[believe5]

My mother died in May of 2006. My step father remarried at their house on Sept 13th of 2008 to a friend of the family. My oldest daughter has always been very receptive to spirits. The night my step dad remarried my daughter saw a vision of my mom sitting in a chair in my mom's living room just starring a the floor. She didn't say anything but just appeared to be thinking. Last night my daughter called and left me a message that she saw my mom again. My mom was sitting at the breakfast table that is in my mom's house and she was crying and smoking a cigarette . My daughter said she spoke to her this time and said "Tell my daughter I want them out." I am her only child and our house's are on the same property. My parents were married for 32 years and I'm not sure how to handle this situation. My parents met 2 weeks after my step father's first wife had died and married 2 weeks later. They were happily married. My dad had always said he would never remarry but he was lonely and wanted a companion. I hate the thought of my mom not being at rest. How can I help?

[wildandblue]

well you have the story secondhand from your daughter, and have to accept it at face value and she maybe leaving something out or just making it up, OK? You are all grieving over your mother.
I don't believe in life after death, that is to say technically I believe the dead are at rest in God's memory until the Resurrection when He raises them up again on the last day. So how could your mother have appeared? Maybe your mental state or you just wanting to see her again very badly?
Also there are two kinds of energy, kinetic energy which is moving and potential energy which is stored in an object. At the moment of your mother's death she may have had some thoughts that went out from her and became stored somewhere which is what your daughter is picking up on. Not that she is actually there but the thoughts are from the moments of her passing, just like you can hear an echo over and over again bouncing from hill to hill if you shout out.

[Alder]

I am sorry for your loss.

Hopefully your eldest daughter has not only a natural talent of being sensitive to spiritual presences, but some training in dealing with them. If so, perhaps she can have a good talk with your mother and get your mother to let go of this, to realize that it isn't part of her world any more. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. Sometimes we humans have trouble letting go of feelings, whether we are living or otherwise. Regardless of the outcome, since it is your daughter that is experiencing it, she should take care of it and not bother you or your dad or other family members with the hard feelings of your mother. Sometimes people say things in families that could be hurtful. It can also be hurtful when other family members repeat the statements. Now, if your mother starts bothering you directly, or bothering your dad, then we need to do more to get her to let go of this issue. Otherwise, it is just between your mother and your daughter, and if your mother won't settle down about it, your daughter will just have to get good at saying, "I know, Grandma. You told me this already. I don't agree with you and I won't help you make trouble." It's the fine art of being loving, but being assertive.

It's a rule of thumb (but no more than that) in many cultures that the dead stay close to their homes and families for a year (some say a year and a day). This is probably a self-limiting problem. If not, and it turns into more, let us know.

Blessings to your family as you work through the grieving process.

Alder