True Hauntings: Spirits with a Purpose by Hazel Denning

Haunting – any and all paranormal activities observed in buildings or in areas such as cemeteries; can be caused by discarnate entities trapped for some reason in a specific location, or by the energy left at the conclusion of some very powerful traumatic event.

The author, Dr. Hazel Denning, is a real life ghostbuster who has investigated haunted houses and psychic invasions. She has two Master’s Degrees and a PhD in clinical psychology. In her book, she related case histories of hauntings and provided accounts of spirits communicating with human beings (including her own). She relates cases of haunting from the spirit’s point of view and explains why many spirits remain in the physical realm.

Based on case histories, Dr. Denning provides the following reasons why some spirits are earthbound:

1. Some are trapped because of trauma that accompanied their deaths and memories carried over from past physical experiences.

2. Some sprits remain on earth to help those in need. Most of these entities are souls of people who have loved us and would like to continue protecting us. They are not “lost” spirits; they come and go as they wished.

3. Some spirits are earthbound as a result of guilt.

4. Some entities are angry at certain individuals and want revenge.

5. Some are benevolent spirits who visit to relay a last message, or check periodically on loved ones or comfort someone in need. I have personally heard of stores of relatives and friends being visited by their dead loved ones to relay a message and simply just visit during important days such as birthdays and anniversaries.

6. Spirits bound by powerful energies from grieving relatives and friends who cannot release the departed spirits. As a result the spirits are entrapped and cannot move on to the freedom they are entitled to experience upon their release from their physical bodies.

7. Some people die suddenly and violently, and their spirits do not know they are physically dead. These spirits can see, feel, think, hear, and experience an awareness of their own reality. This is especially true for those who do not believe in life after death and thus cannot accept that they can be “alive” without a body.

8. The spirit is bound to the earth by a strong attachment to a living person. In cases where a powerful love bond existed and one partner passes away, the spirit will stay with the surviving loved one until death unites them in the spirit world.

9. A spirit may wander in lost state for a long time, while trying to get the attention of someone (usually a “sensitive” or psychic person) who can help him/her.

Forgiveness and love have healing powers. In the physical world, anger generates anger. If there has been anger between two persons and one dies, the negative energy continues to bond the two persons in a painful relationship, until the problem between them is resolved in a way that dispels the negative energy, such as forgiveness and love.

We attract or communicate with spirit energies that are most compatible with our own, whether we are aware or not.

People who feel anger and resentment can attract spirits with bad energies. The earthbound spirits are attracted by the people victimized by the lost souls. When people suffer rage, anger, and resentment, they also attract these entities which also have their own uncontrolled rage.

Life Mask by Emma Donoghue

This book is a fictionalized story of three interesting real-life Londoners from the period 1787 to 1797. It was an exciting time: the British press had just been freed from censorship; the Regency crisis was looming (King George III was thought to be going mad); the democratic spirit of the French revolution was threatening British aristocracy; and the rivalry between the Tory and Whig parties was raging (King George III was aligned with the Tory government while the Prince of Wales supported the Whigs).

The book is a lengthy, though delightful read, with real personages as characters, such as the Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent and then King George IV), Whig leader Charles James Fox, charismatic Tory leader William Pitt, and the famous Whig campaigner Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

I savoured the rich period details (such as ladies’ fashion, description of city and country residences, 18th century London streets, old fashioned conversational style), political intrigues, illicit sexual liaisons, class tensions, and society’s views towards women.

The title comes from the proposition that everyone wears a mask to hide one’s true feelings.

Painting of Elizabeth Farren by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1790

The book features the love triangle of an earl, a respectable actress, and a lady sculptor. No, the earl was not the centre of affection, but the actress. Yes, the lady sculptor was rumoured to be a lesbian.

Edward Smith-Stanley, Earl Derby (for whom the horse race is named), was described as having the oldest earldom and an “unimaginable income of L 50,000.” He was lacking in the looks department though, depicted as small and ugly in caricatures during the time. His wife, the beautiful Elizabeth “Betty” Hamilton Staley, had affairs with several noblemen, most famously the rakish Duke of Dorset. She separated from his husband who spared her the public punishment of divorce (although everyone in high society knew about the separation). His long time devotion and unconsummated relationship with the actress became a source of public ridicule.

Anne Damer, a widow born into nobility and a renowned lady sculptor (she has been accused of hiring ghost sculptors since some could not believe she could turn out magnificent marble pieces) was a childhood friend of Lord Derby. She became close to the actress, and facilitated the actress’s introduction to London’s High society, or Bon Ton. However, Anne had been haunted by rumours of Sapphism (lesbianism) since her husband’s suicide.

Eliza Farren was the reigning Queen of Comedy at Drury Lane Theatre. She tightly guarded her emotions and reputation (by being constantly chaperoned by her mother and not accepting gifts). Eliza was careful not to be considered in the same league as many actresses who became mistresses, such as Mary “Perdita” Robinson, since she hoped of joining the aristocratic set someday. One day Eliza was warned that rumours were circulating about her and Anne’s unnatural relationship. Eliza had no choice but to cut all ties from Anne who became bewildered at Eliza’s sudden change in attitude.

Marble Bust of Eliza Farren, showing her as Thalia, the Muse of Comedy and Idyllic Poetry, by Anne Seymour Damer, circa 1788.

When they were close, Anne and Eliza’s relationship was platonic. However, towards the end of the book, Anne realized her lesbian side during her close friendship with Mary Berry, a lady of letters.

Shortly after his invalid wife died, Lord Derby married Eliza after six years of courtship. Eliza retired from theatre and became the Countess of Derby.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

A well researched biography of Georgiana, an 18th century English icon.

I enjoyed reading this biography of Georgiana Spencer (forebear of Diana, Princess of Wales) by Amanda Foreman, who holds a doctorate in Eighteenth-Century British History from Oxford University. The biography was based on the author’s 4 1/2 years of extensive research into the life of an extraordinary woman.

Georgiana was a trailblazer in many ways. She first became known as a fashion trendsetter – English as well as French society followed her style in dress and hats. After her debut, she started the trend in really tall hair, appearing with 3-foot hair tower made possible with scented pomade and horse hair. Accessories were added to the hair, such as ship in full sail, stuffed birds, waxed fruits, or a pastoral tableau with miniature trees and ships. Ladies tried to outdo each other with the tallest head, never mind if they had to sit on the floor of their carriages.

Her trademark accessory was a drooping ostrich feather (as long as 4 feet!) attached in a wide arch across her hair. The large ostrich feathers became a symbol of exclusivity and arrogance which only the uber rich could afford that Queen Charlotte had to ban ostrich feathers from court.

She became the first woman who used her celebrity to further political cause at a time when aristocratic ladies were supposed to be living quiet idle lives and did not earn their living. The only women with public personas were either actresses or courtesans who were generally treated as the same. Newspaper editors soon learned that any mention of Georgiana increased newspaper sales. Georgiana’s celebrity status coincided with the flowering of the English press which marked the end of official censorship.

A miniature of the Duchess of Devonshire

Her fame extended to being a formidable hostess for the Whig party, gradually becoming a respected campaigner and negotiator. She was the first woman to conduct a modern electoral campaign, moving from house to house and shop to shop while persuading ordinary people to vote for Whigs. (This was at a time when women could not vote). Society was scandalized and cartoons in newspapers accused her of kissing butchers in exchange for votes.

Georgiana was also a musician, a novelist who wrote an expose on high society behaviour of which she was a leading member, and an amateur chemist and mineralogist with a large collection of stones and minerals of museum quality.

Despite her accomplishments, she had her share of sufferings. She was considered a handsome woman and yet her husband was cold to her. She endured yo-yo dieting, and the pressure of producing a male heir to the Spencer family, finally giving birth to one after 16 years of marriage. She gave birth to an illegitimate daughter by Lord Charles Grey (of the Earl Grey tea fame) and had to go to France to give birth secretly. The baby was taken away from her right after birth, cared for by a foster mother and then sent to Grey’s family in England.

She was a generous patron of the arts and a contributor in many charitable causes yet mired in debt due to her addiction to gambling (particularly at the faro table, a game of chance). For years she hid the magnitude of her debt from her husband which amounted to L 50,000 (around L 6 million today). She went blind in one eye, enduring medical treatments considered appalling even by 18th century standards.

Georgiana’s success as a politician at a time when politics was a male-dominated arena while having to endure personal sufferings only made her life more remarkable. She died at the age of 48 years.

The book provided many surprising and interesting bits of information on 18th century England, but more of this in a separate post. I am hoping to see the movie “The Duchess” starring Keira Knightley to see how such an extraordinary woman was portrayed.

Painting of Georgiana by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1775-76

World Peace, Anyone?

In a scene from Miss Congeniality (2000), Gracie Hart, played by Sandra Bullock, is an undercover FBI agent who joined the Miss USA beauty pageant to catch a serial killer. Here goes the Q&A portion of the contest:

Stan (Emcee): What is the one most important thing our society needs?
Gracie Hart: That would be… harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan.
[crowd is silent]
Gracie Hart: And world peace!
[crowd cheers ecstatically]

World peace may be a stereotype answer in beauty contests, but this is exactly what we need in the face of today’s self-absorbed societies.

At a recent karaoke session with friends, we were struck by a melodic and very meaningful song of the Isley Brothers in 1976. How appropriate that the song mentions greed and the unbridled search for gain amidst other countries’ sufferings and the strain placed on Mother Earth.

Harvest for the World
Written and recorded by Isley Brothers, 1976

All babies together
Every one a seed
Half of us are satisfied, half of us in need
Love’s bountiful in us
Tarnished by our greed
When will there be a harvest for the world?

When will there be
I wanna know now baby
Half a nation planted
So concerned with gain
As the seasons come and go
Greater grows the pain
Far to many
Are feeling much strain
When will there be a harvest for the world?
So, when will there be
I wanna know now baby

Gather every man
And gather every woman
Celebrate your lives
And give thanks to our children
Gather every one
Gather all together
All together
Overlooking none (2x)
Hoping life gets better
For the world

So dress me up for battle
When all I want is peace
Those of us will pay the price
I come home with the least
And nation after nation
Are turning into beasts
When will there be a harvest for the world?