One of the things I love about doing psychic fairs is that I get to have interesting conversations about the strangest things. This past weekend, I sat at my table in between readings, taking a breather, when I teased a woman shopping for crystals at the booth next to mine. Between her thumb and forefinger, she was rubbing a small peach-colored stone that had been carved into a bowl. She continued touching it while her gaze took in the other stones around her. When I asked her if she was a crystal person, she laughed and asked how I figured that out as she continued handling the mini stone bowl.

She mentioned that she was looking for more stones to put in her bedroom for her altar. I wasn’t surprised, as it’s not uncommon for people to have altars. They are a part of many traditions and cultures as well as belief systems. I don’t have one, but I know people who do. Often they are adorned with things that have meaning to the person putting it together. The things they put on them vary, stones, dirt, feathers, photos, crystals, salt, other spices, clothing, alcohol, etc. The list is endless. It depends on what or who the altar stands for or honors.

The lady I spoke to also mentioned that she owned dolls. She said that she intended to put some of her new crystals near the dolls that she also had in her room. I shuddered and said that I didn’t like dolls, then went on to tell her why. Some people think dolls are creepy, and with some of them, I do too. It depends. Most dolls don’t bother me, but occasionally, I walk past one that gives me the shivers. I told the woman I spoke to that the reason I don’t like dolls is because they can hold energy. Keep in mind that every piece of furniture in your house can hold energy as well, but with dolls, it’s different. They are human-like in appearance and, therefore, can attract human or human-like entities to inhabit them. If you’re not familiar with how that works, look up the story of the doll named Annabelle that Ed and Lorraine Warren introduced to the world. In short, ghosts can inhabit dolls, and negative entities can inhabit dolls. In my humble opinion, one should NEVER have dolls in the room you sleep in.

We are most vulnerable when we’re sleeping, which is usually at night, while the entities are the strongest and most likely to attack. I told the woman that the problem with dolls is that they start off energetically “empty.” That’s like a vacant house to a squatter. It allows anyone or anything that wants a new “body” to move in. Depending on how strong the entity or ghost is, it can take control of the doll and actually move it around the room. I’ve read stories, not sure if they’re true, about people going to bed with the doll in one place and waking up the next day with the doll someplace else. This is why the doll that sits on a shelf that’s popular around Christmas time gives me the heebie-jeebies.

The woman I spoke with stared at me with her mouth open, not believing what I was saying to her. I went on to tell her that there are a lot of ghosts running around who know they’re dead but are refusing to cross over for various reasons and decide that inhabiting a doll is better than continuing their afterlife journey. It gives them a place to stay either permanent or temporary. Permanent meaning they will stay with the doll over time. It’s possible that they get to stay with a person or family for a long time and, with time, may be able to exert influence over the family. They usually target the weakest or youngest members of the family which are usually children. Keep in mind that this is a ghost. Ghosts who stay too long often get corrupted and decide they are tired of living in an inanimate object and want to move to one of the living, breathing inhabitants they have nearby. In other words, they want to possess a living person and live again. As far as negative entities are concerned, it’s even worse. They can influence family members to cause harm to themselves or to others.

My advice to her was to clear her dolls and then fill them with high-vibration/good/joyful energy. This fills the space, making it impossible for anything negative to move in and influence her and her family. Having clean and charged crystals around them will help keep them clean and clear of any unwanted energies. She thanked me profusely for the advice and said I had given her a lot to think about when she next thought about purchasing a doll.

I mentioned masks in the title. I don’t really like those either. There are cultures and traditions where that is the point of the mask. The person who wears the mask becomes the conduit for the God or Goddess or Spirit Animal the mask represents. Ceremonial masks are cared for in the traditional way to ensure that they are energetically protected from corruption and ensure the connection to the deity is maintained. Those are not the masks I’m talking about. There are masks of all kinds, from Carnivale to Halloween. Like dolls, most masks don’t bother me, but I have walked up to masks that had something living in them and stared at the essence of what was there. When someone puts an “occupied” mask over their face, it gives whatever is there an opportunity to step into the person wearing the mask. If that is the plan, as with a ceremonial mask, it’s fine. If it’s something the person wasn’t aware of, that’s not good. I had a friend who loved masks and had them all over his house. He was a hoarder, so he had them on just about every inch of wall space. Were some of them “occupied?” Yes, and I told him so. He chose not to do anything about it. For this reason and many others, we are no longer friends.

Then there are the masks that are placed over the faces of the dead before burial. Some native tribes keep this tradition. They are meant to hold the souls of the dead. Some of those masks have made their way onto the open market and scooped up by collectors. From the standpoint of being a native Hawaiian, that’s asking for trouble. In my culture, you would never take anything that was buried with someone and do anything with it but leave it right where it was. To do otherwise would leave you open to all kinds of supernatural issues that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, but to each their own.

Dolls are not bad, neither are masks, but they can hold the essence of a spirit. Most good spirits will continue the journey of their soul, not inhabit something else to stall the process. If you happen to look into the eyes and see or sense something looking back at you, it’s probably not good. This is why I don’t like dolls or masks.