Re: [hrc] Great radio show last night!-- on family traditions (#3679)

[RedWill0w]

In a message dated 3/10/2005 4:01:08 PM Central Standard Time,
mdaaron@mac.com writes:


> > I really liked Eoghan's discussion of Irish death precognitions. When
> my Irish great-aunt got sick and started seeing and talking to a lot
> of dead family members, my Jewish step-father assumed that it was just
> a manifestation of psychosis. I told him that instead we ought to
> keep an extra careful eye on her, because it sounded as though she was
> getting ready to die. (She recovered, BTW.) She was having trouble
> with geriatric psychosis, but that wasn't part of it -- just shows that
> it helps to know your cultures.
>

This is frequent when someone is very ill. I remember coming into my
mother's hospital room once when she was quite sick, and having her smile and
greet me. "All the dead came in to visit me last night," she said, and went on
to describe the enjoyable meeting they'd had. These were not just our dead
family members, but included a troop of folks from the hospital. Several times
during that illness she spoke about her mother and sister, both gone for many
decades, standing in the room by her. I am so grateful that my mom
recovered.

One of my first memories of seeing spirits was an incident when I had
just turned four. I had scarlet fever, and the presence, though absolutely
loving, sent me quaking under the covers in fear. Telling my mom about it the
next morning, she told me that I was very sick, and that I had had a high fever,
and that sometimes people see things when they are very feverish. In other
words, she felt it could have been a fever-induced hallucination, but I knew it
wasn't, and remember the experience with absolute clarity to this day.

Dara


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