Lights of Spirit

Lights of Spirit: Questions of the Paranormal-Spiritual Connection
by Robert Hughey

The story of the Mothman is of a cryptid in West Virginia that has inspired a lot of paranormal fiction and discussion. As with any sighting of mysterious creatures or folkloric beings, there tends to be a wealth of anecdotal evidence but a dearth of video, photo, or scientific evidence. There are first-hand accounts of sightings, but there aren’t photos or videos of these sightings.

The Mothman was said to be a humanoid creature with wings, glowing red eyes, who flew like a moth. At the time of the sightings, there were also many UFO sightings, including supposed sightings of the Mothman entering and exiting UFOs, leading many believers to speculate that the Mothman was some sort of extraterrestrial visitor. Those who sighted the Mothman frequently went on to have explosive spiritual awakening of a paranormal nature; they became psychic mediums, able to interact with spirits and the unseen, some began channeling messages from higher beings. This phenomenon made this area of West Virginia a hotbed for paranormality, attracting visitors and inspiring books, television shows, and movies.

I’m interested because I have my own anecdotal evidence to this phenomenon. Over a decade ago, I had a blog on UFO and alien sightings that I started from my interest in science fiction and hidden sciences. I began seeing strange lights in the skies soon after the blog became popular, and soon after I too experienced a sort of explosive spiritual awakening. My whole worldview shifted away from the organized religion I was taught as a young Evangelical, growing instead to an interest in polytheism, magick practice, meditation, rituals, and expanded consciousness with eventual clairvoyant and clairaudient experiences. 

What I take from this phenomenon is mostly more questions than answers, but one big question I still muse about frequently is to wonder if focusing on higher beings such as supposed extraterrestrials (or a Mothman) that exist in higher dimensions might be a catalyst for a human being to be thrust into a variant of the typical spiritual experience. Maybe sightings of what is usually “up there but unseen” unlocks something inside of us. If we spend energy wondering about them, maybe their attention will soon follow, leading to a desire for experiences to elevate or expand normal consciousness, which is a common interest of those on the spiritual path.

My own writing in the paranormal is a direct result of my own paranormal spiritual awakening. Before I began writing paranormal fiction and poetry, I wrote in the Inspirational genre, most interested in my spirituality as related to my Evangelical upbringing. But when I suddenly found myself catapulted into more alternative experiences, I embraced them completely – becoming a woo-woo crystal meditation fifth dimension psychic medium who writes about ghosts, shapeshifters, cryptids and magick.

I still see lights in the skies quite frequently, but now I just take it as a reminder to get my daily meditation done. I figure if “they” have much else to say, they can come knock on my door and come in for a cup of coffee like any other friendly neighbor.