(200) A haunted house

By Janet Shin

In the heat of summer, many people go on vacation, escaping to mountains and beaches to cool themselves. Meanwhile, some people visit extraordinary places such as haunted houses to enjoy their thrills and chills.

Shamans and exorcists often appear at haunted houses either to prove the existence of ghosts or to repel devilish attacks. Even though no specific attempts to verify supernatural beings have reached tangible conclusions, it seems that there is definitely paranormal activity that science cannot disprove.

While practicing saju, which is recognized as a realm of parascience, I have tried to meet as many shamans as possible by making more personal connections and experiencing their shaman rituals such as exorcisms, known as “gut” in Korean. I have seen and heard certain psychic powers, however, I have neither been inspired by them nor personally sensed any presence. Without pragmatic evidence, I decided not to attempt to extend saju to include any shaman practices. Accordingly when my clients consulted me on whether they should seek out the help of a gut, I convinced them not to. Nevertheless I still associate with shamans and listen to how they carry out their practices because I can’t deny the inscrutability of their energy force.

A shaman acquaintance had a client with an awful skin disease. The shaman was also an alternative medicine therapist and he gained his reputation by treating patients with incurable illnesses. The client was a famous movie director. He shot quite a successful war movie but suffered from an undiagnosed skin infection. He saw many dermatologists but none of them was able to cure him. In search of hope, he finally visited the shaman, who reached a bizarre conclusion upon examining the director. The shaman asked questions about the atmosphere of the film site, where soldiers died one by one for unknown reasons at a haunted house. It was portrayed as a cold, damp and adumbral place. The shaman advised that a certain evil energy was transmitted to the director’s skin during shooting. Before treatment, he told the director to visit the site first to hold a special ritual to meet and soothe the ghosts. After this, the director accepted therapy from the shaman and his skin condition was finally cured.

To reiterate, I cannot confirm the presence of ghosts and whether there is any psychic energy at the spots where they are “sighted” and I cannot disprove them either. I know many people, including the young, who say they saw ghosts and experienced paralyzing nightmares. How can all this be denied when people assert that they experience such vivid events? Others say it is caused by mental weakness or sensitivity. Saju also explains that those who have certain letter combinations in their saju or lots of fire elements may see ghosts more often than others. In this case, I advise them to seek complementary energy, such as a water element to cool the heat of fire or an intermediate element to circulate the blocked energy circulation.

A haunted house can be explained by using aspects of feng shui. It is said that poisonous qi likes spaces where life energy does not circulate. Within a haunted house, ghosts like more isolated areas, such as corners. You may also be able to smell a stench around these spots. Sometimes there are veins of water, or at other times trees around the house and a certain life experience of past inhabitants can also be used as the existence of ghosts.

In feng shui practice for everyday life, it is crucial to deter the creation of these harmful energies and neutralize a wicked environment. Believe it or not, ghosts may also appear in your houses, regardless of any conditions listed above. Some may sense this, while most of us just can’t perceive them.

Information: Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teaching about the “Four Pillars of Destiny?” For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com.

The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea, and the author of “Learning Four Pillars.”