Ghosts
Ghosts are departed from the human tissue but still unable to detach from life form experiences. They exist in this middle limbo unable to live as a physical being on Earth and unable to freely move on in their journey after death. They do not age but instead grow in recession and oppression. As time on Earth goes on, they detach from human characteristics more and more. They may become more aggressive, delusional, and more unwillingly to move on. Most ghosts are bound to our Earthly realms because of unsolved issues when they were alive. In general, ghosts are trapped in limbo on Earth for two reasons.
The first is attachment. This includes the attachment to people, objects, unfulfilled promises, memories, and unfulfilled desires before their death. This creates a kind of energy bind so strong that even after their death they cannot let go of these attachments. What this looks like are ghosts that bind themselves to their homes, ghosts that attach themselves to drug addicts, ghosts that remain with a meaningful object like a necklace or even furniture. In addition, some ghosts remain trapped in limbo because they were so addicted to drugs that they feed off of drug addicts. We call these hallucinations but in the spiritual world there are hungry and addict ghosts feeding off the drug addict. In similar cases, there are angry and malevolent ghosts who steal children or fetuses, causing miscarriages or still births. When these types of ghosts were still alive they may have loss their child or died during labor. In this cases the ghost is so attached to the love of their own experience with children that even after death they are restless and in return will steal fetuses or unborn babies. The explanation for this is that at the time of their death, if an individual is in panic or full hatred, these emotions cause the spirit to cling onto the lower realm. For example, if the dying person is obsessively attached and clingy to a person, full of love or hate, and at the time of their death they are thinking of this person, then instead of entering into the next stage of afterlife, they cling onto this as desire. The spirit of the dead person then hovers this desire via the person or object. They then interfere with anything that interacts with that person or object. They can no longer detach from life experiences.
The second reason why ghosts would remain on Earth is their delusion. They do not know they are dead because typically their death was so traumatic, quick, and unexpected that they still do not realize they are dead. So they exist as confused spirits who believe they are in a long dream. They are trapped by a distorted delusional understanding surrounding their death. This is because the ghost does not have the same awareness and did not comprehend their own death at that moment. These deaths usually involve murder, tragic accident, suicide, etc. This is one of the reasons why delusion ghosts must be convinced that they are dead. Once realizing this they may become angry ghosts, unwilling to accept and come to terms with their death. If the ghost has been dead for decades or centuries they may be wandering ghosts, trying to find their family without even comprehending what is happening around them. When some of these ghosts do realize what has happened they wish to seek revenge or fair judgement. If a ghost was murdered they may or may not seek for a fair trial. In some cases they may wait decades for that responsible person to die or in some cases they will come back for revenge and drag that person to the courts of hell for a fair trial. We call this inherited karma.
The Hmong believe that the living could be held liable for all the good and bad actions committed by their ancestors. We call this inherited karma. It's understood that the spirits of the dead could hold a trail for justice and initiate "grievance from beyond the tomb." If the mistreated ghost or spirit initiates a "spiritual lawsuit," detrimental occurrences would affect the living. These affects may be death upon the living, generations of curse, miscarriages, and even death to a family lineage. This received burden could explain for congenital diseases passed from one generation to the next. These physical symptoms can be described as "ghost infused" or "karmic infused." In addition, people may be visited or haunted by angry ghosts or spirits, sometimes even ghosts from generations ago that have unfinished business with the ancestors. It's understood that these hauntings are retribution for their ancestor's actions committed long ago. Ghosts can affect people in many different ways and through many decades, sometimes even centuries.
Ghosts and evil spirits have three main special influences on the physical world. The first is that they are able to influence thoughts and beliefs into a person's mind. This can cause people to act unethically. The main goal of this influence is to break the person and their family apart, to isolate the person, and then to make them lose hold of reality. The person will then be unable to function properly and detach from hallucinations. The second is that ghosts and evil spirits can block a person's progress. This can cause depression, anxiety, panic, and physically drain the person of energy. The goal of this influence is to weaken the person's mind and body to the point of exhaustion and eventually, possession of the person. The third type of influence is a ghost or evil spirit's ability to frighten a person through images, traumatic flashes, gruesome images, and physically moving or touching furniture or making sounds. The goal of this type of influence is to frighten the individual, weaken them, and cause illness. Some may notice a dramatic temperature drop, which indicates a spirit or ghost in the surrounding. Flashing lights is also an indication as electricity is affected by the presence of a spirit. This is because in order for a ghost or evil spirit to physically manifest itself, it has to use energy in the area. This is known as ghost materializing.
A ghost or spirit needs to use physical energy in order to manifest itself. Surrounding every living thing, every thought, and emotion are energies. Ghosts and spirits can use this energy and materialize it, manifesting itself in a way that is visible to the physical world, to us! This is the saying that ghosts want us to see them. There are two main ways in which a ghost or spirit can materialize itself into the physical world. The first requires human presence. This means the ghost engages in a complex energy transfiguration to gain substance. This substance is gain from the energy of a human, our thoughts, emotions, and acts. The ghost will draw from this substance in addition with energy in the surrounding area and manifest itself physically. This sometimes explains why people feel so tired, restless, and exhausted. This may also be the cause for short temperaments and colicking babies or infants. The second type of ghost materialization doesn't require human presence but the energy in the surrounding area. For example, on very humid days or stormy nights, there are electromagnetic energy built up. Ghosts and spirits can use this energy and manifest in physical ways. This is similar to how dragon spirits use the energy of the weather to come out. Another is when there is an area that has experienced trauma that signifies intense emotions or feelings. These emotions or feelings create an energy that is attractive to ghosts or spirits. This includes funeral homes, cemeteries, homes of where a murder took place, suicide forests or areas, etc. It's important to note that a ghost doesn't have to manifest itself to be in an environment. They are already present without materializing. It is through materialization that a ghost can manifest itself through to the physical realm. There are situations in which ghosts become hungry or starved. These are known as hungry ghosts.
The Hmong believe in what we call "Hungry Ghosts" or "Dab Tuag Tshaib Tuag Nqhis." These are spirit forms that have been abandoned or forgotten. Hungry ghosts are in a realm of extreme poverty, a desert situation inhabited by beings who suffer continuous hunger and thirst. The Hmong believe that spirits of the dead must be taken cared of through worship, food, prayer, shelter, and treated with respect and honor. There are many circumstances in which this doesn't become the case for spirits of the dead and so they end up as hungry ghosts. One of the main reasons why a spirit would become a hungry ghosts is because they did not receive a proper burial. Funerals represent the first stage in sending a spirit to the ancestors and to reincarnation. If the individual was not given a proper funeral, proper burial, killed, or murdered far from home and the body was never found, their spirit could be left homeless, left to wander as a hungry ghost. Another reason for a hungry ghost to exist is unresolved anger or grief. If the spirit still feels the strong emotional charges of rejection, betrayal, or abandonment, they will remain a hungry ghost until they seek revenge or justice. In some situations, the physical body of a person may be decapitated or missing. Cases of war and genocide can cause a missing leg, arm, or body part. The Hmong believe that the spirits of the dead could only depart for the hereafter as long as their bodies were buried intact. It was thought that if any part of the body was missing or separated from the corpse during the burial (their heads, arms, legs, etc.) the individual's ghosts would try to find the missing part or be unable to move on to their next life.
As stated, ghosts and evil spirits exist everywhere around us. Some may not materialize into the physical realm but they are very much around us. Interactions with spirit entities are almost always unavoidable whether we believe in their existence or not. Examples of ghostly manifestations are audible sounds, unusual or unexplainable smells, extreme cold, and the displacement of objects. Other phenomena include tactile sensations, visual images, voices, and the apparent psychokinetic movement of objects. Encounters with ghosts can generally be divided into six categories.
1. Deathbed Phenomena: These are generally encounters with divine beings or religious figures. Also, visions of deceased loved ones at near the time of death to guide them into the next level of existence are very common.
2. Spiritual Manifestations of the Dead: These generally occur within a short time after the death of an individual. The visitation from the departed spirit is usually to bring comfort, communicate information, announce their role as a guardian, or to complete unfinished business.
3. Manifestations of Impending Tragedy: These are usually "visual" images in which an entity will appear to a person through dreams with a clear message of tragedy or bad omen. In the Hmong, there were numerous tales of spiritual visitations from spirits who appear with the intention to give useful advice in emergencies, prescribe medicines for the sick, or to help an individual escape misfortune.
4.The Spiritual Entity of a Human Soul: Sometimes an individual's spirit will appear in a dream to a member of the family to convey a message. In other times, a ghost or evil entity may appear in a person's dream.
5. Manifestations of Poltergeists: These are generally mischievous and often malevolent. They may be caused either by disembodied souls or by demon-like entities. When a ghost appears in a scary like form, they appear to be in the state they died in. These ghosts are angry and no longer have human feelings of love or empathy.
6. The Spiritual Body Manifestations: The body or soul of a person can be manifested in different realms. These are what we call "shamans" because they can spiritually materialize their spirit and manifest through to the lower or higher realms. They have the ability to connect, communicate, and interact with other realms. In more western cultures this can be known as "remote viewing" or psychic ability. Another type of Soul Body projection is known as a "reciprocal apparition." This is an energetic state in which two people, separated from each other by distance, experience each other simultaneously. When two shamans come in contact with each other they can often feel each other's energy and shaman spirits.
Ghosts are the tragedy of the spirit world. Some wild ghosts that reside in caves and mountains could have been a spirit at one point. Spirits turn into ghosts because they are left abandoned, forgotten, or become haunting entities with the desire to haunt, harm, injure, or kill human beings. They are not able to detach from life experiences. Their bodies did not receive proper burials or funeral processions. It's believed that ghosts can be interrupted through energy forms like heat, loud vibrating sounds, and vibrant solid colors like red and white. The reasons for shaman ceremonies to be loud is to interrupt ghostly activities or entities that want to get in the way of the shaman's path. Loud gongs, finger bells, and shaman rattles are used as techniques to disrupt the ghostly paradigm that already exists in a home. It weakens the paranormal energy. Hmong families often tie red and white string to the wrists and ankles of family members to protect them and shield them from evil spirits and ghosts in addition to reasons why shaman tools contain red and white strings. Ghost are mentioned in almost every religion and culture in the world and perhaps our shared experiences as humans hold some truth to their existence.