One of the perks of hosting one’s own little unconventional magazine is crossing paths with unconventional people. Sophie is one of those, a modern witch that combines elegance with spirituality and a really great sense of style. You can read all about her and her soul readings in the People Tales series (Sophie Jongejan), but one article proved to be insufficient to tell her story. Hence I decided to dig a little deeper into her medium powers and ghost stories.
Let’s start with a short recap: Sophie runs the holistic platform The Place and offers to read your soul. What on earth is a soul reading? According to her, we are all “haunted” by certain presences she likes to call our Team of Light, a group of spirit guides. Most of us are unaware of them, but people like Sophie tend to see, hear or feel them. They actually mean no harm and, once you’ve accepted them and connect to your higher self, will guide you towards more harmony. A soul reading consists of just that: Sophie starts by connecting with that team, as well as with your aura and so-called higher self. They send her messages, sometimes show her bits of past lives or point out some traumas you need to process. All of this helps you find guidance, understand what makes you unique, what your talents are and what your soul’s purpose is in life.
Long story short: she sits down and has a chat with your own personal ghosts! That of course makes my imagination run wild, so I needed to ask some more questions:
Where do ghosts come from?
“Every soul comes to this earth with an aura that is filled with traumas and guides and everybody has a spirit team. Arriving on earth, your soul has kind of signed up for one, it’s inevitable. Spirits aren’t necessarily people who have or still have to live, they can also consist of certain energies or values, cosmic entities. It sometimes happens that I see a person in detail, often someone who died.
On top of that, it can be that someone attracts less benevolent spirits. That usually happens when your aura is weak and fenceless, or when you have a beautiful, light aura. They are mostly souls that are stuck between two worlds, engraved with regrets, anger, sadness, etc. It keeps them from going beyond, to the light. To quote Victor Hugo: l’enfer, c’est sur terre! They are in hell and actually turn to you for help. I have experienced it in the past, and the best thing you can do in such case is sitting down and communicating with them: reassure them, tell them all is well and someone somewhere loves them very much, encourage them to go to the light. It sounds very weird, but it really helps and you’ll immediately feel lighter afterwards -in every sense of the word.”
Ok, but how to steer clear of those bad ones?
“Sometimes it’s just bad luck and they come looking for you, but in general it is a bad idea to summon ghosts when you don’t really know what you’re doing. You might just attract anyone and you just never know which spirit happens to pass by when you call. Especially adolescents shouldn’t do it, as it is a time in life where an aura still needs to build up its defenses. They’re an easy prey in fact. In short: don’t do it. Unless you have a mom who knows her way around ghosts.”
Can you always tell what spirits look like, if they have names, etc?
“Yes and no. As I said earlier: there are different entities of all kinds and they all ‘show’ themselves in different ways. Some you can see, other smell, or feel, or sometimes hear. Some are what I like to call ‘angels’, people who’ve known you and have passed away, but still watch over you. Those are often the ones I can see, although it can take years and years before they reveal themselves. I, for instance, only recently discovered the name of one of my spirit guides. I’ve always known she was there and she’s definitely a female entity, but that’s all I knew for the longest of time. Another has eyes and he’s a man, but that’s all I can see. And the third one is someone I’ve lost and I can see him entirely.”
Are the spirit guides always right?
“Yes. You may not always like what they have to say and they may tell you to get out of your comfort zone, but their message always means well. A bad spirit that isn’t your guide will plant doubt, ego and other wrong stuff in your head and heart. If you feel deep down that what it just told you doesn’t rhyme with love, compassion and light, you just know you’ve got a bad one.”
How do we connect with our spirit guides? Considering the fact that summoning them is out of the question.
“It’s actually something you can train and I can help you with that. I advice to find stillness: our head is way too filled with buzz and noise such as phones, computers and others. (On a sidenote: meditation is not a good idea in this case because it puts your energy in a place that is just too calm to connect with your higher self. The art is to raise your vibrations so they can meet right in the middle between you and that higher self. It sounds a bit abstract, I know.) Second tip: your body is your oracle, and by this I mean to follow your gut feeling and intuition. Ask yourself a question and see how your body reacts. Do you get goosebumps, a tight throat, is your stomach turning? Body says no. On the other hand, if you have a sense of electricity, or your heart is suddenly pulsing: yes!”
Last but certainly not least: what about our privacy? Isn’t it overpowering to have team of merry ghosts around you all the time?
“Hahaha… No it isn’t because they aren’t there to bother you! Besides, you can unplug from time to time. It’s like in all relationships: you put down your boundaries, tell them when and where you need to connect with them. Consider it a little contract between you and them. Of course, sometimes the universe wants to scream something at you and some messages will pop up out of the blue, but that’s not the rule.”
