Season of Shadows Blog

As I walked into the kitchen of the late nineteenth century home (turned restaurant), to begin my shift, I noticed an odd sensation. I felt as though I had just stepped through a portal in time. The sights and sounds from moments earlier were now completely washed away- replaced by an unfamiliar looking room with odd “decor.” There were what appeared to be fresh chicken carcasses hanging upside down from the edges of the ceiling, burlap looking bags of assorted items stacked in the corners and many varieties of tools and implements leaning against the walls. I instantly realized I was not observing the kitchen as it looked in 1992, but as the room (or whatever room was in its location) may have looked one hundred years earlier.

While I can’t be certain what I witnessed was an actual image from the home’s past, I can assure you that I did observe some form of alternate interpretation of the part of the house/restaurant I was standing in. This experience was not at all like a daydream or fantasy. It was some type of recognition and knowing that struck me at my core.

The Luna Mansion was built by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1880, as payment to Don Antonio Jose and his family for use of their land. The home enjoyed a long and thriving history in the hands of the Luna-Otero families in what is now known as Los Lunas, New Mexico. One of the mansion’s more well known inhabitants (at least in Los Lunas) was Josefita Manderfield Otero. It is believed that her ghost still roams the property to this day.

Many employees and restaurant patrons have witnessed a woman, fitting the description and known pictures of Josefita, walking through the upstairs rooms and taking rest on the vintage furniture. According to most reports, she appears very solid, not at all opaque and is typically mistaken for a restaurant customer- until closer inspection and her early twentieth century attire gives her away.

Josefita definitely adds to the allure of the restaurant, but the mansion and its grounds have a very intense draw of their own. The moment you step on the property you can feel something embedded or stored there. It’s a very interesting and unique feeling. Just a few feet from the ante-bellum columns and southern style facade lies an extremely busy thoroughfare through Los Lunas, yet on the grounds of the mansion it’s easy to forget about the traffic and lose yourself in the site’s history.

Up until yesterday, it had been fifteen years since I had worked at or visited the restaurant. As I pulled into the parking lot- digital camera in tow- I could once again feel the home’s amazing history. While I didn’t have visions of chicken carcasses, old tools or Josefita, I could feel the site’s vitality. A vitality that has lasted for well over one hundred years. If you ever find yourself just south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, I highly recommend a trip to the Luna Mansion.

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There seems to be a current upswing in the interest of all things metaphysical and supernatural. Whether it’s movies like “Stir of Echoes” or the recently anticipated “1408,” talk shows like Montel- which frequently feature psychic Sylvia Browne or primetime programming such as Medium and Ghost Whisperer, there’s no denying the trend. While television coverage of the supernatural isn’t a recent event- shows such as the “Twilight Zone,” “Night Gallery,” and “The Outer Limits,” with their somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach, have been on the airwaves for decades. What is recent however, is the fact that a large portion of society is becoming more sincere and more serious in their approach to garnering answers about the unknown. The Twilight Zone may have tickled viewers’ fictitious fancies in the 1960’s, but forty years later society expects more- not just because we are more “sophisticated” but because we are beginning to realize something’s missing.

I believe that something is a connection and an inner sensing. The supernatural reminds us that we are more than these physical bodies. It reminds us that, according to the words of William Shakespeare, “there truly are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophies.”

We have been riding a constant trend since the industrial revolution of allowing ourselves to become more and more detached from this knowledge. The more dependent we have become upon technology, the less in tune we seem to be with our inner selves. Don’t get me wrong, technological advancement is fantastic, when kept in its proper place. Without it, you wouldn’t be reading these words right now, but what’s good for the macrocosm has, in many ways, overshadowed our own innate knowing at the micro level.

This is not just occurring through technological advancement. We are constantly being shown what is considered acceptable for living our lives. Through our peers, employers, coworkers, significant others, the media, etc. we drop our inner knowing and begin to measure our lives by their judgments, externalizing our need to feel worthy instead of finding it from within.

While we obviously have physical bodies for a purpose, I don’t believe we were ever meant to become so extremely obsessed over our physical environment. The old adage of moderation definitely applies in this instance. I don’t feel there is anything wrong with having material possessions, money and the desire for material objects- it’s all quite natural, but where we run amuck is when our sole channel of receiving happiness flows only through these items, and from what others will feel (envy, pride, anger) over our recently acquired possessions.

I believe a large portion of society is starting to understand this. Many have realized that purchasing and consuming more doesn’t equate to happiness, in fact the opposite is usually true. In the United States, the concept that we are a happy nation because we are so abundant and free has been beaten into us. It’s due to this mentality that most people have been approaching things in a backwards manner. We have been trying our hardest to achieve material items and objects, thinking they will provide us with inner happiness and a sense of well being. Yet, for the longest time, it hadn’t crossed peoples’ minds that true abundance (not the superficial kind) and freedom can only flow when you have found happiness first, and are at one within, not vice versa. When you can achieve this state (on a more consistent basis), not only will material items find their way into your life in an easier manner, but you will also view them in their proper perspective.

While some of my comments in this post may sound corny or cliché, that’s not at all how I intend them. I honestly believe these statements to be true. I spent many years chasing after things and trying to please others because I believed I would earn their respect by doing so. That was a poor man’s game. I have since realized I was using their eyes as a way to try and find my own value. I was trying to measure my life by a supposed single minded interpretation of what’s righteous and good, instead of feeling for my own inner knowing, then trusting and pursuing it. I believe that many others are starting to find this knowledge as well.

The huge surge in interest around supernatural subject matter is coming from an inner sensing by mass consciousness. The metaphysical and supernatural provide a symbolic means for connecting to something deeper- many people may not understand the draw to it yet, but they will. We have been hitting the snooze button on our alarm clocks of internal wisdom for long enough. People truly are starting to wake up and come around to the knowledge that we are more than these physical bodies and we have access to an extreme power that can flow through us, if we simply allow it.

I look forward to periodically exploring the subject of our power and how it ties into the metaphysical, supernatural, and spiritual (more in depth) in future posts.

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