Great-Grandmother Josephine
Last week, I hopped on Instagram to see two of my favorite Tarot and Lenormand master teachers do readings. Nancy Hendrickson is author of Ancestral Tarot, Ancestral Grimoire, Ofrenda Oracle, Ancestral Magick Divination Kit, and her blog on Substack. Ericka Robinson is a Lenormand master teacher and author of The Language of Lenormand. Her Lenormand of Hope deck is due out later this year.
This particular opportunity related to All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) and Day of the Dead and we were encouraged to ask any question at all regarding ancestors. I was lucky to be chosen and I asked Nancy to help me with any information from my grandmother regarding my relationship with my mother. Very quickly Nancy said, “PJ I know you can do this yourself, so they're directing me to tell you to tune in to your grandmother. Then, ask a question about your mother and some theatrics she was involved in during her childhood.”
I thanked Nancy for the information and listened to a few more readings that she and Erica handled for the folks on Instagram. On Thursday morning, I decided to consult Carrie Paris’ deck called The Beloved Dead Oracle for the answer I was seeking.
I used a spread from Carrie's guidebook that's a simple three card spread, and I drew the following cards:
1. Invisible
2. Innocent
3. Hardship
I was encouraged to draw a fourth card and did so revealing the Grave card.
I set an intention to communicate with my grandmother. I put the Spirit Throne card on the phone stand that I use as an altar and envisioned my grandmother there on the seat of honor. Yet, when I turned over the very first card, I immediately saw my grandmother’s cellar and knew that it was my great-grandmother who had come to call.
About 15 years ago, I was participating in a webinar with a woman who created a class to help people further develop their psychic senses.
My clairaudience and clairsentience were my two strongest skills at the time, so I set an intention to further develop my clairvoyance. She led us on a brief meditation where we were taken back to a time in childhood and allowed to view something that may have stifled or blocked the skill that we were wanting to strengthen.
During the meditation, I saw myself as a small child probably four or five. I was on my grandmother's farm and decided to go down into her cellar. On this particular occasion, I was the only person in the backyard and the door to the cellar was wide open. I decided to go down into the cellar and as I descended the steps, in the right-hand corner of the cellar I saw someone that I knew was not a real person, but I wasn't really sure who or what she was. I immediately put my hands over my eyes and said “I don't want to see her!” Then I turned and ran back up the stairs. I have no more recollection of going down into the cellar. Perhaps I never went back down there by myself again. My grandmother sold the farm and moved to our town before I was six years old.
During the meditation, the woman who was leading the class took us through several energy clearing techniques that healed the trauma or memory and restored the skill. After this session, my clairvoyance seemed to strengthen and grew more and more powerful.
So, as I was turning the card, that memory came flooding back and I knew immediately that the relative who was going to help me was my great-grandmother, Josephine Priscilla Gregory.
And so, I asked her what she would tell me about my mother and any theatrics from her childhood. She shared with me that as the youngest child my mother was often teased by her brothers and her one sister Snookie. So, many times she would hide in the cellar or the barn. My great-grandmother related that during one of these situations, my mother came face to face with her and was similarly frightened as I had been. She encouraged me to ask my mother about the experience.
Later that day, Steve and I were sitting on the couch. He was scrolling his phone while I was watching TV. He said, “Who is walking around the house today? It’s one of your relatives!”
I told him that it was Josephine Priscilla Gregory, my great-grandmother and that I had talked to her earlier that day.
The next day, I called my mother and asked about the cellar. Although she confirmed that she hid and played in the cellar quite a bit as a child, she did not admit to seeing her grandmother in spirit. She did share a story about how her father put a small bed in the cellar, so she could sleep down there during storms. She told me that they would go into the cellar at the first sign of a storm. If it was raining when the radio said it was safe to return to the house, she would stay in the cellar until the next morning. She didn’t like to get wet!
A few days later, at my Coffee & Cards group, a friend brought the Seasons of the Witch Samhain Oracle Deck. I drew the card “Silence,” which features a woman in a cellar!!!
Would you like to connect with some of your friends or family in spirit? Schedule a guidance reading, and you never know who might come through with a special message for you!
