Why Some Places Feel More Haunted {& New Orleans Trip Share}
Apr 24, 2023Did you know that residual energy and emotions can "build up" in a place over time? Why do some places seem to have more "spirit energy" than others? Let's dive into how & why. Plus, I'm sharing all about my recent trip to one of the most haunted cities in the U.S., New Orleans, Louisiana. Some of my favorite spots and an unexpected spirit experience I had while there.
Show Notes:
Get details and Tickets for the upcoming Live Zoom Demonstration of Mediumship here: https://www.joyfulmedium.com/Events
Here's a list of all the places I mentioned
Muriel's at Jackson Square (the place with the Seance Lounge): https://muriels.com
Antoinne's: https://antoines.com
Cemetery No. 1: https://www.frenchquarter.com/st-louis-cemetery-no-1/
Marie Laveau: https://64parishes.org/entry/marie-laveau-2
https://voodooneworleans.com
Carrousel Bar and Lounge inside the Hotel Monteleone: https://www.hotelmonteleone.com/entertainment/carousel-bar/
Jackson Square New Orleans: https://www.neworleans.com/listing/jackson-square/32150/
Voodoo Authentic, New Orleans, French Quarter: https://www.voodooshop.com
Bourbon Street New Orleans: https://www.neworleans.com/plan/streets/bourbon-street/
Madame Delphine LaLaurie: https://64parishes.org/mistress-haunted-house
POST Note: As I was looking for the above links I discovered than an episode of American Horror Story features the story of Madame LaLaurie, I will include the link here: https://americanhorrorstory.fandom.com/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey beautiful soul Welcome to spirits speakeasy. I'm Joy Giovanni joyful medium. I'm a working psychic, medium energy healer and spiritual gifts mentor. This podcast is like a seat at the table in a secret club, but with mediums, mystics and the spiritual luminaries of our time. So come behind the velvet ropes with me and see inside my world is I chat insider style with profoundly different souls. We go deep share juicy stories laugh a lot, and it wouldn't be a speakeasy without great insider secrets and tips. You might even learn that you have some gifts of your own. So step inside the spirit speakeasy. Hey, beautiful souls. And welcome to another episode of spirit speakeasy. If you are a returning friend of the podcast, I'm so happy to have you here with me. If you're listening for the first time, get excited, this is going to be a fun one. We are going to be talking today about a trip that I recently took to New Orleans, Louisiana, which is often considered one of the most haunted cities. And so I want to talk to you a little bit about my trip I'm going to share. And also I want to address a frequent question that I get asked a lot and did get asked a lot while we were there. Why do some places feel or seem or have a reputation for being more haunted than other places? I have some answers and some thoughts about that. So buckle up, I do have a quick announcement. Before we dive in. I have a new event coming up on May 13. With my dear friend and colleague Kelly Fisher, who's a fantastic medium, we're going to be doing a group demonstration of mediumship live on Zoom, you can get tickets at my website joyful medium.com. In the events section, it's right there, there is a limited quantity available. So if you have never been to a demonstration of mediumship or if you've been to 100 there will be something for everyone. Many of the attendees I was gonna say participants, but attendees will receive personal messages and details from their own loved ones in spirit world. But even those that don't will be touched by the messages and information that come through. So get tickets for that I'm super excited about it. It's coming up may 13, which is a Saturday, it's going to be 10:30am Pacific 1:30pm Eastern live on Zoom, you can get all the details and tickets at my website joyful medium.com in the events section. So I hope you can make it I'm looking forward to seeing so many of you there. So I do want to talk about the trip, I'm going to share some details. I'm going to let you know where we went and what we did and all the things maybe not all the things, lots of the things. And then I also want to touch on, you know, one of the most frequently asked questions I get as a medium, but also, my bestie kind of was letting some people know that I was a medium when we were traveling and love. Lots of people did ask me, you know, why is this city? So haunted? Do you feel this city is so haunted, so I'm going to talk all about that. First, I have to say that if you've never been to New Orleans, this trip, we really focused on the French Quarter, we stayed in the French Quarter for our lodging, and then also most of our time, like 99% of our time we were in the French Quarter proper itself. Just you know, tooling around is the way I like to say it, seeing the places we wanted to see and then stumbling on gems that we never didn't necessarily plan to see. So that was lots of fun. I have been to New Orleans before I find it to be a really special city. I think the people are really friendly. I think there's so much history there and so much to see. There's an incredible vibe there. If you love music of any kind, especially jazz that is by the plenty there. There's so much amazing live music to see both in formal, like locations, you know, restaurants, clubs, bars, that kind of thing. But also just on the street, there are so many talented, gifted, beautiful, amazing street performers there. So if you've never been, you're missing out, I will tell you that when we were doing research about going there, my best friend had some places that she was wanting to see, I was having some places that I was curious about that I hadn't gotten to see yet. So we did make a little bit of like an itinerary or plan we had a couple of reservations, but for the most part, we were just flying by the seat of our pants, so to speak, and having an easy time. We were only there for a few days. So we didn't get to see all the things so this by no means is like an inclusive list of what to see. It's just what we had time to see on this trip and I'm gonna go through some of the places with you and tell you you know my humaneness variants there, and then my experience there as a medium, which can be a little bit different. So, that being said, I will tell you when I was looking at hotels, and we were talking about where are we going to stay? Where do we want to stay, every place that I saw claims to be haunted by a spirit person of some kind. So I do, of course, there are people from the past that created these places, and most of the places in New Orleans, the French Quarter, in particular, have been many different things over the years. So just like you would imagine, in any old big city, you know, the buildings get repurposed, they used to be one thing, and now there's something else the land that they were built on was something else. Different things happen there over the years. And there are so many layers of history and change, and emotion in New Orleans as a whole. And then in the individual places there. So there's lots of energy to feel and be aware of, if you are sensitive to it, and if you choose, but the thing to know is, you know, just like I always talk about I wouldn't expect the quote unquote, haunted experience to be totally palpable to your five senses, meaning like, it's not like ghosts are gonna jump out at you or, you know, it's just not really a thing. So I will talk a little bit about some of the places that are you have some history that we did visit and some other places, we had just such a great time moving through the city, I will tell you, one of the things that we wanted to see was cemetery number one, I can I'm kind of interested in cemeteries, I have to tell you, though, the Spirit people like the people who have been placed in the cemeteries, while their physical body is there was there the remains of their physical body or their, their soul is not in the ground bound to that place. So you would be as likely to communicate with, you know, a spirit person, your grandma, anyone anywhere else, as as much so as a resting place, like a cemetery. However, I just really always love the stones, I love the statues there, I love to see and feel, you know what I can in historic cemeteries, I just find all kinds of interesting. But you can you can feel spirit everywhere. It doesn't have to be in a cemetery. Something that was surprising, we went to the cemetery thought we were going to be able to get in and tour and see, and we couldn't. So they've changed the rules there since the last time I was there, which was quite some time ago. Sadly, mainly because of people not respecting, you know, a sacred space. And so they had to limit there are lots of cameras there high walls that have seemed, you know, have been there for a long time, but they no longer just let people tour through. So you do have to be a part of a tour group, those do book up in advance, we didn't think we were going to need to book a tour. And quite honestly, I didn't want to do a really planned tour of the whole city. So I also have just sidenote, I'm sure I'm gonna offend some people with us. So apologize in advance. I'm not crazy about the horse drawn carriages and stuff, I actually could pretty strongly feel the energy of several of those horses hot and tired and you know, so I just wasn't it was something I chose to do. So we didn't actually get to go inside the cemetery. We did walk all the way around the borders. And you can see lots of pictures of it online, who I was hoping to greet the resting place of was a woman named Marie Laveau. Now she is a famous, well respected, adored, loved, revered voodoo priestess from that area. We didn't get to go to her resting place, but we did get to go to her store there, there is a store that they still keep in her name. And that was really cool to see. So if you're ever there, you could check it out. She just is. For me. I also like to research the people that I'm interested in. So I recommend researching her if you're interested. She just is a very well respected, highly regarded, almost to the level of like a sainthood
among people that know her or follow her or from that area. Certainly so her name was Marie Laveau, but we did get to see her shop like I said, Of course, it's modernized so much since then, but you know, it was just kind of fun to see and I do want to give a little special shout out to a place called voodoo authentic ah, that is where I ended up purchasing a couple of things for myself. But all of these shops are so fun to just see and look around and see the different workings they have and what they have In these places, I actually didn't end up getting any readings. While I was there, I thought I might. But then I just didn't feel drawn to anyone I didn't I mean, like not giving readings, but like receiving a reading myself, I didn't really feel necessarily drawn to do that in the moment, although I think it's fun. And sometimes I will, I do tend to like to research my readers though, like, I want to make sure it's someone that is like legitimate and valid and, and all of that, I'll tell you about a few more places that we saw, just because I know a lot of you were interested in like what we saw on did and where we went. The French Quarter itself has so much history, many, many layers, like I was saying of history and emotion. So even just walking around, you know, you're walking on brick sidewalks most of the time, and you're able to see all of the, they're kind of famous for these beautiful buildings with these balconies with really ornate iron work around them. And then often there are plants or moss hanging and their multistoried. So get to see all these kind of iron work porches on top of each other with the beautiful flowers and greenery. And sometimes it's just the architecture alone. So that is around every corner when you're there. Just to just to see, they still have horse posts, lots of places on the streets, which is like an actual metal, like iron pole that's in the ground with a little horse head on top, where back in the day they used to change is not the right way to say it, but they would, you know, leave their horse or CART there while they would go inside. So it's kind of like a parking space for your horse, I guess. But you'd have to tether them in some way to this holding space so that they didn't just wander away. So those are still there. So there's so much that still present. But there's so much emotion that is still present. That place has been so many iterations of things. There have been horrible atrocities there. There have been amazing
evolutions there, I want to say so a couple other places. I'm going to go through a few places kind of quickly. And then I did have a little bit of an experience unintentionally in one place that I'm going to tell you about. So we did go to a really cool place if you're on any of my social media. At joyful medium, particularly my Instagram page, we posted a picture and it's all red, it looks like it actually the room itself is red. It's it's this really cool place called miracles. At Jackson Square, it's a restaurant and they have a bar inside. And upstairs in this restaurant. There's the whole second floor they call it the seance lounge it's all read which I thought was kind of cool. I don't even know if everyone knows why it would be read but when you're doing physical mediumship in the red light is the easiest way to see experience the energy of Spirit the it sometimes appears to the eye as like a little bit of a fog when someone is doing physical mediumship and that's more of channeling bringing through messages of spirit and more of a direct voice way rather than loved ones in the spirit world. It's like a little bit of a different thing. But that red light is really significant. And that is the way that they do seances is in that red light. It's not to make it spooky. Although it does have a little bit of a an etheric a different feel to it. But it really is because if the it's technically it's called ectoplasm which I know is such a weird word so I don't love using it but in the work that is what they call it. You can search for it and you will see from the quote unquote seances of old sometimes you can see this looks like a fog almost and sometimes it looks a little thicker and sometimes it looks a little thinner. I've actually done channeled experiences, trance mediumship experiences where the others present could see that fog that mist and that is part of the experience when you do it is that others in the room need to actually also see with their human physical eyes this mist we can actually have a whole topic on a different day but this place has the seance lounge upstairs that's all red. It's decorated really cool. So if you haven't seen that photo, you can go see a photo of me there. It was just a photo my best friend took. We're just kind of hanging out. being silly up in that lounge. So we went there twice. We went there for dinner one day we had reservations and couldn't go upstairs because they were having a like a wedding party or something and then stopped in another day and did get to go up there. There's also this special table there that you can reserve. It's kind of between the main dining area and the seance lounge just before you go up the stairs to head upstairs. And it's it's they call it their haunted table. We actually didn't book that table someone had kind of recommended against it. But then when we saw it, we almost wished that we did because it's just tucked away in a very special place. And it's a way like I said from the main dining room from the hustle And bustles so perhaps you might be able to sense or experience a little bit more of the subtle energies of the spirit world they are, it is sometimes a little bit hard to feel all the things when there's a big crowd around. So that was a really fun place that I highly recommend visiting. If you get the chance. Shout out to them. We had it, we had a great time there. And just so you know, all these places that I'm mentioning, I will put the links and the names in the show notes in case you want to see the place or in case you ever make it to New Orleans and want to see some cool places. Another place that we had reservations for was called Antoine and they are famous for their Jazz brunch, which did not disappoint. I think it was Sunday, when we were there. There was this most incredible server waiter, I don't know what I don't know the best PC word for that right now. He has been there so many years. His name was Mr. Murphy. And actually his daughter was working beside him as his helper. And it's an incredible place. The Jazz was amazing. The musicians were great. We had great food and a great time. And that place is very historic too. And when you're sitting in there, there are pictures lining all of the walls of every everyone from like celebrities to diplomats to presidents. Some of them even with letters, there's a lot of history there. So you could even if you do have a reservation, I do recommend reservations for most of these places. You can walk all around and see all of the history kind of on the walls there. So that's kind of fun. If you take some extra time to do that we had a really great time. There. I wouldn't necessarily say I felt it haunted. But there were some places that we didn't get to check out in that spot that I really wanted to there's like a special wine cellar type room in the back. But there was kind of a, an influential, famous person of New Orleans was there and so they had it closed off. And we didn't get to, we actually didn't get to go in there and see it but I wanted to but I highly recommend that place. We had a great time. There's lots of lots of history there. A couple other quick places I will mention carousel bar was really fun. It's inside the hotel Monte Leon we walked around quite a bit looking for it. It's literally a carousel inside this lounge. And the seats spin around a bar very slowly. So people don't necessarily feel like they're moving. I didn't want to sit at the rotating carousel bar. But I wanted to sit you know, to the side of it in the lounge so you could see it so you have a full view of it. So that's kind of a fun place to stop into as well. The cool thing about the French Quarter is when you're wandering around, sometimes just gazing off to the side, you'll see back in the buildings, you know the brick buildings, there's like a little walkway and you'll see a courtyard just kind of spread out back there. And some of these courtyards have restaurants in them. So we did come across a really cool place called Sylvain that we found totally by accident, and had some great food and fun there and got you know, everyone there, like I was saying is so friendly, and we'll give recommendations of other places to check out. They'll give you you know, places they love to go the places locals go. We didn't have time to check out all of the live music scene. We didn't even actually get to see much of it just because we're on such a short timeline. But there are tons of places that have live music like I was saying, Jackson squares really fun. That is where they have artists outside and you can walk all the way around it. It's a pretty big, almost like a town center, big green grassy Park. That is where the famous venue places. For those of you that know me, I'm gluten free, so I can't eat those venues. But there is somewhere else that makes them rice flour. If that's something you're looking for, you can find it there as well. The Square itself on the weekends has performers and artists. And it's local artists that have there are pieces, so paintings and drawings and everything in between. And it's just so wonderful to get to see all of their work all over their creativity. We did wander a bit outside of like the main touristy area of the French Quarter to see some of the homes that were there. And it was so incredible. And just along the way, sometimes you'll see an artist with an easel sitting just on the sidewalk and drawing sketching all of the beautiful banyan trees that are there all of the incredible buildings you know, so it is a really art see artist community. There are tons of galleries there. So if that's your thing you can see artists that are Gallery level, you know, that are being shown in actual art galleries or you can see street artists, everything in between street performers, and that is in the daytime. So that's different than the police. Everyone thinks up with New Orleans, which is Bourbon Street, which is where like Mardi Gras happens, and it's like the big party Street. We didn't spend a whole ton of time there. I'm kind of at eight to the stage in my life where I've like Been there, done that a little bit, I have been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in the past in my 20s. And even then, even then it was like maybe a little too crazy of a party. For me. I don't love it so rowdy that I don't know, I like a little bit of personal space, but it's so vibrant, even just walking down the street, you don't even have to go into any of the places if you don't want but just walking down the street, seeing all of the performers, and all of the music and, and all of the people and music coming out from different places. And so it is a lot of fun. I think those are all the places that I wanted to make sure I mentioned that we had a lot of fun in and just you know just to see around. But there are so many places that we just dipped into because you're just walking around and you can just dip in for, you know, a nice tea or a drink or a snack, you can dip into all these little stores and galleries. So really, I prefer to not be on kind of a tight touristy timeline. But again, I have been there before. Now, one of the funny things is I was so curious to see if I was going to have any like spirit experiences I was available for it. I'll tell you, most of you. I think if you've been with me at all, you know this, I'm not necessarily quote unquote picking up on or aware of everyone's spirit people as I go, there were a couple places that we were that I did become aware of spirit people, some of it was loved ones, like one of the wonderful servers that we had, they had a partner and spirit that I became aware of I don't really do on the spot readings like that, because here's why.
In the work, we call it an ambush reading. The reason you don't do that is like a this person is at their job. They don't want to cry when they're on their shift in the middle of like serving all these tables, for example, you don't know if they're ready to hear from that person, you don't know if if it's against their belief system, you don't know if it's okay with them. So there's a level of consent and reverence with the spirit world. And just because I'm aware of a person are aware of information about their life doesn't make it okay for me to say it, do you know what I mean? So, in that way, I was a little bit aware of like, sometimes someone's spirit people or that they had lost someone, but that I usually kind of keep to myself, that happens once in a blue moon for me when I'm out. But for the most part, I'm able to focus my attention here in the physical world when I'm, you know, being my regular self, and to the spirit world when I'm my quote unquote, working self when I'm being a medium, right. So, in that way, I, you know, I was aware of spirit a little bit, but we all have our own spirit people hanging out with us all the time going, where we go, you know, being with us saying hello, spending time with us. So that's always a thing no matter where we are, right. So that's the that's the level of spirit that is like spirit people that are with the people that are still here, grandmas and grandpas, and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and mums and dads and all that. I did have an unusual, spontaneous experience. So remember, I was saying we were kind of walking a bit out of the French Quarter a little more into a residential type area where there were just beautiful homes, and then there would be a home that you know, had had really not been taken care of that was just starting to be rebuilt. And then there'd be another home that was you know, could use some TLC and then there'd be just a gorgeous like palatial home that was very well curated, and, and taken care of. So we are getting to see lots of things on our way to that part of town. We were walking there, you know. So it's like, you're just kind of wandering, walking and knowing okay, we're going in that direction. And then when we start to see these houses, we'll know that we're there. Well, we unintentionally passed this house that I had read about on line called the LaLaurie house. That is a very famous, haunted quote unquote place but in like a torturous way. There's some terrible things that went on there. The woman of the house was rich and wealthy at that time, her family also owned a plantation. This was like a house or school that she had. And she did some really abusive and terrible things to the people that were there with her. Now, because I know I'm energetically sensitive. I don't want to get like bummed out or feel that sad energy or that hurtful energy. I didn't intend to see that place at all and actually had a friend that was like, Don't go there. And I was like, Yeah, we're not planning to, but we walked by it unintentionally. The only reason I even recognized where we were is because there was a gentleman doing a tour group who, who we kind of had stopped to look at the house. I just felt like I wanted to stop and look at it and it doesn't look like a house. It just looks like a building. I think it's three storeys but it's pretty on the outside architecturally like a lot of the buildings there like we've isn't talking about. So I kind of stopped, I started to feel some emotion kind of bubbling in me, I knew it wasn't my emotion, I knew it was just I was being aware of something in this space. And this place on this corner of this street. I did hear the gentleman doing the tour mention LaLaurie house, and I was like, okay, know what this is, I did take a couple pictures of the outside, you can't go into any of these places. So it is a lot of looking from the outside. But we stood there for just a couple minutes. I mean, it wasn't a long time, it was just a couple minutes, just taking it in. And I you guys, some of you know, I'm a healer as well. So I was just sending some healing and some love to the many layers of energy that were there. And I'm gonna talk about that a little bit more in a minute. And then we just kind of went on about our day. And it wasn't until the next. You know, that night when I was sleeping i I only slept for a short time that day, I woke up after like a couple hours and then was really up on and off all night. So I did decide to sit and meditate for a while, which sometimes I will do if I can't fall back asleep, I'll just sit up and say like, Alright, I'm just gonna meditate for an hour, which is kind of my normal amount of time. And then I'll see if I feel tired by that and can go back to sleep. So as I'm meditating, I my attention was drawn to that house again, Malala rehouse and Madame LaLaurie. And I started to get some flashes of images in my clairvoyance, like in my mind's eye, almost like when you're remembering what you did that day. And so that was happening for me, and some of them are disturbing. And I just kind of was making a mental note, you know, like I said, she was pretty abusive, and did some human experiment type stuff, I'm not gonna go into it to be too triggering or graphic for anyone, you can look it up if you want. And so I started getting a little bit of deeper information or deeper understanding and images of what was going on there. It wasn't disturbing, it was fine. It just wasn't something I was expecting, or like intentionally trying to put my awareness on. So that happened, that was kind of interesting. I did make some mental notes, and then look up later, or check in with someone that I knew, knew more about that property later. And in fact, some of the things that I was seeing are known to have happened. And then some of them were like, sort of, I'll just say bad things that happened like to the next degree. So that was interesting. It wasn't something I intended to happen, like I said, also wasn't scary, didn't feel intimidating. But was an unusual thing that I that I kind of wasn't expecting. So we were there, like I said, just for a few days. And actually, while we were there, we were mostly focused on having a good time, right? That second time that we went to that seance lounge that I was mentioning, it was kind of quiet up there. And we ended up making some friends with some people who were also there who stopped through, they were there for a film festival. And we were all chatting. And they had asked me at that time, you know, they're asking, my friend told them I was a medium, which I don't often tell people actually when I'm out and about just because it you know, it can be taken a lot of ways it's a joke. And sometimes I'd say sometimes it's the fastest way to like not have your Uber driver talk to you. But sometimes it makes them want to talk to you a whole lot more and take you on a longer route. So I don't know, I don't always share that about myself. I don't mind it being shared, but I just don't always share it and mix company. So they were kind of asking me some questions, which is interesting. They were asking, you know, did I feel like this place was more haunted or more energetic than other places? The answer for me is No, not necessarily in that way. So I personally in historic cities, like New Orleans, like Boston, where I'm from, like a city like New York that has a lot of history, right, a lot of different iterations, a lot of different things have happened. It's almost the sense that there are these energetic residues almost left in layers, that's the way I feel it. So a place like that, that, you know, in the worst of it was the hub of the slave trade at one time, just so terrible. So imagine the terrible emotions and acts and actions and the way it was. So that layers there at the at the very saddest end of the spectrum. And then there's all the vibrant music, all the artists, all the people that lived there, all their complicated lives. And this isn't always famous people that we're aware of. Right? It's just regular people living their regular lives through human history. But if a place has had a lot of history, particularly a lot of history with deep emotion, the residue the stain for examples, another word we can use is left on that place over time, there's an experiment that I've seen done a few different times by some different tutors, teachers that I have had and we play with it. Sometimes there's a way of doing a reading, where I've I've seen in person, both Andy Bing and Mavis patella do that God rest her soul. And really what it is, is the medium leaves the room, right goes outside, they say someone, you know, when I leave one of you in this room in this class, go up, sit in the seat at the front sit there for a couple minutes. I've also seen it done where they like hold an object like a rose, like hold this rose if there if you got if you got a flower. And then when you're done, put the rose on the chair, or leave the chair, go back to your seat. And I will come in and do a reading for about whoever just sat on that space. And I've seen it done successfully several times. And we can do that. So then the medium comes in, sits in the chair tunes into the energy, the residual energy left behind by the person that was just sitting there, the person that was just holding the object, and can do a reading, understanding information about that person. It is why residual energy of people is carried in physical items. So like some people don't like to like it's used, it's a superstition, it used to be thought like bad luck to let someone else try on your jewelry, because you're gonna get their energy on it or to,
to let someone borrow your things because they're putting their energy on it. That's true, it's not necessarily a bad thing or like something you need to do something about. But items do carry energy, it doesn't make the item like quote unquote, haunted, it just means that there's an energetic signature left over time. Now if it's a place like, like I was saying that has a deep history, and many, many iterations, like a French Quarter, for example, or like Boston, or even here where I am in Southern California, there's a level of it. If you're sensitive, you can feel the layers of energy and emotion. It's it's not the same as going into like a house that's brand new that no one's ever lived in. That's no one's ever been in. Of course, you could, if you're sensitive enough, you could turn tune into the energy of that land, because most likely someone inhabited that land before the house was built there. But that you know, the house itself, since no one's lived there, you know, it was just built, there's not a ton of residual energy that's behind in that place, necessarily. So that is why places that are like historic, feel different energetically, maybe a little bit aged energetically. They're just layers of emotion, energy, the things that happen, the story of people's lives, that are almost like etched into the energetic fabric of that place. I don't know if you've ever had this experience, I would love it. If you in the comments would if you can find comments, let me know if you've ever had this experience. But if a place is old, and has had a lot of energy, a lot of people through there a lot of it's sometimes people feel as in hospitals, too, because there's been a lot of emotion, a lot of energy a lot of people through. So do I feel it differently in a place like New Orleans? Yes, in that the energy is so layered and that there are so many, so much history and so much emotional history of all the people that have passed through and inhabited and spent time in and sometimes even spilled blood or tears in those places. So yes, that all leaves residual layers of energy, almost like if you paint the same wall over and over for every person that's lived there been there. All that other paint is still there. It's not necessarily what you see or feel on top, but it's under there. So that is how that works for me. The other thing is I don't, it's not let me just say let me just speak from my experience. It's not my experience for places to be quote unquote, haunted in the way that media talks about it. A lot of times the spirits are the spirit people that we feel in places our own loved ones. So everyone's loved ones on the spirit world come and visit them and spend time with them even ancestral loved ones that you may or may not have known Right? Or ancestors. We talked about this in the episode with Sharon, the episode about, you know, the ancestral realms, if it's, for example, like I'm a medium, all of my medium ancestors, so those that have come before me in this work, they might have an interest in what I'm doing, they might want to check on me or spend time with me or help me or inspire me or support me in some way. Same for all mediums. Same if you're a plumber, there might be generations of plumbers paths that are in spirit now that are on your team that will come and help you and spend time with you. So that's one layer of the energy that's happening. And along with that If something is like an architectural building, for example, and there was an architect of that design to that place, or someone that lived in that home and loved it, they can still visit that place doesn't mean they're stuck there in the way that we think of it or like bound to that place haunting it, ooh, scary, can't leave. It's not like that. But of course, they have the freewill and the ability to continue to visit places of interest to them, there might be a place that you love, or that you spend a lot of time in, or that you have many memories or cared for, or have an interest in that one day, 100 years from now, when you're in the spirit world that you might want to come back and visit. And certainly you can, and maybe people here will think it is haunted by you. But in fact, you can come and go as you please. So for me, I don't feel like places are haunted in a scary way. Although I do believe that spirits of any generation that have an interest in that place can continue to visit it spend time there be there whenever they want. So, of course, in a place that has rich deep history and emotion like New Orleans, there are a lot of spirit people, I'm sure that still have interest in what is going on with that place. So why wouldn't they be there visiting, but I didn't have an experience. As far as like, we see in the movies of like haunted ghost hotel, kind of a thing not like that, I am going to do an episode for you guys. I think very soon, about a CES gonna sound maybe a little wacky, but maybe not to some of you about a spirit person that spends time in my home that is not one of my relatives that I have communicated with several times, the way I like to do it is communicate with them media mystically receive information there. In that episode, I'll tell you exactly how I do it. But I like to get bits of information that I can actually validate some of it either like historical facts or data that I can can look and validate to know if I'm on the right track with it, because it's a little bit different than mediumship, where I'm giving a reading. And you know, it's someone's mom, and they're sitting in the room and I can say oh, your mom was like this, her personality is like this. She has the memory of going on this cruise here, you know, like concrete data that the person who's my client in the room or on the Zoom Room can say yes, that's true. Yes, that's true. Yes, I understand that. That's the validation. Now if I'm working with you know, like when I was receiving data or information communication about that LaLaurie house, not not lottery. Yeah, the lottery house, not the limbo house, Marie Laveau is the Voodoo priestess, Madame LaLaurie is the one where the scary stuff happened. So when I'm receiving information like that, I do set the intention that some of the information will be able to be validated through research, because that is just who I am. I like some practical validation. So that was cool that the information that I did get in that little meditation, I was able to validate, and it was, in that case, some torturous things. Now, I didn't feel tortured by it. I just was aware of torturous and terrible things that happened in this place in a way that I hadn't been aware of. And then I could look online, and the data was there and information was there and certain things were in the way that I understood them. And so that validates that okay, what I was receiving was real was correct, not made up by my mind, right. So that is where the validations important. Now, there are people who have interest, like I was saying, in historic places in hotels, it's not always because they died there. Although it could be sometimes it is, it doesn't mean like that's the whole reason they were interested in that in the place. If they died, they're probably they lived there, or they had some other reason to be there. There's a place here in San Diego that I actually haven't spent a lot of time at that was one of the first courthouses and they actually did a form of execution there. And so you know, yes, those people there are certain people that died to there that might be revisiting it but also they perhaps were imprisoned there, they went to trial there, they you know, there are a lot of other elements of the emotion that that are there. So it's not always all about the death to be honest. And a lot of times with spirit communication, especially with a spirit person who's not like related to you or in your life, you know, a person who the way I say it's not quite right, but it's the person who goes to the place. So if it's a person, I'm going to use a hotel, for example, I think it's the easiest, like if someone is in a hotel that is known to be haunted, and they say there's a lot of activity in the hotel we were at. It was a lot of activities supposed to be on the sixth floor. So yeah, that can be true. but it doesn't necessarily have to mean it's scary. It doesn't have to necessarily mean it's that person died there or wants to talk about their death. Sometimes they want to talk about or share about or communicate about, like, Hey, I built this place, or I designed this place, or I used to live on this floor, or this is where my business was, or these are the emotions I have about what has happened here since or how this place has changed. Or, I have some feelings about the person I was in life when I did live here 100 years ago, 200 years ago, and now I understand differently. So there can be a lot of reasons that a spirit person is there to say hello. And sometimes, if you're mediumistic, they're saying hello, just because they can just because they're like, I feel like they can recognize those of us that have sensitivity to communicate, and they're like, Oh, she she can feel us or she'll be able to see or sense or be aware of us like say hi to her kind of a thing. So don't take it as a bad thing. You can also say no thank you if you are not interested in being communicated with so just know there's not you know, doesn't like have to be scary. Sometimes it's layers of human emotion in that place. Like if it's a place that people go to tour that is said to be haunted and a lot of people are scared to go like when they get there they're scared because of the story because of the
this it's really sensationalism is what I want to say. And so they're coming in with that jittery, scared, oh, what's gonna happen here emotion, it's usually the human emotion of humans from this side. But like I was saying, emotion can color stain be embedded in remain in layer in a place it's it is what happens. So it is one of the reasons that a lot of people will quote unquote, clear their jewelry, it's you're removing energy that doesn't belong to you, it doesn't mean it's bad, doesn't mean it's harmful, just not yours. And that's okay. So let me know if you have ever had an experience in a place. If you have ever felt the emotion like the residual energy or emotion in a place, there's, like I was saying hospitals are often a place where sensitives feel bogged down or emotionally overwhelmed. I don't talk about this much. But I was hospitalized several years ago, a couple times, in a serious way. And I didn't really share it with people, only a couple people knew actually one friend knew and told a couple other very close friends. And someone had messaged me and said, Are you okay? And they're like, are you feeling overwhelmed by the sadness in that hospital? I actually wasn't because like I said, I tend to more intentionally focus my energy and awareness and just not I've learned how to not let emotion into my space that doesn't belong to me that I don't want in my space. Most of the time. But so I when I read that it was a text that came in and when I read it, I was kind of like, why wasn't but now thanks I am so then I did start to feel that sadness, the grief in that place, all of the medical challenges all of the that spectrum of emotions, really the hard emotions, I did feel this place is so steeped in marinated in this, and I started to feel my own emotion be start to match that right? It's I wanted it to be so careful with language because it's not like that emotion can do anything to you if you don't allow it. And so I started to remember my training my previous training and healing and energy work and I remembered, Oh, I get to intentionally choose what emotion, what I feel in my space, my personal space bubble, my auric field, if you just done the free live workshop with me, you know what your auric field is now. But it's the emanation of your soul and the energy around you, which creates your personal space bubble, which we sometimes call an auric field. So, in that moment, as the knowledge of my training came up, I was like, Okay, well, yes, there's a lot of loss that happens in this hospital. Yes, there's a lot of sadness. Yes, there can be a lot of hard emotions here. But there are also so many healers in this building. There's also so much love here, this, this staff from you know, top to bottom show up here because they care because they want to heal, they want to help they want to do good. And so if I can feel the sadness of those who are in loss, I can feel the love of those who are here to help and support and heal and who are doing their very best and giving their heart sometimes literally in a hospital. And I shifted my awareness to tune into that emotion, and I could I did, and then I started to really feel the over Well of of love in that hospital, I was having a bit of a hard time quite frankly, I was there alone and I wasn't really wasn't really being visited, like I should have been by the people who should have been doing it. So
no hard feelings now. But it was kind of easy for me to slip into that quicksand of difficult emotion or of overwhelming sadness. But because of the training I have, we all have the ability to focus our attention, focus, our awareness, focus, our subtle sensing wherever we want. So if you are in a place, if you're ever in a place, and you don't like the emotion there, you feel like, Oh, this is a negative emotion here, or oh, I don't, there was just an argument here. Oh, this is I get it like in courthouses too. Oh, there's a lot of like, sticky, you know, kind of a more challenging spectrum of emotions here. Think about the other side of the coin. Think about the people that are that are loving that place, or the person that built that place lovingly, or the people that are there to help and support the people that are there to have the best and highest outcome, the do gooders, right the the white hats, if you will, I've just been watching. I've just been restreaming Olivia Pope. So I'm know about the white hat now. So you can refocus on to that energy, no matter where you are, no matter how tough the places where you're at, or how tough the emotions are the residual emotion in that place, you can refocus on a different, more loving, more uplifting, sustaining, or even solid, like grounding type energy. So don't feel like you have to be overwhelmed with the emotion of places, if you don't want to be you can intentionally tune into it, you can intentionally tune out of it. So that is, in a nutshell, my trip to New Orleans, I'll tell you what, I got the most out of it. Besides that, I just love the French Quarter, and the music and the vibrancy and the wonderful people there. I really got some time to reconnect with my best friend. We talk almost every day for the last like 20 something years, but it's different to be somewhere in person with someone. You know, we didn't have our kiddos with us, any of us my kids are grown now her she still has some grown in some little. But we got to be just the two of us just for a few days. And it was just such a nice time to be together, there was so much laughter We just had so much fun, we talk so easily all the time. Just about nothing really, it's not even always about something she in so many ways is a big sister to me in this life. And some of it was her, you know, big sister style kind of tell me about myself, which was much needed and much appreciated. So that time for me was just a little bit of a refocusing energetically for myself and starting to remember how much I like to have experiences, I did just share a little bit about some health challenges. And so in these last three years, things have been a little different. For me, I've been a little more cautious, a little more protective. I haven't, quite yet. I mean, obviously I just traveled but I before that I hadn't really necessarily fully immersed myself full time into the world, kind of dip my toe and pull it back, dip my toe and pull it back. And I really am ready to remember how much I love having experiences and how much I love seeing, you know, new places, and whether it's like a big trip like that, or it's just local, going to little local gym, restaurants or family owned places or parks or I forget and I can get so focused on work and I can get so comfortable just being quite honestly by myself being alone and being in my own energy and not having to feel everyone else's energy and not having to you know a lot of a lot of times we talk about how we put on a different face out in the world. So it was a great reminder for me energetically about remembering fun and amusement and remembering how much I love having colorful experiences of all kinds. So a little bit of a kick in the pants for me personally on that I do spend so much time with spirit that I wasn't necessarily desperate for a spiritual experience. Although I did set the intention that I'd like to receive some spiritual growth of some kind. And I think that's what it was for me was more about you know, they did let me know obviously because I was aware of some people's loved ones I was aware of. I did I did have to give like explanations of mediumship when my friend would tell people what I did they you know, of course people have questions. So you know, I am always in the work a little bit. But I didn't necessarily feel the haunting in the way that I think movies promises, but you really can feel the layers of emotion, residual emotion, the history, right? There's more to history than just the story of what happened, just the facts of what happened, there are all of the emotions and all of the lives of the people involved and all of the changes that any choice, you know, the ripple effect, right, that butterfly effect of any choice, any action, and you really can feel it steeped into places that have deep history, particularly deep emotional history. So I invite you to just think about places that you've been, think about places that maybe you want to go. And even in your own hometown, wherever you are, wherever you live in any country, you can feel the energy of the layers of time, right, the the many emotions that have been in that space, the many hands that have touched that construction site, for example, what the land was before, and you can even do it with wherever you are not necessarily just the buildings, but the land. Because, as we know, there were indigenous people in these lands before any of us, we are many generations forward from those people who are indigenously on any piece of land at any time. And you can feel and sense different emotions around that if you're sensitive enough, it's a practice, it's always going to be subtle. Well, always is a strong word almost always going to be very subtle. But but really, there's energy like that available all the time. And like I said, we've all got our loved ones around us, we've got ancestors of every kind, both blood ancestors and ancestors and the different works and things that we explore and experience. So I hope that you have enjoyed my little chat about the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. I love the place, I love the people, there's a vibrancy there. It's an incredibly complicated stew of emotions over the history of time in that place, though. So for me, that is the haunting that I feel in that place. It is the blood and tears and sweat that was spilled there over all the generations. It is all of the shifts in history, it is all of the impassioned, powerful, painful emotion in that place. That is the haunting for me. And it is not corralled to one location or one space or one building, it is marinated through the fabric of the energy of that place. So you can if you're sensitive or if you allow yourself to be sensitive, you can sense that depth it's almost like a thickness in me emotional residual energy in that place. And like I said, it's common to any place that's similar in the amount of emotion you know, that's been there over the years. So let me know your thoughts on this. I don't know if you guys are gonna just what's true for me. I don't know how you guys are going to feel about what I've said. But that really is the most honest and true answer and the most clear way that I can explain what happens in the haunting of places. So again, let me know your thoughts. Also, if you are enjoying this podcast, whether you are new or whether you are one of the lovies that have been with me since the beginning, if you could like subscribe or share an episode that you enjoy with a friend who you think it might resonate with or it might be of interest to them, I would really appreciate it because as you know, I set an intention to use this podcast as a community and for safe space for sharing information. So that would mean a lot to me. And I would also love it if you subscribe. That helps you because you never miss an episode and it helps me because you never miss it. So lots of love Big hugs again quick reminder group mediumship event coming up on May 13. It is inspired by Mother's Day but you don't have to be a mom to come. Although it would be a lovely gift for a mom or a representative representative of the divine feminine in the world to come with you. So it's on zoom it is may 13 you can get all the details and tickets on my website joyful medium.com under the events section right at the top of the page there's there's a list of like most of us know how to use websites now right there's the tabs at the top. It's the one that says events click on it and it will give you all the information all the detail the date the time and then I send out the Zoom link personally to everyone before the event. It is going to be so amazing. Kelly and I haven't gotten to work together in a While but free COVID We work together a lot, we actually share an office space together which I am about to head to right now for some readings, I hope you guys will be there there is just something special in the energy of group readings that is really beautiful. Even if you don't get a personal message, many people in attendance will get communication from specific loved ones of theirs in the spirit world with details and messages of love. If you are not someone who does get a message, because of course, we don't have time to guarantee messages for everybody. Although many people will get a message, your heart will still be touched in some way there still will be spirits amazing. There still will be things that resonate with you, there still will be similarities to a story you understand, and you will feel the spirit tingles and know that your loved one is also beside you saying hello. So spirits pretty incredible. I hope you will join us for this very special event. Seats are limited. Even though it's online, we have to limit it to a certain number of people so that we can work to the best of our ability with the technology that we've got. So it's going to be a really, really special event for spirit and for all of us that are there. Let me know your thoughts about the energy of places if you know an or have an understanding or resonates with you what I'm talking about about this residual energy layered over time, by emotion in places. It's a real thing. It really is pretty interesting when you dive into it. That is what I've got to say about the energy of hauntings and of places and of New Orleans and lots of love to all of the residents of New Orleans. I definitely will be back. Big hugs. Bye for now from inside the spirit speakeasy