@Simone Charlton I think regular grounding and shielding it key. I do it daily and before I go out and will be around people. I also do it when I run across someone that has an energy that makes me feel off. There are any number of visualizations that you can use to ground and shield, but essentially you are connecting to the earth's vibration and putting up a filter around yourself that does not allow negative energy in. It can be debated whether this is just using symbolism or if you are affecting the energy within and around you, but either way, it works!

@Simone Charlton There are a variety of ways to do it and I think ultimately experimenting a bit will land you on the one that is right for you. Here are a couple of good basic instructions of methods: https://www.learnreligions.com/grounding-centering-and-shielding-4122187 https://priestessofaphrodite.com/2020/02/29/why-do-we-ground-cleanse-and-shield/ The method I use is something I learned in a class and have modified since to suit my purposes.

@Jill Hart That's some serious folkloring and magick making! Yay for parking magick and banishing spells. Remind your daughter to do some cord cutting (quantum entanglement approved cord cutting, obvs)

@Brandie Robbins I think it is so interesting when we start to look at magickal thinking that is socially acceptable vs. magickal thinking that is not. I agree that awareness and openness is the best path to allowing magick in your life!

Do I think ghosts are real - I absolutely do since I have encountered them myself. Do I think we can prove it? Not yet, but I am hopeful that we will at some point. I think the science to watch here is the study of consciousness. We can't prove that spirits exists as conscious beings after death until we actually understand what consciousness actually IS, which we do not at this time. I don't think that we will automatically be able to prove that ghosts exist once we understand that, but I think it is the next step in our understanding along that path. I agree with @Maria Bello that traumatic deaths and places with high mortality rates will naturally have more activity. I guess the thing I am wondering about now is why some ghosts linger and some move on - it can't all be traumatic passing.

I am glad you are here, Jill! You bring such joy wherever you go!

@Jill Hart "Light colored" is also part of the lore, so rock on with your yellow scarf (so appropriate for the returning of the light!!!!!)