Posts Tagged ‘vampires’

Shape Shifters, Cursed Lands and Talking Animals all in Iroquois Supernatural Tales

One of the reasons I enjoy researching and writing about haunted history is that inevitably the truth is always a great deal more fascinating and stranger than fiction.  In the U.S., many tend to write about the history of the past couple hundred of years on this land, yet truth be told, the natives have lived here for perhaps thousands of years and their history is rich with tradition and spiritual tales.

With a rich history reaching back more than one thousand years, the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy–the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Tuscarora–are considered to be the most avid storytellers on earth with a collection of tales so vast it would dwarf those of any other society. Covering nearly the whole of New York State from the Hudson and Mohawk River Valleys westward across the Finger Lakes region to Niagara Falls and Salamanca, this mystical culture’s supernatural tradition is the psychic bedrock of the Northeast, yet their treasury of tales and beliefs is largely unknown and their most powerful sacred sites unrecognized.

Assembling the lore and beliefs of this guarded spiritual legacy, authors Michael Bastine and Mason Winfield share the stories they have collected of both historic and contemporary encounters with beings and places of Iroquois legend: shapeshifting witches, strange forest creatures, ethereal lights, vampire zombies, cursed areas, dark magicians, talking animals, enchanted masks, and haunted hills, roads, and battlefields as well as accounts of miraculous healings by medicine people such as Mad Bear and Ted Williams.

Grounding their tales with a history of the Haundenosaunee, the People of the Long House, the authors show how the supernatural beings, places, and customs of the Iroquois live on in contemporary paranormal experience, still surfacing as startling and sometimes inspiring reports of otherworldly creatures, haunted sites, after-death messages, and mystical visions. Providing a link with America’s oldest spiritual roots, these stories help us more deeply know the nature and super-nature around us as well as offer spiritual insights for those who can no longer hear the chants of their own ancestors.

In their book, Iroquois Supernatural: Talking Animals and Medicine People, Bastine and Winfield bring the paranormal beings and places of the Iroquois folklore tradition to life through historic and contemporary accounts of otherworldly encounters. One of my favorites can be found on page 209 called The Dale, which discusses the village of LilyDale and Cassadega Lake in New York. Other fascinating tales include:

• Recounts stories of shapeshifting witches, giant flying heads, enchanted masks, ethereal lights, talking animals, Little People, spirit-choirs, potent curses, and haunted hills, roads, and battlefields

• Includes accounts of miraculous healings by shamans and medicine people such as Mad Bear and Ted Williams

• Shows how these traditions can help one see the richness of the world and help those who have lost the chants of their own ancestors

Author Michael Bastine is an Algonquin healer, elder, and former student of famous Tuscarora medicine man Wallace “Mad Bear” Anderson and Tuscarora healer Ted Williams.  Author Mason Winfield is a supernatural historian, founder of Haunted History Ghost Walks, Inc., and the author of 9 books, including Supernatural Saratoga. Both authors live near Buffalo, New York.



Enjoying a bite together: garlic spaghetti and True Blood

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that mean the most and make the best memories.

My man and I work the craziest of schedules and even on the best of days, we get so busy that we feel like two ships passing in the night, who meet up in the hallway to sneak a kiss and a warm moment, reminding each other how much we care about the other, no matter how busy we are.

Relationships, like anything in this world worth having, take work. It’s important not to forget this and to make spending time with your special someone as big of a priority as anything else you have going on in life. For us, we’ve found that it’s the small things that have become the most meaningful. Having said that, let me also say, we enjoy the good life, a wonderful dinner out, getting away from it all and going somewhere amazing and occasionally treating ourselves to something we want. After all, the balance to working hard, is playing hard and it’s good to have some fun.

But in this economy and busy world, we’ve rediscovered some ways to spend time together at home, which doesn’t break the budget and provides quality time together. We’ve created our own customized version of ‘Date Night – Dinner and a Movie’, watching True Blood on HBO together on Sunday nights.

We love it so much that we’ve created a ritual for the evening…. Sunday night has been declared ‘Garlic Spaghetti Night’.

On Sunday evenings, we stop whatever we’re doing and meet up in the kitchen at 5pm. Together, we cook, mincing fresh garlic and onions and creating a zesty red sauce. Chop up a fresh salad, add some fresh french bread and a glass of red wine and dinner is served and yes, serving up a garlic dish before watching a show about vampires is discussed at length.

We take our time together in the kitchen, chatting and catching up on the week while preparing the food, leisurely enjoying each other’s company. When the meal is ready, we sit down together at the table, taking the time to savor each bite and appreciating the work that each of us put into preparing the meal. While this may sound simple, don’t overlook its significance. Most couples today are so busy with work and family that it’s truly rare to find and embrace some quality time together, where you talk about everything and nothing and just relax in each other’s company. We take it to the limit, unplugging the phone, dimming the lights and lighting candles.

After dinner, it’s time for a quick wash up and tidying the kitchen and then we’re off to snuggle in front of the TV on the cozy sectional couch, just in time to watch True Blood.

We share a lifelong interest in the paranormal, both fiction and non-fiction, and I read and loved the Adventures of Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris before they were turned into the True Blood series. The books are wonderful and the show has deviated from the books in many ways, bringing new life to some of the characters, who played smaller roles in the books. True Blood is fast, chaotic, and messy, just like life at times. It’s also larger than life and meant to be enjoyed as the pure entertainment that it delivers every week. Being born and raised in Louisiana, you can imagine my delight and my chuckles at the variety of scenes and accents in the show.

When my hubby and I met, our first date was dinner at an Italian restaurant and a movie afterwards. After all these years, it’s reassuring to see that some things are still the same, while other things have changed. For us, truly, it all began with Love at the first bite.

As for True Blood, we can hardly bear to dwell on the fact that there are only two shows left! Fortunately, we have a second addiction to fill the time, we’re also avid Treme’ fans, which is coming back to HBO in the spring of 2011. If you haven’t seen Treme, I highly recommend it, it’s like being right there on the streets of New Orleans, which is where we were in April and look forward to returning again soon.

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More about Kala Ambrose: Kala Ambrose is an award winning author, intuitive and talk show host of the Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show. Her thought-provoking interviews entice listeners to tune in around the globe! Described by her guests and listeners as discerning, empowering and inspiring, she speaks with world renowned authors, artists, teachers and researchers delving into metaphysical, holistic and paranormal topics. Kala’s book, 9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled delves into the mysteries of ancient Egyptian mystery schools and explains their wisdom teachings. Kala Ambrose is a highly interactive teacher on a mission to educate, entertain and inspire. She lectures on the Ancient Wisdom Teachings of Egypt and the Mystery Schools, Developing Business Intuition, Working with Auras, Chakras and Energy Fields, and Wise Woman Wisdom.

Kala’s new book Ghost Hunting North Carolina will be available in 2011.
More information about Kala at: www.ExploreYourSpirit.com

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Books by Kala Ambrose

The Awakened Aura: Experiencing the Evolution of Your Energy Body

Humanity is entering a new era...we are evolving into super-powered beings of light. Our auric and etheric bodies are experiencing a transformational shift as new crystalline structures form within and around our auras.

Kala Ambrose, a powerful wisdom teacher, intuitive, and oracle, teaches how to connect with your rapidly changing energy body to expand your awareness and capabilities on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.

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The Awakened Aura: Experiencing the Evolution of Your Energy Body contains a wealth of practical exercises, diagrams, and instructions. Learn how to interpret and work with the auras of others, sense energy in animals, and sense and balance the energy in buildings and natural locations.Discover how energy cords attach in relationships, how to access the akashic records through the auric layers, how to use elemental energy to enhance your auric field, and much more. More info at TheAwakenedAura.com

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Ghosthunting North Carolina
Explore haunted lighthouses, forts, and shipwrecked areas of East Carolina where Blackbeard and his pirates still roam as you join author and paranormal researcher Kala Ambrose in Ghost Hunting North Carolina.

Journey across the state and visit the most actively haunted capitol in the US, and continue west into the Blue Ridge Mountains where the pink lady and her friends await your presence. Maps and travel information are provided to every haunted location for those brave enough to make the journey in person and for paranormal researchers who are interested in exploring haunted North Carolina.

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Ghosthunting North Carolina takes you behind the scenes with detailed information about each destination. More info about Ghosthunting North Carolina.

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9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled
Kala's book, 9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled, delves into the teachings of ancient Egypt and Greece and explains the Mystery Schools and their ventures into the other realms.

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The nine lessons are designed to stir the soul, awaken the mind and reveal long forgotten memories of past lives in these schools, as well as inspire you to explore the magnificence of who you really are. More info at TempleofStellaMaris.com

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