Every year Edinburgh attracts millions of tourists, who walk the cobbled stones of this ancient city and enjoy the many attractions it has to offer. With good reason Edinburgh is considered to be the most haunted city in Scotland, and thousands throng to the tours that show the shadowy and spooky side of the Capital’s history. They wind their way up the Royal Mile, which is the ancient road that leads to the castle, and branching off this arterial road are many nooks, crannies and alleyways that are explored by the groups of intrepid ghost hunters hoping to bump into a spectre of the shadows.
Edinburgh Castle is the most besieged fortress in the United Kingdom. This impressive castle, built on solid volcanic rock could tell numerous stories of Edinburgh’s bygone eras, and some claim that many of its past inhabitants still walk the ramparts and dungeons of the castle.
The Ghosts of Edinburgh Castle
Our first story of the paranormal dates back to the eighteenth century, a time when prisoners of war were held in the castle jail. One prisoner, trying to escape, hid in a wheelbarrow full of manure, because he believed that the guards would empty the contents through the front doors of the Royal fortress, but he was wrong because they emptied it over the rampart and down the rock face, which is a drop of 80 metres. This is how the prisoner met his death.
According to legend, his ghost wanders around the castle trying to push tourists over the walls. Tradition says it is possible to know that the ghost of the prisoner is nearby because it is accompanied by an intense and unpleasant smell of manure! Instead of escaping, the prisoner has become trapped in the castle for aeons.
Another of the castle’s famous ghosts is ‘The Lone Piper’. It is said that he was sent to investigate a network of underground tunnels in the foundations of the fortress. As he explored, he played his bagpipes to signal to the people on the surface his position underground. Suddenly, the bagpipes stopped playing and the piper was never seen again. Legend has it that even today you can hear his ghost walking through the tunnels of the castle playing different melodies in an eternal search for the exit. Legend also tells the story of a young drummer who was decapitated by a cannonball. It is said that his ghost first appeared in 1650, just as the Englishman Oliver Cromwell was attacking the fortress of Edinburgh. Popular tradition holds that this ghost appears to predict disasters that threaten the castle.
Is There an Invisible World? The Gnostic Perspective
Is there some truth to these legends or are they merely fascinating stories? Is there another, invisible world?
Psychic or paranormal factors capable of producing physical phenomena exist and, since ancient times, there are well known cases of haunted houses and ghostly events, which are caused by entities from the afterlife, spectres, phantoms and ghosts of the deceased.
In life there are no effects without cause nor causes without effects, and regarding the issue of ghosts, the Gnostic teachings explain that we have a physical body, a vital body – this energises the physical body – and a personality. The personality is an energy which is created through our family, environment and culture. When a person dies, the physical and vital bodies return to dust but the personality can remain. So, a ghost is the energetic personality of a deceased person, which remains in the inferior regions of the astral world and at times appears in the physical world, because these worlds, planes, are interconnected.
Sometimes when children are crying or screaming in their cots it is because they are frightened to see such ghosts approaching, but adults do not understand this and assume that the child is sick, hungry or thirsty.
No Longer Ghosts in the World of the Dead
We can avoid becoming ghosts by awakening our consciousness and creating the Astral Body. By doing so, we will no longer be destined to be unhappy ghosts in the world of the dead, residing in the abyssal shadows. Whoever has an Astral Body is no longer a ghost. This is the meaning behind Homer’s memory, when he said, “It is better to be a beggar on earth than a king in the Empire of shadows.”
The Gnostic teaching gives the keys to consciously awaken in the inner worlds, in the higher dimensions of the astral world. When our consciousness is asleep, we live trapped in our own thoughts and we are not aware of the world where we live; this is called the sleep of the consciousness.
Having our consciousness asleep leads us to walk the streets dreaming, work dreaming, get married dreaming, live a life dreaming and that is how we die -dreaming. This is the sad reality of a humanity that is not dedicated to awakening consciousness or building their internal bodies. We are asleep because we are mechanical and unconscious. We are unaware of our reality, just like the ghosts imprisoned in Edinburgh castle, who walk the ramparts and dungeons unaware they are dead.
Yet, just as Edinburgh castle is built on an impenetrable solid foundation we can build our life on the solid rock of awakened consciousness. To awaken consciousness in the internal worlds we need to awaken in the physical world. To awaken we need to be in the present moment. Take a minute to be aware of your body – any tension in your shoulders? Any tension in your face? Now, put your attention on your sense of hearing, and listen, just listen. Those moments devoid of thought are what it means to begin to awaken consciousness. The aim is to continue that awareness throughout the day.
Finally, the Venerable Master Samael Aun Weor has written: “No person should ever accept anything dogmatically. In other words, we will say that there is no need to accept, but to investigate, analyse, meditate, and comprehend. When comprehension is complete, acceptance is unnecessary.”
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