I recently wrote a diary about the
ghosts
and time travelers who seem to be haunting my apartment
building. We recently had the delightful experience of seeing
a show at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles performed by
magician Brandon Scott, who has been on Dreamland with
Starfire
Tor, talking about time travel.
Subscribers
can still listen to this show.
Those who don't know me think I'm some sort of "believer,"
while those who DO know me realize that I'm the toughest
sort of skeptic. Whitley has run all of his
extraordina
ry experiences past me, including his incredible meeting with
the Master
of the Key, and I have taken them apart every which way I
can think of before I have declared them to be truly
anomalous, at least as far as I can tell. After all, there IS
no "paranormal," there are only things we do not understand,
probably because we do not yet comprehend that this is a
quantum world. I'm going to discuss that very subject with
quantum physicist Dr. Fred
Alan Wolf on this weekend's Dreamland (July 22-23).
So while I enjoy being with Brandon and Starfire (and I'm a
big fan of card magic, also called "close up" magic, at which
he is an expert), I do not necessarily take their time travel
stories at face value, although I believe they are sincere, or I
wouldn't be interested in knowing them.
After dinner but before the show, we all took the opportunity
to go to the bathroom. Whitley used the Men's Room at the
top of a short flight of stairs, while Starfire and I went
downstairs to the Ladies.
Unbeknownst to me, Whitley did not enter the Men's Room
right away, but waited at the top of the stairs so he could
see me when I came out of the Ladies and make sure we all
met up and made our way together to the theater where
Brandon was performing. Since my aneurysm two years ago, I
sometimes have trouble finding my way around, so he often
does this sort of thing for me.
When Starfire and I entered the Ladies Room, we saw two
stalls, and both were empty, so we each took one. There
was no one else in the Ladies Room and it was small, so we
would have noticed if someone else had been there. I was
done first so I washed my hands and went outside into the
hall to wait for Starfire. Almost as soon as I got there, a
woman I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE came out of the Ladies
Room and brushed past me on her way up the stairs! I was
too surprised to notice that Whitley was standing at the top
of the stairs at the time, and when he realized that I was
waiting for Starfire, he went on inside the Gents.
I told this story to Starfire as soon as she came out, and she
said that she had bumped into a woman when she was at the
sink washing up. I explained that I had seen the women
leave, but never seen her enter. We compared notes: We
both agreed that the restroom has been empty when we
entered it. As a test, we decided not to describe the woman
to each other so that neither of us would be influenced by
the other's description if we saw her again.
When I went up the stairs and talked to Whitley, I told him
about the incident in a quiet voice, so that Starfire wouldn't
hear me. The woman had on a rather distinctive skirt that
was easy to describe, and he said he had seen a woman
dressed exactly that way come out of the Ladies Room while
I was standing there.
I was delighted?magic had happened, while I was in the
Magic Castle with a magician! Starfire and I questioned
Brandon when we saw him and he said the woman sounded
like a photographer who was working there that night. He
knocked on a door covered with a pane of stained glass and
a woman opened it. Starfire and I both recognized her
instantly! In order to test this further, Starfire mentioned
bumping into her in the bathroom and she remembered the
incident clearly. Whitley could see she was wearing the
distinctive skirt I had described.
Then my logical mind started whirling: Since she worked
there, could she have entered by a hidden door in the back
wall of the Ladies, instead of through the front door? I
remembered the wall as smooth and painted, with no outline
of a door, but the next time either Starfire or I visit the Magic
Castle, you can be sure we will check carefully to see if such
a door exists.
Ever since I began having my bouts of "shamanic intuition,"
after I woke up from almost dying, I seem to meet lots of
psychics and mediums, starting with the contact with
Glennys
MacKay after so many years, which seemingly occurred out
of the blue. My newest friend is an actress who is also a
psychic. She's moving to New York City because her
husband, who is also an actor, has gotten a role in a soap
opera. Having lived in New York for many years, I've been
giving her advice on big city life and she's been giving me the
benefit of her psychic insight. She's worked with the LAPD in
solving several cases and they are sorry to lose her. They
have given her name to the NYPD as someone to consult
with. I just saw a news story today about how psychics claim
to be able to help solve crimes but are really just bluffing and
that made me laugh. One thing that I?m sure HASN'T
changed
about the NYC police is that they are totally unconcerned
about being impolite to anyone. If they weren't interested in
networking with her, they would have blown her off
immediately, with no apology.
In an email, she gave me some valuable psychic information
about The Grays film. I mentioned that I was putting off
calling a good friend who has just buried her daughter,
because I didn?t know if it was the right time, etc. She
replied
that in her experience, the bereaved always like to hear from
friends, and that made me realize that I didn't need any kind
of psychic intuition to realize that I was putting off calling
this person because of MY fears, not concern about her
needs, and it was time to put all that aside. I picked up the
phone, made the call and had a nice long talk with my friend.
It turns out that she's about to leave for a trip to the
Chautauqua Institute, where Whitley and I went annually for
many years. It's a wonderful, spiritual place and I'm sure it
will do a lot to heal her heart. I was able to tell her how
wonderful it was, what courses to take while she's there, and
most important, I was able to make her laugh. It was a good
connection.
Communicating with my new friend by email reminded me of
another friend or mine with whom I exchange emails several
times a day, even though we have never met. We have
become so close that she named her cat after me, after I
told her she should go ahead and adopt the stray that was
hanging around her house. I've just found out that she has
an incurable disease, although she insists it isn't terminal.
Maybe we never will meet, unless she can figure out a way to
become a time traveler and visit me from the world of the
dead. The way my life has been going lately, I wouldn't be
surprised if that happened.
A good friend might be all the magic that most of us get in
this world, unless we are professionals like Brandon Scott. I
peeked in the hall closet the other day and noticed that
ANOTHER box of dryer sheets has appeared there, despite the fact
that I still haven't had a chance to go to the grocery store to
buy any.
To read our news story about this experience,
click
here. To read Starfire's version of these events,
click here. To see a wonderful photo history of the
Magic Castle, including photographs of the Ladies Room,
click here.
Related Entries:
31-Aug-2010: Cocooning
10-Aug-2010: A Trip to Crop Circle Country
27-Jul-2010: Marriage: Hot & Cold
06-Jul-2010: Marcelle
27-May-2010: A Trip to Esalen
11-May-2010: The Birds
13-Apr-2010: Staying Open
31-Mar-2010: I was an Angel for Easter
23-Mar-2010: Nuns I Have Known
16-Mar-2010: It Started With a Hummingbird
