I used this picture of footprints in the snow to highlight the idea that no matter where we walk, we are walking in the footsteps of someone else, just on a different time or day.
When I visit old historical buildings, some now juxtaposed with modern technology or walk along once busy paths or roads which are visibly overgrown with shrubbery or bordered with entrenched moss-covered walls, that may have been the remnants of a dwelling or other building.
I think of how many similar places around the world there are that have been left to either rot in their own historic graveyards or have given way to evolving civilisation. I try to imagine and visualise what it must have been like to have lived when that community or environment was vibrant. This way of thinking is not unusual, I am sure of that but for me as a Sensitive Psychic I have always naturally tuned into my surroundings, whether I want to or not. This on occasions can be unpleasant and it took me many years to find out how to use the on /off switch to my abilities.
The continual evolution of high streets in our cities, towns, and villages is evident. Buildings from different decades coexist in a disjointed yet harmonious manner. Historically, the high street served as the focal point of community life, bustling with market stalls, horse-drawn rigs, and farm animals. Over time, these streets expanded to include places of worship, inns, courthouses, and jails. Originally built on well-worn pathways, they later evolved to feature cobblestones, bricks, asphalt, and tarmac, expanding both outward and upward bearing witness to life over the generations.
In cities such as Edinburgh, the High Street exemplifies this contrast between the present and the past. “Closes” typically constructed in the medieval period provided restricted and gated access to a courtyard. Characterised by long, dimly lit, eerie and atmospheric narrow vennels, they were typically named after notable local craftsmen or families. These passages, often paved with uneven stones or cobbles, would lead to enclosed residential or business areas. Today, many of these structures retain their original features alongside modern renovations, evoking the whispers and echoes of past conversations and transactions. One can only imagine the forgotten faces and personalities of those who had lived or worked there. Edinburgh’s High Street remains a highly populous area, renowned for its hidden streets and vaults beneath the surface and reputed to be one of the most haunted locations to visit.
There are many different locations that have stood the test of time, for example places of Worship with their beautiful, handcrafted architecture only interrupted by modern day windows or pews. They have borne witness to the revolving wheel of time, of life and death. The attached graveyards are now a mixture of the glossy modern upright stones and those drunkenly askew with faded illegible inscriptions. I like graveyards, they are places that I oddly find solace in, even as a child I would like to wander about basking in the silence and wondering who was the person that is named on a grave or memorial stone, does anyone still remember them?
“We ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them Thornton Wilder
This quote was from a book that I read when I was at school called The Bridge of San Luis Rey which raises questions about life, death, relationships and philosophies such as is there a God who sets out a divine purpose for us in life or is it just fate. The quote implies that we are remembered through stories which have passed down through generations within our families. This left a profound impression on me, in both a good and sad way. Yes, it is nice concept but what happens when that lineage ends.
There are many empty forlorn spaces, Battles fields, hospitals and mental asylums, quarries, old coal mines, Iron works and many more , now only resident to ghosts staring through metal barred, broken windows in empty waste strewn buildings, or overgrown with grass covering burial mounds., like Culloden Battlefield in Scotland. What secrets if any do they hold? In an earlier blog, we discussed Bangour Hospital in West Lothian, which is currently being redeveloped into a residential area. But I believe that the residual energy we felt at the time will still linger beneath the surface no matter the facade.
A thought for today. Why is it only the spirits of well-known characters of the past that are the ones publicised to be wandering the city streets or buildings for eternity. Not just in Edinburgh but everywhere. What happened to the rest of the population? I have always questioned this over the many years that I have been aware of my gifts especially when I have visited advertised ‘haunted’ locations with the atypical resident spirit.
It is those forgotten spirits or the residual energy, usually of a catastrophic event that has left an imprint in our world that we seek when we go out on our enchanted trails. I do not want to just be able to google an area or property and easily find given names that may have lived or died there and then allocated the title of residential ghost. I want to know about the rest of the population who may have left their mark or footprint. Such as the stable hand, the kitchen staff or the farmer, the soldier and the countless other souls that have lived and passed away. Unless it is a follow up visit, we never research a place first and if afterwards we find evidence, while researching the notes we take at the time or pictures that we were right in our feeling then that to us not only solidifies our personal abilities but also provides a motivation to continue.
Julie Enchantedtrailseekers
Psychics- Enchantedtrailseekers 