This month, I facilitated an online seminar about the spirituality of the ghost story. Something came up that’s worth sharing here, because it ties in so well with our conversation about ghosts.
One story (The Lawn Jockey, from my book Death Be Not Loud) was about a small statue which appears to be evil and which gradually gains power over its owner. In reviewing this story, one of the very clever participants opined that the lawn figure in the story wasn’t a ghost, but instead, the repressed nature of the character who purchased it and was drawn to it.
This resonated for me in terms of our ongoing discussion here about ghosts. I’ve talked about ghosts as dysfunctions – what a great example!
In the abovementioned story, each time the main character is injured or harmed, the statue/monster gains strength. A very interesting juxtaposition, no?
If you think in terms of wholeness and health – whatever the ‘disease’ (dis-ease) is, as it progresses, one becomes less whole, healthy, integrated. It takes recognizing the disease (or cause of your dis-ease), acknowledging it, and addressing it in a therapeutic way to return to wholeness/healing/health.
Perhaps if the character in the story had faced the issues, about which his subconscious was screaming at him, he might have found safety and redemption. Instead, he puts his emotional earplugs in tightly, ignoring the warnings. This only served him in the present (as do our dysfunctions or addictions) but in the long run, it led to a bad outcome.
This motif appears to be a common thread in the cautionary stories in legend and lore, and in many ghost stores. The big takeaway: “Pay attention! Listen to your gut!”
https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Olandese/e/B071FK9L75
Yes, healing takes first owning the wound.
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