The door opened and a woman with long white hair answered the door, her simple glasses sat agreeably on her nose, allowing her bright blue eyes to sparkle through them. “Are you Miss Mills?”
I smiled, standing quickly, immediately nervous. “Thank you, Doctor Eyebright, for seeing me, I know I’m not one of your students.”
She smiled sweetly as she waddled into her small office. “Nonsense. It is nice to have the company. It’s a break from grading,” she laughed as she took a seat. “Truth be told, I really hate grading.” She chuckled a little more under her breath and her eyes twinkled with kindness. She appraised me as she sat back in her chair. “Now what can I do for you, Miss Mills?”
I fidgeted with my jacket, adjusting my position again, buying time to try mustering up the correct way to address this topic with her.
“Well, you see, I hear you are an expert on ancient Pagan religions.”
“Yes, but I don’t do spiritual counseling. I leave that to the Campus Ministries department.”
I stumbled over my words, “Oh no, it isn’t a religious question.”
She met my eyes quizzically.
I looked down at my lap and continued, “Well, one of your students was talking about the ancient Halloween holiday?”
“Samhain.” She added.
“Yeah, and that it was all about helping the spirits here cross over?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” she didn’t see my point yet.
“Well, my question is how does that happen?”
She smiled sweetly. “You are going to have to be a bit more specific.”
I sighed, exhaling with conviction. Now or never. I had to see if she had the answers I needed. “Ok, well how do you let them cross over, or make them cross over? And can it be done during other times of the year? I mean they don’t have to all sit around and wait for shawin?”
“Samhain. And no, they don’t have to wait around. Spirits cross over throughout the year. Sometimes those that are here for a bit longer need a little extra push. At least that is how it is believed in ancient religions.”
This wasn’t helping. She was starting to question my sanity. I should have known this was a bad idea. “Ok, thank you for your time,” I stood up to leave.
“Miss Mills, something has you concerned enough about spirits to ask if they cross at different times of the year, and your kindness is asking if you can help them, so if you don’t mind please sit so we can continue.” Her soft lips creased her weighted face.
I swallowed and sank back into the chair. “I see ghosts,” I stared at the edge of her desk, committing the laminated wood pattern to memory, avoiding her eyes. “and I see them more now than I used to.”
“I see.”
I peeked up through my lashes. What did it look like when the professor thought you needed a white coat with extra buttons? Ah, there it is.
Skepticism.
“And do these spirits communicate with you?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice. I had just told a professor at my college that I saw dead people. Holy cow, they were going to box me up and ship me home for sure.
“And do you find they can hear you as well?” a quizzical expression crossed her face.
I swallowed, “Yes. It used to be little things, small interactions here and there, and now they – well they won’t leave me alone.”
“Ah. So, you have opened a door and now can’t figure out where the key is. Closing the door is just as important as opening it. It is careless to open it and not know how to shut it,” she smiled again. Her kind eyes gently appraised my situation. “Looks like you may need some help with that.”
“Yes ma’am, can you help me?”
“I believe I can.”
I exhaled deeply.
“Now, have you found you’re a bit more emotional lately?”
“Oh my gosh, yes! I am a total mess. I used to be quiet and reserved and now I am all over the place,” I sat back in my chair realizing how loud that came out, and how true it really was.
“I see. Well, first you must understand that your emotions are completely tied to your gifts. The rawer your emotions are, the rawer and more uncontrolled your gift is. If you can start to control your emotions, it will give you better control of your sight.” She sat up at her desk, carefully crossing her fingers. “Try an exercise for me. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and visualize calm water.”
I did as she instructed, imagining a small babbling stream, slowly and quietly trilling down the hill.
“Now look into the water. Can you see the bottom through the calm glass top?”
I held a finger up and reconstructed my image.
Lake – large calm lake, crystal blue water.
“Yes.”
“Now visualize releasing all your intense emotional energy into that water. Imagine it coiling around one of the rocks in the bottom, clinging to the rock, safely stored under that calm cool water.”
I visualized the dark smoke colored snake of my emotions twirl around a large smooth rock. The shiny brown shades and veins of the hard river rock was covered with my pulsing dark grey smoke colored emotions. I nodded silently.
“Now let go of that emotion.”
I did and it felt like I snapped an elastic band. My eyes popped open.
“Could you feel them detach?”
My eyes grew large and nodded, “That-that was so weird.”
She smiled, “I would imagine you haven’t done many deposits into your emotional waters.”
I shook my head, curving my mouth into a small smile.
“Well this will help. One of the ways spirits reach out to us through emotional lines. If you keep your emotions tightly wound, they can’t catch
