Category: paranormal and cryptozoology

“Go deeper,

Sink into this blessed water

With your achy bones

And weary mind,

Enter into the depths

Of your own soul,

Allowing the cleansing waves

Of self-reflection

To wash over and surround

Weary bodies need the love

Only a soul bath can give,

Need the rest carved out

Of endlessly busy days

Go deeper,

Feel the water rising,

Feel the weariness retreating,

Sink into your soul…”

©SpiritLed 2018

You hear forest bathing or sometimes it’s also referred to as soul bathing. It’s catching on here now, but did you know the Japanese are whom it came from? The Shinrin-Yoku was developed in Japan in the 1980s. The term means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing”.

It can be as simple as stepping outdoors taking in nature and connecting with it body and soul. Have you ever noticed when you enter the forest, whatever the reason, that all your troubles, worries and pain just slip away? If it does than you’re doing it right. It’s a major part of Japanese medicine and would do us a lot of good as well.

Aside from the obvious part of me that is searching for Bigfoot, I am also out there to escape. I suffer from a syndrome called CRPS. It’s not the most know syndrome in the world, and just the term syndrome being used to describe a condition you have can be frightening. But it lives up to be frightening.

If you’ve, like myself once, have never heard of the condition it’s one involving the nervous system. Your nerves get all confused and send constant pain signals to your brain. There is no cure and only an army of medicine can keep you going, that is till I like others I’ve met, realized being in the forest seeing the colors, smelling the fresh air, the whole thing. I realized when I’m in there I’m so distracted by beauty I don’t feel any pain. Amazing and well worth going in everyday.

But, I’m not telling this tale for sympathy but hopefully for inspiration because if it saved me from giving up on everything and could help you too. Not just physically but mentally as well.

I take this philosophy into the forest with me everyday, it made me a survivor, and if it can do this for me? Imagine what it could for you. I like to think I help spread the vibe that forest bathing, soul bathing could make a world of difference in your life. So,. If you’ve never tried it I urge you to get out there.i promise you’ll feel renewed, and be so glad you did it.

Good morning and happy Thursday! I was sent these great prints from @dhines1967 in Utah, that he let me share with you all. What do you think of these prints? They look 👀 squatchy to me and there have been encounters of Bigfoot on the beach. I added pictures of the Seashore Oregon sighting and the Hooper Bay Beach, as well as a written encounter below from Clatsop Beach in 1978…

“It was a very stormy day and the surf was high, crashing over the rocks on the jetty and pounding the beach. From the viewing tower I saw a man-like figure walk down off the grassy area onto the beach.

At first I did not think too much of this “person” out on the sands. Then I watched as the figure neared the edge of the water. It was waving its arms up and down facing the surf and the tower. There was another person on the tower with his daughter and they too saw the figure; we looked at each other with a “what the hell is that” look but said nothing and continued to watch this figure standing on the beach.

At this point I noticed a pick up truck with its lights on approaching up the beach from the south. Then the scale of the figure really struck me; it had to be a good 8 feet tall or more. The figure quickly turned and moved very fast off the beach before the truck was in range.

It did not run but rather “strode” the 30 or so yards to the dunes edge, then took one or two steps up the embankment and was gone.

I was all excited and scared on what I has just seen. I decided to go to the nearest parking lot near where the figure came down on the beach and see if I could get another look at it. As I approached the beach I became even more afraid, the wind was so strong I could hear nothing but the roar of the surf and the howl of the wind through my coat’s hood. My dog was anxious and stayed close to me.

I went to the beach and found where it came down the sand hill, the sand was all torn up from its passage. But when I discovered the hill was an easy 10 foot high, I really became fearful and decided to return to my car and leave instead of following the tracks into the grass.

The vivid picture of a sandy colored figure standing near the surf waving its arms still stays with me today 30 years later…”

Hoopers Bay 2014 sighing

2013 Oregon Seaside sighting

I’m not sure if these last two have been debunked since there initial report, but I do believe he could use the ocean also for a food source if needed, I’m just not sure if they would because they would be out in the open with no natural environment to camouflage them. Personally I’d love it, catch a tan and a Bigfoot in one day would be perfection, but not likely to happen.

Let me know what you think of the prints or beach sightings.

Have an awesome day…

Okay, since I haven’t been able to find an existing one, I’m going to do the responsible thing here and create one for all of us. We need to learn trial etiquette and manners. If you’re in the forests as much as I am you get miffed over a few reoccurring things. I put together a list of basic manners and nature seekers 101.

1. When you are parking at a trail head you can see that only a couple cars can fit, so park your car as to leave room for other cars (stop parking like an idiot)

2. Before setting out, look over a trail map and have a plan if you separate. ( note, playing Marco Polo should not be that plan)

3. Check yourself, do you have everything you need (and the stupid stuff you don’t)

4. Silence is golden. My biggest pet peeve in the forest, try to talk softly, whatever you say everyone in the forest just heard because it echos. And talking on your cell phone? Don’t even get me started. ( I want to take that phone out of your hands)

5. For the dirt bikers. Let me first say I love it, believe it or not I used to ride a 4 wheeler every weekend. But please stop making the trail all blown out for the hikers. (I see your muddy wheel marks on the trail, I will find you, and your little bike too)

6. My other huge pet peeve is trash. WTH people, take whatever you bring out with you! (Refer to above, I will find you, you lazy earth killing jerk)

7. Respect the wildlife. Always, the forest is their home not ours. And every little critter has a family to get home too.

8. Hunters please don’t shoot me! I don’t look good in orange, is pink and purple okay?

Well I think I covered everything in my list but feel free to comment if you think of something to add along

Chances are if you grew up in the 70s or 80s you’ve heard of the parlor trick game, Light as a Feather. The basic gist of the game is to make someone become light as a feather and that you will be able to levitate them off the floor using just two fingers from each person that participates.

Many people were first introduced to this by the masses in the movie The Craft but it dates all the way back to the 1600s. It first popped up in the diary of Samual Pepys. Samual was an administer of the navy of England and a member of Parliament. Here is the account told to him by a friend who witnessed the game being played.

“He saw four little girls, very young ones, all kneeling, each of them, upon one knee; and one begun the first line, whispering in the ear of the next, and the second to the third, and the third to the fourth, and she to the first. Then the first begun the second line, and so round quite through, and putting each one finger only to a boy that lay flat upon his back on the ground, as if he was dead; at the end of the words, they did with their four fingers raise this boy high as they could reach, and he [Mr. Brisband] being there, and wondering at it, as also being afeared to see it, for they would have had him to have bore a part in saying the words, in the roome of one of the little girles that was so young that they could hardly make her learn to repeat the words, did, for feare there might be some sleight used in it by the boy, or that the boy might be light, call the cook of the house, a very lusty fellow, as Sir G. Carteret’s cook, who is very big, and they did raise him in just the same manner.”

The next recorded account was in 1857 in the Magicians Own Handbook. And then made famous in the 90s movie, The Craft.

The actual science of the game is based on the principle that everyone lifting at the same time in the right place on the body, distributes the weight just right for the body to be easier, lighter to lift. And not that we ever think of this, but the fingers are stronger then we think.

Along with the chanting of light as a feather, stiff as a board there is also a quick back story to set the stage and get the person who is being levitated to loosen up. Here is one version from the 1700s.

“Behold, a dead body, 
Still as a stone, 
Cold as marble, 
Light as a spirit, 
We lift you in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Cheery isn’t it? But I never thought of dead weight as loosening up, so when we played we would talk about feeling like you were drifting on a cloud, or you’re a marshmallow etc. but now that I think of it, I remember I was always the one being lifted. Know why? Because my house was a haunted one and we were all afraid a ghost was going to jump inside us! I’d be funnier if it wasn’t actually a possibility.

When we did it we also treated it more like a seance. Candles lit etc. but no matter whatever we chanted or did, it actually worked! Now I know they say your memory could can play a little trick on you with time. But we all remember it working. Now we had lots of lifters, the group of us from the neighborhood would hang out and this is one of the things we all did together. (That didn’t piss the whole neighborhood off) I wish we took some pictures when we did it. But unfortunately only my grandfather and and myself took the family photos and I was always playing the part of Linda Blair.

So, if you’ve never tried it, you should. I recommend it as being one of life’s rite of passages we all should do, even if nothing happens you’ll have a good laugh and memory I’m sure. I know I do.

When we are younger, our parents explain the whole meaning of life. (Monty python version not withstanding). We learn the basics. You grow up, go to school, college, work, marriage, family then finally death. And all the crazy things in between.

The church then educates us on a deeper level. We learn all about our souls and how to protect and nurture them. Our soul almost becomes top priority over all those things listed above. Let’s start with what a definition of a soul is.

A soul in most religions, is thought of as the incorporeal essence of a living being. It’s the mental abilities of a living being to reason, feel, think, etc. to protect your soul so it doesn’t hit the fiery pit, your religion, whatever it is, gives you a certain set of rules to follow. (Some are a little more forgiveble than others so read that rule book carefully and read the fine print too). A soul, despite what we know scientifically to be as just parts of our brain at work, is often thought of as a separate part of us. Like your heart. We may say something like “that came from the heart” all the time, it’s just an expression, but the heart is different from the soul. To us, the soul is separate from our physical bodies. We need this sucker to ride into the next body so we can be reincarnated. 

In my house growing up, odd though I know we all were.  We believed in reincarnation. Mostly when the bad things happened. We would smash a knee and say something like, “come on god, really? Was I Ted Bundy in my last life or something?” I always went right to Ted, I was young but I remember the day they flipped the switch. Horrible I know. But still true. I still say that all the time. I fall a lot, so you know, I get annoyed here and there.

So, Reincarnation, it is defined simply when you die your soul rides the white tunnel into new digs with a teeny tiny stop to swipe all your hard earned knowledge and memories. So when you think about it, who cares if you get reincarnated or not? I mean, we all aren’t Napoleon who was positive he was the reincarnation of Charlemagne. What fun is it if you don’t wake up in like Angelina Jolie’s body or something and be like, “hells yeah!”

But if we aren’t reincarnated or shipped to the fiery pit. And it isn’t your soul stuck around, then what is it? My mother always thought ghosts were echos of life essence just doing whatever they would do if they were still corporeal. And every once and awhile we could see them. They passed through our plain. Sounds plausible to me, except for the fact some of those echos stray from that routine and do crazy s**t like knock over dishes, shut off lights and maybe even reach out and touch someone. When that happens all bets are off and it’s time to call the priest.

And why do you call the priest? Because he knows and wholeheartedly believes that it’s a soul that’s trapt. We all for the most part want to believe that a loved ones soul or essence that passed is still traveling around close to us. 

So we all have to decide for ourselves some of these more fantastical beliefs. Do I believe in ghosts or souls being able to hang around ? Are my parents watching over me or have they reincarnated into my neighbors new dogs? I prefer to think our soul is separate and it hangs close to its former loved ones or in a loved, safe familiar spot. I’ll gladly pass up on reincarnation if my family needs my soul around and besides, I’m pretty sure I was heading in to Peppermint Patties body next time anyway.