It reads like he is personally talking to you and since you can feel his kindness and care for all mankind, it is a comforting read. He talks about how ghosts become earthbound, what near-death experiences are like and what the ghosts on the other side have told him about the big questions of life.

He says that ghosts attend their own funerals. I will keep this in mind better the next funeral I am at. He also says that there is no pain in death and I’d like to believe this, so I will take his word for it.

From those who have crossed over to the light, Van Praagh says he has learned:

~ no one dies alone

~ all time is ‘now’

~ that we do get a life review and realize the importance of our lives and its effect on others

~ there is a vastness to the multidimensional universe

~ there are lower darker levels for unevolved souls who have not learned to appreciate their lives or the lives of others

~ life never ends

The Holidays are a time when it is most difficult to deal with the unevolved souls in our families, don’t you think? These are people who wound with their words and their actions and there is no figuring out why they continue to do so.

It is the earthbound ghosts which fascinate me. When we were at Petersburg, Virginia and visiting the site of the Battle, we heard some earthbound ghosts. We walked to see the crater. The Union army could not get past the Confederates entrenched and protecting the city, so they dug a tunnel beneath the ground and blew up the earth beneath the Confederate line, killing many Confederates. The crater was so deep and the Union leadership so ineffective that before long the Union soldiers were trapped in the crater and the Confederates simply shot them. Many men died.

As we passed the tunnel entrance, the three of us stopped and listened. The sounds of a battle came from the woods. Pop, pop, pop, many pops from one side then pop, pop, pop, many pops from the other. Back and forth, volleys of firing. For maybe nearly a minute we listened to this intently until it faded away.

Earthbound ghosts, according to Van Praagh, have unfinished business with someone on earth, their death is sudden and unexpected and they can be unaware they have died, or they can be making sure their final wishes are followed, or their religious beliefs make them afraid of what is ahead.

The book also details how to contact ghosts safely, what to do if you think a ghost has attached itself to you, and how to tune into a ghosts’s energy.

This is a good primer on the paranormal, but keep in mind that Van Praagh believes in reincarnation. He does not force this belief down your throat so it is easy to dismiss it and get a lot of benefit from his other information. He does emphasize the importance of our thoughts and I have found this to be true in my own life. Thoughts do have an impact in a practical sense.

Ghosts Among Us was published in 2008 by Harper Collins.