There was a time when I was fascinated with cemeteries.  When I was involved in the new age and occult, in fact, they were my favorite place for recording EVPs and taking spirit photos.  

So it's not surprising really that while other people's Memorial Day trips to the cemetery were all about remembering their loved ones, my focus was on talking to spirits.

And sometimes, of course, they talked back.

There was one Memorial Day in particular when I visited the cemetery where my family was buried.  I had the best of intentions.  I'd even brought begonias to plant.  

But before those begonias were even in the ground, I'd began to think about spirits.

I didn't have the recorder I liked to use for paranormal investigation so I decided to take a picture and look for orbs. But when I pulled out my fully charged phone, it abruptly shut down. 

I'd had the same experience exactly when I was taking pictures during an investigation several months earlier.  Except in that case my phone, which had been fine prior to the investigation, was ruined.  This current phone was the replacement. So I was a little mad at myself for taking it out of the car.  Mad but not afraid.  Because it was my belief then that nothing on "the other side" could possibly hurt me.

I tried to restart my phone with no luck at all.  So I decided to leave and check my phone again a few miles down the road.

Driving away, I felt the a presence with me in the car.  It wasn't a peaceful presence.  Instead it felt jangly and hyper.  I had the sense that there were multiple spirits present.  There was a giddy kind of energy that didn't seem entirely benign.

But in line with my new age beliefs, I pushed my sense of unease aside, and decided to ask whatever was there for guidance.  Thinking the spirits I sensed might be deceased family members, I told them about whatever new age or occult idea was currently percolating and waited for a response.

A few moments later, my phone finally turned back on.  I plugged in the auxiliary cable and started to listen to the audio book I'd played on my way to the cemetery but all I heard was static.  In between the bursts of interference I heard the word 'path.'  Thinking of my question, I decided to take that word as a go.

Because everything, when it came to the new age, was always a go.

Since my phone was now working, I turned the car around and went back to the graveyard to try to capture some orbs.  A part of me was hoping to receive more information from the demons I believed to be the human spirits.

By the time I got back to the cemetery the spirits were no longer talking.  So I took a few photos and left.  On the way home, my audio book played clearly through the stereo speakers.  My phone continued to function.

I don't even remember now, what new occult plan I had run past the demons I met that day.  But whatever it was I'm quite sure I went ahead with it.  

It never occurred to me then that the spirits who spoke to me might be working against me.  Even though the so-called guidance I received over and over during my years in the new age only served to lead me from sin to sin.  

Just as St. Ignatius said.

May God protect us all!