Spirited or, Tipping The Table...

As promised at the end of my entry about my 'Haunting experience', I am going to relate another truly incredible event that happened while I was living in that apartment. It was a dark and stormy night...just kidding...



It was around 1991. The accounting controller at my office went on maternity leave, and they hired someone to fill in for the few months she would be out. I had caught glimpses of Teresa (the fill in) here and there during her first couple of weeks on the job, and didn't officially 'meet' her until she came into the mail room to fax something(I was the Mail room Coordinator at that time). We were pretty chatty right off the bat and struck up a fast friendship. We both thought outside of the box about a lot of things, and the area of spirituality that revolves around metaphysics was one that intrigued us. Although I had witnessed/experienced my fair share of 'things' prior to meeting her, Teresa had quite a bit more under her belt....so to speak. In the beginning of our talks I told her about a past life regression I had been through about 7 years before. One night after work, she invited me over to hang out at her place. She had an apartment in Westchester by LAX. It was quite cluttered with stuff. Here and there was a crystal of some kind, and a few candles. So sitting by the light of a white candle she burned all of the time for the positive and cleansing light, we sipped wine and I told her the details about my regression. That's when she told me about a good friend of hers (it was long ago, but the name Steven is coming to mind) who was a hypno-therapist by profession, and who also performed past life regression hypnosis. Ever since my one regression, I had always wanted to have another one. A follow up, as it were. The first one was pretty darn vivid and I wanted to see if I saw any of the same things. Kind of a 'hypnotic state' validation. After all, he hadn't been there for the first one so he would have no idea what I saw that time (I was quite vocal, answering questions and the like). To say I was getting jazzed about what she was telling me was an understatement, but there was a catch. For me. I didn't know this guy and being hypnotized puts one in a very vulnerable state. I would have to have someone in the room with us...probably Teresa. I kind of back peddled a bit, and she kind of did some back peddling herself. Steven wasn't out and proud about doing regressions for people. Meaning that he had to get a sense of people...meet them...before he would consent to do the session. He was rather psychic, and although he wasn't skittish about his abilities, he really didn't put the fact/subject of the metaphysical aspect of his life out there to people who weren't open to it. He basically didn't like wasting his breath and time talking about it with people who didn't take what he said with any seriousness to at least the possibility of psychic energies existing. To tell the truth, I would want to get a 'vibe' on him before consenting, too. Teresa and I continued to talk about spiritual subjects, and it was then that she told me something else about Steven that I found intriguing. He did 'Table Tipping'.



Now, I had never heard of Table Tipping at that point. It has gained a new awareness with the popularity of paranormally based TV shows these days, but back then I was clueless. It is a form of spirit communications that dates back to the turn of the century. There is the school of thought that the movements of the table that are said to be created by spiritual contact are in fact created by the collective powers of the human mind. All I can truly speak to are my own personal experiences on the subject. Teresa filled me in on what Table Tipping was, and I was fascinated. Enough so to push thoughts of another regression session to the back burner, so I could pursue a possible Table Tipping experience. Meeting Steven for an 'analysis' so to speak still applied, so Teresa set it up for an evening after work a couple of days away.

To say I was excited about the meeting would be a gross understatement. Teresa and I left work at around 6:00 PM and made our way to her neck of the woods. We arrived at the bar Melody in Westchester and grabbed a table. I had visited this bar before. I was a huge Kings fan, and members of the team were known to hang out there. It rang true on a few occasions when I would see some of them in there. Anyway, Teresa and I ordered our drinks and waited, It was Happy Hour, so there were quite a few other patrons who had come straight there after work...lots of suits. Teresa saw Steven on the other side of the bar looking for us and went to get him. (As I'm telling this, it's so vivid in my mind. Doesn't seem like it happened 20 years ago...man, I feel old!) So they came over to the table and I shook hands with one of the most interesting people I had met in awhile. Steven looked to be in his mid-40's; shoulder length hair, and a brown kind of pointed-highly quaffed beard; several large stoned and bulky rings on his fingers; he used a cane...I can't remember what sort of ornament was on it, but there was one. I know he sounds kind of theatrical, but he wasn't. He didn't look like 'Master Thespian' at all. (hehehe) He was very warm and it didn't feel like it was our first meeting. At one point I had gone to the bar for a refill, and when Steven excused himself for a moment, Teresa told me that he really liked me and would love to hold a Table Tipping for me. I had goosebumps about the prospect. I've always been an explorer about things (but I will add that I do it smartly...nothing negative), so the prospect of this new experience had my mind racing. Steven's payment? Oh, just cook him dinner. I not only could do that, I could afford that. So we figured out what night he and Teresa would come over (it would just be the three of us), and he gave me instructions as to how to prepare my living room.

The day before my guests were coming over I had to do some shopping, not only for groceries but for 'cleansing'items. I popped over the hill to the valley for a visit to 'The Psychic Eye', my favorite metaphysical shop (there is a link to the Sherman Oaks location on my 'Links' page if you want to check it out). I needed white candles (4), and sandalwood incense, primarily. The big day was on a weekend which was a good thing. I needed to start the cleansing at least two hours before they arrived, so I decided to give it 4 hours. I listened to a lot of 'New Age' types of music, so I had that going. 'Basho's Pond', Kitaro...you get my drift. I started with the sandalwood incense - that's to rid a space of negative energy. Smells great, too. Then I set-up the candles. The point of the candles was to position them in the room at the base points of a pyramid. When you have them at the four points, you then light them in a clockwise fashion. As they burn, they are supposed to create a pyramidal shaped 'vortex'. That vortex is filled with positive energy, light, etc. All negativity is purged from that area. In retrospect, I would probably say that it was also supposed to act as a protected portal. Inside that pyramidal vortex is where the Table Tipping would take place. I had the front door open, so the warm night air was coming in along with the usual sounds of life in the neighboring buildings. (Again, this is all so vivid as I'm typing it.) The big tree outside was helping set the perfect mood. Whatever energies were moving through my small collection of rooms felt very positive and empowering, and intermingled with the scents of the incense and the beef stroganoff on the stove. Gradually I could make out a couple of voices approaching up the driveway, and a few moments later heard the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs. Teresa entered, followed by Steven who had a special item in tow. The table he used for his Tipping sessions. It was a fairly non-descript table. Not very big with a round top that was...I want to say between 2 and 3 feet across (my mental measurements are usually off a bit). It had 3 feet on it, and...that pretty much describes it. It did look quite old. I poured them some wine and Steven looked over my prep job and was impressed. Apparently some people had a tendency to go overboard...of course, he didn't see the bay leafs I kept in the corners of the room. (hehe) An interesting side note, is that Steven walked through my apartment in search of the facilities and picked up on my 'roomie'. I hadn't even mentioned it. It became part of our dinner conversation. By the end of the meal, I was excited but nervous, too. Yeah, I had been told what Table Tipping was, but I really didn't know what to expect. So we all grabbed a chair from the dining table and positioned them around the table that Steven placed in the center of the vortex. After making ourselves comfortable, we began.

Steven instructed Teresa and I to place our fingers on the edge of the table from the second knuckles to our finger tips. Steven sat with his eyes closed, his breathing getting deeper and the breaths getting farther apart. I had turned the music off, so it was pretty quiet inside with us. I thought I felt the table shudder a little, but wasn't sure. Then Teresa asked Steven if he was feeling anything. He could feel a number of energies, but it was as if he was waiting for something to 'tune in'. All of a sudden it started to get cooler. Teresa's teeth practically started chattering. I was a little cool, but not that cold. The table trembled a little stronger and my fingers started getting cold. Not cool, but cold. Teresa was freezing and Steven said that a spirit was right on her. Nothing bad, but it was trying to reach her specifically. I have to admit that I had some goose bumps. I mean, she was sitting right next to me. Our knees were touching. The spirit, although very present, never came through any clearer than to say that her name was Sarah. Teresa was really having trouble with the cold, so Steven told her to tell Sarah to go. She did, and she warmed up some. (I was fascinated, but not bowled over by things at that point. Not to say that I didn't believe that a spirit was there.) Then Steven asked if there was anyone there that wanted to speak? He then said he could make out a figure, and that's when the table started to move.

Okay, I'm going to interject here before the eye-rolling begins. Is it possible for people to fake the presence of spirits with this communication method? Yes. Watch episodes of 'Most haunted' on the Travel Channel and you'll see some blatant acts of fakery. I'm not easily taken in. I'm an observant person. I am going to comfortably and whole heartedly state that I believe what happened at my apartment on that night. I do not believe in any way shape or form that it was fake. That table did things that could NOT be faked. Well, maybe some of the guys at ILM could have, but nothing was faked during that session. Back to the story...

In the beginning, the table...well, the best way I can describe it is that it 'hopped' a bit. It did rock some, but it also moved uncharacteristically for how the legs were placed. It was moving in deliberate but small ways at first. Steven still sat with his eyes closed, which he did for the entire session. He said that the erratic movements of the table were because a few energies were trying to come to the front. They wanted to speak. I was a bit bashful to ask anything at first, so Teresa asked a couple of things. It was a help listening to her as I learned how to phrase my questions. Questions needed to be answerable with 'yes' or 'no'. The spirits would use the table to answer. When it rocked back and forth, that meant 'yes'. If the answer was 'no' the table would stop moving at all. If the answer was unclear or maybe, it would kind of rock around in a circle or more chaotic fashion. As Teresa and Steven asked questions the table got more and more animated, but then it was almost like a switch had been flipped. The table just...stopped. Steven had been 'watching' things with whatever psychic abilities he possessed, and when the table stopped he seemed perplexed. I took the opportunity to try removing my fingers from the table, and of course they came away easily which oddly enough surprised me. Why? Because my fingers had felt frozen to the table for the time up to that point. They had not budged. AT ALL. Teresa took my cue and rubbed her hands together. Steven's eyes were open and he looked at the two of us with a "hmmmmm" expression on his face. He said that he didn't know why they had stopped answering questions, but spirits were around. They weren't leaving. Even I could feel 'something' in the room. Steven had to visit the loo, so Teresa and I just sat there and got in a stretch or two. Table Tipping had proved kind of stressful on the arms. So Steven comes back and is standing at the end of my sofa. He decides to query them without the table. He tells Teresa and I to put our fingers on the table. He then asks if he can ask some questions. The table doesn't move, and he doesn't report a response. He asks if they will answer any questions, and then something chilling happened. Not necessarily in a good or bad way, just...chilling. The table tips right at me and plops in my lap. Let me remind you that Steven is standing by the end of the sofa. Teresa is sitting directly to my right and there is no way she could have done it without it being noticeable. Plus, I saw her reaction. I was stunned. Steven even showed surprise. He then looked at me and said, "They say they are only here for Lisa...only questions from Lisa." I think every hair on me was at attention by that time. I had been hopeful of some activity happening, but this was kind of blowing my mind. I started trying to ask questions. My mind was racing, so I was a bit slow on the uptake. Steven had returned to his chair and was watching in his minds eye again. I don't exactly remember what I said, but since I was having a hard time getting into the groove I said something jokingly that made Teresa laugh. The table slowed a bit, and I apologized saying that I had a tendency to be sarcastic. I thought the table was going to break off a leg after that. It started moving back and forth with such force that it was banging into me. Apparently, they agreed. (lol) I could keep going on in relatively great detail, but I don't think my fingers can get through that amount of typing. I'll hit the high notes through the actual Tipping. My questions got better and more purposeful after I got over the initial shock of what was happening. The table would get away from us. It's movements were so odd and chaotic that it would move away from us. Almost like it was walking away. Steven and I both had to get up from our chairs and move it back into the middle of the three of us. About half way through the session, Steven told me that he could see them. In his minds eye he could see a table with four figures seated at it. On one side were seated two women and one man. On the other was one man. Steven said that the three were my guardian spirits, and the man was me. For me to be seen as a man...that's not uncommon, for a man to be seen as a woman and vise versa.

They were coming through so strongly because they had been wanting to communicate with me. That's what Steven said. I've done my share of meditating and such, but it appeared that my guardian spirits wanted to have more of an up close and personal Q&A with me. Even though I could only ask 'Yes' or 'No' questions, they were surprisingly direct. Not just about me, but about people I knew and was close to. One particular friendship they said was bad (turned out they were right). I remember much of it, but it's all pretty personal. Not feeling in the mood to share any of it at the moment.

Steven was pretty exhausted, as I know we all were. We were 'engaged' for a couple of hours. Didn't feel that long though. At the tail end, Steven indicated a pottery candle holder I have that had a candle burning in it. 'They' said that I can contact them whenever that candle is burning. So, efficiently overwhelmed and energetically exhausted, I bid farewell to my two pooped guests. I gave Steven a hearty thank you hug for the incredible evening and experience. On Steven's suggestion, I lit another stick of incense and snuffed the candles counter-clockwise this time. Then I closed up and locked up everything, leaving the dishes until the morning. My mind was absolutely brimming with all kinds of thoughts. Trying to take in everything that had happened. I was to soon discover that my evening hadn't ended yet...

I changed into my night clothes, and stood in the middle of my living room for a moment. There was a kind of electricity filling my apartment. A pleasantly prickly energy. Almost more prevalent was the feeling of not being alone. This wasn't like the feeling the 'ghost' gave me. I found myself looking over my shoulder, like I would see some...one? I just kept expecting to see something. It wasn't unease, but at the same time it...was. Now that Steven and Teresa were gone, I was soaking it all in solo. It was proving to be...I don't know how to articulate it. I switched the TV on and turned the volume down. Thought I'd leave it on overnight, but decided that the voices would be too disconcerting. Finally, I just chuckled everything off and closed up shop for the night. It had all been very positive, just...different. That's all. Entering the bedroom, I stretched and laid down.

Internally I felt really alive. Although I was extremely tired, I felt full of energy. My body relaxed quickly, and I waited for dreamland. It was then that I felt a pull. As if something had reached inside me and had begun drawing me out. I felt myself start to float up...and out.



I swear I sensed the ceiling. I felt weightless and ethereal. I freaked out! I couldn't speak or move my body, yet I was moving. It felt like I was becoming unrestrained, unconfined...I was leaving myself. To say it was terrifying...Immediately, I knew what was happening. I was trying to leave my body. To astral project. It wasn't something I had done before (consciously, anyway), and I wouldn't even know how to start. I managed to scramble back, and then it started happening again. Whatever was happening, I wasn't ready for it. I couldn't 'let go'. Who knows? Maybe it's something I've done before. Many times. Times when I wasn't conscious. The thing that freaked me out was that I hadn't gone to sleep yet. At least to me I hadn't. I decided to get up and watch some TV. Several hours later, I woke up on the living room sofa. One of the first things I did was call Teresa and tell her what had happened after she and Steven had left. About a half hour after I hung up with her, my phone rang. It was Steven. Teresa had called him. He didn't think it odd at all. I had experienced a high energy psychic/spiritual event, and the vortex had been in my living room. If anything he sounded disappointed that I hadn't 'gone with' the astral projection. He was convinced that I was being taken on a journey. That I was going to be shown something. After hanging up with him, I started feeling like I HAD jipped myself. What's the worst that could have happened if I had just let go and floated through the ceiling to whatever destination I was headed to? I did try a few times to see if I could tap into whatever it had been again, but to no avail. But as I said, I can't be sure that it wasn't a dream. I guess I'll just have to keep wondering...

Next installment: a haunting in Atlanta. The one other haunted living arrangement I was in.