Tag Archives: Writer

Season of the Witch

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It’s that time of the year again! Halloween is just around the corner, love it…. My fave holiday!

Fall weather is here…. Pumpkin spice and everything nice…. Ghosts, goblins, spooks and ghouls… And the ever enchanting witch. Magic is definitely in the air!

I, myself am Wiccan. I practice white magic. So with that being said, I hold a very special place in my heart for witches.

One of my fave songs is a cover by Lana Del Rey titled, “Season of the Witch”. https://youtu.be/zA4OjrpVsiY

Also, I just finished a shadowy sketch of a witch. Added a soft pink for her lips… Kept it simple.

Sketch by Sheila Renee Parker

“An it harm none, do what thou will.”

Blessed be, everyone!

~ Sheila 💋

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My Very First Paranormal Encounter

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I was a small child, just barely school age when I had my first experience with the paranormal. I’ve never spoken publicly about it until now, not even at my public speaking events nor book signings have I ever brought up the incident of which I’m about to tell you. Yes, I’ve openly discussed my encounters with shadow people, being touched by spirits, my ability of being an empath and also my ability of angelic communication, but never openly discussed my first recollection of a paranormal encounter. Why? Because to many people, it may sound a bit macabre and strange.

Like I said earlier, I was a small child when it happened. A little girl all dressed up in Sunday clothes right after church services were over. The day was sunny and warm, and the church members were carrying on lighthearted conversations as they were walking out of the building. As my family conversed, my attention was oddly drawn towards the cemetery for no apparent reason, which was only a few feet away. This church was a small, country one with not a very big congregation at all. So the atmosphere was safe and there was no cause for concern as I walked towards the graves. The ground had been undisturbed for quite sometime, meaning that there had been no recent funerals to speak about. Yet, I was undeniably drawn to a particular grave for which I had no connection with. The deceased wasn’t a family member, nor a friend. In fact, the individual had been dead for many years prior to our joining the church. But as I neared the grave, I began to detect a very faint smell. It was one that I had never experienced before, quite fragrant and soft. The inviting smell drew me even closer to the peaceful plot.

Now keep in mind that no one followed me and that everyone from the church were several feet away, meaning that the scent from their perfume/cologne dissipated as I walked away from them. However, this new scent grew stronger as I approached the grave. It was so beautiful and intriguing that it made me want to investigate its origin. The headstone was void of any floral arrangements that would give plausible cause for the unexplained smell. So, I continued to let my nose lead the way which made me only inches above the ground. At this point, I was literally sniffing the Earth that was immediately below my nose. Only grass separated me from the dirt. Yet, this inconceivable fragrance had become even stronger. In my innocent mind I started seeing brief images of bones, like I was looking down into the grave below. Was I led to this spot by the deceased individual? Perhaps what I was smelling was the beautiful fragrance they wore when they were alive. Maybe the spirit of the deceased noticed my gift and wanted to connect with me.

I wanted so badly to take my little fingers and dig into the dirt so I could find out more, but was abruptly stopped upon my grandmother’s discovery. And ever since then, every time I see bones, I’m quickly reminded of the beautiful fragrance I’ve never experienced again. The incident still remains a mystery to me, a fascination that I will never forget.

Slumbering Terror

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The door cracks open, a light shines through.
Boney fingers appear and I don’t know what to do.

I’m frozen still, trembling with fright.
Been stuck in this room for more than a night.

A frail body emerges with a smell that’s grotesque,
Carrying what might be a meal at best.
“Thought you could eat.” Their voice simply implies.
Then they remove the tray’s cover and that’s what makes me cry.

Before me, a vision so vile,
Causing me to taste my own stomach bile.
My urge to erupt becomes quite clear.
“You don’t like what I made for you, my dear?”
The feeble one asks then becomes enraged.
This four wall prison feels like a cage.

“Why are you doing this?” I tearfully implore.
“Because you are my pet.” They reply while walking out the door.
The sound of locks quickly engage,
Reminding me that I am their hostage.

I begin to convulse and scream obscenities I feel,
Trembling so badly that I wake from this wretched ordeal.

It was just a dream, a nightmare, a fright
That kept me from peaceful slumber all through the night.

(Poem by Sheila Renee Parker)

Slumbering Terror

My Aversion with the Ouija Board

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More than two decades have passed since the night I played with the infamous Ouija Board. Thinking back, not really sure what was going through my head and what prompted me to attempt such nefarious communication. Perhaps the notion could have been given credit due to the thought of innocent play, but after witnessing a few things, there was nothing innocent proven about it.

It was at night and I was with two others. We were just three teenagers looking for something to do and there were no adults around. So, we lit some candles in the room we were in and also in the room next to us. The atmosphere was all aglow with amber lighting as we readied the spirit board. Once the planchette was placed, we silenced our speech and cleared our minds. With our fingers on the communicative tool, we asked our first question, “is there anyone here?”. Moments passed and nothing happened. We were patient and asked again. That’s when the planchette moved. Even though the movement was slight, it was still quite detected. Of course, we asked each other who was causing the action, but we all vowed that we weren’t responsible.

The room was beginning to feel a bit tense, but we decided to continue. We asked a few more questions like, “who are you?” and “when did you die?”…. the typical questions of curiosity. What we got in response seemed innocent enough. We were told that the spirit was a female who had died many years prior in a train wreck. That’s when I started to feel uneasy because we were at home, way out in the country and there weren’t any train tracks around for many miles.

Then, we asked if the spirit was there to cause us any harm and we were told “no”. After that, we proceeded to ask if the spirit ever thought about coming back as a living person in the form of reincarnation. It replied that it already had done that, meaning that it had already been reborn.

Our hearts raced and the looks on our faces were of shock and confusion, but we continued by asking “who have you been reincarnated into?” It answered with the name of an individual with whom I hold very, very dear…. someone that I knew in fact had not been inhabited by the spirit. We questioned the spirit on how it could have been reincarnated as someone we knew among the living, if they were communicating with us by use of the Ouija Board. A long, awkward pause lingered. There was no response through the planchette, but a candle that was sitting very securely in the center of a table in the next room, all of a sudden fell over, making a loud noise. There was no explanation to how the candle could have fallen because we were all three hovering over the spirit board and there was no one else in the house.

As frightened as we were, we asked the spirit one last question, “did you cause the candle to fall over?” It’s reply was, “yes”.

Immediately, we stopped playing with the Ouija Board and quickly put it away. The remainder of the night we stayed wide awake, too scared to sleep. To this day I don’t know what ever happened to that Ouija Board and I don’t really care, but I do know one thing for certain and that is…… I will never mess with a spirit board ever again.

Get a copy of my novel, The Spirit Within on Amazon!

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It’s great to be alive!!

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Hope you’re all off to a fantastic start! Remember to pay it forward with those beautiful smiles and positive vibes!

Massive love to you all! YOU ROCK!!!

~ Sheila 💋

Our Beloved Tin Man with a Grisly Axe to Grind

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Nick Chopper, who followed in his father’s footsteps, made a living cutting down trees throughout the forests in the magical land of Oz. Once, his heart belonged to a beautiful Munchkin maiden named Nimmie Amee. They were both so in love that they planned to marry until the spiteful woman who Nimmie Amee served bribed the Wicked Witch of the West to put a horrible spell on the axe of the Munchkin maiden’s beloved woodman. Why would the old woman request such a terrible thing from the Wicked Witch? Because the miserly crone wanted to keep Nimmie Amee all to herself as a servant.

The Wicked Witch obliged the old woman’s bride and enchanted Nick Chopper’s axe to prevent the lovers from becoming betrothed. Nick’s axe, under the spell of the Wicked Witch, one by one chopped off his arms and legs. The tinsmith known as Ku-Klip replaced the woodman’s limbs with prosthetic ones made out of tin.

After the gruesome deed was finished, nothing remained of the poor woodman’s body. Nick Chopper was replaced entirely by tin except for one thing….. his heart. Ku-Klip failed to replace it. Once Nick’s body was completely made out of tin, he was no longer able to love Nimmie Amee.

As the story goes in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum, the tin woodman is befriended by a sweet, young girl named Dorothy and her little dog, Toto. She discovers him in the forest rusty and unable to move. With the use of his oil can she’s able to release him from his paralyzed state. Elated, the Tin Man follows Dorothy’s lead to the Emerald City so he can ask the Wizard for a new heart. Along their journey they are joined by two others, the Cowardly Lion and The Scarecrow.

Upon their arrival to the Emerald City, the Wizard sends the four travelers to Winkie Country where the Wicked Witch of the West lives and kill her. The Tin Man’s axe becomes quite useful during their quest, not only for chopping wood to build bridges or rafts when needed, but the enchanted blade proves worthy for cutting off the heads of animals that try to harm the Tin Man and his friends.

The Wicked Witch sends her dreaded winged monkeys to attack them. Then they grab the Tin Man and from high above, the evil monkeys purposely drop him causing his landing to be brutally damaging to his body. After the fight was over, Dorothy and the others are able to bring on the Wicked Witch’s demise. That’s when the Winkie Country’s tinsmiths are able to repair our beloved Tin Man.

 

 

As fans of this classic tale know that the Cowardly Lion was able to get his courage from the Wizard “Only during the aftereffects of the Wizard’s gift, when he is under the influence of an unknown liquid substance that the Wizard orders him to drink (perhaps gin) is he not filled with fear.” ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowardly_Lion

… and the Scarecrow “In reality, he is only two days old and merely ignorant. Throughout the course of the novel, he demonstrates that he already has the brains he seeks and is later recognized as “the wisest man in all of Oz,” although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz, passed to him by the Wizard, to Princess Ozma, to become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time playing games than advising.” ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow_(Oz)

… and Dorothy wanted to go back home to her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry.

The Tin Man wanted a heart, but the Wizard, not being as powerful as he originally portrayed, was only able to give the Tin Man a placebo heart created from a silk pouch that was filled with sawdust. Believe it or not, this satisfied the Tin Man, who actually was the kindest of Dorothy’s friends.

After Dorothy returned home to Kansas, the Tin Man went to Winkie Country where he became the emperor. As time went by, he had his subjects build his palace completely out of tin, even the flowers in the garden were made from the shiny material.

 

 

So, a bizarre tale for a man who only wanted to marry his true love. Throughout my life I’ve always been such a fan of The Wizard of Oz, but honestly did not know of the extremity of how the woodman became our beloved Tin Man. “Wow!” Is all I can say….

 

 

 

 

Get a copy of my novel, The Spirit Within on Amazon!

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Twitter: @sheilarparker.

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Facebook: Sheila Renee Parker – Author

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Instagram: @sheilareneeparker

~ Art by Sheila Renee Parker available at: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/sheilarenee-parker.html

~ Sheila Renee Parker on YouTube: Sheila Renee Parker

 

 

 

 

The House of Spirits

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It was nearly eight years ago when we started looking for a house to buy. He and I decided to look at the local listings separately and whatever house we both liked with our separate searches, we would go and look at them.

Oddly, with he and I both separately looking (did not know each other’s choice), we were drawn to the same exact house. Was this particular location, with a house not even twenty years old at the time, calling out to us? Maybe, but whatever it was, we knew we had to check it out.

The land, being barely an acre, was covered by lots of big trees. This 1200 square foot house sat off the road a bit. With its four white columns in the front, the one story brick structure had a certain comforting charm about it. Huge windows that allow in all the beautiful sunshine….. Love!!

We scheduled a viewing appointment with the realtor, who ended up becoming a very dear friend…. actually, more like a family member now. (Southern charm and etiquette have their ways of bringing people closer together.)

The day was a Monday, just after Thanksgiving, when we drove out to the house. As we were nearing the property, barely entering the driveway, we began to feel an energy coming from this place. It was so inviting, which made us want to see it even more. There was a “presence” we couldn’t explain. Our younger son was with us, and he was just as eager as we were.

As we approached the house, the realtor standing there with his warm smile, welcomed us inside. Like I mentioned, the house is barely 1200 square feet so it didn’t take long to view it. The open floorplan has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The stained glass lighting fixtures in the kitchen made me squeal like a little girl because I immediately fell in love with them. That made the guys laugh at me. I told them it was a “girl thing”. Lol

The location is right outside city limits, yet close enough to everywhere and only nine miles from the beach! It’s quiet and the neighbors are awesome.

After purchasing the home, we had to do several things… paint the interior, fill in places in the sheetrock where previous residents had hung photos and other decorations on the walls… those types of things. As we did these, we could feel the presence of something otherworldly, like being observed. And occasionally, hearing and seeing things. Like one time, I was walking into the master bathroom and to my right, just in my ear (and I was home alone), I heard a male’s voice faintly say, “Hey”. I turned my head and couldn’t find anyone. Other times, shadows seen out of the corners of our eyes. A strong female presence has been felt many times, an older lady who seems to be the observer, in my opinion. And a few times recently, I have seen a man wearing a light blue checkered shirt also observing me.

However as crazy as all this sounds, nothing malevolent has ever been felt. We have paranormal investigative equipment and have conducted some sessions to communicate. Our findings have proven conclusive. We feel that our home is a transient spot for spirits to come and go. I believe our dog has even picked up on things as well because he has made certain gestures that have validated our belief. And being a psychic and Empath, I can’t discount what I “feel” and “know”.

Here are some photos of our home.

Spooky Random Fact…… “Wiccaphobia”

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“Wiccaphobia” … now this phobia is rather interesting to me…..

Why? Because of my own personal beliefs and spiritual journey. Wiccaphobia: which is the fear of witches and/or witchcraft. I am Wiccan, a solitary one who practices the use of white magic, and there’s definitely no reason to fear anything I do. I only believe in promoting love and light. I am well aware of those who practice dark magic, and I also stay away from them. However, that doesn’t mean that I fear them.

But respectfully, it’s easy to fear that which one doesn’t understand. It takes strength, courage and faith to overcome adversity. That’s why I always encourage educating oneself. It helps to eliminate misinformation and eradicate fears.

To learn more about other phobias, including Samhainphobia: which is the fear of Halloween, read more at Phasmophobia: A Ghostly Fear.

Get a copy of my novel, The Spirit Within on Amazon!

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Twitter: @sheilarparker.

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Facebook: Sheila Renee Parker – Author

~ Sheila Renee Parker on Instagram: @sheilareneeparker

~ Art by Sheila Renee Parker available at: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/sheilarenee-parker.html

~ Sheila Renee Parker on YouTube: Sheila Renee Parker

Imaginary Friends…. Make believe or something ghostly? 🤔

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Excellent topic for discussion….. Imaginary friends … So many children have them…. Mindless playing with tea parties, outdoor games or just pretending to sing in front of an audience. Children letting their imaginations run wild with their sweet innocence.

And then here’s another theory …. Perhaps one that can be the premise to something other worldly.

Often, the plot of a horror film…. the subject evolves around a lonely child who may seek the attention from a playmate. The parents discount it as something lighthearted until time passes and either the child’s behavior starts to turn dark, or something sinister literally happens, which leads to ungodly acts that are blamed on the misunderstood child. And as the young one proclaims innocence, he or she is wrongfully accused and then a whole world of problems arise… Yes, we’ve all seen films like these, read about stories online or in the papers… Heard about kids in school…. etc…. etc…. The list goes on and on….

So…. Do you believe that a child’s imaginary friend could actually be a ghost, or something evil with cruel intentions waiting to happen?

Hmmm….. Ponderism… 🤔

Coming Out Of The Broom Closet

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Not necessarily an easy thing to do for a witch. Well, at least not for me. I was raised as a Baptist. When I was little, we went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We also attended other church related events and gatherings like Vacation Bible School and holiday celebrations. I was even in the church choir. Everyone was always extremely welcoming and full of love, however that was never enough. Why I say this is because while growing up, my curiosity always had the best of me. I would often question things about religion and the reply I got every time was, “Never question God.”. No disrespect to the ones who told me that, but their answer never satisfied me. It actually troubled me because I wanted to know more. I’ve always been extremely inquisitive about life in general. So, when I was told “Never question God”, that made me want to question all the more.

As I got older, and upon doing my own research, I discovered there was so much more than what I was lead to believe as a child. Keep in mind, I am not trying to dance on anyone’s toes or show any kind of disrespect to anyone’s beliefs. I am merely speaking on my own personal behalf and what it was like for me. But after years and years of going through life feeling unfulfilled with my faith, I finally came to a point in my life when I stopped listening to certain popular beliefs that made me feel uncertain and them trying to fulfill their need to “save me”.

Wait…. Save me? Save me from what? I don’t need saving just because I don’t believe like them. And I am not going to Hell because of my choice. I no longer follow the path to which I was raised, meaning that of course, I am not a Christian. I am a Wiccan, a solitary practitioner. I do not belong in a coven (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that for those who do). I follow my own heart, my own path. I love being at one with nature and embracing all its magic. I communicate with the Angels, listen to my Spirit Guides and try my very best to live at peace with all the beautiful energies of the Universe.

A few summers ago, a young individual tried to convert me. She was on a missionary trip that lasted several weeks to help spread the word of Christ. While doing so, she and her group were seasonally employed at the same place where I worked. One day she asked me about my faith, so I openly told her about it. And then, as time went on, she tried to persuade me to listen to her as she attempted to make me change my belief. I asked her very calmly, “Why are you trying to do this?”. She replied, “Because I’m worried for your soul. I don’t want you to go to Hell.”

Honestly, I could see the concern in her eyes. She was such a kind and bright young lady, just a little naive was all. When she said that she was worried for my soul I told her, “No need to be worried because I’m not. I feel that I’m following the right path for me just as you are in your belief. As long as we all follow what is right and what is good, isn’t that what really matters? What defines your belief doesn’t define mine. Just because I don’t follow your path doesn’t mean I’m going to Hell.” That made her quiet for a moment as she pondered, looking into my eyes. I continued (again, very calmly and politely), “Honey, you’re wasting your breath with me.” I then put my arms around her to give her a great big hug and told her that I loved her because after all, she was such a sweetheart and a complete joy to work with.

It’s only been within the past few years that I’ve found the courage to speak openly about coming out of the broom closet. Why? Well, because of my upbringing and the societal fear about witches. (Wiccaphobia: the fear of witches or witchcraft.) Throughout the centuries, and thanks to Hollywood’s constant misleading portrayal, it’s easy to understand why people fear us. However, it is ignorance that keeps people in the dark. That’s why I now openly talk about being a Wiccan in hope to help educate others and let them know that we are nothing to be afraid of. I can only speak personally on my behalf because I know how I am with my spiritual journey and the fact is that I only practice white magic. I negate anything that is dark, negative and/ or evil. I stand proudly and firm with my beliefs and if anything of the latter ever tried to gain control over me, I would quickly call upon the Angels, my Spirit Guides and the positive energies of the Universe for white light protection. Trust me, I do not follow the dark arts. I promote, protect and project only and all that is good. As I always say, “Love & Light!” and I mean that with all my heart!

Several years back I wrote a previous article about another encounter that I had with a “bible handler” going door to door. Here’s that article titled, “Ignorance is Bliss”…. or is it just annoying?

Keep it real, people and never be afraid to be yourself! You are loved!! AND…. YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!

Love & Light! ~ Sheila 💋