Are Ghosts Really Demons? The Most Important Textbook on Ghosts - Ludwig Lavater 1569 De Spectris

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I get so tired of necromancers filling my house with ghosts. For one, it's rude. Second, it makes the neighbors think I'm into bestiality. It's a real menace and someone should do something about it!

8:03 FIY, in the 21st century, the medical field of hospice care now does acknowledge what they call Visioning. It is regarded by professionals working in this field as a sign the person is nearing death. Hospice workers inform & educate their dying patients and their families that the dying person may very likely begin to experience visits from deceased loved ones, often parents, siblings, spouses and even pets. The visioning seems generally to begin about a month prior to death, and tends to ramp up as the person gets closer to death. Visioning is not a result of the administration of drugs because people not given drugs also have visioning experiences as death nears (it's been reported that this happens to dying people for hundreds of years), and also because the dying are sometimes visited by loved ones whom neither they nor the family were aware had predeceased the dying patient. Also, the visions of deceased loved ones do not cause fear or anxiety in the patient but in fact the opposite: they bring comfort to the dying person. This is an important distinction from hallucinations, which tend to be confusing & even upsetting to the dying person and are an indication something is wrong, a symptom of their terminal disease, or a problem with the drugs the person is being given. So to be clear, visioning is not the same as hallucinations despite the title of the research paper shown at the 8:03 mark. Visioning people see their deceased loved ones in the room with them, sometimes floating up near the ceiling, and even carry on conversations with them while others in the room see nothing. Dying people who cannot speak sometimes reach out to invisible figures, or their eye movements indicate they are seeing something, paying attention to something nearby that no one else sees. Amazingly, this phenomenon appears to occur to dying dogs, cats, & horses-- Rupert Sheldrake has discussed this. Reliable and well-presented information on visioning and other death & dying topics can be gotten from Hospice Nurse Julie's Youtube channel. Peace to all. Thank you for this brilliant channel, Dr. Sledge. 👻

That was fun. I routinely get visited by my dad in my dreams since his death on Halloween in 2015. In those dreams he is alive, though he sometimes lets on that he knows something I don't. In the first dream I had of him after he died, he was sitting in his chair in the living room, and I was sitting opposite him as I had done many times before, when I said to him, "I miss mom." (She had died about 10 years earlier) He said, "Yeah, I miss her too." I then said, "We should have my sisters over for Christmas this year," to which he seemed to question my suggestion by simply producing a closed mouth, "Hmm." I said, "They will enjoy that!" trying to convince him. He smiled, then said, "Oh, I'm sure they will!" I woke up with the distinct feeling that he was messing with me from beyond the grave.

I've learned more about Theology from this channel than I did in college. Definitely one of my new favorites.

I am an eye doctor. There is a condition called Charles Bonnet syndrome. It affects people primarily with certain types of macular degeneration, or other forms of partial/full blindness, especially those suffering from recent partial blindness. It is basically where the brain tries to fill in areas that used to get stimulated in the visual cortex from the visual pathway, using “imagination”. People will often see faces or other moving “hallucinations” in those blind areas. I have a handful of patients with this condition. It is similar to the same phenomenon that causes a form of déjà vu, or other manifestations of things outside the corners of the eye. The brain does some world building to predict what’s going on around it, like a priming of the pump so to speak. It’s a leftover protective measure, according to theory. Macular degeneration is four times more prevalent and people of northern European descent than other populations. One could assume that this is a contributing factor to some of the ghost stories.

When I was a child my fascination with ghosts was only rivaled by my frustration that I had never experienced one; I figured if everyone is seeing these things all the time I should find at least one somewhere, but other than a strange feeling that someone was there when I was very little, which almost certainly was a neighbor in the next apartment over, I've never experienced anything I would claim as paranormal. Almost disappointing really, even as I grew older and indulged in psychedelics there's never been any "encounters" with "entities" of any kind, if these paranormal or extra-dimensional beings are out there they want absolutely nothing to do with me lol

Thumbs up if you also think that a blackletter press edition of this book would be a nice idea.

My grandmother (who raised me) was on her death bed passing from Alzheimers. She was literally on her last days and I couldn't get to her to see her so I decided to cast a spell and ask my ancestors for guidance and healing. I went outside at 3:33am. I cast my circle, put my candle on the 33rd degree of the circle and let the candle burn for 3 minutes and 33 seconds, then I blew it out. I came back inside and went to sleep. I "wake up" and my grandmother walks into my room, sits at the foot of my bed, and she rocks me like a baby. It was the most wonderful feeling I have ever had. I couldn't get to her, so I believe she somehow astral projected to me because she hadn't passed yet. I felt her there. I felt her touch and warmth. I made the spell up myself, so it wont be in any books or literature, but it worked for me.

I think one of my favorite things about this channel is how you go back to primary sources and let us know which source(s) you use. I’m of the opinion that in this day and age we need few things more than we need a return to primary sources, rather than have them obscured by secondary and tertiary sources.

I honestly don't know how many other viewers appreciate the DnD jokes Doctor Sledge occasionally throws in, but I just wanted to let you know, you are not alone.

I was so happy to see a video on this book! I actually have a Latin copy of it from the 1600s. A few months ago, I sent you a message through your website asking if I could gift it to you… but you ghosted me. (I couldn’t resist!)

I've heard a practicing sorcerer claim that when someone leaves this plane after death they leave behind an "astral husk" (what would otherwise be the "astral body" used during O.B.E.s). Sometimes other entities such as elementals can wear this husk and disguise themselves as the departed. So if Grandma is knocking at your 3rd floor window at 3 a.m. demanding to be let in, it may not be Grandma...

I don't know how you do it. It's as if you're putting out an entire semester research project and final presentation every week!

Liked for the monster manual reference, and of course for the excellent scholarship you share with us on occultism of all stripes

I had to put down my dog a little while ago. He was one of those super obnoxious dogs that just makes you love him more. He had this thing where when I was sleeping he slept almost on top of me, and practically pushed me out of bed as the night wore on. I kept waking up in the middle of the night and having to physically roll him over so I could get some space. Anyway. After I lost him, for the first few months I swear I'd wake up in the middle of the night and could feel him trying to push me off again. Then I'd wake up properly and he wasn't there. I don't believe in ghosts or any kind of magic in any sort of way. But I can totally forgive any pre-scientific peoples for really truly believing they've been blessed by a visit from their good boys in that sort of experience.

Lavater invented the lavatory where he found that ghosts weren't pale, but in fact appeared to be quite flushed.

Time out! Dude... you yourself said that demons fear knives and swords for their metalurgic whatevers. You said as i remember it "thats why wizards often have a sword to wave around when casting spells" when speaking on solomons temple i think. I freaking love this channel, its thought provoking like brain candy.

Roll 20 for initiative Doctor Sledge!

As someone who's childhood was spent once a week at night at whatever library I could go to (navy kid, moves around a lot. So some libraries were more bigger and accessable than others), I really love your channel because you don't just provide the knowledge l, but also the bibliography and references to the books and such. Even today I consider the library a place for refuge and solitude, with the added benefit of being almost as close as I can feel to being blessed with the privelidge of access to all that potential wisdom. As always, thank you for your work.